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April 5, 2024
DELHI
Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08
RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940
CITY EDITION
18 Pages ₹ 12.00
Vol. 14 앫 No. 82
Printed at
»
Chennai
»
Coimbatore
IN BRIEF
쑽
NEW DELHI
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in a
message from Tihar Jail has
asked Aam Aadmi Party MLAs
to visit their respective
constituencies and ensure that
nobody is facing any problem.
The message was delivered by
his wife Sunita Kejriwal in a
video statement. » Page 2
Modi, Mamata
square off at
rallies in Bengal
KOLKATA
Ahead of the first phase of the
Lok Sabha election on April 19,
PM Narendra Modi and West
Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
on Thursday held rallies in
Cooch Behar. » Page 13
Bengaluru
»
Hyderabad
»
Madurai
»
Noida
»
Visakhapatnam
»
Thiruvananthapuram
»
Kochi
»
Vijayawada
»
Mangaluru
»
Tiruchirapalli
»
Kolkata
»
Hubballi
»
Mohali
»
Malappuram
»
Mumbai
»
Tirupati
Current practice is to record religion of child’s family only; the database may be used to update
NPR, voter rolls, Aadhaar, ration cards, passports and driving licence; States yet to notify new rules
Vijaita Singh
NEW DELHI
hen registering
the birth of a
child, parents
will now be required to
separately record the religion of the father and
mother, according to Model Rules drafted by the
Union Ministry of Home
Affairs. These Rules will
have to be adopted and
notified by the State governments before they are
implemented.
Earlier, only the family’s
religion was recorded in
birth registers. The proposed “Form No.1-Birth
Report” will expand the
column requiring a tick
mark selection “for religion” of the child to now also state the “religion of
father” and “religion of
mother”. Similar changes
W
have been made for parents of an adopted child.
Under the Registration
of Births and Deaths
(Amendment) Act, 2023,
passed by Parliament on
August 11 last year, the
birth and death database
will be maintained at the
national level and may be
used to update the National Population Register
Abhinay Deshpande
NAGPUR
PASWAN ACCUSED OF NEPOTISM
LJP(RV) brass quit party
ahead of Lok Sabha poll
NEWS » PAGE 12
SIZZLING CHASE
Shashank Singh swings
it Punjab Kings’ way
SPORT » PAGE 17
(NPR), electoral rolls, Aadhaar number, ration card,
passport, driving licence,
property registration, and
such other databases as
may be notified.
According to the law,
which became effective
October 1 last year, all reported births and deaths in
the country are to be digitally registered through the
»
Cuttack
Patna
»
The Congress is synonymous with corruption and
scandals, while the BJP epitomises development, administration and good governance, Union Minister
Nitin Gadkari said.
In an interview with The
Hindu, Mr. Gadkari said
the BJP remains united in
its ideological commitment, with no discord between the party and the
RSS.
Strongly defending the
BJP’s alliance with Chief
Minister Eknath Shinde-led
Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s
NCP, he said that the coalition had strengthened its
position with the convergence of the three political
forces.
Centre’s portal for the Civil
Registration System (crsorgi.gov.in). The digital birth
certificates issued under
this system will become a
single document to prove
the date of birth for various
services, including admission to educational institutions.
The office of the Registrar General of India (RGI)
under the Union Home Ministry has proposed substituting the existing forms
related to the registration
of births, deaths, still
births, adoptions, and the
Medical Certificate of
Cause of Death as per the
draft rules. The certificate
will also include the “history of illness, if any” from
now on, apart from the actual cause of death.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 12
BJP ignored RBI
advice: Congress
Prasenjit Bose
The Hindu Data Team
KOLKATA/CHENNAI
The Supreme Court’s February 15 verdict on electoral bonds (EBs) had held
the deletion of a provision
contained in Section 182 (1)
of the Companies Act,
2013, which enabled unlimited corporate contributions to political parties as
“violative of Article 14 of
the Indian constitution”.
The provision had restricted corporate donations to a cap of 7.5% of the
donor companies’ average
net profits in the three preceding financial years. The
Finance Act, 2017, had deleted the provision.
Based on an analysis,
the electoral bond data relating to 385 companies
that had donated bonds totalling ₹5,362.2 crore to the
ruling BJP, the highest recipient of electoral bond do-
NEW DELHI
The total amount donated
above the cap figure stood at
₹1,377.9 crore. GETTY IMAGES
nations, 55 firms were
found to have made donations that exceeded the original 7.5% cap in 2022-23
and 2023-24.
The total amount donated above the rescinded
7.5% cap figure stood at
₹1,377.9 crore, which was
more than 69% of their aggregate donation of ₹1,993
crore. The BJP alone received close to 71%, or
₹1,414 crore, of the total
donations.
The analysis by The Hindu and an independent re-
T
Satyabrata Sahoo singing
in a promotional video for
the Lok Sabha election.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
is when the idea came up.
The music director,
Srikanth Deva, said you
could also sing!” he says,
adding that he readily
accepted the offer.
“... I am an amateur
singer and like to sing. I
have sung songs in my
mother tongue, Odia, and
in Hindi. I have uploaded
some of them on
YouTube. But this is the
first time I am singing in a
proper studio set-up,” says
Mr. Sahoo. A native of
Odisha, the CEO is also
conversant in Tamil and
has served in the State for
over two decades. “I sang
in Tamil and the music
director helped me
correct wherever
necessary.”
“I gave inputs so that
my ideas could be
incorporated in Tamil...
Then, the lyrics was ready,
and I sang,” Mr. Sahoo
recalls.
The lyrics call upon the
youth to do their duty and
cast their vote on the day
FULL REPORT
» PAGE 9
Priming for polls
Paying close attention: Polling staff assembling EVMs and VVPAT machines at a training session in Bhopal on Thursday. A.M. FARUQUI
No need for more talks on ‘resolved’
Katchatheevu issue, says Sri Lanka
Meera Srinivasan
COLOMBO
CHENNAI
search team was based on
bond data and publicly
available financials for 221
of the 385 firms, for which
information was available
from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s
Prowess IQ Database.
Specifically, the EB donation data of these firms
from 2019-20 to 2023-24
was matched against their
financial data from 2016-17
to 2022-23.
INTERVIEW
» PAGE 13
Promotional video for Lok Sabha election urges youth to do their duty on the day of polling and
become a role model for others; Satyabrata Sahoo optimistic about a high voter turnout in State
The Hindu Bureau
The Congress on Thursday
alleged that the BJP
government came up with the
electoral bond scheme despite
the Reserve Bank of India’s
advice against it. » PAGE 12
The Union Minister said
the BJP aims to strengthen
its foothold in the southern
States.
“Presently, we hold significant seats in Telangana;
our alliance in Tamil Nadu
is poised to secure a substantial number of seats.
While our presence in Tamil Nadu and Kerala is not
as robust, we anticipate favourable outcomes in Andhra Pradesh for our allies.
In Karnataka, we are committed to maintaining our
success from
the previous
elections,”
he said.
T.N. CEO turns to mic to encourage youth to vote
CM
YK
Lucknow
Govt. to record parents’ 55 companies’ electoral
donations topped
religion to register births bond
the 7.5% cap in 2022-24
Will build presence
in the South: Gadkari
he amateur singer
in Tamil Nadu’s
Chief Electoral
Officer (CEO) Satyabrata
Sahoo could not have
received a better
opportunity; that too for a
noble cause.
In a promotional video
for the upcoming Lok
Sabha election, Mr. Sahoo
can be seen singing,
encouraging the youth to
vote. It turns out that the
officer did not plan on
singing initially. “I kept
visiting the studio when
we were making
awareness videos, and
suggesting changes. That
»
of polling and become a
role model for others. It
also urges them to cast
their vote “without
receiving money, but
guided by their
conscience”.
Mr. Sahoo is optimistic
about a high voter turnout
for the upcoming Lok
Sabha election. “The
national polling average
during the 2019 poll was
67% and the percentage in
Tamil Nadu was about 73%
to 74%. Our ultimate target
is 100%, but we will be
happy if we secure
between 75% and 80%.”
The visuals recorded for
the song show EVMs,
VVPAT units, and the
national flag.
Sri Lanka sees no reason
for re-opening talks on
Katchatheevu that India
gave up 50 years ago, Sri
Lanka’s Foreign Minister
Ali Sabry has said, in the
first official reaction yet to
the recent remarks of
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and External Affairs
Minister S. Jaishankar on
the island.
“This is a problem discussed and resolved 50
years ago and there is no
necessity to have further
discussions on this,” Mr.
Sabry told a local news television channel on Wednesday.
Earlier, Colombo-based
official sources told The
Fishermen in Sri Lanka have long voiced concerns about depleting
marine resources in Palk Strait due to trawling. FILE PHOTO
Hindu that the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration
refrained from commenting on the development, as
it was a clash between two
political parties in the runup to elections.
“The comments are
about who was responsible
for giving up the island to
Sri Lanka, not about whose
territory it is part of now.
So, there is nothing for Sri
Lanka to comment on,
really,” an official said, requesting anonymity owing
to the “sensitivity” of the
issue.
Meanwhile, some in Sri
Lanka, including main-
stream media and former
diplomats, have slammed
the remarks of Mr. Modi
and Mr. Jaishankar, terming them a “provocation”.
Further,
fishermen’s
groups in northern Sri Lanka accused the Indian leaders of turning the spotlight
away from the long-enduring conflict among fishermen of both countries.
For several years now,
they have voiced concern
over the marine resources
in the Palk Strait, seen to
be depleting owing to overfishing by bottom trawlers
used by Indian fishermen
in Sri Lankan waters.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 12
RELATED REPORTS
» PAGES 4, 12
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CM Kejriwal asks
MLAs to focus on
people’s problems
»
THE HINDU
2
Friday, April 5, 2024
City
Delhi
AAP files plaint over BJP’s posters In new message from Tihar,
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Aam Aadmi Party’s national secretary Pankaj
Gupta and its senior leader
Atishi, along with the party’s legal team, lodged a
complaint on Thursday
with Delhi’s Chief Electoral
Officer regarding “objec-
tionable” posters put up
across Delhi by the BJP
bearing images of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Addressing a press after
the meeting, Ms. Atishi
said the party’s legal team
had filed a complaint
against the hoardings six
days ago. “It is deeply concerning that even after six
days, no action has been
taken against the BJP.” She
added that questions have
already been raised about
the lack of a level playing
field for all parties ahead of
the upcoming poll. “If action is not taken on some
posters after six days, what
solution is there to bigger
problems?” she said.
Kejriwal asks AAP MLAs to
focus on people’s problems
Sunita Kejriwal conveys the Chief Minister’s message with the backdrop featuring portraits of
Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar flanking a photograph of Kejriwal in jail; BJP says sentiments hurt
NEW DELHI
GENERAL
Raj Niwas writes to
MHA over Delhi govt.’s D
bid to ‘mislead’ courts
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
‘Avoidable litigation’
Raj Niwas sources said the
letter was sent to keep the
‘Bureaucratic impasses’
In response, the Aam Aadmi Party issued a statement saying that the government was facing
“unprecedented challenges” and that “the courts of
the country are the last resort, given that the officers
don’t follow Ministers’ directives, and even the L-G
doesn’t take requisite actions against such officers”. It added that the “bureaucratic impasses have
halted crucial initiatives”,
including the Farishtey initiative and the schemes on
bus marshals and smog
towers, “leaving Delhi’s
two crore residents in limbo.”
“The government bemoans bureaucratic delays
as files languish without
response, exacerbating an
already tumultuous administrative
landscape,”
AAP’s statement also said.
EDUCATIONAL
GENERAL
elhi Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal in
a message from Tihar Jail has asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs to visit
their
respective
constituencies and ensure
that nobody was facing any
problem. The message was
delivered by his wife Sunita
Kejriwal in a video statement posted on various social media platforms in a
manner similar to the previous messages from the
Chief Minister that she had
communicated.
However, this time
around the background
wall, which had on earlier
two occasions portraits of
B.R. Ambedkar and Bhagat
Singh, had a third photo,
that of Mr. Kejriwal in
which he appears to be
standing behind bars.
The Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) picked up on
the change in the back-
Sunita Kejriwal issuing a video statement on behalf of Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday. ANI
ground wall and accused
AAP of hurting people’s
sentiments. It demanded
that the Chief Minister’s
portrait be immediately
removed.
Mr. Kejriwal, arrested by
the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the
Delhi government’s nowscrapped excise policy, is
in judicial custody till April
15. The court has allowed
Ms. Kejriwal to connect
with her husband through
videoconferencing. The
CM has so far sent four
messages, first from the ED
custody and then from Tihar Jail since his arrest on
March 21. Earlier, he sent
messages to Water Minister
Atishi and Health Minister
Saurabh Bharadwaj as
well. This time, in his message to all his MLAs, Mr.
Kejriwal said, “I am in jail.
Because of this none of my
fellow Delhiites should
face any kind of trouble.
Every MLA should visit the
area daily... Whatever problem anyone has, solve it.
The two crore people of
Delhi are my family and no
one in my family should be
sad for any reason. God
bless everyone. Jai Hind.”
Slamming AAP for putting up the CM’s portrait
along with Bhagat Singh
and Ambedkar, Delhi BJP
chief Virendra Sachdeva
said, “AAP should stop
hurting the sentiments of
people by putting up Kejriwal’s photo along with patriots.” The party has been
breaking the political decorum by allowing the jailed
CM to continue in office
and issuing political messages from the official chair
of the Chief Minister of Delhi through his wife, the BJP
leader added.
Senior AAP leader Atishi
said, “Kejriwal is a symbol
of the current struggle
against the BJP’s dictatorship. His photograph in
our offices is to remind us
that the struggle against
the BJP is no less than the
freedom movement.”
The High Court on Thursday declined to entertain a
second petition seeking
the removal of Arvind Kejriwal from the Chief Minister’s post following his arrest by the Enforcement
Directorate.
A Bench of Acting Chief
Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora
said it would be Mr. Kejriwal’s prerogative whether
to continue as the Delhi
Chief Minister or resign.
“At times, personal interest
has to be subordinate to
national interest, but that
is his [Mr. Kejriwal’s] personal call. We are a court of
law and have to go by the
law. Your [petitioner’s] remedy does not lie here, it
lies elsewhere. Go before
the competent forum,” the
Bench said in response to a
plea filed by Vishnu Gupta,
president of Hindu Sena.
“The L-G and the President
of India have to consider
it,” the Bench remarked.
The court had last week rejected a similar plea, saying there was “no scope for
judicial interference” in
the matter.
JNU issues notices to students
‘Time in jail has only
seeking action in ‘harassment’ case strengthened resolve
to fight for democracy’
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU) administration has issued notices to
several students for obstructing the university’s
north gate.
The students had been
protesting near the gate
since April 1, seeking action in an alleged harassment case that took place
on the campus on the
night of March 30. Those
who received the notices
on Wednesday included
the victim and the four JNU
Students’ Union ( JNUSU)
office-bearers.
The Chief Proctor’s office has asked the protesting students to appear before it to explain their
position.
The notices were issued
days after the administration started a probe into
the harassment complaint.
The probe was announced after the JNUSU
wrote to the administration seeking action in the
matter.
Dhananjay, the JNUSU
president, said a total of 21
students, including the victim, have received the
notice.
He said the students’ union has asked the Chief
Proctor to withdraw the
notices.
The Chief Proctor did
not respond to The Hindu’s
questions regarding the
notices.
Sanjay Singh, along with his wife Anita and AAP workers, paying
obeisance at Hanuman Temple on Thursday. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
GENERAL
AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh
paid a visit to Rajghat and
the Hanuman Temple at
Connaught Place on Thursday, a day after walking out
of jail.
Speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Singh said his
time in prison has only
“strengthened his resolve
to fight for democracy,
which is under threat in BJP
rule”.
The AAP leader spent six
months in Tihar Jail after
being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in October last year in connection
with
a
money
laundering case linked to
the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. He was granted
bail by the Supreme Court
on Tuesday.
“We [AAP] have always
raised our voices against injustice and dictatorship. Be
it farmers’ issues, price
rise, or the violence in Ma-
nipur, we have always
brought relevant issues to
the fore, and even after six
months in jail, I will continue to do so,” he said.
At Rajghat, he drew a parallel between the freedom
struggle against the British
and the Opposition’s fight
against the ruling BJP,
claiming that “the same situation had arisen after 77
years of Independence”.
“I came here to seek the
blessings of Mahatma
Gandhi. I prayed for good
sense to prevail over this
[BJP] government so that it
stops toying with democracy and the Constitution of
our country,” he said.
After offering prayers at
the Hanuman Temple, he
said: “By the grace of Lord
Hanuman, I got bail. I came
here with my wife to pay
obeisance to Hanumanji. I
have prayed for the other
jailed leaders of our party,
Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Satyendar Jain,
to be freed soon.”
(With PTI inputs)
LEGAL NOTICE
BJP to organise cultural
events ahead of election
TENDERS
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Delhi BJP has scheduled an
18-day cultural festival in
the national capital nearly
a month before Delhi is set
to vote in the Lok Sabha
election.
As part of the cultural
events, which will be celebrated from April 5-23, the
party has planned several
events around days with
religious significance, including Ram Navami, MaCM
YK
havir Jayanti, and Hanuman Jayanti.
The party has also
planned
programmes
around its foundation day
(April 6). It will also observe ‘Nishadraj Jayanti’ on
April 5 and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jayanti on April
11 in an attempt to connect
with voters from different
sections of the society. Voting for all seven Delhi Lok
Sabha seats is slated for
May 25, in the sixth phase
of the general election.
A ND-NDE
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The Lieutenant-Governor’s
office on Thursday wrote
to the Union Home Secretary over the Delhi government’s attempts to “mislead” courts “with an
apparent aim of influencing the justice delivery system by way of filing motivated and premeditated
petitions”.
The letter, written by
the L-G’s Principal Secretary, cited several cases in
the Supreme Court and the
Delhi High Court and the
“violations” of the Delhi
government with regard to
its “dealings” with these
courts.
It said that the Delhi government’s counsels had
wrongly attributed to the
L-G shortcomings and
stoppage of funds related
to various government
schemes, with the deliberate intent of creating a negative image of the L-G.
Home Ministry apprised of
the developments in the
national capital “with regard to avoidable litigation
in various courts by the
Delhi government”.
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Hindu Bureau
EDUCATIONAL
Decision to
step down is
for Kejriwal
to make: HC
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
HC dismisses plea for
ban on cross-gender
massages at spas
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The court said
another Bench is
already seized of the
matter which
pertains to the Delhi
govt.’s guidelines on
the issue
Bengal Governor asks
govt. to remove Minister
for violation of poll code
Differences between the Governor and the State government have come out in the open after
Education Minister Bratya Basu participated in a political event at Gour Banga University
KOLKATA
n a development that
has brought to the
fore the differences
between the Raj Bhavan
and the West Bengal government, Governor C.V.
Ananda Bose on Thursday
directed the State government to “remove Education Minister Bratya Basu
from the Cabinet for deliberate violation of election
code”.
Mr. Basu had participated in a political event on
the campus of Gour Banga
University. After the incident, Mr. Bose directed the
removal of the University
Vice-Chancellor, but Mr.
Basu reinstated him.
“In the light of the political meeting held in Gour
Banga University under
the leadership and presence of Bratya Basu (Minister of Education) with
other Ministers, MPs,
MLAs and political leaders
I
Why is probe in 273 north-east
Delhi riots cases pending: HC
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The High Court on Thursday asked the Delhi police
why investigations into 273
cases related to the February 2020 north-east Delhi
riots were pending despite
the cases being registered
over four years ago.
Noting that over 750
FIRs were registered following the communal violence and that the investigation in 273 cases was still
pending, the court asked
the police to file a fresh sta-
Chamba jolted
Press Trust of India
SHIMLA/CHANDIGARH
Tremors were felt in parts
of north India as a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit
Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday.
Communication network
was hit in villages near its
epicentre Pangi, a senior
officer said.
Timings
DELHI
FRIDAY, APR. 05
RISE
06:07
SET 18:42
RISE
03:52
SET 14:59
SATURDAY, APR. 06
RISE
06:06
SET 18:42
RISE
04:30
SET 16:08
SUNDAY, APR. 07
RISE
06:05
SET 18:43
RISE
05:06
SET 17:17
poll code, it was the prerogative of a political party to
bring it to the notice of the
Election Commission of India, which will then take
appropriate action.
Shiv Sahay Singh
to ensure that no spa was
permitted to run without a
licence. The order had
come after owners of spa
centres had filed pleas after their business was allegedly affected by the Delhi
government’s
guideline
prohibiting cross-gender
massages.
The current petition
was, however, filed by one
Anuj Malhotra, seeking a
direction to ban cross-gender massages in spas/massage centres. Mr. Malhotra
sought a direction to share
the recordings of spas/massage centres with the Delhi
Commission for Women
on a regular basis.
In his plea, he claimed
that cross-gender massages had led to the proliferation of illegal prostitution
being carried out in locked
rooms, in violation of
Clause 2(d) of the Delhi government’s guidelines pertaining to the operation of
spas and massage centres.
tus report within 10 days.
The order came while
hearing a petition by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind seeking
the setting up of a Special
Investigation Team (SIT) to
hold an independent
probe into the riots.
SIT probe
The petitioner’s lawyer argued that an SIT inquiry
should look into cases
where the chargesheets
have not been filed so far.
The court noted that 757
riots-related cases have
been registered to date.
Chargesheets had been
filed in 367 cases and 250
cases were awaiting trial.
The petitioner had approached the court in
March 2020 seeking several reliefs, including the
preservation of CCTV footage of riots.
The plea claimed that
FIRs have not been lodged
against persons responsible for the riots and that
the police are not accepting the complaint in which
the accused are named.
The court will hear the
case again on April 29.
Be you ever so high, the law is
above you, says Governor C.V.
Ananda Bose. FILE PHOTO
The Governor has shown his
true colours, says the Minister.
on March 30, 2024, the
Chancellor and the Governor has directed the State
government to take action
against the erring Minister,
who has deliberately violated the election code of
conduct, including his removal from the Cabinet,” a
communication from the
Raj Bhavan said.
The Governor, according to the communication,
said, “Be you ever so high,
the law is above you”.
Reacting to the development Mr. Basu said, “the
Constitution of India clearly states that the recommendation of appointment
or removal of any Minister
lies with the Chief Minister.
He (the Governor) has not
only shown his true colours, he has also exceeded
his Constitutional limit.”
The Minister also added
that if he has violated the
FILE PHOTO
Not the first time
This is not the first time
that the Raj Bhavan and
the government have embarked on a collision
course on issues concerning higher education in the
State. The recommendation to drop a Minister
from the Cabinet is, however, unprecedented in the
State in recent times.
A few days ago, the Trinamool Congress had complained to the Election
Commission against the
Governor for launching a
portal where the citizens
could register election-related complaints.
The party has alleged
that the State Governor
was treading into the domain of the Election Commission.
INBRIEF
쑽
Cong. rebels will go to jail, BJP
should ignore them: Sukhu
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder
Singh Sukhu on Thursday said that the Congress
rebels are “corrupt” and “will go behind bars”.
The Congress rebels, who joined the BJP recently,
will also create a storm and harm the cause of the
genuine party workers there, Mr. Sukhu said
while addressing a public meeting at Samurkalan
in Una district. He said Vivek Sharma (Vikku) is
the front runner from the Kutlehar Assembly seat
and Satpal Raijada from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha
seat for the Congress, and asked the people to
support these two candidates. PTI
Non-bailable warrant against
Swami Maurya, daughter
An MP-MLA Court in Lucknow on Thursday
issued non-bailable warrant against Rashtriya
Shoshit Samaaj Party president Swami Prasad
Maurya and his daughter and Lok Sabha member
Sanghamitra Maurya for not honouring court
summons in connection to an assault case related
to marriage dispute. The court of Additional
Chief Judicial Magistrate Ambhesh Kumar
Srivastava issued the warrant directing the
Lucknow police to take legal measures. The
matter dates back to 2019 with Deepak Kumar
Swarnakar, alleging that he was in a live in
relationship with Ms. Maurya since 2016.
34 file nominations in Noida,
among them 25 Independents
Press Trust of India
NOIDA
Thirty-four candidates, including 25 Independents,
are in the fray for the Lok
Sabha polls in Gautam
Buddh Nagar, officials said
on Thursday, as curtains
drew on the nomination
process for the second
phase of general elections
on April 26.
The number of nominations has gone up from
2019, when 21 candidates
had applied, but 13 were
able to contest as eight others got rejected. Almost half
of the nominations (16)
were made on Thursday,
the last day, at the Collectorate in Surajpur, the local
election office said.
“The date for scrutiny of
nominations is April 5 and
the last date for withdrawal
is April 8,” District Election
Officer Manish Kumar Verma said. Of the 34 nominations received, 25 are fighting as Independents. The
BJP has once again fielded
Mahesh Sharma, who won
in 2014 and 2019, while the
SP has nominated Mahendra Singh Nagar. The BSP is
backing Rajendra Singh Solanki, according to the election office.
These Independents are
Naveen Chandra Dubey, Babli, Sanjay Sharma, Parag
Kaushik, Geeta Rani Sharma, Sunil Gautam, Mahesh
Kumar Soni, Pramod Attri,
Iklakh, Km Shalu, Ritu Sinha, Mohd Mumtaj Aalam,
Rodas Gupta, Mahkar
Singh, Praveen Sharma and
Sanjeev Kumar.
Court reserves order
on framing of charges
against Brij Bhushan
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
A Delhi court on Thursday
reserved its order on framing of charges against BJP
MP and former Wrestling
Federation of India (WFI)
chief Brij Bhushan Sharan
Singh in a sexual harassment case lodged by women wrestlers.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajput will pronounce
the order on April 18.
Many renowned wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Baj-
rang Punia and Sangeeta
Phogat, had protested for
months in New Delhi demanding his arrest.
The police had filed an
FIR against the BJP MP after the intervention of the
Supreme Court in May
2023. In June, a 1,000page chargesheet was filed
at the Rouse Avenue court
accusing Mr. Singh and
another former WFI staffer Virendra Tomar of offences such as outraging
modesty, making sexuallycoloured remarks, stalking
and
criminal
intimidation.
Eight held for
betting in M.P.
Press Trust of India
INDORE
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The Indore police claimed
to have busted a racket involving betting of crores of
rupees on the ongoing Indian Premier League cricket matches and arrested
eight persons in this connection, an officer said on
Thursday.
Based on a tip-off, the
accused were apprehended on Wednesday night
from Lasudia area when
they were making people
place bets online on the
IPL matches, police said.
A ND-NDE
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The Delhi High Court has
dismissed a plea seeking a
direction to authorities in
the Capital to ban crossgender massages at spas.
A Bench of Acting Chief
Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora
noted that another Bench
of the court “is already
seized of the matter”
which pertains to the State
government’s Guidelines
for Operation of Spas/Massage Centres in Delhi, 2021.
“Since the learned single judge is already seized
of the controversy, this
court is of the view that the
present public interest litigation plea cannot be entertained,” the court said
while dismissing the plea
earlier this week.
In December 2021, the
single-judge Bench had put
on hold the Delhi government’s guidelines banning
cross-gender massage services in the Capital, noting
that there was no reasonable connection between an
absolute ban on the service
and the prevention of prostitution at spas.
It had also directed civic
bodies and the Delhi Police
3
States
Delhi
THE HINDU
4
Friday, April 5, 2024
States
Delhi
PM kicks off campaign in Left Front fails to
iron out creases
Bihar, praises aggressive with ISF in Bengal
India under NDA rule
INBRIEF
쑽
Shiv Sahay Singh
KOLKATA
Jailed ex-CM Hemant Soren
not to contest from Dumka
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( JMM) on Thursday
nominated its Shikaripada legislator Nalin Soren
from the Dumka Lok Sabha seat, making it clear
that jailed former Chief Minister Hemant Soren
will not contest from the constituency as
speculated earlier. The party also fielded its
Tundi MLA Mathura Prasad Mahto from Giridih
Lok Sabha seat. The BJP has already nominated
Sita Soren, former JMM MLA and sister-in-law of
Hemant Soren, from the Dumka constituency.
Notably, the BJP had on March 2 renominated
sitting MP Sunil Soren from Dumka but later
withdrew his candidature in order to field Sita
Soren from the seat. Sunil Soren had defeated
JMM president Shibu Soren in the 2019 polls. PTI
A Rajput woman leader has launched an
indefinite hunger strike in Gujarat to put pressure
on the ruling BJP to remove Union Minister
Parshottam Rupala as the party’s Rajkot Lok
Sabha candidate, days after his alleged offensive
remarks about the community sparked a row.
The leader, Padminiba Vala, who began her
indefinite fast on Wednesday at a trust premises
owned by the community, claimed that Rajput
women would even do ‘jauhar’ (self-immolation)
if Mr. Rupala is not replaced by the BJP as poll
candidate. Meanwhile, talking to media persons
in Ahmedabad on Thursday, Mr. Rupala said all
the communities, including Rajputs, support
him. PTI
Sharad Pawar’s NCP releases
second list of candidates
The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party
NCP(SP) on Thursday released its second list of
candidates for the Beed and Bhiwandi Lok Sabha
seats in Maharashtra. The party has fielded
Bajrang Sonwane — who recently defected from
Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction — to contest the crucial
Beed seat, where he will be pitted against the
BJP’s Pankaja Munde, while Suresh Mhatre will
contest the Bhiwandi seat. For a while, there was
widespread speculation that Mr. Sharad Pawar
could field Jyoti Mete, wife of the late Shiv
Sangram leader Vinayak Mete, an ardent Maratha
quota supporter who died in a road accident in
2022. Mr. Sonawane had polled more than 5 lakh
votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, but was
defeated by Pritam Munde, sister of Pankaja and
sitting MP of Beed.
In HC, Bengal questions ED’s
conviction rate in cases
The West Bengal government on Thursday
questioned the conviction rate of Central
agencies in cases they were probing in the State,
while the Enforcement Directorate’s counsel
accused it of non-cooperation in taking forward
investigations. Opposing pleas for transfer of
investigation into alleged sexual atrocities on
women and land grabbing at Sandeshkhali in
North 24 Parganas district, State Advocate
General Kishore Dutta claimed before a Division
Bench presided by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam
that Central agencies have lost the trust posed on
them. Accusing the State of non-cooperation, the
Central government’s Deputy Solicitor General
Dhiraj Trivedi, representing the ED in the matter,
asked how the Central agencies could take
forward the investigations in such a situation. PTI
Amarnath Tewary
PATNA
icking off the National Democratic
Alliance’s
poll
campaign in Bihar on
Thursday, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi lauded the
self-sufficient and aggressive nature of the new India under NDA rule.
