SUNDAY
com
June 9, 2024
DELHI
CITY EDITION
26 Pages ₹ 15.00
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IN BRIEF
쑽 NTA sets up panel
on NEET allegations;
rules out a re-test
‘LS poll verdict The Hindu Bureau
signifies end of NEW DELHI
negative politics’ The National Testing Agen-
cy (NTA) has constituted a
LUCKNOW high-powered committee
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief led by a former Union Pu-
Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday blic Service (UPSC) Chair-
said the Lok Sabha poll verdict
signified the end of negative
politics in India. » Page 4
person to look into the
grievances around the Na-
tional Eligibility-cum-En-
trance Test (NEET), 2024,
the results of which were
Plea in Delhi announced on June 4.
Several students and
court for Engineer political parties have de-
Rashid’s release manded a re-test alleging a
question paper leak in Bi-
SRINAGAR har and opposing grant of
The Awami Ittehad Party has grace marks, “illogically
petitioned a Delhi court to high” scores and an unex-
allow its jailed MP-elect, pected number of full
Engineer Rashid, to participate marks (720/720).
in the oath-taking ceremony in Concerns were also ex-
Parliament. » Page 9 pressed about the pre-
sence of eight high-scorers
from one centre in
Haryana.
Subodh Kumar Singh,
Director-General, NTA,
ruled out a re-test, adding
that the grievances pertain
to only 1,600 students out
of 23 lakh candidates who
appeared for the entrance
MAGAZINE 8 PAGES » test for admission to medi-
CLASSIFIEDS PAGE 5 »
CM
YK
» Madurai » Noida » Visakhapatnam
Students stage a stir seeking
re-examination of NEET, in
Varanasi on Saturday. PTI
cal colleges. He said the
committee will submit its
report in a week.
Following receipt of the
report, the NTA will take
time-bound action, which
will not affect the results of
other candidates or the ad-
mission calendar and
counselling, Mr. Singh
said.
“The issue concerning
the NEET exam is perti-
nent to six centres and
1,600 candidates,” Mr.
Singh told a press confe-
rence on Saturday.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 10
SEE ALSO
» PAGES 2, 7
» Thiruvananthapuram » Kochi
CWC asks Rahul to take over
as Leader of Opposition in LS
Rahul says he will decide ‘very soon’; panel lauds party’s performance in polls; committees to study below-par results in
some States; Congress Parliamentary Party meeting held at Samvidhan Sadan re-elects Sonia Gandhi as chairperson
Sandeep Phukan
NEW DELHI
he Congress Work-
T ing Committee
(CWC) unanimous-
ly adopted a resolution on
Saturday asking Rahul
Gandhi to become the
Leader of the Opposition
(LoP) in the 18th Lok
Sabha.
Taking note of the senti-
ments expressed at the
party’s highest decision-
making body, Mr. Gandhi
said he would think it over
and decide “very soon”.
Party president Mallikar-
jun Kharge urged him to
“abide” by the CWC’s for-
mal resolution and take up
the responsibility.
The Congress Parlia-
mentary Party (CPP) com-
prising the newly-elected
Lok Sabha members and
Rajya Sabha members also
met later at the Central
Hall of Samvidhan Sadan
and re-elected Sonia Gand-
hi as the chairperson after
» Vijayawada » Mangaluru » Tiruchirapalli
First step: Congress leaders coming out after attending the CWC
meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
her name was proposed by
Mr. Kharge.
The CWC praised the
party’s Lok Sabha perfor-
mance under adverse con-
ditions, but the party de-
cided to set up separate
committees in States, in-
cluding party-ruled Hima-
chal Pradesh, Karnataka
and Telangana, to find out
why the performance was
below expectations and
what could be done to cor-
rect the situation.
www.thehindu.
» Kolkata » Hubballi » Mohali
In his opening remarks
at the CWC, Mr. Kharge as-
serted that the 2024 Lok
Sabha election verdict is a
“decisive rejection of the
politics of divisiveness and
hate of the BJP of the past
10 years” and stressed that
the INDIA bloc must conti-
nue to function cohesively
both inside and outside
Parliament.
Ms. Gandhi said she did
not expect to see any
change in Prime Minister
» Malappuram » Mumbai » Tirupati
‘INDIA bloc should
function cohesively’
Sobhana K. Nair
NEW DELHI
Calling the people’s
mandate in the Lok Sabha
polls a “decisive rejection”
of the politics of
“divisiveness and hatred”,
Congress president
Narendra Modi’s “sub-
stance and style of gover-
nance”.
“That is why, as mem-
bers of the CPP, we have a
special obligation to be
watchful, vigilant and
proactive in holding him
and his new NDA govern-
ment accountable.”
The main resolution of
the CWC congratulated the
people for “voting so po-
werfully to preserve de-
mocracy, protect the Con-
https://newsth.live/fb
https://newsth.live/x
https://newsth.live/ig
Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08
RNI No. UPENG/1986/49939
Vol. 14 앫 No. 23
» Lucknow » Cuttack » Patna
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
Mallikarjun Kharge on
Saturday stressed that the
INDIA bloc would
“function cohesively and
collectively both in
Parliament and outside”.
FULL REPORT
» PAGE 10
stitution and enhance
social and economic
justice”.
Moral defeat for PM
“The verdict of the people
is not just a political loss
but a personal and moral
defeat for the Prime Minis-
ter who sought the man-
date in his name,” the reso-
lution read.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 10
A ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
2 Sunday, June 9, 2024

City Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 BJP asks Speaker to convene Fire at Narela factory
kills three, injures six
special session on water crisis
The Hindu Bureau
Convene session urgently to allow a discussion on the crisis, BJP leader tells Speaker; Atishi blames NEW DELHI
Haryana govt. for shortage, says entire city will be affected if water level at Munak canal doesn’t rise
Three workers were killed
and six were injured after a
The Hindu Bureau fire caused a blast in a food
NEW DELHI processing unit in Narela
Industrial Area on the in-
Traffic police issue advisory
T
he BJP on Saturday tervening night of Friday
wrote to Assembly and Saturday, the police
ahead of PM’s swearing-in Speaker Ram Ni- said.
was Goel demanding a spe- The police received a
The traffic police on Friday issued an advisory in cial session of the House to PCR call at 3.35 a.m. early
light of the swearing-in ceremony of Prime discuss the prevailing wa- Saturday morning about a The fire was likely caused by a
Minister-elect Narendra Modi scheduled at ter crisis “caused by mis- blaze that had broken out gas leak. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Parliament on Sunday. With VVIP guests likely to management of the Delhi at a factory of Shyam Kripa
visit Rajghat and Sadaiv Atal on Sunday morning, government”. Foods Private Limited, der, 26, Akash, 19, Mohit
traffic will be diverted from 6.45 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. Meanwhile, Water Mi- which manufactures dry Kumar, 21, Ravi Kumar, 19,
at Ram Charan Aggarwal Chowk, Delhi Gate, nister Atishi continued to moong dal. Monu, 25, and Lalu, 32 —
Rajghat Chowk, Shanti Van crossing, Geeta blame Haryana for the wa- Rohini residents Ankit are undergoing treatment
Colony flyover, and Subhash Park intersection, ter shortage, accusing the Gupta and Vinay Gupta, for burns at Safdarjung
said the advisory. It also urged people to make BJP’s State government of the factory owners asso- Hospital, the police said.
maximum use of public transport. It asked those not releasing Delhi’s share ciated with the company, According to the DFS of-
travelling toward ISBTs, railway stations, and of 1,050 cusecs of water in have been booked under ficial, the fire was likely
airport to plan their travel carefully. the Yamuna river through relevant sections of the In- caused by a gas leak from a
the Munak canal. “If the dian Penal Code. pipeline. “The pipelines
water level in Munak canal A senior Delhi Fire Ser- supplied gas to burners
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

