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05 JULY www.thestatesman.com
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KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR

POET OF MANY BALAJI CASE: SC WON’T ‘THERE SHOULD BE NO REVELRIES

TRAJECTORIES INTERFERE WITH HIGH FURTHER DELAY IN AROUND
COURT PROCEEDINGS IMPLEMENTING UCC’ MARTINEZ

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WEATHER
PM slams use of terror Threat to diplomats: Delhi
summons Canadian envoy
as tool of state policy over ‘Khalistani’ elements
GENERALLY CLOUDY SKY. LIGHT TO MODERATE
RAIN/THUNDERSHOWERS. THE MAXIMUM AND
MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND
34 AND 28 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY.
RAINFALL: 000.2 Mm Modi targets Pakistan, seeks united fight by SCO against terror menace
RELATIVE HUMIDITY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Max.80 % Min. 66 % NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
TEMPERATURE
Max: 37.7 °C (0) Min: 29.6 °C (+2) rime Minister
SUN RISES
05:29 hrs
MOON RISES
21:30 hrs
SUN SETS
19:23 hrs
MOON SETS
08:21 hrs
P Narendra Modi on
Tuesday appealed to
the SCO (Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation)
countries not to hesitate in
condemning those nations
which use terrorism as an
THUMBNAILS instrument of state policy
and called for a joint fight
by members of the group-
ing against the menace.
Though the Prime Minister
did not mention Pakistan
by name, it was clear that
he was referring to India’s
western neighbour.
“There is no place for
double standards on this
critical issue. We have to
unite to tackle terrorism in
all its forms and manifes-
tations,” he said address-
ing the SCO Summit host-
ed in virtual format by him.
Leaders of all SCO countries,
including Pakistan Prime
President Droupadi Murmu at the closing cere- Minister Shehbaz Sharif,
mony of the 125th Birth Anniversary celebra- Chinese President Xi Jinping
tions of Allury Sitarama Raju in Hyderabad. � ANI and Russian President
PM Narendra Modi addresses the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization summit via video conference, in New Delhi
on Tuesday.� ANI
Vladimir Putin, attended the
summit. This was the first
time Mr Putin was seen at
a public platform after the
recent mutiny in Russia
by the Wagner Group.
On his part, the Pakistani
premier said terrorism
should not be used as a ‘bat
for diplomatic point-scor-
ing’. He described terror-
ism as a ‘hydra-headed
monster' to be fought with
'full conviction' irrespective
of its source. The Chinese
leader warned against
“colour revolutions” and a
“new Cold War” while the
Russian president said his
country would stand up
against Western sanctions
and “provocations”.
Briefing reporters about
the outcomes of the sum-
mit, Foreign Secretary Vinay
Kwatra said the summit
leaders welcomed Iran as
the SCO’s full member
state. They also welcomed
the decision on signing the
Memorandum of Obligation
of Belarus to join the Organ-
isation as a member state.
The leaders adopted the
New Delhi Declaration and
two thematic joint state-
ments - one on cooperation
in countering the radical-
isation leading to sepa-
ratism, extremism and ter-
rorism, and the second on
cooperation in the field of
digital transformation.
Mr Modi, in his speech,
noted that terrorism has
become the prime danger
for both regional as well as
global peace. He said the
SCO countries should also
increase cooperation to
deal against terror financ-
ing. “We should take further
steps to stop the radicali-
sation of youth in our coun-
tries. The joint statement
being issued on the issue
of radicalisation is the proof
of our shared commit-
ment,” he added.
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
India has served a demarche
on the Justin Trudeau gov-
ernment in Canada by sum-
moning the Canadian High
Commissioner in New Delhi
over propaganda material,
including posters, contain-
ing threats to Indian diplo-
mats being circulated in
that country. New Delhi
raised its concerns with
Canada on Monday over
threats to its diplomats in
posters being circulated in
Canada with information on
a pro- “Khalistan” rally to be
held on 8 July.
The posters contained threats
to its top diplomats in Cana-
da. The posters purported-
ly circulated by Sikh extrem-
ists have named Indian High
Commissioner to Canada
Sanjay Kumar Verma and
Consulate General of India,
Toronto Apoorva Srivasta-
va, accusing them of play-
ing a role in the June killing
of “Khalistan Tiger Force”
chief and designated terrorist
Hardeep Singh Nijjar in
Canada. The rally is being
held in the name of Nijjar,
who was killed in a target-
ed shooting in Canada's
Surrey on 18 June.
Earlier today, Canadian
US condemns attempt-
ed arson by pro-Khal-
istan supporters in SF:
The US has strongly con-
demned the reported van-
dalism and attempted
arson by pro-Khalistan
supporters against the
Indian Consulate in San
Francisco on Sunday (local
time). “The US strongly
condemns the reported
vandalism and attempted
arson against the Indian
Consulate in San Francis-
co on Saturday. Vandalism
or violence against diplom-
atic facilities or foreign
dip- lomats in the US is a
criminal offense,” US state
department spokesper-
son Matthew Miller said.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly
said that her country was in
close contact with Indian offi-
cials in light of some “unac-
ceptable” posters that have
appeared in Canada, regard-
ing a protest planned on 8
July, which bears the names
and photos of some top
Indian diplomats.

Nadda appoints new BJP chiefs in 4 states
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
BJP President J P Nadda on
Tuesday appointed new BJP
party chiefs in Telangana,
Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and
Jharkhand and named former
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minis-
ter Kiran Kumar Reddy as
member of the party's Nation-
al Executive Committee.
Union Minister G Kishan
Reddy was appointed the BJP
Telangana unit's chief while
former Union Minister D
Purandeswari was appoint-
ed as its Andhra unit head.
Former MP Sunil Kumar Jakhar
was named as the Punjab BJP
chief while former chief min-
ister Babulal Marandi will be
the Jharkhand BJP head.
The party also brought in
OBC leader Etela Rajender as
its election management com-
mittee chairperson in poll-
bound Telangana.
G Kishan Reddy Daggubati Purandeswari
All the four states where
new party chiefs have
been named are run by
Opposition parties and
the BJP is making a deter-
mined bid to strengthen
its position in these states
All the four states where new
party chiefs have been named
are run by Opposition parties
and the BJP is making a deter-
mined bid to strengthen its
position in these states.
Sunil Kumar Jakhar
The BJP is also seen as try-
ing to set its house in order in
Telangana where many rela-
tively new entrants to the
party were against the lead-
ership of Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
Mr Jakhar replaces Ahwani
Sharma while Mr Marandi
comes in the place of Deep-
ak Prakash. The development
will further fuel the specula-
tion about a rejig of the Union
Cabinet. The announcement
came a day after Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi met his
Babulal Marandi
Council of Ministers at the Pra-
gati Maidan and exchanged
views on diverse policy-relat-
ed issues. The PM and the
party leadership have given
clear indications that some
ministers might be drafted
for party work in the run-up
to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
There is speculation that
the former Telangana BJP
chief, Bandi Sanjay Kumar
may be inducted as a minis-
ter in the Central govern-
ment.
Pawar vs Pawar: NCP factions
to hold separate meetings today
SNS & AGENCIES
MUMBAI, 4 JULY
The two camps of the NCP,
one led by Sharad Pawar and
the other by his nephew Ajit
Pawar have convened sepa-
rate meetings in Mumbai on
Wednesday where a clear
picture may emerge on the
exact number of MLAs back-
ing each group amidst con-
trasting claims.
After taking oath as deputy
chief minister in the Shiv
Sena-BJP cabinet, Ajit Pawar
on Sunday said the decision
to join the government was
a collective one and he had
the support of all (53) MLAs.
Ajit Pawar, after partici-
pating in a Cabinet meeting
on Tuesday, said “the major-
ity” of party MLAs are with
him. However, the Sharad
Pawar group countered this
claim saying Ajit Pawar enjoys
the support of only 13 MLAs.
Sharad Pawar has con-
vened the meeting of MLAs,
MPs, and office-bearers at 1
p.m. at Y B Chavan Centre in
south Mumbai. The Ajit Pawar
group will meet on the premis-
es of the Mumbai Education
Trust (MET) in suburban
Bandra at 11 a.m.The Nation-
alist Congress Party (NCP) has
53 MLAs in the 288-member
Maharashtra Assembly. Ajit
Pawar will need the support
of at least 36 MLAs to not
attract the provisions of the
anti-defection law.
His camp on Sunday
claimed that 36 MLAs had
signed the letter of support
to the BJP-Shiv Sena gov-
ernment. The BJP, which is
part of the coalition govern-
ment, has pegged the num-
ber of legislators backing Ajit
Pawar at more than 40. The
Sharad Pawar camp has
claimed that except for the
nine who joined the govern-
ment, other MLAs are loyal
to the senior Pawar. MLAs
Saroj Ahire, Prajakt Tanpure,
and Sunil Bhusara who were
said to be siding with Ajit
Pawar met Sharad Pawar and
pledged their support.
The Sharad Pawar-led
NCP has already moved a dis-
qualification petition against
Ajit Pawar and the eight MLAs
who took oath as ministers.
Poverty-stricken
woman sells kid
for `800 in Odisha
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BARIPADA, 4 JULY
In a shocking incident that
ripped apart governmental
claims of anti-poverty schemes
and welfare measures, a dis-
tressed woman sold her nine
month old baby girl for Rs 800
in a village in Odisha’s
Mayurbhanj district.
The matter came to light
after the husband of the
woman lodged a ‘missing’
complaint with police and
investigations led to the arrest
of the woman, a middleman
and the purchaser duo.
The arrested four were
32-year-old mother of the
baby, Main Murmu (54), the
middleman both of Mahulia
village and two others iden-
tified as Phulamani Maran-
di (48) and Akhil Marandi
(52) of Dibyacharanpur village.

‘Lapses at multiple
levels in S&T dept caused
Balasore train mishap’
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY

The Commissioner of Rail

Safety (CRS), which is prob-
ing the Balasore triple train
accident, has blamed lapses
at multiple levels in the Sig-
nalling and Telecom (S&T)
department of the Indian
Railways, in its report.
The report also highlight-
ed “lapses in the signalling-
circuit-alteration” previous-
ly carried out at the north sig-
nal 'goomty' (track switch) and
during the execution of the sig-
nalling work related to the
replacement of electric lifting
barrier for one of the level cross-
ing gates at Balasore station.
These lapses, the report said,
resulted in wrong signalling
to the Coromandel Express,
which was incorrectly switched
to a loop track when it was
meant to go through on the
main line.
However, senior officials
of the railway ministry remain
tight-lipped over the report.
Besides the CRS, the Cen-
tral Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) is also probing the
Odisha train accident. The CRS,
which comes under Ministry
of Civil Aviation, is the cen-
tral government entity that
looks into railway safety and
investigates railway incidents.
At least 293 people were killed
and over 1,000 injured in the
Odisha train accident that
took place on 2 June evening.
Sources said that AM Chowd-
hary, CRS, South Eastern Cir-
cle, who carried out the probe
into the Balasore train acci-
dent in its report, has found
that lapses at multiple levels
in the S&T Department were
responsible for the same.
The source said that the
report highlighted that repair
work was carried out at LC94
and disconnection was issued
at 4.20 p.m. and re-connec-
tion was given at 4.50 p.m. on
the same day of 2 June.
The source said that the
report pointed out that after
re-connection, S&T staff was
still working for signal circuit
and it said that no modifica-
tion was involved.
The source said that in its
conclusion, the report called
for standard practices to be
followed for carrying out sig-
nalling-modification work.
02
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023
THUMBNAILS
3 Delhi-bound flights divert-
ed to Lucknow, Amritsar:
Three Delhi-bound flights
were diverted on Tuesday
owing to bad weather in the
national capital. One flight
was diverted to Lucknow
and two flights were divert-
ed to Amritsar according to
airport sources. Flight
UK836 from Chennai to
Delhi and Flight UK960 from
Mumbai to Delhi were
diverted to Amritsar (ATQ)
due to bad weather at Delhi
Airport. Both of the flights
reached Amritsar at 3.30
pm and 3.40 pm respective-
ly. "Flight UK836 from Chen-
nai to Delhi (MAA-DEL) has
been diverted to Amritsar
(ATQ) due to bad weather at
Delhi airport and is expect-
ed to arrive in Amritsar at
1540hrs," the airlines said in
a statement. "Flight UK960
from Mumbai to Delhi (BOM-
DEL) has been diverted to
Amritsar (ATQ) due to bad
weather at Delhi Airport and
is expected to arrive in
Amritsar at 1530 hours,"
the airlines informed fur-
ther. Official information on
the third flight is awaited.
According to India Meteoro-
logical Department, Delhi
will have a cloudy sky on
July 4 and 5. The Delhites
are to experience light to
moderate rain or slight
thundershowers on July 4
and 5.
Delhi Police bust gang that
wrote NEET exam in place
of actual candidates: Delhi
Police has busted a gang
that used to write the NEET
exam in place of actual can-
didates. A student of AIIMS
has also been apprehended.
A senior officer of Delhi
Police said that more
arrests are expected. Two
accused have been arrested
by Delhi police so far, police
said. A student of AIIMS was
interrogated as to what was
his role in the crime. Earlier
there was an allegation of
getting AIIMS students to
appear in the NEET exam
across the country. Till now
at three centres the
instance of impersonation in
examination has come to
the fore. Senior Delhi Police
officer said, "More arrests
are expected in this case.
One accused was caught by
Delhi Police a few days ago.
One accused has been
caught now. Delhi Police has
caught two people in this
case till now."
SUMMER THEATER FEST
The week-long summer theater festival concluded at the Abhimanch auditorium, National School of Drama on
Tuesday.
Man shot, robbed of `1 lakh HC dismisses PIL against mandatory uniform for auto, taxi drivers
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
A man was shot in the leg and
robbed of his money by bike-
borne assailants in Delhi's Sub-
hash Place area while he was
returning home from work on
Monday night, said police.
The victim was identified as
Ritesh, who works as an accoun-
tant in an oil company. Accord-
ing to the Delhi Police, when
Ritesh was returning home
from work on his scooty, three
bike-borne assailants waylaid
him and robbed him of his
money which amounted to
Will challenge in court: Delhi govt
after LG terminates 400 employees
LG Saxena on Monday had removed them citing that these individuals were engaged in a non-transparent manner and
without the mandatory approval of the competent authority
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
fter Delhi Lieutenant
A
Governor VK Saxe-
na terminated the
services of about 400
private persons employed
by the Delhi Government in
its various departments, the
AAP-led Delhi government,
in a statement issued on
Monday, said that they would
challenge the decision in
court.
LG Saxena on Monday
terminated the service of 400
private individuals engaged
in various departments of
the Delhi government, citing
that these individuals were
engaged in a non-transpar-
ent manner and without the
mandatory approval of the
competent authority. "The LG
is hell-bent on completely
destroying Delhi. He chose to
punish these 400 talented
young professionals only
because they chose to asso-
ciate with the Delhi govern-
ment. No principles of nat-
ural justice were followed
when the LG took this deci-
sion," said the statement.
"Not even a single show
cause notice was issued, and
Delhi govt vs LG: SC orders to defer DERC
chairman's oath-taking ceremony till July 11
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
The Supreme Court on
Tuesday asked the Delhi
Lieutenant Governor to not
administer oath of office to
the newly appointed DERC
(Delhi Electricity Regulatory
Commission) Chairman
Justice (retired) Umesh
Kumar.
A bench led by Chief Jus-
tice of India D.Y. Chandrachud
and comprising AJustice P.S.
Narasimha directed that the
administering of oath to the
former judge of Allahabad
High Court will stand deferred
till July 11.
The top court was hearing
the petition moved by the
around Rs 1 lakh. When Ritesh
tried to fight off the assailants
they shot him in the leg and fled
from the scene.
The incident happened at
around 9:15 pm on Monday. The
Police said that with the help of
CCTV cameras installed at the
spot, the accusedhave been iden-
tified and will be arrested soon.
Ritesh was rushed to a near-
by hospital where he is currently
undergoing treatment.
On Sunday, a 20-year-old
man was stabbed to death by
unidentified persons in Delhi's
Ranjit Nagar police station lim-
its.
no explanation or clarifica-
tion was sought at any stage.
This unconstitutional deci-
sion will be challenged in
court," it further added.
"LG does not have the
power to do so. He is acting
illegally and against the Con-
stitution. His only purpose is
to find new ways every day
to paralyse the Delhi gov-
ernment so that the people
of Delhi suffer," it said.
AAP-led Delhi government's
plea claiming that appoint-
ment of the DERC Chairman
was 'illegal and unconstitu-
tional'.
It claimed that the appoint-
ment was made by 'over-
looking' the aid and advice of
the elected government.
ANKUSH GHOSH
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
The Delhi High Court on
Tuesday dismissed a peti-
tion against a mandate rolled
out by the AAP government
for auto and taxi drivers of the
national capital to wear a
uniform.
A division bench of Chief
Justice Satish Chandra Shar-
ma and Justice Subramoni-
um Prasad while hearing the
Public Interest Litigation (PIL)
by Chaalak Shakti ~ a drivers’
union ~ turned down the
petition and orally observed
Let the draft come...nobody is opposing the law...there were
discussions on the draft of UCC...
AMID THE RAGING DEBATE ACROSS THE COUNTRY OVER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNIFORM CIVIL CODE
"These fellows were from
top colleges and universi-
ties such as IIM Ahmedabad,
Delhi School of Economics,
NALSAR, JNU, NIT, London
School of Economics, Cam-
bridge, etc. and were doing
excellent work in various
departments. They were all
hired following due process
and administrative norms,"
it said.
Delhi Lieutenant Gover-
"It is understood that the
administration of oath in
pursuance of the notifica-
tion dated June 22, 2023 to the
former judge of the Alla-
habad High Court judge shall
stand deferred," said the top
court.
On June 22, LG V.K. Sax-
that it is a ‘gross misuse in the
name of a PIL’.
The High Court had ear-
lier noted that there is ambi-
guity on the issue in the per-
mit conditions and the motor
vehicle rules.
The bench had then grant-
ed time to the government to
make it clear about the uni-
form colour -- khaki or grey
-- prescribed for auto drivers
in the city.
The petitioner had chal-
lenged the mandate and had
alleged that such labelling
was in violation of the Con-
stitution. It was earlier argued
nor VK Saxena has termi-
nated the services of about
400 private persons employed
by the Delhi Government in
its various departments. These
private persons were engaged
in a non-transparent manner
and without the mandatory
approvals of the competent
authority.
The appointments of these
persons also did not follow
the mandatory reservation
policy for SC/ST/OBC can-
didates prescribed by the
Department of Personnel
and Training (DoPT).
The Services Department
found that several of such
engaged private persons did
not even fulfil the eligibility
criteria of educational qual-
ification and work experi-
ence as laid down in the
advertisements issued for
the posts.
The concerned adminis-
trative departments also did
not verify the veracity of work
experience certificates sub-
mitted by these private per-
sons, which were found to be
fudged and manipulated in
many cases.
The Lieutenant Governor
accepted the proposal of the
Services Department that all
ena had appointed Justice
(Retd.) Umesh Kumar of the
Allahabad High Court as the
Chairman ignoring Delhi's
government's recommenda-
tion to appoint retired MP High
Court Judge, Justice Rajeev
Kumar Shrivastava.
Issuing a notice on the
plea, the apex court also asked
the Attorney General to
respond to Delhi govern-
ment's challenge to Section
45-A of the GNCTD Act.
The provision introduced
through the recent ordinance
gives overriding powers to
the Lieutenant Governor over
the elected government in
the matter of appointments.
The court will further hear the
matter on Tuesday, July 11.
Delhi HC dismisses PIL seeking direction to expedite process of
finalization of Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill, 2015
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
The Delhi High Court dis-
missed a Public Interest Lit-
igation (PIL) seeking direction
to expedite the process of
finalization of the Delhi School
Education (Amendment) Bill,
2015, so far as it relates to the
prohibition of screening pro-
cedure in the matter of admis-
sion of tiny tots at pre-primary
level (nursery/pre-primary) in
schools.
The Bench of Justice Satish
Chander Sharma and Justice
Subramonium Prasad on
Monday while dismissing the
plea, cited an Allahabad High
Court order and said, "It is not
proper for this Court to issue
any kind of writ to the Gov-
ernor and interfere in a leg-
islative process whether to
accept or reject a Bill within
any timeframe." The Bill had
a passage through the House
of Legislature of a State, it is
presented to the Governor
and it is for the Governor to
declare at that stage whether
he gives the assent or he with-
holds the assent or refers the
Bill to the President for assent,
stated the Court.
What the Governor does is
peculiarly within his discre-
by the petitioner’s counsel that
assigning a uniform limits
their freedom of expression
and also acts as a status sym-
bol.
To this, the court had oral-
ly remarked that the idea
behind a uniform is identifi-
cation of those wearing it.
The counsel for the gov-
ernment had said that certain
discipline has to be maintained
concerning uniforms.
The plea stated that on not
wearing uniforms, hefty chal-
lans upto Rs 20,000 were
being imposed on drivers
even though the law on the
SHIV SENA (UBT) MP SANJAY RAUT
Delhi Government Depart-
ments, Corporations, Boards,
Societies and other
autonomous bodies under
their administrative control,
immediately terminate
engagements of these private
persons, wherein the LG's or
the competent authority's
approval has not been
obtained. However, if any
administrative department
finds it appropriate to con-
tinue such engagements, it
may propose detailed cases
with proper justification and
forward them to the Services
Department, Government of
National Capital Territory of
Delhi (GNCTD) for onward
submission to Lieutenant
Governor for consideration
and approval.
Services Department had
compiled the information
received from 23 Depart-
ments that have engaged
such private persons as spe-
cialists. It was observed that
the provisions of Reserva-
tions for SC/ST/OBC pre-
scribed by the DoPT for
reservation in temporary
appointments lasting for 45
days or more have also not
been followed in these
engagements.
4 held in stabbing case
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
The Delhi Police arrested four
persons in connection with a
case where a youth was stabbed
to death in Delhi's Ranjit Nagar
area on Sunday. The accused
have been identified as Rajnish,
Amit Kumar, Roshan Singh and
Pramod, police said. Accord-
ing to the police statement, the
accused admitted to the crime
during the interrogation.
The police further said that
the deceased 20-year-old,
identified as Abhishek, was
known to one of the accused
Pramod.
The murder was a result of
a heated argument that broke
out over Rs 300, while the five
of them were playing cards, the
Delhi Police said.
The Delhi police had ear-
lier informed that the murder
took place at about 4.15 pm on
tion and, exercising his dis-
cretion, he cannot feel bound
by the act and advice of his
Ministers. Courts cannot con-
trol or interfere in this pro-
cedure and cannot direct the
Governor or pass a writ to the
Governor to grant assent or
desist from granting assent,
added the Court.
Article 200 of the Consti-
tution of India within its fold
indicates that the Governor
must as soon as possible after
the presentation of the Bill to
him for his assent either return
the Bill together with a mes-
sage to the House/Houses to
reconsider the Bill or any
specified provision thereof, said
the Court order.
The petition alleged that pri-
vate schools have been adopt-
ing an unethical practice of
subject was ambiguous.
It was further alleged that
there is complete ambiguity
about the colour of uniform
to be worn by auto drivers on
duty as Rule 7 of Delhi Motor
Vehicles Rules, 1993 pre-
scribes khaki, whereas the
state authorities’ permit con-
ditions say grey.
The petition contended
that there are so many shades
of both khaki and grey, and
since no particular shade had
been mentioned, the enforce-
ment authorities enjoyed a
huge discretion about who
they wanted to prosecute.
Court seeks minor's response
on cancellation report of
POCSO case against WFI chief
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
A Delhi court on Tuesday
sought the minor wrestler
complainant's response on
police's cancellation report
filed in the alleged sexual
harassment case against
Wrestling Federation of India
(WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sha-
ran Singh.
Additional Sessions Judge
Chhavi Kapoor issued notice
to the complainant during in-
chamber proceedings and
directed for a response to the
police report to be filed by
August 1, also the next date of
hearing.
The Delhi Police had, on
June 15, sought cancellation
of the FIR in the minor wrestler's
complaint case alleging sexu-
al harassment by Singh.
The 550-page report filed
by police before the Patiala
House Court had said that no
corroborative evidence was
found in allegations by the
minor.
"In the POCSO matter, after
completion of investigation, we
have submitted a police report
under section 173 Cr PC
requesting for a cancellation
of the case based upon state-
ments of the complainant,
i.e., the father of the victim and
the victim herself," Delhi Police
had said.
Sunday. They received infor-
mation that a person was
stabbed at Sangam Colony,
Pandav Nagar upon which
the police team reached the
spot, the Delhi police said.
The injured was then taken to
a nearby hospital, where he was
declared brought dead. Speak-
ing to ANI, the unconsolable
mother of the deceased, said,
"I was on duty at Manesar, I
got a call that someone stabbed
my son, immediately I rushed
to my home and I got to know
my son is no more, my son
never quarrelled with any-
one." One of the neighbours
and an eyewitness of the inci-
dent, Raj Kishore said, "Today
at about 3 pm I was at my shop
when suddenly I heard the voice
of Abhishek shouting. I rushed
to the spot when I saw him lying
in a pool of blood. I couldn't
do anything as the assailants
had fled the spot."
subjecting children above the
age of 3 years to screening pro-
cedures.
Petition stated that a child-
friendly Bill, namely, Delhi
School Education (Amend-
ment) Bill, 2015 banning
screening procedures in Nurs-
ery admission in schools is
hanging between the Cen-
tral and Delhi Governments
for the last 7 years without any
justification and is against
the public interest and is
opposed to public policy.
Petitioner NGO namely
Social Jurist, A Civil Rights
Group through Advocates
Ashok Aggarwal highlighted
that the very objective and pur-
pose of the Delhi School Edu-
cation (Amendment) Bill,
2015 is to protect tiny tots from
exploitation and unjust dis-
The FIR on the accusa-
tions made by a minor was filed
under the Protection of Chil-
dren from Sexual Offences
(POCSO) Act, along with rel-
evant sections of the Indian
Penal Code concerning the
act of outraging modesty.
However, the father of the
minor wrestler involved in the
case had stepped forward and
claimed that he filed a "false"
complaint of sexual harassment
against the WFI chief. The
father has alleged that his
actions were driven by anger
and frustration over the chief's
perceived biased treatment
towards his daughter.
A second statement under
section 164 of CrPC of the
minor was recorded in the
court on June 5 and in the state-
ment, she had not alleged sex-
ual harassment, as per sources.
Class 9 girl
jumps to death
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
A 14-year-old girl allegedly
jumped to death from a build-
ing in Dwarka Sector-16 of
Delhi, police said on Monday.
As per information, the
deceased is a Class 9 student.
A suicide note has been recov-
ered in which the deceased
mentioned not wanting to
study and other suicidal
thoughts, said the Delhi Police.
According to Delhi Police,
at 05.35 am an information
regarding the jumping of a girl
from a building in Sector 16
Dwarka was received at Police
Station Dwarka North, inves-
tigation reveals that a 14-
year-old girl was found dead
on the ground floor.
Further investigation into
the case is underway.
crimination in the matter of
nursery admission in private
schools which is literally
defeated by delay in finaliz-
ing the same by Central and
Delhi Government and mak-
ing it a law.
Petition submitted that
the Right to Education (RTE)
Act, 2009 prohibits screening
procedures in the matter of
admission of a child in a
school and makes it an offence
punishable under the law.
However, the RTE Act, of 2009
does not apply to children
below 6 years of age and so
does not apply to nursery
class admissions.
The petitioner submit-
ted that people have a right
to know why a child-friend-
ly Bill has not seen the light
of the day even after 7 years
of its unanimous passing
from the Delhi Assembly in
2015.
It further stated that the very
objective and purpose of the
Delhi School Education
(Amendment) Bill, 2015 is to
protect tiny tots from exploita-
tion and unjust discrimination
in the matter of nursery admis-
sion in private schools which
is literally defeated by delay
in finalizing the Bill by Cen-
tral and Delhi Government.

