DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES
BUSINESS AS USUAL
BY UNNY
Dalai Lama
says sorry
after outrage
over video
featuring child
VARINDER BHATIA
CHANDIGARH, APRIL 10
THE DALAI Lama on Monday is-
sued a public apology after a
video clip featuring him and a
child triggered outrage and crit-
icism over his “inappropriate”
behaviour.Intheclip,theTibetan
spiritual leader purportedly
kissestheboyonhislipsandthen
asks him to “suck my tongue”.
“A video clip has been circu-
lating that shows a recent meet-
ing when a young boy asked His
Holiness the Dalai Lama if he
could give him a hug. His
Holiness wishes to apologise to
the boy and his family, as well as
his many friends across the
world, for the hurt his words
may have caused. His Holiness
often teases people he meets in
an innocent and playful way,
even in public and before cam-
eras. He regrets the incident,”
said a statement issued by the
Dalai Lama's office.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
TN Assembly resolution
seeks ‘time limit’ for
Governors to clear Bills
ARUN JANARDHANAN
CHENNAI, APRIL 10
ESCALATING THE tension be-
tween the DMK government led
by Chief Minister M K Stalin and
Governor R N Ravi, the Tamil
Nadu Assembly on Monday
adopted a resolution in which it
criticised Raj Bhavan for stalling
Bills andasked theCentretofixa
“specific time limit” for
“Governors to give assent to Bills
passed by the Legislatures”.
Days after Ram Navami
clashes in Vadodara,
cops attend Iftar party
PAGE 1
ANCHOR
ADITI RAJA
VADODARA, APRIL 10
IN EFFORTS to gain public trust
and bridge gaps – barely 10 days
after communal clashes broke
out in Vadodara's old city area
duringaRamNavamiprocession
–sixpolicemenattachedtoapo-
lice station in a nearby area
Sunday evening attended an if-
tar party to spread the message
of communal harmony.
The six personnel from
Navapura police station at-
tended the iftar party, organised
bymembersof theMuslimcom-
munity, at Khatkiwaad, which is
under their jurisdiction and is
around 2 km from where the
clashes took place on March 30.
RAJASTHAN CONGRESS ROW
Cong sends warning day before
Pilot protest: ‘Anti-party activity’
Any issue with Gehlot govt can be discussed in party forum: AICC in-charge
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
SETTING THE stage for a con-
frontation with senior Rajasthan
leader Sachin Pilot, the Congress
high command made it abun-
dantlyclearonMondaynightthat
hisproposedfastwouldbeagainst
the interests of the party and be
treatedasan"anti-partyactivity".
Pilot has announced a day-
long fast on Tuesday, and the
Centralleadership’slettertohim
is a clear signal that the protest
may result in initiation of disci-
plinary action against him.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah inspects the ITBP border
outpost in Arunachal Pradesh on Monday. PTI
As China objects to visit,
Shah in Arunachal: Can’t
take an inch of our land
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
GUWAHATI, APRIL 10
IN REMARKS directed at China,
UnionHomeMinisterAmitShah
said on Monday that “nobody
canencroachonevenaninch”of
India's borderlands or cast an
“evil eye” on its territorial in-
tegrity. He was speaking at the
launch of the ‘Vibrant Villages’
programmeinthebordervillage
of KibithooinArunachalPradesh.
Hours later,
Governor
R N Ravi
cleared Bill
on online
gambling
Hourslater,RaviclearedaBill
pending for 131 days which
seeks to ban online gambling
and regulate online games.
“This august House records
withdeepregrettheactionof the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Six police personnel went
for the Iftar party. Express
“Following directions (from
superior officers) that there
should be peace and communal
harmony in the ongoing holy
month of Ramzan, the inspector
of Navapura police station along
with other staff members at-
tended the iftar party in
Khatkiwaadarea...Leadersof the
communityaswellasthemaulvi
were present at the event where
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
AtapressconferenceSunday,
PilotsaidCongresscolleagueand
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot was sitting on corruption
cases against the previous
VasundharaRaje-ledBJPgovern-
ment, and said he would hold
the fast to demand action on
these cases.
In a surprise late-night state-
ment on Monday, AICC in-
charge of Rajasthan Sukhjinder
Singh Randhawa said: “Sachin
Pilot’s day-long fast tomorrow is
againstpartyinterestsandis(an)
anti-party activity. If there is any
issue with his own government,
it can be discussed in the party
“Our policy is clear. We want
peace from everybody. But no
one can encroach on even an
inch of our territory… The pro-
tection of borders is the protec-
tionof thecountry,whichiswhy
PrimeMinister(Narendra)Modi
has made border infrastructure
a matter of priority,” he said.
Meanwhile, China criticised
Shah's visit to Arunachal
Pradesh, stating that it violated
Chinese sovereignty over the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
SINCE 1932
OnSunday,Pilothadaccused
CMGehlotof sittingon graft
casesagainsttheVasundhara
Rajegovernment. File
forums instead of in the media
and public.”
AAP gets national
party tag, but NCP,
TMC, CPI lose status
DAMINI NATH
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
IN A boost for the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) ahead of the Lok
Sabha elections next year, the
ElectionCommission(EC)recog-
nised it as a national party on
Monday. The Trinamool
Congress (TMC), Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP) and
Communist Party of India (CPI),
however, lost their national
party status.
The EC's decision was based
on a review of the parties’ poll
performances — the 2014 and
2019 Lok Sabha polls and 21
state assembly polls since 2014.
Besides other benefits, the sta-
tus of a national party ensures
that the party's symbol is re-
served for its candidates across
the country, and it gets land for
an office in the national capital.
The country now has six na-
tional parties — BJP, Congress,
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),
CPI(M), National People's Party
(NPP) and AAP.
Acting under the Election
There was no immediate re-
sponsefromPilot.Gehlottoohas
refrained from any comment on
the latest row involving his for-
mer deputy.
Monday night's statement is
also a warning to Pilot loyalists
who might have been planning
to join his protest.
Sources in the high com-
mand said Randhawa spoke to
Pilot over the phone on Monday,
and asked him to come to Delhi
to discuss issues he had raised at
Sunday's press conference.
Initially, Randhawa planned to
travel to Jaipur to meet Pilot and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Nothing less
than a
miracle:
Kejriwal
E
E X P L A I NE D
National
party
● benefits
THE STATUS of a national
party ensures that its
symbol is reserved for its
candidates across the
country, it is entitled to
land for a party office in
Delhi, double the num-
ber of star campaigners
and two copies of the
electoral rolls.
EXPLAINED,PAGE15
Symbols (Reservation and
Allotment) Order, 1968, which
stipulates the criteria for recog-
nitionasanationalorstateparty,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
`7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION
In New Delhi, George
Soros is old, dangerous
and on a watchlist — at
UN, he isn’t a problem
India fourth highest donor to UN Democracy Fund,
which funds at least 68 projects worldwide linked to
George Soros’s Open Society Foundation
NIRUPAMA
SUBRAMANIAN UN DEMOCRACY FUND (UNDEF)
& SHYAMLAL YADAV was created in 2005 to support democratisation
CHENNAI, NEW DELHI, APRIL 10 efforts around the world.
IN SYDNEY in February, External
Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, $32mn 276 68
when asked about George India’s projects of the projects
Soros’s criticism of Prime contribution received UNDEF are executed by
Minister Narendra Modi and the to the Fund funds since organisations
government, called him “old, since 2005 2015 linked to Soros
rich, opinionated and danger-
ous.” A man “sitting in New
York,” investing in “shaping nar-
ratives” about a government he
didn’t like. That sharp rebuff
went viral, like quite a few of
Scan for the full list
of 68 organisations
and their affiliation
with Soros’s OSF, its regional
Jaishankar’s recent retorts. subsidiaries and partners
Here’s a paradox.
India is among the top con-
tributors to the UN Democracy
Fund (UNDEF) whose mission is
to promote democracy across
the world through local and in-
ternational NGOs and civil soci-
etyorganisations(CSOs)—many
of these are linked to Soros’s
philanthropic empire, an inves-
tigationbyTheIndianExpresshas
revealed.
Since UNDEF’s inception in
2005, Indiahas contributedover
In 2016, India put Soros’s OSF on a watchlist. Reuters file
$32 million to it and remains its
fourth largest contributor.
Last year, when it con- UN fund launched in 2005 on
tributed $150,000 to the fund –
the 4th highest among 45
donors, after US, Sweden and
sidelines of India-US N-deal
Germany — India’s Permanent berof UNDEF,hasnoob-
Mission to the UN proudly an- NIRUPAMA jections to the Fund giv-
nounced in a statement: “India SUBRAMANIAN ing grants to NGOs
acknowledges that sustained CHENNAI, APRIL 10 fundedbyGeorgeSoros,
support for UNDEF is particu- while he is put on the
larly important in this crucial INDIAANDTHEUSwere watchlistinIndiaunder-
time for democracy efforts prime movers behind the UN lines a contradiction that’s not
worldwide. India expresses Democracy Fund in 2005, when new.
steadfast support for UNDEF as they were negotiating the civil- The imperatives of the Modi
it plays a distinct role in comple- iannuclearco-operationdeal.As government’s high table diplo-
menting other UN efforts to Joint Secretary (Americas) at the macy and its domestic political
strengthen democratic gover- time, S Jaishankar was a lead ne- ideology diverge noticeably, re-
nance around the world.” gotiator. quiring Delhi to deploy a soft
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 That India, a founding mem- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
FROM PAGE ONE
● Cong sends warning to Pilot
Gehlot,butchangedhismindand
called Pilot to Delhi.
In the long-festering row be-
tween Pilot and Gehlot, the high
command seems in no mood for
anyconciliatorygesturestowards
theyoungerleader—whofeelshe
was deprived of chief minister-
shipaftertheCongress’s2018win
andhasbarelyhiddenhisfeelings
since—withpollsdueinmonths.
On Sunday too, after Pilot’s
press meeting, Randhawa had
madeitclearwhichwayDelhiwas
leaning when he said Pilot had
neverraisedtheissueshewasnow
putting forth with the party or
him. “I have been AICC in-charge
for the last five monthsand Pilotji
● AAP gets national party tag
the EC’s order said AAP had ful-
filled the requirement of being a
recognised state party in four or
more states.
According to Paragraph 6C of
the order, amended with effect
from January 1, 2014, a party will
continue to be a national or state
party if it fulfils the criteria laid
down in Paragraphs 6A and 6B in
the “next election”, after the one
in which it “got recognition”.
Among other conditions,
Paragraph 6A states that a state
party must get at least 6% of the
votes polled in the last Assembly
electionandatleasttwoMLAs;or
6% vote share and one MP from
that state in the last Lok Sabha
election;or3%ofthetotalseatsin
the Assembly or three seats,
whichever is more.
Similarly, Paragraph 6B states
that a national party must get at
least6%voteshareinfourormore
states in the last Lok Sabha or
Assembly elections and have at
leastfourMPs;oratleast2%ofthe
seats in the Lok Sabha, with its
candidates having been elected
from at least three states.
■AAP:BesidesDelhi,Goaand
Punjab,AAPbecameastateparty
in Gujarat after the 2022
Assembly elections where it se-
cured 12.92% of the votes.
Delhi CM and AAP national
convenor Arvind Kejriwal
tweeted:“Nationalpartyinsucha
short time? This is nothing less
thanamiracle.Manycongratula-
tions to all. Crores of people from
thecountryhavebroughtushere.
Peopleexpectalotfromus.Today,
peoplehavegivenusthishugere-
sponsibility.”
■ TMC: The EC said the TMC
had ceased to be a state party in
ManipurandArunachalPradesh,
though it continued to be a state
partyinWestBengalandTripura,
andwasaccordedstatepartysta-
tus in Meghalaya on the basis of
the 2023 elections.
In its review, the EC found the
TMCdidnotcontestthe2019Lok
Sabha elections in Arunachal
Pradesh and Manipur, and got
0.40% and 43.28% of the votes in
Tripura and West Bengal, respec-
tively. In the Assembly polls from
EXPRESS EDUCATION
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hasneverdiscussedthisissuewith
me,” Randhawa said in a state-
ment.SourcesclosetoPilot,how-
ever, said he had raised these is-
sues with Randhawa’s
predecessorAjayMaken.
The high command also vir-
tually endorsed Gehlot’s lead-
ership, while making no men-
tion of Pilot or the issues he had
raised. “The Congress govern-
ment in Rajasthan with Ashok
Gehlot as CM has implemented
a large number of schemes and
taken many new initiatives that
have impacted the people pro-
foundly,” Congress communi-
cations head Jairam Ramesh
said.
2016 to 2018, its vote share was
44.91% in West Bengal, 1.41% in
Manipur, and 0.30% in Tripura. In
themostrecentpolls,thepartygot
48.02%ofthevotesinWestBengal
(2021), and did not contest in
Manipur (2022).
A senior TMC leader who did
not want to be named said: “We
are exploring the legal options to
challenge the decision.”
■ NCP: The NCP lost its state
party status in Goa, Manipur and
Meghalaya as its vote share was
2.28%, 0.95% and 1.61%, respec-
tively, in the Assembly elections
between 2017 and 2018. It re-
mains a state party in Maha-
rashtra, where it polled 16.71% of
the votes in the 2019 Assembly
elections. It was also given state
party status in Nagaland on the
basis of the elections this year.
When contacted, an NCP
spokespersonsaid,“wewillcom-
ment after studying the order”.
■ CPI: The EC withdrew its
status as a state party in West
Bengal and Odisha, while it re-
mains a state party in Kerala,
Manipur and Tamil Nadu. In the
Assembly elections held from
2016 to 2019, its vote share was
0.79% in Tamil Nadu, 1.45% in
West Bengal, 0.74% in Manipur,
and 0.12% in Odisha.
During hearings, the CPI had
arguedthatithadcontestedevery
election since 1952 and main-
tained a presence in Parliament.
“The Commission finds no merit
in the submission that the
achievements and contribution
madebyCPIshouldbetakeninto
consideration,” the EC order said.
“National recognition is of
courseimportantfromatechnical
pointofview.CPI’srecognitionisin
the hearts of the toiling masses...,”
CPIleaderBinoyBiswamtweeted.
Meanwhile, the EC granted
state party status to the Lok
JanshaktiPartyinNagaland,Voice
of thePeoplePartyinMeghalaya,
and Tipra Motha in Tripura. Six
parties lost the tag —Peoples
Democratic Alliance in Manipur,
PMK in Puducherry, RLD in UP,
BRS in Andhra Pradesh, RSP in
West Bengal and Mizoram
People’s Conference in Mizoram.
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
TECHNOLOGY
In New Delhi, George Soros on watchlist
Of the 276 projects strength-
ening “democratic governance”
thatreceivedUNDEF fundssince
2015, an investigation by The
Indian Express has revealed, as
many as 68, nearly one in four,
are being executed by CSOs
linked to Soros’s Open Society
Foundation(OSF)oritsoffshoots
– either as a recipient of its do-
nations or a partner.
ThoughUNDEFhasbeendis-
bursing funds to NGOs linked to
Soros from its inception, The
Indian Express took 2015 as the
starting point for its investiga-
tion.
This is because it was that
year when the Modi govern-
ment, which took office in 2014,
began a crackdown on foreign
funding of NGOs introducing
new rules under the FCRA law
for filing of foreign grants and
started a weeding out process.
Ironically, while UDEF funds
organisations worldwide that
have links to OSF, in 2016, the
Home Ministry put OSF on a
watchlist – means that it cannot
extend any financial assistance
toany organisationor individual
in India without prior clearance
from the ministry.
The Indian Express sent a
query to the Indian Permanent
Mission in New York, seeking an
explanation for the evident con-
● UN fund launched in 2005 on sidelines of India-US n-deal
touchintheformerwhileplaying
hardballathomefordomesticau-
diences.
This was evident during the
Nupur Sharma blasphemy row
last year. In UNDEF, India shares
more common ground with
Sorosthanitwouldcaretoadmit.
Multiple Wikileaks US cables
fromtheearly2000srevealthata
crucial part of the India-US con-
versation at the time revolved
around how the world’s largest
democracyandtheworld’soldest
democracy could collaborate to
spread democratic ideals across
the world.
During Prime Manmohan
Singh’svisittotheUSinJuly2005,
whenheandUSPresidentGeorge
Bush announced the India-US
frameworkagreementoncivilian
nuclear co-operation, they also
announced the US-India Global
● TN House resolution: Fix time limit for Governors to clear Bills
Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu
in indefinitely withholding many
Bills without giving permission,
passedbytheLegislativeAssembly
of TamilNadu—onthebasisof its
sovereigntyandthe legislativere-
sponsibilities enshrined in the
Constitution of India — thereby
functioningagainstthewelfareof
thepeopleofTamilNadu,”saidthe
resolutionmovedbyStalin.
“Therefore, this august House
urgestheUnionGovernmentand
theHon'blePresidenttoprescribe
aspecifictimelimittotherespec-
tiveGovernorstogiveassenttothe
Bills passed by the Legislatures,
which are the voice of the people
of theState,”itsaid.
“The Union Government and
● Days after Ram Navami clashes in Vadodara, cops attend Iftar party
thepoliceconveyedgoodwishes,”
said a release from the police sta-
tion on Sunday.
Khatkiwaad is an area dotted
with meat shops, where the
VadodaraMunicipalCorporation
(VMC) launched a crackdown in
January to ensure hygiene stan-
dards, as directed by the Gujarat
High Court.
The iftar on Sunday was at-
tended by Inspector H L Aahir,
Assistant Sub-Inspector Parsho-
ttam Ranchchodbhai, Constables
Bhupendrasinh Balvantsinh and
Jagdish Khimjibhai, and Lok
Rakshak Dal personnel Sunil
Kamjibhai and Matra Devabhai.
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tradiction and was redirected to
theMEAspokespersonwhowas
unavailable for comment.
The full list of 68 projects
with Soros’s OSF, its regional
subsidiaries and partners is on
indianexpress.com.
Following are the key find-
ings of the investigation and the
topmostrecipientof UDEFfunds
linked to Soros’s OSF each year
between 2015 and 2021:
2021: Of 33 projects that got
UNDEF funds, 11 went to CSOs
linked to OSF. At the top was
Lebanese Center for Human
Rights. It received a grant of
$275,000 for a project titled
Safeguarding Human Rights
Amid Crisis in Lebanon. The
group lists ABAAD as a partner.
OSF is a donor to ABAAD.
2020: Of 30 projects thatgot
UNDEF grants, 10 were linked to
OSF. Lebanon-based NGOAbaad
Resource Centre for Gender
Equality received a grant of
$495,000 for a project to engage
with"CivilSocietyOrganizations
and Youths in Gender-Inclusive
Citizenship and Leadership".
Abaad receives grants from OSF,
too.
2019: Of 32grantees,11were
OSF beneficiaries. A regional
NGO called Africa Check
Foundation got $495,000 for a
project to foster "media literacy
DemocracyInitiative,andsupport
to the UN Democracy Fund that
had been set up a couple of
monthsearlier withaninaugural
contribution of $ 10 million each.
At the World Summit during
the UN General Assembly in
September2005,BushandSingh
co-sponsoredafund-raisingevent
for UNDEF. At the summit, 170
heads of state agreed to work to-
getherfortheachievementofthe
Millennium Development Goals
by 2015. Democracy was seen as
essential to this.
The UNDEF was part of the
World Summit’s outcome docu-
ment.
India gave $5 million to the
fund in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009
and 2011. No contribution was
madein2007and2010.Thecon-
tributions began dipping from
2012. That year the contribution
thePresidentshouldimmediately
issue appropriate instructions to
the Governor to (grant) assent to
the Bills passed by this Assembly
withinaspecificperiod,”itadded.
The resolution also criticised
Ravi’spubliccommentsaboutBills
passed by the Assembly, saying
theywere“notinaccordancewith
the office he holds, the oath he
took, and the interest of the state
administration”. It accused the
Governor of acting “against the
Constitution and the established
conventions being followed, and
belittling the dignity of this
House....”
Addressingagatheringof civil
serviceaspirantsatRajBhavanlast
week,Ravihadsaidthatwithhold-
“We received an invite from
the organisers and we attended
theiftarpartyaftergettingthego-
ahead from our superiors... It is
veryimportanttoincreasefamil-
iarity between the community
and the police. We conveyed the
message that communal har-
monyisimportantandthepolice
are here to protect society... We
also wished them well for their
holymonth,”inspectorAahirtold
The Indian Express.
Vadodara City Joint
Commissioner of Police Manoj
Ninamasaid,“Oneofthemostim-
portant aspects of community
policingistobeinthemidstofthe
LIFESTYLE
for evidence-based decision
making" in Nigeria, Kenya and
South Africa. ACF lists OSF as a
partner.
2018: Of 46 UDEF recipients,
12 have a connection with OSF.
The Cairo Institute for Human
Rights Studies that works in the
West Asia-North Africa region,
received $275,000 for a project
to "empower a new generation
of human rights advocates." OSF
is a donor to Cairo Institute.
2017: Of the 48 UDEF recipi-
ents, 15 are linked to OSF. At the
top is the Kofi Annan
Foundation, which received $
275,000 for a project to
strengthen “Electoral Processes
with Integrity in Sub Saharan
Africa with a focus on Côte
d’Ivoire and Cameroon”. The
foundation receives funds from
OSF.
2016: Of the 43 UDEF re-
cipients, six are linked to OSF.
The top recipient is Search for
Common Ground in Central
African Republic which got
$242,000 for a project to “pro-
mote democracy through the
establishment of permanent,
participatory, inclusive and
collaborative citizen dialogue”.
It lists an OSF affiliate as a part-
ner.
2015: Of the 44 UDEF recip-
ients, three are linked to OSF.
was$4.71m.Thefollowingyearit
was $1.85 million.
From 2014, India slashed its
funding. That year, and in 2015 it
was $200,000; in 2016, it was a
mere $50,000. No contribution
was made in 2017. In 2018 and
2019, India was back with
$100,000.In2020,2021and2022,
it gave $150,000.
Each year, UNDEF solicits and
receivesupto3,000proposalsfrom
NGOs around the world. An
Advisory Board considers these
proposals, and recommends pro-
posalsforapprovalbytheSecretary
General.Between30to50arecho-
sen every year. In 15 Rounds of
Funding so far, UNDEF has sup-
portedover880two-yearprojects
inmorethan130countries,accord-
ingtotheFund’swebsite.
The Advisory Board, consti-
tutedbytheSecretaryGeneral,in-
ing a Bill means that the Bill is
“dead”. “It is a decent language
used instead of the word ‘reject’.
Whenyousay‘withhold’,theBillis
dead,”hehadsaid.
Addressing the House, Stalin
said Ravi had violating the
Constitutionforpoliticalinterests.
“Insteadof carryingouthisduties
aspertheConstitution,heisbelit-
tling the position by making con-
troversialstatementsinpublic.He
functions like a politician, not a
Governor,” he said, adding that
RavihadreducedRajBhavantothe
officeof apoliticalparty.
WhiletheOppositionAIADMK
wasnotpresentwhentheresolu-
tion was moved as it had staged a
walkout on a different issue, the
communitiesandgaintheirtrust...
Attendingsuchsocialfunctionsof
different communities is helpful
in bridging the gap and bringing
them closer.”
“A lot of people question why
the police should go to such
events,especiallywhensomeac-
cusedintheincidentofstonepelt-
ing are yet to be caught, but it is
the prerogative of the police offi-
cerin-chargeofthearea.Ifhefeels
that by participating in an event
of the local communities, he can
fulfillhisresponsibilitybetter,itis
a welcome decision... Also,
Navapura is a peaceful police ju-
risdiction,” said Ninama.
MASTERCHEF INDIA
SEASON 7 WINNER
Nayanjyoti Saikia says
gaining self-confidence
was his biggest learning
INDIA CONTRIBUTION
TO UNDEF SINCE ’05
2005 $5 mn
2006 $5 mn
2007 No contribution
2008 $5 mn
2009 $5 mn
2010 No contribution
2011 $5 mn
2012 $4.71 mn
2013 $1.85 mn
2014 $2,00,000
2015 $2,00,000
2016 $50,000
2017
2018
No contribution
$1,00,000
2019 $1,00,000
2020 $1,50,000
2021 $1,50,000
2022 $1,50,000
Action Associative in Tunisia got
$ 242,000 for a project to build
“Public Participation, Trust and
Transparency in Local
Government” towards particpa-
tory decision-making. This civil
society group is a partner of
Avocats san Frontieres, which is
funded by OSF.
cludeseightlargestMemberState
contributors and six other states
toreflectdiversegeographicalrep-
resentation,includingone“small
island” and developing states. It
alsohastwoindividualmembers,
and two CSOs.
India has been a member of
the Board since the beginning.
Among the two CSOs that serve
on the board currently are CIVI-
CUSandTransparency,Account-
ability and Participation
Network.OSFgavegrantstoCIVI-
CUS annually from 2016 to 2021,
except in 2019.
Headquarted in Johanne-
sburg,CIVICUSisaglobalalliance
of civil society organisations. The
group, which monitors "civic
space"acrosstheworld,hasrated
India as "repressed" on civic free-
doms since 2019, including in its
latest report released last month.
BJPmemberswalkedoutoverthe
Governorissue.
The government’s move
came in the wake of 14 Bills, in-
cluding the one seeking exemp-
tiontoTamilNadufromtheNEET
ambit, awaiting the Governor's
assent. While the Bill seeking to
ban online gambling and regu-
late online games, cleared by Raj
BhavanonMondayevening,was
returned by the Governor last
month, the Assembly had sent it
back to him.
Earlierthisyear,theAssembly
had passed another resolution
againstRavi,followingthecontro-
versy over his remarks that the
name ‘Tamizhagam’ was more
“appropriate”forthestate.
On March 30, clashes broke
out following a stone-pelting in-
cident during the Ram Navami
procession in Hathikhana-
Kumbharwada area under the
CityPoliceStation.Thepolicehave
booked a mob of 500 people in
connection with the violence.
They have arrested 48 people
from both communities.
Although there was no com-
munal tension in the jurisdiction
of Navapura police station, com-
munity members said the idea
behindinvitingthepoliceperson-
nel was to “promote harmony”.
Nasir Khan Pathan, who
helped put the event together,
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
The Maliana killings,
pandemic bails cancelled,
and Idu Mishmi concerns
In 3 Things today, we discuss the verdict in
the Maliana communal violence case, the
decision to cancel all pandemic bails, and
why some are opposing a proposed tiger
reserve in Arunachal Pradesh
● Shah in Arunachal Pradesh
area. Responding to a question,
Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Wang Wenbin said
in Beijing: “Zangnan (China's
name for Arunachal Pradesh) is
part of China's territory... The ac-
tivity of the senior Indian official
in Zangnan violates China's ter-
ritorial sovereignty and is not
conducivetopeaceandtranquil-
ity in the border areas. We are
firmly against this.”
This comes days after India
slammed Beijing's move to re-
name some places in the border
state in an attempt to stake its
claim over the area.
“The era is gone when any-
one could encroach on our
lands,” Shah said on Monday,
adding that nobody can cast an
“evileye”onIndiabecauseof the
security forces protecting the
country's frontiers.
Emphasising Arunachal
Pradesh’s “integration” with
India, Shah said: “Whenever I
come to Arunachal, my heart
gets filled with patriotism, be-
cause no one here greets by say-
ing ‘namaste’, they greet each
other by saying ‘Jai Hind’. This
passion is what has bound
Arunachal together with India.
In the 1962 war, whoever had
come here to encroach, the rea-
sontheyhadtogobackwasyour
patriotism. And the country
salutesthepatriotismof thepeo-
ple of Arunachal.”
He said this frontier location
was the “first village of India”
and not the last, saying the Modi
government had brought about
a “conceptual” policy change to
developtheseareasandhelpthe
locals living here by providing
basic amenities.
“This village is India’s begin-
● Dalai Lama says sorry
TheincidentisofFebruary28,
whentheDalaiLamamet120col-
lege graduates and members of
the M3M Foundation, at the
Tsuglakhang temple in
McLeodganj, Dharamshala.
Accordingtosources,theboywas
accompanied by his parents.
When contacted, a senior of-
ficialattheDalaiLama'sprivateof-
fice told The Indian Express: “I
wouldnotliketosayanythingbe-
yond what we have already said
inthestatement.Thereisnothing
more to add to that.”
Another Tibetan leader, how-
ever, told The Indian Express that
“itlookedinappropriate,butthere
was no bad intention on the part
of the Dalai Lama”. “It was only
when the boy told him that he
wantedtohughim,thattheDalai
Lama,maybeoutofinnocence,ut-
teredsomewords.Also,itappears
that the video that is going viral
mayhavebeeninitiallycirculated
bytheDalaiLama'soffice,because
cellphones and cameras are not
allowed at such events due to se-
curity reasons. The Dalai Lama
shows his love and compassion
for all the people, young or old,
who meet him. There could be
nothing more than that,” he said.
“The boy's parents were also
present. It is not that the Dalai
Lamasaidanythingwithanill-in-
tention. He is an old man and
musthave utteredsomething in-
nocently... He must not have
meant anything wrong, beyond
said, “It was the idea of the youth
tohaveabigeventforiftarandwe
decided to invite the police be-
cause we also thought that we
need to reach out to be heard...
When we do not reach out, we
cannotexpectsomeonetounder-
stand our grievances.”
“Even during the crackdown
on meat shops by the VMC, the
policesupportedus,understand-
ing that we had to earn our daily
bread... We extended the invita-
tiontoAssistantCommissionerof
Police Rajpalsinh Rana but he
could not make it and assured us
that police officers of the police
stationwouldattend.”Ranacould
not make it due to the bandobast
dutyforthevisitofChiefMinister
ning... Earlier, people would say
that they went to India’s last vil-
lage. But when I return from
here, I will tell my granddaugh-
ter that I have come from India’s
first village,” said Shah.
“Before 2014, the entire
Northeastern region wasseenas
a disturbed area, but because of
the Look East policy, it is now
known for its prosperity and de-
velopment,” he said. He said the
ArmedForcesSpecialPowersAct
(AFSPA)hadbeenremovedfrom
about 70 per cent of the
Northeastern states and the day
"is not far" when it will be "en-
tirely" lifted from these areas.
Shahsaidthe'VibrantVillage'
scheme envisages that tap wa-
ter,electricity,cookinggas,finan-
cial inclusion, digital and physi-
cal connectivity are available in
the remote border areas. As part
of the 'Vibrant Village' pro-
gramme, 2,967 villages have
beenidentifiedfordevelopment
in 46 blocks of 19 districts along
the northern border in
Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim,
Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh
and Ladakh. According to Shah,
a population of about 1.42 lakh
people in 662 villages will be
covered in the first phase. He
saideconomicandemployment
opportunities will be provided
in the villages to prevent migra-
tion.
Shah said enhanced facilities
forborder-guardingtroopsof the
Indo-Tibetan Border Police
(ITBP)andArmywillalsobepro-
vided. “Our policy is that no one
can challenge the honour of our
borders and our forces,” he said.
With PTI inputs from
KIBITHOO (ARUNACHAL
PRADESH) and BEIJING
being childish,” said another
Tibetan leader.
The M3M Foundation did not
respond to queries.
In 2015, the Dalai Lama had
facedcriticismforsaying,inanin-
terview,thathissuccessor“canbe
a woman, but (must) be very at-
tractive”orshewould“not(beof)
much use”. In June 2019, when a
journalist asked him about his
comments,hehadsaidthatif she
wasnotattractive,“people,Ithink,
prefer not to see her... that face”.
His office had then issued a
statement saying that he “gen-
uinely meant no offence”. “He is
deeply sorry that people have
beenhurtbywhathesaidandof-
fers his sincere apologies... The
Dalai Lama has consistently em-
phasised the need for people to
connect with each other on a
deeper human level, rather than
getting caught up in preconcep-
tionsbasedonsuperficialappear-
ances... However, it sometimes
happens that off-the-cuff re-
marks, which might be amusing
in one cultural context, lose their
humourintranslation,”thestate-
ment had said.
InAugust2018,theDalaiLama
hadtriggeredanothercontroversy
when he said that Jawaharlal
Nehru’s “self-centred attitude”
wasthereasonwhyMuhammad
AliJinnahcouldnotbeappointed
thePrimeMinisterofIndia.Hisof-
fice later apologised for his re-
marks.
Bhupendra Patel on Sunday.
“Even though the clash in the
old city had happened very re-
cently, the idea was precisely to
promote harmony. Whenever
there is a clash and police action,
thereismistrustandill-feeling...,”
Pathan said. “Although the clash
did not happen under this police
station,thereismisgivingamong
the youth of the community. The
presence of the police officers at
theiftarwouldhelpallaythefears
to an extent. We are glad the offi-
cers spent the evening with us.”
Pathansaidthepoliceperson-
nel also joined them in breaking
roza on Sunday. The menu in-
cludednylondhokla,samosa,gu-
lab jamun, fruits and egg biryani.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
ROW OVER NOMINATION OF MCD MEMBERS
SC: How can L-G act
without aid, advice of
council of ministers?
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE SUPREME Court Monday
orally observed as to how the
LieutenantGovernor(L-G)canact
“without aid and advice” of the
council of ministers in nominat-
ing10memberstotheMunicipal
Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Thetopcourt,whichhadear-
lier issued notice on the plea of
theDelhigovernment,granted10
days to the office of the L-G, rep-
resented by Additional Solicitor
General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, to file
theresponsetothepetitionseek-
ing quashing of the nomination
of the 10 members.
“HowcantheL-Gtakethede-
cision without aid and advice of
thecouncilofministers?Thishas
tobeexercisedontheaidandad-
vice...,” a bench comprising Chief
Justice D Y Chandrachud and
Justices P S Narasimha and J B
Pardiwala said.
TheASG,attheoutset,saidan
amendment to section 44 of the
Government of National Capital
Territory of Delhi Act was made
tification, which is under chal-
lenge in a separate petition, was
issued,” the law officer said,
adding that the response by way
of an affidavit will be filed.
Senior advocate A M Singhvi,
appearing for the Delhi govern-
ment,saidthesubmissionswere
“patentlywrong”andtheconsti-
tutional interpretation of Article
239AA (which deals with Delhi)
by the SC cannot be negated by
amending a statute. He alleged
that the Delhi government offi-
cers were “emboldened” as they
were sending the files directly to
the office of the L-G without first
sharingthemwiththeDelhigov-
ernment. “This way, every time
we have to come to the court for
relief, and they are enjoying the
power,”hesaid,addingthatstric-
tures be passed against the Delhi
government officers.
“This MCD is divided into 12
zones and each zone has a ward
committee and each committee
getsanominatedaldermantosit.
So what is there by electoral ma-
jorityisnullifiedbythealdermen
and thus standing committee is
chosen. The whole object is
RS 4.5 LAKH, JEWELLERY MISSING
Elderly couple robbed
and killed in Gokalpuri
ARNABJIT SUR
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
AN ELDERLY couple was killed
and robbed of more than Rs 4
lakh by unidentified persons at
their two-storey home in
Northeast Delhi’s Gokalpuri
Monday.
Police said they received in-
formation about the incident at
7.19 am from the couple’s son,
following which a team rushed
to the spot and found Radhey
Shyam Verma (72) and his wife
Veena (68) in a pool of blood on
their bed on the ground floor.
Their throats were slit and cup-
boards in two other rooms were
ransacked, said police.
Police said the couple’s son
RaviRattan(38),hiswifeMonika
and their son Jayesh were asleep
in their room on the first floor at
the time.
AccordingtoDCP(Northeast)
Joy Tirkey, Radhey Shyam had
retired as the vice-principal of a
Delhi government school. Police
said the family had been living
Radhey Shyam Verma (R)
with wife Veena
the probable mode of entry is
through the rear portion. Ravi
lastsawhisparentsaround10.30
last night,” he said.
Senior officers said the cou-
plehadrecentlysoldoff theback
portionof theirplotandreceived
anadvancepaymentof Rs5 lakh
two days ago. “It is suspected
that the accused persons knew
about the deal and the cash kept
in the house. After breaking the
lock on the back gate, the ac-
cused, most likely two of them,
entered the room where the
couple was asleep. The duo first
but the other accused held him
downtoo...theyeventuallyslitthe
couple’s throats," said an officer.
The officer said after the
murder, the accused went to an-
other room and broke open the
steel almirah. “After robbing
some cash, they went to a room
on the first floor, which had an-
other cupboard in which cash
was kept, broke its lock, stole the
money and fled.”
TheDCPsaidacaseunderIPC
sections 302 (murder), 392
(punishment for robbery), 457
(lurking house trespass) has
been lodged. “Teams have been
deployed to scan CCTVs. State-
ments of both Ravi and Monica
have been recorded — they said
they were asleep and did not
hearanysoundsof ascuffle...The
planning of the murder seems
meticulous.Theaccusedhadob-
servedthemovementof theeld-
erly couple and the location of
their room being close to the
back gate,” said police.
Thecouple’sdaughter,Manju
(42), said: “I last spoke to them
around8pmyesterday...theydid
THE CITY 3
Centre asks IWPC to vacate
bungalow, pay Rs 18.88 lakh
for ‘unauthorised occupation’
DAMINI NATH
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE UNION Housing and Urban
Affairs Ministry on Monday
asked the Indian Women’s Press
Corps (IWPC) to vacate the gov-
ernment bungalow that had
beenallottedtoitearlierandpay
Rs 18.88 lakh as damages for
“unauthorised occupation” past
the deadline of July 31, 2022.
The IWPC, which is a forum A forum for women journalists, IWPC began in 1994 and has
for women journalists, began in been functioning out of 5, Windsor Place. Source: IWPC Twitter page
1994 and has been functioning
out of 5, Windsor Place.
Last May, the Directorate of “A total of Rs 18,88,333 is Directorate through a corrigen-
Estates under the Ministry had payable as damages for unau- dum to carry Monday’s date.
issued notices to the IWPC and thorisedoccupationof thehouse “The other contents of the letter
theForeignCorrespondentsClub w.e.f. 01.08.2022 to 10.04.2023. will remain the same,” it said.
to vacate the premises allotted It is requested to pay the dam- The government had first
to them by July 31 as their allot- ages and vacate the house at the cancelled the allotment of the
ment had not been extended by earliest failing which eviction bungalowin2021,however,sev-
the government. proceedings shall be initiated eral extensions had been given
In a letter to the IWPC presi- against you under the Public till July 31, 2022. Since then,
dent, the Directorate of Estates Premises (eviction of unautho- the matter remained in
on Monday said IWPC had been rised occupants), Act, 1971,” the limbo.
requested to find alternate letter said. When contacted for com-
premises and vacate the bunga- The letter, which was sent by ment, an IWPC source said they
low by July 31, 2022. “However, speed post, carried the date of had received the letter and
the house has not been vacated “10.04.2022” and was subse- would decide on the next course
by you till date,” it read. quently corrected by the of action.