does not increase by to-
Greater Noida authority morrow morning, water
supply in the entire city
reclaims land worth ₹150 cr. will be affected,” the Minis-
ter said.
The Greater Noida Industrial Development Earlier this week, the
Authority (GNIDA) on Saturday used bulldozers Supreme Court had direct-
to demolish illegal structures in a village in ed the Himachal Pradesh
Tusyana village, reclaiming approximately government to release 137
75,000 square metres of land with an estimated cusecs of surplus water to
market value of ₹150 crore. According to the the national capital on Fri-
official statement, the demolition action came on day and asked Haryana to
the direction of GNIDA CEO N.G. Ravi Kumar. give the water the “right of
“Local colonisers were attempting to develop an passage”.
unauthorised colony. Our team successfully Addressing a press con-
demolished the illegal structures and cleared the ference, Ms. Atishi said
land,” the statement added. Each square metre of during the summer, when
the land was estimated to be priced at Haryana releases 1,050 cu-
approximately ₹20,000. PTI secs of water, Delhi re-
A woman waiting with empty cans for a water tanker in Delhi on Saturday. SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
ceives about 995 cusecs.
However, in the past week,
the Capital has been get-
ting much less water.
“The city received 924
cusecs on June 1, 884 cu-
secs on June 4, 856 cusecs
on June 6, and 840 cusecs
on June 7. During every
summer, there is a loss of
around 59 to 60 cusecs of
water due to evaporation.
However, if only 840 cu-
secs of water is reaching
Delhi, it means Haryana is
not releasing enough water
in the Munak canal,” Ms.
Atishi said.
Blaming the Delhi go-
vernment for the crisis,
BJP’s chief whip in the As-
sembly, Ajay Mahawar, re-
quested the Speaker to
“immediately call a special
session of the Delhi As-
sembly to discuss and find
a solution to this crisis and
provide relief to the people
from this disaster caused
by mismanagement of the
Delhi government and the
Delhi Jal Board”.
BJP’s South Delhi MP-
elect Ramvir Singh Bidhuri
said water released by Hi-
machal Pradesh takes 48
hours to reach the city and
that the Water Minister had
begun accusing the Harya-
na government even be-
fore the 137 cusecs of water
had made its way to Delhi.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
vices (DFS) official said six- used for roasting the
teen fire tenders were
rushed to the spot, and the
moong dal. As the fire
spread, it caused the com-
blaze was doused at noon. pressor to overheat, result-
But the fire had engulfed ing in the blast,” he said.
the factory, trapping some Beerpal’s son Akash Ya-
workers inside, said a pol- dav was woken up by his
ice officer. mother at 6 a.m. to inform
“Nine workers were res- him about the accident. He
cued from the building and only learned of his father’s
admitted to Satyawadi Raja death after reaching the
Harish Chandra Hospital in hospital on his bike.
Narela, but three of them “I have only one de-
were declared dead on ar- mand — that action be ta-
rival,” he said. The de- ken against the employers,
ceased were identified as who ran the factory round
Shyam, 24, Ram Singh, 30, the clock without paying
and Beerpal Kumar, 42. heed to the maintenance of
The injured — Pushpen- the machinery,” he said.

AAP seeks SC probe into NEET ‘irregularities’ Two arrested for assaulting, confining
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) on Saturday alleged
that many of the “irregular-
ities” in the conduct of the
National Eligibility cum En-
trance Test – Undergrad-
uate (NEET-UG) occurred in
Bihar, Gujarat, and Harya-
na, pointing to a “big scam”
in the States ruled by the
BJP directly or in alliance
with other parties.
Demanding a Supreme
Court-monitored probe in-
to the matter, AAP spokes-
person Jasmine Shah said
reports of paper leaks had
emerged from Bihar and
Gujarat and that out of the
67 toppers, six were from a
single centre in Haryana’s
Jhajjar. “The National Test-
ing Agency is silent over
questions on the paper leak
and its scope,” he said.
The results for the com-
petitive medical exam were
announced on Tuesday,
but since then, several aspi-
rants have cited “irregulari-
ties”, including paper leaks
and unusually high scores.
Delhi BJP spokesperson
Praveen Shankar Kapoor
hit out at AAP, saying it was
“shameful” of the Delhi go-
vernment to first take credit
for the success of NEET stu-
dents from Delhi and then
accuse other States’ stu-
dents of “malpractice”.
domestic help in Vasant Kunj apartment
Alisha Dutta
NEW DELHI
Two persons were arrested
on Saturday for assaulting
a domestic help in south-
west Delhi’s Vasant Kunj.
The complainant, 24-year-
old Shaidul Haque, has al-
leged that his employer,
Preeti Handa, and her
friend, Nikhil, assaulted
him on Friday when he de-
manded his salary. Mr.
Haque had been working
as a dog sitter and car
cleaner for Ms. Handa for
the past two months, the
FIR states.
The victim has accused
the two of slapping and
punching him and confin-
ing him in a room at Ms.
Handa’s house for two
hours. Mr. Haque told The
Hindu that he had gone to
Ms. Handa’s house around ciety’s residents’ welfare
7 p.m. on Friday. association (RWA) mem-
“When I reached the bers, who informed the
house, I saw that my em- police. A police team then
ployer was having a drink rescued the complainant
with a friend. When I asked from the apartment.
for my salary, the two start- The two accused have
ed punching and hitting been booked under IPC
me, then they locked me in Sections 323 (voluntarily
a room,” he said. causing hurt), 342 (wrong-
When Mr. Haque did not ful confinement), 506 (cri-
return home for a long minal intimidation), and
time, his wife called the so- 34 (common intention).

IN MEMORIAM

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CM A ND-NDE
YK
 83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
3

A ND-NDE
THE HINDU
Sunday, June 9, 2024

CM
YK
Delhi
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
 THE HINDU
4 Sunday, June 9, 2024

States Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 LS poll verdict signifies AIADMK vote share
up, no ties with BJP
end of negative politics for 2026 polls: EPS
in the country: Akhilesh M. Sabari
SALEM