THUMBNAILS
Saurabh Bhardwaj inspects
Najafgarh drain, directs that
only treated sewage be
released in Yamuna: Water
Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj
arrived on Tuesday to
inspect the cleaning of the
Najafgarh drain. During this,
he inspected the work of
desilting as well as the
hydraulic excavator
installed on the Pantul
bridge. He directed the offi-
cials to ensure that only
treated sewage is released
into the Yamuna. The Water
Minister also stressed solv-
ing the problem of water
conservation through
recharging groundwater.
The Kejriwal government is
also engaged in the removal
of wild plants such as water
hyacinths on a large scale.
During the inspection,
Saurabh Bhardwaj appreci-
ated that the desilting of
the Najafgarh drain is being
done on a large scale. The
cost of this project is Rs
11.2 crore. At the same
time, to remove the hump
in the Najafgarh drain, silt is
removed by the govern-
ment through a project
costing Rs 20.8 crore.The
same is also being done
from Khyala Bridge to
Basaidarapur Bridge which
will cost the government Rs
13.9 crore. In many places,
tons of silt is being removed
from the drain and dried.
Haryana Cabinet nod to rules for Sikh Gurdwara panel election
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 4 JULY
Haryana Cabinet which met
under the chairmanship of
Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar on Tuesday accord-
ed approval to a proposal for
formulation of the Haryana
Sikh Gurdwara Management
Committee (Delimitation of
wards and elections), Rules,
2023.
An official spokesperson
said the tenure of said Adhoc
Committee constituted to
manage and supervise the
affairs of the Haryana Sikh Gur-
dwara Management Com-
mittee is going to expire after
18 months. Accordingly, it is
necessary to hold elections of
Gurdwara in Haryana to elect
members of Haryana Sikh
Gurdwara Management Com-
mittee and for that purpose,
ibid Rules are required to be
enacted.
He said in order to provide
Now restaurants
will be open 24
hours in Haryana
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 4 JULY
Haryana Deputy Chief Minis-
ter Dushyant Chautala on Tues-
daysaid that restaurants will soon
remain open 24 hours in
Haryana. There will be no
restriction on them to close at
night. This decision has been
taken today in the meeting of
various departments chaired by
Chautala. Labour and Food, Civil
Supplies Minister, Anoop
Dhanak was also present in the
meeting.
The office bearers of the
Restaurants union across the
state had recently met the
deputy CM Chautala and
demanded the state government
to allow them to keep their
restaurants open for 24 hours
(around the clock) so that peo-
ple can get food as per their con-
TENDER
‘Uniform Civil Code necessary
for uniformity & harmony’
We will study the provisions of the UCC... but broadly speaking we are in agreement
for the UCC, says the Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 4 JULY
aryana Chief Min-
H
ister Manohar Lal
Khattar on Tuesday
said he supports
uniform civil code (UCC).
Speaking to reporters after
presiding over a meeting of the
state Cabinet on Tuesday,
the chief minister said the
UCC is necessary to bring
uniformity and harmony in the
country.
"Our society is one. We are
one nation. So, a common civil
code is required for uniformity
and harmony. We will study
the provisions of the UCC...
but broadly speaking we are
in agreement for the UCC,"
Khattar contended.
In reply to another ques-
tion, Khattar said Common Eli-
gibility Test (CET) is con-
ducted by the Haryana Staff
Selection Commission (HSSC)
for recruitment to various
Group C and D government
jobs. A candidate is given the
opportunity to opt for the
better autonomous manage-
ment and effective supervision
of Sikh Gurdwaras and Gur-
dwara properties in the State
of Haryana, the Haryana Sikh
Gurdwara (Management) Act,
2014 (for brevity the Act) was
enacted by the state vide noti-
fication dated 14 July, 2014.
The Haryana Sikh Gurd-
wara (Management) Act, 2014
venience. In this regard, Chau-
tala had called upon a meeting
of various departments today.
Chautala directed the offi-
cers that keeping in mind the
convenience of the restaurants
and the general public, the
restaurant owners of the state
who want to keep their restau-
rants open for 24 hours in
future, can keep them open.
He said no one can force
them to shut down, but they will
have to register with the labour
department and follow other
terms and conditions (Section
9 and 10 of the Punjab Shops
and Commercial Establish-
ments Act, 1958). The Deputy
CM further said if any restau-
rant owner feels that someone
is harassing them unneces-
sarily, they can register their com-
plaint through email on e-mail
id hepcharyana@gmail.com.
Corruption is anti-democratic, corruption is poor governance,
corruption runs down our growth... a corruption-free society is the
safest guarantee to your growth trajectory...
posts according to his or her
educational qualification.
The CM said the state gov-
ernment, in the last eight-
and-a-half-year tenure, has
given more jobs as compared
was challenged by way of fil-
ing of Writ Petition (Civil)
No. 735 of 2014 before the
Supreme Court. In the said
petition, the Supreme Court
vide order dated 7 August, 2014
directed that the status quo
with regard to subject Gurd-
waras must be maintained by
all concerned.
"In the light of said direc-
Himachal Pradesh to strengthen Landless people to get 5
SDRF to mitigate disasters marlas of land in J&K
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 4 JULY
Himachal Pradesh Revenue
Minister Jagat Singh Negi said
that the state government is
strengthening State Disaster
Management Authority
(SDMA) to mitigate disasters
in the state.
While presiding over the
review meeting of Himachal
Pradesh SDMA here on Tues-
day, Negi said that the state
government was taking nec-
essary steps to deal with pos-
sible disasters in the state.
“New recruits were being
recruited for SDRF in the
state. A total of 126 jawans have
been provided training by
the 7th Battalion of the Nation-
al Disaster Response Force in
Bathinda. After this, these
jawans have also been sent to
different places for advanced
training,” he said.
They have also been pro-
vided with information about
the use of updated skills and
equipment to provide quick
HP to plant 10,000 hectares of land under green initiatives
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 4 JULY
Under the green initiative,
the Forest Department of the
Himachal Pradesh govern-
ment has decided to plant sap-
plings on 10,000 hectares of
land. Disclosing this here on
Tuesday, Chief Minister Thakur
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said
that during the current finan-
cial year, the Forest Depart-
ment has set a target to carry
out an afforestation drive in
approximately 257 hectares of
hilltops across 15 Forest Divi-
sions in the state under the
"Mukhya Mantri Green Cover
Mission".
‘Mukhya Mantri Green
Cover Mission’ has been intro-
JAGDEEP DHANKHAR
to ten years tenure of previ-
ous Congress government.
Quoting figures to sup-
port his claims, Khattar said
only 88,000 government jobs
were given during ten years
tions, the Adhoc Committee
continued beyond the period
of its limitation of 18 months
as provided under sub-section
(8) of Section 16 of the said Act.
Later, on 20 September, 2022
the said Writ Petition was
finally dismissed by the
Supreme Court," the
spokesperson said.
As the requisite rules, stip-
ulated under Section 52 of the
Act for conducting the Gur-
dwara Elections in Haryana
were not formulated so as to
elect the members from var-
ious wards.
"Hence, after carrying out
amendment in clause (8) of
Section 16 of the Act an Adhoc
Committee was constituted to
manage and supervise the
affairs of the Haryana Sikh Gur-
dwara Management Com-
mittee till a new Committee
as stipulated under Sections
3 and 4 of the Act is not con-
stituted by holding elections,"
the spokesperson said.
relief to various disasters, he
added.
A specialized training
program will be developed
in consultation with the Dis-
aster Management Cell as per
the requirements and con-
ditions of the state, he
informed.
The Revenue Minister said
that land has been identified
by the SDMA for the con-
struction of SDRF battalion
building at Palampur in Kan-
duced in Himachal Pradesh,
wherein plantation will be
started on large chunks of
barren hills to increase the
green cover by planting eco-
friendly species, he said.
“The forest department
has identified the specific
areas for plantation during this
monsoon season. These
include 30 hectares in Kullu
VICE PRESIDENT
tenure of Congress govern-
ment from the year 2005 to
2014 in the state whereas, in
the last eight-and-a-half-years
tenure of the present state gov-
ernment, recruitment on
Wild tulips of Ladakh to
beautify Yamuna banks
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, 4 JULY
The high altitude wild tulips of
the Mushkoh valley in Drass of
Ladakh will beautify the banks
of Yamuna in Delhi.
Stating this, the Lt. Governor
of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD
Mishra (Retired) said that the
LG of Delhi VK Saxena wants to
procure wild tulips of Drass
instead of procuring tulips from
Holland for the beautification
of the Yamuna River banks.
Mishra was discussing the
issue with the Director, Defence
Institute of High Altitude
Research (DIHAR), Dr OP
Chaurasia, who called on him.
LG’s Advisor, Dr Pawan Kotw-
al and Secretary to LG, Ravin-
der Kumar were present in the
meeting. It is worth mention-
ing that with the warming cli-
mate, the wild tulips have
become a threatened flower
species. The Mushkoh valley had
gra, Pandoh in Mandi, and
Katasni in Shimla.
He directed to upload the
Forest Conservation Act case
for land related to Mandi and
Shimla on the PARIVESH por-
tal by July 15.
All necessary steps would
be taken to mitigate the dam-
age caused during the calami-
ties,” he said, directing the
SDMA to be prepared to deal
with any eventuality during
monsoon.
Forest Division, 25 hectares
each in Nahan and Solan, 22
hectares in Parvati, and 20
hectares in Kinnaur Forest
Division, among others,” he
said. The Mission aims to
increase the green cover and
also intends to eradicate wild
obnoxious weeds on the hill-
tops, further contributing to
the conservation of the envi-
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023
about 1.10 lakh posts had
been made and process is on
for recruitment on addition-
al 60,000 posts.
He said these included
32,000 posts of Group C and
15,000 posts of Group D. Apart
from this, separate recruitment
is to be made for the police and
education departments. "Thus,
the present state government
would give a total of 1.70 lakh
government jobs which is
double than the number of
government jobs given dur-
ing the Congress regime. He
said that Congress leaders
are not united and they are
fighting with each other,"
Khattar added.
In response to a question
regarding providing benefits
of reservation in promotion
to employees belonging to
Scheduled Castes, the chief
minister said the Committee
constituted under the chair-
manship of P Raghavendra Rao
in this regard has submitted
its report which is being stud-
ied thoroughly by the state gov-
ernment.
come into limelight during the
1999 war between India and Pak-
istan.
Dr Chaurasia informed the
LG that the plan has been sub-
mitted to the Horticulture
Department for various tech-
nologies required for the entre-
preneurs. He further informed
HLG about the potential to
grow Asafoetida (Hing), Lili-
um and GladiolusinLadakh.The
LG instructed Dr Chaurasia to
prepare a plan to develop and
grow these products in Ladakh
in a time-bound manner and
take it as a challenge.
Mishra also shared the plan
to reduce the mortality rate of
kids of pashmina goats, partic-
ularly in the winter months,
through the distribution of zero
carbon emission tents and
sheds. He instructed Ravinder
Kumar to take concerned stake-
holders on board on a priority
basis and distribute zero carbon
emission tents as needed.
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, 4 JULY
In a landmark decision, the
Jammu Kashmir government
has announced the allotment
of 5 Marlas of land each to land-
less PMAY-G beneficiaries.
The decision was taken by the
Administrative Council head-
ed by Lt Governor Manoj
Sinha.
The present allotment is
restricted to only the left out
cases out of Permanent wait-
ing list (PWL) 2018-19, which
at the time of launch of next
phase of PMAY-G scheme in
2024-25 has been extended to
the same categories of land-
less beneficiaries, who oth-
erwise become eligible for
getting housing assistance
under PMAY(G) Phase-III.
Those residing on the state
land or the forest land and those
residing in Rakhs and Farm
lands, where construction is
not permitted, are eligible for
allotment of land by the respec-
tive deputy commissioners.
People occupying custodian
ronment in the state, he added.
Additionally, the Forest
Department has been direct-
ed to prepare a work plan to
plant approximately 10,000
hectares of land under vari-
ous other departmental
schemes, further contributing
to the state’s green initia-
tives, said the Chief Minister.
To ensure the success of the
Mission, the forest officials
have been assigned the respon-
sibility of monitoring the plan-
tations and ensuring their sur-
vival, he said, adding that this
comprehensive approach not
only emphasizes environ-
mental conservation but also
highlights the government's
commitment to sustainable
development in the region.
Mann questions
need for UCC, SAD
calls it doublespeak
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 4 JULY
Days after Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) gave "in principle" sup-
port to Uniform Civil Code
(UCC), Punjab Chief Minister
Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday
questioned the need for hav-
ing a UCC, saying the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) resorts to such
tactics close to the polls.
Responding to a question
on the Uniform Civil Code,
the chief minister called India
is like a bouquet with differ-
ent communities having dif-
ferent customs and tradi-
tions. "Our country is like a
bouquet which has flowers of
different colours. Every reli-
gion has its own culture and
rituals. You (Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party) want the bouquet to
have flowers of only one
colour,” he asked.
Mann also said since every
religion has its own culture and
customs, there is a need to build
a consensus. "Our Constitu-
tion says all should be equal.
Only then you should imple-
ment the Uniform Civil Code.
Are all equal in the country?
No. There are still many down-
trodden people who don’t get
opportunities," he pointed
out.
Accusing the BJP of raising
the issue with an eye on polls,
Mann said, "The AAP does not
tinker with such practices, it
is a secular party. We just
want the country to become
Number 1."
Mann's statement came
days after senior AAP leader
and Rajya Sabha member
Sandeep Pathak had said AAP
supports Uniform Civil Code
"in principle", but since this
land; and the land allotted to
displaced people by the gov-
ernment near Dachigam park
for agriculture purpose, where
construction is not permitted,
have also been made eligible
for allotment of land.
“It is a historic day for
Jammu and Kashmir and a new
beginning for thousands of
landless families,” Lieutenant
Governor Manoj Sinha said,
adding that this historic deci-
sion will prove to be a gold-
en chapter in the adminis-
tration’s effort for social jus-
tice, equality, respect, and
equal opportunities to all cit-
izens. “This path-breaking
decision will not only entitle
the landless poor to own a piece
of land and have a house but
03
issue concerns all religious
communities, there should
be wide-ranging consulta-
tions and efforts to build con-
sensus.
In its reaction to Mann’s
statement, the Shiromani Akali
Dal (SAD) asked him to ask AAP
convener Arvind Kejriwal to
clear the party’s stand on the
proposed UCC, stating "this
was necessary to end the dou-
blespeak in the AAP central and
Punjab units on this sensitive
issue".
In a statement here, the SAD
leader Dr Daljit Cheema said
it is shocking that AAP wants
to vote in favour of UCC in the
Rajya Sabha even as "Mann is
befooling Punjabis by stating
that the party is against it in
Punjab".
Calling for a stop to this dou-
blespeak, Dr Cheema said
“Earlier, AAP has adopted the
same deceptive stand on the
issue of Satluj Yamuna Link
(SYL) canal”.
Reminding the CM of the
statement of the party’s Rajya
Sabha member from Punjab,
Dr Cheema said, “Pathak artic-
ulated the party’s stand at the
national level by asserting
that AAP was in favour of UCC
in principle".
"This means the party was
gearing up to vote in favour of
UCC once it is taken up for
approval in the Rajya Sabha.
The Punjab chief minister’s
statement against UCC has no
meaning in this context,” he
added. The SAD maintained
that the Uniform Civil Code
(UCC) and its implementation
throughout the country would
have an adverse impact on
minority and tribal commu-
nities.
it will also provide them means
of livelihood, raise their living
standards and realize their
dreams and aspirations,” the
Lt Governor said.
The Lt Governor said the
poor section of the society is
at the centre of government
policies and a substantial
population that was devoid of
basic facilities and rights even
after seven decades of Inde-
pendence is being brought to
the mainstream of develop-
ment.
“Jammu Kashmir govern-
ment is committed to Inclu-
sive development. This move
will open up endless oppor-
tunities to the poor and down-
trodden and with this landmark
decision the administration is
acknowledging their immense
contribution in the task of
nation building,” the Lt Gov-
ernor observed.
The Ministry of Rural Devel-
opment, had on 30 May, allo-
cated an additional target of
1,99,550 houses to the UT of
J&K for the financial year
2023-24.
04
The conspiracy to run down Chittoor Dairy was so visible that
while it suffered losses during the ten years, Heritage continued
to grow with huge profits every year
ANDHRA PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER YS JAGAN MOHAN REDDY
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023 WHILE LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE CHITTOOR COOPERATIVE DAIRY

Reshuffle in BJP to end dissent in Telangana

In Andhra Pradesh the BJP seems not too keen on forming an alliance with TDP; it has chosen D Purandeswari as its Andhra Pradesh unit chief
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Andhra Pradesh, sealing the and chose D Purandeswari, the tions but many in the party first party president of Telan- was the sole minister from as the next state president.
HYDERABAD, 4 JULY fate of any BJP-TDP alliance. daughter of NT Rama Rao as believe that in Telangana gana unit was brought back Telangana heading Tourism However, this has put a
Both appointments were the party’s new state chief. polarisation will benefit the BJP to resolve the tug of war and DONER. question mark on the possi-

I
n a major organisational
reshuffle ahead of Assem-
bly and general elections
in the two Telugu states,
the BJP today appointed Union
minister G Kishan Reddy as the
state president of Telangana,
replacing Bandi Sanjay Kumar
following widespread dissent
in the ranks.
In another surprise move,
former Union minister D
Purandeswari was appointed
as the new state president of
made with immediate effect.
Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who
was facing outright rebellion
from other state leaders not
only lost his post but his bete
noire within the BJP, Etela
Rajender was appointed as the
chairman of the election man-
agement committee for the
Telangana Assembly election.
In Andhra Pradesh the
BJP seem not too keen on
forming an alliance with TDP
in the elections slated next year
Though she is related to N
Chandrababu Naidu, head of
the Telugu Desam party, the
two are usually found in oppo-
site camps.
In Telangana, the dissent
against Bandi Sanjay Kumar,
particularly by lateral entrants
from other parties like BRS and
Congress forced the nation-
al leadership to bring back G
Kishan Reddy who has long
experience of handling the state
unit.
only in some pockets in the
upcoming Assembly elections
slated to be held in Decem-
ber.
The state unit was plagued
with dissent as other MLAs,
particularly those who joined
recently were venting in pub-
lic and in danger of being
Bandi Sanjay as a RSS man poached by the Congress.
relied on staunch Hindutva and G Kishan Reddy who head-
BJP witnessed quite a few ed the BJP twice between
electoral gains in both bypolls 2010-2014 in the unified
and the Hyderabad civic elec- Andhra Pradesh and later as
between Bandi Sanjay Kumar,
who is the Karimnagar MP and
BRS turned BJP MLA Etela
Rajender.
The national leadership
also chose to appoint Etela
Rajender as the chairman of
Election Management Com-
mittee of the Telangana BJP
for the upcoming Assembly
elections.
Bandi Sanjay is expected
to be accommodated in the
Union Cabinet since Reddy
While Bandi Sanjay’s
removal as state party chief
was expected, in the case of
Andhra Pradesh incumbent
chief Somu Veerraju was
taken aback after he was
called up by the BJP nation-
al president JP Nadda today
morning and told to send in
his resignation.
The national leadership
chose former Union minister
D Purandeswari who is also
the daughter of NT Rama Rao
bility of an alliance between
BJP and TDP since the equa-
tion between Purandeswari
and her brother-in-law
(sister’s husband) N Chan-
drababu Naidu isn’t at all
hunky dory.
Former chief minister of
unified Andhra Pradesh N
Kiran Kumar Reddy who joined
the BJP recently was also
appointed as a member of
National Executive Commit-
tee of BJP.