>OBBOP
afterthe2018judgmentof acon- patently illegal,” Singhvi said. in the area for the past 38 years. tried to choke Veena and she not have any enmity with any-

"5-/"00
stitution bench of the top court. The bench said it will list the “Rs 4.5 lakh and some jewellery tried to resist. Hearing the scuf- one and used to hardly go out of
“Inviewoftheamendment,ano- petition. are missing from the house and fle, Radhey Shyam intervened their house.”

Those with Covid

symptoms should
avoid public places,
says Bharadwaj
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,APRIL10

DELHIHEALTHMinisterSaurabh
Bharadwaj Monday advised
people to not step out in public
placesif theyhaveflu-likesymp-
toms,addingthatCovidcasesare
expected to rise in the coming
days owing to Delhi’s high pop-
ulation density.
“I believe that Covid cases
will increase in the city in the
coming days, symptoms of flu
and influenza-like fever, cough
and cold will appear. I suggest
thatpeoplewithsuchsymptoms
should not step out in public
places and wear masks if neces-
sarytopreventanyfurtherinfec-
tion,” said Bharadwaj.
Delhi reported 484 Covid
positive cases Monday along
with three deaths in which the
identificationof theviruswasin-
cidental. The positivity rate was
recorded at 26.58 per cent with
1,821 tests.
TheHealth Ministersaidthat
thosewithlowimmunityshould
also avoid going out in public
places.
“Covid, oxygen and ICU beds
are lying vacant and not many
are hospitalised. The govern-
mentandthehealthdepartment
are on high alert. Experts have
also said that this Covid wave
will subside soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, two Cenre-run
hospitals – RML, Lady Hardinge
Medical College — and associ-
ated hospitals on Monday con-
ducted mock drills to check for
any gaps in Covid preparedness.
Union Health Minister
MansukhMandaviyaalsovisited
RML Hospital to take stock of
Covid preparedness.
According to officials, the
Centre has also asked to provide
details regarding the number of
children admitted to hospitals
due to Covid.
At Safdarjung, officials were
asked to send data on Covid
preparedness.
Those with low immunity
should also avoid going out
in public places, said the
capital’s Health Minister
On Sunday, out of the four
Covid-19 patients who died in
thelast24hoursinDelhi,thepri-
mary cause of death due to the
infection was reported only in
one, an 88-year-old patient, ac-
cording to the health bulletin is-
sued Sunday evening.
The bulletin said the Covid
findings in the deaths of the
other three patients were inci-
dental and the primary cause of
death was not Covid.
Officials in the Delhi govern-
ment’s health department said
that the 88-year-old patient was
from UP’s Muzaffarnagar and
had type 2 respiratory failure,
which has not been observed in
Covid cases where patients have
developed type 1 respiratory
failure and Covid pneumonitis.
According to experts, type 2
respiratory failure occurs when
the respiratory system cannot
adequatelyremovecarbondiox-
ide from the body, leading to hy-
percapnia, and can be caused by
respiratory pump failure and
increased carbon dioxide
production.
Type 1 respiratory failure oc-
curs when the respiratory sys-
tem cannot adequately provide
oxygen to the body, leading to
hypoxemia, and can be caused
by alveolar hypoventilation, low
atmosphericpressure/fractionof
inspiredoxygen,diffusiondefect,
ventilation/perfusionmismatch,
and right-to-left shunt, they
added.

Will lock CM’s home if

notice to Haj committee
not withdrawn: BJP
New Delhi: Accusing the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) government
of challenging the dignity of the
city’s Muslim population during
Ramzan, the BJP Monday staged
a protest outside Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal's residence over
a vacation notice served to the
Delhi State Haj Committee for
overdue rent.
Leader of Opposition in the
Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh
Bidhuri alleged that the AAP-led
Delhi government was intent on
“destroying” the Haj House,
which started functioning dur-
ing the tenure of then BJP CM
Madan Lal Khurana, and vowed
it would not let this happen.
“If the Haj House is lost, then
thegovernmentresidenceof the
Delhi Chief Minister will also be
locked.Itwouldhavebeenbetter
if Kejriwal had called minority
leaders first and discussed the
problem but he has chosen the
pathof confrontationandtheBJP
accepts his challenge,” the LOP
also said, adding that the party
would hit the streets with citi-
zens from the Muslim commu-
nity over the issue if the notice
was not withdrawn.
The Delhigovernment did not
respond to requests for com-
ment on the issue. ENS

4 THE CITY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
BRIEFLY
Sukeshseeks
transferof
extortioncase
New Delhi: Sukesh
Chandrasekhar,accusedof
extorting Rs 200 crore
from the wife of a former
Fortis promoter, moved a
Delhi court Monday ac-
cusing the judge hearing
thecaseofallegedbiasand
seeking its transfer to an-
other judge. Sukesh
moved a transfer petition
through his lawyer Anant
Malik before Principal
DistrictandSessionsJudge
DharmeshSharma.“Since
applicant/accusedalleged
bias against Presiding
Officer/ ASJ, let copy of
present transfer petition
besent tohim elucidating
his comments... which
may be placed before this
courtforfurtherconsider-
ation on April 17, 2023,”
the judge said. The court
directed jail authorities to
produce the accused
through video conference
on next date of hearing.
Revampsoon
for10bridges
incapital
New Delhi: Ten elevated,
railway and drain over-
bridges in North and
Outer Delhi, which pro-
vide connectivity to the
centralpartof thecity,are
soon going to get a
makeover, said officials.
According to a senior
Public Works Depart-
ment (PWD) official,
these bridges are old and
in need of repair and re-
development. The 10
bridges that will undergo
repair in the coming
months are located in
Timarpur Crossing, Mall
Road Crossing, Maurice
Nagar, Gurmandi (Vijay
Nagar Crossing), GT Road
Crossing near Shakti
Nagar, and Bharat Nagar
over Najafgarh Drain in
Delhi.
Contempt
case:DelhiHC
discharges
VivekAgnihotri
NewDelhi: TheDelhiHigh
CourtMondaydischarged
filmmaker Vivek
Agnihotri in a suo motu
criminal contempt pro-
ceeding initiated by the
courtafterhetenderedan
unconditional apology
and expressed his re-
morse for allegedly
retweetingapostalleging
bias against former HC
judge Justice S 2,000 to the zoo authorities to
Muralidhar. On Monday,
adivisionbenchof Justice
Siddharth Mridul and
Justice Vikas Mahajan
took into consideration
the unconditional apol-
ogyof Agnihotri,whowas
present in court. “Vivek
Agnihotri, the alleged
contemnor... is present
beforecourtinpersonand
reiterates his remorse as
wellastendersanuncon-
ditionalapologyfortheal-
legedoffensivestatement
madeby him on Twitter,”
the bench noted. ENS
WOMAN BEHIND SEVERAL ICONIC PRODUCTIONS
Jalabala Vaidya, pioneer of capital’s Akshara Theatre, passes away at 86
DIPANITANATH
PUNE,APRIL10
IN2013,whentheNationalSchool
of Drama, India’s premier arts
organisation, cancelled Pakistan
plays from their international
theatre festival, Bharat Rang
Mahotsav, at the last minute due
to tension at the border, at least
one director did not go back un-
seen. Madeeha Gauhar’s play,
Kaun Hai Yeh Gustakh, based on
the life and stories of Urdu writer
SaadatHasanMantowhohadleft
Mumbai for Pakistan, played to a
full house at the Akshara Theatre
at Baba Kharak Singh Marg.
Theinitiativetostagetheper-
formance was taken by an inde-
POLICE TAKE SUO MOTU COGNIZANCE AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
ClipfromRamayanaplayedat
Noidapub,owneramong2held
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NOIDA,APRIL10
THE OWNER of the Noida fran-
chise of Lord of the Drinks and
the manager were arrested after
several purported videos, show-
ing a scene from the Ramayana
TV show playing in the back-
ground, surfaced online.
The incident took place at
the pub in Gardens Galleria
Mall. While there was no com-
plaint, Noida Police said they
took suo motu cognizance see-
ing social media posts.
Police said the two men,
owner Manak Chaudhary and
manager Abhishek, were ar-
rested Monday under charges of
promoting enmity between dif-
ferent groups and outraging re-
ligious feelings.
The purported videos, up-
loaded on social media, show a
clip from the 1980s Ramayana
show being played on a big
screen at the bar while several
people are seen dancing to a
French teacher, lawyer: Residents ‘pet’ To stop art thieves,
animals at Delhi zoo with adoptions
Under the scheme, adopters are provided with an adoption membership card with the option of adding three names to it, all
of whom can visit the zoo during visiting hours once a month on any working day. Archive
ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
ONHERnexttriptotheDelhizoo,
there’s one place Somya Singh is
reallylookingforwardtovisiting
— the house of her ‘adopted’ Red
Sand Boa. The special bond was
formed after Singh, an advocate
at the Delhi High Court, paid Rs
take care of the thickset,
non-venomous snake for a year
under its ‘adoption programme’
launched last September.
“I’m very fond of snakes and
like to read up about them,”
Singh said, adding that she had
earliertriedtovisitthesnakebut
wastold tocomebackafter April
as it was mating season for the
reptiles.
Under the scheme, adopters
are provided with an adoption
membership card with the op-
tion of adding three names to it,
all of whom can visit the zoo
during visiting hours once a
month on any working day. The
pendent group of arts lovers, but
the decision to open the doors of
Aksharawasbytheownersofthe
theatre, Gopal Sharman and
Jalabala Vaidya. Sharman passed
away in 2016 and Jalabala on
Sunday,bringinganendtoanera
fortheatreinIndia.Shehadbeen
ill for some time.
“Akshara means word, and it
ismybeliefthattodojusticetoan
author’swork,youhavetorespect
his words,” Jalabala used to say.
Actor, director and writer,
Jalabala was the powerhouse be-
hind iconic productions, such as
The Ramayana, which was com-
missioned by Royal Shakespeare
Company’sWorldTheatreSeason
in 1968 and was kept alive with a
changing cast by Jalabala and the
The incident took place
at the Lord of the Drinks
pub in Gardens Galleria Mall
song.
Several people tweeted ex-
pressing anger and even threat-
ening the pub staff over the use
of a clip.
“Lord of Drinks, Gardens
Galleria Mall @noidapolice
@Uppolice@dial112Thisismak-
ing fun of Hinduism and all this
is happening openly in Noida.
Action should be taken on this
asap. Otherwise, if any vandal-
Pragati Maidan tunnel
AMONG
THE ONES
ADOPTED
`6 lakh
a year each
for 2 rhinos
Indian Elephant `6,00,000
Sloth Bear `45,000
Marsh Crocodile `30,000
Source: Delhi zoo
adopters’ names, and in case of
companies their logos, are fea-
tured on the signages near the
animals’ enclosures.
When the scheme was
launched, the zoo had listed 96
species for adoption. So far, 41
birds and animals have been
adopted, not only by individuals
but also by companies. These in-
clude two crocodiles, a sloth
bear, an elephant and a specta-
cled cobra. Only the big cats
Aksharateam,whichincludedher
daughter Anasuya Vaidya.
Jalabala was born in London
on August 12, 1936, to journalist,
author and freedom fighter
Suresh Vaidya and Marjorie
Franckeiss Vaidya, a half-English,
half-Italian classical singer.
Jalabalastartedasajournalistand
was interested in acting. A
great storyteller, she used to re-
count how it was Dr Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan,thenPresidentof
India, who was instrumental in
hertakingtothestageinaserious
way in 1968 with Full Circle,
whichwasadramatisationofpo-
ems and stories by Sharman.
Full Circle toured Europe,
makingthecoupleamongthefirst
players to put Indian theatre on
ANANDVIHAR
Poor
274
AQI
0 PM 10
0-50 Good
ism happens, they (pub staff)
themselves will be responsible
for it,” read one of the tweets.
Reacting to the tweet, the
Police Commissionerate of
Gautam Buddh Nagar posted a
tweet saying they have regis-
tered a case at Sector 39 police
station and made arrests.
Additional Deputy
Commissioner of Police (Noida)
Shakti Avasthy said, “The video
went viral on social media
Mondaymorningandissaidtobe
fromLordoftheDrinksrestro-bar
located in Gardens Galleria mall.
Taking cognizance of the matter
immediately, an FIR was lodged
under IPC sections 153 A (pro-
motingenmitybetweendifferent
groups)and295A(deliberateand
malicious acts, intended to out-
rage religious feelings).”
Soon after the FIR was
lodged, Manak and Abhishek
were arrested from the bar.
PolicesaidtheFIRinthecasealso
mentions the name of the disc
jockey who played the song and
the video on that night.
haven’t been adopted yet.
Then there are birds, a popu-
lar choice for adoption among
the city’s residents. The cheaper
bird adoptions include those of
the Zebra Finch (Rs 700 per year)
and the Scaly-breasted Munia
(Rs 1,500 per year), and the
more expensive ones Blue-and-
gold Macaw (Rs 6,000 per year)
and the Great Horned Owl (Rs
12,000 per year).
The zoo’s most expensive
adoptions so far is that of two
Rhinoceros, by the Indian Oil
Corporation, and an Indian
Elephant ‘Hiragaj’, adopting
each of whom for a year costs
Rs 6,00,000.
‘Hiragaj’ wasadoptedbyShiv
Kumar Singh, who has been as-
sociated with the Delhi zoo for a
long time on contractual basis.
“I’ve been seeing the elephant
for21yearsnow,andIknewthat
this was the animal I wanted to
adopt," he said.
Of the Rs 20,47,200 collected
from the adoptions so far, most
is being spent on feeding the an-
Jalabala was born in London
on August 12, 1936. PTI
SHADIPUR
Poor
303
AQI
500 0 PM 2.5 500
51-100 Satisfactory 101-200 Moderate
“The DJ is in Chennai at pres-
entandwillbearrestedsoon.We
tookactionasseveralpeoplehad
raised objections over the use of
the clip at the bar. The manager
and owner knew about the DJ
andhisplaylistbutdidn'tdoany-
thing to stop it,” said an officer.
As per sources, the pub is run
by Manak and his wife. Police
said they might arrest his wife
Tuesday morning or ask her to
join the probe.
Whencontacted,theMDand
CEO of First Fiddle Restaurants
Priyank Sukhija, whose com-
pany Lord of the Drinks is under,
told The Indian Express, “I don’t
run the Noida franchise. We saw
the video and are coordinating
with the UP Police. The video
shouldn't have been played at
the bar. We support legal action
initiated. However, I think the
fault is of the DJ because he was
the one who played the video
that night. The manager and
other staffers were busy work-
inginthekitchenandaroundthe
tables...”
imals. Delhi zoo director
Akanksha said: “For a start, it’s a
goodeffortsincepeoplehavebe-
gun showing interest. But peo-
ple should also come forward
more, for both bigger animals as
well as the birds.”
While admitting that most
people tend to adopt deer or
birds, Singh said she made the
unusualchoiceafter her eyes fell
on two Red Sand Boa at the zoo.
“Red Sand Boa are also known to
belucky.Andtheideawastoalso
beabletocontributeinwhatever
little way to the welfare of ani-
mals,” she said.
For Bhavya Sharma, 23, a
French teacher, the adoption of
‘Radha’ the sloth bear was spe-
cial. Radha, according to zoo of-
ficials, was rescued from a per-
formance in Rajasthan around
10 years ago. Sharma said she
was told that the bear was get-
ting older and was advised to
adopt a younger animal, but she
chose the rescued animal and
paid Rs 45,000 for a year for its
upkeep.
the world stage in the years fol-
lowing Independence. The suc-
cess of Full Circle resulted in
the invitation from the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre — among
thehighestrecognitionthataplay
could get in the sixties. Jalabala
used to narrate how Sharman
used to lie down on the floor in a
darkened room and let his imag-
ination run as he narrated The
Ramayana script, and she would
write it all down. The Ramayana
played on Broadway, the
West End, the United Nations
Headquarters, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the National Arts
Centres from Fiji to Canada, be-
sides Akshara in India.
“Theirwholeapproachtothe-
atre was as a way of life... I have
SIRIFORT
Moderate
171
AQI
0 PM 10 500
201-300 Poor 301-400 Very Poor
Passenger ‘assaults’ women
crew on Air India flight, booked
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,APRIL10
THE DELHI Police has detained a
25-year-old man for allegedly
misbehavingwithandassaulting
crew on a London-bound Air
IndiaflightMonday.Theincident
tookplaceshortlyaftertheplane
took off from the Delhi
International Airport.
The man, Jaskirat Singh
Padda, hailing from Kapurthala
inPunjab,wastravellingwithhis
parents. Police said an hour after
take off, he allegedly tried to
open the emergency exit. Police
officers said the cabin crew tried
to stop him but he allegedly
hurled abuses.
“The man was seen at the
door and was trying to open it.
Thecabinsupervisorandhercol-
league tried to stop him but he
threatened to hit them and used
unparliamentary language. He
then became violent and hit the
cabin supervisor on her neck...
shefelltothefloor.Healsopulled
her hair and hit the other crew
member on her face. He was re-
strained with the help of other
staff and passengers. The flight
had to come back to Delhi. The
complaint of the cabin supervi-
gets armed guards
GAYATHRIMANI
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
AS ONE passes through ITPO-
Pragati Maidan Tunnel, they are
greeted with an unusual sight:
uniformed security guards with
guns manning the pathway. The
personnelareherenottocombat
anyhardenedcriminalbutpetty,
albeit professional, thieves with
aspecifictargetinmind—expen-
siveartworkadorningwallsofthe
tunnel, parts of which can fetch
anywhere between Rs 25,000
and Rs 30,000 in the market.
The guards have been sta-
tioned by the Public Works
Department (PWD) since April 1
atentryandexitpointsofthetun-
nel, the security of which as-
sumes significance in the light of
theG-20Summitsettotakeplace
inthePragatiMaidanConvention
Centre.EventhoughthePWDhas
deployedunarmedguardsatfoot
over bridges, subways and a few
roads,thisisthefirsttimethatse-
curity staff carrying guns have
been stationed at the tunnel.
According to an official,
“Despitehighsecurity,alarmsand
CCTVs inside the tunnel, theft at-
In all, six gunmen and 11 unarmed security guards have
been deployed at the tunnel. Praveen Khanna
performedthereandhadlongdis-
cussions with both of them on
cultureandthefuture.Theywere
completely immersed in the
process of creativity. Gopal was a
playwright, poet, musician, the-
atre and television director. He
used to sing, record, sculpt and
write.Jalabalawashislifelongin-
spiration,”saysDelhi-baseddance
maestro Geeta Chandran.
What set Akshara’s perform-
ances apart was that they were
fearlessartisticallyandpolitically.
One could attend performances
of poems from Rabindranath
Tagore’s Nobel Prize-winning
work, Gitanjali, in Japanese and
English as a Western string quar-
tet and Indian musicians played
background scores. On the other
IHBAS
Moderate
134
AQI
0 PM 10 500
(At 6 pm)
401-500 Severe
Police said an hour
after take off, he
allegedly tried to open
the emergency exit
sor has been received and legal
action is being taken,” said DCP
(IGI Airport) Devesh Mahla.
Whenpolicequestionedhim
about the incident, he said “he
was feeling agitated and upset”.
The flight left IGIA at 6.35 am
and returned around 8 am. The
man was deboarded and his
family also got down and he was
handed over to police. The cabin
crew members were sent to
Medanta Medical Centre near
the airport for an MLC. Doctors
said results are pending.
Basedonthecomplaint,acase
has been registered against the
manunderIPCsections323(caus-
ing hurt), 336 (act endangering
personalsafetyofothers),354(as-
sault with intent to outrage
woman's modesty) and 509
(word/gesture/actinsultingmod-
esty of woman) and under the
Aircraft Rules, 1937. Police said
theyarecheckingifhewasdrunk.
According to the airline, he
didn’tpayheedtoverbalandwrit-
tempts have been made. Usually,
it is petty thieves who steal small
itemslikealuminumwires,bulbs
andlightfittings...But,recently,we
witnessed professional thieves
withweaponssuchasknivesand
a proper plan in mind.”
In all, six gunmen and 11 un-
armedsecurityguardshavebeen
deployed to protect the expen-
sive artwork and lights poles.
“A few months ago, about a
dozenwomenandchildrencame
in a small truck and tried to steal
artwork, paintings and murals
made of steel and iron... We
somehow managed to track
themusingCCTVs,andhavesuc-
ceeded in preventing such thefts
on many other occasions. But,
therehavebeenincidentswhere
the thieves have tried to attack
our guards,” said the official.
Inaugurated last June by PM
NarendraModi,the1.36-km-long
tunnel has several murals and
paintingsdepictingsixseasonsof
India and the landscape from
Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
The PWD official said the
guardsareex-servicemen.“They
work round the clock, in eight-
hour shifts. They also work on
holidays,” the official added.
hand, Jalabala could get a full
house by conceptualising a
dramatised reading-cum-per-
formance of 50 Shades of Grey, a
bestselling novel by EL James.
Jalabala, Sharman and Anasuya
had also presented a political
satireLet’sLaughAgainduringthe
Emergency, for six months until
the Emergency ended.
Indira Gandhi was one of the
regulars at Akshara. In 1976,
when the couple was perform-
ing at Broadway, they received a
phonecallthatbulldozershadar-
rived to demolish Akshara. They
contacted Gandhi, who invited
them to tea and a conversation.
The demolition stopped.
“IwenttomeetJalabalawhen
they had shut their theatre a few
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
S K Y WA T C H
FORECAST: April 11
Partly cloudy sky
MAX: 36 MIN: 16
1.3°Cabovenormal 3.8°C belownormal
tenwarningsandcontinuedwith
the unruly behaviour, causing
physicalharmtotwoof thecabin
crewmembers.“Thepilotincom-
mand decided to return to Delhi
and the passenger was handed
over to the security personnel
upon landing. Safety, security
and dignity of all on board is im-
portant to us at Air India. We are
providing all possible support to
the affected crew members. We
regrettheinconveniencecaused
to the passengers and have
rescheduled the flight to depart
for London this afternoon,” Air
IndiasaidinastatementMonday.
The flight later took off with
the other passengers.
Meanwhile, the Directorate
General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
released an advisory for pilots,
cabin crew and airlines saying:
“Theindividual's/airline'srespon-
sibility for handling incidents of
unrulybehaviorincludingsmok-
inginaircraft,consumptionof al-
coholicbeveragesresultinginun-
ruly behavior, altercations... and
incidentsofinappropriatetouch-
ing or sexual harassment by pas-
sengers on board... during the
flight have been specified under
various provisions of Aircraft
Rules1937,DGCAregulations,cir-
culars and manuals of Airlines...”
10L signatures
collected
against arrest
of Sisodia,
Jain: AAP
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE AAM Aadmi Party Monday
said that it had collected 10 lakh
signatures during its campaign
against the arrests of former
Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia
and Satyendar Jain.
The AAP had launched the
campaignonMarch13andwent
door to door in the city, asking
people to sign a petition de-
manding their release.
“The Lok Sabha in-charge,
districtin-charge, co-ordinators,
MLAs and councillors of the
party visited around 2,800
polling stations in the 70 Vidhan
Sabha constituencies and got
signatures from people. We set
a goal of collecting roughly 10
lakh signatures of Delhi resi-
dents against the arrest of these
two leaders to send to the Prime
Minister... This stack of letters
that is present in front of you to-
day has the name, address, sig-
nature and phone numbers of
over 10 lakh residents of Delhi
who have expressed their opin-
ions and support to the AAP
campaign,” AAP state convenor
Gopal Rai said.
Union Minister Anurag
Thakur hit out at the AAP and
tweeted the photo of one such
form, pointing to the section
with the phone number, which
was only nine digits long.
He claimed that Delhi Chief
Minister ArvindKejriwalwasin-
dulging in forgery and mislead-
ing people.
Sisodia was arrested by the
CBI and the ED in connection
with cases related to alleged
irregularities in the now-
scrapped Delhi excise policy,
while Jain was arrested last
year by the ED in connection
with an alleged money launder-
ing case.
years ago. I wanted to present a
play.Shesaidnoonewouldcome
there, so why did I want to per-
form there? Those were the hal-
cyon days of SRC, Kamani and
Meghdootastheatrehubs...‘Good
luckwithyouraudience,’shesaid
and allowed me to re-open
Akshara withaproductionof my
GermanplayOuch!,”saidSohaila
Kapur. Ouch! drew a good audi-
ence. Since then, Akshara has be-
come a venue of choice for many
new and young theatre groups.
Only a diehard theatre lover
would add a feature to their hall
that made a trip there more spe-
cial — soup. Shows at Akshara in-
cluded a bowl of soup for audi-
ence in the foyer as Sharman and
Jalabala played hosts.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023 5
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

6 GOVT & POLITICS

THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023

UPHOLDING AGNIPATH SCHEME

Top court dismisses petitions

challenging Delhi HC order
DELHI CONFIDENTIAL

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE SUPREME Court on Monday
dismissed petitions challenging
the Delhi High Court judgement
Appearingforsomeoftheap-
pellants, Advocate Arunava
Mukherjee said he was not chal-
lengingtheschemebutonlyseek-
ingdirectionstocompletethepre-
viously notified recruitment
process to Army and Air Force.
Bhushan said “there was written
exam, thereafter physical test,
medical exam, everything was
done.Thereafteraprovisionalse-
lect list was published showing
theranksetc.Thereafterformore
thanoneyear,everythreemonths
that “promissory estoppel is al-
wayssubjecttooverarchingpub-
lic interest”.
Justice Narasimha added that First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
“this is not a contract matter Emine Dzhaparova and MEA Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma
where promissory estoppel in in New Delhi on Monday. PTI
publiclawwasapplied,itisapub-

which upheld the Agnipath
scheme for recruitment to the
armed forces.
COURTESY CALL “Overallthereisnothingforus
He argued that “it will make
no difference to the Agnipath
scheme even if these people are
recruited.BecausetheUnionsays
they kept saying that appoint-
ment letters were going to be is-
sued, however they were post-
poned due to Covid-19, etc.”
Kyiv message:
lic employment” and that “the
question of applying this princi-
ple will not arise in this case”.
Appearing for the Centre,

AT A time when the ties between the leaders of ruling and

Opposition parties are at a new low, some leaders are still
to interfere,” a bench presided by
Chief Justice of India D Y
Chandrachud said after hearing
warminguptotheirpoliticaladversaries.FormerTripurachief the petitioners who said the
minister and Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Deb, who is the BJP in- scheme had left those hoping to
charge for Haryana, on Sunday called up former Haryana CM apply under the old method
it will take 15-20 years for
Agnipath to show some effect”.
Butthecourtsaidnobodyhas
a vested right in matters of em-
ployment unless the appoint-
ment is made. “Anyway, those
He submitted that “in the
meantime they did recruitment
ralliesforthesamepostsclaiming
it was for fast-track recruitments
to address the demographic im-
balance to recruit tribal people,
Additional Solicitor General
Aishwarya Bhati said the rallies
were held in view of the exigen-
Supporting Ukraine
right choice for
cies of the time.
“There were 11 special rallies.
The recruitment took place dur-

true Vishwaguru
and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda to en- stranded. people came in. Now we are not etc”. He added that these candi- ing Covid times. These were ex-
quire about his well-being after he met with a road accident The bench, also comprising going to displace those dateshadgotjobsinBSFandother traordinarytimesthattheinstitu-
in Hisar district. The vehicle in which Hooda was travelling Justices P S Narasimha and J B people...Youwerepeoplewhohad paramilitary organisations, but tions were grappling with. The
had hit a nilgai but the former CM escaped unhurt. Pardiwala,saidthatitdidnotfind to come through the normal hadrefusedastheyweretoldthat processwhich the defence forces
anything arbitrary in the recruit- process.Andtheyhadcancelledit Air Force recruitment letters will have carried out then is not a lateral relations and exchanged
ment done under the Agnipath or they didn’t proceed with it as be issued. process of pick and choose. We EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE views on the current situationin
FOLLOWER, LEADER scheme or that it was motivated
byanyextraneousconsideration.
theAgnipathschemehadbythen
intervened. There is no vested
“They didn’t say the issue of
letters being postponed due to
wanted to fill up these vacancies
because we needed to fill these
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10 Ukraine apart from global issues
of mutual interest.
ELON MUSK created a buzz on social mediaon Monday when “Thereisnovestedrighthere. right unless and until appoint- Agnipath,” he said, adding there vacancies in the defence interest, UKRAINE’SFIRSTDeputyForeign Since the conflict began in
hestartedfollowingPrimeMinisterNarendraModionTwitter. The High Court has said the gov- ment is made.” was the issue of promissory in the national interest,” she sub- Minister Emine Dzhaparova February last year, Prime
Modi is the fourth world leader to be followed by Musk after ernmentcannotactarbitrarily.But Appearing in a related matter estoppel. mitted. MondaymetMinistryof External Minister Narendra Modi spoke
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, former US president Barack it is not really a decision which is involving petitioners who chal- “After a more than 2 year Whiledismissingsomeof the Affairs’ Secretary (West) Sanjay to Russian President Vladimir
Obama, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Musk fol- weighedinbyanyextraneouscir- lengedtheirnon-appointmentaf- process,youhaverepeatedlytold petitions, the court on Bhushan’s Verma – the first senior official Putin as well as Ukrainian
lowsonly193peopleonTwitter,whilehehas134.3millionfol- cumstances or any arbitrary rea- tertheirnamesappearedinapro- me that letters are going to be is- requestagreedtohearthematter fromKyivtomeetIndiangovern- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
lowers. PM Modi has 87.7 million followers. sons,” the CJI remarked while visional list for recruitment to Air sued…,” said Bhushan. in which he appeared separately, ment officials since the Russia- several times.
turning down the pleas. Force, Advocate Prashant The CJI, however, pointed out on April 17. Ukraine war broke out on Inaphoneconversationwith
CULTURE DIPLOMACY February 24 last year.
“Happy to visit the land that
ZelenskyyonOctober4lastyear,
Modi said there can be “no mili-
AFTER GIVING the diplomatic community in New Delhi a Bar candidates gave birth to many sages, saints tary solution” and that India is
chance to celebrate Holi last month, MoS External Affairs and & gurus. Today, #India wants to ready to contribute to any peace
Culture,MeenakashiLekhi,onMondayeveningexposedthem facing serious be the Vishwaguru, the global effort.Indiahasnot yet explicitly
to Punjabi culture. Among the guests at Lekhi's Baisakhi event teacher and arbiter. In our case, condemned the Russian inva-
were diplomats from Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Chile, criminal charges: we’ve got a very clear picture: sion of Ukraine and it has been
Peru,BangladeshandMyanmar.Theguestsweregivenatradi- aggressor against innocent vic- maintaining that the crisis must
tional welcome with ‘dhol’ and ‘bhangra’, followed by interac- SC gives Centre tim. Supporting Ukraine is the be resolved through diplomacy
tivefunactivitiessuchas‘parandi’tyingand‘phulkari’making.
4 weeks to reply only right choice for true
Vishwaguru,” Dzhaparova
and dialogue.
The MEA said India shares
NewDelhi:TheSupremeCourton tweeted Monday. warm and friendly relations and
Monday granted four weeks to Dzhaparova will is also multifaceted cooperation with

‘Meets undesirable theCentretofileitsreplytoaplea

seeking debarment of those
againstwhomchargeshavebeen
scheduled to call on Minister of
State for External Affairs and
Culture Meenakshi Lekhi and
Ukraine. “Over the last 30 years
of establishing diplomatic ties,
bilateral cooperation between

businessmen’: Azad’s framed in serious offences from

contesting elections.
AbenchofJusticesKMJoseph
meet Deputy National Security
Adviser Vikram Misri.
During her meeting with
the two countries has made sig-
nificant progress in the areas of
trade,education,cultureand de-

latest salvo at Rahul and B V Nagarathna also said the

Centre first needed to identify
whatconstitutesseriousoffences.
Verma, both sides discussed bi-

UTTAR PRADESH URBAN LOCAL POLLS

fence,” it said.

BJPseeksanswers;Azadpathetic:Cong
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
DEMOCRATICPROGRESSIVEAzad
Party leader and rebel Congress
leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has set
offafreshpoliticalslugfest,accus-
ing Rahul Gandhi of associating
with “undesirable businessmen”.
As the BJP sought “clarifications”
from Rahul on the “interests” of
these businessmen, the Congress
accused the veteran politician of
plungingto“newdepths”.
Azad’s fresh offensive fol-
lowed Rahul’s swipe at him and
other Congress rebels, this time
dragging them into an attack on
the Adani issue. Just after NCP
chief SharadPawar’sinterviewto
NDTVsuggestingthattheallega-
tions against Gautam Adani
seemed “targeted”, Rahul had
tweeted that the question was
“who the Rs 20,000 crore in
Adani's benami companies be-
longed to”, and posted a picture
expanding on each letter of the
Adaninameasastand-inforlead-
ers who had left the Congress.
Asked about Rahul’s tweet,
Azad told Malayalam news
channel Asianet on Monday: “It
is (a) shame... I have never had
any association with any busi-
nessmen, whereas their entire
family had associations with
businessmen including him
(Rahul).” Azad added: “I still
won’t (say anything) because I
have great respectfor the family.
I don’t want to speak anything.
Democratic Progressive
Azad Party leader
Ghulam Nabi Azad. File
Otherwise I can give ten exam-
ples of where all he would go
and meet... Even outside the
country, they meet people who
are undesirable businessmen."
Responding to Rahul,
JyotiradityaScindiasaidinatweet
that the Congress leader was
“nowreducedtoatroll”.Hewent
on to ask why the Congress was
“putting pressure” on the Court.
Senior BJP leader Ravi
Shankar Prasad demanded that
Rahul respond to the charge.
"Ghulam Nabi Azad has made a
seriousallegationthatwhenever
Rahul Gandhi goes on a foreign
tour, he meets many ‘unwanted
businessmen’. Who are these
'unwantedtraders'andwhatare
their interests?”
Hitting out at Azad, Congress
leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted:
“With every passing day,
Ghulam Nabi Azad falls to new
depths to demonstrate his true
character and his loyalty to Mr.
Modi... I can only say that he
is PATHETIC.”
Union minister Nitin Gadkari and J&K L-G Manoj Sinha at Zojila tunnel in Ganderbal . PTI
Gadkari inspects work on Zojila
tunnel: Will boost employment
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, APRIL 10
UNION ROAD Transport and
HighwaysMinisterNitinGadkari
on Monday inspected Zojila tun-
nel, which will establish all-
weather connectivity between
the Union Territories of Ladakh
and Jammu and Kashmir.
Gadkarivisitedtheprojectsite
along with J&K Lieutenant
GovernorManojSinhaandmem-
bers of the Parliamentary
ConsultativeCommitteeonRoad
Transport and Highways.
RESERVATION OF SEATS IN UTTAR PRADESH LOCAL POLLS
Quota rules bypassed to help BJP: Mayawati
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, APRIL 10
A DAY after UP State Election
Commission(SEC)announcedthe
scheduleforurbanlocalbodypolls
inthestate,BSPchiefMayawation
Monday claimed that rules have
been bypassed in reserving seats
for OBCs, SCs and STs with an ob-
jective to help BJP, giving the rul-
As of now, 38 per cent of the
work on the tunnel, said to be
Asia's longest, has been com-
pleted.
Speaking to reporters at Z
Morh, Gadkari said, “From a
strategicpointof view,thisisim-
portant. This area will be devel-
opedsopeopledonothavetomi-
grate. This is going to increase
employment potential in this re-
gion as well.”
As part of the project, 19 tun-
nelsarebeingconstructedatacost
ofRs25,000crore—theconstruc-
tionofa3.14-km-longtunneland
approach road, at a cost of Rs
ing party an advantage in next
year'sLokSabhapolls,too.
“People belonging to SC, ST,
OBC(categories)andwomenare
notcompletelysatisfiedwiththe
quota arrangements made for
themintheurbanlocalbodypolls
because the rules have been by-
passedinreservingseatsforthese
sections.This provesBJPis trying
totargetitsownpoliticalinterests
ateverylevelsothatitgetsanad-
6,800crore,isinprogressatZojila.
A7.57metreshighhorseshoe-
shaped single-tube, two-lane
tunnel,whichwillpassunderthe
Zojila Pass between Ganderbal
district in Kashmir and Drass
town in Kargil district of Ladakh
is also under construction.
The project includes a Smart
Tunnel (SCADA) System, which
has been constructed using the
newAustriantunnellingmethod.
“The use of modern technology
in this project has saved the gov-
ernment more than Rs 5,000
crore,” the administration stated
on Monday.
vantage in the General Election,”
Mayawati told the media.
Mayawati also said that BSP
will not field jailed gangster-
turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's
wife Shaista Parveen or anyone
from their family as candidate
for Prayagraj mayor in the com-
ing urban polls. She said the sit-
uation has changed in Prayagraj
in view of the new facts that sur-
faced in connection withUmesh
NotingthattheCentrehasnot
fileditsresponseinthematter,the
bench asked Additional Solicitor
General Sanjay Jain to do the
needful. “First you need to iden-
tify what are serious offences. It
has to be defined. We will have it
in July,” the bench said.
Besides debarring people
againstwhomchargeshavebeen
framed,thepetition,filedthrough
advocateAshwaniKumarDubey,
has also sought direction to the
Centre and the EC to take steps to
restrain such candidates as those
put on trial for serious offences
from contesting elections.
Meanwhile,contendingthatit
hasbeenraisingtheissueofcrim-
inalisation of politics since 1998,
the EC has told the SC it has ac-
tively taken steps for its decrimi-
nalisation. In an affidavit, the EC
saidfurtherstepstoeffectivelyde-
criminalisepoliticswouldrequire
legislative amendments which
are beyond EC’s scope. PTI
Pal's murder and because
Parveen is absconding after her
name surfaced in the case.
“In this situation, our party
willnotgiveatickettoAtiq'swife
and any other member of their
family from there,” she said.
Asked whether Parveen will
be expelled from the party,
Mayawati said, “A decision will
be taken soon...our party re-
spects the law. It is not above it.”
BJP may field OBCs in
general seats, Muslims in
minority-dominated ones
LALMANI VERMA
LUCKNOW, APRIL 10
IN THE upcoming urban local
body polls in Uttar Pradesh, the
BJP may field OBC candidates on
unreserved seats and may also
giveticketstoMuslimcandidates
in minority-dominated areas.
Sources in the ruling BJP said
that a consensus on these issues
emerged during a meeting of
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
with his Cabinet colleagues and
topstateunitleadersonMonday.
Accordingtoapartyleader,the
chief minister had called a meet-
ing of BJP leaders to discuss the
party’s preparations for the local
urban body polls, a day after the
State Election Commission an-
nounced the poll dates. At the
meeting, suggestions from the
ministers and party leaders were
taken into consideration.
“At the meeting, it was sug-
gested that if there is a chance of
winningunreservedseatsorgen-
eralcategoryseatsbyfieldingOBC
candidates, then it should be
done.Thiswouldbeseparatefrom
the 27 per cent seats reserved for
theOtherBackwardClass(OBCs),”
said a party leader on the condi-
tionofanonymity,addingtheidea
is to win the trust of the OBCs for
the next year's LS elections.
“The winnability of the OBC
candidateonsuchseatswillbeas-
sessed according to popularity in
the area and the social equations
in the constituency,” the leader
added. According to the party
leader,itwasalsodecidedtofield
Muslim candidates in minority-
dominated seats.
“The party may prefer
Pasmanda or any other Muslim
on seats that have a significant
presenceoftheminoritycommu-
nity. BJP’s core Hindu voters can
alsovoteforhim,”saidtheleader.
“The BJP had fielded Muslim
candidates on a few seats in the
previous urban local body polls,
butthewasresultswerenotsatis-
factory,” the leader added.
Meanwhile, from Tuesday,
ministers who have been as-
signed particular districts for the
BJP's poll preparations will begin
atourof theconstituenciesgoing
topollsinthefirstphase—May4.
The Uttar Pradesh State
Election Commission (SEC) on
Sunday had announced a two-
phaseUrbanLocalBodyelections
onMay4and11toelectrepresen-
tativesfor14,864postsacross760
local bodies in the state. The
counting be held on May 13.