After chairing SP parliamentary party meeting, he says vote of every section and class AIADMK general secretary
instrumental in changing the direction of future politics not only in U.P. but entire country Edappadi K. Palaniswami
Haryana to start recruitment said on Saturday that com-
pared with the 2019 gener-
process for 50,000 posts: CM Mayank Kumar a political party”. al election, his party had
LUCKNOW “By voting for the SP, ev- secured 1% more votes this
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on ery section and class of the time, and ruled out the AIADMK general secretary
Saturday said his government will soon initiate amajwadi Party (SP) society changed the direc- possibility of an alliance Edappadi K. Palaniswami
the recruitment process for 50,000 vacant posts
in the State. This will be done as part of the
government’s efforts to provide job opportunities
S president Akhilesh
Yadav on Saturday
said that the 2024 Lok Sab-
tion of future politics not
only in U.P. but the entire
country. The PDA’s mes-
with the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) for the 2026 As-
sembly election.
addressing the media on
Saturday E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN

and support the aspirations of the youth, he said ha poll verdict signified the sage of social harmony is a After a meeting with par- leaders O. Panneerselvam
on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of end of negative politics and new message for ‘New In- ty functionaries at Omalur, and V.K. Sasikala appealing
the new chairman of the State Staff Selection the issues and concerns of dia’. The INDIA alliance, in the wake of the Lok Sab- for unity among suppor-
Commission Himmat Singh. Mr. Singh, a former common people taking which protects the Consti- ha election results, he told ters of late leaders M.G. Ra-
Haryana Additional Advocate General, was centre stage. tution, democracy, reser- reporters that the DMK and machandran and Jayalalith-
administered the oath of office by the CM. PTI Speaking to the media vation, equality and har- the BJP had so many promi- aa, he said, “The AIADMK
in Lucknow after chairing mony, will become more nent personalities who secured more votes this
the parliamentary party powerful with time on the campaigned for them. time owing to their ab-
meeting of SP, he said the Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav with newly elected MPs basis of increasing public “However, for our al- sence. The setback for the
CPI(M-L) Liberation demands victory belongs to the PDA of his party in Lucknow on Saturday. SANDEEP SAXENA support and become a liance, only me and Pre- party in southern Tamil Na-
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
(Pichda, Dalit, and Alpa- strong shield for the ex- mallatha Vijayakant [of the du will be sorted out soon.”
rollback of Agnipath scheme sankhyak) and other mar- protect their interests as the SP alone securing 37 ploited, deprived and op- DMDK] had campaigned. On former Minister S.P.
ginalised social groups and per the Constitution,” said seats and the Congress pressed,” he said. However, this time, the Velumani’s statement that
The CPI(M-L) Liberation, which won Aarah and the onus is on the SP to the SP president after hold- winning the rest. In the meeting, the SP AIADMK gained 1% more the AIADMK-led front
Karakat Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, on Saturday protect their interests after ing a meeting with the par- Mr. Yadav, who won MPs congratulated Mr. Ya- votes than what it got in would have won 35-40
demanded immediate rollback of the Agnipath the positive poll outcome. ty’s newly elected Lok Sab- from Kannauj Lok Sabha dav for the party winning 2019. Even the vote shares seats had its alliance with
recruitment scheme. The party also said the “The responsibility of ha members. seat and is likely to resign 37 out of 63 seats it contest- of the DMK, its alliance, the BJP remained intact,
Centre should consider the INDIA bloc demand the Samajwadis (Socialists) from the Leader of the Op- ed and asked him to lead it and the BJP-led front have Mr. Palaniswami said he
for conducting caste census and giving special has increased… raising is- ‘Message of harmony’ position post in U.P. As- in the Lok Sabha. The SP is reduced, compared with had spoken about an arti-
category status to Bihar for the overall growth of sues pertaining to the pu- The SP-led INDIA bloc in sembly, said the SP has the third-largest party in the 2019 and 2014 general cle that appeared in a new-
the State. The party also said it would revive its blic, keeping their interest Uttar Pradesh clinched 43 emerged in these polls as the 18th Lok Sabha after elections,” Mr. Palaniswa- spaper and the media had
demand for the inclusion of Bhojpuri language in in mind. The victory be- out of the 80 parliamen- “a positive movement of the Bharatiya Janata Party mi said. misrepresented his state-
the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. PTI longs to the PDA, we will tary seats in the State, with social solidarity more than (BJP) and the Congress. On former AIADMK ment.

Launched with much fanfare, Pune car crash: resort Naveen Patnaik defends
Ghulam Nabi Azad’s DPAP fails owned by accused Pandian, says criticising him
to make a mark in LS election juvenile’s family razed for BJD defeat is unfortunate
Peerzada Ashiq The Hindu Bureau
SRINAGAR MUMBAI Satyasundar Barik tiya Janata Party effectively
BHUBANESWAR built its main poll plank
The Democratic Progres- In the latest crackdown in around the theme of ‘Odia
sive Azad Party (DPAP), a the Pune luxury car crash With bureaucrat-turned- asmita’ (pride), highlight-
party floated by former case, the Satara district politician V.K. Pandian un- ing the dominant role of
Congress leader Ghulam administration on Satur- der fire for Biju Janata Dal’s Mr. Pandian in both the go-
Nabi Azad with a lot of fan- day demolished an illegal defeat in the 2024 elec- vernment and party af-
fare, has failed to make a property owned by the tions, outgoing Chief Mi- fairs. The BJP’s aggressive
mark in the recently con- father of the 17-year-old nister and party chief Na- campaign paid rich divi-
cluded Lok Sabha election who ran his luxury car ov- veen Patnaik on Saturday dend and helped break the
in Jammu and Kashmir. er two persons, killing The luxury car that was came to the defence of his regional party’s 24-year
The DPAP’s candidates them. involved in a fatal accident in close aide, calling the criti- winning streak and lead to
managed to bag only Democratic Progressive Azad Party chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad at The property was iden- Pune in May. FILE PHOTO cism unfortunate. Naveen Patnaik the BJP’s sweeping victory
80,264 votes from the a Lok Sabha election meeting in Anantnag. FILE PHOTO tified as MPG Club in Ma- “It has also come to my in the Lok Sabha elections.
three Lok Sabha consti- habaleshwar’s Malkam icipal Corporation demol- notice about some criti- defeat in 24 years, Mr. Pat- During the campaign,
tuencies it contested in was a mere 3.56% vote lopment and poor politics Peth area. The administra- ished them on Saturday cism of Mr. Pandian. This is naik said, “That is in the the BJD leaders found
Jammu and Kashmir, share. Mohammad Saleem of the Abdullahs and the tion has reportedly bull- morning.” unfortunate. As an officer people’s hand. In a democ- themselves sidelined as Mr.
which has around 54 lakh Parray, contesting from Muftis. However, his first dozed at least 15 rooms in The matter came to Mr. he did excellent job in ma- racy, you have to either Pandian, along with Mr.
voters. It was Mr. Azad’s Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, speech in Baramulla in the club that were alleged- Shinde’s notice when Ma- ny fields, helping in two win or lose. So having been Patnaik, took centre stage.
first electoral foray in J&K garnered 25,561 votes, 2023, where he described ly illegally constructed. habaleshwar-based RTI major cyclones and CO- defeated after long time, Moreover, the Tamil Nadu-
after quitting the Congress which is a mere 2.49% vote Article 370 as a “done and The district administra- activist Abhaysingh Haval- VID-19 epidemic in our we must always take the born former bureaucrat
in 2022 and launching his share. dusted case”, evoked a tion got into action mode dar alleged that the resort State in past 10 years,” said verdict of people graceful- dominated the campaign
own party later that year. Officials said all the sharp reaction from re- after receiving orders land was leased to Parsi the BJD chief. “I would also ly. I always said that 4.5 more prominently than the
DPAP candidates lost their gional parties. from Maharashtra Chief Gymkhana Club for resi- like to add that Mr. Pandian crore people of Odisha are five-time CM. This gave the
Paltry returns deposits. The poor perfor- Many people were see- Minister Eknath Shinde, dential purposes but the has helped in health, edu- my family and I will conti- impression that the sea-
Official data suggest that mance comes in spite of ing Mr. Azad as a political who had asked Satara Dis- parents of the accused cation, sports and in our nue to serve them in whi- soned CM was being over-
Amir Ahmad Bhat, the par- the canvassing carried out leader who would create trict Collector Jitendra Du- were using it for commer- programme of temple res- chever way I can.” On the shadowed and reduced to
ty’s candidate from Srina- by Mr. Azad in all the three an alternative politics to re- di to assess details of the cial purposes. It was also torations. Mr. Pandian had question of his likely suc- an ordinary politician,
gar seat, managed only seats it contested. He held gional parties, especially to resort and if found illegal, alleged that trees over 10 joined the party and not cessor, he said, “I always which did not sit well with
15,104 votes, a mere 2.24% dozens of poll rallies across the Abdullahs and the Muf- raze it. acres of land were held any post. He did not clearly said Mr. Pandian is the public. The perception
vote share. A close aide of the length and breadth of tis, in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Dudi said, “In the chopped to build the re- fight in these elections not my successor. People that Mr. Pandian was
Mr. Azad, Ghulam Moham- the Union Territory. Yet, in the recent election, investigation, it was found sort that includes a lavish from any constituencies,” of Odisha will decide my poised to take over the
mad Saroori, bagged Mr. Azad’s poll narrative it seems the DPAP has that around 12-15 rooms swimming pool, confe- he noted. successor.” mantle from Mr. Patnaik
39,599 votes from Udham- revolved around the three failed to make a mark with were illegally constructed. rence hall, party lawn, spa When asked about rea- According to political gained traction among vo-
pur constituency, which issues of Statehood, deve- its narrative. The Mahabaleshwar Mun- and more. sons the behind BJD’s first commentators, the Bhara- ters.

