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CITY EDITION
18 Pages ₹ 12.00

Vol.13 앫 No.133

Printed at » Chennai » Coimbatore » Bengaluru » Hyderabad » Madurai » Noida » Visakhapatnam » Thiruvananthapuram » Kochi » Vijayawada » Mangaluru » Tiruchirapalli » Kolkata » Hubballi » Mohali » Malappuram » Mumbai » Tirupati » Lucknow » Cuttack » Patna

CM J ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU Tuesday, June 6, 2023
J2 Delhi

CM J ND-NDE
YK
 TUESDAY
June 6, 2023
DELHI
CITY EDITION
18 Pages ₹ 12.00
Printed at » Chennai » Coimbatore
Services PMI signals sustained growth pace
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Services sector output
grew at the second fastest
pace in 13 years in May, as
per the S&P Global India
Services PMI Business Ac­
tivity Index, which eased
to 61.2 from 62 in April.
This triggered an uptick in
new jobs that was the high­
est so far in 2023.
Positive demand trends
also persisted from over­
Monsoon stares at
a cyclone threat
Jacob Koshy
NEW DELHI
The monsoon, having al­
ready missed its onset date
over Kerala, faces an addi­
tional challenge from a “cy­
clonic circulation” in the
Arabian Sea. However, as of
Monday, it is unclear if this
system will help or hinder
the monsoon’s advent and
ascent along India’s coast.
“A cyclonic circulation
lies over southeast Arabian
Sea... under its influence a
‘low pressure area’ is very
likely to form... during next
24 hours. It is likely to move
nearly northwards and in­
tensify into a ‘depression’
[in] southeast and adjoin­
ing east­central Arabian Sea
during subsequent 48
hours,” the India Meteoro­
logical Department (IMD)
said in a statement on
Monday.
The IMD’s current
weather models are not un­
animous on whether this
cyclonic circulation will
strengthen and move along
the western coast or turn
westwards towards Yemen
and Oman.
CM
YK
» Bengaluru » Hyderabad
seas markets, with export
orders rising for the fourth
successive month and at
the highest pace this year,
the survey showed. Fa­
vourable demand condi­
tions, new client wins and
positive market dynamics
supported output, S&P
Global Market Intelligence
wrote in a note.
Firms reported a surge
in costs of inputs, as well as
food, transportation and
wage costs, at a pace that
Hide and seek: The skies fail to
open up, though clouds gather
over the sky in Thrissur, Kerala,
on Monday. THULASI KAKKAT
“If it moves along the
western coast, it will push
the monsoon system up­
wards, but if it turns, then it
will further take away mois­
ture and stall the monsoon.
We must wait and watch to
see what happens,” D. Siva­
nanda Pai of the IMD, who
is closely involved with
monsoon forecasts, told
The Hindu.
‘Unusual formation’
Last month, the IMD pred­
icted an onset date of June
4 over Kerala.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 10
» Madurai » Noida » Visakhapatnam
Railways to secure signalling
equipment with double locks
Month­long safety drive to be launched to ensure cabins which house such equipment are provided with a dual­lock access
system; officials told to inspect and ensure that an SMS alert is generated upon opening or closing of relay rooms
S. Vijay Kumar
CHENNAI
ays after the devas­
D tating three­way
train accident in
Odisha, which claimed the
lives of 275 passengers and
left more than 900 injured,
the Indian Railways has de­
cided to secure the goom-
ties that house signalling
equipment on railway sta­
tion premises with a dou­
ble­lock arrangement.
A goomty is a small ca­
bin at level crossings or
near stations where rail­
way equipment is kept.
In a circular to the Gen­
eral Managers of all Zonal
Railways on Monday, Tej
Prakash Agrawal, Execu­
tive Director, Safety, Rail­
way Board, directed them
to launch a month­long sa­
fety drive to ensure that
the goomties located within
the railway station limits
are provided with double
locks.
was the highest since De­
cember. Consequently,
firms raised service charg­
es in May at a pace that has
only been witnessed once
in the past six years.
The highest increase in
input costs was faced by
consumer services compa­
nies, while transport, in­
formation and communi­
cation firms raised service
charges for customers at
the steepest rate.
While firms remained
www.thehindu.com
» Thiruvananthapuram » Kochi
The instructions to se­
cure the signalling equip­
ment come at a time when
a signalling failure is sus­
pected to be the reason
why the Shalimar­Chennai
Coromandel Express en­
tered the loop line while its
signal was cleared for pas­
sage on the main line at the
Bahanaga Bazaar station in
Balasore district of Odisha.
Senior officials were
told to inspect and ensure
the existing double­locking
arrangement for relay
rooms, a sensitive installa­
tion that controls the sig­
nals, points and the inter­
locking system at railway
stations, where the station­
master would have one key
and the signal maintainer
the other. They were also
told to ensure that an SMS
alert is generated upon
opening or closing of relay
rooms.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 10
upbeat about business vol­
umes growing a year from
now, overall confidence le­
vels fell marginally from
April’s levels, with some
concerns about competi­
tive pressures building up.
Persisting challenges
While the index indicates
demand resilience and out­
put growth, inflationary
pressures continued to
pose a challenge, said Pol­
lyanna De Lima, econom­
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Vol.13 앫 No.133
» Vijayawada » Mangaluru » Tiruchirapalli » Kolkata » Hubballi » Mohali » Malappuram » Mumbai » Tirupati » Lucknow » Cuttack » Patna
IN BRIEF
쑽
Wrestlers rejoin
govt. duties, to
continue stir
NEW DELHI
Protesting wrestlers — Sakshi
Malik, Vinesh Phogat and
Bajrang Punia — resumed their
duties in the Railways on
Monday and said that their
“fight for justice will continue”.
» Page 10
Opposition meet
Back on track: The Howrah­Puri Vande Bharat Express crosses the accident site in Balasore district of
postponed, says
Odisha on Monday. The tracks were repaired by Sunday night. ANI Nitish Kumar
51 hours after accident, services
PATNA
Bihar CM and JD(U) chief Nitish
Kumar on Monday said an
resume on Howrah­Chennai line Opposition meeting scheduled
to be held on June 12 has been
postponed due to differences
over date. » Page 10
Satyasundar Barik The accident had man­ metres of the track was laid
BHUBANESWAR gled both up and down afresh. Track linking of the
Howrah­Chennai lines up­line was completed at
Train services resumed on near the station, while the 4.45 p.m. on Sunday.
the busy Howrah­Chennai overhead electrification
main line, 51 hours after was destroyed. Cranes CONTINUED ON
the accident at the Bahana­ were used to remove dam­ » PAGE 10
ga station in Balasore dis­ aged coaches from the TRAGIC TRACK
trict of Odisha on June 2. track. A few hundred » EDITORIAL
NIRF rankings: IIT­M retains top spot
The Hindu Bureau dia Rankings 2023 of high­ tional institution in overall
ics associate director at NEW DELHI er education institutions rankings for the fifth con­
S&P Global Market Intelli­ here on Monday. secutive term.
gence. The National Institutional The Indian Institute of
“Ongoing increases in Ranking Framework Technology (IIT), Madras FULL REPORT ON
output charges could (NIRF) announced the In­ remained the best educa­ » PAGE 12
erode purchasing power,
affect the affordability of
services and potentially
dampen economic growth,
companies could be seek­
ing operational efficiencies
and exploring alternative
sourcing options to navi­
gate through these chal­
lenges,” Ms. De Lima said.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
2 Tuesday, June 6, 2023

City Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 Effective measures by Delhi BJP outreach: Harsh
Vardhan, Vijay Rupani
Six arrested for cheating over
2,000 people of ₹350 crore govt. have caused reduction visit Chandni Chowk
A six­member extortion gang that cheated over
2,000 people of ₹350 crore on the pretext of
offering them loans has been busted, the police
said on Monday. The arrests were made based on
in pollution levels, says CM The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
a complainant of blackmail and extortion on the
pretext of providing instant loans through an app Working to turn Capital into a ‘City of Lakes’, says Kejriwal at an event to mark World Environment The BJP kicked off its
called Cash Advance. The gang members were Day; pollution brought under control through measures undertaken by the Centre, says Bidhuri month­long outreach pro­
based in West Bengal, Gujarat and Delhi and had gramme from Chandni
companies registered in Delhi, Surat, Kerala and Chowk on Monday in prep­
Kolkata, said a senior police officer. The Hindu Bureau vernment is working to­ aration for next year’s Lok
NEW DELHI wards turning Delhi into a Sabha poll.
“City of Lakes”. The constituency MP

C
hief Minister Arvind Harsh Vardhan and former
Kejriwal urged the ‘Blatant lies’ Gujarat Chief Minister Vi­ Vijay Rupani at a press
city residents to Leader of the Opposition jay led the event, meeting conference on Monday. ANI
participate in the Delhi go­ in the Assembly Ramvir businesspersons as well as
vernment’s fight against Singh Bidhuri termed the representatives of the Jain Mr. Jaishankar will over­
pollution and help trans­ CM’s claims “blatant lies”, community. They also vi­ see the party’s campaign
form it into a ‘Jan Andolan’ adding that air pollution in sited several places of wor­ in New Delhi, South Delhi,
(people’s movement) on Delhi had reduced due to ship in the area. North West Delhi and West
the occasion of World Envi­ the Centre’s efforts. The campaign, whose Delhi constituencies, while
ronment Day. “In the past eight years, groundwork began on June the former Gujarat CM will
Mandoli inmate kills self; third Speaking at Thyagaraj
Stadium on Monday, Mr.
the Delhi government
failed to purchase a single
1, is aimed at taking the
work done by the Naren­
supervise BJP’s
grammes in Chandni
pro­

suicide in fortnight in city jails Kejriwal listed various in­
itiatives undertaken by the
In the third such incident across the city’s jails, a Delhi government to com­
Mandoli jail inmate allegedly killed himself by bat pollution, including
consuming an unknown substance on June 2. tree transplantation, ex­
The victim was taken to GTB Hospital where he tending Piped Natural Gas
was declared brought dead, the police said. On (PNG) to industries and us­
May 22, a man killed himself in Tihar jail, after he ing Real­Time Source Ap­
was convicted in a robbery case. Four days later, portionment Study to map
a Tihar prisoner died after he consumed poison. sources of air pollution on
Those in distress may contact Sanjivini, Society a real­time basis.
for Mental Health suicide prevention helpline “These multifaceted in­
011­40769002. terventions underscore the
government’s commit­
ment towards curbing pol­
lution and safeguarding
the health and well­being
of Delhi’s residents,” he
said.
In his address, the CM
said World Environment
Day has been celebrated
across the world over the
past 50 years.
“In these 50 years, pol­
lution has increased in ev­
ery city, village and locali­
ty. But it has gone down in
Delhi, as we have worked
with two crore people of
the city and taken a num­
ber of measures to mitigate
pollution,” Mr. Kejriwal
said.
He added that the go­
DTC bus, forcing people to
use private vehicles,” he
said, adding that the
Centre recently provided
300 electric buses to boost
public transport in the city.
Mr. Bidhuri said that the
Eastern and Western pe­
ripheral highways have al­
so contributed towards re­
ducing pollution by
allowing heavy vehicles to
bypass the Capital.
dra Modi­led government
to the public.
Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha
seats had been split into
two clusters for the cam­
paign, as per the party’s
plan of approaching all 543
Lok Sabha constituencies
as 117 different clusters,
with External Affairs Minis­
ter S. Jaishankar and Mr.
Rupani being appointed
observers.
Chowk, North East Delhi
and East Delhi.
Jaishankar to visit
A BJP functionary said Mr.
Jaishankar will begin his
outreach from North West
Delhi on Friday.
Sources in the Delhi BJP
said the party plans a rally
each in the seven Lok Sab­
ha constituencies in the se­
cond half of the month.

Students clash in Greater Noida university; 15 held Court denies bail to Sisodia citing ‘serious allegations’
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Four medical students and
11 security guards have
been arrested after clashes
broke out between two
groups over smoking ciga­
rettes at the State­run Gau­
tam Buddha University,
the police said on Monday.
An argument broke out
at 10.30 p.m. on Sunday af­
ter a security guard alleg­
edly objected to a few first­
year MBBS students smok­
ing in Munshi Premchand
Hostel on the campus.
The argument subse­
quently turned into a
scuffle.
Four students serious
The spokesperson said 22
students were injured, of
whom four are serious and
have been admitted to a
hospital.
At least 33 people were
initially detained by the
police.
The arrests were made
based on CCTV footage,
said a senior police officer.
Two cross FIRs have been
registered, he added.
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Delhi High Court on
Monday refused to grant in­
terim bail of six weeks to
former Deputy Chief Minis­
ter Manish Sisodia, noting
that the “allegations in the
present case are extremely
serious in nature”.
The CBI had arrested Mr.
Sisodia for alleged corrup­
tion in the now­scrapped
excise policy in February.
Justice Dinesh Kumar
Sharma, however, allowed
the senior AAP leader to
meet his ailing wife for a
day. The court ordered that
Mr. Sisodia be taken to his
residence or hospital from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as per his
wife’s convenience.
“However, during this
period, the petitioner [Mr.
Sisodia] shall not interact
with the media nor shall he
meet anybody except his
wife or members of his fa­
mily,” the court said.
The former Deputy CM
had urged for relief on hu­
manitarian grounds, saying
his wife’s health had furth­
er deteriorated.

MCD launches
app that lets
users geotag
their properties
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI

The Municipal Corpora­

tion of Delhi (MCD) has
launched a mobile applica­
tion to enable owners to
geotag their properties.
The civic body said the
‘MCD App’, launched by
Commissioner Gyanesh
Bharti, aims to bring a
more transparent and res­
ponsive property tax
regime.
According to officials,
geotagging assigns a un­
ique latitude­longitude
coordinate to a property
on the map by selecting
the location against any
Unique Property Identifi­
cation Code (UPIC), so that
all properties have their lo­
cation identified against
their unique position.

CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 3
Delhi
States

INLD promises: doles

for jobless, free gas
Mann digs in his heels, Preacher slapped,
threatened; one held
cylinders and OPS says no to affiliation of Press Trust of India
GURUGRAM
Sunday filed a complaint al­
leging he was being ha­

Haryana colleges with PU

rassed by some locals, in­
A member of a right wing cluding members of a right
The Hindu Bureau outfit was arrested for al­ wing outfit.
GURUGRAM legedly assaulting a reli­ A senior police officer
gious preacher in Kherki said the complainant
Indian National Lok Dal Daula village for running a named members of the
(INLD) supremo and form­ Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann says Haryana’s attempt at back-door entry into Panjab University’s church, police said on Hindu Sena of abusing him
er Haryana Chief Minister Monday. and slapping him. On Mon­
Om Prakash Chautala on senate will not be allowed; Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit backs Manohar Lal’s demand According to the police, day, the police arrested one
Monday promised ₹21,000 a religious preacher had on Sachin in the case.
per month unemployment
allowance, ₹1,100 monthly The Hindu Bureau been to disseminate educa­
allowance to women, free CHANDIGARH tion.
cooking gas cylinders and “That is why giving op­
implementation of Old BJP­JJP has duped people, unjab Chief Minis­ portunities for education
Pension Scheme (OPS) if
his party was voted to
power in the Assembly
says INLD chief O.P. Chautala.
FILE PHOTO P ter Bhagwant Mann
on Monday reject­
ed a proposal to affiliate
to children is a positive
thinking. In this regard, the
colleges of Haryana should
elections next year. ship in government forma­ colleges of Haryana with be given affiliation to Pan­
Mr. Chautala made tion, but in Haryana they Panjab University (PU) jab University,” he said in
these announcements dur­ feel cheated, he added. even as Governor Banwari­ the meeting.
ing his visit to around half­ Attacking the State go­ lal Purohit firmly backed Mr. Lal said that in the
a­dozen villages in Adam­ vernment, Mr. Chautala Haryana’s demand. interest of the students,
pur Assembly constituen­ said that around 25,000 Following a meeting both the States will pro­
cy as part of his party’s posts of teachers were ly­ with his Haryana counter­ ceed in a friendly manner.
‘Parivartan Yatra Aapke ing vacant, but the admi­ part Manohar Lal under “Delhi University is build­
Dwar’ campaign, which nistration was claiming the chairmanship of the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann speaking to the media on ing its campus in Haryana.
has completed 95 days. that it is improving school Punjab Governor­cum­ the status of Panjab University in Chandigarh on Monday. ANI Expanding education and
education through guest Chandigarh Administrator affiliation of the colleges
Tickets to youth teachers hired on on the matter, Mr. Mann garh — the joint capital of Haryana’s share in PU have will provide many new op­
The octogenarian leader contract. told mediapersons that the both Punjab and Haryana been revived since 2018. portunities to students,” he
also announced that his Party general secretary Chandigarh­based univer­ — and the Sutlej Yamuna The first meeting over said during the meeting.
party would offer 50% tick­ Abhay Chautala said all sity belonged to Punjab Link (SYL) canal and shar­ the affiliation of colleges The Punjab Chief Minis­
ets to youth and provide calculations were done and will remain so. ing of Ravi­Beas waters. with PU was held on June 1 ter, however, said that the
job to one eligible youth and the announcement re­ “Neither any college of in which Mr. Purohit had University caters only to
from each household. He garding the source of Haryana will be given affi­ ‘Students’ interest’ flagged the possibility of the State of Punjab and its
said the youth of the State funds and the implemen­ liation from the university Carved out of Punjab in colleges in neighbouring capital Chandigarh.
had expected the BJP­JJP tation of the promises nor will any attempt of Ha­ 1966, Haryana had a share Haryana to be affiliated “Every step will be taken
government to provide would be made on Sep­ ryana for back­door entry in PU until 1976, when the with Chandigarh­based PU, to retain the intra­State sta­
them jobs and employ­ tember 25 coinciding with in the senate of the univer­ then Haryana Chief Minis­ triggering a strong reaction tus of the university and no
ment, but both parties had the birth anniversary of sity be allowed,” he said. ter Bansi Lal withdrew his from Mr. Mann. one will be allowed to
duped them. The youth late Deputy PM Chaudhary The two States are alrea­ State’s stake from the un­ On Monday, Mr. Purohit make any change to it,” he
had the highest partner­ Devi Lal. dy wrestling over Chandi­ iversity. Efforts to reclaim said that India’s culture has said.

Strict action against guilty in

bridge collapse, says Bihar CM
Press Trust of India fects” of the bridge have evening on the Khagaria
PATNA been pointed out by ex­ side.
perts, and “the State go­ “The bridge is not being
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish vernment has already constructed properly and
Kumar on Monday said pulled down many por­ that is why it collapsed
strict action would be ta­ tions which have been twice. It’s a serious mat­
ken against those found flagged as particularly ter…The department con­
guilty in the collapse of an vulnerable”. cerned has already initiat­
under­construction bridge The 3.16­km­long bridge ed a thorough probe into
over the Ganga river, even was supposed to connect it. Strict action will be ta­
as the Opposition BJP al­ Khagaria district with ken against those found
leged that Deputy CM Te­ Bhagalpur. guilty,” Mr. Kumar said.
jashwi Yadav was “hiding It collapsed twice in the He also wondered why
the truth” in the incident. last 14 months — the first on the bridge construction
The BJP slammed Mr. Bhagalpur’s Sultanganj work that started in 2014
Yadav for his comment side in April 2022 and the has not been completed so
that “many structural de­ second time on Sunday far.

HC orders ‘defamatory’ content

posted against SII to be deleted
Press Trust of India mation suit in December terim order on Monday,
MUMBAI 2022 seeking damages to said it was of the prima fa-
the tune of ₹100 crore from cie view the SII has satis­
The Bombay High Court the two individuals and fied the contents and accu­
on Monday said content their organisations for al­ sations made by the two
posted by two individuals legedly posting erroneous persons were defamatory.
and their organisations content against the compa­ The Bench noted that SII
against vaccine manufac­ ny and its COVID­19 vac­ and its CEO and owner
turing major Serum Insti­ cine Covishield. Adar Poonawalla have
tute of India (SII) was “pri- The company had filed been considered to have
ma facie defamatory” and an interim application saved four million lives in
directed them to delete it. seeking the court to direct India with their vaccine.
A Single Bench of Justice the defendants to delete “I am of the prima facie
R.I. Chagla also temporari­ their posts and to restrain view that the contents are
ly restrained them from them from posting such per se defamatory. The vac­
posting any content content pending final dis­ cine is not banned,” the
against the company. posal of the suit. Judge said in the interim
The SII had filed a defa­ The High Court, in its in­ order.

Timings
DELHI
TUESDAY, JUN. 06
RISE 05:24 SET 19:17
RISE 21:57 SET 07:07
WEDNESDAY, JUN. 07
RISE 05:24 SET 19:18
RISE 22:51 SET 08:16
THURSDAY, JUN. 08
RISE 05:24 SET 19:18
RISE 23:36 SET 09:27

0
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Regd. DL(ND)­11/6110/2006­07­08 RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 ­ 751X
● ●

CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
4 Tuesday, June 6, 2023

States Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 Ashok Gehlot seeks to Trinamool leader
Abhishek’s wife
snatch BJP’s ‘Labharthi’ stopped at airport
constituency in State Shiv Sahay Singh
KOLKATA

Rujira Banerjee, wife of

Rajasthan CM transfers money directly into the bank accounts of 14 lakh families under the Indira
Security beefed up ahead Gandhi Gas Cylinder Subsidy scheme; beneficiaries were identified at the recent inflation camps
of Bluestar anniversary
Mohammed Iqbal
Radical Sikh outfits including — Dal Khalsa, JAIPUR
Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Akali Dal (United)
and others — held a ‘remembrance march’ in o­opting the Bhara­
Amritsar on Monday, a day ahead of the 39th
anniversary of ‘Operation Bluestar’, amid beefed
up security across the city. The protesters
C tiya Janata Party‘s
‘Labharthi’
cept, Rajasthan Chief Mi­
con­
carrying placards and banners, raised slogans nister Ashok Gehlot on
paying tribute to slain militant Jarnail Singh Monday released the direct
Bhindranwale, one of the leading figures of the benefit of subsidy on the li­
Sikh separatist movement, in the 1980s. The quefied petroleum gas
protesters hailed the sacrifice of Bhindranwale (LPG) cylinders to the poor
and concluded the march at the Akal Takht. families, which was earlier
stopped under the Centre’s
much­publicised Ujjwala
Yojana. Mr. Gehlot trans­
Woman dead as avalanche ferred ₹60 crore as subsidy
into the bank accounts of
hits Hemkund Sahib pilgrims 14 lakh registered benefici­
ary families.
The body of a woman pilgrim returning from the At a ‘Labharthi Utsav’
Hemkund Sahib who got trapped during an (beneficiary festival) or­
avalanche here in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district ganised by the Congress
was recovered from under a glacier on Monday, here, Mr. Gehlot said his
officials said. Five other pilgrims accompanying government was giving a
her were rescued after they got stuck in the subsidy of ₹650 for each
avalanche that occurred around 6 p.m. near cylinder to keep its price at
Atalkoti here on Sunday, they added. Earlier, the ₹500.
gates to Hemkund Sahib, situated at a height of The Pradhan Mantri Ujj­
over 15,000 feet in the Garhwal Himalayas, were wala Yojana, launched in
opened in the second week of June but for the 2016, gave the first cylinder
past few years, the gates are being opened in free­of­cost, after which
May. Snowfall is frequent at these heights during the beneficiaries were re­
May and the first week of June. PTI quired to pay full amount
CM Ashok Gehlot speaks at the inauguration of the first phase of the
Indira Gandhi Cylinder Subsidy Scheme in Jaipur on Monday. ANI
for the subsequent
cylinders.
More beneficiaries
The State government’s In­
dira Gandhi Gas Cylinder
Subsidy Yojana has made a
provision for supplying 12
LPG cylinders in a year for
the below poverty line
(BPL) families in a year. In
addition to the beneficiar­
ies registered under the
Ujjwala Yojana, its benefit
will be available to all BPL
families, with gas connec­
tions, getting themselves
registered at the inflation
relief camps.
The cost of an LPG cylin­
der stood at ₹425 when the
Ujjwala Yojana was started.
It has since escalated to
₹1,150 each. Mr. Gehlot
said the State govern­
ment’s scheme would be­
nefit all of those who were
unable to refill their
cylinders.
Addressing the func­
tion, Mr. Gehlot unleashed
a scathing attack on the
Opposition BJP, saying it
had nothing to say against
the Congress government
because of the “unprece­
dented development
works” done under his dis­
pensation. Mr. Modi’s
“adamant attitude” had
led to the BJP’s defeat in Hi­
machal Pradesh and Kar­
nataka recently, while the
Congress was emerging
victorious because of peo­
ple’s faith in its policies, he
added.
While the BJP has been
harping on its ‘Labharthi’
constituency, having creat­
ed a loyal vote base nation­
ally, Mr. Gehlot seems to
have repurposed the con­
cept for the benefit of Con­
gress.
The Chief Minister had
announced the LPG subsi­
dy scheme at a public
meeting organised during
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra
at Alwar district’s Mala
Kheda village on Decem­
ber 19, 2022. It was started
for the eligible families
from April 1 this year.
Trinamool Congress gener­
al secretary Abhishek Ba­
nerjee, was on Monday
stopped by immigration
authorities at the Kolkata
International Airport from
boarding a flight to Dubai.
Sources said the authori­
ties cited a “lookout” not­
ice issued by the Enforce­
ment Directorate (ED). She
has been asked to appear
before the agency for ques­
tioning on June 8.
West Bengal Chief Minis­
ter Mamata Banerjee said
Ms. Rujira was travelling to
meet her mother who was
unwell.
“It is unfortunate what
the ED and CBI are doing.
The Supreme Court had
said that if she were to
leave the city, she should
inform the ED, which she
did well in advance. ED of­
ficials could have told her
in advance that she
couldn’t travel abroad,”
Ms. Banerjee said.
Ms. Rujira was handed
summons to appear at the
ED’s Kolkata office in con­
nection with the coal pil­
ferage scam. The Chief Mi­
nister said handing
summons at the airport it­
self was nothing but ha­
Rujira Banerjee, wife of TMC MP
Abhishek Banerjee. FILE PHOTO
rassment. Ms. Rujira is like­
ly to approach the courts
over the development.
The ED had questioned
Ms. Rujira in connection
with the scam last year. In
2021, the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) had
questioned her in the same
case. Mr. Abhishek too was
quizzed by ED officials in
the case last year.
Minister summoned
In a related development,
State Law Minister Malay
Ghatak has been sum­
moned by the ED in the
case.
Mr. Ghatak has been
asked to appear at the ED
headquarters in Delhi.
In September 2022, the
CBI had conducted search­
es at his premises.