Senthil Balaji cash-for-job case: TENDER

LEGAL NOTICES
IN THE COURT OF
Swati Gupta,
ARC/ACJ/CCJ/NDD, Room
No. 03, Ground Floor, Patiala
House Courts, New Delhi
Petition No. SC/29/2022
SUNITA
Vs
THE STATE & ORS
(PETITIONER)
FOR SUCCESSION CERTIFI-
CATE UNDER INDIAN SUC-
CESSION ACT, 1925
To,
All concerned.
Whereas in the above noted
petition, the applicant/peti-
tioner has applied for Suc-
cession Certificate to the
Hon'ble Court Under Section
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 in respect of the
debt and securities any per-
son having a claim against
or an interest in the Estate of
the deceased Late SH. RAM
MURAT S/O HUVLAL DIED ON
DT. 13-02-2019 AT JHUGGI NO.
95 SONIA GANDHI CAMP
SAMALKHA NEW DELHI. Are
required to send particulars
thereof in writing to the under-
signed Court, to be standing
in the name of deceased.
Whereas the 11-07-2023 at
10'o clock in the forenoon
has been fixed for hearing
and the application notice is
hereby given to all concerned.
Given under my hand
and the seal of the court on
this 08-06-2023.
ARC/ACJ/CCJ/NDD, Patiala
House Courts, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
J-4244
IN THE COURT OF
Sh. Dinesh Bhatt,
District Judge (Commercial
Court-01) West, Room No.
115, 1st Floor, Tis Hazari
Courts, Delhi
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
Suit No. :
CS (COMM) 898/2022
INDIAN BANK
-Plaintiff
Vs
MISS. CHHAVIKA KUMAR
-Defendant
DEFENDANT
-Defendant
SH. SUNNY BHATIA
PROP. M/S SINGH O SINGH
KEBAB, SHOP NO. G-4A, PLOT
NO. 18, ASHISH CORPORATE
TOWER, COMMUNITY CEN-
TRE, KARKARDOOMA DELHI-
110092.
AT ALSO : SH. SUNNY BHA-
TIA, PROP. M/S SINGH O SINGH
KEBAB, R/0 H. NO. 65-66,
BLOCK –26, VISHWAS NAGAR
SHAHDARA DELHI-110032.
WHEREAS you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the
11 JULY 2023 at 10.00 a.m.
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter-
mined ex-parte.
Given under my hand
and the seal of the court this
07-06-2023.
District Judge (Commer-
cial Court)-02, Shahdara
District Karkardooma
Courts, Delhi
Seal of the Court
J-4246
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
IN THE COURT OF
Ms. Vineeta Goyal, District
Judge (Commercial Court)-
03, Room No. 24, Annexe
Building, Patiala House
Courts, New Delhi
CASE NO. :
CS (Comm.)/757/2022
INDIAN BANK
Vs
SHIVRAJ YADAV AND ORS.
To,
Mr. Shivraj Yadav
S/o Sh. Sumer Yadav
Mrs. Shalu Sahu W/o Sh.
Shivraj Yadav, Present Address
: Both Residents of Flat No.
301, 3rd Floor, House No.189,
Village and Post Makanpur
Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, U.P.
Permanent Address : 537,
BHA/ 560 Bharat Nagar, Sita-
pur Road Lucknow, U.P.-
2261021
Also at : Flat No. 1102, 11th
Floor, Tower -D, Prestine
Avenue, Plot No. 3F, GC-
03F/GH-03 Sector 16-C, Gaur
City- II, Greater Noida (West)
Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P.
RAKESH KUMAR
PROP. OF VAISHNAVI CRE-
ATION, IX/6127, KAUSHIK
COMPLEX SHIVAJI GALI, MAIN
ROAD GANDHI NAGAR, DELHI-
110031
WHEREAS complaint/case
has been made before me
that RAKESH KUMAR R/0
VAISHNAVI CREATIONS,
IX/6127, KAUSHIK COMPLEX
SHIVAJI GALI, MAIN ROAD
GANDHI NAGAR DELHI-110031
has committed (or is sus-
pected to have committed)
the offence punishable under
section of and it has been
returned to a warrant of arrest
thereupon issued that the
said RAKESH KUMAR cannot
be found, and whereas it has
been shown to my satisfaction
that the said RAKESH KUMAR
has absconded (or is con-
cealing himself/herself to
avoid the service of the said
warrant); Proclamation is
hereby made that the said
RAKESH KUMAR is required to
appear before this Court (or
before me) on 27-07-2023 to
answer the said com-
plaint/case.
Dated, this day of 15-06-
2023.
Judicial Magistrate First
Class, Amritsar
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
Ms. Ravinder Bedi,
Additional District Judge-02,
Room No. 52, B-Block,
Second Floor, Shahdara
District, Karkardooma
Courts, Delhi
Regn. No. PC-25/2023
1. MRS. VINITA DOGRA
W/o Dr. Vinod Dogra, R/o
D-909, New Friends Colony,
New Delhi-110065
2. SMT. LOLA NAYAR
W/o Late Shri Srinivasan
Kumar, R/o B-18, Press
Enclave, New Delhi-110017
-Petitioners
Versus
STATE OF NCT OF DELHI
Through The Chief Secre-
tary, Delhi Secretariat, I. P.
Estate, New Delhi-110002
-Respondent
Citation for publication of
petition U/s 276 of Indian Suc-
cession Act for grant of Pro-
bate of Will dated 27-08-2007
executed by Late Sh. Balakr-
ishna Karunakaran Nayar in
to you an Whereas it has been
proved to the satisfaction of
the Court that you cannot be
served in the ordinary manner.
Notice is hereby issued that if
you wish to defend the above
mentioned petition you may
cause an appearance to be
entered on your behalf either
in person or through an
advocate duly appointed by
you for the purpose before
the Court of Joint Registrar
(Judicial) on 12-07-2023
(actual) at 11.00 a.m.
If no appearance is made on
your behalf, by yourself, your
pleader or someone by law
authorized to act for you in the
said petition on the afore-
mentioned date, no further
notice of the subsequent date
of hearing of the said petition
will be given and the same will
be heard and determined ex-
party in your absence.
Given under my hand and
the seal of this Court, this
the 24th day of May, 2023.
Assistant Registrar
for Registrar General
Seal of the Court
(U/o 5 Rule 20 CPC)
IN THE COURT OF
Ms. Kiran Bala,
Additional Principal Judge
Family Court, Garhshankar
CNR No. :
PBHOF3-000168-2022
Next Date : 17-07-2023
Navjot Kaur age 32 year's
wife of Hardip Singh son of
Gurmit Singh resident of
House No. BX-1513, Village
Lamba Pind, PO Chogitti, Dis-
trict Jalandhar, and also resid-
ing in her parents's house at
Village Tuto Mazara, Tehsil
Garhshankar, District Hoshair-
pur at present residing at 26
Rosamun Street, Southall UB2
5YY United Kingdom (Eng-
land) filed the present petition
through her attorney i.e. her
father named Rattan Singh
son of Joginder Singh resi-
dent of VPO Tuto Mazara,
Tehsil Garhshankar, District
Hoshairpur.
-Petitioner
Vs
Hardip Singh son of Gur-
mit Singh resident of House
No. BX-1513, Village Lamba
Pind, PO Chogiti, District
Jalandhar.
-Respondent
SC refuses to interfere with
ta1291992@gmail.com
WHEREAS you are inten-
Madras HC proceedings
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
defend the case on the 08th NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
day of August, 2023 the day
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter- Following a split verdict by
mined ex-parte.
Given under my hand and
Madras High Court in a mat-
the seal of the Court, this ter relating to Tamil Nadu
07th day of June, 2023. minister V. Senthil Balaji,
Addl. District Judge-06,
South-East District, Saket the Supreme Court on Tues-
Court Complex, New Delhi day refused the Enforce-
Seal of the Court
J-4248 ment Directorate’s plea to
IN THE COURT OF
take upon itself the task of
deciding two questions of law
Sh. Bhupesh Kumar,
District Judge (Commercial
arising in the case ~ whether
Court-05), Room No. 22,
4th Floor, Block-I, South- habeas corpus petition can ing in the case “as early as
East District, Saket Courts be entertained after Balaji was possible”.
Complex, New Delhi
(Order 5, Rule 20 of already remanded to judicial The Bench kept pending
the CPC.) custody and can ED be denied the ED’s plea against the
CS (COMM) NO. : 303/2022 its right of subjecting Bala- High Court order. Telling
SH. VIJAY MALHOTRA
ji to interrogation for two the Bench “I was appre-
-Plaintiff
Vs weeks. hending the split verdict”,
M/S AVA APPARELS LLP &
ORS. Not accepting a plea by the Solicitor General Tushar
-Defendants Directorate of Enforcement Mehta urged the Bench to
To,
M/s AVA APPARELS LLP.
(ED) urging the top court to decide the question of law
take upon itself the task of arising in the case, instead
A-35/2, MAYAPURI INDUS-
TRIAL AREA, PHASE-1, NEW deciding the two “neat” of leaving the matter to the
DELHI-110064.
Whereas Plaintiff has insti- question of law instead of let- third ju d g e.
tuted that above Suit FOR ting the matter to go to the He said that Senthil Balaji was
RECOVERY against the defen-
dants. You are hereby sum- third judge following the split an “influential” person and
moned to appear in this Court verdict, a Bench of Justice the “damage... will be irre-
in person or by a pleader on Surya Kant and Justice versible.”
the 21st day of JULY 2023, at
10:00 0' clock, to answer the Dipankar Datta requested Posting the matter for
same, failing which the Suit the Chief Justice of the hearting on 24 July, the Bench
will be disposed of ex-parte.
Given under my hand Madras High Court to place told the Solicitor General, who
and the seal of the court, this the matter before the third urged the Bench to take
05th JUNE, 2023
NOTE : Defendant is
judge “at the earliest” and fur- upon itself and decide the two
informed to file WS within a ther requested the third “neat” questions of law, that
period of 30 days from the judge (before whom the mat- they would like to have the ben-
date of receipt of summons
with advance copy to the ter will now be placed) to efit of the final opinion of the
plaintiff and filling of WS in decide the legal issues aris- High Court on the issue.
commercial suit in 120 days
period is mandatory and no
extension can be granted.
District Judge (Commer-
cial Court-05), South-East
District, Saket Courts Com-
PM inaugurates Sai
Hira Global Convention
plex, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
J-4249

To,
Defendants
1. Miss Chhavika Kumar,
D/o Late Sh. Rakesh Kumar
2. Sh. Tapan Kumar, S/o Late
Sh. Rakesh Kumar
3. Mrs. Ranjana Kumar, W/o
Late Sh. Rakesh Kumar
All R/o D-2/LG-12, Dilshad
Colony, Delhi-110095
Also At : All Glamour Inter-
national School, Shahid Nagar,
Ghaziabad, U.P.-201001
Also At : C-4/T1, Dilshad
Colony, Jhilmil, Delhi-110095
THE DEFENDANT ABOVE
NAMED
WHEREAS you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the
22-08-2023 the day fixed for the
final disposal, it will be heard
and determined ex-parte.
Given under my hand
and the seal of the court, this
09-06-2023.
Distirct Judge (Commeri-
cal-01), West, Tis Hazari
Court, Delhi
Seal of the Court
J-4245
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
IN THE COURT OF
Ms. Sukhvinder Kaur,
District Judge (Commercial
Court)-02, Room No. 56,
Third Floor, Shahdara
District Karkardooma
Courts, Delhi
CS (COMM) NO. 549/2021
CANARA BANK
-Plaintiff
Versus
SH. SUNNY BHATIA
KOLKATA
Statesman House,
4, Chowringhee Square
Kolkata-700 001
M- 7980388433, 9830045650
Email:
Delhistatesman@gmailcom
statesmandisplay@gmail.com
thestatesmanclassified@gmail.com
DELHI
Statesman House,
148, Barakhamba Road,
New Delhi-110 001
M/s Geotech Homz Private
Ltd.
1A, Gyan Khand IV, Indira-
puram Ghaziabad, U.P. - 201014
Also at Registered Office :
GC- 03F/ GH- 03, Sector- 16C,
Greater Noida, Gautam Budh
Nagar, U.P.
WHEREAS above named
PLAINTIFF has instituted a
suit against you. You are here-
by summoned to appear
before this court in person
or by pleader on 08-08-2023 at
10:00 AM to answer the same.
Take notice that, in default
of your appearance on that
day before mentioned, the
suit will be heard and deter-
mined in your absence.
Given under my hand and
the seal of the court, this 25th
day of May, 2023.
District Judge (Commer-
cial Court)-03, Annexe
Building, Patiala House
Courts, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
J-4247
PBAS03-014827-2020
Criminal Courts, Amritsar
IN THE COURT OF
Harsimranjit Kaur, Judicial
Magistrate First Class,
Amritsar
Next Date, Purpose of case,
Orders and Judgments as
well as other case informa-
tion is available on
http://ecourts.gov.in
NACT/3333/2020
NEXT DATE : 27-07-2023
M/S UNIQUE KNITTERS
Vs
RAKESH KUMAR
POLICE STATION/FIR NO. //
PROCLAMATION REOUIR-
ING THE APPEARANCE OF A
PERSON ACCUSED
Detail of offence :-
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
statesmanbbsr@gmail.com
Delhistatesman@gmailcom
SILIGURI
Spencer Plaza, 18/19, 1st
Floor
Burdwan Road
Above Vishal Mega Mart
Siliguri-734005, West Bengal
Ph.: 9832082429
sil_statesman@yahoo.co.in
Delhistatesman@gmailcom
HYDERABAD
The Statesman Limited,
respect of property No. 71,
Vigyan Lok, Delhi, area mea-
suring 150 sq. yards.
Whereas the 01-09-2023 has
been fixed for hearing of the
case, notice is hereby given
that person having any inter-
est in the said petition con-
cerned may if he/she desire
appear in this court of the
said 01-09-2023 and see the
proceedings.
Given under my hand and
the seal of this court on this
05-06-2023.
Additional District Judge-
02, Shahdara District,
Karkardooma Courts, Delhi
Seal of the Court
J-4251
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Notice under Order V Rule
20 Code of Civil Procedure
CM NO. 39762/2019
IN CM(M) 1177/2019
Petition under Article 227
of the Constitution of India
against the order Dt.
01/06/2019 passed by Ms.
Sugandha Aggarwal,
ADJ/West/Tis Hazari Courts,
Delhi in Suit No. 12582/2016.
CHANDEEP SINGH & ANR.
-Petitioner/s
Versus
VIRENDER KUMAR BHUSSRY
& ANR.
-Respondent/s
Notice to Respondent No. 2 :
Sh. Kartar Singh S/o Sh.
Devi Lal, R/o 37, Aggarwal
Colony, Najafgarh, New Delhi-
110043.
Whereas the above noted
petitioner has presented a
petition under Article 227
Constitution of India which
was listed before the court on
07/08/2019 and the Court
ordered issuance of notice
560025.
Tel. : 9212192123
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
bangalore@thestatesmangroup.com
MUMBAI
5, Kasturi Buildings, Jamshedji
Tata Road, Mumbai-400 020
M-9212192123
Tel : (022) 35775450,
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
mumbai@thestatesmangroup.com
PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION
OF MARRIAGE UNDER SEC-
TION 13 OF THE HINDU MAR-
RIAGE ACT
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
Hardip Singh son of Gur-
mit Singh resident of House
No. BX-1513, Village Lamba
Pind, PO Chogiti, District
Jalandhar.
In above titled case, the
defendant(s)/respondent(s)
could not be served. It is
ordered that defendant(s) /
respondent(s) should appear
in person or through coun-
sel on 17-07-2023 at 10:00 a.m.
For details logon to
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
rs=district_notice&dis-
trict=Hoshiarpur
Additional Principal Judge
Family Court, Garhshankar
Dated, this day of 04-05-202
Seal of the Court
J.(Civil)-12
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
IN THE COURT OF
Ms. Mona Tardi Kerketta,
Addl. District Judge-06,
Room No. 310, 3rd Floor,
South-East District, Saket
Court Complex, New Delhi
Suit No : DJ 273 / 2021
BSES RAJDHANI POWER LTD.
-Plaintiff
Vs
MEENA
-Defendant
To,
MEENA
H. NO. A-1/3, G/F, B/P KHAS-
RA NO. 488, VILLAGE MOLAR
BAND EXTENSION, NEW DELHI-
110044.
MOBILE NO. : 9811424304,
Email : sumitgup-
Centre in Puttaparthi
IN THE COURT OF
Deeksha Madaan, Metro-
politan Magistrate Mahila
Court-01, (South District)
Room No. 208, Saket Court,
New Delhi
CT CASES : 76/2021
PS : NEB SARAI
MRS. SARITA
Versus
JAGDISH SINGH AND ORS.
To
MR. JAGDISH SINGH S/0.
LATE MR. DHARAM PRAKASH,
R/O 259, SAINIK NAGAR, GALI
NO. 2, VILLAGE KASAMPUR,
MEERUT CANTT. U.P.
MR. DHARMENDER SINGH
S/O. LATE MR. DHARAM
PRAKASH, R/O 259, SAINIK
NAGAR, GALI NO. 2, VILLAGE
KASAMPUR, MEERUT CANTT.
U.P.
MRS. JITO KAUR W/O. LATE
MR. DHARAM PRAKASH, R/O
259, SAINIK NAGAR, GALI NO. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Changes are taking place with
2, VILLAGE KASAMPUR,
MEERUT CANTT. U.P.
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY the participation of every sec-
tion of society.
SAPNA D/O. LATE MR.
DHARAM PRAKASH, R/O 259, Prime Minister Narendra Modi The Prime Minister said
SAINIK NAGAR, GALI NO. 2,
VILLAGE KASAMPUR, MEERUT on Tuesday said India has the Sai Hira Global Convention
CANTT. U.P. declared fulfilling one’s duties Centre radiates spirituality
Whereas application has
been made before me and as the nation’s first priority in and has an ambience of moder-
you are hereby informed the Amrit Kaal of its Indepen- nity too. An air of spiritual
through this notice dated you
are hereby required to appear
dence and has therefore divinity and depth of ideas
in person or by pleader. declared the Amrit Kaal as cannot be missed at the place.
Metropolitan Magistrate Kartavyakaal (time of doing It will surely become a centre
Mahila Court-01, (South Dis-
trict), Saket Court, duty). for discussions on spirituali-
New Delhi He was inaugurating the Sai ty and academic programmes
Seal of the Court
J-4250
Hira Global Convention Cen- among scholars and experts,
tre built by Sri Sathya Sai Cen- he said.
tral Trust at Prasanthi Nilayam Mr Modi said an idea
EDUCATIONAL in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, becomes meaningful if it gets
via video conferencing. The transformed into action. He said
inauguration ceremony was along with the dedication of the
UNIVERSITY OF attended by prominent dig- Sai Hira Global Convention
NORTH BENGAL nitaries and devotees from Centre, a Leaders Conference
P.O.: NBU around the world. of Sri Sathya Sai Global Coun-
Dist.: Darjeeling-734013
ADMISSION Mr Modi said: “How we con- cil is also taking place.
NOTIFICATION duct ourselves is the biggest Attended by delegates from
Online applications are source of inspiration for oth- several countries, the confer-
invited for admission to
ers. The life of Sathya Sai Baba ence is expected to generate
the first Semester of 4-
year B.Sc. (Major) in Tea is the most live example of this.” a good debate on the theme
Science Course for the Inspired by his life, India too of “practice and inspire.” The
Session 2023-2024 from
07-07-2023 to 15-07-2023. is focusing now on work and Convention Centre has been
Candidates please visit duties, which are driven by spir- donated by philanthropist Mr
Admission Section at: itual values and yet aim at Ryuko Hira. The Prime Min-
https://nbu.ac.in for
details of Online definite targets in the future, ister noted that in a country like
Admission procedure and he said. India, religious and spiritual
prospectus.
India is moving towards institutions have always been
Registrar (Officiating)
development but not forget- at the centre of social welfare.
Advt. No.: 22/R-2023
Date: 05-07-2023 ting its legacy, the Prime Min- Institutions like Sri Sathya Sai
ister said. On the one hand, India Trust are playing a major role
is rebuilding its spiritual cen- in the nation’s push for devel-
https://epaper.thestatesman.com

LUCKNOW tres and, on the other, leading opment with protection of her-
ALL CLASSIFIED ARE CARRIED

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2/2, Butler Palace (Near Jopling the world in economy and itage. “I am happy that your spir-
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Road), Lucknow-226 001, technology. itual wing is trying to instil cul-
Hiten Rathore Mob: 9866323009, 9212192123
ON OUR WEBSITE

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Plot 3A, Zone B, Sector A, Ranchi - 834 002 India is competing with Nilayam, while schools and
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No. 68, First Floor, Gold Tower,
Bhubaneswar-751010. delhistatesman@gmail.com ital technology. Of all the real- education for years. Your insti-
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AIR-SURCHARGE; Kathmandu - Re. 2, Eastern Region - Re. 1 the world, 40 per cent are worthy steps to empower the
All other stations in India - Re. 1 done in India only, he said. society,” Mr Modi said.
 05
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is necessary to bring uni-
formity and harmony in the country.
HARYANA CHIEF MINISTER MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR
AT A PRESS BRIEF AFTER PRESIDING OVER THE MEETING OF CABINET NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023

There should be no further delay

THUMBNAILS

Two farmers shot dead in

NCP chief Sharad Pawar taking in implementing UCC: Dhankhar
UP's Sultanpur: Two farm-
ers were shot dead by
assailants in Marui Krish-
nadaspur village in Uttar
legal opinion on ongoing crisis STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY

Pradesh's Sultanpur district
over old enmity, police said.
Superintendent of Police
Somen Barma said that the
deceased were identified as
Vice-president Jagdeep
entity can be allowed to
tweak with our sovereignty
and reputation." Describ-
ing India as the oldest, largest,
The Ajit Pawar camp had claimed the support of at least 40 MLAs of the NCP Dhankar today emphasised most functional and vibrant
that the Uniform Civil Code democracy that is giving sta-
SNS & AGENCIES appointed Ajit Pawar as the (UCC) will bind “Bharat & its bility to global peace and har-
MUMBAI, 4 JULY leader of the NCP legislature nationalism” more effec- mony, he stressed, "We can-
party and Sunil Tatkare as the tively, and said that "any fur- not suffer dent on our flour-
ationalist Congress president of the state NCP ther delay in its implemen- ishing and blossoming

Dharmraj Maurya ,60, and
Vijay Kumar Rajbhar, 45.
The incident occurred on
Monday night when the
farmers were working on
their agricultural land. No
arrests have been made in
this connection yet, the SP
added. IANS
Two Gujarat students die
of heart attack: In a dis-
tressing development, two
young students died due to
sudden cardiac arrest in
separate incidents in
Gujarat's Saurashtra region.
The first incident occurred
at SGVP Gurukul in Ribda vil-
lage, located on the out-
skirts of Rajkot city.
Devansh Bhayani, a 15-year-
old student, collapsed on
the stage while preparing
for a performance as part
of Guru Purnima celebra-
tions on Monday. Bhayani
was suffering from a heart
abnormality. IANS
N
Party (NCP) chief
Sharad Pawar is
seeking legal opin-
ion to tackle the crisis in the
party caused by his nephew
Ajit Pawar joining the Shiv
Sena-BJP government and
claiming the support of the
bulk of MLAs, party sources
said on Tuesday.
Mr Pawar, who returned
from Satara on Monday night,
is holding discussions with
legal experts on how to han-
dle the ongoing develop-
ments, said NCP national
spokesperson Clyde Crasto.
“Taking a legal opinion is
necessary as this issue con-
cerns Schedule 10 of the con-
stitution," he said.
The 10th Schedule, which
talks about the anti-defection
law, is designed to prevent
political defections prompt-
ed by the lure of office, mate-
rial benefits or similar con-
siderations. It also deals with
the issue of disqualification
on the ground of defection and
the role of the speaker or the
chairman of the House.
According to Mr Crasto,
the Ajit Pawar-led group does-
n't enjoy the support of more
than 13 MLAs and can attract
the provisions of the Anti-
Defection Law.
“A clear picture of the sup-
port of Sharad Pawar will
emerge tomorrow (Wednes-
day) at the meeting convened
by Sharad Pawar at 1 pm," Mr
Crasto said.
The Ajit Pawar camp had
claimed the support of at least
40 (out of 53) MLAs of the NCP.
When asked by reporters if
he would take legal recourse
after Ajit Pawar took oath as
deputy chief minister on Sun-
day, Sharad Pawar had said he
would not get into all this but
will go among people.
The NCP had moved a peti-
tion before Maharashtra
Assembly Speaker Rahul Nar-
wekar seeking the disqualifi-
cation of Ajit Pawar and eight
other MLAs who have taken
oath as ministers in the Eknath
Shinde-led government.
A day earlier, the NCP chief
removed the party's working
president Praful Patel and
general secretary Sunil Tatkare
for engaging in "anti-party”
activities after they attended
the swearing-in ceremony of
Ajit Pawar.
The Ajit Pawar camp has
asked the Maharashtra Assem-
bly Speaker to disqualify Jayant
Patil and Jitendra Awhad from
membership of the House.
Mr Patel on Monday
unit.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit
Pawar has said that the major-
ity of party MLAs are with
him.
After participating in the
state cabinet meeting here, he
told reporters, "There was
nothing new as such. We and
Chief Minister Shinde have
worked together in the cabi-
net. We have experience with
the cabinet. Most of them
were ministers in that cabinet.
BJP also has some ministers,
like Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.
When he was in Congress, I
worked with him. So it is noth-
ing new. All works are prop-
erly going on. You should not
worry at all, the majority of
(NCP) MLAs are with me.”
Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar
inaugurated a new National-
ist Congress Party (NCP) party
office near Mantralaya in
Mumbai.
tation will be corrosive to
our values."
Addressing the 25th con-
vocation of IIT Guwahati,
he stressed that Directive
Principles of State Policy
(DPSP) were 'fundamental in
governance of the country'
and it's the duty of the state
to make them into rules.
Mentioning that many
DPSPs e.g. panchayats, coop-
eratives & Right to Education
have already been translat-
ed into law, he underlined that
it was time to implement
Article 44 of the Constitution.
Cautioning against the
attempts to tarnish the image
of India and "frequent orches-
tration of anti-national nar-
ratives," Mr Dhankhar
stressed, “It is high time
choreographers of anti-Bharat
narrative orchestration are
effectively rebuffed.”
The Vice-President also
pointed out that “no foreign
democracy and constitu-
tional institutions." Noting
that there is zero tolerance
to corruption now, he called
for making a corruption-
free society. "Corruption is
anti-democratic, corruption
is poor governance, corrup-
tion runs down our growth…
a corruption free society is
the safest guarantee to your
growth trajectory," he said.
Mr Dhankhar also
expressed his disapproval
of some people “taking to
streets rather than taking
recourse to lawful process”
when they were held up for
corruption. He also asked the
students to take pride in
being Indians and its his-
torical achievements. He
also wanted them to be com-
mitted towards economic
nationalism and refrain from
making fiscal gains at the
cost of the nation and nation-
alism.