“India has changed
now. Whenever something
was happening to the
country earlier, [the Congress-led UPA government]
used to reach out to other
countries for help. But today, yeh badla hua Bharat,
yeh ghar mein ghus kar
marta hai [this is a
changed India, which enters into homes to kill),”
Mr. Modi said, to the roaring cheers of the crowd at a
public meeting in Jamui,
made up mostly of young
people.
He also slammed the
corruption of the “previous Congress-RJD government” in the State,
with no mention of the fact
that Bihar was last go-
K
PM Modi waves to the crowds at a rally in Jamui on Thursday. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Deputy CMs Vijay
Kumar Sinha, Samrat Choudhary, and LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan are also seen. ANI
verned by a coalition that
included the Congress and
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD),
but was headed by the Janata Dal (United), which is
currently a member of the
ruling NDA.
‘Opposed Bharat Ratna’
“This Congress-RJD government in Bihar even opposed the Bharat Ratna
award conferred on [the
late veteran socialist leader] Karpoori Thakur; they
opposed a tribal becoming
the President of India,” Mr.
Modi said.
He also slammed the
previous Congress-led UPA
government at the Centre,
saying, “They were the
land grabbers of poor people in lieu of jobs [in
Railways]”.
He acknowledged that
JD(U) chief and current Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar had been the Railway Minister under a previous NDA regime, but said
that his tenure had been
“blameless”.
“When this ghamandia
alliance was in power,
what was the condition of
Railways? But today, even
people of Bihar are travell-
With alliance talks failing,
Congress nominates Arvind
Damor for Banswara LS seat
The Hindu Bureau
JAIPUR
The Congress on Thursday
fielded a fresh face, Arvind
Damor, as its candidate
from the Banswara-Dungarpur seat in Rajasthan for
the Lok Sabha election.
With this, the Congress has
announced its candidates
for all the 25 Lok Sabha
seats in the State.
Mr. Damor, at present
serving as State Youth Congress general secretary,
filed his nomination papers
on the last day of the schedule. Earlier in the day, the
Congress announced former Minister and three-time
Banswara MLA Arjun Singh
Bamaniya as its candidate
from the seat reserved for
Scheduled Tribes, but he
did not file his nomination
in a strange turn of events.
The Congress had tried
to negotiate with the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) for a
possible alliance but had
not been successful. The
BAP, which has emerged as
a force to reckon with in
the tribal-dominated districts in southern Rajasthan, has announced its
founder-member and Chorasi MLA Rajkumar Roat as
Congress announced
three-time Banswara
MLA Arjun Singh
Bamaniya as its
candidate for the
seat, but he did not
file his nomination
its candidate from Banswara-Dungarpur. The BJP has
fielded Congress turncoat
and former Minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya
in the constituency.
The emergence of the
Bharatiya Tribal Party
(BTP), followed by the BAP,
has posed a challenge to
both the Congress and the
BJP in Banswara, Udaipur,
Dungarpur and Pratapgarh
districts. The BAP came up
on the electoral scene in
the State in 2023, winning
three Assembly seats in
Banswara and Dungarpur
districts.
The BAP emerged as a
splinter group from the
Gujarat-based BTP, with
most of its leaders having
been associated with the
BTP earlier. The BTP had
won two seats in the 2018
Assembly
election.
Mr. Roat, a two-time MLA,
is known for his strong
views on the rights of tribal
people in the Tribal SubPlan area and reservation
for the tribal communities.
Immediately after the
Congress declared Mr. Bamaniya as its candidate
Thursday morning, Mr.
Roat posted a message on
X, asking the party to reconsider its decision. “If
Congress leaves the Banswara-Dungarpur seat in
the INDIA bloc and supports BAP, we and all the
voters here will be grateful
to the [Congress] high command and will ensure the
BJP’s defeat,” he said.
‘Pact still possible’
According to the sources in
the Pradesh Congress Committee, there is a possibility
of entering into a pact with
the BAP till the last date for
withdrawal of nominations.
The Congress has the
option of not giving the
party symbol to Mr. Damor
and extending support to
Mr. Roat till April 8, when
the candidates can take
back their names.
The Banswara-Dungarpur seat will witness a
triangular fight if Mr. Damor remains in the contest.
ing in trains like Vande
Bharat,” Mr. Modi said.
Mr. Kumar, who shared
the stage with Mr. Modi at
the Jamui event, reiterated
that he would “not go
anywhere from here”, in
an implicit acknowledgement that he has previously left the NDA several
times.
Meanwhile, RJD leader
Shivanand Tiwary on
Thursday expressed bewilderment over PM’s charge
that the party had “opposed” Bharat Ratna for
Karpoori Thakur.
(With PTI inputs)
The Left Front’s attempts to
forge an electoral understanding with the Indian
Secular Front (ISF) for the
Lok Sabha poll in West Bengal fell flat on Thursday,
with the latter announcing
candidates for 14 seats.
However,
ISF
MLA
Naushad Siddique, who
had earlier made tall claims
about contesting from the
Diamond Harbour seat
against Trinamool Congress’s Abhishek Banerjee,
backed out of the contest.
The party has fielded Majnu Laskar from the seat. It
has also nominated a candidate, Noor Alam Khan,
from Jadavpur, where the
Left Front has fielded Srijan
Bhattacharya. While Mozammel Haque will contest
as ISF candidate from Balurghat, Mofiqul Islam is
the party’s nominee from
Uluberia, and lawyer Jamir
Hossain is in fray from Barrackpore. Announcing the
candidates, ISF leader
Naushad Siddique blamed
the Left Front, saying that
his party wanted the alliance to materialise but “it
seemed those who talk
about secular alternatives
have people from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Surjewala
Shinde Sena drops
summoned
sitting MPs in Hingoli, for ‘indecent’
comments
Yavatmal-Washim
against Hema
Shoumojit Banerjee
PUNE
The ruling Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena faction is facing trouble over its candidate selection.
On Thursday, the party
dropped its sitting Hingoli
MP Hemant Patil, whose
name had already been announced, and replaced
him with Baburao Kadam
Kohlikar who filed his
nomination on Thursday.
The party also dropped
Bhavana Gawli, the fiveterm Sena MP from
Yavatmal-Washim.
In what is seen as a
move to placate Hemant
Patil, the Shinde Sena has
fielded his wife, Rajashri,
from Yavatmal-Washim,
which reportedly has upset Ms. Gawli. According to
sources, there was fierce
opposition from within the
party on fielding Mr. Patil
and Ms. Gawli this time.
Mr. Shinde, in a rally in
Hingoli in support of Mr.
Kohlikar, said, “We are
compelled to make some
adjustments in politics.
Everyone will get the justice and respect due to
them. Both Bhavana Gawli
and Hemant Patil should
According to sources,
there was fierce
opposition from
within the party on
fielding Hemant Patil
and Bhavana Gawli
rest assured on this count.”
Earlier, the Shinde-led
Sena had been compelled
to give up the Shirur Lok
Sabha seat to the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with Shivajirao
Adhalrao-Patil,
previously in the Shindeled Sena, now contesting
on the NCP symbol.
Mr. Shinde’s faction has
so far announced candidates for eight Lok Sabha
seats. It is being cautious
with the selection on other
seats. Though it has said it
would contest at least 16
seats, it is being cautious
on selection of candidates.
The party’s flip-flop over selection of candidates
did not go unnoticed with
Sena (Uddhav Thackeray)
leader Sanjay Raut quick to
react. He claimed that Mr.
Shinde was “under pressure from BJP” and hence
unable to decide on
candidates.
Katchatheevu: Foreign Secy. cited security interests to convince Karunanidhi
D. Suresh Kumar
CHENNAI
Ministry of External Affairs
(MEA) documents shared
with BJP State president K.
Annamalai recently under
the Right to Information
Act have no doubt established that the then Chief
Minister and DMK leader,
M. Karunanidhi, was taken
into confidence by the
Centre before India signed
an agreement with Ceylon
(now Sri Lanka) on the
Katchatheevu islet in 1974.
While this exposed Karunanidhi’s claim, during
his lifetime, that he was
not a party to the ceding of
Katchatheevu, the documents also reveal that the
Centre cited the country’s
security interests and a
weak legal case against Sri
Lanka to convince him
about the proposal to cede
the island.
The MEA (Historical Division) document, prepared by its Director B.K.
Basu, details the talks held
between the Chief Minister
and Foreign Secretary Kewal Singh in Madras on
June 19, 1974 in connection
with the question of Kachchativu (as spelt in the
records).
Singh explained to Karunanidhi the relative weak-
ness of India’s case for sovereignty
over
Kachchativu when compared to that of Ceylon.
Although the Raja of Ramnad had claimed that the
island belonged to him
from time immemorial,
“there is no document
which establishes his original title to the island”.
There was no map in
which the island had been
shown to be a part of India.
But Sri Lanka possessed direct evidence to establish
that Kachchativu was included within its territory
for several centuries.
Singh told the CM that
Sri Lanka, convinced of the
superiority of its case, and
aware of the shortcomings
of India’s case, “maintained a sustained pressure
on us to refer the issue to
the International Court of
Justice for a decision, if we
could not settle it bilaterally at an early date”. It wanted the issue to be settled by
June 1974.
Karunanidhi asked if the
issue could be kept pending for two years. However,
the Foreign Secretary cited
domestic and external
compulsions, favouring an
expeditious
settlement.
Among the domestic compulsions, he said, “in strictest confidence”, that oil
structures were reported
to have been located in the
area, and the Sri Lankan
side was presumably not
aware of this. If a settlement was delayed and
knowledge of the oil strike
became available, a settlement will become more intractable, he said.
Among the external
compulsions, he pointed
to the existence of a “very
strong pro-China lobby in
Sri Lanka”, which was eager to take advantage of any
misunderstanding
between India and Sri Lanka,
and which may be urging
them to refer the dispute
for arbitration or even go
Seat sharing
It is believed while the Left
Front leadership appeared
keen on having a pre-poll
understanding with the ISF
for Lok Sabha poll, State
Congress president Adhir
Ranjan Chowdhury didn’t
take much interest in reaching out to the party that was
launched by influential
Bengali cleric Abbas Siddiqui in 2021.
The Congress and the
Left Front have come to an
electoral understanding on
majority of the seats, with
the former having announced candidates for 23
seats and the latter declaring nominees on seven.
Although the Trinamool
Congress (TMC) is also a
part of the INDIA bloc, it is
going solo for all 42 seats in
the State. Political observers feel that the ISF fielding candidates separately
will help the TMC, which
was sceptical about the
former eating into the Muslim votes.
to the World Court to embarrass India.
“Any course other than
political
negotiations
would harm our national
interest and would augment influence of other foreign powers such as China
and adversely affect our security and economic interests,” he cautioned.
Karunanidhi told the Foreign Secretary that for obvious political reasons, he
could not be expected to
take a public stand in favour of it, but promised to
keep the reaction low-key.
(For the full report, visit
https://thlink.in/Katchatheevu)
The Foreign Secretary cited
certain domestic and external
compulsions, favouring a
speedy settlement.
The Hindu Bureau
GURUGRAM
The Haryana State Women
Commission on Thursday
issued summons against
senior Congress leader and
Rajya Sabha MP Randeep
Surjewala for making “indecent” comments against
actor-turned-politician Hema Malini during an election rally.
He was directed to be
present at the commission’s office in Panchkula
on April 9.
The MP made the alleged remarks at a rally in
support of the Congress
and Aam Aadmi Party’s
joint candidate and former
Rajya Sabha member Sushil Gupta. The video of his
purported speech was
widely shared on social
media.
‘Remarks distorted’
Mr. Surjewala, in a post on
his X account, however,
said the Bharatiya Janata
Party’s IT cell was in the
habit of “distorting and editing and spreading lies” to
divert the country’s attention from the Modi government’s “anti-youth, antifarmer and anti-poor” policies, and the conspiracy to
finish the Constitution.
“Listen to the full video
– I said: ‘We have great respect for Hema Maliniji because she is married to
Dharmendraji and is our
daughter-in-law’. My statement was only that everyone’s accountability be
fixed in public life be, it
Nayab Sainiji, or Khattarji
or myself’,” said Mr. Surjewala in his post.
Posting the controversial video on X, BJP’s Mandi Lok Sabha candidate
Kangana Ranaut said the
Congress had opened the
“shop of hatred” while it
was talking about the
“shop of love”. She said the
comments showed the
Congress leaders’s “frustration” and “exasperation” in the face of certain
defeat in the election.
Published by Nirmala Lakshman and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).
ISSN 0971 - 751X
CM
YK
A ND-NDE
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Hunger strike to seek Rupala’s
removal as BJP LS candidate
Modi slams corruption by State’s previous ‘Congress-RJD govt.’; accuses UPA of grabbing land in
lieu of railway jobs, but praises CM Nitish Kumar for his ‘blameless’ tenure as Railway Minister
in their midst”.
In Bengal, the Left Front
has a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress as
part of the Opposition’s INDIA coalition. It also had a
separate seat-sharing agreement with the ISF since the
2021 Assembly poll.
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
Death toll in
factory blast
rises to six
The Hindu Bureau
HYDERABAD
no Cong. Caste certificate
Congress-led UDF in Kerala ‘Why
flag in Rahul’s
rejects SDPI’s support in poll roadshow?’ case: Navneet Rana
Leader of Opposition says the party rejects majority and minority communalism; SDPI denies the
insinuation that it is a fundamentalist organisation and says it is a political party recognised by EC
the Congress and refrain
from contesting in the
UDF’s stronghold in Kerala. “No democratic entity
contesting election can afford to say we do not need
votes of any particular
group or another,” he said.
The Congress’s decision
to disavow the SDPI reportedly stemmed from the
IUML’s opposition and the
anxiety that any alliance
with the organisation
could imperil the UDF’s
support among Christians
and Hindus. The UDF reportedly felt that the 2010
Popular Front of India attack on a college teacher
on the charge of blasphemy remained stark in public memory.
The Hindu Bureau
KOCHI
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday
asked whether the Congress “feared” the BJP as
the flags of the party and
the Indian Union Muslim
League (IUML) were missing in the roadshow of incumbent MP Rahul Gandhi
ahead of the filing of his
nomination papers in
Wayanad on April 3.
“Has the Congress declined to a position where
it is even afraid of displaying its flag? Are they conceding to the demand of
the Sangh Parivar that the
Congress should relinquish
their tri-coloured flag,” Mr.
Vijayan asked.
“Is this not Congress
party’s cowardice for not
displaying the IUML flag at
the roadshow,” he asked.
and minority communalism. They were two sides
of the same coin. “Citizens
vote as individuals, and the
UDF hopes to get their endorsement on the merit of
its manifesto and political
agenda,” he said.
Speaking to a television
channel, SDPI State president Ashraf Moulavi denied the insinuation that
the SDPI was a fundamentalist organisation.
“The SDPI is a political
party recognised by the
Election Commission of India. It has more than 2,000
elected local body representatives nationwide and
is poised to contest 20 Lok
Sabha seats in different
parts of the country, except Kerala,” Mr. Moulavi
said.
Mr. Moulavi said the
UDF did not seek SDPI’s
support. After due deliberation, the SDPI made the
political decision to back
Bank scam: ex-MP
appears before ED
Sharmila to
campaign
from today
Kavitha seeks bail in excise
case, cites exception for women
The Hindu Bureau
The Hindu Bureau
The Hindu Bureau
KOCHI
KADAPA
NEW DELHI
P.K. Biju, former CPI(M) MP
from Alathur, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the
Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank money-laundering case here on
Thursday.
The agency had told the
special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court
here in September last that
Satheesh Kumar P., who
was arrested in connection
with the multi-crore scam,
Andhra Pradesh Congress
Committee president Y.S.
Sharmila Reddy will formally launch her campaign
in the Kadapa Lok Sabha
constituency from Badvel
Assembly segment on
April 5.
She is trying her luck for
the first time in the seat.
Her candidature is expected to turn the tide in
favour of the Congress,
which won the seat last in
the 2009 general election.
A Delhi court on Thursday
reserved its order on the
interim bail application
filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha, who was arrested in
a money laundering case
filed in connection with
the Delhi excise policy.
Appearing for Ms. Kavitha, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued
that the BRS leader should
receive the benefit of bail
under Section 45 of the
CID files
chargesheet
against TDP
chief Naidu
in skill case
The Hindu Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
he
Congress-led
United Democratic
Front (UDF) has rejected the support of the
Social Democratic Party of
India (SDPI) in the 2024
Lok Sabha election.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee acting
president M.M. Hassan and
Leader of the Opposition
V.D. Satheesan sought to
end the uncertainty over
accepting the support by
stating that the UDF leadership, in Wayanad on Wednesday, categorically rejected the SDPI’s support.
Mr. Satheesan said the
Congress rejected majority
T
P.K. Biju
had links with Mr. Biju.
However, Mr. Biju had
rejected the allegations,
while pointing out that he
had no links with any of the
accused in the scam.
V.D. Satheesan
K. Kavitha
Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Under this provision, an
accused can be granted
NEW DELHI/PUNE
The Supreme Court on
Thursday confirmed the
validity of the ‘Mochi’ caste
certificate of Lok Sabha MP
Navneet Kaur Rana, who
was recently announced as
the ruling Mahayuti’s candidate for the Amravati (reserved) constituency in
Maharashtra.
An independent candidate backed by the NCP in
2019, she filed her nomination on Thursday. Amravati
goes to polls on April 26.
A Bench headed by Justice J.K. Maheshwari set
aside a Bombay High Court
verdict of June 2021, which
had cancelled the caste
certificate on the ground
that it was obtained using
fabricated documents.
The High Court had concluded that she belonged
to the ‘Sikh-Chamar’ caste
and imposed a fine of ₹2
lakh on her. “The application (for caste certificate)
was made intentionally to
make a fraudulent claim to
enable Ms. Rana to contest
the election for the post of
Member of Parliament on a
seat reserved for a Scheduled Castes candidate,” it
had said.
The court had passed
the order on a plea seeking
cancellation of the certificate issued by the Mumbai
Deputy Collector’s office
on August 30, 2013 identifying her as a member of
the ‘Mochi’ community.
Shiv Sena leader Anandrao Adsul had filed a complaint with the Mumbai
District Caste Certificate
Scrutiny
Committee,
Navneet Rana takes out a rally
before filing her nomination
from the Amravati Lok Sabha
constituency on Thursday. ANI
which ruled in Ms. Rana’s
favour and validated the
certificate. He had then approached the High Court.
The complaint had alleged that Ms. Rana had
obtained the certificate
with the influence of her
husband, Ravi Rana, who
was a member of the Maharashtra Assembly.
Deputy Chief Minister
and BJP leader Devendra
Fadnavis said the ruling
was a tight slap on the faces of her detractors. “The
SC’s blessings have come
on the day Ms. Rana has
filed her nomination. On
counting day [ June 4], she
will get the public’s blessings and be elected with a
huge majority,” he said at a
massive rally for Ms. Rana
in Amravati on Thursday.
Thanking the apex court
for its decision, Ms. Rana
alleged that several political leaders had targeted
her merely because she
was “a woman who hailed
from an ordinary family of
a former Army man”.
The Hindu Bureau
HYDERABAD
GUNTUR
CM
YK
The Hindu Bureau
‘Telangana people’s safety
compromised under BRS rule’
Out for delivery
The Hindu Bureau
The Crime Investigation
Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh filed a chargesheet against former
Chief Minister and TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu and a few
others for alleged misappropriation of funds in the
skill development corporation case on Thursday.
As per sources, the CID
filed the chargesheet at the
third Additional Sessions
Judge-cum- Special Judge
for
ACB
cases
in
Vijayawada.
The CID named Mr. Naidu, Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, former Minister for
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship & Innovation Department, Ghanta
Subba Rao, the then MD &
CEO of APSSDC, Dr. K.
Lakshminarayana, a retired IAS officer and the
then Director of APSSDC,
and officials of Siemens,
DesignTech, PVSP Skillar
and others as accused in
the case.
The Supreme Court had
refused to quash the FIR in
the case.
Sources in CID said a copy of the findings of the
chargesheet was being submitted to the Enforcement
Directorate (ED) for action
at their end.
Meanwhile, the CID’s
SLP in the Supreme Court
seeking cancellation of the
bail granted to Mr. Naidu
by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh is listed for
hearing on April 16.
The CID placed before
the Supreme Court that the
family members of the accused were allegedly intimidating the officers by
showing a “red book.”
bail if two conditions are
satisfied. The first requires
the court having ground to
believe that the accused is
not guilty of the said offence and is not likely to
commit any offence while
on bail. The second is that
the accused is under the
age of 16 years, or is a woman, or is sick or infirm.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue
Court reserved order on
the plea for April 8.
The court had earlier
sent her to judicial custody
till April 9.
wins relief from SC
Postal staff displaying boxes of mangoes that they deliver at the doorstep in Bengaluru. Under the project that began in 2019, farmers from
Kolar, Chickballapur and nearby districts pack the fruits and bring them to the GPO, Bengaluru, for delivery within the city. K. MURALI KUMAR
Stating that the BRS government had become a
danger to society, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister
Bhatti Vikramarka said that
the ‘phone-tapping’ issue
had exposed how people’s
safety and freedom were
compromised by the BRS
leadership.
Mr. Vikramarka said
personal freedom is the
biggest right anyone can
demand in a democracy
but the BRS government
preferred to snoop into the
personal lives of people.
“They even wanted to listen to what a husband and
wife were discussing and
no section was spared,” he
alleged.
“The BRS leaders who
Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka addressing a
press conference at Tukkuguda on Thursday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
ruled for 10 years are responsible for past sins and
some of them are brushing
it off as a normal issue,” he
said while speaking to reporters at Tukkuguda on
Thursday.
He said the communication system, which was
supposed to be used for
national security, was used
by the BRS for personal
needs.
There are reports that
political leaders, film stars,
businessmen’s
phones
were tapped. “Who gave
you this right?” he asked.
Child who fell into
borewell rescued
Karnataka BJP leader adamant Veterinary student’s
on contesting as Independent father seeks CBI probe
The Hindu Bureau
The Hindu Bureau
BELAGAVI
SHIVAMOGGA
Satwik Mujagond, a 15month-old boy who had
fallen into an abandoned
borewell in Lachyan in Karnataka’s Vijayapura district, was rescued after a
20-hour operation that involved co-ordinated efforts
of multiple agencies.
Doctors have said that
the child is healthy.
The district administration began the standard
rescue procedure of digging a hockey stick-shaped
tunnel to reach the child
that had slipped to a depth
of about 17 ft.
“The borewell was dry
on top but there was some
water at the bottom. It is
fortunate that the child got
Former Karnataka Minister
and BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa, who returned from
Delhi disappointed after
being denied a meeting
with Home Minister Amit
Shah, has said he will visit
the national capital again if
he is invited but will not go
back on his decision to
contest as an Independent
from the Shivamogga Lok
Sabha constituency.
Mr. Eshwarappa told
mediapersons at his residence here on Thursday
that he went to Delhi on
Wednesday to honour the
invitation of Home Minister Amit Shah.
“I received a message
from Mr. Shah’s office that
The Hindu Bureau
Satwik Mujagonda
stuck in the middle,” said a
police officer.
“We estimated the distance using ropes and the
camera images. It was
around 16-17.5 ft. The parallel trench had to be deeper
than that. We could go only
up to 19 ft. Then, we began
creating a horizontal tunnel to reach the pipeline,”
said the officer.
K.S. Eshwarappa
there was no need for the
meeting. It was an indirect
message to me that I
should go ahead with my
plan to contest,” he said.
Mr. Eshwarappa said he
had been to Delhi to obey
the orders of seniors in the
party. “Now onwards, no
one will come forward for
negotiations. With the
blessings of the almighty,
the BJP in Karnataka will
be free from the stranglehold of one family,” he
said.
The former Minister
reiterated that he would
contest and visit Delhi after
winning the election to extend his support to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
As he landed at Shivamogga airport in the afternoon, his supporters welcomed him. A bike rally
was also held.
Meanwhile, Shivamogga
MP B.Y. Raghavendra said
Mr. Eshwarappa’s statements to the media before
leaving for Delhi must have
disappointed Mr. Shah,
and that led to the cancellation of the meeting.
KOCHI
Jayaprakash T., father of
J.S. Sidharthan who was recently found dead in his
hostel room on the Kerala
Veterinary and Animal
Sciences University campus in Pookode in Wayanad district, approached
the Kerala High Court on
Thursday seeking a directive to the State government to expedite steps to
hand over the probe into
his son’s death to the Central
Bureau
of
Investigation.
In his petition, Mr. Jayaprakash said the government had issued an order
granting consent for takeover of the probe by the
CBI. However, the government had not furnished
details of the case to the
agency. There was a conscious attempt to delay the
investigation. The delay
would facilitate the release
of the accused on bail and
filing of a shoddy chargesheet, ensuring their acquittal. Therefore, it was imperative that the probe is
taken over by the CBI without delay, he said.
The government wanted to create an impression
that it had conceded the request by the petitioner for
a CBI probe. At the same
time, the government also
wanted the CBI to turn
down its request for want
of material. As a result of
the delay in the investigation, the crucial material
evidence was destroyed
beyond recovery, the petitioner alleged.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
The death toll in the explosion inside SB Organics Limited, a bulk drugs manufacturing company in
Sangareddy district of Telangana, has risen to six.
Those who are injured
are receiving treatment at
various hospitals.
Of the 20 injured, 14 are
currently receiving treatment at MNR Hospital in
Sangareddy, while the remaining six have been referred to various private
hospitals.
Four persons were
killed on Wednesday when
a chemical reactor blew up
inside the factory. Officials
from the Fire department
said that the fire was chemical in nature and was triggered by an explosion inside the factory.
5
States
Delhi
THE HINDU
6
Friday, April 5, 2024
SPOTLIGHT
Delhi
When the guns fall
silent, the voices remain
Feared by those whose lives were upturned when his alleged gang members gunned down a family member and respected by many as the
man who helped people in need, gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s death last week shook eastern Uttar Pradesh in the way his life did.
Ishita Mishra and Sunalini Mathew report on the sentiment on the street in Purvanchal and the political fallout
hen Mukhtar Ansari’s body was
laid on a bier at his ancestral
home in Yusufpur Mohammadabad town of Ghazipur district,
Uttar Pradesh, for people to pay their last respects, Umar Ansari, 26, Mukhtar’s younger son,
twirled his father’s moustaches. It was a rare moment of physical proximity in a relationship
marked by distance. Through his life, Umar had
spent just a little over a year with his father, who
had been in jail since 2005, with 65 criminal cases against him, many for murder, extortion, and
benami properties allegedly worth ₹600 crore.
“He lived and was loved like a king. I wanted my
father to look like the hero that he is,” says Umar.
“He was the best father anyone could ever have.”
It is twilight, and insects buzz
around the light above Umar. He
asks one of the many helpers to put
it off, and sits crestfallen in semidarkness, on a veranda that extends
to a sprawling terrace of one of a series of homes owned by the extended family. At least 100 armed U.P.
police personnel surround the houses that are reached through one-carbroad lanes. A few visitors sit under
a tree with a large canopy after they
have broken the Ramzan fast.
Mukhtar, 63, died on March 28 afMukhtar Ansari, in the last days
ter he suffered a cardiac arrest in
of his life. ANI
Banda jail. He was elected as a legislator from the Mau Assembly constituency five times over, from 1996 to
2022, thrice from behind bars.
His family says he was killed. “My
father was poisoned,” says Umar,
whose older brother Abbas is in jail,
and mother Afsa is in hiding, after
being declared “wanted”.
Reacting to Mukhtar’s death, Akhilesh Yadav, chief of the Samajwadi
Party (SP), of which Afzal Ansari, 70,
Mukhtar’s older brother, is a member, attacked the BJP, saying that if a
government couldn’t protect lives, it
Afzal Ansari, older brother of
had no right to remain in power, and
Mukhtar Ansari. R.V. MOORTHY
that the death of a prisoner would
erode public confidence in the system. Afzal is contesting from Ghazipur in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, like he always has.
He is a two-time MP from the parliamentary constituency and five-time legislator from the Mohammadabad Assembly seat.
W
Home and community
In his office that occupies the ground floor of
their rambling phatak (door, signifying a home),
Afzal plays host to many groups of kurta-clad
men, who come to commiserate the loss of his
younger sibling. Afzal gets a call, and he puts it on
speaker mode. A man in Agra tells him how
deeply moved he was, hearing about Mukhtar’s
death. “I have not met you ever, but we are all in
pain with you, and we will reply to this injustice
in the elections soon,” he says, in a Lucknavi dialect, a Hindi-Urdu mix, unlike Mukhtar’s own language that had a sprinkling of Bhojpuri, typical of
Purvanchal, or eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Once he puts the phone down, Afzal leads the
CM
YK
He was a
masiha
(saviour)
of the poor.
Whoever
went to him,
he would
help —
whatever
was needed,
whether it
was money,
or help with
getting
pensions
released
RAM VILAS
YADAV
Resident of
Yusufpur
Mohammadabad
conversation with a step-by-step account from
March 19, when Mukhtar reportedly fell sick the
first time, to the day of his death. He refers to a
conversation, which has gone viral, that Umar
had with Mukhtar hours before his death, where
the son reassures the father, whose voice is feeble, that everything would be alright soon.
“Mukhtar himself had said in court that he
was given poison in his food on March 19. The
court had asked the jail administration for a report on this,” Afzal says. “The jail authorities assured us that he is being given treatment, but
when he called us the last time, his voice was
enough to tell he wasn’t well.”
Afzal deftly swerves the conversation towards
his own political career, giving a year-by-year account of his beginnings with the Communist Party of India (CPI). He interlaces it with Mukhtar’s
political win, making sure to add that the first FIR
against him was in college, when he got caught in
the crossfire between his Bhumihar friends, who
had a property dispute with the Thakurs.