Shiv Sena, BJP to contest all
future elections together,
says CM Eknath Shinde
Shoumojit Banerjee
PUNE
A day after meeting Union
Home Minister Amit Shah
in Delhi, Maharashtra
Chief Minister Eknath
Shinde on Monday said the
ruling Shiv Sena faction
and the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) alliance would
contest future polls togeth­
er, including the 2024 Lok
Sabha and State Assembly
elections as well as the
long­pending civic polls.
Mr. Shinde’s statement,
which came after he and
Deputy Chief Minister and
BJP leader Devendra Fad­
navis met Mr. Shah on Sa­
turday night, puts to rest
speculation of an alleged
schism within the ruling
alliance.
“It was decided in the
meeting that the Shiv Sena
and the BJP will jointly con­
test all upcoming elections
in the State, including elec­
tions to Lok Sabha, Vidhan
CM Eknath Shinde with his deputy Devendra Fadnavis. FILE PHOTO
Sabha, local bodies. We
(BJP­Shinde faction) will
contest elections together
and win with a majority to
make Maharashtra the
number one State in the
country in all fields,” Mr.
Shinde said.
Shah’s guidance
“We took this appointment
as we always get guidance
from Mr. Shah. Our al­
liance for the development
of Maharashtra is strong
and in the last 11 months,
we have taken various de­
velopment decisions and
implemented them, clear­
ing stalled projects,” tweet­
ed the CM.
Mr. Shinde further said
he discussed matters relat­
ed to agriculture and the
cooperative sector with
Mr. Shah, who is also Un­
ion Cooperation Minister.
The Chief Minister
further said he and Mr.
Fadnavis had fruitful dis­
cussions regarding the
pending second phase of
the Maharashtra Cabinet
expansion with Mr. Shah.
Villagers cut Dalit man’s Six years after arrest, Bhima
thumb after his nephew Koregaon case accused yet to
picks up cricket ball get copies of proof against them
Press Trust of India
PATAN (GUJARAT)
A group of people alleged­
ly assaulted a Dalit man
and chopped off his thumb
after his nephew picked
up a cricket ball during a
match at a school play­
ground in Gujarat’s Patan
district, police said.
The incident took place
on Sunday, an officer said.
According to the FIR,
the accused got angry and
threatened the boy who
had picked up the ball
while watching a cricket
match at a school play­
ground in the village, he
said.
They also allegedly hur­
led casteist slurs with the
intention to insult and inti­
midate members of the
Dalit community, the offic­
er added. When the boy’s
uncle Dhiraj Parmar ob­
jected, the matter was set­
tled for the time being, he
said.
However, later that
evening, a group of seven
The accused
allegedly hurled
casteist slurs with
the intention to
insult and intimidate
members of the Dalit
community, the
police said
men armed with sharp
weapons assaulted Mr.
Parmar and his brother
Kirti, the officer said.
One of the accused
chopped off Kirti’s thumb
and injured him seriously,
he said.
FIR registered
An FIR has been registered
under sections 326 (volun­
tarily causing grievous
hurt by dangerous wea­
pons), 506 (criminal inti­
midation) and other rele­
vant provisions of the
Indian Penal Code and the
SC and ST (Prevention of
Atrocities Act), the officer
said. Efforts are on to ap­
prehend the accused, he
added.
Sonam Saigal
MUMBAI
It has been six years since
Sudhir Dhawale, an acti­
vist; Surendra Gadling, a
criminal lawyer practising
in Nagpur; Shoma Sen,
professor and Head of De­
partment, English at Nag­
pur University; activists
Rona Wilson and Mahesh
Raut were arrested in the
caste­based violence that
broke out at Bhima Kore­
gaon in Pune in 2017.
On June 6, 2018, they
were arrested from diffe­
rent locations in Maharash­
tra, and they continue to
be in jail as undertrials
even as all the clone copies
of the evidence have still
not shared with them, says
the defence lawyer, but the
prosecutor refutes the
charge.
In 2018, the Pune police
launched a crackdown af­
ter arresting the first batch
of the accused in June.
Poet Varavara Rao, advo­
Bhima Koregaon case accused
Rona Wilson.
cate Sudha Bharadwaj, ac­
tivists Arun Ferreira, and
Vernon Gonsalves were ar­
rested on August 28, 2018.
Activist Gautam Navlakha
and Anand Teltumbde sur­
rendered before the Na­
tional Investigation Agency
(NIA) offices on April 14,
2020.
Hany Babu was arrested
on July 28; Ramesh Gai­
chor, Sagar Gorkhe and
Jyoti Jagtap of the Kabir Ka­
la Manch (KKM) were ar­
rested in September, the
late Father Stan Swamy
was arrested on October 8,
2020, and died on July 5,
2021, while in judicial
custody.
“It has been six years,
however most of the clone
copies which form crucial
evidence collected by the
prosecuting agencies
against the accused have
still not shared with them,”
says advocate Barun Ku­
mar, appearing for some of
the accused in the case. He
added, “There was a direc­
tion given by the Special
NIA court to the Central
agency in May 2022 to
share all the clone copies
with the accused. But it is
still not done.”
However, Special Public
Prosecutor Prakash Shetty
rubbished the allegation
and said, “We have submit­
ted maximum clone copies
of the evidence to the ac­
cused. Some may have
been missed, but most of
the material have been
shared with them.”

Mukhtar Ansari gets life term for 1991
murder of U.P. Cong. leader’s brother
The Hindu Bureau
LUCKNOW
A Varanasi court on Mon­
day sentenced gangster­
turned­politician Mukhtar
Ansari to life imprison­
ment in the murder of
Awadhesh Rai, brother of
Congress leader Ajay Rai.
The murder case dates
back nearly 32 years ago, to
August 3, 1991, when
Awadhesh Rai was shot
dead outside his house in
Varanasi’s Lahurabir area.
Ajay Rai said the fight of
32 years paid off and family
members kept their pa­
tience despite obstacles
created due to the in­
fluence of Ansari. “We did
not give up. I, parents,
Awadhesh’s daughter and
the whole family stood
firm,” he said.
CM
YK
deter public servant from
discharge of duty), 504 (in­
tentional insult with intent
to provoke breach of the
peace), and 506 (criminal
intimidation) of the IPC.
Ansari is said to run an
alleged criminal syndicate
which wields influence in
the Ghazipur­Mau­Varanasi
region.
He won three consecu­
This is the fifth case in less than 10 months in which Ansari, a tive Assembly polls — 2007,
five­time MLA, has been convicted. FILE PHOTO 2012 and 2017 from Mau
Vidhan Sabha seat while
This is the fifth case in tion) Act case lodged at being lodged in jail.
less than 10 months, in Mohammadabad police Ansari, a five­time MLA
which Ansari, a five­time station in 2007. from Mau Sadar seat, did
MLA who wields influence In 2022, the Allahabad not contest the 2022 Uttar
across eastern Uttar Pra­ High Court sentenced him Pradesh Assembly election
desh has been convicted. to seven years in prison for and the seat was won by
In April, a Ghazipur court threatening a jailer and his son Abbas Ansari on a
sentenced him to 10 years pointing a pistol at him. He ticket from the Suheldev
imprisonment in an Uttar was found guilty of offenc­ Bharatiya Samaj Party,
Pradesh Gangsters and An­ es under Sections 353 (as­ which had tied up with the
ti­Social Activities (Preven­ sault or criminal force to Samajwadi Party.
Karnataka Cabinet to discuss law
on cow slaughter; BJP begins protest
The Hindu Bureau
BENGALURU
Karnataka Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah on Monday
said that the State Cabinet
will take up discussion on
anti­cow slaughter legisla­
tion, while the Bharatiya
Janata Party held protests
in several places across the
State against indications by
Animal Husbandry Minis­
ter K. Venkatesh that the
Act would be amended.
“The Karnataka Preven­
tion of Cow Slaughter and
Cattle Preservation Act,
1964, had referred to cattle
above 12 years that is unfit
for agriculture as the ones
that could be slaughtered.
However, an amendment
was brought later,” Mr. Sid­
daramaiah told pressper­
sons in Davangere. He said
Ongoing row: The BJP has launched a two­day protest over the
issue in various parts of Karnataka. FILE PHOTO
that the Cabinet will dis­
cuss the matter.
Bringing in the anti­cow
slaughter legislation was
on the priority list of the
erstwhile BJP dispensa­
tion. The issue gained pol­
itical significance after Mr.
Venkatesh had asked what
was wrong in slaughtering
cows when buffaloes could
be slaughtered under the
current legislation.
He had also pointed out
the problems that farmers
were facing after amend­
ment to justify his
statement.
However, his statement
received an angry res­
ponse from the BJP, with
former Chief Minister and
party leader Basavaraj
Bommai stating that the
Minister’s statement was
shocking and would lead to
illegal transport and smug­
gling of the cattle.
The BJP has com­
menced a two­day protest
in the State against the
moves to withdraw the
amendments to the anti­
cow slaughter legislation.
While the protests were
held in different places of
the State on Monday with
the party workers oppos­
ing the attempts by the
new dispensation to revisit
the legislation.
The party is also plan­
ning to hold a protest in
Bengaluru on Tuesday.
M ND-NDE

Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Delhi
Arikompan captured in Theni district, to
find a new home in Kalakad Tiger Reserve
Captured in T.N. after an operation that lasted over five days, wild tusker taken to the KMTR by truck; officials say the jumbo will be closely
monitored after release; fearing trouble from the relocated animal, tribals living near Papanasam and Servalar Dams stage demonstration
L. Srikrishna
THENI
nding an operation
E that lasted over five
days, officials of the
Tamil Nadu Forest Depart­
ment successfully tranquil­
lised wild elephant Ari­
kompan
Uthamapalayam in the
at
Chinna Ovulapuram re­
serve forest in Theni dis­
trict, early on Monday.
Sources said Arikom­
pan, also known as Arisi­
kompan, will be released
at Muththukuzhivayal
beyond the Upper Gothai­
yar area in the Kalakad
Mundanthurai Tiger Re­
serve (KMTR). A large
posse of officials and
ground staff from multiple
Kerala CM launches
first phase of K­FON
The Hindu Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Projecting the Kerala Fibre
Optic Network (K­FON) as a
symbol of the alternative
path pursued by the State
government, Chief Minis­
ter Pinarayi Vijayan on
Monday commissioned the
first phase of the project.
The project will provide
free Internet access to 20
lakh below poverty line
(BPL) families, connect
30,000 government insti­
tutions and provide Inter­
EDUCATIONAL
GENERAL
CM
YK
departments led by the
Forest Department had
been closely monitoring
the pachyderm for the past
week, via a GPS­aided ra­
dio collar on it.
Supriya Sahu, T.N. Addi­
tional Chief Secretary, En­
vironment Climate Change
and Forests, in a tweet,
said the tusker has been
safely tranquillised in the
early hours of Monday, in
Cumbum’s East Range for­
est. She added that Ari­
kompan would be translo­
cated to a suitable habitat
where officials will conti­
nue to monitor it.
Arikompan had entered
Cumbum on the morning
of May 27, and the district
administration imposed
ban orders under Section
net connection at a nomi­
nal rate to the public. He
said that by ensuring con­
nectivity in far­flung places
such as Idamalakudy, it is
being ensured that no one
is left behind and everyone
is a part of the real Kerala
story.
“Universal Internet ac­
cess is essential to keep up
with the changing world.
Through this, we are con­
necting entire Kerala with
the global information
highway,” he said during
the inaugural event.
On the move: Tranquillised Arikompan being taken in a truck to the
Upper Gothaiyar area on Monday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
144 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
On Monday, Theni Dis­
trict Collector R. V. Shajee­
vana lifted the prohibitory
orders with immediate ef­
HC quashes case against activist,
says nudity should not be tied to sex
The Hindu Bureau
KOCHI
The Kerala High Court on
Monday set aside the cri­
minal case initiated against
activist Rehana Fathima,
for posting on social media
a video showing her minor
son and daughter painting
on her semi­nude torso un­
der the hashtag ‘Body Art
and Politics.’
The High Court ob­
served that that depiction
of the naked body of a wo­
EDUCATIONAL
GENERAL
THE HINDU
States
fect. The tusker was tran­
sported in a truck by Forest
Department officials, and
as the vehicle entered vil­
lages, residents lined up in
large numbers on the road­
man cannot per se be
termed obscene, indecent
or sexually explicit.
Justice Kauser Edappa­
gath observed “Nudity
should not be tied to sex.
The mere sight of the
naked upper body of the
woman should not be
deemed to be sexual by de­
fault. So also, the depiction
of the naked body of a wo­
man cannot per se be
termed to be obscene, in­
decent or sexually explicit.
The same can be deter­
side and hailed officials for
the successfully capture.
Many residents took pho­
tographs and posted them
on social media platforms.
Given a shower
As the heat dehydrated the
tranquillised tusker while
being taken on the truck
from Chinna Ovulaapuram
to Upper Gothaiyar, it was
given a shower after cross­
ing the Kayathar area in
Thoothukudi district.
Since the tusker, which
had sustained an injury in
the trunk, started striking
the truck driver’s cabin
with its tusks, another
dose of tranquilliser was
administered when the
vehicle reached Piraan­
chery, situated about 13 km
mined to be so only in con­
text. The context here
shows that the said depic­
tion is one of political ex­
pression of the petitioner
and artistic expression of
the children.”
‘Not legally wrong’
It added: “There is abso­
lutely no reason to believe
that an ordinary man view­
ing the video would be­
come depraved, debased
and encouraged to lasci­
viousness.”
EDUCATIONAL
GENERAL
from Palayamkottai on the
Palayamkottai­Papanasam
Road.
Condemning the Forest
Department’s decision to
release in KMTR the cap­
tured Arikompan, a group
of Kaani tribes living in
three settlements near Pa­
panasam and Servalar
Dams, staged a demonstra­
tion near the Papanasam
checkpost in the evening.
Meanwhile, taking into
account the elephant’s
capture, the Madurai
Bench of the Madras High
Court on Monday closed a
public interest litigation
petition on the issue.
(With inputs from P.
Antony Joseph Sudahar in
Triunelveli and B. Tilak
Chandar in Madurai)
The court said that an
expression of an opinion,
with no overtones of ob­
scenity or vulgarity, should
not be a cause of action for
criminal action. Morality
and criminality are not
coextensive. What is consi­
dered as morally wrong is
not necessarily legally
wrong. It pointed out that
the final report filed in the
case does not support or
even draw a prima facie
case for any of the statuto­
ry offences as alleged.
EDUCATIONAL
CM Yogi Adityanath waters a sapling on the occasion of World
Environment Day at Gorakhnath Temple on Monday. ANI
U.P. CM rings in
birthday; PM, other
leaders wish him
Mayank Kumar
LUCKNOW
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and several leaders
extended their greetings to
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minis­
ter Yogi Adityanath on his
51st birthday on Monday,
with supporters hailing his
“good governance” and
wishing him further suc­
cess in his political journey.
“Birthday greetings to
Uttar Pradesh’s dynamic
CM Yogi Adityanath Ji. Over
the last six years, he has
provided great leadership
to the state and ensured all­
round progress. On key pa­
rameters, Uttar Pradesh de­
velopment has been remar­
kable,” Mr. Modi tweeted.
Former U.P. CMs Akhilesh
Yadav of Samajwadi Party
and Bahujan Samaj Party’s
Mayawati also wished the
present incumbent.
A graphic novel, Ajay to
Yogi Aditya Nath, was also
released on the occasion by
U.P. Minister Jitin Prasada
in Lucknow. Written by his
GENERAL
5
biographer Shantanu Gup­
ta, it covers his journey
from being born as Ajay
Bisht to a family in Pauri
Garhwal (now in Uttarak­
hand) to becoming a five­
time Lok Sabha MP from
Gorakhpur and then CM.
Mr. Adityanath himself
was in Gorakhpur on his
birthday and performed
rudrabhishek puja at the
Gorakhnath Temple be­
sides and planting a tree on
the temple premises to
mark World Environment
Day.
Milk offered
Ambrish Singh ‘Bhola’, the
in­charge of the Varanasi
chapter of the Hindu Yuva
Vahini, an outfit founded
by the CM, offered 51 litres
of milk in the Ganga near
the Baba Vishwanath tem­
ple to mark the birthday.
“People of the whole coun­
try and the world keep
track of Yogiji. He should
rise further. He will defi­
nitely serve U.P. and the
country,” he said.
DEATH
EDUCATIONAL
GENERAL
LEGAL NOTICE
M ND-NDE

6 Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Tragic track
The Railways must not lose focus on
safety as it expands its services
T
he rail accident in Balasore in Odisha on
June 2, involving the collision of three
trains, is a tragic reminder of the chal­
lenges that India faces in modernising and ex­
panding its rail services. At least 275 people were
killed and over 900 injured when the Shalimar­
Chennai Coromandel Express, the Yesvantpur­
Howrah Express and a freight train collided in
the worst rail accident in two decades. But an ac­
cident of this kind had been foretold, as recently
as February this year when a collision between
two trains was averted at Hosadurga Road Station
in the Birur­Chikjajur section of the Mysore Divi­
sion of the Railways, thanks only to an alert loco
pilot and the moderate speed of the train, which
could be brought to a stop. The train had gone off
its intended track, which was reported as a result
of faulty signalling system and dangerous human
intervention. An official record of that incident
called for “immediate corrective actions... to rec­
tify the system faults and also sensitizing the staff
for not venturing into shortcuts”. The accident in
Balasore, it now appears in a preliminary inquiry,
followed the same disastrous sequence of me­
chanical failures and human errors.
The Indian Railways carries nearly 15 million
passengers every day now compared to the peak
of 23 million a day the year before the COVID­19
pandemic. India has an ambitious plan to im­
prove its rail infrastructure, and in the year 2023­
24, ₹2.4­lakh crore has been allocated for capital
expenditure. Accidents per million train kilo­
metre have fallen over the last decade, but poor
maintenance of tracks and the rolling stock and
overstretched staff are problems that the Rail­
ways can no longer camouflage with glitzy fa­
cades. Safety measures including anti­collision
systems are expanding, but evidently not at an
adequate pace. In 2021, the Prime Minister an­
nounced that 75 new semi­high speed trains la­
belled Vande Bharat would be started over 75
weeks, and several have been started already.
There has been attention on passenger amenities
also, but nothing can be more important than sa­
fety. The accident in Balasore should prompt In­
dia’s railways development plans onto the right
track. Speed should be strived for, but safety is
paramount. Sabotage is not ruled out in the Bala­
sore accident, which will be probed by the Cen­
tral Bureau of Investigation. More important will
be the corrective measures by the Railways at the
operational and planning levels. It will have to
find more resources to modernise and rationalise
its priorities.
Eye on oil
India must bring pump prices of petrol
and diesel in line with global oil prices
T
he world’s largest grouping of crude oil
producers, commonly known as OPEC+,
agreed on Sunday to extend ongoing pro­
duction cuts into 2024 as it seeks to keep oil pric­
es from falling amid concerns about a global eco­
nomic slowdown. OPEC major and leading
producer Saudi Arabia also voluntarily vowed to
reduce output by an extra 1 million barrels per
day (bpd) in July, sending international oil future
contracts higher on Monday. The more than 20­
nation OPEC+ bloc, which has been striving to
curtail supply in order to support prices in the
face of flagging demand, had in a surprise move
in April announced additional output cuts
amounting to 1.66 million bpd. That move’s im­
pact on prices was, however, shortlived and
benchmark Brent crude futures have largely re­
mained below $80 a barrel, after briefly rising
above $87 in the wake of the surprise output cut
in April. For India, which imports more than 80%
of its crude oil requirements, the combined Sau­
di­cum­OPEC+ announcements of supply curtail­
ment are a cause for some concern given the po­
tential they have to push up global oil prices. Still,
with India having sharply increased its purchase
of crude from Russia since Moscow’s invasion of
Ukraine and the consequent western sanctions
against Russian energy exports, the price India
pays for an imported barrel of oil has been steadi­
ly declining.
As of last week’s close, the average monthly
price of India’s crude oil basket had declined by
as much as 38% from its June 2022 peak of $116.01
a barrel to $72.39. While there is a good likeli­
hood for some near­term uptrend in global oil
prices as a result of the latest OPEC+ move, India
has through its stepped­up imports of Russian
crude — it bought a third of its oil from the sanc­
tions­hit country in March — substantially buf­
fered itself from any appreciable adverse impact.
Still, the softening in crude purchase prices has
not percolated to the Indian consumer. Pump
prices of petrol and diesel have remained un­
changed since May 22, 2022, with the govern­
ments at the Centre and the States, and the oil
marketing companies unwilling to forego any re­
venue, possibly as a way of insulating themselves
from any rise in costs in the future. With retail in­
flation showing signs of easing in recent months
and private consumption spending data showing
a distinct lack of vigour as a result of the inflation­
ary erosion in consumptive capacity, policymak­
ers must reassess their stand on fuel prices.
While the demand for bringing oil products un­
der the ambit of GST so as to help rationalise fuel
prices is unlikely to be met any time soon, espe­
cially given the revenue implications for States,
the Centre can take the lead and provide a fiscal
fillip to the economy by cutting its levies on the
key transport fuels.
CM
YK
Editorial
A word of advice to the Delhi police
T
he protest by India’s medal winning
wrestlers has been in the news for
long. Two cases of sexual harassment
were reportedly registered on April 28,
2023 by the Delhi police against the president of
the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), after the
intervention of the Supreme Court of India, based
on a petition filed by a few wrestlers. The cases
were under the Protection of Children from
Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the relevant
sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
concerning the outraging of the modesty of a
woman and sexual harassment, while the other
was with respect to outraging the modesty of a
woman under the IPC. While the investigation of
these two cases is under way by the Delhi police,
the complainant wrestlers are still consistent in
their demand— the arrest of the accused. They
too offered to undergo a narco­analysis test when
the accused offered to undergo any such test to
prove his innocence.
Some of the allegations date back to previous
years, the implication being that there was a
delay in lodging the complaint with the police. At
the stage of the registration of the first
information report (FIR), if a complaint has the
ingredients of a cognisable offence, the mandate
of the Supreme Court (given in Lalita Kumari vs
Govt. of Uttar Pradesh and others (2014)) could not
have been violated. The veracity of allegations (of
a cognisable offence) cannot be inquired into
before registering an FIR. In case the delay in
reporting the matter is over three months, the
reasons for the delay are to be explained
satisfactorily. It is also a recognised principle of
law that a mere delay in an FIR is no ground to
discard the prosecution story, if the truthfulness
and plausibility of the explanation for the delay
are established to the satisfaction of the court.
Otherwise, it may need corroboration with
additional and credible evidence. Therefore, the
insistence of the Delhi police on holding a
preliminary inquiry and a delay in registering
cases does not seem to be justified.
As far as conducting a narco­analysis test or
any such similar scientific test is concerned, such
tests are conducted either on a suspect or on a
In the short term, stabilise the Line of Actual Control
F
or the last few years, the situation on the
Line of Actual Control (LAC) has continued
to remain extremely tense; it has just
stopped short of a war, with the Doklam and
Galwan crises. Every now and then, the media
reports incidents of transgressions and stand­offs
between Indian and Chinese troops at the LAC
even as both countries incur a huge expenditure
in ensuring defensive preparedness as well as
better military infrastructure as they induct men,
material and equipment close to the LAC.
Need for stability
After Galwan, we have seen one of the biggest
mobilisations of Chinese forces into Tibet. There
has also been an increase in rhetoric and jingoism
in both countries, calling for more aggression.
The seriousness of the matter can be gauged from
the statement made recently by India’s External
Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at a media group’s
meet — that “the situation along the LAC in
Eastern Ladakh remains very fragile and quite
dangerous in terms of military assessment”. This
state of affairs is not sustainable and can trigger a
major conflict, thereby destabilising the entire
region and adversely impacting the world,
politically and economically. Therefore, it is in
everyone’s interest that the LAC is made stable
and the two giant neighbours see a benign rise.
The complexity of the India­China border
problem precludes a permanent solution on an
immediate basis. Chinese territorial claims
include the entire Arunachal Pradesh and the
occupied Aksai Chin. No Chinese government,
more so the present one under Xi Jinping, is
likely to tone down the narrative that has been
built over a long time, which claims Ladakh and
Arunachal Pradesh as two of the five fingers that
are attached to the Tibetan Palm.
Similarly, the Indian political establishment is
not in a position to make any concessions to
facilitate a mutually acceptable border
settlement. Thus, it is better that both sides
consider taking short­term but effective and
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Train accident, the lessons official is supposed to have
The horrendous train flagged a flaw in the
accident in Odisha is one of signalling system as early as
the worst­ever in in February 2023, why was
independent India. While there no attempt to address
the Railway Board has the flaw? Further, as
alleged, prima facie, that suggested by a reader
there is reason to suspect (“Letters to the Editor”, June
‘signalling interference’ and 5), re­introduction of a
has now sought a Central separate Railway Budget in
Bureau of Investigation Parliament and having
probe (Page 1, June 5), and detailed discussion may
the Prime Minister Modi has also be thought of.
said that those responsible A. Jainulabdeen,
for the accident would not Chennai
be spared, it is unwarranted
that the Opposition is A newspaper like The Hindu
calling for the resignation of has a bigger role to perform
Railway Minister. Based on after a balanced and
the investigation report, nuanced reporting of facts
there have to be concrete and opinions. Can the
steps to ensure safety. Editors make it a point not
However, there is a question to let the authorities forget
that remains to be and bury the tragedy in red
answered. When a railway tape? Can we expect The
THE HINDU
Delhi
witness (but not on a victim) under conditions On the other hand, if there are multiple
laid down in Selvi vs State of Karnataka (2010). offences committed at multiple locations over a
The truthfulness of the allegations cannot be
established with the aid of such tests. The
period of time, the police also need reasonable
time to look for and collect evidence to build
credibility of the statement of the victim is tested their case. Ultimately, it is the evidence which will
through a thorough cross­examination which be relevant to convict the culprit(s), and not the
R.K. Vij alone could be sufficient even to prove her case. arrest only.
Similarly, the statement recorded by a judicial
is a former Director
General of Police magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Complete the investigation quickly
of Chhattisgarh Procedure Code (Cr.PC) will be useful only if the Therefore, looking at the sensitivity of the cases,
judicial magistrate is called by the trial court for the best option available with the Delhi police is
examination. However, such tests administered to complete the investigation quickly and have
on the accused may help in a further the final report in court. For offences punishable
investigation if some information or material is with imprisonment of less than 10 years, as in the
discovered after such tests. present cases, investigation needs to be
completed in 60 days after arrest to prevent the
Arrest is conditional detainee from being released on bail. Since no
On the issue of arrest, one needs to look at the arrest has been effected so far, this provision is
substantive laws and sections applied. According not attracted in a strict sense in the given cases.
to information available in the public domain, However, it would be prudent to complete the
allegations that pertain to sexual assault at the investigations expeditiously in keeping with the
workplace or otherwise which may attract provisions of the Cr.PC. For the minor victim,
Section 8 or/and Section 10 (punishment for there is also a presumption in favour of
aggravated sexual assault as the president of the prosecution under the POCSO Act and it will be
WFI was in the position of authority) or/and for the accused to prove that he did not commit
Section 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act the offence. If the police do not find sufficient
in the case of a minor victim and Section 354 evidence to charge sheet the accused, it has to
(outraging modesty of a woman) or/and 354A put up the final report in court. When the victims
(sexual harassment) of the IPC in case of other are insistent in their allegations and are
victims. In none of these sections, the protesting for justice, the allegations cannot be
punishment is more than seven years of said to be false. However, the court may still
imprisonment. frame charges and proceed with the trial. The
In the wrestlers’ Therefore, according to Section 41 of the Code ultimate decision to proceed with the trial or not
of Criminal Procedure, arrest is not mandatory to, and frame charges would be taken by the
case, any delay
unless there is material evidence to show (as judicial magistrate after deliberations. Any delay
in investigation mandated by the Supreme Court in Arnesh in investigation will not only invite adverse
will not only Kumar vs State of Bihar & Anr. (2014) the consequences in the law but also shake public
invite adverse possibility of tampering of evidence or making confidence in the Delhi police, which is the
consequences, any threat, or to prevent committing of any principal investigating unit in the capital of the
as far as the further offence or for proper investigation of the country.
law is offence. Otherwise, issuing notice under Section On the other hand, the victims, if not satisfied
41A of the Cr.PC for appearance before the police with the progress of the cases, may approach the
concerned, but
would be sufficient. Since the accused is an Delhi High Court to issue directions to the Delhi
also affect influential person, these apprehensions police to put up the status report and complete
confidence in mentioned above may not be ruled out; however, the investigation in a given time frame.
the standing of there need to be reasons and material to justify
the police the arrest. The views expressed are personal
pragmatic steps to stabilise the LAC, reducing the Article II of the 1993 Agreement and Articles II
possibilities of a conflict. For India, it is all the and III of the 1996 Agreement, has not seen any
more important that LAC disputes do not escalate progress.
into full­fledged conflicts because despite the The current mindset among the Indian
assurances made by the government, there is no security establishment is to be “unyielding” with
surety that the results of war will be favourable to China as it is felt that the “salami slicing tactics ”
Gajinder Singh us. of the Chinese must be halted. While firmness is
is an Infantry General essential, there is also a need to identify the
Agreements and inadequacies reasons for rising clashes on the LAC and working
with vast experience
on the Line of Actual The India­China engagement got an impetus after
the visit by then Indian Prime Minister to China in
on solutions. The opinion is that aggression is not
the only reason for the rise in LAC incidents; the
Control and the
Northeast December 1988. Since then, four agreements quantum jump in surveillance technology
have been signed between the two countries (in provides visibility of movement of opposing
1993, 1996, 2005 and 2013) to maintain peace forces in areas that were blind spots earlier. This
along the LAC, laying the framework for dealing coupled with increased troop density, better
with the border issue and covering the spectrum roads, improved logistics and availability of
of engagement from the highest levels of aviation assets enhance the reaction capability,
government to border personnel meetings in the thereby increasing the face­offs and clashes.
field. For more than two decades, these
arrangements have served their purpose well. Consider these steps
However, the heightened tension on the LAC Whatever be the reasons, the situation needs to
suggests that there are inadequacies in the be brought under control and chances of a
agreements. full­fledged conflict minimised. These steps are
The agreements are based on the premise that recommended to usher peace and stability on the
the LAC is mostly defined and understood by LAC.
both parties. However, this is not the case and Convert the LAC into a Line of Control (LC) by
there are large segments which lack clarity. delineating it on the map and on the ground
Article I of the 1993 Agreement stipulates the without prejudice to border claims. This will
creation of joint mechanisms to verify and settle reduce the urge among the forward troops to
LAC­related disputes. After 19 years, the Working inch forward. This may seem difficult but can be
Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on implemented with a display of maturity by both
India­China Border Affairs (WMCC) was created sides and with the use of technology.
in 2012. It meets twice in a year but has little to The disputed areas on the LAC can be treated
Looking ahead,
show in terms of results on the ground. as no entry zones; alternatively, both sides should
a more
The 3,488 kilometre­long LAC has only four be allowed to patrol these areas as per a mutually
important step Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) points; the agreed frequency.
would be to Lipulekh BPM Point which was proposed in the Joint patrolling of the disputed areas must also
convert the LAC Article V of the 2005 Protocol has not been be explored as this can result in the maintenance
established till now. The paucity of BPM points of status quo and an increase in confidence.
into a Line of
precludes constructive engagement between the Existing Confidence Building Measures and
Control without troops on the ground resulting in the escalation engagement mechanisms need to be
prejudice to
of disputes. strengthened by providing more teeth to the
existing border
A mutually agreed reduction and WMCC and establishing more BPM points so that
claims redeployment of forces along the LAC, as in local issues can be resolved quickly.
Hindu to report on the pilots, which help them take famous for its efficient and another tragedy — the
progress or otherwise of the immediate action to avoid secure train system. collapse of an
inquiry and action by the collisions. Apart from this, Ravi Ranjan, under­construction bridge
Indian Railways even if the regular inspection of tracks New Delhi on the Ganga river in Bihar,
time frame runs into years? is also very important to on Sunday. It is a matter of
If so, then the daily would identify potential hazards. The Indian Railways needs shame. We should
have done its duty. Many countries have to consult Japan which has remember Railway Minister
Srinivas Gade, automatic track inspection been operating Bullet trains Lal Bahadur Shastri who
Chennai facilities. The Indian without any major stepped down after a train
Railways should also have accidents. India also needs accident in 1956. It is still
When crores of people an advanced to consult Japan on how to talked about and the bar as
travel by train every day, it communication system build bridges that last. One far as moral responsibility is
is very important to much like the European needs to bow one’s head in concerned. Can we expect
modernise the railways Train Control System (ETCS) shame after the visuals of our political class to
using technology that with a wireless data an under­construction emulate this?
ensures passenger safety. network and real­time bridge over the Ganga in S.K. Khosla,
Trains in many western reporting tools. Germany is Bhagalpur in Bihar Chandigarh
countries are equipped with known for its good safety collapsing on Sunday.
advanced signalling systems standards and the use of P. Vasudeva Rao,
such as ‘positive train the latest technology where Secunderabad
control’, which there is an emphasis on the
automatically apply brakes proper training of rail Man made tragedies Letters emailed to
to prevent a possible employees and the conduct India has still to recover letters@thehindu.
collision. There are also of regular safety audits. from the railway accident co.in must carry the full postal
real­time alerts to loco Similarly, Japan is also when there is news of address.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 7
Delhi
Opinion