After a year, NCP ministers, some Filing charge sheet no proof of

first-timers, return to Mantralaya
SNS & AGENCIES
MUMBAI, 4 JULY
A year after many of them had
been ejected out of
Mantralaya at Nariman Point,
the rival Nationalist Con-
gress Party’s Deputy Chief
Minister and his cabinet col-
leagues returned to state
government headquarters
for a maiden cabinet meet-
ing, here on Tuesday morn-
ing.
The Ajit Pawar-led faction
of nine, including the sole
woman Minister Aditi
Tatkare, shall attend the
cabinet meeting to be
presided over by Shiv Sena
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde
and Bharatiya Janata Party’s
Deputy CM Devendra Fad-
navis, this afternoon.
The new ministers first
paid homage to a huge por-
trait of Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj and other icons
near the main entrance.
So far, Ajit Pawar & co have
not been allocated ministe-
rial responsibilities, there
is speculation that he may
corner many plum portfolios,
including finance, agriculture,
revenue or some others, cre-
ating heart-burns among
the other two ruling allies.
As per current indica-
tions, the new ministers are
likely to be given their respon-
sibilities “very soon, maybe
in a couple of days”, accord-
ing to an official.
The Shiv Sena MLAs are
reportedly apprehensive
over giving the crucial finance
portfolio to Ajit Pawar as he
may indulge in pressure tac-
tics - by stalling or starving
them of much-needed devel-
opmental funds for their
constituencies, or prioritiz-
ing the NCP-BJP MLAs – a
potentially scary prospect
barely a year ahead of the
Assembly elections.
Earlier, Ajit Pawar, and
around 5 others had occu-
pied cabins in Mantralaya
during the two-and-half year
tenure of the Maha Vikas
Aghadi (MVA) government
headed by ex-CM Uddhav
Thackeray.
After the Shiv Sena’s inter-
nal revolt, the MVA govern-
ment was toppled and later
on June 30, 2022, Shinde
and Fadnavis were sworn-in
as CM and Deputy CM, and
a year later, Ajit Pawar’s
NCP faction has joined as the
third partner in the Shiv
Sena-BJP administration.
corruption: Bihar minister
SNS & AGENCIES
PATNA, 4 JULY
While the BJP leaders
demanded action against
Tejashwi Yadav after he was
charge-sheeted in the land-
for-a-job scam case filed by
the CBI, Vijay Kumar Choud-
hary, the finance minister of
Bihar said that mere charge-
sheet on anyone does not
prove guilt.
"Filing a charge sheet is
not proof that the person is
involved in corruption. We
have seen several people
who were charge-sheeted
in cases and later were acquit-
ted by the court. The court
will decide whether the charge
sheet was right or wrong,"
Choudhary said.
"The charge sheet was
filed by an investigation
agency, which is under a
question mark. As it has filed
the charge sheet against
Tejashwi Yadav, the smell of
conspiracy is coming out
from it," Choudhary said.
The CBI on Monday filed
a supplementary charge sheet
against Tejashwi Yadav in the
land-for-job scam case.
Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu
Prasad, Misa Bharti, Hema
Yadav, Rabri Devi and oth-
ers are facing charges of cor-
ruption in the IRCTC scam.
The CBI registered FIR against
Tejashwi Yadav and others
in 2017 and the court had
given bail to him on October
6, 2018.
The IRCTC land-for-job
scam happened between
2004 to 2009 when Lalu
Prasad was the Union rail-
way minister. During his
tenure, two hotels were given
on lease without following the
norms.
One of the hotels was
allotted to Sarla Gupta, wife
of Prem Gupta, a close friend
of Lalu Prasad. He was also
a Rajya Sabha MP at that time.
Besides, Lalu Prasad and
Tejashwi Yadav, Prem Gupta,
Sarla Gupta, and railway
officials Rakesh Saksena
and P.K. Goyal are also
accused in this case.
Pak-origin Hindu doctors get
registered in Gujarat
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE An event was organised Speaking at the Pakistan
AHMEDABAD, 4 JULY here on Monday by these Migrant Hindu Doctors’
Pakistan-origin Hindu doc- Registration Abhar Samaroh,
As many as 132 Pakistani tors to express their gratitude RSS leader Dattatreya Hos-
Hindu doctors have been reg- to the ruling BJP and the abole advised the new Indi-
istered as full time medical Rashtriya Swayamsevak an citizens to remember
practitioners in Gujarat, as Sangh (RSS) for their support their native villages in Pak-
per reports. to the cause, as per reports. istan till the sub-continent
These doctors are among After their arrival in India is unified again as ‘Akhand
the first batch of beneficia- few months back, all these Bharat’.
ries of the contentious Cit- doctors have cleared the Chief Minister Bhupen-
izenship Amendment Act examinations conducted by dra Patel said that these
(CAA) which allowed Hindus the National Medical Com- doctors who migrated from
from neighbouring coun- mission (NMC) which is a Pakistan have walked the
tries to opt for Indian citi- pre-requisite for practice in path from darkness to light,
zenship. India. as per reports.
Congress alleges NCST
Chairman forced to
resign for objecting to
dilution of forest laws
SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
The Congress on Tuesday slammed the gov-
ernment after National Commission on
Scheduled Caste (NCST) Harsh Chouhan

Harivansh Bhim Army chief seeks CBI probe into attack on him
resigned eight months before the comple-
tion of his term, saying he was forced to resign

meets Nitish SNS & AGENCIES conspiracy, the attackers

in Patna
SNS & AGENCIES
PATNA, 4 JULY
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chair-
person Harivansh Narayan
Singh has met Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar in
Patna creating political buzz
in the state.
Sources said that both the
leaders met for half an hour
at Bihar Chief Minister’s
residence and had a closed-
door meeting on Monday
evening.
After the formation of
the Mahagathbandhan gov-
ernment in Bihar last year,
several JD-U leaders had
demanded Singh’s resig-
nation from Rajya Sabha
Vice Chairmanship post,
however, he did not resign,
as per reports.
SAHARANPUR, 4 JULY
Bhim Army founder Chan-
d r a S h e k h a r A z a d has
demanded a CBI probe into
the attack on him on June 28
so that those who hatched the
conspiracy against him can
be exposed.
Four assailants in a car had
allegedly opened indiscrim-
inate firing on the vehicle of
Azad near Gandhi Nagar
colony under Deoband police
station limits in Uttar Pradesh's
Saharanpur district when he
was returning from his party
worker's house on June 28
evening.
On July 1, the Ambala unit
of Haryana Special Task Force
in coordination with the Uttar
Pradesh Police arrested four
people from near a dhaba in
the Shahzadpur area of
Ambala.
As per the police, during
interrogation, the arrested
persons said that they shot at
the Bhim Army founder
because they were angry over
his statements made in the past
few months. The accused
were identified as Vikas,
Prashant and Lovish, all from
Saharanpur. The fourth
accused Vikas hails from
Haryana's Karnal.
Chandra Shekhar, mean-
while, has expressed his dis-
satisfaction with the police ver-
sion. He also claimed that a
pistol was used to attack him,
while the police had recovered
two country-made pistols
from the possession of those
arrested.
"A CBI investigation will
expose who was involved in
the conspiracy of attack. Police
should honestly find out 'who
paid the attackers', he
demanded.
The Bhim Army leader
alleged that as part of the
parked the car in the Gurjar-
dominated village of Mirag-
pur so that there could be an
ethnic clash.
He said Bhim Army work-
ers were also collecting infor-
mation at their level.
The Bhim Army chief
appealed to police that the
families of the attackers should
not be troubled by their
actions. He reiterated that
such attacks made him
stronger.
"If atrocities are commit-
ted against women, I will
speak. No matter how many
bullets someone fires, I am
not afraid," he added.
Saharanpur SSP Vipin
Tada refuted Chandra
Shekhar's allegations and
said that Bhim Army's men
had provided them with the
empty cartridges of the bul-
lets fired at him and visibly
they were of .315 bore.
for objecting to the dilution of forest laws.
“In February 2021, Harsh Chouhan was
appointed as Chairperson of the National Com-
mission on Scheduled Tribes (NCST), a Con-
stitutional body. He has been taking — like
many activists and I have done — very strong
objections to the way forest laws have been
diluted in the last two years hurt the interests
of Adivasis (tribals). He has confronted the
Environment and Forests Ministry boldly.
“Now hehaspaidthepriceforhiscommitment
and courage. He has been forced to resign 8
months before his term ends.
So much for the Modi govern-
ment’s concerns for the welfare
of tribal communities and the
independence of Constitutional
authorities,” Congress Gener-
al Secretary Jairam Ramesh in
a tweet said. Chouhan’s resig-
nation was accepted by the
President on June 27. He was
appointed chairperson of NCST
in February 2021.
The chairperson, vice-chair-
person and members of the
NCST are appointed by the
President for three years from
the date of assumption of charge.

IAS officer Faesal who challenged abrogation of Article 370 in SC now describes it ‘a thing of the past’
SP SHARMA
JAMMU, 4 JULY
In an interesting twist days
before a 5-judge Constitution
Bench of the Supreme Court
is due to hear a batch of peti-
tions against the abrogation of
Article 370, IAS officer Shah Fae-
sal, who was one of the main
petitioners against the gov-
ernment’s action, on Tues-
day described the constitu-
tional provision as “a thing of
the past”.
“370, for many Kashmiris like
me, is a thing of the past.
Jhelum and Ganga have merged
in the great Indian Ocean for
good. There is no going back.
There is only marching for-
ward,” Mr Faesal tweeted.
Mr Faesal was among the
petitioners who had
approached the Supreme Court
challenging the Modi govern-
ment’s 5 August 2019 decision
to abrogate Article 370 of the
Constitution that granted spe-
cial status to Jammu and Kash-
mir and also split the state
into two Union Territories ~
Jammu and Kashmir, and
Ladakh.
A 2010-batch Indian Admin-
istrative Service (IAS) topper,
Mr Faesal was detained for more
than a year after the provisions
of Article 370 were abrogated.
He resigned from service and
launched the Jammu Kashmir
People’s Movement, a politi-
cal party, in January 2019.
Although Mr Faesal in an
interview with a foreign media
house attacked Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi by saying
that the “Kashmiri constitution
has been ‘murdered’ by Indi-
an Prime Minister Modi’s deci-
sion to end the semi-
autonomous status of Jammu
and Kashmir”, he government
did not accept his resignation
and subsequently posted him
as deputy secretary in the
Union Ministry of Culture last
year.
In a dramatic turn to events,
the government in April 2022
accepted Mr Faesal’s applica-
tion for withdrawing his res-
ignation from IAS and reinstated
him. The same month, Mr
Faesal filed an application in
the Supreme Court seeking
deletion of his name from the
list of petitioners who had
challenged the scrapping of Arti-
cle 370. He had submitted his
resignation from the IAS to
protest the “unabated” killings
in Kashmir.
It is nearly four years after
the government abrogated
Article 370, that a five-judge Con-
stitution bench headed by
Chief Justice of India DY Chan-
drachud will take up, on 11 July,
the bunch of pleas challeng-
ing the decision.
According to a notice pub-
lished on the apex court’s web-
site on Monday, the case has
been titled as “Shah Faesal
and Others Vs Union of India
and Another”.
Meanwhile, Kashmiri lead-
ers have welcomed the deci-
sion of the Supreme Court to
hear the petitions against abro-
gation of Article 370.
06 NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023
Incorporating and directly descended
from THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818
Already too late?
T
hat the impacts of climate change will directly
hit both the rich and the poor is evident this
week from reports emerging out of Thailand, a
middle-income country well known in the region
and around the world for its virtues as a tourist des-
tination, as well as its food grain production that
ensures rice and sugar supplies to Southeast Asia.
Among the many offerings on its platter for tourists,
the island of Koh Samui, off its eastern seaboard
and a part of the Chumphon Archipelago, is con-
sidered the most delectable by well-heeled tourists.
Several leading resorts have come up next to its
pristine white sands, and its relative inaccessibility
ensures that tourists pay a premium to sample its
attractions. But now, the 35 square kilometer island
faces a severe shortage of water, which has led to
appeals from civic authorities to cut down cons-
umption. The already high costs of tourism on Koh
Samui are set to increase as resorts will be forced to
buy water at high prices. The situation has been ca-
used by two factors ~ a shortage of rainfall, which
means natural water sources are running dry, and
an increase in demand, some of it fuelled by intense
heat.
The island is trying to meet the shortfall by pi-
ping in water from the mainland but the position
there is also not a happy one. Thailand is already
preparing for the impacts of drought, which author-
ities fear could last years and threaten food sup-
plies. So grim is the situation expected to be that the
government has asked rice farmers to restrict them-
selves to a single crop this year as a way to con-
serve water. Rainfall this year was 28 per cent less
than the same period last year, and the El Nino
effect has seen record heat conditions that saw
power demand in April hit a new peak. Thailand is
the world’s second largest supplier of rice, and
reduced production will have a global impact. The
World Bank has cautioned that the lack of long-
term mitigation efforts to deal with floods and
drought may aggravate impacts of climate change
in the country.
These developments in Thailand come even as
climate experts warn that months of record-break-
ing heat on land and sea mean that the target of
keeping global warming within 1.5 deg C is rapidly
slipping out of reach. Experts have noted that while
the threshold has been breached before, this year
marks the first time it has happened in the northern
hemisphere where extreme heat waves assail Amer-
ica and forest fires rage across Canada. Parts of Nor-
th America have seen seasonal temperatures higher
by up to 10 deg C while Australian experts have
forecast that the Pacific and Indian Oceans could be
up to 3 degrees warmer than normal in October.
These worrying signs suggest that climate change
impacts, hitherto confined to academic discussions
and international conferences, are preparing to
enter the lives of people on the planet. Are we
already too late?
Rein them in
A
s India recoils with shock at the act of van-
dalism at its consulate in San Francisco,
which has been linked to North American
supporters of the so-called Khalistani movement, it
is becoming increasingly clear that Western nations
where these elements have found sanctuary will
have to do a lot more to curb their activities. The
attack in America comes on the heels of an inci-
dent in London last March where Khalistani sup-
porters pulled down the tricolor at the Indian High
Commission. Khalistani supporters have also called
a so-called Freedom Rally in Canada on 8 July to
protest the killing of one of their leaders and issued
posters with photographs of Indian diplomats,
naming them as the killers. On Monday, the Cana-
dian High Commissioner was summoned to the
Ministry of External Affairs and issued a demarche.
While host governments in both North American
countries have reacted with alacrity, it is becoming
increasingly clear that the so-called Khalistani
movement is using the space made available to it
outside India to create as much nuisance as it can
because it is unable to find support within Punjab
or elsewhere in the country. The killing of Hardeep
Singh Nijjar, described by many as a kingpin of the
Babbar Khalsa in Canada, in June is the immediate
provocation for the surge in protests in North
America. But experts say that the eerie similarities
between Nijjar’s killing and that of his rival in Cana-
dian Sikh politics, Ripudaman Singh Malik, last year
suggest that the Khalistan movement may just be a
cover for internecine warfare within the expatriate
community over control of wealthy Sikh institu-
tions in the country. Canada has already termed
the proposed rally “unacceptable” and assured
India that it takes its responsibilities under the
Vienna Convention to protect diplomats seriously.
In addition, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joy
has told India that the actions of a few people do
not speak for either the Sikh community or Cana-
da as a whole. The US State department has simi-
larly condemned the vandalism in San Francisco
and termed it a criminal act.
While these assurances are reassuring, author-
ities in Canada, the United Kingdom and the Unit-
ed States would be well advised not to treat these
acts in isolation but to investigate the criminal link-
ages of perpetrators and their motives. It ought to
be clear to the diplomatic representatives of these
countries in India that the so-called Khalistan
movement exists more on foreign shores than it
does in India. With that being the position, it
makes little sense for these countries to put a strain
on bilateral ties when the problem can be easily
dealt with through effective policing. As External
Affairs Minister S Jaishanker has reminded these
countries, radical, extremist thinking is “neither
good for us nor them, nor our relations.”
Old King Coal
With unquenchable thirst for energy in numerous Asian developing countries, clearly
life after coal looks long, and unrelenting. It‘s clear, India will still burn a lot of dirty fuel;
coal will continue to be a mainstay of railways‘ freight
N
otwithstanding all the
hype to phase it out to
mitigate carbon emis-
sions in energy genera-
tion, King Coal will continue to
reign over India’s power sector
for the foreseeable future, and
dominate IR’s freight business.
Bringing in bagfuls of easy
money, coal has lulled Railways
into an unconscionable compla-
cency.
When it needed to foster a
contemporary milieu of integrat-
ed intermodal logistics through a
long term business strategy for
life beyond coal, it has, instead,
kept its vision key-holed on a few
bulk goods.
It has been steadily losing an
estimated 1,500 million tonnes of
break-bulk LDHV (low density
high value) cargo, most of which
is transported by road, often over
sub-continental distances.
Call it the world’s dirtiest
fuel or term it the black diamond,
coal commands pride of place
among nature’s bounties, a criti-
cal ingredient in power genera-
tion, energizing our homes and
hearths, farms and factories.
An Energy Transition Work-
ing Group meeting held under
India’s G20 presidency in New
Delhi on 15 May underscored
how, besides enabling vital ener-
gy security and impacting socio-
economic life of communities ar-
ound, the coal sector provides
revenue to several states, con-
tributes Rs 400/tonne to GST
compensation, and is the biggest
contributor to rail freight.
Yes, coal is the biggest con-
tributor to IR’s freight. It
accounted for more than 48 per
cent of its total freight lifting in
2022-23 (732 m.t. of coal; 1,512
m.t. total freight), and over half
of total freight revenues (Rs
82,750 crore from coal; Rs
165,000 crore from total freight).
Coal has been a high rev-
enue-yielding business for IR.
Contrary to the generally per-
ceived notion, it fetched for IR
the highest rate per tonne kilo-
metre among all commodities.
For example, in 2022-23 it earned
Rs 2.13/tkm against an average
of Rs 1.83/tkm for overall freight;
cement was charged Rs 1.55/tkm,
foodgrains Rs 1.33/tkm, and steel
Rs 1.88/tkm.
The world’s second largest
producer of coal after China, In-
dia finds its coal reserves primar-
ily in the eastern parts of the co-
untry. Almost three-fourths of
coal is mined in four states ~ Odi-
sha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and
Madhya Pradesh, while Telanga-
na, Maharashtra, and West Ben-
gal play a supplementary role.
Coal India Ltd. (CIL), the
world’s largest coal company and
owned by the government, prod-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
France burns
SIR, This refers to the editorial,
“French unrest” (2 July). France has
been severely hit by riots following
the death of a 17-year-old boy,
Nahel M, who was killed by a
policeman on Saturday. Since then,
chaos and violence have erupted
in several French cities which are
a potent reminder of the persistent
poverty, discrimination, unem-
ployment, and lack of opportunity
in neighborhoods around France
where many residents trace their
roots to former French colonies ~
like where Nahel grew up.
This crisis marks one of the
most challenging periods of Presi-
dent Emmanuel Macron’s leader-
ship since the “Yellow Vest”
protest which brought much of
France to a standstill in late 2018.
Vol. CXXXXXVII 156
A MEMBER
OF THE
ASIAN VOICES
Call for better
border clearance
S
INCE last year, Johor Mentri
Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has
made more than 70 official and
unofficial visits to the two land check-
points between Malaysia and Singa-
pore.
Among his major successes
includes fixing all the infrastructure
problems including ensuring all esca-
lators and lifts are in working condi-
tion. He also made sure to have addi-
tional immigration manpower deplo-
yed to handle the huge volume of peo-
ple and vehicles, especially during
peak hours in the mornings, evenings,
weekends and public holidays.
He has also been able to get fund-
ing to fix all the immigration autogates
and add more lanes to help expedite
clearance. Onn’s videos have been
keenly followed on social media, espe-
cially after he recently decided to open
up an entire floor at Bangunan Sultan
Iskandar Customs, Immigration and
Quarantine (CIQ) complex to hun-
uces over 80 per cent of the in East and South-east India. Agency in its Electricity Market dreds of motorcyclists who had previ-
country’s coal. The Singareni Besides about 4,500 km of new Report 2023 maintains that by ously been parking haphazardly
Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), tracks to be commissioned in 2025, Asia will account for half of around the city.
an entity owned by the Central 2022-23, the plan includes multi- the world’s electricity consump- The multi-storey parking lot was
government and the state of tracking of selected rail stretches tion, and over the next three previously reserved for government
Telangana, produces about 7-8 as well as rail linkages to newer years, more than 70 per cent of officials working at the CIQ. The Men-
per cent of country’s total coal. loading points. The year saw the growth in global electricity tri Besar’s rationale was that it was
Government having permitted more coal carrying wagons indu- demand is set to come from underutilised to the extent that peo-
private investment in coal min- cted: over 10,130 BOXNHLs China, India and South-east Asia ple could even play football in the
ing, private companies are (open gondolas) and 1,070 combined. empty area. His move to bring top offi-
awarded mines for captive and BOBRN wagons, in addition to In its report on India's future cials from Putrajaya, including the
commercial purposes. In 2022- 1,120 locomotives for freight energy basket, the Central Elec- Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers,
23, out of a total production of haulage. Government has been tricity Authority has estimated the to the checkpoints to look into ways
892 m.t., CIL contributed 703 working on 14 critical coal-evac- country’s coal requirement for to improve connectivity was timely as
m.t., Singareni 67 m.t., and cap- uation rail projects for faster 2029-30 at about 892 m.t. The cur- the congestion at the checkpoints was
tive blocks 122 m.t. The 1,012 transportation of fuel; these rent installed capacity of thermal
m.t. of coal production target set include the 44.4 km Tori-Shivpur power plants is pegged at 237Gw,
for FY24 envisages 780 m.t. com- double line, in addition to which and of renewable energy, includ-
ing from CIL, 70 m.t. from Sin- the 49 km Shivpur-Kathautia rail ing large hydro, at 179Gw. The expected to worsen. The checkpoints
gareni, and 162 m.t. from captive link is being constructed to pro- share of non-fossil fuel-based in Johor Baru and the Second Link are
blocks. Additionally, India vide another exit for coal evacua- capacity is predicted to increase to said to be the busiest in the world,
expects to import around 240- tion from the North Karanpura 57.4 per cent by FY27, from about handling up to 350,000 to 400,000 peo-
250 m.t. of coal during the year. coalfield in Jharkhand. Construc- 40 per cent as of March 2022, and ple daily.
India’s coal pro- tion of the Tori- further to 68.4 per cent by FY32. The recent favourable exchange
duction increased by Shivpur-Kathautia CEA expects an additional coal- rate of RM3.40 for every S$1 was now
37 per cent to a level rail line envisaged based capacity requirement vary- attracting Malaysians from all over the
of 777 m.t. in 2021-22 by Ministry of ing from 19Gw to 27Gw by FY32 country to Johor so they could com-
from 566 m.t. in 2013- Coal under PM- on top of under-construction coal- mute daily to the island republic to
14, and its offtake Gati Shakti initia- based capacity of almost 27Gw. earn a living. Johor’s economy is heav-
higher by 43 per cent tive is likely to With unquenchable thirst ily dependent not just on Malaysians
during the period, ris- provide coal evac- for energy in numerous Asian working in Singapore but also on Sin-
ing to 818 m.t. in uation capacity of developing countries, clearly life gaporeans who cross over for leisure,
2021-22. IR loaded a about 125 m.t. after coal looks long, and unre- shopping and food.
daily average of 509.3 Likewise, another lenting. It’s clear, India will still Malaysian Tourist Guides Coun-
rakes of coal in 2022- SPV, the Mahana- burn a lot of dirty fuel; coal will cil president Jimmy Leong said that
RAGHU
23, up 11.7 per cent di Coal Railway continue to be a mainstay of rail- during Wesak Day (June 2), about
from 456 rakes in DAYAL Limited, involving ways’ freight. 285,000 people entered Malaysia.
2021-22. Its coal load- The writer is former CMD Mahanadi Coal- The National Rail Plan “If Singaporeans spent a mini-
ing target in 2023-24 of CONCOR, and now
Distinguished Fellow at Asian field, Ircon Inter- (NRP), in its ‘realistic’ scenario, mum S$100 (RM340) per person on
is set at 800 m.t. Institute of Transport national, and Odi- envisages coal lifting to keep ris- food, leisure and shopping, this would
Development
against about 732 m.t. sha Industrial In- ing ~ to 1,050 m.t. in a total of be a huge boost to the Johor economy.
achieved in 2022-23. frastructure Deve-
Every year coal stocks are lopment Corporation, has under-
3,167 m.t. in 2031; to 1,455 m.t.
in a total of 4,823 m.t. in 2041; to
“I am sure if border issues are
resolved, more people will enter the
built up in summer as a safeguard taken the construction of a 60 km 1,577 m.t. in total freight of 6,885 state,” he added. Running the Johor
against depleted offtake from Jharsuguda-Barpali-Sardega rail m.t. in 2051. Baru CIQ, I am sure, is a herculean
mines in the rainy season. Faced link in the Ib Valley of Mahanadi With an unambiguous refrain task. It is manned by hundreds of per-
with capacity crunch to meet Coalfields in Odisha. that IR ought to strive for a big sonnel from some 20 agencies, with the
peaking demands of coal last year, India has committed to stri- chunk of BOG (balance other bulk of manpower coming from Immi-
IR announced about a month- king ‘net-zero’ carbon emissions goods), that is LTL/LWL (less than gration and Customs departments.
long suspension/cancellation of by 2070. Power Minister R K Sin- train/less than wagon) cargo, the Among agencies at the sprawling
22 inter-city Mail and Express gh declared the fossil fuel capaci- NRP emphasises two essential ele- complex are Tourism Malaysia, Road
trains and 12 short distance ty in electricity generation would ments for railways’ overall modal Transport Department, Malaysian
‘regional’ ones on South East Cen- be ‘phased down’ from the curr- share in nation’s freight market to Quarantine Inspection Services
tral Railway that covers the vital ent about 60 per cent to about 35 rise to 45-50 per cent in next two (Maqis), Wildlife and National Parks
coal mining areas in the states of per cent in 2030. India is acceler- decades or so: one, average speed Department (Perhilitan), Home Min-
Chhattisgarh and Odisha, and four ating the deployment of renew- of freight services to increase to 50 istry enforcement division, Malaysian
M&E and another four ‘regional’ able energy capacity, in line with km/h vs 25 km/h at present; and, Timber Industry Board (MTIB), Natio-
passenger trains on Northern Rail- its commitment to achieve 50 per the second, its freight tariffs to nal Audit Department, Health Min-
way which caters to thermal coal cent electricity from non-fossil reduce by 30 per cent. istry, Geoscience and Minerals, and
receiving stations/plants. fuel-based energy resources. Ind- Hopefully IR will ardently KTMB. The police, Rela, auxiliary poli-
The Coal Ministry has set a ian conglomerates ~ including strategize towards securing a big ce, building management office, Plus
target to produce 1.3 billion ton- Reliance Industries, Adani slice in growing freight pie, with Bhd and Public Works Department are
ne coal in FY25 and 1.5 b.t. in Group, and Tata Group ~ are deft development plans, for ex- also there.
FY30. CIL for itself has set a one making big investments. ample, deriving full potential gai- The time has come for Malaysia
billion tonne coal production tar- India, with its solar genera- ns of more than halving the tran- to seriously push for the creation of a
get, for which its subsidiaries ~ tion capacity increased 50-fold sit time as well as operational single agency to take charge of border
the Mahanadi, South Eastern, since 2012 to nearly 50Gw at the cost from the eastern DFC, whi- control, similar to Singapore’s Immi-
and Central Coalfields will be sig- end of 2021, has some of the che- ch, on completion of the missing gration and Checkpoints Authority
nificant contributors; Mahanadi apest solar power in the world. link between Ahraura and Mugh- (ICA). This will allow for better plan-
alone will contribute about 29 Reducing emissions is not India’s alsarai section at long last, now ning and coordination among all
per cent towards the 1 billion only motive for overhauling its provides a through corridor from agencies, better deployment of man-
tonne plan. energy system. It also aims at Sonnagar to Dadri. power and help streamline the budget
Undertaking comprehensive spurring local manufacturing as In fact, the 187 km stretch needed for upgrading works at the
planning of an ‘energy corridor’, well as trimming the bill for between Dadri and Ludhiana, checkpoints. In January, Home Min-
with projected investment of Rs 1 imported fuel. India spent more also expected to be completed by ister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution
trillion for some 100 projects, IR than 4 per cent of GDP on im- August, will enable coal trains to Ismail announced that they were in
is focusing on seamless move- ports of fossil fuels in 2021. run over the DFC from eastern the final stages of discussions towards
ment of coal from coal-rich states The International Energy coalfields through to Punjab. having a single border agency.
editor@thestatesman.com
Hundreds of people have
been arrested by French authori-
ties on the fifth night of unrest
France’s Islamic community
formed a solemn procession from
a mosque to a hillside cemetery on
this weekend due to ongoing riots.
Macron postponed a state visit to
Germany that was due to begin on
sparked by the fatal police shoot- Saturday to bury the 17-year-old. Sunday because of unrest.
The shooting of the teenager, ing of a teenager. A French fashion house has can- Yours, etc., S S Paul,
caught on video, has reignited long Hundreds of mourners from celled its menswear show in Paris Nadia, 2 July.
standing complaints by poor and
racially mixed urban communities
of police violence and racism.
Macron has denied there is sys-
temic racism in French law
enforcement agencies.
The violence comes just over a
year before Paris and other French
cities are due to host Olympic ath-
letes. Last year, the French police
killed 13 people who did not com-
ply with traffic stops. This year,
three more people, including
Nahel, died under similar circum-
stances. The deaths have prompted
demands for more accountability
in France, which also saw racial jus-
tice protests after George Floyd’s
killing by police in Minnesota.

