DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO.

.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
 2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023

Sr. NAME OF OLD NATURE OF CORRIGENDUM WEBSITE OF NODAL OFFICER/

No. BOARD REFERENCE/ THE BOARD CONTACT
CORP./AUTH. NIT NO. CORP./AUTH. DETAILS/EMAIL
1. UHBVN NIT NO. FA/ ENGAGEMENT OF AGENCY/FIRM FOR www.uhbvn.org. 9569666604
COLLECTION/UH/ RECONCILIATION OF COLLECTION in aocollectionuhbvnfqr@
06/2023 DATED ACCOUNT (RIB- REMITTANCE INTO BANK) uhbvn.org.in
13.02.2023 & DRAWING ACCOUNT (CDS- CHEQUE
DRAWN STATEMENT) IN UHBVNL. TO
DROP THE TENDER.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in
16467/HRY

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA
PUBLIC WORK DEPARTMENT
INVITATION FOR TENDER
Tender Notice No. 83 Year 2022-23
S. Name of work Estimated
N. Cost
1 Construction Of Sakav On Kunde Phata to Samashanbhumi Road in Tal. 16,88,888.00
Bhiwandi Dist. Thane
2 Construction Of Sakav On Kiravali Khushivali Jiont Road in Tal. Bhiwandi Dist. 16,86,192.00
Thane.
3 Construction of closed Gutter from Suryanagar ward no.6 to siddhivinayak 12,67,678.00
colony at mharal village Tal. Kalyan.
4 Construction Of Closed Gutter From Sunil Choudhari Home to Pande Doctor 12,68,165.00
Hospital at Mharal Village Tal. Kalyan.
5 Construction of Sakav at Nandap to Ghotsai Road Tal. Kalyan, Dist. Thane. 21,13,711.00
6 Construction of Sakav at Ghotsai Goveli Road Tal. Kalyan, Dist. Thane. 21,13,711.00
7 Construction of Sakav at Ankharpada Goveli Road Tal. Kalyan, Dist. Thane. 21,13,483.00
1. Period if E-tenders : Date 21.03.2023 to Date 25.03.2023
4. Date of Opening (If Possible) : Date 27.03.2023 at 15.00 Executive Engineer, P.W. Division No. 1,
Thane.
1. Tender form Condition of Contract Specification and Contract drawing can be downloaded from
e-tendering portal of public work Department of Maharashtra i.e. https//mahatenders.gov.in
2. Tender Notice can be seen also on web site https//mahatenders.gov.in & www.Mahapwd.com
No./TD/Tender/2399 Sd/-
Office of the Executive Engineer Executive Engineer
P.W. Division No.1 Thane P.W. Division No.1 Thane
Station Road
Date : 17.03.2023
DGIPR-2022-23/C6943

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(³FûM : Fee for General, EWS & OBC is Rs. 300/- for SC & ST is Rs. 125/-
(Non-refundable) (DD is favour of MAHARASHTRA EMPLOYEES STATE
INS SOC) & No fees for women & PWD.)
Sr. Department Total Date & Time Age as on Qualification Emoluments
No. Post of Interview date of
Interview
1 Physician 1 Dt. Up to 64 MBBS with P.G. Degree Rs. 60,000/-
(Part Time) 31.03.2023 Years as on or equivalent from per month +
Time 11.00 the date of recognised university Additional
am onwords Interview with post PG experience Rs. 15,000/-
of three years. OR PG per month for
Diploma from performing
recognised univerisity. emergency
Having post PG call duties.
experience of 5 years
respectively in particular
speciality.
2 Medical 8 Dt. Up to 64 MBBS : PG Degree/ Rs. 85,000/-
Officer 31.03.2023 Years as on Diploma PG Degree in per month for
(Full Time) Time 11.00 the date of Medicine Orthopedic. post
am onwords Interview ObGyn General surgery graduation
will be preferred.
3 Medical 2 Dt. Up to 64 MBBS Rs. 75,000/-
Officer (Full 31.03.2023 Years as on per month for
Time for Time 11.00 the date of MBBS
Medical am onwords Interview
reimburse-
ment work
&
Secondary
Tie-up
work)

LAST DATE OF APPLICATION : 28.03.2023 UPTO 05.00 P.M.

BY HAND/POST.
Interviews for appointment of Part Time Specialist (1 year) &
Contractual Medical Officers on Contract basis for MH-EMPLOYEES
STATE INSURANCE SOCIETY, HOSPITAL VASHI NAVI MUMBAI.
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 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CBI suffers setback as CRACKDOWN ON WARIS PUNJAB DE

Interpol withdraws Day 3: Search on for Amritpal, his
notice against Choksi arrested uncle & aides face NSA
` 78 per kilo

` 106 per kilo Centre calls for alert at Pakistan and After London,
` 129 per kilo
DEEPTIMAN TIWARY Nepal borders, airports on watch vandalism in
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
` 65 per Dozen IN A major setback for the CBI
Mehul
Choksi fled NAVJEEVAN GOPAL San Francisco,
and India’s efforts to get fugitive India in & MAHENDER SINGH
MANRAL India protests

E
jeweller Mehul Choksi back, the Jan 2018
BUSINESS AS USUAL Interpol has withdrawn the Red CHANDIGARH, NEW DELHI, Amritpal
EXPLAINED

Corner Notice issued against the MARCH 20 Singh

BY UNNY key accused in the Rs 13,500-
crore PNB loan fraud case.
Thenoticeisnowunavailable
on Interpol's website. Choksi’s
lawyer in India, Vijay Aggarwal,
said, “Because of the efforts of
Stalls his WITHTHEhuntforWarisPunjab
● return De chief Amritpal Singh Sandhu
entering the third day, and the
THE DEVELOPMENT Centre alerting border forces
weakens India’s efforts to that he “may try” to cross over to
heldtheTwitteraccountsof sev-
eral users, including some jour-
nalists reporting from Punjab,
“after analysing the content”.
SHUBHAJIT ROY
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Japan Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida at Buddha Jayanti Park, New Delhi, Monday. PTI
ADAYafterIndiasummonedthe
“senior-most” UK diplomat to
protest against vandalism at its KISHIDA CONDEMNS RUSSIA

the legal team and the genuine-
ness of my client’s case, his RCN
has been cancelled, and ulti-
mately truth has prevailed.” The
get Choksi back, and
could be used by his de-
fence during extradition
proceedings pending in
Pakistan or Nepal, the Punjab
Police invoked the stringent
National Security Act (NSA)
against five of his arrested aides,
Briefing reporters, IG
(Headquarters)SukhchainSingh
Gill said the NSA had been im-
posed on Daljit Kalsi, Bhagwant
JapanPM:India
High Commission in London by
a group of people chanting pro-
Khalistan slogans, New Delhi
lodged a strong protest with the

CBI, which is probing the case,
declined comment.
Sources said the RCN was re-
moved following a petition by
Antigua. He can now
move freely across the
world, barring India.
India can petition the
including his uncle who was
held early on Monday.
The state government,
meanwhile, extended the sus-
Singh alias Pardhanmantri
Bajeke,BasantSinghDaulatpura,
Gurmeet SinghBukkanwalaand
Harjit Singh who is Amritpal’s
indispensablefor
US administration over another
incident of vandalism at its
Consulate in San Francisco.
At a meeting with the US

freeIndo-Pacific
STRIKE OVER OPS Choksi to Interpol. In 2021, Interpol again or get a pension of mobile internet serv- uncle. The five are currently Charge d’Affaires in New Delhi,
Choksi had alleged anabduction fresh notice issued in a ices for another 24 hours till lodged in a jail in Assam’s theUSadministrationwasasked
CALLED OFF IN STATE bid by men he claimed were separate case. Tuesday noon to “maintain pub- Dibrugarh. to take appropriate measures to
PAGE 8 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 lic order”. The police also with- CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

India, Japan PMs hold talks: Our ties

Cricket bookie wanted in
Amruta Fadnavis extortion
case nabbed in Godhra
SAGAR RAJPUT &
RASHI MISHRA
MUMBAI, AHMEDABAD,
MARCH 20
WANTED CRICKET bookie Anil
Jaisinghani, who was named as
anaccusedinacaserelatedtoal-
leged extortion of Maharashtra
Deputy Chief MinisterDevendra
Fadnavis'swifeAmrutaFadnavis,
was arrested in Godhra, Gujarat,
police said on Monday.
Jaisinghani was nabbed by
Gujarat Police, which was work-
ing in coordination with
Mumbai Police's Crime Branch,
late Sunday night when the car
in which he was travelling was
stopped at a toll booth on
Godhra border.
“He was caught around 11.30
pm on Sunday, and we handed
him over to the Mumbai Crime
Branch Monday morning,” said
sub-inspector R R Gohil of
Vejalpur police station in
Panchmahal district.
He will be produced before a
Anil Jaisinghani was nabbed
late Sunday night. Ganesh
Shirsekar
Mumbai court on Tuesday.
On March 16, the day The
Indian Express published a re-
port about Amruta lodging an
FIR at Malabar Hill police station
alleging threat, conspiracy and a
Rs1crorebribebid,Jaisinghani's
daughter Aniksha was arrested
from Ulhasnagar.
An influential cricket bookie
and history-sheeter, with more
than 17 cases against him in five
states, Jaisinghani had been on
the run for over seven years.
According to the FIR lodged
CONTINUEDONPAGE4
Garbage loader by night, scholar by day: His
journey from Mumbai chawl to UK for PhD
PALLAVI SMART
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
THE MOTOR Loader Chowki at
Bandra — a dark, grimy room
with rusty lockers, a framed
B&W photograph of B R
Ambedkarandplasterpeelingoff
its pink walls — was where
MayurHeliareportedforworkat
10 every night. Here, he would
mark his attendance, before set-
tingoff withhiscolleaguesinone
of thedesignatedgarbagetrucks.
It’s a routine that Helia fol-
lowed for the last 12 years as he
worked as a motor loader (the
men who tip garbage into vans)
with the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Starting next month, Helia, 30,
will step into a completely dif-
ferent routine as he heads to
UK’s Lancaster University to
pursue a fully-funded PhD,
working on a project titled
‘(Hazardous) Sanitation Labour:
Historic Legacies and Shifting
Realities’. Last month, he re-
Mayur Helia at the BMC’s ‘Loader Chowki’ in Bandra, from signed from the BMC.
where garbage vans are sent out. Amit Chakravarty CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
THE WORLD
XI ARRIVES IN
MOSCOW, HIS FIRST
VISIT SINCE UKRAINE
INVASION
THAILAND DISSOLVES
PARLIAMENT AHEAD
OF ELECTIONS IN MAY
PAGE 16
crucial for stable region, says Modi
SHUBHAJIT ROY
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
AMIDINCREASINGconcernover
China’s aggressive behaviour in
the region, Japan Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida on Monday em-
phasised that India is “indispen-
sable” in Tokyo’s plan for a “Free
and Open Indo-Pacific”.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi,too,underlinedtheimpor-
tanceof theIndia-Japanpartner-
ship for a stable Indo-Pacific.
Following his meeting with his
Japanese counterpart, Modi said
the India-Japan Special Strategic
and Global Partnership is based
on shared democratic values,
and respect for the rule of law in
the international arena.
“Strengthening this partnership
is not only important for both
our countries, it also promotes
peace, prosperity and stability in
the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
“As the world is standing at
history’s turning point fraught
with difficulties, what role
should Japan and India play,”
said the visiting Japan PM.
While both leaders did not
mention the Russian invasion of
Ukraine in their public state-
ments,officialssaidtheissuefig-
ured prominently during the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

CJI: Sealed
cover practice
must end, goes
against process
of fair justice
ANANTHAKRISHNAN G
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20

STATING THAT the sealed cover

proceduremuststopasitis“fun-
damentally contrary to the basic
process of fair justice”, Chief
Justice of India D Y Chadrachud
on Monday reiterated his stand
on the issue, saying he was “per-
sonally averse” to it.
The bench, also comprising
Justices P S Narasimha and J B
Pardiwala, was hearing the
Indian Ex-Servicemen
Movement’s(IESM)pleaonpay-
ment of One Rank One Pension
(OROP) arrears. The court set a
timescheduleforpaymentof ar-
rears to the pensioners, cate-
gorised under several heads.
At the last hearing, the court
had asked the government to
submit a note on what has been
done, what remains to be done,
thetimeschedule,andtheshort-
est possible time in which the
pensioners can be paid their
dues. Attorney General of India
R Venkataramani produced the
note in a sealed cover on
Monday, saying “it is confiden-
tial”.
But the bench did not agree.
Asking why it can’t be shared
with the counsel representing
thepensioners,theCJIsaid:“Iam
personally averse to sealed cov-
ers. What happens is, we see
something he does not see. And
we decide the case without
showing it to him. This is funda-
mentally contrary to the judicial
process.Therecannotbesecrecy
in the Court. The Court has to be
transparent.”
He said secrecy is under-
standable if it concerns acase di-
ary to which an accused is not
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
 4 EXPRESS NETWORK
FROM PAGE ONE
● Search underway for Amritpal
“In every city, Punjab police
and paramilitary forces are
jointly conducting flag marches.
Peacecommitteemeetingshave
been conducted in all cities and
all districts... There is complete
peace in the state. The situation
is totally stable, there is no law
and order problem,” IG Gill said.
Reiterating that Amritpal
was still at large, the IG said the
“police is clear that he has not
been arrested so far and all ef-
forts are on in the entire state to
arrest him”. Gill said the police
will invoke NSA “on the basis of
facts”againstAmritpaltoo“once
he is arrested”.
Under the NSA, the IG said,
there was no need to produce
the detainees before a magis-
trate. “Broadly, a report has to be
submitted to an advisory board
which, after being satisfied by
the evidence, can extend the de-
tention under NSA for three
monthsoveramaximumperiod
of one year,” he said.
According to Gill, “the cir-
cumstances and activities (of
Amritpal and his aides) suggest
that (Pakistani agency) ISI is in-
volvedinthis,andtheywereget-
ting funding from abroad”. He
said Amritpal had raised an out-
fit called Anandpur Khalsa Fauj
(AKF), the markings of which
were found on bulletproof vests
and rifles carried by his associ-
ates and at the gate of his house.
The Union Home Ministry,
meanwhile, has asked the
Border Security Force (BSF) and
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to re-
main alert. An officer said the
message has been sent to all
units of BSF and SSB, along with
two pictures of Amritpal -- with
and without his turban.
“There is a possibility that he
may try to cross the India-Nepal
borderorInternationalBorderin
Punjab. They have been asked to
be alert and sensitise all person-
nel deployed in border posts,”
the officer said. All airports and
seaports have also been alerted.
At the media briefing, IG Gill
saidasmanyas114peoplelinked
‘(Aaftab) will hunt me down,
will try to kill me’: Shraddha
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
THE PROSECUTION played au-
dio clips of Shraddha Walkar, the
27-year-old woman who was al-
legedly killed by her live-in-
partner Aaftab Poonawala, be-
fore a Delhi court Monday in
which she can be heard saying,
"He will hunt me down, he will
try to kill me”.
Special Public Prosecutor
Amit Prasad, who appeared on
behalf of the State, played
Walkar's audio clips before the
court of Additional Sessions
Judge Manisha Khurana
Kakkar at Saket district court
as he argued that the couple's
live-in relationship “had a vio-
lent past”.
According to police, Aaftab
killed Shraddha after a fight
● Cricket bookie wanted in Amruta Fadnavis extortion case nabbed in Godhra
at Malabar Hill police station on
February 20, Jaisinghani and his
daughter were allegedly trying
to blackmail Amruta by threat-
ening to make public audio and
video clips that would have
made it appear that the latter
was accepting favours from her.
According to the complaint,
Aniksha had befriended Amruta
over the past few years and
gainedhertrust.However,when
she asked Amruta to help get rid
of cases against her father, the
latterblocked her,thecomplaint
said.Afewdayslater,Anikshaal-
legedly sent audio and video
recordings to Amruta to black-
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to Waris Punjab De have been
rounded up in six cases regis-
tered between February 16 to
March19.These,hesaid,include
theFIRregisteredonFebruary24
in connection with the attack on
the Ajnala police station.
The cases, the IG said, per-
tained to offences such as
spreading disharmony, attempt
to murder, attack on police per-
sonnel, and interfering and ob-
structing public servants from
discharge of duties, among oth-
ers, apart from sections under
the Arms Act.
On foreign funding, the IG
saidtheaccusedreceivedmoney
through “hawala in small
amounts” from various sources,
whichcollectivelybecamea“big
amount”.
He said the police have also
takenpossessionof fourvehicles
-- a Mercedes, two Ford
Endeavour SUVs and an Isuzu.
The owner of the Isuzu, identi-
fied as Manpreet Singh, was
among those rounded up, Gill
said. The IG said police were in-
vestigating the source of money
used for purchasing the vehicles
as their owners “did not have re-
sources to afford” them.
AccordingtotheIG,thepolice
alsorecoverednineriflesandare-
volver alongwith 430 cartridges.
Asked why the police acted
against Amritpal only on March
18, more than three weeks after
the attack on the police station,
IG Gill said, “Evidence collection,
planning takes time... (a) holistic
picture has to be seen, all facts
have to be seen, the police have
to satisfy themselves plus it is
alsotobeseenwhatcouldbethe
implications, and only then ac-
tion is taken.”
Asked about the suspension
of Twitteraccounts,Gilldeclined
tocommentsayingitwaspart of
a “holistic” approach and that he
did not have the details. “I would
request the citizens of Punjab
not to pay attention to any kind
of fakenewsorrumoursbecause
manypeoplearetryingtospread
(them),” he said.
broke out between them on
May 18 last year over her al-
legedly meeting a man she got
to know on a dating app. Police
investigation relied on audio
recordings of an online coun-
selling app in which Aaftab and
Shraddha had taken two ses-
sions with psychologists in
August, 2021.
In one such session,
Shraddha tells the psychologist
that whenever they have argu-
ments, “Aaftab does not engage
in vocal arguments but begins
to beat her”.
“Not only physical violence
but it leads Aaftab to almost
killing me. This is not the first
time he tried to kill me… I beg,
when you are hitting me to at
least not hit, to talk it out. It has
been two years since I have been
telling you to talk it out," Walkar
purportedly says.
mail her. Following this, Amruta
approached the police.
While Aniksha was arrested
last week, the police had been
conducting searches to nab
Jaisinghani. According to the
Mumbai Police, five teams were
formed as part of “operation AJ”
to trace Jaisinghani and the
search narrowed down to the
Godhra border.
“We were on his trail for the
past three days but would miss
him by a few minutes.
Eventually,lastnightwearrested
him from the border of Godhra
district. The team got him back
to Mumbai Monday morning
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
ENTERTAINMENT
Japan PM: India indispensable for free Indo-Pacific
working lunch after the bilateral
meeting. Briefing reporters,
Japan’s Cabinet Secretary for
Public Affairs Noriyuki Shikata
said: “Kishida was straightfor-
ward…theyshouldnotcondone
any unilateral change of status
quo, including in Asia.”
Later, in a speech to unveil
Japan’s new plan for a “Free and
Open Indo-Pacific”, Kishida said
the two countries are “in an ex-
tremely unique position in the
current international relations”
and have a great responsibility
towards maintaining and
strengthening “a free and open
international order based on the
rule of law”.
In an oblique reference to
China’s zero-Covid policy, he
said: “Even during the Covid-19
pandemic, there were no voices
at all in either Japan or India that
said that a totalitarian system of
governance would be better.”
“IbelievethatJapanandIndia
are in an extremely unique posi-
tion in the current international
relationsand,furthermore,inthe
history of the world... I have al-
ways viewed with great respect
the way such a huge and diverse
country as India has developed
democracy. Japan, for its part,
was the first country in Asia to
achieve modernisation and em-
brace democracy. It is fair to say
that both countries are naturally
receptiveto,andfullycommitted
to, the idea of electing govern-
mentsthroughgeneralelections
and deciding policies through
public debate,” Kishida said.
Atthesametime,hesaid,the
two countries have unique his-
toricalbackgrounds.“Thepeople
of the two countries humbly ac-
knowledgethattherearediverse
values, cultures and histories on
this planet, and that fully under-
standingthemisnotaneasytask.
We are the kind of people who
understand intuitively that the
bestwayforwardistorespectthe
other party and cooperate
through dialogue,” he said.
Emphasising that India and
● Garbage loader's journey from Mumbai chawl to UK for PhD
Helia was 18 when his father,
who too worked with the BMC’s
sanitationdepartmentasamotor
loader,diedofaprolongedillness,
thrusting onto the eldest of three
siblings responsibilities far be-
yond what he had imagined for
himself.
In 2010, when he was offered
hisfather’sjoboncompassionate
grounds,Heliadidn’tthinkhisoc-
cupation would take him far be-
yond Room No. 5 in Borivali
West’s Padmabai Chawl, where
helivedwithhismother,younger
brotherandsister.Afterafailedat-
tempt at his Class 12 Boards, he
couldn’thavegivenhimselfmuch
of a chance anyway. But his first
day at work would prove to be a
“turning point”.
“Itwasahorriblestart.Ihadto
pick up garbage from an area
where there are several chicken
and mutton shops. Since I was
new to the job, I wasn’t skilled in
the way the bin had to be picked
upandtipped.Soinnotime,Ihad
and handed him over to the
Malabar Hill police station,” a
Mumbai police officer said.
Addressing reporters in
Mumbai, DeputyCommissioner
of Police Balsingh Rajput said
Jaisinghanihadbeenusinghigh-
tech devices to hide his location
and evade arrest. Soon after the
police started looking for him,
they found that he was in Shirdi
on March 13, the officer said.
“We initially went to Shirdi,
where we learnt that he had es-
capedfrom there.Welearntthat
he was heading towards Bardoli,
and from there, he went to
Surat,” said Rajput.
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“Indiancustomersareveryquicktoadoptnewtechnologyandtheyseemoreopportunitieswiththe
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MXBusiness
NAATU NAATU SINGER
ON MEETING RIHANNA
Rahul Sipligunj says
‘She came forward,
appreciated us…’
Japan have a great responsibility
towards maintaining and
strengthening “a free and open
international order based on the
rule of law”, he said: “This year,
asJapanholdstheG7presidency
and India holds the G20 presi-
dency, my hope is that, through
working together with ASEAN
and many other countries, we
will bring about peace and pros-
perity to the international com-
munity, which faces a time of
challenges.Thevisionforachiev-
ing this is a ‘Free and Open Indo-
Pacific’ (FOIP) based on the rule
of law. I believe that this region
will be a place where freedom
and the rule of law are valued,
free from force or coercion.”
Modi, in his statement,
echoedKishida.“Ourmeetingto-
day is special for another reason
as well. This year, India is chair-
ingtheG20,andJapanischairing
the G7. And therefore, this is the
perfect opportunity to work to-
gether on our respective priori-
ties and interests. Today, I ex-
plained in detail to Prime
MinisterKishidaabouttheprior-
ities of India’s G20 presidency.
Giving voice to the priorities of
theGlobalSouthis animportant
pillar of our G20 presidency. We
havetakenthisinitiativebecause
we are a culture that believes in
‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (the
world is one family), and in tak-
ing everyone along,” he said.
Kishida, in his speech later,
pointedtothedivergencesonthe
Russia-Ukraine war. “One char-
acteristic of this turning point is
the lack of a guiding perspective
that is acceptable to all about
what the international order
should be. This was clearly
demonstrated by the consider-
able discrepancies in the atti-
tudesacrossvariouscountriesto-
wardRussia’saggressionagainst
Ukraine. I think this is an indica-
tion that a strong centrifugal
forceisworkingwithintheinter-
nationalcommunityatthemost
basic level of a ‘perspective’,” he
said.
blood and animal waste all over
myclothes.Iknewrightthenthat
this is definitely not what I want
todowithmylife,”saysHelia,who
reappearedforhisClass12exams
in 2012 and cleared them.
Helia then enrolled at
Mumbai’s Wilson College for an
undergraduatedegreeinPolitical
Science. Passionate about boxing
and after having won a few tro-
phies in school, including one at
the state level, Helia was thrilled
to make it to Wilson College,
among the few colleges to have a
boxing ring.
“After my night shift from 10
pm to 5 am, I would eat samosa
withsambarfromoneofthestalls
and attend morning lectures at
Wilson College. After classes got
over around noon, I would go
home for lunch and catch up on
mysleep.Then,Iwouldbebackin
college for the evening boxing
practice, eat 4-5 boiled eggs out-
side Bandra railway station, and
then head to the Loader Chowki
Elaboratingfurther,aninves-
tigator said from Surat,
Jaisinghani went to Baruch and
then Vadodara. “He knew how
tododgethepolice,duetowhich
he managed to evade arrest for
the past eight years. In the last
three to four days, we were in
touch with Gujarat police and
we missed catching him by a
couple of minutes at three loca-
tions,” said a senior IPS officer.
Thepolicehadsoughttechni-
cal help to trace Jaisinghani. “We
would go to his last known loca-
tion using technical help after
whichwewouldshowhispicture
to those who had seen him. We
PUZZLES AND GAMES
“IreiteratethatJapanstrongly
condemns Russia’s aggression
against Ukraine and will never
recognise it. Prime Minister
Modi,too,expressedtoPresident
Putin that ‘today’s era is not of
war’. Japan opposes any unilat-
eral changes to the status quo by
forceanywhereintheworld,”he
said. Modi, however, did not
mention Russia in his public re-
marks.
Stressing that the “principles
for peace and rules for prosper-
ity” form the backbone of FOIP,
Kishida said: “The people who
suffer the most from the erosion
of the rule of law in the interna-
tionalcommunityarevulnerable
countriesandpeopleinvulnera-
ble environments. My question
is this: Can we not collectively
reaffirm and promote the mini-
mumbasicprinciplesthatthein-
ternational community should
uphold?Andbydoingso,canwe
not build the ‘peace’ of the inter-
national community, which can
easilycollapseif notattendedto?
These principles include respect
forsovereigntyandterritorialin-
tegrity and opposition to unilat-
eral changes to the status quo by
force.Theseprinciplespointedto
in the UN Charter should be ad-
hered to in every corner of the
world.”
Earlier, Modi said they re-
viewed the progress made in bi-
lateral relations. “We exchanged
viewsondefenceequipmentand
technology collaboration, trade,
health and digital partnership.
We also had a fruitful discussion
on the importance of reliable
supply chains in semiconductor
and other critical technologies.
Last year, we had set a target of
Japanese investment of 5 trillion
yeninIndiainthenextfiveyears,
that is, Rs 3,20,000 crore. It is a
matter of satisfaction that there
hasbeengoodprogressinthisdi-
rection,” he said.
Kishida said he had invited
Modi for the G7 summit in
Hiroshima in May, and the invi-
tation was “immediately ac-
forduty,”hesays,addinghecould-
n’t afford to choose between his
jobandcollege.“IknewIhadtodo
both.”
ItwasatWilsonthatHeliafirst
heard about the Tata Institute of
Social Sciences -- "from a class-
mate who was preparing for the
TISSentranceexam".Hesaysthat
by then he had resolved to find a
paththatwouldhelphimleadhis
life with “dignity”.
HeliasoonenrolledatTISSfor
a a Master of Arts in Social Work
in Dalit and Tribal Studies.
WhileatTISS,hesays,hisBMC
colleagues,thegarbagetruckdriv-
ers,woulddrophimoffattheTISS
campus every morning around
5.30am.“Iwouldtryandgetsome
sleepatafriend’shostelroomand
wake up in time to get ready for
classes. I hardly went home be-
cause I didn’t want to waste time
travelling,” says Helia.
After completing his Master’s
in 2017, Helia went on to pursue
his M.Phil from TISS.
came to know that his looks had
changed,sowepreparedsketches
accordingly and passed it on to
our counterparts in Gujarat.”
The Mumbai Crime Branch
officers also requested Gujarat
Police to set up checkpoints at
multiple locations. “We sus-
pectedthatJaisinghaniwashead-
ingtowardsRajasthan,soaccord-
ingly,morecheckpointswereput
in place. Around 11.45 pm on
Sunday, he was caught at Khadki
toll booth on Godhra border by
Gujarat Police,” said an officer.
The Mumbai Crime Branch,
who were trailing Jaisinghani,
reached the spot within 10 min-
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
ENJOY DAILY
CROSSWORDS AND
SUDOKU FROM THE
INDIAN EXPRESS
cepted”.“Iamlookingforwardto
welcomingPrimeMinisterModi
toHiroshimainMayandvisiting
India again in September,” he
said.Healsowelcomedthe“con-
crete progress” in security coop-
eration.
On economic cooperation,
Modi said the India-Japan
Industrial Competitiveness
Partnership was set up in 2019.
“Underthis,weareincreasingthe
competitivenessof Indianindus-
tryinareassuchaslogistics,food
processing, MSME, textiles, ma-
chinery and steel,” he said.
“We are also progressing fast
on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad
High Speed Rail. I am also happy
that we are celebrating 2023 as
the year of tourism exchange.
And for this we have chosen the
theme ‘Connecting Himalayas
with Mount Fuji’,” Modi said.
A Japanese Embassy state-
ment said the two leaders wel-
comed the signing of a 300-bil-
lion-yenloanfortheconstruction
of the high-speed rail project.
They also confirmed that they
would continue cooperation on
the development of India’s
Northeast, through the Japan-
India Act East Forum.
“PM Kishida noted the
steady progress made in the
construction of facilities at the
Indian Institute of Technology,
Hyderabad, through Japanese
ODA loan and expressed hope
that this will lead to further bi-
lateral exchanges of teachers
and students, as well as oppor-
tunities of IT-related Indian tal-
ents to work at Japanese com-
panies. The two leaders also
concurred to consider increas-
ing the number of Indian stu-
dents studying in Japan, and to
promote tourism exchanges by
designating the year 2023 as the
Japan-India tourism exchange
year,” it said.
Kishida arrived on Monday
morning, paid tribute at Rajghat
and held bilateral talks with
Modi. He will leave on Tuesday
morning.
Dr. Shaileshkumar Darokar,
AssociateProfessoratTISS,under
whose guidance Mayur com-
pleted his M.Phil, told The Indian
Express, “Mayur Helia’s back-
groundandhisrisefromasanita-
tion worker to exploring a com-
pletely different career path... his
journeyisinspiring.Whilehisde-
termination is definitely worthy
ofappreciation,hisrisewillinspire
manyothersfromhiscommunity,
who will now dare to aspire to
come out of their trapped struc-
tural reality.”
As her son prepares to fly out
of home early next month,
Helia’s mother Shanta Helia, 55,
says, "I only studied till Class 7.
ButIalwaysinsistedongooded-
ucation for my children because
that is the only way to a better
life. I remember the time when
my family was against my deci-
sion to enrol my children in
English-mediumschools.Today,
theyareproudtoassociatethem-
selves with us."
utes and took over his custody.
“His relative and the driver
whohelpedhiminevadingthear-
rest have been detained and
handed over to Malabar Hill po-
lice for further questioning,” said
DCP Rajput. Late on Monday, the
relative, identified as Nirmal
Jaisinghani,wasplacedunderar-
rest.Inapressrelease,sub-inspec-
torGohilofVejalpurpolicestation
said Anil Jaisinghani was wanted
in “cases of attempt to murder,
criminal conspiracy, extortion,
possession of illegal weapons,
bodyoffences,forgingsignatures,
and various crimes under other
special Acts” since 1985.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Changing definition of
modern work, workplace
Nandagopal Rajan speaks to Bhaskar Basu,
Country Head - Modern Work, Microsoft
India about the philosophy of work, how
work is no longer a place but an experience,
and how definitions, products and
experiences of modern work and work-
place are going through significant shifts
●CBI suffers setback as Interpol
withdraws notice against Choksi
Indian agents who took him
from the Caribbean nation of
Antigua and Barbuda, where he
was staying, to Dominica.
According to sources, the
Interpol order stated there was
“credible possibility that the ap-
plicant’s abduction from Antigua
toDominicahadtheultimatepur-
poseofdeportingtheapplicantto
India” where there was a “risk”
that he would not get a fair trial.
Choksi had fled India in
January2018,daysbeforetheCBI
registeredacaseagainsthimand
his nephew Nirav Modi in the
PNB case. He had by then ac-
quired citizenship of Antigua
and Barbuda.
According to Choksi’s family
and lawyers, he was kidnapped
on May 23, 2021, through a
Hungarian woman identified by
themasBabaraJarabicandtaken
in a yacht to Dominica by two
men named Gurmit Singh and
Gurjeet Bhandal.
● Sealed cover must end: CJI
entitled, or something which af-
fects the source of information,
or somebody’s life. But what can
be so secretive about paying
pension, he asked.
“We need to put an end to
this sealed cover procedure
which is being followed in the
SupremeCourtbecausethenthe
High Courts will also start fol-
lowing. And this is fundamen-
tally contrary to the basic
process of fair justice,” the CJI
said.
The AG then went on to read
thenotethatcitedbudgetarycon-
straints in paying the arrears in a
single installment. The note
pointed out that the budgetary
outlay for the Union Defence
Ministryfor2022-23wasRs5.85
lakh crore, of which Rs 1.32 lakh
crore was the planned expendi-
tureforpension.Ofthis,Rs1.2lakh
crore was disbursed till February
2023 for 2022-23, it said, adding
that OROP arrears amounting to
about Rs 28,000 crore was an ad-
ditional component.
The matter was taken up
withtheFinanceMinistrywhich
said it would be difficult to pro-
vide the funds in a single install-
ment and favoured staggered
payment, the AG said, adding,
“you can’t pay attention to only
one sector of paying pensions. It
is about the economy. These are
matters of fiscal policy...”
Following the government’s
submission, the court provided
a time schedule for payment of
arrears to the ex-service person-
● Vandalism in San Francisco
prevent such incidents, the
Ministry of External Affairs
(MEA) said.
“The US government was
reminded of its basic obligation
to protect and secure diplo-
matic representation. It was
asked to take appropriate
measures to prevent recur-
rence of such incidents,” it said.
“Our Embassy in Washington
D.C. also conveyed our con-
cerns to the US State
Department along similar
lines,” it said.
According to a PTI report, a
group of pro-Khalistan protest-
ers on Sunday attacked and
damaged the Indian Consulate
in San Francisco. Raising pro-
Khalistan slogans, they broke
open the makeshift security
barriers and installed two
“Khalistani flags” inside the
Consulate premises. Two
Consulate personnel soon re-
moved the flags.
Meanwhile, security has
been beefed up around the
Indian High Commission in
London after protesters, chant-
ing pro-Khalistan slogans, took
down the Indian flag on
Sunday. One person has been
detained in this connection.
In New Delhi, Foreign
Choksi's lawyers alleged that
he was threatened on the way to
Dominica and asked to sign a
consent form to be repatriated
to India.
Choksi was subsequently ar-
rested inDominicaoncharges of
illegal entry. His lawyers, mean-
while, alleged that a private jet
carrying Indian officials had ar-
rived in that country.
However, Choksi was able to
return to Antigua after the case
of illegal entry was committed
to a Dominican court. In 2022,
the charge was dropped.
While India's position is that
Choksi is an Indian citizen, his
lawyershavemaintainedthathe
ceased to be one when he took
Antiguan citizenship in 2017.
InDecemberlastyear,theCBI
booked Choksi in a fresh case of
loan fraud. In the new case, he
has been accused of defrauding
and diverting loan funds to the
tune of over Rs 6,700 crore.
nel. It directed that the payment
of OROP dues to family pension-
ers and gallantry award winners
shall be made in a single install-
ment on or before April 30 this
year.
It said the arrears due to pen-
sionerswhohavecompletedthe
age of 70 years or above shall be
paid in a single installment or
more, by June 30 this year. The
arrears for the remaining pen-
sioners shall be paid in three
equalinstallments–onorbefore
August 31, 2023, November 30,
2023, and February 28, 2024.
The CJI has spoken on similar
lines on sealed cover submis-
sions in the past too. Last month,
while heading a three-judge
bench hearing a clutch of peti-
tions on the Hindenburg
Research report and its after-
math, he told Solicitor General
Tushar Mehta -- who sought to
submit the Centre’s names for a
committee of experts in a sealed
cover -- that the court wanted to
maintain “full transparency”.
“We would rather not accept
the sealed cover suggestions
from you for this reason; in con-
stituting a committee which we
want to do, we want to maintain
full transparency. The moment
we accept a set of suggestions
from you in a sealed cover, it
means the other side is not see-
ingthem.Evenif wedon’taccept
your suggestions, they will not
know which of yoursuggestions
we have accepted and which we
have not,” he said.
Secretary Vinay Kwatra said
India has asked the UK to
quickly arrest and prosecute
those involved in pulling down
the Indian flag.
UK’s Foreign Office minister
Lord Tariq Ahmad said he was
“appalled”. “This is a com-
pletely unacceptable action
against the integrity of the
Mission and its staff. The UK
government will always take
the security of the Indian High
Commission seriously,” he said.
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan
condemned “the violent disor-
der and vandalism that took
place”. “There is no place in our
city for this kind of behaviour,”
he tweeted.
Scotland Yard said a man
was arrested as its investigation
continues. “Windows were
broken at the High Commission
building,” the Metropolitan
Police statement said. “Officers
attended the location. The ma-
jority of those present had dis-
persed prior to the arrival of po-
lice. An investigation was
launched, and one male was ar-
rested nearby a short time later
on suspicion of violent disor-
der. Enquiries continue,” it said.
(With PTI inputs from
LONDON)
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