“When any person, either from lower castes
or a minority community, becomes big in society, people do everything to pull him down. That’s
what happened with Mukhtar,” says the politician from Ghazipur, a town with unplastered, unpainted houses and a clothes store called AK 47:
The Trend War.
Afzal, Mukhtar, and their eldest brother, Sibgatullah, started the Quami Ekta Dal in 2010,
which subsequently merged with the SP, though
Mukhtar did not join them.
The high walls of his office are lined with pictures of his political lineage: a 12-foot group photo of the 14th Lok Sabha, of which he was a part,
CPI comrades, and a few distinguished relatives:
Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, the Congress’s president in 1927; Brigadier Mohammad Usman Ansari, referred to as the ‘Lion of Nowshera’; and Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India.
Afzal speaks of his brother’s love for fourwheel drives, 786 as a favourite vehicle number,
and cricket (he met his wife at a match). He also
declares that they are a zamindari family with
lands and shops from which they collect rent,
their source of income. He declines having guns
anymore.
A group of fat lizards swarms around a tube
light, eating insects for dinner.
Political and social clout
A stone’s throw from the home is the family graveyard, set in a fruit orchard with mango and
guava trees. Mukhtar was buried here on March
30, amid large crowds and high security.
A day later, at sundown, the dusty earth is being watered by Afroz Ansari, the caretaker. Everything smells of petrichor and roses. There are
12 headstones here, the earliest of Ilyas Ansari
dating back to 1907.
Shailendra Kumar, a schoolteacher who is
new in town, is visiting the grave with his wife
and child. “Bahut suna hai inke baare me (I have
heard a lot about him),” says Kumar, who has no
opinion on whether Mukhtar was a ‘saviour’ or
‘sinner’, but is simply curious about his life.
In his bio on the U.P. Assembly website, Mukhtar’s “special interests” are listed as protecting
Dalits, the poor, maintaining quami (community)
unity and brotherhood, tourism, and sports.
In his book, India: A Portrait, British writer Patrick French quotes Mukhtar as saying, “I like Mahatma Gandhi, but if non-violence is not working, I say, ‘Laton ke bhoot baton se nahin maante
(If a devil isn’t listening to you, you have to give
him a kick)’.” He also talks about the minorities
being “subject to the injustice of the Congress
party”, that he gives all his money to the people
of Mau, and how he only fought the powerful. On
Mau’s bumpy streets though, there are few job
opportunities and no large hospitals.
In fact, in 2009, then Chief Minister Mayawati
from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which
stands for the rights of religious and social minorities in U.P., called him a Robin Hood, asking people to vote for him. In the fickle world of politics
though, in 2021, she refused him a ticket to contest polls, saying mafia dons would not be tolerated, despite him winning twice on a BSP ticket.
Just a year before his death, Mukhar had approached a lower court in Barabanki district with
a plea to restrain people and the media from calling him “mafia don” and “bahubali”.
The day after the burial, Afroz says All India
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin
Owaisi visited the grave at 2 a.m. Owaisi had said
earlier, “What the government machinery did
with Mukhtar Ansari… is condemnable…. The
U.P. government is on the path of anarchy. There
is no such thing as law anymore.”
Outside the cemetery, Ram Vilas Yadav, who
lives nearby, says, “He was a masiha (saviour) of
the poor. Whoever went to him, he would help —
whether they needed money, or help with getting
pensions released.”
The survivors speak
When Manju Singh, 50, heard the news of Mukhtar’s death on television, her legs turned to jelly.
“I began shaking, and I just had to sit on the
floor,” she says, adding that it took her back to August 29, 2009, when Mukhtar’s alleged gang
members shot dead her husband, Ajay Pratap
Singh alias Manna, in broad daylight. “Everyone
just ran towards him, and I remember running
too, but he was dead,” she says.
He lived and was loved like a king. I wanted
my father to look like the hero that he is. He
was the best father anyone could ever have
UMAR ANSARI
Mukhtar Ansari’s son
“He refused to give him [Mukhtar] his hardearned money and was killed for that,” says Manju, who claims Mukhtar demanded 10% on a property deal. She opened the Angel’s Learning Garden school a few years after her husband’s death.
In fear, her two children had to go underground,
and lived that way for some years. She is still
fighting to get him implicated in court.
Mukhtar was named as an accused in the murder cases of BJP legislator Krishnanand Rai in
2005, and Avdhesh Rai, the brother of current
State Congress chief Ajay Rai, in 1991.
After Mukhtar’s death, Alka Rai, Krishnanand’s wife, visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple
in Varanasi, and spoke to the media, saying she
was thankful to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for justice
served after 18 years. Alka had accused both Mukhtar and Afzal of the murder of her husband,
though they were acquitted in 2019.
However, Ajay called for a thorough investigation into Mukhtar’s death, as did Mayawati. Mukhtar was also accused of the abduction and murder of coal tycoon Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997,
and the Mau riots in 2005.
On the street
In Mau, Shyam Sundar Sonkar, a lawyer, regrets
that he could never thank Mukhtar in person.
“He helped me get treatment for blood cancer at
subsidised rates at PGI, Lucknow,” he says.
In Yusufpur Mohammadabad’s crowded market, where large, loose whorls of sevaiya spill out
of shops, Vinod Gupta, who runs an Ayurvedic
pharmacy, feels that the ‘downfall’ of Mukhtar
began soon after the Adityanath-led BJP government came to power in 2017. “They have zero tolerance for criminals, and this ensured that all
cases against Mukhtar were prosecuted properly,” he says, echoing the official BJP line.
Ashok Singh of the BJP, who lost against Abbas
in the 2022 Assembly election, says, “If they want
to call the action against him slow poison, yes, it
was. Both the BSP (in power in 2007) and SP governments (1993, 2003, 2012) always hid his cases, which is why he continued to contest and win
from jail. Yogiji ensured that the trials in his cases
picked up pace,” says Ashok. Mukhtar was convicted in eight cases over the last 18 months of his
life, including two life sentences.
At a rally in Agra on April 3, Adityanath said,
triumphantly, “Ab to gunde jail jaane se bhi dar
rahe hain (Now, criminals fear even going to jail).”
Over the past couple of years, the U.P. police
have identified 297 people associated with Mukhtar, and booked them in various cases. Properties worth over ₹208 crore were seized from him
under the U.P. Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986. Dozens of illegal properties in possession of his aides were allegedly
demolished by the State administration. Illegal
businesses worth over ₹215 crore have been shut
by the State in the last two years.
Shahid Javed alias Lahiri, whose school was
demolished by the Mau administration, allegedly
because he was one of Mukhtar’s aides, says people in Mau and Ghazipur feel that they have lost
their ‘son’. “Mukhtar would promote people of
all communities, and most of his aides were Thakurs and Brahmins, he says, adding, “Inki maut se
pradesh mein Musalmaan zaroor ek honge (With
his death, the Muslims will unite).” Muslims constitute 27% of the population in Ghazipur and
20% in Mau, as per the 2011 Census.
Outside the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Mahendra Singh and his family wait to enter, because
the premises have been sealed off until Acharya
Devvrat, the Governor of Gujarat, finishes his
darshan. Mahendra is happy that Mukhtar is
dead. “Society doesn’t need gangster-politicians,” says the BJP voter, unaware that last year
the SP chief had questioned Adityanath on the
number of cases against him that had been withdrawn, simply because he was in power.
In the tug of war of U.P. politics, where religion, caste, and crime play vital roles, Mukhtar’s
death is being used by various parties to suit their
own political narratives.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Final resting place: The graveyard of the Ansari family in Yusufpur Mohammadabad town of Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, where Mukhtar Ansari was buried on March 30. R.V. MOORTHY
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
7
metroPLUS
Delhi
were present on set throughout the
process. The technology has
improved so much to do live
recordings. There are training
centres, new gadgets have come in
and technicians and engineers are
now more aware of this stuff.
X
AR Rahman and
Imtiaz Ali discuss
their combustible
partnership of
many years and
creating the
Punjab-flavoured
album for Amar
Singh Chamkila
Powerful (Clockwise) Parineeti
Chopra and Diljit Dosanjh in a still
from Amar Singh Chamkila; director
Imtiaz Ali and music maestro AR
Rahman. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Punjabi and Sindhi songs. Someone
played me Chamkila’s recordings
eight or nine years ago when they
wanted to make a film on him.
There’s also Sunrise Radio in
London, that has a lot of old
Punjabi music. I used to fast early
in the morning during my time in
London listening to Sunrise Radio.
So the album of Chamkila is a
culmination of all these influences.
Teaming
up after a decade
shilajit.mitra@thehindu.co.in
nce sage and wide-eyed
disciple, AR Rahman
and Imtiaz Ali have
drawn closer over the
years. It is now an easy, open
friendship, they say as they settle
down to discuss their latest
collaboration, Amar Singh
Chamkila. Few prospects in
contemporary Hindi cinema are as
readily exciting as an
Imtiaz-Rahman team-up.
Their last was Tamasha (2015), a
well-loved romance with an
enduring soundtrack, and before
that Highway (2014) and the angsty,
iconic Rockstar (2011). Like the
ringleader of a thrilling heist,
Imtiaz has assembled the old crew
for Chamkila — besides Rahman,
lyricist Irshad Kamil and singer
Mohit Chauhan have jammed on
the album.
Set in the tumultuous 1980s, the
O
Glass waste reborn
Artistic utility items like table lamps, drinking glasses
and soap dispensers are fashioned from old alcohol
bottles under Kavi, The Poetry-Art Project
Nayantara Singh
nayantara.singh@thehindu.co.in
ome liquor bottles are just too
beautiful to throw away. Many
times, they sit in a desolate
corner of the kitchen, collecting dust
long after they have been emptied.
More than a decade ago, much before
the concept of ‘upcycling’ became
trendy, Madhuri Balodi and Amit Singh
began repurposing things that had
seemingly outlived their functionality.
Their venture Kavi, The Poetry-Art
Project, is the first of its kind in India,
with its humble beginnings dating
back to 2012. “We started with ₹2,000
in our pockets and a big dream,” says
Madhuri. They began turning empty
liquor bottles into table lamps, and
then, drinking glasses, by utilising the
base of the bottle. Today, Kavi’s
website boasts a wide array of
upcycled products, ranging from soap
dispensers fashioned out of Old Monk
bottles to tableware like bowls and
platters made from Bombay Sapphire
gin discards.
S
The process
“We began with a hit-and-trial method
and soon had new ideas; we kept
experimenting and expanding our
line,” says Madhuri. When asked about
new products in the pipeline, she says
that it depends on creativity and new
ideas from customers. “We can try
anything; The possibilities of
transforming something that one
initially considers garbage are actually
limitless,” she adds.
Most of their raw material comes
from wholesalers and rag-pickers. “We
have, over the years, created an
ecosystem of about 200 rag-pickers
from whom we collect bottles
discarded by households,” says
Madhuri. Kavi pays
the kabadiwalas (scrap
dealers) well above
what they typically
receive, to include
them as stakeholders
in the brand’s vision.
The work begins
with basic quality
control, followed by a
CM
YK
musical biopic stars Diljit Dosanjh
as legendary Punjabi folk singer
Amar Singh Chamkila. Parineeti
Chopra essays Chamkila’s wife and
singing partner Amarjot.
Known for his frank, playful
lyrics that cast an uncanny spell
over the masses, Chamkila was
slain, along with Amarjot, by
unidentified gunmen in
Mehsampur in Punjab in 1988.
Their deaths have remained a
mystery.
Excerpts from an interview
Question: Rahman sir, you recently
described Amar Singh Chamkila as a
‘very naughty picture’ from Imtiaz.
Could you elaborate?
ARR: A sense of mischief or
naughtiness is there in all of us.
Without humour, life will be
boring. When Imtiaz approached
me for this film, I told him
Chamkila’s songs already existed.
What am I going to do? So I came
up with the idea of making it like a
Broadway musical, with people
Q: What was the process of
researching the tunes for Chamkila?
ARR: We invited musicians from
Punjab to my studio in Mumbai.
There were four male singers and
eight-nine female singers. We were
jamming and having fun for a
couple of days. I sampled a lot of
traditional instruments like the
alghoza and the tumbi.
Chamkila’s music is in Punjabi
and it’s quite esoteric. We knew we
had to broaden the span of the
musicality and sound for the film;
Chamkila’s original songs we have
left untampered and pure.
For me, Punjabi music is not just
bhangra. I have heard Nusrat
Fateh Ali Khan saab’s qawwalis
and old archival recordings of
쑺 Stage play
STEPOUT
쑺 Diverse cultures
Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya has curated
Paris-based artist Anju Chaudhury’s works
in a solo show titled Paysage Ephemerale.
The artist’s masterful brushstrokes
capture the essence of human life and the
unifying power of art and culture.
At Art Magnum, 60/2C 3rd Floor, IOC
Complex, Yusuf Sarai; Till April 10; 11am
to 7pm
쑺 A celestial
Based on Ismat Chughtai’s Dozakh, Tasmeen Khan has
written and directed Darmiyaan, to be presented by Three
Arts Club, Katyayani and Walking Art.
At The Theatre, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Colony; On
April 5; 7pm; Entry free
쑺 An ode in dance
Ram Aagaman, a dance
programme by Shovana
Narayan and Asavari
Repertory, will be followed by
two talks on Following the footsteps of Sri Ram by Kishwar
Desai and Darshan of Sri Ram by Alka Pande.
At Kamani Auditorium, Copernicus Marg; April 9; 7pm
journey
Artist Divyaman
Singh new series of
artworks, The
Divine Elements
Vol-I, is a journey
through intersection
of astronomy, earthly elements and
spirituality. Curated by Shahzada Khurram,
it is a unique exploration of the cosmic and
the earthly realms through the lens of
artistic expression.
At Kalamkar Gallery, Bikaner House Main
Building First Floor; April 5 to 8; 11.30am to
7pm
A journey of flavours
X
Out-of-the-box Madhuri Balodi and Amit
Singh, founders of Kavi, The Poetry-Art
project; the Old Monk platter made by them
from waste glass bottles. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
clean-up that includes buffing and
polishing the glassware until it is
repurposed into stoppered jars,
planters, and tea light holders. It has
also expanded into products made
from materials like cork and seed
paper. While those products are not
technically upcycled, Madhuri says the
result is completely sustainable and
biodegradable. The grain is sourced
from Spain and Portugal and made
into cork sheets, which are then
turned into coasters, stoppers, and
even engraved yoga mats.
Kavi also offers custom services to
people who have a large array of
empty bottles but no idea what to do
with them. The service, cheekily titled
‘BYOB - Bring Your Own Bottle’, is
available to everybody across India.
People can courier their old glassware
to Kavi’s Noida workshop and choose a
bespoke design.
“We run a pick-and-drop service for
those in Delhi-NCR, and charge a
nominal fee of ₹200 to
pick up the
glassware,
brainstorm about the
final design, and
deliver the finished
product,” says
Madhuri.
Kavi’s workshop is at
D46, Sector 6, Noida;
10am to 7pm
Mumbai’s Copper Chimney, popular for its North Indian
cuisine for five decades, is now dishing out its classic butter
chicken masala, paneer tikka, and biryani in Delhi
Soma Basu
soma.basu@thehindu.co.in
his is a story from the
Seventies: when a rumali
roti went wrong at the
hands of a chef of a newlyopened restaurant in Mumbai
and the owner got down to
fixing the disaster.
Apparently the chef flipped
the rumali roti on the griddle
and forgot about it! What was
meant to be a soft roti turned
crisp, crunchy and biscuit-like.
The owner came to the rescue
with an innovative solution.
He asked the chef to slather
the roti with butter, spread a
layer of chopped onions, tomato
and coriander over it and top it
with a medley of flavourful
spices and sesame seeds.
Kadak rumali was thus born
accidentally in the kitchen of
Copper Chimney (CC) started by
Mumbai film distributor J K
Kapoor and ever since, the
paper thin roti roasted on an
inverted tawa and layered with
masalas has become an integral
part of its signature menu.
T
Story behind recipes
The story of kadak rumali is
shared with customers while
taking orders, and the item sells
out.
X
Riding on popularity The chelo kebab served at Copper
Chimney; culinary editor Shikha Nath. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
“Diners love it as a starter,”
says Shikha Nath, the culinary
editor since 1997, who was in
Delhi to assess the public
response to the first outlet in the
capital, after CC’s presence in
Gurugram, Chennai, Pune,
Bengaluru, Kuwait, Kuala
Lumpur and London.
Shikha is full of stories about
tweaked dishes, which she
compiled into an Autograph
menu for the restaurant for its
golden jubilee in 2022. “It has
dishes that were created or
modified to suit palates by
Kapoor out of his love for food,”
she says.
Shikha, is working on a book
Q: Imtiaz, is Chamkila a return to
your roots as a filmmaker?
Imtiaz: Making this film was a fresh
experience for me. For the first
time, I wasn’t writing from
imagination but from research.
Instead of dreaming up a scene, the
fun for me was to discover it from
the conversations I was having with
people.
The turmoil in Punjab in the
1980s had a devastating impact on
Chamkila’s life. For me as a
filmmaker, to not opine or
comment on it is one thing but to
not know it is unpardonable.
ARR: I feel Imtiaz has reinvented
himself. As an artist, if one does the
same thing again and again, they
will have more trouble doing
something fresh. But if you take
your artistry and energy to another
place, it forces you to think
differently. That’s when it
becomes refreshing for the
audience. The moment they
start predicting you, you
become boring.
that contains many
such interesting
nuggets about CC from
the day it was inaugurated at
Mumbai’s Kalaghoda by actor
Dilip Kumar in 1972.
“Kapoor wove his passion for
food with his personal
memories of undivided India’s
cuisine and the kitchens of
refugees,” says Shikha. “I am a
foodie but never thought food
could be my career until I met
him; I learnt the nuances of
traditional food from him and
built upon his culinary legacy
that steers clear of any fusion
and artificial colours,” she adds.
There are a lot of memories
attached to CC’s heirloom
recipes and the special garam
masala made with 19 ingredients
by Kapoor that has been handed
down to successive generations.
In search of a lost legacy
The main ustads, who have been
with the group for four decades
drive the success of CC as they
constantly work on the brand’s
forte — the revival of lost spices,
recipes and flavours of the
North-West Frontier and India
before Partition.
Injecting new energy into the
way Delhi savours Punjabi food,
the CC outlet in Rajouri Garden
is dishing out regular fare
including all-time favourites
butter chicken masala, paneer
tikka, sarson ka saag with makai
ki roti, kali daal, jeera
aloo, namkeen
matthi, biriyani,
and a range of
naans.
Try the
chicken bharta
(minced chicken),
Barniwala achari
mutton (rustic
mutton on bones
cooked with onions and
pickling spices) inspired by the
local dhabas of Jalandhar and
the karari nimona tikkis.
I give a perfect score to the
chelo kebab (butter and
cream-rich rice pudding
crowned with spicy and smoked
kebab chunks).
Copper Chimney, Unit GF-06,
Vishal Complex District Centre,
Shivaji Place, Rajouri Garden;
12pm to 4pm and 6.30pm to
11pm. Cost for two: ₹2,000
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Shilajit Mitra
passing comments on Chamkila’s
life and music like they do today on
YouTube. All the gossip could
become a song.
Imtiaz Ali: Irshad Kamil, who is
from Punjab, had exposed me to
naughty Punjabi lyrics over the
years. Interestingly, most of them
turned out to be female songs. For
instance, the track ‘Naram Kaalja’ is
derived from an old traditional
Punjabi song that goes, mera naram
kaalja tarke (‘my soft heart spices
up’). I liked it because Chamkila too
sang naughty and mischievous
songs that explained why he was so
popular with women.
Q: There’s also this element of live
recording that you have introduced.
Imtiaz: When we were shooting
Rockstar, we used to play almost
the entire song — ‘Sadda Haq’, let’s
say — and have Ranbir Kapoor and
the rest of the cast performing to it.
For the audience, the experience
was as though they were watching
a concert. The difference of course
was that the music was
pre-recorded and the actors were
miming it. This time, there’s a big
jump because we have Diljit and
Parineeti actually singing their
portions with accompanying
musicians. It is a sync-sound
approach to recording music. Of
course, Rahman sir had trained
them beforehand to build the
necessary confidence.
ARR: My music producer, Hiral
Viradia, and the rest of the team
Q: How do you communicate while
creating music? Is it very technical or
more philosophical and abstract?
Imtiaz: Rahman sir uses quite
casual, ordinary language. The
larger communication is through
the tunes itself. When good music
is playing, everything is
understood. Music is something
that can’t be explained in words or
symbols.
ARR: If we are having a jam session
and I have an idea, I just play it to
him and he responds. I don’t need
to tell him I am going to use a D flat
ninth or sharp 13th (laughs). He has
this amazing ability to spot
melodies that vibe with the movie.
Personally, I don’t like to be tied to
the theme of a movie. I like to go
wild and see how my directors
react.
THE HINDU
8
Friday, April 5, 2024
Editorial
Delhi
Revisit these sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
Overkill
Verification of a statistically significant
sample of VVPAT slips should suffice
T
Wide open
India has a strong contingent at the
Candidates chess tournament
C
andidates is a familiar word in these times
of a general election, but over the next
three weeks, it will appear regularly on the
sports pages of newspapers as well, across the
world. The opening move of the Candidates chess
tournament was made in Toronto late on Thursday (IST). It is the mind game’s biggest event of
the year, and its winners — in the open and the
women’s sections — will be eligible to compete for
the World championship. China’s Ding Liren and
Ju Wenjun are the reigning world champions.
They, along with the rest of the chess world, will
have their eyes set on the Canadian city to find out
who will emerge as the challenger from among
the men and women there. The country that will
follow the tournament with the keenest interest
could well be India. For, five out of the 16 contestants, eight each in either section, are Indians. R.
Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi
are fighting it out in the open tournament, while
Koneru Humpy and R. Vaishali are competing in
the women’s tournament. Remember, only one
Indian has played in this prestigious event (open)
before — Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world
champion, continues to be an inspiration. India’s
conspicuous presence is a fair indication of how
strong it has become in world chess. More proof is
provided by the latest World rankings, in which
the highest ranked Indian (No. 9), Arjun Erigaisi,
is not even playing at the Candidates.
None of the Indians started as a favourite in the
open event of the Candidates, though. Two Americans, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura,
are the strongest players in Toronto. They are
ranked second and third, behind Magnus Carlsen,
who has opted out of the World championship cycle, citing a lack of motivation. Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi is another major contender, having
won the tournament’s last two editions. Alireza
Firouzja, the Iranian-born French player, is another player the Indian men have to be wary of.
Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh are still in their
teens, and this is likely to be only their first Candidates — they are more than capable of surprising
the toughest of fields, as they showed at the Chess
Olympiad and the World Cup. Koneru Humpy is
by far the most experienced Indian in Toronto. A
former World Rapid champion, she is one of the
main contenders in the women’s tournament.
Vaishali, Praggnanandhaa’s elder sister, is one of
the world’s fastest improving female players. The
women’s tournament, which features the former
World champion Tan Zhongyi of China, looks
more open.
CM
YK
R.K. Vij
is a former Indian
Police Service officer
The sections on
reporting of a
fatal accident,
petty organised
crime, theft and
human
trafficking
have flaws
public examination question papers” are not
linked with any special Act. However, the phrase
‘any other similar criminal acts’ of the section is
more indefinite and open-ended. While theft and
snatching prescribe imprisonment of up to three
years (Section 303 of the BNS), theft in a dwelling
house or means of transportation gets up to
seven years (Section 305 of the BNS), and theft
after preparation made for causing death, hurt or
restraint in order to commit theft gets up to 10
years (Section 307 of the BNS). Similarly, cheating
provides for imprisonment from three years to
seven years (Section 318 of the BNS).
Therefore, what will fall within the range of
‘any other similar criminal acts’ is unspecified.
Similar criminal acts, inter alia, could include
criminal breach of trust, criminal
misappropriation of property, and receiving
stolen property. However, the sentence for these
offences varies from two years to 10 years.
Obviously, an offence punishable with up to 10
years of imprisonment cannot be called a petty
crime, particularly when the maximum sentence
provided for a petty organised act is seven years.
Therefore, unless some specific maximum limit
of sentence is prescribed, this provision may not
stand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. It is
important to mention that Section 66A of the
Information Technology Act, 2000 was struck
down by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal vs
Union of India (2015) as it found the expression
“grossly offensive” used in the Section to be
open-ended, undefined and vague.
Property theft, a specific value
Third, the offence of theft, as provided for under
proviso to Sub-section (2) of Section 303 of the
BNS, also needs to be revisited. The proviso to the
sub-section says that ‘provided that in cases of
theft where the value of the stolen property is
less than five thousand rupees, and a person is
convicted for the first time, shall on the return of
the value of property or restoration of the stolen
property, shall be punished with community
service’. The First Schedule to the Bharatiya
Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) categorises the
offence under this category as a non-cognisable
offence.
While making theft of any moveable property
of less than ₹5,000 a non-cognisable offence may
reduce the workload of the police, this may raise
some complications that are both legal and
practical. First, in cities and towns, while the
value of ₹5,000 may not impact the pocket of a
well-off person, it is a huge sum for say a daily
wage earner. Think of a student whose bicycle is
stolen and the police refusing to file a first
information report, being a non-cognisable case.
He may not be able to afford approaching a court
for justice, thus feeling totally helpless. It is
known that bicycles are distributed even by the
governments to students under welfare schemes
to encourage them to pursue school and even
college education. Second, if property offences,
of whatever value, are not registered, property
offenders will be out of the police radar for
surveillance unless they are found to be involved
in some other cognisable offence. Legal issues
may also arise with regard to the return of such
property if recovered with some other stolen or
looted property.
Third, if the stolen property of value less than
₹5,000 is not returned or restored by the convict
as provided for, the only option available with the
court will be to award imprisonment which may
extend up to three years — as provided for other
cases of thefts (of higher value) in the first
paragraph of Sub-section (2) of Section 303,
categorised as a cognisable offence in the First
Schedule to the BNSS. The interplay between the
two parts of the sub-section is intricate. While
this obfuscation may be removed by tweaking the
definition and adding alternate punishment for
such cases for which the value of stolen property
is not returned, or the stolen property is not
restored, making theft of property of any value a
cognisable offence (which would require only a
minor change in the First Schedule to the BNSS)
will resolve other stated issues of legal and
practical implications as well.
No discretion to judiciary
Section 303 of the Indian Penal Code pertaining
to ‘punishment for murder by life-convict’ was
struck down as being void and unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court in Mithu vs State of Punjab
(1983). One of the grounds of unconstitutionality
was that it gave no discretion to the judiciary and,
hence, the law was not just, fair, and reasonable
within the meaning of Article 21 of the
Constitution.
Section 303 of the IPC has been restored in the
form of Section 104 of the BNS, by removing the
defect for which it was held unconstitutional.
Section 104 of the BNS now provides for either
death punishment or imprisonment for life,
which shall mean the remainder of that person’s
natural life.
However, Sub-sections (6) and (7) of Section
143 of the BNS which punish trafficking of a child
on more than one occasion and trafficking of a
person by a public servant or a police officer
respectively, and provide only for life
imprisonment (which shall mean the remainder
of that person’s natural life) under both
provisions, also seem to suffer from the same
illegality as they do not provide any discretion to
the judiciary to award punishment.
In view of these points, sub-section (2) of
Section 106, Section 112, sub-section (2) of Section
303, and sub-sections (6) and (7) of Section 143 of
the BNS (which seem to have serious legal and/or
constitutional and practical consequences) need
to be revisited before they become operational.
The views expressed are personal
Universities must budge on college autonomy nudge
T
he National Education Policy 2020
envisions a future where colleges will
evolve into autonomous institutions,
enhancing their capacity for innovation,
self-governance, and academic freedom. To
realise this goal, the University Grants
Commission (UGC) launched a new regulation in
April 2023. Since then, the response from
colleges seeking autonomous status has been
unprecedented — 590 applications.
Granting autonomy to colleges is essential for
promoting innovation, enhancing academic
quality, and fostering institutional excellence.
Autonomous colleges can tailor their curriculum
to meet the evolving needs of students and
industries. They can experiment with new
teaching methodologies and research initiatives,
driving the frontiers of knowledge and
contributing to societal development.
Further, autonomy fosters a culture of
accountability and responsibility among colleges,
as they assume greater ownership of their
academic and administrative decisions. This
empowerment enhances institutional efficiency
and cultivates a sense of pride and identity within
colleges, in turn motivating faculty and staff to
strive for excellence.
Rankings prove a point
The National Institutional Ranking Framework
(NIRF) of 2023 suggests a compelling case for the
effectiveness of autonomy in enhancing the
performance of colleges in India. In the ‘Colleges
Category’, with 55 out of the top 100 colleges
being autonomous institutions, the NIRF rankings
offer insights into the positive consequence of
autonomy on academic excellence and
institutional effectiveness.
Besides, in the top 10 colleges of the NIRF
Rankings of 2023 from the college category, five
are autonomous colleges. Having half the top
spots occupied by autonomous colleges
significantly strengthens the case for autonomy as
a successful approach to achieving academic
excellence. Higher education in India is
Mamidala
Jagadesh Kumar
is Chairman,
University Grants
Commission and
former
Vice-Chancellor,
Jawaharlal Nehru
University
Universities
need to address
the concerns of
colleges as
autonomy does
have a
transformative
effect on higher
education
witnessing a marked trend towards establishing
autonomous colleges, with the number soon
expected to reach 1,000 across 24 States and
Union Territories. States such as Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and
Telangana stand out for their many autonomous
colleges, with over 80% of the total count.
The presence of autonomous colleges in States
with varying numbers, such as Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab
and West Bengal underscores a nationwide
interest in exploring the potential of autonomy to
enhance institutional effectiveness. Even in
regions with comparatively fewer autonomous
institutions, there is growing realisation of the
transformative effect autonomy can have on
higher education.
Address the many post-autonomy challenges
While the UGC champions the autonomy of
colleges, unfortunately, some universities have
been reluctant to relinquish control for
questionable reasons. Therefore, addressing the
challenges colleges encounter even after
receiving autonomy from the UGC is crucial.