Pilot brings up old ghosts for Cong: Singh Deo to Scindia, almost CMs, tough choices
E
Senior leader Sachin Pilot's Scindiadidnotandthebalancing thepreviousVasundharaRaje-led showed. In that Rahul was Assembly Speaker. But Baghel
E X P L A I NE D

MANOJ C G
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
IF THE Congress wins the
Karnataka Assembly elections
nextmonth,thepartyleadership
will find itself caught between a
rock and a hard place as it will
havetodecidebetweenLeaderof
Opposition Siddaramaiah and
state Congress president D K
Shivakumar for the Chief
Minister's post.
If the party finds itself in such
asituation,itwillbeathrowback
to2018.Atthetime,thegrandold
party faced a hard time deciding
the CMs of Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and
the effect of the decisions it took
lingers on to this day.
fresh offensive against Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and
Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S
Singh Deo's “I am on the side-
lines” jibe on Sunday are power-
ful reminders to the Congress
leadership about the unfinished
business in these two states.
In December 2018, the
Congress won the elections in all
threestates,triggeringhecticlob-
bying by senior leaders for the
CM’s post. At the time, Rahul
Gandhi tweeted a photo of him
flankedbyNathandScindia,cap-
tioning it with Leo Tolstoy’s line:
“Thetwomostpowerfulwarriors
are patience and time.”
The message to Scindia was
clear.Thatheisthefuturebutwill
have to display forbearance. But
act came undone. He walked
awayfromtheCongressinMarch
2020, bringing down the Kamal
Nathgovernmentandleavingthe
party red-faced.
Butthatwasnottheonlypho-
tograph that Rahul tweeted that
winter. The second photograph
showed him with Gehlot and
Pilot by his side and it was cap-
tioned: “The united colours of
Rajasthan.”Sincethen,thatunity
has proved to be elusive. The last
fouryearshavebeentumultuous
for Rajasthan Congress. From
Pilot’srebellioninthesummerof
2020 to the abortive bid of the
leadership to replace Gehlot last
September to the latest tussle
whenPilot accused Gehlot of sit-
tingon“corruption”casesagainst
government, the party has not
seen peace in the desert state.
While Scindia was only given
hopeaboutarosyfuture,sources
close to Pilot have been arguing
that the leadership — read Rahul
and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra —
gave him the commitment that
he would be made the Chief
Minister in the last year of the
government’sterm.Thatwasper-
haps the agreement that
prompted Pilot to call off his re-
volt. That he did not manage to
secure the support of several
MLAs also forced him to smoke
the peace pipe.
Deo’s jibe also illustrates the
unfinished business in
Chhattisgarh.UnlikeinRajasthan
andMadhyaPradesh,therewere
Congress leader Sachin Pilot
addresses a press
conference at his residence
in Jaipur, Sunday. PTI
more than two contenders in
ChhattisgarhasRahul’sthirdpho-
tograph of December 2018
flanked by Chief Minister
Bhupesh Baghel and Deo on one
side and Tamradhwaj Sahu and
CharanDasMahantontheother.
All four were CM aspirants.
The photo was captioned
with American venture capital-
ist Reid Hoffman’s quote, “No
matter how brilliant your mind
or strategy, if you’re playing a
solo game, you’ll always lose out
to a team.”
According to party insiders,
Baghel and Deo joined hands to
edge out the other two, propos-
ingarotationalchiefministership
formulatoRahul.Bagheltookthe
firstturn,andDeoandSahu—the
latterwiththecrucialHomeport-
folio — were appointed Cabinet
ministers.Mahantwasappointed
flatly denies the existence of any
such unwritten formula.
In Karnataka, Siddaramaiah Cong brass
has already declared that he is ● in a spot
an aspirant. In a television inter-
view, he said Shivakumar — too SACHIN PILOT'S latest of-
was an aspirant. Then there are fensive against Rajasthan
others — campaign committee Chief Minister Ashok
chief M B Patil and former Gehlot has put the
Deputy CM and Dalit face G Congress high command
Parameshwara — who hope to in a spot of bother espe-
emerge as a compromise choice cially since it is coming at
in the Siddaramaiah- a time when the leader-
Shivakumar face-off. ship is engaged in a bitter
Ascampaigningbeginsforthe tussle with the BJP-led
Karnataka Assembly elections, Central government on
theCongressleadershipismind- issues such as the dis-
fulof thecomplicationsthatliein qualification of Rahul
storeforitintheeventofavictory Gandhi as Lok Sabha MP
butcandolittletocleartheairbe- and the Adani affair.
fore the elections.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023 EXPRESS NETWORK 7
Rajya Sabha MP’s
son held for AmritpalcloseaidePapalpreet SIT records statement IIT BOMBAY SUICIDE ROW Gyanvapi: SC
to hear plea

arrestedinAmritsarunderNSA Solanki had confided in

negligent driving,
released on bail
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
KOTTAYAM (KERALA), APR 10
KERALA CONGRESS (M) leader
and Rajya Sabha MP Jose K
Mani's 19-year-old son was ar-
rested for alleged rash and neg-
ligent driving that led to an ac-
cident, killing two members of
a family near Manimala two
days ago, police said on Monday.
According to the police, the
accident occurred on Saturday
evening on the Manimala-
Muvattupuzha road when the
scooter in which the two broth-
ers were travelling rammed into
the car from behind after its
driver allegedly applied a sud-
den brake.
The victims, Mathew John
(35) and his brother Jins John
(30), were rushed to a nearby
hospital but could not be saved.
The party leader's son, K M
Mani, appeared before the po-
lice in Manimala on Sunday
evening amid protests by local
residents, who alleged that the
police were trying to protect
him from the case.
The accused was released on
bail.
The owner of the car was
identified as one Xavier
Mathew, who comes from Pala,
police said.
of another student
KAMALDEEPSINGHBRAR
&NAVJEEVANGOPAL
AMRITSAR,CHANDIGARH,APRIL
10
PAPALPREET SINGH, 38, a close
aide of fugitive radical preacher
AmritpalSingh,hasbeenarrested
in Amritsar district under the
National Security Act, police said
Monday.
Papalpreet had been on the
run along with Amritpal – the
chief of Waris Punjab De – since
March 18, after the police
launched a crackdown on
Khalistan sympathisers. Pictures
of the two escaping from the po-
lice had surfaced on social media
a few days later. Papalpreet was
also seen posing for the camera
outside a tyre repair shop.
He was arrested from
KathunangalareaofAmritsardis-
trict, Inspector General
(Headquarters) Sukhchain Singh
Gill told reporters. “He
(Papalpreet)isthemainassociate
ofAmritpalSingh,”theofficersaid.
Gill said Papalpreet was de-
tained under the stringent
NationalSecurityAct,addingthat
six other cases were also regis-
tered against him.
An alleged Khalistan activist,
Papalpreet Singh (right)
with Amritpal Singh Express
Papalpreet called himself a jour-
nalist, writer and photographer
beforehebecameAmritpal'sme-
diaadviser.FromMararivillagein
Amritsar district, he was first ar-
rested in 2015 for alleged links to
Pakistan’s ISI after being booked
alongwithorganisersof the2015
Sarbat Khalsa in a sedition case.
Hewasagainarrestedin2016
whenthepolicecrackeddownon
anattempttoholdasecondSarbat
Khalsa at Takht Damdama Sahib
at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda.
He formed an organisation
called Sikh Youth Front in 2015
and later joined Shiromani Akali
Dal (Mann) for a brief period be-
fore parting ways.
“Papalpreet Singh was ar-
restedaftermultiplepoliceteams
carried out a special operation
with assistance from the counter
intelligencewing.Ourteamscar-
riedoutthesearchoperationover
thepastthreedaysafterreceiving
critical information about
Papalpreet’s location,” Gill said.
Papalpreet's family members
claimedtheycametoknowofhis
arrest from the media. “We had
no information of the arrest. We
came to know about the arrest
fromthemedia.Policedidnotin-
formus,”hiswifeRajwinderKaur
told reporters.
She said Papalpreet was not
involvedintheAjnalaviolenceon
February 23 when Amritpal and
his supporters, armed with
swords, removed barricades and
stormed a police station to de-
mand the release of an associate,
LovepreetSinghToofan,whowas
arrestedinaseparatecaseof riot-
ing and kidnapping. They took
Toofan out of the police station
and fled from the spot.
“He was not present in Ajnala
at the time of clash between po-
lice and protesters. He was in
AmritsarandwenttoAjnalainthe
evening. He did nothing wrong,”
Rajwinder said.
Papalpreet was being ques-
tioned on the whereabouts of
Amritpal, the police said.
Accordingtosourcesinthepo-
lice,PapalpreetandAmritpalwere
separatedwhentheirmovement
was traced near Hoshiarpur on
March 28 night. Later, Papalpreet
was spotted in CCTV footage at a
dera in Tanauli, 2 km from
Marnaian village, where police
hadlaunchedasearchforthetwo.
Incidentally, hours before the
announcementofPapalpreet’sar-
rest was made, Punjab Director
General of Police Gaurav Yadav
was in Amritsar on Monday.
“Everyone wanted by the law
willbearrested,”hetoldreporters.
OnwhetherAmritpalcouldbe
hiding a some religious place, he
said, “Religious places should not
beusedforpersonalgains.Wewill
maintain peace in the state and
the miscreants will be dealt with
strictness. No one, including
Pakistan and any agency, will be
allowedtodisruptpeaceinstate.”
“Today, I have come to pay
obeisance at the Golden Temple
for the prosperity and peace of
Punjab. I also want to say that
Punjab Police and Punjabis will
not allow anyone to disturb the
state’s peace. Those living in for-
eign countries and having sup-
port of Pakistan’s ISI are trying to
disturb Punjab’s peace. Their in-
tentions will not be successful,”
the DGP said.
MOHAMEDTHAVER
MUMBAI,APRIL10
THE MUMBAI Police Special
Investigation Team (SIT) that ar-
restedIIT-BombaystudentArman
KhatrionSundayinconnectionto
the alleged suicide of his batch-
mate Darshan Solanki, has
recordedthestatementofanother
student to whom Solanki had al-
legedly confided that felt threat-
ened by Khatri a day before his
suicide on February 12.
In his statement to the police,
thestudenthassaidthatwhenhe
met Solanki on February 11, the
lattertoldhimto"notbeseenwith
him or else Khatri would harm
him as well". Solanki, who be-
longedtoAhmedbad,issuspected
tohavejumpedoffthe8thfloorof
hishostelbuilding.TheSIThadon
SundayarrestedKhatri(19)onthe
basis of a purported suicide note,
saying “Arman you killed me”,
found in Solanki’s room.
Sources close to Khatri's fam-
ily,meanwhile,saidhehadorgan-
ised a visit to Mumbai's tourist
destinationsforagroupofIITstu-
dents,includingSolanki,andthere
was no way he would have been
part of the group if there was a
fight between the two.
An officer said they have
recordedthestatementofthestu-
dent who was also from a back-
wardcasteandsharedagoodrap-
port with Solanki. “The student
saidthatonFebruary11,whenhe
metSolankiinhishostelroom,the
latter told him to go away since if
Khatri saw them together, he
would harm him as well.”
“When the student asked
Solanki why Khatri would harm
him,Solankitoldhimthathehad
madeacommunalremark,which
hadirkedKhatri,whothreatened
him,” the officer added.
OnMonday,Khatriwasinter-
rogated by the SIT. Sources said
that Khatri told the police that in
the past, Solanki had asked him
why he carried a paper cutter in
his bag. “Khatri claimed that in
banter,hetoldSolankithathecar-
riedthepapercutterashewasgo-
ing to harm two people in the
class. But this was much before
the dispute between Khatri and
Solanki," the officer said.
The officer added that Khatri
wasnotopeningupaboutthelast
few days when there was an al-
leged dispute between him and
Solanki, after the latter made a
communal remark.
seeking ritual
during Ramzan
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,APRIL10
THESUPREMECourtonMonday
saidit will hear onApril14 aplea
byadministratorsof themosque
inGyanvapicomplexinVaranasi
seeking arrangements to carry
out the ritual ablution, wazu,
during Ramzan.
The matter was mentioned
before a bench presided by Chief
Justice of India D Y Chandrachud,
which said the matter cannot be
takenuponMondaysinceJustice
Surya Kant, who was part of the
bench that had heard the
Gyanvapidispute-relatedmatters,
was sitting in another bench.
On November 11, 2022, a
benchoftheCJIandJusticesSurya
Kant and P S Narasimha had ex-
tended its interim direction, se-
curing the area where a ‘Shivling'
was claimed to have been found
during a videographic survey of
themosqueareawithoutimped-
ingorrestrictingrightsofMuslims
to access and offer namaz at the
mosque until further orders.
Senior advocate Huzefa
Ahmadi,appearingforAnjuman
Intezamia Masjid Committee,
said the number of people offer-
ing prayers had increased and,
thus, adequate arrangements
should be put in place.

U.S. MILITARY COMMANDER IN INDIA

‘Shared with India

how to tackle spy
balloon threat’
AMRITANAYAKDUTTA
NEWDELHI,APRIL10

WEEKSAFTERitshotdownagiantChinese‘spy’balloon
that had entered its airspace, the United States spoke to
India on some of the ways it had employed to tackle the
threat, a top US military commander said Monday.
Commander of the US Pacific Air Forces General
Kenneth Wilsbach told a small group of reporters here
that “brief” and “closed-door” conversations were held
withseveralairchiefsinthisregion,includingIndia,about
the incident.
“Itwasnotapubliccomment,butratherprivate,be-
hindcloseddoorsof someof thesituationthatoccurred
withuswiththeairshipthatcrossedAlaska,Canada,and
the United States, and how we went about dealing with
it, but it frankly, was not a lot,” he said.
“Wehavenotsharedawholelotaboutit,”heempha-
sised.
In February this year, the US had shot down the bal-
loon with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile fired from an
F-22 fighter jet. A similar object was also spotted a year
ago over the strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands af-
terwhichtheIndianmilitarydraftedasetofbasicproto-
colstotacklethreatslikesurveillanceballoonsoruniden-
tified objects in sky.
GenWilsbachisonanofficialvisittoIndiainconnec-
tionwithCopeIndia23—amajorbilateralairexercisebe-
tween the IAF and the United States Air Force. The exer-
cise is being held at Air Force Stations Arjan Singh
(Panagarh), Kalaikunda and Agra and aims to enhance
mutual understanding between the two Air Forces and
share their best practices.
“Certainly,wehavehadsomedialogueonit.AndIam
not open to sharing what information we have gleaned
fromouranalysisofthepiecesoftheballoonthatwegot
after we shot it down,” he said. However, Wilsbach said
he would discuss something that should concern those
who value, free and open Indo Pacific as well as the sov-
ereigntyoftheirairspace.“Andthefactisthatwebelieve
that your airspace here in India is your sovereign air-
space and that you should decide who gets to fly in it.”

Uddhav seeks united

Opp, investigation
into Adani Group
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
MUMBAI,APRIL10

ADVOCATING A UNITED Opposition against the BJP,

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on
Monday sought a probe into the Adani Group and
maintained that there should be no difference within
opposition parties.
He also ruled out an alliance with estranged part-
nerBJPin2024LokSabha andMaharashtraAssembly
polls.
Speaking at Loksatta Samvad organised by
Marathi daily 'Loksatta', Thackeray said, “The coun-
try and the state are witnessing politics of vendetta
as never before. Earlier, Balasaheb Thackersay and
Sharad Pawar used to attack each other (politically),
but they never allowed their political differences to
come in the way of their friendship.”
But now, he claimed, “the Opposition is being tar-
geted. There is rampant misuse of ED, CBI, IT... It ap-
pears they are being directed by those in power...”
Seeking a united Opposition, Thackeray said, “Today,
all opposition parties are fighting the BJP together.”
Maintaining that all Opposition leaders will meet
anddecideontheLokSabhaelections,Thackeraysaid
a PM face should be projected before the polls.
On NCP president Sharad Pawar going against ally
Congress's stand on seeking a JPC probe into the alle-
gations against Adani Group, Thackeray said, “I be-
lieve there should be no differences within the
Opposition. There should be a probe into the Adani
matter. Where has Rs 20,000 crore gone? Whether it
should be through the JPC or Supreme Court recom-
mended panel can be decided.”
 8 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023

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COFFEE BOARD
Ministry of Commerce & Industry, (Govt.of India)
No.1, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi, Bengaluru-560 001.
SR. NAME OF NAME OF WORK NOTICE TENDER OPENING DATE AMOUNT/EMD WEBSITE OF THE NODAL OFFICER/CON- No. CB/136th ICC/2023-24/155 Dated: 10.04.2023
NO. BOARD/ CLOSING DATE (APPROX.) IN BOARD CORP./AUTH TACT DETAILS/EMAIL
CORP./AUTH (TIME) RUPEES EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
1. PROVIDING ILLUMINATION ON CYCLE
CLOSING 53.47 https://etenders. 01262-243900
TRACK IN GREEN BELT OF SECTOR-37, hry.nic.in Coffee Board is a Statutory Organizaton under the Ministry of
HSVP DATE
BAHADURGARH INCLUDING 3 YEARS LACS Commerce & Industry, Government of India. The organization is in the
ROHTAK DEFECT LIABILITY PERIOD FOR LED
19.04.2023
LIGHTS WITH ONE YEAR FREE OF COST process of making arrangements for hosting the 5th World Coffee
AND REMAINING 2 YEARS AT LABOUR
RATES. + 1 WORKS
Conference (WCC) and concurrent sessions of 136th International Coffee
Council (ICC) in Bengaluru, Karnataka from 24th to 29th September 2023.
16971/HRYFOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in The event comprises of conferences and high-level official meetings
attended by around 2000 foreign delegates from 80 countries.
The organization is looking for 'Interpreters' for live interpretation of
the deliberations of ICC/WCC in four languages viz. English, French,
Portuguese and Spanish. The service shall be provided as per the
standard prescribed by International Association on Conference
Interpreters. The interested firms/institutions may post their details
along with experience in providing interpretation to Deputy Director
[(Extn./Admn.(i/c)], Coffee Board, Bengaluru either electronically to
icc.wcc.tender@gmail.com or by post.
Last date for receipt of expression of interest is 20.04.2023 by 3.00 PM.
Sd/-
Deputy Director (Extn./Admn.(i/c), Coffee Board.

SR. NAME OF NAME OF WORK NOTICE TENDER OPENING DATE AMOUNT/EMD WEBSITE OF THE NODAL OFFICER/CON-
NO. BOARD/ CLOSING DATE (APPROX.) IN BOARD CORP./AUTH TACT DETAILS/EMAIL
CORP./AUTH (TIME) RUPEES
1. MAINTENANCE OF PARK 06.04.2023 20.83 https://etenders. 8901202433
hry.nic.in
MUNICIPAL IN MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE 13.04.2023 secy.mc.bawal@
LACS
COMMITTEE BAWAL FOR YEAR 2022-23 gmail.com
BAWAL AND 2023-24 (02 YEARS) +
GOVERNMENT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH 2 WORKS
HIMACHAL PRADESH STATE ROADS TRANSFORMATION PROJECT (HPSRTP)
Request for Expression of Interest Proposal (REoI) 16961/HRYFOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in
Name of Project:Himachal Pradesh State Roads Transformation Project (HPSRTP)
Loan No./Credit No. 9066-IN
Grant No:
Date: April 07, 2023
The Director (Projects), HPRIDCL, Nigam Vihar, Shimla-171002 , Himachal Pradesh India invites the Request for SR. NAME OF NAME OF WORK NOTICE TENDER OPENING DATE AMOUNT/EMD WEBSITE OF THE NODAL OFFICER/CON-
Expression of Interest from national consultants for the consultancy services as detailed in the table below:- NO. BOARD/ CLOSING DATE (APPROX.) IN BOARD CORP./AUTH TACT DETAILS/EMAIL
Sr. No. Description of the consultancy Services Date of availability of Last date/Time for CORP./AUTH (TIME) RUPEES
Expression of Interest (EoI) submission of 1. RENOVATION OF 04.04.2023 133.13 https://etenders. 9992959222
on HPRIDCL web site Proposals hry.nic.in
MUNICIPAL CENTER VERGE ON 04.05.2023
1 Engaging a consultant to address the April 11, 2023 May 02, 2023 LACS
implementation capacity gaps including COUNCIL RAILWAY ROAD MC
contract management and corporate TOHANA TOHANA + 4
governance norms. WORKS
REoI & ToR will be available on the official web site of HPRIDC under link
http://himachalservices.nic.in/hpridc/HPSRTP.html. 16955/HRYFOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in
NOTE: Any further addendum/Corrigendum to this Request for Expression of Interest Proposals Documents shall be
available to all interesting firms on the same web site link. Proposal must be delivered in a written form to
the address below (in person, or by post) by May 02, 2023 at 15:00 hours (IST)
Director (Projects) Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, Circle,
Amravati
HPRIDCL Nirman Bhawan,
0040/HP Nigam Vihar Shimla-171002

e-mail ID :- se.amravati@gmail.com Ph. No. 0721-2663235/2661873

GUJARAT URJA VIKAS NIGAM LIMITED e-Tender Notice No. 01 for 2022-2023 (2nd Call)
CIN U40109GJ2004SGC045195 Chief Engineer, MJP Region Amravati invites e_Tender
ISO 9001 -2015 Certified Company under all Water Works the following are the supply of Bleaching
Sardar Patel Vidyut Bhavan, Racecourse, Vadodara 390007 Powder is being invited from Superintending Engineer, MJP Circle,
PBX: (0265) 2310582-86, www.guvnl.com Amravati in D-1 Tender.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Sr. No Name of Work Tender Cost
GUVNL has filed IA No. 02 of 2023 in Petition No. 2098 of
2022 before the Hon'ble Gujarat Electricity Regulatory 1 Supply of Belaching Powder Rs. 1,08,68,000/-
Commission (GERC) seeking to amend the Petition No.2098 Please visit website https://mahatenders.gov.in/nicgep/app
of 2022 for approval of deviations from the Guidelines issued for detailed information. Tender will be available on website from
by Central Government for procurement of power through l0/04/2023 at 12:00 hrs. Sd/-
Tariff based Competitive Bidding Process from Grid connected (Prashant Bhamare)
Renewable Energy Sources, i.e. Wind, Solar and Wind-Solar Superintending Engineer
Hybrid Projects and for approval of revised bid documents for MJP, Circle, Amravati
carrying out bidding process for procurement of power from
Hybrid Power Projects having RE generation with co-located IYf¹ffÊ»f¹f A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ff Àff½fʪfd³fIY d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f ½fÈ°f, dÀfSXûWXe
or multi-located Energy Storage Systems. The stakeholders / IiY¸ffaIY:- EIYfCaXMX/d³fd½fQf/2022-23/4106 dQ³ffaIY: 27.03.2023
objectors may file their objections / suggestions in the matter d³fd½fQf Àfc¨f³ff Àfa£¹ff 11/2022-23
to the Secretary, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission, NIB Code PWD2223A4933
SfªfÀ±ff³f IZ Sfª¹f´ff»f ¸fWûQ¹f I e AûS ÀfZ d½fd·f³³f ÀfOÞXIY d³f¸ffʯf IYf¹fÊ IZ d»fE C´f¹fb¢°f ßfZ¯fe IZ Àff½fʪfd³fI
6th Floor, GIFT ONE, Road 5C, Zone 5, GIFT City, and
d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f SfªfÀ±ff³f ¸fZÔ ´faªfeIÈ °f Àfa½fZQI ûÔ E½fa Sfª¹f ÀfSI fS/IZ ³ýi ÀfSI fS IZ Ad²fIÈ °f Àfa¦fN³fûÔ/IZ ³ýie¹f »fûI
Gandhinagar - 382355 in five copies along with affidavit in d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f/OfI E½fa QcS Àfa¨ffS d½f·ff¦f/Sm »½fZ B°¹ffdQ°f ¸fZÔ ´faªfeIÈ °f Àfa½fZQI ûÔ, ªfû dI SfªfÀ±ff³f ÀfSI fS IZ C´f¹fb¢°f
support of their submissions with a copy to GUVNL within 21 ßfZ¯fe IZ Àfa½fZQI ûÔ IZ Àf¸fI Ãf Wû, ÀfZ I f¹fûË WZ °fb BÊ-MZ ¯OdSa ¦f IZ ¸ff²¹f¸f ÀfZ d³f²ffÊdS°f ´fi´fÂf ¸fZÔ ´fif´°f I e ªff½fZÔ¦feÜ
days from the date of issuance of this public notice. The
IYf¹ffÊ»f¹f ³f¦fSX ´ffd»fIY d³f¦f¸f, ·fû´ff»f public hearing before the Hon'ble GERC is scheduled on
Afg³f»ffBʳf d³fd½fQf Af½fZQ³f OfC³f»fûO E½fa A´f»fûO 05 A´fi`»f 2023 ´fif°f: 9:30 ¶fªfZ ÀfZ
I S³fZ I e °ffSeJ 24 A´fi`»f 2023 Àff¹fa 6:00 ¶fªfZ °fI
¹ffadÂfIY d½f·ff¦f (¸fb£¹ff»f¹f) ¦fûd½faQ´fbSXf (¶fe.E¨f.BÊ.E»f.) 08.05.2023 at 11:30 A.M. The petition along with IA is
d³fd½fQf ÀfZ Àf¸¶fd³²f°f d½f½fS¯f ½fZ¶f ÀffBÊM www.dipr.rajasthan.gov.in, http://sppp.rajasthan.gov.in
uploaded on www.guvnl.com.
d³fd½fQf Af¸faÂf¯f §fû¿f¯ff-´fÂf General Manager (RE)
½f http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in ´fS QZJf ªff ÀfI °ff W` Ü Àf¸´fc¯fÊ d³fd½fQf ´fidIi ¹ff
IiY¸ffaIY 06/¹ffa.d½f./2023 ·fû´ff»f, dQ³ffaIY 10/04/2023 http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in ´fS Afg³f»ffBʳf Àf¸´ffdQ°f I e ªff¹fZ¦feÜ B¨Lb I Àfa½fZQI ûÔ I û A´f³fZ dOdªfM»f
d³f¸³fd»fdJ°f d³f¸ffʯf I f¹fÊ WZ °fb Qû d»fR fR f ´fðd°f IZ A³fbÀffS ¸f.´fi. »fûI d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f ¸fZÔ IZ ³QieIÈ °f ½¹f½fÀ±ff IZ Aa°f¦fÊ°f ´faªfeIÈ °f NZ IZ QfS ´fSÀfZ³MZ ªf WÀ°ffÃfS IZ ¸ff²¹f¸f ÀfZ ½fZ¶fÀffBÊM ´fS http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in ´fS SdªfÀMOÊ I S½ff³ff Af½fV¹fI W` Ü
¸fûWS ¶faQ d³fd½fQf¹fZ d³f²ffÊdS°f ´fi´fÂf ´fS Af³f»ffBʳf Afa¸fdÂf°f I e ªff°fe W` Ü I f¹fʽffS ¹fc.¶fe.E³f. Àfa£¹ff d³f¸ff³fbÀffS W`Ô Ü
1 PWD2223WSOB19814
S. Tender No Name of Work Probable Amount Earnest Money Cost of Bid Period of SOR
No of Contract Deposit (EMD) Document Completion 2 PWD2223WSOB19815
(Rs. in lakh) (In Rs) (In Rs) (in Months) 3 PWD2223WSOB19816 WXÀ°ff./-
1 2022_UAD_ EMPANELMENT FOR 1,69,00,826/- 84,504/- 12500/- 06 months MPUADD 4 PWD2223WSOB19819 (IYd´f»f ½f¸ffÊ)
266265_1 UPGRADATION AND (including DISSR A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ff
MAINTENANCE WORKS IN rainy season) 2021 DIPR/C/5090/2023 Àff.d³f.d½f. ½fÈ°f dÀfSXûWXe
EXISTING SANJIVNI
CLINICS/ CIVIL
DISPENSARIES IN AREA
UNDER BMC (PACKAGE 01)
1. Interested bidders can view the NIT on website https://www.mptenders.gov.in/
2. The Bid Document can be purchased only online from 10:30A.M. (time) 10.04.2023(date) to 17:30P.M. (time) 24.04.2023(date).
3. Amendments to NIT (if any) would be published on website https://www.mptenders.gov.in/ only, and not in newspaper.
4. E.M. Deposit will not be refunded till the end of contract Period.
5. Contract will be awarded to top 05 contractors (L1 to L5) only
6. Minimum Rate Quoted (L1) by any Bidder will be Applicable to all 05 Empanelled Contractors.
7. Site/Place of Construction may be changed as per the requirement.
8. The initial period of 3 (Three) year after completion shall be treated as Defect Liability Period (DLP)
Sd/- In Chief Engineer
Municipal Corporation Bhopal
d³f.Ii . 38/023/024 District Bhopal

UNION TERRITORY OF JAMMU & KASHMIR

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER JAL SHAKTI (PHE) MECHANICAL
DIVISION SOUTH AWANTIPORA
GIST of NOTICE INVITING TENDER e-NIT No. 02 of 2023-24 Dated: 10-04-2023
For and on behalf of Lt. Governor of UT of J&K, Executive Engineer Jal Shakti (PHE) Mechanical Division South (Awantipora), invites fresh e-
tenders from reputed and resourceful Bidders/ Firms/Companies/ Consortiums between bidder/firm and Financier of all classes registered in
JKPWD/CPWD/Railways or any other state Government for “Supply, Installation, Testing & Commissioning of electro-mechanical equipments at various
water supply schemes of Jal Shakti (PHE) Mechanical Division South Awantipora”. The bidding process shall be completed online on www.jktenders.gov.in
in two covers viz. Cover 1st consisting of Pre-Qualification Criteria, General Terms and Conditions and Technical Specifications and Cover 2nd shall con-
sist of Financial Bid on percentage basis, in the prescribed BOQ.
S. Particulars of the work Estimated Cost Tender fee Earnest money Bid Time of
No (Lacs) (in Rs) Deposit Validity Completion of
work
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Supply, installation, testing and commissioning Work/Scheme Rs. 02% of the estimat- 90 days As indicate against
of electro-mechanical equipments at various wise details given 500/- for ed cost of each each item in Form-I
water supply schemes of Jal Shakti (PHE) in Form-I of each work work of Tender Document
Mechanical Division South Awantipora. Tender Document
Programme/Position of funds: Approved Under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)
The tender inviting authority is Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti (PHE) Mechanical Division South Awantipora.
The awarding authority is District Jal Jeevan Mission (DJJM).
Critical Dates:
I Publish Date on Tender Portal 10-04-2023 (02:00 pm)
II Document Download/sale start Date 10-04-2023 (02:00 pm)
III Date of Pre-bid meeting 17-04-2023 (11:00 am)
IV Bid submission start date 10-04-2023 (02:00 pm)
V Document Download/sale end Date 26-04-2023 (04:00 pm)
VI Bid submission end date 26-04-2023 (04:00 pm)
VII Date and time of Bid opening 27-04-2023 (01:00 pm)
1. Bid documents can be accessed and downloaded from the website www.jktenders.gov.in
2. The pre-bid meeting will be held in the office chamber of the Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti (PHE) Mechanical Division South Awantipora.
3. The whole bidding process shall be completed online on tender portal www.jktenders.gov.in. The intending bidders can download the bid document
from the tender portal and can submit their bids by uploading them on the tender portal.
4. The bids received shall be opened online in the office of the Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti (PHE) Mechanical Division South Awantipora.
a. Bids must be accompanied by bid security and cost of Tender Document as specified against each item of work.
b. Bid Security to be pledged in favour of Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti (PHE) Mechanical Division South Awantipora. Bid Security will have to be in
form of CDR/FDR/BG of any scheduled Bank and shall be valid for a period of 90 days from the last date of submission of bid.
c. The cost of tender documents should be in form of TR/e Challan in favour of Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti (PHE) Mechanical Division South Awantipora.
5. The hard copies of cost of tender document in shape of DD/TR/e-Challan, Earnest money in shape of CDR/FDR/BG and other relevant documents
shall be obtained from the bidder who is declared as L1 after opening of financial cover.
6. The bid shall remain valid for a period of 90 days from the last date of submission of bids. If any bidder/tenderer withdraws his bid/tender before the said period or
makes any modifications in the terms and conditions of the bid, the said earnest money shall stand forfeited and the bid shall be declared non-responsive.
7. Other details can be seen in the bidding documents from the website www.jktenders.gov.in.
8. Queries by email if any should be made at xenphemechsouthawp@gmail.com.
No: JSD/MDSA/98 Sd/- Executive Engineer,
Dated: 10/04/2023 DIPK-267/23 PHE Mechanical Division, South Awantipora.