Himchal to increase
Epigraphs shine light on Kashmir’s rich cultural past prize money for medal
Inscriptions from shrines, temples, mausoleums on display at an exhibition depict cross-cultural connections that have framed Kashmir winners in sports
Peerzada Ashiq The week-long exhibition, offering a comprehensive destroyed Hindu statues).
SRINAGAR organised by the Islamic mapping of our past,” Dr. It’s a different reading that The Hindu Bureau would now receive ₹3
University of Science and Hamdani said. comes across from these CHANDIGARH crore instead of ₹2 crore
pigraphs from the Technology (IUST) and Describing these epigraphs,” Dr. Hamdani

E sixteenth to the
nineteenth
centuries, on display at a
the Kashmir Handicrafts
and Handlooms
department, brings to the
epigraphs as a framing of
the socio-religious milieu
of the period, Dr.
said.
Another inscription
from the Jamia Masjid in
In an attempt to promote
sports and acknowledge
the performance of the
and bronze medallists
would be awarded with ₹2
crore instead of ₹1 crore.
He said for athletes ex-
Srinagar exhibition, shine fore rare devotional and Hamdani said that though Srinagar highlights the State’s athletes at the inter- celling in the Asian Games
a light on Kashmir’s past literary sensibilities of the their message was reconstruction overseen national level, the Hima- and Para Asian Games, the
and throw up new details times, including the certainly one of religious by a native Kashmiri chal Pradesh government prize money for gold me-
about the domination of chronograms. piety, they also speak engineer, historian and under its new sports policy dal winners has been in-
the Persian language, “Collectively, they about the trans-regional administrator, Malik on Saturday announced an creased from ₹50 lakh to
local Hindus’ praise for Treasure trove: Epigraphs on display at the week-long exhibition cover over four centuries connections that framed Haider of Chadoora area. increase in the prize mo- ₹4 crore. Silver medallists
Sultan Sikander, and in Srinagar, which began on Saturday. NISSAR AHMAD of religious and literary Kashmir. “The inscription is ney for medal winners in would now be rewarded
community wells writings, commencing An epigraph from from the period when the various international with ₹2.50 crore instead of
constructed by the It maps architectural which have crept into our with the establishment of Khanmoh in Sanskrit first mosque was burnt during championships. ₹30 lakh, while bronze me-
Mughals. epigraphy from early textual histories,” Hakim Sultanate rule in Kashmir deciphered by Dr. Deambi Emperor Jahangir’s time. In Shimla, Chief Minis- dallists would receive ₹1.50
Epigraphs, including modern Kashmir and puts Sameer Hamdani, author in the 14th century. mentions a ‘maath’ The calligrapher was ter Sukhvinder Singh Suk- crore instead of ₹20 lakh.
calligraphic works, from a spotlight on inscriptions and design director of Deciphering some of the foundation during the again a Kashmiri master, hu said the prize money Mr. Sukhu said the new
40 heritage sites in on khanqahs, mosques, INTACH-Kashmir, said. rarest texts written in reign of Zain-ul-Abidin. Mulla Murad, famous as for gold medal winners in sports policy is aimed at re-
Kashmir are on display at temples, shrines and Dr. Hamdani’s work on Persian, Arabic and “It refers to his father Shirin Kalam (Sweet pen). the Olympics, Winter cognising and encouraging
the Kashmir Arts mausoleums. the epigraphs is a rare Sanskrit, the exhibition as the illustrious Sikander. But the engraver was a Olympics, and Paralym- sporting excellence and
Emporium, where an “Epigraphs have the attempt to decipher the borrows from As you know, Sikander is Hindu, Hari Ram, whose pics has been raised from would ultimately contri-
exhibition started on potential to etched writings at the translations, photographs rather infamous as name is also recorded,” he ₹3 crore to ₹5 crore. Simi- bute to the overall develop-
Saturday. even correct the errors historical sites of Kashmir. and recreated drawings Butshikan (someone who added. larly, silver medallists ment of sports in the State.
Published by Nirmala Lakshman and Printed by Praveen Someshwar at HT Media Ltd. Plot No.8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P.201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT. LTD. Chennai-600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRP Act).
ISSN 0971 - 751X