Some universities impose limitations on the
extent of autonomy granted to colleges. One
common restriction is the imposition of caps on
syllabus changes, often allowing only a fraction,
typically 25%-35%, to be altered. This constraint
hinders colleges from exercising their autonomy,
particularly that concerning curriculum
development and academic innovation.
One prominent issue that colleges encounter
despite being granted autonomy by the UGC is
that they often find themselves grappling with
delays from universities in recognising this
autonomy. Such delays not only hamper the
efficiency of the operation of colleges but also
undermine the spirit of autonomy, as colleges
may still feel tethered to the bureaucratic
processes of the university.
Further, even though the UGC gives complete
autonomy to colleges, universities frequently
exhibit a reluctance to cede complete autonomy
to colleges, particularly in critical areas such as
syllabus design, the introduction of new courses,
and the evolution of methods for assessing
student performance.
While autonomy implies the freedom for
colleges to make decisions independently, the
hesitation on the part of universities to relinquish
control in these areas can impede the ability of
colleges to innovate and adapt to changing
educational needs effectively. This unwillingness
may stem from a traditional hierarchical
approach to governance within the university
system.
Also, colleges may find themselves subjected to
arbitrary fees imposed by the university for the
purposes of affiliation. This approach not only
undermines the autonomy of colleges but also
raises questions about the transparency and
fairness of such practices by the universities.
Therefore, the State Councils for Higher
Education must ensure effective implementation
of UGC regulations on autonomy. Universities
must recognise the importance of addressing the
concerns of autonomous colleges within the
broader framework of higher education reform.
They must streamline decision-making processes
between colleges and universities, ensuring that
autonomy translates into meaningful
empowerment for colleges. Moreover,
universities must embrace a culture of trust and
collaboration with autonomous colleges, allowing
them the freedom to innovate and excel while
upholding academic standards.
By fostering a conducive environment for
autonomy to thrive, universities must help
colleges drive innovation, excellence, and
inclusivity in higher education through
autonomy. Eventually, the successful
implementation of autonomy for colleges
demands a concerted effort from all stakeholders
to address challenges effectively and ensure a
vibrant and dynamic higher education
ecosystem.
The views expressed are personal
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Politics and bonds
It is paradoxical that parties
can accept funds through
electoral bonds contributed
by companies tapping a
‘suspect source of funds’
even as a few leaders in the
Opposition are behind bars
for alleged
money-laundering (Page 1,
“Firms without profits
donated through electoral
bonds”, April 4). The BJP
rode to power on an
anti-corruption plank. But,
unfortunately, the party has
had no qualms about
enacting a piece of
legislation that enabled
corporates to make
contributions to political
parties in questionable
ways. It is sad that the
political culture has become
so permissive that the
Gandhian ideal, ‘the means
should justify the end’,
seems to have no takers.
S. Balu,
Madurai
Clean politics?
The Prime Minister often
speaks about eradicating
corruption and ensuring
transparency and effective
administration. How then
can he explain the dropping
of charges of serious
corruption against
Opposition politicians the
moment they join the BJP?
Or at least have
investigations into these
charges stalled? There
needs to be a clear answer
or else it will be presumed
that the BJP uses
anti-corruption agencies as
a mode to paralyse the
Opposition. Is it a crusade
against the Opposition? Or
is it a crusade against
corruption?
P.R. Ravinder,
Hyderabad
Letters emailed to
letters@thehindu.
co.in must carry the full postal
address and the full name or
the name with initials.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
he introduction and use of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), an adjunct system attached to the Electronic
Voting Machine (EVM), and the provision of
counting VVPAT tallies from five random polling
booths in every Assembly constituency to be
matched with the EVM vote-count, have not assuaged critics of the use of EVMs in Indian elections. Some suggest the fact that the process
could be more transparent if a machine audit trail
of all the commands that are executed is maintained in the system, beyond just the votes recorded in the EVM’s ballot unit and the printed
slips in the VVPATs, allowing for an audit to rule
out any malicious code. This could indeed make
the system more robust and be considered as an
upgrade to the existing machines. Others suggest
that the use of VVPATs has introduced potential
vulnerabilities that did not exist with the standalone nature of EVMs and the technical and administrative safeguards that undergirded the legacy
system. This too could be addressed by reworking the safeguards to ensure that the VVPAT-combined systems are as secure and foolproof as the
standalone EVMs were. But incomprehensible is
the critique from many, including political parties such as the Congress, that only a 100% recount of all VVPATs would suffice, instead of the
current method of sampling the number of recounts, in order to have full transparency. The
Supreme Court of India has now listed a series of
petitions related to this demand.
Despite Cassandra-like pronouncements
about malpractices and EVM-hacking, there has
been no proof of any actual tampering of EVMs
so far. While EVMs, as any machine is bound to,
have suffered glitches, and promptly been replaced in the event of machine failures, the critique that they are prone to hacking or manipulation despite the existing technical and
administrative safeguards has not been made
with any actual proof. The sample counting of
VVPATs, across both the general election in 2019
and several other Assembly elections for instance, which allow the voter to confirm whether
the mandate matches the choice made on the
EVM, have shown that the mismatch between the
VVPAT recount and the EVM count has been minuscule — an outcome of trivial errors such as
non-deletion of mock polls in the machine before
the voting process or errors in manual recording
of the final count from the machine. An increase
in the recount sample to make it more statistically significant, by making the selected number of
Assemblies specific to each State/Union Territory
based on the size of the province, or, simply to increase the recount sample in seats where the
margin of victory is narrow (say, less than 1% of
the overall votes) could be solutions. But to insist
on a full recount seems an overkill and a clear
lack of trust in the EVM itself.
T
he central government has notified July
1, 2024 as the day on which the
recently enacted three criminal laws
will come into effect. Section 106(2) of
the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which
provides for a maximum 10 years of
imprisonment in the case of a fatal accident if the
accused person escapes without reporting to the
police or a magistrate, has been put on hold. The
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) press statement
of January 2 said that the decision to implement
Section 106(2) would be taken up after
discussions with the All India Motor Transport
Congress. This was prompted by a strike by truck
drivers who alleged that the provision was too
harsh. Besides the pending decision with regard
to Section 106(2), it will be pertinent for the
central government to reconsider a few more
provisions of the BNS. These are “petty organised
crime” defined under Section 112, “theft” defined
under Section 303(2) and two sub-sections of
Section 143 pertaining to human trafficking.
A reconsideration of Section 106(2) is
significant for two reasons. First, the increase in
sentence from five to 10 years of imprisonment
for just fleeing the scene without reporting to the
police or a magistrate soon after the accident
seems disproportionate. There is no other
provision in the law with similar consequences. It
is not even a case of saving the persons who
might have been grievously injured and in need
of medical assistance. This clause applies to
accidents that cause the death of any person. The
only benefit seems to be that the appropriate
motor accident claim could be sought if the
vehicle details are known. Second, this clause
seems to be in conflict with the fundamental right
of prohibition against self-incrimination
enshrined under Article 20(3) of the Constitution
of India. Article 20(3) says that ‘no person
accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a
witness against himself’.
The Supreme Court of India, in Nandini
Satpathy vs P.L. Dani, widened the scope of
Article 20(3) and held that compelled testimony
must be read as evidence procured not merely by
physical threats or violence but by psychic
torture, overbearing and intimidatory methods
and the like. Therefore, disclosure of culpability
by informing the police or a magistrate due to
fear of enhanced punishment may not qualify the
test of constitutionality.
Second, a new offence. ‘petty organised
crime’. has been introduced in Section 112 of the
BNS. Here, “whoever, being a member of a group
or gang, either singly or jointly, commits any act
of theft, snatching, cheating, unauthorised selling
of tickets, unauthorised betting or gambling,
selling of public examination question papers or
any other similar criminal acts, is said to commit
petty organised crime”.
Offences not defined in the BNS, such as
“unauthorised selling of tickets” and “selling of
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
9
Opinion
Delhi
Is the urban water system breaking?
PARLEY
B
engaluru, often celebrated for being a
‘garden city’, the ‘IT capital’ of the
country, and its pleasant weather, has
T.V.
been making headlines this year for
Ramachandra facing a severe water crisis following the drought
is the Coordinator of 2023. The water crisis is also likely to hit other
of the Energy and urban centres and rural areas. According to a
Wetlands
recent weekly bulletin by the Central Water
Research Group,
Commission, even as peak summer is around
Centre for
the corner, most of the major reservoirs in the
Ecological
southern States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Science, Indian
Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana are filled to only
Institute of
25% of their capacity or less. Is the urban water
Science
system breaking? T.V. Ramachandra and S.
Vishwanath discuss the question in a
conversation moderated by K.C. Deepika.
Edited excerpts:
The moment the Cauvery suffers, Bengaluru
dies. When will Bengaluru realise that it is
essential for it to make sure that the Cauvery
flows in a pristine condition and is full?
S. VISHWANATH
Residents collect water from a tanker in Bengaluru. PTI
This is not the first time that a major city in
India has been hit by a water crisis. What
does it say about the water infrastructure in
our cities?
S.
Vishwanath
is a water
conservationist
S. Vishwanath: In the 20th century, we have
designed our institutions of water provision as
water supply boards. We have to change the
paradigm of governance to maintain the water
management board, where water not only
includes piped water from a river but also local
water. The city has rainwater, ground water,
surface water, lakes, tanks, river streams. It has
wastewater or what we now call used water. All
of these forms, if managed well, should be
sufficient for the city. So, we have to change the
governance of water through institutions,
starting from the river basin. We don’t have river
basin institutions looking at the landscape,
The irony that many are pointing out is that
these are the same cities that are inundated
during rains. Where are we going wrong?
There are two arguments regarding the
Bengaluru situation. One is to depopulate
the city by creating new centres of
livelihood. The other is to create better water
infrastructure. Where do you stand on this?
SV: Again, the water management process. We
have created institutions which operate as silos.
In Bengaluru, the Bangalore Water Supply and
Sewerage Board is in charge of piped water
supply. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara
Palike, with the Karnataka Tank Conservation
and Development Authority playing a role,
overlooks surface water bodies. Groundwater is
with the Groundwater Authority. Wastewater,
which flows into drains or lakes, is nobody’s
property. And wastewater is what partially
causes floods. So, it is bad planning and bad
design of our landscape.
The other issue is concretisation and poor
construction of roads. Roads are becoming
impediments to hydrological flows; they act as
dams and barriers.
SV: After the 1991 reforms, considering the kind
of capitalist model of economy that we adopted,
urbanisation has become irreversible. People
were attracted to Bengaluru because of the
climate. Then they were further attracted to the
city because it became an economic engine and
provided great livelihood opportunities. We will
continue to grow. If we plan for future growth
and set up infrastructure right from the
beginning, it is possible to enhance livelihoods
and livability and also accommodate the
population that will continue to come in. What is
failing us is our inability to anticipate or deal
with the growth of the city, especially in the
periphery. I am optimistic that if we manage
resources well, manage our lakes and aquifers
and rainwater, and treat wastewater, we can
support an increasing population.
TVR: First, as mentioned, there are too many
agencies. Fragmented governance is the root
cause of the problem. Second, most of these
state agencies are headed by individuals who
lack competence. I would prefer subject experts
sitting there. If we manage water well, we will
have sufficient water. With 700-850 mm of
annual rainfall, we will have about 15 TMC of
TVR: For any city to be livable, we should not
cross the carrying capacity. Unfortunately,
Bengaluru has crossed the limit. There has been
an 1055% increase in concrete area over five
decades, 18% loss in vegetation, and 79% loss in
water bodies. This shows that we have made a
huge blunder. We can hope for the better with
good management but where are the managers?
Company donations exceed 7.5% cap by ₹1,377.9 crore in 2022-24
Five firms in 2023-24 and eight in 2022-23 which made political contributions through bonds beyond the original 7.5% cap had negative or zero net profits
DATA POINT
Prasenjit Bose
& The Hindu Data Team
T
he Hindu, along with an independent set of researchers, looked at donations
via electoral bonds to the ruling
BJP and other parties by companies whose aggregate donation
amounts surpassed the original
7.5% cap in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
The Finance Act, 2017, had deleted
the provision on the 7.5% cap that
was in the original Section 182(1) of
the Companies Act, 2013. The 7.5%
cap was calculated based on the
companies’ average net profits
during the three immediately preceding financial years, as reported
in the CMIE Prowess IQ Database.
The findings are as follows:
Fifty-five of these companies
were found to have made donations which exceeded the 7.5% cap
in two years (2022-23 and 2023-24)
alone. The total amount donated
above this cap stood at ₹1,377.9
crore, which was more than 69%
of their aggregate donation of
₹1,993 crore. The BJP alone received close to 71% of the total donations (₹1,414 crore). The Congress received 10% (₹199.5 crore);
the Trinamool, 5.6% (₹113.5 crore);
and the BRS got 5.2% (₹105 crore).
Thirty-three companies made
an aggregate donation of ₹1,225.7
crore in FY 2023-24 through electoral bonds. Of this, ₹933.8 crore
(76.2%) was above the 7.5% cap
amount of the preceding threeyear average net profits of these
companies. Of the aggregate donation of ₹1,225.7 crore of these 33
companies in FY 2023-24, ₹829.5
crore (over 67%) went to the BJP.
Twenty-eight companies made
an aggregate donation of ₹767.3
crore in FY 2022-23 in electoral
bonds, out of which ₹444.1 crore,
i.e., 57.8%, was above the 7.5% cap
amount of the preceding threeCM
YK
year average net profits of these
companies. Out of the aggregate
donation of ₹767.3 crore of these
28 companies in FY 2022-23,
₹585.3 crore, i.e., more than
76.2%, went to the BJP.
Five companies in 2023-24 and
eight companies in 2022-23 which
made political contributions
through electoral bonds beyond
the 7.5% cap had negative or zero
net profits, which raises questions
on their source of funds and indicates possible money laundering.
Companies with negative profits
could not have made donations
under Section 182(1) of the Companies Act, 2013.
Six out of 33 companies whose
contribution through electoral
bonds surpassed the 7.5% cap did
not report their profits for all the
three preceding years. We have taken averages of their reported
years only.
If the analysis is extended to
previous years up to 2018-19, the
amount donated beyond the 7.5%
cap will increase significantly.
In a letter addressed to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice dated May 26, 2017, the Director (Election Expenditure) of the Election
Commission of India had objected
to the amendment to the Section
182(1), saying: “Certain amendments have been proposed in Section 182 of the Companies Act…[and] the limit of 7.5% of the
average net profits in the preceding three financial years on contributions by companies has been removed...This opens up the
possibility of shell companies being set up for the sole purpose of
making donations to political parties, with no other business of consequence having disbursable profits.” These warnings on the setting
up of shell companies and possible
money laundering, which the data
now indicate, were ignored by the
Union Finance Ministry, which implemented the electoral bonds
scheme in January 2018.
Much of the focus is on urban centres. There
is not enough attention being paid to regions
along the river basins. Isn’t it high time that
governments start respecting ecosystems
away from the cities that ultimately help
these cities thrive?
SV: The question I ask is, how do we create a
governance framework which will protect our
environment at the river basin scale? We had the
Gadgil and Kasturirangan Committee Reports.
Both were rejected by people who occupied the
Western Ghats or by politicians who
manipulated them to do that. Bengaluru exists
because the Cauvery. The moment the Cauvery
suffers, Bengaluru dies. When will Bengaluru
realise that it is essential for it to make sure that
the Cauvery flows in a pristine condition and is
full of water? This should become a common
point of conversation among ordinary citizens.
We should not be worried only about piped
water or tanker prices. Those are symptoms.
The real cause of the problem is environmental
destruction. Unless we build the right
institutions to manage our systems and
resources and bring in expertise, we will
continue to suffer.
Every time there is a crisis, we see knee-jerk
reactions. What should governments do to
secure the future of our cities?
SV: Well-rounded institutions that should be
able to understand the problem, define it
correctly, and then frame long-term and
sustainable solutions.
TVR: The right institutions, yes, but also
accountability in the system. We are creating
projects just to use funds. Unless we tackle
corruption, planning will fail. We should also
elect the right people.
To listen to the full interview
Scan the code or go to the link
www.thehindu.com
F R OM T H E A R C HI V ES
FIFTY YEARS AGO APRIL 5, 1974
Nixon to pay up huge tax
dues
Washington, April 4: Shortly after a joint
committee of Congress and the Internal Revenue
Service had issued a report which ruled that
President Nixon owed a staggering $467,000
(Rs. 35 lakhs) in unpaid income taxes and
interest, during his first four years in office, the
White House announced last night that Mr.
Nixon would pay the full amount without a
contest. This came as something of a surprise,
because until the other day, Mr. Nixon’s lawyers
had been saying that if there was an adverse
finding, he would appeal against it in the tax
courts. Even yesterday, while announcing his
decision to pay up, the White House contended
that Mr. Nixon could “make a strong case”
against the finding that he had improperly
deducted the gift of his Vice-Presidential papers
to the National Archives, and had failed to list
the capital gains from the sale of residences in
New York, California and Florida. The White
House said Mr. Nixon had decided to pay up
because he had promised to abide by the ruling
of a Congressional committee when he took his
tax case to it last December. It is widely believed
that Mr. Nixon chose not to contest the ruling
because that would have further affected his
political standing. Last night’s White House
statement also disclaimed all wrong doing by
Mr. Nixon in the matter of the questionable tax
returns, by putting the blame for the errors on
those who prepared his returns, without “his
knowledge or approval”.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO APRIL 5, 1924
Labour’s Kenya policy
London, April 4: Mr. Thomas received at the
Colonial Office privately this morning a
deputation headed by Lord Buxton and
including representatives of the three political
parties the Missionary Society and commercial
bodies who support the proposal to appoint a
committee to inquire into the whole question of
trusteeship of native races in East Africa. The
deputation emphasised that there was no
necessity for antagonism between the carrying
out of the Government’s policy of trusteeship
and the development of cotton growing in
Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Nyasaland, and
North Rhodesia.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
T.V. Ramachandra: We see water crises in cities
because there is mismanagement of water in
most parts of the country. Bengaluru, for
example, is undergoing unplanned
urbanisation. In 1800, in a city landscape of 740
square kilometres, there were 1,452
interconnected water bodies and about 80%
green cover. But today, 86% is paved surface and
the green cover is less than 3%. Now, more than
40% of Bengaluru’s water requirement comes
from groundwater sources. The city landscape
should have been porous to allow groundwater
recharge. There is a linkage between surface
water bodies and groundwater resources. The
city receives about 55-60% of its water
requirement from the Cauvery river. But if you
look at the Cauvery watershed, during the last
four decades or so, 45% of the forest cover has
been lost. The Cauvery catchment has 18% forest
cover while 75% is agriculture. And then there is
another factor, which is climate change.
deforestation, sand mining, pollution,
agricultural practices, and so on. We have to
keep tabs on these and make sure that we do not
alter the landscape irretrievably, so much so that
the river stops flowing or flows with heavy
polluted water. At the city scale, we have to
create institutions which are able to be nuanced
in their understanding of all forms of water and
manage it as an ecological resource. That is the
lesson that we have to learned from Bengaluru
and all the other urban areas of India.
water in the city. Bengaluru requires 18-19 TMC
of water. That means 70% of the water that the
city needs is available in the form of rainwater.
We need to harvest rainwater through rooftop
harvesting in houses or by rejuvenating lakes
and retaining the rainwater. If we re-establish
the interconnectivity of the lakes, we will solve
the problem of flooding; the water will move
from one location to the other and there won’t
be flooding. When we talk about floods, the
government comes up with plans for
remodelling, which is nothing but
mismanagement of storm water drains. The
government concretises and narrows storm
water drains, which is against the hydrological
principle for any drain.
We have not trained people to cope with this
situation which has risen because of five
decades of mismanagement.
I think we should opt for cluster-based
development. Our agenda should be to reverse
migration, so that youngsters can move to other
districts. If we can shift industries to taluk
headquarters, those regions will develop.
Developing other parts of the country and the
State is a requirement. Why should we make
sure that everything is concentrated in
Bengaluru and make it more unliveable?
Delhi www.thehindu.com Friday, April 5, 2024
●
●
10
Text&Context
0
NEWS IN NUMBERS
The increase in a
vegetarian thali’s cost
in March: Crisil
Share of independent
candidates to lose
deposit since 1991
The estimated
mustard seed output
in 2023-24: SEA
The rides completed
by ride-hailing
platform Rapido
The current FIFA
ranking of the Indian
football men’s team
7
99
12
100
121
in percentage. The cost of a
vegetarian thali rose to ₹27.3 per
plate from ₹25.5 in the year-ago
period, owing to the rise in onion, tomato,
and potato prices, according to Crisil
Market Intelligence and Analysis. PTI
in percentage. From 67% of
independent candidates
forfeiting deposit in 1957, the
share went up to 78% by 1962, showing a
diminishing trust in independent
candidates, according to the ECI. PTI
Follow us
in million tonnes. Mustard seed
production is likely to touch an
all-time high in the 2023-24
season in view of a record sown area of 10
million hectares, according to the Solvent
Extractors’ Association of India (SEA). PTI
facebook.com/thehindu
twitter.com/the_hindu
crore. Rapido has
completed rides across
120 cities, the app
which offers auto, bike, and cab services
said. Its an app offering employment
opportunities to gig workers. PTI
The Indian football men’s
team dropped four places in
the latest FIFA rankings,
following a defeat in the second round of
the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. PTI
COMPILED BY THE HINDU DATA TEAM
instagram.com/the_hindu
How do researchers measure democracy? Why is India worried about its ranking on global indices which measure democracy and political participation?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of global datasets? Why does India want to make its own democracy index?
T
distributed equally? The approach also
varies vastly. Some use only two
indicators while others have more than
400; the weightage assigned and
aggregation model followed also
fluctuates across projects. V-Dem’s
researchers code a series of indicators for
12 areas across media, civil society,
political parties, and civil liberties and
each area is assigned five experts.
Why does India care about a
democracy index?
From the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)
project to Freedom House, there is a
consensus that India’s democracy is in
peril. Ahead of the election season, these
indices and “negative commentary” by
think tanks and agencies threaten India’s
sovereign ratings and its ranking on the
World Bank’s Worldwide Governance
Indicators, the Al Jazeera report noted.
India has previously denounced all global
rating assessments of Indian conditions,
from democracy and press freedom to
hunger, human development and
happiness. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar
in 2021 called the makers of these indices
“self-appointed custodians,” who are “not
motive-less.” The grouse with democracy
assessments is that the methodology is
flawed, sample sizes are inadequate, and
that these indices favour cultural bias and
subjective opinion over objective metrics.
India, for instance, ranks between Niger
(which is ruled by a military junta) and
the Ivory Coast, and is in the same
category as Palestine. Any yardstick of
democracy — be it fair elections or
electoral participation — would suggest
What are the limitations of indices?
The first and the most frequently cited
criticism is that there is a degree of
subjectivity that tugs at the indices’
credibility and precision. Regardless of
the scholarly pool and aggregation model
used, evaluations are still based on the
judgment of researchers and coders,
rather than tangible characteristics.
V-Dem’s “egalitarian” indicator, for
instance, assesses the equality of social
groups in the political arena — an
equivocal question in comparison to say,
how many political parties are present in
the country. However, a project
investigated the degree of expert biases in
some indices and found them to be
limited. Scholar Paul Staniland, who
studied V-Dem’s assessment of India since
1947, concurred, telling the BBC that
“there’s not an obvious anti-right-wing
bias.” Another concern is over the scope
of countries included in these indices.
Only some survey non-independent and
microstates. Smaller countries may thus
be overlooked in certain cases. The next
criticism is of a perceived ideological
discrepancy, partly due to the amorphous
definition of democracy itself. Lesotho,
which suffered a military coup in 2014, is
assigned a higher score than India.
Therefore, there is no singular, perfect
democracy index, just like there is no
singular definition of democracy. Experts,
including Mr. Staniland, agree the indices
“capture important big-picture dynamics
and trends” in democracy. They offer
ways to benchmark the strengths and
weaknesses of regimes, and make
different components comparable over
time periods and geographies.
EXPLAINER
Saumya Kalia
The story so far:
he V-Dem Institute’s recent
democracy index termed India
as “one of the worst
autocratisers”. Similar indices
have downgraded India’s democratic
standing in recent years — India is only
‘partly free’ (Freedom House), is home to
a “flawed democracy” (The Economist
Intelligence Unit) and is better classified
as an “electoral autocracy.” The Indian
Government has however refuted these
assessments. It now plans to release its
own democracy index, which, according
to Al Jazeera, will help India “counter
recent downgrades in ratings and severe
criticisms by international groups”.
GETTY IMAGES
India is “doing as well as any other
democracy,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
What data do indices use?
There are many approaches to measuring
democracy, some using facts, some
judgment and some a mix of both. The
four broad types of data that these indices
use are — observational data (OD) which is
data on observable facts, such as voter
turnout rates; ‘in-house’ coding, where
researchers assess country-specific
information using academic material,
newspapers, etc.; expert surveys, where
selected experts from a country provide a
subjective evaluation; and representative
surveys, where a selected group of
citizens offer judgments. The Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights has endorsed the use of
observational, objective data over
judgment-based methodology for
assessments to make them “more broadly
acceptable.” Others, however, find
fact-based metrics “insufficient”, and
expert intervention necessary, to capture
on-ground realities of governance.
Additionally, each index asks and
responds to a different question
evaluating the health of democracy. While
all agree that democracy is a political
system in which citizens get to participate
in free and fair elections (electoral
democracy), indices like V-Dem’s,
Economist Intelligence Unit and the
Bertelsmann Transformation Index assess
other dimensions as well: is the
democracy ‘participatory’, are citizen
groups and civil society organisations
functional? Are decisions made
deliberately, in the best interest of all
people, rather than through coercion or
minority group interests? Is it egalitarian
— are economic and social resources
How are symbols allotted to
political parties?
Why was the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi denied a common symbol by the ECI in Tamil Nadu?
Rangarajan. R
The story so far:
he Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK)
that secured 3.9% and 6.5%
votes in Tamil Nadu in 2019
and 2021 respectively, has been
allotted a new common symbol (Mike).
The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK)
that secured 1.09% and 0.99% votes in
2019 and 2021 has been denied a common
symbol (Pot). This has raised questions
about the allotment of symbols to
‘registered unrecognised parties’.
T
What do the rules specify?
A party is recognised as a ‘national’ or
‘state’ party under the provisions of the
Election Symbols (Reservation and
Allotment) Order, 1968 (Symbols Order)
by the Election Commission of India
(ECI). The criteria for recognition at the
State level consists of (a) winning one Lok
Sabha seat for every 25 seats or 3% of
Legislative Assembly seats or (b) winning
one Lok Sabha or two Assembly seats
CM
YK
along with 6% of votes polled or (c)
securing 8% of votes polled in a general
election. Symbols are allotted to political
parties and contesting candidates as per
the provisions of the Symbols Order by
ECI. In the largest democracy where a
sizeable population is still illiterate,
symbols play a crucial role in the voting
process. A recognised political party has a
reserved symbol that is not allotted to any
other candidate in any constituency. For
registered but unrecognised political
parties, one of the free symbols is allotted
as a common symbol during an election if
that party contests in two Lok Sabha
constituencies or in 5% of seats to the
Assembly of a State as the case may be.
What is the current issue?
Rule 10B of the Symbols Order provides
that the concession of a common free
symbol shall be available to a ‘registered
unrecognised party’ for two general
elections. Furthermore, a party shall be
eligible for a common symbol in any
subsequent general election if it had
secured at least 1% of votes polled in the
State on the previous occasion when the
party availed of this facility. Such an
unrecognised party should however apply
for a symbol every time in the prescribed
format. This application can be made any
time during the period commencing six
months prior to the expiry of the term of
the Lok Sabha or State Assembly as the
case may be. The symbols are thereafter
allotted on a ‘first-come-first-served’
basis.
In the above cases, the NTK had
secured more than 1% of votes in the last
two elections with the common symbol of
‘Ganna Kisan’. However, since they
applied for that symbol only in February
2024, the ECI had allotted that symbol to
Bharatiya Praja Aikyata Party (BPAP), that
had applied earlier, based on the
‘first-come-first-served’ rule. However, the
BPAP has not contested elections in Tamil
Nadu before. The VCK was declined
allotment of a common symbol as it had
failed to secure 1% of votes polled in the
elections to the State Legislative Assembly
in 2021. The VCK notably has one Lok
Sabha MP and four MLAs in Tamil Nadu
contesting on the ‘Pot’ symbol in 2019
and 2021 elections.
What can be the way forward?
The ECI has decided on the applications
of NTK and VCK as per existing rules.
However, it is counter intuitive from a
layman’s perspective that the NTK which
secured more than 6% of votes polled is
not allotted the previous common symbol
of its choice. It would be equally baffling
for an average voter that the VCK which
has elected representatives is ineligible to
obtain a common symbol. The two VCK
candidates have been eventually allotted
the free symbol of ‘Pot’ by the respective
returning officers.
The existing threshold for recognition
of a party may continue. The candidates
set up by recognised parties enjoy the
advantage of being listed at the top of the
ballot in the Electronic Voting Machine.
Nevertheless, the ECI may consider
amending the rules that registered
unrecognised parties that secure at least
1% of votes polled in a previous election
or have an elected representative in the
Lok Sabha or State Assembly, shall have
the right to be allotted a common symbol
of their choice. This would ensure a fair
weightage being given for their past
electoral performance and strengthen the
democratic process.
Rangarajan R is a former IAS officer and
author of ‘Polity Simplified’. Views
expressed are personal.
THE GIST
쑽
The V-Dem Institute’s recent
democracy index termed India
as “one of the worst
autocratisers”.
쑽
While all agree that democracy
is a political system in which
citizens get to participate in
free and fair elections
(electoral democracy), indices
like V-Dem’s, Economist
Intelligence Unit and the
Bertelsmann Transformation
Index assess other dimensions
as well: is the democracy
‘participatory’, are citizen
groups and civil society
organisations functional? Are
decisions made deliberately, in
the best interest of all people,
rather than through coercion
or minority group interests?
쑽
A major criticism is that there is
a degree of subjectivity that
tugs at the indices’ credibility
and precision.
THE GIST
쑽
The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal
Katchi (VCK) that secured
1.09% and 0.99% votes in 2019
and 2021 has been denied a
common symbol (Pot).