9 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
AIADMK
moves Delhi HC
for direction to
ECI to update
amended bylaws
MALAVIKA PRASAD
DELHI, APRIL 10
The AIADMK and its chief, E
Palaniswami)popularlyknownas
EPS),movedtheDelhiHighCourt
over Election Commission of
India's “inaction” in updating its
recordswithrespecttotheparty's
amendedbye-lawsofJuly11,2022.
A single-judge bench of
Justice Prathiba Singh, however,
recusedherself fromhearingthe
plea and directed that the mat-
ter be listed before another
bench subject to orders of the
Chief Justice. The matter is likely
to be listed on Wednesday.
The petitioners have sought a
directiontotheECItoconsiderits
representations and upload the
AIADMK's 'Latest Amended Bye-
Laws' dated July 11, 2022 in its
records,asthepartyhastocontest
elections in Karnataka for which
thenominationclosesonApril20.
Aspertheplea,theECI'sstand
that the records of AIADMK are
notbeingupdatedduetocertain
internal disputes pending in the
partyare“whollycontrarytothe
various settled legal principles”.
Argumentsweremadebythe
counselappearingonbehalfoffor-
mer Tamil Nadu chief minister O
Panneerselvam(popularlyknown
as OPS), stating that his client
shouldbeheardinthematter.The
counsel submitted that the valid-
ity of the July 11, 2022 resolution
has been challenged before the
MadrasHighCourt,whichislisted
forhearingonWednesday.
The AIADMK in its general
council meeting on July 11, 2022,
passedresolutionsappointingEPS
asitsinterimgeneralsecretary,and
called for election for the post
withinfourmonths.Aspertheres-
olution, the general council ex-
pelled OPS and three others from
the primary membership of the
party"owingtomaliciousactions".
WhatsApp group TMC treatment of tribal women in 10 held for assaulting
under police scanner Balurghat inhuman: BJP to Murmu people inside mosque
for Biharsharif clashes
SANTOSH SINGH
PATNA, APRIL 10
A WHATSAPP group with 456
membersisunderpolicescanner
inconnectionwiththeviolencein
Biharsharif following a Ram
Navami procession on March 31.
According to police, 15 of the
group’smembersallegedlycircu-
lated, reposted or forwarded ob-
jectionablemessages,photosand
videos with an intention to incite
violence. A 16-year-old boy was
killed and over a century-old
MadrasaAzizialibrarywasgutted
in the violence.
NalandaPolicehadonSunday
arrested five persons aged be-
tween20and30underseveralIPC
sections. Police identified the ac-
cused as Manish Kumar, Tushar
KumarTanti,JitendraKumarTanti,
Dharmendra Mehta, Bhupendra
Singh Rana aka Chandan Singh
and Niranjan Pandey, and said
they had seized five mobile
phones allegedly used to upload
provocative and inflammatory
Meet Nagas leading bid overseas to bring home ancestral remains
TORA AGARWALA
GUWAHATI, APRIL 10
ONSEPTEMBER14,2020,thePitt
Rivers Museum in England’s
Oxford made a landmark an-
nouncement.Inapost-pandemic
overhaulofitscollection,themu-
seum—oneofthebest-knownin
the world for anthropology,
ethnography and archaeology —
would take its collection of “hu-
man remains” and other “insen-
sitive” exhibits off display.
These items, sourced during
the expansion of the British
Empire,playedintostereotypical
thinking about cultures across
the globe as “savage” or “primi-
tive”,saidthemuseum’sdirector,
Laura Van Broekhoven. It was
timeforthemtoberemoved,and
possibly repatriated to their
rightful homes.
Inanothercontinent,Nagare-
searcherandanthropologistDolly
Kikonreadthenewswithasense
of urgency. Hours later, Kikon, a
‘Fact-finding’panelmeetsGovernor;
CMsaysBJPsendingprobeteams
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
KOLKATA,APRIL10
A SIX-MEMBER “fact-finding”
team,whichwasstoppedbyWest
BengalPolicetovisittheclash-hit
areasofHooghlyandHowrahdis-
tricts, on Monday met Governor
CV Ananda Bose at Raj Bhavan in
Kolkataandsubmittedaninterim
report to him.
The six-member, led by for-
mer Chief Justice of Patna High
CourtLNarsimhaReddy,saidthey
had come tolook into the alleged
human rights violations during
the clashes that broke out during
Ram Navami processions last
week in Rishra (Hooghly) and
Shibpur (Howrah).
“We have submitted our in-
terim report to the Governor. He
assured us that he will take the
necessary steps. We are only giv-
ing importance to restoring nor-
malcyinthoseareas,”formerchief
justice Reddy told mediapersons
outside the Raj Bhavan.
“The administration is claim-
ingthatthesituationisnormalbut
theyarestoppingusfromvisiting
the areas, saying the situation is
still tense. What is the truth and
whatdoesthe(state)government
want to hide? We were ready to
go there with police guards but
that suggestion was also not ac-
cepted,” he added.
The“fact-finding”team’svisit
to Raj Bhavan came hours after
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
accused the BJP of inciting vio-
lenceduringRamNavamiproces-
sions and alleged that the
Opposition party was sending
“fact-finding teams” to West
Bengaland“spreadingfakenews”.
“All the accused who incited
violence in Howrah on Ram
Navami were from outside
Bengal. The police hadn’t given
permission for the procession...
at Haryana village
videos.Policesaidtheaccusedare
students or local shopkeepers.
Bihar Additional DGP
(Headquarters) Jitendra Singh
Gangwar told The Indian Express:
“Alltheaccused,identifiedbythe
cyber cell that falls under the
Economic Offences Unit, are
young, without any criminal an-
tecedents. They are all from
Nalanda. They had formed a
WhatsApp group a few days be-
fore the procession. Our team
trackedthesocialmediaactivities
ofall456membersofthegroup.”
The ADGP said several mem-
bers either exited the group or
were removed for “being inac-
tive”.“Wezeroedinon15persons
who had been very active in the
groupswithfrequentposts–both
textandvideos.Allsuchpostshad
thepotentialtocreatecommunal
disharmony.” “Examination of
calls and posts by the five seized
mobile phones will reveal more
abouttheconspiracy.Asofnow,it
looks clear that some vested in-
terestgroupswerebehindthein-
cident,” said the ADGP.
Lotha Naga from Dimapur, and
now a professor in the University
of Melbourne, was drafting an
email to Broekhoven. She cut to
the chase: Could the ancestral
Naga human remains, displayed
inthemuseumformorethan100
years, be returned to her people
back home?
The rest is likely to become
history. Kikon’s request has
spawnedacommunity-ledinitia-
tive among the Nagas to bring
theirancestralremainshome.Itis
the first such effort to repatriate
ancestralhumanremainsofanin-
digenous community in India,
possibly even South Asia.
Themuseumhasarichcollec-
tion of 500,000 items acquired
over more than 130 years of
British imperialism.
Part of it is the largest collec-
tion (at least 6,500 objects) of
Naga material remains in the
world. These include items of
everydaylifesuchasclothes,agri-
cultural tools, archery and
weapons, basketry, ceramics, but
RAM NAVAMI CLASHES IN WEST BENGAL
Former Chief Justice of Patna High Court L Narsimha Reddy, who is leading the ‘fact-finding’
team, outside Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Monday. Partha Paul
What is the need for BJP workers
tocarryoutareligiousprocession
with firearms? Why were those
in the procession dancing with
arms?Whatwastheneedof tak-
ingoutrallieswithbulldozersand
tractors? Who gave these people
permission to bring bulldozers
andtractorstoarally?Allthemen
who were part of the rally were
from outside Bengal, some from
Munger in Bihar. People from
Bengalstaytogether,theydon’tdo
danga (riots), they are cultural
people,” the chief minister told
mediapersons.
“AmonthbeforeRamNavami,
all the planning for the violence
was done at the BJP office. What
istheneedforafact-findingteam
when normalcy has been re-
stored?... Now, that the situation
is under control, the BJP is send-
ing fact-finding teams, human
rights teams, child rights teams,
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, APRIL 10
STATE BJP president Sukanta
Majumdar on Monday wrote to
President Droupadi Murmu and
chairperson of the National
Commission for Scheduled
Tribes over an incident wherein
four tribal women were al-
legedly forced to do dandavat
parikrama(circumambulationin
a prostrate manner) by the rul-
ing Trinamool Congress leaders
at South Dinajpur district’s
Balurghat as “atonement”.
He wrote in the letter, “On
April 6, about 200 people be-
longing to tribal families from
Tapan Assembly constituency of
Balurghat Lok Sabha area joined
the BJP. This did not go well with
a section of the Trinamool lead-
ership.Thesefamilieswerepres-
sured by TMC goons and were
forced to join their party.”
The BJP MP from Balurghat
added, “Had it been done demo-
cratically, we would not have
said anything. But inhuman me-
dieval treatment was meted out
by forcing them to do dandavat
The Pitt Rivers Museum, UK, has at least 6,500 Naga objects .
Pitt Rivers Museum
also human ancestral remains
(skulls and bones), majority of
whichwerecollectedbytwocolo-
nial administrators, John Henry
Hutton and James Philip Mills in
the early 1900s.
Since 2017, the museum has
been engaged in an “ethical re-
women rights teams and what
not. They are telling the media to
parrotBJP'snarrativeandarebusy
spreadingfakenews,”sheadded.
The chief minister defended
the police action, saying they
actedina“tactfulmanner”toend
violence and that there was no
“foul play” on their part.
On Saturday, the six-member
team, led by Reddy, tried to visit
Rishra but had to return after the
policestoppedthemfromproceed-
ingaheadcitingprohibitoryorders.
A day later, Reddy and his team
memberswereagainstoppedfrom
visitingShibpurinHowrahdistrict.
Both Howrah and
Chandannagar police commis-
sionerates said the team was
stoppedasprohibitoryordersun-
der Section 144 of the CrPc were
stillimposedintheaffectedareas.
Apart from Reddy, the “fact-
finding” team included IPS/IG
West Bengal BJP president
Sukanta Majumdar
parikramaforabout1kmaspun-
ishment before handing them
over the TMC flag in the party's
districtoffice.”Avideoof thefour
tribal women performing dan-
davat parikrama had gone viral
on social media.
TheTMCleaders'mindsetto-
wardstribalpeopleiswellknown
fromtheirearliercommentsand
activities,Majumdaralleged.“But
this cannot be tolerated further
when the country is leaded by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
whoisalwaysworkingfortheup-
liftmentofthedowntrodden.The
intervention of your office is
highly solicited to prevent such
atrocities against the tribals and
view”oftheirpermanentdisplays,
with a bid to “decolonise” their
collections. The decision to take
off human remains was part of
this objective.
ForKikon,theannouncement
hit home. As a tribal anthropolo-
gist, she says, it has always been
statecrimebranch(retired)Rajpal
Singh; former National
Commission for Women (NCW)
memberandadvocateCharuWali
Khanna; advocate and former
National Human Rights
Commission joint registrar (law)
OmPrakashVyas;seniorjournal-
ist Sanjeev Nayak; and advocate
and former consultant for
National Commission for
Protection of Child Rights and
NHRC Bhavna Bajaj.
West Bengal Governor Bose
had visited the clash-hit areas of
Rishra last Tuesday. After visiting
the Rishra, the Governor said,
“Bengal has been suffering from
suchcriminalincidentsinpolitics
foralongtime,wewillputanend
to this. The Centre, the state gov-
ernment,thepoliticalparties,me-
dia and the public will join hands
to see that the mobocracy is
rooted out.”
women in future,” he said.
The TMC, meanwhile, re-
moved the president of the
party'swomenwingfromSouth
Dinajpur district, Pradipta
Chakraborty.Inapressstatement
issued on Sunday, the party also
appointedtriballeaderSnehalata
Hembrom to the post. The party
said it did not approve of such
conduct and asked its district
leadershiptobecarefulinfuture.
The BJP staged a protest out-
sidetheBalurghatpolicestation,
demanding an FIR against those
responsible for the incident.
Later, party workers led by
Sukanta and national vice-pres-
ident Dilip Ghosh, led a protest
rally in Balurghat demanding
immediate police action against
the culprits.
TheTMCslammedtheBJPfor
allegedlyspreading“falsehoods”
about the incident. “Instead of
pointingfingersatus,theyshould
take action against Leader of
Opposition Suvendu Adhikari
andBJPnationalgeneralsecretary
Kailash Vijayvargiya for making
derogatory statements against
women,” said TMC state general
secretary Kunal Ghosh.
“disturbing” to see Naga objects
being displayed as “exotic and
primitive”inmuseumsacrossthe
world. “For more than 100 years,
museumsacrossEuropehavedis-
playedNagaobjects…Theywere
takenawayassouvenirsandarti-
factsunderduressduringcolonial
expeditions,” she says.
That is what led her to reach
out to Broekhoven in 2020, who
wrote back in two days. The mu-
seum director says her “heart re-
joiced” when Kikon reached out
toher.“Withthemuseum’scom-
plicatedcolonialhistory,itwasim-
portant for us not to shy away
fromdifficultconversations,”said
Broekhoven in an email to The
Indian Express.
The museum is now actively
reaching out to descendants of
communities to find the most
appropriatewaytocareforthese
complex items. In December
2020,Broekhovenmadeatrip to
Nagaland to meet with the
stakeholders. “A lot of people
might think about the removal
HC reserves
judgment on
plea seeking
NIA probe in
Shibpur clash
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
KOLKATA, APRIL 10
THE CALCUTTA High Court on
Mondayreservedjudgmentona
petition by West Bengal Leader
of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari
seekinganNIAprobeintoclashes
between two groups of people
duringaRamNavamiprocession
at Shibpur in Howrah.
Concludingthehearingofthe
petition, the court observed that
a probe by a central agency is re-
quired if an unconnected third
partyisfoundtobetryingtotake
advantage of such unrest and
joinsaclashbetweentwogroups.
“If that (third) group is in-
volved, then it requires an inves-
tigation by a central agency. It is
very difficult for a state police to
find as to who has come in to
take advantage,” a division
bench presided by Acting Chief
Justice T S Sivagnanam said.
There must be a mechanism
to put an end to violence during
religious functions and to instill
fear in those indulging in such
acts, the court said.
Asked by the court about the
recurrence of such incidents,
West Bengal Advocate General S
NMookherjeesaiditisnotsome-
thing to be proud of as a state.
Additional Solicitor General
Ashok Chakraborti, who repre-
sented the NIA, submitted that
according to the petitioners,
there were several blasts at
Shibpur and Rishra during the
Ram navami procession and af-
ter. Once there is an occurrence
of anexplosionanNIAinvestiga-
tion is called for as per law.
The NIA is ready to investi-
gate the incidents if directed by
the court, he said.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, APRIL 10
TEN MEN were arrested for van-
dalising a mosque and assault-
ing people who were offering
namaz at Sandhal Kalan village
in Sonipat district of Haryana on
Sunday evening, police said on
Monday.Theaccusedareintheir
20s and belong to the same vil-
lage, a police officer said.
The accused were produced
before a local court on Monday
andthreeofthemwereremanded
inpolicecustodyforadayandthe
restsenttojudicialcustody.
SonipatPoliceCommissioner
BSatheeshBalanaftervisitingthe
affected village said a group of
men barged into the mosque,
beatupthepeople,includingchil-
dren, who were offering namaz.
“Itwasunprovoked. Nosuchdis-
pute or tension was reported in
the village earlier. There are only
15-20 families (of the affected
community).Thepoliceimmedi-
ately reached the spot. The vil-
of certain objects as a loss, but
what we are trying to show is
that we aren’t losing anything
but creating space for more ex-
pansive stories. That is at the
heartof decolonisation,”shesaid.
Following the email, the mu-
seum reached out to the Forum
forNagaReconciliation(FNR)—a
collective which, since 2008, has
been a key facilitator in the Indo-
Nagapeaceprocess—tobeginthe
conversation on repatriation.
Now,thecollectiveisthechief fa-
cilitator of the process.
TheFNR,incollaborationwith
Kikon and Arkotong Longkumer,
another Naga anthropologist,
based in Edinburgh, formed a
Naga research team called
“RecoverRestoreandDecolonise”
(RRaD) in 2020.
Inthepasttwoyears,theRRaD
team comprising Nagas from all
walks of life have been conduct-
ing interviews, holding commu-
nity-facing meetings, and gener-
ating public awareness about the
initiativeonavoluntarybasis.Itis
Several shops and vehicles were set ablaze in Sunday’s clash
in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. PTI
58 held in Jamshedpur
for clash over religious
flag ‘desecration’
ABHISHEK ANGAD
RANCHI, APRIL 10
THE EAST Singhbhum police on
Mondayarrested58ofthe119ac-
cusednamedinanFIRregistered
in connection with the Sunday
eveningviolenceinJamshedpur's
Kadmaareaovertheallegeddes-
ecration of a Ram Navami flag.
The police said bricks were
pelted and makeshift shops and
a few vehicles were set ablaze by
themobafterwhichtheyhadde-
tained a few people. Police said
that there were also instances of
firing during the violence, how-
ever, no one was injured.
According to the police, ten-
sionhadbeenbrewinginthearea
sinceSaturdaynightwhenmem-
bersof alocalorganisationfound
a piece of meat rolled into a Ram
Navami flag. Several Hindu or-
ganisations protested, demand-
ingarrestoftheculpritswithin24
hours. PoliceregisteredanFIRun-
derIPCsections147(rioting),148
(rioting, armed with a deadly
weapon) 149 (unlawful assem-
bly)307(attempttomurder)and
under sections of Arms Act and
Public Safety Act.
Kadma police station in-
lagers also cooperated. I want to
make it clear that the police will
take stern action in such cases,”
Balan said.
The injured lodged a com-
plaint against 19 people and 18
werenamed,apoliceofficersaid.
Eyewitnesses said people
wereperformingRamzanprayers
whentheywereattacked;atleast
six of them received injuries.
“Even children and women were
notsparedbythegroupwhowere
armed with hockey sticks and
sword,” said one of the injured.
Another victim said the as-
sailants were “drunk”. “They not
only attacked us but also dam-
aged mosque property,” he said.
A villager Raj Singh said: “The
youngsters who went to the
mosque were drunk. We are co-
operatinginmaintainingpeace.”
Saleem Khan, one of the in-
jured, said: “The attackers as-
saulted my nephew with a
sword. He has been admitted to
neighbouring BPS Government
Medical College (Sonipat). We
want peace in the village.”
onlythefirststepbeforetheybuild
a case to make an official claim to
the University of Oxford (under
which the museum falls), which
is now the legal owner of the re-
mains, says Kikon.
“Our first step was to lay the
truth on the ground, and go back
to our Naga people, and ask them
whattheyfeltaboutthis,”shesays.
Most Nagas, they found, had
noideaaboutthis.ReverendEllen
Jamir,aDimapur-basedprofessor
and a psychotherapist, now part
oftheinitiative,saysshewas“sur-
prised” when she was going
through the excel sheet of the
places the human remains were
sourced from. “I saw a familiar
name–Wakching…Itwasthevil-
lage I was born in, and that is
when it hit me. These are the re-
mains of my ancestors… my
blood…boxedupinamuseumin
somepartof theworld,”shesays.
“How were they taken away?
Don’t they deserve a proper bur-
ial? Suddenly, I felt a huge sense
of responsibility.”
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
charge Gaurav Kumar said, “We
had registered an FIR into
Sunday’s violence and we have
arrested 58 people. We are con-
ducting raids to arrest the re-
maining accused. As of now, the
Internet remains suspendedand
we are reviewing the situation.”
Kumar, however, refused to
divulge the names of the ac-
cused, however, sources said
thatmembersof bothHinduand
Muslim communities were
named in the case.
Although authorities had im-
posed prohibitory orders under
Section 144 of the CrPC in the lo-
calityonSundayeveningandshut
the Internet across the town, res-
idents alleged that the police did
notactproactivelygiventhecom-
munaltensionaweekagoduring
theRamNavamiprocession.“The
Ram Navami flag was desecrated
on Saturday in Shastrinagar. The
Hinducommunityhadprotested,
seeking action against the cul-
prits,” a local resident said.
East Singhbhum SSP said the
situation was “under control”.
Jharkhand DGP Ajay Singh told
The Indian Express: “The matter
will be investigated to find out if
there was any negligence on the
police’s part.”
Minority status
at state level: SC
gives states, UT
‘last chance’ to
respond to plea
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE SUPREME Court on Monday
gave states and union territories
whichareyettorespondtoabatch
of petitionsseekingidentification
of religious minorities at the state
level,inaccordancewiththe2002
TMA Pai Foundation case judg-
ment,alastopportunitytodoso.
A bench of Justices S K Kaul
andAhsanuddinAmanullahgave
them six weeks to submit their
reply to the central government,
failingwhichtheSupremeCourt
said, it would presume they had
nothing to say on the subject.
The directive came after
Additional Solicitor General K M
Nataraj,appearingfortheCentre,
toldthebenchthatRajasthanand
Telangana were yet to file their
response, while Jammu and
Kashmir had filed a partial reply.
In the TMA Pai Foundation
case,theSClaiddownthatforthe
purposes of Article 30 — which
dealswiththerightsofminorities
to establish and administer edu-
cational institutions — religious
andlinguisticminoritieswillhave
to be identified at the state level.
The Constitution refers to
“minorities”insomeArticles,but
doesnotdefinetheterm.Neither
does the National Minorities
Commission Act, 1992, under
which the Centre notifies which
communities are minorities.
Citing this, the petitions have
alsochallengedSection2(c)ofthe
National Commission for
Minorities Act, 1992, which gives
theCentrepowertonotifyminori-
ties,askinghowtheCentrecando
so without a clear definition of
what constitutes a minority.
One of the petitions by
Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay
contends that after the TMA Pai
judgment, the October 23, 1993
notification,bywhichtheCentre
hadnotifiedMuslims,Christians,
Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis as
“minority” community, had be-
come as good as invalid.
In a counter-affidavit filed on
March25,2022,theCentresought
toputtheonusofgrantingminor-
ity status to Hindus upon state
governments, saying “they, too,
haveconcurrentpowerstodoso”.

10 DECISION
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
ChurchleaderswelcomePMModi’s‘powerful’
Eastergesture,hopemessagenot‘one-time’
Community worried about state’s
anti-conversion law, church attacks;
minister’s speech has spiked concerns
LIZ MATHEW
BANGALORE, APRIL 10
WHILE WELCOMING Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's visit to
Delhi'sSacredHeartCathedralon
Easter Sunday as a “wonderful
gesture”, Church leaders in
Karnataka hope it would see a
changeintheapproachoflocalBJP
leaders towards the community.
Comprising less than 3 per
cent of state population, the
communitywieldsconsiderable
influence in the state because of
the institutions it runs in the
health and education sectors.
Days before Modi’s church
visit, incidentally, a minister in
the state BJP government was
booked for making an alleged
hatespeechagainstthecommu-
‘Arrest minister Munirathna’:
state contractors’ outfit says
will move Supreme Court
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, APRIL 10
ALETTERdemandingtheimme-
diate arrest of Horticulture
Minister Munirathna Naidu in a
hatespeechcasemarkedthe be-
ginning of a new chapter in the
row between the Karnataka
State Contractors’ Association
and the minister on Monday.
In December, the
Association’s president D
Kempannaandfourotheroffice-
bearerswerearrestedinconnec-
tion with a defamation case that
CROSSWORD 5023
ACROSS
1 He does nothing but just tick
over? (5)
4 A danger developing in the
Caribbean (7)
8 She means to keep prices
down (3)
9 Soldiers in camp - sorry, on
manoeuvres (4,5)
10 The case of the broken
latches (7)
11 Fly from a ship (5)
13 Itches to change the rules of
conduct (6)
15 Morning viva voce is quite
unethical (6)
18 Grain coming from a tropic
island (5)
19 It often involves unknown
quantities (7)
21 Some mount eruption can be
earth-shaking (9)
23 Ida is out to help (3)
24 Upset? Depends how big-
headed one is (7)
25 Give commands in succession
(5)
SolutionsCrossword5022:Across:1Backhanded,8Scene,9Pitfall,10Borodin,11On
tow,12Redden,14Stifle,17Canoe,19Assents,21Extract,22Aptly,23Heldoffice.
Down:2Averred,3Knead,4Alpini,5Detroit,6Dealt,7Flawlessly,8Subtracted,13
Eyeball,15Fanatic,16Tattoo,18Notch,20Scarf.
JUMBLED WORDS
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget
theanswerforthegivenquip.
___isa____thathathfriendsinthegarrison.-GeorgeSavile(4,.,7)
RSAEO
RRIOS
Answer: Love is a passion that hath friends in the garrison. - George Savile
SOLUTION: AROSE, ORRIS, SYLVAN, REPAVE
nity. The community also has
concerns about the Karnataka
Protection of Right to Freedom
of Religion Act, passed towards
the end of last year, that puts
stringent curbs on conversion.
Then there is the distrust to-
wardstheBJPoverattacksonthe
community in different parts of
the country, with governments
run by the party seen as doing
little to stop them.
In fact, Archbishop Of
Bangalore Diocese Dr Peter
Machado was part of a petition
filedintheSupremeCourt,along
with the National Solidarity
Forum and Evangelical
Fellowship of India, against at-
tacks on churches, institutions
linked to them and members of
the Christian community in dif-
ferent parts of the country.
The minister
was booked
in a hate
speech case
last month
Munirathna had filed. Last
month, the police booked
Munirathna for his alleged hate
speech against Christians.
The Association on Monday
said that it was moving a con-
tempt petition in the Supreme
Court over delay in arresting the
minister.
DOWN
1 I’m old fashioned; there’s no
getting away from it (7)
2 Offal and joint put together in
one vessel (9)
3 The length a boxer will go
to (5)
4 Speculation is in the wind about
medical man (6)
5 Once right to cry out
(7)
6 Look for a cause of inflation (3)
7 Pointlessly rate some foolish
people (5)
12 Firm management may assist
in house construction (9)
14 I sing about one Italian
drink (7)
16 Hero-worship was fatal to
him (7)
17 Promise not freely given (6)
18 Cause of cracks that can bring
down the house (5)
20 Relish some asparagus
tonight? (5)
22 Cleaner but untidy head of
hair (3)
AVYLNS
AEERPV
PM Narendra Modi at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi Sunday. Twitter/Narendra Modi
The Supreme Court had di-
rected the Union Home Affairs
Ministrytogetverificationreports
fromBihar,Haryana,Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh, on steps taken against
such attacks, following the plea.
At the same time, church
Cong to EC: Scrutinise tenders, contracts
issued months before poll date announced
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE CONGRESS on Monday ap-
proached the Election
Commission (EC) seeking
scrutiny of all tenders and con-
tracts issued by the BJP-led
Karnataka government and the
party-led Central government
for work in the state just before
the announcement of polls.
It also raised the issue of de-
nial of permission for its poll ad-
vertisements and sought the
transfer of four officers who
served for morethan three years
OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong
DifficultyLevel4s
Instructions
TosolveaSudokupuzzle,
everydigitfrom1to9
SUDOKU 5164
mustappearineachofthe
nineverticalcolumns,in
eachoftheninehorizontal
rowsandineachofthe
nineboxes.
DifficultyLevel
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;
3s=Medium;4s=Hard;
5s=VeryHard;
6s=Genius
KARNATAKA
leaders in Karnataka said, the
PM's gesture in visiting the his-
toric Delhi church on Easter day
sent a “powerful message”.
“PM Modi's gesture was
wonderful as it came on a day
whenChristianscelebrateEaster,
marking triumph over dark-
ness... We only hope it is not a
in the state electoral office.
ThepartyaskedtheECtoscru-
tinise “all actions of the govern-
ment,particularly,thetendersand
contractsissuedwithin45daysto
three months before the date of
the election”.
“This is more so where the
sole purpose of the tenders and
contracts is to issue hugely in-
flated estimates, without appro-
priate assessment of cost of
work or the need for works by
the sanctioning authority for
whichnojustificationisavailable
on government file,” read the
party’s memorandum.
“Thetenderswillhaveanim-
2023
one-time message but is taken
forward,” said J A Kanthraj, the
spokesperson for the
Archdiocese of Bangalore.
ReverendDrDexterSMaben,
the vice president of the Church
of South India (CSI), Karnataka,
and Diocese, Bangalore, said the
PM's visit and concerns of the
pact during the election period
thatwhatevermoneyisreleased
under those tenders would im-
pact and influence people and
therefore, this is something that
they should examine. We are
verypleasedthattheECsaidthat
even if it is before the code of
conduct comes into operation, if
it has an impact on the period of
the code of conduct, we would
be willing to look at it,” Congress
leader Salman Khurshid said af-
ter meeting the EC.
The memorandum claimed
that the BJP governments at the
stateandCentreissuedtenderno-
tificationsinvariousdepartments
SOLUTION SUDOKU 5163
Christiansinthestateshouldnot
be viewed together. “There are
two different contexts. The
Prime Minister's visit on Easter
– a day that celebrates life – is
very positive. But there have
been concerns among the com-
munity and we have voiced
those concerns to the govern-
ment,” Maben said.
Kanthraj cited the statement
by minister Munirathna – “dia-
metrically opposite” to Modi's –
tosaythatthePM'smessagehad
yet to travel down to BJP work-
ers in the state.
Two church officials who
spoke to The Indian Express on
condition of anonymity said the
“hostile”attitude of the state BJP
leadershipcouldkeepChristians
away from the BJP. Another
added that the PM's visit to the
church might not be enough to
settle these fears. “Bangalore is
away from Delhi. So the gesture
in Delhi may not be foremost in
people's minds when they de-
cide their representative.”
worth over Rs 20,000 crore.
The delegation also raised
the issue of Karnataka State
MediaCertificationCommission
refusingclearancetosomeof the
campaign material of the party.
“The Election Commission
said that they are sending a sen-
ior officer to Karnataka tomor-
row and that senior officer will
make sure there is a review of all
the material that we have made
a grievance about which has not
been approved and that there
would be a level playing field of
material, which is permitted to
every party in the past as well as
at present,” Khurshid said.
BJP first list put off
again, Yediyurappa
makes a sudden
return to Bengaluru
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, APRIL 10
EVEN AS the release of the BJP's
first list of candidates for the
Karnataka Assembly elections
has got further delayed, with
the party citing the need for fur-
ther consultation, rumours
swirled Monday as former chief
minister and member of the BJP
parliamentary board B S
Yediyurappa returned to
Bengaluru.
There was talk that the pre-
mature departure of
Yediyurappa from Delhi indi-
cated the BJP heavyweight's un-
happiness over not having his
way with candidate choices. CM
Basavaraj Bommai and Union
minister Pralhad Joshi, however,
insisted that Yediyurappa had to
leave due to personal exigency.
The party leaders have been
discussing the candidate list
since Saturday evening in Delhi,
with one of the reasons for the
delay cited back home being
Yediyurappa'sinsistenceontick-
ets for as many as 30 of his can-
didates, with the promise to en-
sure victories of each.
One of these candidates is
most definitely his younger son
B Y Vijayendra, who
Yediyurappa has been keen on
fielding from the family pocket
borough of Shikaripura. Forced
out as CM by the BJP, ostensibly
due to his age, Yediyurappa had
announced in July 2022 that he
was retiring from electoral poli-
tics and that Vijayendra would
replace him in the Shikaripura
seat in Shivamogga district.
The move was seen as a pre-
emptive strike by Yediyurappa
againstrejectionof hisson'scan-
didature by the BJP, which is
keen to loosen the grip the vet-
DAY TODAY
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20)
The dominant
mood of the day
is still somewhat
emotional, and
your nesting instinct may
be strong. However, your
mood is about to change
quite substantially so, please
realise that, what seems
permanent today, may have
completely disappeared
before long.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21)
The best way to
deal with family
members, or with
anyone you live
with for that matter, is to
talk to them. The more that
goes unsaid, the greater
the chances that you'll drift
into some sort of major
misunderstanding. And that
would never do. Not after all
you've been through.
GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)
Cash, including
your need for
more with the
demands on your
pocket, is one major issue.
However, there's always a
psychological dimension,
and right now this includes
your own need to be valued
more in the future. Start
by finding ways to boost your
self-esteem.
CANCER (June 22 - July 23)
There is a great deal
to be said for pressing
ahead with all
personal hopes and
ambitions as fast as possible. The
very best that you can hope for is
that little opportunities will drop
into your lap, unasked for. Your
task will be to make the most
of them.
LEO (July 24 - Aug 23)
Nothing is quite as it
seems, so don't
worry if you can't
think straight at the
moment, but do try to separate
fact from fantasy. This is not to
say that one is better than the
other, just that you should be
sure in your own mind whether
you're dealing with the real
world or not.
VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23)
Stress levels tend
to build up, but
that's not necessarily
a bad thing. A love
affair will work best if you
understand that friendship
is more important than
passion. You may already
sense that emotional changes
are on the way, and should
realise that they are to be
positively welcomed.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Veteran leader has denied
that he is unhappy. Twitter
eran has held on the party in
Karnataka for nearly 20 years.
“If Yediyurappa is unhappy
and has left in anger, it would be
linked to rejection of his son's
ticket demands more than any-
thingelse,”BJPsourcesadmitted.
Joshi, who was part of the
talks, denied anysuchproblems.
Bommai, who is also in Delhi,
said Yediyurappa had partici-
patedinallthemeetings,includ-
ing with Nadda and Shah, over
the past three days.
Earlier, there were reports
that the BJP wanted Vijayendra
to contest from Varuna in
Mysuru, the bastion of former
CM and Congress heavyweight
Siddaramaiah, and hence a diffi-
cult constituency. Yediyurappa
publicly rejected the possibility
of this last week, while indicat-
ing that in case Vijayendra was
forced to accept Varuna, he ex-
pected a ticket from another
constituency too for him.
Back from Delhi,
Yediyurappa insisted he was not
unhappy with how the talks
went. “I am very, very happy. All
the suggestions given by me
have been accepted. I am sure
we will get a full majority.”
Monday's postponement
means the BJP is uncharacter-
istically the last in deciding its
candidates.
BY PETER VIDAL
LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
In love, it looks
very much as if
secrecy is still the
order of the day. It
may be that other people are
not yet ready to understand
your feelings, but there
could also be a slight lack
of confidence on your part.
Mind you, perhaps a few
doubts are a good thing.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
Set your sights
high today and
go for adventurous
options. However,
you should keep an eye on
authority figures, including
employers, who are developing
strange ideas, especially
if it looks as if they may
pass judgment on your
behaviour. You don't want
to miss out.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
Monetary rewards
are no doubt
overdue, but if you
can possibly get
financial loose ends tied
up today, you'll clear the
decks ready for tomorrow.
What is ultimately more
important, though, is
recognition of your talents. It's
good to have cash in your
pocket, but better to feel that
other people honour your
achievements, however small.
CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
Partnership is
extremely
important. This is
not necessarily for
any wonderfully selfless reason,
but because, for sheer self-
interest, you must link up with
individuals who think and feel
as you do. You can do without
people who always criticise
you, at least for now.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
The dominant daily
pattern in your
chart is still work,
but the possible
manifestations are many.
Even if you're planning to put
your feet up, you may find that
the most fulfilling way to spend
the day is performing little
favours for others. It's good
to do good.
PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
There's an ongoing
risk of friction at
home. In the past,
this has involved
simple practical matters but,
right now, there seems to be
some emotional strain. Use the
opportunity to clear the air, and
reassure other people that the
worst may never happen.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
Maharashtra: Tree fall claims seven lives
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
MUMBAI, APRIL10
Seven people died and 29 others
were injured after a large tree fell
onashedinsidethepremisesof a
temple in ParasvillageinBalapur
talukaofAkoladistrict onSunday.
Theincidenttookplacewhen
a large number of people had
gathered at the Babuji Maharaj
Mandir for the evening aarti and
the dukh nivaran (grievance re-
dressal) programme on Sunday.
Itsoon startedrainingheavily
SC lets Vedanta open Days after communal
Thoothukudi copper clash, Chhattisgarh
plant for upkeep capital witnesses bandh
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,APRIL10
THE SUPREME COURT Monday
allowed Vedanta Ltd to carry out
certain physical works at its
Sterlite copper plant in
Thoothukudi,includingtheevac-
uation of remaining gypsum, re-
moval of leachate or industrial
waste to avoid environmental
degradation,andmaintenanceof
the green belt.
The plant, which Vedanta
claims accounted for 40 per cent
of domestic copper production,
was shut down in May 2018 fol-
lowinganorderbythestatepollu-
tion control board.
A high-powered committee
setupbythestategovernmentfor
carryingouta‘CivilandStructural
SafetyIntegrityAssessmentStudy
whichsubmitteditsreportinJuly
2022 had “noticed serious struc-
turaldefects”.AMarch6,2023,let-
ter by the Additional Chief
Secretary to the Thoothukudi
District Collector permitted the
lattertoallowactivitiessuchasre-
moval of gypsum and leachate,
and green belt maintenance.
“As regards those actions
whichhavebeenpermittedtobe
carriedoutbythecommunication
dated 6 March 2023, we allow
necessary consequential steps to
betaken,”thebenchalsocompris-
ing Justices P S Narasimha and J B
Pardiwala said in its order.
In a regulatory filing to the
BombayStockExchange,Vedanta
Ltd, said it had filed applications
seekingreliefsfromtheSupreme
Courttoensureproperupkeepof
the copper smelter plant. “The
Speeding car mows down
pedestrian in Goa, driver held
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
PANAJI,APRIL10
A 32-YEAR-old man, employed
asadriverintheIndianNavy,was
arrested for allegedly running
over a 39-year-old pedestrian
withhiscarnearMercesinNorth
Goa, said police on Monday.
Policeidentifiedthedeceased
as Manoj Shashidharan, a native
ofKerala,engagedinhousekeep-
ing business and residing in
Merces, Tiswadi. Police said in-
formation was received on April
8around3amthatanunknown
person, rash driving his car, had
moweddownamalepedestrian
nearManasMercesCircle,before
escaping. The injured man was
takentoahospitalwherehesuc-
cumbedtoinjuries,addedpolice.
Police seized some broken
parts of the car and narrowed
down search to a silver colour
Swift Dzire car.
Nidhin Valsan, SP North Goa,
said,“OnMondayaround11am,
the vehicle was traced. The ac-
Rescue work underway in
Akola on Sunday night PTI
andsomepeoplegatheredunder
a shed to avoid getting drenched.
Supreme Court has permitted
Vedanta Limited to carry out the
activities at the plant,” it said.
A Sumathi, Chief Operating
Officer, Sterlite Copper, said in a
statement, “We look forward to
carryingouttheupkeepactivities
at the plant. Our stakeholders
have expressed hope and cheer
abouttoday’sdevelopmentatthe
courtandtheyarewaitingforthe
plan to restart operations.”
Whileallowingcertainworks,
theSupremeCourtalsonotedthat
theDistrictCollectorhadnotper-
mitted to undertake Civil And
Structural Safety Integrity
Assessment Study in the plant
premises, removal and trans-
portation of spares/ equipment
etc and evacuation of in-process
revertsandotherrawmaterialsly-
ing idle in the premises of the
plant/ stores.
Ontheactivitiesthathavenot
beenallowed,SeniorAdvocateCS
Vaidyanathan, who appeared for
Tamil Nadu government said,
“The state government will once
again evaluate whether any fur-
therorsupplementarydirections
should be issued in that regard.”
Senior Advocate Darius
Khambata who appeared for
VedantaLtdsaid,“Havingduere-
gard to the serious deficiencies
whichwerereportedbytheHigh-
Powered Committee, there is no
reasonwhytheotherstepsaspro-
posed by the Committee should
not be taken”. Vedanta was will-
ing to undertake those activities
at its own costs, he told the court.
TheSCaskedthestategovern-
ment to appraise it the “consid-
ereddecision”onthisonnextdate
of hearing scheduled for May 4.
cusedNaganesh,hadhiddenthe
car behind his residential quar-
ters in Varnapuri Naval Quarters
and had been changing his loca-
tion to evade arrest. Old Goa
Police arrested him from
Dabolim andseized his vehicle.”
Ataround7.30pm,analmost150-
year-oldNeemtree,uprooteddue
to the heavy winds accompany-
ingtherain,fellontheshed,trap-
ping people under it, said Akola
District Collector Nima Arora.
“Duetothesuddenwindyand
gusty weather, many trees were
uprooted in the district, blocking
roads.Becauseofthis,administra-
tivepersonnelfounditdifficultto
reachaccidentsite.Fortunately,lo-
calresidentsrushedtotheinjured
people’shelpandrescuedmany,”
saidJayantNaiknaware,specialin-
spector general, Amravati.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
RAIPUR, APRIL 10
CHHATTISGARH’S CAPITAL
Raipur saw a bandh on Monday,
daysafterthedeathof a23-year-
old during a communal clash in
Bemetara district led to tension
in and around the area. The
bandh call was given by VHP,
BajrangDalandothersdemand-
ingactioninconnectionwiththe
Bhuneshwar Sahu, with the op-
positionBJPalsolendingsupport.
According to police, protest-
ers from different outfits also re-
sortedtostonepelting,including
at police personnel.
Police also said two mud-
houses of people from the mi-
noritycommunitynearBiranpur
in Bemetara district, where the
clashes had taken place last
week, were set ablaze.
2008 JAIPUR BLASTS ACCUSED ACQUITTAL
Rajasthan police to conduct audit,
analyse HC judgment, says DGP
Jaipur:RajasthanDirectorGeneral
of Police Umesh Mishra on
Monday said that the state police
will conduct an “internal audit”
and“introspect”posttheacquittal
of 2008 Jaipur bomb blasts ac-
cused by the High Court.
Addressingapressconference
inJaipur,theDGPsaidthatthepo-
licehassentaproposaltofileaSLP
>OBBOP
"5-/"00
EXPRESS NETWORK 11
Cop booked for murder; didn’t beat up victim, say police
AJCBmachinewasusedtore- dead at a referral hospital in tory of sand smuggling activities he was smuggling sand, what
movethedebrisandrescuethein- ABHISHEKANGAD Garhwa. and one of their vehicles has also right does the police have to take
jured persons, who were later RANCHI,APRIL10 Police,however,havealsoreg- beenseizedrecentlyandkeptata someone’s life? His body had
rushed to the Government istered a counter FIR against police station. On April 7 cops marksofbeatingandhislegswere
Medical College, Akola. APOLICEInspectorinJharkhand’s Wasim and his family members spotted Wasim with a tractor full broken,” Ansari said.
The injured, who are mostly Garhwa district has been booked forsandsmuggling.Policealsore- ofsmuggledsand.Wasimtriedto In the FIR, Ansari stated:
from Buldhana and Amravati, in- formurderinconnectionwiththe futedtheallegationthattheybeat flee and sustained injuries. Both “...When I reached the CHC in
clude nine senior citizens and a death of a 25-year-old man, up Wasim, and instead claimed the cases are being investigated.” Dhurki (around midnight),
15-year-old boy, among others. Wasim Sajjad. The FIR was regis- that he got hurt while escaping AnsaritoldTheIndianExpress Wasim was writhing in pain. My
Deputy Chief Minister tered on April 8 on the complaint fromthecopsduringacrackdown that Wasim worked with a son told me that the police beat
Devendra Fadnavis condoled the ofWasim’sfatherMumtazAnsari onsandsmugglersinDhurkiarea. pipelinecompanyinMumbaiand him up… with the buttstock of a
deaths and announced that the whostatedthatInspectorKrishan Garhwa SP Anjani Kumar Jha was supposed to leave after gun; stomped on his chest with
Maharashtra government will Kumarstompedonhisson’schest said: “There is a murder FIR that Ramzan. Rubbishing the police boots. Slowly his voice tapered
provide financial aid to the fami- and also beat him up with the was registered on the basis of sandsmugglingclaim,Ansarisaid away.”Ansarisaidthatwhenthey
lies of those who died in the buttstock of a gun “without any complaintbyWasim’sfather.Our thatonApril7hissonhadgoneto reachedthereferralcentre,hisson
mishap. reason”. Wasim was declared versionisthathisfamilyhasahis- hisgrandmother’shouse.“Evenif was declared dead.
Arun Sao, state in-charge for
Chhattisgarh BJP and a Member
of Parliament, led a group of 200
supporters to visit Sahu’s family.
Some protesters could be
heard chanting ‘Bhuneshwar ke
hatyaaronkogolimarosaalonko
(shoot Bhuneshwar’s killers)’.
“Unlawful assembly is
banned in Biranpur, so we did
not allow them to enter the vil-
lage. They were stopped in
Pipargaon, a few kilometers
from Biranpur, and taken to Saja
police station in a police van,
from where the crowd was dis-
persed,” said Bemetara district
collector Padum Singh Alma.
While crowds were stopped
from entering the village, some
unruly members did manage to
torch two houses, police said. In
Raipur,protestersalsotriedstop-
ping buses on the roads and
broke windshield of one vehicle.
intheSCandthatthereis“astrong
basis" for the SLP.
Last month, flagging a
“botchedinvestigation”causedby
“institutional failure”, the
RajasthanHighCourtacquittedall
fourmenwhoweresentencedto
death in 2019 in connection with
the blasts that claimed 71 lives
and injured 185 people. ENS
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