5 THE CITY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023

MISSING MBBS STUDENT COASTAL ROAD

DNA sample found on float tube does Storm water drain work to affect
traffic movement on Marine Drive
not belong to Sadichcha Sane: Police the role of Singh in the murder. missing, the Bandra police had
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20

MOHAMED THAVER
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
IN A setback to Mumbai Police's
probe into the alleged murder of
MBBS student Sadichcha Sane,
results of the DNA test of the
blood samples found on a float
tube, which the police suspect
was used by accused lifeguard
Mittu Singh to dispose her body
in the sea, has not matched the
samples taken from Sane's par-
ents. While the report from the
Forensic Science Laboratory
(FSL) has confirmed the blood
splotch found on the tube be-
longed to a woman, it did not
matchtheDNAof Sane'sparents,
thereby ruling out that the sam-
ples belonged to her.
Singh allegedly murdered
Sane on November 29, 2021 and
disposed her body in the sea us-
ing the float tube. Sane's body
has not been found yet. "We re-
ceived the report from the FSL.
The blood samples found on the
floattubedidnotmatchtheDNA
samples taken from her parents.
Although the blood samples are
of a woman, they do not belong
to Sane," a source said.
The police were banking on
Sadichcha
Sane was
last seen
with Mittu
Singh. File
the DNA test to link Singh to the
case. The police, however, said
that they still have other evi-
dence which they believe will
be enough to prove their case
against Singh, who was ar-
rested by the Mumbai Crime
Branch on January 13.
"We have other evidence
whichwillbeenoughtoestablish
Westillhaveamonth'stimetofile
thechargesheetandwewillpro-
ducestrongevidenceinthecase,"
a senior police officer said.
The police are mainly relying
onthe“lastseentheory”asSingh
was the last person with whom
Sane was seen at Bandra
Bandstand the night she went
missing on November 29, 2021.
ThepolicefurthersaidthatSingh
was seen taking the float to the
spot where he was sitting with
Sane.
As per the police, Singh and
Sane got into a scuffle following
which he may have pushed her
on the rocks at Bandstand that
led to her death. He then al-
legedly disposed of the body
mid-seabytakingitinsideonthe
floatwhichhewasseencarrying
to the spot, the police suspect.
Soon after Sane had gone
conducted an investigation fol-
lowing which the matter was
transferred to the Crime Branch.
Foroverayear,theCrimeBranch
probedthematterandevencon-
ducted a lie detector test on
Singh, in which they did not find
anything suspicious. On January
13 this year, the Crime Branch,
however, arrested Singh along
with another person in connec-
tion with the case after register-
ing a murder case. Singh is cur-
rently behind bars.
Sane had on November 29,
2021 boarded a train at 9.58 am
at Virar station and got off at
Andheri as she was to appear for
theprelimsinJJHospitalat2pm.
She boarded another train and
alighted at Bandra from where
she took an auto to Bandstand
where she spent the entire day
before she went missing.
VEHICULAR MOVEMENT on
Marine Drive will be affected for
five months, as the
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) will begin
constructingastormwaterdrain
network as part of the Mumbai
Coastal Road Project (MCRP).
Confirmingthedevelopment,
civic body officials said the drain Officials said 72 per cent work on the Coastal Road has been
is being built as part of the final completed. File
phase of MCRP and will take ap-
proximatelyfivemonthstocom-
plete.Officialssaidthisoutfallwill traffic congestion at certain Meanwhile, BMC officials
collect and discharge accumu- points," said the circular. have said that 72% of the coastal
latedrainwaterduringmonsoon. "All vehicle users are there- road works have been com-
“The construction will be taken fore advised to avoid bringing pleted. They also maintained
up on the north-bound arm of their vehicles south bound at that the project's deadline has
MarineDrive.Therefore,vehicles Marine Drive. If required or in been pushed to May 2024, from
moving north will be routed caseof urgency,motoristsarere- November2023,consideringthe
viathesouth-boundarm,andve- quested to take alternate routes redesigning that will be imple-
hicles approaching the south as proposed," thecircular stated. mented for benefitting the fish-
willbedivertedviaaserviceroad Traffic police have advised erfolk.
that runs parallel to Islam Mumbai residents travelling The officials also said that
Gymkhana,” said an official. southward to take Maharshi boring work for the under-
Meanwhile, the Mumbai's Karve road which will include groundtunnelwasshutforafew
traffic department has issued an traffic movement through months since December last

Accused had consumed alcohol a few hours

advisory warning of possible Kemps Corner, Nana Chowk, year, as amachinery component
traffic congestion. Opera House, Saifee Hospital, for a tunnel boring machines
"Slow movement of traffic Churchgate station and further malfunctionedandhadtobeim-
cannot be ruled out, along with southward. ported from Europe.

before accident that left CEO dead: Police

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20

A DAY after a 58-year-old CEO Rajalakshmi

was killed by a speeding vehicle
while on her morning run near
the Worli Seaface, the Worli po-
lice, which is investigating the
case, said that the person ar-
restedinthecasehadconsumed
alcohol at a house party a few
hours before the incident. The
police said that they are also
probing if Sumer Merchant, 23,
had dozed off while driving
when the accident took place
around 6.30am.
Merchant was produced be-
fore a court on Monday and re-
manded to police custody for
two days.
The deceased, Rajalakshmi
Ramkrishnan, was a Dadar resi-
Ramkrishnan
drop his two friends in Dadar
during which he allegedly lost
control on the vehicle which hit
a divider near the Worli Parsi
dairy before crashing into
Rajalakshmifrombehind.”Afew
bystandersrushedRamkrishnan
to Poddar Hospital while others
overpowered Merchant, who
hadalsosustainedinjuriesinthe
accident. Locals then called the
Worli police and handed the 23-
year-old over to them. Sumer Merchant was produced in court on Monday. Ganesh Shirsekar
At the police station, an FIR
was registered under section
304 (culpable homicide not

GOKHALE INSTITUTE OF POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

dent and Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of Altruist Technologies
Private Limited. She was an avid
runner and had recently com-
pleted the Tata Mumbai
Marathon.
A senior police officer over-
seeingtheprobesaid,“Whilewe
are still awaiting the final med-
ical reports, statements of
Merchant'sfriendsrevealthathe
had organised a party at his
house in Tardeo. The party went
on till 2am and his friends, who
were present there, have con-
firmed in their statements to us
that Merchant consumed alco-
hol at the party.”
Theofficerfurthersaid,“After
the party, Merchant decided to
Aaditya raises issue of road safety
following CEO’s death in accident
Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA
Aaditya Thackeray on Monday
raised the issue of road safety in
the Assembly, a day after a 58-
year-old CEO of a private com-
pany died after being mowed
down by a speeding car near the
Worli Seaface.
Raising the issue in the state
Legislative Assembly through a
point of information, the legisla-
amountingtomurder)of theIPC
and section 184 (driving at a
speed dangerous to the public)
of theMotorVehiclesActagainst (Deemed to be University u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956), PUNE– 411 004
Merchant following which he
was arrested. RECRUITMENT OF FACULTY
Merchant's blood samples The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics is an educational &
werecollectedandsentformed- research Institute established in 1930 under the aegis of Servants of
ical examination to check if he
was driving under the influence
India Society. The Institute is widely recognized in the country as an
of alcohol. A police officer said, advanced centre for the study and research in Economics and allied
“As he (Merchant) had not slept subject fields. The Institute is seeking applications for the following posts.
throughout the night due to the
house party, there is a suspicion Sr. Name of Post Nature No. of Posts Category
that he may have fallen asleep Posts Sanctioned under Government Of Maharashtra
while driving and thus lost con- 1. Professor Regular 1 Open
trol over his four-wheeler. We
2. Associate Professor Regular 4 SC 1, ST 1, Open 2
have requested relevant author-
ities to submit the medical re- 3. Assistant Professor Regular 2 SC 1, ST 1
port at the earliest.” 4. Assistant Librarian Regular 1 Open 1
Post Self Financed by Institute
5. Assistant Professor Contractual
6. Chief Warden (Female) Contractual
3
1
Open 3
Open 1
For further details on eligibility criteria, pay, application form
tor from Worli constituency said etc. visit www.gipe.ac.in. Last date for receipt of
police must improve the mech- applications- May 02, 2023.
anism to fine traffic violators,
adding strict measures must be March 14, 2023 REGISTRAR
taken to reduce the number of
accidents on the road.
Thackeray also raised the is-
sue of accidents due to traffic in-
discipline, including wrong side
driving, in Mumbai and other
cities. ENS

>OBBOP
"5-/"00

6 THE CITY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS,TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
Pre-monsoonrainsdrivecity’sAQIto
‘satisfactory’levels,afirstthisyear
Before this, Mumbai last recorded ‘satisfactory’ AQI on November 29 last year
PRATIP ACHARYA
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
AFTER RECORDING 'poor' and
'very-poor' air quality index
(AQI) consistently for four
months, Mumbai on Monday
saw 'satisfactory' AQI, as the
System of Air Quality and
Weather Forecasting and
Research (SAFAR) dashboard
showed Mumbai's overall AQIto
be 89 on Monday noon, and 92
intheevening,whichisregarded
as 'good' and 'satisfactory'.
Before this, Mumbai last
recorded 'satisfactory' AQI on
November 29 last year, when
the SAFAR readings showed 49.
Experts have attributed this
to the pre-monsoon rains con-
sistent over the past week in the
city. Several parts of Mumbai's
island city and suburban belt
experienced moderate to light
drizzles on Sunday night, along
with several interior parts of
Maharashtra.
While IMD experts said that
the quantity of rainfall didn't
reach the measurable limit, yet
it led to a decline in minimum
RS 1 CR OUTLAY FOR SINGLE-WINDOW STUDENTS HELP-DESK
Mumbai University approves
outlay of Rs 811 cr for 2023-24
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
THE MUMBAI University Senate
meeting on Monday approved
an outlay of Rs 811 crore for the
fiscal 2023-24. Amongst several
initiatives proposed in the
budget, the university will now
have a 'single window – stu-
dents help-desk' aimed at pro-
viding a one-stop solution to all
administrative hurdles faced by
students. A budgetary alloca-
tion of of Rs1 crore has been
made to build digital infrastruc-
ture for digital help desk.
In absence of any elected
members of the Senate, due to
delayed elections, the annual
budget meeting of the Senate at
Mumbai University, with no
questions raised, concluded
within a few hours this year.
Professor Pradeep
2, including Nigerian man, Mumbai family booked in Surat for
arrested for drug trade ‘cheating’ diamond trader of Rs 1.5 cr
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
MUMBAI,MARCH20
THE DIRECTORATE of Revenue
Intelligence laid a trap and ar-
rested a 70-year-old Indian na-
tionalforallegedlytryingtosmug-
gle 9.97 kg of heroin into the
country. Officials said the contra-
band seized from the arrested
person, travelling from Addis
Ababa to Mumbai, is valued at Rs
70 crore.
DRI officials said they had re-
ceived a tip off about the passen-
gertravellingfromAddisAbabato
Mumbai."Thesuspectwasinter-
cepted by the team on March 19
morning.Uponathoroughsearch
of his baggage, 9.97 kg of heroin
was recovered. The contraband
was concealed in his baggage,"
read the DRI press note.
Duringpreliminaryinterroga-
Remarks on RSS: Court dismisses
Javed Akhtar’s revision petition
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 23
A SESSIONS court on Monday
dismissedacriminalrevisionpe-
tition filed by poet-lyricist Javed
Akhtar, challenging the sum-
mons issued against him by a
magistrate court on a complaint
by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) supporter for al-
leged defamatory remarks dur-
ing a TV interview in 2021. The
detailedorderonthegroundsfor
the dismissal is yet to be made
available.
A magistrate court in
December 2022 had issued
summons to Akhtar directing
him to appear before it based on
AIR QUALITY TO WORSEN AGAIN?
Mumbai: Dr Gufran Beig,
senior scientist and project
director of SAFAR, has said
that a recent observation re-
vealed that Mumbai AQI
gets worse in the day.
“AQI is supposed to
worsen during the night,
since pollutants accumulate
in the air at that time. But we
are seeing AQI is moderate
during late night or early
morning, but gets poorer as
the day progresses. This in-
dicates that construction
work and vehicular emis-
sion directly affects AQI. So.
it is evident that with a re-
temperature, with the
Santacruz IMD observatory
recording 22.2 degree Celsius,
while the coastal observatory in
Colaba recorded 24 degrees.
Dr Gufran Beig, senior scien-
tist and project director of SA-
FAR, said that the improved Aqi
was the result of change in
Kamthekar, finance and ac-
counts officer at Mumbai
University said the single-win-
dow system is aimed at provid-
ing all student services at a one
place, digitally and with one
log-in. “This will include all
tasks from admissions, enroll-
ment and applying for a photo-
copy of an answer-sheet or for
re-evaluation, and even seeking
a transcript and migration cer-
tificate. Currently, students have
to individually apply for each of
these tasks at the university
campus. This system will inte-
grate these services with one
unique log-in and offer the con-
venience of completing this
work digitally.”
The university is already in
the process of strengthening its
own digital technology service
provider so that all this will be
possible in-house, he added.
In line with the National
Officials said the
contraband is valued
at Rs 70 crore
tion,DRIofficialssaidthepassen-
ger —Maheshwaran Rajagopal —
revealedthathewastohandover
the bag to a person in a Mumbai
hotel. Accordingly, DRI officials
laidatrapatthehotel,andappre-
hended the Nigerian national
who turned up to take the deliv-
ery.
"Small quantities of cocaine
and heroin were recovered from
the Nigerian's residence," said a
DRI official.
RajagopalandtheNigerianna-
tional, who is a member of an in-
ternationaldrugsyndicatebehind
thesmuggling,hasbeenarrested.
Theywereproducedbeforecourt
and remanded in DRI custody.
Javed Akhtar
the complaint filed by the RSS
supporter. Akhtar had chal-
lenged the summons stating
that proper procedure was not
followed. He had also said in the
revision plea that the com-
plainant had no locus standi and
hadnotplacedanyauthorisation
letter on record to show that he
was empowered by the RSS to
file the defamation complaint.
The revision appeal sought set-
ting aside of the summons and
soughtastayontheproceedings
before the magistrate court.
versal in current weather
pattern, AQI may possibly
deteriorate once again," Beig
said.
Highlighting the effect of
construction, Bhagwan
Kesbhat, founder of city-
based NGO, Waatavaran,
said, “Even if the climate has
become favourable now,
man-made activities like
construction projects are
underway, which affects AQI
continuously. If breeze be-
comes slow again, or condi-
tions become humid, we
may be back to 'poor' AQI.”
ENS
weather pattern. "In the past 24
hours, several pockets of
Mumbai saw rainfall coupled
with strong, gusty winds, which
washed away accumulated dust
that was lingering in the lower
atmosphere, thus, improving air
quality. Currently, the city is en-
joying pleasant, breezy
Education Policy (NEP), several
new initiatives have been
launched by Mumbai
University. The varsity has allo-
cated Rs 2 crore for training and
workshops for NEP implemen-
tation. As NEP emphasises on
research, separate allocations
are made for the research advi-
sory committee (Rs 2.5 crore)
and research development cell
(Rs 1 crore). Other initiatives in
line with NEP include the Indian
Knowledge System, ranking
and branding initiatives, voca-
tional and skill development
initiatives.
Infrastructural development
continues to remain top prior-
ity for varsity's budget with ma-
jor allocations under headings
like new buildings, creating dis-
abled friendly campus, infra-
structure augmentation and
new building of sub-campuses,
and creating a green campus.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
SURAT, MARCH 20
A COUPLE from Mumbai and
their daughter have been
booked in Surat for allegedly
cheating a diamond trader of Rs
1.50crore,promisinghimanim-
ported diamond laser cutting
machine.
As per Katargam police sta-
tion, diamond merchant Suresh
Patel, a resident of Katargam
who runs Siddhi Vinayak Laser
company, lodged a complaint
against Hiren Shah, his wife
Foram and daughter Vishwa,
who are residents of Powai in
Mumbai, on Sunday.
In his complaint, Patel said
that on August 28, 2021, Hiren
went to his firm posing as the
owner of an imported diamond
More than 55 cars — some supercars — take part in Congress protests against
second edition of Modern Classic Rally in Mumbai ‘govt failure’ to deliver
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
OVER55carsproducedbetween
1970 and the early 2000s along
withsomeraresupercarspartic-
ipated in the second edition of
the Modern Classic Rally organ-
ised by Autocar India and pre-
sentedbyVredesteinTyresinas-
sociation with Gulf Oil and
Autoglym.
Therallywasflaggedoff from
the Grand Hyatt Mumbai by
Mumbai BJP president and MLA
AshishShelar,andtheparticipat-
ingcarsweredriveninformation
from BKC to the Worli Seaface
and back.
weather. Mumbai can expect
better AQI over the next 3-4
days," Beig told The Indian
Express on Monday.
Meanwhile, all nine SAFAR
stations in Mumbai have shown
significant improvement in AQI
on Monday. According to the
dashboard, Bhandup showed
58, followed by Colaba with 80
and Andheri with 75. Worli,
Malad and Mazgaon showed
AQI of 70, 76 and 92, followed
by 91 in Borivali.
However, Bandra-Kurla
Complex (BKC) and Chembur
continued at a moderate AQI of
132 and 104.
According to SAFAR, an AQI
between 0-50 is 'good', be-
tween 51-100 is 'satisfactory',
101-200 is 'moderate', 201-300
is 'poor', 301-400 is 'very poor'
and beyond 400 AQI is 'severe'.
Experts said that areas like
BKC and Chembur are record-
ing poor AQI, irrespective of
Mumbai’s overall improved AQI
as they are in close proximity to
industrial units, and also record
higher carbon-footprint from
vehicles.
“Look closely into areas like
FESTIVE AIR
Customers check out ‘gudhis’ ahead of Gudi Padwa, the Marathi New Year, at a market in
Thane on Monday. Deepak Joshi
laser cutting machine company
founded byhis daughter Vishwa
at Valsad.
Hirenandhiswifeconvinced
PateltobuyalasermachineatRs
1.3 crore, excluding their com-
mission amount of Rs 15 lakh. In
December 2021, Patel booked
themachine and transferred the
commission amount of Rs 15
lakh to the bank account of
Hiren.
Later, Patel paid the remain-
ing amount with Rs 95 lakh loan
taken from Tamil Nadu
Mercantile Bank, Surat branch.
Till March 17, 2022, Patel paid a
total of Rs 1.50 crore to Shah for
the imported machine. The cou-
ple had agreed to deliver it to his
firm within 18 weeks.
However, Patel did not get
the machine in the promised
time. Hiren allegedly told him
ration kits to residents
The rally was flagged off from Grand Hyatt Mumbai. Express
Some of the iconic cars that
participated in the rally were
Govandi and Chembur, these
places are surrounded by re-
fineries and industrial units, and
also have a large landfill facility
in the nerve-centre. Meanwhile,
BKC has a huge floating popula-
tion which results in a higher
carbon footprint due to vehicu-
lar emission. These factors lead
to deterioration of AQI, and un-
less the local administration
comes up with a multidimen-
sional approach, the issue will
not be resolved,” said Bhagwan
Kesbhat, founder of city-based
NGO, Waatavaran.
Faiyaz Ahmed Shaikh, a
Govandi resident who has writ-
ten to the state and Union min-
istry several times, has said that
other than primary pollutants
like dust and industrial emis-
sions, gaseous pollutants are
also affecting AQI. “There is a
medical incinerator in Govandi
which emits sulphur dioxide
and nitrogen dioxide round the
clock. Even if rain washes away
dust pollutants, gaseous pollu-
tants are still around, which re-
sults in poor AQI here, even if
the city’s AQI gets better,”
Shaikh said.
that the delivery was affected
due to the ongoing Russia-
Ukraine war and that the ma-
chine was stuck at a port in
Switzerland.
Patel waited for a few more
months. When he called the
couple in December 2022, they
did not take his call. Patel went
to their factory address in Valsad
and found that such a factory
does not exist.
Patel finally approached
Katargam police station on
Sunday and lodged a complaint
against the Shah couple and
their daughter.
Talking to The Indian Express,
Katargam police inspector Y B
Gohil said, “We have lodged a
complaint against the Shah cou-
ple and their daughter. We are
tryingtolocatethemandwillar-
rest them soon.”
Mustang Mach 1, Pontiac
Firebird, Aston Martin DBS,
‘Measures for dust
mitigation to be in
force within 8–15 days’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
TO ALLEVIATE Mumbai's air
quality which is worsening by
theday,theMaharashtragovern-
ment has directed
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation(BMC)toinstallvar-
ious machinery across the city,
such as fogging machines and
watersprinklers,withinthenext
8to15days,Maharashtraminis-
ter Deepak Kesarkar told the
Legislative Council on Monday.
Kesarkarhasbeengiventem-
porary charge of the environ-
ment department for the dura-
tion of the Legislature's session,
whichisotherwiseheldbyChief
MinisterEknathShinde.Kesarkar
said, "My temporary charge in-
cludesallresponsibilityof thede-
partment,suchasconductingre-
viewmeetings,givingdirectives,
answering questions of mem-
bersofthelegislature,alluntilthe
end of the legislative session."
He told the council that in
Mumbaidustpollutionwasvery
high, and "it is a major cause of
pollution, due to several con-
structionprojectsandthecoastal
road construction too is under-
way. The dust needs to settle
HC extends
Parab’s interim
protection
in ED case
Mumbai:TheBombayHighCourt
on Monday extended until
Thursday the interim protection
granted to Shiv Sena (Uddhav
BalasahebThackeray)leaderAnil
Parab in connection with a writ
petition filed by him seeking
quashing of the Enforcement
Directorate(ED)case,linkedtothe
Sai Resort in Dapoli, against him.
Last week, HC had granted
Parabprotectionfromcoerciveac-
tiontillMarch20. Duetounavail-
ability of the bench headed by
JusticeRevatiMohiteDere,which
was to hear the plea on Monday,
the case was mentioned before
another bench. Additional solici-
tor general Anil Singh submitted
before the bench that the oral as-
surance given in the previous
hearing can continue till March
23. ENS
Jaguar E-type, Bentley
Brooklands, Nissan R33GTR and
Mazda MX5 Miata.
Prominent collectors from
across the country, including
Viveck Goenka, Chairman, The
Indian Express Group, partici-
pated in the rally.
“Thesearecarswhoseposters
adornedourwallswhilewewere
growing up. And many decades
later, their appeal has only in-
creased. Modern classics are an
endearingblendof oldschoolen-
gineering and (almost) modern
electronic precision, and we are
gladtonotethattheirpopularity
has been growing with each
passing year,” said rally curator
Perseus Bandrawalla.
Kesarkar has been
given temporary
charge of the
environment dept
down. I have given directives to
tackle dust generation at the
source."
Kesarkarsaidthatinareview
meeting on Sunday, directives
were given to the civic body to
spray water at the source to pre-
vent dust generation, and install
dust machines for absorption.
BMC will also buy fogging ma-
chines. It will be made compul-
sory to sprinkle water periodi-
cally at construction sites,
Kesarkar said, adding, "All this
will be done in 8 to 15 days".
"We have been studying
technologyavailableinIndiaand
acrosstheworldthatcanresolve
thisissue.Wearealsocheckingif
any such hi-tech machines can
be installed on the side of the
road," he added.
It has also come to notice of
the government that dumping
yards also generate pollution,
therfore technology will also be
used there there to mitigate pol-
lution.
4 held in Navi Mumbai
builder murder case, 3
accused still on the run
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
THE NAVI Mumbai police, inves-
tigating the murder of builder
Savji Patel Manjeri (56) who was
shot dead on Wednesday, ar-
rested four persons including
the two Bihar based shooters
who gunned down the builder.
Investigations revealed that
it was the family of a person
who was allegedly murdered by
Manjeri in 1998, that allegedly
hired three shooters from Bihar
for the job.
Navi Mumbai Police
Commissioner Milind
Bharambe said they arrested
Mehek Naria (28), a Rajkot resi-
dent, who was arrested along
with the other three who who
were given the contract, namely
Kaushal Yadav (18),
Gauravkumar Yadav (24) and
Sonu Kumar Yadav (23), all hail-
ing from Bihar.
As per a police officer, the ac-
cused revealed that in 1998,
Manjeri had allegedly murdered
Bachubhai Patani but was ac-
quitted in the case. Recently
again, he had allegedly humili-
ated Patani's family that pro-
vided immediate provocation
leading to the murder, said the
Protesters display placards during the Sion Koliwada
Congress Committee’s protest against the state government
over ration kits in Mumbai on Monday. Express
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
SION KOLIWADA Congress
Committee on Monday organ-
ised a protest against state gov-
ernment's alleged failure to de-
liver the promised “Anandacha
Shidha” -- ration kits for card
holders.
In February, Maharashtra
government had announced
that it would gift ration items at
a subsidised rate of Rs 100 to ra-
tioncardholdersforGudiPadwa
and Ambedkar Jayanti. The
scheme was expected to benefit
1.6crorerationcardholderswho
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
MoU signed with
Japan govt for key
work on bullet
train network
SWEETYADIMULAM
MUMBAI,MARCH31
THE NATIONAL High Speed Rail
CorporationLimited(NHSRCL)on
Monday signed a memorandum
ofunderstanding(MoU)withthe
Japan government, which has
nominated a Special Purpose
Company–JapanHigh-SpeedRail
ElectricEngineeringCo.Ltd.(JE)–
to execute core Japanese
Shinkansen technologies works
related to safety and punctuality
oftrainsonMumbai-Ahmedabad
bullet train network.
According to the implement-
ing agency, JE will carry out the
works related to OCC (Operation
Control Center) design contract,
productionandconstructioncon-
tracts,amongothers,ensuringthe
samelevelofsafetyandqualityas
of Shinkansen, Japan.
Meanwhile, the NHSRCL also
signedanagreementforworkre-
lated to design and construction
of underground Mumbai High-
SpeedRailStationatBandraKurla
Complex with M/s MEIL-HCC
Joint Venture (comprising M/s
Megha Engineering &
Infrastructure Limited and M/s
Hindustan Construction
CompanyLimited).Thisisthefirst
contract being awarded on the
Maharashtra side of the corridor.
The family of a person
who was allegedly
murdered by Manjeri
in 1998 hired three
shooters from Bihar for
the job, police said
police. Naria works for the
Patani family.
DCP (zone I) Vivek Pansare
said, "The family decided to
avenge the earlier murder and
insult he recently meted out to
the family. A member of the
Patani family, through the em-
ployee Naria contacted the three
sharpshooters in Bihar and
promised them Rs 25 lakhs to
gun down Manjeri."
The officer said that while
four persons have been arrested,
Patani's relative who gave the
contract and two others are still
on the run.
On Wednesday, around 5.30
pm in Nerul, when Manjeri was
driving down from CBD Belapur,
two bike-borne men fired mul-
tiple rounds on him, and fled the
spot. Manjeri was rushed to the
hospital where he was declared
dead, following which a murder
case was registered.
Maharashtra govt
had announced it
would gift ration items
for Rs 100 to ration card
holders for Gudi Padwa
and Ambedkar Jayanti
were supposed to be getting a
kiloeachof rava,chanadal,sugar,
and a litre of palm oil.
Mumbai Congress General
SecretaryAmitJagannathShetty
led the protest claiming that the
people were yet to get benefit of
the scheme.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023 7