Dealing with deepfakes Denying States their own cultures

Governor Ravi’s argument defies the principle of the concept of linguistic States

A
deepfake is something As with other modern that generative artificial
that a machine has technologies set on the intelligence like ChatGPT has been
produced using deep information superhighway, there forcing us to ask. The major that different language groups
learning and which is no way for us to go back to a technology companies behind STATE OF PLAY were emotionally integrated
contains false information. It pays time when people didn’t have the ChatGPT et al seem to have been and saw themselves as cultu­
to keep the definition of tools to falsify media elements at driven by ‘can we do this?’ rather B. Kolappan ral units. In a State such as Ta­
deepfakes, however vague, in mukunth.v scale. Alongside deepfaked images than ‘should we do this?’, kolappan.b@thehindu.co.in mil Nadu, culture is rooted
front of us because of the way @thehindu.co.in and videos, we have chatbots that although not without exceptions. deeply in language, which is

deepfakes distort reality and
attempt to persuade us that
something false is true.
An ‘upgrade’ from Photoshop
On May 28, the wrestlers
protesting peacefully in New Delhi
were tackled to the ground,
arrested, and boarded in a van to
keep them from disrupting the
inauguration of the Parliament
building. Shortly after, a photo
appeared to show four of the
beleaguered wrestlers posing with
wide smiles for a selfie in the van.
If you had believed the photo to
be real, you might also have
believed that the wrestlers had
orchestrated a clash with the
police and that they wanted to be
photographed while being
‘roughed up’. This is what the
person who created the photo
may have intended. Though it
emerged later that this photo had
been morphed, and was not a
deepfake, creating such visuals
has become child’s play.
Deepfaking is a significant
‘upgrade’ from photoshopping
images as it transcends the limits
of human skill. Here, machines
iteratively process large amounts
of data to falsify images and
videos, sometimes in real time,
and with fewer imperfections.
Deepfake images and videos
thus have an unsettling legacy.
People worldwide have already
used the technology to create a
video of Barack Obama verbally
abusing Donald Trump, hack
facial recognition software,
manufacture ‘revenge porn’, etc.
On May 22, a deepfake image
purporting to show a towering
column of dark smoke rising from
the Pentagon received sober
coverage from a few Indian
television news channels. The
image was soon found to have
AP
mimic intelligence, but we can’t
tell the difference when they make
a mistake. This leads some to
believe certain information to be
‘true’ simply because a machine
gave it to them.
Then again, these tools have
also been used for good. Using
deep learning, the ALS Association
in the U.S. founded a “voice
cloning initiative” to restore the
voices of those who had lost it to
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Deep learning has also been
adapted in comedy, cinema,
music, and gaming. Experts have
recreated the voices and/or visuals
of visual artist Andy Warhol,
celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain,
and rapper Tupac Shakur, among
Despite its others, enhancing our ability to
potential to understand, and even reinterpret,
rupture the history (although some of these
attempts haven’t been free of
social fabric,
controversy).
deep learning is
entirely Redeemable technology
redeemable, just As such, despite its potential to
like the kitchen rupture the social fabric, deep
knife or the learning is entirely redeemable,
nuclear reactor. just like the kitchen knife or the
nuclear reactor. The focus, in turn
The problem is
and as usual, must be on how we
how we wield it. wield it. This is also the question
Our still­evolving experience
with solar geoengineering offers a
useful, if also imperfect, parallel.
Solar geoengineering involves
modifying the climate to be
favourable over one part of the
planet, by blocking sunlight, but
which invariably has planet­wide
consequences. Many scientists
agree that this is dangerous and
have called for a moratorium on
the use of this technology and for
international cooperation led, if
required, by a treaty.
Clumsy though it may seem,
deepfakes merit a similar
response: laws that regulate its use
and punish bad­faith actors, and
keep the door open for
democratic inputs to guide the
future of such a powerful
technology. A good starting point
could be what political
philosopher Adrienne de Ruiter
wrote in 2021, which is to protect
against the “manipulation of
hyper­realistic digital
representations of our image and
voice.” This, she said, “should be
considered a fundamental moral
right in the age of deepfakes”. And
a stepping stone for us, as
individuals, is to become more
scientifically, digitally, and
public­spiritedly literate. Then, we
will be able to look past an
implausible photo and bring to
light its concealed creator.
For now, among all the
countries, China has responded
strongest. It has banned
deepfaked visuals whose creators
don’t have permission to modify
the original material and which
aren’t watermarked accordingly.
The success of this policy is no
doubt assured by the country’s
existing surveillance network.
Every measure short of this
requires at least an ampoule of
self­restraint. And that is rooted in
T
amil Nadu Governor
R.N. Ravi has yet again
raked up a controver­
sy by contending that there is
nothing called “the culture of
a State.” He said States were
created only for the conve­
nience of governance, and
that their creation created pol­
itical identities. This theory is
similar to what Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh ideo­
logue M.S. Golwalkar wrote in
his book, We, or Our Nation­
hood Defined.
“For where religion does
not form a distinguishing fac­
tor, culture together with the
other necessary constituents
of the Nation idea, becomes
the important point in the
making of individual national­
ity. On the other hand, in Hin­
dustan, Religion is an all­ab­
sorbing entity. With us, every
action in life, individual, social
or political, is a command of
religion,” wrote Golwalkar.
“...Culture is but a product of
our all­comprehensive reli­
gion, a part of its body and not
distinguishable from it.”
Mr. Ravi’s interpretation of
culture seems to be shaped by
Golwalkar’s ideology. It has
led him to complain that the
creation of States “created pol­
itical identities such as ‘Tami­
lians’, ‘Telanganites’, UP­
ites’... and all kinds of fictional
identities [which] have been
undoing and undermining the
core strength of this country.”
Edward Said had said
American identity is too va­
ried to be a unitary and homo­
genous thing and that the bat­
tle within it was between the
advocates of unitary identity
and those who see the whole
as a complex but not a reduc­
true for India too.
“Even assuming that we ac­
cept the Governor’s argu­
ment, there arises a question:
can there be a separate cul­
ture for a country? His argu­
ment leads to the conclusion
that there can be just one cul­
ture for the whole of humani­
ty,” said noted Tamil writer
Jeyamohan. Explaining that
India has been a melting point
of cultures, Mr. Jeyamohan
said, “Just because a river
flows through a big lake, we
cannot call it a river instead of
a lake. India is a common idea,
but within it are unique fea­
tures... It is foolish to empha­
sise one and ignore the other.”
It is this unique mix that al­
lows Malayalis to celebrate the
arrival of Mahabali as Onam,
while in other parts of the
country, he is seen as a Raksh­
asha. There are hundreds of
versions of the Ramayana and
not many celebrate the way
the Tamil epic poet, Kamban,
glorified Ravana in his Ra­
mayanam. Dussehra cele­
brates the triumph of good ov­
er evil: in the north, it
commemorates Rama’s victo­
ry over Ravana, but in many
other States, Dussehra is an in­
tegral part of Sakthi worship.
These differences clearly
show that culture is rooted in
regional characteristics too.
Mr. Ravi’s argument also
goes against the underlying
principle of the concept of lin­
guistic States. One of the rea­
considered as important as
religion.
Strands of Hinduism are
seen across India, but regional
variants and movements testi­
fy to their roots in unique cul­
tural contexts. Devotional
poetry is a cultural commo­
nality in the country, but the
Bhakti movement in Tamil is
unique. In Tamil Nadu, the
movement is seen as a revolt
against Vedic religion and ri­
tuals and as having played a
key role in rejuvenating the
Tamil language. “The histori­
cal reasons for its emergence
in diverse regions are varied —
ranging from the rigidity of
Brahminism to the need to
carve out a spiritual identity
vitalized by, and yet distinct
from, the Shramana move­
ment...,” wrote Arundhathi
Subramanian in Eating God: A
Book of Bhakti Poetry. Though
Sanskrit was not entirely ig­
nored, “For all her lapidary re­
finement, her exquisite subtle­
ty, Sanskrit gradually began to
seem inadequate to meet the
needs of a growing tribe of re­
ligious aspirants,” she wrote.
Further, life, culture and
society are rooted in the land­
scape and terrain. Tamils
themselves did not demon­
strate a unitary culture. The
Tamil concept of land division
(Thinai) meant that culture, ci­
vilisation and even deities
were identified with the land.
As Said said about culture:
“It means all those practices,
like the arts of descriptions,
communication, and repre­
sentation, that have relative
autonomy from the economic,
social, and political realms
and that often exist in aesthet­
ic forms, one of whose princi­

been machine­made. the kind of people that we are. tively unified one. This holds sons for reorganisation was pal aims is pleasure.”

Accidents decline, but expenses on safety remain low F RO M T H E A RC HI V E S

The Balasore accident was an exception in recent years, but it also reflects the declining focus on safety measures by the Indian Railways
FIFTY YEARS AGO JUNE 6, 1973

DATA POINT
Railways staff, and 6% had oc­ Australian PM hopes for
curred due to equipment failure. A
preliminary investigation has sug­ close Sino­Indian ties
Jasmin Nihalani gested a possible failure of the sig­
nalling system in the Balasore tra­ New Delhi, June 5: The Australian Prime

A
cursory look at historical
data on railway accidents
gives the impression that
such incidents are a thing of the
past. The Indian Railways saw an
average of about 1,390 accidents
per year in the 1960s. The number
has dramatically dropped to 80
per year in the past decade. But
the triple­train collision in Odish­
a’s Balasore, one of the deadliest in
India, raises questions about safe­
ty in rail travel.
Here, train accidents refer to
consequential train accidents:
those that resulted in loss of hu­
man life, loss of railway property,
caused injuries, and interrupted
rail traffic. Derailments formed
close to 70% of all accidents since
1990­91, followed by level crossing
accidents, collisions and fires in
trains (Chart 1). The chart shows
the year­wise number of accidents
under various categories.
Chart 2 shows the number of
passengers killed in consequential
accidents since 1990­91. The trage­
dy in Odisha that claimed at least
275 lives stands out. The number
of deaths in this single incident is
higher than the annual fatalities of
the last 16 years. The Railways re­
corded zero fatalities in 2019­20
and 2020­21 due to consequential
accidents. In 2020, when ques­
tioned by the NITI Aayog chief
about the fact that 30,000 people
had died over three years due to
trespassing and other untoward
incidents around railway premis­
es, the Railways said it had no con­
trol over casualties due to trespass­
ing or negligence or carelessness
on the part of passengers and that
efforts were being made to sensi­
tise the public.
Notably, among the consequen­
tial train accidents, 55% had oc­
curred due to negligence or failure
of the Railways staff. About 28% of
accidents were attributed to the
failure of persons other than the
CM
YK
gedy. Chart 3 shows the share of Minister, Mr. Gough Whitlam, to­day expressed
various causes in train accidents. the hope that it would be possible for India and
In the 2023­24 Union Budget, China — the two biggest nations in the world — to
the Railways received a record al­ co­operate and co­exist. Interviewed on the
location of ₹2.40 lakh crore. Ho­ “Personal View” programme of the Delhi
wever, when capital expenditure Television, Mr. Whitlam said that India and
on crucial activities related to safe­ China were two neighbours who were making
ty such as track renewal and sig­ determined efforts to develop by different
nalling and telecom are consi­ methods. “The world must hope that they do
dered, their shares dwindled or succeed in their efforts to become prosperous
stagnated over the last few years. and use their vast human resources.” Asked if
Allocation for track renewal Australia would play the role of an intermediary
dipped to 7.2% and expenditure between India and China, Mr. Whitlam replied:
proposed for signalling remained “I have not thought of that.” Answering another
at 1.7% in FY24 when considered question, the Australian leader said that it would
as a share of budgetary support for be advantageous if there were some
capital expenditure (Chart 4). arrangements under which the countries in the
The Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha South­East Asian region could regularly get
Kosh (RRSK) fund was created in together to exchange views. Such an
2017­18 with a corpus of ₹1 lakh arrangement would not be like a military pact
crore to provide financial support nor an organisation in which Great Powers
for critical safety­related works dominated, he added. Mr. Whitlam said
and to curb accidents, including Australia no longer desired to look up to Britain
those at unmanned level cross­ as a father. “Britain is a brother country.” His
ings. However, a Parliamentary Government was trying to change the laws
Standing Committee report in relating to appeals to the Privy Council in
March 2023 observed that “appro­ London. It embarrassed and insulted the judges
priations to the RRSK has been fall­ of the Australian Supreme Court when a person
ing short ever since it was intro­ convicted under the present laws was able to
duced.” The Committee also noted appeal to the Privy Council. However, any
that the Railways did not meet the changes in relationship with Britain did not
target of earmarked allocations for mean weakening of the Commonwealth
the previous five years. association.
The major causes of derail­
ments are rail fractures, weld fai­
lures, track defects and rolling
stock defects. As per a Ministry of A HUNDRED YEARS AGO JUNE 6, 1923
Railways document on safety per­
formance, the track forms the In Parliament
backbone of the Railways tran­
sportation system and needs to be London, June 4: The Commons passed the
safe. According to a white paper by second reading by 285 votes to 127 of the
the Ministry, 4,500 km of track Government Bill providing that the occupiers of
should be renewed annually. Ho­ agricultural land shall pay only a quarter instead
wever, data show that the target of half local rates, the State paying the
set by the Railways is much lower remainder, thus relieving the agriculturalists to
than the level suggested by the the extent of £27,50,000 yearly. Mr. Neville
white paper. In the past seven Chamberlain represented agriculture as being in
years, the Railways could not a desperate condition and it was feared that
achieve this level barring one year. unless assistance was given much arable land
Chart 5 shows the target of track would go out of cultivation altogether or go to
renewal set by the Ministry and grass which would be disastrous. Liberal and
the target achieved in that year. Labour members opposed the Bill.
M ND-NDE

Text&Context
NEWS IN NUMBERS
The members
representing India at
the Special Olympics
255
members. The Special
Olympics World Games
are the world’s largest
inclusive sporting event for people with
intellectual disabilities and will be held in
Berlin, Germany from June 17 to 25. PTI
What is affecting trade momentum?
What are the essential headwinds observed with respect to global trade? How is the Russia­Ukraine conflict affecting trade in the international market? Why has
there been an overall decline in the demand for goods and services? How has the collapse of financial institutions affected trade?
EXPLAINER
Saptaparno Ghosh
The story so far:
M
ired in a slowing economy,
inflationary setting and
tighter monetary controls
worldover, India’s
merchandise exports shrunk 12.7% on a
year­on­year (YoY) basis to $34.66 billion
in April — a six­month low. Imports fell
sharper by 14% to $49.90 billion during
the same period. As reported by The
Hindu earlier, the fall in imports and
exports is not limited to India as other
countries too have recorded similar
declines — affirming the notion about
slowing global demand.
What are the current underlying
trends in global trade?
The essential headwinds observed with
respect to global trade are weaker
economic activities worldwide, inflation
and tightening of monetary policies,
disrupted supply chains because of the
Russia­Ukraine conflict and financial
instability because of the collapse of
several financial institutions in advanced
economies.
The ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe
continues to have a bearing on the prices
of energy, food and commodities. As
observed by the World Trade
Organization (WTO), though food and
energy prices receded from their post
conflict peaks by the fourth quarter last
year, “they remained high by historical
standards and continued to erode real
incomes and import demand” during the
mentioned period. The impact of energy
prices was strongest during the winter
months in Europe as Russia was among
the largest suppliers of energy to Europe
before it was sanctioned. Europe
responded to the loss of gas shipments
from Russia by shifting to other suppliers,
including the U.S., Qatar, Norway and
Algeria. This potentially increased LNG
prices elsewhere such as Japan, where the
How can the woes of Delhi
Metro users be solved?
What are some solutions to reduce overcrowding in metros? How have other countries tackled the issue?
Tanya Mittal
The story so far:
T
raffic and congestion on Delhi
roads have often caught the ire
of daily commuters, but now
overcrowded metros are
adding to the chaos. Delhi is expected to
become the world’s largest agglomeration
around the year 2028, according to a UN
survey. Residents in the capital city have
gravitated towards metro trains which is
the most common mode of public
transport. But in a span of few years, the
Delhi metro, which began its first service
in December 2002, faces the challenge of
being overly crowded, especially during
peak hours. The network spans the length
and breadth of Delhi and the National
Capital Region (NCR) and carries over 20
lakh passengers every day.
How are countries like Israel and
Japan tackling overcrowding?
The Delhi Metro faces an ever­growing
ridership, and the space to move around
CM
YK
Delhi www.thehindu.com Tuesday, June 6, 2023
● ●
The Railway’s
expenditure on safety
measures in five years
1 200
in ₹ lakh crore. Between 2017­2018
and 2021­22 there has been a steady
growth in expenditure on track
renewal, according to an official document.
The numbers came out after the triple train
accident in Odisha’s Balasore. PTI
Follow us facebook.com/thehindu
prices doubled between January last year
to February this year.
The collapse of financial institutions —
such as of the crypto exchange FTX
(November 2022) alongside three banks in
the U.S. since March (the Silicon Valley
Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic
Bank), and the loss of confidence in Credit
Suisse added to the troubled scenario. As
the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) in its latest
update (in April) concluded, the events
raised “the spectre of financial contagion
in an already slowing economy”.
What are we looking at?
The EU is India’s third largest trading
partner after the U.S. and China. The
European Economic Forecast (published
in February) held that the region would
“narrowly escape the recession” that took
in trains during peak hours is becoming
limited. Delhi must look at solutions
which involve re­designing space in
metros by adopting folding seats,
double­decker metros and wider
standing. Israel Railways has introduced
standing carriages as part of efforts to
reduce overcrowding in local trains. The
new strategy in Israel will feature folding
seats and handles, while regular seats and
tables will be dismantled from the floor.
Delhi can try to adopt similar although
less extravagant, quid pro quo solutions
to tackle the unbearable congestion in
morning peak­hour trains. Another
example is from the Tokyo Metro which is
the fastest tube across the world. The
Tokyo metro recently made international
headlines when it started giving
commuters free food coupons for staple
Japanese dishes served in local
restaurants like a bowl of soba noodles
(thin buckwheat noodles) and tempura to
those who use pre­peak hour trains for 10
consecutive days. Specifically, the Tozai
line of the Tokyo metro is the most
0
Spotify all set to cut
down on staff working
with podcasts
people. Spotify said
that this amounts to
2% of its workforce.
They also announced in April that they
passed 500 million monthly active users
with 210 million paying subscribers. PTI
twitter.com/the_hindu
ISTOCKPHOTO
shape around September. As for the U.S.,
in May, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that
inflation had “somewhat” moderated
since the middle of the last year.
Nonetheless, inflation pressures
continued to run high with expectations
of it receding to 2% having a “long way to
go”. The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing
Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI),
compiled by S&P, registered 49.6 in May —
unchanged for the third consecutive
month and indicating a marginal
deterioration of business conditions. The
indicator is used to assess manufacturing
business conditions.
How are these related to trade?
To put it simply, in a period of economic
slowdown, international trade, both
exports and imports, falls sharply as
overall demand for goods and services
crowded, linking the city’s business hub
to the suburb of Chiba. According to a
report, it was found that the Tozai line
had a 199% congestion rate before the
scheme. For comparison, a 100%
congestion rate means there are no free
seats. And a 200% congestion rate means
bodies come into contact with each other
and one feels considerable pressure.
What are some solutions for Delhi?
The right set of policy actions and public
investments can help leverage large­scale
private investment in this sector and find
new solutions. Modernising trains built to
meet smaller passenger rates, expanding
and improving existing networks,
combined with modernisation of
signalling systems and rolling stock, are
some solutions the private sector can help
with. One of the biggest problems that
gets the least attention is the lack of focus
on last­mile connectivity in Delhi public
transportation.
Although there are almost 18
multi­level parking facilities across Delhi,
Millions displaced The expected net
internally in Burkina profit of the airline
Faso due to violence industry this year
2 9.8
million. Violence linked to al­Qaeda In $ billion. The
and the Islamic State group has International Air Transport
made Burkina Faso one of the Association attributed
world's fastest­growing populations of rising passenger traffic and reviving local
internally displaced people, according to economies to the increase in profit. PTI
government data. AP COMPILED BY THE HINDU DATA TEAM
instagram.com/the_hindu
stand reduced. There is an aversion for THE GIST
discretionary spending which particularly
weighs on some imports and postponable
expenditures. It is in this light that the 쑽
exports of engineering goods, gems and The essential headwinds
jewellery, chemicals, and readymade observed with respect to global
garments and plastics, along with trade are weaker economic
petroleum products contracted or grew at activities worldwide, inflation
a slower pace in 2023. Similarly, inflation, and tightening of monetary
the uneven rise in prices especially of policies, disrupted supply
essentials such as food and energy erodes chains because of the
the purchasing power of an individual. Russia­Ukraine conflict and
Additionally, inflation also affects the flow financial instability.
of capital to a developing country.
쑽
Important to note, the share of exports of
goods and services combined in GDP In a period of economic
stood at 21.4% in FY 2021­22. slowdown, international trade,
both exports and imports, fall
What next? sharply as overall demand for
On May 15, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, goods and services stand
Director General of Foreign Trade and reduced.
Additional Secretary in the Ministry of 쑽
Commerce had said, “Global demand is
Similarly, inflation, the uneven
not looking good from markets like the EU
rise in prices especially of
and the US. For the next two­three
essentials such as food and
months, the demand scenario doesn’t energy erodes the purchasing
look very optimistic,”, adding that the power of an individual.
government will initiate inter­ministerial Additionally, inflation also
talks to find ways to diversify and sustain affects the flow of capital to a
the exports momentum. developing country.
Likewise, Rumki Majumdar, Economist
at Deloitte India told The Hindu that a
global slowdown, especially in the U.S.
which is our major trading partner would
have implications on demand for our
merchandise exports. High base effect
may also reflect on growth numbers.
“However, services exports will hold the
fort. Imports may remain low as
commodity prices and INR value stabilise.
However, quicker recovery may add
pressure on import demand.”
As for the concern about lower
imports, Ms. Majumdar points to the
non­crude non­jewellery segment that has
grown by 15% in the last fiscal — higher
than the long­term average growth. “This
shows that domestic demand remains
robust. A cyclical correction should not
be seen as a slowdown. Lower imports
have been because of stable oil prices,
reducing our imports bills.”
nearly all of them remain underutilised. THE GIST
For instance, the North Delhi Municipal
Corporation’s state­of­the­art
seven­storeyed, automated underground 쑽
parking at Kamla Nagar, which was In a span of few years, the
constructed in 2013, lies almost empty Delhi metro, which began its
during peak business hours. Better use of first service in December 2002,
these public parking spaces will faces the challenge of being
encourage people to not park on roads overly crowded, especially
and cause further traffic jams. Every during peak hours.
metro station provides parking spaces for
people to close the gap of long distances 쑽
between one’s residence and the nearest Modernising trains built to
metro station. meet smaller passenger rates,
expanding and improving
existing networks, combined
What has the budget stressed on?
The new budget proposal tabled by the with modernisation of
Government of the National Capital signalling systems and rolling
Territory of Delhi makes promises of stock, are some solutions the
upscaling the bus transport system and private sector can help with.
augmenting its electric bus fleet. The 쑽
capital outlay under this has set aside
₹28,556 crore to induct electric buses; The new budget proposal
tabled by the Government of
₹3,500 crore to improve Delhi’s public
the National Capital Territory
transport system; ₹1,500 crore for
of Delhi makes promises of
electrification of 57 bus depots; 1,600 new upscaling the bus transport
electric buses; 900 EV charging points; system and augmenting its
and a Mohalla bus scheme for last mile electric bus fleet.
connectivity. This ‘mohalla bus’ scheme
ensures last mile­connectivity and the
development of three ISBTs (Inter­State
Bus Terminus) with airport­like facilities
in Delhi. The government also plans to
develop 1,400 bus queue shelters with
digital screens that will display bus
schedules.
Tanya Mittal works with the FICCI
International Division
M ND-NDE

Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Delhi
ABSTRACT
A view of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). REUTERS
The decade-long search for a rare Higgs
boson decay continues
Physicists amassed a large amount of data generated by the Large Hadron Collider to report a fascinating new result — a very rare decay process that
can tell us important things about the Higgs boson as well as about our universe
Vasudevan Mukunth
ast week, physicists working
L with the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) particle­smasher at CERN,
in Europe, reported that they
had detected a Higgs boson decaying into
a Z boson particle and a photon. This is a
very rare decay process that tells us
important things about the Higgs boson
as well as about our universe.
What is a Higgs boson?
An electron is a subatomic particle that
has mass. How does this mass arise? How
can we say that an electron has less mass
than a proton, or that a photon has no
mass at all? The answer lies with the
Higgs boson. The stronger a particle’s
interaction with the Higgs boson, the
more mass it has. This is why electrons
have a certain mass, protons have more of
it, and neutrons have just a little bit more
than protons, and so on. A Higgs boson
can also interact with another Higgs
boson — this is how we know that its mass
is greater than that of protons or
neutrons.
The Higgs boson is a type of boson, a
force­carrying subatomic particle. It
carries the force that a particle
experiences when it moves through an
energy field, called the Higgs field, that is
believed to be present throughout the
universe. For example, when an electron
THE DAILY QUIZ
With the NIRF rankings out, here’s a quiz on some of India’s best learning institutions
Srinivasan Ramani
X rankings. Name the person and the
QUESTION 1
This institution has been continuously
rated the best in India according to
the NIRF, including in 2023. Which
country offered technical assistance in
setting up this institution in 1959? And
name the institution.
X Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest.
QUESTION 2
The Nobel laureate C.V. Raman was
the first Indian director of this
institute which has been named as the
highest ranked university in India,
according to the NIRF. Name the
institute.
X Parliament by the then Health
QUESTION 3
A journalist who began his career in
The Hindu’s editorial team, he later on
became a prominent diplomat. He
was also the first vice­chancellor of a
university when it opened in 1969.
CM
YK
interacts with the Higgs field, the effects it
experiences are said to be due to its
interaction with Higgs bosons. Since all
the matter in the universe is made of
these particles, working out how strongly
each type couples to Higgs bosons,
together with understanding the
properties of Higgs bosons themselves,
can tell us a lot about the universe itself.
The latter is why the new result is
notable.
Now, since photons, the particles of
light, have no mass which is because they
don’t interact with Higgs bosons, a
question should arise — how did a Higgs
boson decay to a Z boson and a photon?
This is a good question whose answer lies
in spacetime.
The results of the study
According to quantum field theory, which
is the theory physicists use to study these
interactions, space at the subatomic level
is not empty. It is filled with virtual
particles, which are particles that quickly
pop in and out of existence. They can’t be
detected directly, but according to
physicists their effects sometimes linger.
The LHC creates a Higgs boson by
accelerating billions of highly energetic
protons into a head­on collision, releasing
a tremendous amount of energy that
condenses into different particles. As it is
a heavy particle, the Higgs boson is
unstable and decays into lighter particles.
This institute has been rated second
among universities in the NIRF
institute.
X One Earth’
QUESTION 4
The founder of this college was a
former Chief Justice of India (prior to
independence). He named the
college after a lead character in
Coincidentally his daughter also
shared the same name. Name this
college (first in NIRF college
rankings) and the founder.
X 5. The amount of plastic that is recycled
QUESTION 5
First established in a Bill mooted in
Minister Amrit Kaur in 1956, this
institute’s founding was made
possible by a generous grant from
the New Zealand government under X Early Birds: Akshay Kumar Khanna| Ranju|
the Colombo plan. Name the Visual question:
institute. Which highly ranked institute’s logo is this? WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
THE HINDU
Text&Context
We can’t always say which combination of
particles it will decay into. But, the theory
that describes the properties of
fundamental particles has clearly
predicted the probability that it will take a
given path.
For example, this theory, called the
Standard Model, says that a Higgs boson
will decay to a Z boson and a photon 0.1%
of the time. This means the LHC needed
to have created at least 1,000 Higgs
bosons to have been able to spot one of
them decaying to a Z boson and a photon.
As it happens, the Z boson is also
unstable.
According to Martin Bauer, an associate
professor at the Institute for Particle
Physics Phenomenology, Durham
University, Z bosons decay to two muons
some 3% of the time.
If the detectors at the LHC were
looking for a pair of muons plus a photon
created at the same time, Dr. Bauer
estimated that the LHC would have had to
create at least 30,000 Higgs bosons to
observe the decay just once.
This is why, even though the Higgs
boson was discovered more than a
decade ago at the LHC, it is only now that
physicists are confirming this decay
pathway.
The implications
The two detectors that announced the
new measurement, called ATLAS and
CMS, had in fact looked for and found the
decay before as well (in 2018 and 2020).
On this occasion, the two teams
combined their data, collected “between
2015 and 2018”, and as a result
“significantly increased the statistical
precision and reach of their searches,”
according to a CERN statement.
This significance is even now not high
enough for the teams to claim that a Higgs
boson decayed to a Z boson and a photon
with 100% certainty, reflecting the rarity
of the decay pathway.
Now, why do physicists go to such
lengths to spot the decay in the first
place? This is because the Standard Model
predicts that the Higgs boson will take
this path 0.1% of the time if its mass is 125
billion eV/c2 (a unit of mass used for
subatomic particles).
The Standard Model has made many
accurate predictions but it can’t explain
what dark matter is or, in fact, why the
Higgs boson is so heavy. Testing its
predictions as precisely as possible is a
way for physicists to find whether there
are any cracks in the Model — cracks
through which they can validate new
theories of physics.
For example, some theories predict a
higher rate of decay through this
pathway; if the LHC and its detectors find
experimental proof of that, the new
theories could open a new realm of
science.
Please send in your answers to
dailyquiz@thehindu.co.in
Questions and Answers to the previous
day’s daily quiz: 1. This Swiss city was the
first host city of the WED and this was its
inaugural theme. Ans: Geneva and ‘Only
2. This country is the host this year. Ans:
Côte d’Ivoire and this year’s theme is
‘Solutions to plastic pollution’
3. This independent global campaigning
network was co­founded by Canadians
Irving and Dorothy Stowe. Ans: Greenpeace
4. This area in the Americas is said to
produce nearly 20% of the world’s
breathable oxygen. Ans: The Amazon
forest
globally. Ans: Only 9%
6. This term describes a species’ relationship
with its environment. Ans: Ecology
Visual: Name this legendary Indian
environmentalist. Ans: Sunderlal
Bahuguna
M. Suresh Kumar| Rohith Natraj| Joseph
Nelson
9
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Know your
English
K. Subrahmanian
“I should like to read out an extract from
a letter I received from Mr. E. V. Kumar,
Pondicherry Judicial Services,
Pondicherry, regarding the meaning of
the word ‘renoncants’. In French,
renoncer means to ‘give up’. The noun
form is renoncons. The people of former
French settlements in India were
governed by their own personal laws and
customs by virtue of the regulation dated
30th December, 1709 and the order dated
6th January, 1819. By a decree dated 21st
September, 1881 (promulgated by the
order of Governor dated 3rd January, 1882
and ratified by the decision of 17th April
1882) the natives, belonging to both sexes
of all caste and religions and who had
attained the age of 21 years, were given
the right to renounce their personal laws
and status and on renunciation, such
persons, their wives and minor children
came to be governed by the civil and
political laws applicable to the French in
the colony. They could however practise
their respective religions. Even today, the
French civil code is applied to
‘renoncants’ in respect of marriage,
divorce, adoption, inheritance,
succession, etc.”
“Prof. A. D. Bhogle of Hyderabad and
Mr. G. Sedouram of Pondicherry have also
written making similar comments. My
thanks to the three readers for their
interesting comments. What’s the next
question?
Sir, Ms. Kavita Ramaswamy wants to
know which of the two sentences is
correct: (a) The teacher, as well as the
students, is going on a picnic, (b) The
teacher, as well as the students, are going
on a picnic.”
“The teacher, as well as the students, is
going on a picnic” is correct. “As well as”
is not a conjunction here. It does not
mean ‘and’. It introduces a parenthesis.
That is, it gives additional information.
The subject of the sentence is ‘The
teacher’. His parents, as well as his sister
are going to Madurai. Here the subject is
‘His parents’. I hope this is clear.”
“Sir, Mr. Y. A. Johnson, Plot 12. Sri
Ayyappa Nagar, Madras, wants to know
the origin of ‘April Fool’.”
“April 1 is All Fool’s Day when people
try to fool one another. There are several
stories about the origin of the term. I’ll
narrate the most satisfactory of them all.
According to the Julian Calendar, the New
Year began on April 1. During the middle
ages, the New Year celebrations started
on March 25 and ended on April 1 when
friends exchanged gifts. When the
Gregorian Calendar was adopted in
England in 1752, the New Year’s Day was
moved to January 1. But some
mischievous people used to call on others
on April 1, also with mock presents. This,
some say, is the origin of April Fool. ‘April
Fool’ is a person who is ‘jokingly fooled
on April 1’. The word ‘fool’ itself is from
Latin follis, which originally meant ‘a pair
of bellows or an air­inflated playing ball. It
came to be used figuratively, in the sense
of ‘puffed up windbag’ or an
‘empty­headed person’.”
“Sir, several readers want to know
whether it is ‘on a par with’ or ‘on par
with’.”
“It is ‘on a par with’, means ‘equal to’
or ‘the same as’.
He is not on a par with his brother in
intelligence.”
Published in The Hindu on March 22,
1988
For feedback and suggestions for
Text & Context, please write to
letters@thehindu.co.in
with the subject ‘Text & Context’
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
10 Tuesday, June 6, 2023

News Delhi

From Page One Wrestlers resume duty with India, U.S. finalise
road map for defence
Railways to secure Railways, say protest to go on industrial cooperation
signalling equipment
There was no solution to our problems after the meeting with Amit Shah, says Sakshi Malik; father
Dinakar Peri
The superfast express collided with a stationary of minor grappler refutes reports that she had withdrawn her complaint against WFI chief NEW DELHI
goods train on the loop line. Some coaches fell on
the adjacent line causing the derailment of the India and the U.S. on Mon­
Yeshwantpur­Howrah Express which entered the Samridhi Tewari day concluded a road map
station at the same time. Mehul Malpani for ‘Defence Industrial
The dual­lock access control is to ensure that NEW DELHI Cooperation’ which shall
standard safety guidelines are followed while ac­ guide the policy direction
cessing signalling equipment. Officials were told wo days after hold­ for the next few years to­
to check whether the norms and guidelines in the
process of disconnection and reconnection of sig­
nal and telecommunication equipment were be­
T ing a meeting with
Union Home Minis­
ter Amit Shah, wrestlers
wards cooperation in high
technology areas and iden­
tifying opportunities for Rajnath Singh with Lloyd Austin
ing scrupulously followed by the station staff. Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Pho­ co­development and co­
Shailendra Kumar Goel, former Director­Gen­ gat and Bajrang Punia res­ production. This was con­ on Monday. After the meet­
eral, Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineer­ umed their duty with the cluded during the bilateral ing, Mr. Singh said on Twit­
ing and Telecommunications, told The Hindu that Indian Railways on Mon­ meeting between Defence ter that the talks revolved
the Odisha accident took place on one of the bu­ day, while saying that they Minister Rajnath Singh and around enhancing defence
siest routes of the Railways where the line capac­ would continue their prot­ visiting U.S. Secretary of cooperation in several
ity utilisation was in excess of 100%. On such busy est. Defence Lloyd Austin. areas, including conver­
routes, hardly any time is given to the staff for car­ The wrestlers are at the “The two Ministers ex­ gence of strategic interests
rying out maintenance or repairs. The mainte­ forefront of the protest plored ways of building re­ and enhanced security
nance personnel need a block or disconnection against Wrestling Federa­ silient supply chains. Both cooperation.
(temporary suspension of the signalling system at tion of India (WFI) chief sides will identify oppor­ “India­U.S. partnership
the station) to carry out maintenance of signalling and BJP MP Brij Bhushan tunities for co­develop­ is critical for ensuring a
equipment or to attend to repairs, he said. Sharan Singh. Mr. Singh is Wrestler Bajrang Punia, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni, former J&K Governor Satypal Malik, and ment of new technologies free, open and rules­
“Since blocks are not routinely available on accused of sexual harass­ Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar during a Sarva Samaj panchayat in Sonipat district on Sunday. PTI and co­production of exist­ bound Indo­Pacific region.
high­density routes, signalling and station operat­ ment of grapplers, includ­ ing & new systems and fa­ We look forward to closely
ing staff often breach the prescribed safety proto­ ing a minor. the movement. The news time we are not protesting had withdrawn her com­ cilitate increased collabo­ work with the U.S. for ca­
cols and informally access the sensitive installa­ The wrestlers rubbished of women wrestlers with­ on ground, I will work plaint against the WFI ration between defence pacity building and further
tions. It is suspected that the Coromandel Express reports that they had with­ drawing FIR is also false. here, but I will play an ac­ chief. start­up ecosystems of the consolidating our strategic
accident might have been caused by such unauth­ drawn the protest after the The fight will continue till tive role in planning the ag­ The minor’s father refut­ two countries. Towards partnership,” he said.
orised tampering of the signalling system where meeting with the Home Mi­ justice is served.” itation,” she said. ed such claims. “ It’s com­ these objectives, they con­ Both sides reviewed the
the signal was given for main line passage and the nister. “The news is com­ “In this fight, we have pletely fake and we are still cluded a road map for U.S.­ robust and multifaceted bi­
point [movable rails] took the train to the loop pletely wrong. In the fight ‘No common ground’ neither stepped back nor a part of the ongoing agita­ India Defence Industrial lateral defence coopera­
line,” he said. for justice, none of us have Ms. Malik said they could have moved away, we are tion and we shall continue Cooperation which shall tion activities and agreed
However, Mr. Goel said, an in­depth investiga­ backed down, nor will we. not find a common ground going to remain here, till to fight against the ac­ guide the policy direction to maintain the momen­
tion by an expert investigating agency was needed Along with Satyagraha, I at the meeting with the our demands are met, till cused,” he said. for the next few years,” a tum of engagement, the
to ascertain the real cause of the accident. am fulfilling my responsi­ Home Minister. “There justice is served and all the He said the fight was dif­ Defence Ministry state­ statement said, while not­
bility in Railways. Our fight was no solution to our pro­ girls feel safe,” Ms. Malik ficult because the person ment said. “The two sides ing that they welcomed the
continues till justice is blems after the meeting; said. they were fighting against discussed a substantial inaugural dialogues held
served. Please don’t our demand for arrest [of Ms. Phogat said the was powerful and no ac­ range of bilateral defence recently focusing on de­
Services resume on spread any wrong news,”
Ms. Malik said.
the WFI chief ] continues,”
she said.
wrestlers would leave their
jobs if they were seen as an
tion had been taken so far.
“My daughter feels dis­
cooperation issues, with
particular focus on identi­
fence Artificial Intelligence
and defence space.
Howrah-Chennai line Mr. Punia, in a tweet,
said, “The news of with­
Ms. Malik said she had
some responsibilities in
“obstacle in the way of
justice”.
heartened; it’s taxing be­
cause every day we wake
fying ways to strengthen
industrial cooperation.”
“They also discussed
the regional security issues
drawing the movement is the Railways. “Concerning up to news that he conti­ Mr. Austin reached In­ given their shared interest
Simultaneously, the restoration of overhead elec­ just a rumour. This news is my job where I’m Officer ‘Difficult fight’ nues to speak boldly, and dia on Sunday evening in maintaining peace and
trification was taken up. Train movement started being spread to harm us. on Special Duty (sports), I Several media reports also all the girls have to live from Singapore on a two­ stability in the Indo­Pacific
soon after midnight. In an experimental basis, a We have neither retreated have responsibilities that I emerged on Monday say­ their life in constant fear,” day visit. He was given a region,” the statement
few goods trains were passed through the over­ nor have we withdrawn have to complete; till the ing that the minor wrestler he said. tri­service guard of honour added.
hauled tracks. The speed of passenger trains was
reduced during the stretch where the accident
had taken place.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was
present to witness resumption of train services in
the intervening night of Sunday and Monday,
Modi driving India by looking Chiefs of Opposition Two killed in
firing along
heaved a sigh of relief.
According to a senior railway official, more
than 60 goods and passengers trains have since
into rear­view mirror, Rahul parties must attend Assam
passed through the crash site.
Despite completion of restoration, the East tells Indian diaspora in U.S. meeting, says Nitish boundary
Coast Railway said as many as 17 passenger trains
stood cancelled on Monday. Amarnath Tewary The Hindu Bureau
Meanwhile, the Odisha and Central govern­ The Hindu Bureau non of Narendra Modiji. He PATNA GUWAHATI
ments continued to struggle in identification of NEW DELHI is trying to drive the Indian
bodies which were fast decomposing. car and he only looks in Bihar Chief Minister and Ja­ Two persons were killed
“Till yesterday [Sunday], the death toll was 275. Prime Minister Narendra the rear­view mirror. And nata Dal(U) leader Nitish and two more injured in
The most challenging aspect is identification. Ho­ Modi is trying to drive the he does not understand Kumar on Monday said an Assam’s Dhemaji district
wever, 170 bodies have been identified. The pro­ Indian car by only looking why this car is crashing, Opposition meeting sche­ on Monday when unidenti­
cess of handing over the bodies is going on. The in the rear­view mirror and not moving forward,” Mr. duled to be held in Patna fied assailants, allegedly
Odisha government will arrange transportation of does not understand why Gandhi said. on June 12 has been post­ from Arunachal Pradesh,
the bodies to their respective destinations free of the car is crashing and not He emphasised that In­ poned as the Congress and Nitish Kumar fired at them.
cost,” said Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena. moving forward, Congress Rahul Gandhi dia was witnessing a fight some other parties had a It happened at Panbari
leader Rahul Gandhi said between two ideologies, problem with the date. pate in the meeting due to when the victims were
CRS begins inquiry in New York on Sunday. the BJP was asked why a one that had Mahatma Mr. Kumar said he had “scheduling issues”. planting saplings. This trig­
Railway sources said Commissioner of Railway Sa­ Wrapping up his three­ train accident took place, it Gandhi as its inspiration asked the Congress to sug­ Bihar Congress presi­ gered protests in the area
fety, South Eastern Circle, A.M. Chowdhary began city tour of the U.S., Mr. would say, “Look the Con­ and the other that was re­ gest a new date after con­ dent Akhilesh Prasad Singh with the local people de­
inquiry into the rear collision of Train No 12841 Gandhi addressed a large gress party did such a thing presented by Nathuram sulting with other parties. had said the party was manding action against the
Coromandel Express with a goods train and side gathering of the Indian 50 years ago.” He added Godse. “Gandhiji was for­ “We had to put off the June planning to send a Chief culprits.
collision with Train No 12864 Yeshwantpur­How­ diaspora at the Javits that when a train accident ward­looking, modern, 12 meeting after the Con­ Minister and a senior party Assam’s Director­Gener­
rah Express at Bahanaga Bazaar station yard at Centre, organised by the happened while his party open­minded. Godse only gress and some other par­ leader to the meeting. al of Police Gyanendra Pra­
6.55 p.m. on June 2. Indian Overseas Congress­ was in power, it did not spoke of the past. He never ties conveyed to me that Tamil Nadu Chief Minis­ tap Singh said efforts were
Besides the loco pilot and the assistant loco pi­ USA. Mr. Gandhi said that blame the the British for spoke of the future, only they found the date incon­ ter M.K. Stalin, too, had ex­ on to nab the culprits.
lot of the two express trains and the goods train, the BJP and the RSS were the train crash. “No. The spoke of the past. He was venient. I have asked the pressed his inability to join Assam Chief Minister Hi­
the CRS also summoned the stationmaster of Ba­ “incapable” of looking at Congress Minister, I re­ angry, hateful and frankly, Congress to suggest a new the meeting on June 12 due manta Biswa Sarma said,
hanaga Bazaar station, train managers and ticket the future. member, said it is my res­ he was scared at the heart, date after consultation. to certain official “We have not yet been able
travelling examiners of the trains. “Back home we have a ponsibility that the train he was a coward and he But, I have made one thing engagement. to demarcate the (inter­
During the two­day inquiry, he will examine problem, and I will tell you has crashed. I am resign­ was unable to deal with his very clear that all parties JD(U) sources said the State) boundary in diffe­
and record the statements of 55 officials and pu­ the problem. The BJP and ing,” he said. life,” Mr. Gandhi said. which have agreed to at­ meeting could now be held rent areas of Dhemaji dis­
blic witnesses at Kharagpur, the sources added. the RSS are incapable of He said if a question was The Congress leader tend the meeting must be on June 23, after Mr. Gand­ trict. The neighbouring
(With inputs from S. Vijay Kumar in Chennai) looking at the future. Unse posed to the BJP as to why said Mahatma Gandhi, Sar­ represented by their res­ hi returns from the U.S. State does not attack us,
aap kuch bhi poocho, woh periodic table was re­ dar Vallabhai Patel, Jawa­ pective heads and not by “Mr. Gandhi is to return to but some people there do
peeche ki aur dekhte hain moved from the textbooks, harlal Nehru, Dr. B.R. Am­ their representatives,” he the country from his fo­ it for the greed of land,” he
[Ask them anything and they would refer to what bedkar were all said. reign tour on June 18 and said.
Monsoon stares at a they will look into the
past],” he said.
the Congress party did 60
years ago. “Their imme­
non­resident Indians who
led the freedom movement
Congress president Mal­
likarjun Kharge and form­
after that the Opposition’s
meet will be held, most
His Arunachal Pradesh
counterpart, Pema Khan­
cyclone threat Without directly refer­
ring to the recent Odisha
diate response is to look
back,” he said.
in India and the Congress
imbibed the values that
er president Rahul Gandhi
had informed Mr. Kumar
likely on June 23, though it
has not been finalised yet,”
du, said those responsible
for the crime would not be
train accident, he said if “That is the phenome­ these stalwarts fought for. their inability to partici­ a JD(U) leader said. spared.
This date is arrived at from a customised weather
model and has a four­day margin of error. “There
were favourable clouds as well as good rain in Ker­
ala on June 4. This has, however, weakened. It is
not unusual for such systems to form around this
time; however, the monsoon system needs a slight
Not shop of love, Rahul opened Special court takes cognisance of
push and that is what we are waiting for,” he said.
Rainfall is not the only criterion for the IMD to
declare the monsoon’s advent. Wind speeds of a
a mega mall of hate, says Nadda ED chargesheets in coal levy case
minimum strength and depth in the atmosphere,
the outgoing longwave radiation — a measure of The Hindu Bureau the surgical strikes and global platform,” Mr. Nad­ The Hindu Bureau the coal cartel of business­ have established “pro­
cloudiness — and consistent rainfall over two days NEW DELHI even tried to divide Hindus da said, adding that India’s NEW DELHI man Suryakant Tiwari and ceeds of crime” worth
in Kerala, all combine to inform the agency’s de­ and Muslims. COVID­19 management Saumya Chaurasia, the ₹540 crore in the extortion
claration of the monsoon’s onset. In a sharp attack on Rahul Speaking at the launch was a lesson for the entire A special court in Chhattis­ then deputy secretary in racket. The funds were
While the monsoon’s onset doesn’t influence Gandhi, BJP chief J.P. Nad­ of a book, titled Amrit kaal world. garh’s Raipur has taken the Chief Minister’s Office. used for political expendi­
the amount of rain during the June­September da on Monday said that the ki aur (Towards Amrit Calling Mr. Gandhi the cognisance of the two It has so far arrested nine ture, creation of “benami”
months, scientists say that El Nino years are former Congress president Kaal), Mr. Nadda said Mr. Congress’s Yuvraj, Mr. Nad­ chargesheets of the Enfor­ accused, currently in judi­ assets and bribing officials.
linked to a delayed monsoon onset. was running a “shopping Gandhi was not able to dig­ da said, “He raises ques­ cement Directorate (ED) in cial custody. The ED had attached assets
“What we many times see is that in El Nino mall of hatred” and not a est the praise India was tions on the surgical strike, the money laundering case Among those arraigned worth over ₹220 crore, it
years, we have weak, delayed onset as well as an “mohabbat ki dukan“ winning since Narendra talks about dividing Hindu, alleging extortion of illegal in the chargesheets are Mr. said.
early withdrawal. We do see a weak onset this (shop of love). Alleging that Modi became Prime Minis­ Muslim and also says he is levy on the movement of Tiwari, Ms. Chaurasia and Last month, the agency
time and if a cyclone were to form, that would Mr. Gandhi had a problem ter. “The Modi government running ‘mohabbat ki du­ coal, iron pellets and other Indian Administrative Ser­ had attached assets linked
again stall the monsoon,” Roxy Mathew Koll, with everything that is re­ has transformed India kan’... You are not running articles in the State, the vice official Sameer Vish­ to Congress MLAs Deven­
scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteo­ lated to India, Mr. Nadda such that the entire world any ‘mohabbat ki dukan’. agency said on Monday. noi, who held various key der Yadav and Chandradev
rology, Pune and an expert in climate and ocean­ said that he questioned is watching our progress. You have opened nafrat ka The ED said it was con­ posts. Prasad Rai, IAS official Ra­
atmospheric interactions, told The Hindu. vaccines made in India and We are recognised as the mega shopping mall.” ducting the probe against The agency alleges to nu Sahu and others.
CM M ND-NDE
YK

Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Delhi
IRCTC walks the extra mile to
facilitate insurance settlements
The two insurance companies were advised not to reject any claim without the concurrence of the IRCTC, a spokesperson
says; also, IRDAI has advised health insurers to take steps for expeditious settlement of all claims of victims of the accident
S. Vijay Kumar
CHENNAI
he Indian Railway
T Catering and Tou­
rism Corporation
(IRCTC) has shared the de­
tails of victims who died or
suffered injuries in the Od­
isha train accident on June
2 to two insurance compa­
nies to facilitate them to
process claims.
Passengers of the Shali­
mar­Chennai Coromandel
Express and the Yeshwant­
pur­Howrah Express who
booked e­tickets on the
IRCTC platform and chose
the default online insu­
rance option by paying 35
paise as premium would
be benefited.
Though the policy is a
contractual obligation bet­
ween the insurance com­
pany and the passenger
and any claim/liability
would be between the two,
the IRCTC walked the extra
mile by stepping in to facil­
Nitish cites his
example on
demand for
Minister’s
resignation
The Hindu Bureau
PATNA
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar on Monday indi­
rectly asked Railway Minis­
ter Ashwini Vaishnaw to re­
sign over the devastating
triple train collision inci­
dent in Balasore district of
Odisha by citing his own
example.
Mr. Kumar recalled how
he had resigned as Railway
Minister when a train acci­
dent occurred in West Ben­
gal’s Gaisal in 1999 under
the regime of Vajpayee.
He said the train acci­
dent should be properly
looked into, while express­
ing disappointment over
the merger of the Railway
Budget into the main
Budget.
Negligence led
to train crash,
says police
complaint
The Hindu Bureau
BHUBANESWAR
A first information report
(FIR) has been registered at
the Balasore Government
Railway Police station al­
leging that “negligence”
led to the train accident in
Odisha.
Following the filing of a
complaint by assistant sub­
inspector of police Papu
Kumar Naik, a case was re­
gistered under Sections
337, 338, 304­A and 34 of
the IPC and 153,154 and 175
of the Railway Act.
“At present, culpability
of specific railway em­
ployees is not ascertained,
which will be unearthed,”
Ranjit Nayak, sub­division­
al railway police officer,
who has taken over the in­
vestigation, said.
CM
YK
Desperate search: Family members of passengers looking at
photographs at the emergency ward to identify bodies at the Fakir
Mohan Medical College and Hospital in Odisha on Monday. AFP
itate the insurance settle­
ments, railway sources
said.
Confirming this to The
Hindu on Monday, an
IRCTC spokesperson said
the two insurance compa­
nies — Liberty General In­
surance Ltd. and SBI Gen­
eral Insurance Co. Ltd. —
were advised not to reject
any claim without the con­
currence of the IRCTC.
“Though opting for the in­
CBI looks into crime,
not railway accident,
Kharge tells Modi
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Central Bureau of In­
vestigation (CBI) is meant
to investigate crimes and
not railway accidents, Con­
gress president Mallikarjun
Kharge said in a letter to
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Monday, a day af­
ter the Centre had said that
CBI would probe the Bala­
sore train accidnet.
Mr. Kharge, who had
served as a Railway Minis­
ter in the Congress­UPA go­
vernment, in a four­page
letter raised 11 points and
said that “the roping in of
yet another agency with­
out the required experti­
se...shows that the govern­
ment has no intention to
address the systemic safety
malaise but is instead find­
ing diversionary tactics to
derail any attempts to fix
accountability”.
“The CBI, or any other
law enforcement agency,
cannot fix accountability
for technical, institutional
and political failures. In ad­
surance policy is made
available by default, not all
passengers choose the fa­
cility. Only 54% of the pas­
sengers who book e­tickets
on IRCTC portal opt for tra­
vel insurance. The family
of those who died in the ac­
cident would be entitled to
get ₹10 lakh, and those
who suffered injuries
would be compensated as
per the policy conditions,”
he said.
Cong. chief says
there is concern
among common
passengers about
the decline in safety
dition, they lack the techni­
cal expertise in railway sa­
fety, signalling, and
maintenance practices,”
the Congress chief said.
Alleging that the rail­
ways was being meted out
a “step­motherly” treat­
ment by the government,
Mr. Kharge said there is se­
rious concern among com­
mon passengers about the
deterioration in safety and
therefore, it is incumbent
upon the government to
find out the real reasons
that caused this grave
accident.
The Congress chief also
claimed that the merging
of the Railway Budget with
the General Budget has
had an adverse impact and
mentioned how the go­
vernment ignored the re­
ports on rail safety.
THE HINDU
News
The IRCTC, on its web­
site, says it only provides
linkage to transact with in­
surance companies
through its website to take
insurance cover and, as
such, assumes no responsi­
bility or liability in respect
of said policy, under any
circumstances. The insu­
rance scheme was applica­
ble only for Indian nation­
als who have confirmed,
RAC or partially confirmed
tickets at the time of
booking.
Also, soon after the acci­
dent, the Life Insurance
Corporation of India an­
nounced measures to ease
claims of policy holders of
their families who were
victims. Instead of death
certificates, the LIC said it
would accept the list of de­
ceased provided by the
police or Railways or any
any Central/State authority
as proof of death and pro­
cess the claims.
Meanwhile, the Insu­
Woman who made humanitarian
aid at disaster sites her life’s mission
Satyasundar Barik
BAHANAGA (ODISHA)
As the dead were brought
in to the Bahanaga high
school in Balasore district
after one of India’s most
devastating train acci­
dents, there was one reas­
suring voice among the an­
guished cries of relatives.
Manata Pradhan, 59, an Ay­
urvedic practitioner, was
soothing frayed tempers,
enraged outbursts and the
inconsolable cries of griev­
ing women, who had lost
their loved ones in the ca­
tastrophe that claimed the
lives of 275 people.
On Sunday, she was also
enabling the administra­
tion to relocate the bodies
to the North Orissa Cham­
ber of Commerce & Indus­
try premises in Balasore,
where the remains of bo­
dies would be handed over
to their families. She had
hurried to the scene of the
tragedy to offer assistance,
without any government
mandate.
Since 1999, Ms. Pradhan
has dedicated herself to
rance Regulatory and De­
velopment Authority of In­
dia (IRDAI) has advised life,
general and standalone
health insurers to take
steps for expeditious settle­
ment of all claims of vic­
tims of the accident.
There was an urgent
need to take immediate
steps to mitigate the hard­
ships of the affected in­
sured by ensuring imme­
diate settlement of eligible
claims, it said in a commu­
nication. Towards quick
disposal of claims, the reg­
ulator directed the insur­
ers to designate a dedicat­
ed helpline respectively to
coordinate the settlement
of claims.
Besides ensuring dis­
bursements, the IRDAI re­
quested the companies to
launch extensive aware­
ness explaining the simpli­
fied process to file a claim.
(With inputs from
N. Ravikumar
in Hyderabad)
humanitarian endeavours,
offering primary treatment
to victims and counselling
relatives wherever major
disasters have struck in In­
dia and abroad.
“As most of the injured
were shifted to the hospital
soon after the accident, my
services as a doctor were
not required. There were
enough State government
doctors and railway doc­
tors deployed to manage
the crisis. I fit into the sit­
uation as a coordinator to
bring government officials
and civil society groups to­
gether to minimise the cri­
sis,” Ms. Pradhan says.
The treating doctors
were overwhelmed by the
magnitude of the crisis and
‘Railways signal­telecom wing
needs new thinking; accident
puts spotlight on HR issues’
V. Geetanath
HYDERABAD
The Odisha train tragedy
which took 275 lives has ex­
posed the failings in the
functioning of Indian Rail­
ways with the critical sig­
nal and telecommunica­
tions wing being neglected
even when new technolo­
gy is being introduced for
upgrading trains and ma­
chinery, maintaining or
laying tracks and overhead
traction, increasing speeds
and so on, senior officials
say.
“The accident has put
the spotlight on the human
resource deployment pro­
blem. At the ground level,
it is saddled with semi­
skilled workers promoted
from linemen to handle
mechanical or sophisticat­
ed electronic systems,” the
officials said, requesting
anonymity.
These ground­level staff
simply cannot stand up to
pressure from the traffic or
civil engineering wings
breathing down their neck
I have worked
in disasters
across India...Sometimes
a disaster is so big
government machinery
is not able to cope. Then
my service as a doctor
comes handy
MANATA PRADHAN
worked round the clock to
attend to patients. Ms.
Pradhan interacted with
the women and helped ar­
range sanitary napkins, un­
dergarments and spare
clothes.
New perspective
“A woman from Murshida­
bad of West Bengal had lost
her son in the train acci­
dent. She was lonely and
hopeless. It was my basic
duty to lower her anxiety
levels. The woman was
guided to the AIIMS, Bhu­
baneswar, to find her son’s
body,” she said.
After graduating from
the Government Ayurvedic
College, Balangir, in 1993,
her approach towards her
The Centre should consider
going for train control systems
with minimum human
interference.
to complete the work —
maintenance or inspection
or repairs — as it could
mean delay in running of
the express trains.
Problem is quite acute at
the wayside stations,
where express trains are
supposed to breeze
through without halting.
“Railways has started
outsourcing certain works,
including maintenance of
new telecom­signal equip­
ment by the companies
concerned. These firms de­
ploy badly trained and low­
career changed when she
went to provide medical
assistance to people with
malaria in Koraput district.
She started her career in a
non­government organisa­
tion and worked extensive­
ly in coastal Odisha after
the super cyclone in 1999.
Over the years, she has in­
volved herself in humani­
tarian works in areas hit by
natural disasters, including
Tanzania, Nepal, and Sri
Lanka.
“I have worked in al­
most all major disasters
across different States in
India. From the cloud
burst in Ladakh in 2010 to
Kerala’s 2018 flood, from
the tsunami in 2004 to Od­
isha’s 2019 Fani cyclone.
Sometimes a disaster is so
big government machinery
is not able to cope. Then
my service as a doctor
comes handy,” she said.
The Bhubaneswar­
based doctor is often hired
by non­government organ­
isations to travel to disaster
sites. “Sometimes I ar­
range my own resources,”
she said.
11
ly paid technical personnel
with no motivation to work
in such places,” says a se­
nior official.
Even among railway en­
gineers, “nobody is willing
to work” in remote places
with bare amenities and
boxed into small quarters.
“We need to think of re­
cruiting highly qualified
engineers from good insti­
tutes with better pay, con­
tinuous training pro­
grammes and counselling
to ensure safety continues
to be of paramount impor­
tance for the railways,” an
official says.
The issue is also of inter­
department rivalry despite
unified managed structure
in vogue now. “Derail­
ments should not happen.
Railways being a govern­
ment monopoly has no in­
centive for performance.
Instead of making top
heads roll, they are hiding
behind a sabotage theory
of interlocking signal sys­
tem being tampered to cov­
er up for the system fai­
lure,” says an official.
Mamata raises
question over
CBI probe
into accident
The Hindu Bureau
KOLKATA
Observing that the Central
Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) is best suited for
probing criminal cases,
West Bengal Chief Minister
on Monday raised ques­
tions on why the investiga­
tion in Odisha train acci­
dent was being handed
over to the Central agency.
“CBI investigates crimi­
nal cases. This is an acci­
dent case. We want people
to know the truth, not sup­
press it,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The former Railway Mi­
nister said that during her
tenure she had given CBI
the responsibility to probe
the Gyaneshwari Express
accident, but there have
not been any results in the
probe 12 years later.
The West Bengal go­
vernment on Monday an­
nounced that jobs as Home
Guard in State police
would be given to the kin
of those who died as well
as those who have lost
their limbs in the accident.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
12 Tuesday, June 6, 2023

News Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 NIRF: IIT-Madras retains number one spot
5,543 institutions applied for Ministry of Education’s India Rankings 2023; while IIT­M was ranked the best institution in overall ranking for the fifth
consecutive term, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, was rated the top university for eight years in a row; Miranda House was named best college

The Hindu Bureau The IIT­Roorkee got the pectively,. The IIMs in Ban­
NEW DELHI first place in architecture galore and Kozhikode se­
and the National Law cured the second and third
The National Institutional School of India University, positions, respectively, in
Ranking Framework Bengaluru retained its top the management institutes
Karnataka Budget likely to (NIRF), under the Union ranking in law for the sixth ranking.
be tabled on July 7 Education Ministry, an­ consecutive year. “Colleges Postgraduate Institute of
nounced the India Rank­ in Delhi maintained their Medical Education and Re­
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on ings 2023 of higher educa­ dominance in the ranking search, Chandigarh and
Monday indicated that the State Budget is likely to tion institutions here on of colleges with five colleg­ Christian Medical College,
be presented on July 7. Speaking to presspersons Monday. es out of the first 10 colleg­ Vellore were ranked the se­
in Davangere, the CM said that the Budget session The Indian Institute of es from Delhi,” the Union cond and third best medi­
is likely to start on July 3, and that a decision Technology (IIT), Madras Education Ministry said in cal colleges.
would be taken in the State Cabinet. He said that retained its position as the a statement. Releasing the report, Mi­
the size of the Budget would be known only after best educational institution Indian Agricultural Re­ nister of State for Educa­
meetings commence. He also said that all in overall ranking for the search Institute, New Delhi tion and External Affairs,
arrangements have been made to restart Indira fifth consecutive term, took the top slot in agricul­ Rajkumar Ranjan Singh,
Canteens, and if the canteen workers have not while Indian Institute of ture and allied sectors. The said the India Rankings
been paid wages, steps will be taken to pay the Science, Bengaluru was rat­ Indian Institute of Technol­ have served as a valuable
wages. In response to a question on power tariff ed the best university in ogy, Kanpur topped the in­ tool for students in select­
hike, he said the decision had been taken by the the country for eight years The All India Institute of tute of Technology, Madras The IISc was followed by Ja­ novation category. ing universities.
KERC which has come to effect now. in a row. Medical Sciences, Delhi also received the honour of waharlal Nehru University The Indian Institute of The five broad catego­
Miranda House, Delhi was ranked the best medi­ best engineering college and Jamia Millia Islamia as Science, Bengaluru and the ries of parameters identi­
was ranked the best college cal college and Saveetha In­ for the eighth consecutive second and third best Indian Institute of Technol­ fied in the NIRF are teach­
and the Indian Institute of stitute of Medical and Tech­ year. universities. ogy, Delhi were ranked the ing, learning and
ED searches locations linked Management, Ahemdabad
the top management insti­
nical Sciences, Chennai got
the honour of top dental Research category
National Institute of
Pharmaceutical Education
second and third best insti­
tutes, respectively, in the
resources, research and
professional practice, grad­
to IREO and M3M groups tute. The National Institute college. The National Law The Indian Institute of and Research, Hyderabad overall category. Hindu uation outcome, outreach
of Pharmaceutical Educa­ School of India University, Science, Bengaluru also topped the ranking in phar­ College, Delhi and Presi­ and inclusivity, and per­
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted tion and Research, Hydera­ Bengaluru was rated the stood first in the research macy for the first time, dency College, Chennai ception. For the 2023 rank­
searches at seven locations belonging to IREO bad was named the best in­ best law college in the institutions category for pushing Jamia Hamdard to were named the second ings, 5,543 unique institu­
and M3M groups in Delhi and Gurugram in stitute in the field. country. The Indian Insti­ the third consecutive year. the second slot. and third best colleges, res­ tions applied for ranking.
connection with alleged diversion and
misappropriation of funds, the agency said on
Monday. It added that the probe was based on
multiple cases registered against the IREO group.
“The investigations done by the ED showed that
huge amounts of money running into hundreds
World must be adequately Draft of cybersecurity
of crores were siphoned off through M3M group
also,” read its statement. The agency has seized
17 high­end luxury vehicles worth about ₹60
prepared for next pandemic, agreement outlined
crore, jewellery/bullion worth ₹5.75 crore, ₹15
lakh in cash and incriminating evidence, it said. cautions Health Secretary for G­20 countries
The Hindu Bureau
Bindu Shajan Perappadan NEW DELHI

CBI files chargesheet in HYDERABAD

Gufi Paintal, Lieutenant­General Rajesh
Embraer aircraft deal case Cautioning that the next Pant (retd.), the National

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has

much loved
filed a chargesheet against arms dealer Arvind TV villain,
Khanna, lawyer Gautam Khaitan and
businessman Anup Gupta in the alleged Embraer passes away
corruption case, an agency official said on
Monday. The agency had registered the case in Anuj Kumar
October 2016, following a preliminary inquiry on NEW DELHI
a reference from the Defence Ministry. It had
alleged that a commission of $5.76 million was Gufi Paintal, perhaps the
paid to ensure that Brazilian firm Embraer most loved villain of the
bagged the deal for sale of three aircraft to the small screen, died of
Defence Research and Development Organisation health problems in Mum­
in 2008. bai on Monday at the age of
78.
The actor­director is
best known for playing
Shakuni, the shrewd uncle
Don’t use fans if you cannot of the Kauravas, in B.R.
afford to: Assam Speaker Chopra’s Mahabharat.
Soon, Shakuni became
Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary has his calling card as he
invited flak from the Opposition Congress for played the role at least
advising people to sit under a tree if they cannot twice more on the small
afford to use fans. His advice followed the screen and once on stage.
criticism against the Bharatiya Janata Party­led Such was the character’s
government for frequently increasing power popularity that he was also
tariffs in the State. “Do not switch on the fans if asked to host a political
you cannot afford to. Sit under a tree instead,” show on a channel in the
Mr. Daimary said. He justified his statement by get­up of the sinister uncle.
saying that the government buys electricity from Gufi also wrote songs
companies and is compelled to increase the tariff and went on to direct Vi­
when the power suppliers inflate the price. nod Khanna in a teleseries
Assam Congress president, Bhupen Kumar Borah on Maharana Pratap and
slammed the Speaker for trying to take Assam helmed a film on Chaita­
“back to the Stone Age”. nya Mahaprabhu.
pandemic would not “wait
for us to make global trea­
ties”, Union Health Secre­
tary Rajesh Bhushan called
upon countries to work to­
gether. “It’s the need of the
hour to ensure that the
next pandemic sees us
adequately prepared as bil­
lions of lives and liveli­
hoods will be at stake.
Hence, we must act with a
sense of urgency,” he said
at the Health Working
Group of G­20 meeting, at
Hyderabad, on Monday.
Reiterating this, Michael
Ryan, Executive Director of
the World Health Organiza­
tion’s health emergency
programme, said that it
was time countries came
together to ensure drugs,
vaccines and diagnostics
reached those who needed
them the most, in an equit­
able manner. He added
that work was under way
to chart a future path, so
that the world had a better
response to the next pan­
demic. “India is a global
player with strong manu­
facturing base for pharma­
ceuticals, and fantastic in­
novations in the digital
Charting a path: Delagates at the G­20 Health Working Group
meeting in Hyderabad on Monday. @g20org
health arena. It is in a
strong position to provide
healthcare services to the
last mile. It’s very appro­
priate that in this G­20 pre­
sidency, India is focused
on the issue,” he said.
Equity in focus
Alain Labrique, Director,
Department of Digital
Health and Innovation,
WHO, said that digital
health is about strengthen­
ing primary healthcare sys­
tems, improving universal
health coverage, and pro­
viding timely and relevant
data for decision­making
and resource allocation.
“Most important, we are
talking about equity, so
that no one gets left be­
hind. Digital health is a
proven pathway to achieve
universal health goals,” Dr.
Labrique said.
V.K. Paul, Member
(Health), NITI Aayog, stat­
ed that digital health ena­
bled universal health cov­
erage through the seamless
exchange of health infor­
mation among providers,
systems, patients, policy­
makers and so on, through
multiple systems.
“Let us envision a world
where a comprehensive
package of digital health
tools and services are ac­
cessible to all, where digi­
tal health is for all by
2035,” Dr. Paul said.
Cybersecurity Coordina­
tor, on Monday, outlined a
draft of what he called the
“Delhi Declaration”, a se­
ries of commitments to
“responsible state beha­
viour in cyberspace” for
G­20 member countries,
drawn from existing non­
binding norms that they
have already signed onto
under the auspices of the
United Nations.
If adopted, G­20 coun­
tries would commit to “not
damage critical infrastruc­
ture or other essential...
systems; commit to coop­
erate, mitigate and investi­
gate cyber incidents, and
other malicious activities
in cyberspace, in particu­
lar when it comes to ran­
somware; commit to pro­
tect and not disrupt
software supply chains;
commit to respect interna­
tional law and rule of law
in cyberspace; and finally
commit to protecting the
humanitarian sector,” Dr.
Pant said, reading out the
draft.
Dr. Pant, who was
speaking at a G­20 business
event on cybersecurity,
Lt. General Rajesh Pant (retd.)
said that Microsoft Corpo­
ration had helped draft the
declaration.
“Vulnerabilities [in cy­
berspace] will continue to
exist as long as we depend
on systems that are based
on hardware and software,
and increasing software­
isation,” Dr. Pant said.
“If vulnerabilities conti­
nue, then cyber attacks
will continue to take place
at a pace faster than what
they are doing now, be­
cause of various reasons,
including the latest genera­
tive Artificial Intelligence
(AI).”
Industries will have to
“build resilience,” Dr. Pant
said, by building a compe­
tent “cyber workforce”, es­
tablishing standard operat­
ing procedures for firms,
and with international
cooperation.