CM A ND-NDE
YK
 Sunday, June 9, 2024
THE HINDU
Delhi 5

TAMIL TAMIL TAMIL TELUGU

DOCTOR
BALIJA NAIDU M.B.B.S Kettai,
Viruchikam 26/165 fair good look-
ing girl, Kanchipuram seeks Doctor
(or) Professionally settled from
Naidu families Contact:
9443380196, 9442202555
HINDU YADAVA, 28, MD (Pediatrics),
Doctor, Madurai seeks Yadava PG
Doctor Groom. Ct: 9843811171
MD ANESTHESIOLOGY Doctor, 1989
born 165cm fair, beautiful, cul-
tured and homely. Settled in Chen-
nai. Father Doctor Kerala Nair ,
Mother Tamil CSI. Doctor and Engi- SEEKING EMPLOYED bridegroom below
neer grooms preferred. Ct: 35y for Hindu SC fair, educated,
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
BENGALI
Hindu, Bengali 33/6ft Phd, Assistant
Proffesor IIT Kanpur seeks suitable
well educated Bride. Caste no bar.
Mobile: 8240619913
TAMIL
FAIR MUDALIAR 28/170cm BE MS seeks COSMOPOLITAN
Well Settled Boy Decent Family Ct
: 7904735344
DM− DOCTOR ( Dec 91, Tamil, 185
cm, v.fair & h’some, clean habits,
Hastham) needs a virtuous, tall,
HINDU, VANNIYAR, 24, B.Pharm, Own quite fair, pleasant PG Doctor /
Medical Shop, Seeks Doctor Groom
highly qualified bride, age 27−30
Priority. Ph: 9444399715 years, from educated Kongu Vel-
VANIYAKULA KSHATRIYA / Kettai,
lala, Kamma, Pillai, Mudaliyar,
Nair, Gowda, Kapu or similar back-
Viruchigam / 28 / 5’3 / MS / grounds. Prefers to settle in Coim-
(Ph.D) / Fair / Working in private batore, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi.
sector at New York/ 120000 USD. Ed-
Parents: 9342529547 / 9072118800.
ucated Bride’s Parents seek well
qualified US settled groom with a
LOOKING FOR bride Bangalore ba-
good family background. Hindu same sed 32Yrs, Education graduate
caste, Mudaliyar,Pillai,Yadava,
Working in Central Govt. SC communi-
Mukkulathoor,Chettiar and other ty. Any caste bride, looking beautiful
equivalent Preferably. Whatsapp:
well settled,family Graduate Ctc:
99403 72423/ +9194447 20315 9113511457
INTERCASTE PARENTS, seeking bride
from elite families. Groom 33
SC HINDU Mithunam Thiruvathirai 30 NAIDU, KANNI/ Hastham 07.01.1991/B.
/ 180 Fair, BE, MBA IT Chennai Tech, IT,Software Engr. seeks Edu-
seeks Homely, Educated, Mingle cated Girl Ct: 9361783287/
NRI with Join & Well settled Family. 9150851950
Caste No Bar. vela4293@gmail.com /
VISWAKARMA 31/155 Maham Ph.D set- 8778546961 RICH NAIDU, 34yrs, BE, MBA, Di-
tled in USA seeks qualified bride vorce, Elite Business Family.Seeks
working/studying in USA or willing B.E, 37YRS 5.8 Pillai (Sozhiya Vel- Suitable Bride Ct:9962791888/
to move to USA/Canada.Contact : lalar) Employed & Upper Middle 7094991999
7200771188 ( Whatsapp) with pro- Class Family Seeks Suitable Bride,
file and phtoto.CNB Star: Swathi (Caste No Bar) Balija 27/178 BE/MBA Working in
9843252888 Chennai Seeks Bride Contact:
✔ NAIDU 29/180CM ,Pooratathi, 9500145075/8754580155
Saiva Pillai 28/180, M Tech Research
Btech, MS, Working as Research En- HINDU SC−ADI DRAVIDA,32,Male, Scientist, Ahmedabad seeks Educated
gr, PR of Sweden, Contact father B.E.,MS, Working in NHS−London. URDU
Employed Bride Contact: 9442649298
9566682220 Ph. 9444656046
27 YRS / Ht.5.10, Affluent, Well
Seeking Proposals for our Son - Settled Business Family & Land-
HINDU NAIDU 27/5’11" BE, MBA (IIM) Doctor - Urology Surgeon, 31, Very
TAMIL , 37L PA (MNC) with good Networth fair, Hindu, Gavara Naidu; Caste No lords Seeks Well Settled, Afflu-
& well educated family seeks bride ent, Well to do Family, Bride for
ROMAN CATHOLIC Christian,Chennai. with similar background CNB. what- bar. Contact us at 9884012558 their Son. Mail: syedabs@yahoo.in
Fair 38yrs, BBA& Dip. in Mech sapp: 9840857315/ ravisrivg65@ Naidu, 28, M.E.Chennai, Own Con-
Ct.7845512232
Engg. Seeks bride under 35yrs . gmail.com struction Company, well Educated aff-
9600060094
luent family, Subset, caste no bar,
SAIVA PILLAI, 36, Rohini, IT,35K pm, Phone: 9841097110
32/ 180CM/ Syed/ Coimbatore/ Fair/ Madurai, Own House, Caste No Bar.
Tall/ Handsome/ Diplo Automobile/ Ct: 8056588515 Vaaniyar Chetty-38 Visagam 176cm
Earning 30K per month seeks bful MS(Sweden) Working Sweden 60L PA
Edu Muslim Bride, Ct: 81110 32229, (Swedish Citizen & OCI) Seeks BE/
CHENNAI, KIND Fair Innoct Di-
Email: a4mailgroup@gmail.com MS/ MBA/ MCA/ CA/ PHD/ Prof. Bride
vorcee, 41yrs. Cent Govt Sports. CNB. Contact: 98404 29799
2L/Mth. Dr Family Need Edu Girl:
RC CHRISTIAN, 41yrs/170, B.E. Soft- 9884171419
Age: 51, seeks Bride below Age: 50,