DGIPR/2022-23/6958

8 MAHARASHTRA
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
High Court allows Rais Shaikh to file his plea
challenging interfaith marriage panel as PIL
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
MUMBAI,MARCH20
STATINGTHATapetitionfiledby
Samajwadi Party MLA Rais
Shaikh challenging
Maharashtra government's res-
the
olution(GR)settinguptheinter-
faith marriage family coordina-
tion committee appeared to be
in the nature of a Public Interest
Litigation(PIL),theBombayHigh
Court on Monday allowed him
to approach the registry to file it
WORTH FIGHTING FOR
An art installation featuring a large fish made with plastic bottles by Minal Thakkar, to create awareness about the damage to
oceans and its creatures caused by plastic disposal, near Girgaon Chowpatty in Mumbai on Monday. Ganesh Shirsekar
BUDGET SESSION
SP’s Azmi demands Lodha’s
ouster over love jihad claims
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
SAMAJWADI PARTY legislator
AbuAzmionMondaysoughtthe
resignation of Maharashtra's
Women and Child Welfare
Department minister Mangal
Prabhat Lodha, accusing him of
submitting “false” information
in the Legislative Assembly over
alleged love jihad in the state.
Raising Point of Information
in the assembly, Azmi said, “The
minister had earlier said that
Maharashtra hadmorethanone
lakh cases of love jihad which
has upset the Hindu society
whichisorganisingralliesacross
the state without permission
and making inflammatory
speeches.”
He added: “However, we
soughttheinformationfromthe
inter-faith marriage committee
set up in December last year and
till date, it has not received a sin-
gle complaint of love jihad. It
means,he(Lodha)hasliedtothe
House and he should be re-
moved from his post.”
RulingBharatiyaJanata Party
(BJP)legislatorsobjectedtoAzmi
and demanded that he be
stoppedfromspeaking. BJP MLA
Atul Bhatkhalkar said, “If the
Oppn stages walkout over govt’s ‘unsatisfactory reply’ on farmers’ issues
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
ACCUSINGTHEstategovernment
of providing “unsatisfactory re-
ply” on farmers' issues regarding
damage to crops due to unsea-
sonable rains and hailstorms,
As ‘big brother’ BJP towers over Sena, public discord in Maharashtra’s ruling alliance
SHUBHANGIKHAPRE
MUMBAI,MARCH20
WITHIN A YEAR of coming to
power and a year before the all-
important Lok Sabha and
Assembly elections, the ties be-
tween the BJP and the Shiv Sena
areshowingsignsofstrain.Theal-
liance between the two parties
has remained on track under the
leadership of Chief Minister
Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM
Devendra Fadnavis.
But state BJP chief
as a PIL. Shaikh has challenged
the GR dated December 13,
2022,claimingthatitviolatesthe
constitutional rights of equality,
privacy and freedom of religion.
On Monday, the petition
came up for hearing before the
division bench of Justices G S
Patel and Neela Gokhale.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf
opposedthepetitionstatingthat
it was not maintainable. The
bench said that as per the roster,
PILs are assigned to another
bench. The bench also asked
Mangal Prabhat Lodha
minister has allegedly given
wrong information, a breach of
privilege motion can be filed
against him. But he (SP MLA)
cannot go on criticising him.”
Speaking to reporters later,
Azmi said, “I have also submit-
ted a breach of privilege motion
letter with the speaker of the
Maharashtra Legislative
Assembly. Lodha has given false
information and he should be
held accountable for giving
wrong information to the peo-
ple.”
Azmi also demanded action
againstseveralrightwinggroups
which have been organising ral-
lies across the state without any
prior permission and making al-
leged anti-minority comments.
Oppositionpartiesstagedawalk-
outintheLegislativeAssemblyon
Monday.
Prior to the question hour,
Leader of Opposition Ajit
Pawar said that farmers have
incurred heavy losses due to
unseasonal rains and hail-
storms in various parts of the
Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s
statementlastweekthattheparty
would contest 240 seats in
Assembly polls — indicating that
the Sena would be left with 48 —
causedconsternationintheSena.
“We will contest 248-250 seats.
The Shinde group does not have
morethan48-50MLAstocontest
the polls,” Bawankule said at an
internal party meet on Friday.
Astheremarkscreatedripples
on social media, the Shiv Sena
took offence. Sena MLA Sanjay
Shirsatsaid,“Whatnonsense,are
we foolish to accept such few
how thepetitionwas alloverthe
mediaandaskedif thepetitioner
wanted it tested in a media fo-
rum.
The Maharashtra govern-
ment’s Women and Child
Development department had,
on December 13, via a GR, set up
the interfaith marriage family
coordination committee, tasked
with gathering information
about couples in interfaith mar-
riages and to oversee initiatives
undertaken at district levels re-
garding women who are in in-
Illicit liquor trade:
Excise dept mulls
setting up network
of informers
Mumbai: Maharashtra Excise
Minister Shambhuraj Desai on
Monday informed the State
LegislativeAssembly thathisde-
partmentwasmullingsettingup
aninformersnetworktoprovide
information about the illicit
liquor trade in the state.
"On the lines of the inform-
ersnetworkof thepolicedepart-
ment, these informers can tip us
off about illicit liquor trade ram-
pant in the district. Those who
willsupplyinformationmayalso
be awarded with a monetary
prize," said Desai. He was reply-
ingto a questionraisedbyleader
of Opposition Ajit Pawar, who
hadaskedDesaitotakestringent
measures to eliminate illicit
liquor trade. "These informers
can be paid lakhs of rupees if
needed, because the illegal
liquortradecoststhestatecrores
of rupees in taxes," said Pawar,
adding that a handsome reward
would attract people in the ille-
gal trade to tip off authorities.
Desai said the government is
also mulling the option of hold-
ing the district level official re-
sponsible, if illegal liquor trade is
found to be flourishing in the
area under him.
state over the last few days.
“Government officials have
refusedtosignonthedamageas-
sessment report or panchnamas
since they are on strike and the
state government is not taking
concrete steps to address the is-
sue,” he said, referring to the
strike over pension scheme.
seats?”AnotherSenaMLA,Sanjay
Gaikwad,said,“ShivSenawillnot
settleforlessthan130to135seats.
TheBJPshouldremembertheiral-
liance is with the original Shiv
Sena founded by Bal Thackeray.”
The ally’s anger forced
Bawankule to go into damage
controlmodeandheclarifiedthe
following day that no seat-shar-
ing formula between the BJP and
Sena had been reached yet. The
Sena also downplayed the com-
ments with party spokesperson
NareshMhaskesaying“thereisno
quarrel between us”.
terfaithmarriages,andwhomay
be estranged from their mater-
nal families, and also informa-
tion about their families, so that
they may be helped if needed.
Shaikh has alleged that the
government resolution seeks to
create a false narrative and neg-
atively influence the public per-
ception of a particular religious
sect, and that it is discriminatory
against a particular religion and
encourages divide among peo-
ple instead of harmony, co-exis-
tence, assimilation and peace.
BREACH OF PRIVILEGE MOTION
Raut raises objections to presence
of ‘certain MLAs’ on committee
VALLABH OZARKAR
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
SHIV SENA (UBT) leader and
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, in
his reply to the privilege mo-
tion moved against him in the
Maharashtra Assembly, has
raised objections to the pres-
ence of certain MLAs on the
privilege committee.
In his letter to the principal
secretary of Maharashtra
Legislature Secretariat, Raut
has said that the members on
the privilege committee, ap-
pointed recently, are the ones
who had complained against
him and some members on the
privilege committee are also
facing disqualification pro-
ceedings.
A breach of privilege notice
was moved against Raut by
Bhartiya Janta Party MLA Atul
Bhatkhalkar and Chief Minister
Eknath Shinde-led Sena MLA
Bharat Gogawale for his re-
marks describing the House as
“chor mandal”.
In his reply on March 19,
Raut said that the statement
made by him was for a partic-
Maharashtra's Revenue
Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-
Patil said, “We have asked offi-
cials to conduct a survey. We
will ensure that the damage as-
sessment reports are finalised
and signed by officials. Once
we receive the details of farm-
ers who lost their crops, we
Asked how Bawankule, a sea-
soned politician, could have
slipped up like this, a senior BJP
functionary said, “While BJP has
pledgedsupporttoSena,itcannot
restrict its organisational expan-
sion.Tokeepitscadreinpollmode
ithadtosendaloudmessagetoget
readyforamajorityonitsown.”
The BJP leader said it was no
secret that Shinde and Fadnavis
wouldstriketheseat-sharingdeal
andgetapprovalfromtheBJPcen-
tral leadership. The functionary
saidtherewasnoquestionof dis-
missing the Sena with mere 48
Employees call off strike as state
govt agrees to incorporate OPS
benefits in new pension scheme
State govt likely to increase its contribution from 14% to 20% in NPS
ALOKDESHPANDE&
EESHANPRIYAMS
MUMBAI,MARCH20
AROUND 17 LAKH employees of
Maharashtra government, who
had been on an indefinite strike
since March 14 over Old Pension
Scheme (OPS), called off their
protest on Monday evening after
a meeting with Chief Minister
EknathShindeandseniorgovern-
mentofficialswheretheywereas-
sured of OPS benefits being in-
cluded in the new scheme.
Whileanin-principleapproval
was given to extend monetary
benefitsoftheOPStothoseunder
the New Pension Scheme (NPS),
sources in the government said
thatthestategovernmentislikely
to increase its share in the new
schemefrom14percentto20per
cent. At present, while the em-
ployeecontributiontothescheme
is 10 per cent, the government
contributionstandsat14percent.
Expertssaythatanincreaseingov-
ernment contribution to 20 per
centwillsignificantlyenhancethe
pensionpayoutforemployees.
Government, semi-govern-
ment,teachingandnon-teaching
employeeshavebeenonanindef-
inite strike since last week de-
manding implementation of the
OPS to those appointed after
2005. Vishwas Katkar, convener
of thecoordinationcommitteeof
government, semi-government,
teaching and non-teaching staff
unionssaidthatthestategovern-
ment informed the unions that it
Sanjay Raut
ular section of MLAs from
Shinde-led Shiv Sena and not
for the entire Legislature as
claimed by the BJP and Shinde-
led Sena MLAs.
"It has come to my attention
that the complainant who has
complained about me has been
appointed in the privilege com-
mittee and it is against natural
justice to involve the com-
plainant in the process. This is
my as well as the experts' opin-
ion,” the letter stated.
“The committee constituted
for the breach of privilege was
supposed to be independent
and neutral in nature, but it
seems that only my political
will disburse some assistance
to them.”
Oppositionleaders,however,
stagedawalkoutstatingthegov-
ernment's reply was unsatisfac-
tory. Congress MLA Sunil Kedar
said government officials have
time to attend programmes held
by the Chief Minister but cannot
seats,adding,“Seatsharingwillbe
in proportion to the actual
strength of each party.”
Another BJP insider said, “In
any case, the BJP that has set the
targetof150seatsforitselfwillnot
settleforlessthan185to190seats.
The Shiv Sena will have to recon-
cile to getting 98 to 103 seats.” If
thatpansout,itwillbelowerthan
the 124 seats that the Shiv Sena
contested under Uddhav
Thackerayin2019.Inthatelection,
the BJP contested 164 seats, win-
ning 105 while the Uddhav-led
Sena bagged 56 seats.
Government, semi-government, teaching & non-teaching
employees were on strike since last week. File
was positive on the demands
raised by the employees. “Our
main demand was to implement
OPSwitharrears.Thegovernment
hadearlierannouncedacommit-
teewhichwehadrejected.Butto-
day, a new proposal was pre-
sented to us. In the meeting, our
position on OPS was in-principle
approved.Whilecomparingboth
schemes, it was given in writing
that pension benefits from new
scheme will be equal to those
from the old scheme,” he said.
OPS is a defined benefit
schemeasagainsttheNPS,which
is market-linked with both the
government and the employee
makingmonthlycontributionsto
be invested in pension funds.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde
on Monday said, “I welcome the
decisiontakenbythestrikinggov-
ernment and semi government
employees to call off the strike.
Today,wehadameetingwiththe
representatives of these unions.
Theygaveanoptimisticresponse
opponents were deliberately
appointed in the committee.
This does not follow the parlia-
mentary democratic tradition,"
the letter further stated.
Raut said that moving
breach of privilege against him
is a ploy by the opposition. "I al-
ways have respect for the
Legislature. I will not make any
statement that will bring disre-
pute to the Legislature.
However, it is a ploy of the op-
position to move breach of
privilege proceedings against
me."
He also said that the
Supreme Court (SC) was
presently hearing the case per-
taining to the rift in the Sena.
"The case against the members
of this faction (Shinde-led
Sena) is going on in the
Supreme Court.
Some of them (Shinde-led
Sena MLAs) are members of
the privilege committee.
Therefore, after the verdict of
the court, the committee may
turn out to be unconstitutional.
In order to ensure that the leg-
islature does not become a
laughing stock, I presented the
truth," Raut said.
carryoutpanchnamaofdamages
caused by rains.
Following the boycott, state's
Irrigation Minister Girish
MahajansaidtheOppositionwas
playingpoliticsonfarmers'plight
despitethegovernmentshowing
the intent to solve the problems
faced by them.
The BJP’s assertion that it is
the bigger partner in the alliance
and in extension Bawankule’s
statement stems from the fact
that Sena's electoral base is lim-
ited to Thane, Konkan, parts of
Marathwada and eastern
Vidarbha. BJP’s organisational
base is stronger with each of the
90,000 booths across
Maharashtra manned by teams
of 10 to 25 workers. The party
has also claimed it is in a posi-
tion to further weaken
Opposition. “At least 10-12
MLAs from Congress, NCP, and
when the government urged
themtowithdrawthestrike.They
have now called off the strike.”
Shindesaidthegovernmentis
positiveaboutthedemands.“The
committee set up to study the is-
suewillbedirectedtosubmitare-
port on priority. After this, the re-
port will be studied and an apt
decision will be taken,” he said.
Shindemadethestatementin
both the State Legislative
Assembly and Council.
Katkarsaidthatallnoticessent
to striking employees will be
taken back. “We are thankful to
the government for the sensitive
response it has given. I appeal to
all employees to be present on
dutytoensuredutiesarefulfilled,”
he said.
Lastweek,withthestrikekick-
ing off, Shinde had announced in
the Legislative Assembly setting
upofacommitteecomprisingfor-
mer senior bureaucrats Subodh
Kumar, KP Bakshi and Sudhir
Kumar Shrivastava on the issue.
HC asks govt to consider quota
for transgenders in educational
institutions and govt jobs
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA
MUMBAI,MARCH20
THE BOMBAY High Court on
Monday asked the Maharashtra
governmenttoconsidergranting
reservation to transgenders in
state-runeducationalinstitutions
and government jobs.
AdivisionbenchofActingChief
Justice S V Gangapurwala and
Justice Sandeep Marne asked a
committeesetupbythestategov-
ernment for the issue to consider
andsubmitareportbyJune7.
When Advocate General
BirendraSaraf soughtmoretime,
the court remarked, "If there is a
hangingswordthenthingsmove
faster." Vinayak Kashid, a trans-
gender who is a graduate in
Electrical Engineering and post-
graduateinTechnology(Electrical
Power System Engineering), had
filed a petition seeking modifica-
tion to the advertisement issued
by MahaTransco in May this year
for mass recruitment to include
Pune to play host to two
Pride marches this year
Pune:For two consecutive years
in a row , two Pride marches are
being planned for Pune with
one scheduled in April and the
other in June. Four organisa-
tions — Qutcast, Mist, Pune
Queer Collective and Queer
Republic — and several individ-
uals from the community will
organise the march with the
motto of 'Breaking Barriers' on
April 23, said MIST LGBTQ
Foundation founder Shyam
Konnur told The Indian Express.
Konnur said participants are
Sena ( UBT) are in talks with us.
Once we have them to our side it
will make a huge difference.”
In the current Assembly, the
BJP has 105 MLAs while the Shiv
Sena has 40 MLAs and is sup-
ported by 10 Independents.
The disagreement in the rul-
ing alliance saw the Opposition
reacting with glee. Opposition
leader Ajit Pawar took a dig at
the government, saying, “Your
failure to expand the Cabinet is
a comment on the ruling com-
bine. To avoid backlash from
members you have avoided ex-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
The panel will compare old and
newpensionschemesandsubmit
a report with recommendations
within the next three months.
Director(AccountsandTreasury)
will be the secretary of the com-
mittee. After calling off the strike,
the employees said that the
unions will cooperate with the
committeeandgivetheirinputfor
better results.
Earlier, Maharashtra
LegislativeCouncilwasadjourned
three times in a row on Monday,
for a total of 20 minutes, as the
Opposition demanded that the
government find a resolution to
the strike. When Maharashtra
ministerSudhirMungantiwarbe-
gan to reply to the Opposition,
statingthatthematterwasanold
one which has been “going on
since 2005”, the latter erupted in
slogans.Atthis,Mungantiwaralso
began to raise his voice. Deputy
ChairpersonNeelamGorheasked
him to remain calm while an-
swering the questions, but then
adjourned the house three con-
secutive times due to the ruckus.
When the Council resumed
business,Mungantiwarrequested
the deputy chairperson to urge
theemployeestocalloffthestrike
ashospitalsweregettingaffected
due to lack of nurses and doctors,
and farmers whose crops have
been damaged in the rains were
also hit due to delay in panchna-
mas needed before aid from the
government.Gorhesaid,“Weare
all expecting the government to
find a solution so that the strike
can come to an end.”
transgender category.
Kashid's lawyer Kranti LC in-
formed the court that 1 per cent
reservation was provided for
transgendersinallcastecategories
inKarnataka,andsoughtthatsuch
reservation policy be adopted in
Maharashtra as well.
Thecourtthensoughttoknow
why such a policy was not
adoptedbythestategovernment.
Saraf informed the court that
transgender persons gotreserva-
tion under the Socially and
Economically Backward Classes
(SEBC) section. The bench, how-
ever,askedwhatwouldhappenif
a transgender person was from
the general category. "There may
be some transgenders from the
scheduled caste, some in gen-
eral...so why not give reservation
across all categories," the court
asked.
ThecourtaskedtheAGtocon-
vey its suggestion to the newly-
formed committee under the so-
cialjusticedepartmentofthestate
government.
allowed to carry posters of their
choice, including political ones.
"Theideaof thePride marchisto
have the opportunity and com-
fort to be what people are.
Restrictionsondresses,placards,
andslogansamongothersdefeat
the whole purpose of the Pride
march. So, our motto for the
march is 'Breaking Barriers'," ac-
cording to Konnur.
The Yutak Charitable Trust
(YCT),meanwhile,announcedthe
11th edition of its Pride march, to
be held on June 4. ENS
pansion. It has impacted ad-
ministrative work.”
The Nationalist Congress
Party’s(NCP)statechiefJayantPatil
askediftheSenawouldgettocon-
test a decent number of seats in
2024. “Bawankule has dismissed
youwith48seats.Whenelections
draw near you may be asked to
contestfewerthan48seats.Don't
be surprised. The BJP is known to
finishitsallies.”
State Congress chief Nana
Patolesaid,“Whatwasinhismind
came on his lips. So, Shinde Sena
should know what the BJP is."
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
Minor rescued month
after being ‘kidnapped,
raped and forced
into prostitution’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
AMONTHaftera15-year-oldgirl
went missing, she was rescued
by police from a house where
she was allegedly brutally
thrashed, raped and forced into
prostitution.
Police arrested three men,
Sonu Kumar (32), Babu Miyan
(50) and Anand Kumar (58), and
apprehended two minors in
connection with the case. The
girl was hardly 4-5 km away
from her house.
According to the police, the
girl lives with grandparents in
SouthDelhiafterherparentsdied
a few years ago. On February 14,
she left her house after a fight
withhergrandmother.Policesaid
thatshemetaminorboy,whoal-
legedly took her to what he
claimed was his house.
DCP (South) Chandan
Chowdhary said, “The boy had
assured her she could stay
there… At the house, he (raped)
her. But the girl was confined at
the house, where two other girls
were living along with a woman
and her son, Sonu. She was
forced into prostitution.”
In the meantime, her grand-
parents had approached police
and an FIR of kidnapping was
lodged on February 14. The case
was investigated by the Special
Staff and local police.
Police sources said the girl
knew the minor and he was
caught on the basis of call detail
records, informers on the
Police arrested three
men, and apprehended
two minors in
connection with the
case. The girl was
hardly 4-5 km away
from her house
ground and technical surveil-
lance. The DCP said the girl was
rescued on March 17 from the
house. One of the girls living
there was also traced. On the ba-
sis of their disclosure, police ar-
rested Sonu and apprehended
two minors.
“The woman is absconding
and teams are looking for her.
We have also arrested two other
men, Babu and Anand,” said the
DCP. Police sources said both
Babu and Anand were “clients”
at the house where the girl was
confined and have been booked
on charges of rape.
The girl has been sent to a
Sakhi-One Stop Centre.
Meanwhile,hergrandparentsal-
leged they have not met her yet.
Police said she is at the centre
and a request will be put to the
ChildWelfareCommitteeforfur-
ther proceedings in the case.
A case under sections of kid-
napping, voluntarily causing
hurt, rape, criminal intimida-
tion, insulting modesty of a
woman along with sections of
the POCSO Act and Immoral
Traffic (Prevention) Act has
been registered.
EXPRESS NETWORK 9
Deathofmanmadetosing Sikh leaders from BJP protest
anthemduringriots:Police outside British High Commission
probehitsaroadblock
MAHENDER SINGH
MANRAL &
JIGNASA SINHA
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
MORE THAN three years since
the death of 23-year-old Faizan,
who was seen in a video clip ly-
ing injured on the ground as se-
curity personnel forced him to
sing Vande Mataram and the
national anthem during the
Northeast Delhi riots, the Delhi
Police probe appears to have hit
a roadblock.
The Crime Branch had sent
a voice sample of a policeman
who had emerged as a suspect
in the case, and the voice heard
in the clip, for forensic analysis.
However, the report suggests
the voice samples do not match,
it is learnt.
Police are likely to approach
another forensic lab in the com-
ing days to carry out a second
test, it is learnt.
The video of the incident
first came to light February 25,
2020, showing five men, includ-
ing Faizan, writhing in pain on
the ground even as a group of
security personnel stood by,
purportedly telling them to sing
the national anthem, and, occa-
sionally, hitting them with their
lathis. Faizan died in a hospital
on February 26, 2020, a day af-
ter his release from a police sta-
The videoof the incidentfirst
cametolightFebruary25,
2020,showingfivemen,
includingthevictim,
writhinginpainonground
tion where he was taken after
he was allegedly assaulted by
policemen.
The families of two other
men seen in the clip had told
The Indian Express that the
video was shot at Kardam Puri
on the evening of February 24,
2020.
“The Crime Branch ques-
tioned around 500 police per-
sonnel and scanned a number
of documents, including duty
charts of policemen deployed
from outside the area during
the riots. They had identified
the suspected head constable,
who is posted with the Delhi
Armed Police…,” a senior police
officer of Crime Branch said.
“Police summoned the sus-
pected head constable for ques-
tioning, but he denied his in-
volvement and claimed he was
not present at the spot. His
polygraph test was conducted,
which he failed. Since the report
of the polygraph test is not ad-
missible in court, police took his
voice sample and a video clip of
the incident and sent it to the
forensic science laboratory in
Rohini in 2021. Police received
a report a few days ago, which
states it was negative (not a
match),” said another officer.
During the investigation, po-
lice also tried to look at CCTV
cameras near the spot, but did
not find anything that could
help with the probe. Some
CCTVs in adjoining areas were
not working.
Last year, the investigation
officer had decided to announce
a reward of Rs 1 lakh for infor-
mation leading to the arrest of
policemen involved in the inci-
dent. The proposal was later
dropped and it came to light
that a reward of Rs 50,000 had
already been announced.
During the
protest in New
Delhi on
Monday.
SirsaandRPSinghsaidthatthose episode were “sponsored by ISI”
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE whodefamedIndia“canneverbe and were “defaming the entire
NEWDELHI,MARCH21 Sikhs”, and called for action Sikh community”.
against “seditious agencies” that “They forget the names of
TERMING IT “shameful”, Sikh were “trying to defame India” by martyrs like Lance Naik Karam
leaders from the BJP Monday carryingout“suchshamefulinci- Singh, Naik Subedar Rana Singh,
stagedaprotestoutsidetheBritish dents”. General Arora who gave martyr-
High Commission demanding “Somepeoplearetryingtode- domforthiscountry.NoSikhcan
strictactionagainstthoseinvolved fame the Sikh community by do- separate himself from the
inanincidentrevolvingaroundal- ingsuchactsbuttheydonotknow Tricolour,” Singh said, appealing
leged disrespect to the Tricolour that no Sikh can ever act against to the UK government to ensure
in the United Kingdom. someone’s religion,” Sirsa said. the security of the High
BJP leaders Manjinder Singh Singhallegedthosebehindthe Commission of all countries.
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10
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

WORDLY WISE
Landlords, like all other men, love to reap
where they never sowed.
— Karl Marx

FOUNDED BY
An RBI lesson for Europe
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
Credit Suisse saga shows that European central banks
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
have been unable to steer markets through turmoil

TROUBLE AT BANK Soumya Kanti Ghosh

After Credit Suisse debacle, India must monitor channels
ON MONDAY, ACROSS the world, markets lender back on track. with activist fiscal policies even in the 1960s
through which the crisis can permeate into domestic economy opened with a bit of nervousness, even as The series of events over the past few when John F Kennedy's economic council

A
the takeover of the crisis-ridden Credit
NOTHER BANK HAS fallen in the midst of the ongoing turmoil in global fi- Suisse received the blessing of the local reg-
nancial markets. On Sunday, global giant UBS agreed to buy out its trou- ulator and policymakers. While the ac-
bled rival Credit Suisse — an important bank in the global system — for quirer, the Union Bank of Switzerland, has
around$3.2billion.Thedeal,whichcomeswithsignificantguaranteesfrom the full might of the Swiss National Bank
the Swiss government and the regulator, has been orchestrated to calm the global finan- behind it, it is anyone's guess whether the
merged entity will emerge as a poster child
cial system and prevent a contagion. Credit Suisse’s fall comes only days after the col-
of a failed confidence-building measure or
lapse of three banks in the US. With fears of a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis gaining not. The reverberations of this deal, once it
traction, central banks across the world have announced a coordinated response — to passes muster in jurisdictions outside
ensure liquidity via enhanced swap lines — to stabilise the financial system. However, Switzerland, will likely be felt for a long
concerns remain that the collapse of these banks is just the “first domino” to fall. time.
The origins of the ongoing crisis can be traced to an environment of tightening finan- The demise of the 167-year-old bank —
cial conditions. In the case of the Silicon Valley Bank in the US, it had parked its deposits once a darling of markets in revered niche
areas of wealth management and invest-
in safeinvestments.Howeverwith theUSFederal Reserveembarkingonaggressivemon-
ment banking but one that had been haem-
etary tightening, the value of its portfolio plunged. The bank had to sell its investments orrhaging post the global financial crisis of
at a loss which created panic among depositors who were quick to withdraw. The prob- 2008 — could also mark the beginning of a
lems at Credit Suisse, though, began some time ago. A series of wrong investment deci- new era. It could bring to the fore major is-
sions and frequent leadership changes had dented investor confidence in the bank. sues facing European banks that are bat-
A few weeks ago, the bank also admitted that its cash flow statements suffered from tling lacklustre home markets and failed
bets in mainland China, along with stiff
“material weakness”. In the midst of global financial turmoil, confidence in the bank
competition from US banking behemoths.
ebbed further. The wipeout of the entire portfolio of
The mayhem in financial markets is likely to have implications for monetary policy. contingent convertible/AT1 bonds (used for
Until a few weeks ago, there was a view that the US Fed would hike interest rates by 50 bolstering the bank's capital) worth $17 bil-
basis points when it meets next to tackle inflation. However, the Fed will now have to lion will erode confidence for new issuers,
carefully weigh the events of the last few weeks as it decides whether to continue to raise and raise the risk premia disproportionately
in this $250 billion bond market.
rates, perhaps by a lower quantum, or take a pause at this critical juncture and wait for
The CDS (credit default swap) of Credit
the stress in the financial system to ease. The European Central Bank had last week cho- Suisse, already approaching alarming high
sen to press ahead in its fight against inflation, raising interest rates by 50 basis points. Its levels in recent days for protection against
president, Christine Lagarde, though sought to differentiate between the tools used for
near-term default, may result in rating
inflation management and financial stability. Which way the Fed moves now will be changes for financial markets and even sov-
known when the Federal Open Market Committee meets next on March 21-22. While ereigns. Moreover, the demands for pay-
India may appear relatively insulated from these events, the channels through which ment from diverse protection buyers can be
daunting for UBS, SNB and the entire bank-
such a crisis can permeate into the domestic financial system and the broader economy
ing system wanting safe harbour in the
need to be carefully monitored. As policy makers across the world navigate this tumul- storm.
tuous period, for both the Indian government and the Reserve Bank of India, the policy Lost in this kerfuffle is also the issue of
framework must be guided by the objective of maintaining macroeconomic stability. leadership. In 2020, Tidjane Thiam, the then
CEO of Credit Suisse, stepped down from
the troubled Swiss bank, giving in to pres-
sure from select quarters despite an impec-
It needs to be pointed out
that the Reserve Bank of
India and the government
have worked in unison ever
since the pandemic began to
steer the economy. The
playbook adopted by the
RBI in times of crises,
deployed at a systemic level
and led by large and
systemically important
banks, has been the best-
integrated policy response
weeks seem to cast a shadow over the cred-
ibility of these central banks, their ability to
provide regulatory forbearance, steer mar-
kets through turmoil and ensure well-or-
chestrated, coordinated monetary and fis-
cal policies.
It is a bit disappointing that major cen-
tral banks have done precious little to as-
suage market fears on a ticking time bomb
— the maze of huge mark-to-market losses
accruing in the books of banks during a
regime of rapidly rising yields. Barely a
week after giving Credit Suisse a 50 billion
Swiss francs lifeline, the hurried blessing to
the merger only shows that regulators need
to plan their moves with clarity, in consul-
tation with broader market participants to
continue to remain in the driving seat.
Against this background, it needs to be
pointed out that the Reserve Bank of India
and the government have worked in uni-
son ever since the pandemic began to steer
the economy. The playbook adopted by the
RBI in times of crises, deployed at a systemic
level and led by large and systemically im-
portant banks, has been the best-integrated
policy response both in 2008 and 2020.
In fact, short-term borrowing by the
First Republic Bank — $30 billion from 11
different US banks — for a very short period
of 90 days, appears short-sighted if we com-
pare it to similar packages in India in 2008
and 2020 by the RBI when a consortium of
banks hand-held ailing banks for multi-year
periods.
It would seem that both central banks
and governments around the world can
learn a trick or two from India in terms of
coordinating monetary and fiscal policy re-
sponses during the pandemic. Ironically, fis-
cal policy dominance — a lexicon often used
to describe India’s policy mistakes in the
past — has now come to haunt Western
economies. On a lighter note, economists
had four Nobel laureates to advise on policy.
Coming back to government policies,
the upward revision in the deposit insur-
ance limit by the Indian government in
2020 needs to be seen in comparison to the
US. For example, as per independent re-
search estimates, smaller bank deposits in
the US are insured in the range of 30-45 per
cent only. In contrast, smaller bank deposits
in India such as regional rural banks, coop-
erative banks and local area banks are bet-
ter protected at 82.9 per cent, 66.5 per cent,
and 76.4 per cent respectively, while pub-
lic sector banks, which have a large propor-
tion of customers from rural, urban and
semi-urban areas have better customer de-
posits protection in comparison to private
banks.
Further, India’s deposit insurance cov-
erage to per capita income ratio at 2.53 is
one of the highest across the world. Brazil,
which has the highest insurance coverage
ratio, has a far more expansive definition,
which raises questions of serviceability if
any contagion reaches its shores.
Indian banks are also in sound financial
health. Moreover, when compared to other
major countries, India has the least foreign
claims, both on counterparty basis, and on
a guarantor basis. Additionally, our ratio of
foreign claims to domestic claims is also the
least among countries signalling that our
banking and financial system is very disci-
plined, and that no fear that an international
balance sheet contagion can originate from
here.
It needs to be pointed out that banks in
emerging economies are now on track for
more robust performance on the back of a
robust regulatory framework, greater policy
initiatives, framed in coordination by both
regulators and governments.
The writer is Group Chief Economic Advisor,