To solve this puzzle online,

(set by Incognito)
+ 13884
Across
7 Perhaps yodelled back, "Animals" (4)
8 Niels Bohr or Scooby­Doo, for example (5,4)
10 Animals useful on the day after Christmas? (6)
11 Miner sat awkwardly, making clothes (8)
12 The French include this type of clue in game (8)
14 State joke and punch (6)
CM
YK
SCAN TO PLAY
SUDOKU FAITH
쑽 쑽
get across to our crossword site.
@ https://qrgo.page.link/jjpTn
Clarifications on surrender
16 Thaw head of fish during store arrangement after
Lord Krishna tells Arjuna “surrender yourself to Me,
beginning of day (7)
grieve not, I will liberate you.” The words Maa sucha: are
18 Thick­set dog and mummy start to seriously quarrel (7)
to instil confidence as a guarantee from the Lord. It is to all
21 Swapping hands, collar in enclosure (6)
of us through Arjuna. Swami Vedantha Desika in Raha­
23 Cram leek concoction in fish (8)
syathrayasaram Chapter 29 says a prapanna (seeker of lib­
25 Perhaps, dog Romeo on winding road behind small
eration) may develop 10 types of doubts and they are clar­
laboratory (8)
ified, said Valayapettai Sri Ramachariar in a discourse.
27 / 29 Midas' canine companion during hunt? (6,9)
1. A person need not worry whether he is eligible for
30 Wife is accompanied by a female carrying one
seeking surrender because no caste, creed or religion pre­
abandoned child (4)
scribed; 2. While Bhakti yoga is a lengthy, time­consuming
Down
and tedious process, the alternative saranagathi is very
1 Pronounce "One Titan" incorrectly (8)
simple. Whether God will grant for a such a simple proce­
2 Leis strewn around Man, for example (4)
dure. One need not be worried of this.; 3. A person need
3 Discharges agitated sergeants after extracting RNA (6)
not doubt whether God would extend Moksha because He
4 29 losing electrical vehicle injured vermin hunter (7)
is all powerful, reliable, merciful and ever ready which is
5 Oh, Taipei is wrongly shown in country in Africa (8)
explained in Siddhopayam.; 4. After the saranagathi one
6 Piece of clothing for headland? (4)
need not worry of any deficiency in the performance of
9 Bonus included in forex transactions (5)
pujas that are beyond his control.; 5. One may take a re­
13 Gunners on second truck? Not so common... (5)
Solution to previous puzzle Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku solve during prapathi not to incur sins towards Bhagavath­
15 Explosive substance returned in time by sappers (5) as.; 6. In an unprecedented situation of incurring the dis­
17 Vegetable fat made from sapodilla after removing pits pleasures of Bhagavathas, by handing out suitable
in the beginning (5,3) punishment or by making us do remedial measures
19 Wild fencer dances holding tip endlessly (8) (Prayaschitham). He takes us and He does not reject.; 7. In
20 Scamp with docked Rover is better (7) case of Aartha prapathi He extends instantly the moksha
22 Love Malayali surname being broadcast (2,3) and it need not be doubted.; 8. In the case of Druptha pra-
24 American soldier returns in vehicle with special pathi He waits to extend Moksha till the end of our life
cheroots (6) span in this birth (Etat Dehavasanemam).; 9. One need not
26 Wheel marks in Beirut streets (4) worry whether he would be destined to take rebirth due
28 Legal provision on new grassy area (4) to the effect of previous deeds.; 10. Any other obstacle that
stands in the way of moksha would be removed by Him.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 13
Delhi
World
GENEVA KANO LONDON WASHINGTON
UN body faults U.S., other states Armed men kill at least 30 people Sunak says his immigration plan is Former Vice­President Mike Pence
over Guantanamo prisoner torture in Nigeria during weekend raids working, numbers have reduced files papers for U.S. presidential bid

AFP AFP REUTERS REUTERS

X X X X
The U.S. and seven other countries are responsible for torture and Armed men killed 30 people in weekend raids on six villages in U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his plan to stop migrants Former Vice­President Mike Pence filed paperwork on Monday
illegal detention of a Saudi prisoner awaiting a death penalty trial at Nigeria’s north, a region regularly hit by criminal violence and arriving by small boats had reduced crossings by 20%, an update he declaring his campaign for U.S. President in 2024, setting up a
the Guantanamo Bay facility, a UN watchdog has ruled. It also said clashes between communities. The bloodshed is the latest outbreak hopes will ease criticism from his party over immigration policy. He challenge to his former boss, Donald Trump, just two years after
the use of Guantanamo to hold suspects rounded up in the U.S.’s of inter­communal violence which the country’s newly sworn­in has promised to “stop the boats” from crossing the English Channel their time in the White House ended with an insurrection at the U.S.
“war on terror” might amount to crimes against humanity. AFP President has said will be a priority to combat. AFP as one of his five pledges after he came to power. REUTERS Capitol and Pence fleeing for his life. AP

Russia claims it thwarted Ukraine’s After a 7­year gap, Iran set to

attacks; Kyiv rejects ‘disinformation’ reopen embassy in Riyadh
Agence France-Presse The diplomatic source
A video published by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry shows soldiers putting a finger to their lips in a sign to keep quiet; RIYADH had earlier told AFP that
“Plans love silence,” it says on the screen, referring to the counteroffensive; ‘There will be no announcement of the start’ the opening “will take
Iran is set to reopen its em­ place on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
bassy in Saudi Arabia on local time (8.30 p.m. IST)
Associated Press way.” Mr. Rogov interpret­ a sign to keep quiet. “Plans Tuesday following a seven­ with the presence of the
KYIV ed the Ukraine movements love silence,” it said on the year closure, Tehran and a newly appointed Iranian
as part of an effort by Kyiv screen. “There will be no diplomatic source said, Ambassador” to Saudi

U
krainian forces
were making a ma­
jor effort to punch
through Russian defensive
lines in southeast Ukraine
for a second day, a Mos­
cow­installed official
claimed on Monday as Rus­
sia’s Defence Ministry as­
serted it had foiled an as­
sault in another illegally
annexed region of the in­
vaded country.
Kyiv authorities suggest­
ed the attack reports were
a Russian misinformation
ruse as the Ukrainian mili­
tary prepares for a widely
anticipated counteroffen­
sive.
Vladimir Rogov, an offi­
to reach the Sea of Azov
coast and cut the land cor­
ridor to Crimea.
Mr. Rogov’s comments
came after Moscow also
claimed to have thwarted
large Ukrainian attacks in
the eastern Donetsk re­
gion. Russia’s Defence Mi­
nistry claimed it had
Mangled mess: An elderly woman looks at the ruins of her garage pushed back a “large­
destroyed by the shelling in the Donetsk region on Monday. REUTERS scale” assault on Sunday at
five points in Donetsk.
cial in the Russian­backed day. “The enemy threw an The claims could not be
administration of Uk­ even bigger force into the independently verified,
raine’s Zaporizhzhia pro­ attack than yesterday,” and and Ukrainian officials did
vince, claimed fighting res­ the new attempt to break not confirm any assaults.
umed there early on through the front line was A video published by
Monday after Russian de­ “more large­scale and or­ the Ukrainian Defence Mi­
fences beat back a Ukrai­ ganised,” Mr. Rogov said, nistry showed soldiers put­
nian advance the previous adding: “A battle is under­ ting a finger to their lips in
announcement of the
start.”
The Center for Strategic
Communications of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine
said on Telegram that Rus­
sian forces were “stepping
up their information and
psychological operations.”
“In order to demoralise
Ukrainians and mislead
the community (including
their own population),
Russian propagandists will
spread false information
about the counteroffen­
sive, its directions and the
losses of the Ukrainian Ar­
my. Even if there is no
counteroffensive,” a state­
ment on Telegram read.
sealing a Chinese­brokered
rapprochement deal an­
nounced in March.
Saudi Arabia severed re­
lations with Iran in 2016 af­
ter its embassy in Tehran
and consulate in the north­
western city of Mashhad
were attacked during prot­
ests over Riyadh’s execu­
tion of Shiite cleric Nimr
al­Nimr.
Iran’s diplomatic mis­
sion, which was expelled
by Saudi authorities, will
return under the leader­
ship of Alireza Enayati,
who previously served as
Iran’s Ambassador to
Kuwait.
Tehran’s Foreign Minis­
Alireza Enayati
try spokesman Nasser Ka­
nani announced the reo­
pening in a statement on
Monday, confirming ear­
lier comments by a diplo­
matic source in Riyadh.
Iran’s embassy in Ri­
yadh, its consulate in Jed­
dah and its representative
office to the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) “will be officially reo­
pened on Tuesday and
Wednesday”, Mr. Kanani
said.
Arabia.
Saudi response awaited
Saudi Arabia has yet to
confirm when it will reo­
pen its embassy in Tehran
or its pick for Ambassador.
He had previously
served as assistant to the
Foreign Minister and direc­
tor general of Gulf affairs at
the Foreign Ministry.
After years of discord,
the two Middle East heavy­
weights signed a surprise
reconciliation agreement
in China on March 10.
Iran and Saudi Arabia
had backed opposing sides
in conflict zones across
West Asia for years.

Two­year­old Palestinian shot by U.S. releases video showing close call
Israeli troops in West Bank dies in Taiwan Strait with Chinese destroyer
Associated Press
NEBI SALEH
A Palestinian toddler who
was shot by Israeli troops
in the occupied West Bank
last week died of his
wounds on Monday, Israeli
hospital officials said.
Mohammed al­Tamimi
was shot in the head on last
Thursday near his village
of Nebi Saleh while riding
in a car with his father. He
was airlifted to Israel’s She­
ba Hospital, which an­
nounced the 2­year­old
boy’s death.
The Israeli military has
said soldiers opened fire af­
ter gunmen in the area
shot at a nearby Jewish
settlement.
But the boy’s father,
Associated Press
BANGKOK
The United States military
released a video on Mon­
day of what it called an
“unsafe” Chinese ma­
noeuvre in the Taiwan
Strait on the weekend, in
which a Chinese Navy ship
cut sharply across the path
of an American destroyer,
Early end: Mourners carry the body of the Palestinian boy in the forcing the U.S. vessel to
Israeli­occupied West Bank on Monday. REUTERS slow to avoid a collision.
The incident occurred
Haitham al­Tamimi, told “I hope this message on Saturday as the Ameri­
the Associated Press that will be heard: Innocence can destroyer USS Chung-
he had just buckled up his and childhood are sacred,” Hoon and Canadian frigate
son in the car and they the boy’s father told repor­ HMCS Montreal were con­
were driving to visit an un­ ters. He accused Israel of ducting a so­called “free­
cle when the bullet struck. targeting “unarmed peo­ dom of navigation” transit
The father was also shot ple, whether young or old, of the strait between Tai­
and treated at a Palestinian under the pretext of wan and mainland China.
hospital. self­defense.” China claims the demo­
Close shave: USS Chung-Hoon observing the Chinese PLA Navy
vessel Luyang III in the Taiwan Strait on Saturday. AFP
cratic self­governing island
of Taiwan as part of its own
territory, and maintains
the strait is part of its ex­
clusive economic zone,
while the U.S. and its allies
regularly sail through and
fly over the passage.
During the Saturday
transit, the Chinese guid­
ed­missile destroyer over­
took the Chung-Hoon on its
port side, then veered
across its bow at a distance
of some 137 metres, ac­
cording to the U.S. Indo­
Pacific Command. The
American destroyer held
its course, but reduced
speed to 10 knots “to avoid
a collision”.
Canadaian vessel
The Chinese ship did not
attempt a similar maneuv­
er on the Canadian frigate,
which was sailing behind
the American destroyer.
“Chung-Hoon and Mon-
treal’s transit through the
Taiwan Strait demon­
strates the combined U.S.­
Canadian commitment to
a free and open Indo­Pacif­
ic,” the Indo­Pacific Com­
mand said.
Chinese Foreign Minis­
try spokesman Wang Wen­
bin defended the maneuv­
er, saying it was
undertaken “in accor­
dance with the law.”
Apple updates
Macs ahead of
expected
headset reveal
Reuters
CUPERTINO
Apple Inc revamped its li­
neup of desktop and lap­
top Macs using its own pro­
cessor chips ahead of its
announcement of its first
mixed­reality headset.
At its Worldwide Deve­
lopers Conference here on
Monday, Apple announced
a 15­inch MacBook Air po­
wered by an Apple­de­
signed M2 processor chip.
Apple updated its Mac
Studio desktop machine,
saying its new M2 Ultra
chip can process artificial
intelligence work that rival
chips do not have enough
memory to handle.

Defying Haredis and Hamas, gay rights activists march through Jerusalem
Yeshaya Rosenman
JERUSALEM
A sigh of relief was re­
leased by Israeli Police’s
top brass after the Gay
Pride and Tolerance Pa­
rade in Jerusalem on June 1
ended without disturbanc­
es. Police estimated that
roughly 10,000 people at­
tended, with 2,000 Israel
Police and Israel Border
Police personal securing
the event. Former Prime
Minister and current lead­
er of the Knesset opposi­
tion, Yair Lapid, and form­
er IDF Chief­of­Staff, Benny
Gantz, spoke briefly at the
event. The U.S. Ambassa­
dor to Israel, Tom Nides,
was in attendance as well.
The existence of Jerusa­
lem parade is not to be ta­
ken for granted. The 2002
inception was contested by
petitions to the Israeli Su­
preme Court demanding
the court stop the parade,
CM
YK
which was described as a
desecration of Jerusalem,
and an insult to the city’s
residents, Jewish, Muslim,
and Christian and to their
co­religionists across the
globe.
The residents of the city
are largely religious, with
the majority of its 61% Jew­
ish residents ranging from
traditional Mizrahi (Orien­
tal) Jews to Religious Zion­
ists (Orthodox) to Haredi
(Ultra­Orthodox). The 39%
of Palestinian Arab resi­
dents are mostly religious
Muslims, with a small
Christian minority, and
they are by large more cul­
turally conservative than
Jews.
Shira Banki incident
At the 2015 Jerusalem pa­
rade, Yishai Shilsel, a Ha­
reidi man who had just
been released from a 10­
month prison sentence for
a stabbing attempt at the
2005 parade, stabbed a 15­
year­old girl, Shira Banki,
to death and wounded six
others. He was subse­
quently fined for compen­
sations and sentenced to
life in prison.
‘Parade of perverts’
Prior to this year’s parade,
Hamas issued a statement
condemning “the parade
of perverts”. Hamas spo­
kesman, Abdel Latif Al­Qa­
nua, stated: “The fascist
forces of Occupation are
organising a provocative
parade in occupied Jerusa­
lem on Thursday. We call
on our Palestinian breth­
ren in Jerusalem to put up
resistance and protect the
Islamic identity of Jerusa­
lem and Masjid Al­Aqsa”.
A picket protest at the
starting point of the march
was organised by Lehava,
the radical “Love Jihad” ac­
tivist organisation led by
Bentzi Gopstein (Leheva’s
statements at two press
conference with top police
brass. “I was phoned by
the mother of an LBGT
youth. She asked me what
will happen with her son at
the parade now that I am
Interior Defense Minister. I
pinched myself and an­
swered: Is it not crystal
clear to you that it is my job
to ensure that not a single
hair of your son’s head will
be harmed?”
The Jerusalem event is
Triumph over taboo: People take part in an annual LGBTQ Pride attended primarily by lib­
parade in Jerusalem in Israel on Thursday. REUTERS eral and progressive Jeru­
salemites, from both the
central focus is on stopping Itamar Ben­Gvir, the secular and Religious Zion­
romantic relationships bet­ former far­right activist ist communities. The stra­
ween young Jewish women who is now the Minister of tegy of the ultra­orthodox
and Arab men), in collabo­ Interior Defense, is a Haredi community in com­
ration with Rabbi Tzvi neighbour and long­time bating the LGBT rights
Thau (85), the spiritual friend of Mr. Gopstein. But movement is to avoid any
leader of the Noam fringe even he, before assuming mention of the parade, es­
political party. The protest office, did not support Mr. pecially after the Shira
ran under the slogan “Jeru­ Gopstein’s anti­LGBT Banki murder.
salem will not be Sodom” activism. Palestinian LGBT acti­
and was attended by mere­ Prior to Thursday’s pa­ vists do not attend the pa­
ly 40 people. rade, Mr. Ben­Gvir issued rade, which does not pass
through any non­Jewish
neighbourhoods, and gen­
erally maintain a low pro­
file. All Palestinian LGBT
activists I approached de­
clined to comment about
LGBT rights in their com­
munities, in Israel, under
the Palestinian Authority
jurisdiction, or under the
Hamas rule in Gaza.
The character of the Je­
rusalem parade stands in
stark contrast to the cen­
tral Tel Aviv Gay Pride Pa­
rade, to be held on June 8.
While the latter is a flam­
boyant carnival modelled
after its sexualised Euro­
pean inspirations, such an
event would be a non­star­
ter in Jerusalem.
Tacit tolerance
Twenty years ago, accep­
tance of LGBT was all but
unheard of in the religious
community. And while no
religious authority, Jewish
or Muslim, who professes
orthodoxy, can formally
permit same sex relation­
ships, a growing tacit tole­
rance has arisen in some
circles. Various NGOs for
religious Jewish LGBTs
have opened, with some
declaring themselves with­
in orthodox boundaries
and calling for parents not
to shun LGBT children,
while others openly call for
unconditional acceptance
of same sex couples.
The Israeli Ministry of
Education has undertaken
many educational initia­
tives, some consensual and
some controversial, to en­
sure the accommodation
of LGBT youth within the
education system. Even so,
these initiatives are largely
resisted by Hareidi educa­
tors, and other conserva­
tive circles.
Yeshaya Rosenman is the
head of the South Asia Pro-
ject at Sharaka NGO, Tel
Aviv
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
14 Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Business Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 Govt. asks airlines to monitor Airlines
‘frustrated’
MARKETS
쑽
MARKET WATCH

airfares on Go First’s routes due to supply

chain issues:
MONDAY
Sensexdddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 62,787 dddddddddddddddddddddddd 0.38
US Dollar ddddddddddddddddddddddddd 82.63 dddddddddddddddddddddd ­0.29
Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 60,400dddddddddddddddddddddd ­0.33
% CHANGE

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 77.24 dddddddddddddddddddddddd 1.77

Airlines told to keep a check on last­minute airfares in the wake of a surge in the prices of tickets; IATA’s Walsh NIFTY 50
Ministry of Civil Aviation asks carriers to monitor prices during calamities like Odisha train crash PRICE CHANGE
Adani Enter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2433.95. . . . . . . . ­11.10
Jagriti Chandra Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 738.80. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.20
The Hindu Bureau ensure reasonable pricing ISTANBUL Apollo Hosp. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4950.20. . . . . . . . ­17.10
NEW DELHI within the highest fare Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3199.75. . . . . . . . ­37.50
buckets, which would be Airlines globally were Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 950.85. . . . . . . . . . 24.75
Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4710.05. . . . . . . . . . 40.95
Switch Mobility delivers 20
T
he Centre wants monitored by the DGCA. “beyond frustrated” due to Bajaj Finserv . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1458.90. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.65
airlines to “self­ Multiple issues such as supply chain issues that Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 7043.20. . . . . . . . . . 19.30

EV buses to U.K.’s Stagecoach monitor” their
fares on routes that were
Switch Mobility Ltd., the electric vehicle arm of earlier served by Go First
the Hinduja Group, has delivered the first set of after the suspension of
Switch Metrocity electric buses to Stagecoach, flights by the latter resulted
one of the U.K.’s leading bus and coach in a surge in ticket prices at
operators. The first set of deliveries are part of a its competitors. The car­
20­bus order received from Stagecoach for two riers have also been told to
variants – the 8.7m for Walthamstow and the keep a check on their cos­
9.5m for Lea Interchange. These electric buses tliest airfares, typically le­
had recently been upgraded to deliver vied on seats sold closest to
anincreased range of up to 170 miles, Switch said. departure or on the last
batch of available seats.
“Airlines must self­mon­
itor airfares on certain se­
lect routes that have seen
considerable surge pricing
of late, particularly those
that were earlier being ser­
viced by Go First,” the Mi­
nistry of Civil Aviation said
in a statement after a meet­
ing with airlines.
It has also asked airlines
to develop a mechanism to
supply chain constraints
which have grounded al­
most 100 aircraft due to de­
lays in delivery of engines
and spare parts, suspen­
sion of flight operations, as
well as peak travel demand
during the summer holi­
days has resulted in a surge
in spot fares and fares
booked 15­days in advance.
The ministry has also
asked carriers to monitor
prices during calamities
like the Odisha train crash.
were affecting costs and
operations, Willie Walsh,
Director General of the In­
ternational Air Transport
Association, said at IATA’s
annual general meeting.
The issue has severely
impacted Indian airlines,
which together have al­
most 100 aircraft ground­
ed, due to delays in getting
spares and engines.
“OEM suppliers have
been far too slow in deal­
ing with supply chain
Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 834.50. . . . . . . . . . ­2.00
BPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 356.80. . . . . . . . . . ­3.25
Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4682.60. . . . . . . . . . 28.45
Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 974.80. . . . . . . . . . . . 8.95
Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 229.70. . . . . . . . . . ­1.20
Divis Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3462.30. . . . . . . . ­49.30
Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4603.55. . . . . . . . . . ­6.90
Eicher Motors . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3673.25. . . . . . . . ­26.15
Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1734.50. . . . . . . . . . 23.95
HCL Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1138.30. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25
HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2644.80. . . . . . . . . . ­1.10
HDFC Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1604.40. . . . . . . . . . ­2.10
HDFC Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 574.15. . . . . . . . . . ­2.25
Hero MotoCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2870.60. . . . . . . . ­22.05
Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 419.70. . . . . . . . . . ­1.05
Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2695.80. . . . . . . . ­20.90
ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 946.75. . . . . . . . . . . . 8.60
IndusInd Bank. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1301.80. . . . . . . . . . 13.60
Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1304.50. . . . . . . . . . . . 5.50

DRL completes phase 1 study blockages that are both

raising costs and limiting
ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 440.65. . . . . . . . . . ­2.75
JSW Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 712.15. . . . . . . . . . . . 5.55

of tocilizumab biosimilar our ability to deploy air­

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1924.90. . . . . . . . ­13.85
L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2268.30. . . . . . . . . . 33.75

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories on Monday said its

tocilizumab biosimilar candidate, DRL_TC, for
‘Curbing cyber risk OPEC+ deal swells risk craft,” Mr. Walsh said in his
address on Monday. “Air­
lines are beyond frustrat­
M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1395.40. . . . . . . . . . 54.00
Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 9582.10. . . . . . . . . . 96.75
NestleIndia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 21834.15. . . . . . ­212.30

requires global effort’ of oil price rise: Birol

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 174.10. . . . . . . . . . ­0.45
treating rheumatoid arthritis, has successfully ed. A solution must be ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 155.40. . . . . . . . . . . . 0.70
met primary and secondary endpoints in a phase found.” He also reprimand­ PowerGrid Corp . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 235.60. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
I study. The study used an intravenous ed airports for their “bad Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2477.25. . . . . . . . . . 22.05
formulation to evaluate the pharmacokinetic The Hindu Bureau must work together to ad­ Reuters behaviour” in raising ta­ SBI Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1215.40. . . . . . . . . . 12.90
State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 587.20. . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
equivalence, safety and immunogenicity of the MUMBAI dress them. ISTANBUL riffs for airlines. Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1008.75. . . . . . . . . . . . 9.15
biosimilar candidate in comparison to reference Calling for collective ac­ Despite these factors as TataConsumerPro­
products. DRL is developing the biosimilar as With growing interconnec­ tion Mr. Jain said, “the glo­ The head of the Interna­ well as the rise in fuel costs duct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 792.45. . . . . . . . . . ­3.60
Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 546.25. . . . . . . . . . 10.35
intravenous and subcutaneous formulations. tions across the world, bal financial system’s inter­ tional Energy Agency (IEA) with “crack spread for jet Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 109.40. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.40
curbing cyber risk requires dependencies need to be on Monday said that the fuel at historic highs for TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3288.90. . . . . . . . ­16.70
international effort, Re­ better understood by map­ chance of higher oil prices most of 2022 until April Tech Mahindra . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1109.35. . . . . . . . ­13.75
Titan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2855.70. . . . . . . . . . ­5.95
serve Bank of India (RBI) ping key operational and had increased sharply after this year”, it was ‘truly im­ UltraTech Cement . . . .. . . . . . . 7882.00. . . . . . . . . . 31.35
Wipro shareholders approve Deputy Governor M.K. Jain
said at an event held on
technological interconnec­
tions, including that of crit­
a new pact between pro­
ducers to limit supply.
pressive’ that airlines were
turning a profit, he said.
UPL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 690.00. . . . . . . . . . . . 6.65
Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 404.20. . . . . . . . . . ­0.75

₹12,000­crore share buyback Monday in Mumbai.
He said India’s suppor­
IT company Wipro shareholders have approved a tive regulatory environ­
share buyback programme worth ₹12,000 crore, ment, with its focus on sa­
according to a Scrutinizer report released on fety, speed and scalability,
stock exchanges on Monday. The Wipro board has positioned the country
had approved the buyback of 26.96 crore equity as a leader in payment sys­
shares at a price of ₹445 apiece. tem innovation.
According to the Scrutinizer’s report on the Since cyber threats tran­
special resolution by way of postal ballot and scend geographical boun­
e­voting process, 99.9% voted in favour of the daries, he said, countries
share buyback resolution. and financial institutions
ical infrastructure.”
He said a minimum
common framework for
cybersecurity needs to be
devised that outlines best
practices and standards for
financial institutions to fol­
low. This can help ensure
that all institutions are tak­
ing the necessary steps to
protect themselves from
cyber threats, he added.
The OPEC+ group of oil
producers, which compris­
es the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) and al­
lies including Russia,
agreed on a new oil output
deal on Sunday.
The prospect of higher
prices has “increased a lot”
as a result of the deal, Fatih
Birol, the IEA’s executive
Fatih Birol
director, told a meeting of
global airline leaders.
Mr. Birol added that
there was an imbalance in
the global oil market in the
second half of this year al­
ready, and that the situa­
tion would worsen after
the latest OPEC+ decision
to reduce oil output.
However, profit margins
continued to be “wafer
thin” as airlines would
earn an average profit of
$2.25 per passenger.
“The value retained by
airlines for the average
plane trip won’t even buy a
subway ticket in NYC,” Mr.
Walsh added.
(The writer was in Istan-
bul at IATA’s invitation)
EXCHANGE RATES
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4
p.m. on June 05
CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL
US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 82.47. . . . . . . . . . 82.79
Euro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 88.19. . . . . . . . . . 88.54
British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 102.16. . . . . . . . 102.57
Japanese Yen (100). . . . . . .. . . . . 58.78. . . . . . . . . . 59.02
Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 11.59. . . . . . . . . . 11.63
Swiss Franc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 90.52. . . . . . . . . . 90.88
Singapore Dollar . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 61.00. . . . . . . . . . 61.25
Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 61.31. . . . . . . . . . 61.55
Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 18.01. . . . . . . . . . 18.09
Australian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 54.33. . . . . . . . . . 54.55
Source:Indian Bank

‘IRP must file CUB may pick Boston Daimler India

reply on Go CV forays into
First lessors’
Consulting to help lift used­vehicle
plea in a week’ digital lending: MD market
Press Trust of India N. Anand The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI CHENNAI CHENNAI

The NCLT on Monday di­
rected the IRP of Go First
to file a reply within one
week over the petitions
filed by three lessors seek­
ing possession of their air­
craft and engines from the
Wadia group firm, which is
currently going through
the Corporate Insolvency
Resolution Process (CIRP).
A two­member NCLT
bench directed the IRP (in­
terim resolution profes­
sional) to file a reply within
a week and a rejoinder, if
any, by the lessors over the
petitions filed by three les­
sors — BOC Aviation (Ire­
land), Jackson Square Avia­
tion Ireland and Engine
Lease Finance BV.
The City Union Bank (CUB)
is likely to appoint Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) to
help the bank upgrade its
digital lending processes,
said MD & CEO N.
Kamakodi.
The move assumes sig­
nificance as most of CUB’s
peers had grown 14%­16%
in the digital lending space
over the last 3­4 years, Mr.
Kamakodi said on an earn­
ings call.
“Historically, we did not
concentrate much on seg­
ments such as housing
loans, credit cards, vehicle
loans, personal loans, LAP
as well as co­lending mo­
del,” he disclosed.
“Now, we could see that
N. Kamakodi
our peers are growing in
these segments. Based on
our learnings in the last 3­4
years, we are on the verge
of finalising BCG as our
consultant to upgrade our
existing digital lending pro­
cesses,” he added.
Accordingly, CUB has
shifted attention to retail
products such as housing,
vehicle, personal loans and
loan against properties as
well as co­lending.
Daimler India Commercial
Vehicles (DICV) an­
nounced its entry into the
pre­owned commercial­
vehicle (CV) market under
the ‘BharatBenz Certified’
brand
This new business initia­
tive would undertake the
refurbishment and sale of
pre­owned BharatBenz
trucks to Indian customers
with a rigorous 125­point
quality check that will lead
to a thorough technical
check, repair and restora­
tion of the vehicles, DICV
said in a statement.
A detailed pre­delivery
inspection would be com­
pleted on the vehicles be­
fore dispatch, DICV said.