BUSINESS
Highly Educated father from upper
class South Indian Brahmin Family
ex banker and now head of a well
known Organisation invites propo-
sal for their only daughter 29, very
fair and Attractive, Educated in Lon-
don and the US interested in arts.
Seeking good looking highly Educa-
ted, Loyal, Affectionate Hindu Boy
(Not necessarily Brahmin) over 30
engaged in successful career or
business. Please reply with horo-
scope, or date of birth and time and
a photograph to Email Id:
dr.vedaprasadmd@gmail.com
DIVORCEE
HINDU, SOFTWARE Engineer (USA), ly from Kanyakumari, well settled
divorcee (no issues), 42, seeking pro- at Chennai. Alliance invited from
fessionally qualified grooms, Tamil/ Ke- doctors or any other professional-
rala,working in USA-9895022376.
DOCTOR
CHRISTIAN, CAST No Bar 28y, MBBS,
MD, Father, Mother Well Educated. LOOKING FOR Christian Bridegroom
Seeks Doctor or Suitable Groom, for the girl working in USA start-
Any Dist :7824023030
GOVT DOCTOR M.D 37 Yrs, RC Never
Married Fair, Seeks RC / CSI Chris-
tian Groom Doctor, Engineer Con-
tact: 9600573068, 9940529886
DKV 27 M.B.B.S Aswine Mesham Fa- Ct:7358507384
ther Mother Doctor. Seeks Doctor
Groom Only. Ph : 94431 51045.
VANIYA CHETTIAR, Poorattahi kids. seeks well employed Tamil
28/165, Fair, MBBS, Govt. Doctor, Muslim Groom has no kids prefer-
Pondicherry, seeks Doctor Groom,
All Chettiar ok. Contact: 9442066913
PILLAI / Sozhiya Vellalar 28 / 172 MUSLIM GIRL 37 Fair Slim BE(CSC),
MBBS, MD seeks DOCTOR groom.Ct: look for employed BE, MBA never
7845235212 / 9941924982 married tamil muslim Groom.
9444235779
HINDU REDDY 33Y, 165cms Doctor
MBBS, MS. Suitable Never Married
Groom From Chennai CNB Call: 89256
40111
VELLALAR: CASTE No Bar, Girl,
Fair, 26, MBBS (DGO). Seeks Doc- TAMIL MUSLIM 27/168 MS Persuing
tor, Any Suitable Grade, Chennai seeks prof qualified groom Ct:
Or Any Place. Contact : 93635 70731 8220042091 mdullahsafi@gmail.com
CM
YK
9840050381/ 9840985383 homely & employed divorced 32y
bride from Elite family. CNBar
9483542477
IAS /
ALLIED SERVICES
LOOKING FOR my daughter, 31, (5ft tled
4inch), Dy.Comm IRS, (SC). Same drebhaskaran19@gmail.com
cadre or MD/ MS/ SS (Same / caste
no bar). Contact no. 9042261465
KANNADA
HINDU VOKKALIGA Gowda 29, BE from affectionate Groom. CNB. Ct: B.Tech SWE MNC B‘Lore,9367762226
Coimbatore seeks Suitable Groom. 9176289180
Contact: 97917 68175.
MALAYALAM
EZHAVA GIRL M.Tech (NIT) 01.02. 9514952555
1995 (2.18PM) Avittam 158 cm slim
MNC research division 18 LPA Upper MUDALIAR 26, BE, MBA, 162cm,Good
Middle Class. Bangluru based IIT, IIM, looking wellsettled family seeks
NIT youth,from well educated family, alliance
respond. 8590361619
Asst Manager SBI 28/165
Punartham Vegtn seeks groom from HINDU, ILLATHU Pillai. Alliance in-
forward community.Ph: 9847036869 vited from a Tamil Nadu based well−
settled decent cultured family for
MARATHI our Daughter, Age 24 years, Height
5ft 5inch, fair Complexioned, B.E,
MBA Graduate. Contact: 9361741023
PUNJABI
PhD frm IIT Dr Arora girl, 89/5' wkg
scientist. Seeks wkg hi edu profile, well
stld Delhi / Banglore. 9811425233,
dr6arora@gmail.com
TAMIL
TAMIL CHRISTIAN BE 35/164Cm Hand-
some BC Girl Working CTS (SWE) in
USA H1B Visa Seeks Goodlooking
Groom Working with SWE/Professioal
in USA. CNB. Brokers Excuse.
CT:8148825673
DOCTOR PG final year Pulmonary
Medicine, Christian Nadar (RC)
slim, fair, April 1994 born, fami-
ly qualified well settled grooms
from India or abroad, or Business
entrepreneur, any BC or FC communi-
ty. Please contact 6381146496/
9444581118
up aged 25. End time message.
8939250457
CSI 39YRS B.Pharm,MBA, Officer in
Central Govt 60k/Month, Physically
Challenged But Manages Regular
Chores, Caste No Bar,Expecting
Kind Hearted Accepting Person.
TAMIL MUSLIM, Asst. Professor in
Chennai, 40/5’4"/ slim, good look-
ing, religious, khula taken, no
able below 45 from Chennai. Con-
tact: 7401655507.
CHRISTIAN NADAR Fair, B.Tech (NIT)
, 28 years/165cm, Assistant Direc-
tor (Group A), Central Govt. seeks
suitable Groom. Ct : 9840274501 /
raphha72@gmail.com
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
ware Eng, Chennai, prefers bride
years, fair & handsome.Working in from kanyakumari dist, CT− first marriage,widow, divorced caste
Malaysia. 98497 98234 YADAVA, 41 First Marriage,Pvt Ltd no bar. Ct: 6379111080, 8939322295
9500188067
Chennai, National Head 18Lac PA
CANADA PHD Divorced, Caste no Seeks Bride CNB/Divorcee ok MUSLIM BOY 29/176 BE(ECE) MBA MUSLIM BOY 29/176 BE(ECE) MBA
36 PILLAI B.Com MBA Anusham Di- bar.seeking Hindu/Christian bride
PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN Parents seek :8610014920 (IIM) Proj Manager MNC 34L P/A well
vorcee issueless seeks suitable Born Again and God Fearing Bride todo Family in Chennai 9445556810 (IIM) Proj Manager MNC 34L P/A well
below 38yrs. +919894988302, for their Son, B.E, M.S (USA), 28/ todo Family in Chennai 9445556810
groom 9094020665 +918122090357 172, working in USA, H1B. Caste No ✔ IYER,VADAMA,KOUSIGAM MBA MNC,51,
TELUGU
TIRUNELVELI SAIVA Pillai, 29 yrs, Bar. Contact: 8122785230 19 LPA Unmarried, Pure Veg, Di-
159cm, Thiruvathirai, BE(SSN),MBA DIVORCEE vorcee/Widow W/O child OK CT Akkini Krutartha, BBA, Aged 31
(IIMB) seeks groom from good fami- RETIRED ENGINEER second divorcee GOVT. COLLEGE Professor, 39 9790994153. years. Father Akkini Ramu, retired
ly same caste, Pure Veg age 60, seeking a kind−hearted wom- Seeks Employed/ Unemployed Bride. Director General of Police, Orissa.
Ph:9447699888 94426 95558 NAIDU 32 B.Tech IT PGDM HR Chennai Seeks Good looking and Educated
an, preferably a divorcee without Seeks Naidu(Any) Working Bride Christian or converted Hindu Christian
children. Enjoys traveling, garden- Engg/ CA/ DR. Cell: 9444753417
MUDALIAR BE MBA Network Engineer ing, and good conversation. If BE Bits Pilani 6'1 Mudaliar 32yrs Girl. Contact: 9849695867. TAMIL
GOTN 24 yrs 158 cm Swathi Thulam HINDU, 37/5.2‘, Pooratadhi, Kumbam, you’re a caring woman who values Sr Product Mgr Corporate Bengalore
only daughter of Joint Director M.A, M.Phil., Govt.Job, First marriage the same, I would love to hear 43 Lac PA, Bride 5 '4 Same or Allied 56 YRS, Divorced, no child, Own AGE 37 Handsome, Well Settled HINDU GIRL, BE, 32, 5.3.− Working
GOTN own house Chennai seeks Engi- seeks suitable well employed Groom from you. Ct. 88387 44120 Castes Tamil,Telugu. Ct: 7382620365 business, Spiritually Awakening, Groom seeks VIP Family Bride & 1st Boy, B.Sc, MBA, 36, 5.5. Both I or
neer/ Doctor groom from well−set- within TamilNadu. CNB. 8838352394 Affectionate Man need same minded Marriage, Remarriage, Divorce II Marriage ok. Ct: 9444132753
family 9444113605 suitable woman Only Direct Ct: 9597834451
HINDU NADAR, 29yrs/160cm Moolam DOCTOR SENGUNTHA MUDALIYAR 36/167/BE 1Lak 8508851019
TCS, Thiruvatherai/Mithunam Sevai,
Dhanush, B.Tech (CS) working CISCO
Seek Bride from Mudaliyar.
MARRIAGE BUREAU
DOCTOR MD (Pathology), DCH, 39yrs, Bangalore Rs.19Lacs PA seeks Groom DOCTOR, PG, 34 years, 165cm,
9940241415 AGE 55YRS Divorce, Bank VRS, seek BALIJA 29/180 BE/ M.S (Ger) work-
US UK Canada All Caste Religion
Hindu BC, Divorcee without child, with similar Educational & Professional Catholic, legally divorced, set- life partners/ bride bet 45 to 50. ing able
in Germany 51Lpa. Seeks Suit-
Bride.Ct: 9442623203 / 1st Marriage Remarriage.
placed in private medical college Background Contact: 91768 00819 tled in Kollam Dst, Kerala, Asst Caste/Religion No Bar. Ct 9442838203
seeks well settled, compatible & SAIVA Pillai Girl 26/160 Ayilyam Fair Prof in a private medical college. RICH MUDALIYAR, 31yrs, ME, MBA, 8939574245 Ct:8248757840