DRAW THE LINE both in 2008 and 2020.

cable record in bringing the beleaguered seldom point out that the US had a brush State Bank of India. Views are personal

BJP cannot distance itself from hate speech at Hindu Jan

Aakrosh Morcha rallies in Maharashtra on its watch

T
HE HINDU JAN Aakrosh Morcha rallies, full of rhetoric and slogans directed

THE TRUTH BITES

against the minority community — this newspaper has reported at least 50
inthelastfourmonths—pointtoadisturbing trendinMaharashtra.Inthese
mobilisations across the state since November last year, speakers accuse
Muslims of “love jihad”, “land jihad”, “forced conversions” and call for their economic
boycott.SeveralBJPleadersandlegislatorswerepresent attheseevents.Though theparty Solution to dog-human incidents lies in stricter pet ownership laws
has sought to disassociate itself from the rallies — the Sakal Hindu Samaj, an umbrella
outfit of Hindutva bodies, organised them, and party workers are involved as Hindus, it
says — the polarising mobilisations raise questions that the party, which also holds the Abi T Vanak
Home portfolio in Maharashtra, cannot evade.
Eversincetherealignmentof politicalforcesfollowingtherebellioninShiv Senaranks
in June lastyear,Hindutva agendas have become more strident in the state. Chief Minister THE CONFLICT between people and stray are safe and secure. This is where the prob- Especially considering that many regions
dogs in India has crossed the threshold of lem lies. The Animal Welfare Board of India, of this country do not have adequate infra-
Eknath Shinde had sought to give an ideological gloss to his decision to force a split in the
tolerance. While cases of young children a statutory body under the Prevention of structure for public health.
Shiv Sena, accusing Uddhav Thackeray, party chief, of abandoning Hindutva. Thackeray, being mauled to death by packs of dogs are Cruelty to Animals Act, promulgated the Even if they are sterilised, dogs that con-
who became the CM by joining hands with the Congress and NCP which oppose the pol- in the news now, this phenomenon is not Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules in 2001 tinue to live on streets will still bite, chase
itics of Hindutva, responded by insisting that his Sena was the real Hindutva flag-bearer. new. Over the last five years, more than 300 (now replaced with the even more dracon- people and vehicles, get into accidents, suf-
This war of words of the Senas may have also prepared the ground for political mobilisa- people — mostly children from poor and ian ABC Rules 2023). This policy was meant fer from hunger and disease, and remain in
tions centred on Hindutva. The Shinde government has further set the pitch with admin- rural families — have been killed by dogs. to control both the dog population, as well conflict with people. Where resources are
Worse still, dogs are responsible for over the deadly rabies virus. available, dog density will continue to in-
istrative actions such as setting up a panel to probe inter-faith marriages in the backdrop
20,000 rabies deaths. A 2017 study showed However, the ABC rules are not based on crease, especially if people feed dogs on the
of the Shraddha Walkar murder case. that homeless dogs in rural areas can also scientific evidence and violate guidelines streets. The only long-term solution is to
It may arguably suit the Shinde government if the political narrative on the ground is be devastating for wildlife. Over 80 species, provided by the World Health Organisation implement strict pet ownership laws, pro-
shaped by conversations on “love jihad” and “land jihad” rather than a scrutiny of its of which more than 30 are on the endan- and the World Organisation for Animal hibit people from carelessly feeding dogs
record in office. With local body polls in sight, the Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha rallies of- gered list, were targeted by dogs in wilder- Where resources are Health for preventing rabies. The ABC Rules everywhere, and set up facilities funded by
fer the BJP and the Shinde Sena the opportunity to talk up identity issues. At a time when ness areas. This mounting evidence points require a programme named after this animal welfare organisations that can ei-
to a failure on the part of the government to
available, dog density will year’s Oscar-winning movie — Everything ther house dogs for life, or humanely eu-
farmers are flagging price concerns and other agrarian issues, polarising talk on mosques continue to increase,
implement policies that are both practical Everywhere All at Once. A sterilisation pro- thanise them so they don’t suffer on the
may seem like a clever distraction. However, a politics that seeks to exploit fault lines in
and humane to dogs, people, and wildlife. especially if people feed dogs gramme is most effective when it targets streets. This policy is implemented across
society can only work against the long-term interests of the state. As parties of govern- But why are we facing such a problem the majority of the population in one go, is the world and was also espoused by
on the streets. The only long-
ment, BJP and Sena need to send out a political signal, and draw the line that the likes of with dogs? There is no one answer. The carried out continuously over the years, and Mahatma Gandhi over a century ago when
the Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha must not cross. concept of dog “ownership” is nebulous for
term solution is to when there are very low chances of new in- he exhorted local authorities to build a pin-
most Indians, with only a small fraction of implement strict pet dividuals coming into the population. This jrapole for dogs or eliminate them alto-
urban dwellers falling into the category of ownership laws, prohibit scenario is applicable only on islands, or gether.
what is now called “pet parents”. Most dogs people from carelessly where human settlements are very widely As long as dogs are homeless on the

STRINGS ATTACHED in rural areas are associated with house-

holds that feed them but do little else in
terms of healthcare or welfare. In urban ar-
Homeowner asks to see prospective tenant’s LinkedIn profile eas too, people from all walks of life feed
dogs on the streets but very few take any
—it’s not the most unreasonable demand a landlord has made direct responsibility. Ultimately it is the re-
feeding dogs everywhere,
and set up facilities funded
by animal welfare
organisations that can either
spaced.
It is easier said than done for a country
with a dog population of 60-80 million. To
streets, the idea of a rabies-free India, with
harmonious co-existence between people
and dogs, will be a utopian dream. Keeping
expect a developing country like India to dogs homeless is bad for dogs, bad for peo-
invest thousands of crores of rupees to set ple, and bad for wildlife.
up the necessary infrastructure, and deploy

W
sponsibility of the state to ensure that the house dogs for life, or lakhs of people to catch dogs, operate on The writer is director, Centre for Policy
HEN A BENGALURU man recently posted on Twitter the demands
lives of humans and domesticated animals humanely euthanise them. them and take care of them, is a pipe dream. Design, ATREE, Bengaluru
that a prospective landlord had made before renting him a flat —
LinkedIn profile anda “small write-up”abouthimself — the response
his story got fell into two categories. One set of Twitterati expressed
greatastonishmentovertheincident,exclaimingabouttheunreasonablenessof landlords.
Others sighed in commiseration, sharing their own stories of the peculiar demands of
homeowners—NOCfromparents,copyof father’sPANcard,letterfroma“localguardian”
and so on. As one young person ruefully observed, it’s gotten to the point where land-
MARCH 21, 1983, FORTY YEARS AGO
lords could demand to see your “janam kundli” and you’d be happy to give it just to be al-
lowed to rent a house or flat. ASSAM RIOTS Pondicherry. The council, which is proposed of a mosque.
In the past, housing societies in Mumbai and Pune have been pulled up for putting a FRESH VIOLENCE BROKE out on the eve of to be expanded to include chief ministers of
blanketbanonsinglepeople,especiallystudents.Butasmoreandmoreyoungpeoplepour the first session of the new Assam Assembly
andclaimed17livesinDarrangdistrictof the
all states, will meet frequently to discuss
matters of common interest and find
CM AGAINST CASTEISM
into the job market each year, all looking for accommodation, the experience seems only
central Brahmaputra valley. In widespread solutions. BIHAR CHIEF MINISTER Jagannath Mishra’s
to have become more widespread and common. In none of India’s big cities is it easy to
arsonandriotinginvillagesunderSooteapo- press conference announcement of his gov-
be a young person on the hunt for a house to rent.
To be sure, there are degrees of difficulty here. Being young and single is worse than
licestation,atleast11personswerereported
killed. About 300 houses were also burnt as
KARACHI VIOLENCE ernment’s decision to launch a war against
casteism cost him his surname. He an-
just being young, but not as bad as being young, single and female. As depicted in the mobs of immigrants attacked Assamese RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE WHICH so far has nouncedtwostepstofightcasteism.First,for
2016 documentary Bachelor Girls — its name inspired by the peculiar phrase that exists villages. claimed seven lives in Pakistan’s biggest city certain government jobs, weightage will be
only in India’s rental property market — young women often have to face a barrage of in- spread tomorepartsof Karachi.The day’sin- given to candidates who marry outside their
trusive questions about whether they have boyfriends and how late they work to de- COUNCIL OF CMS cidents included student trouble near the
central business district, eyewitnesses re-
caste. Second, except STs who were entitled
tojobreservations,nobodywillbeallowedto
mands that their parents live with them or that they sign an agreement that no man will A COUNCIL OF chief ministers of southern ported. They said the latest trouble was out- mentiontheircasteintheirapplicationform.
enter the house. Apart, of course, from the problems that come with having the “wrong” states was formed at a conclave of four non- side the area of western Karachi put under A correspondent then said he should drop
surname. Seen in the light of these obstacles, being asked only to share one’s LinkedIn Congress (I) chief ministers of Karnataka, military curfew following clashes between his surname to set an example and the Chief
profile may not be the most unreasonable demand a landlord has made. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Sunni and Shia Muslims over the ownership Minister agreed to be called Jagannath.

11
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
THE IDEAS PAGE
If I don’t speak up, who will?
I hope that my journey and my struggle motivates other survivors of
child sexual abuse to speak up and seek help
Swati Maliwal
RECENTLY, ON INTERNATIONAL Women’s
Day, the Delhi Commission for Women or-
ganisedaceremonytoawardover90persons
who had done outstanding work to support
the cause of women and girls. With each
awardee’sstoryunfolding,Ihadgoosebumps.
However,athoughtcrossedmymind:Arewe
all truly what we show to the world? To ap-
pear perfect and strong, how much of our
lives do we attempt to conceal from those
around us?
I believe that there are always two sides
to heroes — one where they display exem-
plary courage and empathy to go out of their
way to help and protect others; the other is
often the emotional, vulnerable, and some-
times the unhappy part associated with the
pain they had to undergo, which propelled
them to walk the difficult road. The latter
mostly remains hidden from external glare.
Also, there are some people who, while con-
tinuing to help others, are unable to muster
thecouragetofighttheongoingabuseintheir
own lives. In my view, the more people hide
the trauma they have faced, the more pro-
longed their suffering.
With these thoughts in mind, I finally
spoke out at the ceremony about the abuse I
wassubjectedtoasachildbymyfather.Ihave
shared it in the past with several friends and
sometimes with survivors of child sexual
abuse,buttillthen,wasneverabletospeakof
it publicly.
Fromtheoutside,myfamilylooked“nor-
mal”. My father worked in the Indian Air
Force and my mother was a homemaker.
However, my father was an alcoholic and
would often brutally assault my mother and
me,andsubjectustotheworsthorrors.After
he was sober, he would be extremely apolo-
getic for his behaviour and the never-ending
cycleof abusewouldgoon.Iwassoscaredof
him that many times, when he entered the
house, I would hide under the bed and cre-
ateadreamworld—onewhereIwouldteach
men like him a lesson. But the moment I
wouldfacehim,Iwouldlosemycourageand
voice.
SinceIwaslivinginAirForcebasecamps,
I grew up very proud of the armed forces. I
loved their uniforms, the patriotic fervour,
disciplined parades, and the fact that many
of my father’s colleagues and their families
lovedme.Butwesufferedsilentlyfearingso-
cietal judgement.
My mother was obsessed with finding a
waytostopmyfather’sdrinking.Whennoth-
ingworked,shefinallymusteredthecourage
todivorcehim.Andweneverlookedback.He
did not contact us again, remarried soon but
died within a few years due to his excessive
drinking.
He,however,continuestoliveinmymind
and holds immense power over me. There
are still nights when I break into a sweat and
wake up, scared and shivering. A child who
has been sexually abused by her father un-
dergoesextensiveemotionaltrauma.Hewas
the one person whom I loved and depended
on. His abusive actions blurred the lines be-
tween right and wrong, love and hate, anger
andguilt,disgustandattachment,shame,and
pity. I felt all these feelings together for him.
The impact of child sexual abuse at the
hands of one’s own parent is pervasive and
lifelong.Suchchildrenremainvulnerableand
oftenfallpreytotheworstformsof exploita-
tion. If not healed, they end up making bad
life choices, find it difficult to love and accept
themselves and end up in abusive relation-
ships.
Aakshi Magazine
WHAT DOES IT mean to do a job which does
not see you as a person, does not acknowl-
edge your humanity? Nandita Das’s latest
film Zwigato is troubled by this question.
Focusing on the lives of its protagonists —
Manas (Kapil Sharma), a food delivery-app
worker, his wife Pratima (Shahana
Goswami), and their family — the film
wants us to notice the heart of darkness hid-
den behind the apparent efficiency of the
urban informal gig economy.
The owners are invisible and extractive;
the consumers believe only in their own
rights as if these exist in a vacuum, without
a social contract. The food delivery “part-
ner” trades his dignity, one delivery at a
time, one restaurant wait at a time, at low
pay. If a consumer decides to complain,
there is no protection. Written by Das and
Samir Patil, Zwigato’s immediate concern is
this exploitative logic that governs the food
delivery app’s company-rider-consumer re-
lationship.
The question of dignity of work, though,
goes beyond and concerns us all. Both the
WhenIsharedmystory,Ireceivedseveral
supportive messages from people who have
faced similar trauma, who told me that my
speaking out helped them. My statements
also seem to have “shocked” many, who in-
formedmethattheyhadnocluethatafather
could abuse his daughter in this way.
Therewasalsoaviciousbacklashthrough
a barrage of politically-motivated trolling on
socialmedia.Inanattempttofightalow-level
political battle, they tried to tear me down
andreducedmytraumatovulgarcomments
and unfounded accusations. Many referred
to a previous tweet of mine, where I had
stated that I am the daughter of an officer of
the Indian Air Force and that I was proud of
that. They asked me how I could accuse a fa-
ther I was supposedly proud of. If only hu-
manemotionscouldbeblackandwhite.Yes,
there were parts of me that loved him and
thereweregreaterpartsof methathatedhim.
I don’t see a contradiction here. The biggest
traumaof childsexualabuseisthatthesame
people who are responsible for your welfare
are also the ones who subject you to intense
pain. As much as you want to simply hate
them, you have strong memories of some
good moments in your childhood that you
desperately wish to cherish.
ThetrollsalsosaidthatIhavebroughtdis-
reputetothe“sacred”relationshipof afather
and daughter. It is unfortunate that even to-
day, society tends to put the onus of protect-
ing the “family honour” on the victim of sex-
ualabuse.Whensomethinghappenstoagirl,
thefirstquestionsarealways, “whatwasshe
wearing?”, “why was she out that late?” and
not “why did the perpetrator commit the
crime?”.Societydoesnotleaveanystoneun-
turned to shame the woman and somehow
blame the crime on her. In such a situation, a
womanrisksnotonlyherfuture,butalsoher
dignity in opening up about her ordeal.
Inmanycasesthefamilyitself encourages
the child victims to keep quiet. During the
course of my work, I have come across many
instanceswherethemother,despiteknowing
abouttheabusebythefather,askedthechild
to not speak up as he was the sole earner in
the family.
According to the NCRB Crime in India
The worker without dignity
Zwigatowantsustonoticedarknessbehindefficiencyof informalgigeconomy
work we do and the work that we live off —
the latter making the conditions for the for-
mer possible. Work is utilitarian. It is per-
formed with an end in mind — to survive,
to eat, to consume, to have a place to live.
But work is also our way of independence,
of slowly figuring out who we are and find-
ing a space to express our sense of self. Only
a few have access to the latter relationship
to work and this is decided by where we are
born. The casualness with which we have
accepted this feudal logic in our modern
workspaces and homes is staggering.
This is why the film’s choice to reflect on
its protagonists’ relationship with work is
crucial. Two moments stand out. After
spending so much time running after the
elusive ten deliveries a day, Manas arrives at
a devastating truth: Even if he completes the
required deliveries, how will it matter? This
iswhatdriveshisdespair.Pratimaagreesthat
at least his previous factory job was visible
and, therefore, had some kind of possibility.
The new one has reduced him to a machine.
The other is Pratima’s brief excitement
Closing our eyes, shying
away in disgust, and telling
survivors to simply bury
the trauma perpetuates the
taboo and encourages a
culture of silence and shame
that allows offenders to
continue their abusive
behaviour unchecked. It is
high time that society and
state come together to make
it safer for women and
children to report cases of
sexual harassment and
assault. We can do several
things — talk about these
issues with compassion and
empathy, without judging
the survivors and their
families; look out for signs
around us and do
everything in our capability
to help the survivors.
around her new job’s uniform. The look in
her eyes suggests that her eagerness to
work in the mall as a cleaner, despite the
nature of the job, is not just about helping
out with household expenses. It is also
about her own sense of self. This is an ac-
knowledgment of the contradictory truths
of the jobs that the new economy makes
possible. That these can appear briefly
heady, even as they remain exploitative and
even reinforce existing caste hierarchies as
an earlier scene had shown. Pratima’s mar-
vel after watching a woman at “work” on tv
— an athlete — makes sense. She too wants
access to this other kind of work.
Both these moments exist in the same
film, charting a range of relationships to
work, including Manas’ discomfort at
Pratima taking up a job. Das’ filmmaking in-
stinct comes from activism, which makes
her an unusual filmmaker in today’s context
— her film’s politics is reminiscent of paral-
lel cinema of an earlier time period. Some of
the film’s complexity might appear to come
from a theoretical understanding and not
C R Sasikumar
Report, in 2021, over 32,000 cases of sexual
assaultinvolvinggirlchildrenwerereported.
Of these, the offender was known to the vic-
tim in 97.2 per cent cases and was a family
member in over 2,700 cases. That said, child
sexual assault continues to be highly under-
reported, especially if the perpetrator is a
close family relative.
Closing our eyes, shying away in disgust,
and telling survivors to simply bury the
trauma perpetuates the taboo and encour-
ages a culture of silence and shame that al-
lows offenders to continue their abusive be-
haviour unchecked. It is high time that
society and state come together to make it
saferforwomenandchildrentoreportcases
of sexualharassmentandassault.Wecando
severalthings—talkabouttheseissueswith
compassion and empathy, without judging
the survivors and their families; look out for
signsaroundusanddoeverythinginourca-
pability to help the survivors.
There is also need for systemic changes
and holistic policies for the rehabilitation of
survivorsof sexualabuse,especiallybyclose
relatives. Our schools should educate chil-
dren to recognise signs of sexual abuse and
encourage them to raise their voice. If the
state supports such children and their care-
givers, more and more people will be able to
fightagainstthiscrimeandhundredsof chil-
drencanbesavedfromtheextremenegative
mental,emotional,psychological,andsocial
impact of child sexual abuse.
Ihopethatmyjourneyof overcomingthis
horrific abuse and my struggle for the wel-
fare of survivors motivates others to speak
up and seek help. If more women and chil-
dren start speaking up, the system will be
forced to notice. If today, we fail to act, the
never-ending cycle of abuse will continue.
Going by the social media trial I went
through, the road to providing survivors of
child sexual abuse a safe space to speak up,
is still a long one. But considering my posi-
tion, if I don’t speak up, who will? If my
speaking out helps even one person, it is
worth the effort.
The writer is Chairperson of the Delhi
Commission for Women
from observation, since observations rarely
lead to the neat connections and stark con-
trasts this film often makes. Yet, it would be
unfair to box this film as cinematically unex-
citing. As if cinema can mean only one thing.
It is fitting therefore that Zwigato starts
and ends not with what is, but with what
can be. With a dream and a desire —
Manas’s desperate dream revolves around
getting access to the “sugam” scheme (be-
cause everyday despair colonises even
dreams) and a relatively equal partnership
that perhaps Pratima desires. Its choice not
to attempt to resolve any of its narrative
threads feels honest. “Koi story thodi na hai,
life dikha rahe hain” (There is no plot, it is
showing life), someone commented in the
theatre where I was watching the film. It
was not meant as a criticism.
The writer teaches film studies at Ashoka
University and has co-edited ReFocus: The
Films of Zoya Akhtar. The views expressed
above are those of the writer alone and do
not reflect those of Ashoka University
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“What the Rohingya ultimately need is citizenship in Myanmar to safely return
when they wish to, but failing that, resettlement would allow them to establish
new lives and flourish instead of dwelling in perpetual insecurity. They need
not only food now, but a future.”
Fiscal elephant in
federalism room
SchemeslikeOPSwillonlyexacerbatethegap
betweenricherandpoorerstates
Praveen Chakravarty
MOSTPARENTSWOULDacknowledgethat
the teenage years are the toughest phase of
parenting. The new adult mind of the
teenagerwantstobreakfreeandmakeinde-
pendent decisions but is restrained by the
continuedfinancialdependenceonparents.
India’s federalism between the Union gov-
ernmentandstatesisnowatasimilarstage.
Nearly eight decades after the forma-
tionof theRepublic,India’sstateshavema-
turedandwanttomaketheirowndecisions
suchasthetypeof pensionschemetoadopt
for their workers, how their universities
should admit students, the freedom to de-
cidewelfareprogrammesandsoon.Butthe
problem is that states neither have the fi-
nancial resources to implement their deci-
sions nor the freedom to mobilise finances
ontheirown.Theyarethusindependentto
make policies but are dependent on the
Centreforresources,resultingina“parent-
teenager” quandary. The current standoff
betweentheUniongovernmentandstates
over various issues such as “freebies” ver-
sus welfare, reversion to the old pension
scheme,impositionof conditionsforfinan-
cial grants on states and so on are all mani-
festations of this syndrome of “freedom
without finances”. The recent brouhaha
over the old versus new pension scheme is
a classic example.
States such as Rajasthan, Punjab,
HimachalPradesh,Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand
andBengalwanttoimplementtheoldpen-
sion scheme (OPS) that pays government
workersafixedamountpost-retirementbut
increases the state’s financial burden over
the long run. The Centre opposes this be-
cause they have to provide the financial re-
sources eventually. The states are right in
claimingthattheyhavethepowertodecide
the type of pension scheme for their em-
ployees. But they do not have the money.
Given a choice, most government workers
across all states will opt for OPS. But large
states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
KarnatakaandGujaratareresistingpressure
fromtheirgovernmentemployeestorevert
toOPSbecauseofitsdangerousfinancialim-
plications.
Paradoxically,statesthatwanttoimple-
mentOPShavemuchhigherdebtlevels(40
per cent of GDP) than the states that are re-
luctant to switch to OPS (22 per cent). That
is, states that are in a financially worse con-
dition want to burden their finances even
morewithOPS,whilestatesthatareslightly
better off are more financially prudent by
resisting OPS. Punjab has debt of a whop-
ping 48 per cent of GDP and spends nearly
one-fifth of its income on just pensions for
government employees, who constitute a
mere 6 per cent of the total families in the
state. Similarly, Himachal’s debt levels are
42 per cent with a pension expenditure of
21 per cent for just one-fifth of the house-
holds. When these states spend so much of
their incomeon just 20 per cent of the fam-
ilies,theywillnothaveenoughresourcesto
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
UPLIFT THE MASSES
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Dim
outlook’ (IE, March 20). The lower and
middle-income strata are two of the
biggest growth engines of our econ-
omy. But they are currently facing the
triple whammy of inequality through
income distribution, inflation and
higher loan interest rates. The result is
a subdued buying power, which is con-
tributing to the weakening of domes-
tic demand. Therefore, sustained pol-
icy efforts are needed to give a
much-needed economic boost to our
lower and middle-income earners.
Manish Mishra, Bhopal
LET HIM SPEAK
THIS REFERS TO the report, ‘Delhi po-
lice at Rahul door, Cong calls it
‘vendetta…ploy to distract from Adani’
(IE, March 20). The police’s presence at
Rahul Gandhi’s house soon after his
mention of the sexual assault victims
can be construed as politics of intimi-
dation. NCW’s data shows that it has
received over 30,000 complaints re-
lated to crime against women in 2022,
the highest since 2014. If the govern-
ment wants to counter his criticism,
they have to let him speak his mind.
S S Paul, Nadia
RECOGNISE PROBLEM
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Wake
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— THE GUARDIAN
catertothebasicneedsof theremaining80
percent,whichforcesthemtoborrowmore
money.
With high existing debt, the states that
are implementing OPS neither have the
financial muscle nor the powers to raise
their own finances and are dependent on
the Centre to provide funds either through
devolution of taxes collected from other
states or by borrowing and lending. This is
where it gets complicated. Just four large
states – Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and Gujarat -- are net contrib-
utors to the Union government’s tax pool
while most other states are net takers. For
example, for every Rs 100 that an average
Maharashtrian pays in all forms of taxes
to the Union, nearly Rs 70 is sent to other
states. But for every Rs 100 that the aver-
age Punjabi or Rajasthani pays to the
Union government, they get back Rs 150.
In a sense, when the Punjab or Himachal
government claims it has the right to de-
cide on OPS, it is actually paid for indi-
rectly by the future generations of people
in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka through the Union govern-
ment. (Switching to OPS may be finan-
cially beneficial in the short-term but
harmful in the long-term.)
To be sure, such redistribution from
richer states to needier ones is neither
uniquetoIndianorconfinedjusttotheOPS.
Thepurposeofsuchredistributionistoclose
the gap between these states over time.
Unfortunately,thegapbetweenthe“netgiv-
ing” and the “net taking” states has only in-
creased. For example, the gap between the
debtlevelsof statesthathaveimplemented
OPS (Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh,Himachal)vis-à-visthestates
that have resisted OPS (Maharashtra, Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka) has increased
from 13 per cent in 2003 to 20 per cent of
GDP in 2023. To put it simply, financially
weakerstatesareonlytakingmorefromthe
Union government’s tax pool and not less.
This pattern of the richer states giving
and the needier states taking more and
more over time without closing the gap is
unsustainable and dangerous. Profligate
schemes like OPS that lavish money on the
smallcreamylayerof governmentworkers
at the expense of the vast majority of their
poor will only exacerbate the gap between
thericherandpoorerstates.Atsomepoint,
the richer states will start to question the
efficacyof suchredistributionandtheneed
for them to continue to fund regressive
schemes in poorer states. Why should a fi-
nancially more responsible state continue
to deprive its own government workers of
higher pensions and tax its future genera-
tions to provide for other states to squan-
der on regressive schemes like OPS? This
question is the fiscal elephant in the feder-
alism room of the nation.
The decision on what to spend money
on may be a state’s right but the money is a
national issue. Duly elected state govern-
ments must have the right to frame their
ownpoliciesbuttheyalsoneedtobeableto
fundtheirprogrammesandbeaccountable.
Untilsuchtime,India’sfederalismislikethe
troubled teenager, squabbling for freedom
with her parents and older siblings.
The writer is chairman of Data Analytics of
Congress Party
up call’ (IE, March 17). Women have
been considered the second sex for
decades. But their participation in
public life has increased manifold:
From getting a permanent commis-
sion in defense to a higher Gross
Enrolment Ratio (GER) than men in
higher education institutes in recent
years. Yet, the impact of patriarchy is
evident in the data for women’s par-
ticipation in the labour force (23.3 per
cent). Their role in unpaid domestic
work is largely ignored. There’s a need
for gender sensitisation programs —
both for men as well as women.
Prachi Dixit, Jodhpur
STAND FOR JUSTICE
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Marriage
less narrow’ (IE, March 17). The apex
court decriminalised same-sex rela-
tions in the Navtej Johar judgment. But
teh Centre has objected to same-sex
marriage. It is against the basic rights
guaranteed to citizens in the
Constitution to not legalise same-sex
marriages. Under the Special Marriage
Act, anyone can marry either the same
or opposite sex. It is pertinent to
recognise that same-sex couples
legally. Discriminating against them
in the name of social values will be a
grave injustice. The administration
should abide by constitutional moral-
ity over societal morality and legalise
same-sex marriages.
S Haritha Rao, Wanaparthy