쑽
The VCK was declined
allotment of a common symbol
as it had failed to secure 1% of
votes polled in the elections to
the State Legislative Assembly
in 2021.
쑽
Rule 10B of the Symbols Order
provides that the concession of
a common free symbol shall be
available to a ‘registered
unrecognised party’ for two
general elections.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
On global indices measuring democracy
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
11
Text&Context
Delhi
IN THE LIMELIGHT
FROM THE ARCHIVES
K. Subrahmanian
A screengrab from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
Why the new anime ‘Frieren: Beyond
Journey’s End’ is the future of fantasy
In a groundbreaking shift in the genre, Kanehito Yamada’s trailblazing new anime challenges the reign of high fantasy stalwarts with a moving
meditation on mortality, companionship and unwavering focus on the ‘little’ moments of life
Ayaan Paul Chowdhury
or over seven decades, J.R.R.
Tolkien’s masterwork has stood
as the bedrock of the fantasy
genre, shaping the landscapes of
countless realms that followed. The
towering legacy of The Lord of the Rings
has cast a long shadow over the genre for
ages, with few daring to challenge its
sovereignty. A few months ago, whispers
of a prophetic adversary spread amongst
the fantasy community, as a Japanese
throne had been usurped.
F
Dethroning the legacy
For the unversed, My Anime List is one of
the world’s largest anime forums that
incorporates a user-voting system to rank
the all time greats, the anime equivalent
to an IMDB essentially. For over a decade,
the classic shounen anime, Fullmetal
Alchemist: Brotherhood had enjoyed its
comfortable reign at the top spot,
undisturbed even by the likes of Attack on
Titan or Steins Gate. That was until Studio
Madhouse sliced the head off the anime
regent with an unassuming fantasy tale
that nobody could have seen coming. One
that has since rocked the very
foundations set in stone by Tolkien and
his fantasy loyalists.
While the landscape of anime has
witnessed a proliferation of fantasy titles
in recent years, Kanehito Yamada’s
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End dares to
carve its own path amidst the cacophony
of familiar tropes and archetypes. At its
heart, the series is a subtle rebuke to the
pervasive trend of ‘isekai’ (“other-world”),
a subgenre that has dominated the anime
scene with its fantastical escapades and
wish-fulfilment narratives. Unlike the
typical isekai protagonist, thrust into a
new world with newfound powers and
privileges, Frieren grapples with the
weight of her past and the consequences
of her choices.
Subverting immortality
At its core, Frieren presents a world
reminiscent of Middle Earth. Elves,
dwarves, demonic dark lords — the whole
gang’s here, but they’re not just going
through the motions of a Tolkienian
re-enactment. Our titular elf protagonist
isn’t just some distant, ethereal being
sipping on ambrosia in the forests of
Lothlorien, she’s grappling with
existential dread like the rest of us
mortals. While Tolkien’s masterpiece
encapsulates the changing tides through
the lens of hobbits and men, Frieren
embarks on a similar journey through the
eyes of the aloof titular elf.
In established high fantasy lore, the
elves stand as paragons of grace and
wisdom, their perception of time often
distant and detached. Amazon Prime’s
excursions on Middle Earth with The
Rings of Power spin-off series attempted
to humanise its elven protagonist,
Galadriel, but fell short in more ways than
one. Frieren breathes life into this
immortality, and expands upon the
crippling weight of centuries upon a soul.
Unlike many fantasy works where the
undying exhibit little acknowledgment of
time’s passage or reduce it to a stoic, “Do
not cite the deep magic to me witch, I was
there when it was written,” Frieren digs
deep into the psyche of its immortal
protagonist. Through Frieren’s eyes, we
witness the fleeting nature of human
existence juxtaposed against the timeless
perspective of the elves. As the elf forms
bonds with her mortal companions, she
confronts the pain of loss and the
transient beauty of these moments of
intimacy, challenging the notion of
immortality as a blessing rather than a
curse.
Embracing vulnerability
Central to the series is the theme of
companionship, as Frieren journey’s
across the land alongside her newfound
allies, Fern and Stark. Through every
village visited and every encounter faced,
the trop learn and grow together, their
bond deepening with each passing
moment. Textbook Fellowship of the Ring
or dungeon party, if you will. But while
Aragorn may be brave and steadfast
through his trials and Harry is bold and
defiant in the face of danger, our ‘hero’
Stark, cries, whines and trembles with
fear before striking down a massive
dragon in the most glorious fashion. The
anime embraces the fragility and
imperfection of its characters, imbuing
their actions with a sense of vulnerability.
Perhaps most striking is the anime’s
subversion of traditional power dynamics
within the genre. Rather than relying on
grand displays of power, Frieren
emphasises restraint. The elven mage
may wield some of the most tremendous
magic in the entire realm, but she’d rather
spam basic low-level spells to deal with a
problem swiftly and spend her time
adding insignificant grimoires to her
collection.
Finding meaning in the mundane
What truly sets Frieren apart however, is
its unwavering focus on the ‘little’
moments, the quiet exchanges between
characters that resonate with profound
meaning. As much as I adore the
Rohirrim flanking the sunkissed horizon
as King Theoden leads his army towards
the Battle of the Pelennor Fields,
sometimes, all one could ever ask for is an
extra pint for the Hobbits at the Prancing
Pony or to be serenaded by Mr Tumnus’
flute while Lucy sips tea, just a while
longer.
What has always made fantasy so
effective is the escape. The escape to a
world so preciously treasured that the
mere thought of return to our horrid
realities is a devastating punch to the gut.
As Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee share
their tearful final embrace on the shores
of the Gray Havens, or as Harry Potter
takes one last glimpse of Hogwarts as he
boards the train home, or as the Pevensie
siblings bid adieu to Narnia as they step
through the wardrobe; as much as we’d
love for the journey to continue, we must
begrudgingly come to terms with the
fateful adventure coming to a
heartbreaking close. In those aching
moments, we see reflections of our own
farewells, yearning for just a few more
moments of this solace. And it is through
the selfsame longing for the little time
beyond the end where Frieren truly
begins her story. Beyond journey’s end.
Through her touching journey, Frieren
offers a meditation on the human
condition unlike any other, reminding us
of the fragility of life and the importance
of cherishing every moment. Unlike the
bombast of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, the
whimsy of Lewis’s Narnia or even the
nostalgia of J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts,
Yamada’s tale not only embraces the high
fantasy tropes laid down by the greats,
but even throws down the gauntlet with
them as a challenge to the status quo.
Please send in your answers to
dailyquiz@thehindu.co.in
THE DAILY QUIZ
Some significant events occurred on April 5. Here is a quiz on the different
events, birthdays and everything else that happened on the day over the years
Abhinaya. K
X
QUESTION 1
The voyage of SS Loyalty, the
first ship of The Scindia Steam
Navigation Company Ltd is
considered a marquee day for
Indian navigation. In honour of
this event, every year April 5, is
celebrated as ______________
Day. Mention the year in which
the day was first observed.
X
QUESTION 2
This British Prime Minister
resigned on this day in 1955. At
the time of his resignation, he
was 80 years old. Identify the
Prime Minister.
X
QUESTION 3
The primary goal of this
CM
YK
company set up under the
sponsorship of the Indian
government was to ensure
availability of essential drugs to
the masses. The company
established on this day in 1961
was closed down in 2016.
Identify the firm.
X
QUESTION 4
This poet, considered one of the
central figures of the Beat
Generation, is said to have been
deeply influenced by his visit to
India. Identify the poet who died
on this day in 1997.
X
QUESTION 5
The United Nations General
Assembly observes the
International Day of Conscience
on April 5 every year. What is the
theme for 2024?
X
Visual question:
Identify the actress and the character she played in the show Feud. The
character she played, who was an iconic actress, was born on May 5,
1908. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Questions and Answers to the previous day’s daily
quiz: 1. The motto of NATO and the treatise it was taken
from. Ans: ‘Animus in consulendo liber’ (A mind
unfettered in deliberation). It is a phrase from the
The Conspiracy of Catiline by historian Sallust
2. The North Atlantic Treaty was formed out of the
expansion of these two treaties. Ans: The Treaty of
Dunkirk and the Treaty of Brussels
3. The year France rejoined the NATO's military
command structure. Ans: 2009
4. The event wherein Article 5 of the Treaty was first
invoked. Ans: After the September 11 attacks in the
U.S.
5. This country included the strategic goal of joining
NATO in its Constitution. Ans: Ukraine
6. In 2003, NATO took charge of this armed mission in
this territory. Ans: NATO agreed to take command of
the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan
Visual: The significance of this building to NATO. Ans:
First location of NATO headquarters
Early Birds: Prashant Nain| Mohd. Amaan| Gurvinder
Singh
“Organogram (B. S. Ramaiah, Hyderbad)”
“Only a couple of dictionaries have
recorded this word. It means ‘a chart
showing graded arrangement of
personnel in an organisation’.”
“Missive (S. V. Prasanna, Trivandrum)”
“A ‘missive’ is a letter, especially one
that is long and serious in tone. It is used
jocularly. It also means an official letter.
I received a missive from my wife
yesterday.
To the complaint I made, I received a
missive from the Municipal Commissioner.
The ‘i’ is pronounced like the ‘i’ in ‘fit.’
The word is pronounced ‘misiv’. The
stress is on the first syllable.”
“Fishy (M. L. Muhammadh Haneef,
Madurai)”
“ ‘Fishy’ means ‘tasting or smelling of
fish.’
The very air was fishy.
Figuratively, ‘fishy’ means ‘creating
doubt or suspicion, questionable.’
He is a fishy character.
His report sounds fishy to me.”
“Procure, purchase (M. Pachaiappan,
Neyveli)”
“We buy things, small and big, in
exchange for money.
I am going out to buy vegetables.
He bought a car last month.
‘Purchase’ implies a transaction of
some dignity or importance. You do not
purchase vegetables, you buy them.
I want to purchase a flat in this area.
She purchased a diamond necklace for
her daughter.
‘Buy’ is used with both expensive and
inexpensive things. ‘Purchase’ is used
only with expensive things. ‘Purchase tax’
is sales tax on non-essential luxury goods.
In India, ‘purchase’ as a verb is more
often used than ‘buy,’ perhaps because it
sounds more impressive. ‘Procure’ means
‘obtain, especially by care or effort.’
Officials have to procure a certain
quantity of rice from the farmers in this
area.
I was able to procure this rare coin after
considerable search.
‘Procure’ implies planning and care.
You buy expensive and inexpensive
things. You purchase only things of
importance. You procure when you buy
with care and planning.”
“Madcap (Sunita Chatterjee, Nagpur)”
“The word is used as an adjective and a
noun. A madcap is not mad, but
impulsive and reckless.
I don’t like your madcap scheme.
I am not amused by your madcap
adventures.
Published in The Hindu on August 13,
1991.
For feedback and suggestions for
Text & Context, please write to
letters@thehindu.co.in
with the subject ‘Text & Context’
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Know your
English
THE HINDU
12
Friday, April 5, 2024
News
From Page One
Govt. to record parents’
religion on birth register
Any birth register includes two parts: legal information and statistical information. The information on the parents’ religion is to be maintained
for statistical information.
The birth register form pertaining to legal information has been expanded to record the Aadhaar
number, and the mobile and e-mail IDs of both the
parents, “if available”. The address box has been
made more descriptive to contain the name of the
State, district, sub-district, town or village, ward
number (in case of town and if available), locality,
house number, and PIN code.
The “informant” providing the information in
the form will also have to provide their Aadhaar
and mobile numbers, and email address, along
with the name and address details which were
earlier required.
No need for talks on
Katchatheevu: Sri Lanka
LJP (Ram Vilas) leaders quit, Gourav Vallabh
quits ‘directionless’
accuse Chirag of nepotism Congress; joins BJP
Over 20 disgruntled leaders say they stood with party chief during difficult times and nursed the
organisation with their blood and sweat; some of them left over ticket denial, say party sources
Amarnath Tewary
PATNA
ver 20 leaders and
workers of the Lok
Janshakti
Party
(Ram Vilas) quit the party
recently, accusing party
chief Chirag Paswan of
“nepotism” and “neglect
of party leaders and workers in ticket distribution”
for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Under the National Democratic Alliance’s seatsharing arrangement in Bihar, the party is contesting
in five of the 40 Lok Sabha
seats in the State.
“None of the party leaders or workers were given
party ticket to contest the
Lok Sabha election, the
tickets were virtually sold
off to Chirag Paswan and
his close confidants,” alleged Ravindra Singh, who
quit the party’s national organisational secretary post
O
along with other party
leaders and workers on
Wednesday.
Some of those who resigned from the party’s
primary membership included national vice-president Renu Kushwaha,
former MLA and national
general secretary Satish
Kumar, vice-president Sanjay Singh, State organisational secretary Ajay Kushwaha, and State general
secretary Rajesh Dangi.
They claimed that they
have sent their resignation
to State party president Raju Tiwary.
The disgruntled leaders
who resigned from the LJP
(RV) also said that they had
“stood with party chief
Chirag Paswan and nursed
the organisation with their
blood and sweat at the
time when the BJP had
dumped Mr. Paswan in fa-
NEW DELHI
Hours after quitting the
Congress on Thursday,
former party spokesperson Gourav Vallabh joined
the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP).
Earlier, taking to social
media platform X, Mr. Vallabh said the Congress was
moving in a directionless
manner and that he was
uncomfortable raising antiSanatana slogans and
abusing “wealth creators”
every day. Mr. Vallabh
shared his resignation letter addressed to Congress
president
Mallikarjun
Kharge on X.
‘No space for youth’
“When I joined Congress, I
believed that Congress is
the oldest party in the
country which respects
youth and intellectual people and their ideas. But for
some time, I felt that the
party was not able to adjust with the youth having
BJP ignored RBI advice on poll bonds: Congress
The Hindu Bureau
Even before the signing of the two agreements in
1974 and 1976 that sealed the territorial question
of Katchatheevu, Sri Lanka’s position on the tiny
island in the Palk Strait was unambiguous, according to Prof. V. Suryanarayan, Founding Director
and Senior Professor (retired), Centre for South
and Southeast Asian Studies, University of
Madras.
In an in-depth two-part analysis of the history
of the Katchatheevu dispute, published in Frontline magazine in 1992, he wrote about “New Delhi’s ambivalence”, contrasting it with successive
Colombo governments’ “consistent stand” on the
matter.
Party undercurrent: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with LJP (Ram
Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan at a public rally on Thursday. ANI
vour of his estranged uncle
Pashupati Kumar Paras”.
Party sources, however,
told The Hindu that one or
two leaders among those
who resigned “in fact
wanted to contest the Lok
Sabha election but could
not get the party ticket”.
Mr. Ravindra Singh, according to party sources,
wanted to contest the election from the Vaishali seat
where MP Veena Devi has
been repeated. “It was surprising for all of us that
Veena Devi was allotted
party ticket again from
Vaishali seat as she was instrumental in splitting the
party by taking sides with
Pashupati Kumar Paras
and other party MPs,” Mr.
Ravindra Singh rued.
At a public rally on
Thursday, Mr. Paswan
thanked Prime Minister
Narendra Modi for kicking
off his poll campaign in Bihar from Jamui.
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Congress on Thursday
alleged that the nation has
had to pay a price as the
Bharatiya Janata Party’s
“compulsion” to get donation at all costs prompted
the government to come
up with the electoral bond
scheme despite the Reserve Bank of India’s advice against it.
Congress general secre-
tary (communication) Jairam Ramesh made these
remarks in connection
with The Hindu report on
Thursday that pointed out
how 33 loss-making companies donated electoral
bonds worth ₹576.2 crore,
out of which 75% was encashed by the BJP.
‘Shocking reality’
“There are four primary
channels of corruption in
the Electoral Bond Scam,
Top court tells
Pawars not to
defy order on
NCP symbol
Jaishankar hits out at Sonia Gandhi,
13 others take
DMK, says it was part oath as Rajya
of Katchatheevu talks Sabha MPs
The Hindu Bureau
The Hindu Bureau
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court on
Thursday directed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to neither
defy nor deviate from its
March 19 order to publish
newspaper advertisements
carrying disclaimers that a
dispute with uncle Sharad
Pawar over the allocation
of the Nationalist Congress
Party’s original symbol
‘clock’ is still pending in
the top court.
The Bench of Justices
Surya Kant and K.V. Viswanathan also made it clear
that the faction headed by
Sharad Pawar should not
use the ‘clock’ symbol at
any cost.
The court reiterated that
Mr. Sharad Pawar’s group
had been allotted a new
name, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra
Pawar and the ‘man blowing turha’ symbol. The
Bench said he should ensure that his office-bearers,
workers and supporters
stick to the new symbol
and not revert to the
‘clock’ at any cost.
“The petitioner (Sharad
Pawar) will also ensure that
his party workers, office
bearers or supporters do
not act in defiance or deviation of our directions on
March 19,” the court
ordered.
The uncle, represented
by senior advocate A.M.
Singhvi, accused the nephew of “over smartness”
by using his name and face
to draw political capital
and votes during the runup to the Lok Sabha polls.
The nephew, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, accused his
uncle in turn of using the
clock symbol.
External Affairs Minister S.
Jaishankar accused the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of adopting
double standards on the
Katchatheevu island issue.
Claiming that the ruling
party in Tamil Nadu “was
very much a party” to the
negotiations between the
then Union government
and Sri Lanka, he alleged
that the DMK had adopted
varying positions on the issue during discussions in
Parliament and outside.
“I think what is most important is that the people
of Tamil Nadu should
know the truth. When the
Central government was
negotiating the issue, they
were actually consulting
the then State government,
which was led by the DMK,
but that was kept a secret.
So, DMK was very much a
party to these negotiations, very much a party to
this outcome,” the Union
Minister said, addressing a
press conference in Thiruvananthapuram
on
Thursday.
Congress leader Sonia
Gandhi on Thursday took
oath as Rajya Sabha member. This is her first stint in
the Upper House of Parliament.
She was elected from
Rajasthan, from a seat that
fell vacant after 91-year-old
former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh completed his tenure on April 3.
Ms. Gandhi opted out of
the upcoming Lok Sabha
electoral race.
Thirteen other members were sworn in along
with Ms. Gandhi, including
one-time Gandhi loyalist
and former Union Minister
R.P.N. Singh, who is now
with the BJP. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw,
Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Syed Naseer Hussain from Karnataka, BJP
member Samik Bhattacharya from West Bengal,
YSRCP leaders Gola Babu
Rao, Medha Raghunath
Reddy, and Yerum Venkat
Subba Reddy also took
oath.
Ms. Gandhi was accompanied by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge,
her children Rahul Gandhi
and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and her son-in-law
Robert Vadra.
Wishing Ms. Gandhi
well for her new innings,
Mr. Kharge wrote in a post
on X, “Her courageous resilience and dignified
grace, in the wake of adversity and upheaval, shall
continue to guide our parliamentary strategy.”
“She has completed 25
years serving the Lok Sabha, and now my fellow
members and I await her
presence in the Upper
House,” he added.
The RBI had raised
concerns regarding
the high possibility
of electoral bonds
being used for
money laundering,
says Jairam Ramesh
and with each passing day,
more examples emerge to
confirm the shocking reality of the corruption which
has engulfed this country
through Narendra Modi’s
encouragement. An update on the latest revelations on the ‘Farzi Companies’ who have been
donating chanda to the
BJP. Chanda Do, Dhandha
Lo; Theka Lo, Rishvat Do;
Hafta Vasuli; Farzi [shell]
Companies,” Mr. Ramesh
said in a post on X, tagging
the news report.
The Congress leader alleged that the shell companies were merely acting as
fronts for other companies. “When the Electoral
Bonds Scheme was first
floated by the Modi Sarkar,
the RBI raised concerns regarding the high possibility
of it being used for money
laundering. The BJP’s compulsion to get chanda at all
costs saw it go ahead with
this scheme without heeding this astute advice. The
nation has paid the price!”
Mr. Ramesh said in his
post.
Congress president says
Prime Minister is sleeping
on Chinese intrusions
The Hindu Bureau
CM
YK
On PoK
Mr. Jaishankar also said the
Centre would never accept
that
Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir (PoK) was not an
integral part of India. This,
he said, was not just the
BJP’s position, but the national position.
“The Parliament has taken a united stand, and every political party of this
country supported that
stand. The central issue
where Pakistan is concerned has been related to
terrorism. We are a party
and government which
have been very clear that
we will not ignore terro-
Mr. Jaishankar said people of
Tamil Nadu should know the
truth on the issue. FILE PHOTO
rism. When terrorism happens, we will deal with it.
That has been our record,”
he pointed out.
‘Abnormal’ ties
While admitting that India’s relationships with Pakistan and China were “abnormal”,
the
Union
Minister maintained that
the country’s ties with other neighbouring countries
had improved under the
Narendra Modi-led government.
“We have a very competitive, challenging relationship with China. But
this is a country [India]
which is today confident
and capable of advancing
and defending its interests,” he said.
Without making any direct references, Mr. Jaishankar said: “There may be
forces in the neighbourhood and forces behind
forces who create problems, and there may be
people in India who like to
play out this problem. But
India’s relationship with
neighbouring countries except Pakistan and China
has been much better than
it has been for a long time.”
NEW DELHI
In a blistering attack on
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge on
Thursday described Mr.
Modi as a “sardar [chief ]
of liars” and accused him
of sleeping even as China
“entered” Indian territory.
Addressing an election
rally in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh, Mr. Kharge claimed
that the Prime Minister is
busy abusing the Gandhi
family rather than worrying about the country. The
Congress chief made these
remarks while campaigning for candidate Udai Lal
Anjana. Rajasthan Congress president Govind
Singh Dotasra and former
Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot also addressed
the rally.
Targeting the Prime Minister, Mr. Kharge said Mr.
Modi boasts of a “56-inch
chest” but he seems to be
sleeping over alleged Chinese intrusions, as if it was
“opium-induced sleep”.
“If you are not afraid
then why have you left a
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge felicitated by party leaders at a
public meeting in Chittaurgarh, Rajasthan on Thursday. ANI
large part of our land for
China? They are coming inside and you are sleeping.
Have you taken sleeping
pills? Have they taken opium from the fields of Rajasthan... and fed you?” Mr.
Kharge asked.
Slamming the Centre over the misuse of Central
agencies, the Congress
chief said Opposition leaders, who are called corrupt
by the BJP are absolved of
the charges once they join
the ruling party. Union
Home Minister Amit Shah
has a “very big washing
machine,” he added.
“These are fake and lying people and Modi is the
sardar of liars,” Mr. Kharge
said, attacking the BJP. He
claimed the Enforcement
Directorate, the Income
Tax Department and the
Central Bureau of Investigation are going after Congress leaders.
Referring to a recent
news report, he said 25
leaders were charged with
corruption but legal proceedings against two of
them were closed once
they joined the BJP. Others
too will be similarly exonerated, he added.
The Congress president
accused the Prime Minister
of trying to crush freedom,
democracy and the Constitution -- which helped him
rise to this position.
Gourav Vallabh joins the BJP in
New Delhi on Thursday.
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
new ideas. The Congress is
completely cut off from the
ground and is unable to
understand the aspirations
of a new India, due to
which the party is neither
coming to power nor is
able to play the role of a
strong opposition,” Mr. Vallabh said.
Mr. Vallabh said he was
upset with the stance taken
by the party of staying
away from the Ram Temple consecration programme in Ayodhya.
Congress has
five power
centres, says
Nirupam
Shoumojit Banerjee
PUNE
Stating that the Congress
had become ideologically
irrelevant and its leaders
“monumentally arrogant”,
expelled Maharashtra Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam launched a broadside
against the grand old party
on Thursday, remarking
that it had five “power
centres” that constantly
clashed with each other.
Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Mr. Nirupam, a former parliamentarian
who
was
removed for his alleged
“indiscipline” and making
“anti-party statements”,
said the Congress had become scattered ideologically and organisationally.
“Earlier there used to be
one power centre and it
had its own caucus. The
others fought against this
coterie. But there are five
centres now, each with
their own lobbies. And
these lobbies clash against
each other. And people
like us, who do not belong
to any clique, suffer as a result...this is not just about
me, but the feeling of lakhs
of people associated with
the Congress,” Mr. Nirupam, a former MP from
Mumbai North Lok Sabha
constituency, said.
He added that the first
power centre was Sonia
Gandhi, the second Rahul
Gandhi, the third – Mr.
Gandhi’s sister, Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra, who exerted power in her own way.
“Then there is party
president
Mallikarjun
Kharge, whose followers
have suddenly become the
party’s high command
even though they are utterly ignorant about politics.
The last power centre is
that of [Congress General
Secretary] K.C. Venugopal,” he said.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
National database
According to the 2023 amendment, the RGI shall
maintain the database of registered births and
deaths at the national level and it is obligatory
upon the Chief Registrars and the Registrars to
share the data of registered births and deaths to
such a database.
According to the parent Act — the Registration
of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 — the RGI has been
empowered to take steps to coordinate and unify
the activities of Chief Registrars, who are appointed by State governments. Civil Registration System (CRS) functionaries are appointed up to the
panchayat level.
Delhi
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
Pappu Yadav
files nomination
from Purnea
쑽
Former MP Rajesh Ranjan,
alias Pappu Yadav, filed his
nomination papers for the
Purnea Lok Sabha seat on
Thursday as an Independent
candidate.
His move comes days after
the Congress denied him
ticket for the seat. He had
merged his Jan Adhikar Party
13
ELECTIONS 2024
Delhi
(Loktantrik) with the Congress
in March reportedly on the
sole condition that the latter
would field him from Purnea.
However, the seat was
allotted to the Rashtriya
Janata Dal under the
seat-sharing arrangement.
Hundreds of supporters
followed him as he arrived to
file his nomination papers.
After filing his papers, he
told the media: “I had no
other option. I requested
everyone [for the seat] but
nobody listened to me, so I
had to make this decision”
Minister takes
a jibe at BJP’s
‘pet poll project’
쑽
Pappu Yadav arriving to file
his nomination papers on
Thursday. AMIT BHELARI
DMK’s Madurai-based leader
and Minister for Information
Technology Palanivel Thiaga
Rajan does not pull his
punches while attacking
political opponents.
Campaigning for the DMK-led
Indian National
Developmental, Inclusive
Alliance for the upcoming Lok
Robert Vadra
keen to fight poll
from Amethi
Sabha election, the Minister
referred to the BJP’s pet
project of “one nation, one
election”, and said that in
2004, the Parliamentary
election was conducted in 20
days. However, it would take
three months to complete the
upcoming election. “If they
are taking three months to
hold elections to 543 Lok
Sabha seats, they will not be
able to complete
simultaneous elections across
the country in even two
years,” Mr. Thiaga Rajan
added.
쑽
They (INDIA
bloc
constituents) have
nothing to do with you.
They only have to
protect the corrupt and
serve themselves
J.P. NADDA
BJP president
Former Congress president
Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law
Robert Vadra has expressed
his desire to contest the Lok
Sabha election from Amethi in
Uttar Pradesh, saying that
people of the constituency
want someone from the
Gandhi family to represent
them in the Lok Sabha.
The PM has
never forgiven
the people of Bengal for
so decisively rejecting
the BJP in last Assembly
poll — this in spite of his
extensive campaign
JAIRAM RAMESH
Congress leader
slams
‘Congress synonymous with scandal, BJP
Congress for
comments
BJP stands for good governance’
against Modi,
Hema Malini
The Hindu Bureau
INTERVIEW
Change in strategy: Former BJP leader Bhrugu
Baxipatra with Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata
Dal supremo Naveen Patnaik. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Satyasundar Barik
BHUBANESWAR
ntil Wednesday, Bhrugu Baxipatra,
previously the vice-president of the
BJP Odisha unit, was firmly
entrenched within the party. However, his
career trajectory swiftly changed direction
following his resignation from the party he
had long been associated with. Come
evening, Mr. Baxipatra found himself
nominated as the Lok Sabha candidate for
the Berhampur constituency for the Biju
Janata Dal, a party he contested against in the
2019 election.
Manmath Routray, son of senior Congress
leader Suresh Chandra Routray, joined the
BJD on March 27. On the same day, his name
appeared on the regional party’s list of MP
candidates. The debutant will now lock horns
with Aparajita Sarangi, BJP’s national
spokesperson.
This turn of events marks a notable
departure for the BJD, a party that has
historically been highly sought after in Odisha
since its establishment in 1997, and one that
has never struggled to find suitable
candidates. It has so far announced
candidates for 20 out of 21 seats in the State.
The election year seems to be an exception
as five leaders who switched sides have been
swiftly rewarded by the BJD.
Parinita Mishra’s career followed a similar
trajectory to that of Mr. Baxipatra. Within
hours of joining the party on April 3, Ms.
Mishra’s candidacy for the Bargarh
constituency was officially announced.
Meanwhile, Surendra Singh Bhoi, a former
Congress MLA from Balangir district, had to
wait a couple of days before his candidature
for the Balangir seat was announced.
The longest wait among five was for
Anshuman Mohanty who is now the BJD
candidate for the Kendrapara seat. Mr.
Mohanty had shifted allegiance from the
Congress to the BJD in February. He had to
wait more than a month for finalisation of his
candidature on BJD ticket.
U
Interesting case
Apart from these turncoats, the case of
Santrupta Mishra, former head of Human
Resource of Aditya Birla Group, is also
interesting. In February, immediately after he
joined BJD, he was made party spokesperson.
In March, Mr. Mishra was named the party’s
candidate for the Cuttack seat.
The nomination of six new entrants
pointed to the fact that the BJD was not
focussed on the Lok Sabha election by not
grooming its own leaders for seats.
The breakdown in alliance negotiation had
apparently caught the regional party
unaware, especially for the Lok Sabha
election where Prime Minister Narenda
Modi’s popularity is seen as one of biggest
deciding factors in Odisha.
Senior journalist and political
commentator Rabi Das noted that
accommodating turncoats has become a
national trend. The BJP, for instance, has
swiftly fielded numerous leaders who
recently joined the party, he said. According
to Mr. Das, the rationale behind such
decisions lies in the belief that candidates
who were in the Opposition may bring more
value to the table than BJD’s own aspirants.
CM
YK
the key elements you
are focusing on when it
comes to Nagpur?
The BJP advocates for a
‘Congress-mukt Bharat’,
yet now we see it as a
‘Congress-yukth party’
[Congress filled party]...