Seeks alliance from educated and Well Educated Family. Seeks Suit-
employed Christian brides. Mob: able Bride Contact: 9962791888/
senthilnathanb76@gmail.com. Cbe 8281987470 7094991999 MUDALIAR 28/175CM, B.Tech,MS work-
ing in Europe, Lithuania, seeks
HINDU NADAR 32, 160, B.Tech, Work- suitable Qualified Bride with IT
ing in IT Star Revathy seeks IT or Finance. Ct 9444267104/
Groom below 35.Ct: 9944410712/ 9940074508
MUDALIYAR, KETTAI/VIRCHIGAM, 37,
171CM, BUSINESS 60K.p/m, seeks
suitable bride. Ct:9884220959
CNB, Ct.8778514465/
7200866346 CHENNAI HINDU SC AD 41 Unmarried
HINDU SC MBBS Doctor Age 28 Uthi-
Govt Banker seeks Suitable Bride COACHING CLASSES
Same Caste,Subsects Caste No Bar
ram−I/Simmam seeks suitable well 9884030032/9710389812
employed Groom within Chennai
9500182723 SEEKING ALLIANCE for our Son 37/
175cms, Good Looking, Doing own
KONGU VELLALA Gounder, 25yrs, MBA, business (Trichy & Coimbatore)
Elite Business family. Seeks Suit- from an affluent family. Caste no
able Groom Ct: 9710093999/ bar. Prefers pet lovers. Contact:
9710091999 9363336647
HINDU NADAR 26/163cm B.Tech, MBA MUDALIAR 29/185 H.some,BTech,IIT,
(IIM), Rs.150000 per month,Seeks AI Er,Stellantis,175000.USD.PA,Affl
Suitable Groom.KA Ramannadar unet Fmly,CNB. 9043991629,
9380791999 9043987029
SC AD Hindu Bride Age 24, BE,MBA
Thiruvonam/Magaram Working in Na- SAIVAPILLAI SIMMAM/ 31/ 175/ BE,
tionalized Bank, Seeking from the MBA/ Pvt Sector/ PA 24L/ Seeks Edu-
same Community Preferably Chennai cated Employed Bride. Ct:
Groom, Bank/ Govt Job from well Ed- 9444436363/ 8248950499
ucated Family, below 29 yrs. Ct:
9443643415 DIVORCEE (MUDALIAR & Naidu) 36Yrs,
MBA,Business, Chennai,50 Lakhs PA,
only son, Elite Family,Seeks
bride− Any degree/ caste nobar−
9840912588
VANIKA VYSHYA Boy, Chess Grand Mas-
ter, 26,168, Kettai, Superinten-
dent with Railways, Chennai set-
SAIVAMUDALIAR 31 Bcom Thiruvonam tled, doing MBA, Nagercoil based,
Chennai Seeks Professionals Veg on- 7010758913
ly in Chennai / Geetham 9884858014
TAMIL DOCTOR TAMIL HINDU NADAR, 38yrs, 167cms, BE, Di-
MUDALIAR 34 MBBS, MS, MCh Swathi vorce, Elite Business Family.
seeks PG, Mch, DM Doctors CNB / YADAVA 25/160cms Counselling CSI CHRISTIAN Arunthathiyar,29, B.E 29/180 cm, software, 32 L/ PA, Seeks Suitable Bride Contact:
Geetham 9884858014 Psychologist, Fair, Beautiful, Affluent, MD(anaesthesia) 5'10", seeks parents intercaste Pillai/ Brah- 9380791999
well Educated Family. Seeks well qua- Christian Doctor Bride. 9442823837 min. Seeking educated, Hindu, good
PILLAI / MUDALIAR 36 fair Hastham lified, Handsome Groom from similar looking, employed girl, CNB. Con- BRAHMIN IYER 40 years Poorattadhi
MCA well settled in Chennai Seeks Family background, decent salary, pre- BRIDE WANTED Rich Mudaliyar, tact: 9487783881 Bharadwajam, B.com., Dip. in Hotel
Profly Quafd Working Groom ferably employed in Chennai, Age: 30yrs, MBBS, MS, Elite business Mgt. Working in Star Hotel, Chen-
8220757159 26-30yrs.CNB. CT: 7200061922 family in Chennai.Ct: 9710093999/ SOUTH INDIAN Vegetarian MBBS nai Seeks Bride 35− 38 years, pre-
9710091999 Doctor serving in IAF, Oct 1997 born fer Divorcee W/o issues also Sub-
DKV/PALLAN 27yrs B.E, working Indl. 169 cms Mougalya Gothram, Rohini
HINDU NADAR, 28yrs, B.Tech, MBA, Automation SW. Company, Chennai. sect no bar. Contact No: 9840215610
Elite Industrialist. Seeks Suit- Well settled Family, Father Sr.Engr Rly RICH NAIDU 28yrs MBBS,MS,Own Hospi- Star, Rishaba Rasi seeks Vegetarian
able Groom Contact:9710093999/ (R). Mother DGM-ONGC seeks Groom tals in Chennai Elite Family Seeks Doctor Girl. 9442063443, 9003942248
9710091999 Suitable Bride 9710093999/
clean habits, same caste, Govt. Emp 9710091999 HINDU SC AD 32 Yrs 161cm B.Tech,
/PSU/Pvt. 81489 49077/ 94450 05474. IT Company,Fair, Own House, Well
SC AD 26/B.Tech.,MBA.,Software
Settled, Caste No Bar, Seeks Quali-
Engr.[MNC]1,25,000 p.m.Seeks Bride Groom required for M A qualified ENGINEER
Groom.Ph.9444993417/Whatsapp:7397674481 Mudaliar girl 24/162,from good family, fied& Good Natured Bride. Ct:
contact: 94990 15259. WE ARE looking for an alliance for 8680095094
MUDALIAR (CNB): 25/V.Fair, BE, MS our son, residing in Bangalore,
(USA), Associate Developer, MNC, TELUGU height (5ft 7inch), (B.Tech) gradu- PILLAI 38/186 B E (EEE) @ COG-
Newyork (USA), Well settled Fami- ate, working in an MNC, DOB 15.11. NIZANT Chennai as IT professional,
ly, Seeks Groom− Abroad/India− BALIJA NAIDU, 28/152cm, Fair, PG, 1991. Avittam, Bharadwaja Seeks suitable Bride Veg Only. SELLING
8925019776 MNC Chennai Ct: 6380984534/saanvigk gotharam, Brahmin Iyer. The bride 9042755506 FINANCE
lr@gmail.com should hail from a decent, educat-
MUDALIAR: 26/ V.Fair, MBBS, MS do- ed family. Brahmin Iyer, age dif- PILLAI(KARUNEEGAR), DOB:24−01−92, REQUIRED EXPERIENCED Assistant for COMMERCIAL
CA firm for Accounts, Audit, Etc.
ing, Chennai, Father Business, GROOM WANTED Rich Kamma Naidu ference up to 5 years, preferably BE, Veg, Job: MNC (Software) Chen- BUILDING
working in Bangalore. Younger sis- nai, Annual Income: 25 lakhs. Seek- cafirm@gmail.com or 9810859503 Lo-
Elite Family, Seeks Groom Doctor / 27yrs, B.Tech,Own Constructions, cation: Delhi or Gurgoan
Business − 9962530015 Resorts & Finance,Elite business ter, doctor, already married. Con- ing a suitable bride from the same
family in Chennai Ct: 9710093999/ tact with (Astrological) details or any other community. Ph: ✔
COMMERCIAL 3 Floor Building
CASTE NO Bar, 32yrs, MBBS, MS, 9710091999 mobile No.9449048076 or Email to 9841784047 Email: pingme.arul@ MARKETING 4516sqft with land 3.4cent for
sivauma4@hotmail.com gmail.com. sale in Broadway Ernakulam. Rs 45k
Well Educated Family. Seeks Suit- RICH KAMMA Naidu, 29yrs, B.
WANTED MARKETING Executive for UP- per sqft. Ct:7982594006
able Groom Contact: 9710093999/ Tech,Well Educated family. Seeks HINDU Adi Dravida 25/176 Fair BA., VC Window & Door Hardwares manufac-
9710091999 Suitable Groom. Ct: 9710093999/ HINDI L.L.B Advocate in Chennai seeks bride turing company. 98406 77330
9710091999 Email: betterhalfbride@gmail.com
SC MANJU, 26−11−1985,SBI Manager, 1985/175CM, 50 Lakhs PA, Never Mar-
Hindu Nadar,Bharani,preferred HINDU TELUGU Naidu Born Aug 1990/ ried, Bangalore. WhatsApp: 96290 HINDU, 32yrs/170cm BE., Ayillam-
kanyakumari district,age, 39−40,em- 165cm Ph.D Scholar smart medium 12248 Katagam/ SC/ Affluent Family, well
ployed,ct7200728108/ whatsapp complexion from a Reputed family Educated and settled in Bangalore.
9043826601 seeks well educated and settled IAS / Seeking suitable Bride from same/
groom in India born after 1987. other caste. Contact No: 98454 01461
MUDALIAR 24/160 V.Fair Beautiful, Ct:9790908109 ALLIED SERVICES SELLING
BE,SWE,HCL,CH,600000.PA, Wellset- 6 FEET 1 inch, 30 yrs, B.Tech (IIT CASTE/AGE NO Bar Yadav(BC) BE,MBA
tled Family, CNB. 9043991629, GROOM WANTED Rich Naidu 30yrs Kanpur), Group A (Class I) UnMarried earns 40 LPA, Age 39. BMW
9043987029 B.Tech, MS(US), Working in US, Gazetted Officer in Central Govt, Against Dowry, no bad habits
Elite Business Chennai 9710093999/ Mumbai. Caste/Language no Bar. Con- 8825918646 2021 3SERIES GranLimousine 330Li
CASTE NO Bar, 37yrs, MBBS, MD, 9710091999 tact: +91 9004898881 MSport 1Owner 18K Km 47.9L
Elite Business Family. Seeks Suit- BRIDE WANTED Rich Mudaliyar 32yrs 7904338851
able Groom Contact: 9047192999 SMART/SLIM North Indian Brahmin MS(UK) Own Industries in Chennai
girl (Saryupari), Garg Gotra, B.Tech KANNADA (Industrialist) 9710093999/
GROOM WANTED Rich Mudaliyar 25yrs (CSE) Dec 1997/160 Settled in
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A ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
6 Sunday, June 9, 2024