12 IN PARLIAMENT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
Won’t let Govt run away from setting
up JPC to look into Adani row: Opp
SOURAV ROY BARMAN
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
LEADERS OF several Opposition
parties said on Monday that they
won't let the Government “run
away” from setting up a Joint
ParliamentaryCommittee(JPC)to
examine the Adani row, deepen-
ingthestandoff betweenthetwo
sideswhichthreatenstowashout
the entire ongoing second leg of
Parliament’s Budget Session.
At a joint press conference,
leaders of nine parties –
Congress, Samajwadi Party,
JD(U), BRS, CPM, CPI, Shiv Sena
(UBT), DMK, and AAP – asserted
that the Opposition “stands
united” on the demand for a JPC,
whichwill“exposethenexusbe-
tween the Adani Group and the
Modi government”. However,
Trinamool Congress, which has
sought a Supreme Court-moni-
tored probe into the issue in-
stead of a JPC, once again stayed
away from the joint opposition
strategising.
The opposition leaders also
condemned the Delhi Police no-
tice to Congress MP Rahul
Gandhi over his remarks during
the Bharat Jodo Yatra on sexual
violence against women. Even
the AAP, which has questioned
the Congress’ stance on the ar-
restof former Delhi deputy chief
minister Manish Sisodia, spoke
out against the police action.”
“Union Home Minister Amit
Shah had termed the Meghalaya
government led by Conrad
STANDING COMMITTEE FLAGS FREE POWER FOR FARMERS
Panel suggests prepaid cards
for power to save groundwater
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
OBSERVING THAT the primary
reason for excessive exploitation
ofgroundwateriswidecultivation
of water guzzler paddy and sug-
arcane crops, which are “heavily
incentivised”, a Parliamentary
StandingCommitteehassaidthat
useof electricpumpsneedstobe
further discouraged by introduc-
ing measures such prepaid cards
for power supply and restricting
power supply to few hours a day.
The committee has recom-
mended that the Department of
Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga
Rejuvenation under Jal Shakti
Ministryshouldtaketheinitiative
byurgingboththePowerMinistry
and Department of Agriculture
and Farmers Welfare along with
state governments to take meas-
ures on the suggested lines.
Initsreport,“Groundwater:A
Valuable but Diminishing
Resource”, which was tabled in
Parliament on Monday, the
Standing Committee on Water
Resourcessaid,“StateslikePunjab,
Haryana, Telangana and Tamil
Naduoffercompletelyfreepower,
while other states have provision
for collection of token charges.”
According to the report, the
committee observed that while
restricting free electricity to the
farmers will certainly reduce the
misuse of groundwater, both the
Department of Water Resources,
River Development and Ganga
RejuvenationandDepartmentof
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
“have expressed inability to per-
After Mamata Banerjee’s remarks against Rahul Gandhi, the ON SEAT RESERVED FOR SCHEDULED CASTES
Congress riposte: ‘TMC a Trojan horse in Opposition camp’
ATRI MITRA
KOLKATA, MARCH 20
THE CONGRESS on Monday re-
sponded to West Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee’s jibe
that the BJP was trying to make
RahulGandhia“hero”toserveits
interests, the Congress accused
her of trying to “weaken anti-BJP
alliance” in the country ahead of
next year's Lok Sabha elections
and called the Trinamool
Congress (TMC) a “Trojan horse”
in the Opposition camp.
West Bengal Congress chief
AdhirRanjanChowdhuryalleged
thatBanerjeehadsurrenderedto
PrimeMinisterNarendraModito
save her family from an ongoing
Opposition leaders at a press conference outside Parliament on Monday. Prem Nath Pandey
Sangmaasthemostcorrupt.Will
theDelhiPolicetakenoteofitand
question Shah to seek more de-
tailsonhisallegation?”AAPRajya
Sabha MP Sanjay Singh asked.
The thrust of the joint press
conference, however, was on the
demand to set up a JPC. In the
morning, representatives of at
least15Oppositionpartiesmetat
the office of Mallikarjun Kharge,
who is the Leader of Opposition
in the Upper House and the
Congress president, to chalk out
a floor coordination strategy.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP
Pramod Tiwari alleged the
ruckuscreatedbytheBJPagainst
Gandhi’sLondonremarksonthe
state of Indian democracy “can-
not be happening without the
signal of the prime minister.”
Government asked to devise measures for adoption in
agriculture to reduce dependence on groundwater. File
suade states to reduce/stop sub-
sidyforpowergiveninagriculture
as electricity is a concurrent sub-
ject and SERCs determine the
electricitytariffforretailsupplyof
electricity to end consumers un-
der the extant provisions of
Electricity Act, 2003”.
“The Committee, however,
note that Punjab introduced a
scheme by way of whichfarmers
wererefundedmoneyiftheycon-
sumed less electricity. They fur-
ther note that under Deendayal
Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana of
Ministryof Power,separatecom-
ponent of agriculture and non-
agriculturefeedershavebeencre-
ated for facilitating judicious
rostering of supply to agriculture
& non-agriculture consumers in
rural areas,” the report said.
“However, groundwater con-
tinues to be used excessively for
catering to irrigation demands.
Therefore, the Committee are of
the view that use of electric
pumpsneedtobefurtherdiscour-
Kerala HC cancels CPM MLA’s election
investigation into corruption
cases. “Everyone knows who
broughttheBJPtoWestBengal.In
1998. She helped the BJP win its
first Lok Sabha seat in Bengal.
Now, the CM of West Bengal
(Mamata Banerjee) is working to
weakentheanti-BJPalliance.She
has been constantly trying to do
that. Her only aim is to please
PrimeMinisterModi.Shehassur-
renderedtoModitosaveherfam-
ily from corruption allegations.”
TheCongressleader hitoutat
Banerjee over her comment that
theTMCwould“goitalone”inthe
general elections. “This only re-
flects the true nature of the par-
ties like the TMC that is nothing
but a Trojan Horse in the
Opposition camp. The TMC has
“These are diversionary tac-
tics. The entire Opposition
stands united on the question of
JPC, which will unmask the BJP
from top to bottom. Come what
may, we will not give up our de-
mand,” Tiwari said.
Speaking to reporters sepa-
rately, Kharge said, “We have
sought time for tomorrow. If he
(Rahul) is allowed to he will def-
initely speak. It is said that a per-
son who wants to offer his per-
sonal explanation is being
denied an opportunity to do so.”
BRS MP Keshava Rao said
while the Supreme Court has al-
ready set up a panel on the mat-
ter,theyare“notsatisfiedwithit.”
“We are not rejecting it but a
JPC is needed as it will be able to
look into the legal as well as po-
aged by way of devising such
measures as introduction of pre-
paid cards for power supply, re-
stricting it for a few hours in the
day, etc,” it said.
Thecommittee,headedbyBJP
member Parbatbhai Savabhai
Patel, also asked the government
to devise “integrated measures”
for adoption in agriculture to re-
duce dependence on groundwa-
ter in agriculture.
“The Committee notice that
over-extraction of groundwater
for meeting irrigation needs is
prevalent mainly in northern
states, particularly in Punjab,
HaryanaandRajasthan,whichare
extracting 97%, 90% and 86% of
groundwater,respectively,forthis
purpose. Other states such as
Karnataka,TamilNaduandUPare
also significant users of ground-
waterforirrigationastheyareus-
ing approximately 89%, 92% and
90%, respectively, of their total
groundwater extraction for agri-
culturalpurposes,”saidthereport.
Bengal
Congress
chief Adhir
Ranjan
Chowdhury
joined hands with the BJP to pro-
tectitself fromtheclutchesof the
CBI and the ED (Enforcement
Directorate) in corruption cases."
At a meeting with TMC lead-
ersfromMurshidabad,addressed
over the phone on Sunday,
Banerjee said, “As long as Rahul
Gandhilives,noonewillthinkbad
about Modi ... Why is BJP hitting
out at Rahul Gandhi? Everybody
knows.Iwillnotsayanythingbe-
yond that …”
litical aspects of the issue, which
has consequences on the econ-
omy. We are not asking for any-
body’sfavour. Thisdemandshall
remain till the JPC is appointed,
let there be no doubt on any-
body’s mind,” Rao said.
On March 2, the top court
had formed a six-member ex-
pert committee “to investigate if
there was a regulatory failure in
dealing with the alleged contra-
vention of laws pertaining to the
securities market in relation to
the Adani Group or other com-
panies” and submit a report in a
sealed cover in two months.
DMK MP A Raja said al-
though he was not allowed to
deposebeforetheJPCwhichwas
set up during the term of UPA II
to investigate the allegations in
Extend PMAY-U to cover
all deserving, assess needy
afresh: House panel report
DAMINI NATH
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
THE PARLIAMENTARY Standing
Committee on Housing and
UrbanAffairshasraisedconcerns
that some people could not avail
of the benefits of the Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban
(PMAY-U) due to the eligibility
criteria or other impediments,
and has asked the Housing and
UrbanAffairsMinistrytoconduct
an assessment.
In its report on the imple-
mentation of the PMAY-U that
was presented to the Lok Sabha
on Monday, the committee rec-
ommendedthattheministryex-
tend the scheme, which is set to
end on December 31, 2024, if
need be, to cover those who re-
main in need of houses.
The panel, chaired by Rajiv
Ranjan Singh, noted that when
the scheme was launched in
2015,theministryhadestimated
the housing shortage of 1.88
crore in 2012-17.
“It[ministry]hadfurthersub-
mitted that in India, at the slum
decadal growth rate of 34%, the
slum households are projected
togoupto18million.Also,2mil-
lionnon-slumurbanpoorhouse-
holdsareproposedtobecovered
undertheMission.Hence,atotal
housingshortageenvisagedtobe
addressedthroughthenewmis-
sion is 20 million. However, the
total validated demand as as-
sessed by states/UTs stands at
1.23 crore,” the report said.
The ministry sanctioned 1.22
crore houses across the country
till March 31, 2022, which was its
Banerjee also claimed that
while “the TMC has not bowed
down to the BJP”, the Congress
has. “I will be friends with you in
Delhi, and here (in Bengal) you
will be friends with the BJP! I did
not bow to the BJP, the Congress
bowed,” Banerjee told party
workersatthemeetingthatcame
weeks after the party’s defeat in
the Sagardighi Assembly bypoll.
In the bypoll, the Congress
snatched the seat from the TMC
that had been winning the seat
since 2011. “Those who want to
defeat the BJP, I believe they will
vote for us … I believe that those
voting for the CPI(M) and the
Congress are actually voting for
the BJP. This truth has come to
light today itself,” Banerjee told
Budget Session
the 2G spectrum case, “We gave
our inputs which were thor-
oughly discussed.”
“What has happened in this
case is that the Hindenburg re-
port says there was stock ma-
nipulation and accountancy
fraud. Let them prove that the
report is motivated,” Raja said.
He also condemned the police
notice to Rahul Gandhi, terming
it as “illegal”.
CPM’s Elamaram Kareem
also said the Opposition will not
let the “government run away”
from setting up a JPC which was
seconded by CPI MP Binoy
Viswam, who alleged that
“Parliament is being under-
mined and the basic values of
democracy are being threat-
ened”.
cut-offdate.Theschemewasthen
extended from 2021-22 till
December 31, 2024, to complete
thehousessanctioned.Outof the
1.05 crore houses where the con-
struction had started, 64.33 lakh
have been completed.
The panel noted that there
wasagapof67lakhhousesinbe-
tween the initial assessment and
the sanctioned houses. The min-
istryinformedthecommitteethat
the initial estimate was just that,
an estimate, while the scheme
adopted a demand-driven ap-
proach. The Committee recom-
mended that the ministry con-
ductanimpactassessmentofthe
scheme to understand the bene-
fits and gaps.
“Theministry,maythereafter,
explore the feasibility of either
extending the existing scheme
withmodificationsbasedonim-
pact assessment study or to for-
mulate another such scheme to
benefittheurbanpooratlargeso
as to achieve the government of
India's objective of housing for
all,” the report said.
The panel noted that 60% of
the total houses sanctioned were
under the beneficiary-led con-
struction (BLC) vertical, where
purchasing land had been chal-
lenging for the beneficiaries.
Thecommitteewasdismayed
by the fact that the real challenge
wastoprovidedecenthousingfor
thelandlessurbanslumresidents,
but the in-situ slum redevelop-
ment vertical only sanctioned
4.33 lakh houses against a de-
mand of 14.35 lakh. The progress
ofthisverticalhadalsobeenslow,
with only 99,000 houses deliv-
ered as of December 31, 2022.
her party workers, blaming an
“unholy alliance of Congress-
CPI(M) and BJP” for the
Sagardighi defeat.
Dismissing Banerjee’s accu-
sations, CPI(M) leader Sujan
Chakraborty said the people of
Sagardighi did not vote for her
because of her party's “immoral
activities”.
The TMC chief's latest attack
on Gandhi and the Congress
came just two days after the
party announced that it would
stay away from both the grand
old party and the BJP, and indi-
cated possible talks with other
regional parties ahead of the
general elections. The TMC also
said the Congress was not the
"big boss" of the Opposition.
No let-up on Rahul by BJP in
and outside House, Opp says
no attempt to break the ice
LIZ MATHEW
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
PARLIAMENT WAS adjourned
withouttransactinganybusiness
yetagainonMonday,forthesixth
consecutive day, as the ruling BJP
insisted on an apology from
CongressleaderRahulGandhifor
his alleged anti-India remarks in
London,whiletheOppositionre-
iteratedthataJointParliamentary
Committee(JPC)beconstitutedto
look into the allegations of fraud
and stock manipulation against
the Adani Group.
There is no sign of a thaw in
the stalemate, despite Lok Sabha
SpeakerOmBirlaseekingameet-
ing with leaders from both sides
in his chamber. Both the Lok
SabhaandRajyaSabhahavebeen
seeing repeated adjournments
since March 13 when the Budget
Session resumed.
On Monday, BJP MPs were on
their feet almost immediately as
theLokSabhaconvenedat11am,
evenastheCongressthatisseek-
ing a chance for Rahul to forward
his side of the story in the House
refrained from entering the Well.
Other Opposition members also
stayed in their seats.
When the Speaker said he
wouldallowadiscussiononano-
tice “according to rules and pro-
cedures”,CongressMPandLeader
in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury asked him to direct
the ruling party MPs to sit down.
“IwanttoseetheHouserun,Iwill
give both sides an occasion to
‘Never had Budget Session been
disrupted by Treasury benches’
LIZ MATHEW
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
WITH PARLIAMENT witnessing
yet another day of chaos and re-
peated adjournments on
Monday,CongressLokSabhaMP
Shashi Tharoor says the govern-
mentisraisingtheRahulGandhi
issue to avoid any discussion on
the floor of the House, particu-
larly on the government favour-
ing a few corporates. Tharoor
alsomaintainsthatRahuldidnot
say anything wrong during his
interactions abroad. Excerpts:
How do you see the
developments inside the
House? The Opposition says
the government does not
want the House to function,
while the government says
Rahul should first apologise
for his remarks.
First of all, Rahul Gandhi has
saidnothingthatrequiresanapol-
ogy.TheIndianExpresscarriedhis
statementsindetailanditisclear
hesaidthat(whatishappeningin
India) is an Indian problem and
wehavetosortitoutinIndia,and
thattherestoftheworldneedsto
be aware of this because Indian
democracyisaglobalpublicgood,
Indiandemocracyisindangerand
they (the world) cannot be indif-
ferent.Thereisabsolutelynothing
wrong with this.
Second, if any leader has said
worseonforeignsoilaboutIndian
domestic politics, it is Pradhan
Mantri Modi, who has said so
sadly on five or six occasions,
which have been recorded and
reported. Mr Modi said nothing
good has happened in our coun-
tryin65years,thatIndianswould
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
MARCH 20
THE KERALA High Court on
Monday declared the election of
CPI(M) legislator A Raja from
Devikulam Assembly con-
stituency as void on the ground
thathewasnoteligibletocontest
from the constituency reserved
for Scheduled Caste candidates.
The Bench of Justice P
Somarajan acted upon a petition
moved by Congress candidate D
Kumar,whohadlosttheelection
toRajain2021.Atthesametime,
the court said there is no claim
for Kumar to declare him the
winner from the constituency.
The court said Raja did not
belong to SC and was a con-
speak,”Birlasaid,evenasthepan-
demoniumcontinued.Finallythe
House ran for barely a couple of
minutes, with Birla seeking to
calm down agitating members
and asking them to come to his
chamber to find a way out.
But, talking to The Indian
Express outside the House,
Chowdhury said there was no
signoftalksfromthegovernment.
“Rahul Gandhi is entitled to give
his personal explanation under
Rule 357 of the Rules and
ProceduresoftheLokSabhaasthe
rulingpartyhasraisedallegations
against him,” he said.
Countering, Parliamentary
AffairsMinisterPralhadJoshisaid:
“The Opposition is trying to un-
necessarily disrupt Parliament,
whichisnotgood.Wewanttorun
the House, so we made the re-
quest. Should he not apologise?"
Sources in the government
said the BJP was in no mood for a
climbdown on its demand for an
apology from Rahul.
AwayfromtheHousetoo,the
BJPdidnotletuponRahul,releas-
ing two videos attacking the
Congressleader,onetagged‘Rahul
Gandhi Hoon, Deshbhakt Nahin’,
and the other ‘Des Mein Bharat
Jodo, Pardes Mein Bharat Todo!’.
At a press conference held in
the morning, Union Minister
Hardeep Puri took on the
Congressleader.“Ifanyindividual
travelsoutsidethecountry,hehas
the freedom to speak. But along
with that freedom of speech
comestheneedtohaveasenseof
responsibility...Tobeginwith,you
THE EXPRESS
INTERVIEW
WITH
SHASHI THAROOR
CONGRESS LOK SABHA MP
earlierhangtheirheadsinshame
whentheywereabroad,thatthey
wouldwonderwhatsintheyhad
committed to be born in India,
and that only after he (Modi)
cametopowercouldIndianshold
their head in pride. This is ab-
solutelydisgracefulonthepartof
the Prime Minister of India....
Do you see a deliberate
attempt by the BJP to keep
Rahul the focus of the attack
on the Opposition?
Yes. But it’s not the whole
story.Don’t forgetthatit’sthere-
sponsibility of the government
to run Parliament. In particular,
this is the Budget Session. The
passingof theFinanceBillisana-
tional imperative. It’s very clear
that in thedebate on the Finance
Bill, a number of issues would
have come up that the govern-
ment does not want to hear on
verted Christian and hence, not
eligible to contest from the re-
served constituency.
“Raja was actually professing
Christianity at the time he had
submitted his nomination and
convertedtoChristianitylongbe-
fore its submission. As such, after
theconversion,hecannotclaimto
be a member of Hindu religion.
On that score also, the Returning
Officer ought to have rejected his
nomination. In short, on both the
grounds,itisclearthattherespon-
dent (Raja) is not a member of
'Hindu Parayan' within the State
of Kerala and not qualified to be
chosen to fill a seat in the
AssemblyreservedforScheduled
Caste(candidate).Hence,theelec-
tionofRajaisdeclaredvoidunder
Section 98 of Representation of
People Act, 1951.’’
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
need closure and the closure will
only come if he apologises. And,
heshouldapologisecategorically,
unequivocally.”
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha
was adjourned in under 10 min-
utesafterconveningforthedayas
theOppositioncontinuedraising
demands for a JPC on the allega-
tions against the Adani Group.
Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar
said he had received 14 notices
from members under Rule 267,
which allows for suspending the
business of the day to discuss an
issue raised by a member. Out of
those, nine notices were from
Congress MPs.
Binoy Viswam and Sandosh
KumarPof theCommunistParty
ofIndia,ElamaramKareemofthe
CPI(Marxist)andSanjaySinghof
the AAP also submitted notices
related to the Adani issue.
Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil
sentanoticetodiscusstheZ-plus
securitycovergiventoaGujarat-
based man, Kiran Patel, while he
visitedKashmirrecentlyandwas
given access to areas out of
bounds for civilians.
Without specifying if these
notices would be allowed or not,
the chairman then called on AAP
MP Raghav Chadha to begin Zero
Hour. This led to the Opposition
disrupting the proceedings and
raising the demand for the JPC.
TheHousewasadjournedtill2pm
and was wound up immediately
after it reassembled at 2 pm.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh ad-
journed the House for the day as
the sloganeering continued.
thefloor of Parliament...Itseems
their first objective is to prevent
a serious debate in Parliament
during the Budget Session,
which is a disgrace. We had the
Winter Session and Monsoon
Session affected by previous dis-
ruptions, but we never had the
Budget Session disrupted by the
Treasury benches.
Secondlytheydo notwant to
giveRahulGandhitheflooragain
because of his uncomfortable
statements regarding the gov-
ernment’s crony capitalism and
the undue favours granted by it
to the friends of the Prime
Minister and the ruling party.
Do you think that the
government wants to evade a
discussion on critical issues
at a time when G20 meetings
are happening in the
country? According to some
Opposition leaders, the BJP
wants to create a narrative in
which there is only PM Modi
in the limelight.
That has always been the
BJP’sstrategy,toensureapositive
narrativeathomeandabroad.By
coveringupallwrongdoing,they
want to minimise damage, par-
ticularlyfromaccurateandwell-
foundedcriticism.Thefactisthat
they have a majority inside
Parliament. What did we do
when we were in government?
We would say, ‘Look, it’s their
right to have their say, we have
the votes and we will have our
way'. But that is something that
the BJP does not believe in. For
them, they will have their way,
but the Opposition will have its
say, is also unforgivable.
FULLINTERVIEWON
www.indianexpress.com
Thecastecertificatefiledalong
with the nomination papers, de-
picting Raja as Hindu Parayan, is
not correct, the court said.
The HC Bench admitted the
argument of Kumar, who lost to
Raja by 7,848 votes, that the
CPI(M) leader was born to
Christian parents belonging to
the Church of South India and
was baptised. Raja married a
Christian woman and the fam-
ily is Christian faithful, fre-
quently attending the services
at the church.
CPI(M) sources said Raja
would appeal against the ver-
dict after taking legal opinion.
Reacting to the court order, the
Congress and the BJP hit out at
the CPI(M), saying it betrayed
the backward communities in
the state.
 E EXPLAINED
13
Credit Suisse and global banking turmoil
A 166-year-old Swiss giant has been taken over by its bigger rival UBS.
What is behind the crises in US, Europe? How are central banks reacting?
UDIT MISRA
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
OVER THE weekend, Credit Suisse, Swit-
zerland’s second largest bank and one of
the most influential banks in global his-
tory, was sold to UBS, its long-time rival
and the largest Swiss bank. The swift dis-
tress sale was brokered by the Swiss gov-
ernment and banking regulators to not
just contain the crisis of confidence in
Credit Suisse, which reportedly faced
withdrawals of close to $10 billion a day
lastweek,butalsotostopthecontagionto
other banks.
UBS will pay around $3.2 billion to
Credit Suisse. The Swiss government will
provide more than $9 billion to backstop
some losses that UBS may incur by taking
over the bank. Further, the Swiss National
Bank is providing more than $100 billion
of liquidity to UBS to facilitate the deal.
This is a spectacular collapse for the
166-year-oldbank.Butwhatisevenmore
stunning is that this is the third major
bank to collapse in just 10 days.
A flurry of collapses
OnMarch10,SiliconValleyBank(SVB)
in the US collapsed after just a single day
of stress following a classic bank run, in
which depositors demanded as much as
$42 billion in one go. While the US regu-
lators were dealing with SVB — which
was, until the fall of Credit Suisse, the sec-
ond-biggest collapse since the iconic
Lehman Brothers — another bank called
Signature Bank had to be seized after de-
positors demanded 20% of all its deposits.
Alotof SignatureBank’sdealingwasin
cryptocurrencies,andregulatorsbelieved
thatunlessitwascloseddown, therun on
could spread further. This did happen to
some extent, with the share prices of First
Republic Bank nosediving within hours.
The US Federal Reserve — the US cen-
tral bank, like the RBI is in India — tried to
get 12 large banks to help First Republic,
but with each passing day, credit rating
agencies have been downgrading the
bank. Overnight, it was reported that S&P
had downgraded First Republic to junk
status while saying that even the $30 bil-
lion infusion may not solve the bank’s
problems. Many fear it may be the next to
collapse.
Reasons for the collapse
There are two ways to look at these
bank collapses.
One is to look at the specifics of each
Drishti IAS
(Prelims + Mains)
(Along with Free Online Facility)
8010-440-440 OR Visit Our Karol Bagh Centre at 21, Pusa Road, Delhi.
Unrest in Israel: pushback in the streets as Bibi targets courts
NIRUPAMASUBRAMANIAN
CHENNAI,MARCH20
THREEMONTHSintohisthirdtermasPrime
MinisterofIsrael,BinyaminNetanyahuisbat-
tlinganunprecedentedcrisis—tensofthou-
sands of Israelis are in the streets, protesting
his government's plans to “reform” the judi-
cial system. They say Netanyahu's ultra right
coalitionhasdeclaredwaronIsrael'sdemoc-
racy,andthattheywillnotrestuntilheaban-
dons what is effectively a plan to end the in-
dependence of the country’s judiciary.
On Monday, the government seemed
ready to take a step back. It has been de-
cided that most of the draft bills that would
clip the wings of judges will be put to vote
only at the end of April — not by April 2
when the Knesset breaks for recess, as had
seemed likely earlier. This gives the Prime
Minister a potential opportu-
nity to negotiate both with
hiscoalitionpartnerswhoare
EXPLAINED
determined that the planned
overhaul must go through,
GLOBAL
and with its opponents who are deter-
mined to ensure that it does not.
But the government will still vote on the
changes planned to the appointment of
judges,oneofthemostcontentiouselements
of the package.
The deal Bibi made
Netanyahu,whoPrimeMinisterNarendra
Modidescribesashis“goodfriend”,returned
asPrimeMinisteronDecember29lastyearat
the head of what is seen as the most right
winggovernmentinIsrael’shistory.HisLikud
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
bank. One finds that the banks are paying
the price of risky bets, ignoring pruden-
tial norms, indulging in outright fraud, or
acombinationof these.Allthesemissteps
eventually hit profitability and eroded in-
vestor confidence.
Forinstance,CreditSuissesawasteady
dip in investor confidence as it lost big
chunks of money by investing in firms
that soon went bankrupt. In 2021 alone,
it lost $10 billion with the fall of Greensill
Capital (a financial intermediary) and an-
other $5.5 billion with the collapse of
ArchegosCapital(ahedgefund).Ithasalso
been involved in fraud and one of its CEOs
had to quit for spying on the bank’s key
employees. Earlier in the month, it re-
vealed its financial statements at the end
of 2022 were inaccurate.
In the case of Silicon Valley Bank too,
there is prima facie evidence of both mis-
management and fraud. For one, it in-
vestedalmostall itsdepositsinlong-term
US government bonds, creating an asset-
The Fed’s monetary policy
review is due on March 22.
Recent actions suggest central
banks are concerned about the
financial system freezing
liability mismatch. When depositors
wanted to withdraw cash, SVB had to sell
its bonds — whose prices had fallen as the
US Fed raised interest rates — and book
billions of dollars in losses. This misman-
agement happened because SVB did not
have a Chief Risk Officer during April and
January, the months Fed raised interest
ratesthemost.SVB’sshareholdersarealso
making claims of fraud because the top
management got its bonuses just before
the collapse. In fact, some of the top man-
agement evensold their stocks before the
collapse.
The second way to look at these col-
lapses is to examine the macro picture.
The global economy has had a very long
period of loose monetary policy (lots of
moneybeingprintedbycentralbanksand
credit being made available at near 0% in-
terestrate) followedbyasuddenandvery
sharp tightening — a sharp rise in interest
rate across the world as well as reduced
money supply.
Just like it is said that a rising tide
(economies being flooded with cheap
money) lifts all boats, similarly, a fast re-
has32seatsinthe120-memberKnesset,ul-
tra-Orthodox Jewish parties have 18, and an
extreme right alliance has 14 seats.
Even before the new government was
formed, as a quid pro quo by Likud to keep its
allies,theKnessetpassedalawenablingany-
oneconvictedofanoffencebutnotsentenced
toprisonto serveasa minister.This helped a
member of the ultra Orthodox Jewish Shas
Party convicted of tax offences with a sus-
pendedsentencetotakeupthreeministries.
Anotherlawenabledtwoministersinone
office. Thus the leader of the Religious
Zionism party who is the finance minister,
came to hold charge of the defence ministry
that controls civil affairs in the West Bank.
Partiestothecoalitionagreedonpropos-
als for laws to boost settler expansion in the
WestBank,andfortheoverhaulof thecoun-
try’s judicial system. Both issues are at the
centre of the current protests.
West Bank plans
In 2016, with the US ab-
staining,theUK,France,Russia,
andChinavotedintheSecurity
Council in favour of a resolution that said
Israeli settlements in the West Bank had no
legal basis, and were in violation of interna-
tional law. Their existence and creeping ex-
pansion of the settlements is viewed inter-
nationally as antithetical to the two-state
solution to the Israel-Palestine issue. There
are about 700,000 settlers in the West Bank
andEastJersualematpresent,andtheirpres-
enceisapointofdailysocial,political,andse-
curity tensions.
InJanuary,The Times ofIsraelreportedon
a “mini-annexation” of the West Bank —
EXPLAINED ECONOMICS
cedingtideisleavingmanyboatsstranded.
Cheap money allowed banks and busi-
nesses to undertake risky bets. Many are
realising they do not have enough time to
dealwiththesuddenspikeinfundingcost
and recalibrate their actions.
Main worry for central banks
Any financial system runs on trust. If
that trust is shaken, things like a bank run
can happen. The collapse of these banks
haserodedthattrust.Centralbanksacross
the world are worried about the spread of
this contagion but they are caught in a
toughspot.Ontheonehandtheirprimary
mandate is to bring down inflation and
restore price stability in the economy. On
the other hand, they are finding that the
sharp tightening is increasingly catching
banks and financial players off-guard.
Whileitistruethatcentralbankswant
economies to slow down so that inflation
comesdown,whatishappeningisworse.
Sudden bank runs and collapses point to
thepossibilityof peoplelosingconfidence
inthebankingandfinancialsystem.While
this will also slow down the economy, it
would be a particularly bad way of doing
so, because it would come at the cost of
people’s confidence in the system, which
takes much longer to reestablish than re-
couping some amount of GDP growth.
Response from central banks
Following the sale of Credit Suisse, six
key central banks — Bank of Canada, Bank
of England, Bank of Japan, European
CentralBank,theFederalReserve,andthe
Swiss National Bank — released a state-
ment announcing they have come to-
gether to ensure US dollars can flow from
one bank to another if needed. This is an
emergencyarrangementaimedatnotjust
calming jittery consumers, but bolstering
the confidence of nervous policymakers
and bankers.
What happens next
The next big event is the Fed’s mone-
tarypolicyreviewonMarch22.Beforethe
bank collapses, it was expected that the
Fed would raise interest rates by another
50 basis points to contain inflation.
However, recent actions suggest the
Fed and other central banks are acutely
concerned about the financial system
freezing and banks running out of money
because of sudden runs. In such a sce-
nario, raising interest rates may be con-
sidered risky because it will further raise
borrowing costs. However, if the Fed
pauses its fight against inflation, it may
worsen that problem.
If the Fed believes that the banking
and financial system is essentially robust
and that it can easily deal with one or two
faltering banks by providing them liquid-
ity support, it could decide to stick to its
path of monetary tightening and possibly
raise interest rates by 25 basis points in-
stead of 50.
If it believes the financial system is in
grave danger, it may decide to pause.
Eitherway,expectmoreturmoilinthe
coming days, especially in terms of stock
market behaviour, as witnessed Monday.
An aerial view shows people protesting as the Israel government presses on
with its contentious judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Reuters
plans by Netanyahu’s government to build
18,000 housing units, and to approve exist-
ing settlements yet to receive authorisation.
On February 13, the government approved
nine unauthorised settlements, and green-
lighted10,000newhousingunitsinexisting
settlements.
Germany,France,Italy,theUKandtheUS
issued statements opposing the expansion.
The plan was put on hold after the US facili-
tated back-channel talks between Israel and
thePalestinianAuthority—thiswasintended
towardoff aSecurityCouncilresolutionthat
the United Arab Emirates had drafted, and
whichtheUSwouldhavebeencompelledto
veto. Had it come up, the resolution would
haveputWesternalliesintheSecurityCouncil
onoppositesidesjustasthefirstanniversary
of Russia’s war in Ukraine approached — a
time when it was especially important to
The deal between the two banks has been brokered by the Swiss government and banking regulators. AP
Swiss banks’ Indian operations
What is Credit Suisse and UBS presence here? What effect will the deal have?
GEORGE MATHEW
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
The proposed takeover of Swiss bank Credit
Suisse by its bigger rival UBS — the deal was
announcedbyauthoritiesinSwitzerlandlate
on Sunday evening India time — is expected
to witness consolidation of the Indian oper-
ations of both banks.
UBS and Credit Suisse have investment
banking and wealth management opera-
tions in India; the latter also has a banking li-
cence and a branch in Mumbai.
UBS in India
UBS got a banking licence from RBI in
2009, but it wound up banking operations
in India in June 2013 and returned the li-
cence. The decision was likely linked in part
to a broader global move in response to the
stricter capital requirements undertheBasel
III standard.
These internationally agreed norms de-
veloped by the Basel Committee on Banking
Supervision aimed to strengthen regulation,
supervision and risk management in banks
after the 2007-09 global financial crisis. The
Basel III norms forced a number of foreign
banks to curtail their operations in markets
like India, and pare investments in Indian
companies.
While UBS was one of the first banks to
exit the banking business in India, UBS
Securities, which has got a separate invest-
mentbankinglicencefromtheSecuritiesand
ExchangeBoardof India(Sebi),hasremained
operational.
UBS ramped up its commercial banking
business in late 2010, when it started to ac-
present a picture of unity.
Ultimately,theSecurityCouncilputouta
statement that only reiterated that “contin-
uing Israeli settlement activities are danger-
ouslyimperilingtheviabilityofthetwo-State
solutionbasedonthe1967lines”.Butthesus-
pension of the February 12 plan enraged
Netanyahu’salliesontheright—andthegov-
ernment declared there was no freeze on
building new settlements.
Rampage in Huwara
IntheWestBank,tensionshavebeenrun-
ning high. According to media reports, 70
PalestinianshavebeenkilledinraidsbyIsraeli
security forces in the West Bank since
January;overthesameperiod,13Israelishave
been killed in Palestinian attacks.
On February 25, two Jewish settlers who
were brothers were killed in the town of
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com
tively lend to large Indian corporates. Over
2011and2012,itmovedaggressivelyintothe
high-yield loan business. These businesses,
however,failedtogenerateadequatereturns,
andpromptedthebanktoexitboth.UBShad
outstanding advances of $6.2 billion at the
end of March 2012, according to RBI’s A
Profile of Banks report.
In October 2012, UBS decided to shut
down its fixed income business in India as
part of a global decision to exit the fixed in-
come space.
UBS had faced a probe in a case of alleged
money laundering against the controversial
businessman Hasan Ali Khan.
Credit Suisse in India
In January 2013, Credit Suisse received a
licence from RBI to establish a branch in
Mumbai. Currently, ithasa1.5percent share
of the assets of foreign banks in India, and0.1
per cent in sector assets. With a total asset
base of more than Rs 20,000 crore, it is the
12th largest among foreign banks, according
to a report by the investment banking and
capital markets firm Jeffries.
Seventy per cent of the bank’s assets are
in G-Secs (short term), and it has zero non
performing loans (NPLs), Jeffries said. It has
a“presenceinderivativesmarketandfunded
60 per cent of assets from borrowings, of
which 96 per cent is up to two months”, the
report said. “Still, it is small for the banking
sector with 0.1 per cent share of assets.”
Will the banks merge?
UBS Securities India Pvt Ltd is a Sebi-reg-
istered stock broker with membership of the
National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock
Exchange. It provides corporate, institu-
Huwara in Nablus. The next day, about 100
armed Israeli men, accompanied, according
tosomereports,byIsraelisecuritypersonnel,
wentontherampageinHuwara.Palestinian
properties were set on fire, one person was
killed,and350injured.“Pricetag”violenceis
common in the West Bank, but the size and
scale of the Huwara attack — compared by a
right wing commentator to the Nazi
Kristallnacht pogrom — was reported to be
unprecedented.
Judicial overhaul plan
The Israeli judiciary has a reputation for
fierce independence, and the draft laws to
shackleitincludeabilltochangethecompo-
sition of the nine-member committee that
selects judges. This panel currently has the
minister of justice and another minister, the
Supreme Court president and two judges,
two Knesset members, and two representa-
tivesofthebar.Underthenewproposal,gov-
ernment-nominatedmemberswouldbeina
7-4 majority in an expanded committee.
Another bill proposes to divest the
Supreme Court of its power to strike down
legislationpassedbytheKnesset—theHouse
willbeabletooverturnsuchrulingsbyasim-
ple majority.
AthirdbilltakesawaytheHighCourt’sde-
terminationthatitcanstrikedownBasicLaw
in cases where the Knesset has misused its
authority. Israel has no constitution, and
manyoftherightsandfreedomsthatitspeo-
ple enjoy are contained in Basic Law.
Whilethebillsmustpassthroughseveral
stages of discussions and four rounds of vot-
ing,thegovernmentisconfidentitsmajority
will allow it to push them through.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
tional, and wealth management clients with
expert advice, innovative solutions, execu-
tion and comprehensive access to interna-
tional capital markets in India. India is one of
the technology hubs of UBS with a sizable
workforce.
CreditSuisseSecurities(India)PvtLtd,in-
corporated in December 1996, is involved in
activities auxiliary to financial intermedia-
tion, except insurance and pension funding.
It offers wealth management, investment
banking, and asset management services to
high net worth, corporate, and institutional
clients.
These firms are likely to be integrated as
the global merger process takes shape in the
comingmonths.Neelkanth Mishra,Co-head
of Asia-Pacific strategy of Credit Suisse
Securities, recently decided to step down
from his role and move to head the research
wing of Axis Bank.
Foreign banks in India
As many as 45 foreign banks are in India,
but their presence is relatively small — with
a 6 per cent share in total assets, 4 per cent
in loans, and 5 per cent in deposits. They are
more active in the derivative markets (forex
and interest rates), where they have a 50 per
cent share.
Most are there as branches of the parent
bank, with only a few present as a wholly-
ownedsubsidiary.Buttheyretaincapital,liq-
uidity, and make annual report disclosures
similar to Indian banks.
The five biggest foreign banks in India by
assets are HSBC, Citibank (which has sold its
consumer business to Axis), Standard
Chartered, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan
Chase (the largest US bank).
Protests in the streets
Formorethantwomonths,liberalIsraelis
and opponents of Netanyahu turned out
every Saturday to protest against what they
sawastheunravellingof thecountry’sdem-
ocraticproject.Earlythismonth,assomebills
moved through the first stages, huge num-
bersof Israelisregisteredtheirprotestonthe
“day of national disruption”, chanting
“Democracy, Democracy”.
Protesters clashed with police who used
stungrenadesandwatercannons,Israelime-
dia reported.“Where wereyouin Huwara?”
protesters shouted, referring to the alleged
free pass to rioters in the West Bank town.
Pro-government lobbies say the reforms
are necessary against the judiciary’s over-
reach,whilecriticssaytheplansspellamarch
toauthoritarianrule,withnochecksandbal-
ances against the government’s majority in
parliament.
Several former security officials have
comeoutagainstNetanyahu’splans.Onefor-
mer head of Mossad said it would be legiti-
mate for the armed forces to disobey orders
from an illegitimate government. Israeli re-
servistshavesaidtheywillnotreportforduty
if the “coup” against the judiciary goes
through. One ambassador has resigned.
Capital is said to be exiting the country qui-
etly. Israel’s flourishing tech entrepreneurs
have joined the protests.
Israel is in turmoil like never before.
Netanyahu’scriticssayhehastrappedhimself
with hisright wing partners andislosinghis
traditionalstrengths—agoodsecuritysitua-
tion and a healthy economy.
LONGER VERSION
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM/EXPLAINED