12
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

WORDLY WISE
I have taken more out of alcohol than
alcohol has taken out of me.
— Winston Churchill

FOUNDED BY
Ministry of Truth
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
New IT rules create a new
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
power of censorship

NOT ABOUT MILK Apar Gupta

Amul vs Nandini threatens to derail expansion of market and ON APRIL 6, a new power of censorship was The IT Rules, 2023 do not define what tions.” To address criticism, Rajeev
bornwithagazettenotification.TheMinistry constitutes "fake or false or misleading" in- Chandrashekhar, Minister of State, MEITY,
limit choices for consumers in the name of subnationalism of Electronics and IT (MEITY) created the formation, nor do they specify the qualifica- stated on January 25 that they would hold a

T
Information Technology (Intermediary
HE POLITICAL ROW over Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code)
(GCMMF) entering the Bengaluru market, and supposedly threatening the Amendment Rules, 2023 [IT Rules, 2023]. It
localKarnatakaCooperativeMilkProducers’Federation(KMF),isbothunfor- authorises a “fact check unit of the central
tunate and unwarranted. Unfortunate, because what should be a matter of government”toidentify,“fakeorfalseormis-
economic competition in the marketplace has been turned into an emotive issue and mis- leading”informationinrespectof,“anybusi-
ness of the central government”. This
placed subnationalism, amplified by the ongoing Karnataka state elections. Unwarranted,
Orwelliandepartmentwillscrutiniseanyon-
because, as this newspaper has reported, GCMMF’s Amul brand milk and curd are priced line comments, news reports or opinions
20-40 per cent higher than KMF’s Nandini. Even if GCMMF comes to Bengaluru, it is un- about government officials and ministries
likely to really eat into Nandini’s market share. But Amul or any other player shouldn’t be and then notify online intermediaries for its
prevented from trying, just as the Bengaluru consumer must not be deprived of competi- censorship.Suchintermediarieswillnotonly
tionthatcouldtaketheformof betterqualityorproductdifferentiation.Incidentally,Amul include online social media companies but
has been selling in northern Karnataka markets since around 2015 – without inviting any also service providers across a plump layer
of the tech stack including ISPs and file host-
provincial ire.
ingcompanies.Toensureaccuracy,onlyfacts
Thecurrentbrouhahaisprobablyalsoareflectionof rivalrybetweenIndia'stwolargest will be stated, and the decision on citizen in-
dairy cooperatives. Amul is, of course, the original big brother. Its unions, in 2021-22, pro- terest will be left to the reader.
cured an average 264 lakh kg per day (LKPD) of milk, including around 43 LKPD from out- ItisafactthatMEITYuseditssubordinate
side Gujarat. Nandini's was only about 82 LKPD, much of it from the southern old Mysuru rule-making power under Section 79 of the
Information Technology Act, 2000, to create
region districts. But the procurement increase, from a mere 30 LKPD in 2007-08, has been
the IT Rules, 2023. This power is meant to fill
impressive and largely courtesy of a Rs 6-per-litre incentive given to farmers supplying to
in details within the legislative intent and di-
the KMF unions. The incentive, over and above their procurement price, has given a huge rections of the Supreme Court. The Shreya
stimulus to dairying in Karnataka. Successive governments, whether of the BJP under B S
Singhal judgment of the Supreme Court es-
YediyurappaortheSiddaramaiah-ledCongress,cantakecreditforNandini'sgrowth,which tablished that Section 79 and the IT Rules re-
hasalsobeenenabledbycaptivemarkets(Bengaluru,MysuruandMangaluru)notfarfrom quire intermediaries to have actual knowl-
its main milk-shed areas. edge from a court order or be notified by the
appropriate government in relation to the
That success only stands undermined by the calls for boycott of Amul products in
unlawful acts — these are reasonable restric-
Karnataka and “Amul vs Nandini” becoming a major poll issue. Karnataka's dairy farmers, tions under Article 19(2) of the Constitution.
like their Gujarat counterparts, need to find new markets. By blocking Amul in Bengaluru, However, Article 19(2) does not contain the
politiciansareriskingsimilarretributionwhenitcomestoNandinisellingoutsideKarnataka. phrases "fake or false or misleading". The IT
In fact, Maharashtra's dairies allege that the Rs 6/litre producer incentive has led to KMF Rules may be read under broader classifica-
unions procuring milk far in excess of what can be absorbed within Karnataka. This sur- tions such as public order, security of the
state, and morality. Nevertheless, any inac-
plusis, then,being“dumped”as milkpowder,butter and gheein otherstates.Neither pro-
curate or inaccurate statement will not au-
ducers nor consumers benefit from such protectionism and beggar-thy-neighbour poli-
tomaticallybecome"fakeorfalseormislead-
cies: In this case, it's happening not between nations, but between states in an ostensibly ing," and not all classes of "fake or false or
unifiednationalmarket.Theconsequencesof evenmilkinganon-issueandcreatingimag- misleading" fit within reasonable restric-
inary fears can be dire. It also frames a political economy challenge where the government tions, creatingan unconstitutionalpower for
has to consider electoral exigencies before embarking on market reforms. government censorship.
The IT Rules, 2023 do not
define what constitutes ‘fake
or false or misleading’
information, nor do they
specify the qualifications or
hearing processes for a ‘fact
check unit’. On the other
hand, the rules contain
detailed criteria for self-
regulatory organisations of
gaming platforms, which
also have legal deficiencies.
However, these
organisations provide
specific requirements for
MEITY-certified self-
regulation organisations,
such as qualification criteria
and pre-decisional hearings
with written orders
containing reasons.
tions or hearing processes for a "fact check
unit". On the other hand, the rules contain
detailed criteria for self-regulatory organi-
sationsof gamingplatforms,whichalsohave
legal deficiencies. However, these organisa-
tions provide specific requirements for ME-
ITY-certified self-regulation organisations,
such as qualification criteria and pre-deci-
sional hearings with written orders contain-
ing reasons. None of these protections exists
for a"fact checkunit", leaving theUnion gov-
ernment free to prescribe and alter appoint-
ments by gazette notifications, as well as es-
tablish multiple units.The Press Information
Bureau'sexistingunitoffersinsightintotheir
competence. On December 16, 2020, it la-
belled an Intelligence Bureau recruitment
notice as a hoax, but the Information and
BroadcastingMinistryrefutedthefact-check
the following day. This is not an isolated in-
cident, as various press publications have
documented numerous similar cases.
It is a fact that the IT Rules, 2023 were ini-
tially released as a draft on January 2, 2023,
allowing for public comments until January
17, 2023, and only contained provisions for
regulating online gaming companies.
However, hours before the consultation
deadline, MeitY published a new draft that
includedfact-checkingpowersandextended
the consultation period. This move raised
alarm, with the Editors Guild issuing a state-
ment on January 18 urging itsrecallandstat-
ing that “determination of fake news cannot
be in the sole hands of the government.”
Digipubalso criticised theproposed amend-
ments on January 19, stating that they “as-
signarbitraryanddiscretionarypowertothe
government of India,” while the Indian
Newspaper Society argued on January 23
that the amendments would allow the gov-
ernment to “proscribe any criticism of its ac-
separate consultation on PIB fact-check
sometime early next month. However, there
was no in-person or virtual public consulta-
tion or stakeholder meetings. The Editors
Guild noted on April 7 that "What is further
surprising is that the Ministry has notified
this amendment without any meaningful
consultation that it had promised."
It is a fact that the IT Rules, 2021 have un-
dergone an amendment every year. The gov-
ernment notified these changes on February
25, 2021, extending powers to online video
streaming platforms and digital news por-
tals. These changes faced opposition in the
form of 30 writ petitions, with three high
courts passing stay orders. The Bombay High
Court observed on August 15, 2021, that
these changes could "starve people of the
liberty of thought," while the Madras High
Court noted on September 17, 2021, that "a
wink or a nod from appropriate quarters
may result in the platform being inaccessi-
ble to a citizen." The Union government con-
tested these cases and sought their transfer
to the Supreme Court. On October 28, 2022,
the government introduced further amend-
ments, creating grievance appellate com-
mittees that allow social media users to ap-
peal content moderation decisions to the
government. These committees have re-
ceived 37 appeals and disposed of 19, with-
out publishing their decisions or disclosing
the numbers publicly.
These facts will remind us of the Latin
maxim “res ipsa loquitur” for things that do
speakforthemself.Thismaychangewiththe
ITRules,2023 authorisingthetruthtobede-
termined by a government ministry.
The writer is an advocate and the non-
executive director of the Internet
Freedom Foundation

DEMOCRACY IN JAIPUR
Kicking the Pilot can frames Congress challenge:
grandstanding on democracy has to be followed by hard work
AN IMPROPER FORUM
F
ACTIONALISM IN RAJASTHAN has returned to haunt the Congress. On Sunday, Constitution of GST tribunal goes against several rulings of Supreme Court
rebel leader Sachin Pilot held a press conference and accused his party's govern-
mentinJaipurofnottakingactionincorruptioncasesfiledagainstministersofthe
previousBJPdispensation.HepointedlysaidChiefMinisterAshokGehlotdidnot Arvind P Datar
respondtohistwolettersonthetopic.Withthestatesetforassemblypollsinlessthaneight
THEHISTORICintroductionof aunified,one- isnoreasontoexcludethemfromthisimpor- havefour-membertribunalsconsistingoftwo
months, Pilot's presser — and the fast scheduled for today — threatens to puncture the
nation, one Goods and Services Tax at a mid- tant all-India tribunal. It is illogical to select a judicial members and two technical mem-
Congress'scampaign,highlightingtherighttohealthbillandwelfareschemes.Thiswasonly night session of Parliament was through a district judge who has never dealt with any bers. There is no logic in having one technical
expected since the window for Pilot, who has been waiting for the leadership to deliver on complex web of central and state laws. The tax case but refuse to consider an advocate member for the states and another for the
promisesmadetohim,hasbeenclosing.Ifthepartyleadershipthoughtitcouldbuytimeand CentralGoodsandServicesTaxAct,2017also who has practised tax law. Centre when the Centre and state GST laws
postpone a resolution until elections, it has not worked. The inaction on the part of the cen- createdaGSTTribunal.Itwasunfortunatethat Thesearch-cum-selectioncommitteehas are identical. It would have been far better if
tral leadership, expected to mediate in the Gehlot-Pilot war of nerves, could hurt the party. the composition and structure of this tribu- to recommend two names for each post and each bench had just two members — one ju-
TheCongressleadershiphasbeenbesiegedbyahostofissues,whichithassoughttoturn nal were contrary to settled principles laid the central government will choose one of dicialandonetechnical.Thiscouldhavedou-
down by several Supreme Court decisions. them. A similar provision in the Tribunal bled the number of benches available for the
into rallying points. From the Surat court verdict against Rahul Gandhi to the Hindenburg
Consequently,thistribunalwasheldtobeun- Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of disposal of cases. One must also not forget
report that singed the Adani group to the chaos in Parliament, the party has been trying to constitutional by the Madras High Court in Service)Ordinance,2021wasstruckdownby from past experience the extreme difficulty
mobilise cadres. These issues have also created a chimera of opposition unity. However, Revenue Bar Association v. Union of India the Supreme Court. When the search com- in selecting good candidates. With the prin-
thesewon'tadduptoanythingsubstantiveif thepartycannotputitsorganisationinorder. (2019). No appeal was filed by the Union of mittee is headed by a Supreme Court judge cipal bench of four members and state
Rajasthanisoneofthreestateswhereitheadsagovernment,thoughtheelectorateherehas Indiaforaconsiderabletime,presumablybe- and senior secretaries are on the committee, benches of four members each, the tribunals
notrepeatedanincumbentpartyinassemblyelectionsindecades.Gehlotmanagedtosave cause the statutory provisions were patently whyshouldnottheselectionbythecommit- will easily need more than 75 members.
unconstitutional. The result was that there tee be binding on the central government? Theformationof theGSTTribunalshould
his government after Pilot, then his deputy CM, revolted in 2020. But he has refused to ac-
hasbeennoGSTTribunalforthelastfiveyears. From 1985, the Supreme Court has held have been done by a proper bill and referred
commodatePilotinpartyorgovernmentandevenaccusedhimof conspiringwiththeBJP Tribunals are part of the justice delivery that tribunal members should have a mini- to a Parliamentary Committee. The present
todestabilisethegovernment.Theparty'sattemptatregimechangebymakingGehlotthe system and are created as specialised fora to
There is a serious need to mum tenure of five years with an automatic provisionsareliabletobechallenged,trigger-
Congress president and Pilot the CM was defeated when the former rejected the central reducetheworkloadofcourts.Sadly,thenew change the manner in which renewal for another term unless there are ing a fresh round of litigation. The country is
leadership's plan. Gehlot now looks poised to fight the polls on his terms and his record in provisions creating a GST Tribunal were in- our tribunals are created. compellingreasonstodiscontinuetheirserv- unlikely to see a functioning GST Tribunal for
office rather than take the whole party with him. serted on the last day and the amended They are a part of the justice ices. Despite this salutary rule, the 2017 several more months to come.
Finance Bill, 2023 was passed without any amendmentintroducedatermofthreeyears! Thereisaseriousneedtochangetheman-
As for the Congress, Pilot's move to confront Gehlot makes for poor optics. The faction-
discussionordebateastheproceedingswere
delivery system and must be Whenthiswasagainheldillegal,thetermwas ner in which our tribunals are created. They
alisminRajasthancouldresonateinKarnataka,whereDKSivakumarandSiddaramaiahlead disrupted.Thenewtribunalisequallyuncon- independent. The present increased to four years with an option for re- are a part of the justice delivery system and
factions. A similar scenario exists in Chhattisgarh and many other state units that have be- stitutional and several provisions are in the practice of treating them as newal for another two years, stubbornly re- mustbeindependent.Thepresentpracticeof
comeinactiveintheabsenceofastrongleadership.TheCongressneedstorecognisetheim- teethof bindingprecedentslaiddownbythe fusing to accept the five-year norm. treating them as part of the respective min-
part of the respective
portance of organisation if it hopes to do the battle on the ground. Grandstanding on polit- Supreme Court in no less than seven cases: The provision of housing was a problem istries has seriously undermined their func-
Sampath Kumar (1987), L Chandrakumar ministries has seriously thatwasresolvedbytheSupremeCourtfixing tioning.Manytribunalshaveverypoorinfra-
ical morality and democracy cannot be a substitute for committed leaders who work hard
to fix the organisation. (1997)andMadrasBarAssociation(2010,2014, undermined their a house rent allowance of Rs 1,50,000 for the structureanditisextremelydifficulttorecruit
2015, 2020, 2021). It is regrettable that laws functioning. Many tribunals President and Rs 1,25,000 for members. This competent persons as no professional will
continuetobedraftedandenactedindeliber- have very poor is now reduced to the house rent allowance leave his practice at the age of 45 for a period
ate contravention of Supreme Court judg- of central government employees carrying of four years. This results in tribunals being
infrastructure and it is

ANOTHER ROUND
ments.
ThenewGSTTribunaldisqualifieslawyers
frombecomingjudicialmemberswhensuch
exclusionwasevenrecentlyheldtobeimper-
Research shows that moderate drinking too is harmful.
missible in the context of the Consumer
Forum. Every other tribunal permits advo-
Let's ignore it
extremely difficult to recruit
competent persons as no
professional will leave his
practice at the age of 45 for a
the same pay, which will be woefully inade-
quate in major cities.
The GST Tribunal will have one Principal
Bench at New Delhi which consists of the
president, a judicial member, a technical
member (Centre) and a technical member
manned mainly by retired officials who get a
fewextrayearsofservice.Itisalsoworthwhile
toconsiderwhetheritistimetohaveanIndian
TribunalServicethatwillattractprofessional
talent and domain expertise.

M
cates to become judicial members and there period of four years. (State). Similarly, the state benches will also The writer is a senior advocate
ODERN LIFE IS too often a mechanical oppression,” Ernest Hemingway
wrote to critic Ivan Kashin in 1935, “and liquor is the only mechanical
relief.” Hemingway likely knew then, as all of us do now, that alcohol in
excess is not the best thing for the body or soul, and it's especially bad
when you “write or when you fight”. But in the current age of scientism and “wellness”,
APRIL 11, 1983, FORTY YEARS AGO
even moderation isn't enough. Researchers have studied over a 100 studies about alco-
hol consumption over the decades (the report was published in JAMA Network Open)
AKALI-PM ISSUE grains production is anticipated in 1982-83.
According to crop prospects indicated in lat-
places with the army staging flag marches
and security forces fanning out to effectively
and come to the conclusion that there's no such thing as a healthy amount of alcohol. PRIME MINISTER INDIRA Gandhi said the est reports, the total food grains output dur- maintain law and order. Assam chief minis-
Unlike tobacco or other psychoactive drugs, alcohol enjoys a certain social sanction. In question was how far the Akalis should be ing the year is estimated to be between 126 ter Hiteswar Saikia told a press conference
fact, medical “facts” like a couple of glasses of wine, or the odd beer, are actually good for allowedtogoinpursuingtheirdemands.She and 128 million tonnes against the target of inGauhatithateightpoliceofficialsweresus-
wasaddressingtheconcludingsessionof the 139 to 141.5 million tonnes (MT). Even com- pended in the district for negligence of duty
the health have been shared for years now. But now, that solace is gone. Imagine a world
two-day conference of Governors in New pared to the actual performance in 1981-82, during the recent disturbances.
where the tedium of an official dinner, or the boring wedding of a faraway cousin has to Delhi. In an apparent hardening of attitude the production this year will be lower by five
be suffered through without the adequate lubrication. Or one where the quiet glass of
wineafterwork,justtoshiftgearsasanotherdayatthejobyoubarelytoleratewindsdown,
on Punjab, Mrs Gandhi said many of the de-
mands, including the religious ones, had
to eight million tonnes. The Agriculture
Ministry in its annual report blames it all on
DHAKA DEMANDS
has to be measured against the depressing arithmetic of one's impending mortality. been conceded. The exception was the one theunprecedenteddroughtaffecting48mil- THE15-PARTYalliancedemandedanimme-
But perhaps there's another way to look at the research's findings, which is to not look relating to a common legislation on gurd- lion hectares. diate end to martial law, restoration of the
waras, on which the states are being con- 1972 constitution, holding of elections to
at them at all. There is little point in trying to show, for example, that the stress-relieving
effects of a drink or two might end up helping certain conditions. The JAMA paper estab-
sulted.
ASSAM VIOLENCE Parliament and handing over power to
elected representatives. The alliance which
lishes that earlier studies that claimed health benefits for moderation were flawed. So
be it. Better, then, to say maybe a drink or two does some harm — but sometimes, it feels
LOW PRODUCTION THE OVERALL SITUATION in troubletorn
Goalpara district was reported to be quiet,
observed ‘‘Demands Day” also announced a
programme to observe a country-wide “de-
good. And that's enough for one more round. A SHORTFALL OF 13 million tonnes in food- though tension continued to prevail in some mands week” from April 21 as the next step.

13 THE IDEAS PAGE
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
PM Modi’s visit to Sacred Heart Cathedral on Easter has to be read in the context of the BJP’s outreach to
the Christian community in a state that has rejected it all this while
Valson Thampu
POLITICAL EVENTS ARE like icebergs, nine-
tenthsofwhichremainhiddenfromview.The
hidden need not be altogether inscrutable.
But,todiscerntheirfacesaright,onemustrid
oneself of prejudices.Asarule,humanbeings
understand emerging events in light of past
experiences. This makes them blind to new
beginnings. This aberration can be obviated
in part by reading events in their contexts.
Humanbeings,barringrareexceptions,act
onlyoutof self-interest.Inthedomainof pol-
itics, to be idealistic is to be naïve, even fool-
ish.Asamatterof fact,leadersof politicalpar-
ties come under the obligation to be selfish
and devious to further the prospects of their
parties.Else,theywillactlikeRahulGandhiin
tearing up in a fit of impetuous idealism the
ordinance meant to alleviate the distress of a
political ally. It is assuredly profitable to play
the saint in politics; but, if you try to be one,
youwillbecomealiabilitytoyourparty.That’s
thelastthingyou’dexpectof NarendraModi.
So, why this calibrated Easter visit to the
Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi? My
memory goes back to 2014, the year he as-
sumed the reins of India. All colleges, includ-
ing Christian ones, were instructed to func-
tion on Christmas day in order to celebrate
Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday as “good gov-
ernance day”. He could not have been un-
aware of hurting Christian sentiments
thereby.Verylikely,Modihascomealongway
since then. I would think so; given how
prompt and perceptive he is in learning from
experiences.
When Alexander Graham Bell was asked
toexplainwhatthetelephonewaslikehetook
a metaphoric turn. It is like a dachshund dog
with its tail in Dublin and head in London.
When the tail is yanked in Dublin, the head
barksinLondon.IseeModi’sEastergestureas
a telephonic event of the dachshund variety.
Its tail is in Delhi, but its head is in Kerala. It is
readbestinlightofhispronouncementinthe
wake of BJP’s gains in the Northeast in the re-
centassemblyelectionsthattheBJPwillcome
topowerinKerala.Itisnosecretthattheparty
attachesextremeimportancetoenlargingits
footprint in “god’s own country”.
Key to making any progress in this direc-
tion is wooing the Christian community,
which comprises about 18 per cent of the
Kerala population. Efforts to align at least a
sectionoftheMuslimcommunityinthestate
to the BJP via co-opting Abdullakutty came a
cropper. The central leadership of the party
hasconcludedthatcourtingtheMuslimcom-
munity is a bus ride to nowhere. The alterna-
tive is to get the Kerala Christian community
on its side. To that end, feverish behind-the-
sceneeffortshavebeenafootforawhilenow.
The party sees much encouragement in this
regard, given that a large number of bishops,
Christiancharismaticleaders,para-churchor-
ganisationsandinstitutionsaremiredincor-
ruption. Enforcement Directorate investiga-
tionsonKPYohannan,PaulDinakaran,Bishop
Dharma Raj, the moderator of the Church of
South India, among others, came and went,
leaving the Damocles’ swords hanging over
their heads. The Syro-Malabar rite of the
John Brittas and Kashvi Verma
IN A LANDMARK verdict last month, a five-
judge Constitution bench of the Supreme
Court, while raising concerns about the au-
tonomy of the Election Commissionof India,
saidthatthepollpanelwillhaveanindepend-
entsecretariatanditsownbudget.Thisjudg-
mentbringstotheforeaspectsof ourdemoc-
racy that are seldom raised even by
Opposition politicians: A supportive and in-
dependent secretariat in both Houses of
Parliament.
Politicians make a hue and cry when the
Houses are stalled. But they often ignore an-
othercrucialmatterthatprotectsthelegisla-
ture’s interests. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya
Sabha have their own secretariats. Lately,
though,wearefacedwithanunprecedented
trend of both the secretariats serving the in-
terests of the executive.
We are confronting an erosion of parlia-
mentarydemocracybecauseof acancer-like
growth of the executive, intruding into the
officesthataremeanttochampiontheinter-
ests of the members of Parliament. Things
have come to such a pass now that the par-
liamentaryupperhandinmatterstodowith
policiesandevenwhatoughttobediscussed
in the House has fallen into the hands of the
executive.
Rules and regulations are being used to
protect the executive, which in a proper and
functionaldemocracymustbeheldaccount-
able. Paradoxically, it is the members of the
executive who now occupy the Lok Sabha
secretariat and Rajya Sabha secretariat. And
Kerala calling
CatholicChurch,themostnumerousandrich-
est church in Kerala, is in dire straits with its
supreme leader in serious legal tangles.
Corruptreligiousleadersareeasypickingsfor
political harvesters. Corruption is a political
goldminefromwhichapoliticalpartycangain
in two ways. It can posture itself as a princi-
pled eradicator of corruption. It can also use
the very same thing to coerce individuals of
significance to toe the party line. This two-
prongedstrategyunderliesgoingafterthecor-
rupt in the Christian community.
Sticks,however,canbecounterproductive
without carrots — sticks for the corrupt, and
carrots for those who deem them God’s ser-
vants. Moreover, a ruler stands to gain from
tokenismsof thiskind.Nothingismorehelp-
ful in improvising the impression that the
ruler,beingreligiousorpious,canbeexpected
to act justly. This helps to dissipate the anxi-
etythatisboundtoarisewhenreligiouslead-
ers are proceeded against, according to the
lawof theland.Therankandfileof Christians
arebrainwashedfrombirthonwardsthattheir
leadersareanointedbyGodandthatitissac-
rilegious to treat them like ordinary folks, no
matter what they do.
Bethatasitmay,thequestiontoaskisthis:
WillModi’spresentconciliatorygesturebring
in electoral dividends, especially in Kerala,
where they are most coveted? The answer is
an emphatic affirmative. Here’s why I think
so. The Kerala Christian community is going
throughaperiodof unprecedenteddisorien-
tationanddemoralisation.Shockingepisodes
of priestly and episcopal crime and corrup-
A broken House
Parliament secretariatsarenowhelmedbybureaucratswhodoexecutive’sbidding
they are exceeding their brief.
One of the authors of this piece had a bit-
ter experience at the hands of this newly-
emboldened class regarding a proposal for a
Private Member’s bill on federalism to be
discussed in the Rajya Sabha. Earlier, the
practice was that the secretariat would assist
a member in formulating his or her bill
based on the draft submitted. It would also
allow the member to resubmit the resolu-
tion if there are any incongruities. Instead,
the resolution, which was balloted as num-
ber one, was disallowed over flippant rea-
sons. The Secretariat cited that the resolu-
tion included more than two subjects. The
reality was that both cannot be separated
from each other — any discussion on feder-
alism must include the governor’s powers.
Subsequently, no opportunity was given to
even resubmit the revised text as desired by
the Secretariat. This is unheard of in the his-
tory of our Parliament. All this is happening
because pivotal positions in Parliament sec-
retariats are held by persons handpicked by
the executive, who do its bidding. This prac-
tice is a capitulation of the values enshrined
in the Constitution.
Even in the pre-Independence era, the
legislature had the power to be heard irre-
spectiveof whattheexecutivethoughtabout
those subjects. There were provisions to in-
sulatethelegislaturefromthelikelyexcesses
of the executive and its whims. We all agree
that the erosion of the legislature’s power
started long back. But things are now on an
Will Modi’s present
conciliatory gesture bring in
electoral dividends,
especially in Kerala, where
they are most coveted? The
answer is an emphatic
affirmative. Here’s why I
think so. The Kerala
Christian community is
going through a period of
unprecedented
disorientation and
demoralisation. Shocking
episodes of priestly and
episcopal crime and
corruption have hit them
like a series of sledge-
hammer blows.
extremely slippery slope and the accounta-
bility of the executive to the legislature is al-
most a thing of the past.
A large number of questions are disal-
lowedandrepliestomanyareunsatisfactory.
Amendmentsandresolutionsarerejectedon
flimsy grounds primarily to keep the execu-
tive happy. As students of political science,
we have read about various theories on the
sourceof politicalobligation:Whyshouldwe
payobeisancetothestate?Wheredoesitsle-
gitimacycomefrom?Powerflowsfrom“We,
thePeople”andcomesrightbackthroughthe
pipeline of accountability. Elected represen-
tatives must be answerable to those who el-
evate them to decision-making positions. In
the absence of this, democracy is a sham.
Alittleover94yearsago,VithalbhaiPatel
succeeded in establishing an independent
Secretariat for the Central Legislative
Assembly—towhichhehadbeenelectedun-
dertheprovisionsof theGovernmentof India
Act 1919 and became the first Indian to as-
sume Speakership (then Presidentship) in
1925. It was only after a long battle with the
colonial administration that he managed to
securefortheHouseatrulyautonomousstaff
tolookaftertheday-to-dayfunctioningof the
legislature. This, he believed, was crucial to
maintainasemblanceof fairnessandimpar-
tiality. Thedangerof thisongoingre-crafting
of theSecretariatwasfirstemphasisedbythe
first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, G V
Mavalankar. He highlighted how it was of
paramount importance for Parliament and
C R Sasikumar
tionhavehitthemlikeaseriesofsledge-ham-
mer blows. The Kerala wing of the Indian
NationalCongress,whichhasbeentradition-
allythemainstayofKeralaChristians,isinvis-
ibledisarray.TheCPMtoohastouchedanall-
time low in the wake of the gold-smuggling
cases and the slew of salacious revelations in
its wake. A religious and political vacuum
plagues Keralites like never before.
Add to that the strong pull that the mys-
tiqueof powerandpoliticalmomentumthat
Modi has generated. He is nonpareil in the
political annals of our country in the art of
gainingfrom contradictions and impossibil-
ities. Those who criticise Modi for being in-
consistent overlook his genius. The tremor
of ultimate power is not unleashed by act-
ing consistently and rationally. The aura of
invincibility is achieved only by acting irra-
tionally and profiting from it. I will not be
surprised if future historians recognise de-
monetisation as the watershed moment in
“the India of our dreams” morphing into
Modi’s New India.
It takes very little to mesmerise religious
leaders, especially of the Christian commu-
nity. As L K Advani said in another context:
Ask them to bend, and they will crawl. So,
while dealing with them, Modi runs no risk
of being asked: Are we to believe that the
Sangh has renounced its ideological dogma
that Christians and Muslims should be ineli-
gible for equal citizenship?
The writer was principal of St Stephen’s
College, Delhi
its Secretariat to function independently of
the executive.
Article98of theConstitutionprovidesfor
the establishment, recruitment, and condi-
tionsof serviceof theSecretariatthroughthe
channelof parliamentaryconsensus.Thistoo
stands threatened today. Former Secretary
General of the Lok Sabha Secretariat P D T
Acharywrotein2017thatanyattempttosub-
vertthelegislaturewouldhavetobeginwith
“dispens[ing] with the independence of the
Secretariat…Thiscanbeachievedbyinduct-
ing officers of the executive… Being trained
to serve the executive, the concept of inde-
pendence of the legislature[‘s] Secretariat is
alien to them.”
Induction to posts in all departments
within the Secretariat is overseen by the
Recruitment Cell, which periodically adver-
tisesvacanciesandcallsforapplications.The
processof recruitmentvariesfordifferentpo-
sitions but generally involves written exam-
inationsandinterviews.Theselectionof asin-
gle IAS officer in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat
during the Chairmanship of Shankar Dayal
Sharma was massively frowned upon, so
muchsothatitledtotheestablishmentof an
unofficialconventiontorefrainfromemploy-
ing officers of the central cadre in the service
of eitherHouse.Come2023,mostof thesen-
ior posts are now held by those nominated
from All-India Services.
Brittas is a CPM Rajya Sabha MP and
Verma is a LAMP Fellow
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“But nearly three and half months after becoming prime minister, for the third
time, Pushpa Kamal Dahal seems to have his hands full just to keep his coalition
intact. He also inspires little confidence... If the country ever needed ‘the fierce
one’ to show a sense of purpose, it is now.”
One rule for all
SC’sgrantof bailtoLakhimpur-Kherideaths
accusedraisesquestionsabouthowsimilar or
lesseroffencesaretreated
Rekha Sharma
ALMOST HALF A century ago, Justice
Krishna Iyer said, “Bail, not jail, is the basic
rule”.Itwaslikeasermonpreachedandfor-
gotten till an industrialist of repute was
granted bail at midnight, and much later,
when it was resurrected again in the case
of a TV news anchor. The truth is that it has
beenfollowedmoreinbreachthanincom-
pliance.InNovember2022,theChief Justice
of India(CJI)speakingataneventorganised
by the Bar Council of India stated that the
higher judiciary is flooded with bail appli-
cations due to reluctance at the grass root
levels to grant bail. Again, in a matter com-
ingfromtheAllahabadHighCourt,theChief
Justicewasconstrainedtoremark,“If wedo
not act in matters of personal liberty and
grant relief, then what are we doing here?”
While ordinary citizens, human rights
activists, writers, teachers and even press
reporters languish behind bars, and their
families suffer outside, the courts, by and
large, ignore or refuse to follow the basic
rule of bail. As per the statistics provided
by the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), as on December 31, 2021, out of a
total of 5,54,034 prisoners, 4,27,165 are
undertrials. In other words, more than
four lakh accused are languishing in jail
without bail, waiting for their trial to ei-
ther commence or conclude, they don’t
know when. All this, despite what was
clearly declared by Justice Iyer half a cen-
tury ago and despite, much later, the
Supreme Court’s elaborate guidelines re-
garding arrest and bail in Satender Kumar
Antil v CBI. On March 31, a bench headed
by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul expressed
strong disapproval over magistrates not
following its guidelines, and warned that
if they are passing orders in derogation
of the law laid down in the said judgment,
then they should be sent to judicial acad-
emies for upgradation of their skills. So
far so good. But, then, with the greatest
of respect, what about the Supreme Court
itself where hundreds of bail applica-
tions, and a large number of habeas cor-
pus petitions are believed to be awaiting
disposal? Given the observations of the
CJI in the Arnab Goswami case that “dep-
rivation of liberty for a single day is a day
too many”, these are huge numbers.
Inthemidstof thisdepressingscenario,
comes the case of Ashish Mishra, son of a
Union minister. Not very long ago, he was
in the eye of a storm for having allegedly
run his SUV over a group of farmers who
were returning from a protest site in
Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. The inci-
dent resulted in the death of eight people
while many others sustained injuries.
Despite the gruesome nature of the crime,
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
TIME TO ADJUST
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘A new
classroom’ (IE, April 10). NEP 2020 is a
radical policy that intends to overhaul
the education system in the country.
The curriculum framework will need
to ensure a smooth transition from the
old to the new education policy. The
existing pool of educators can either
be an asset or a roadblock in this tran-
sition phase. To help them integrate
better, internet-aided hybrid instruc-
tion modules should be introduced.
Schools should organise workshops
explaining clearly the logistics of the
transition so as to allow the adminis-
tration also to adjust to this change. It
is in the best interest of students to
make sure that teachers have enough
time to unlearn the fundamentals of
the current system.
Sudip Kumar Dey, Barasat
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘A new
classroom’ (IE, April 10). Hats off to the
GoIforshowingtherightintentinterms
of changes suggested through the
NationalCurriculumFramework.Astu-
dent of class XI will now have an array
of options to choose from all three
streams – Science, Humanities, and
Commerce.Thiswillhaveagreatimpact
on their future and the kind of knowl-
edge they are able to gain. But success-
ful implementation across all boards
and schools would require thorough
planning. All stakeholders, including
schools,needtobeinvolvedinthisexer-
ciseandtheirviewsshouldbesoughtto
understand the potential challenges at
grass root levels. Last but not the least,
rural areas, tier 2 and tier 3 cities must
notbeneglected,andallshouldworkon
thesametangentwithoutanydisparity.
Bal Govind, Noida
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— THE KATHMANDU POST
the UP police dragged its feet in arresting
him. It was only after a PIL was filed in the
Supreme Court against the inaction of the
police, and after serious concerns were
raised regarding the fairness of theinvesti-
gation, that he was arrested. However, the
accusedsucceededin obtaining bailfroma
single judge of the Lucknow bench of
Allahabad High Court. Once again, the
Supreme Court was approached. The mat-
ter came up before a Bench headed by
Justice Surya Kant. The bench castigated
thehighcourt,andheldthatitfailedtolook
into aspects such as the nature, gravity and
severityof theoffence,andthelikelihoodof
theaccusedfleeingfromjusticeortamper-
ing with the evidence, as also the impact
his release may have on the trial, and soci-
ety at large. Holding that the high court
adopted a myopic view of the evidence, it
cancelled Ashish Mishra’s bail. The order
wentalongwaytowardsdispellingtheim-
pression that while the high and mighty
get their way, lesser mortals suffer.
Thereafter,AshishMishraagainmovedthe
high court for bail, but it was dismissed.
Hence he moved the Supreme Court.
Though the said application before
the Supreme Court is for regular bail, and
is yet to be finally decided, Ashish Mishra
has been granted interim bail. The order
comes as a surprise, to put it mildly. The
accused has been granted bail on two
grounds. First, he has been in custody for
more than one year. Second, the trial is
likely to take a minimum of five years.
And, to allay the apprehension of the
State that if released on bail, Ashish
Mishra might derail the trial, the court
said that it was passing the order on ex-
perimental basis to judge whether there
is any substance in the apprehensions ex-
pressed on behalf of the State and the in-
formant. The bail was earlier rejected on
sound and valid grounds by the same
bench. They still exist. It is a case where
allegedly not one, not two, but a number
of persons were killed, and more than one
was injured in broad daylight. Just be-
cause the accused has been in custody for
a year or so does not wash away the valid-
ity and relevance of the grounds for ear-
lier rejection of bail. As for the five-year
period, with respect, given the back-
ground, should that have been a consid-
eration at this stage?
Secondly, what prevents the Supreme
Court from ordering day-to-day proceed-
ings? And as regards the release on exper-
imental basis, what if it is ultimately found
to have failed? Will the court in that case
be able to undo the resultant harm?
Let us hope that the experiment
leaves the law better and not bitter. Let us
also hope that all accused who are in-
volved in similar or in lesser offences than
Ashish Mishra and are in jail, receive the
same priority, and no one has to live with
the feeling that they are children of a
lesser God.
The writer is a former judge of the Delhi
High Court
LET THEM TALK
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Rights of
the Opposition’ (IE, April 10). In the
current scenario, the writer’s empha-
sis on the need to create a regime of
Opposition rights is timely and calls for
serious attention. A fearless
Opposition that asks questions to
those in power is sine qua non for a
healthy democracy. The ruling dispen-
sation's misuse of law enforcement
agencies to bully the Opposition to si-
lence is detrimental to democratic val-
ues. The central agencies are not sup-
posed to play a partisan role, nor target
members of the Opposition — as has
been the case in the recent past. The
Opposition leaders are now only left
with the option of going to the masses
to caution them about the abuse of
power that is posing a threat to ideas of
dissent and criticism.
Samiul Hassan Quadri, Bikaner
HAND IN HAND
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘The
tri-junction problem’ (IE, April 10).
India-Bhutan ties are mounted
on mutual trust and goodwill, as our
foreign secretary rightly opined.
Doklam or any other border
issue ought to bank on leveraging
these strengths for long-lasting
solutions. Connecting with the new
generations in Bhutan in their aca-
demic pursuit and the population's
spiritual underpinnings could be ex-
plored. Hydropower trade has always
been a bright spot that we must keep
in mind. Diplomatic efforts to reassure
cooperation and ensure strategic
handholding should be New Delhi's
focus in dealing with Thimphu.
Anjali Bhavana, Thiruvananthapuram