Mr. Modi is the leader of
our government and the
party. J.P. Nadda is the party president. They are our
leaders. We are working
and fighting the elections
under their leadership.
But, in Nagpur, I’m talking
to the people as MP and we
have completed works of
more than ₹1 lakh crore in
the last 10 years.
Nitin Gadkari
Abhinay Deshpande
NAGPUR
eteran BJP leader
and Union Minister
Nitin Gadkari is
seeking re-election from
the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra.
He reiterates the BJP’s poll
pitch on development and
good administration, and
says that many leaders
from the Opposition were
switching over because
they sensed the support for
the party. Excerpts:
EMMANUAL YOGINI
In a shift from
past, BJD opens
its doors wide
for turncoats
the future of this country
better and can fulfil the expectations of this country.
V
Narendra Modi predicts
that the BJP will secure
370 seats and the NDA
will exceed 400. Could
you break down this
forecast and highlight
the States where your
party expects
significant gains?
We want to expand our
presence in the southern
States. Currently, we have
good seats in Telangana;
even in Tamil Nadu, our alliance will get a good number of seats. We are not very strong in Tamil Nadu
and Kerala. But, in Andhra
Pradesh, we are hopeful of
getting good seats from our
allies. Karnataka, we will
maintain our victory in the
last election. This time, our
performance in South India will be better. Talking
about Maharashtra, now
we have three forces together (BJP, Shiv Sena led
by Eknath Shinde and Ajit
Pawar’s NCP), our strength
has increased and that’s
the reason we’ll get more
seats compared with the
last election.
Over time, a personality
cult has formed around
figures like Mr. Modi,
Yogi Adityanath, and
now, Himanta Biswa
Sarma. As someone
involved in
organisational work, do
you think overdependence on a few
individuals will hurt the
party electorally in the
long run?
This is a party with an ideology and its strength is karyakarta. They are valuable leaders and they are
working for the ideology of
the party, organisation and
people of this country. So,
there’s no personality cult.
In the Modi
administration, is there
room for disagreement?
Can you share an
instance where you and
Mr. Modi had differing
views, particularly
relating to politics in
Maharashtra or your
department?
Yes, there is. On many occasions, we have a lot of
discussions in the Cabinet,
and the Prime Minister allows everyone to talk and
we share our opinion. Ultimately, being the Prime Minister, it is his discretion to
make the decision.
The Opposition says
that your party’s
politics is Hindutvacentric and there is a
notion that the BJP acts
as a “washing machine”
for political figures.
What’s your take on it?
It’s a baseless allegation.
Understanding the public
pulse, leaders from the Opposition parties want to
join the BJP, as the people
are with us. They know
that this party can make
Don’t take the direct meaning of these words. The
feeling behind the argument is to bring victory to
the BJP for the future of this
country. We have already
had the experience of the
Congress previously and
the results were not good,
including the problem of
unemployment, poverty
and poor infrastructure.
Today, Congress is synonymous with corruption and
scandal, and the BJP with
development, administration and good governance.
You’re seen as a
“development” man.
Do parties win elections
on the plank of
development?
Absolutely. Look at Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Tripura, and any northeastern State or any place
across the country. A common man will narrate the
success story of development and infrastructure in
the country.
You have so far stood
out as one of the few
leaders to campaign in
your own name instead
of Mr. Modi’s. What are
Modi, Mamata square off at rallies
in Cooch Behar, trade barbs on CAA
Shiv Sahay Singh
KOLKATA
Ahead of the first phase of
the Lok Sabha election on
April 19, in which three
constituencies in north
Bengal will go to the polls,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday held
rallies in Cooch Behar.
While Ms. Banerjee addressed supporters at
Mathabhanga, Mr. Modi
held a rally at the Raas Mela grounds in the heart of
Cooch Behar town.
“The INDIA bloc of the
Trinamool Congress, the
Congress and the Left are
indulging in the politics of
lies and rumours. They
have never cared for the
marginalised communities
such as Rajbanhshis, Matuas and Namasudras. Now
when the BJP government
has brought the Citizenship (Amendment) Act,
2019 (CAA), they are
spreading rumours and
lies. It is Modi ki guarantee
to provide citizenship to
those who have faith in
Maa Bharati,” the Prime
What role does Nagpur
play in the current
government? There’s
talk of another ‘faction’
controlling the party,
making the RSS uneasy.
What’s your take on the
RSS’ satisfaction with
Mr. Modi’s leadership?
The RSS never gets involved in politics, but the
Swayamsevaks are. The
RSS never interferes and
when it comes to its ideology, we are doing an excellent job. There are no differences
[of
opinion]
between anyone in the RSS
and the party.
What, in your view, is
missing from INDIA?
When they’re in a weakened state, they seek alliances. However, due to
our strength, their attempts to unite are unsuccessful, evidenced by many
of them departing from the
parties.
NEW DELHI
Minister said.
Ms. Banerjee said the
CAA was connected with
the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said “no
CAA, NRC will happen” in
West Bengal. “They were
screaming CAA, CAA
ahead of the polls. CAA is
the head and NRC is the
tail. Now, they are saying
that a priest can give citizenship. How can this be
possible under the law?
There should be a limit to
their lies,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee expressed
fears that after the CAA,
the BJP government at the
Centre will implement the
Uniform Civil Code. She
said the moment people
register themselves as foreigners, they will not be
able to avail themselves of
government
welfare
schemes
or
services.
“They will not be able to
vote. If a priest can give the
clearance for citizenship,
why have census officials
been included on the committee,” she asked.
Ms. Banerjee said “one
can trust a cobra but not
the BJP”. “The BJP is asking
you to enroll names for
Awas Yojna again. Why will
the names be enrolled
again? They want further
enrolment so that they can
remove them,” she said.
Mr. Modi said the Lok
Sabha election is to make
India the third biggest economy.
“We cannot afford a
weak government in Delhi.
Today, the world says that
Modi is a strong leader,
Modi takes tough and big
decisions. I take big decisions so that the aspirations of 140 crore Indians
can be fulfilled,” he said.
He touched upon the
Sandeshkhali issue and
said that only the BJP that
can stop the atrocities on
mothers and sisters.
Congress leaders have
“lost their mental balance”, the BJP said on
Thursday, responding to
“offensive” remarks made
against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP MP
Hema Malini by leaders
from the Opposition party.
Calling for support for
former Chhattisgarh Chief
Minister Bhupesh Baghel
during a poll rally on Tuesday, senior Congress leader Charan Das Mahant
said: “We want someone
who can hold a stick and
confront Narendra Modi.”
He is contesting the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat.
On Wednesday, the
BJP’s IT department head
Amit Malviya shared an undated video on X, which
purportedly shows Congress leader Randeep Surjewala making “vile, sexist” remarks against Ms.
Hema Malini. The actorpolitician is contesting the
Mathura Lok Sabha seat.
“With the polls coming
closer, the Congress has
lost its mental balance,
sensing the people’s growing support in favour of Mr.
Modi,” BJP spokesperson
Sudhanshu Trivedi said.
The National Commission for Women has moved
the Election Commission
against Mr. Surjewala for
his comments. The Haryana State Women Commission has also issued summons to him.
(With PTI inputs)
CPI(M) promises
law on hate speech,
scrapping of CAA
The Hindu Bureau
Crossing swords: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being felicitated during the BJP rally in Cooch Behar;
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dancing with artists at her rally in the district. ANI
NEW DELHI
Terming the huge increase
in unemployment the biggest failure of the Modi government, the CPI(M), in
its election manifesto released on Thursday in Delhi, called for inclusion of
“right to work” as a constitutional right.
The Modi government
had promised two crore
jobs a year. Far from implementing this guarantee,
the last five years have actually seen a reduction in
jobs, the CPI(M) said.
There are an estimated
25 lakh jobs vacant in various government departments and public sector
undertakings. “The vacancies in government and public sector posts must be
filled urgently,” CPI(M)
general secretary Sitaram
Yechury said at a press
conference. The party also
wants the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to
be strengthened by dou-
bling its budgetary allocation.
The Lok Sabha election,
he said, were critical to
save India against the effort
of the BJP to transform the
secular, democratic character of the Indian Republic into a rabidly intolerant,
hateand
violence-based authoritarian and fascist Hindutva
Rashtra. “The CPI(M) will
fight for a law against hate
speech and crimes. It is
committed to scrapping
the CAA,” he said.
The manifesto also talks
about revoking all “draconian” laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act
and
the
Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The
manifesto reiterates several demands, including a
statutory minimum wage
for workers. It wants the
New Pension Scheme
scrapped and all “antiworker and pro-employer
amendments to labour
laws through four labour
codes” revoked.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Union Minister of Road Transport says the common man knows the success story of development in the country under the
Modi government; he says the Opposition is seeking alliances because it is weak and its leaders are switching over to the BJP
THE HINDU
14
Friday, April 5, 2024
News
Delhi
must
No sanctions against India for buying, Israel
ensure safety
Indian
refining Russian oil, say U.S. officials ofworkers:
govt.
INBRIEF
쑽
The aim of sanctions and the oil ‘price cap’ is to limit revenue to Russia, say the U.S. officials; India’s oil purchases are only
mandated by country’s needs and it seeks to buy them from wherever they are available at the cheapest rate, says Centre
Suhasini Haidar
Kallol Bhattacherjee
NEW DELHI
and oil purchases on the
international market are
guided by India’s energy
security
requirements.
This is essentially a commercial venture, and we
are seeking to buy oil from
wherever we receive the
cheapest available supplies,” Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on
Thursday.
Suhasini Haidar
NEW DELHI
Mumbai police take custody
of 9 Somalians held for piracy
All the nine Somalians apprehended in a recent
anti-piracy operation have been handed over to
the Mumbai police, the Navy said on Thursday.
They were brought to India on Wednesday, days
after the Navy arrested them for hijacking an
Iranian fishing vessel off the Somalia coast, a
Navy official said. “Robust action taken by the
Indian Navy warships INS Trishul and INS
Sumedha during the anti-piracy operations in the
east of Somalia on March 29. The operation had
resulted in the successful rescue of fishing vessel
Al Kambar and its crew of 23 Pakistani
nationals,” Commander Vivek Madhwal, Navy
spokesperson, said in a statement.
The new generation ballistic missile Agni-Prime
was successfully flight-tested by the Strategic
Forces Command (SFC) along with the Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
from the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island off the
coast of Odisha around 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
“The test met all the trial objectives validating its
reliable performance, as confirmed from the data
captured by a number of range sensors,
including two downrange ships placed at the
terminal point,” the Defence Ministry said. It was
witnessed by the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of
SFC, and officials from DRDO and the Army.
S
Trade ties: Since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, India and China
have become the major purchasers of Russian oil. FILE PHOTO
sury Department.
“Once Russian oil is refined, from a technical perspective, it is no longer
Russian oil. If it is refined in
a country and then exported, from a sanctions perspective it belongs to that
country, it is not an import
from Russia,” Ms. Morris
added, responding to a
question about whether India had been “oil laundering” Russian energy for European markets, as alleged
in a report by European
think tank CREA.
The Petroleum Ministry
had last year called the report “misleading” and a
“deceptive effort to tarnish
India’s image”.
The officials, Ms. Morris
and U.S. Assistant Secre-
tary for Economic Policy
Eric Van Nostrand, made it
clear that no Indian company had thus far been
sanctioned by the U.S. for
oil purchases from Russia.
Since 2022, a Mumbaibased company has been
sanctioned over purchases
of Iranian oil, while a Bengaluru-based
high-tech
company was put on a list
of firms facing the U.S. and
the EU sanctions for engaging in “dual use” technology trade with Russia.
Asked about the U.S. officials’ visit, and India’s
stand on the price cap, the
External Affairs Ministry
said that all oil purchases
were only mandated by India’s needs. “Anything to
do with energy security
‘Median cancer diagnosis age Class 11 and 12 exams
in India is lower than in West’ to focus on checking
strong
guidelines
for
screening,” he said, adding
that while the screening
rate for breast cancer
stood at 74% to 82% in the
U.S., a mere 1.9% are
screened in India.
The Hindu Bureau
CHENNAI
The median age for cancer
diagnosis in India is lower
when compared with the
U.S., the U.K., and China,
said a report released by
Apollo Hospitals. According to the hospital’s data,
the average age of diagnosis of breast cancer in India
is 52 against 63 in the U.S.
and the U.K., while for lung
cancer it is 59 as opposed
to around 70 in the West.
The fourth edition of
Apollo Hospitals’ “Health
of the Nation” report,
which looks at trends in
non-communicable diseases (NCD) based on the hospital’s data, has highlighted the huge burden of
cancers among the country’s younger population
and risk posed by low cancer-screening rates.
“What is striking in our
database is the median age
at which people are diagnosed with cancer; cancer
affects a much younger
The hospital found that colon
cancer cases were increasing
among younger people.
population. It is 52 years
for breast cancer, 54 years
for cervical cancer, and 59
years for lung cancer,”
Madhu Sasidhar, president
and chief executive officer,
Apollo Hospitals, said.
Looking at their data,
the hospital found that colon cancer cases were increasing among younger
people, with 30% of colon
cancer patients at Apollo
Hospitals aged less than 50
years. But the country falls
behind in cancer screenings.
“Most nations have
Data extrapolated
Raising the issue of Western data being extrapolated in India, he explained
how an analysis found the
threshold for ProstateSpecific Antigen (PSA) — a
blood test — in Indian men
was different from the current standards, suggesting
the need for local data.
The report also elaborated on mental health and
metabolic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. It found
that one in three Indians
have pre-diabetes, raising
the need for proper diet,
exercise, and weight loss.
In a video message,
Prathap C. Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals,
said NCDs contributed to
70% of deaths today.
concept clarity: CBSE
Fali Nariman was a pillar
of the community, says CJI
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI
The exams for Classes 11
and 12 from the 2024-25
session will include more
competency-based questions that assess the application of concepts in reallife situations, according to
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) officials who announced a
change in the format.
While the percentage of
competency-focused questions in the form of multiple-choice questions, casebased questions, sourcebased integrated questions, or any other type
has been increased from
40% to 50%, the percentage of constructed-response questions, including
short and long answers,
has been reduced from
40% to 30%.
“The board in accordance with National Education Policy (NEP), 2020
SCAN TO PLAY
14141
Major purchasers
Since the war in Ukraine
began in 2022, India and
China have become the
major purchasers of Russian oil. In January this
year, Russian President
Vladimir Putin had praised
India for pursuing an “independent foreign policy”
despite pressure from the
West to curtail trade, energy, and defence ties with
Moscow. “The largest foreign investment in India
has come from Russia. $23
billion was invested by our
company Rosneft for the
acquisition of an oil refinery, a network of gas stations, a port, and so on,”
President Putin had said,
referring to the installations at Vadinar in Gujarat.
Along with other G-7
countries, the U.S. had announced a “price cap” on
To solve this puzzle online,
get across to our crossword site.
@ https://qrgo.page.link/jjpTn
has taken multiple steps towards implementation of
Competency Based Education in schools, ranging
from aligning assessment
to competencies, development of exemplar resources for teachers and students as well as continuous
capacity building of the
teachers,” Joseph Emanuel, Director (Academics), CBSE, said.
“The main emphasis of
the board was to create an
educational
ecosystem
that would move away
from rote memorisation
and towards learning that
is focused on developing
the creative, critical, and
systems thinking capacities of students,” he added.
He said the board is continuing with aligning of the
assessments and evaluation
practices
with
NEP-2020 for the academic
session 2024-2025. There
is no change in the exam
format for Classes 9 and 10.
India has urged Israel to
ensure the safety and security of Indian citizens
who are being flown to the
conflict-hit nation under a
government-to-government (G2G) agreement to
work as blue-collar workers, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir
Jaiswal said on Thursday.
Mr. Jaiswal added that
India was “distressed” at
the recent attack on Iranian diplomatic premises
in Damascus that both Syria and Iran blamed on Tel
Aviv.
“As you are aware, these
[first batch] workers have
gone to Israel as part of a
mobility agreement that
we have signed with the
country. This agreement
predates the conflict. We
are conscious of their safety. We have urged the Israeli authorities to ensure
their safety and well-being,” Mr. Jaiswal said.
Israel and India had
signed an agreement to fly
around 42,000 workers
from here to various spots
in Israel.
Earlier this week, the
first batch of 60 Indian
workers flew to Israel on
Tuesday.
During difficult times,
when many fell silent, senior advocate Fali S. Nariman’s baritone resonated
in the walls of the court
and beyond, Chief Justice
of India D.Y. Chandrachud
said on Thursday.
The Chief Justice was
paying tribute to Nariman
at a Full Court Reference
held in his memory. The
jurist passed away on February 21.
Chief Justice Chandrachud said Nariman, who
was vocal in his support of
civil liberties and rights, represented the “conscience
of the nation” in hard
times. “Every now and
then a lawyer transcends
advocacy to become a
leader and pillar of the
community,” the CJI said at
the ceremony held in his
packed courtroom at the
Supreme Court, with judges, lawyers, and family
members of Nariman, in-
Fali S. Nariman
cluding his son and former
Supreme Court judge, Justice Rohinton Nariman, in
attendance.
The Chief Justice recalled that Nariman resigned as Additional Solicitor-General
with
the
imposition of the Internal
Emergency in June 1975.
“As Martin Luther King Jr.
once mused, cowardice
asks the question, ‘Is it
safe?’, expediency asks the
question, ‘Is it politic?’,
vanity asks the question,
‘Is it popular?’, but conscience asks the question,
‘Is it right?’ Nariman was
guided by only one ques-
tion,” the CJI said.
The CJI narrated a joke
that Nariman used to share
about two lawyers meeting
at the court library during
the Emergency period,
each exhorting the other to
speak first.
He recounted that Nariman had fought in favour
of the Delhi High Court’s
judgment decriminalising
homosexuality. But the Supreme Court had gone on
to set aside the High Court
order. It was only years later, through its judgment
in the Navtej Singh Johar
case, that the top court
corrected its error and
confirmed the High Court
verdict.
‘Amongst the very best’
“The hallmark of a great lawyer is not one who wins,
but one who fights well
and, in doing so, furthers
the judges’ own understanding of the issues. Nariman was amongst the very best,” the Chief Justice
said.
SUDOKU
쑽
(set by Arden)
Across
9 Tend to accept defeat, in short shut down (7)
10 I had come back with a no nonsensical statesman from the US
(7)
11 Home before long for a beginning (7)
12 Do stop, drain part of milk (7)
13 A place of worship once, later on below average (9)
CM
YK
15 Orderly coverage for Republican President in the past (5)
16 Hotel bar, appropriate place to review part of the story (7)
19 With some money allow fresh resumption (7)
20 In fact, a million literary works are there in this language (5)
21 Imagine a model wearing an exotic bonnet (5,4)
25 Bird gets set amount including interest (7)
26 Choice, encountered in fall (7)
28 Give back 80% immediately outside the French city (7)
29 Hermaphrodite's story, direction follows (7)
Down
1 Save and invest millions in share (6)
2 Initial current supply is safe (6)
3 Bolt had one loss (4)
4 Know any happy countryman? (6)
5 Refuse to be kept inside (3,5)
6 Cheap stuff for sale, heard separately perhaps (10)
7 Cat fight to grab gold, that's after midnight today (8)
8 Local part of a cell acquired by a chip maker (8)
14 Hit men managed to get bail somehow in this outfit (10)
16 Fits briefly, ring around IITM compound (5,3)
17 Dreamy, also probably astronomical (8)
18 Left exposed next to flowing sewage (8)
22 Poles drink beer outside park in this city (6)
23 Play a bowler, oddly Miller is included (6)
24 Rope - time to undo there (6)
27 Come together briefly as one (4)
FAITH
쑽
Ramayana tattvas
Solution to previous puzzle
Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku
The story of the Ramayana is simple, and we have the Eka
sloki Ramayana — the entire Ramayana summed up in one
verse. But the significance of Ramayana lies not so much
in the story as such, but in the deeper tattvas in the epic,
said M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse.
A sloka that is recited before Ramayana parayana shows
us the importance attached to Ramayana tattvas. The sloka says that Vaidehi is beside Rama. He is seated on a
throne made of flowers, which is in a huge golden mandapa, which is in the middle of a garden full of trees. Rama’s
sitting posture is veerasana. Hanuman recalls the incidents described in the Ramayana. Also present are Rama’s
brothers, and rishis. As Hanuman reads each incident, Rama explains the tattva behind each. The tattvas as elaborated by Rama have been handed down by rishis generation after generation, and have come to us through our
Acharyas. Because these tattvas are very important, they
have to be learnt from a preceptor.
Ramanujacharya spent a year studying the Ramayana
from his maternal uncle Thirumalai Nambi, because to fully grasp the tattvas in the Ramayana, we need instruction
from an Acharya for a long period. Ramanujacharya was
capable of even correcting his teacher Yadavaprakasa’s interpretations of Upanishad vakyas.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Agni-Prime ballistic missile
flight-tested successfully
triking a conciliatory
note on India’s imports of Russian oil,
U.S. Treasury Department
officials visiting Delhi said
on Thursday that the aim
of the U.S. sanctions and
the oil “price cap” was not
to limit the purchase of
Russian ‘Ural’ oil, but to limit the revenues made by
the “Kremlin”.
According to the officials, who are meeting
their counterparts and oil
company representatives
in Delhi and Mumbai during their visit on April 2
and April 5, the U.S. measures thus far, including a
“second phase” of sanctions against oil shipping
companies, are having
some impact. However,
they brushed aside questions about the rising price
of Ural oil, now nearing
$80 per barrel, and the
narrowing of Russian discounts to Indian refiners.
“Our purpose is to limit
revenue to Russia but not
dictate that no trade can be
done in Russian oil,” said
Anna Morris, Acting Assistant Secretary for Terrorist
Financing at the U.S. Trea-
Ural oil in December 2022,
so that only those importing Russian oil at a rate below $60 per barrel could
avail of shippers, insurers,
and other ancillary services from companies that operate in G-7 countries. In
effect, that has meant that
Russian exporters have
had to offer Ural oil at heavy discounts to buyers, the
officials said.
In an article on the U.S.
Treasury website, Ms. Morris and Mr. Nostrand had
also claimed success in the
second phase of the price
cap measures announced
in October 2023, ensuring
that Russian oil was offered
at discounts ranging from
$12 to $19 over the past
year, and that export volumes “remained stable”.
Other reports have pointed
to Indian buyers facing
problems over payments
for oil in other currencies,
and turning away tankers
from companies like Russian shipper Sovcomflot,
now under sanctions as
well.
In Moscow, the Russian
Foreign Ministry countered the claims, saying
that Russian oil supplies to
India remain at a “steadily
high level”.
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
15
Business
Delhi
‘March Services PMI survey signals
activity grew to strongest since 2010’
INBRIEF
쑽
HSBC index shows services added jobs at the fastest pace since August as new export orders grew at the quickest rate since
2014; the rate of charge inflation accelerated to the highest since July 2017 and business sentiment slid to a four-month low
MARKETS
쑽
MARKET WATCH
THURSDAY
NIFTY 50
PRICE
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Mahindra & Mahindra to
unveil latest SUV on April 29
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) said its latest
sport utility vehicle (SUV), to be named XUV
3XO, would be unveiled on April 29. The
company said the new offering, which would
come with the conventional internal combustion
engine (ICE) in petrol and diesel variants, “would
set a new precedent in the category, embodying
the sophistication and modern technology that
the XUV brand DNA is celebrated for.” The SUV
would be manufactured at Nashik, Maharashtra.
Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation
Ltd.’s (SPIC) Tuticorin plant has successfully
transitioned to 100% natural gas from naphtha as
a raw material source for the production of urea,
said Chairman Ashwin Muthiah. “This shift aligns
with our commitment to environmental
sustainability and underscores our
responsiveness to government policies
promoting cleaner fuel sources,” Mr. Muthiah
said in a statement.
HDFC Bank’s loan book
crossed ₹25 lakh cr. in Q4
HDFC Bank on Thursday said its loan book
crossed ₹25 lakh crore in Q4 ended March 2024.
Gross advances aggregated to ₹25.08 lakh crore
as of March 31, 2024, a growth of 55.4% over
₹16.14 lakh crore as of March 31, 2023. The figures
for the period ended March 31, 2024 include the
operations of erstwhile HDFC Ltd., which
amalgamated with HDFC Bank on July 1, 2023
and hence not comparable with those of the
previous year, HDFC Bank said in a filing. PTI
levels at the joint-fastest
pace since November 2022
and the highest pace since
August 2023. On the flip
side, input costs as well as
charges levied on customers grew at a faster pace,
with output charges raised
cerns emerging about
competitive pressures.
“India’s services PMI
rose in March, following a
small dip in February, on
the back of strong demand
that spurred sales and business activity,” said Ines
Lam, HSBC economist.
Finance and insurance
firms saw the highest increase in output and sales.
New export business rose
at the fastest rate since the
PMI series started in September 2014, with orders
reported from Africa, Asia,
Australia, Europe, the
Americas and West Asia.
RBI holds firm on
‘Onions, potatoes lifted veg
thali cost 7% higher in March’ rupee derivatives,
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Vegetarian food prices rose
7% in March, the same
pace as February, thanks
to a continuing rise in the
prices for onions, potatoes
and tomatoes as well as
rice and pulses, according
to rating agency CRISIL’s
monthly indicator of food
plate costs.
The metric, based on
the average cost of preparing a thali at home is calculated based on input prices
prevailing across India, is a
yardstick to assess consumer
food
inflation
trends ahead of official retail inflation numbers.
Non-vegetarian
plate
costs dropped 7% in
March, compared with a
9% decline in February,
owing to a nearly 16% drop
in broiler prices on the
high base of last year, the
firm said on Thursday. However, in absolute terms,
the cost of a home-cooked
non-vegetarian plate, in
which broiler accounts for
50% of expenses, rose to a
three-month high of ₹54.9.
“The cost of the vegetarian thali increased due to a
surge of 40%, 36% and 22%
on-year in prices of onion,
tomato and potato, respectively, due to lower arrivals
of onion and potato and
low base of last fiscal for tomatoes,” said CRISIL.
Amid lower arrivals, the
prices of rice and pulses
which account for 22% of
the cost of a representative
home-cooked meal, rose
14% and 22%, respectively.
In absolute terms, a veg
meal’s cost slipped to a
nine-month low of ₹27.3.
defers rules to May 3
The Hindu Bureau
MUMBAI
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) on Thursday reiterated that its stance on the
regulatory framework for
Exchange Traded Currency Derivatives (ETCD) had
remained consistent over
the years and underlined
there would be no change
in its policy approach.
Defers implementation
However, following feedback from participants, the
RBI said it was deferring
the implementation of the
consolidated currency derivative rules to May 3,
from April 5.
“As hitherto, participants with a valid underlying contracted exposure
can continue to enter into
ETCDs involving the Indian
Rupee up to a limit of $100
million without having to
produce documentary evidence of the underlying exposure,” the RBI said.
The RBI is emphasising
the norm relating to ‘underlying contracted exposure’ to curb the potential
for speculative trading in
currency derivatives.
CHANGE
Adani Enter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3210.80. . . . . . . . -22.65
Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1366.85. . . . . . . . -30.35
Apollo Hosp. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 6440.60. . . . . . . . . . 65.55
Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2918.30. . . . . . . . . . 48.95
Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1062.95. . . . . . . . . . -0.30
Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 9146.15. . . . . . . . . . 65.70
Bajaj Finserv . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1655.80. . . . . . . . . . 15.45
Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 7283.40. . . . . . . . -25.85
Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1206.85. . . . . . . . -18.85
BPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 598.50. . . . . . . . -12.45
Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4813.60. . . . . . . . -21.00
Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1459.55. . . . . . . . -11.95
Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 448.85. . . . . . . . . . . . 3.35
Divis Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3734.20. . . . . . . . . . 49.30
Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 6142.50. . . . . . . . . . 18.10
Eicher Motors . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4014.30. . . . . . . . . . 80.10
Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2277.85. . . . . . . . -27.60
HCL Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1539.65. . . . . . . . . . . . 3.80
HDFC Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1527.60. . . . . . . . . . 45.30
HDFC Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 622.40. . . . . . . . . . -1.70
Hero MotoCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4522.95. . . . . . . . -34.25
Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 577.75. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.15
Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2264.95. . . . . . . . . . -0.25
ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1078.85. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.65
IndusInd Bank. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1544.45. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.80
Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1486.70. . . . . . . . . . . . 6.05
ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 422.75. . . . . . . . . . -2.45
JSW Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 862.50. . . . . . . . . . -6.50
Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1749.15. . . . . . . . . . 18.00
L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3797.85. . . . . . . . . . 15.40
LTIMindtree Ltd. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4935.20. . . . . . . . . . 65.90
M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2002.70. . . . . . . . . . 13.40
Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 12567.25. . . . . . . . 139.40
NestleIndia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2549.60. . . . . . . . . . -4.35
NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 354.65. . . . . . . . . . . . 3.40
ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 269.00. . . . . . . . . . -6.35
PowerGrid Corp . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 277.65. . . . . . . . . . -2.45
Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2925.85. . . . . . . . -17.35
SBI Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1463.75. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.95
State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 759.30. . . . . . . . -11.75
Shriram
Finance
Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2499.30. . . . . . . . -57.15
Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1619.35. . . . . . . . . . -0.50
TataConsumerProduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1117.95. . . . . . . . . . -1.55
Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1011.60. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.45
Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 163.40. . . . . . . . . . -0.25
TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4003.30. . . . . . . . . . 56.00
Tech Mahindra . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1279.25. . . . . . . . . . 24.10
Titan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3782.75. . . . . . . . . . 70.25
UltraTech Cement . . . .. . . . . 10005.10. . . . . . . . . . . . 3.20
Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 487.40. . . . . . . . . . . . 4.20
EXCHANGE RATES
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4
p.m. on April 04
CURRENCY
TT BUY
TT SELL
US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 83.24. . . . . . . . . . 83.56
Euro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 90.39. . . . . . . . . . 90.74
British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 105.37. . . . . . . . 105.78
Japanese Yen (100) . . . . . . .. . . . . 54.86. . . . . . . . . . 55.07
Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 11.51. . . . . . . . . . 11.55
Swiss Franc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 91.83. . . . . . . . . . 92.20
Singapore Dollar . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 61.78. . . . . . . . . . 62.03
Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 61.65. . . . . . . . . . 61.89
Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 17.55. . . . . . . . . . 17.64
Australian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 55.01. . . . . . . . . . 55.22
Source:Indian Bank
Sensex, Nifty surge to IOB, TMB, KVB get I-T
fresh all-time highs
demands for ₹770-cr.
amid volatility
The Hindu Bureau
CHENNAI
The Hindu Bureau
MUMBAI
Amidst high volatility, key
benchmark equity indices
surged to their 52-week
highs with speculation that
the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) would keep interest
rates unchanged at Friday’s Monetary Policy
Committee meeting.