14 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
DELHI CONFIDENTIAL
FRIEND IN NEED
RAILWAYMINISTERAshwiniVaishnaw’spresenceintheDelhi-
AjmerShatabdionSundayauguredwellforapassengerwhose
health deteriorated all of a sudden. After boarding the train,
Vaishnaw had bumped into an old doctor friend. On the way,
therewasanannouncementthatapassengerhadtakenilland
whethertherewasanydoctorinthetrain.Vaishnawimmedi-
ately reached outtohis doctor friend, whoexamined the pas-
senger and prescribed some medicines, which railway offi-
cials arranged at the next station.
LIGHT START
EVEN AS the Rajya Sabha has been marred by disruptions this
season,Mondaymorning’sbriefproceedingssawtheChairman
and Opposition MPs sharing some light moments. Chairman
JagdeepDhankharreadoutthenoticesforsuspensionof busi-
nesssubmittedbytheOpposition,withmostofthemaskingfor
adiscussionontheallegationsagainsttheAdaniGroup.When
TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray said “we are happy that
yourhonourhasmentionedtheholynamerepeatedly”,itmade
Dhankhar laugh. Derek O’ Brien of the TMC then said: “Let us
clarify. A D A N I… Adani…that is the name, sir”.
Rlys begins project
to collect data on
evolution of stations
AVISHEK G DASTIDAR
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
A NOVEL project has begun for
the over 7,000 railway stations
across India to collect informa-
tion about their history, evolu-
tion and their role in the devel-
opment of the area they serve.
As the Modi government
plans to redevelop 1,275 railway
stations under the Amrit Bharat
Station scheme, the policymak-
ers have decided to trace theori-
gin, importance, and evolution
of railway stations as part of the
history of the cities, towns, and
villages they serve.
The railway ministry has sent
out a directive to all 17 zonal rail-
ways to start probing their own
recordsandcollectdataonthehis-
toricalimportanceofthestations.
“Railway stations play a very
importantroleinthelifeofthecity
they serve. It has therefore been
decided to study the stations and
the role they play in the develop-
ment of the surrounding areas,”
says the letter to railway zones.
One of the key points the
projectseekstoprobeiswhether
the original station building was
ever replaced with a new one in
the past and when, and what
was the story behind it.
Unique statues, plaques, his-
toricalanecdotesassociatedwith
thestations,etc.aretobemeticu-
louslycollected,verified,andsent
totheministry,thedirectivesays.
The zonal headquarters will
set up a committee to collect the
informationfromreliablesources,
including stations masters.
“Tomaintainintegrityandau-
thenticity of the information, the
Not doing enough to limit warming at 1.5 C: IPCC
ESHA ROY &
AMITABH SINHA
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
Reiterating its earlier findings,
the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) on
Mondayremindedtheworldyet
again that it was still not doing
enough to rein in global temper-
atures from breaching the 1.5-
degree Celsiusthresholddespite
there being “multiple, feasible
and effective options” to do so.
In itslatest report, IPCC, a UN-
backedglobalscientificbody,said
averagetemperatureshadalready
touched 1.1 degree Celsius above
the pre-industrial times, and the
1.5 degree Celsius threshold was
“more likely than not” to be
reached in the “near term” itself.
Monday’s Synthesis Report,
a summary of the five earlier re-
ports released between 2018
and 2022, marks the culmina-
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Terminus in Mumbai, where
the first train arrived. File
committee shall cross check the
information with archives, foun-
dationplaques,commercialcircu-
lars, opening documents, etc. be-
fore sending it to Railway Board
with the approval of the General
Manager,” the directive says.
Except for the well-known
historical station buildings, such
as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Terminus in Mumbai, the Thane
station where the first train ar-
rived, the Howrah station,
Lucknow’s Charbagh, or stations
associated with Mahatma
Gandhi’smovementsduringthe
freedom struggle, the history
and evolution of thousands of
smallerstationsarenotrecorded
in the institutional repository of
the railways, officials said.
Someof thedivisionsarealso
planning to seek public opinion
so that local experts reach out to
offer historical facts.
In the first phase of the Amrit
BharatStationplan,stationshave
been picked from 32 states and
UTs. Uttar Pradesh has 149 sta-
tions, Andhra Pradesh has 72,
Maharashtra has 123, Karnataka
has55,andWestBengalhas94.A
station each from the northeast-
ernstateshavealsobeenincluded.
tion of IPCC’s sixth assessment
cycle that began in 2015. These
include three parts of the main
sixth assessment report, one
special report on the feasibility
of keeping temperature rise
within 1.5 degree Celsius, and
another one on the connections
betweenoceansandcryosphere.
Together, these form the most
comprehensivescientificunder-
standing of the science of cli-
mate change, itsimpacts and ac-
tions that need to be taken.
“The synthesis report says
that by 2030 there is 50 per cent
chance that global surface tem-
perature in any single year could
exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius. The
modelling shows that it is theo-
retically possible to limit warm-
ingto1.5degreesCelsius,butthe
current scale, scope and pace of
globalaction,pledgeduntil2030,
is not enough. We are not on
track, and the report reiterates
this,” Prof Joyashree Roy, one of
Centre warns of action
if staff join OPS protests
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
THE CENTRAL government has
warned its employees against
participatinginstrikesorprotests
over demand for restoration of
the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
In a communication to all
ministries on Monday, the
Department of Personnel and
Training(DoPT)said,“Theunder-
signed is directed to inform that
the National Joint Council of
Actionunderthebannerof ‘Joint
Forum for Restoration of Old
PensionScheme’,hasplannedto
organise district-level rallies
across the country on March 21,
exclusively over OPS.”
“The instructions issued by
the Department of Personnel &
Training prohibit Government
servants from participating in
any form of strike, including
mass casual leave, go-slow, sit-
down etc.or any action that abet
any form of strike in violation of
Rule7of theCCS(Conduct)Rules,
1964.Besides,inaccordancewith
ISRO’s LVM-3 to launch second
fleet of 36 satellites on Sunday
ANONNA DUTT
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
INITSsecondcommerciallaunch,
India’s heaviest launch vehicle
LVM-3 will launch a fleet of 36
OneWeb satellites, completing
the first generation of the huge
broadband constellation. The
launch is scheduled for 9 am on
Sunday, March 26, from the sec-
ond launch pad of the country’s
only spaceport at Sriharikota in
AndhraPradesh. Thefinallaunch
will enable the company to initi-
ate global coverage.
The satellites have already
been integrated and the rocket is
in place at the launch pad ahead
ofSunday’slaunch.Thisisthesec-
ond OneWeb fleet that India is
launching,withthefirstbeingcar-
ried out by the same vehicle in
October last year. This initiated
India’sjourneyintothecommer-
cial heavy lift-off space.
The UK-based company,
backed by the UK government
and India’s Bharti, plans to create
a 588-satellite strong constella-
tion to provide high-speed, low-
latencyglobalconnectivity.These
satelliteswillbeplacedin12rings
of 49 satellites each, with every
satellite completing a full trip
around the Earth in 109 minutes.
TN allocates Rs 7,000 cr for Rs 1,000
monthly aid to women family heads
ARUN JANARDHANAN
CHENNAI, MARCH 20
TAMIL NADU has fulfilled a key
pollpromiseof therulingDMK—
Rs1,000monthlycashassistance
for eligible women family heads
— in its Budget for 2023-24.
With an allocation of Rs
7,000 crore, the scheme will be
rolled out on September 15, co-
inciding with the birth anniver-
saryof DMKfounderandformer
chief minister C N Annadurai.
The synthesis report says
that by 2030 there is
50% chance that global
surface temperature in
any year could exceed
1.5 degrees Celsius
PROF JOYASHREE ROY
ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF REPORT
the93authorsof thereport,said.
Roy said if the temperature
rise overshoots the 1.5-degree
threshold, there could be irre-
versible damages.
Of 1.1degreeCelsiustemper-
ature rise since pre-industrial
times, about 1.07 degree Celsius
wascontributedbyhumanactiv-
ities,thenewreportstated.Itsaid
the world had emitted about
2,400 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxidebetween1850and2019,
of whichalittleover1,000billion
tonnes,orabout42percent,had
been emitted after 1990.
The instructions
prohibit staff from
participating in any
form of strike,
including mass
casual leave, go-slow,
sit-down etc
the proviso to Rule 17 (1) of the
Fundamental Rules, pay and al-
lowances is not admissible to an
employee for his absence from
duty without any authority,” the
communication said.
“Central Government
Employees under your
Ministry/Departments may,
therefore,besuitablyinformedof
the aforesaid instructions under
the conduct Rules issued by this
Department and other regula-
tions upheld by the Hon'ble
SupremeCourt.Theymaybedis-
suadedfromresortingtostrikein
any form, including protest,” it
said.
“Instructions may be issued
LVM-3 at the launch pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. PTI
Sunday’s launch will be the 18th
fleet to be launched by the firm.
“OneWebalreadyhasconnec-
tivitysolutionsactivetodayinkey
geographiesacrosstheglobeandis
bringing new areas online.
OneWeb’s high-speed, low-la-
tency solutions will help connect
communities, enterprises, and
governments around the world,
demonstrating the unparalleled
potential of LEO (low earth orbit)
connectivity,”thecompanysaidin
itsrelease.“AcrossIndia,OneWeb
will bring secured solutions not
only to enterprises but also to
towns,villages,municipalitiesand
Announcingtheschemeinhis
Budget speech, state Finance
Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan
said: “I am very happy to an-
nounce that Rs 1,000 per month
willbeprovidedtowomenheads
of eligible households from the
upcomingfinancialyear.Women
heads of families who have been
affectedadverselybythesteepin-
creaseincookinggaspricebythe
Uniongovernmentandtheover-
all price rise will greatly benefit
from this scheme.”
Thegovernmenthasallocated
In order to have a 50 per cent
chance of keeping warming be-
low1.5degreeCelsius, theworld
must not emit more than 500
billion tonnes of carbon dioxide
equivalent after 2020, the report
said.Incidentally,currentannual
emissions in 2019 amounted to
59 billion tonnes. That means
500 billion tonnes carbon
budget would get exhausted in
less than ten years.
The Synthesis Report also
highlighted the fact that climate
impacts were “unequally dis-
tributed”, with the poor and the
disadvantaged being the most
vulnerable.
Union Minister for
Environment,ForestsandClimate
Change Bhupender Yadav said
the report reconfirms the role of
"unequalhistoricalcontributions
to GHG emissions". "India wel-
comestheSynthesisReportofthe
SixthAssessmentReportof IPCC.
The report confirms climate
not to sanction casual leave or
other kind of leave to employees
if appliedforduringtheperiodof
the proposed protest/strike and
ensure that the willing employ-
ees are allowed hindrance free
entry into the office
premises.”
“For this purpose, Joint
Secretary (Admn) may be en-
trusted with the task of coordi-
nating with security personnel,”
itsaid.“Incasetheemployeesgo
on dharma/protest/strike, a re-
port indicating the number of
employees who took part in the
proposed dharna/protest strike
may be conveyed to this
Department on the evening of
the day.”
Acting on the order, the
AnimalHusbandryandDairying
departmentwarneditsemploy-
ees of action if they participated
inprotestsoverOPS demand.Ina
circular,itsaidthatincaseanyof-
ficial participates in the
strike/protest, it will be brought
to the notice of the competent
authority for appropriate disci-
plinary/penal action.
schools,includingthehardest-to-
reachareasacrossthecountry.”
In the previous mission, the
36 satellites were launched in a
600-kmcircularorbitaroundthe
Earth in a precise manner. “The
separation has to be sequenced
in such a way that the customer
requirementof aminimum137-
metredistancebetweenanypair
of satellitesismaintained.Thisis
achieved by orienting and reori-
entingthecryostage(thirdstage
of therocket)usingtheon-board
thrusters,” Vikram Sarabhai
Space Centre director, Dr S
UnnikrishnanNair,hadsaiddur-
Rs40,299crorefortheschooled-
ucation, including Rs 6,967 crore
for the higher education.
TheChiefMinister’sBreakfast
Scheme rolled out on a pilot ba-
sisin1,543elementaryschoolsin
the state, which helped in in-
creasing the attendance in 1,319
schools, will now be introduced
in all the 30,122 government pri-
mary schools from the coming
academic year. A sum of Rs 500
crorewasallottedforthisscheme
and it will benefit 18 lakh stu-
dents of classes 1 to 5.
o
changeasoneofthekeyenviron-
mentalchallengesfacinghuman-
ity. The Synthesis Report for pol-
icy makers endorses India’s call
for equity and climate justice,"
Yadav tweeted.
AditiMukherjee,anotherau-
thor of the report, said India is
amongthecountriesexpectedto
face large-scale impacts. “Even
though India’s per capita emis-
sionsareless,andwehavemuch
less historical responsibility (of
emissions), the reality is India is
at the forefront of impacts. We
simply cannot say that because
we haven’t emitted much, we
wouldnotbetheonestotakeac-
tion. Everybody has to take ac-
tion according to their national
context and circumstances ur-
gently,” Mukherjee said.
The report said that while
adaptation planning and imple-
mentation had progressed
across all sectors and regions,
large gaps existed.
A-I urination case:
woman moves SC,
appeals for SOPs to
check misconduct
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
CLAIMING THAT the crew on
board Air India's New York-New
Delhi flight, in which an inebri-
ated co-passenger urinated on
her, had “actively coerced a set-
tlement between” her and “the
perpetrator”, the woman who
underwent the trauma has ap-
proached the Supreme Court
seeking directions to the
Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA) and airline
companiestobringoutStandard
Operating Procedures (SOPs)
and regulations to deal with in-
cidents of passenger miscon-
duct.
The 72-year-old woman said
the cabin crew “facilitated the
handing over of the petitioner's
phone number to the passenger
who had urinated on her in or-
der to reimburse cost of shoes,
etc”.
E
E X P L A I NE D
Eyeing
satellite
● market
WITH THE space sector
opening up to private play-
ers in 2020, several startups
have emerged, focusing on
building satellites and ap-
plications. ISRO, too, has de-
veloped a small satellite
launch vehicle for the com-
mercial market. India aims
to increase its current 2%
share of the commercial
market to 10% by 2030.
ing the previous mission.
The same challenge will be
facedbythelaunchvehicleduring
Sunday’s launch. Until the
OneWeb India-1 mission in
October,theheavylaunchvehicle
had carried only a single satellite
duringitstwodevelopmentflights
and its first operational flight car-
ryingonboardChandrayaan-2.
Ajay Lele, senior fellow at
Manohar Parrikar Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses,
saidwithafocusonthecommer-
cialspacemarket,Indiamanaged
to seize the opportunity pre-
sented by OneWeb.
Nitish not in PM
race, nor am I in a
hurry to become
CM: Tejashwi
SANTOSH SINGH
PATNA, MARCH 20
IN AN effort to negate specula-
tions over a rift between the RJD
andtheJD(U),BiharDeputyChief
MinisterandRJDleaderTejashwi
Prasad Yadav on Monday said
thatneitherChief MinisterNitish
Kumar is in the race to become
the Prime Minister after next
year's General Election nor is he
eagertobetheChief Minister.He
emphasised that the
Mahagathbandhan in Bihar is
functioning well under Nitish
Kumar's leadership.
Speaking in the Assembly
duringadiscussiononBudgetal-
locations for the road construc-
tiondepartment,Tejashwisaid,“I
am happy working under Nitish
Kumar as the Chief Minister.
Neither Nitish Kumar is in the
race to be the PM, nor am I in a
hurry to become the CM.”
The RJD leader said, “I would
like to thank Nitish Kumar-ji for
taking the very important deci-
sion of snapping ties with the
BJP.... I am trying to live up to the
faith he has reposed in me.”
Healsomentionedthat“some
people”werecirculatingrumours
of a “rift” between the two allies.
Tejashwi,whohasbeenunder
attackfromtheOppositiononhis
alleged links to corruption cases,
said, “I am dismayed at
Opposition leaders targeting us
and how they had been keeping
quiet about corruption charges
faced by their own leaders.”
The petition stated that the
crew “initially asked” her “to sit
on the same seat that was wet
and smelled of urine. The crew
did not offer her alternative ac-
commodation for over two
hours, even though there were
seats available on the aircraft.
The petitioner was told that the
pilot-in-commandhadnotsanc-
tioned use of a fresh seat...as the
pilot was sleeping”.
She said although the crew
askedherwhatactionshewould
like to take, they “did not brief”
her “that what transpired was
clearly a criminal act and that it
is the airline's responsibility to
file a police complaint on ar-
rival”.
The petitioner said the crew,
and the pilot-in-command,
“failed to alert the Air Traffic
Controller regarding the inci-
dent”, and officials concerned
proceededtofileacriminalcom-
plaint against the passenger af-
ter over a month.
KARNATAKA POLLS
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with party president
Mallikarjun Kharge in Belagavi, Monday. PTI
Rahul announces
unemployment
allowance for youth
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, MARCH 20
CONGRESSLEADERRahulGandhi
announcedtheparty’spollprom-
ise of unemployment allowance
amountingtoRs3,000forgradu-
ates and Rs 1,500 for diploma-
holders for two years at a rally in
Karnataka’s Belagavi on Monday.
Thisisthefourthguaranteeby
the Opposition party in the poll-
bound state. Earlier, it had an-
nounced200unitsoffreeelectric-
ity for all families, called 'Gruha
Jyothi';Rs2,000permonthforthe
female head of the family, or
'GruhaLakshmi';and10kgricefor
BPL families, 'Anna Bhagya'.
Speakingathisfirstrallyinthe
state after the Bharat Jodo Yatra,
Rahulsaidtheallowancepromise
was in response to the concerns
raisedbytheyouthduringtheya-
tra. Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge was among
leaders present at the rally.
Addressing the ‘Yuva Kranti’
rally, Rahul said: “We have de-
cided to provide Rs 3,000 per
monthperunemployedgraduate
for two years. Similarly, Rs 1,500
permonth(willbeearmarked)for
diploma-holders. We won’t stop
there. In this state, the Congress
government will give employ-
ment to 10 lakh people. The 2.5
lakhvacanciesingovernmentjobs
will also be filled.”
CongressleadersofKarnataka,
ODISHA MINISTER MURDER
Accused cop never applied for leave
for psychiatric treatment: minister
Bhubaneswar: Dismissed police
assistant sub-inspector (ASI)
Gopal Das, the lone accused in
the murder of health and family
welfare minister Naba Kisore
Das, had never applied for leave
citing medical treatment of any
psychiatric disorder since 2014,
said minister of state (home)
Tusharkanti Behera.
GopalDasshottheministerin
inBrajrajnagarareaofJharsuguda
district on January 29. Hours af-
ter the murder, Gopal's wife
Jayanti told the media that her
husband was under medication
for “mental illness”.
In a written reply to the
AssemblyonMonday,Beherasaid
Dashadremainedunauthorisedly
absentfromdutytwice—firstfor
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
CHHATTISGARH
Gov under BJP
pressure, quota
Bills chances
bleak: minister
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
RAIPUR, MARCH 20
STATING THAT chances of the
twopendingreservationBillsbe-
ing passed are “very bleak”,
Chhattisgarh minister Kawasi
Lakhma on Monday accused
Governor Biswa Bhusan
Harichandan of “toeing the BJP’s
line” on the issue.
ThecommentsfromLakhma,
a tribal leader and the state's
Minister for Commercial Tax
(Excise),CommerceandIndustry,
came after he led a delegation of
MLAs to meet Harichandan and
request his assent to the Bills.
The Chhattisgarh Assembly
hadunanimouslypassedthetwo
amendment Bills, which give 76
per cent reservation in govern-
ment jobs and educational insti-
tutions, in December 2022.
“We spoke at length with the
Governor. But from his language
andvichaar(thoughts)itseemshe
isheistoeingtheBJP’sline.Hewas
sayinghewillread,see,think,and
then find a way,” Lakhma said.
Bogus promises,
says Bommai
Bengaluru:Respondingtothe
Congress’s poll promise of
unemploymentallowanceto
the youth, Karnataka Chief
Minister Basavaraj Bommai
said the Opposition party is
desperate to win the elec-
tions and is carrying on with
its “series of bogus prom-
ises”.“They(Congress)made
a similar promise in
Rajasthan,whichwasnotful-
filled. In Chhattisgarh,
Congress had announced Rs
1,500asallowanceforunem-
ployedyouth,whichalsowas
not fulfilled,” he told re-
porters in Hubballi. ENS
hesaid,wouldputupaunitedfight
in the Assembly polls, scheduled
this summer. He asserted: “The
Congresswillsweeptheelections
inthestate.Why?BecausetheBJP
government(inKarnataka)isa40-
percentcommissiongovernment.
Thepeopleofthestatewanttoget
rid of this government. We will
form a government for the poor,
weakandsmalltraders.”
Rahul accused the Basavaraj
Bommaigovernmentofbeingthe
“most corrupt in the country”. “I
am not saying this. Thousands of
youthstoldmethisduringBharat
Jodo Yatra,” he said.
60 days from February 2 to April
3, 2014 and subsequently for 119
days from March 1 to June 27,
2015. On both the occasions,
Gopal had submitted his fitness
certificate along with medical
treatment papers of MKCG
MedicalCollege,Berhampur,per-
taining to his treatment for psy-
chiatricdisorder(BipolarAffective
Disorder) to regularise his leave,
saidBeherainhisreplytoaquery
from Congress legislature party
leader Narasingha Mishra.
Though Gopal availed multi-
pleleavesduring2014to2022,he
cited “wife’s treatment” on most
occasions among other reasons.
Theministersaidtheaccusedhad
never submitted any representa-
tion for his transfer. ENS
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

15 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023

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FINANCE MINISTRY COGNISANT OF EXOGENOUS RISKS

Govtassessesifandhowglobal
financialturmoilwillknockIndia
GEORGEMATHEW
MUMBAI,MARCH20
THE GOVERNMENT is closely
tracking the potential channels
through which the turmoil in
the global financial sector may
be relayed to the Indian econ-
omy. According to policy experts
working alongside the govern-
ment, there is comfort in the
prevailing macroeconomic situ-
ation, and the Finance Ministry
was cognisant of the exogenous
risks emanating from two key is-
sues -- the continuing Russian-
Ukraine and the emerging stress
in the financial sector on either
side of the Atlantic.
“The focus has been on
macroeconomic stability; the
Budget for the next year was an
attempt at consolidation of gov-
ernment finances while being
aware of continuing uncertain-
ties in the external sector and an
impending global slowdown,” a
policy expert who interacts
closely with the government
said. Various wings of the gov-
ernment, including the Prime
Minister's Office, the Finance
India is amongst a small set of countries that have been able
to reduce their debt burden from Q3 2008 to Q3 2022. File
Ministry and the Economic
Advisory Council are monitoring
the global events and assessing
their impact on India, the latest
being the UBS takeover of Credit
Suisse facilitated by the Swiss
government and its regulator.
Meanwhile, the Finance
Ministry in its monthly eco-
nomic review for February
noted that tightening of financial
conditions by central banks to
tame inflation has raised con-
cerns regarding the exacerba-
tion of corporate debt vulnera-
bilities, with corporates being al-
ready highly leveraged.
“However, in the case of India,
the concern seems limited.
India’s private non-financial sec-
tor debt has witnessed a steady
decline since mid-2021, along
with an improvement in the
quality of debt. India’s corporate
sector credit-GDP ratio is also
below its historical trend, imply-
ing sufficient space for the cor-
porate sector to borrow further.
The strong debt profile por-
trayed by corporates will prove
to be critical in maintaining the
macroeconomic stability of the
economy going forward,” it said.
The tightening of monetary
policy tends to create new vul-
nerabilities in economies where
debt levels are low and exacer-
bate existing vulnerabilities
where debt is already high, pre-
cipitating significant disruptions
to the functioning of the finan-
cial system, it said. Citing data
from the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS), the ministry
said the core debt of the corpo-
rate sector increased in both ad-
vanced economies (AEs) and
emerging market economies
(EMEs), reaching 175 per cent of
GDP in EMEs and 185 per cent of
GDP in AEs at the end of 2020,
adding that India is amongst a
small set of countries that have
been able to reduce their debt
burden from Q3 2008 to Q3
2022. “This is a result of the
banking sector’s balance sheet
clean-up and the corporate sec-
tor’s deleveraging exercise un-
dertaken over the last decade.
India’s relatively lower debt bur-
dens will help limit the impact of
financial contagion that may
arise as rising borrowing costs
trigger debt sustainability con-
cerns,” it said.
In India, despite the Swiss
regulators' intervention to pro-
tect the global financial system,
investor sentiment remained
shaky with the benchmark
Sensex falling over 900 points at
one stage before closing 0.62 per
cent, or 361 points, down at
57,628.95 and the NSE Nifty
Index falling 112 points at
16,988.40 on Monday.
The fear of contagion contin-
ued to roil the global financial
sector and stock markets on
Monday even after Swiss bank
UBS agreed to buy its banking ri-
val Credit Suisse in a $3.25 billion
takeover over the weekend. The
pessimist mood prevailing
across the global markets trig-
gered a major sell-off in global
markets, including India, as in-
vestors are still battling a slew of
negative news from turmoil in
large global banks to macro-eco-
nomic concerns and falling com-
modity prices. FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
Crew shortage hits Air India
on US sector; Scindia says
sustained robust demand
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,MARCH20
TOMITIGATEcrewshortageprob-
lem in long-haul wide-body op-
erations, Air India will be reduc-
ing the flight frequency to the US
temporarily,airline'schiefexecu-
tive officer Campbell Wilson said
on Monday. At present, the Tata
Group-ownedairlineisthelargest
operator of non-stop flights be-
tween the two countries.
Air India will be reducing
weeklyflightfrequenciesbythree
each to Newark airport and the
San Francisco airport for two to
three months, as the carrier will
work on strengthening the num-
berof pilotsforitsBoeing777air-
craft fleet, Wilson told reporters
onthesidelinesof theCAPAIndia
Aviation Summit. Air India oper-
ates six flights a week to Newark
and 17 to San Francisco. In all, the
airline operates 47 weekly flights
to the US.
There have been a few in-
stances of prolonged delays and
even cancellations of Air India's
flightstoandfromtheUSoverthe
pastfewmonths.Wilsonsaidthat
there is a very limited pool of
Boeing 777-rated pilots in India,
andtheairlineexpectstoadd100
pilots and 1,400 cabin crew over
the next two to three months. He
addedthattheairlinedoesnotex-
CEO: SpiceJet
restructuring
pect any major crew shortage in
the medium term. balance sheet
Ever since it's sale to the Tata
group,AirIndiahasbeenworking New Delhi: SpiceJet chief
tobringitswide-bodyplanesback Ajay Singh on Monday
totheskies,leadingtocrewshort- said the airline is signifi-
ages. The airline will also be cantly restructuring its
switching twin-aisle planes with balancesheetandwillag-
narrow-body aircraft on some gressively push for fleet
BangkokandDubaiflightsforthe expansion.
next few months. Theairlinewillalsobe
Meanwhile, speaking at the having asignificant num-
same summit, Union Civil ber of dedicated cargo
Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya aircraft, he said, adding
Scindiasaidthesectoriswitness- that the cargo business
ing sustained robust demand, hashelpedtheairlinepay
having seen an almost V-shaped off its liabilities.
recovery from an all-time low Lastmonth,theairline
during the pandemic. announced that Carlyle
TheBJPleadersaidthedomes- Aviation Partners will ac-
tic aviation sector is seeing new quire a 7.5 per cent stake
highs in almost all parameters, in the airline by convert-
particularlypassengertraffic,with ing outstanding dues as
the latest record being around well as snap up share-
4.56 lakh passengers per day holding in the cargo busi-
which was “not a blip”. ness.Besides, it is set to
Scindia said the growth seen tap the Qualified
in passenger demand is being Institutional Buyer (QIB)
supported by rapid expansion in route to raise up to Rs
infrastructure, including airport 2,500 crore. PTI
capacity and aircraft fleet.