14 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
US President speaks
duringWhiteHouse
EasterEggRoll. AP
USA
Bidensayshe’s
planningtorun
forsecondterm
Washinton: US President
Joe Biden said on Monday
he plans to run for reelec-
tion in 2024 but was not
prepared to announce it
yet. “I plan on running ...
but we’re not prepared to
announce it yet,” Biden
said in an interview with
NBC’s Today show before
the White House Easter
Egg Roll. Biden has saidhe
intends to be Democratic
candidate in 2024 but has
not made a formal an-
nouncement. Top White
House advisers are set to
make final decisions on
launchingBiden’sre-elec-
tion campaign, NBC News
reported, citing unidenti-
fied sources. REUTERS
FRANCE
Guidesamong
sixkilledinAlps
avalanche
Paris: The death toll from
Sunday’s avalanche in the
French Alps rose to six, in-
cluding two mountain
guides, local authorities
saidMonday.Theprosecu-
tor’sofficeinBonneville,in
the Haute-Savoie region,
said the body of a sixth
person was found after
searches resumed on
Monday morning. The
prefectureofHaute-Savoie
said one person was sent
tothehospitalwithminor
injuries.Eightotherpeople
werefoundunharmed.No
detailshavebeenprovided
on the identity of the vic-
tims. The avalanche on
Sunday rolled down the
Armancette glacier. AP
PAKISTAN
Fourkilled,15
injuredinQuetta
explosion
Quetta: Four people were
killedandfifteeninjuredin
a bombing targeting a po-
lice vehicle in a market-
place in the southwestern
Pakistanicity of Quettaon
Monday,ahospitalofficial
said. "The injured num-
bers reached fifteen, and
four dead,” Wasim Baig, a
spokesperson for the
Quetta hospital, told
Reuters.Headdedthatthe
dead included a woman,
while two others were in-
jured. Police official
Shafqat Cheema said that
the target was vehicle of
theactingsuperintendent
ofpoliceprobe,whichwas
parkedinKandahariBazar.
REUTERS
UNITED KINGDOM
BBCoutraged
by‘govt-funded’
Twittertag
London: Elon Musk-
owned Twitter has la-
belled the BBC as a “gov-
ernment funded media”
onthemicrobloggingsite,
leadingtoasharpreaction
from British public broad-
caster which on Monday
objected to the move. The
taxpayer-funded licence
fee supported UK media
corporationsaidithascon-
tactedthesocialmediagi-
ant over the designation
on its @BBC account to re-
solve the issue “as soon as
possible”. “The BBC is, and
always has been, inde-
pendent. We are funded
by the British public
through the licence fee,”
BBC statement said. PTI
AFTER PRACTICING PRECISION STRIKES, BLOCKADING ISLAND
‘Ready to fight’: China after completing passes
three-day combat drills near Taiwan curb powers of
Spotted 59 Chinese jets so far: Taiwan’s defence ministry
REUTERS
TAIPEI,APRIL10
CHINA ENDED three days of mil-
itary drills around Taiwan on
Monday saying they had tested
integrated military capabilities
under actual combat conditions,
havingpractisedprecisionstrikes
and blockading the island that
Beijing views as its own.9
The Chinese military said it
had“successfullycompleted”the
exercises and “comprehensively
tested” the capabilities of multi-
ple units under actual combat.
“The troops in the theatre are
readytofightallthetimeandcan
fightatanytime,resolutelycrush-
inganyformofTaiwanindepend-
ence separatism and foreign in-
terference,” the Eastern Theatre
Command of the People’s
Liberation Army said.
Chinese state television said
earlieronMondaythataircraft,in-
cluding nuclear-capable H-6
bombersarmedwithlivemissiles,
&warshipsstageddrillsto“forma
multi-directional island-encom-
passing blockade situation”.
The Eastern Theatre
CommandsaidtheShandongair-
Imam stabbed
while leading
prayers at New
Jersey mosque
LIVIAALBECK-RIPKA&
COREYKILGANNON
NEWJERSEY,APRIL10
An imam was stabbed on
Sunday while he was leading
early morning prayers at a
mosqueinPaterson,NJ,byaman
who was subdued by wor-
shipers, the authorities and a
community member said.
The man, whom prosecutors
identified as Serif Zorba, 32, was
arrested and charged with first-
degree attempted murder, offi-
cials said.
Zorba was “subdued by con-
gregants” by the time the police
arrived at the Omar Mosque af-
ter 5:30 am, according to a news
release from the Passaic County
Prosecutor’s Office.
Mayor Andre Sayegh of
Paterson identified the imam as
Sayed Elnakib. Prosecutors said
that the imam, 65, sustained
“nonfatal stab wounds” and was
transported to St. Joseph’s
University Medical Center. NYT
Math ‘Nobel Prize’ for Indian-American mathematician
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA
WASHINGTON,APRIL10
CALYAMPUDI RADHAKRISHNA
Rao, a prominent Indian-
American mathematician and
statistician, will receive the 2023
InternationalPrizeinStatistics,the
equivalent to the Nobel Prize in
the field, for his monumental
work 75 years ago that revolu-
tionised statistical thinking.
Rao, who is now 102, will re-
ceivetheprize,whichcomeswith
a $80,000 award, this July at the
biennial International Statistical
InstituteWorldStatisticsCongress
SOME GERMAN INSTITUTIONS HAVE BEGUN TO GIVE BACK WHAT JEWS WERE FORCED TO SURRENDER DURING THIRD REICH
Not Picassos, still precious: Museums return silver lost to Nazis
MILTON ESTEROW
APRIL 10
IT WAS noon on November 10,
1938, when Nazi officers came
to the door of William
Bergman’s Munich home, ar-
rested him for being a Jew and
shipped him off to the Dachau
concentrationcamp, abouta30-
minute drive away.
Alsotakenfromthehomethat
day was a 19th-century kiddush
cup typically used to sanctify the
Sabbath and Jewish holidays.
After five months, Bergman,
a metallurgist, managed to es-
cape the camp by bribing its
Pak House again
Bill to
Ships of Taiwan Navy take part in a military exercise in
Taiwan in this handout picture released on April 10. Reuters
craftcarrierhadalsotakenpartin
combat patrols, and it showed
fighters taking off from its deck.
Taiwan has been tracking the
Shandong in the Pacific Ocean.
Taiwan’s defence ministry
published a map on Monday of
the previous 24 hours of Chinese
air force activities, showing four
carrier-based Chinese J-15 fight-
ers operating over the Pacific
Ocean to Taiwan’s east. The min-
istry said that as of mid-morning
onMondayithadspotted59mil-
itary aircraft and 11 ships around
Taiwan, and that the Shandong
carrier group was conducting
drills in the Western Pacific.
CHARGED FOR PROMOTING ‘NEW CITIZENS MOVEMENT’
Leading Chinese rights activists
handed lengthy jail sentences
VIVIANWANG
BEIJING,APRIL10
TWO OF China’s most promi-
nenthumanrightslawyerswere
sentenced on Monday to 14
years and 12 years in prison,
some of the lengthiest such sen-
tences in recent years and an in-
dication of how the space for ex-
pression has evaporated under
China’s leader, Xi Jinping.
The lawyers, Xu Zhiyong and
DingJiaxi,hadbeenchargedwith
subversion for promoting what
they called a “New Citizens
Movement,” which encouraged
ordinary Chinese to exercise the
rightssuchasfreespeechguaran-
teedbythecountry’sConstitution,
at least in theory. They had been
detained after organizing a gath-
ering of about 20lawyersand ac-
tivists in the seaside city of
Xiamen in 2019, where they dis-
cussedtheirplanstoworktoward
those goals, and about the future
ofthehumanrightsmovementin
China broadly.
CRRaowillgetInternational
PrizeinStatistics,equivalent
totheNobelPrizeinthefield.
in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
In his remarkable 1945 pa-
per published in the Bulletin of
guards. He went to England and
Montreal, where he lived and
worked until his death in 1986.
But the cup was not seen
again by his family until this
February when his son, Steven
Bergman, a retired sales execu-
tive in Maryland, received a
package in the mail from a cura-
tor at a museum in Munich.
“One box was inside the
other, all wrapped tightly with
Styrofoam,”Bergmansaid.“They
could have shipped an egg and it
would not have broken.”
Inside was the kiddush cup,
a searing reminder of a time
when any precious metals
owned by Jews became a target
Japan calls for
peace in strait
Tokyo: Japan stressed on
Mondaytheimportanceof
peaceinTaiwanStraitdur-
ing a meeting of senior
JapaneseandChineseoffi-
cials. Tokyo also called on
China to stop ships enter-
ing Japanese waters,
adding that it was deeply
concerned about Beijing’s
activitynearJapanesewa-
ters and its coordination
with Russia. REUTERS
Xu Zhiyong (left), was given 14 years jail term while Ding
Jiaxi will serve 12 years. Reuters File
In his decade as China’s top
leader, Xihasworked,largelysuc-
cessfully, to crush any vestiges of
dissent. He has targeted not only
human rights activists but also
businesstycoons,intellectualsand
membersof thepartyelite,some
of whomhavebeensentencedto
nearly 20 years in prison. He has
expanded online censorship and
demanded loyalty from media.
Human Rights Watch, the in-
ternational advocacy group, de-
the Calcutta Mathematical
Society, Rao demonstrated
three fundamental results that
paved the way for the modern
field of statistics and provided
statistical tools heavily used in
science today, the Foundation
said in a statement on April 1.
The first, now known as the
Cramer-Rao lower bound, pro-
vides a means for knowing
when a method for estimating a
quantity is as good as any
method can be, it said.
Thesecondresult,namedthe
Rao-Blackwell Theorem (be-
cause it was discovered inde-
pendently by eminent statisti-
for seizure by the Nazis.
Much attention has been fo-
cused in recent decades on the
widespread looting by the Nazis
of fine art owned by Jewish fam-
ilies. Lessdiscussed has beenthe
pervasive theft of more prosaic
valuablesfromJewswhodidnot
own Courbets or Klimts — but
didownitemslikesilverkiddush
cups that were confiscated or
pawned for peanuts on orders
from the Third Reich.
Now, several German muse-
ums with collections of such sil-
ver are quietly engaged in a de-
termined effort to return them,
under an initiative started in re-
cent years.
US sails its warship near
Chinese-controlled island
in South China Sea
REUTERS
BEIJING, APRIL 10
A US Navy destroyer sailed near
one of the most important man-
made and Chinese controlled is-
lands in the South China Sea on
Monday, in a freedom of naviga-
tion mission that Beijing de-
nounced as illegal.
While the United States fre-
quently makes such voyages to
challengeChinaandotherstates’
territorial claims in the strategic
waterway, the latest one took
placeas Beijing staged more war
games around Taiwan.
The US Navy's 7th Fleet said
the USS Milius engaged in “nor-
maloperations”within12nauti-
cal miles of Mischief Reef in the
Spratly Islands, once a reef sub-
merged at high tide and where
China has built an airport and
other facilities.
“Under customary interna-
tionallaw...featureslikeMischief
nounced the latest sentences as
“cruellyfarcical”andcalledforthe
men’simmediaterelease. Xuand
Ding were tried in secret, and the
sentences handed down by a
court in eastern Shandong
Province were not publicly an-
nounced, but were confirmed by
Ding’s wife, Luo Shengchun.
Xuhadpreviouslyservedfour
years in prison, and Ding three-
and-a-half, also related to New
Citizens Movement. NYT
cian David Blackwell), provides
a means for transforming an es-
timate into a better—in fact, an
optimal—estimate. Together,
these results form a foundation
on which much of statistics is
built, the statement said.
Andthethirdresult provided
insightsthatpioneeredanewin-
terdisciplinary field that has
flourished as “information
geometry.” Combined, these re-
sults help scientists more effi-
ciently extract information from
data, the statement added.
Rao was awarded the title of
Padma Bhushan (1968) and
Padma Vibhushan in 2001.
A storage cabinet at Bavarian National Museum in Munich
displays silver items that Jews were forced to sell in 1939. NYT
Reef that are submerged at high
tide in their naturally formed
state are not entitled to a territo-
rial sea,” the 7th Fleet said in a
statement.
“The land reclamation ef-
forts, installations, and struc-
tures built on Mischief Reef do
not change this characterisation
under international law.”
China’s People’s Liberation
Army said the US ship had “ille-
gally” entered waters near the
reef without Chinese approval,
and its forces had monitored the
vessel and warned it.
“China has indisputable sov-
ereignty over the islands in the
South China Sea and the sur-
rounding maritime area,” its
Southern Theatre Command
said in a statement.
Last month, China and the
U.S. sparred over the movement
of the same ship, which China
said had entered its territorial
waters in the South China Sea
near the Paracel Islands.
Women, families
in Herat banned
from restaurants
with gardens by
ruling Taliban
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HERAT, KABUL, APRIL 10
THE TALIBAN have banned fam-
ilies and women from restau-
rants with gardens or green
spaces in Afghanistan’s north-
western Herat province, an offi-
cial said Monday.
The moves followed com-
plaints from religious scholars
and members of the public
about mixing of genders in such
places, he said.
It was the latest in a slew of
restrictions imposed by the
Taliban since they took power in
August2021.Theyhaveshutgirls
out of classrooms beyond sixth
grade and women from univer-
sities, most types of employ-
ment, including jobs at the
United Nations.
They are also banned from
public spaces such as parks and
gyms. Authorities say the curbs
are in place because of gender
mixing or because women al-
legedlyarenotwearingthehijab,
or Islamic headscarf, correctly.
The outdoor dining ban only
applies to establishments in
Herat, where such premises re-
main open to men.Baz
MohammadNazir,adeputyoffi-
cialfromtheMinistryof Viceand
Virtue's directorate in Herat, de-
nied media reports that all
restaurants were off limits to
families and women, dismissing
them as propaganda.
It applied only to restaurants
with green areas, such as a park,
where men and women could
meet, he said. He also denied re-
portsthatsalesofDVDsofforeign
films, TV shows & music are
banned saying that owners were
advised against selling because it
contradicted Islamic values.
AFTER PRESIDENT’S REFUSAL
SC Chief Justice
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA
ISLAMABAD,APRIL10
A JOINT session of Pakistan's
Parliament on Monday passed a
bill to curb the powers of the
chief justice of the Supreme
Court regarding suo motu cases
and the constitution of benches,
amidst strong opposition from
Imran Khan-led Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
“ParliamentinitsJointsession
passes ‘The Supreme Court
(Practice&Procedure)Bill,2023’,”
the National Assembly or lower
house announced in a tweet.
The development comes
two days after President Arif Alvi
returned a bill passed by both
houses of parliament for recon-
sideration, saying the proposed
legislation is beyond the juris-
diction of the legislative body.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer
Tarar presented the bill in the
joint sitting of the house held
withNationalAssemblySpeaker
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the chair.
Addressing the joint session,
the law minister said that voices
against the chief justice's suo
motu (on his own initiative)
powerswerearisingfromwithin
the top court.
On March 27, two judges of
the apex court raised questions
over the powers of the CJP, say-
ingtheSC“cannotbedependent
Police at the scene near Slugger Field baseball stadium in
downtown Louisville, Kentucky, Monday. Reuters
Five dead, eight injured
after shooting attack in
downtown Kentucky
BRENDAN O'BRIEN
APRIL 10
FIVE PEOPLE were killed and
eight others were wounded in a
shooting attack on Monday at a
bank in downtown Louisville,
Kentucky, the city's police de-
partment said.
Shortly after confirming the
attack, police said the shooter
wasdead,withoutgivingfurther
details. It was unclear whether
thedeathtollof fiveincludedthe
shooter, whopolicedescribed as
either a current or former em-
ployee of the bank.
Police were still trying to de-
termine whether the shooter
shot himself or was shot by po-
lice, Paul Humphrey, a Louisville
Metro Police Department
deputy chief, told reporters.
Police said they responded
within minutes to reports of an
attackeratabout8:30a.m.(1230
GMT) at a branch of the Old
“I started looking for heirs of
looted silver following an exhi-
bition titled ‘Silver for the Reich
— Silver Objects from Jewish
Property in the Bavarian
National Museum,’ which con-
sisted of many of the 112 stolen
items stored in the museum,”
Matthias Weniger, a curator
and head of provenance re-
search at the Bavarian National
Museum in Munich, said in an
email.
Since 2019 he has helped re-
turn an assortment of cups,
candlesticks, spice containers
and silver teapots to the
Bergman family and a dozen
others in the United States,
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
E
E X P L A I NE D
● Bill trail
THE SUPREME Court
(Practice and Procedure)
Bill,2023wasapprovedby
both houses of Parliament
last month and sent to the
president for assent. The
bill was approved by the
federal Cabinet on March
28.TheNationalAssembly
passed it after a few
amendmentssuggestedby
the Standing Committee
on Law and Justice. On
March30,itwaspassedby
the Senate.
on the solitary decision of one
man, the Chief Justice”.
Opposition PTI senior leader
FawadChaudhrysaidonMonday
thathispartyrejectsthislaw.“The
billwilljustgointhetrash.Were-
ject this law,” he tweeted.
The bill states that every
cause, matter, or appeal before
the apex court would be heard
and disposed of by a bench con-
stituted by a committee com-
prising the chief justice and the
two senior-most judges.
It added that the decisions of
the committee would be taken
by a majority.
NationalBank,nearSluggerField
baseball stadium in the city's
downtown.
At least two police officers
wereamongtheeightwounded;
two of the wounded, including
one of the officers, were in criti-
cal condition at a hospital.
"We will come together as a
community to work to prevent
thesehorrificactsof gunviolence
fromcontinuinghereandaround
the state," Craig Greenberg,
mayorof thecityof 625,000,told
reporters at a briefing.
Kentucky Governor Andy
Beshear,onthevergeoftears,said
he knew victims in the attack.
Mass shootings have become
recurrent in the United States. So
far this year, the nation has expe-
rienced 146 mass shootings. In
one of the most recent high-pro-
fileincidents,three9-year-oldstu-
dents and three staff members
werekilledbyaformerstudentat
a school in Nashville, Tennessee,
on March 27. REUTERS
England, Spain, France and
Israel.
Karp, who donated with her
cousins their great-aunt’s silver
cup,agreedandreadfromthere-
marks she made during the mu-
seum’s presentation ceremony.
“Cousins from around the
world came together on a
handful of computer screens to
decide the cup’s fitting home.
A museum curator in my
mother’s hometown recog-
nized how this little museum
could keep the legacy of
Göppingen’s Jews alive by in-
cluding it in the museum’s per-
manent exhibition. The stars fi-
nally aligned.” NYT
 E EXPLAINED
15
Swords to sceptres: What
royal regalia will be used for
King Charles’ coronation
St Edward’s
Ampulla Crown
Sword of
Offering
Coronation
Sovereign’s Sceptre
Ring with Cross
REUTERS
LONDON, APRIL 10
THE CEREMONY for King Charles’s coro-
nation at Westminster Abbey in London
on May 6 will involve historic regalia
rangingfromsceptresandmacestoaring
and a spoon. Here is what will be used, as
outlined by Buckingham Palace Sunday.
ST EDWARD’S CROWN
Charles will be crowned with the his-
toric St Edward’s Crown, which has been
usedsincethecoronationof KingCharles
IIin1661afterthemonarchywasrestored
following the 10-year republic of Oliver
Cromwell. The crown, which weighs
about 2.2 kg (4 lb 12 ounces), is made up
of a solid gold frame set with rubies,
amethysts,sapphires,garnet,topazesand
tourmalines,andhasavelvetcapwithan
ermineband.Itreplacedanoriginalcrown
believed to date back to the 11th century
Anglo-Saxonkingof England,Edwardthe
Confessor.
SOVEREIGN’S EXPLAINED
SCEPTRE WITH CROSS
The Cullinan 1 dia- CULTURE
mond, also known as the
Star of Africa, which weighs in at 530
carats and is the world's largest colour-
less cut diamond, was set in the bejew-
elledgoldensceptrewhichhasbeenused
in every coronation since 1661.
The sceptre, which has undergone a
number of alterations over the centuries,
representsthesovereign’stemporalpower
and is associated with good governance.
SOVEREIGN’S SCEPTRE WITH DOVE
This is the second sceptre used in the
ceremony, representing the sovereign’s
spiritual role. It also dates from 1661. It is
made from a gold rod in three sections,
mounted with diamonds, rubies, emer-
alds, sapphires and spinels. At the top is
an enamelled dove with outspread
wings, which represents the Holy Ghost.
THE SOVEREIGN’S ORB
The Sovereign’s Orb, another item
commissionedforCharlesII'scoronation,
isaglobeof goldwithacrossmountedon
top, surrounded by a band of diamonds,
emeralds, rubies, sapphires and pearls
with a large amethyst at the summit. It is
arepresentationof Christiansovereignty.
Drishti IAS
(Prelims + Mains)
(Along with Free Online Facility)
8010-440-440 OR Visit Our Karol Bagh Centre at 21, Pusa Road, Delhi.
Why Sri Lanka’s proposed anti-terror law faces widespread criticism
NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN
CHENNAI, APRIL 10
LAWYERS, LEGAL scholars, human rights
activists, media, and at least one religious
leader in Sri Lanka have asked the govern-
ment not to take the Anti Terrorism Bill
(ATB) to Parliament, and have demanded
widerconsultationsontheprovisionsof the
draft law that one newspaper has called a
“remedy worse than malady”.
The proposed law is meant to replace
the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act,
whichgivessecuritypersonnelvirtualcarte
blanche in detaining terror suspects. It was
widely misused during the three-decade
civil war, leading to disappearances and
deaths in custody of both Tamil and Sinhala
youthsinthe1980s,1990sand2000s.There
has been immense international pressure,
including from the UN Human Rights
Council,onSriLankato repeal the 1978law.
However, nothing in the ATB suggests it
will be more just or democratic thanthe ex-
isting law. It has been widely criticised as a
potentialtooltosuppressdissentandprotest.
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
The Sovereign’s
Orb
Armills
Sovereign’s
Sceptre with Dove
CORONATION RING
The Coronation ring, known as “The
Wedding Ring of England” and com-
posed of a sapphire with a ruby cross set
in diamonds, was made for the corona-
tion of King William IV in 1831. Worn at
every coronation since then, it symbol-
ises kingly dignity.
SWORDS AND MACES
Anumberof swordswillfeatureinthe
coronation procession. These include the
SwordofState,whichsymbolisesroyalau-
thority and was made in about 1678, and
was used at Charles' investiture as Prince
of Wales in 1969.
Also to feature will be the Sword of
Temporal Justice, the Sword of Spiritual
Justice and the Sword of Mercy, which
werefirstusedinthecoronationofCharles
I in 1626. The bejewelled Sword of
Offering, made for the coronation of
GeorgeIVin1821,isoneoftheobjectsused
during the coronation ceremony.
Two maces, made of silver gilt over
oak and dating from be-
tween 1660 and 1695,
will also feature. These
are the ceremonial em-
blemsof authoritywhich
are carried before the
sovereign at events such as the State
Opening of Parliament.
AMPULLA
The golden ampulla, which dates
from 1661, is a flask in the shape of an ea-
glethatholdstheholyoil,whichwascon-
secrated in Jerusalem in March and will
be used to anoint the king.
CORONATION SPOON
Thesilver-giltspoonistheoldestpiece
in the regalia, probably made for Henry
II or Richard I in the 12th century. It was
used to anoint King James 1 in 1603, and
has featured at every coronation since.
BRACELETS
Two armills, golden bracelets repre-
sentingsincerity and wisdom, are placed
on the sovereign’s wrists. They are
thought to relate to ancient symbols of
knighthoodandmilitaryleadership.They
date back to 1661 and have been used at
every coronation from King Charles II’s
until King George VI’s in 1937, with new
armills specially prepared for Queen
Elizabeth in 1953.
AccordingtotheColombothinktankCentre
forPolicyAlternatives(CPA),theBillhasonly
one redeeming feature: confessions before
thepolicecannotbepresentedincourtasev-
idence, which is allowed in the existing law.
The proposed law
The main criticism of the draft law —
published by the Gazette of Sri Lanka on
March 22 — is that its definition of a terror-
ist act is not precise, and that it widens the
scope of what is terrorism by including of-
fences that can be prosecuted under other
national laws.
Thus, intimidating the public, wrong-
fully compelling the government to act or
not act in a particular way, preventing the
governmentfromfunctioning,violatingthe
country’s territorial integrity or infringing
on its sovereignty, propagating war or hate
speech and inciting violence, are all terror-
ist acts under the proposed law.
Ambika Satkunanathan, a former
Commissioner of the Human Rights
Commission of Sri Lanka, has pointed out
that this definition does not meet interna-
tionally accepted norms on what consti-
El Niño and the monsoon
Indiahashadgoodmonsoonsfrom2019-22,helpedbyaprolongedLaNiñaevent.ThisyearcouldseeanEl
Niño—whilealldroughtyearsinIndiahavebeenElNiñoyears,notallElNiñoyearshaveproduceddroughts
Harish Damodaran
FROM 2019 to 2022, India had four consecu-
tive years of good southwest monsoons and
overall rainfall.
Inthesefouryears,thecountryasawhole
received an average area-weighted rainfall
of 1,268 mm annually and 933.1 mm over
the four-month southwest monsoon season
(June-September).
Bycontrast,theprecedingfiveyearsfrom
2014 to 2018 registered an average annual
rainfall of just 1,072.1 mm — and 812.4 mm
during the southwest monsoon season.
The surplus precipitation — more than
the normal or historical long period annual
average of 1,160.1 mm (868.6 mm for the
monsoonseason)—duringthelastfouryears
hashelpeddeliverhigheragriculturalgrowth
relative to the previous period that recorded
poor rainfall in three (2014, 2015 and 2018)
out of the five years (Table 1).
According to national accounts data, the
farm sector has grown by an average of 4.3%
peryearfrom 2019-20to 2022-23,asagainst
3.2% from 2014-15 to 2018-19.
The La Niña bounty
The bountiful rainfall over the last four
yearsowessignificantlytoLaNiña,anatmos-
pheric wind and sea surface temperature
(SST) variability phenomenon that occurs
over the equatorial Pacific, but impacts
weather worldwide.
La Niña basically refers to an abnormal
cooling of the central and eastern Pacific
Ocean waters off the coasts of Ecuador and
Peru. Such cooling (SSTs falling 0.5 degrees
Celsius or more below a 30-year average for
atleast fivesuccessivethree-monthperiods)
isaresultof strongtradewindsblowingwest
along the equator, taking warm water from
South America towards Asia. The warming
of the western equatorial Pacific, then, leads
to increased evaporation and concentrated
cloud-formation activity around that region,
whose effects may percolate to India as well.
The latest La Niña event was one of the
longest ever, lasting from July-September
2020 to December-February 2022-23. It
brought copious rain to India — just as the
AAP gets tag: How a ‘national party’ is defined
DAMINI NATH
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE ELECTION Commission on Monday
recognised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a
national party, while revoking that status for
theAllIndiaTrinamoolCongress,Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP), and the Communist
Party of India (CPI).
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar
Pradesh, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in
Andhra Pradesh, PDA in Manipur, Pattali
MakkalKatchi(PMK)inPuducherry,Revoluti-
onarySocialistParty(RSP)inWestBengal,and
MPC in Mizoram lost state party status.
Apart from AAP, national parties now in-
cludetheBJP,Congress,CPI(M),BahujanSamaj
Party(BSP),andNationalPeople’sParty(NPP).
What is a national party?
As the name suggests, a national party
tutes a terrorist act.
“Not only does the definition of terror-
ism have to be precise but it must also ad-
here to the principles of necessity, propor-
tionality and legality... The definition in the
Anti-Terrorism Bill is broad and contains
undefined elements, such as acts ‘violating
territorial integrity or infringement of sov-
ereignty of Sri Lanka or any other sovereign
country’... Historically, even advocating for
certain constitutional arrangements, such
as federalism, has been
construed and labelled as
causing harm to the terri- EXPLAINED
torial integrity and sover-
eignty of Sri Lanka,”
GLOBAL
Satkunanathanwrote in an
analysis of the Bill in the citizen journalism
website GroundViews.
TheBillhasalsomoved hatespeechinto
the terrorism category from a normal crim-
inal offence.
Executive powers
ThePresidentcanproscribeorganisations
on the recommendation of the Inspector
GeneralofPoliceorthegovernmentifhe“has
EXPLAINED ECONOMICS
TABLE 1
AREA-WEIGHTED RAINFALL
Monsoon* Annual**
2014 781.7 (-11.92) 1044.7 (-12.03)
2015 765.8 (-13.71) 1085.0 (-8.64)
2016 864.4 (-2.60) 1083.1 (-8.80)
2017 845.9 (-4.69) 1127.1 (-5.09)
2018 804.1 (-9.40) 1020.8 (-14.05)
2019 971.8 (10.36) 1288.8 (9.51)
2020 961.4 (9.18) 1289.6 (9.58)
2021 874.5 (-0.69) 1236.4 (5.06)
2022 924.8 (6.47) 1257.0 (8.36)
Note:*Jun-Sep;**Jan-Dec; Figuresinbracketsare
% deviation from normal long period average.
Source: India Meteorological Department
TABLE 3
EL NIÑO YEARS THAT WERE NOT DROUGHT YEARS IN INDIA
El Niño Intensity M W W
■ Weak (W)
1951-52
1952-53
1953-54
1958-59
■ Moderate (M)
■ Very Strong (VS)
Source: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Golden Gate Weather Services
two previous “strong” La Niñas in 2007-08
and2010-11,followedbya“moderate”onein
2011-12, had done.
ThemostrecentOceanicNiñoIndexorONI
value — a three-month running-average SST
deviation from the normal in the east-central
equatorial Pacific — was minus 0.4 degrees
CelsiusforJanuary-March2023.SinceLaNiña
is characterised by a negative ONI exceeding
or equal to minus 0.5 degrees, it means that
the so-called ENSO (El Niño-Southern
Oscillation)cyclehasentereda“neutral”phase.
The El Niño threat
While La Niña is associated with good
rainfall in India, this isn’t the case with El
Niño — the opposite “warm” phase of ENSO.
During El Niño, the trade winds weaken or
even reverse: Instead of blowing from the
has a presence ‘nationally’, as opposed to a
regionalpartywhosepresenceisrestrictedto
only a particular state or region.
Acertain statureis sometimesassociated
with being a national party, but this does not
necessarily translate into having a lot of na-
tional political clout. Some parties, despite
being dominant in a major state — such as
the DMK in Tamil Nadu, BJD in Odisha, YS-
RCP in Andhra Pradesh, RJD in Bihar, or TRS
in Telangana — and having a major say in na-
tional affairs, remain regional parties.
How is a national party defined?
The ECI has laid down the technical cri-
teriaforapartytoberecognisedasanational
party.Apartymaygainorlosenationalparty
status from time to time, depending on the
fulfilment of these conditions.
AspertheECI’sPoliticalPartiesandElection
Symbols, 2019 handbook, a political party
would be considered a national party if:
reasonable grounds to believe” the organi-
sation is engaged in an act amounting to an
offence under the proposed law, or is acting
in“anunlawfulmannerprejudicialtothena-
tionalsecurityof SriLanka”.Bannedorgani-
sations cannot recruit members or conduct
programmes and meetings. The ban can be
renewed every year.
PresidentRanilWickremesinghe,whoat
this time last year advised his predecessor
Gotabaya Rajapaksa to listen to the protest-
ers on Galle Face asking for
his resignation, has been
criticised for turning on the
same protesters once he
was in office.
Critics believe that si-
lencing the Argalaya, as the protest move-
ment is known, and outlawing likely
protestsagainstthetougheconomicreforms
that have to be implemented as part of the
IMF's bailout package for Sri Lanka, was a
consideration guiding the draft legislation.
TheCPAhasflaggedprovisionsintheBill
that allow thePresidenttodeclareanypub-
lic space a prohibited area for an indefinite
period, adding to the suspicion that it “may
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com
TABLE 2
ALL BUT ONE DROUGHT YEAR
IN INDIA WAS EL NIÑO YEAR
Year Drought
Intensity
1957-58 Major
1965-66 Major
1966-67 Major
1972-73 Major
1976-77 Moderate
1979-80 Major
1986-87 Moderate
1987-88 Major
1991-92 Moderate
2002-03 Major
2004-05 Moderate
2009-10 Moderate
2014-15 Moderate
2015-16 Moderate
2018-19 Moderate
W M M W W VS M VS W
1963-64
1968-69
1969-70
1977-78
1982-83
1994-95
east(SouthAmerica)tothewest(Indonesia),
they could turn into westerlies. As the winds
blow from the west to east, they cause
masses of warm water to move into the cen-
tralandeasternequatorialPacificOcean. The
rise in SSTs there, thus, leads to increased
rainfall along western Latin America, the
Caribbean, and the US Gulf Coast, while de-
priving Southeast Asia, Australia, and India
of convective currents.
The ENSO cycle, as already pointed out,
is currently in the “neutral” state. According
to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA’s) most recent up-
date, ENSO-neutral conditions are likely to
“persist through the Northern Hemisphere
early summer [of] 2023”. In other words, at
least till June. However, “a transition to El
Niño is favored by July-September 2023”,
■it’srecognisedinfourormorestates;or
■ if its candidates polled at least 6% of to-
tal valid votes in any four or more states in
the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections and
has at least four MPs in the last Lok Sabha
polls; or
■ if ithaswonatleast2%of thetotalseats
in the Lok Sabha from not less than three
states.
Toberecognisedasastateparty,aparty
needs:
■ at least 6% vote-share in the last
Assembly election and have at least 2 MLAs;
or
■ have6%vote-shareinthelastLokSabha
elections from that state and at least one MP
from that state; or
■ at least 3% of the total number of seats
or three seats, whichever is more, in the last
Assembly elections; or
■ at least one MP for every 25 members
or any fraction allotted to the state in the Lok
be used to target legitimate dissent in the
country”; and the weakening of the safe-
guards against detention, which will no
longer require the consent of the Defence
Minister, and can be ordered by a DIG-rank
police officer.
Powers to military
Satkunanathanhasalsopointedoutthat
theATBgiveswidelawenforcementpowers
tothearmedforces,includingtopreventof-
fencesfrombeingcommitted.“Forinstance,
a military officer has the power to arrest a
person if he has ‘reasonable grounds to be-
lieve(aperson)hascommittedanoffence’...
This can be interpreted broadly and used to
arrestpeoplewithnoevidenceandwithout
following due process,” she has written.
The proposed involvement of the mili-
tary in the new law “contravenes best prin-
ciples on policing, further militarizes law
enforcement and creates a de facto state of
emergency... The military is not trained in
law enforcement, uses violence as a first re-
sponse rather than last resort, and histori-
cally has been documented to have com-
mitted grave human rights violations,” she
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
with its chances “increasing through the fall
(September-November)”.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology,
too,hasforecast“a50%chancethatanElNiño
may develop later in 2023”. This is “about
twicethenormallikelihood”,theagencysaid
in its March 28 report, adding that “warmer
El Niño than average SSTs have [already] emerged in
Intensity
Strong
parts of the eastern tropical Pacific in recent
weeks”. The India Meteorological Depa-
rtment is scheduled to issue its first long-
Strong
range forecast of rainfall for the 2023 south-
No El Niño
west monsoon on Tuesday.
Strong
Weak The implications
Mostglobalmodels are seeingthetransi-
Weak
tion from ENSO-neutral to El Niño happen-
Moderate ing this year. But that would probably affect
Strong the monsoon only in the second half
Strong (August-September) of the season. Will it
Moderate translate into deficient rainfall after four sur-
plus years and, by extension, low or even
Weak negative agriculture growth?
Moderate Table 2 shows that practically all drought
Weak years in India since Independence — marked
Very Strong by large declines in foodgrain production or
monsoon failures — have witnessed El Niño
Weak eventsofvaryingintensity.Thesoleexception
was1966-67,althoughtheyearbeforethathad
recorded a “strong” El Niño. (To elaborate,
mean SSTs have to be at least 0.5 degrees
Celsiushigherthanaverageforaminimumof
fiveoverlappingthree-monthperiodstoqual-
ifyasanElNiñoevent.ThepositiveONIvalues
orSSTdeviationshavetobe1.5-1.9degreesfor
2006-07
1997-98
categorisationas“strong”,above2degreesfor
“verystrong”,1-1.4degreesfor“moderate”and
0.5-0.9 degrees for “weak”).
While all drought years have invariably
been El Niño years, the reverse isn’t true.
Table 3 gives a list of all the El Niño years that
weren’t bad agriculture years. The best ex-
amples are 1982-83 and 1997-98. Foodgrain
outputfellonlymarginallyinthesetwo“very
strong” El Niño years. Agricultural GDP
growth was positive in the “moderate” El
Niño-eventyearsof 1951-52,1963-64,1968-
69 and 1994-95.
Tosumup,2023couldwellendtherunof
good rainfall years since 2019. The statistical
probability of that is high, whether or not
there is an El Niño. The El Niño itself can turn
out to be “weak”.
Either way, everyone — from policymak-
erstotractorcompaniesthathavepostedall-
time-high sales in the past four years — has
to brace for a not-too-great monsoon this
time. In a year leading up to Lok Sabha elec-
tions, this could present interesting political
challenges.
Sabha; or
■ have at least 8% of the total valid votes
in the last Assembly election or Lok Sabha
election from the state.
Where does the AAP fit into this?
TheAAPisinpowerwithbigmajorities—
and very large vote shares — in Delhi and
Punjab. In the Goa Assembly elections in
March last year, it received 6.77% of the vote.
This meant that going into the Gujarat-
Himachal elections towards the end of
2022, the party had fulfilled the criteria for
recognition as a state party in three states.
It then required 6% of the vote in either
Himachal or Gujarat to be recognised in a
fourth state, which would qualify it for
recognition as a national party. While the
AAP got only 1% of the vote in Himachal, the
almost 13% vote in Gujarat was more than
double of what it needed to be recognised
as a state party there.
has written.
Widespread criticism
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL)
has urged the government to not ram the
Billthrough,sayingthereisnoroomforleg-
islationthatcurtailsindividuallibertiesand
undermines the rule of law.
The international advocacy Human
Rights Watch has said the proposed legis-
lation would “empower the authorities to
systematically violate fundamental human
rights”, and called on the government to
withdraw the Bill.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the
Archbishop of Colombo, who has been
pushingthegovernmenttomakepublicthe
findings of its investigations into the 2019
Easter bombings,has called for widespread
opposition to the proposed law as it sought
to curb dissent.
The conservative Island newspaper,
which supported the existing anti-terror
law as an effective instrument against the
LTTE,hasadvisedthegovernmentto“deep-
six” the Bill, describing it as a “remedy
worse than malady”.
 16 CLASSIFIEDS & TENDERS WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023