India, latest favourite ‘Unruly air passenger

country: Lufthansa behaviour on the rise’
Jagriti Chandra
ISTANBUL
India is Lufthansa’s ‘latest
favourite country,’ and Air
India (AI) is one of the two
pillars of its growth strate­
gy, said Carsten Spohr,
CEO of the German airline.
The airline is also trying
to expand its network with
the possibilities of the
group’s Austrian Airlines
returning to Delhi in 2024,
as well as Bengaluru being
connected to Switzerland
“Our India strategy is
twofold — one, to expand
Lufthansa Group in India,”
he said. “Bengaluru must
be served from Switzer­
land once we have the air­
planes. [I] think Delhi is
ready for Austrian [Air­
CM
YK
Carsten Spohr
lines], but it is a question of
capacity,” he said at a me­
dia round table during IA­
TA’s AGM. “The second pil­
lar is to work with AI where
we have not explored op­
portunities in the past, but
now, with new leadership
and Tatas and Singapore
Airlines, we can do more.”
(The writer was in Istan-
bul at IATA’s invitation)
The Hindu Bureau
ISTANBUL
There was at least one inci­
dent of an ‘unruly passen­
ger’ for every 568 flights in
2022, compared with once
such incident per 835
flights in 2021, according to
a new analysis released by
global airlines body Inter­
national Air Transport As­
sociation.
Physical abuse has seen
an “alarming increase” of
61% and consumption of
‘own alcohol’ onboard has
been among the most com­
mon offences, IATA
reported.
The most common cate­
gories of incidents in 2022
were non­compliance to
rules, followed by verbal
abuse and intoxication.
Though physical abuse in­
cidents remained rare,
they saw an “alarming in­
crease” of 61% over 2021,
occurring once in every
17,200 flights, the IATA said
in a press release.
Although initially there
was a drop in incidents of
non­compliance after the
mask mandate was re­
moved on most flights,
these became frequent
again throughout 2022,
ending the year with a 37%
rise compared with 2021.
The most common ex­
amples of non­compliance
include smoking and con­
sumption of own alcohol
onboard.
(The writer was in Istan-
bul at IATA’s invitation)
M ND-NDE

Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Delhi
DRIVING FORCE
‘I have to rise and elevate my game
against Australia to beat them’
X X
Virat Kohli said on Monday that his motivation to do well increases
while playing against Australia because of their competitiveness.
“Australia is a very competitive side that if you give them even a
small window, they will come very hard at you. I have to rise and
elevate my game against Australia to beat them.”
Rune and Haddad Maia get through after epic duels
The Danish sixth seed registers a controversial five­set win over Cerundolo, while the Brazilian battles from a set and 3­0 down to defeat Tormo; Ruud, Swiatek, Jabeur and Gauff also advance
FRENCH OPEN
Agence France-Presse
PARIS
olger Rune and
H Beatriz Haddad
Maia triumphed in
marathon French Open ep­
ics on Monday as Iga Swia­
tek attempted to edge clos­
er to becoming the first
back­to­back Roland Gar­
ros women’s champion
since 2007.
World No. 6 Rune
reached a second succes­
sive quarterfinal in a con­
troversial five­set win over
Francisco Cerundolo.
The 20­year­old Dane
came through 7­6(3), 3­6,
6­4, 1­6, 7­6(7) after four
hours and will face 2022
runner­up Casper Ruud in
a repeat of last year’s bad­
tempered quarterfinal.
Double bounce
However, Rune was booed
by the Court Philippe Cha­
trier crowd for hitting the
ball on a double bounce in
the fourth game of the
third set.
His 23rd seeded Argen­
tine opponent stopped
playing, expecting the um­
pire to call the point for
him.
Play continued and Ce­
rundolo, who was called
for hindrance when he
halted, dropped serve.
Cerundolo, playing in
the second week of a Slam
for the first time, then had
the crowd on its feet when
he hit back to level the
match.
In a dramatic decider,
It’s been two years of hard
work to get here: Dravid
WTC FINAL
Agence France-Presse
LONDON
India coach Rahul Dravid
said on Monday there was
more to dismissing Austra­
lia’s David Warner in this
week’s World Test Cham­
pionship (WTC) Final than
employing the tactics En­
gland’s Stuart Broad used
so successfully during the
2019 Ashes.
“He (Warner) is a class
player. It’s not as simple as
just turning up and bow­
ling round the wicket and
getting him out,” Dravid
told reporters at the Oval
ahead of the showdown,
which begins on Wednes­
day. “He wouldn’t have
played a hundred times if it
was that simple.”
The former India bat­
sman added: “There’s
nowhere to hide any more,
everyone has very similar
information about each
other. It’s just how you
counter that.
“Every batsman will
have areas they’re strong
at and areas that are not
CM
YK
Tough going: Rune did not let booing deter him as he overcame a tricky challenge from Cerundolo, while Haddad Maia bounced back to make the quarterfinals. GETTY IMAGES
Rune survived being 3­4, 0­
40 to hold and break.
He served for the match
at 5­4 but the 24­year­old
from Buenos Aires hit back
to level the scores at 5­5
and held for 6­5 before the
match went to a knife­edge
tiebreak.
Rune finished the match
with 48 winners and 73 un­
forced errors.
No way out: Dravid feels there’s nowhere to hide in the modern
game and the onus is on the batter to counter the challenge. AP
I hope the WTC will
encourage a lot more
teams to potentially play
a lot more Test cricket
probably their strengths,
and David has been very
successful. We know it’s a
very important wicket to
get early on.”
Dravid added: “It’s been
two years of hard work to
get here. It’s something
you aspire to be in the top
DIFFERENT BALL GAME
Watson feels transition from IPL to
Test cricket would be tough
Australia’s Shane Watson believes that the rapid shift from the
fast­paced IPL to the rigours of high­level Test cricket in the ICC WTC
final will be difficult. “This transition period for the guys has to be
extreme. Get as much volume as they possibly can facing new balls,
trying to get the nets as spiced up as possible,” Watson said.
Fourth­ranked Ruud,
the runner­up to Rafael Na­
dal a year ago, beat in­form
Nicolas Jarry of Chile 7­6
(3), 7­5, 7­5 to seal a quar­
terfinal spot.
The Norwegian saved 14
of 17 break points and now
has a tour­leading 85 clay
court wins since 2020.
“It was three very, very
difficult sets.
two teams so you get an
opportunity to play this
game. Every time you play
for your country you al­
ways want to win, but I
really hope it (the WTC)
will encourage a lot more
teams to potentially play a
lot more Test cricket,” said
Dravid.
“I know it’s complicat­
ed, there are reasons why
that’s probably not hap­
pening in terms of time
and finances, but personal­
ly at least I’d like to see a lot
more Test cricket being
played.”
THE HINDU
Sport
“How long would it have
been if we had gone to a
fifth set?” said the 24­year­
old after a three­hour 20­
minute battle.
Haddad Maia won the
third longest­ever women’s
match at the Roland Garros
to become the first Brazi­
lian woman in the last
eight of a Slam since seven­
time major winner Maria
WTC Final
venues need
to be around
the world,
says Gavaskar
Sports Bureau
Indian cricket legend Sunil
Gavaskar opined that the
World Test Championship
final needs to be played
around the world for the
event to be truly global.
Writing for Sportstar, Ga­
vaskar said, “The WTC Fi­
nal is a great idea to make
every Test match relevant,
but for it to really be called
the World Test Final, the
venue needs to be around
the world and not just one
country, which does not
even figure in the final.”
While Southampton
hosted the inaugural final,
the latest edition will be at
the Oval between India
and Australia from June 7.
He also highlighted the
impact of weather, with
the first WTC Final bet­
ween India and New Zea­
land affected by rain.
“There are many coun­
tries where the weather is
good at this time of the
year, and the final can be
played there,” he said.
BOUNCING BACK
Miami Heat rallies to beat Denver
Nuggets and level NBA Finals 1­1
X X
Miami Heat surged past host Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter
for a 111­108 victory that leveled the NBA Finals at one game apiece
on Sunday. Gabe Vincent scored 23 points and Jimmy Butler and
Bam Adebayo scored 21 points apiece as Miami withstood a
41­point performance from Nuggets star Nikola Jokic to get the win.
Bueno did in 1968.
She battled from a set
and 3­0 down to defeat
Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tor­
mo 6­7(3), 6­3, 7­5 in three
hours and 51 minutes.
In a hurry
She will face world number
seven Ons Jabeur of Tuni­
sia for a place in the semifi­
nals. Jabeur powered into
Hope Test cricket stays alive
and well for some time: Smith
Press Trust of India
LONDON
Star Australia batter Steve
Smith on Monday ex­
pressed his concerns over
the future of the five­day
game ahead of the World
Test Championship Final
against India beginning
here on Wednesday.
The rapid growth of
franchise cricket around
the world has put pressure
on the international sche­
dule. The smaller nations
are not playing enough
Test cricket, with India,
Australia and England ef­
fectively driving the lon­
gest format.
“Yes, I am slightly con­
cerned. But, hopefully Test
cricket still stays alive and
well. I think it’s in a good
place at the moment,” he
said ahead of the title clash
against India.
Amazing games
“Some of the games we’ve
seen recently have been
pretty amazing. So, for me
as, I suppose, a traditional­
ist, someone that loves
Test cricket, I hope it still
remains at the front of all
the quarterfinals for the
first time with a 6­3, 6­1
rout of Bernarda Pera,
breaking the American’s
serve eight times.
Jabeur, a Wimbledon
and U.S. Open runner­up
last year, has now reached
at least the quarterfinals of
all four Slams.
“It was the only Grand
Slam missing. I’m very
Voicing out: Smith is concerned over the future of the longest
format. AP
the Board’s mind and stays
alive and well for some
time to come.”
The Australians had a
lengthy first training ses­
sion here on Monday and
there were enough signs
that Scott Boland will play
in place of injured Josh Ha­
zlewood. All­rounder Ca­
meron Green will be the
fourth pace bowling option
besides Mitchell Starc and
skipper Pat Cummins.
Talking about the WTC
Final, Smith said he ex­
pects the Indian attack to
CALLING IT A DAY
Zlatan Ibrahimovic announces
retirement from football
Zlatan Ibrahimovic brought the curtain down on a trophy­packed
career on Sunday when he announced his retirement from football.
The veteran revealed his decision during an on­pitch ceremony
following AC Milan’s 3­1 win over Verona. “It’s the time to say
goodbye to football, not just to you,” he said on the San Siro pitch.
happy with the perfor­
mance,” said Jabeur.
Later, Iga Swiatek, bid­
ding to become the first
woman since Justine Henin
in 2007 to successfully de­
fend the title, reached the
quarterfinals when her Uk­
rainian opponent Lesia
Tsurenko retired unwell
while trailing 1­5.
The win gave a last­eight
clash with Coco Gauff, the
American teenager she de­
feated in the 2022 final.
Gauff, 19, reached the
quarterfinals for a third
pose a stiff challenge irres­
pective of the combination
they go with.
Not so long ago in India,
Australia’s preparations re­
volved around R. Ashwin
and Ravindra Jadeja, but
now they also need to be
wary of Mohammed Siraj
and Mohammed Shami.
“I think they’ve got a
good mix of quality seam
bowlers. Shami and Siraj,
probably their two main
guys who have really good
skills and I think the Dukes
ball suits them nicely.”
15
successive year with a 7­5,
6­2 win over Anna Karolina
Schmiedlova.
FOURTH ROUND RESULTS
쑽
Men: 4­Ruud (Nor) bt Jarry (Chi
7­6(3), 7­5, 7­5; 5­Tsitsipas (Gre)
bt Ofner (Aut) 7­5, 6­3, 6­0;
6­Rune (Den) bt 23­Cerundolo
(Arg) 7­6(3), 3­6, 6­4, 1­6, 7­6(7).
Women: 14­Maia (Bra) bt Tormo
(Esp) 6­7(3), 6­3, 7­5; 7­Jabeur
(Tun) bt Pera (USA) 6­3, 6­1;
6­Gauff (USA) bt Schmiedlova
(Svk) 7­5, 6­2; 1­Swiatek (Pol) bt
Tsurenko (Ukr) 5­1, retd.
Leach. REUTERS
England
spinner Leach
ruled out of
the Ashes
Agence France-Presse
LONDON
England’s Ashes prepara­
tions were dealt a blow on
Sunday as frontline spin­
ner Jack Leach was ruled
out due to a lower back
stress fracture he deve­
loped on Saturday during
the lone Test against Ire­
land.
"A scan on Sunday in
London has revealed a
stress fracture, which will
keep him out of the forth­
coming Ashes Test series,”
the ECB said in a
statement.
The 31­year­old was the
only spinner named in the
16­man squad on Saturday
for the first two Tests.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
16 Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Sport Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 Dhanush pips Kallin, Indian women register a
clinches air rifle gold hard­fought win over Malaysia
Harmehar and Sanjana bag the mixed skeet bronze; India stays JUNIOR ASIA CUP

on top of the medals table followed by USA and Korea

Press Trust of India
KAKAMIGHARA

JUNIOR WORLD CUP India came from behind to

Brandon King’s century gives
Sports Bureau
West Indies 1­0 lead
hanush Srikanth
Brandon King smashed a run­a­ball 112 as the
West Indies gave itself a confidence boost ahead
of the World Cup qualifier by thrashing the
United Arab Emirates in the first One­Day
D shot 249.4 to win
the air rifle gold
with a 1.3 point margin ov­
er qualification topper
International in Sharjah on Sunday. The tourists Pontus Kallin (631.2) of
bowled out the UAE for 202 and then chased Sweden in the Junior
down the target with 14.4 overs to spare to secure World Cup in Suhl, Germa­
a seven­wicket win. Keemo Paul was the pick of ny, on Monday.
the Windies bowlers with three for 34 as the Pratham Bhadana and
hosts failed to bat out their overs despite a Abhinav Shaw also made
counter­attacking 58 from Ali Naseer. the final, but placed fourth
The scores: UAE 202 in 47.1 overs (Ali Naseer 58, Vriitya and seventh respectively.
The third gold for India
Aravind 40, Keemo Paul 3/34) lost to West Indies 206/3 in 35.2
overs (Brandon King 112, Shamarh Brooks 44). Toss: UAE. helped the team stay on
top of the medals table
with three gold, four silver
and two bronze medals.
USA was second with three
gold and three silver, while
Korea was third with three
gold and two silver.
India won the mixed
skeet bronze through Har­
On the podium: Kallin, champion Dhanush, and Aufrere, the
medallists in the air rifle event. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
mehar Singh Lally and San­
jana Sood as the duo beat
David Jonsson and Felicia
Ros of Sweden 3­2 in the
shoot­off after the two
teams tied on 37.
The results: 10m air rifle:
Junior men: 1. Dhanush
Srikanth 249.4 (628.4); 2. Pontus
Kallin (Swe) 248.1 (631.2); 3.
Romain Aufrere (Fra) 227.1
(628.8); 4. Pratham Bhadana
207.2 (628.7); 7. Abhinav Shaw
141.0 (626.7).
Mixed skeet: 1. Italy (Marco
Coco, Damiana Paolacci) 39 (143);
2. USA (Benjamin Keller, Jessi
Griffin) 36 (137); 3. India­2
(Harmehar Lally, Sanjana Sood)
37(3) 136; 4. Sweden (David
Jonsson, Felicia Ros) 37(2) 137; 7.
India (Raiza Dhillon,, Ritu Rajj
Bundela) 134.
register a hard­fought 2­1
victory over Malaysia as it
continued its winning mo­
mentum in the women’s
Junior Asia Cup hockey
tournament
Monday.
here on
Mumtaz Khan (10th mi­
nute) and Deepika (26th)
turned out to be the sa­
viours for India after Ma­
laysia took the lead in the
sixth minute through Dian
Nazeri.
The victory means India
remains on top of Pool A
following a thumping 22­0
win over Uzbekistan in the
tournament­opener.
India went on the offen­
sive from the start and in
the process secured couple
of penalty corners but
failed to capitalise.
Malaysia, on the other
hand, was interested on
having a better share of
Smooth sailing: The victory over Malaysia helped India remain
on top of Pool A. HOCKEY INDIA
ball possession initially but
switched to counter­offen­
sive mode soon and it paid
dividends as an unmarked
Nazeri scored an field easy
goal.
The equaliser
But Malaysia’s joy was
short­lived as four minutes
later Mumtaz got India’s
the equaliser from a penal­
ty corner.
India continued to at­
tack in search of the lead in
the second quarter and the
plan worked as it was
awarded a penalty stroke
four minutes from half
time and Deepika made no
mistake.
The third quarter start­
ed in the same fashion as
India continued to domi­
nate and pose threat on
Malaysia’s defence, but
failed to find the back of
the net. In the fourth and
final quarter, India went on
the defensive and was hap­
py to keep the possession,
while Malaysia raised its
game in search of the
equaliser.
India will next play Ko­
rea on Tuesday.

Aditi finishes tied fourth

Gukesh beats Abdusattorov;
in Americas Cup Caruana leads despite loss
Aditi Ashok logged her third successive top­five
finish as she finished tied fourth at the Mizuho
Americas Cup golf. Aditi ended two shots behind NORWAY CHESS
the ultimate winner, Rose Zhang. Zhang shot
70­69­66­74 to be 9­under and beat Jennifer Sports Bureau
Kupcho (71­70­69­69) on the second play­off hole.
Hae Ran Ryu was third. D. Gukesh outplayed fel­
low­teenager and former
World rapid champion No­
dirbek Abdusattorov in the
Armageddon game but
chose to draw with black
pieces to emerge as a 1.5­
1.0 winner in the fifth
round of the 11th Norway
Chess in Stavanger, Nor­
way, on Sunday.
Gukesh’s gesture to do
just enough to gain the ex­
Duplantis sets pole vault’s tra half­point at stake in the
Armageddon game kept
best mark in 2023 him in the fourth spot be­
hind Fabiano Caruana, Hi­
Pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis karu Nakamura and Alire­
set a new best mark for the season by soaring to za Firouzja.
6.11m at a meeting in Hengelo, Netherlands on
On a day when Caruana
Sunday. The Swedish star beat the previous
lost to Shakhriyar Mame­
highest of 6.07m this year by American K.C.
dyarov in their clash in
Lightfoot in Nashville. The 23­year­old attempted classical format, Nakamura
to break his own world record of 6.22m, but defeated last­man Aryan
came up short. Tari and replaced Caruana
as the World No. 2 in live
Gukesh. NORWAY CHESS
ratings.
The clash between Gu­
kesh and Abdusattorov
was an uneventful affair
with the players settling for
a draw in 33 moves. In
their Armageddon game,
Gukesh seized the edge by
the 10th move and gained a
sizable advantage by the
18th move.
Facing a must­win situa­
tion with white pieces, a
desperate Abdusattorov
traded his queen for two
rooks before Gukesh tight­
ened his grip by advancing
a queenside pawn to the
seventh rank.
Gukesh could have
forced the issue over the
board but chose to repeat
the moves. The 37­move
draw from the black side
raised Gukesh’s tally by
half­a­point to 7.
The results: Fifth round:
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb)
drew with D. Gukesh; Fabiano
Caruana (USA, 10.5) lost to
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 7);
Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 9.5) bt
Aryan Tari (Nor, 2); Wesley So
(USA) drew with Alireza Firouzja
(Fra); Magnus Carlsen (Nor) drew
with Anish Giri (Ned).
Armageddon: Abdusattorov (6)
drew with Gukesh (7); Carlsen (6)
bt Giri (6); So (6) drew with
Firouzja (7.5).
Sixth­round pairings:
Gukesh­Giri; Tari­Carlsen;
Abdusattorov­Caruana;
Firouzja­Nakamura;
Mamedyarov­So.
Siddharth takes gold; silver for
Sharuk, Shivam and Susmita
ASIAN U­20 ATHLETICS
Sports Bureau
Siddharth Choudhary pro­
duced a personal best
19.52m (previous best 19.11)
as he won the men’s shot
put gold in the 20th Asian
under­20 athletics cham­
pionships at Yecheon,
South Korea, on Monday.
India also won three sil­
ver medals through Sharuk
Khan (men’s 3000m stee­ On top: Siddharth Choudhary after his triumphant effort.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
ple chase), Shivam Loha­
kare (men’s javelin throw)
and Susmita (women’s
Triple jump: 1. Miyao Manato
(Jpn) 16.38m, 4. Sukhpreet Singh
hurdles: 1. Takino Miku (Jpn)
58.91s.
long jump) on the cham­
pionships’ second day.
(Ind) 15.28.
Long jump: 1. Huang Yingying
Javelin throw: 1. Chao Hong (Chn) 6.24m, 2. Susmita (Ind)
Select results (Winners and Hijang (Tpe) 72.85m, 2. Shivam 5.96. Hammer throw: 1. Gao
Indian performances in final): Lohakare (Ind) 72.34, 7. Mohit Jinyao (Chn) 64.92m.
Men: 100m: 1. Kuroki Kaito (Jpn) Chaudhary (Ind) 62.72. Shot put:
1. Siddharth Choudhary (Ind) 10,000m race walk: 1. Chen
10.36s. 800m: 1. Tachizako
19.52m. (Jaidev Dikka, Ind, no Meiling (Chn) 46:11.07s.
Hironori (Jpn) 1:49.21s, 3.
Shakeel (Ind) 1:49.79, 5. Shyam mark). Mixed: 4x400m relay: 1. Sri
Milan Bind (Ind) 1:51.30. 3000m Women: 100m: 1. Xiong Shiqi Lanka (3:25.41s), 3. India (Deepak
steeple chase: 1. Kuroda Asahi (Chn) 11.61s, 4. Abinaya Rajarajan Singh, Anushka Dattaray,
(Jpn) 8:39.82s, 2. Sharuk Khan (Ind) 11.89. 800m: 1. Dissanayaka Navpreet Singh, Rezoana Mallick)
(Ind) 8:51.17. Dilsara (Sri) 2:05.63s. 400m 3:30.12.

Global Chess League unveils

six franchises Warm Benzema
Rahi strikes gold in DELHI ROUND-UP
The Global Chess League (GCL) on Monday
send­off 쑽
strikes on Real
unveiled the six franchises that will participate in
the inaugural edition of the tournament to be
held in Dubai from June 21­July 2. A joint venture
Kumar Surendra planned for
Seminar on Women
Empowerment
The Campus Law Centre of
UB Lions by 85 runs in the
final to claim the Turf
Junior League under­16
farewell,
between Tech Mahindra and the international
chess federation (FIDE), the competing teams will
Singh championship Special the University of Delhi will
organise a National
title.
The scores: Modern Warriors
Valladolid
play a minimum of 10 matches each in a double
round­robin, rapid format. The six franchise
Olympics seminar on Women
Empowerment through
200/5 in 20 overs (Tanmay Singh
73, Aryan Malik 62, Arsh Shah relegated
owners and their teams are U SPORTS (upGrad contingent sports at the Conference
2/33) bt UB Lions 115 in 19.2
overs (Monu 26, Vianyak Agence France-Presse
Mumba Masters), Insurekot Sports (Ganges Centre of the University on Chaudhary 2/19, Suhaan Gupta BARCELONA
Grandmasters), Punit Balan Group (Balan Alaskan July 7 and 8. 2/21, Arjun Raj Sharma 2/6).
Knights), Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd Sports Bureau The seminar will aim to Real Madrid’s departing
(Triveni Continental Kings), Chingari App NEW DELHI
deliberate the challenges Dhruv bowls Gemini great Karim Benzema
(Chingari Gulf Titans), and APL Apollo­led SG faced by women in Club to victory struck from the penalty
Sports (SG Alpine Warriors). An unprecedented send­ choosing sports as a career, Dhruv Pal took three for 11 spot to earn his side a 1­1
off awaits the Berlin­bound identify the areas of gender as Gemini Club beat Young draw against Athletic Bil­
Indian contingent for the disparity and review the Friends Club by 50 runs in bao on Sunday in La Liga
Special Olympics World as he said goodbye to fans
Pakistan awaits NOC for travel Summer Games.
existing practices to
ascertain the legal
the third Harcourt Butler
tournament. at the Santiago Bernabeu.
to India for SAFF c’ship Before the team leaves
for the Games, slated from
framework for women in The scores: Gemini Club 233/8 in
40 overs (Priyansh 70, Adwitiya
Elsewhere Real Vallado­
sports. A wide range of lid was relegated after a
Pakistan’s trip to India for the SAFF June 17 to 25, a grand send­ topics are scheduled to be Popli 49) bt YFC 183 in 39 overs
0­0 draw with Getafe.
Championship 2023 is in jeopardy as the off ceremony will be held discussed on women in (Toshant Walecha 63, Dhruv Pal
on June 8 at the Nehru Sta­ 3/11). Important results: LaLiga: Real
Pakistan Football Federation is yet to receive the Podium finish: Esha Singh, champion Rahi Sarnobat, Chinki Yadav sports. Further details can
required clearances from its government. in the sports pistol event of the Kumar Surendra Singh shooting dium here. be had from the Mallorca 3 (Muriqi 51, Copete 71,
Pakistan plays its opener against India on June 21. Indian Olympic Associa­ coordination committee
Geetesh scores century A Rodriguez 90+3) bt Rayo
championship. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
“All sportspersons and teams which are travelling tion president P. T. Usha, through womeninsports2023 Geetesh Tyagi scored a Vallecano 0; Real Madrid 1
Sports Minister Anurag match­winning 165 as Toss (Benzema 72­pen) drew with
abroad have to apply for a No Objection Sports Bureau Three­time World Cup @clc.du.ac.in
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Sancet 49).
Certificate (NOC) from the Pakistan Sports Board Thakur, former cricketer Academy downed
individual gold medallist, Vikaspuri Coaching Center Real Sociedad 2 (Mendez 28, Cho
(PSB). The PSB in turn has to get permission from Rahi Sarnobat was back at Yuvraj Singh and singer So­ Carpediem India in final
Asian Games champion, (VPCC) by 44 runs in the 73) bt Sevilla 1 (Lamela 77);
the Sports Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign her fluent best as she won nu Nigam will be part of a Shantanu’s knock of 109
the 32­year­old Rahi had RC Sports tournament. Villarreal 2 (Jackson 9, Pascual
Affairs. We can apply for a visa once we get the the 25­metre sports pistol large gathering to wish the helped Carpediem India
been battling health issues The scores: Toss Academy 234/4 90+3) drew with Atletico Madrid 2
NOC,” said Shahid Khokhar, a member of the gold with a 36­31 victory contingent. Union Minister defeat Sporting Club by six (Correa 18, 56); Real Betis 1 (Perez
for quite some time before in 40 overs (Geetesh Tyagi 165) bt
Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation over Esha Singh in the 21st of Women & Child Deve­ wickets and enter the final 1) drew with Valencia 1 (Lopez
making a successful return VPCC 190 in 39 overs (Ishan
Committee. The Pakistan Football Federation Kumar Surendra Singh me­ lopment and Minority Af­ of the 46th all­India Lala 71); Celta Vigo 2 (Veiga 42, 65) bt
to shooting competition. Pathak 39, Mohit 32, Shaurya
applied for a NOC on May 25 but is yet to receive morial pistol champion­ fairs Smriti Irani will be the Raghubir Singh hot Pandit 3/22). Barcelona 1 (Fati 79); Real
The junior gold was chief guest. Valladolid 0 drew with Getafe 0.
clearance to participate in the tournament in ship at the Madhya Pra­ weather tournament.
bagged by Vibhuti Bhatia A torch run, planned Serie A: Atalanta 5 (Koopmeiners
India. desh Academy in Bhopal The scores: Sporting Club 276/9 Yuvaan takes a fifer
with a 35­32 victory over within the periphery of the 12, 45+1, 79, Hojlund 74, Muriel
on Monday. in 40 overs (Pardeep Sangwan Five wickets by Yuvaan
Tejaswani. stadium, will witness Usha 90+2) bt Monza 2 (Colpani 51,
103, Md. Asif Mansoori 4/48) lost Mathur saw Push Academy
Rahi qualified on top handing over the torch to to Carpediem India 282/4 in 39 Petagna 81); AC Milan 3 (Giroud
LIVE TELECAST The results: Women: 25m put it across PB Club by six 45+2, Leao 85, 90+2) bt Verona 1
with 582 and was unstop­ sports pistol: 1. Rahi Sarnobat Thakur. The three­hour overs (Shantanu 109, Akshdeep
wickets in the Pushers
쑽 Nath 68). (Faraoni 72); Napoli 2 (Osimhen
pable in the final, as she 36 (582); 2. Esha Singh 31 (581); 3. function will be a first of its Premier League.
Roland Garros: Sony Sports Ten 2, 5 (SD & HD) & LIV, 2.30 64­pen, Simeone 85) bt
finished on top of the podi­ Chinki Yadav 28 (375). kind for the Indian contin­ The scores: PB Club 83/9 in 24 Sampdoria 0; Roma 2 (Zalewski
p.m. onwards um ahead of Esha Singh Junior: 1. Vibhuti Bhatia 35 gent, which includes 198 Modern Warriors overs (Yuvaan Mathur 5/13) lost 43, Dybala 90+1­pen) bt Spezia 1
UAE vs West Indies: 2nd ODI, SS Select 1 (SD & HD) & Fan­ and World Cup gold medal­ (574); 2. Tejaswani 32 (578); 3. athletes and 57 coaches lifts title to Push Academy 85/3 in 12 overs (Nikolaou 6); Udinese 0 lost to
Code, 6 p.m. list Chinki Yadav. Riya Thate 24 (571). from 16 disciplines. Modern Warriors defeated (Vivaan Patel 35). Juventus 1 (Chiesa 68).
CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 I
Delhi
Sport