Gold hits `60,000 mark
on risk-off sentiments
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
India’s domestic air passenger Tax demand worth `13,566 cr
traffic grows to 1.20 cr in Feb 2023’ raised during FY19-22: MoS
rise in three years while bets so- Domestic air passenger traffic grew 56.82%,
lidified for a less aggressive US money law.
Fed in its fight against inflation.
as per the data released by the DGCA ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU The minister also informed
686 searches were

AFTER RISING more than 5 per
cent in the previous week, gold
prices on Monday rallied by 1.5
per cent to the Rs 60,000 level
per10gramsamidbroadrisk-off
sentiments as UBS-Credit Suisse
deal failed to calm the investor
nerve.
According to the Indian
Bullion and Jewellers
Association (IBJA), gold (999 va-
riety) closed higher at Rs 59,479
per 10 grams on Monday
evening as against Rs 58,220 on
Friday. Gold hit Rs 60,100 in
Delhi. Bullion prices gained as a
wave of banking crises shook
global markets and put bullion
on track for its biggest weekly
76.96lakh:
In London, gold crossed the Totalpassengersflownby NEW DELHI, MARCH 20 that 648 disclosures involving
level of $2,000 an ounce for the domesticcarriersonlocal
conducted during undisclosed foreign assets
first time in a year. routesinFebruary2023 THE INCOME tax department 2021-22, while assets worth Rs 4,164 crore were made
“Extreme risk off sentiments has raised tax demand worth Rs worth Rs 1,159.59 crore during three months of a one-
and caution prevails in markets 7.42lakh: Thegrowthin 24.6%: Thetotalmarketshare 13,566 crore and passed349 as- time compliance window,
and gold is a major beneficiary trafficwasledbymarket ofthethreeentitiestogether sessment orders during the four were seized under which closed on September 30,
of this crisis,” said Ravindra Rao, leaderIndiGo,cornering financial years (FY19-FY22) un- Black Money Act 2015, under the Black Money
Head Commodity Research, 91%: BudgetcarrierSpiceJet der the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income
Kotak Securities. When global 55.9% ofthetotal recordedthehighestloadfactor (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of
stock markets and the financial domesticpassengertraffic and Assets) and Imposition of searched during the last eight Tax Act, 2015.
sector face problems, investors 88.8%: IndiGodeliveredthe Tax Act, 2015, the government financial years since 2014-15, The amount collected by
turntogoldasasafehavenasset. 29.75lakh: Passengers topon-timeperformanceonan informed Parliament on with seizure of assets worth Rs way of tax and penalty in such
Colin Shah, MD, Kama transportedbyAirIndia, averagefromacrossfourkey Monday. 8,832.92 crore. cases was about Rs 2,476 crore.
Jewelry, said, “Gold prices have AirAsiaIndia,andVistara airports--Delhi,Mumbai, Government data also In a written response to a “...whenever any instance of
risen almost 7-8 per cent in the together HyderabadandBengaluru showed that 686 searches were question in Lok Sabha, Minister unaccounted/black money
past month. The rally in the yel- conducted during 2021-22, of State for Finance Pankaj comes to its notice, the income
low metal is primarily due to the while assets worth Rs 1,159.59 Chaudhary said 183 assessment tax department takes appropri-
banking crisis in the west.” 0.25%: Theoverallcancellationrateofscheduled crore were seized by the in- orders were passed in 2021-22 ate actions as per the provisions
FULLREPORTON domesticairlinesforFebruary Source: DGCA/PTI come tax department. A total of and a demand of Rs 5,350 crore of the Income- tax Act, 1961,” he
www.indianexpress.com 5,931 groups have been was raised under the black said.

BRIEFLY
RBIpenaltyon
RBLBank
Mumbai:Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) has imposed
a monetary penalty of Rs
2.27 crore on RBL Bank
for deficiencies in regula-
tory compliance ob-
served relating to the pe-
riod FY 2018-19 to FY
2021-22. The penalty
was imposed as the
lender failed to comply
with certain provisions of
the directions issued by
the RBI on Internal
Ombudsman Scheme,
2018, Fair Practices Code
for Lenders, Credit Card
Operations of Banks,
Managing Risks and
Code of Conduct in
Outsourcing of Financial
Services by banks and
Recovery Agents en-
gaged by Banks. ENS
Jan:14.86
lakhnewEPFO
subscribers
New Delhi: Retirement
fund body EPFO added
14.86 lakh subscribers in
January2023,theMinistry
of Labour and
16.54 crore
vehicles
uninsured:
MoS Karad
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,MARCH20
About16.54crore,ornearly54per
cent, of the vehicles plying on
Indian roads are uninsured,
Minister of Finance Bhagwat
Karad said on Monday.
Whilereplyingtoaquestionin
the Lok Sabha on Monday, Karad
said as per the information from
Ministry of Road Transport &
Highways (MoRTH), the total es-
timated vehicle fleet in the coun-
try is 30.48 crore, excluding data
from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra
Pradesh and Lakshadweep. The
minister said MoRTH at present
do not have any proposal to bring
on-the-spot third party cover.
Earlier this month, The Indian
Express had reported that insur-
ance regulator IRDAI has asked
general insurers to talk to state
transport authorities to provide
mandatory covers for the unin-
sured vehicles. FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
Coal prices likely to be
‘Mundra project yet Rapid transition in Indian users across
to tie up finances’ price segments: Samsung Mobile president
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, MARCH 20
EMBATTLED ADANI Group on
Monday said it has put on hold
major equipment procurement
and site construction activities
for the Rs 34,900 crore petro-
chemical project at Mundra in
Gujaratastheprojecthas notyet
tied up finances.
The group's flagship Adani
Enterprises Ltd (AEL) incorpo-
rated a wholly-owned sub-
sidiary, Mundra Petrochem Ltd
in 2021 for setting up a green-
field coal-to-PVC plant at Adani
PortsandSpecialEconomicZone
(APSEZ)landintheKutchdistrict
of Gujarat.
Asked by stock exchanges to
comment on a PTI report on
Sunday that the group has sus-
pendedworkon theproject,AEL
said,“Thefinancialclosureof the
Green PVC project of Mundra
PetrochemicalsLimited(MPL)is
pending with the financial insti-
tutions and it is in their active
consideration.”
Due to recent market devel-
opments, the management has
decidedtocontinuewiththeen-
gineering design and other ac-
tivities including financial clo-
sure in an accelerated mode, it
said.
“Pending the above, it has
been decided to keep the major
equipment procurement and
site construction activities on
hold,” AEL said. “We are hopeful
toobtainfinancialclosureforthe
project in the next six months
postwhichfull-fledgedprocure-
ment and construction activities
at the site will commence. We
are committed to completing
the project in an expeditious
manner so as to meet the origi-
nal timelines.”
After Hindenburg Research's
January 24 report alleged ac-
counting fraud, stock manipula-
tions and other corporate gover-
nancelapses,choppingoff about
USD 140 billion from the market
valueof Gautam Adani's empire,
the apples-to-airport group has
drawn a comeback strategy to
claw back and calm jittery in-
vestors and lenders by repaying
some loans to address concerns
around debt and consolidating
operations.
(A Government of Kerala Undertaking)
Kalavoor, Alappuzha – 688 522, India
Phone: 0477-2258184, 2258828, Telefax: 0477-2258162
Indianexpress.com during an in- Xiaomisellsmorevolume,asper
NANDAGOPAL RAJAN teraction at the Samsung CounterpointResearch’sdatafor
BENGALURU, MARCH 20 Research Institute in Bangalore.
“Market research also shows
all of 2022.
However, Samsung is the
DR. T M Roh, Samsung’s the Indian market is shifting largest handset manufacturer in
President and Head of MX from feature phones to smart- India because of its huge pres-
Business, Monday said he was phones and even within smart- ence in the feature phone seg-
seeing a rapid transition in India phones from entry level to mid ment.
in terms of users moving from segmentandthenpremiumseg- Roh said it was in Samsung’s
featuresphonestosmartphones, ment,” he said, adding how the DNA to constantly innovate
particularly because of the data factthatIndiaisthecountrywith based on insight from cus-
consumption opportunity. Dr T M Roh, Samsung the maximum data consump- tomers.“Itisinourmanagement
“Indian customers are very President. Express photo tionwasoneof themainreasons coretolistentocustomerandre-
quick to adopt new technology behind this trend. flect their needs in the product,”
andtheyseemoreopportunities Samsungisthelargestsmart- Roh told Indianexpress.com.
with the smartphone. So I be- happen,” Roh said in response to phone manufacturer in India in FULLREPORTON
lieve that rapid transition will a question from value terms, even though www.indianexpress.com
Tender No: Re T No.113/2022-23/SE/Q
Rehabilitaiton of existing sewerage system, extension of the sewerage systems
for Zone A1 Part I- KLM SS01 and for commissioning of Karumalil Vadi pumping
stations balance works EMD : Rs. 500000 Tender fee : Rs. 16540+2978 Last
Date for submitting Tender: 10-04-2023 02:00:pm Phone : 04742745293
Website : www.kwa.kerala.gov.in, www.etenders.kerala.gov.in
Superintending Engineer
KWA-JB-GL-6-1892-2022-23 PH Circle, Kollam
Tender No: 119/2022-23/KW A/ PHC/TVLA(Rt-1)(Id-17067/2022)
JJM -5th SLSSC Laying distribution system and providing 4182 FHTCs from
proposed OHSR in Pandalam Thekkekara panchayath including road
restoration works. EMD : Rs. 500000 Tender fee : Rs. 19518 Last Date for
submitting Tender : 03-04-2023 02:00:pm Phone : 04692600162 Website
: www.kwa.kerala.gov.in, www.etenders.kerala.gov.in
KWA-JB-GL-6-1881-2022-23
Superintending Engineer
PH Circle, Pathanamthitta

revised soon: CIL chief

Employment said, adding
3.54 lakh members exited
thefoldofEPFOwhichwas
the“lowestexit”inthelast
four months. PTI
Amazontocut
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, MARCH 20
DUE TO a slowdown in mining
which will have an impact on
CIL's financial condition, espe-
cially for a few subsidiaries
where the manpower cost is
very high,” Agarwal told a gath-
E-mail: ksdpltd@gmail.com Website: www.ksdp.co.in
1)E-Tenders are invited from competent
Suppliers/Manufacturers for the Supply of Patna Metro Rail Corporation Limited
Surgical Spirit IP,Chloroxylenol Solution
IP-5%W/v,MeropenemIP,Cefoperazone (A SPV of Govt. of India & Govt. of Bihar)
Sodium and Sulbactum Sodium (2:1),
Sugar(Pharma Grade)for the year 2022-23. Notice for Extension of Last Date of Application for the
Last date of Bid Submissions are posts of Director (Electrical & Systems), Director Project,
23,24-March,
2) a) E-Tenders are invited from competent
Suppliers/Manufacturers for the supply
Chief Financial Officer-cum- Director (Finance)

9,000jobs sector, it is likely that coal prices

New Delhi: Amazon an-
nouncedonMondayitwill
layoff9,000corporateand
technologyworkers,elim-
inating jobs in addition to
the18,000jobcutsunder-
taken by the company in
the last few months. PTI
may get revised, Coal India
Limited (CIL) chairman Pramod
Agarwal said on Monday at 16th
Indian Coal Markets Conference
in Kolkata.
“There is a strong case for in-
creasing coal prices, as that has
nothappenedinthelastfive-odd
years. This year, the wage nego-
tiation has taken place as well,
ering of stakeholders from the
coalindustry, addingthe growth
witnessed last year will not be
coming soon and even if it does,
it will not be sustainable.
Meanwhile, Coal Secretary
Amrit Lal Meena said the min-
istry is in the process of chang-
ing a few existing norms for
commercial coal block auction
to attract more investments.
Installation, commissioning and Validation of
HPLC(ID:2023_ksdp_566873_1)-1 No,
With reference to Advertisement No: PMRCL/Estb-06/2020-
A29, Dated 22.02.2023, it is hereby informed that the last date
b) supply Installation,commissioning and of submission of application for the posts of Director (Electrical
Validation of Walk in Stability Chamber
(ID:2023_ksdp_563235_1)-1No. & Systems), Director Project, Chief Financial Officer-cum-
Last Date of Bid Submissions are 25 March . Director (Finance) is extended till 31/03/2023, 05:00 PM.
Please Refer Sites http://etenders. kerala.
gov.in/www.ksdp.co.in for detailed specifi- All other Terms and Conditions remain same as per
cation, terms and conditions. advertisement.
Any further amendment or corrigendum will
Sd/- Manisha Sinha
be published only in the sites. Participants
are advised to refer sites for necessary GM (Admin/HR)
information on a regular basis. Sd/- Patna Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.
Managing Director

16 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
Australian Defence
Minister Richard
Marles. AP File
AUSTRALIA
Won’tpromise
tosidewithUS
overTaiwan
Canberra: The Australian
defence minister says his
country has made no
promises to the United
StatesthatAustraliawould
support its ally in any fu-
tureconflictoverTaiwanin
exchange for American
nuclear-powered sub-
marines. US President Joe
Biden and the leaders of
Australia and the United
Kingdom announced in
San Diego last week that
Australia would purchase
nuclear-powered attack
submarinesfromtheUSto
modernize its fleet amid
concern about China’s in-
fluenceintheIndo-Pacific.
PAKISTAN
Imran’snephew
heldforattackon
securityforces
Islamabad:Pakistanpolice
arrested Imran Khan's
nephew and a number of
hissupportersonMonday
for their alleged involve-
ment in the attackson the
securitypersonneloutside
a court over the weekend
wheretheoustedpremier
arrivedfromLahoretoap-
pearinthemuch-awaited
hearing in a corruption
case.Monday’sarrests,in-
cluding Hassan Niazi’s —
Khan’s nephew — bring
thetotalnumberofKhan's
followers detained in
Islamabad to 198 since
Saturday. Overall number
of cases against Khan,
meanwhile, has also
crosses 97 so far. PTI
USA
Trump’sprotest
callsgetmuted
response
Washington: Former
PresidentDonaldTrump’s
calls for protests ahead of
hisanticipatedindictment
in New York have gener-
ated mostly muted reac-
tions from supporters,
with even some of his
most loyalists dismissing
theideaasawasteoftime.
Law enforcement in New
York is continuing to
closely monitor online
chatterwarningofprotests
andviolenceifTrumpisar-
rested, with threats vary-
inginspecificityandcred-
ibility, four officials said.
The New York Young
Republican Club has an-
nouncedplansforaprotest
in Manhattan. AP
GERMANY
EUtoimpose
moresanctions
onIran:FM
Brussels: EuropeanUnion
foreignministerswillslap
a sixth package of sanc-
tions on Iran in response
to human rights viola-
tions, German Foreign
Minister Annalena
Baerbock said as she ar-
rived for a meeting with
her EU counterparts in
Brussels on Monday. “We
want to make clear that
nobody is above the law,
which is why we will im-
pose a sixth package of
sanctions here in
Brussels,” she told re-
porters,addingthemeas-
ures would target those
responsible for human
rights violations in Iran.
REUTERS
China’sXiarrivesinMoscowfor3-day
trip,firstsinceRussia’swaronUkraine
President’svisitisanopportunitytofurtherdeepenmutualno-limitsfriendship,sayChinaandRussia
ASSOCIATEDPRESS
MOSCOW,MARCH20
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir
Putin welcomed Chinese leader
Xi Jinping to the Kremlin on
Monday, sending a message to
Westernleadersthattheirefforts
to isolate Moscow over the fight-
ing in Ukraine have fallen short.
Xi’strip—hisfirstabroadsince
his re-election earlier this month
—camejustdaysafteraninterna-
tional arrest warrant was issued
for Putin on war crimes charges
related to Ukraine.
The two major powers have
describedXi’sthree-daytripasan
opportunity to deepen their “no-
limits friendship.”
They smiled and shook
hands before sitting down and
making brief statements at the
start of their meeting in the
Kremlin,callingeachother“dear
friend” and exchanging compli-
ments.PutincongratulatedXion
his re-election and voiced hope
for building even stronger ties.
“China has made a colossal
leap ahead in its development in
recent years,” Putin said, adding
that“it’scausinggenuineinterest
43,000 estimated dead in
Somalia’s longest-ever
drought last year: Report
CARAANNA
NAIROBI,KENYA,MARCH20
A NEW report says an estimated
43,000 people died amid
Somalia’s longest drought on
record last year and half likely
were children under 5 years old.
It is the first official death toll
announced in drought wither-
ing large parts of Horn of Africa.
Atleast18,000people,andas
many as 34,000, are forecast to
die in the first six months of this
year. “The current crisis is far
from over,” says the report re-
leased Monday by the World
Health Organization and the
UnitedNationschildren’sagency
and carried out by the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine.
Somalia and neighboring
Ethiopia and Kenya are facing a
sixth consecutive failed rainy
season while rising global food
prices and the war in Ukraine
complicate the hunger crisis.
The U.N. and partners earlier
Latest missile fire simulated
nuclear attack, says N Korea
Seoul: North Korea said Monday
it simulated a nuclear attack on
South Korea with a ballistic mis-
sile launch over the weekend
that was its fifth missile demon-
stration this month to protest
the largest joint military exer-
cises in years between the U.S.
and South Korea.
The North’s leader Kim Jong
Uninstructedhismilitarytohold
more drills to sharpen the war
readiness of his nuclear forces in
the face of “aggression” by his
enemies, state media reported.
The South Korean and
Japanese militaries detected the
short-range missile being
FIRST TIME ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE PHYSICALLY FOUND ONE FROM LATE 6TH CENTURY
Their world was the oyster: Oldest pearl town found in UAE
JONGAMBRELL
SINIYAHISLAND,MARCH20
ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAID
Monday they have found the
oldest pearling town in the
Persian Gulf on an island off one
of the northern sheikhdoms of
the United Arab Emirates.
Artifacts found in this town
on Siniyah Island in Umm al-
Quwain, likely once home to
thousands of people and hun-
dreds of homes, date as far back
as the region’s pre-Islamic his-
tory in the late 6th century.
Whileolderpearlingtownshave
been mentioned in historical
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right), and Chinese
President Xi Jinping shake hands prior to their talks at the
Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday. AP
allaroundtheworld,andweeven
feel a bit envious,” as Xi smiled.
HewelcomedChina’spropos-
alsforapoliticalsettlementinKyiv
andnotedRussiaisopenfortalks.
Moscow and Beijing share a
cause: Both countries have ac-
cusedWashingtonoftryingtoiso-
this year said they were no
longer forecasting a formal
famine declaration for Somalia
for now but called the situation
“extremely critical” with more
than 6 million people hungry in
that country alone.
Famine is the extreme lack of
food and a significant death rate
from outright starvation or mal-
nutrition combined with dis-
eases like cholera. A formal
famine declaration means data
shows more than a fifth of
households have extreme food
gaps, more than 30% of children
are acutely malnourished and
over two people out of 10,000
are dying every day.
“The risk of famine still re-
mains,” the U.N. resident coordi-
nator in Somalia, Adam
Abdelmoula, told journalists on
Monday.
Some humanitarian and cli-
mate officials this year have
warned that trends are worse
than in the 2011 famine in
Somalia in which a quarter-mil-
lion people died. AP
launched Sunday into waters off
the North’s eastern coast, which
reportedly came less than an
hour before the U.S. flew long-
range B-1B bombers for training
with South Korean warplanes.
Pyongyang’s official Korean
Central News Agency said the
missile, which flew about 800
kilometers, was tipped with a
mock nuclear warhead. It de-
scribed the test as successful,
saying that thedevice detonated
as intended 800 meters above
water at a spot that simulated a
“major enemy target,” suppos-
edly reaffirmingthe reliability of
weapon’s explosion. AP
texts, this represents the first
time archaeologists say they
have physically found one from
this ancient era across the na-
tions of the Persian Gulf.
“This is theoldest example of
that kind of very specifically
Khaleeji pearling town,” said
TimothyPower,anassociatepro-
fessor of archaeology at the
UnitedArabEmiratesUniversity,
using a word that means “Gulf”
in Arabic. “It’s the spiritual an-
cestor of towns like Dubai.”
The pearling town sits on
Siniyah Island, which shields the
Khor al-Beida marshlands in
Umm al-Quwain, an emirate
some 50 kilometers (30 miles)
latethemandholdbacktheir de-
velopmentastheychallengeitfor
regional and global leadership.
Xi hoped that “...the strategic
partnership between China and
Russia will on the one hand up-
hold international fairness and
justice,andontheotherhandpro-
CLASHES IN KENYA
Protesters run away from a police water cannon in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday. Hundreds of
Opposition supporters have taken to the streets over the result of the last election and the
French government
rising cost of living, in protests organised by Opposition demanding that President resigns. AP
Nepal PM wins confidence vote, fights to survive two
second time in three months no-confidence motions
YUBARAJGHIMIRE
KATHMANDU,MARCH20
THE NEPAL government led by
Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'
on Monday won the vote of con-
fidence in parliament, winning
thesecondfloortestwithinthree
monthsaftertheformationofthe
newgovernment.Prachandawas
sworn in as the country's Prime
Minister in December, 2022.
The motion moved by
Prachandasecuredthesupportof
172membersinthe275-member
House of representatives. A total
of 262 members were present,
while 89 opposed the motion.
The68-year-oldMaoistleader
needed at least 138 votes out of
the 275 lawmakers.
EarlieronJanuary10,atotalof
268membershadsupportedthe
motioninthefirstmandatoryvote
of confidence as his party did not
have its majority in the House.
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Siniyah
Island in Umm al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates. AP
motethecommonprosperityand
development of our countries,”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said that over dinner,
Putin will likely offer Xi a “de-
tailed explanation” of Moscow’s
actions in Ukraine.
Broader talks involving both
countries’ officials on a range of
subjects are scheduled Tuesday,
he added.
For Putin, Xi’s presence is a
prestigious, diplomatic boost to
show partnership in the face of
Western efforts to isolate Russia
over Ukraine.
Xi’s trip came after the
International Criminal Court in
The Hague announced Friday it
wants to put Putin on trial for the
abductions of thousands of chil-
dren from Ukraine.
ChinaportraysXi’svisitaspart
of normal diplomatic exchanges
and has offered little detail about
whatthetripaimstoaccomplish,
though Ukraine cast a long
shadow on the talks.
AtadailybriefinginBeijingon
Monday, Foreign Ministry
spokespersonWangWenbinsaid
China “will uphold its objective
andfairpositionontheUkrainian
crisisandplayaconstructiverole
PM Pushpa
Kamal
‘Prachanda’
Elevenpoliticalpartiesinclud-
ing Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist
Centre, Rastriya Swatantra Party,
CPN-Unified Socialist, Janata
Samajwadi Party Nepal,
Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party,
Nagarik Unmukti Party, Janamat
Party among others voted in
favour of Prachanda.
CPN-UML and Rastriya
Prajatantra Party voted against
him.NepalWorkersandPeasants
Party abstained.
Prachanda was compelled to
seek the vote of confidence after
two of the major constituents of
the government — K P Oli-led
Communist Party of Nepal-
Unified Marxist Leninist and the
FOR THE FIFTH TIME
MURDOCH SET TO MARRY AT 92
Media baron Rupert Murdoch on Monday announced that he is ready
to marry for the fifth time at the age of 92. The billionaire announced his
engagement to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former police chaplain.
E
E X P L A I NE D
‘No-limits’
● partnership
ALTHOUGH THEY boast
of a “no-limits” partner-
ship, Beijing has con-
ducted a China First pol-
icy. It has shrunk from
supplying Russia’s mili-
tary — a move that could
worsen relations with
Washington and turn im-
portant European trade
partners against Beijing.
On the other hand, it has
refused to condemn
Moscow’s aggression
and criticized Western
sanctions against
Moscow, while accusing
NATO as well as the
United States of provok-
ing Vladimir Putin’s mili-
tary action.
inpromotingpeacetalks,”hesaid.
Xi didn’t directly mention the
Ukrainefightingorhispeaceplan
when he sat down for the talks
with Putin on Monday.
Pro-Monarchy Rashtriya
Prajatantra Party — withdrew
theirsupportafterthePMdecided
tobackthePresidentialcandidate
RamchandraPaudelfieldedbythe
Nepali Congress against the ear-
lierunderstandingwiththeUML.
Prachanda'svictorypavesthe
wayfortheexpansionof thecab-
inet by inducting ministers from
ruling alliance including the
largest party in the Parliament —
Nepali Congress, which has al-
readyannouncedplanstojointhe
government.
The expansion of the cabinet
is likely by Friday to give a full
shapetothegovernment,asindi-
cated by the PM.
The PM, while moving the
motion, accused the two erst-
while coalition partners of trying
to inject element of destabilisa-
tion in politics much against the
understanding at the time of
forming the government on
December 26. WITH PTI INPUTS
northeastofDubaialongthecoast
of the Persian Gulf. The island,
whose name means “flashing
lights” likely due to the effect of
the white-hot sun overhead, al-
readyhasseenarchaeologistsdis-
cover an ancient Christian
monastery dating back as many
as 1,400 years.
Thetownsitsdirectlysouthof
thatmonasteryononeofthecurl-
ing fingers of the island and
stretchesacrosssome12hectares
(143,500squareyards).There,ar-
chaeologists found a variety of
homes made of beach rock and
lime mortar, ranging from
crampedquarterstomoresprawl-
ing homes with courtyards, sug-
Thailands PM Prayuth Chan-ocha (centre), with porters at
Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday. AP
PM CHAN-OCHA SEEKS FRESH POLLS
Thailand dissolves
Parliament ahead
of May elections
GRANT PECK
BANGKOK, MARCH 20
Thailand’s Parliamentwas dis-
solvedMondaybyagovernment
decree, setting the stage for a
May general election that poses
anopportunitytolessenthemil-
itary’s influence in politics.
The dissolution, just a few
days before the end of the four-
year term of the House of
Representatives,wasinitiatedby
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-
ocha,whoisseekingafreshman-
date in the election expected to
beheldMay7or14.Thedatewill
be announced next week.
The election will pit the pop-
ular opposition Pheu Thai party,
backed by billionaire populist
ThaksinShinawatra,againstpar-
ties representing the conserva-
tive establishment and closely
linked to the military.
Parties led and backed by
Thaksinhavewonthemostseats
in every election since 2001, but
have been blocked by military
coups,unfavorablerulingsbythe
conservative judiciary and elec-
tion laws drafted to favor army-
backed parties.
The leading Pheu Thai candi-
date is Thaksin’s daughter, 36-
year-oldPaetongtarnShinawatra,
who is favored in opinion polls.
If elected, she would be the
third member of the Shinawatra
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS, MARCH 20
FRANCE’S GOVERNMENT is fac-
ing a critical, maybe fatal, mo-
ment Monday with no-confi-
dence motions filed by
lawmakers who are furious that
PresidentEmmanuelMacronor-
dered the use of special consti-
tutionalpowerstoforce through
an unpopular bill raising the re-
tirementagefrom62to64with-
out giving them a vote.
National Assembly lawmak-
ers are set to vote in the after-
noonontwono-confidencemo-
tions, one from the far-right
National Rally and the other,
more threatening one from a
small group that has gathered
support across the left.-
The Senate, dominated by
conservatives who back the re-
tirement plan, passed the legis-
lation last week.
The no-confidence motions
gesting a social stratification,
Power said. The site also bears
signs of year-round habitation,
unlike other pearling operations
runinseasonalspotsintheregion.
“The houses are crammed in
there, cheek by jowl,” he added.
“The key thing there is perma-
nence. People are living there all
year around.”
In the homes, archaeologists
have discovered loose pearls and
diving weights, which the free
diversusedtoquicklydropdown
to the seabed while relying only
on their held breath.
The story of pearling, which
rapidlycollapsedafterWorldWar
I with the introduction of artifi-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
family to be prime minister in
the past two decades. Her father
held office in 2001-2006, and
Thaksin’s sister Yingluck
Shinawatra in 2011-2014. Both
of them were toppled by coups.
Prayuth, who turns 69 on
Tuesday, first assumed the top
job after staging a military coup
as army commander, ousting
Yingluck’s elected government
in 2014. He did not run in the
2019 election but was selected
primeministerbyParliamentaf-
ter the army-backed Palang
Pracharath party formed a coali-
tion government.
This year, however, he faces a
challenge from his longtime
comrade-in-arms and deputy
prime minister, 77-year-old
Prawit Wongsuwan, who has
been named the new Palang
Pracharath candidate for prime
minister.
Bhumjaithai Party leader
AnutinCharnvirakul,aconstruc-
tion magnate before entering
politics, is the deputy prime
minister and health minister in
Prayuth’s government, giving
him a high profile during the
coronavirus pandemic.
He and his party are best
known for campaigning for and
implementingthedefactolegal-
ization of marijuana and other
cannabis products, a policy that
benefits the primarily agricul-
tural northeast. AP
eachneedthebackingof287law-
makersintheNationalAssembly,
the lower chamber, to pass.
Although the motions ap-
pear unlikely to succeed, the cli-
mate of protest that Macron’s
pension reforms has sparked in
parliament and on the streets
means the outcome of voting in
the National Assembly is not
guaranteed. No such motion has
succeeded since 1962.
Macron’scentristalliancestill
has the most seats in the
National Assembly. A minority
of lawmakers from the
Republicans party could stray
from the party line, but it re-
mains to be seen whether
they’re willing to bring down
Macron’s government.
The tensions in the political
arena are echoed on the streets,
marked by intermittent protests
and strikes in various sectors,
from transport to energy and
sanitation workers as garbage in
Paris is piling ever higher.
cial pearls and the Great
Depression, holds particular im-
portanceinthehistoryoftheUAE
— particularly as it faces a loom-
ing reckoning with another ex-
tractiveindustry.While crude oil
salesbuiltthecountryafteritsfor-
mation in 1971, the Emirates will
have to confront its fossil fuel
legacy and potentially plan for a
carbon-neutral future as it hosts
the United Nations COP28 cli-
mate talks later this year.
Thosesearchingthesitefound
adumpsitenearbyfilledwiththe
detritusofdiscardedoystershells.
People walking across island can
feelthoseremainscrunchingun-
der their feet in areas as well. AP
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
Strongonherbackfoot,andconservativeinattack,thetaller75kgpugilistabsorbspressureina5-0unanimousverdictinopenervsOrtiz
NAMIT KUMAR
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
MOMENTS INTO her opening bout at the
2023 IBA Women’s World Championships,
Lovlina Borgohain charged at her oppo-
nent, Mexico’s Vanessa Ortiz, and landed a
big right hook to the face. That was, per-
haps, the one and only effective aggressive
move she executed, managing the rest of
the 5-0 unanimous win by staying on the
defensive.
This time last year, Lovlina found out
that the 70kg category in which she won
the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics is
scrapped for Paris 2024. She chose to gain
weight to go up to the 75kg category, as op-
posed to cutting weight to make it to 66kg.
The choice, given her tall frame, made
sense, and the ease with which she got past
Ortiz to reach the quarterfinals, without too
many aggressive moves, is vindication of
that choice.
Taller boxers often enjoy greater reach
and ease of movement against shorter
counterparts, and there can be hardly a big-
ger mismatch than between Lovlina and
Ortiz. Sensing that, Lovlina stayed strong
on her backfoot, and conservative in attack,
absorbing pressure from Ortiz and waiting
for the right opportunity to string clean
jabs.
'Not satisfied'
The strategy was effective, but Lovlina
was not fully satisfied with the perform-
ance. “The opponent was shorter than me
so it was a strategy (to be defensive),” she
told the media. “It was my first bout today
so I am still getting into a rhythm. I had
planned other things but could not do it all.”
“I am not very happy with this perform-
ance. I think I can be better. The score was
5-0 but I expect better of myself.”
Ortiz would start both the second and
third rounds on the front foot, charging
early and even landing a few clean hits. But
Lovlina’s defence on her backfoot held
throughout, and allowed her to wait for the
opportunity to daze her opponents with a
strong right hand to the temple.
This is not the first test for Lovlina in her
new weight category, having won the gold
medal at the Asian Championships last
year. But she’s still getting used to main-
taining and competing in the higher
weight. “It is a bit challenging because the
other boxers are used to it and it’s my first
world championships (in 75kg),” she said.
“I’ll need a little more time.”
She may have managed with clever tac-
tics as opposed to all-out aggression, but
as far as first tests go, Lovlina has come out
unscathed.
Lovlina stands tall
This is not the first test for
Lovlina in her new weight
category, having won the gold
medal at the Asian
Championships last year. But
she’s still getting used to
maintaining and competing in
the higher weight.
Whether that will be enough to prevail
at a world championship, ahead of an
Olympic year, remains to be seen.
Earlier in the day, Sakshi Chaudhary
also reached the quarterfinals of the 52kg
category by defeating Kazakhstan’s Zhazira
Urakbayeva in a 5-0 unanimous result.
Pawar bows out
Preeti Sai Pawar came into the pre-
quarters of the world championships re-
lieved, after a bout-reviewed 4-3 win over
Romania’s Perijoc Lacramioara. The result
on Monday did not go in her favour, as she
came out on the losing side of a bout-re-
viewed 3-4 contest against Thailand’s
Jutamas Jitpong.
The contest was not quite the cagey,
contained affair that Lovlina would see out
later, but instead, a more even match-up
full of smart tactics and aggressive moves.
Jitpong had faced Nikhat Zareen in last
year’s 52kg gold medal match – the second
successive 2022 silver medallist Pawar had
to face this week – and has made a step up
to qualify for the 54kg Olympic weight cat-
egory. The difference in speed, which ulti-
mately gave Jitpong the edge, was evident
from the start.
Buoyed by vocal home support, Pawar
got off to a strong start, and won the first
round 4-1 by making a few strong left
hooks and showing aggression, but Jitpong
was hardly fazed, moving her opponent
around the ring and tiring her out, dodg-
ing and counterpunching, and using her
anticipation to nullify the one-two se-
quence that Preeti used so effectively in her
previous bout.
Jitpong would go on to win the next two
rounds 3-2, playing the waiting game, leav-
ing Preeti tired, flat-footed and unable to
land any clean punches, and also seizing
the moment to attack.
Despite the final decision going to a
bout review, Jitpong was jubilant in the
ring, celebrating before the result was an-
nounced. At times, elite athletes just know.
It may take a bit more work for Preeti to get
to that elite level.
Lovlina Borgohain lands a punch on Vanessa Ortiz during their 75kg tie on Monday.
Hijab-wearing CWG medallist Rahimi a trailblazer
NAMIT KUMAR
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
2022 WAS a year of many firsts for Tina
Rahimi. She became the first female Muslim
boxer to represent Australia at a multi-sport
event when she participated in the
Commonwealth Games. It was also the first
timeaboxerwaswearingahijabattheCWG.
Rahimi won the bronze medal in the
57kg category in Birmingham and instantly
left a trailblazing path for young Muslim
women across the world. Since then, a flurry
of questions have come her way regarding
her religious choices, and she saysthat made
her a bit more conscious than usual.
“Idogetaskedaboutthehijabalot.Idon’t
mind when it comes from a place of curios-
ity. I understand I don’t look like a regular
boxer,” Rahimi told The Indian Express. “But
some doubts do tend to creep in that people
might judge me just on how I look. They
might not like me because of how I dress.
Sometimes,I’mafraidsomejudgesmightnot
like me because of how I look, and decisions
might not go my way because of that.”
Despite the doubts, Rahimi does believe
that there has never been any reason for her
to think that anyone treated her differently
duetoherwearingahijab.TheSydney-based
boxer grew up in an Iranian family, and her
father was a wrestler in Australia. Pursuing
SPORTS/CALENDAR 17
Tina Rahimi was a make-up artiste
before picking up boxing in 2017.
sports, then, was always encouraged at
home, but few would have guessed she
would take up boxing.
Rahimi was a make-up artiste before
picking up boxingrecreationally in 2017, and
it went from being a hobby to a passion the
following year, when she had her first ama-
teur fight. She qualified for last year’s World
Championship, and later rose to fame in
Australia with her CWG medal.
Expectations and self-doubts
She says self-belief never came naturally
to her, so rather than the pushback from the
outsideworld,itwasharderdealingwithher
Abhinav Saha
own self-doubts. “I had a lot more nerves
when I was just starting out, lots of different
kinds of thoughts coming into my head
about how people perceive me. The bigger
struggle was getting out of my comfort zone
when I was boxing in the hijab,” she said.
Rahimi considers herself lucky that she
is supported back home, but admits that
dealing with the scrutiny and being in the
public eye has not been easy. “There was
never any negative reaction when I started.
But I do feel that there are more eyes on me.
Positively or negatively. I do feel it when I
lose; that those who are supporting my de-
cision want so badly for me to do well, and
I’m letting them down a little.”
The scrutiny may have intensified, but so
has the sense of pride. Rahimi hopes that
when young Muslim women see her fight-
ing, they would feel that they too can do
whatever it takes to follow their dreams in
the hijab.
“I’m proud of representing my country
andcommunity.That people watch me fight
and can see that I’m a Muslim woman, that
I can do what I love and continue to dress the
way I want, for my religion,” she said.
At the 2023 Women’s World
Championships, Rahimi was knocked out of
the tournament by home favourite Manisha
Moun on Saturday. The bigger fight – to
change the public perception of Muslim and
hijab-wearing women – continues.
Barca have one
hand on LaLiga
title after victory
over rivals Real
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARCH 20
CLOSERTHANevertothetitle,Barcelonafin-
ished the last Spanish league “clasico” of the
season by celebrating on the field at Camp
Nou.RealMadridwasleftcomplainingabout
the refereeing after seeing its chances of re-
taining the title all but end.
Barcelona took a major step toward win-
ningitsfirstleaguetitlesince2019aftercom-
ing from behind to beat Madrid 2-1 on
Sunday, with Franck Kessié scoring in stop-
page time to give the Catalan club the home
victory and a 12-point lead over second-
place Madrid with 12 matches to go.
Barcelona's players huddled and cele-
brated in front of its jubilant fans after the fi-
nal whistle.
Barcelona was saved by the VAR for the
secondconsecutivegame,asMadridhadapo-
tentialgo-aheadgoalbyMarcoAsensiocalled
backinthe81stminutebecauseofoffside.Last
week, it edged Athletic Bilbao when an 87th-
minute equalizer by Athletic forward Iñaki
Williams was disallowed by video review.
“We are still not sure that it was an off-
side,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said
about Asensio's goal. “It didn't look to be
100% an offside. We will go back to Madrid
with that doubt.” Barcelona coach Xavi dis-
agreed. “It was clearly offside, I'm surprised
byAncelotti'scomments,”hesaid.“It'seither
offside or it isn't. There is no debate. The re-
sult was fair.” Barcelona went into the match
still facingcriticism overitspaymentsof sev-
eral millions of dollars over several years to
the former vice president of the country's
refereeing committee. Prosecutors have for-
mally accused Barcelona of alleged corrup-
tion, fraudulent management and falsifica-
tion of documentation.
Madrid is among the clubs siding against
Barcelona in the legal proceedings, as is the
Spanishgovernment,theleagueandthesoc-
cerfederation.Barcelonahasconsistentlyde-
nied any wrongdoing or conflict of interest,
saying it paid for technical reports on refer-
ees but never tried to influence their deci-
sions in games.
Madrid needed a win to give itself a real-
istic chance of catching Barcelona and de-
fending its title.
“We'll keep fighting,” Madrid goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois said. “But we have to be
honest, it's a four-game advantage. It's not
impossible but its going to be difficult.”
Barcelona won eight league titles in 11 sea-
sons through 2019. It finished second to
Madrid in 2020, then third — behind Madrid
andchampionAtleticoMadrid—in2021,and
second to Madrid again last season without
Lionel Messi.