I,PARVEEN KUMARI W/o,Late I, Rizwan Khan S/o Sh Mumeen I, Bimla Devi W/o Sh. Jagdish

Classifieds
PERSONAL
I Prakash Gupta S/o Kedar
Prasad Gupta residing at
Vivekanand Kaloni,
Mohammadabad, Ghazipur,
Mohammadabad, Yusufpur,
Uttar Pradesh-233227, have
changed my name and shall
hereafter be known as Little
Siddh. I have changed only my
name not my Religion.
0070836617-1
I Mohammad Tahir Hussan S/O,
Mohammad Yunus R/o A-177,
Ambedkar Colony, Chattarpur,
Delhi, 110074 have changed my
name to Mohammad Tahir for
all purposes. 0040662862-1
I,MUJIB UR REHMAN,S/O.HAFIZ
UR REHMAN,ADD-FLAT.NO-102,
FIRST-FLOOR WARSI-
APPARTMENT,PLOT.NO-
458,ZAKIR
NAGAR(WEST)OKHLA NEW
DELHI-110025,changed my
name to MUJEEB UR
REHMAN,for all,future
purposes. 0040662905-6
I,Arun Kumar S/O Khem
Chand,R/O G-1/32-33, Ground-
Floor,Sector-16, Rohini, Delhi-
110089,have changed my
name to Arun Singh.
0040662879-6
I,Akshit Kumar Soni,S/o-
Mahender Soni,R/o-1/11 A &11
B,Jangpura-A Opp.-Rama Tent
House,New Delhi-110014,have
changed,my name,from
Akshit Kumar Soni,to Akshit
Soni,for all purposes.
0040662885-1
I, Yoga Sanatkumar Rangatia w/o
Kamal Kishore residing at C1/30
Pandara Park have changed my
name to Yoga Rangatia.
0130032885-1
WE, Bhaskar Nand Basliyal S/o
Jaikishan Basliyal have lost
our Original Property
Document for the Property,
H.No.RZ G42/1, Mandir Marg
Mahavir Enclave Part-1,Palm
Village, New Delhi-110045, If
anyone finds it kindly return it
to above mentioned address.
0040662817-1
I,Vinod Chawla,S/O-Shri Prem
Nath Chawla,R/O-C-33,Second
Floor,Ashoka Niketan,Delhi-
110092,have changed my
minor daughter name from
Mishti Chawla to Seher
Chawla. 0040662905-3
I,VISHAL ROHILLA,S/O SHRI.RAJ
KUMAR ROHILLA,residing
at,1380,Nawal-Park
Alipur,Alipur-North
west,Delhi-110036,have
changed the,name of my-
minor son DAKSH aged-11-
years,and he shall hereafter
be known,as JAYANSH.
0040662885-4
I,Sona D/o Dhuram R/o,Plot-
No.251, G/F, Raksha-Enclave,
Mohan Garden, Sainik-
Enclave, Uttam Nagar, New
Delhi-110059,have changed
my name to Sona Verma.
0040662888-1
I,Shweta Sahni D/o Dev Trehan
R/o J-5/101-L Rajouri Garden
New Delhi-110027,have
changed my name to Shweta
Trehan. 0040662879-3
I,Satya Prakash S/o Anant
Bahadur Tiwari, R/o House
No.1483, Maruti Kunj, Near
Central Park, Bhondsi(168),
Gurugram(HR.) 122102 have
changed my name to Satya
Prakash Tiwari for all
purposes. 0040662878-2
I,Sandeep Singh,S/O
Ramashish,Plot.no-36/T F,Niti-
Khand-2, Indirapuram,
Ghaziabad,Uttar-Pradesh-
201014,have change my name
to Sandeep Kumar Singh,for
all,future purpose.
0040662877-5
I,Ruchi Chawala W/o
Punardeep Singh Sawhney R/o
1-B, Ashoka-Apartment 7,
Rajpur-Road, Civil-Lines,
Delhi-110054,have changed
my name to Ruchi Chawla.
0040662888-4
I,Reshu D/o Chandraveer
Singh,R/o Purmafi,
Shamli,Uttar Pradesh-
247773,have changed my
name to Km Reshu.
0040662877-2
I,Ramesh Kumar Varma S/O
Hardyal Varma R/O-12/519,
Batra colony,sonipat,
haryana-131001 have changed
my name to Ramesh Kumar
Verma,permanently.
0040662879-4
Shri Rajesh Gautam R/o-69-A,
Madan-Park, Gali-No-1, East-
Punjabi Bagh,New Delhi-
110026,hereby state that my-
name used in Official
documents are Parveen
Kumari, Praveen Kumari and
Praveen Gautam all-these
names are of one and the
same-person. 0040662888-2
I,Neena Kumari D/o R C Dharra
W/o Bharat Gautam, R/o D05-
102, Sare Homes, Sector-92,
Gurugram(HR.)122505, have
changed my name to Neena
Gautam for all purposes.
0040662878-1
I,Narender Kaur W/o Rattan
Saini R/o B-253, Block-A,
Sudershan Park, Delhi-110015,
have changed my name to
Narender Kaur Saini.
0040662888-5
I,Mohd Asif Khan S/o Mohd Ida
Khan R/o-328 Kohat Enclave
Pitampura Delhi-110034,
changed my name to Asif
Khan. 0040662879-2
I,MUKESH GARG,R/o D-54,IIND-
FLOOR S-1,NEAR CENTRAL
PARK GHAZIABAD UTTAR-
PRADESH-201010,changed my
minor daughter name AASHVI
GARAG to AASHVI GARG.
0040662877-7
I,Kiran Prabha SrivastavaW/O
Devi Dayal Srivastava,R/o Civil
line,Behind Vikas Bhawan,
Jagtapur,Bahraich, U.P-
271801,have changed my
name to Kiran Prabha
Shrivastva for all,future
purpose. 0040662878-4
I,KM POOJA DEVI,D/O
RAMKISHOR,R/o VILL-
PABARSHA BAPARSA
MEERUT,UTTAR PRADESH-
250221,HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO POOJA SAINI.
0040662905-4
I,Jaya W/O Arun Singh,R/O G-
1/32-33, Ground-Floor,Sector-
16,Rohini, Delhi-110089,have
changed my name to Jaya
Singh. 0040662879-7
I,Inderjit Kaur Bhatia,W/o
Prithipal Singh Bhatia,R/o E-
2A,Rajouri Garden,New-Delhi-
110027,have changed my
name to Inderjeet Kaur Bhatia.
0040662877-4
I,Fahmida Khan W/o Asif Khan
R/o-328,Kohat Enclave
Pitampura Delhi-110034,
changed my name to Famida
Khan. 0040662879-1
I,FIROZ DILKASH,S/O ABDUL
SALAM R/O F-7 WEST
JAWAHAR PARK LAXMI NAGAR
DELHI-92,HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO MD FIROZ
DILKASH,FOR ALL PURPOSES.
0040662877-3
I,Dinesh Chandra Gupta,S/O-
Mahendra Pal Gupta,R/O-D-
24,Sector-
12,Noida,(U.P.),201301,have
changed my name from
DINESH CHANSRA GUPTA to
DINESH CHANDRA GUPTA for
all future purpose.
0040662905-2
I,Devi Dayal,S/o Iquabal
Bahadur,R/o Behind Vikas
Bhavan,Civil-line,Jagtapur,
Bahraich, U.P-271801,have
changed my name to Devi
Dayal Srivastava for all future
purpose. 0040662878-3
I,Bishwajeet Banerjee,S/o-Anil
Krishna Banerjee,R/o-F-
403,Indian Oil Apartment,Plot
No.-C-58/23,Sector-62,
Noida,G.B. Nagar,U.P.-
202301,inform that Bishwajeet
Banerjee,Biswajit Banerjee &
B. Banerjee all are one & the
same person. 0040662905-1
I,Bhim Singh,S/o Deep
Chand,R/o A-52,Sani-Bazar-
Road,Krishan Vihar,Delhi-
110086,have changed name to
Bhim Singh Dahiya,S/o Deep
Chand Dahiya for all-
purposes. 0040662877-6
I,Arun Singh S/O Khem Chand
R/O G-1/32-33, Ground-
Floor,Sector-16, Rohini, Delhi-
110089,have changed my
daughter name Angel to Angel
Singh. 0040662879-8
I,Arun Singh S/O Khem Chand
R/O G-1/32-33, Ground-Floor,
Sector-16, Rohini, Delhi-
110089,have changed my
daughter name Parshansa to
Parshansa Singh.
0040662879-5
I, Vidhi Gupta D/o Vinod Vohra
R/o A2A/66, G/F, DDA Flat
Janakpuri,New Delhi-110058
have changed my name to
Vidhi Vohra. 0040662826-1
I, Sixa Devi W/o Janki Prasad
Sharma, No.1439216F Ex Rank
SPR JANKI PRASAD SHARMA
R/o RZ-2, Gali no.6,
Gitanjalipark west Sagarpur
Delhi-46 have changed my
Khan r/o C-35, Back Gali, Raju
Park, Khanpur, New Delhi-62,
declare that from now
onwards I have changed my
son name from Prince to
Altmash Khan for all purposes
in future. 0040662872-1
I, Reena Roy, W/o Shishir
Kumar, D/o Shatrughna
Prasad Roy & Geeta Roy,
informs that my name written
as REENA instead of REENA
ROY in my property
documents no. 8/190, DDA
Flats, Madangir, New Delhi-
110062, REENA and REENA ROY
both names are one and the
same person. 0040662815-1
I, Rashmi Grover W/o Vineet
Malhotra R/o House No.1312 ,
Sector-9, Faridabad, Haryana
(121006) have changed my
name from Rashmi Grover to
Rashmi Malhotra for all future
purposes.
0070836635-1
I, Rajeev S/o Ramashrey Morya
R/o #52, Block-2, Aashiyana
Apts, Sec-62, Ballabhgarh
Faridabad, HR-121004 have
changed my name to Rajeev
Morya for all purposes
0040662877-10
I, QURESHI AFREEN SHAMIM
W/O DANISH SHAKIR R/O FLAT
NO- 503, TOWER NO-8D,
CROSSING REPUBLIC,
SUSHANT AQUAPOLIS, ANSAL
API, GHAZIABAD UTTAR
PRADESH-201009, have
changed my name to AFREEN
SHAMIM QURESHI
0070836641-1
I, Preeti Pandey w/o Sh, Krishna
Kumar Pandey. R/o 220,
Ferrera, Mahagun Mazzaria,
Sector-78, Noida, Distt:
Gautam Budh Nagar U.P. Have
Changed My Name from Preeti
Shukla (Preeti Shukla Pandey)
to Preeti Pandey for all future
purposes.
0040662816-1
I,CHANDRA
SHEKHAR,S/O.MANGAL SINGH,
H.NO-1/11504A-1,GALI.NO-
07,SUBHASH PARK-EXTN,NEAR
MCD SCHOOL,
SHAHDARA,NORTH EAST-
DELHI-110032, changed my
name to CHANDER
SHEKHAR,for all,future
purposes.
0040662877-8
I, Neha Yadav, W/o Ashish
Kundu, R/o H.No.-10A, Hazara
Park, Gali No.-1, West Chander
Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Delhi-
110051,have changed my
name to Naha Kundu, for all
purposes.
0040662814-1
I, Mathew Komayil Varkey S/o
Varkey Varghese R/o House
No. 2253, Housing Board
Colony, Sector-3, Ballabgarh,
Dist. Faridabad, Haryana
(121004) have changed my
name from Mathew Komayil
Varkey to Mathew Komayil
Varghese for all future
purposes.
0070836636-1
I, MOHD ANIS, S/o Mohd Rashid,
R/o 4600, Gali Shahtara, Ajmeri
Gate, Delhi-110006, have
changed my name to ANEES,
for all purposes.
0040662825-1
I, Kanak Lata Dhiman W/O
Sachin Dhiman, R/o House No-
335, Pocket- 3, Sector- 19,
Amberhai Dwarka Sec- 6, Delhi
Cantonment South West Delhi-
110075, Declare that name of
Mine has been wrongly
written as Kanak Dhiman in
my minor Daughter Ishika
Dhiman, aged about 17 years,
In her 10th Class Certificate.
The actual name of Mine is
Kanak Lata Dhiman, which
may be amended accordingly.
0070836648-1
I, Jyoti,W/o Amit Suneja,R/o J-
34-35,Third floor, Beriwala
Bagh,Hari Nagar, Delhi-
110064,have changed my
name to Jyoti Suneja,for all
purposes.
0040662885-3
I, Harpreet Singh Anand S/O
Harcharan Singh, R/O RP-56,
3rd-Floor, Pitam Pura, Delhi-
110034, have changed my
name to Harpreet Singh.
0070836673-1
I, Gopal Rai,S/o Jagdish Rai,R/o
Rz-69A, Dwarka-
Vihar,Dharampura Extn.,
Najafgarh, New-Delhi-
110043,have changed my
name,from Gopal Roy to Gopal
Rai,for all purposes.
0040662878-11
I, Gagan Jyot Anand W/O
Harpreet Singh, R/O RP-56,
3rd-Floor, Pitam Pura, Delhi-
110034, have changed my
name to Gagan Jyot Kaur
Chander R/o 185-B, P-A6,
Jawala Heri, Paschim Vihar,
West Delhi-110063do hereby
solemnly inform that I have
changing my name from Bimla
Devi to Vimla Devi both are
one and same person.
0040662914-1
I, Ajay Kishore S/O Naresh
Bahadur Srivastava, R/o C G N
116, Phase -2, Shivaji Marg, DLF
Capital Greens,Ramesh Nagar,
West Delhi-110015, have
changed my name and shall
hereafter be Known as Ajay
Kishore Srivastava. RZ S BÊ -ªFFWeS d³Fd½FQF (d°FÀFSe ¸FF¦F¯Fe)
0070836646-1 I F¹FFÊ»F¹FF¨FZ ³FF½F : d¨F´FTc¯F ³F¦FS ´FdS¿FQ °FF. d¨F´FTc¯F, dªF. S°³FFd¦FSe
I, Nishu D/O Sh.Jai Bhagwan R/o
Patram Nagar Narwana Teh.
BÊ -d³Fd½FQF ¸FF¦Fd½F¯FFSe ÀFc¨F³FF Ii . qx ÀF³F sqst-su
Narwana Distt. Jind Haryana d¨F´FTc¯F ³F¦FS ´FdS¿FQZI Oe»F BÊ -d³Fd½FQF ÀFc¨F³FF Ii ¸FFaI qx ÀF³F sqst-
have changed my name to
Nishu Jain. 0040662877-9
su A³½F¹FZ d¨F´FTc¯F ³F¦FS ´FdS¿FQ Wïe°Fe»F ½F`dVFáë´Fc¯FÊ A³FbQF³F Aa°F¦FÊ°F
I Vikas Kumar S/o Kashiram R/o
qr d½FI FÀF I F¸FF¨Fe RZ S BÊ -d³Fd½FQF ¶F-r ³F¸Fb³¹FF°Fe»F BÊ -d³Fd½FQF ´Fi¯FF»FeõFSm
BÊ -d³Fd½FQF (d°FÀFSe ¸FF¦F¯Fe) ¸FF¦Fd½F¯¹FF°F ¹FZ°F AFWZ °F. ÀFQS d³Fd½FQF¶FF¶F°F¨FF
D-16 Indra Enclave,
Govindpuram, Ghaziabad, ÀFd½FÀ°FS °F´FVFe»F, AMe ½F VF°FeÊ ¸FWFSFáÑ VFFÀF³FF¨FZ
Uttarpradesh-201013 have
changed my minor child name
https://www.mahatenders.gov.in/ ¹FF ÀFaIZ °FÀ±FTF½FS dQ³FFaI
aged 6 years from Viransh to rr.qu.sqst SûªFe´FFÀFc³F ´FFWF½F¹FFÀF C´F»F¶²F I ø ³F QZ¯¹FF°F AF»FZ»Fe
Viransh Tongad AFWZ . d³Fd½FQF ÀFFQS I S¯¹FF¨Fe Aad°F¸F °FFSe£F dQ³FFaI sq.qu.sqst SûªFe
0070836621-1 ´F¹FË°F ÀFF¹FaI FTe v.qq ½FFªFZ´F¹FË°F SFWe»F.
I Suman Sharma W/o Vagish
Sharma Issar R/O 65/21 New dQ³FFaI : rq.qu.sqst ÀFWe/-
Rohtak Road New Delhi 110005 ´FiVFFÀFI
wishes to change my name as °F±FF ¸Fb£¹FFd²FI FSe
Suman Sharma Issar for all
further purposes.
d¨F´FTc¯F ³F¦FS ´FdS¿FQ
0040662822-1
I Shashi Bala,W/o-Sh.Laxman
Dass (D/o-Sh.Jai Dayal),R/o-
178-179, U.G.F.,Pkt.E-21, Sector-
3, Rohini,Delhi-85 have
changed my-name to Shashi
for all purpose.That Shashi
Bala & Shashi is the one and
same person. 0040662823-1
I Rakhi Rangeet D/o Bharat
Choudhury R/o 1606,Tower-N 8,
16th Floor Jaypee Aman
Sector-151 Noida U.P. Have
Changed My Name To Rakhi
Chaudhari For All Future
Purposes. 0070836656-1
I Rakhi Chaudhari M/o (Nishant
Rangeet) R/o 1606, Tower-N 8,
16th Floor Jaypee Aman
Sector-151 Noida U.P. Have
Changed My Son Name To
(Nishant Choudhary) For All
Future Purposes.
0070836645-1
I Pranjal D/O, Krishan
Bishambernath Yadava R/o
117, Arun Vihar, Ward 11A,
Sector 37, Noida, Gautam Budh
Nagar , UP, 201303 have
changed my name to Pranjal
Yadava for all purposes
0040662861-1
I, DALJEET SINGH CHHABRA S/O
SARDAR SINGH R/O WZ-283/74,
MADDI-WALI GALI 03,VISHNU-
GARDEN, TILAK-NAGAR, DELHI-
110018. HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO DALJEET SINGH.
0040661874-3
PROPERTY
BUSINESS PREMISES
PUBLIC NOTICE
PUBLIC NOTICE
BE KNOWN TO ALL that my clients Sh.
Raghu Nath S/o Jagdev Ram and Smt.
Prema Devi W/o Raghu Nath both R/o H.
No. W-102/13 CB, Naraina South West
Delhi-110028 have severed all their
relation and social ties forthwith from
their son namely Laxman Kumar forever
and have disowned and debarred him
from inheriting all his movable and
immovable properties. Any person
dealing with him shall be doing so at
his/her own risk/cost and, consequences
responsibilities and my clients shall not
be responsible for his acts and deals in
any manners whatsoever.
Nirbhay Nath Jha (Advocate)
Office:- G14/1 Malviya Nagar Gurudwara
Road, New Delhi-110017
PUBLIC NOTICE
My client Pratap Singh Kadyan s/o
Sh. Gopal Singh r/o ZP-80,
Pitampura, Delhi-110034 has
severed relations with his
grandson Sh. Priyank Kadyan and
Grand daughter-in-law Anupma
Malik from all his movable and
immovable properties due to their
misconduct and intention to grab
his property. My client will not be
responsible for their any acts.
Sd/- SHANUL KADIAN
Enrl.No. D/475/2014, Advocate
Ch. No. 333, Lawyer's Chamber
Block, Rohini Courts Complex,
Delhi-110085
PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC NOTICE
This is for the information of General Public that
It is notified for the information of
my client SHRI SATISH ANAND S/O SHRI
the public at large that our Client
D.M. ANAND R/O RZ-10-B, GALI NO. 1,

I,RAMKISHORE S/O LATE SRI
PITAM,R/o VILL-PABARSHA
BAPARSA MEERUT,UTTAR
PRADESH-250221,HAVE
CHANGED MY NAME TO
RAMKISHOR. 0040662905-5
I,Punardeep Singh Sawhney
S/o,Parlad Singh
Sawhney,R/o,1-B, Ashoka-
Apartment-7,Rajpur-Road,
Civil-Lines, Delhi-110054,have
changed my-minor son’s
name Aver Sawhney to Aveer
Singh Sawhney.
0040662888-3
I,Pooja Saini,W/O Sandeep
Kumar,R/O 28, Mangal
Colony,Gali No.3,Near Shani
Dev Mandir Karnal Haryana-
132001,Have Changed my
Name Pooja. 0040662877-1
I,PRATIBHA GAUTAM,W/O
GOPAL SINGH, R/O FLAT NO-94-
A,LIG FLATS PKT-D,ASHOK
VIHAR PHASE-3 DELHI
110052,HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO PRATIBHA THAKUR.
0040662888-6
name to Siya Devi Vide
affidavit date 10.4.23 before
Delhi. 0070836665-1
I, Shitiz S/o Arun Kumar R/o Flat
No.2214, Orchid Tower SKA
Greenarch, Sector-16B,
Greater Noida West, Uttar
Pradesh-201318, India have
changed my name to Shitiz
Agarwal. 0070836652-1
I, Sheenu Ahlawat W/o Kuldeep
Singh Dahiya R/o 659, Chippion
wali gali nahri, Nimo Wali
Chopal, Nahri, Sonipat,
Haryana have changed my
name to Sheenu 0070836667-1
I, Seema Ram W/o Vikash
Kumar, Flat-No.-46/B, Sri Sai
Apartment, Sector-73, Noida-
201301 have changed my name
to after Marriage Seema
Kumari 0070836643-1
I Yatharth S/o Dheeraj Singh,
residing at W P-229 B, Pitam
Pura, Delhi-110088, have
changed my name and shall
hereafter be known as
Yatharth Singh.
0070836618-1
Anand.
0070836674-1
I, Deepak,S/o Harish
Kumar,R/o-A-3001, IREO
Victory Valley,Sector-67,
Gurgaon,Haryana, have
changed my name to Deepak
Arora,for all purposes.
0040662885-2
I, Deepak Pal, S/o Mr Virender
Kumar pal [Care of Raj Bala
(mother)] , R/o Plot No.27/A,
K.H.No.22/13 Pochanpur Ext, B
Block Scheme 23, Dwarka,
South west Delhi-110077, have
changed my name from
‘Deepak’ to ‘Deepak pal’ for all
future purposes.
0040662689-2
I, CHIDDAN KHAN S/O CHHIDDA
KHAN R/O JAYANTIPUR ROAD
NEAR MOHAMMADI MASJID,
KARULA,MORADABAD UTTAR
PRADESH-244001, have
changed my name to HIDDAN
KHAN
0070836639-1
BAJAJ ENCLAVE, KAKROLA, SOUTH
WEST DELHI-110078 had disowned, debarred
and severed all his relations and connections with
his son MR. NEERAJ ANAND from all his
movable and immovable properties and published
in News Paper on dated 06.09.2022.
Now due to good behaviour of
MR. NEERAJ ANAND with my client, my
client has decided to cancel that disownment and
agree to give all rights of relations to him in his all
movable and immovable properties.
Sd/-
MITHILESH KUMAR JAH
Advocate
ENR. NO. D-1267/07
Off. SR-II Disit. Centre- Janak Puri,
New Delhi-110058
''IMPORTANT''
Whilst care is taken prior to
acceptance of advertising
copy, it is not possible to verify
its contents. The Indian
Express (P) Limited cannot be
held responsible for such
contents, nor for any loss or
damage incurred as a result of
transactions with companies,
associations or individuals
advertising in its newspapers
or Publications. We therefore
recommend that readers
make necessary inquiries
before sending any monies or
entering into any agreements
with advertisers or otherwise
acting on an advertisement in
any manner whatsoever.
M/s Mark AB Capital Investment
India Private Limited is intending to
purchase the Property bearing No.
B-63, Second Floor and Rear
Portion of Entire Terrace (being ½
of the Entire Terrace), Paschimi
Marg, Vasant Vihar 110057 from
Mr. Raj Kumar Sabharwal and Mrs.
Poonam Sabharwal both R/o 68,
First Floor, Poorvi Marg, Vasant
Vihar - 110057 who are the current
owners of the aforesaid property. If
any person / institution apart from
Deutsche Bank (who has the
original title chain) has any
interest/right/claim of any sort in
the above property and/or has any
objection with regard to intended
sale / purchase of the aforesaid
property by Our Client, then the
objections, if any, should reach the
undersigned within 30 days of the
publication of this notice. If no such
objection or claim is received
within the stipulated time period of
30 days, then it shall be presumed
that there is no claim/objection of
any third party in the aforesaid
property and our client shall be free
to purchase the aforesaid property
from the current owners and no
claim/objection thereafter shall
come in the way of our Client with
respect to their title in the property.
Sd/-
SIDDHARTH KHATTAR
Advocate
Office at: K-12, Basement,
Kailash Colony,
New Delhi-110048
PUBLIC NOTICE
Plot No. G16/3, DLF Phase-I,
Gurugram (Haryana) admeasuring
200 sq yds was registered in the
name of Late Dharam Pal Gujral,
son of Late Fakir Chand Gujral
and Late Kamal Gujral, wife of
Late Dharam Pal Gujral, Resident
of Plot No. G16/3, DLF Phase-I,
who have expired on 27-03-2008
and 12-10 -20 20 res pecti ve ly,
leaving behind registered wills in
favour of Smt. Ruchi Sardana,
daughter of Late Dharam Pal
Gujral and wife of Shree Manish
Sardana, resident of 1114, Rampur
Road, Opp. Bihar State Co-
op erati ve Ban k, Bah ad urpu r,
Sampatchak, Patna (Bihar)-800006
and accordingly the name Smt.
Ruchi Sardana is being noted
in DLF's record in respect of the
above- mentioned plot.
If anybody has any objection to
this he or she many approach
M/S DLF Ltd. or the undersigned
within 21 days of publication of
this notice.
Amit Sohan (Advocate)
Reg. No.- 819/98
5/A, Phase-II, Srikrishnapuri,
Patna-800001, Ph- 2541999