Poet of many trajectories
SOUMALYA CHATTERJEE
Y
outh doesn’t come alone. The
flux of youth often brings grief,
sorrow and dejection tinged
with melancholic blues. In the
gloomy spring of our early youth we
discover Pablo Neruda’s poetry and
sitting alone in front of a glass window
we see with an incurable numbness
“The night gallops on its shadowy
mare / shedding blue tassels over the
land.’’ It is Neruda who first makes us
aware that “Love is so short, forgetting
is so long.’’ In a sense, in an arid desert
– where we went astray, Neruda’s
poetry embraces us like a fountain of
love and sprinkles its pious water all
over our afflicted hearts.
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes
Basoalto a.k.a Pablo Neruda lost his
mother shortly after his birth in July
1904. While growing up under the
watchful eyes of his disciplinarian
father in ‘Temuco’ – a densely forested
region in south Chile – Neruda devel-
oped his immense interest in poetry.
From his early childhood Neruda was
a voracious reader. He indiscriminate-
ly read Jules Verne, Victor Hugo and
whatever came in his way. Neruda in
his teens tried to translate the famous
French symbolist poet Charles Baude-
laire and also tried to tackle Miguel de
Cervantes’ phenomenal novel “Don
Quixote”. But Neruda’s father – who
was a railway employee and was
opposed to his son’s poetic aspirations
– interrupted his literary practices.
At the age of sixteen, leaving
Temuco behind, Neruda arrived in
Santiago to study French literature.
But the memories of his birthplace
never left him. Years later in the
anthology of “Memorial de Isla Negra”
(“Isla Negra”) he would write in a
poem: “This rose of granite reminds
me / of something that dwelled in me
or I in it.’’
Neruda published his first book of
poetry entitled “Crepusculario” (“Book
of Twilight”) in 1923 when he was only
nineteen and the following year his
seminal poetry collection “Veinte poe-
The era of the defectors
JAWED NAQVI
C
an we even think of the
Labour Party poaching a sulk-
ing Boris Johnson at the
behest of the industry, which
will give it funds and a possible edge
with conservative voters in a tight race
in British polls? Or consider the equal-
ly outlandish thought of, say, Nikki
Haley crossing over to Joe Biden’s
team after failing to evict Donald
Trump as the front-running Republi-
can challenger in the presidential race?
It would be just as preposterous to
imagine a Kennedy scion deserting the
Democrats for Trump in their opposi-
tion to Biden.
In bourgeois democracies, two
opposite parties often come together
to undermine their electoral mandate.
Dressed up as a national cause, the
poaching of popularly elected deputies
from rival parties is peculiar to Indian
democracy, to a lesser extent to other
South Asian countries too.
In India, this political cannibal-
ism has become rampant. Popularly
elected MLAs from this or that party
are crossing over to a higher bidder.
So the reports say. The phenomenon
finds a fair share of coercion too.
Threat exists from the powerful induc-
er of defection of unleashing revenue
sleuths or opening criminal probes on
vulnerable and, in all probability, cor-
rupt members of rival groups, to force
a split.
One can only note with vapid
contempt the political events unfold-
ing in India’s richest state of Maha-
rashtra. It’s the richest state, of course,
home to the Tatas and Ambanis, but
also the province where farmers have
committed suicide in droves, in hun-
CROSSWORD
1 2 3 4
5 6
8
9 10
11 12
13 14
16
18 19 20
22 23
24 25
mas de amor y una canción desesper-
ada” (“Twenty love poems and a song
of despair”) saw the light of day. By
that time Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes
Basoalto had metamorphosed himself
into Pablo Neruda. The name “Pablo”
had probably come to his mind from
the fictitious character named “Paolo”
created by Dante Alighieri and he
changed his surname to “Neruda”
after the Czechoslovakian writer ‘Jan
Neruda’.
This second book of Neruda deals
with the everlasting sorrow and grief
of a lover whose deep despondency
seems unconquerable to the reader.
Apart from Neruda’s personal memo-
ries and exquisite sensibilities he per-
haps had treated Gabriela Mistral’s
first poetry collection “Desolación”
(“Desolation” or “Despair”) as a liter-
ary source for the composition of his
own poems. Mistral – who knew Neru-
da from his childhood – was another
Chilean poet and like Neruda she too
would get acknowledged by the
dreds of thousands, a bulk of them
since the advent of India’s free market
economy in the 1990s.
A chunk of the MLAs till recently
loyal to an alliance, which had the
Congress party as a key member,
broke away on Sunday to join Maha-
rashtra’s ruling coalition, of which the
BJP is the architect. Ajit Pawar became
deputy chief minister, and a handful
of MLAs who defected with him were
given ministerial posts. The venal
move is presumably aimed at foiling
opposition unity. The fracture and the
re-welding were neither unique nor
new.
The group to endure the split is
the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
7 adjusted to hard work
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION
A A U C S I
E NG L I S H P A T I E N T
I L E N L I
A L MA S Y P H ON I NG
Y U R O C O
CH I MP ON D A A T J E
A N N L
15
T ROG T ROV E H A N A
17 A O U A E
21
A V E R S I ON H A ND S
A E S C A D
GR A C E L E S S C L O T
G D A S U B
S I L E NC E C L I F T ON
O R H E F E
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. (By arrangement with The Independent, London)
Swedish Academy of Letters in the
coming years.
Mistral composed her gloomy
verses in “Desolación” after the tragic
death of her lover. So, the dejected
melancholia of a failed love which
Mistral cultivated in her poems are
also apparently present in Neruda’s
poems too. For instance in one of her
poems Mistral wrote: “Let us go now
into the forest / Trees will pass by your
face / and I will stop and offer you to
them / but they cannot bend down’’
and Neruda writes in one of his
poems: “Ah vastness of pines, murmur
of waves breaking / slow play of lights,
solitary bell / twilight falling in your
eyes, toy doll / earth-shell, in whom
the earth sings!” Giving life to the inan-
imate objects such as trees, ocean,
earth-shell and mourning in the lap of
nature are two important poetic tools
used by both of these Chilean Nobel
laureates in their poetic works.
Six years before the publication of
“Veinte poemas de amor y una can-
of which former Maharashtra chief
minister Sharad Pawar is the founding
leader. The new deputy chief minister
is his nephew. Earlier, the Shiv Sena
had split to bring down a Shiv Sena
government. The defectors formed a
new ruling coalition with the BJP.
Intriguingly, the latest split involved
Ajit Pawar’s second desertion from the
NCP though circumstances of the first
event were just as toxic for the coun-
try’s asphyxiating democracy. The first
time round, Ajit Pawar defected to
help form a BJP-led government. The
short-lived experiment enabled him to
get rid of several corruption cases the
BJP flashed at him. The threat dis-
solved, he ran back to his uncle’s side.
ACROSS 13 Slob, we agree,
5 Parent exchanged
boring tool
18 Red tops adapted to
(6)
6 Bra recycled into
little lad’s garment
(6)
9 Good French tenor’s
21 Praise for leaders of
headgear (6)
O under democrats
10 Proof of English navy
hacking innovative
device (8)
22 Standard source of
11 S-shaped curve over
letter (4)
23 Go for a small sheet
12 Instrument next to
piece of glass 24 Dish made from bent
containing hard
protective covering
25 Moist like a shellfish?
(10)
ción desesperada”, T.S. Eliot’s
“Prufrock and other observations” was
published. In the opening poem of the
book named “The love song of J. Alfred
Prufrock”, Eliot portrayed a loveless
man who questions his existence by
asking “Do I dare / Disturb the uni-
verse”? And he believes that neither
the women who “come and go talking
of michelangelo” nor the mermaids
would ever pay any attention to him.
Perhaps because he thinks he is ugly.
It is interesting to note that when
Europe was dealing with this particu-
lar modernist view of love and love-
lessness, existential questions and the
volcanic eruption of thoughts going on
inside a modern man, Neruda’s poems
stood in an exact opposite position to
Eliot. The love Neruda portrayed was
his lived experiences and the sensuali-
ty he depicted was the memories of
the moments he spent with Chilean
girls. When for Eliot nature and his
surroundings had become ill and he
personified the evening as a “patient
etherised upon a table”, Neruda com-
pared his beloved’s thighs with “white
hills.’’
Later in life Neruda changed his
poetic trajectory. Living as a self-exiled
diplomat in South Asia, World war II,
the Spanish civil war, Cuban revolu-
tion, the upheavals in Latin America
and every other significant incident
stirred Neruda’s mind. His poetry
became more political. Neruda — a
lifelong member of the Communist
party — came back to his country in
1952 to support his comrade Salvador
Allende’s campaign for presidency.
Then in 1970 Neruda himself was
named the candidate for presidency
but eventually he withdrew his nomi-
nation in favor of Allende. During this
period of twenty years when Neruda
grew his interest in politics, he pub-
lished “Canto General”, which is con-
sidered one of his best works till date.
In a poem from the “Canto Gen-
eral” entitled “United fruit company”
Neruda criticized North American
tyranny by saying: “With the blood-
thirsty flies / came the fruit company /
The venality occurs readily in
South Asia, more regularly where
elected deputies are bought and sold.
Deputies are sometimes hidden away
in remote hotels and retreats, away
from predatory opponents. The BJP
excels in tracking them down.
Riding the nexus is the inevitable
corporate money power. It’s a careful-
ly undiscussed fact that India’s pro-
business policies initiated by
Narasimha Rao in 1991 became possi-
ble only after a bunch of MPs were
bribed to prevent the government
from falling. The MPs were jailed, but
only after the reforms became secure
from democratic challenge.
Sharad Pawar began as a key asso-
ciate of Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha
Rao in Congress governments but cut
loose from the party after Sonia Gand-
hi was anointed party president, and
apparently, came close to becoming
prime minister. His ‘nationalist’ Con-
gress had one agenda: to stop Sonia
from becoming prime minister. Her
foreign origin was a cover, and the
chorus was picked up by other Con-
gress rivals, chiefly the BJP.
The foreign tag seemed to have
little to do with the hostility to her. The
truer worry was more likely rooted in
the 1985 Congress centenary address
given by her husband. Rajiv Gandhi
who was leading the party’s celebra-
tions in Mumbai when he warned the
city’s business captains to stop “riding
the backs of Congress workers”. For
that and more Rajiv was laid low with
the Bofors scam and a potential palace
coup, all the way to his ghastly death.
That’s when the idea was tested
through sections of the corporate
media, of framing the Gandhi family
as a political liability. Induced hostili-
DOWN
1 New name used by
(5,6)
oil supplier to show
good intentions
accommodate
(4,4)
supportive garment
for balletic figure
2 Resin in forest fruit,
principally in
(4,2,4)
chestnuts (6)
3 Coat hung up by
liberalism abolished
setter without
(4)
another garment
(8)
4 God with deep cut
salt found in average
over sides of nose
cheese (8)
(6)
of canvas (6)
5 Rear of bowsprit
attached to crude
vessel (6)
reeds (6)
7 Good editor raised
money (6)
(6)
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023
amassed coffee and fruit / in ships
which put to sea like / overloaded
trays with the treasures / from our
sunken lands.” This is how Neruda
became more political and the 1970
Chilean election was successful too as
Allende won the presidency and the
people of Chile got their first ever
Marxist president.
However, the Chileans didn't have
a moment of rest and misfortune
came knocking at their doors. After the
violent coup d’état, Salvador Allende
died in September, 1973 and after his
tragic death Neruda too died in the
same month of the same year. After all
these years the death of Pablo Neruda
has still remains a mystery.
Neruda has always remained
empathetic towards the inhabitants of
his country and this empathy is lucid
in his Nobel prize speech. The Colom-
bian writer Gabirel Garcia Marquez
revered Neruda’s speech while receiv-
ing his Nobel prize and said: “Eleven
years ago, the Chilean Pablo Neruda,
one of the outstanding poets of our
time, enlightened this audience with
his words. Since then, the Europeans
of good will – and sometimes those of
bad, as well – have been struck, with
ever greater force, by the unearthly tid-
ings of Latin America, that boundless
realm of haunted men and historic
women, whose unending obstinacy
blurs into legend.”
Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and
other Latin American writers and
poets, Pablo Neruda too opened up
the mouth of the dark tunnel by his
optimistic words through which we
the natives of a third world country
can see the clear blue sky. These words
of Neruda must always resonate in our
ears — “There is no insurmountable
solitude. All paths lead to the same
goal: to convey to others what we are.
And we must pass through solitude
and difficulty, isolation and silence in
order to reach forth to the enchanted
place where we can dance our clumsy
dance and sing our sorrowful song.”
(The writer is a former student of Comparative
Literature at Jadavpur University.)
ties have lurked within the party and
outside. And yet, Sharad Pawar has not
publicly endorsed his nephew’s join-
ing the BJP-sponsored regime in
Maharashtra. If anything, he has
promised to rebuild the party, to keep
the alliance with the Congress and the
Shiv Sena intact. If that works, it could
spoil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
chances in the important state in gen-
eral elections next year.
In letting Ajit Pawar make his
move, however, the uncle could be
signalling his pivotal role for other
opposition groups. At the opposition’s
Bihar meeting recently much thought
was focused on the elusive promotion
of unity. Pawar did not figure as a
major contender to lead the cluster.
The unspoken toss-up was between
Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar,
the chief ministers of West Bengal and
Bihar respectively, and Congress scion
Rahul Gandhi. As the most articulate
vocal campaigners against crony capi-
talism, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi
Party and Congress, as recast by Rahul,
ought to be kindred spirits, but they
are not. Forces are at work to not let
the Congress stitch up powerful
alliances. Pawar, on the other hand,
has been generous in his praise for the
tainted Adani Group.
The extent of political cannibal-
ism is difficult to surmise. Key state
governments would not belong to the
BJP without poaching. And thus,
opposition parties planning a joint
campaign against Mr Modi would do
well to weed out these vulnerabilities
first. Without which corporate-fund-
ed ghouls, would not be averse to
bleeding Indian democracy to its slow
death.
Dawn/ANN.
NO-292483
8 Aggressive call by
second in line upset
regent (11)
14 Tree that’s almost
mature associated
with Christian festival
(8)
15 Identical edges of
leaf found in seed
(8)
16 Herb with black fruit
shedding end of skin
(6)
17 Revolt by male
leaving relative small
following (6)
19 Child carrying most of
wild old fruit
(6)
20 Plays for time in part
of theatre (6)
07
100 YEARS AGO
OCCASIONAL NOTE
In connection with the spread of
the cocaine habit in India and the sug-
gestion that the coca plant, originally
introduced as an experiment, is now
growing wild over considerable portions
of the country, reference may be made
to the kat plant, a somewhat similar
shrub, originally native to certain hill
districts of the Yemen but now to be
found in many parts of Arabia and Per-
sia. The leaf of this plant contains an
active principle which both stimulates
the nervous system and allays the pangs
of hunger. The habit of chewing the leaf
is rapidly spreading amongst the Arabs,
and the traveller who a few years ago
had hardly heard of kat, now leaves Ara-
bia with the impression that the plant
plays leading part in the life of the peo-
ple. The tribesmen chew the leaf all day
long and when deprived of it are in
despair. The leaf must be eaten fresh,
and should the bazar run short of sup-
plies, men beat their breasts and act as if
in the greatest agony. Evidently, there-
fore, the reaction from the stimulant is
serious, and if the kat habit spreads, it
may mean rapid deterioration in the
Arab race. Reports from South America
shew that the reaction from chewing the
coca leaf is almost equally severe, and
the Indian Government might do worse
than make inquiries as to the parts of
India in which the plant has established
itself.
NEWS ITEMS
MOTOR DACOITY
RANGOON, JULY 4
At the special Sessions of the High
Court before Mr. Justice Heald and a
jury the trial commenced today of Rah-
man Sulaiman and eight other accused
in what is known as the Railway Motor
Dacoity case, in which Rs. 23,151 are
alleged to have been stolen from a rail-
way servant on the morning of April 13
last while he was conveying the daily
earnings of a branch office to the head
office of the Burma railways in a car-
riage. Eight of the accused pleaded not
guilty. Rahman Sulaiman pleaded
guilty to the charge of dacoity but
claimed to be tried not to prove his
innocence but to prove to the jury that
he had helped the prosecution to bring
the case to light, so that they might
bring in a rider recommending him to
mercy.
RAILWAY SMASH
A serious railway accident, fortu-
nately unaccompanied by personal
injuries, occurred at about midnight
yesterday near Poona. The 10-30 Up
passenger train from Poona had left
Kirkee and was approaching Chinch-
wad, when the end portion of a goods
train crashed into it. The engine of the
passenger train was derailed and the
front portion of the train badly dam-
aged. Inquiries show that about 11
o'clock last night a heavily laden goods
train was being shunted in Chinchwad
station, and owing to a coupling being
broken or not properly fixed the rear
portion consisting of 27 wagons com-
menced to run backward down the
incline towards Kirkee. At that time the
passenger train from Poona was
approaching the long curve at the
entrance to Chinchwad station and the
two trains collided. All trains were con-
siderably delayed.
THE LATE J.F.
MADAN
Sympathetic reference was made
at yesterday's meeting of the Corpora-
tion of Calcutta to the death of Mr. J.F.
Madan, merchant and theatre propri-
etor. The Chairman, Babu Suren-
dranath Mullick, said that the late Mr.
Madan was a self-made man - a man
who had risen to a high position in the
commercial world by virtue of his own
exertions and personal sagacity. His
activities were well known. In the year
1885 he had made Calcutta his perma-
nent home, and, in recent years, there
was scarcely any good cause which did
not receive his generous support. He
was, indeed, a friend to all classes of the
community, being a man of catholic
sympathies. The motion was unani-
mously carried, the members standing
the while.
PUNJAB VAKIL
SENTENCED
LAHORE, JULY 4
The Additional District Magistrate
of Lahore has delivered judgment in
the fire insurance case in which Amar
Nath, a vakil of the Punjab High Court,
was tried for the alleged offence of set-
ting fire to a shop on the Mall in which
he carried on his business as propri-
etor of a cigarette company and there-
by cheating Messrs. Gillanders, Arbuth-
not and Company, the local agents of a
London assurance corporation, of a
sum of Rs. 30,000 for which the con-
tents of the shop were insured with the
company. The magistrate sentenced
the accused to four years' rigorous
imprisonment for arson and to two
years' for attempt to cheat the insur-
ance company, the sentences to run
concurrently.
08
THUMBNAILS
Career boost to students,
young professionals: Webel
Fujisoft Vara Centre of
Excellence, Industry 4.0
(CoE), an initiative of the
Government of West Ben-
gal, which has been set up
by the Department of IT &
Electronics, through its
nodal agency Webel, host-
ed a symposium in Haldia
to showcase the abun-
dance of secured job
opportunities and newer
possibilities for students
and young professionals
from the region and near-
by districts to participate
in an engaging discussion
on Emerging Technologies
in Industry 4.0.
LT Foods Ltd: LT Foods Ltd.,
the 70-year-old global con-
sumer food company,
under the aegis of its flag-
ship brand ‘Daawat’, organ-
ised the ‘Daawat Biryani
Champions League’ in New
Delhi. The competition aims
to celebrate the skills and
creativity of professional
chefs who bring alive the
delectable biryani experi-
ences. On the occasion,
Ritesh Arora, CEO, India
Business & Far East, LT
Foods Ltd, said, “As a brand,
Daawat is committed to
spreading the love for
Biryani across geographies
and we have taken signifi-
cant steps to promote and
encourage its consump-
tion.”
Krishna Kumar Thakur
appointed Director (HR),
BHEL: On his appointment
as Director on the Board of
Bharat Heavy Electricals
Limited (BHEL), Mr. Krishna
Kumar Thakur, 49, has
assumed charge as Director
(Human Resources) of the
Public Sector engineering
and manufacturing enter-
prise. Mr. Thakur is a 1998
batch officer of the Indian
Railway Personnel Service
(IRPS). He is a Post-Graduate
in Literature from Tilka
Manjhi University, Bha-
galpur and has done his
Post-Graduate Diploma in
Management with speciali-
sation in Human Resource
(PGDM-HR) from the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences
(TISS). Prior to joining BHEL,
Mr. Thakur was heading the
HR and Administration
function of Central Railway
as Chief Personnel Officer.
He has 25 years of holistic
and hands-on experience in
handling HR matters and
administration in the Indian
Railways as well as other
Central PSUs.
Hewlett Packard to manufacture high-end servers in India
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
(HPE) has partnered with
Indian manufacturer VVDN
Technologies to begin man-
ufacturing some of its high-
volume servers in India, the
American multinational infor-
mation technology company
said on Tuesday.
This announcement comes
in the wake of the recent
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's State visit to the US.
The Texas-headquartered
company plans to manufac-
ture approximately USD 1
billion worth of high-runner
servers in the first five years
of production from India, it
said in a release.
"We welcome HPE's deci-
sion to start their manufac-
turing line in India, as it will
enhance domestic produc-
Foreign investors seem way more allocated to private equity markets over public markets
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
Over the last 20 years, ending
December 2022, India received
foreign inflows of over $400
billion in private markets (pri-
vate equity, venture capital,
infrastructure, real estate).
The cumulative net invest-
ments in public markets (pub-
lic equity and fixed income)
for the same period is about
$250 billion, said Arvind Chari,
CIO, Quantum Advisors.
Private market is an impor-
tant investment destination.
Foreign investor seem way
more allocated to private mar-
kets over public markets,
Chari said.
The market value of pub-
lic investments is around $650
billion on mark-to-market
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023
India's economic scale enabling
startups to flourish: Goyal
He said that there must be a global effort to nurture inclusive, supportive& sustainable startup ecosystems
AGENCIES
GURUGRAM, 4 JULY
U
nion minister
Piyush Goyal said on
Tuesday that India's
remarkable eco-
nomic scale and market poten-
tial have played a pivotal role
in enabling startups to flour-
ish and thrive in the global start-
up ecosystem.
Addressing the ‘Startup20
Shikhar’ in Gurugram, Goyal,
the Minister for Commerce &
Industry, Consumer Affairs,
Food & Public Distribution and
Textiles, said that there must
be a global effort to nurture
inclusive, supportive and sus-
tainable startup ecosystems
in all parts of the world to
address global challenges.
He said that it is not just the
role of individual nations, but
the collective responsibility of
all the nations to support
innovation and the startup
ecosystem.
Highlighting the impor-
tance of the discussions on star-
tups in the G20, the minister
said that the focus has to be
on facilitating exchange of
FM reviews implementation
of budget announcements
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
Union Finance minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman on Tuesday
chaired a review meeting on
the status of implementa-
tion of various budget
announcements.
During the meeting, which
was attended by Economic
Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, sec-
retary in the department of
investment and public asset
management Tuhin Kanta
Pandey, banking secretary
Vivek Joshi and corporate
tion capacities," said Ashwi-
ni Vaishnaw.
"The recently announced
Production Linked Incentive
(PLI) Scheme 2.0 aims to make
India a global hub for Elec-
tronics System Design and
Manufacturing (ESDM). We
believe large-scale IT hardware
manufacturing will help in
broadening and deepening the
manufacturing ecosystem."
"These high-end very com-
plex machines getting man-
ufactured in India show how
mature the electronics man-
ufacturing industry is now
becoming," he told ANI.
Ahead of the announce-
ment, Som Satsangi, Senior
Vice President and Managing
Director at HPE India and
Puneet Agarwal, CEO at VVDN
Technologies today met Union
Minister for Communica-
tions, Electronics and Infor-
mation Technology Ashwini
valuation, while the market
value of the private market
investments can only be spec-
ulated.
In the period since 2017, the
outcome has been stark. Pri-
vate assets have seen gross
flows of 10x over public mar-
kets. Even if we account for exits
from private assets, the flows
on a net basis are 6x higher than
public markets, Chari said.
Private markets are of
course larger and the oppor-
tunity set is wider. It includes
private equity (PE), venture
capital (VC), infrastructure
and real estate. It will always
attract and absorb more flows
than the public markets of
equity and fixed income.
It is also a testament to the
improving eco-system: Grow-
ing opportunity, improving
ideas, best practices and fund-
ing mechanisms and pro-
moting collaborations in
research and development.
Goyal said that India is
affairs secretary Manoj Govil,
the finance minister ensured
that all proposals should be
implemented in a time bound
manner.
"Besides the review of
implementation of various
announcements of Union
Budget, Union FM Smt.
@nsitharaman underlined
the importance of continu-
ous assessment of progress
to ensure that various
announcements are imple-
mented in a time bound
manner," the finance ministry
tweeted.
Vaishnaw to share details of
the initiative.
HPE has partnered with
Indian manufacturer VVDN
Technologies to manufac-
ture HPE's products from its
plant in Manesar in Haryana.
The US-based tech com-
pany said that he manufac-
turing operation will support
the growing demand from
management teams and prod-
ucts, exit options. More impor-
tantly, the growing active
investor base across global PE
firms to large pension/SWFs
delighted to engage with its
partner countries through
Startup20 and it remains com-
mitted to sharing experiences
and working together to
Rated Indian companies are
in good credit shape: Report
AGENCIES
CHENNAI, 4 JULY
Owing to their strong under-
lying growth and accom-
modative balance sheets, Indi-
an companies it rates are in
good credit shape, credit rat-
ing agency S&P Global Ratings
said on Tuesday.
"Solid earnings momentum
over the next two years, by our
forecasts, will make for one of
the healthiest four-year stretch-
es seen," said S&P Global Rat-
ings analyst Neel Gopalakr-
ishnan.
Added to this is India's
economic growth, which is
the highest in the region, at 6
per cent for 2023 and 6.9 per
cent in 2024, as per S&P Glob-
al Ratings forecast, the credit
rating agency said. Moreover,
strong onshore liquidity mit-
igates the impact of tougher
external-funding conditions.
“We expect limited rating
upside, however, given the
improvement in credit qual-
ity is reflected in our base-case
assumptions. Some 85 per
cent of our ratings on India-
based corporate and infra-
customers in India and fur-
ther strengthen and diversi-
fy HPE's global supply chain.
HPE has its largest work-
force outside the US in India.
According to Antonio Neri,
president and CEO, HPE,
"Today's announcement
marks a significant milestone
for HPE and reiterates our
commitment to the Govern-
ment of India's 'Make in
India' initiative for a self-
reliant India."
"India is a strategic mar-
ket for HPE's business, talent,
innovation - and now, man-
ufacturing. Customers in India
continue turn to HPE to help
them digitally transform, and
our 14,000 team members
here play a key role in driving
our edge-to-cloud strategy. We
are proud to build on our
strong presence by estab-
lishing a manufacturing oper-
ation in this important coun-
and the rise in India dedicat-
ed fund raises.
This surge in flows towards
VC investments was seen in
2020/2021, as China clamped
encourage the new generation
of job creators who are reshap-
ing the future.
He said that India has a
unique startup culture and
structure entities have a sta-
ble outlook. That said, finan-
cial profiles are strengthening
within current rating cate-
gories,” S&P Global Ratings said.
Rising domestic demand in
India and sector-specific recov-
ery are more than offsetting neg-
atives, including tough glob-
al economic conditions and
higher policy and borrowing
rates.
According to S&P Global
Ratings, debt reduction will like-
ly a remain a focus for many
rated companies, though the
pace of deleveraging will slow
because of rising capital expen-
try."
HPE's largest campus in the
world at Mahadevapura in
Bengaluru is home to many
of HPE's worldwide product
development resources. More
than 4,000 scientists, engi-
neers, and research teams
are based out of HPE's R&D
hub at this campus.
"The decision to start man-
ufacturing from India under-
scores HPE's long-term com-
mitment to India," said Som
Satsangi SVP and managing
director, at HPE India.
"India is expected to grow
into a USD 1 trillion digital
economy, and we believe that
'Make in India' will help accel-
erate this vision. With local
manufacturing, HPE will be
able to better serve the needs
of our customers across indus-
tries and segments, from star-
tups to SMBs to enterprise to
government."
down on the technology sec-
tor. Capital raised for China
gushed into India, turning
many startups into unicorns.
For two years in a row
large market potential, which
are truly beneficial for startups.
The minister added that
India, a relatively new entrant
in the startup ecosystem, has
already become the world's
third-largest startup ecosys-
tem. Goyal said the country's
aspirations extend beyond
this achievement, with a focus
on fostering entrepreneur-
ship among not only the
youth, but also individuals from
diverse age groups.
He said that over the last
seven years, India's 100,000 reg-
istered startups, including
more than 100 unicorns, have
made significant contribu-
tions to various sectors such
as health, finance and agri-
culture and generated employ-
ment opportunities besides
giving a boost to innovation.
Goyal highlighted that
Gurugram, known as an eco-
nomic powerhouse in
Haryana, showcases the
dynamic landscape of India's
startup ecosystem with over
100 Fortune 500 companies,
leading tech firms, and numer-
ous startups.
India's economic
growth, which is the
highest in the region,
at 6 per cent for 2023
and 6.9 per cent in
2024, as per S&P Global
Ratings forecast, the
credit rating agency
said.
diture.
Financial discipline aided
by strong operating cash flows
led to significant deleveraging
in Indian corporates over the
past three years.
India prefers to shop online: CMR Survey
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 4 JULY
According to a new consumer
study from CyberMedia
Research (CMR), India’s lead-
ing technology market research
and advisory firm, Indians
from Tier II cities and beyond
spend an average of 2 hours
and 25 minutes per week
shopping online, spending
approximately 16% of their
income. The top three triggers
for online shopping include
attractive prices (57%), con-
venient return and exchange
processes (57%) along with
irresistible offers (49%).
The study further revealed
that Amazon (73%) is the pre-
ferred e-Commerce platform,
followed by Flipkart (70%),
Meesho (30%), JioMart (20%),
and others. 63% of Amazon
users report high satisfac-
tion, followed by 52% for Flip-
(2021/22), India has surpassed
China in the number of new
unicorns created. India has
seen 72 unicorns (valuation of
$1 billion) in last three years.
Global stocks higher after
Wall St hits 15-month
high ahead of holiday
AGENCIES
BEIJING, 04 JULY
Global stock markets were
mostly higher Tuesday after
Australia’s central bank kept
its key lending rate unchanged
and Wall Street hit a 15-month
high. London, Shanghai, Paris
and Hong Kong advanced.
Tokyo declined. Oil prices
rose after Saudi Arabia and Rus-
sia said they are extending
cuts to the amount of oil they
pump to try to prop up prices.
Wall Street’s benchmark
S&P 500 index rose 0.1% on
Monday ahead an update on
U.S. employment, a factor
watched by the Federal Reserve
in deciding on possible addi-
tional interest rate hikes.
In early trading, the FTSE
100 in London gained less
than 0.1% to 7,530.05. The
CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.1% to
7,935.38 and the DAX in Frank-
furt added 0.1% to 16,098.39.
U.S. markets were closed
Tuesday for the Independence
Day holiday.
In Asia, the Shanghai Com-
posite Index gained less than
0.1% to 3,245.34 while the
Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 1% to
PRAHAR writes to finance ministry
over violation of advertisement norms
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
Public Response Against Help-
lessness and Action for Redres-
sal (PRAHAR), Civil society
organisation, in a letter writ-
ten to finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman alleged that some
of the new-age insurance
broking firms selling policies
online are alluring customers
by indicating Rs 1 crore amount
by investing a small amount
for certain number of years.
Insurers and insurer inter-
mediaries are bound by the
guidelines outlined in the
Master Circular on Insurance
Advertisements (2019). Specif-
ically, Clause 3.4.1.3 of the Mas-
ter Circular strictly prohibits
insurers from projecting future
performance based on past
financial results.
''Where attention is drawn
to insurer's past financial
performance, it should indi-
cate that the past perfor-
mance is not necessarily an
indication of future perfor-
mance,'' as per the Master Cir-
cular. The organisation
requested the finance ministry
and sector regulator Insurance
kart and 46% for Reliance
Digital. Interestingly, Amazon
is favoured by its users for its
attractive prices (54%), easy
return / exchange process
(52%), brand trust (40%) and
convenience of shopping
across pin-codes in India
The pace of course slowed
down by late 2022 in what
many are now calling the
‘funding freeze’.
The funding freeze on pri-
vate assets has already slowed
down the deal flow and the
gross inflows in 2023. This will
also impact the exits and the
valuation of the assets. Many
existing private asset owners
are dependent on new flows,
new deals to either value the
investments and to exit their
investments in secondary or
strategic transactions, Chari
said.
This is especially true as the
recent experience of exits
through IPOs hasn't really
been taken well by the mar-
kets.
“The frenzy to invest due
to the TINA factor almost
33,422.52. The Hang Seng in
Hong Kong advanced 0.4%
to 19,393.33. Sydney’s S&P-ASX
200 gained 0.5% to 7,279.00 after
the Reserve Bank of Australia
left its benchmark lending
rate at 4.1% in the day’s biggest
market data point.
Australia’s inflation is past
its peak but “still too high and
will remain so for some time,”
said RBA Gov. Philip Lowe in
a statement. He warned “fur-
ther tightening of monetary pol-
icy may be required.”
The Kospi in Seoul lost
0.4% to 2,593.31 while India’s
Sensex advanced 0.6% to
65.618.63. New Zealand and
Bangkok advanced while Sin-
gapore and Jakarta declined.
On Monday, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average advanced
0.1%. The Nasdaq composite
added 0.2%. The S&P 500 is at
its highest level since April
2022. The benchmark has
climbed in six of the past
seven weeks for a 16% gain so
far this year. Traders expect at
least a brief recession follow-
ing U.S. and European rate
hikes to cool inflation but
have been encouraged by
signs U.S. hiring is strong.
Regulatory and Development
Authority of India (Irdai) to
direct these entities to stop
such misleading advertise-
ments.
Such deceptive advertise-
ments could lead to mis-sell-
ing of insurance products
and also hurt interest of many
policyholders.
The letter alleged that
some brokerage firm includ-
ing Policybazaar and Insur-
anceDekho are guilty of vio-
lating the master circular.
However, these entities
have clarified that there are
no violations of direction and
in case the regulators point out
any discrepancies, they would
abide by their direction.
The company, being a reg-
ulated entity, complies with
applicable regulations and
guidance issued by the Irdai
on all matters, including with
respect to representations
made pursuant to its adver-
tisements, InsuranceDekho
said in a statement.
The organisation in the
letter also emphasised that
there are other problems aris-
ing from the practices of insur-
ance intermediaries.
(38%). Over the past six
months, 73% of consumers
from both Tier II and Tier I
cities have shopped at Ama-
zon. According to Prabhu
Ram, Head- Industry Intelli-
gence Group, CyberMedia
Research (CMR), “The wide
range of choices, convenience,
and comfort provided by
eCommerce has empowered
emerging young consumers
in Aspirational India (Tier II,
Tier III cities and beyond) to
shop more online, and to ful-
fil their aspirations. Major
players like Amazon and Flip-
kart, niche market players
such as Meesho and others,
and conglomerates like Tata
and Reliance are fiercely com-
peting in these markets. Our
research emphasizes that
Amazon, with its extensive and
enduring presence across
India, has the consumer trust
and is their preferred choice.”
always condemns the investors
to make sub-optimal deci-
sions. They back the wrong pro-
ject. They back the wrong
manager. They do not account
for the myriad regulatory and
governance risks," Chari said.
“Infrastructure and real
estate investments in partic-
ular were replete with such
examples throughout the last
decade. Many projects
returned single digit returns.
Some lost capital. Some were
outright frauds with investors
stuck in litigation for years,"
Chari said.
“We may be seeing a lot of
that today again. So many of
the unicorns backed by the
largest PE/VC investors are
proving to be a combination
of ‘Wirecard’ and ‘Theranos’,"
Chari said.