The S&P BSE Sensex added 350.81 points, or
0.47%, to end at 74,227.63,
its best ever close so far.
Sensex stocks which
gained the most included
HDFC Bank which was up
3.06%; Titan (1.98%);
TechM (1.74%); Asian
Paints (1.72%); TCS (1.41%)
and Maruti (1.22%).
The NSE Nifty 50 index
gained 80 points, or
Dabur India
flags sluggish
demand in
March quarter
0.36%, to 22,514.65.
“Sensex and Nifty succumbed to profit taking at
higher levels,” brokerage
firm Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates Ltd.
said in a note to clients.
“The benchmarks closed
the day at a new high.
Trading was volatile due to
the expiry of weekly index
options on the NSE.”
Pilot discontent spills over
ahead of Air India merger
Jagriti Chandra
Reuters
NEW DELHI
BENGALURU
Consumer goods maker
Dabur India flagged sluggish demand in the March
quarter and indicated
slowing revenue growth
from prior quarters on
Thursday, sending shares
to a near six-month low.
Dabur said it expects
mid-single digit percentage
revenue growth in the
quarter ended March 31,
compared with a 7% rise in
the December quarter and
7.3% jump in the quarter
before that. Shares fell
4.5% after the news, and
were on track for their
worst day since May 2023.
CM
YK
The Income Tax (I-T) Department has slapped
TMB, KVB and IOB with
notices for ₹770-crore demand for the assessment
year 2022-23 on account of
certain additions and
disallowances.
Public sector Indian
Overseas Bank (IOB) said
there was a demand for
₹620 crore. The information came to its knowledge
on March 28.
The bank was in the process of filing an appeal before the Commissioner of
Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal
Centre (NFAC) within the
prescribed timelines.
There was a demand of
₹110 crore on account of
certain additions and disal-
lowances, private-sector
lender Tamilnad Mercantile Bank said in a filing, adding the information came
to its knowledge March 30.
The bank was in the process of challenging the order in the appropriate forum
against
disallowances/additions
made within the prescribed timelines, it said.
Looking into the precedence/orders of the appellate authorities, TMB believes it has adequate
factual and legal grounds
to reasonably substantiate
its position in the matter.
TMB expects no impact
on financial, operations or
other activities of the bank.
In the case of private
sector Karur Vysya Bank
(KVB), the demand notice
was for ₹40 crore and pertained to FY22.
Two trade unions of Air India pilots joined cause with
Vistara’s cockpit crew and
said in a letter addressed to
Tata Sons Chairman N.
Chandrasekaran that concerns over a revised pay
structure and hectic rosters extended to all Tata
Group airlines, where crew
were being treated as
“bonded labour”.
“It is crucial to recognise that the concerns expressed by the Vistara pilots are not isolated
incidents but rather indicative of systemic issues that
extend across various Tata
Group aviation entities,”
Unions have alleged
that crew across all
Tata Group airlines
were being treated as
bonded labour
the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA)
and Indian Pilots’ Guild
(IPG) wrote in the letter, a
copy of which was seen by
The Hindu. The unions
urged that the CEOs of Air
India, Vistara and Air India
Express must talk to the pilots to address their grievances. The ICPA represents the pilots of Air
India’s narrowbody fleet,
and the IPG those flying
AI’s widebody fleet.
The National Company
Law Tribunal will evaluate
the impending merger of
Vistara with AI on Friday.
This is the final nod awaited for the consolidation of
Tata’s two full-service
carriers.
The missive comes a day
after Vistara’s CEO Vinod
Kannan held a townhall
with pilots following over
150 flight cancellations between March 31 and April 2.
The meeting saw Mr. Kannan extend an apology for
mismanagement of rosters
and assure the pilots of a
better work-life balance
without backing down on
the thorny issue of the revised pay contracts announced in mid-February.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
SPIC plant switches to natural
gas for urea production
B
usiness activity in
the services sectors likely clocked
their fastest expansion in
more than 13 and a half
years in March, aided by a
record uptick in export orders, as per the HSBC India
Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) which
rose to 61.2 from February’s 60.6.
With fresh work orders
increasing capacity pressures at service providers,
firms raised employment
at the highest rates since
July 2017.
Barring real estate and
business services, input
costs and output charges
rose at a stronger pace for
all sectors, with the highest
input cost inflation seen in
consumer services and finance and insurance seeing the steepest surge in
selling prices. Firms surveyed for the index reported higher labour and material costs as key challenges.
Though business sentiment levels remained positive, they slipped to a fourmonth low, with some con-
% CHANGE
Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 74,228 dddddddddddddddddddddd 0.47
US Dollardddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 83.39 dddddddddddddddddddddd 0.16
Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 70,050dddddddddddddddddddddd 1.22
Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 89.18 dddddddddddddddddddd -0.62
THE HINDU
16
Friday, April 5, 2024
World
Delhi
LONDON
WARSAW
GUANGZHOU
Senior British jurists call on govt.
to stop weapons sales to Israel
Diplomatic crisis between Poland
and Israel after aid worker’s death
U.S. Treasury Secretary in China to South Africa’s ex-Parliament
press officials on industrial subsidy Speaker charged in graft probe
AFP
X
Over 600 British jurists, including three retired judges from the U.K.
Supreme Court, are calling upon the government to suspend arms
sales to Israel, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. In an
open letter, the lawyers said the U.K. could be complicit in “grave
breaches of international law” if it continues to ship weapons. AP
REUTERS
X
A new diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel has erupted
following the death of a Polish aid worker in Gaza, with the Polish
President on Thursday denouncing a comment by the Israeli
Ambassador as “outrageous” and the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw
saying it was summoning him for a meeting. AP
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in China’s Guangzhou
on Thursday for meetings to press Beijing over fears the country’s
industrial subsidies for green energy, cars and batteries could flood
global markets with cheap goods. Her trip follows a phone call this
week between President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. AFP
M
yanmar’s main
pro-democracy
resistance group
said on Thursday its armed
wing launched drone attacks on the airport and a
military headquarters in
the capital, Naypyitaw, but
the country’s ruling military said it destroyed the
drones as they attacked.
The Opposition National
Unity Government’s “Defence Ministry” said in a
statement that special units of the People’s Defence
Force used drones to attack the targets simultaneously. The group, known
by the acronym NUG, calls
itself the country’s legitimate government, while
the People’s Defence Force
is made up of many local
The airport compound, which includes both a military air base and
a civilian airport, NUG claims to have attacked. @MOD_NUG
resistance groups with a
good
deal
of
independence.
Although there was no
immediate evidence of any
damage caused by the attack, the military’s acknowledgement that it had
taken place in one of the
most heavily guarded locations in the country will be
Macron flays ‘bizarre’
remarks from Russia
Agence France-Presse
SAINT-DENIS
President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday denounced as “bizarre and
threatening” Russia’s tone
following rare phone talks
between the Defence Ministers of France and Russia, their first contact since
2022.
On Wednesday, French
Defence Minister Sebastien
Lecornu reached out to his
Russian counterpart Sergei
Shoigu, saying France was
ready to step up exchanges
to battle “terrorism”, according to the French Defence Ministry.
The phone call took
place as France is pulling
out all the stops to host the
Olympic Games in Paris.
seen by many as the latest
indication that it is losing
the initiative to its determined opponents.
Military denies
NUG said there were reports of casualties. The
country’s military said it
shot down seven drones
and there were no reports
of casualties. BBC’s Burmese-language service and
Khit Thit, an online news
service sympathetic to the
resistance, said the airport
was shut down for a while
after the attacks.
People who live near the
airport said they were unaware of any attack, and
photos released by the government showed only
what appeared to be
crashed drones.
The airport compound,
which includes both a military air base and a civilian
airport, is about 25 km
southwest of the military
headquarters that the resistance group said it
attacked.
The resistance group
that claimed responsibility
for the attack, Kloud Team
(Shar Htoo Waw ), specialises in drone warfare,
TEHRAN
Jihadist attacks in southeastern Iran near Pakistan
killed 10 Iranian security
personnel, state media reported on Thursday, doubling an earlier toll.
The number of dead is
almost as large as from a similar attack in December,
which the same group
claimed and was followed
by tit-for-tat air strikes with
neighbouring Pakistan.
The attacks occurred in
Sistan-Baluchistan
province which has for years
faced unrest involving
drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority, and Sunni Muslim
CM
YK
extremists. “The case of
the terrorist attacks was
closed with the martyrdom of 10 members of the
security forces,” and the
killing of 18 “terrorists”,
state television said.
Majid Mirahmadi, ViceMinister of the Interior,
had earlier told the channel that five members of
the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps and the police died during two nighttime attacks against a
Guards base in Rask and a
police post in Chabahar.
“The terrorists had
planned to seize military
bases,” Mr. Mirahmadi later told state television, adding “none of them survived” the clashes.
South Africa’s former Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
was charged with corruption and money laundering on Thursday, in
the latest scandal to hit the governing party ahead of elections in
May. She is accused of soliciting bribes from a former military
contractor during her previous tenure as Defence Minister. AFP
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON
President Joe Biden told
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on Thursday
that continued support of
the United States would depend on Israeli actions to
protect Gaza civilians, for
the first time suggesting
conditions on aid as he
urged an “immediate
ceasefire”.
In a phone call after the
Israeli killing of seven aid
workers — which Israel
says was a mistake — Mr. Biden urged Mr. Netanyahu
to “announce and implement a series of specific,
concrete and measurable
steps to address civilian
harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid
workers,” a White House
statement said.
Mr. Biden “made clear
that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment
of Israel’s immediate ac-
Joe Biden
tion on these steps,” it said.
The U.S. leader told Mr.
Netanyahu that the strikes
on humanitarian workers
as well as the humanitarian
situation in Gaza, where
the United Nations has
warned of famine, “are
unacceptable”.
Immediate ceasefire
Mr. Biden “underscored
that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilise
and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and
he urged the Prime Minister to empower his nego-
Associated Press
JERUSALEM
Ground situation: Sudanese security forces patrol in a commercial district in Gedaref city in eastern Sudan on Wednesday. Sudan’s war has
claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than 8.5 million people, according to the UN. AFP
A similar attack
in December
had triggered
tit-for-tat air strikes
with Pakistan
He warned that the
death toll could rise as
some of the security forces
injured in the attacks were
“not in a favourable
condition”.
Foreign attackers
He added that the assailants appeared to be foreigners, without providing further details.
The number of assailants killed in the clashes
also rose from the 15 which
tiators to conclude a deal
without delay to bring the
hostages home,” the statement said.
Qatar has been leading
prolonged talks on a temporary
ceasefire
that
would include the freeing
of hostages seized when
Hamas carried out the deadliest attack in Israeli history on October 7.
The United States has
backed a ceasefire as part
of a hostage deal, with
hopes it will lead eventually
to
a
long-term
settlement.
Mr. Biden has for
months voiced mounting
frustration with Mr. Netanyahu, but has also
staunchly defended Israel’s
right to respond to Hamas.
Despite pressure from
the left of Mr. Biden’s Democratic Party, the administration has been racing
millions of dollars worth of
military supplies to Israel
even while criticising the
conduct of the war.
‘Israeli strike killed 106
in ‘apparent war crime’’
Any suggestions
France might have
been involved in the
deadly attack were
‘ridiculous’, he said
Russia for its part
warned France during the
talks it hoped that the
French Secret Services had
not been involved in a recent attack on a concert
hall in Moscow, according
to a readout from the Russian Defence Ministry.
“The comments by the
Russian side were bizarre
and threatening,” Mr. Macron told reporters, adding
that
any
suggestions
France might have been involved in the deadly attack
were “ridiculous”.
REUTERS
U.S. support depends on
protecting civilians: Biden
Deadly watch
10 Iranian security personnel killed in
jihadist attacks near Pakistan border
Agence France-Presse
which is frequently employed by People’s Defence Force units, which
lack the Army’s heavy firepower. For the resistance
forces, drones have become crucial weapons for
fighting back.
Kloud Team said it targeted the house of Senior
Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the
head of the ruling military
council, as well as the military headquarters and air
base.
Despite its great advantage in armaments and
manpower, the military
has been unable to quell
the resistance movement,
and frequently carries out
air strikes in disputed territory. Civilian targets are often hit, and about 2.4 million people have been
displaced since the 2021
Army takeover.
X
General Mohammad Pakpour, who heads the
Guards’ land forces, had
announced on television.
The Jaish al-Adl (Army of
Justice, in Arabic) group
claimed the attacks on its
Telegram channel. Based
in Pakistan, the Sunni Muslim rebel organisation,
formed in 2012, is listed as
a “terrorist” group by Iran
and also by the U.S.
Jaish al-Adl claimed an
attack in December that
killed 11 officers, one of the
deadliest attacks in years,
at a police station in SistanBaluchistan’s city of Rask.
The group claimed
another police station attack in Rask that killed one
officer on January 10.
A Human Rights Watch investigation published on
Thursday said an Israeli attack on a Gaza building in
October had no apparent
militant target, but killed
106 civilians, including 54
children, making it an “apparent war crime”.
International law prohibits attacks on military targets that will likely cause
disproportionate harm to
civilians. The October 31 attack was one of the deadliest since the start of the
war nearly six months ago.
Human Rights Watch
says four separate strikes
collapsed the Engineer’s
Building in central Gaza,
which was housing some
350 people, around a third
of whom had fled their
homes elsewhere in the
territory.
Those killed included
children playing soccer
outside and residents
charging phones in the
first-floor grocery store, it
said.
Thirty-four women, 18
men and 54 children were
killed in the strike, according to the group, which
says it corroborated its list
of the dead with Airwars, a
London-based
conflict
monitor.
Witnesses told the rights
group there was no warning ahead of the attack.
The Israeli military did
not immediately respond
to a request for comment
on Thursday.
Philippines to hold joint naval drills with
U.S., Japan, Australia to counter China
Agence France-Presse
MANILA
The Philippines will hold
joint naval drills with the
United States, Japan and
Australia, two diplomatic
sources said on Thursday,
as the four countries deepen military ties to counter
China’s expanding influence in the Asia-Pacific
region.
The exercise will be held
on April 7 in the disputed
South China Sea — which
Beijing claims almost entirely — days before U.S.
President Joe Biden is due
to hold the first trilateral
summit with the leaders of
the Philippines and Japan.
The diplomatic sources
Philippine and Australian soldiers march during the military
exercise Alon, held at a naval base north of Manila in 2023. AFP
spoke on condition of anonymity because the drills
have not yet been officially
announced.
Earlier this week, the
Australian warship HMAS
Warramunga arrived at the
Philippine island province
of Palawan, which faces
the hotly contested waters.
The Philippine military
said the visit was “aimed at
strengthening military relations
with
partner
nations”.
Regional tensions have
escalated in the past year
as China has become increasingly confident in asserting its claims over waters also claimed by the
Philippines and Japan, as
well as over self-ruled
Taiwan.
In response, the United
States has sought to strengthen its alliances in the region, including with treaty
allies Japan and the
Philippines.
Mr. Biden’s planned
April 11 summit with Philippine President Ferdinand
Marcos and Japanese
Prime Minister Fumio
Kishida at the White House
will be the latest in a series
of meetings with Asia-Pacific partners.
A ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Myanmar’s main pro-democracy resistance group says its armed wing launched drone attacks on the airport and a military
headquarters in the capital, Naypyitaw, but the country’s ruling military said it destroyed the drones as they attacked
BANGKOK
AFP
X
Drones hit targets in Myanmar
capital, claims resistance group
Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
17
Sport
Delhi
TOO SLOW
UNACCEPTABLE
LAVISHING PRAISE
BIG BOOST
Pant fined ₹24 lakh for second
over-rate offence of the season
Ponting red-faced after DC’s
bowling show against KKR
Some of Narine’s shots would
make Lara happy, says Morgan
Suryakumar to join the MI team
today, likely to play on Sunday
K.R. DEEPAK
X
Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has been fined ₹24 lakh for a
second over-rate offence. The rest of the members of the team,
including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either ₹six
lakhs or 25% of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser,” an
IPL statement said.
X
K.R. DEEPAK
DC head coach Ricky Ponting said he was embarrassed with the
team’s first-half game against KKR at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
“There are a lot of things that happened in this game that are
unacceptable. And there are a lot of things that we’ll talk about as a
group that we have to fix immediately to go forward,” said Ponting.
K.R. DEEPAK
X
Eoin Morgan lauded KKR all-rounder Sunil Naraine for his
match-winning knock against DC, saying that some of the shots he
played would make his childhood hero Brian Lara really happy.
Narine was the tormentor-in-chief as his pyrotechnic-filled 85 in 39
balls helped KKR post the second-highest total in IPL history.
Suryakumar Yadav is set to join Mumbai Indians on Friday after being
cleared by the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He is likely to
be available for selection for the next game on Sunday against Delhi
Capitals at home. Suryakumar will have his first training session at the
Wankhede Stadium on Friday.
I just backed my
instincts, says
Raghuvanshi
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Shashank’s swashbuckling knock
helps PBKS pip GT in a humdinger
EMMANUAL YOGINI
X
His brilliant unbeaten 61, complemented by Ashutosh and Jitesh’s efforts, shades Gill’s sublime knock that had propelled the host to 199
SCOREBOARD
쑽
Delightful display: Gill paced his innings to sustain the momentum for Titans but Shashank spoilt his party with a match-swinging knock. VIJAY SONEJI
IPL-17
N. Sudarshan
AHMEDABAD
n last December’s IPL
auction, Punjab Kings
bought
Shashank
Singh under confusing circumstances. There were
two Shashanks in the pool
and for a fleeting moment,
PBKS thought it had
bought the wrong player,
tried to take back the bid
before accepting him as
one of its own.
On Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the
I
32-year-old Chhattisgarh
batter showed why it was a
prudent decision. He
scored a swashbuckling
unbeaten 61 (29b, 6x4,
4x6) as PBKS chased down
a 200-run target against
Gujarat Titans with three
wickets and a ball to spare.
Shashank was helped in
no small measure by Impact Player Ashutosh Sharma (31, 17b, 3x4, 1x6) and
Jitesh Sharma (16, 8b, 2x6).
GT didn’t aid itself as
Umesh Yadav dropped
Ashutosh at deep squareleg when he was on three.
Shashank, who came in
at 70 for four, started by
smashing Umesh for two
fours and a six in the 11th
over, before scooping Mohit Sharma over the ’keeper and lofting him over
mid-off.
It was in fact Mohit who
kept GT in the hunt, conceding seven runs in the
15th over and six in the
17th.
Frenetic in final five
But with 62 needed from
30, Jitesh carted Rashid
Khan for two maximums
over long-on and long-off;
in the 18th over, Ashutosh
hit Azmatullah Omarzai for
three fours.
Eventually Mohit, too,
wilted under pressure,
conceding 18 in the penultimate over.
Seven runs were too little for Darshan Nalkande
to defend.
Earlier, after being
asked to bat, Shubman Gill
was at his sublime best (89
n.o., 48b, 6x4, 4x6), and
was assisted by B. Sai Sudharsan (33, 19b, 6x4) and
Rahul Tewatia (23 n.o., 8b,
3x4, 1x6).
Slow approach
GT was initially hampered
by slow approaches from
Wriddhiman Saha (11, 13b)
and Kane Williamson (26,
22b, 4x4), who replaced
the injured David Miller.
But Sai Sudharsan produced a breezy knock,
peppering the entire arc
on the leg-side with fours.
When the left-hander
fell at 122 in the 14th over,
GT was on the ascendency.
Vijay Shankar sucked
out some of the momentum (8, 10b) but Gill combined with Tewatia for a
manic 35-run partnership
off just 14 deliveries.
The duo had seemingly
knocked PBKS out, only
for the away side to rise
from the dead.
GUJARAT TITANS
Wriddhiman Saha c Dhawan b
Rabada 11 (13b, 2x4), Shubman
Gill (not out) 89 (48b, 6x4, 4x6),
Kane Williamson c Bairstow b
Harpreet Brar 26 (22b, 4x4), B. Sai
Sudharsan c Jitesh b Harshal 33
(19b, 6x4), Vijay Shankar c
Harpreet Brar b Rabada 8 (10b),
Rahul Tewatia (not out) 23 (8b,
3x4, 1x6); Extras (lb-5, w-4): 9;
Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs):
199.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-29 (Saha, 2.6 overs), 2-69
(Williamson, 8.3), 3-122 (Sai
Sudharsan, 13.5), 4-164 (Vijay
Shankar, 17.4).
PUNJAB KINGS BOWLING
Harpreet Brar 4-0-33-1, Arshdeep
4-0-33-0, Rabada 4-0-44-2, Curran
2-0-18-0, Harshal 4-0-44-1, Raza
2-0-22-0.
PUNJAB KINGS
Shikhar Dhawan b Umesh 1 (2b),
Jonny Bairstow b Noor 22 (13b,
4x4), Prabhsimran Singh c Mohit
b Noor 35 (24b, 5x4, 1x6), Sam
Curran c Williamson b Omarzai 5
(8b), Sikandar Raza c Saha b
Mohit 15 (16b), Shashank Singh
(not out) 61 (29b, 6x4, 4x6), Jitesh
Sharma c Nalkande b Rashid 16
(8b, 2x6), Ashutosh Sharma
(Impact Player in place of
Arshdeep) c Rashid b Nalkande
31 (17b, 3x4, 1x6), Harpreet Brar
(not out) 1 (2b); Extras (lb-8, w-5):
13; Total (for seven wkts. in 19.5
overs): 200.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-13 (Dhawan, 1.1), 2-48
(Bairstow, 5.1), 3-64
(Prabhsimran, 7.2), 4-70 (Curran,
8.4), 5-111 (Raza, 12.2), 6-150
(Jitesh, 15.3), 7-193 (Ashutosh,
19.1).
TITANS BOWLING
Omarzai 4-0-41-1, Umesh
3-0-35-1, Rashid 4-0-40-1, Noor
4-0-32-2, Mohit (Impact Player
in place of Tewatia) 4-0-38-1,
Nalkande 0.5-0-6-1.
Toss: PBKS; PoM: Shashank.
PBKS won by three wickets with
one ball to spare.
Practice makes perfect: Raghuvanshi has credited coach Nayar
and the net sessions for his impressive knock. K.R. DEEPAK
S. Prasanna Venkatesan
VISAKHAPATNAM
Kolkata Knight Riders’ 18year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who scored an impressive 27-ball 54 in his
team’s 106-run win over
Delhi Capitals here on Wednesday, said that his practice translated into the innings he ended up playing.
“I think the way we’ve
been practising for the past
few weeks, that’s gotten me
to playing at a good level.
And that’s how it basically
happened.
“I didn’t really have to
think too much when I
went to bat the way my
coach Abhishek Nayar has
made me practice. I just
backed my instincts and I
trusted that what I did at
the nets was enough.
“He has made me face
tough circumstances during practice, so I think
nothing will feel that tough
in a match. Lots and lots of
practice. If I keep doing
that during, then it will
come off in a match,” he
said in the post-match press
conference.
Speaking about Nayar’s
influence on his batting, he
said: “He has helped me in
every way — the way I think
about the game, the way I
work towards the game, the
things I eat and the way I
train. He’s basically been
my guru and my mentor in
everything, and that’s my
relationship with him. I
have learnt a lot from him.”
SRH and CSK strive to return to winning ways There’s positivity around
our style of play: Vettori
S. Dipak Ragav
HYDERABAD
S. Dipak Ragav
Smarting from reverses in
their previous matches,
Sunrisers Hyderabad and
Chennai Super Kings will
look to get back to winning
ways when they meet at
the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday.
Sunrisers, with just one
win from three, would look
to take inspiration from its
31-run victory against
Mumbai Indians at this venue last week when it posted a record total of 277 for
three.
Despite the losses, there
are positive signs for SRH
as its top-order has been
among runs, scored at a
fast clip. A possible change
the hosts can explore is to
get Rahul Tripathi for
CM
YK
HYDERABAD
Prep time: Super Kings players during practice on the eve of the Sunrisers match. B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
Mayank Agarwal, who has
struggled to score quickly.
But the bigger focus will be
on the bowlers, who have
leaked runs, to put their
best foot forward.
Meanwhile, CSK comes
into the game following a
20-run defeat to Delhi Cap-
itals in which the team’s
power-packed batting lineup had an off day. However,
the reigning champion seldom panics after a defeat
and will stick to its formula.
One selection headache
for the visitors will be
whether to get Maheesh
Theekshana for Mustafizur
Rahman, who is unavailable. The Sri Lankan spinner
can bowl at any stage of the
game and offers control
from one end, something
the team missed in the outing against Delhi.
Unlike the SRH-MI run-
fest, Friday’s encounter
will be played on a drier
black soil pitch. How the
powerful batting line-ups,
with a similar style of allout aggression throughout
the innings, adapt could
well determine the outcome.
Sunrisers Hyderabad head
coach Daniel Vettori said
the team spirit is high despite a tough start. “The
mood in the camp is pretty
good. We have only won
one, but there’s a positivity
around the style of play,”
said Vettori.
“There is a freedom to
go out and play. We have to
understand that we have to
be aggressive. That’s been
the message from Pat
(Cummins) and myself
about being able to take on
the bowlers, not being
reckless but understanding
what sort of bowler you
can take down and how
you go about it. That’s a
Mind games: Kiwis Fleming and Vettori, but now rival coaches, will
hope to outwit the other on Friday. B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
partnership as well,” he
said.
CSK batting coach Michael Hussey said: “One
thing we want to improve
is assessing the conditions
slightly quicker than we
did in the last match.”
A ND-NDE
THE HINDU
18
Friday, April 5, 2024
Sport
Delhi
Wins for Arsenal
and City makes it
very tight at the top
INBRIEF
쑽
Stimac to remain in charge for
games against Kuwait, Qatar
Under-fire Igor Stimac will remain in charge of
India’s FIFA World Cup second round qualifying
matches against Kuwait and Qatar as the All India
Football Federation (AIFF) has asked the head
coach to focus on the upcoming two games. This
comes a week after the technical committee
headed by I.M. Vijayan recommended Stimac’s
sacking after the shocking defeat to Afghanistan
in the home leg match in Guwahati on March 26.
Mamta and Deepti
restrict North Zone
The scores: North 144 in 41.3 overs (Shafali Verma 58, Mamta
Paswan 5/53, Deepti Sharma 4/14) vs. East 132 & 282/9 in 80
overs (Dhara Gujjar 58, Mannat 4/72)
West 230 in 70.5 overs (Yastika Bhatia 67, Minnu Mani 6/73);
South 58/2 in 30 overs (Durga 29 batting, Devika Vaidya 1/10).
Candidates tournament
gets underway in Toronto
Eight men and as many women to fight it out for top prize; presence of siblings Praggnanandhaa
and Vaishali has attracted lot of interest in the double round-robin event that will run till April 23
CHESS
Sports Bureau
he Candidates tournament, which will
determine
the
identity of the challenger
to the next World chess
championship, was inaugurated in Toronto on
Wednesday.
Some of the world’s top
players are competing in
the double round-robin
tournament.
Eight men and as many
women are fighting it out
for the top prize in the
Open
and
women’s
sections.
Five of those 16 are from
India — R. Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh and Vidit
T
Gujrathi in the Open event,
and Koneru Humpy and R.
Vaishali in the women’s.
Both the reigning World
champions are from China
— Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun. While there are two
women from China in Toronto, there is none in the
Open event.
Favourites
Two Americans, Fabiano
Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, the World No. 2
and 3 respectively, are the
favourites in the Open section, which also includes
strong players like the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi
(the winner of the last two
Candidates tournaments)
and Alireza Firouzja of
France.
“We know that every
player here can potentially
win the tournament if they
bring their best game,”
said Caruana.
“The numbers say something about the past
performances, but I think
it will be a mistake to take
any of the players lightly.”
The presence of the
Chennai siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali has
attracted a lot of interest.
“We discuss our games
all the time and help each
other throughout various
events,” Vaishali said.
“We also have our mother here with us; this family
support is very important
to us.”
First in North America
This is the first time North
America is hosting the Can-
didates tournament.
“North America has not
seen World championship
cycle competitions,” said
Emil Sutovsky, CEO of
FIDE, the world chess governing body.
“We were well aware of
the chess boom in Canada,
with a lot of young players
emerging.
“There are a lot of chess
fans in the country. The
Scheinberg family’s support for staging the event
here, coupled with the
backing of the Chess Federation of Canada, made it a
logical choice.
“Judging by the feedback we are getting, by the
interest from the fans and
the media and by the government’s support, it was
the right decision.”
Hero of the day: Foden scores City’s fourth to complete his
hat-trick against Aston Villa. AP
PREMIER LEAGUE
Associated Press
MANCHESTER
The three-way race for the
Premier League title looks
likely to go down to the
wire after wins for Arsenal
and Manchester City made
it even tighter at the top.
Arsenal moved back to
the summit by beating Luton 2-0, while City routed
Aston Villa 4-1 to go level
on points with secondplace Liverpool.
Just one point separates
the top three teams in what
is shaping up to be the
most compelling title fight
in recent history.
While Arsenal was expected to beat relegationthreatened Luton at home,
there was always the potential for a slip.
That never looked likely
after Martin Odegaard
opened the scoring in the
24th minute and an own
goal from Daiki Hashioka
in the 44th made it 2-0 by
halftime.
No Erling Haaland, no
problem.
Foden justified Guardio-
la’s decision to leave his
leading scorer on the
bench by netting a stunning hat-trick as City powered to a 4-1 win against
Villa.
Guardiola
had
described Haaland as the best
striker in the world after he
had been criticised by
former Manchester United
captain and now TV analyst Roy Keane. So it was a
surprise to see the league’s
top scorer left out of City’s
starting lineup in a game of
such importance.