17 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
PETROLEUM CONSUMPTION GREW 10.2% YOY TO 222.30 MT
India’spetroleumuseatrecordhigh
inFY23onsurgingfueldemand
SUKALP SHARMA
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
INDIA’S CONSUMPTION of pe-
troleum products hit a new
record in financialyear 2022-23,
underscoringrobustdemandfor
transportation fuels and some
otherrefinedproducts,showsan
analysis of data released by the
Petroleum Planning & Analysis
Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry.
For the year ended March,
consumption of major fuels--
diesel, petrol, and liquefied pe-
troleumgas(LPG)--brokeallpre-
vious records. Petroleum
product consumption is consid-
ered a measure for crude oil de-
mand, alongside being a proxy
for tracking industrial activity
and domestic consumption
trends.
India consumed a total of
222.30 million tonnes of petro-
leum products in 2022-23, 10.2
per cent higher year on year
(YoY). An analysis of historical
data shows that the previous
consumption record for petro-
leum products was 214.13 mil-
World Bank president
raises 2023 global
growth outlook slightly
REUTERS
WASHINGTON, APRIL 10
WORLD BANK Group President
David Malpass said on Monday
that the lender has revised its
2023 global growth outlook
slightly upward to 2 per cent
fromaJanuaryforecastof 1.7per
cent but the slowdown from
stronger 2022 growth will in-
crease debt distress for develop-
ing countries.
Malpasstoldamediabriefing
thattheupwardrevisionwasdue
to an improved outlook for
China's recovery from Covid-19
lockdowns, with growth now
pegged at 5.1 per cent this year
compared to 4.3 per cent in the
bank's January Global Economic
Prospects report.
Advancedeconomies,includ-
Electric 2-wheeler sales in India
rise to 8,46,976 units in FY23
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
ELECTRIC TWO-wheeler sales in
Indiaroseovertwo-and-halffold
to8,46,976unitsin2022-23over
the previous fiscal, Society of
Manufacturers of Electric
Vehicles said on Monday.
Totalsalesof e-two-wheelers
(E2W) were at 3,27,900 units in
2021-22. Citing data sourced
from manufacturers, Society of
Manufacturers of Electric
Vehicles (SMEV) said FY23 saw
BRIEFLY
Govtstarts
IREDAIPO
process
New Delhi: The govern-
ment is planning to come
out with an initial share
sale offer for up to 25 per
cent stake in Indian
Renewable Energy
Development Agency
(IREDA) and is looking for
merchantbankerstoman-
age the process. PTI
JSWSteelQ4
crudesteel
outputrises
New Delhi: JSW Steel on
Monday posted a 13 per
cent growth in its consoli-
dated crude steel produc-
tion at 6.58 million tonne
(MT) during the fourth
quarter of FY23. PTI
SENSEX: 59,846.51 ▲ 13.54 (0.02%) NIFTY: 17,624.05 ▲ 24.90 (0.14%) NIKKEI: 27,633.66 ▲ 115.35 HANG SENG: 20,331.20 ▲ 56.61 FTSE: 7,741.56 ▲ 78.62 DAX: 15,597.89 ▲ 77.72
Diesel consumption is expected to rise to 90.56 MT. File
lion tonnes in 2019-20. Demand
took a hit in 2020-21 due to the
pandemic, and posted a modest
recoveryin2021-22.In2022-23,
demand for most products
breached pre-COVID highs as
various sectors of the economy
made a full recovery from the
pandemic’s impact. As per
PPAC’s projections released late
ingtheUSandinEurope,arealso
doingabitbetterthantheWorld
Bank anticipated in January,
MalpasssaidastheWorldBank's
and International Monetary
Fund's Spring Meetings week
kicked off.
ButthedepartingWorldBank
chief warned that turmoil in the
banking sector and higher oil
pricescouldagainputdownward
pressure on growth prospects in
the second half of 2023.
A bank asset maturity mis-
match will take some time to
work through and banks are
likelyto pullbackcredit for busi-
nesses, slowing growth, he said.
Malpass said that technical
meetingsthisweekwithChinese
officials can help “break the ice”
onpotentialmovementonbadly
neededdebtrelief forpoorcoun-
tries.
salesof1.2lakhlow-speed(LS)e-
scooterswithtopspeedlessthan
25 km/hr.
“In the electric two-wheeler
segment, the industry sold
7,26,976 high-speed E2W (top
speed more than 25km/hr) in FY
2023,”itadded.In2021-22,sales
of low speed e-scooters were at
75,457 units, while those of high
speede-scooterswereat2,52,443
units.
SMEV said in FY23 E2W
adoption ended “with an annual
shortfallofmorethan25percent
over the minimum target set by
Debit cards face threat over UPI preference
AJAY RAMANATHAN
MUMBAI, APRIL 10
DEBIT CARDS may struggle to
retain their utilities intact at a
time when the preference for
the Unified Payments Interface
(UPI) platform across India has
been on the rise. The recent
move of the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) to al-
low prepaid payment instru-
ments to become a part of the
interoperable UPI ecosystem
will bolster UPI payments, say
experts.
“Earlier, debit cards were the
only channel for you to spend
money online if you wanted to
spend using your bank account.
Now that there is UPI, those ac-
cess channels are changing with
additional data security avail-
able on these channels. I think
debit cards usage will definitely
be on the downslide,” said Amit
Tyagi, chief executive officer,
Payworld.
UPI transactions rose 66.4
February, the country’s petro-
leum product consumption will
touch a new high of 233.81 mil-
lion tonnes in 2023-24.
India consumed 85.90 mil-
lion tonnes of diesel 2022-23.
Diesel is the most-consumed
fuelinIndia,accountingforclose
to 40 per cent of the country’s
overall consumption of petro-
‘Institutional investment in
realty rose 37% in Jan-Mar’
Global investors dominated the total investment inflows
at 76% share, as per Colliers study
19%
Two-wheelers
retail sales to
1,59,95,968 units
“Inthecoming quarters,weshallseesomelargequalityassetstraded inoffice
and selectlogisticsassets”
PIYUSH GUPTA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CAPITAL MARKETS & INVESTMENT SERVICES, AT COLLIERS.
Niti Aayog and various research
organisations”.
The industry body said with-
holdingof subsidiesunderFAME
II for not complying with Phased
Manufacturing Programme
guidelinesundertheschemehas
had an impact on the sales of
E2Ws.
Another Rs 400 crore of the
OEMsoperatinginthepremium-
endalsogotstuckduetothealle-
gation of under invoicing to by-
pass the FAME norms leading to
crippling of their business oper-
ations, SMEV added.
Debit card transactions have fallen 20% YoY. File
per cent year-on-year to 7.5 bil-
lion in February, data from the
NPCI showed. Transactions on
the platform witnessed a size-
able growth in March as well.
On the other hand, debit card
transactions have fallen 20 per
cent YoY to 220 million, data
from the Reserve Bank of India
showed.
The fall in debit card transac-
tions can be attributed to the
fact that customers now have
leum products, followed by
petrol at around 16 per cent. The
country’s consumption of petrol
in 2022-23 was 34.98 million
tonnes, up 13.4 per cent YoY.
India’s LPG consumption in
2022-23, although just 0.9 per
cent higher YoY, also hit a new
consumption record at 28.50
million tonnes.
As per PPAC’s projections for
2023-24, diesel consumption is
expected to rise to 90.56 million
tonnes. Petrol consumption is
seen at 37.80 million tonnes.
Higherdemandforthesetwofu-
els reflects robustness in the
transportation and some indus-
trial segments. LPG consump-
tion is seen rising to 29.12 mil-
lion tonnes in the current
financial year.
PPAC’s data bank has con-
sumption data from fiscal year
1998-99. Given consumption
levels at the time, it is safe to as-
sume that prior to 1998, con-
sumptionof petroleumproducts
did not exceed the levels seen in
recent years.
The consumption trends in
March also broke several previ-
33%
Commercial
vehicle retail
sales increased
Mutual funds invest Rs 1.82 lakh crore in equities in FY23
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA
NEWDELHI,APRIL10
MUTUAL FUNDS remained bull-
ishontheIndianequitiesin2022-
23andinvestedRs1.82lakhcrore
largely due to a strong interest
from retail investors and the cor-
rection in the market that led to
reasonable valuation.
This comes following a simi-
laramountofRs1.81lakhcrorein-
vested by mutual funds in the
stock market in preceding finan-
cial year 2021-22 (FY22). Before
that, they had pulled out Rs 1.2
lakh crore from equities in 2020-
21, according to the data with the
more choices while making
payments. Hence, they can opt
to scan their phone while mak-
ing payments, instead of carry-
ing a wallet everywhere, say ex-
perts.
“UPI has taken a big chunk of
debit card transactions. As we
move to a save-now, pay-later
culture, the customer will not
want to get their bank account
exposed or type their debit card
personal identification number
ous records. At 20.50 million
tonnes, overall petroleum prod-
uct consumption in March was
the highest-ever in a single
month. The same was true in
case of diesel and petrol. India
consumed7.80milliontonnesof
diesel and 3.11 million tonnes of
petrol in March. On a YoY basis,
the country’s overall petroleum
product consumption in March
was about 5 per cent higher.
India is the world’s third
largest consumer of crude oil
anddependsonimportstomeet
over 85 per cent of its require-
ment. The country currently has
arefiningcapacityof around250
million tonnes per annum
(MTPA), and plans are afoot to
scale it up to around 450 MTPA
overthenextfewyears asIndia’s
oil demand is expected to be on
theascentfortheforeseeablefu-
ture.
As per a projection by the
International Energy Agency,
India’s oil demand could rise
from 4.7 million barrels per day
(bpd) in 2021 to 6.7 million bpd
by 2030 and 7.4 million bpd by
2040.
$907.6mn Airtel bats for one service-one rate,
Institutional investment inflows
in the office sector
$361.1mn
Inflows in residential assets
$216.3mn
Industrial and Warehousing
assets saw 20% growth
$15.1mn
Inflows in mixed-use projects
fell 80%
● Inflowsstoodat$1.2billionin
thesameperiodlastyear
● Foreigninvestorspreferred
officeassets,whiledomestic
playersputmoneyintohousing
● Delhi-NCRandBengaluru,
attractedone-thirdofthetotal
investmentsduringthequarter.
Source: Colliers India/PTI
Securitiesand ExchangeBoardof
India (Sebi).
Going ahead, equity outlook
for the current financial year
(FY24) will start improving in a
couple of quarters once inflation
startscomingdownintheUSand
its central bank -- US Federal
Reserve -- will change its policy
stance from hawkish to dovish,
Rajiv Bajaj, Chairman and
ManagingDirectorofBajajCapital,
said.
In the longer-term, India's
growthprospectishigheramidst
concernofslowinggrowthinma-
jor developed economies.
“Thegovernment'sfavourable
policies along with a focus on in-
(PIN) while making discre-
tionary spends. They will end up
using a prepaid payment instru-
ment instead,” Tyagi said.
Effective April 1, the NPCI has
enabled payments at quick re-
sponse codes through prepaid
payment instruments (PPI) like
mobile wallets. While NPCI’s an-
nouncement came as a boost to
the UPI ecosystem, it has raised
questions over the relevance of
debit cards.
Unlike debit cards, users are
able to make all their transac-
tions through the PPI without
those showing up in their sav-
ings accounts.
In addition to being conven-
ient, payment through PPI helps
keep the bank balance away
from the risk of fraud, since
users do not have to enter their
debit card PIN each time they
make a payment, say experts.
More importantly, PPI inter-
operability enables users to
make payments in smaller retail
outlets where a point of sale ma-
chine may not be available.
GOLD
`60,095
Note: Gold, silver rates at Delhi spot market, gold per 10g, silver per 1 kg; Crude oil (Indian basket) as of April 6
Bill banning online gambling gets
Tamil Nadu Guv’s nod despite
Centre’s new gaming rules
SOUMYARENDRA BARIK
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
HOURS AFTER Tamil Nadu’s leg-
islative assembly passed a reso-
lution against its Governor RN
Raviforindefinitelywithholding
assenttoseveralBills,hegavehis
assent to the state government’s
Bill banning online gambling.
Stakeholders from the online
gaming sector – who were ear-
lier miffed with the Bill – have
said that they will mount a legal
challenge against it after it is no-
tified.
The state’s assembly had
passed the Tamil Nadu
Prohibition of Online Gambling
and Regulation of Online Games
Ordinance, 2022 last October.
However, in early March, the
Governor had returned the ordi-
nance for consideration once
again.
But a few weeks later, the as-
sembly readopted the Bill and
sent it to Raj Bhavan once again.
On Monday, Tamil Nadu’s
legislative assembly passed a
resolution against the Governor
for allegedly blocking Bills
passed by the assembly. Chief
Minister MK Stalin expressed
deep regret over Ravi’s actions
wants Trai to end differential pricing
RISHI RAJ
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
THE FREE telecast of Indian
Premier League matches by
Reliance Jio on its app
JioCinema, has led Bharti Airtel
to approach the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India
for putting in place a regulatory
mechanism prohibiting differ-
ential pricing by telecom oper-
ators for content on their apps
if the same is also available on
DTH and Cable TV channels. The
company is batting for one serv-
ice-one rate in this regard.
JioCinema, has digital rights
for IPL matches, and the broad-
casting rights for the same is
with Disney-Star TV channel.
While the matches can be
viewed on JioCinema for free,
Disney-Star cannot do the same
as the Trai's tariff order has fixed
vestment led growth (Capex
Push) and improved balance
sheetofbankswilldriveearnings
growthinthenearfuture.ThePLI
(Production-linkedIncentive)pol-
icyandtheChina+1drive,islikely
to boost India's manufacturing
sector and contain our trade
deficit. This is the reason why
most of the investors are bullish
on India's growth story and what
better to play it except through
Indian equities,” he said.
According to the Sebi data,
mutualfundshaveinvestedanet
amountofRs1.82lakhcroreinthe
just concluded financial year.
Shruti Jain, CSO at Arihant
Capital,attributedahostoffactors
“I would say debit card is a
much inferior product to UPI to-
day because debit cards still re-
quire a point of sale machine at
the merchant whereas UPI only
requires a quick response code.
I would say that the UPI interop-
erability rules are another nail
in the coffin for debit cards,”
Rajat Deshpande, chief execu-
tive officer and co-founder,
FinBox, said.
While UPI has certainly up-
staged debit card payments, it
remains to be seen as to
whether the former will actually
replace the latter, say experts.
According to the latest NPCI
circular, an interchange fee of 1.1
per cent will be levied on mer-
chant transactions of above Rs
2,000 done through a PPI.
In addition, the issuer of the
PPI will have to pay a loading fee
of 15 basis points to the account
holder’s bank for loading a
transaction value of more than
Rs 2,000. Total transactions that
are above Rs 2,000 in value are
less than 5 per cent. FE
RUPEE
`81.97
WHAT DOES IT SAY?
■ The Bill prohibits
online gambling and
online games of chance
played for money or
other stakes
■ It defines online
games of chance as
those where both an
element of chance and
skill are involved
and urged the Union
Government and the President
to prescribe a specific time limit
for governors to provide assent
to Bills passed by the state legis-
latures.
TheBillprohibitsonlinegam-
bling and online games of
chance played for money or
otherstakes.Whileitspecifically
names Rummy and Poker as
games of chance, the can go
much wider in scope – it defines
online games of chance as those
where both an element of
chance and skill are involved,
and the element of chance dom-
inates over the element of skill;
gamesarepresentedasgamesof
chance; the element of chance
a channel price at Rs 19. For an
entry-level Cable TV bouquet a
consumer needs to pay around
Rs 325 per month and if it does
not have Disney-Star, an addi-
tional Rs 19 needs to be paid for
the channel to be added.
Bharti basically, wants the
differential tariff regulation,
which currently applies on tele-
com service providers for their
apps to be made applicable if
telecom operators choose to
broadcast any content which is
available on DTH and Cable TV.
Meaning, the telecast of IPL
matches should be done at the
same price by a Cable/DTH and
a telecom operator.
“Regulatory framework
must include all modes of deliv-
ery of broadcast content across
all platforms irrespective of un-
derlying technology used. Same
content should be available
across all platforms at same
for mutual funds investment in
equities, including valuations
comingtoareasonablelevellead-
ingtoapositivesentimentamong
institutional investors.
The Indian retail investors
havewarmeduptoequitymutual
funds and in fact, these have be-
come their preferred investment
option in volatile times. SIPs
(Systematic Investment Plans)
continue to be a popular invest-
ment method among retail in-
vestors.
“The correction in the equity
market has also helped. This has
led to an increased inflow in eq-
uity funds, and consequently, we
are witnessing increased buying
Tender No : E-Tender No 02/2023-24/SE/PHC/CHN
KIIFB-TRAN_II - WRD025-31 Drinking WSS to Paingottoor Panchayath ln Ernakulam
district-Package I-General CivilWork. Construction of 6 m dia intake well at Panamkara,
Supply and laying RWPM, Construction of 4 mld WTP,Construction of 3.50 Ltr, 1.20 Ltr
capacity OH tank. Providing distribution system in various zones. EMD : Rs. 5,00,000/-,
Tender fee : Rs. 19518, Last Date for submitting Tender : 24-04-2023 03:00:pm,
Phone : 0484-2360645, Website : www.kwa.kerala.gov.in, www.etenders.kerala.gov.in
KWA-JB-GL-6-32-2023-24
Tender No : : e-Tender No 01/2023-24/ SE/PHC/ALP
AMRUT-2.0-Kayamkulam Municipality-Pipeline Work EMD : Rs. 500000
Tender fee : Rs. 19518, Last Date for submitting Tender : 02-05-2023
02:00:pm Phone : 0477-2237954 Website : www.kwa.kerala.gov.in,
www.etenders.kerala.gov.in
Superintending Engineer
KWA-JB-GL-6-40-2023-24
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
OIL SILVER
$84.96 `73,680
International market data till 1900 IST
can only be eliminated by su-
perlative skill; or games involve
cards,dice,orwheelwhichwork
on random event generators.
Aside from the state assem-
bly’s resolution against the
Governor, the timing of the de-
velopment is also particularly
significant given that his assent
to the Bill comes just days after
theCentrenotifiedamendments
to the Information Technology
Rules, 2021, which brought in
rules for regulating online real
money games.
“State governments’ regulat-
ing online gambling is not re-
quiredanymoreaftertheITrules
for online gaming have been no-
tified,” Minister of State for
Electronics and IT Rajeev
Chandrasekhar told The Indian
Express when asked for a reac-
tion on Ravi’s assent to the Bill.
Theamendmentsnotifiedby
the Ministry of Electronics and
IT (MeitY) last Thursday require
the setting up of multiple self-
regulatory bodies (SRBs) whose
approval will be required for on-
line games with a monetary ele-
ment. Games that involve wa-
gering on outcomes of events
will not be allowed.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
price and there should be pric-
ing parity irrespective of tech-
nology,” Bharti has written to
Trai. “Apply the legal frame-
work of cross-media ownership
(vertical integration) to all plat-
forms (including the digital
platforms) irrespective of un-
derlying technology,” it has
added in its submission.
Under differential tariff reg-
ulation for the telecom sector, a
telecom service provider can-
not have different charges for
any of its apps for its own sub-
scribers and users of other serv-
ice providers, if the app is avail-
able on the web.
To illustrate, Bharti Airtel has
to maintain same charges for its
entertainment app, Wynk for
its own users and users of other
operators, since the app can be
downloaded from the web. The
same principle applies to
JioCinema. FE
by mutual funds into equities,”
Jainsaid.Inaddition,equityisone
the best investment avenues of
generating inflation beating re-
turn. The performance of NSE's
benchmark Nifty over the last 22
years depicts that equity is not as
risky as it is perceived by the in-
vestorswhileitprovidesinflation-
beating return, Feroze Azeez,
Deputy CEO at Anand Rathi
Wealth, said. History shows that
there have been only four in-
stances in the last 22 years when
Niftyhasdeliverednegativeaver-
age return for the respective cal-
endar years and the CAGR return
hasbeen12.86percentinthelast
22 years, he added.
Superintending Engineer
PH Circle
Kochi
PH Circle
Alappuzha
18 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRA
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, Special Project (P.W.) Divison, Kolhapur ¸FWXFSXFáÑX ¾FFÀF³F

APRIL 11, 2023 Phone No. 0231-2666855

Web:- www.mahapwd.com Email:- spkolhapur.ee@mahapwd.gov.in
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST NOTICE NO. 1 for 2023-2024
INVITING EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) FOR APPOINTMENT OF
Office of the SE & PM, WCDC, Zila Parishad Dausa EXPERIENCED AND REGISTERED CONSULTANCY FIRMS FOR THE IDEA
File No. (1)/WCD/DAU/ABJY/2023-24/3780 Date: 01.04.2023 COMPETITION for integrated Development Plan for providing Infrastructure facilities in
NOTICE INVITING BID and around Jotiba (Wadi Ratnagiri) Hill for Pilgrims visiting Jotiba as well as in the area
NIT No. 01/2023-24, 02/2023-24 & 03/2023-24 of Jotiba Pradhikaran,Taluka-Panhala, District- Kolhapur.
Bids for NRM Works under Atal Bhujal Scheme in Block Baswa, Dausa & Nangal
Rajawatan, District Dausa of estimated value INR of Each Projects as below table, are
Executive Engineer, Special Project (P.W) Division, Kolhapur, invites Expression of
inivted from interested bidders. Other particulars of the bid may be visited on the interest (EOI) for Appointment of experienced & registered consultancy firms for
procurement portal (https://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in or https://sppp.rajasthan.gov.in/ ) of Architectural. Structural Conceptual designs & drawing of landscape, Infrastructure
the state, and https://watershed.rajasthan.gov.in website.
S. No. NIB No. Name of Block Estimated Value UBN No.
facilities & related work.
1 WSC2324A0002 Baswa 792070 WSC2324WSOB00002 Name of Project Approximate Area of Jotiba Pradhikaran
2 WSC2324A0003 Dausa 15951863 WSC2324WSOB00003
3 WSC2324A0004 Nangal Rajwatan 21002410 WSC2324WSOB00004 Integrated Development Plan for providing 314 sq.km.
WÀ°ff./- Infrastructure facilities in and around Jotiba This area is indicative which covers Jotiba
(WXdSXIZYVf ¸fe³ffX) (WadiRatnagiri) Hill for Pilgrims visiting hill and nearly 18 Villages (These village are
A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹fa°ff E½fa ´fdSX¹fûªf³ff ´fi¶f³²fIY Jotiba as well as in the area of Jotiba indicative in numbers) surrounding Jotiba
DIPR/C/5184/2023
½ffMXSXVfZOX ÀfZ»f IY¸f OXfMXf ÀfZ³MXSX Pradhikaran, Taluka-Panhala, District- hill. which are included in Jotiba
dªf»ff ´fdSX¿fQ, QüÀff
Kolhapur Pradhikaran.
The eligibility criteria for Participation and procedure of selection is as per the EOI.
The EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) document can be downloaded From
11/04/2023 to 26/04/2023 during office Hrs. Working day from the e-Tendering portal of
Public Works Departments, Govt. of Maharashtra http://mahatenders.gov.in after
entering the details, payment of Rs.590 (Rs. 500+18 % GST)/- (Rs. Five Hundred
ninety Only) should be paid online using payment gateway.
The complete EOI Covering eligibility Qualification cum experience criteria stated and
Conceptual design of the stated area must be submitted in a sealed envelope clearly
marked "EOI for the Construction of" Integrated Development Plan for providing
Infrastructure facilities in and around Jotiba (Wadi Ratnagiri) Hill For Pilgrims visiting
Jotiba as well as in the area of Jotiba Pradhikaran,Taluka-Panhala. District- Kolhapure"
in the office of the Executive Engineer, Special Project (P.W) Division, Kolhapur.
Tarabai park. Kolhapur oflice on or before 12/06/2023 at 11.00 AM. The EOI should
be submitted with self-assigned 9 (Nine) digit code number without revealing the
self identity. All drawings revealing identity shall be disqualified.
Details of Project Concept will Be explained in the office of Superintending
Engineer, Public Work Circle, Tarabai park Kolhapur, on 19/04/2023 At 11.00 hrs The
"BOARD OF ASSESSORS" reserve the right to reject any/all of the "EXPRESSION
OF INTEREST (EOI) " submission without assigning any reason.
sd/-
Sanjay Babruwan Katkar
Executive Engineer,
dgipr 2023-24/119 Special Project (P.W) Division, Kolhapur.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
Giants up to the challenge
LSG overcome disastrous start and thrilling finale as RCB bowling fails to defend big total
Ravi Bishnoi celebrates after Lucknow Super Giants’ last-ball win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday. AP
SYNOPSIS
Nicholas Pooran & Marcus Stoinis
heroics help Lucknow script
historic run chase as Bangalore’s
bowling disappoints again
NAMIT KUMAR
APRIL 10
MARCUS STOINIS walked out into the mid-
dle at 23-3 in the fifth over as the Lucknow
SuperGiantschasedamammothtotalof 213.
KL Rahul failed to find connection or timing
– managing a disappointing 18 from 20 balls
that will not ease the questions around his
form – and most of Lucknow’s top order had
been eaten up by the new ball.
And then, Stoinis, in tandem with
Nicholas Pooran, tore up the script.
TheAustraliandisplayedthefullstrengthof
hiseasypower.Hestormedtoa35-ball60with
11 boundaries, five of which sailed into the
stands,andutterlyshockedBangalore,whose
bowling proved to be as frail as their batting
had looked dominant in the first innings.
Stoinis’ wicket came at a time when
Bangalore were still in a commanding posi-
tion, but Pooran picked up where the Aussie
left, and began walloping the ball to all parts
of the ground.
Stoinis had helped himself to a quickfire
half-centurylargelythankstothegreatpower
hewields,butPooran’sinningswasallabout
timing and manipulation of the field. The
West Indian could bend his back leg to posi-
tion himself well outside off stump and
sweep a fuller length delivery for six over
backwardsquareleg,andthensliceabound-
ary off his back foot over third man on the
next one. Balance met power met a wide ar-
ray of shot-making to hit one of the all-time
greatIPLinningsinarunchase,beforePooran
departed after hitting 62 from 19 balls.
THE MORNING AFTER
How a father and family rallied behind Dayal’s ‘nightmarish’ IPL night
PRATYUSH RAJ
NEW DELHI, APRIL 10
CHANDARPAL DAYAL starts his day with the
morning newspaper. But, on Monday, for
the first time in his life he hasn’t touched
the newspaper as he is fearful of seeing his
son Yash Dayal's tearful images from last
night. He hasn’t checked social media ei-
ther. As soon as Yash’s final ball was wal-
loped for a six to trigger celebrations in
Rinku Singh’s household in Aligarh, Yash’s
father Chandarpal had switched off the tel-
evision in Allahabad.
Soon, however, he learned from his close
ones that Dayal was seen in tears on televi-
sion. Chandarpal decided to step in to help
out his vulnerable son “who doesn’t talk or
show emotions much”.
He would call his son in a while but first
sentYash’saunt,uncle,andcousinsister,who
were at the ground watching him live, to the
team hotel.
“Itoldthemtogoandmotivatehim. Pick-
up his morale. He would be understandably
depressed. Please go,” Chandarpal told The
Indian Express in the morning after a brutal
night. “He speaks very little. He is an intro-
vert, and in such situations, he can become a
touch numb.)”
Chanderpaul,whowasafastbowlerwho
played in the Vizzy Trophy in the late 80’s,
too had to recover first. “I have been a crick-
eter but being a father, mother is something
else.Ididgetabitdepressed,‘kyunhua,kaise
hua … (why it happened, how it happened),
the mind was in a loop, worried for my son,”
he says. He decided he will be with his son
in this trying hour and watch the next game
from the ground. He then called up Yash.
Yash had recovered a touch from the visit
But more twists were left in the tale.
With seven needed in the penultimate
over, Ayush Badoni’s swept six over deep
backwardpointwasnullifiedafterheabsent-
mindedlyknockedoverhisownstumps.Five
were needed from the last over as Harshal
Patel helped himself to two wickets, leaving
one run to get off the last ball.
High drama ensued as Harshal looked to
knock the bails off at the non-striker’s end as
he ran up, to catch Ravi Bishnoi out of his
crease, but missed the wicket entirely. The
finalballwouldthenmissthewicketand the
bat, and Dinesh Karthik would fumble as
Lucknow would run a bye to seal, just about,
the fifth-highest run chase in IPL history.
Kohli’s early blitz
Two uncharacteristically mistimed early
shots defined Virat Kohli’s innings on
Monday. The first, on the second ball of the
innings — a charge down the wicket and
heave over extra cover from the toe end of
the bat — landed safely. The second, in the
secondover,pullingashorter-lengthdelivery
from Avesh Khan square of the wicket, re-
sulted in a lucky top edge for six. Off the next
ball, Kohli hit a perfectly-timed cover drive
for four, and never looked back.
Alotof thecriticismof Kohliasamodern-
day T20 batsman has been centred around
hislackof aggressioninthePowerplay,where
only two fielders outside the circle allows
greater risk-taking. It has been a trend evi-
dent in each of the matches in the IPL so far –
according to ESPNCricinfo, 28.7% of first-in-
nings runs in the first 10 matches of this sea-
son have come in the first six overs.
Kohlidulyobligedthe trend. His typically
eye-pleasing drives raced to the off-side
boundary, and his strength on the backfoot,
slapping the spin of Krunal Pandya, and
againstoutrightpaceof MarkWoodfor sixes
over mid-on, was evident. Even as skipper
Faf du Plessis failed to get going, Bangalore
raced to 56-0 in the Powerplay thanks to
Kohli’s early flourish.
Gujarat Titans’ Yash Dayal conceded five consecutive sixes in the final over against
Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. AP
of his aunt and uncle when Chanderpaul
called him. What can a father say to a young
boy, who aspires to play and star for India,
butwhosevulnerablenightmarishnightwas
a viral video around the cricketing world?
“Ghabraana nahi (Don’t get scared),” he
told Yash. “I then said: ‘This is not some new
thing in cricket. Bowlers getting hit. It has
happened to big bowlers. Just do hard work,
see where you made mistakes, but remem-
ber this is not the first time it has happened
in cricket. Big players like Malinga, Stuart
Ayush Badoni hit a six that could’ve got
LSG closer to the target but was instead
out hit-wicket off the shot. Sportzpics
Lucknow captain Rahul knew he needed
totameKohliafterthePowerplay,andhisuse
ofspinnersdidthetricktosomeextent.Pandya
wasjoinedbyBishnoitoturntheballfromboth
ends as Kohli, and Du Plessis in particular,
struggled to maintain the early momentum.
Therewereonlythreeboundariesbetweenthe
sixth and 12th overs, when Kohli eventually
departedatthehandsofAmitMishra(theIPL’s
ultimate ‘he’s still around?’ player).
Thanks to mammoth back-to-back sixes,
one of which went a jaw-dropping 115 me-
tres, against Bishnoi in the 15th over, Du
Plessis,whohadlabouredto 33from31balls
at the time, came to life to hit an unbeaten
46-ball 76. But it was Glenn Maxwell’s 59 of
29 that proved to be the most vital innings.
TheAustraliandisplayed his wide variety
of shots – hitting six sixes by slicing wide
yorkersovercover,aswellasslappingballsin
his arc over long on – that has made him one
of the most sought-after international mid-
dle-order batsmen in the IPL over the last
Broad have gone through the situation.”
In his mind, an old cricketing reel ran.
Chandarpal, a fast bowler who played in the
Vizzy Trophy in the late 80’s, was once
smashed for three consecutive sixes. “It was
a a semi-final game here, not international
like the IPL. But still … An ordinary batsman
had hit me for 3 sixes. I have told Yash many
times that story. We had lost that semi-final
game. I reminded him again last night when
I called,” Chandarpal says with a laugh.
He then told Yash that he would be there
MILESTONE
51
Number of 50-plus Virat Kohli has
scored in the IPL, the joing most by
an Indian batsman - with the other
being Shikhar Dhawan. Kohli has
also scored a 50 against every
active franchise he's played in the
league, as per Opta.
5
Number of times top three batsmen
of a team have scored 50-plus each
in an IPL game after Virat Kohli (61),
Faf du Plessis (79*) and Glenn
Maxwell (59) scored half-centuries.
decade. Pandya dropping him before he hit
an additional three sixes in the 18th over, did
not help Lucknow’s case.
However, even Maxwell’s brilliant late
flurrywasnotenough.Ultimately,Bangalore
cannot help but rue the errors they made.
The target of 212 was a huge one, but they
would have probably felt 20-odd runs short
due to a mid-innings lull overseen by Kohli
andDuPlessis.Theirbowlingwassimplyun-
convincing from all quarters, only David
WilleyandSirajmanagedtokeeptheirecon-
omy rate under 10.
With six of RCB’s first eight matches at
home (due to the Karnataka elections), a so-
lution for their problems with the ball, espe-
cially at the death, is desperately needed.
BRIEF SCORES: Royal Challengers
Bangalore 212/2 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 61,
Faf du Plessis 79 not out, Glenn Maxwell 59)
lost to Lucknow Super Giants 213/9 in 20
overs (Marcus Stoinis 65, Nicholas Pooran
62) by 1 wicket
for the next game in Mohali on the 13th. “I
told him I am coming there to you, I will be
with you … he will bounce back. This was a
darknight,andIhope thisneverrecursagain
in his life. He will definitely come back
strongly.”
Yash was six when Chandarpal saw the
cricketing talent. Chandarpal’s cricket future
hadn’t turned out the way he had dreamed
ashisfatherwasagainstit.“Myfatheralways
used to say there is no future in cricket, I am
wasting my time, I should prepare for gov-
ernment examinations,” recalls Dayal, who
works in the AG office.” That day when a six-
year old Yash played cricket with his cousins
outside the house, something stirred in
Chandarpal, the father.
“What struck me the most is that I saw
him throwing the ball with his left hand. He
started bowling left-handed, and to my sur-
prise, he turned out to be a fast bowler,” the
father says. He began training with Yash. At
12, Yash was enrolled at the Madan Mohan
Malviya Cricket Stadium in Allahabad.
“There’s a saying, catch them young, and
in Yash’s case, his father started grooming
him very early. It helped him a lot,” Amit Pal,
Yash’s childhood coach, told this newspaper.
Amit too is confident that Yash will
bounce back. "Itwasjustone off-day.Hewill
work hard and I can guarantee you that he
will become a better bowler after those five
sixes. He is a better bowler than that, he
knows it, and the world will see," Pal says.
Yash’s father meanwhile is packing his
bags to be with his son. His own cricketing
dream might not have materialised but he is
sure that he won’t let his son’s journey stut-
ter. “He has always bounced back from bad
situations. He couldn't do it yesterday but
you will see that he will do a wonderful job
whenever he plays next."
SPORT 19
EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER
HOT HEADS, CALM MINDS AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN AT THE GAME
Amit Mishra took the wicket of Virat Kohli. AP
Daal diya Jalebi! Kumble on Mishra
When Amit Mishra came to bowl to Kumble would then narrate a lovely
Virat Kohli, Anil Kumble was on air story about Mishra and himself. “Just
on Jio Hindi commentary and he before this IPL, I told him, ‘Mishy you
called it correctly. “It will all be about ended my Test career’. Kumble re-
the length”. And it was, Mishra minded him of his last Test when
slipped in a front-of-hand delivery Mishra told him to “come closer at
that skidded on from back of length mid-on” and next ball Matthew
and Kohli holed out in attempting Hayden smashed one so hard at
the big hit. Then came a lovely tossed Kumble that he hurt his hand, and
up, really slowed up, ball to the new required 11 stitches. That was my last
batsman Glenn Maxwell, who nearly Test, I joked to Mishy.” Then came
holed out with an aerial square drive. Mishra’s quip. “The story isn’t over.
“Daal diya Jalebi,” Kumble would add, Mishra replied, ‘you lost me a wicket,
“hit that”. bhai!’”
‘One (more) hell of a Avesh to Virat, almost
shot’ Kohli vs Wood three years in a row
Mark Wood vs Virat Kohli has been a box- Last year, Avesh Khan dismissed Virat
office hit for a while, in favour of Kohli. Kohli with a bouncer, he stood there and
Coupleof yearsago,Kohlihadbashedhim clapped vigourously. He would have
for a 6,6,4. The first one was spectacular. hoped for a similar result this year as he
Kohli backed away to the off side and slipped another bouncer. Pretty well-di-
thumped a shortish ball over midwicket. rected one at that and Kohli was in trou-
“Goodplayersareallowedtodothat.Isaid blewiththeattemptedpull.Butitflewoff
tohimattheendof theoverthat,thatfirst the top edge to the boundary for a six.
sixwasonehellofashot,”Woodwouldsay Next ball, a length delivery, was lifted up
then. Today, Kohli backed away first ball and over wide mid-off. In Avesh's next
again,butthistimeoutsidelegstump,and over, Kohli smashed a length ball on the
creamedhimtothestraightboundary.The up and through covers. In 2021 IPL too,
‘onehellof ashot’thistimewasthesix,off Avesh had removed Kohli, who chopped
thesecondball.Itwasashortoflengthpacy on a delivery on the stumps. At theend of
ball,butKohliseemedtobereadyforit:He thegametwowouldmeetandlaterAvesh
stayed still and crunched it on the up over would say, “he told me that I bowled well
wide long-on. and should continue doing this.”
FAILED ‘MANKAD’ ATTEMPT
Harshal misses the trick
With 1 run needed from two balls, and
Bangalore needing one wicket to push
the game into superover, Harshal Patel
pulled out before releasing the ball just
as he approached the stumps. The non-
striker Ravi Bishnoi had run out of the
crease, backing up too quickly. But
Harshal missed flicking the bails off - he
had tried but he didn’t make contact and
he kept running ahead with the momen-
tum. His bowling arm hadn’t passed the
perpendicular, which would construe he
had completed the action and can’t run
out a non-striker who has backed up too
far. But another strange thing would oc- Harshal Patel tried to run out Ravi
cur. He had kept running on the wicket a Bishnoi but missed the stumps.
bit too far. Bishnoi was still out of the
crease by a distance. Harshal turned gested Harshal had to complete the run-
around, and fired down the stumps with out (the mankading) in smooth action
a throw and appealed. In the distance, where you abort the bowling action but
Virat Kohli came running as well with his swiftly remove the bails. Harshal had run
indexfingerup.Theumpire,though,sug- too far down the track.
Rinku borrowed Rana’s bat for miracle knock;
‘didn’t want to give him initially’, says captain
Ahmedabad: The bat with which
Kolkata Knight Riders' Rinku Singh hit
five successive sixes against Gujarat
Titans actually belonged to his captain
Nitish Rana, who reluctantly gave it to
his teammate.
The left-handed Rinku hammered
consecutive sixes off Yash Dayal from
the last five balls of KKR's run chase to
hand his side a miraculous three-wicket
win in their IPL match here on Sunday.
Rana said he had been using the bat
during the whole of Syed Mushtaq Ali
trophy, the domestic T20 championship. Rinku (in pic) asked me for my
"This (the one Rinku used) is my bat
and I played both matches (this season)
bat. I didn’t want to give him my
with this bat. I have played the entire bat initially, but somebody
Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy and the last brought this bat (from dressing
four to five matches of last year with room). I had a feeling that he
this bat," Rana said after the sensational would pick this bat because it
win late on Sunday. has a very nice pickup and
"Today (Sunday) I changed my bat.
according to my weight this bat
Rinku asked me for my bat. I didn't want
to give him my bat initially, but some- is light. So (now) this bat
body brought this bat (from dressing belongs to Rinku, not me.”
room). I had a feeling that he would pick
this bat because it has a very nice pickup
NITISH RANA
KKR CAPTAIN
and according to my weight this bat is
light. So (now) this bat belongs to Rinku,
not me," said the captain in a video cricket and international, I've previously
posted on KKR's Twitter handle. seen two innings. One is Ravi Shastri
KKR head coach Chandrakanta scoring six sixes in the Ranji Trophy, and
Pandit also heaped praise on Rinku second was last ball sixes by Javed
Singh for his sensational batting. Miandad in Dubai (Sharjah) and after
"In 43 years of my cricket career, be- that I'm seeing you (Rinku)."
ing coach, playing cricket, first class PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

20 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023

PLAYING TONIGHT
Indian Premier League: DC vs MI,
7.30pm, Live on: Star Sports Network
and Jio Cinema

BRIEFLY
AsianWrestling:
Vikasbagsbronze
Astana:VikaspinnedJainTanof China
8-0 by technical superiority in the
72kg Greeko-Roman category to
clinch a third bronze medal for India
in the ongoing Asian Wrestling
Championships here on Monday.
Ontheseconddayof thetournament,
Sumit(60kg)andRohitDahiya(82kg)
fell by the wayside in their bronze
medal matches, but Vikas took just
one minute and 41 seconds to knock
out his Chinese rival.Sumit lost to
MaitaKawanaof Japan14-6afterpick-
ing cautions in his bout. PTI
HIplanningtorevive
HILin2024
Mumbai: The lucrative Hockey India
League(HIL)islikelytobere-launched
early next year as the national federa-
tion on Monday announced its exclu-
sive commercial and marketing part-
nerfortheevent.HILwasstoppedafter
the2017editionduetofinancialissues
and Hockey India (HI) is now looking
newpartnerstorevivetheleague."The
HILwasabigsuccessforthegameand
we are now in the process of reviving
the league early next year," a HI source
said. PTI
BaganstartSuper
Cupwithbigwin
Kozhikode: ATK Mohun Bagan began
theirSuperCupcampaignwithanem-
phatic5-1drubbingofGokulamKerala
FC at the EMS Corporation Stadium
here on Monday.The home team fans
watchedinstunneddisbeliefastheISL
champions toyed with their defence
withwingerListonColacobeingthestar
oftheshow,scoringtwoearlygoalsthat
put the Green and Maroon in a com-
fortable position within the first 30
minutes. PTI
Worst game in history of Worlds
h3isastrangemovethatgivesawayalltheadvantageandpositiontotheopponent,ratherthangaininganywhileplayingwithwhite
Pravin thipsay
LET ME just put it in black and white. Game
2 of the 2023 FIDE World Championships
between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding
Liren was the worst game played in the his-
tory of the championships. The game
ended in favour of Nepo, who was playing
with black, in just 29 moves.
The play by Ding was very strange. His
behaviour too has been bizarre. He was
very nervous during the first game as well
and in the interview after the game, he re-
vealed that after reaching Astana,
Kazakhstan where the championship is be-
ing held, he actually changed his hotel
room a day before the start. Something is
wrong with him at the moment. He’s very
underconfident and lacks self-esteem.
Perhaps it’s because everyone in
Kazakhstan talks Russian. He may be in-
timidated by it. He was constantly holding
his head in both his hands. That’s definitely
not a sign of a confident player. Something
is affecting him and it’s imperative he deals
with it immediately.
Ding’s poor start
You could know Game 2 was going to
end badly for Ding the moment he played
the fourth move. He played h3, a move
played by only two amateurs in the past. It
is a waste of precious time and achieves
nothing in return.
It’s a very strange move that gives away
all the advantage and position to the oppo-
nent, rather than gaining an advantage
while playing with white. If I had seen this
Ding LirencongratulatesIanNepomniachtchiaftertheRussianwonthesecond
matchof theChessWorldChampionshipon Monday.
move played in a club match, I would say
that the player is not a good one.
The game still needed Nepo to take the
initiative. Though Ding didn’t make a great
move, Nepo still had to make a move sig-
naling intent that he was ready to take on
white. And it was on the 11th move that
Nepo made the decisive call. He played his
FIDE/Anna Shtourman
knight to a5 (Na5), thereby deciding to be
aggressive. It was by that move that Nepo
showed that he has prepared well to take
on Ding.
By move 18, Nepo had already put Ding
in a position to resign though the Chinese
did well to pull on the game to move 29.
After playing for two hours, the game was
A World Championship takes a huge mental toll on a person but I’ve
never seen a competitor play amateur moves. The World
Championship match between Nepo and Magnus Carlsen was one-
sided in favour of the Norwegian, but it’s not like Nepo just gave up.
already in a decisive stage and it was clear
that this was the worst possible play by any
player in any World Championship.
A World Championship takes a huge
mental toll on a person but I’ve never seen
a competitor play amateur moves. The
World Championship match between
Nepo and Magnus Carlsen was one-sided
in favour of the Norwegian, but it’s not like
Nepo just gave up.
The first six games were draws.
Viswanathan Anand vs Carlsen in 2013 was
dominated by Carlsen but even there, both
the players had come up with a well-
thought-out plan and strategy.
It seems that this match is going to be
very one-sided because Nepo hasn’t even
had to try very hard. In the first game, he
didn’t try at all. I think he was just judging
his opponent. And the second game, he just
played some initial moves and by move 11
he found he had the opportunity of seizing
the initiative.
Then, of course, he played like a lion. He
sensed that his opponent had already got-
ten into a bad position. He developed a
sense that something was missing in his
opponent’s preparation or mental tem-
perament and so decided to play the most
aggressive game he has played in recent
times. What’s important to note also is that
Nepo really didn’t make any mistakes.
Nepo’s strategy that he would outplay
his opponent in simple positions rather
than going for complex positions seems to
be working because Ding is somehow go-
ing through his worst patch, at least here.
In Game 1 Ding didn’t do particularly
badly because his opening was such. In
Game 2 however, his entire play got into a
very passive and cramped position by
move 11 which itself is an alarming factor.
I think it is time for him to really recover
and look for a different approach toward
this match and to his chess.
He needs to be more confident and as-
sertive with regard to his position. He
played very passively. He was shuttling his
bishop without really hitting any target. He
was making moves without really
analysing.Ding seemed very scared and as
though he has not prepared for this match.
One has to be more professional at this
level. There’s a lot of buzz in China regard-
ing this match as he is the first Chinese GM
to be playing in the Championship and per-
haps the enormity of the occasion has got-
ten to him.
It’s no secret that he is a very reserved
person and doesn’t like attention, which is
exactly what is happening. But it’s up to
him to deal with it.
The day off
If anything has to change in this match
it has to change on this rest day. Ding has
the game to back himself but needs to have
the mental strength to brave this challenge.
This rest day will prove vital to the remain-
der of the Championship. It’s his day for in-
trospection.
Ding will be aided by the fact that his
parents are there with him in Astana. He’s
very close to his mother and has spoken
about how she helps him whenever he is
down. Mothers, I believe, have healing
power and it’s something that Ding needs
more than anything. Right now he seems
self-defeated.
(AS TOLD TO ANIL DIAS)

Vol XCI- 129 Regd.No. DL-21046/03-05 R.N.I. No.506/1957

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