WEATHER
CITY MAX(°C) MIN(°C)
SINGAPORE 31 26 R
HONG KONG
TOKYO
LONDON
29
29
21
27 R
24 H
12 H
DUBAI 38 31 S
SAN FRANCISCO 17 13 H
NEW YORK 31 23 H
MOSCOW 26 16 R
S= sunny, CL= clear,
H=hazy, R= rainy...
New Zealand to
sign FTA with EU
WELLINGTON, 4 JULY
New Zealand Prime Minister
Chris Hipkins will travel to
Brussels on Friday to wit-
ness the signing of an Free
Trade Agreement (FTA)
with the European Union
(EU).
The FTA will deliver
immediate tariff savings
on New Zealand exports
to the EU of about NZ$100
million ($61 million) a year
when it enters into force,
Hipkins said on Tuesday.
Modelling suggests
exports to the EU will
increase by up to NZ$1.8 bil-
lion per annum and add up
to NZ$1.4 billion to New
Zealand's GDP per year
once fully implemented.
"This is an important
milestone towards entry
into force of this high-qual-
ity and historic free trade
agreement," Hipkins said.
New Zealand will also
sign the Horizon Europe
Association Agreement.
Horizon Europe is the
EU's main research and
innovation framework and
funding platform, Hipkins
said, adding that it is also
the largest multilateral
research program in the
world. Associating with
Horizon Europe will provide
new opportunities for New
Zealand scientists to col-
laborate with European
partners on research to
address major global chal-
lenges such as climate
change, energy and health,
he said. AGENCIES
Greek foreign minister says Athens is ready for
talks with Turkey to resolve sea borders dispute
AGENCIES
NICOSIA, 4 JULY
Greece is ready to start talks
with Turkey to resolve a long-
standing dispute over maritime
borders that has repeatedly
brought the two neighbors to
the brink of armed conflict,
Greece’s newly appointed
foreign minister said Tuesday.
Giorgos Gerapetritis said
the Greek government wants
to “take advantage of the
ongoing positive climate” in
order to come to an agreement
on delineating the areas in
which each country has exclu-
sive economic rights, includ-
ing the right to search for off-
shore oil and gas.
Turkey disputes areas
which Greece says fall with-
in its own economic zone
and where it’s seeking to start
a search for offshore oil and
gas reserves. Turkey claims
'Liberty, equality, fraternity' for all? New riots make France confront an old problem
AGENCIES
PARIS, 4 JULY
“Liberty, Equality, Fraterni-
ty”: The lofty ideals to which
France has long aspired are
embossed on coins and carved
above school doors across the
land. Yet they are the polar
opposite of what some French
people who are Black or brown
saw in a shocking video of a
police officer shooting and
killing a 17-year-old delivery
driver of north African descent
during a traffic stop.
That kid, some said to them-
selves, could have been me ~
or my children, or my friends.
Within hours, the first fires of
anger and revenge were light-
ing up the night skies of Nan-
terre, the Paris suburb where
the teenager, Nahel, was
declared dead at 9:15 a.m. last
Tuesday. His left arm and
chest had been pierced from
left to right by a single shot fired
before the yellow Mercedes he
was driving then slammed
Putin: Russia is 'united as never
before' at security group meet
Russian leader eager to show that the West has failed to isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
P
resident Vladimir Putin
claimed Tuesday that
the Russian people
were “united as never
before,” as he sought to pro-
ject confidence in the wake of
a short-lived revolt, at a meet-
ing of a rare international
organization where he can find
a sympathetic audience.
The Shanghai Coopera-
tion Organization meeting,
hosted via videoconference by
India, was Putin’s first mul-
tilateral summit since an
armed rebellion rattled Rus-
sia and comes as he is eager
to show that the West has failed
to isolate Moscow over its
2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The Asian security group-
ing, founded by Russia and
China to counter Western
alliances, also welcomed Iran
as a new member, bringing its
membership to nine nations.
Speaking via video link
from the Kremlin, Putin praised
Biden names two Republican nominees
for FTC commissioner: White House
AGENCIES
WASHINGTON, 4 JULY
US President Joe Biden has
nominated Virginia Solicitor
General Andrew Ferguson
and Utah Solicitor General
Melissa Holyoak to fill Repub-
lican slots at the Federal Trade
Commission, the White House
said on Monday.
If confirmed by the Senate,
the two Republicans will not
change the balance of power
at the FTC, which enforces
antitrust law and rules against
deceptive advertising. It cur-
rently has a Democratic chair,
Lina Khan, and two Democ-
ratic commissioners.
Under the Biden admin-
istration, the FTC has taken
a tougher stand against merg-
ers it finds may lead to high-
er prices for consumers or stunt
innovation.
Khan said in a statement
that Ferguson and Holyoak
much of the economic zone
of Cyprus where several size-
able offshore natural gas
deposits have been discovered.
The feud over explorato-
ry drilling rights had culmi-
nated in a naval standoff three
years ago.
Another key issue at the
heart of Greek-Turkish ten-
sions that Gerapetritis wants
resolved is the extent of the
continental shelf ~ and by
into barriers on Nelson Man-
dela Square.
From the town on the fringe
of the French capital’s high-rise
business district, with its dis-
advantaged housing projects,
glaring wealth gaps, and melt-
ing-pot mix of races and cul-
tural influences imported from
France’s former colonies, the
flames of fury quickly spread.
More than 200 cities and
towns reported arson attacks
on public buildings, vehicle fires,
clashes with police, looting
and other mayhem in six nights
of unrest. The violence was
nationwide — from blue-col-
lar ports on France’s northern
coast to southern towns over-
looking the Pyrenees, from
de-industrialized former min-
ing basins to Nantes and La
Rochelle on the western Atlantic
coast, once hearts of the French
slave trade.
After more than 3,400 arrests
and signs that the violence is
now abating, France is once
again facing a reckoning ~ as
We know that the actions of a few do not speak for an
entire community, or Canada
ON A POSTER THAT CARRIED NAMES OF INDIAN DIPLOMATS PORTRAYING THEM AS ‘KILLERS’
the organization for “playing
an increasingly significant
role in international affairs,
making a real contribution to
maintaining peace and sta-
bility, ensuring sustainable eco-
nomic growth of the partici-
pating states, and strength-
ening ties between peoples.”
He thanked the member
states for supporting the Russ-
ian authorities during the
short-lived armed mutiny
mounted by Wagner chief
Yevgeny Prigozhin, and said the
West had turned Ukraine into
"would bring key skills, expe-
riences, and expertise to the
Commission."
The FTC "operates best at
full strength, and I will look
forward to working with them,"
said Khan, who was sharply
criticized by former Repub-
lican commissioner Chris-
tine Wilson.
The agency is expected to
file a case against
Amazon.com, perhaps as
early as this summer. It filed
an antitrust lawsuit against
extension, Greek sovereign ter-
ritory ~ of Greek islands near
Turkey’s coastline in the
Aegean and the eastern
Mediterranean.
Turkey doesn’t recognize
that Greek islands off its bor-
ders have a continental shelf,
while Greece insists that posi-
tion is in contravention of inter-
national law.
“All that remains is to
determine whether Turkey
also sincerely wishes to forge
a path of rapprochement,
without this meaning that
Greece will go back on its red
lines or its national priorities,”
Gerapetritis said after talks with
his Cypriot counterpart, Con-
stantinos Kombos.
Gerapetritis said at the
top of those priorities is an
agreement to reunify ethni-
cally divided Cyprus as a fed-
eration made up of Greek
and Turkish speaking sec-
it did after previous riots in
mixed-race, disadvantaged
neighborhoods in the 1980s,
1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
And the uncomfortable
central question remains the
same: What is France doing
wrong that prevents chunks of
its population, particularly
among non-whites, from being
able to buy into its promise of
equality and fraternity for all?
THE PROBLEMS ARE
BOTH OLD AND NEW
Among the factors being
blamed and hotly disputed
are problems both old and
new: racism in police ranks and
French society more broadly,
poverty made more desperate
by rising costs related to the war
in Ukraine, decades of urban
neglect, breakdowns in mar-
riages and parental authority,
and the ripples of the COVID-
19 pandemic. Young teenagers
whose schooling was inter-
rupted by virus curfews and
teaching shutdowns were
among those smashing, burn-
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF CANADA MELANIE JOLY
“a virtually hostile state ~ anti-
Russia.” Putin has frequently
lashed out at the West for its
support of Ukraine in thewar.
The summit presents an
opportunity for Putin to show
he is in control after an insur-
rection that left some won-
dering about divisions among
Russian elites.
“The Russian people are
united as never before,” he said.
“The solidarity and respon-
sibility for the fate of the
fatherland was clearly demon-
strated by the Russian polit-
Facebook during former Pres-
ident Donald Trump's admin-
istration, which has not yet
gone to trial.
The FTC is also consider-
ing Kroger's plan to buy rival
grocer Albertsons, among
other deals.
Ferguson was chief coun-
sel to U.S. Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell from
2019 until 2021. He has also
worked for Senators Lindsey
Graham and Chuck Grassley.
McConnell applauded the
tors in line with United Nations
resolutions.
Cyprus was split in 1974
when Turkey invaded fol-
lowing a coup by supporters
of union with Greece. Turkey
and the breakaway Turkish
Cypriots now insist that any
peace deal has to first recog-
nize separate Turkish Cypri-
ot sovereignty. Greek and
Turkish officials have held a
series of high-level meetings
in the wake of devastating
earthquakes in southern
Turkey in February. They
promised to shelve disputes
that have caused repeated
rounds of tension and even
the risk of war over decades.
Just before his reelection
last month, Greek Prime Min-
ister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told
The Associated Press in an
interview that he would extend
“a hand of friendship” to
Turkey.
ing, stealing and fighting with
police ~ and reveling in the
mayhem on social media.
For Yazid Kherfi, who spends
his time driving from one
housing project to the next,
speaking to young people
about how to avoid the route
that he took into crime and
prison, the violence was a cry
of distress from a generation
he says feels unloved and left
by the wayside.
The minivan Kherfi uses has
ical circles and the entire
society by standing as a unit-
ed front against the attempt-
ed armed rebellion.”
Earlier speakers avoided
directed references to the
war, while bemoaning its
global consequences.
In his opening speech,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi warned of global chal-
lenges to food, fuel and fer-
tilizer supplies but did not
mention the war in Ukraine.
Trade in all three has been dis-
rupted by the war.
He also took a veiled swipe
at Pakistan, saying the group
should not hesitate to criticize
countries that are “using ter-
rorism as an instrument of its
state policy.”
“Terrorism poses a threat
to regional peace and we
need to take up a joint fight,”
Modi said without naming
Pakistan. India regularly accus-
es Pakistan of training and arm-
ing insurgent groups, a charge
Islamabad denies.
In his speech, Pakistani
nominations. "We need bril-
liant and talented leaders to
simultaneously protect Amer-
ican consumers and defend
our economic future from
far-left overreach," McConnell
said in a statement urging the
Senate to "confirm them with-
out delay."
Holyoak is the Utah Solic-
itor General with the Utah
Attorney General's Office.
She has previously worked as
an associate at the law firm
O'Melveny & Myers LLP, and
at Hamilton Lincoln Law
Institute, which focuses on
fighting class action lawsuits
and aggressive regulation, as
well as at the Competitive
Enterprise Institute and the
Center for Class Action Fair-
ness. Among its current cases,
the FTC sued to stop
Microsoft's $69 billion deal to
buy Activision, and is await-
ing a court decision in the mat-
ter.
France’s Macron is weakened by crisis over teen killed by police
AGENCIES
PARIS, 4 JULY
Even in normal times
Emmanuel Macron needed
the help of allies in govern-
ing France.
To get some things done
the French president worked
with the traditional right. The
center-left helped him accom-
plish others. The challenge was
bigger than any faced by a
French leader in more than
two decades: He had to con-
vince politicians across the
country’s national assembly
to support even minor domes-
tic projects.
Now, governing his already-
polarized country has got-
ten close to impossible for
Macron because a suburban
police officer stopped a yel-
low Mercedes and fired a
fatal shot into the 17-year-old
driver’s chest, setting off six
days of tumult across the
country.
a quote from Martin Luther King
painted on the back: “We must
learn to live together as broth-
ers or we will all perish togeth-
er as fools.” But on his rounds,
Kherfi says he frequently hears
young people complain that
police single them out because
of their color.
“The police aren’t well
trained to work in difficult
neighborhoods. Some police
are racist. There are violent
police. They exist. I’m not say-
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
denounced terrorism and
defended his country’s role in
the fight against it. “While
the sacrifices made by Pakistan
in fighting terrorism are with-
out parallel, this scourge con-
tinues to plague our region and
remains a serious obstacle
to the maintenance of peace
and stability,” Sharif said.
“Any temptation to use it as
a cudgel for diplomatic point
scoring must be eschewed.”
Sharif also hailed the China-
Pakistan Economic Corridor,
part of China’s Belt and Road
Initiative, saying it could be
a “game-changer for con-
nectivity, stability, peace and
prosperity in the region.”
The SCO also includes the
four Central Asian nations of
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajik-
istan and Uzbekistan, all
former Soviet republics in
which Russian influence runs
deep. India and Pakistan
became members in 2017.
Belarus is also in line for
membership.
Zelenskyy calls on Biden to
invite Ukraine into NATO 'now'
AGENCIES
KIEV, 4 JULY
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy jas
called on his American coun-
terpart Joe Biden to invite Kiev
into the NATO “now” even if
membership does not come
until after the ongoing war.
Speaking to CNN, Zelen-
skyy said that Biden was “the
decision maker” about
whether Ukraine would be in
NATO or not.
“He supports our future in
NATO,” but an invitation
now would be a huge moti-
vator for Ukrainian soldiers,
the President said.
Ukraine’s aspiration to
join is enshrined in its Con-
stitution and its relationship
with NATO dates back to the
early 1990s, according to the
military alliance.
NATO is due to hold a
summit in Lithuania on July
Macron’s far-right rivals,
meanwhile, are emboldened.
A controversial extreme-right
figure started an online
fundraising campaign for the
family of the police officer who
shot the teen, praising him as
someone who “did his job and
is paying a high price for it.’’
The campaign quickly raised
more than 1 million euros from
tens of thousands of people,
shocking many and prompt-
ing calls from antiracism
groups and left-wing politi-
cians for it to be shut down.
ing all the police but it’s still a
certain number,” he says.
“Blacks and Arabs are stopped
far more frequently than
whites.”
“We are a long way from lib-
erty, equality, fraternity,” he
adds. “The reality is that peo-
ple find all these situations very,
very hard. It’s been like this for
more than 40 years. So of
course, every time there are riots
in France, it’s linked to a young
person’s death related to a
policing operation. And the
police rarely blames itself.”
From French President
Emmanuel Macron down,
government officials were
quick to condemn the actions
of the officer now incarcerat-
ed on a preliminary charge of
voluntary homicide. Macron
called the shooting “inexplic-
able and inexcusable.” The
officer’s lawyer says his client
feared, when the vehicle they’d
stopped started moving again,
that he and his colleague would
be dragged along with it and
Gunman opens fire at
random on Philadelphia
streets, killing five
AGENCIES
PHILADELPHIA, 4 JULY
A heavily armed gunman in a
bulletproof vest opened fire on
the streets of Philadelphia on
Monday night, seemingly at a
random, killing five people
and wounding two boys before
surrendering, police said.
The shootings took place
over several city blocks in the
southwestern neighborhood
of Kingsessing. Responding
officers chased the suspect as
he continued to fire, and he was
arrested in an alley after giv-
ing himself up, Police Com-
missioner Danielle Outlaw
said at a news conference.
“Thank God our officers
were on the scene and respond-
ed as quickly as they did. I can’t
even describe the level of brav-
ery and courage that was
shown, in addition to the
restraint that was shown here,”
Outlaw said.
No connection was imme-
diately known between the vic-
tims and the shooter, she said.
He had a bulletproof vest, an
“AR-type rifle,” multiple mag-
azines, a handgun and a police
11 and 12 where leaders are
expected to discuss Ukraine's
membership.
“Now,” Zelenskyy said in
response to a question about
why not wait for an invitation.
“It’s very important,” he
told CNN. “It’s so important
to feel that you are really
being around allies in the
future," he added.
Zelenskyy added that he
understood that Ukraine
The government fears it is fuel-
ing tensions.
Macron won his second
five-year term last year with
58% of the votes in a runoff
with far-right leader Marine
Le Pen, but his centrist Renais-
sance party lost its majority
in parliament two months
later. Le Pen’s National Rally
won a record number of seats.
Macron dreamed big
despite the close victory. His
first big goal was raising the
retirement age from 62 to 64,
which he had to force through
parliament. He then hoped to
re-industrialize France,
improve working conditions
and finalize a new immigra-
tion bill. Abroad, Macron
championed European sov-
ereignty and independence in
fields ranging from the econ-
omy and energy to defense.
But all that has had to fall
by the wayside.
Macron shortened a visit
to a European summit in
crushed.
HOW TO TACKLE RACISM
WHEN IT CAN’T BE MEA-
SURED?
Measuring the scale of
racism and racial inequality in
France is complicated by its offi-
cial policy of color blindness,
with strict limits on data that
can be collected. For critics, that
guiding philosophy has made
the state oblivious to dis-
crimination. France’s census
has no questions about race or
ethnicity. Still, inequalities are
too glaring to be ignored. The
government’s statistics agency
found in 2020 that death rates
among immigrants from sub-
Saharan Africa doubled in
France and tripled in the Paris
region at the height of the
COVID-19 pandemic ~ an
acknowledgement of the virus’s
punishing and dispropor-
tionate impact on Black immi-
grants and members of other
systemically overlooked minor-
ity groups. Other research has
also exposed racism in work-
09
scanner.
Officers were flagged down
at about 8:30 p.m., and mul-
tiple calls of shots fired came
in from Kingsessing. Police
found some gunshot victims,
and as they were attending to
them, they heard more gun-
fire, Outlaw said. Police later
told Fox 29 that a fifth victim
was found. He was chased
into his home and shot to
death. Bullet casings were
found outside the home.
The suspected shooter was
identified as a 40-year-old
man. A second person was also
taken into custody who may
have returned fire at the sus-
pect, but police did not know
whether there was a connec-
tion between the two people,
Outlaw said.
The chief said dozens of shell
casings were found across an
eight block area. “You can see
there are several scenes out
here,” Outlaw said. “We’re
canvassing the area to get as
much as we can, to identify wit-
nesses, to identify where cam-
eras are located and to do
everything to figure out the
why,” Outlaw said.
would “never be in NATO
before war finishes”.
The military alliance stip-
ulates that the settlement of
territorial disputes is “a
factor in determining whether
to invite a state to join"
NATO.
“We understand every-
thing... But this signal is real-
ly very important. And
depends on Biden’s deci-
sion,” Zelenskyy told CNN.
Brussels last week for a crisis
meeting with his government.
This week, he called a last-
minute delay in a visit to Ger-
many that had been meant to
show the strength of the bilat-
eral friendship despite disputes
on energy, defense and the
economy, among other issues.
The changes in his agen-
da echo another uncomfort-
able situation for the French
leader three months ago,
when the planned state visit
of King Charles III to France
was postponed due to violent
protests against the pension
changes. German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz said he was watch-
ing France’s situation with con-
cern.
“I hope very much, and I
am convinced, that the French
president will find ways for this
situation to improve quickly,”
he told ARD television. “I
don’t expect France to become
unstable, even if the pictures
are of course very depressing.”
places and hiring.
“For 40, 45 years there have
been warning signs about dis-
crimination,” says Abel Boyi,
head of a group called “All
Unique, All United” that aims
to reconcile young people with
France and its republican val-
ues. Boyi, who is Black, decries
the state’s colorblindness as “a
French hypocrisy.” He says
he regularly encounters young
people of color and also white
people from disadvantaged
neighborhoods who apply for
dozens of jobs but aren’t hired
“because the family name
sounds foreign, because the
address isn’t a good one.”
“Unfortunately, when
there’s an injustice, there’s
always a radical fringe that
tips into violence. We saw
these young people, aged 12
to 19 ... at 1, 2, 3 o’clock in the
morning burning cars, stoning
police officers, stoning buses.
It’s terrible,” Boyi says. “The
anger is righteous but the
method is wrong.”
10 NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023
Thousands displaced by Israel's West
Bank operation as violence spreads
The operation, which the army said was aimed at destroying infrastructure, was launched on Monday
AGENCIES
JENIN, 4 JULY
housands of people
T were evacuated from
the Jenin refugee
camp as one of Israel's
biggest West Bank military
operations in years continued
for a second day on Tuesday
and a car-ramming in Tel
Aviv underlined the risk of vio-
lence spreading.
The operation, which the
army said was aimed at
destroying infrastructure and
weapons of militant groups
in the camp, was launched
with a drone strike in the
early hours of Monday, and
over 1,000 troops have been
deployed. At least 10 people
have been killed, Palestin-
ian officials said.
"At this moment we are
completing the mission, and
I can say that our extensive
activity in Jenin is not a one-
time operation," Prime Min-
ister Benjamin Netanyahu
told journalists at a checkpoint
near Jenin.
The densely populated
refugee camp, where some
14,000 people live in less than
Outrage erupts in South Africa over video of deputy
Prez’s security officers stomping on man
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE TOWN, 4 JULY
A group of armed plainclothes
officers assigned to protect
South Africa’s deputy presi-
TENDER
half a square kilometre, has
been one of the focal points
of a wave of violence that
has swept the West Bank for
more than a year, drawing
growing international alarm.
There was no indication of
how much longer the oper-
ation might last after offi-
cials said earlier it could run
for one or two days.
But a car-ramming and
stabbing attack in Israel's
economic hub Tel Aviv, in
which eight people were hurt,
showed the risk it could lead
to a further escalation as a pre-
vious raid on Jenin did last
dent were caught on video
dragging a man out of a car
and then stomping on his head
until he lies motionless, spark-
ing outrage and drawing more
attention to the country’s
month.
The Islamist Hamas group
said the attacker, identified as
23 year-old Abdel-Wahab
Khalyleh, who was shot dead
at the scene, was a member.
It said the attack was "an act
of self-defence in the face of
the ongoing Zionist massacre
in Jenin".
In Jenin, drones circulat-
ed overhead and sporadic
gunfire and explosions sound-
ed near the refugee camp,
which fighters from militant
groups including Hamas,
Islamic Jihad and Fatah have
fortified with a range of obsta-
problems with police brutal-
ity.
The officers are part of the
police security team protect-
ing South Africa Deputy Pres-
ident Paul Mashatile, his office
confirmed on Tuesday. There
are no indications that
Mashatile was present during
the incident. His spokesper-
son didn’t immediately
respond to phone calls seek-
ing further comment.
The video of the weekend
incident shows the officers,
some of them holding rifles,
dragging the man across the
road on a major highway in
Johannesburg and then kick-
ing him and stomping on his
head and body. The man
appears to be kicked uncon-
cious and lies motionless on
his back after the attack. The
officers are also seen kicking
another man, who holds his
hands over his head to pro-
tect himself.
The police protection unit
is known in South Africa as the
“blue light brigade” and has
a reputation for using unnecce-
sary force. The unit’s officers
are often criticized for driving
NATO should issue a ‘multilateral declaration
of support for Ukraine into the long term’.
cles and watching posts to
counter regular army raids.
Power and water supplies
remained cut off in the camp
and in some areas of the city
for a second day after bull-
dozers that ploughed up roads
looking for improvised bombs
cut power cables and a main
water pipe.
Israeli forces also uncov-
ered several underground
explosives caches, one con-
cealed in a tunnel under a
mosque.
Late on Monday, the Pales-
tinian Red Crescent said it had
evacuated 500 families from
the camp, or around 3,000
people, and UN agencies
expressed alarm at the scale
of the air and ground opera-
tion.
Trucks brought food, water
and other supplies collected
by volunteers in the nearby
city of Nablus to Jenin where
they were distributed at hos-
pitals and social centres to
those displaced by the fight-
ing.
Jihad Hassan, 63, who fled
the camp with his family
after his son was wounded,
said the drone strike had
fast down highways and react-
ing with force if other drivers
don’t immediately recognize
the small blue lights and sirens
in their vehicles and move out
of the way.
The Independent Police
Investigative Directorate (IPID),
which handles cases of mis-
conduct by police, said it had
opened an investigation into
the alleged assault of the dri-
ver of the car and his passen-
gers by police officers.
Mashatile’s office said in a
statement that he “abhors
any unnecessary use of force,
particularly against unarmed
civilians.”
It didn’t say if Mashatile had
been part of a convoy of vehi-
cles traveling on the highway
in the leadup to the incident.
The video was recorded by
a person in another car not
involved in the incident and
posted to Twitter.
After the incident, the offi-
cers, who are part of a larger
dedicated police unit tasked
with protecting South African
politicans and other VIPs, get
into two black SUVs and drive
away.
UK PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK
SPEAKING TO THE COMMONS LIAISON COMMITTEE
prompted him to leave.
"You don't hear a sound,
you just see the explosion,"
he said, as he waited with his
son at the Jenin Government
Hospital. "It is something,
when a person is forced to
leave their home," he said.
Echoing Palestinian emer-
gency services, the World
Health Organization said first
responders had been pre-
vented from entering the
camp to reach wounded peo-
ple. An Israeli military
spokesman said there had
been no such order.
"Ambulances have a free
pass and we are also coordi-
nating the entry of ambu-
lances," he told reporters
late on Monday.
A Palestinian wounded
during the clashes died
overnight and another body
was found in the morning,
bringing the death toll to 10,
with around 100 wounded, 20
of them critically, the Pales-
tinian health ministry said.
Another Palestinian was also
killed in Ramallah on Mon-
day. But, with the fighting
diminishing in intensity, no
further deaths were reported.
Thailand chooses a House speaker as
Move Forward Party tries to secure PM job
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK, 4 JULY
Thailand’s new government
took a step closer to forming
with the speaker of the House
of Representative chosen
Tuesday in what has been an
arduous task before the next
prime minister is named.
The House vote for prime
minister is the next major
move, expected next week. The
leader of the surprise election
winner Move Forward Party,
42-year-old businessman Pita
Limjaroenrat, has faced strong
opposition from conserva-
tive lawmakers in his bid to take
the job. A successful candidate
PTI prepared for Imran’s
arrest in a fortnight : PTI
Chairman Imran Khan has told
his party leaders about his
possible arrest within the
next two weeks. Accordingly,
a strategy has been devised
for protest in the event of
Khan’s arrest, The News
reported. However, the party
sources said this time the
protest will be “really peace-
ful” and no one would go near
any cantonment or military
areas, the report said. PTI
sources said that for the
party leaders, most of whom
are still hiding to avert arrest,
the direction is to participate
in the protest in such a man-
ner that none of them is
arrested. It will be a protest
without arrest, said a source
No individual, whether the
party’s Vice Chairman Shah
Mehmood Qureshi or anyone
else, will be given the leader-
ship role in the case of
Khan’s arrest.
China cancels planned trip
by EU foreign policy chief
AGENCIES
BEIJING, 4 JULY
China has cancelled a trip
by European Union for-
eign policy chief Josep Bor-
rell scheduled for next week,
an EU spokesperson said on
Tuesday.
No reasons were given for
the cancellation, which
comes as Europe seeks to
reduce the risks created by
its close economic rela-
tionship with China, which
Brussels has dubbed an
"economic competitor and
a systemic rival".
"Unfortunately, we were
informed by the Chinese
counterparts that the envis-
aged dates next week are no
longer possible and we must
now look for alternatives,"
spokesperson Nabila Mass-
rali told Reuters in a writ-
ten statement on Tuesday.
The Chinese foreign min-
istry did not immediately
respond to a request for
comment.
Borrell was due to visit
Beijing on July 10 to meet
his Chinese counterpart
and discuss "strategic issues"
including human rights and
Russia's war in Ukraine,
the EU's ambassador to
China said on Sunday, as per
must have the backing of a
combined majority of the
elected lawmakers in the
Lower House and the military-
appointed Senate, which rep-
resents the country’s traditional
ruling class.
Wan Muhamad Noor
Matha, the Prachachat Party’s
veteran leader who is better
known as Wan Noor, was the
sole nomination for the speak-
ership and was automatical-
ly chosen with no house vote
required. “I will perform my
duty with political neutrality,”
Wan Noor gave a speech after
the nomination. “I will perform
my duty with transparency,
honesty, and I will fully com-
Quake shakes part
of Indonesia’s Papua
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANILA, 4 JULY
An earthquake shook Indone-
sia’s easternmost province
Monday, but there were no
immediate reports of serious
damage or casualties.
The U.S. Geological Sur-
vey said the magnitude 5.4
quake was centered 135 kilo-
meters (83 miles) southwest
of Abepura, a subdistrict in
Jayapura, the capital of Papua
province. It occurred at a
depth of 13 kilometers.
There was no danger of a
tsunami but warned of pos-
sible aftershocks. It mea-
sured a preliminary magni-
tude of 6.4 for the quake.
Variations in early measure-
ments of quakes are common.
N Korea lifts
mask mandate
reports.
Ambassador Jorge Tole-
SEOUL, 4 JULY
do had told the World Peace
Forum in Beijing on Sunday
North Korea, which had
maintained its rigid Covid-
that China and Europe are 19 restrictions long after
likely to hold two in-person most countries eased pan-
dialogues in September, demic measures, appears to
one on the economy and have lifted its mask man-
trade and another on digi-
tal matters, before a lead-
ers' summit at the end of the
year.
"We want to engage with
date this month, state media
footage and photos revealed
on Tuesday. News footage that
aired on the North's Korean
Central TV on Monday
China but we need progress showed hundreds of young
and we need it this year," people seated close to one
Toledo said. another without face masks
This is the second time at a theatre in North Ham-
this year that Borrell's trip gyong province. IANS
was cancelled. He could
not come in April after test-
ing positive for COVID-19.
In a prepared speech for
delivery in Beijing in April,
Borrell had said that EU
cannot trust China if it does
not seek peace in Ukraine.
China has said it wants
to broker a peace in Ukraine
but its position paper
released in February was met
with lukewarm responses by
both Russia and Ukraine, as
per reports.
EU climate chief Frans
Timmermans, who is in
Beijing this week for envi-
ronment talks, also failed to
visit China in April because
he caught COVID-19.
ply with the constitution and
the rules of the parliament.”
The House Speaker posi-
tion was highly sought after as
it could influence the pas-
sage of legislation. Move For-
ward said it needed the post
to ensure their progressive
policies, often blocked by
conservative lawmakers, will
pass through. But many mem-
bers of the populist Phue Thai
Party insisted that their party
should take the crucial post as
it was the second winner of the
election. Move Forward and
Pheu Thai, the two biggest par-
ties in the coalition, each got
a candidate endorsed for the
two deputy speaker posts.
With a population of just
over 1 million, Papua is one
of Indonesia’s least popu-
lous provinces.
In February, another shal-
low earthquake shook the
province, killing four peo-
ple who were unable to escape
when a floating restaurant col-
lapsed into the sea. Indone-
sia is a seismically active
archipelago of 270 million peo-
ple that is frequently struck
by earthquakes. Last Novem-
ber, a magnitude 5.6 earth-
quake killed at least 602 peo-
ple and injured more than
7,700 in West Java province.
In January 2021, a magnitude
6.2 earthquake killed more
than 100 people and injured
nearly 6,500 in West Sulawe-
si province.