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis

CROSSWORD 5005
ACROSS
1 Tramples relative
underfoot?(7)
5 Preparetofirefirst(5)
8 Scrambleatthepig’s food(9)
9 Saltincigarettes (3)
10 Nightwithoutendalmost (4)
12 Caledonianmaybeputout by
thiscost (8)
14 Interruptsrestperiods(6)
15 Thisclub ismuchpatronised
by gymnasts (6)
17 Meanto beunderstanding?
(8)
18 Someammunitionforabody
of troops(4)
21 Add alittlerum(3)
22 Liveout onnewdevelopment
(9)
24 Gamerequiringmany
skills(5)
25 Cutsinmiddleof Greece
produceblackouts(7)
SolutionsCrossword5004:Across: 1Entrance,5Ness,9Model,10Emotion,11
Contaminates,13Assure,14Abrade,17Ghoststories,20Awesome,21Irate,22Site,23
Sturgeon.Down:1Emma,2Tedious,3Alliteration,4Creamy,6Exist,7Sinister,8Sound
barrier,12Gangways,15Average,16Atrest,18Overt,19Mean.
JUMBLED WORDS
DOWN
1 Agirlsuperstarfullof sex
appeal (5)
2 Hesitateoveralongperiod(3)
3 Someprovisohonoured in
London(4)
4 It’spossiblynicetosee(6)
5 Priest in troubleremains
pure(8)
6 Irrational belief inteaching(9)
7 Made of clayfrom Teheran(7)
11 Departslater-in
pursuit?(4,5)
13 Theymaytossatseaoratthe
playingfield(8)
14 I gotintobedinan obstinate
mood(7)
16 Outstandingbutstill
defeated (6)
19 Somehowget intouch(5)
20 SignaletterfromthePope(4)
23 Simplynot cunningbya
causeof trouble(3)
DAY TODAY
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20)
This could be quite
an emotional day,
with an emphasis
on domestic security
as the question of the moment.
Over the next forty-eight hours
you will once again beasserting
your independence, but
there could be many mixed
messages, and a high chance
of misunderstandings.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21)
Good communica-
tion is absolutely
essential if you are
to make a success of
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson both personal and professional
plans today. It's a fantastic day
for anyone attending interviews
or making important proposals,
just as long as you are prepared
for the unexpected.
GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)
You may pay more
attention to financial
affairs, but should be
aware that money
has certain psychological and
symbolic connections. It may
well be that if you should be
tempted to go on a spending
spree, it's because something
is not going so well in the
rest of your life.
CANCER (June 22 - July 23)
The Moon is in
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong an extremely
strong position
today, and that's
good for you. However, there's
a chance of confusion, muddle
and mistakes, even though it
may be tempered by bursts of
supreme romantic inspiration.
Just steer clear of awkward
commitments, or any initiatives
which could back-fire.
LEO (July 24 - Aug 23)
It could do you a
power of good
to keep yourself
to yourself for a
couple of days. If other people
are trying to force you into a
premature decision, feel free
to delay and prevaricate for
DifficultyLevel4s
as long as you can. If you do
SOLUTION SUDOKU 5142
BY PETER VIDAL
LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
It will pay to take
work seriously, but
it could be love, or
social engagements,
which are most on your mind.
Although there may have to be
some changes, this definitely
seems to be a good period for a
reunion. Rather than sitting
around waiting for the phone
to ring, you can take the lead
and get in touch.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
You may consider
reviving professio-
nal plans which have
been ignored or left
on the back burner. In fact, this
is about the best thing you can
do at the moment. If you're not
currently at work, you should
find any way you can to gain
respect in the community.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
Financial plans
should proceed
satisfactorily,
although domestic
costs could increase before
long. If there is to be an
extravagant outburst, then
you'll need to take care and
keep an eye on changing
prices. Actually, though,
emotional risks are as likely
as monetary ones.
CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
You'll have to
listen to partners
very intently
indeed, even
though they may sometimes
say completely the opposite
from what they mean. Don't
feel bound to commitments
which have outlived their
purpose. There is little to
be gained by hanging on
to the past at the expense
of the present.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
It should be business
as normal today-
or so you might
imagine. There is a
much greater than average
chance that you will be forced

make snap decisions, you to consider completely new

Instructions could be letting other people factors, especially at work.
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, in for trouble a little way But, as soon as you think
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 down the line, so take you've found the answer, the
SUDOKU 5143

theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe sensible precautions. questions change.

The_____hassomethingyettolearn-GeorgeSantayana(6,4) nineverticalcolumns,in VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23) PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
eachoftheninehorizontal If you're taking Take your
PXEII FFNDED rowsandineachofthe time off for pleasures where
nineboxes. lunch, you're you find them.
making the right There is much to
move. Most unpredictable be said for taking some time
RUSTS APRUMW DifficultyLevel
planetary alignments of the off, or, if you absolutely must
day urge you to pamper work, for trying to be as
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; yourself, if only to avoid the inventive, innovative and
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; perils of tension and stress. You creative as possible. You can't
5s=VeryHard; should also leave yourself open be pinned down today, but
Answer: The wisest mind has something yet to learn - George Santayana 6s=Genius to unexpected developments. that's just so typical.
SOLUTION:PIXIE, TRUSS, DEFEND, WARMUP
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

18 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023 NZ SWEEP SERIES VS SL 2-0
New Zealand completed an innings and 58-run victory over Sri Lanka
in the second test in blustery Wellington to sweep the series 2-0.
Brief scores: New Zealand 580/4 dec (Williamson 215, Nicholls 200*,
Rajitha 2-126) beat Sri Lanka 164 (Karunaratne 89, Chandimal 37,
Henry 3-44, Bracewell 3-50) & 358 (De Silva 98, Chandimal 62,
Southee 3-51, Tickner 3-84) by an innings and 58 runs REUTERS

I will request Modi sahab to let cricket Struggling for form, Surya
in a race against time
happen between both countries: Afridi VENKATA KRISHNA B
VISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH 20

EVEN AS Rohit Sharma waited for a couple

a key element that is still needed in ODIs.

Pakistan star says BCCI a ‘very strong board’, puts the onus on India to normalise cricketing relationship
DEVENDRA PANDEY
DOHA, MARCH 20
FORMER PAKISTAN captain Shahid Afridi has
saidthattheIndiancricketboardshouldshow
“moreresponsibility”asit’s
a “very strong board “and
should strive to normalise
relationship between the
two cricketing nations. He
saidthathewillrequestthe
Indian prime minister
Narendra Modi to "let
cricket happen".
“I will request Modi sahab to let cricket
happen between both countries," Afridi said
on the sidelines of the Legends League
Cricket (LLC) in Doha. “What can we do if we
want to befriend someone and he does not
talk to us? There is no doubt that the BCCI is
averystrongboard,butwhenyouarestrong,
youhavemoreresponsibility.Youdon'ttryto
make more enemies, you need to make
friends. When you make more friends, you
become stronger,” Afridi said.
When asked if he believes the PCB (the
PakistanCricketBoard)is weak,Afridisaid, “I
wouldnotsayweak,butsomeanswerscame
from the front (BCCI) as well”.
Afridifeltthatcricketisthebestdiplomacy
and both the teams should strengthen each
other. He still has cordial relationships with
the Indian players. Other day, former India
playerSureshRainagavemeabat. “Istillhave
friendsintheIndianteamwhenwemeet,we
discuss, the other day I met Raina and I asked
for a bat, he gave me a bat,” he says.
In a long interaction, Afridikept onpress-
ing to ‘spread the love’. He recalled during
the2005series,whenIndiancricketerswent
out, no one used to take money from them.
The legendary big hitting allrounder said
that Pakistan doesn’t have any security con-
cerns as many international teams have
safely toured in recent times.
it public that the Indian team won’t be trav-
eling to Pakistan to play in the Asia Cup and
that the tournament will be held at a neutral
venue. PCB objected to this stating ACC did-
n’t even inform them about the tournament
moving away from their home and decision
was taken without consulting them. Since
then, PCB has been threatening to pull out of
the 50 overs World Cup which is scheduled
to be held in India, if the Asia Cup is played in
some other part of the cricketing world.
“The real thing is that we never discuss
with each other. Communication is most im-
portant. Politicians do the same, they dis-
cuss. Nothing will be resolved until you sit
among yourselves. It would have been bet-
ter if India had come to Pakistan. We and our
governments want better relations with
each other,” Afridi said.
PCB Chairman Najam Sethi on Saturday
said that support of other members of Asian
Cricket Council (ACC) will be important on
the issue of hosting the Asian Cup but con-
ceded that India, which wants the tourna-
ment to be held elsewhere, enjoys big clout
in the continental body.
“It’simportanttoseehowothermembers
As far as the security concern in Pakistan is concerned, we had many (of ACC)lookatourstanceonAsiaCup.What
international teams traveling here recently. We used to face security they think is important, but in the end we
threats from India as well, but if permission is received from the must realise how much clout the BCCI with
government of both the countries then the tour will happen. If the tour its financial power carries in world cricket,”
said Sethi at a press conference, ahead of his
doesn't happen, we will give those people a chance. All they want is that departure for Dubai to attend ACC and ICC
there should be no cricket between them meetings. “I have been in contact with senior
SHAHID AFRIDI, FORMER PAKISTAN CAPTAIN membersofACC.Ihaveinformedthemabout
our problems and we will try and find hon-
ourablesolutionstotheproblems,”headded.
“As far as the security concern in between them,” Afridi said. Sethi said he had not only taken legal
Pakistan is concerned, we had many inter- The bilateral cricketing ties between the opinion but also held informal consultations
national teams traveling here recently. We two nations hasn’t resumed post Mumbai with the foreign office and government offi-
used to face security threats from India as 2008 terrorist attack; the teams have only cials on the issue.
well, but if permission is received from the metinamulti-nationtournamentsincethen. “I have held informal consultations and
government of both the countries then the Afridisaidboththeboards should havea dis- taken the government opinion as well and
tour will happen. If the tour doesn't hap- cussion on a regular basis. this time we have also taken all legal advice
pen, we will give those people a chance. All Last year, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is for what stance we can take at these meet-
they want is that there should be no cricket also Asian Cricket Council’s chief, had made ings,” Sethi said.
of seconds in the middle, ruing the expan-
sive drive that led to his dismissal,
Suryakumar Yadav was already out of his
seat in the dressing room. Even before
India’s captain had crossed the circle behind
the wicket, Suryakumar was already by the
pitch, forcing the Australians to stop their
celebrations and get Mitchell Starc back to
his run-up mark.
If Suryakumar’s walk to the middle was
quick, his return to dressing room was
quicker. Just like in Mumbai, Starc curled
one back in late and Suryakumar played all
over it, as the ball hit him plumb in front. A
second successive first ball
nought and the walk back
might have felt like an eter-
nity. He thus spilled another
opportunity to push his case
in the absence of Shreyas Iyer.
If he takes this streak to
Chennai, the selectors could
probe other options in the
middle order.
For a player who wasted no time to feel
athomeinT20Internationals, theODIs were
no different for Suryakumar. In his first six
ODIs, he had two scores of fifty-plus to go
with a 40 and a couple of unbeaten 30s. But
since then, it has gone downhill for the 32-
year-old who has scores of 9, 8, 4, 34 n,o, 6, 4,
31,14,0and0inhislast10ODIs.Whenitwas
certainthatShreyaswouldbeunavailablefor
the series,Indiachose not to name a replace-
ment as they wanted to give Suryakumar an
extended run in ODIs.
Unlike T20s where he is one of the first
names on the team sheet, in ODIs, he has
competition from Shreyas, a batter who
seems a perfect fit at No 4. Between the
two Mumbaikars, it is Shreyas who is
ahead of Suryakumar, but there is also a
reason why India are keen on persisting
with the latter. He is capable of not only
changing the momentum but also could
take the game away from the opposition
in no time. However, unlike Shreyas he is
yet to show he can construct an innings –
Captain’s support
Suryakumar might not have scores to
back his case, but within the team there are
no such second thoughts. Captain Rohit
Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid have
shown the tendency to hand long rope to
struggling players, and in the case of
Suryakumar the case is no different.
“He has obviously shown a lot of poten-
tial with white-ball. Of course, we have seen
and he also knows that he has to do well in
longerformatsof thegameaswell.LikeIsaid,
guyswith potential will begiven enough run
(of matches) where they shouldn't feel like 'I
was not given enough chances in that par-
ticularslot.'WithSurya,heneedsthatconsis-
tent run of games -- like seven, eight-ten
matches, so that he feels more
comfortable,” Rohit said.
However, the string of low
scores has come at a time
when Suryakumar has fea-
tured in nine of India’s last 14
matches. Since the T20 World
Cup, he has missed only the
three ODIs against Bangladesh
and two against Sri Lanka
when Shreyas was available and was pre-
ferred over him.
“Right now he has got a place (in the XI)
when someone has been injured or when
someoneisunavailableandthatdoesn'tsolve
thepurpose,whereasamanagementwecan
look at (read into) performances so much.
When you give a consistent run of matches
thenyoufeelthat'okrunsarenotcomingand
he is not comfortable and things like that'
then we will start thinking about it. But right
now we haven't gone that route,” Rohit said.
While India did have Rajat Patidar in the
mix, he was not included for the Australia
series. Then there is Sanju Samson, a batter
in 10 ODI innings has scores of 46, 12, 54, 6
n,.o, 43 n.o, 15, 86 n.o, 30 n.o, 2 n.o, 36, be-
sides an average of 66 in 11 matches. While
a knee injury he suffered against Sri Lanka
kept him out of the New Zealand series at
home, if Suryakumar’s struggles continue
at Chennai, India may start looking at
Samson again, as he is no less destructive
with the bat.

Aussie power takes UP Warriorz into WPL playoffs, RCB & Gujarat Giants eliminated
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MARCH 20
UP WARRIORZ sealed their spot in the
Women's Premier League playoffs while
eliminatingRoyalChallengersBangaloreand
Gujarat Giants in one go when they defeated
the latter by three wickets off the penulti-
mate delivery in anexcitingencounter at the
Brabourne Stadium on Monday.
Chasing179forvictoryagainsttheGiants,
Warriorz were struggling at 39/3 inside five
oversbeforetheiroverseascontingentcameto
theirrescue.ThoughskipperAlyssaHealyhad
got out cheaply, fellow Australians Grace
Harris(72in41balls)andTahliaMcGrath(57
in38balls)broughtthembackintothecontest
with a partnership of 78 runs in 53 balls, be-
foreEnglishwomanSophieEcclestone(19not
outoff 13balls)tookthemoverthefinishline.
The result ended the mathematical pos-
sibility of either the Giants or RCB finishing
amongthetopthreeinthepointstable.After
losing their first five matches, RCB were any-
way staring down the barrel, but two wins
on the trot had rekindled their hopes. As it
turned out, they left their revival too late. As
far as Gujarat Giants were concerned, their
chances of staying alive were already slim
going into Monday's match owing to an
unimpressive net run rate, and the defeat
made their elimination official.
Earlier, Ashleigh Gardner (60 off 39
balls) and Dayalan Hemalatha (57 off 33
balls) added 93 runs in 61 balls to take
Gujarat Giants to a competitive total. They
had also lost three wickets inside the
Powerplay with 50 on the board, before
Gardner and Hemalatha got together. The
two had come together on the back of the
Giants losing three wickets for nine runs,
Though skipper Alyssa Healy
had got out cheaply, fellow
Australians Grace Harris (72 in
41 balls) and Tahlia McGrath (57
in 38 balls) brought them back
into the contest
after openers Laura Wolvaardt and Sophia
Dunkley had put on 41 in 4.1 overs. Giants
looked primed to get a few more runs than
the 178/6 they eventually finished with,
but were left to rue just 12 scored of the last
two overs, bowled by Parshavi Chopra and
Ecclestone.
On the other hand, Deepti Sharma, usu-
ally very reliable with the ball, was taken to
the cleaners, conceding 49 runs in her four
Grace Harris scored 72 runs in UP
Warriorz’s win over Gujarat Giants. PTI
overs, while left-arm spinner Rajeshwari
Gayakwad gave away 39 in her spell, though
she took two wickets.
During the chase, every time the asking
rate threatened to get into problematic ter-
ritory, McGrath or Harris would find a few
boundaries to ease the pressure. They took a
special liking to opposition skipper Sneh
Rana,whoconceded47runs.Shehadleftthe
last over to herself with seven for the
Warriorz to get, but Ecclestone settled the
deal with a boundary with one ball to spare.
The one over thatHarleen Deolbowled, con-
ceding 17, also tipped the balance in the
Warriorz's favour.
They face Delhi Capitals in their last
league game at the same venue on Tuesday.
BRIEF SCORES: Gujarat Giants 178/6 in
20 overs (Gardner 60, Hemalatha 57) lost to
UP Warriorz 181/7 in 19.5 overs (Harris 72,
McGrath 57) by three wickets.
Delhi Capitals beat
Mumbai Indians
Navi Mumbai: Delhi Capitals defeated
Mumbai Indians by nine wickets.
Openers Shafali Verma (33), skipper
Meg Lanning (32 not out) and Alice
Capsey(38notout)werethemaincon-
tributors as the Delhi franchise chased
down Mumbai's score of 109 for 8 for
thelossofjustonewicketinnineovers.
BRIEF SCORES: MI 109/8 in 20 overs
(Pooja Vastrakar 26; Marizanne Kapp
2/13, Shikha Pandey 2/21; Jess
Jonassen 2/25) lost to C 110/1 in nine
overs (Shafali Verma 33, Alice Capsey
38 not out, Meg Lanning 32 not out)
by nine wickets PTI

BRIEFLY
DoublepodiumfinishforDaruvala
Jeddah:JehanDaruvalaswept toadoublepodiumfinishin
the Saudi Arabian round of the Formula 2 championship
here. The 24-year-old, who races for Dutch team MP
Motorsport, had gone from fifth to third after engaging in
a hard-fought battle for the win in Saturday's Sprint Race.
Hefollowedthatupwithanotherdrivetothefinalpodium
spot after a perfectly-executed, measured display in
Sunday'slongerFeatureevent,makinghimtheonlydriver
to finish in the top-three in both races this weekend.

Sindhueyesturnaround
Basel: Enduring a wretched run of form, defending cham-
pionPVSindhuwillhopetogetbacktowinningwayswhen
she competes at the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament,
beginning here on Tuesday. World number 9 HS Prannoy,
whohadfinishedrunners-upinthelastedition,toowilleye
a better show after a second round exit in the All England
Championships.ThefifthseededIndianopensagainst2018
worldchampionshipssilvermedallistChina'sShiYuqi,who
finished second best in Birmingham last week.

Hima,SojanwingoldinIGP
Thiruvananthapuram: Hima Das won the 200m race quite
comfortablyin23.79secondswhilelongjumperAncySojan
sharedthelimelightwithabesteffortof6.49mintheIndian
GrandPrix-1athleticseventhereonMonday.Assam'sHima
beatAishwaryaKailashMishra(24.81)of Maharashtraand
VK Vismaya (24.82) of Kerala to take the women's 200m
goldattheLaxmibaiNationalCollegeofPhysicalEducation.

Bayernlose,Dortmundontop
Berlin: Amine Adli was twice booked for diving, twice ex-
cused, and Bayer Leverkusen scored twice from the re-
sulting penalties to upset Bayern Munich 2-1. Bayern's
third defeat of the season left Borussia Dortmund top of
the Bundesliga on Sunday. Referee Tobias Stieler had VAR
to thank — twice — after getting it wrong initially both
times. Bayern next hosts Dortmund on April 1.
PTI & AP

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