But in his absence, Foden provided the goals
with three supremely taken strikes.
Brentford’s winless run
extended to eight games after a 0-0 draw against
Brighton.
The Bees have only won
two in their last 19 games
in all competitions but still
moved a point further
away from the relegation
zone after Luton’s loss at
Arsenal.
The results: Arsenal 2 (Odegaard
24, Hashioka 44-og) bt Luton 0;
Brentford 0 drew with Brighton 0;
Manchester City 4 (Rodri 11,
Foden 45+1, 62, 69) Aston Villa 1
(Duran 20).
Sriram &
Begemann
pair advances
SA footballer and Olympian
Luke Fleurs killed in hijacking
South African footballer and Olympian Luke
Fleurs has been killed in a hijacking in
Johannesburg, his Kaizer Chiefs club said on
Thursday. The 24-year-old defender was shot
while waiting to be attended to at a petrol station
in Honeydew suburb, according to police.
TENNIS
Sports Bureau
Federation Cup wrestling in
Varanasi from April 24
The Federation Cup wrestling will be held in
Varanasi from April 24 to 26. According to the
Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), 15 States
participating in the Pune National
championships, which was conducted by the
WFI and did not have the Sports Ministry’s
approval, will be eligible to send entries in all
three styles — freestyle, Greco-Roman and
women.
Akash slams century in
Super Star’s 84-run win
Akash Yadav’s match-winning 107 and
half-centuries from Aryan Rana and Upanshu
helped Super Star Club defeat Gush Club by 84
runs in the Delhi DCA league. In another game,
Sagar’s knock of 105 and four wickets each by Raj
Bahadur Pal and Jayant saw Indian Air Force beat
Telefunken Club by nine wickets.
The scores: Super Star 277/2 in 35 overs (Ajay Yadav 107,
Aryan Rana 65, Upanshu 61) bt Gush 193/8 in 35 overs (Aadi
Vaid 42, Ashveer Singh 3/26).
Telefunken 161 in 39 overs (Bharat Sindhwani 75, Raj Bahadur
Pal 4/24, Jayant 4/23) lost to Indian Air Force 162/1 in 27 overs
(Sagar 105, Arun 39 n.o.).
Collage 273/6 in 40 overs (Ankit Dabas 88, Mohd. Sultan Ansari
80, Pragam 41) bt Pioneer 268 in 39 overs (Yajas Sharma 48).
Golden Hawks 224/7 in 40 overs (Keshav Dabas 81, Ishan 48,
Pranav Pant 44) bt L.B. Shastri 202/9 in 40 overs (Ikshit Nishal
48, Harsh 4/40).
PMG 233 in 38 overs (Vivek Yadav 79, Priyansh 4/28, Rahul
Choudhary 3/26) lost to FCI 234/4 in 26 overs (Umang Sharma
87, Arjun 56 n.o.).
Delhi Audit 226 in 39 overs (Kartik Yadav 3/37, Aatrey Tripathi
3/29) lost to Young Cricketers 227/3 in 35.4 overs (Kavya 69,
Gautam Saxena 63).
LIVE TELECAST
쑽
IPL: Star Sports 1(SD & HD) & Jio Cinema App, 7.30 p.m.
ISL: Sports 18-1 (SD & HD) & Jio Cinema App, 7.30 p.m.
Bundesliga: Sony Sports Ten 2 (SD & HD) & LIV, 12 a.m.
(Saturday).
Series A: Sports 18-1 (SD & HD) & LIV, 12.15 a.m. (Saturday).
CM
YK
The star: Rahim Ali, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring
Chennaiyin’s winner against Jamshedpur. R. RAGU
Second-half surge
sees CFC stay in the
hunt for playoffs
ISL
Aneesh Dey
CHENNAI
Chennaiyin FC received a
further boost in its road to
qualify for the ISL 10
playoffs after beating Jamshedpur FC 2-1 at the Nehru Stadium on Thursday.
The Marina Machans,
egged on by a respectable
home support, started the
match on the frontfoot,
with Jordan Murray coming close to scoring the
opener in the opening 20
minutes.
However, it was Jamshedpur, which silenced
the home crowd after scoring against the run of play.
In the 22nd minute, Muhammed Uvais’ floating delivery found Rei Tachikawa, who beat CFC keeper
Debjit Majumder with a
looping header.
The Red Miners almost
doubled their lead in the
dying minutes of the first
half courtesy of Sanan Mohammed, whose effort
clattered against the post.
Whatever CFC head
coach Owen Coyle said
during the half-time talk
seemed to strike a chord
among his men.
A rejuvenated Chennaiyin took little time to make
an impact in the secondhalf.
In the 52nd minute, JFC
keeper T.P. Rehenesh committed a blunder.
In a bid to clear the ball,
he passed it straight to Rafael Crivellaro, who capitalised on the error by
blasting the ball inside the
net.
Riding high on the momentum after scoring the
equaliser, second-half substitute Rahim Ali brought
the roof down in the 59th
minute — just three minutes after coming on the
pitch.
Showing impressive resilience, he ventured inside the JFC box under
pressure and kept his calm
to dink the ball past an onrushing Rehenesh to seal
the win for his team.
The result:
Chennaiyin FC 2 (Rafael Crivellaro
52, Rahim Ali 59) bt Jamshedpur
FC 1 (Rei Tachikawa 22).
Sriram Balaji and Andre
Begemann beat the top
seeds Austin Krajicek and
Rajeev Ram 3-6, 7-6(5),
[10-6] in the doubles prequarterfinals
of
the
$742,350 ATP tennis tournament in Houston, USA.
Other results: $742,350 ATP,
Houston: Doubles:
Pre-quarterfinals: Arjun Kadhe
& Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt
Marcus Daniell (Nzl) & Luis David
Martinez (Ven) 6-4, 6-2.
€651,865 ATP, Marrakech:
Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals:
Boris Arias & Federico Zeballos
(Bol) bt Sumit Nagal &
Aleksandar Vukic (Aus) 6-7(5), 6-4,
[10-3].
$164,000 Challenger, Mexico
City: Doubles:
Pre-quarterfinals: Rithvik
Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt
Federico Gaio & Alessandro
Giannessi (Ita) 6-3, 7-6(5).
$60,000 ITF women, Split,
Croatia: Doubles:
Quarterfinals: Valentina
Grammatikopoulou (Gre) &
Prarthana Thombare bt Anna
Rogers (USA) & Olivia
Tjandramulia (Aus) 7-5, 6-2.
Pre-quarterfinals: Valentina &
Prarthana bt Nigina Abduraimova
(Uzb) & Veronica Miroshnichenko
6-4, 7-6(6).
Lena Papadakis (Ger) & Radka
Zelnickova (Svk) bt Mariana
Drazic (Cro) & Vasanti Shinde 6-3,
7-6(3).
$40,000 ITF women, Kashiwa,
Japan: Doubles:
Quarterfinals: Ankita Raina &
Chia Yi Tsao (Tpe) bt Sohyun Park
(Kor) & Naho Sato (Jpn) 6-3, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF women,
Bujumbura, Burundi:
Pre-quarterfinals: Alice Robbe
(Fra) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi
6-1, 7-5.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: Riya
Bhatia & Diana Marcinkevica (Lat)
bt Shria Atturu (USA) & Abhilasha
Bista (Nep) 6-2, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir:
First round: Tanisha Kashyap bt
Olivia Cameiro (Bra) 6-2, 6-4.
Hoping for repeat: The Indian men’s team will look to add another Thomas Cup to the trophy cabinet.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Full-strength squad to
defend Thomas Cup title
BADMINTON
Uthra Ganesan
NEW DELHI
While defending champion India will be at fullstrength at the upcoming
men’s Thomas Cup Finals,
the Uber Cup for women
will largely see a young, inexperienced side with top
players in both singles and
doubles, including P.V.
Sindhu, pulling out of the
competition ahead of the
Paris Olympics.
The 10-member team
for Thomas Cup will be led
by H.S. Prannoy with
Lakshya Sen, K. Srikanth,
Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George in the singles.
The World No. 1 pair of
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
and Chirag Shetty will
spearhead the challenge in
the doubles, along with
M.R. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila with Sai Pratheek as
the back-up doubles player
as India looks to retain the
crown it won for the first-
time ever in 2022.
For the Uber Cup, the
selectors decided to give
an opportunity to youngsters after top players in
both singles and doubles
pulled out.
The Badminton Association of India said that Sindhu had cited back-to-back
tournaments in the run-up
to the Paris Olympics as
reason to skip in her communication to the selectors.
The
second-highest
ranked Indian player, Aakarshi Kashyap, is also not
part of the squad.
The top-ranked Indian
doubles pairs of Ashwini
Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto
and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri
Gopichand cited similar
reasons for the pull-out,
forcing the BAI to name a
second-string
side
of
youngsters led by the impressive Anmol Kharb and
Ashmita Chaliha in singles.
The decision was taken
after an online meeting of
the selection committee including chief coach P. Gopi
Chand, U. Vimal Kumar,
Jwala Gutta, Manjusha
Kanwar, Partho Ganguly
and Mallika Baruah Sarma.
“The senior selection
committee has decided to
send the best possible
combination for the Thomas Cup to defend the title. We needed to have an
additional player in the singles and doubles in case
somebody is not fully fit or
needs recovery,” BAI general secretary Sanjay Mishra said.
The Thomas and Uber
Cups will be played in
Chengdu, China from April
27-May 5.
The squads:
Thomas Cup: Singles: H.S.
Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, K.
Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat,
Kiran George.
Doubles: Satwiksairaj
Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, MR
Arjun, Dhruv Kapila, Sai Pratheek
Uber Cup: Singles: Anmol
Kharb, Tanvi Sharma, Ashmita
Chaliha, Isharani Baruah.
Doubles: Shruti Mishra, Priya
Konjengbam, Simran Singhi and
Ritika Thaker.
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Mamta Paswan’s five wicket haul and Deepti
Sharma’s four-for helped East Zone bowl North
Zone out for 144 in the first innings, with the
latter claiming a slender 12-run lead on day two
of senior women’s inter-zonal semifinal in Pune
on Thursday. East was 282 for nine in the second
innings, with Dhara Gujjar’s 131-ball 58 leading
the way. Mannat Kashyap was the pick of the
North bowlers, with a four-wicket haul. In the
other knockout game, Minnu Mani’s six for 73
helped South restrict West to 230, giving the
former a 59-run lead. Yastika Bhatia top scored
with a 127-ball 67, with important cameos from
Devika Vaidya (41), Radha Yadav (39 n.o.) and
Smriti Mandhana (30) for support.
All set! Fourteen of the 16 competitors in the Open and women sections at the opening ceremony on Wednesday. FIDE
THE HINDU
Friday, April 5, 2024
I
Sport
Delhi
India is a place with immense
talent and potential: Mihailovic
The Serb, who is the head coach of Prime Volleyball League outfit Ahmedabad Defenders, feels all that the players need is stability and
a calm atmosphere to work in; he says he’s willing to take over as the coach of the Indian senior men’s team, if given an opportunity
Salima Tete.GETTY IMAGES
When I win,
my family
wins:Tete
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI
K. Keerthivasan
P
rime Volleyball League team
Ahmedabad Defenders’ head
coach Dragan Mihailovic has a
special affinity for the Indian
spikers.
When he worked with the National
men’s team for five months from May
2019, he witnessed from close quarters
the amount of talent that existed in the
country. The vastly experienced coach
developed a close bond with quite a few
Indian players during that period, making
him take up the role of Defenders head
coach on an SoS in the third edition of the
PVL which concluded recently.
Explaining how he was roped in at the
last minute, Mihailovic said, “When I was
leading the FIVB support team as
Instructor for the Hong Kong Volleyball
Association’s National team, I received a
call from my friend and owner of
Ahmedabad Defenders (Bonhomie
Sports), I understood he was in an
unusual situation. Immediately after the
World Club Championships (in
Bengaluru), the team woke up without its
coaching staff. I was asked whether I
could take up the offer and I took it up as
a challenge. Such kind of things don’t
happen every day.”
The Defenders, with a good mix of
youth and experience, and led by setter
Muthusamy Appavu, fought valiantly to
defeat table-topper Calicut Heroes and
make it to the Eliminator. However, it
went down fighting to rookie Delhi
Toofans in a draining five-setter and failed
to qualify for the final.
The 62-year-old, who has coached the
Serbia, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Greece and
UAE national teams as well as many clubs
across the world, said it is no
exaggeration to say that India is a country
brimming with talent. “I need to say that
it was a pleasure to work with the guys
[Indian men’s team]. It was a very
successful stint (we finished eighth in
Asian championships in Tehran and made
it to Tokyo Olympic qualification
tournament]. I am so happy that almost
all the players — the 20 guys I worked
with — were in PVL 2024. India is a place
with immense talent and potential. All
that the players need is stability and a
calm atmosphere to work in.”
Mihailovic is a popular coach and an
influential figure in the FIVB. Having
toured several countries, his knowledge
and inputs are valued. During the PVL in
Chennai, there were rumours that the
Serbian would take over as coach of the
Indian men’s team and that the side
would assemble at SAI (Bengaluru) in the
first week of April.
“I, too, am hearing them. They are
mere rumours. I cannot confirm it. I
would love to take it up, but there has
been no confirmation from anyone,” said
Mihailovic.
Mihailovic narrated an incident in 2023
when the Indian men’s team was refused
entry to the Asian Challenge Cup in
Taiwan due to infighting and how he had
had to pull strings to ensure its
participation.
“The Indian team had arrived in
Taiwan for the Asian Challenge Cup but
the organisers decided that it will not be
allowed to take the court. I managed to
convince the FIVB and the Organising
Committee to include the side. Though
India lost all its matches, it at least got a
chance to compete,” he said.
Commanding respect
At the PVL, Mihailovic commanded
respect and affection, something that was
evident right through the tournament.
According to the coach, though the league
was a qualified success, it must tweak its
calendar and consider conducting it in
September-October to get the best
international players.
“I am sure we can get better foreign
players. Most of them are contracted to
the European leagues. No foreign player
will leave his league and come to play
here. If the PVL is held for 3-4 months,
everything, including the sponsors as well
as the interest, will be better. You cannot
bring a coach or a player for just two and
half months. Everyone is looking for a
bigger contract,” he said.
Mihailovic felt that for the sport to
improve, the Indian players should be
allowed to play in leagues abroad. “A few
Indian players (three to five) can be
allowed to play abroad (Thailand, Dubai,
Bahrain and Qatar). They will be back
stronger and better in three to six
months. Indonesia has a very strong
league and good money is offered there.
Indian volleyball is bound to improve if
the players feature in foreign leagues,” he
emphasised.
According to him, the key is to not just
spot bright and young talent, but also to
groom them to shine at the international
stage at the age of 17. “Indian volleyball
has improved but there are things to fix.
Even the under-17 level is very important
for the new Volleyball Federation of India.
Don’t wait till under-21. People will laugh
at you if you say a player is talented at 21
because you explode at 22,” he said.
Mihailovic is one of the busiest
international coaches and if India
manages to get his services, it will be a big
boost.
When asked if he was willing to take up
the role of the Indian team’s head coach,
Mihailovic said: “I will say ‘why not?’ With
a little better organisation, everything will
be fine in Indian volleyball.”
Huge motivation
“It feels great to be recognised with the
huge award for the first time in my career.
This is a big honour and will be a huge
motivation for me throughout my career,”
she said.
Tete said the honour has also made her
conscious about her responsibility
towards the team.
“I know that I have won the award, but
it is also now a responsibility for me to
live up to the honour and grow and
improve even further,” she added.
Tete got into the team in 2016 in the
Test matches against Australia in
Melbourne, but had to wait three years
before becoming a regular in the team.
She has smashed 15 goals in her career
and has 107 international caps till now.
She was a part of the team that finished
fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.
“When youngsters see that the players
are getting recognised for their
performances, they also get motivated to
perform better. The players realise that
the national body is really supporting us
and this is what we want at all times,” she
said.
Russell says F1 risked opening ‘can of
worms’ with Alonso incident
Reuters
SUZUKA
George Russell said Formula One
would have “opened a can of worms”
had Fernando Alonso not been
punished for braking suddenly in
front of him at last month’s Australian
Grand Prix, triggering a crash.
Aston Martin’s Alonso was handed
a 20 second post-race penalty for
potentially dangerous driving after
slowing earlier than usual into turn
six at Melbourne’s Albert Park, with
Russell caught by surprise.
The Briton hit the barriers and
ended with his car on its side in the
middle of the track, the driver calling
urgently for the race to be stopped.
The penalty remained a talking
point in the paddock on Thursday
ahead of Sunday’s Japanese Grand
Prix at Suzuka, with drivers divided.
“I think if it were not to have been
penalised it would have really opened
a can of worms for the rest of the
CM
YK
season, and in junior categories,”
Russell told reporters.
“Are you allowed to slow down,
change gear, accelerate, do
something semi-erratic?
“I don’t take anything personally
with what happened with Fernando,
and it probably had bigger
consequences than it should have,
but if it went unpenalised can you
just brake in the middle of a straight?
I don’t know.”
Russell said he had bumped into
the double world champion, the
sport’s most experienced driver, in a
coffee shop after his return home in
Monaco but they had not talked
about the incident.
“When the helmet’s on, we’re all
fighters and competing. When the
helmet’s off, you have respect for one
another,” he added.
Red Bull’s triple world champion
Max Verstappen said the incident and
penalty would be discussed in the
drivers’ briefing.
Alonso said the penalty was a “one
off” that would probably never
happen again, also pointing blame at
what he said was a dangerous corner.
Without the accident, nobody would
have talked about it, he said.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar
Piastri both said Alonso should not
have been penalised.
“George didn’t have to do anything
but brake five metres earlier,” Norris
told reporters. “That’s also down to
George”.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc disagreed.
“What Fernando did in Australia was
too much and had to be penalised,”
he said.
Team mate Carlos Sainz, who won
the race in Melbourne in a Ferrari
one-two, agreed the corner needed to
be reviewed.
“It’s a corner that we’re doing
250kph, and it’s blind and I just don’t
like the last few incidents that we’ve
seen in this corner,” said the
Spaniard.
Controversial crash: Russell hit the barriers and ended with his car on its side in the middle of the track. GETTY IMAGES
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A first-time winner of the Hockey India
women’s Player of the Year honour,
midfielder Salima Tete says the award is
significant not just for her morale but is
also a “huge thing” for her farmer family
back in Jharkhand due to the prize
cheque of ₹25 lakh that came with it.
The 22-year-old was rewarded for her
consistency in the game throughout the
year, in the Hockey India annual gala on
Sunday last.
“When my family heard that I had
been presented the award, they were also
really proud of me. As part of the honour,
we also receive cash incentives, which is
also a huge thing for me. When I win this
money, my family wins this money,” Tete
said in a press release issued by Hockey
India.
The player was born into extreme
poverty in Jharkhand’s Barki Chhapar
village in Simdega district. She has five
siblings, four of them sisters.
“I express my gratitude to Hockey India
for making such provisions, and because
of their support, I am able to provide and
help my family members in our
day-to-day lives,” she added.
Tete was earlier named Player of the
Tournament during the 2023 Women’s
Asian Champions Trophy, when she
smashed five goals and helped India win
the trophy in her home state.
Tete was also a part of India’s bronze
medal-winning Asian Games team in 2022
and scored one goal in the multi-sport
event.
THE HINDU
II
Friday, April 5, 2024
SCIENCE
Delhi
Govt. body hikes prices of essential
medicines again, says ‘it’s miniscule’
In an election year after double digit hikes in ceiling price of essential drugs over the past two years, the Central government says it flat lined the hike
this year. The annual change works out to (+) 0.00551% during the calendar year 2023 over the corresponding period in 2022
Bindu Shajan Perappadan
n increase in the prices of
essential medicines came into
force on April 1, earlier this
week. The National
Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)
enforced an increase in the Maximum
Retail Price (MRP) this year of 0.00551
percent for scheduled formulations (of
drugs) from the beginning of the fiscal
year 2024–25. The Department of
Pharmaceuticals issued its annual list of
revised ceiling prices for 923 scheduled
drug formulations and revised retail
prices for 65 formulations, with the
ceiling rates coming into effect on April 1.
The price revision, according to the
Central Government, is in line with the
change in the Wholesale Price Index
(WPI). “Based on the WPI data provided
by the office of the Economic Advisor,
Department of Industry and Internal
Trade, Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, the annual change in WPI works
out to (+) 0.00551% during the calendar
year 2023 over the corresponding period
in 2022,” said the notice by the NPPA.
A
Almost no change
Fifty-four medicines with ceiling prices
ranging from ₹90 to ₹261 will see a
miniscule increase of ₹0.01. As the
permissible price increase is so low, the
companies may or may not avail of this
IMAGES
Next generation
of medics to
lead fightback
against AMR
The Hindu Bureau
The Department of Pharmaceuticals issued its annual list of revised ceiling prices for 923 scheduled drug formulations and revised retail prices for 65
formulations, with the ceiling rates coming into effect on April 1. GETTY IMAGES
increase. Thus, in FY 2024–25, there will
be almost no change in the ceiling price of
medicines based on WPI, said the
Ministry.
NPPA, constituted by the government of
India in 1997 under the Ministry of
Chemicals and Fertilizers, regulates drug
pricing while ensuring the availability and
accessibility of medicines at affordable
prices. The authority is allowed to direct a
price hike of over 10% for the drugs and
devices listed on the National List of
Essential Medicines (NLEM). All
medicines under the NLEM are subject to
price regulation.
“With the announcement of the new
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy,
2012, and the DPCO, 2013, there has been
a shift in regulation of prices from
economic and cost-based criteria to
essentiality and market-based criteria,
which involves creating and maintaining a
data base and strengthening the existing
monitoring system of the NPPA,’‘ the
Central Government stated.
The WPI is a measure that tracks average
changes in prices of goods at the
wholesale level, providing insights into
inflation and price trends for goods sold
to retailers and businesses rather than
individual consumers.
The marginal hike this year has the
pharmaceutical companies concerned, as
they claim to be facing high input costs,
stringent price controls, and diminishing
profit margins.
The lower-than-expected hike in drug
prices has seen pharma companies
discontinue production of drugs that they
claim have become economically
unviable. Also earlier this year, India’s
pharmaceutical industry sought a
one-time exemption from price control
measures tied to the declining WPI.
Fifty-four medicines with ceiling prices
ranging from ₹90 to ₹261 will see a
miniscule increase of ₹0.01. As the
permissible price increase is so low, the
companies may or may not avail of this
increase
Prices hiked to save firms
In 2019, for instance, NPPA used its
emergency powers to raise the ceiling
prices of 21 essential drugs by 50% after
several companies applied for the
discontinuation of products due to their
high cost. Pharma companies maintain
that a rational increase in the cost of
drugs contributes to quality control.
According to information shared by the
Centre in the Lok Sabha, the key
principles for regulation of prices in the
2012 National Pharmaceuticals Pricing
Policy are the essentiality of drugs,
control of formulation prices, and
market-based pricing.
It added that all manufacturers of
scheduled medicines have to sell their
products within the ceiling price (plus
applicable Goods and Service Tax) fixed
by the NPPA. DPCO, 2013, which also
allows an annual price rise for scheduled
formulations based on WPI. NPPA also
fixes the retail price of a new drug under
DPCO, 2013 for existing manufacturers of
scheduled formulations. Hence, the
annual increase allowed in the case of
scheduled formulations is up to the level
of annual revision in WPI. Further, in
cases of non-scheduled formulations, no
manufacturer can increase the MRP by
more than 10% of the MRP during the
preceding 12 months. Instances of
overcharging are dealt with by NPPA
under the relevant provisions of DPCO
2013.
``The fixation of prices has resulted in a
notional savings of about ₹12,447 crore
per annum to the public after the
implementation of DPCO, 2013,”
Parliament was informed. Meanwhile,
though some consumers are happy with
the almost steady pricing for medicines
for another year, experts point to the
country’s dependence on China for raw
materials for drug manufacture. The
country faced major challenges with
these high-cost imports, especially during
the COVID pandemic.
Dependence on China
In a discussion paper ‘India’s Import
Dependence on China in
Pharmaceuticals: Status, Issues, and
Policy Options’ author Sudip Chaudhuri
argues that while India has one of the
most advanced pharmaceutical industries
among developing countries, being
the third largest in the world in volume
terms and the 13th largest in value, it is
critically dependent on China for supplies
of bulk drugs and drug intermediates,
with China accounting for about
two-thirds of the total imports.
The paper further notes that the largest
export destination of bulk drugs from
India is the US, which has the strictest
regulatory standards, followed by Brazil,
Bangladesh, Turkey, China, the
Netherlands, Nigeria, Vietnam, and
Egypt. India is among the top five
suppliers of bulk drugs to many
developing countries, like, Bangladesh,
Nigeria, Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, and
Pakistan. China is a larger supplier, but
India is also a substantial exporter, it said.
(bindu.p@thehindu.co.in)
THE SCIENCE QUIZ
The secret to successfully
managing the ageing process
Anjali Srivastava
X
QUESTION 1
To maintain the elasticity and firmness of
your skin, it’s essential to promote the
production of these vital protein fibers.
Name these protein fibers in the skin that
break down over time, leading to the
formation of wrinkles and sagging.
X
QUESTION 2
_______ is the term for the age-related
condition characterized by a decrease in
brain volume and cognitive function, often
associated with memory loss and cognitive
decline.
CM
YK
X
QUESTION 3
Which hormone, commonly associated with ageing,
decreases in production as individuals grow older,
leading to symptoms like fatigue, decreased muscle
mass, and weight gain?
X
QUESTION 4
Which vitamin, commonly associated with
maintaining healthy skin, vision, and immune
function, may also play a role in slowing down the
ageing process due to its antioxidant properties?
X
QUESTION 5
Which mineral, often associated with bone health,
can also play a role in ageing by contributing to
oxidative stress when present in excess amounts?
X
Visual question: In the image, identify these glowing structures at the tips of
chromosomes that play a crucial role in ageing. What is the term for these protective
structures that shorten with each cell division?
The discovery of antibiotics in the 1920s
was a quantum leap in humankind’s
ability to treat and cure diseases that were
otherwise fatal. The ability of antibiotics
to fight bacterial infections is, of course,
common knowledge. However, it is still
not common knowledge that these drugs
are being over prescribed. Antibiotics
have also been overused in the animal
and poultry sectors. This has left the
world on the brink of a crisis with these
drugs having become ineffective because
pathogens have developed resistance.
In a recent paper titled ‘A mini-review
of the burden of antimicrobial resistance
and its regulation across one health sector
in India’ published in the Journal of
Agriculture and Food Research (March
2024), Vijay Pal Singh et al. try to present
an overall picture. The authors note that
factors that contribute to the AMR burden
in India include a high prevalence of
infectious diseases, incompatible
infection prevention control practices, a
stretched public health system, easy
access to antibiotics without prescriptions
(in 2010, India was the largest user of
antimicrobials among the BRICS (Brazil,
Russia, India, and China) countries),
insufficient standardised effective
surveillance platforms to track
drug-resistant patterns and consumption,
insufficient knowledge and awareness,
The effort was to spread a
message on dealing with
resistance and to saturate
medical groups with information
about the importance of
preventing resistance
and limited laboratory resources for
disease-based diagnosis.
With this in mind, a venture was begun
between the AMR Declaration Trust and
Rotaract Medicrew. This will help the next
generation of medical professionals
answer the challenge of resistance by
integrating cutting-edge stewardship into
education and practice. This effort was
initiated to broadcast a message on
dealing with resistance and to saturate
medical and allied groups with
information about the importance of
talking about and preventing
antimicrobial resistance in the
community and hospitals. This initiative
aims to empower medical students with
the knowledge and tools to tackle this
global health challenge. This
collaboration merges the expertise of an
NGO dedicated to and focused on AMR
with that of one of the most significant
medical student organisations worldwide,
setting a new benchmark for spreading
education about anti-microbial resistance
in the community, among doctors, and
among the public.
The project, titled ‘Prescriber Today,
Steward Tomorrow’, is a testament to the
belief that early education in medical
training can play a crucial role in shaping
a future where antimicrobial stewardship
is not just encouraged but embedded in
the fabric of healthcare practice, says
Abdul Ghafur, infectious diseases
specialist and founder of the AMR
Declaration Trust. By integrating
comprehensive training on AMR and AMS
into the medical curriculum, the initiative
seeks to instill an understanding of the
rational use of antibiotics among the
medical professionals of tomorrow.
For feedback and suggestions
for ‘Science’, please write to
science@thehindu.co.in with the
subject ‘Daily page’
S ND-NDE
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
9c5ec05e-0141-4723-9ea3-0fa9faa3a356
Increase based on WPI
According to the recent notice,
manufacturers may increase the MRP of
the scheduled formulations based on this
WPI and no prior approval will be
required from the government. Notably,
this increase in prices comes after
medicine prices were hiked by 12 per cent
last year and 10 per cent in 2022. Despite
this, the government will have you believe
that the current hike will only marginally
increase the cost of antibiotics, painkillers
and other essential drugs.
Currently, India has approximately 400
molecules and 960 formulations covered
under the National List of Essential
Medicines. The prices of non-essential
drugs are also monitored by the
government to ensure that the
manufacturers of these drugs don’t
increase MRP by more than 10% annually.
NPPA follows DPCO (2013), which allows
for price hikes in line with the changes in
the WPI index.
“The NPPA under the Department of
Pharmaceuticals annually revises the
ceiling prices of scheduled medicines on
the basis of WPI. The scheduled
medicines included in Schedule-I of the
DPCO, 2013 are essential medicines.
During the calendar year 2023 compared
to the corresponding period in 2022, the
annual change in WPI with the base year
of 2011–12 was +/- 0.00551%, according to
data published by the Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
(DPIIT). Accordingly, the Authority, in its
meeting held on March 20, has approved
the WPI increase of +/- 0.00551% for the
scheduled medicines,” said the Health
Ministry. It added that the ceiling prices
on 923 medicines are effective as of date.
Based on the mentioned WPI factor of (+)
0.00551%, there will be no change in the
prevailing ceiling prices for 782
medicines, and the existing ceiling prices
will continue to prevail up to March 31,
2025.
The world is on the brink of a crisis where
powerful drugs have become ineffective because
pathogens have developed resistance. GETTY