Enzyme are highly
effective as catalysts
DR TAPAN KUMAR MAITRA
ecause of the precise chemical
B fit between the active site of an
enzyme and its substrates,
enzymes are highly effective as
catalysts. This effectiveness can be
seen in the much greater extent to
which reaction rates are catalyzed by
enzymes compared with inorganic
catalysts. As we noted previously,
enzyme-catalyzed reactions proceed
107 to 1014 times faster than uncat-
alyzed reactions, versus 103 to 104
times faster for inorganic catalysts. As
you might guess, most of the interest
in enzymes focuses on the active site,
where binding, activation, and chemi-
cal transformation of the substrate
occur.
Substrate Binding: Initial con-
tact between the active site of an
enzyme and a potential substrate mol-
ecule depends on random collision.
Once in the groove, or pocket, of the
active site, however, the substrate mol-
ecules are bound temporarily to the
enzyme surface in just the right orien-
tation to one another and to specific
catalytic groups on the enzyme to
facilitate reaction. Substrate binding
usually involves hydrogen bonds or
ionic bonds (or both) to charged
amino acids. These are generally weak
bonds, but several bonds may hold a
single molecule in place. The strength
of the bonds between an enzyme and
a substrate molecule is often in the
range of 3-12 kcal/mol, less than one-
tenth the strength of a single covalent
bond. Substrate binding is therefore
readily reversible.
ENERGIES OF BIOLOGICALLY
IMPORTANT BONDS AND
TRANSITIONS
For many years, enzymologists
regarded the active site as a rigid struc-
ture. They likened the fit of a substrate
into the active site to that of a key into
a lock, an analogy first suggested in
1894 by the German biochemist Emil
Fischer. This lock-and-key model,
shown in Figure 6-5a, explained
enzyme specificity but did little to
enhance our understanding of the cat-
alytic event. A more helpful view of
enzyme-substrate interaction is pro-
vided by the induced-fit model, first
proposed in 1958 by Daniel Koshland.
This model assumes that the initial
binding of the substrate molecule(s) at
the active site distorts both the enzyme
and the substrate, thereby stabilizing
the substrate molecules in their transi-
tion state and rendering the relevant
bonds more susceptible to catalytic
attack.
TWO MODELS FOR ENZYME-
SUBSTRATE INTERACTION
Distortion of the enzyme involves
Now avail safety
armour for infants
baby in arms brings joy and
A
hope to every family. While
parents often try to safeguard
the future of their baby
through regular paediatric checkups,
planning their education, and devel-
oping financial security by saving, a
very important aspect might be over-
looked.
India is one of the most populated
countries, and as of 2023, the infant
mortality rate was about 26 per cent.
Major percentages of these deaths
occur in the neonatal period. Preterm
birth, birth asphyxia, infectious dis-
eases, and congenital birth defects,
including congenital cardiac defects, are
major causes of such deaths. Many of
these deaths have an underlying genet-
ic or metabolic issue. Most of these inci-
dents occur below the age of 5.
In India, the very high incidence of
congenital hypothyroidism (CH), con-
genital adrenal hypoplasia (CAH), and
G6PD ensures early intervention, which
can improve the quality of life of the
child. Interventions can include a
cochlear implant, which can only be
done until a certain age, or manage-
ment through the use of machines and
speech therapy. Congenital heart dis-
ease affects about eight per 1,000 births.
Of these, about one-fifth are likely to
have serious defects requiring inter-
vention in the first year of life. However,
often these are not detected, leading to
infant deaths. A simple screening
ensures early intervention and prevents
life-threatening crises in most cases.
Dr Kheya Ghosh Uttam, NICU In-
Charge and Associate Professor, delin-
eated "MR for India. In 2023, there
were 26.62 deaths per 1000 live births.
Prematurity, birth asphyxia, infections,
and birth defects, including congeni-
tal heart diseases, are still the leading
causes of neonatal death. As we are
taking care of the above-mentioned
The Catalytic Cycle of an Enzyme
a conformational change in the shape
of the enzyme molecule and hence in
the configuration of the active site.
This change positions the proper
reactive groups of the enzyme opti-
mally for the catalytic reaction in
which they are involved, thereby
enhancing the likelihood of that reac-
tion. Specifically, the conformational
change brings into the active site
amino acid side chains that are criti-
cal to the catalytic process but are not
in the immediate area of the active
site in the uninduced conformation.
In many cases, these are acidic or
basic groups that promote catalysis.
In the case of carboxypeptidase A, for
example, substrate binding brings
three critical amino acid residues—
an arginine, a glutamate, and a tyro-
sine—into the active site.
The conformational change upon
substrate binding can result in remark-
ably large displacements of amino acid
groups within the protein molecule. In
the case of carboxypeptidase A, for
example, substrate binding causes the
disorders, metabolic and genetic dis-
orders are contributing to neonatal
mortality and morbidity. Thus, there is
a perceived need for screening for
these disorders. Hence comes the
importance of newborn screening ,
which, at an affordable cost, is the need
of the hour so that no baby is left
behind."
Newborn metabolic screening
occurs by a simple heel prick test,
where drops of blood are collected in a
Guthrie card. This can then be
analysed for a group of endocrinologi-
cal and metabolic disorders that, if not
prevented, can lead to severe intellec-
tual disability, developmental delay,
learning delay, and a spectrum of other
life-threatening conditions like epilep-
sy and even spastic paraplegia.
Inborn errors of metabolism are
individually rare genetic disorders, but
all groups put together, there are many
disorders with an estimated cumula-
tive worldwide incidence of 1/2500 live
births. Early diagnosis and treatment
can often be lifesaving. Treatments
include the use of dietary modifica-
tions, medications, organ transplanta-
tion, and, more recently, ongoing clin-
ical trials for gene therapy. Metabolic
disorders follow various patterns of
inheritance, including autosomal
recessive (most common),
autosomal dominant, X-linked, and
mitochondrial.
The Institute of Child Health in
Kolkata is implementing cost-effective
screenings at its in-house lab facility,
ensuring no child is left behind. The
institute has been dedicated to treat-
ing rare diseases in children for 20
years and is now offering newborn
screening for inborn errors of metabo-
lism in the biochemistry laboratory.
Early treatment and management of
positive screened cases will help
reduce child mortality in the country.
tyrosine residue at position 248 to
move 1.2 nm, a distance equal to
about a quarter of the diameter of the
enzyme molecule!
Substrate Activation: The role of
the active site is not just to recognize
and bind the appropriate substrate but
also to activate it by subjecting it to the
right chemical environment for cataly-
sis. A given enzyme-catalyzed reaction
may involve one or more means of
substrate activation. Three of the most
common mechanisms are as follows:
1. The change in enzyme conforma-
tion induced by initial substrate bind-
ing to the active site not only causes
better complementarity and a tighter
enzyme-substrate fit, but also distorts
one or more of its bonds, thereby
weakening the bond and making it
more susceptible to catalytic attack.
2. The enzyme may also accept or
donate protons, thereby increasing the
chemical reactivity of the substrate.
This accounts for the importance of
11 urban towns in Rajasthan con-
sume unsafe water: PHED study
DR YASH GOYAL
ccording to a 2022–23 report of
A the Public Health and Engi-
neering Department (PHED),
the 11 towns under the unsafe
or non-potable water category are
actually not covered by the surface
water supply and hence are solely
dependent on underground or reser-
voir water availability.
Despite the claims made by the
Union Ministry of Jal Jeevan Mission
(JJM) to provide tap water to every
household, a state government study
found people in only 176 of the 235
urban towns in Rajasthan get potable
water. While 48 towns have a partially
potable water supply, the remaining 11
are dependent on ‘non-potable’ water.
The PHED study shows that the
taste of water is not sweet but salty in
these 11 towns with high concentra-
tions of nitrate, Total Dissolved Solids
(TDS), and Multi-parameters. The sav-
ing grace is that since the water avail-
able to these towns doesn’t contain
excess fluoride (more than 1.5 ppm),
people have no bone-related abnor-
malities.
"Long-term use of this kind of
unsafe and tasteless water could cause
diseases like stone formation, calcium
carbonate and magnesium scaling or
deposition in the containers, side
effects in food preparation and milk,
and unknown ailments," an expert
chemist who was part of the study
team told The Statesman.
"It is true that underground water
is free from bacteria, but it has different
chemical compositions based on the
location and sources of the water
charged amino acids in active-site
chemistry, which in turn explains why
enzyme activity is so often dependent
on pH.
3. As a further means of substrate acti-
vation, enzymes may also accept or
donate electrons, thereby forming
temporary covalent bonds between
the enzyme and its substrate.
THE CATALYTIC CYCLE OF AN
ENZYME
The catalytic event: The sequence
of events at the active site is using the
enzyme sucrose as an example.
Sucrase hydrolyzes the disaccharide
sucrose into glucose and fructose. So
far, have seen that the initial random
collision of a substrate molecule—
sucrose, in this case—with the active
site results in its binding to amino acid
residues that are strategically posi-
tioned there.
The author is associate professor & former
head, department of botany, Ananda Mohan
College
table," the expert said.
Excess nitrate-affected towns are
Bhiwadi, Khairthal in Alwar, Navalgarh,
Surajgarh, and Chirawa (Jhunjhunu),
whereas Govindgarh in Alwar district
is a high TDS-gripped town, and Nad-
bai (Bharatpur), Ratan Nagar (Churu),
Fatehpur Shekhawati, Ramgarh
Shekhawati, and Losal (Sikar district)
have a multiple parameter problem in
‘non-potable’ water.
As per the standards, the nitrate
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023 11
Senior citizen’s
welfare event
anipal Hospitals, Kolkata, in cooperation with the Barasat Senior
M Citizen Welfare Association (BSCWA), launched a transformative
senior citizen welfare programme. Around 230 elderly individuals
took part in the programme. It was supervised by Dr Kaushik Chan-
dra Malik, Consultant Urologist, Manipal Hospitals, Salt Lake, Kolkata.
As we grow old, health issues could surface. Two organs that are affected in
a large number of people are the bladder and the kidneys. Among the common
health issues related to the bladder is leakage or urinary incontinence (not
being able to hold one’s urine), urinary retention (not being able to completely
empty the bladder), and urinary tract infections (UTIs).
For the kidneys, it is inflammation or swelling that is a common ailment.
Kidney problems can lead to other health conditions such as cardiovascular
issues. Early detection of kidney-related issues not only increases the life of
the kidneys but also reduces the risk of falling prey to other diseases.
Kidney diseases do not always show early warning signs. Therefore, an
informative workshop is helpful for people to understand the signs of kidney-
related diseases.
For ecology, moths
are important
oths account
M for a third of
the pollinator
visits to crops,
flowers and trees in urban
areas. More moths were
found to be carrying pollen
than previously thought,
and visiting more types of
plant and fruit crops than
previously identified
Moth abundance has
declined by 33 per cent in
the last 50 years and this represents a threat to the plants and crops that rely on
insects for pollination
Night-time pollinators such as moths may visit just as many plants as bees,
and should also be the focus of conservation and protection efforts, a new
study from the University of Sheffield suggests. The study found that moths
under pressure from urbanisation may also be less resilient than bees, due to
their more complex life cycle and more specific plant requirements.
The study found that in more urbanised areas the diversity of pollen being
carried by moths and bees decreases, meaning that urban pollinators may have
less flower resources available to them.
Moths and bees rely on plants for survival and pollination, with insects
playing a crucial role in plant growth. Protecting urban green spaces and sup-
porting diverse wildlife is essential for resilient populations and healthier,
greener cities. Moths carry more pollen and visit more tree and fruit crops,
impacting wildlife-friendly gardening initiatives, urban planners, and policy-
makers in developing green spaces.
value varied from 92 to 130 mg/litre, RO plant, as it would be highly costly to
while the TDS value varied from 1602 set up and maintain in these towns.
to 2723, and at some listed places it was Agarwal also sought a similar study
recorded between 3780 and 4060. of drinking water quality to be con-
Additionally, the chief engineer of ducted in rural areas of the state.
PHED, Subodh Agarwal, has called a Contrary to this reality, a JJM
virtual meeting with district officials, poster with the image of Prime Minis-
directing them to prepare an action ter Narendra Modi on it claims that one
plan to supply surface water to these lakh water connections are being given
towns without much delay. in the country every day. Of the 18.97
The PHED officials are rather crore homes in the country, 5.16 homes
reluctant to set up a defluoridation or get tap water.
 ‘WILL KEEP CONCENTRATING’
NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY 05 JULY 2023 12
After clinching the top spot at his second Diamond League event of the season at
Lausanne, with a throw of 87.66 metres, on Friday, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Gold Medal-
list Neeraj said that his main focus is to stay injury free for the World Champi-
onships next month."I was concerned about my fitness and injury coming into
the event because I want to give my 100% at each event. In the two training
sessions before the throw, I was testing myself out and the weather was slight-
ly unfavorable, so I was concerned. My main objective was to push myself and
give it my all at the event," Chopra said, speaking to the press about his approach
to Lausanne.
For more updates www.thestatesman.com Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-II/6088/2022/-23-24