Coaches feel focus should be more on doubles events

India’s performance at the recently concluded World championships in Durban has evoked mixed reactions from the sport’s fraternity

WTT tournaments. But for

TABLE TENNIS CWG, Asian Games and
Asian, World champion­
K. Keerthivasan ships and Olympics, it is the
coach appointed by Table
fter presenting the Tennis Federation of India

A medals to the win­

ners at the recently
concluded World indivi­
dual table tennis cham­
pionships in Durban , In­
dian table tennis player
Sharath Kamal tweeted,
“First time getting my
hands on the World cham­
pionships gold medals. Un­
fortunately, had to give it
away to mixed doubles win­
ners [Wang Chuqin and
Sun Yingsha of China]!”
The manner in which
the Indian paddlers’ capitu­
lated in the Worlds held in
Durban (from May 20 to 28)
showed it might take a long
while before they can hold
the medals after winning
rather than presenting it.
Though everyone put in
their best efforts, the re­
sults weren’t encouraging
at all, as no one could reach
even the quarterfinals of
any event, be it men’s, wo­
men’s singles and doubles,
and mixed doubles.
Sharath Kamal and G.
Sathiyan, India’s best bet in
singles, lost in the second
round (round of 128), while
India’s best woman player,
Manika Batra, too, bowed
out in the third round.
The team management
had placed its faith on the
mixed doubles pair of Sath­
iyan and Manika for a me­
dal, but the fourth­seeded
pairwent down tamely to
the Swedish pair of Truls
Moregardh and Christina
Kallberg in the pre­quarter­
finals.
India’s record at the
Worlds hasn’t been great
historically. In fact, inde­
pendent India has never
won a team medal or an in­
dividual medal at the World
championships.
Going back in history, it
was successful way back in
1926, when Athar­Ali Fuzee,
Hassan Ali Fuzee, A.M.
Peer Mahomed, B.C. Singh
and S.R.G. Suppiah won the
team bronze. Suppiah had
Falling short: Though everyone put in their best efforts, no one could reach even the quarterfinals with even leading paddlers like Manika, Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal bowing out early. FILE PHOTOS
also bagged the men’s sin­
gles bronze in the event.
Independent India’s first
notable performance was
when Krishna Nagaraj be­
came the first Indian to
reach the men’s singles
quarterfinals (it was a
round­of­16 then) at the
1956 Worlds in Tokyo.
Sixty­one years later, in
2017, Manika and Mouma
Das too created history by
becoming the first Indian
pair to enter the quarterfi­
nals.
Weighing in
Taking all these into consid­
eration, what should one
make of India’s below­par
show in Durban?
Mamta Prabhu, India’s
coach at Durban, said it was
a decent performance gi­
ven the fact that India fin­
ished in the last 16 in three
events: men’s, women’s
and mixed doubles. “I
think we have done better
than what we had achieved
in the past. Of course, we
had our chances in wo­
men’s singles when Manika
played against Adriana Diaz
of Puerto Rico.
“The men’s doubles pair
of Sathiyan and Sharath
had their chances against
the English pair of Paul
Drinkhall and Liam Pitch­
ford. I think the mixed dou­
bles pair of Sathiyan and
Manika could have done
better,” she said.
The 30­year­old, a form­
er International and Inter­
national Table Tennis Fed­
eration Level­I coach, said
the gap between top teams
and India is not big. “If you
see the scores, we lost quite
closely in women’s singles
and mixed doubles,” she
observed.
Sunil Babras, former In­
dia coach, is certainly un­
happy with the perfor­
mance of the country’s
paddlers. According to
him, the performance of
the paddlers have not been
up to the mark for all the
excellent facilities and
world­class facilities with
their personal coaches they
get.
“What more do the
players want? They have
everything. Which country
is allowing personal coach­
es for an official tourna­
ment? India is doing it. Des­
pite everything, the results
aren’t in commensuration
with the better infrastruc­
ture, better training and
world class equipment the
players keep receiving,” he
said.
Plan of action
Mamta said India needs to
continue with camps where
the best players spar with
each other before a major
international tournament
so that they can maintain a
high level of intensity.
“Playing together at
camps really helps players.
When top players play in
one arena, there is a high
level of intensity. All the
other top countries hold si­
milar camps,” she said.
For Mamta, the key is to
hold camps regularly keep­
ing in mind the World Table
Tennis calendar to keep the
top players in the loop. “In­
dia’s foreign coach Massi­
mo Costantini used to have
the structure. We need to
readopt that,” she said.
Babras was upset with all
the players, who per­
formed poorly in the
Worlds. In particular, he
was scathing on the mixed
doubles duo. “It was a total
disappointment. Against
the Swedish par in the
round of 16, Sathiyan­Mani­
ka was leading by 3­4 points
in each of the four games,
but lost in four straight
games. What is the point if
you are unable to convert
points,” he asked.
When mental training is
talked about in internation­
al sport in a big way, India
didn’t have a mental trainer
at the Worlds. “A sports
psychologist should have
been there in Durban. We
have Gaurav Sharma, a cer­
tified mental trainer with
Sports Authority of India.
We had Gayatri Vartak at
the Commonwealth Games
in Birmingham. If they
were busy, we should have
hired mental trainers from
other sports,” he said.
Babras said he was com­
pletely against personal
coaches for official tourna­
ments. “Aren’t you under­
mining the official coach by
having a personal coach. By
all accounts, please take
your personal coach for
who must be at the court­
side,” he opined.
India has a long way to
go when it comes to fitness
and technique as compared
to top countries such as
China, Japan and Korea, he
felt. “We are light years be­
hind China when it comes
to fitness,” remarked Ba­
bras.
Germany’s Chris Pfeiffer,
who was part of the Indian
coaches delegation in Dur­
ban, said India should focus
more on doubles and
mixed doubles. “We have
some good combinations.
Overall, I think it was a
good World championships
[for India]. Of course, the
mixed doubles pair (Sathi­
yan and Manika) should
have gone a bit further. I am
happy to be part of it and
help the players,” he said.
Though a lot of progress
has been made with facili­
ties being extended by the
Government of India and
TTFI, players need to pull
up their socks and justify
the spending on them.
Indian table tennis has
its hands full with several
events like the Asian cham­
pionships (Pyeongchang,
Korea, September 3 to 10),
Asian Games (Hangzhou,
China, Sept. 24 to Oct. 2)
and the World team cham­
pionships, (Busan, South
Korea, Feb. 16 to 25, 2024)
happening within the next
year. The World team event
is a qualification for the Pa­
ris Olympics.
The TTFI, too, needs to
set its house in order in sev­
eral ways. First, it must offi­
cially ratify the appoint­
ment of Chris Pfeiffer, who
was in Durban as an “unof­
ficial” foreign coach.
Given the unflattering
show at the recent Worlds,
the Indian fans would defi­
nitely want a paddler on
the podium at the Worlds
or Olympics in the near fu­
ture.

‘Generational talent’ Wembanyama and San Antonio Spurs are a perfect fit
BASKETBALL
Srinivasan Ramani
The most marquee event in
the basketball world is cur­
rently in play — the NBA Fi­
nals between Denver Nug­
gets and Miami Heat.
Even as this premier
event is being played under
the watchful eyes of fans,
players, coaches across the
world, some attention is al­
so being garnered by a less
heralded league playoffs —
the French top tier profes­
sional basketball league or
LNB Pro A — and largely be­
cause of one large indivi­
dual — Victor Wembanya­
ma. The 19­year­old
Frenchman is the cynosure
of all eyes as he helped
Boulogne­Levallois Metro­
politans 92 beat ASVEL and
reach the LNB Pro A finals
on Sunday.
Though one of the youn­
gest players in the league,
Wembanyama played a ma­
jor role in his team’s jour­
ney to the finals, by averag­
ing 21.6 points, 10.4
rebounds, 2.4 assists, 3
blocks and 0.7 steals. Wem­
banyama plays a hybrid po­
sition as a power forward/
centre and his skill­set and
production is far beyond
his years.
Tall and lean
The lean teenager is a phys­
ical specimen at 7 feet 4 in­
ches tall with an eight­feet
wingspan and a humon­
gous standing reach. But
what sets him apart from
other tall hoopsters is his
CM
YK
skillset. Wembanyama is a
well co­ordinated basket­
ball player who is adept as a
rim protector as well as a
shooter, a ball handler and
a passer.
The phrase “generation­
al talent” is not used loose­
ly in the NBA, which is a
star­driven league like no
other. Basketball might be a
team sport but having at
least one “star” player — an
efficient and high volume
scorer or a two way maes­
tro is a necessary, if not, a
sufficient condition for con­
tention.
While free agency (the
period when players are al­
lowed to choose their
teams) allows for teams to
acquire ‘stars’, the sureshot
way of getting a high profile
talent is through the NBA
Draft — a system that allows
for lower­ranked teams in
the league to pick new col­
legiate and overseas talent
for the league. This year
the Draft is being held on
June 23 (IST) and Wemba­
nyama is expected to be the
first pick.
Best prospect
The first pick in the NBA
draft has more often than
not been the best prospect
(aged 18 and above) coming
from collegiate or overseas
league ranks. NBA scouts
fan far and wide to identify
talent and the best pros­
pects are invariably those
who combine strong physi­
cal and skill advantages at
their youthful ages to con­
tend for the top slot in the
lottery system. The proba­
bility of an NBA first pick to
become an all star or an all­
NBA player is relatively
high, but it is not a given.
Prospects would still
have to mature into effec­
tive players through deve­
lopmental projects that are
undertaken by teams even
while they are thrown into
the fire against expe­
rienced players. But, be­
cause of their superior ta­
lent and physical
advantages, top picks tend
to succeed more than oth­
ers.
In recent years, the best
prospects to land into the
NBA include Zion William­
son (forward picked by the
New Orleans Pelicans in
2019), Karl­Anthony Towns
(Minnesota Timberwolves
in 2015) and Anthony Davis
(by Pelicans in 2012). The
three have received multi­
ple All­Star selections and
lived up to their draft sta­
tus, while other No 1 picks
in the last decade have also
done fairly well.
Yet, no prospective No. 1
pick in the draft has re­
ceived as much hype and
heaped with so many ex­
pectations as Wembanya­
ma, who is expected to be
chosen by the draft lottery
winner, San Antonio Spurs
on June 23. NBA cognos­
centi have by near­consen­
sus termed Wembanyama
as a “generational talent”,
so­much­so that most
scouts and “draftniks”
(scouts who track talent for
the draft) suggest that
Wembanyama would be
the most talented prospect
since LeBron James.
James was selected as a
players who are 7 feet 3 in­
ches tall or more also do
not have the most encou­
raging history. The likes of
Yao Ming, Zydrunas Ilgaus­
kas, Rik Smits, Ralph
Sampson, Mark Eaton were
among the more successful
players who had relatively
long careers, but even they
were bogged down by
knee, back, ankle, feet inju­
ries in later years.
Wembanyama conducts
rigorous strengthening ex­
ercises to secure his feet
and his knees before every
game and has resisted at­
tempts to quickly add mus­
cle mass to his upper body
in order to not add too
much load on his lower
half.
Wembanyama’s ability
to handle the ball in the pe­
rimeter and shoot threes
off the bounce or via catch­
and­shoots allows him to
play like a long guard. But
he is best used as a screen­
er in a pick and roll system
who can roll to the rim or
pop out and shoot threes or
“short roll” and work from
the post either as a mid­
range scorer or a passer.
Though his leanness does
not allow him to “bang in
the post” against stronger
Well-rounded: The tall and lean Wembanyama is adept as a rim centers in the NBA, he has
protector, shooter, ball handler and a passer AFP the footwork to hold his
own in the post as well.
high school player in 2003 second­best player in the
and has since then gone on NBA ever, with only Mi­ Good in defence
to become the highest­scor­ chael Jordan in competi­ It is on defence that Wem­
er in the NBA, a four­time tion for that honour. banyama shows the highest
NBA champion, a four­time To speak of Wembanya­ potential. His shot blocking
NBA MVP apart from win­ ma in the same breath as ability extends from the
ning a bevy of other acco­ James only heaps a huge rim to even the three point
lades. He is, by most mea­ amount of expectations on range, deterring shooters
sures, the best or the a 19­year­old. Basketball and scorers from adventu­
rous trips when he is the
primary defender.
His length and skill in
blocking as both the strong
side and weak side defen­
der, ability to recover
quickly and deter shots
even after being beaten on
the dribble, and his quick
and long hands on perime­
ter make him a readymade
starter who will make a
strong difference on de­
fence from day one in the
NBA. But he will still strug­
gle to hold his own as a
centre primarily in charge
of defending other strong
centres. Which is why play­
ing him as a PF/C instead of
an out­and­out centre will
help.
Fortunately, the Spurs,
who will pick him first,
have a peerless develop­
mental system in place that
is honed by the league’s
most respected front office
and coaching staff led by
CEO R.C. Buford and presi­
dent and legendary coach
Gregg Popovich.
Spurs have the where­
withal and the patience to
ease Wembanyama into a
development plan that will
maximise his skillset and
production over time while
building a team around
him with other youngsters
and a couple of veterans
that could slowly shape in­
to a contender.
The Spurs, who
“tanked” their way into
landing the first pick in the
draft, have prepared a
squad that could fit Wem­
banyama’s strengths. They
will most likely get him to
play power forward and
more on the perimeter on
offence and pair him up
with another centre.
Zach Collins, who
earned the starting centre
spot due to his encouraging
play in the 2022­23 season,
has the muscle and girth to
“protect” Wembanyama,
the ability to shoot threes,
and spread the floor that
helps a balanced offence.
More importantly, if the
games in the French league
are any indication, Wemba­
nyama is sure to be a
crowd­puller, capable of
spectacular plays at both
ends of the floor, and that
should expand the Spurs
fan base.
Mature
Wembanyama has also
shown himself to be a hum­
ble and mature youngster
who is focused on becom­
ing the great player that he
is expected to be and to
work hard to reach that
goal. This makes the Spurs
a strong fit for him.
The team that drafted
Hall of Fame big men in Da­
vid Robinson in 1987 and
Tim Duncan in 1997 and
moulded them into NBA
champions and winners of
multiple individual acco­
lades is well suited to do it
agains with Wembanyama.
Besides, the Spurs also
have a rich history of re­
cruiting international
players, building camara­
derie and team spirit
among them by carefully
choosing players of high
character. All said, the
Spurs and Wembanyama
are a perfect fit.
S ND-NDE

II
Time to give up on the vaunted
but unproven ‘paleo diet’
The idea underlying the paleo diet is that there has been too little time since agriculture appeared for evolution to have adapted our
species to deal with a high­carbohydrate, low­protein diet. But this argument is not supported by research on diet­related genes.
Mark Collard
Amalea Ruffett
he paleo diet urges us to mimic
T our prehistoric ancestors’ food
choices. In practice, this means
eschewing dairy products,
cereals, pulses and processed sugar, and
consuming vegetables, fruit, nuts,
pasture­raised meat, and wild­caught
seafood instead.
The paleo diet’s proponents contend
that by eating this way, we will lose weight
and reduce our risk of chronic diseases.
The roots of the paleo diet can
be traced to the 1950s, but it owes its
current popularity to a book by Loren
Cordain called The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight
and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You
Were Designed to Eat, the first edition of
which was released in 2001.
In the 22 years since the publication of
Cordain’s book, the paleo diet has been
adopted by several million people and
a multi­billion dollar industry has
developed in connection with it,
including premium­priced foods and a
certification scheme.
The diet’s health claims
While the paleo diet has many adherents,
clinical research has yet to substantiate its
purported health benefits.
To begin with, it does not seem to
outperform conventional recommended
diets as a means of losing weight in the
medium­ to long­term.
The only published multi­year study to
have evaluated the paleo diet’s impact on
weight loss found that following the paleo
diet was no more effective than following
the Nordic countries’ official nutrition
recommendations after two years.
It is a similar story with the claims that
have been made about the paleo diet’s
impact on chronic diseases.
For example, a recent review found
that studies examining the paleo diet’s
impact on type 2 diabetes have been
“inconclusive.”
Similarly, the authors of a 2020
study reported that following the paleo
diet resulted in a higher relative
abundance of gut bacteria that produce a
chemical associated with cardiovascular
disease, which is at odds with the claim
that the paleo diet will reduce the
probability of experiencing chronic
diseases.
Why have the health benefits claimed
for the paleo diet not been supported by
clinical research? As evolutionary
anthropologists, we think the problem is
that the paleo diet is based on a flawed
premise and faulty data, and in what
follows we’ll try to show why our research
brought us to this conclusion.
A flawed premise
The idea underlying the paleo diet is that
the ongoing surge in obesity and
associated diseases in many countries is
the result of a mismatch between the
foods we eat and the foods our species
evolved to consume.
This mismatch, so the argument goes,
is a consequence of there having been too
little time since agriculture appeared,
12,000 years ago, for evolution to have
adapted our species to deal with a
high­carbohydrate, low­protein diet or to
process domesticated food.
This argument seems reasonable
because there is a perception that
evolution is a very slow process. However,
THE SCIENCE QUIZ
Rockets: our means to explore the amazing vastness of space
Vasudevan Mukunth
X gimballed engines, which can be
QUESTION 1
At its core, launching a rocket is based
on Isaac Newton’s three laws of
motion.
Specify the formula that describes
the second law.
X It uses dinitrogen tetroxide as
QUESTION 2
Name the Russian scientist who
created the famous ideal rocket
equation, which describes how a
vehicle can accelerate itself using the
law of conservation of momentum.
X hydrogen, which has a very high
QUESTION 3
To keep a rocket from spiralling out of
control, its direction of movement
CM
YK
The paleo diet urges us to mimic our prehistoric ancestors’ food choices. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
it is not in fact supported by research on
diet­related genes.
Work on lactase persistence — the
continued ability to produce the enzyme
lactase as an adult — illustrates this.
Lactase enables us to digest the milk
sugar lactose, so lactase persistence is
useful for a diet involving dairy products.
Lactase persistence is found in just a few
regions, one of which is Europe. Ancient
DNA research indicates that lactase
persistence is less than 5,000 years old in
Europe.
Similarly, an analysis of genetic data
from African populations published last
year found evidence of recent adaptation
in a family of genes connected with
metabolizing alcohol.
In this case, natural selection operated
within the last 2,000 years.This evidence
shows the mismatch rationale for
adopting the paleo diet is not supported
by genetic studies. Such studies
demonstrate that evolution can produce
diet­related adaptations in much less time
than has elapsed since agriculture first
appeared.
Faulty data
There is also an issue with the paleo diet’s
recommendations regarding the
contributions of the three macronutrients
— protein, carbohydrate and fat — to a
person’s diet.
According to the current version of the
paleo diet, we should aim for a diet
consisting of 19­35% protein, 22­40%
carbohydrate and 28­58% fat, by energy.
This makes the Paleo Diet lower in
carbohydrate and higher in protein than
conventional recommended diets, such as
those promoted by Health Canada and
needs to be in the direction of its
______. This is why many rockets have
rotated in place. Fill in the blank.
X maximus
QUESTION 4
The engine ‘Vikas’ powers the second
stage of India’s Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle.
oxidiser and UDMH as fuel. What is the
chemical name of UDMH?
X Bansal | Joseph Nelson | Siva Shakthi
QUESTION 5
A cryogenic engine is sought after for
rockets because it can combust liquid
X for ‘Science’, please write to
________ _______. Fill in the blanks Visual: When a rocket engine operates within the atmosphere, its exhaust
with a term describing how efficiently passes through multiple shockwaves, exposing a standing wave. What is this
the engine uses its fuel mass. pattern called? NASA/PUBLIC DOMAIN
THE HINDU
SCIENCE
Using multi­continent plant data
produced significantly different
macronutrient estimates. These in turn
produced macronutrient ranges that
are wider than the ones recommended
by the paleo diet. The ranges we
calculated are 14­35% protein, 21­55%
carbohydrate and 12­58% fat, by energy.
the United States Department of
Agriculture.
The macronutrient ranges
recommended by the paleo diet are based
on a study from 2000 that estimated
macronutrient percentages for more than
200 hunter­gatherer groups.
However, recently we have found there is
a problem with this study.
The problem lies in the macronutrient
values the researchers used for plant
foods. While they employed several sets
of macronutrient values for animal foods,
they only used one set of macronutrient
values for plant foods.
z They obtained the plant data from an
analysis of foods traditionally eaten by
Indigenous Australians.
In our study, we evaluated the effects
of this decision with two plant
macronutrient datasets, both of which
consisted of values for plants consumed
by hunter­gatherers from several
continents.
Using multi­continent plant data
produced significantly different
macronutrient estimates. These in turn
produced macronutrient ranges that are
wider than the ones recommended by the
paleo diet. The ranges we calculated are
14­35% protein, 21­55% carbohydrate and
12­58% fat, by energy.
These ranges overlap those
recommended by Health Canada (10­35%
protein, 45­65% carbohydrate and 20­35%
fat) and the United States Department of
Agriculture (10­30% protein, 45­65%
carbohydrate and 25­35% fat).
That the macronutrient ranges of
hunter­gatherer diets overlap
government­approved macronutrient
ranges casts doubt on the idea that the
paleo diet is healthier than conventional
recommended diets.
Not scientifically robust
Given that the rationale for adopting the
paleo diet isn’t supported by the available
scientific research, and its macronutrient
recommendations aren’t scientifically
robust, it is, we suggest, not surprising
that the diet’s purported health benefits
haven’t been supported by clinical
studies.
The paleo diet has been a worthwhile
experiment, but at this point it seems
likely that people following it might just
be wasting money. Conventional,
government­recommended diets offer
comparable outcomes at a lower cost. In
our view, it’s time to leave the paleo diet
in the past.
Mark Collard is Canada Research Chair
in human evolutionary studies and
professor of archaeology, Simon Fraser
University. Amalea Ruffett is a PhD student
in archaeology, Simon Fraser University.
This article is republished from The
Conversation.
Please send in your answers to
science@thehindu.co.in
Answers to June 1 quiz:
1.Muscle that functions all our lives
– Ans: Heart (cardiac) muscle
2. Muscles that helps keep Homo
sapiens stay erect – Ans: Gluteus
3. Muscle in uterus and intestines –
Ans: Smooth muscle
4.Chemical that triggers muscles –
Ans: Acetylcholine
5.Muscle that confers the benefits
of walking – Ans: Calf muscle
Visual: Deltoid muscle
First contact: P.N. Moorthy | Pulkit
A. | Sujata | Anjali Srivastava
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Delhi
A cotton field. ARIF MOHD/THE HINDU
Satellites,
AI to help
certify fields
growing
organic cotton
Arkatapa Basu
Soon, a satellite in space could be
involved in determining whether your
favourite cotton dress is organic.
A new initiative by the European Space
Agency (ESA) and Global Organic Textile
Standard (GOTS) plans to combine data
from satellite images and artificial
intelligence (AI) to keep track of cotton
certification in India.
The project is a collaboration between
ESA, GOTS and AI company Marple that
will automatically classify cotton fields in
India in line with cultivation standards.
Under ESA’s Business Applications and
Space Solutions programme, the initiative
will train AI models to ‘read’ ESA satellite
data to identify and classify cotton fields
in India.
The initiative will identify cotton
fields that meet predetermined
standards as well as support
those that demonstrate potential
for a seamless transition to
organic cultivation.
“This project highlights how space
solutions can have a positive impact on
the world and is the kind of innovation
that ESA supports through its Business
Applications and Space Solutions
programme,” Guillaume Prigent, Business
Development and Partnerships Officer at
ESA, said in an email to The Hindu.
The project will help GOTS to generate
accurate estimates of organic cotton
yields in specific regions by incorporating
standardised yield metrics.
GOTS is an alliance of four
organisations ­­ Organic Trade Association
(US), the Internationaler Verband der
Naturtextilwirtschaft (Germany), The Soil
Association (U.K.) and the Japan Organic
Cotton Association ( Japan) ­­ that brings
together the textile and organic industries
to promote organic textiles.
The initiative will identify cotton fields
that meet predetermined standards as
well as support those that demonstrate
potential for a seamless transition to
organic cultivation through the use of
traditional and ecologically friendly
farming practices.
The primary objective of the
collaboration is to bolster the integrity of
organic cotton by developing advanced
risk assessment techniques and to
prevent fraud throughout the supply
chain.
The approach is expected to bring a
greater number of small­scale farmers
into the certified organic sector and
supply chains, creating new economic
opportunities for them and their
communities.
It could also help address the
escalating consumer demand for organic
cotton within the textile industry.
The programme has already had a
successful pilot run in Uzbekistan, one of
the world’s top cotton producers, in 2021.
The data from the pilot project showed a
98% accuracy in differentiating between
organic cotton fields and conventional
ones.
The project will be implemented across
various cotton­growing regions in India
where organic cotton production plays a
significant role. The first results are
expected to be available in late 2023.
For feedback and suggestions
science@thehindu.co.in with the subject
‘Daily page’
S ND-NDE