THUMBNAILS
Newcastle United signs
Tonali from AC Milan: English
football club Newcastle Unit-
ed, which plays in the Pre-
mier League, has completed
the signing of Italian mid-
fielder Sandro Tonali from
AC Milan. "The 23-year-old
joins the Magpies for an
undisclosed fee and has
agreed a contract at St.
James' Park initially until
2028," according to Newcas-
tle United website One of
Italy's most highly-rated
young players, Tonali has 14
international caps for the
Azzurri and has captained
his country during this sum-
mer's UEFA Under-21 Euro-
pean Championships. After
beginning his senior career
with Brescia, where he
achieved promotion from
Serie B, he moved to Milan in
2020 - initially on a season-
long loan - and has now
amassed 130 Serie A appear-
ances. Last season, he also
played in all 12 group and
knock-out phase games as
AC Milan reached the semi-
final stage of the UEFA
Champions League. "First of
all, I want to thank Newcas-
tle United because they are
giving me a huge opportuni-
ty for my career. I want to
repay the trust on the pitch,
giving it my all, as I always
That's not me: Stokes
on ‘cry babies’ remark
The controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow started the war of words
which described it as 'pathet-
ic' and accused Cummins of
disregarding 'decorum' and
'codes of honor and deco-
rum'.
As the English media wages
war on Australia following
Bairstow's stumping contro-
versy, the Australian media
hit back with 'crybabies' tag for
Ben Stokes and his team on
Tuesday morning.
An Australian publication
put out a picture of Stokes
with a pacifier in mouth and
crawling along the ground in
a nappy. Accompanying that
headline are the words: "Poms
take whingeing to new level with
'cheating' drivel".
Reacting to the post, Stokes
wrote: "That's definitely not me,
since when did I bowl with the
new ball".
Even, Australian Prime Min-
ister Anthony Albanese has
also joined the war of words,
using his official Twitter account
to say Australia remains “right
AGENCIES Both the captains have England coach Brendon behind” the national cricket
LONDON, 4 JULY already shared their opposing McCullum was left frustrated teams.
views on Bairstow's dismissal. by the incident and declared “I’m proud of our men’s and
he contentious dis- Stokes was sceptical about the post-match that "he can’t women’s cricket teams, who
PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen to lead India's
challenge at Canada Open 2023
AGENCIES
CALGARY, 4 JULY
India's star shuttlers PV
Sindhu and Lakshya Sen
will spearhead India's chal-
lenge at the Canada Open
2023 badminton tourna-
ment starting Tuesday in
Calgary, as per
Olympics.com.
After missing the Taipei
Open 2023, Sindhu will start
afresh in the tournament. The
12th-ranked Sindhu has
failed to make a mark in
the past three BWF World
Tour events as she did not
at the Madrid Masters 2023.
Sindhu also made the semi-
finals of the Malaysia Mas-
ters. The 27-year-old will
open her women's singles
campaign against Canada's
world No. 61 Talia Ng.
Apart from Sindhu, Tas-
nim Mir and Gadde Ruthvi-
ka Shivani are India's oth-
ers who will participate in the
women's singles main draw.
Tasnim start her campaign
against Thuy Linh Nguyen
of Vietnam while Ruthvika
Shivani will face Thailand's
Supanida Katethong in her
opening game.
champion, will face Ger-
man Kai Schaefer in the
opening round of qualifying.
In the qualifications, S Sankar
Muthusamy Subramanian
and B Sai Praneeth will also
start.
HS Prannoy and Kidambi
Srikanth have skipped the
Canada event. India's top
doubles pair of Chirag Shet-
ty and Satwiksairaj Rankired-
dy, who won the Indonesia
Open last month, have also
given the tournament a miss.
Meanwhile in the men's
doubles, the pair of Krish-
na Prasad Garaga and Vish-
nuvardhan Goud Panjala
will be India's only chal-
lenge. The duo will play the
French pair of Julien Maio
and William Villeger in the
opener.
In the women's doubles,
the Indian pair Tanisha Cras-
to and Ashwini Ponnappa will
take on the Australian duo
of Kaitlyn Ea and Gronya
Somerville. The pair of Ruta-
parna Panda and Sweta-
parna Panda will also start
in the main draw. B Sumeeth
Reddy and Ashwini Pon-
nappa will play the Japan-
ese duo of Yuki Kaneko and
Misaki Matsutomo in the
first round of mixed doubles.

have. I'm really excited
about playing at St. James'
Park, I can't wait to feel the
warmth of the fans," Tonali
said. Newcastle United head
coach, Eddie Howe, said he is
delighted to welcome San-
dro to Newcastle United.
Paulinho joins Atletico
Mineiro: Atletico Mineiro
have completed the perma-
nent signing of Brazil under-
23 forward Paulinho on a
free transfer, the Brazilian
Serie A club said. The 22-
year-old, who joined Atletico
on loan from Germany's
Bayer Leverkusen last
December, will be tied to the
Belo Horizonte outfit until
December 2027, reports Xin-
hua. Paulinho made 79
appearances across all com-
petitions for Bayer Leverk-
susen and scored nine goals
after joining the Bundesliga
club from Vasco da Gama in
2018. Since arriving at Atleti-
co last December, he has
scored 14 times and provid-
ed six assists in 34 appear-
ances. Atletico Mineiro are
currently 10th in Brazil's 20-
team Serie A standings with
five wins from 13 games
so far.
Durand Cup trophy reaches
Udhampur: The trophy tour
for the 132nd edition of the
historic Durand Cup Football
tournament, reached
Udhampur, the Headquar-
ters of the Northern Com-
mand of the Indian Army in
the Union Territory of
Jammu and Kashmir, on
Monday. The three glittering
Durand trophies were
received amidst much fer-
vour by the Chief of Staff,
Headquarters Northern Com-
mand as well as Nazeer
Andrabi, President of the
Jammu & Kashmir Football
Federation, among other
dignitaries.
T
missal of Jonny
Bairstow on final day
of second Ashes Test at
Lord's has undeniably height-
ened the tensions between
England and Australia, inten-
sifying the already fiercely
competitive atmosphere of
the Ashes 2023 series.
Hockey India names 20-member
women’s team for Germany tour,
four-nation tournament in Spain
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 4 JULY
Hockey India on Tuesday
named the 20-member Indi-
an women’s hockey team for
their tour of Germany and the
100th Anniversary Spanish
Hockey Federation- Inter-
national Tournament in Spain.
Both events will be part of
the team’s preparations ahead
of the all-important Hangzhou
Asian Games 2023.
The Indian team will first
play three Test matches in Ger-
many, one against China and
two against Germany, from
July 16-19, followed by a tour
to Spain, where they will play
against South Africa, Eng-
land, and hosts from July 25-
30 in Terrassa in the 100th
Anniversary Spanish Hock-
ey Federation-International
Tournament.
The Indian team squad
whole incident and clarified that
he wouldn't have wanted to
"win a game in that manner".
Australia skipper Pat Cum-
mins, on the other hand, offered
an entirely contrasting view to
his England counterpart, say-
ing "It was totally fair play. That's
how the rule is."
comprises talented and ded-
icated individuals who have
been honing their skills and
striving for excellence in
every training session at the
ongoing National Coaching
Camp at SAI Centre in Ben-
galuru.
The squad is led by goal-
keeper Savita and she will be
ably assisted by Deep Grace
Ekka as the Vice Captain.
Meanwhile, Bichu Devi
Kharibam is the second goal-
keeper named in the squad,
while the defenders picked for
the tours are Deep Grace
Ekka, Nikki Pradhan, Ishika
Chaudhary, Udita, and Sushi-
la Chanu Pukhrambam.
In the midfield, the team
boasts a formidable lineup
consisting of Nisha, Monika,
Salima Tete, Neha, Navneet
Kaur, Sonika, Baljeet Kaur,
Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, and
Jyoti Chhatri. India’s forward
imagine we’ll be having a beer
any time soon" with the Aus-
tralia players. Australia coach
Andrew McDonald hit back,
calling the comments 'disap-
pointing'.
The controversial dismissal
also received significant crit-
icism from the British media,
line will be spearheaded by
the experienced striker Van-
dana Katariya. She will be
joined by Lalremsiami, San-
gita Kumari and Deepika.
Speaking about the team
selection, chief coach Janneke
Schopman said, “The Spain
and Germany tours will be a
great opportunity for our
team to show their ability and
skills on an international
stage again and to continue
our preparation for the Asian
Games. I am excited as the
players are performing at a
high level this camp and they
have been working tireless-
ly to improve their game and
both tours will be a perfect
platform for us to test ourselves
against strong opponents.
We will focus on maintain-
ing a strong team unity and
executing our strategies. Our
goal is to play our own game
and utilise the learnings of this
camp and last tour."
“The tours will also be
crucial for us in regards to the
upcoming Asian Games as
they will provide us with
valuable insights and help us
identify areas where we can
further enhance our perfor-
mance. It's important for us
to learn from each match
and grow as a team," she
added.
have both won their opening
two #Ashes matches against
England. Same old Aussies -
always winning! Australia is right
behind @ahealy77, @patcum-
mins30 and their teams and look
forward to welcoming them
home victorious," Albanese
tweeted.
Wang Chuqin
becomes new
men's world No.
1 in table tennis
AGENCIES
BEIJING, 4 JULY
China's table tennis rising
star Wang Chuqin became the
new world No. 1 in the men's
singles category, as the Inter-
national Table Tennis Fed-
eration (ITTF) released its
latest world rankings on Tues-
day. Wang's compatriot Fan
Zhendong had been top for
142 consecutive weeks. With
the ITTF world ranking points
from Singapore Smash 2022
expiring, 23-year-old Wang
claimed top spot from Fan.
"This achievement marks
a historic moment in Wang's
remarkable journey, high-
lighting his exceptional talent
and unwavering pursuit of
greatness," read an article
on the ITTF website.
The duo formed a leading
Chinese trio along with vet-
eran Ma Long in the men's
world rankings. Lin Gaoyuan,
newly-crowned champion
at the World Table Tennis
(WTT) Contender Zagreb,
rose to sixth, ahead of fellow
Chinese paddler Liang Jingkun
in seventh.
Other men's world Top 10
players include Japan's
Tomokazu Harimoto, Brazil-
ian ace Hugo Calderano, Jang
Woo-jin of South Korea, Slove-
nia's Darko Jorgic and Lin Yun-
Ju of Chinese Taipei.
cross the second rounds.
The former world champi-
on was knocked out in the
round of 16 of the Indone-
sia Open after exiting the Sin-
gapore Open and the Thai-
land Open in the first round.
In this season, Sindhu
reached the final only once
Pakistan to tour England in May 2024 in
preparation for Men's T20 World Cup
AGENCIES
LAHORE, 4 JULY
Pakistan men's team will
tour England to play a four-
match T20I series in May
next year in the build-up to
the ICC Men's T20 World
Cup 2024 in the West Indies
and the United States of
America (USA), the Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB) con-
firmed on Tuesday.
The finalists from the last
edition in Australia will play
games in Leeds (May 22),
Birmingham (May 25), Cardiff
(May 28) and London (Oval,
May 30) before flying out
for the marquee ICC event.
Notably, England had
defeated Pakistan by five
wickets with one over to
spare in the T20 World Cup
2022 final in Melbourne.
Prior to the Australia event,
Pakistan had hosted Eng-
land for a seven-match T20I
series in Karachi and Lahore
In the men's singles event,
world No. 19 Lakshya Sen will
be India's only badminton
player in the main draw.
Lakshya Sen will play Thai-
land's world No. 3 Kunlavut
Vitidsarn in the round of
32. Parupalli Kashyap, the
2014 Commonwealth Games
with the visitors winning by
4-3.
England is ranked sec-
ond on the ICC T20I Team
Rankings, while Pakistan is
ranked fourth – five points
behind.
Before arriving in Eng-
land, Pakistan will play a
three-T20I series against the
Netherlands and two-T20I
series against Ireland, details
of which will be announced
in due course.
The Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB) said on Tuesday that
besides the men’s squad,
the national women’s team
will also tour England in May
next year for three T20Is and
three ICC Women’s Cham-
pionship 2022-25 fixtures.
In addition to the men's
side, Pakistan women’s squad
will also tour England in May
2024 for three T20Is and
three ICC Women’s Cham-
pionship 2022-25 fixtures,
the PCB said. The tour will
Sai Pratheek K and Tanisha
Crasto will start in the qual-
ifiers. The Canada Open
2023 is the fourth Super 500
tournament of the 2023 BWF
World Tour calendar after
Indonesia Masters, Malaysia
Masters and the Thailand
Open.
begin with the first T20I in
Birmingham on May 11 with
the remaining two matches
in Northampton ( May 17) and
Leeds (May 19). Derby,
Taunton and Chelmsford
will stage the three ODIs on
May 23, 26 and 29 respectively.
England is ranked second
and Pakistan seventh in the
ICC Women’s T20I Team
Rankings, while Pakistan (10
points) is currently third in the
ICC Women’s Championship
2022-25 and England sev-
enth (six points) with one
less series of three ODIs. Eng-
land's third series in the
Championship is against Aus-
tralia from July 12-18.
The series against England
will be Pakistan women’s
last series in the ICC Women's
Championship 2022-25. They
will kick-start their 2023-24
season by hosting South
Africa in Karachi from Sep-
tember 1-14, which will be fol-
lowed by series against
Bangladesh
(October/November, away),
New Zealand (Novem-
ber/December, away) and
West Indies (April/May,
home). In the three ICC
Women's Championship
2022-25 series to date, Pak-
istan have defeated Sri Lanka
(2-1) and Ireland (3-0), while
they were beaten 3-0 by
world champions Australia
earlier this year.

Revelries around Martinez ‘Wouldn't be surprised if Djokovic ends up with nine or 10 Wimbledon titles’
the more unconventional
ways of doing so were shelved
today and, with All-India
Football Federation and Indi-
an Football Association high-
ups holding themselves aloof
from whatever a Johnny come
lately might have got up to,
was not being appreciated very
warmly, said sources. The
lusty cheers were were for the
hoi pollock, who set the tone
of each of the congregations.
The entertainment was
low key and not very cerebral.
Organising inefficiency result-
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE what if he went back to the ed inMartinez's car being
KOLKATA, 04 JULY lewd gesture - trophy pressed damaged as hordes of selfie-
to the crotch, a vapid facial seekers were said to have
As his local guardians made expression follows - which have taken it over, as the
him parrot everything they made him to talked about after footballer had to be shifted
wanted to hear, sometimes Qatar 2022 simply to make to a police vehicle for a mod-
saying the same thing at dif- things livelier for fans in the icum of protection. It was at
ferent places, a certain dra- city? Milan Mela that Martinez's
matic interest inevitably rose, The Argentine World Cup car found itself somewhat iso-
if you really cared, today at goalkeeper Emiliano Mar- lated and vulnerable, football
his progtammes in the city: tinez can steal the scene but fans said.
AGENCIES
LONDON, 4 JULY
Former world no 1 Mats
Wilander believes that Novak
Djokovic will surpass Roger
Federer's record of eight
Wimbledon titles as he has
"four or five years left in him
as one of the favourites".
Djokovic seeks to equal
Roger Federer's record of
eight Wimbledon titles this
fortnight in London, where he
can displace Carlos Alcaraz as
No. 1 in the ATP Rankings by
lifting the trophy.
The 36-year-old Serb has
been the undisputed ruler
of SW19 since 2018, and with
a victory over Pedro Cachin
of Argentina in their first-
round meeting on Monday,
he extended his impressive
record over the last five Wim-
bledon. "I wouldn't be sur-
prised if Djokovic ends up with
nine or 10. So, Roger better
hold this record of eight close
to his heart for now," Wilan-
der was quoted as saying by
Eurosport.
"If it’s not this year then
it's next year, and if it’s not
next year then it's the year after.
I think Novak has another four
or five years left in him here
as one of the favourites at
Wimbledon," he added.
The Serb, who won his
maiden grass major in 2011,
has not lost on Centre Court
in 10 years after losing to
Andy Murray in the 2013
final. Since then, the Serbian
has lifted the trophy on six
occasions and has only suf-
fered two defeats, both on
Court 1 of the tournament.
Djokovic, who has now
won 22 matches in a row at
majors dating back to Wim-
bledon last year, became the
first man to win 23 Grand Slam
titles by triumphing at Roland
Garros in May.
If the Serbian can claim a
fifth consecutive title at the
All England Club this fortnight,
he will increase his chances
of winning the first Calendar
Slam (all four majors in the
same year) since Rod Laver
did it in 1969. While Wilan-
der backs Djokovic to break
Federer's record of Wimble-
don titles, he doesn't think that
Serb will surpass Jimmy Con-
nors' record of 109 singles titles
as Djokovic currently has 94.
"Djokovic is hot on the
heels on everybody’s records,
but I don’t think he will reach
Jimmy Connors’ record of
most titles won. That will be
tough for Novak to break," he
said.

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