States Delhi

Janasena, TDP cross A baron who changed media, Photos of ‘adultery’

swords in Pithapuram
Assembly segment
T. Appala Naidu
PITHAPURAM
Signs of fissures emerged
among the alliance partn-
ers, the TDP and the Jana-
sena Party, in the Pithapu-
ram Assembly
constituency of Andhra
Pradesh on Saturday.
The TDP in-charge and
former legislator, S.V.S.N.
Varma, alleged that the
supporters of Kakinada
MP-elect and Janasena
leader Tangella Uday Srini-
vas had attempted to elimi-
nate him in an attack at
Vannepudi village in Kaki-
nada district on Friday.
Mr. Varma and his aides
were allegedly attacked by
a group of Janasena sup-
porters while they were on
their way in a convoy of
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
and his supporters were al-
legedly attacked with
bricks and bottles, and the
windshield of Mr. Varma’s
vehicle was broken.
“We survived with mi-
nor injuries. Those who at-
tacked us are supporters of
Mr. Srinivas. The accused
were with the TDP before
they joined the Janasena.
During the election, Mr.
Srinivas had misguided his
leadership by saying that
the cadre belonged to the
YSRCP,” he said.
‘Political differences’
When contacted, Kakinada
SP S. Satish Kumar said,
“Investigation into the at-
tack on Mr. Varma is still in
progress. Political diffe-
rences are said to be the
reason behind the attack.”
film industry in Telugu States must be proved in
Ramoji Rao founded Telugu newspaper Eenadu in Visakhapatnam in 1974; he also founded
world’s largest film city; he produced over 60 films and received Padma Vibhushan in 2016
R. Ravikanth Reddy
HYDERABAD
amoji Rao’s motto
R of delivering the
newspaper before
sunrise changed the way
people read news in the
combined Andhra Pradesh
for decades. On Saturday,
he silently slipped into a
new world before sunrise
leaving behind millions of
his loyal readers and hun-
dreds of journalists who
owe their careers to him.
Media tycoon, Cheruku-
ri Ramoji Rao, left an indel-
ible mark not only on the
media but also on films,
the financial sector, the
food industry, and also the
Ramoji Rao, founder of Eenadu and Ramoji Film City.
the position of owning the
largest media houses with
the widest reach in the
country at one point of
time.
Launching the Eenadu
newspaper from Visakha-
patnam in 1974, when the
entire Telugu media hous-
es were in Vijayawada with
nues to be the largest circu-
lated Telugu daily.
A first-generation entre-
preneur, he influenced the
lives of millions riding on
the positivity of social con-
sciousness of the newspap-
er. Venturing into electron-
ic media with a bang when
it was still in a nascent
ern languages.
He also founded the
world’s largest film city —
Ramoji Film City — on the
outskirts of Hyderabad
spread over 2,000 acres;
Ushakiron Movies pro-
duced award-winning
films, and also Priya Foods
that is part and parcel of
Telugu homes not just in
India but also abroad. The
Margadarsi Chit Fund
strengthened the small sav-
ings industry.
He was honoured with
Padma Vibhushan in 2016
for his contribution to the
field of journalism.
He produced more than
60 films in Telugu, Hindi,
and other Indian languag-
‘deepfake era’: HC
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
The Delhi High Court has
declined to rely on photo-
graphs presented by a par-
ty to prove infidelity on
the part of the spouse, say-
ing that the evidence will
have to be “proved” in an
“era of deepfakes”.
Deepfakes are photos
and videos which involve
the use of artificial intelli-
gence to replace the like-
ness of a person in an ex-
isting photo or video with
another person’s features.
In recent times, the tech-
nology has raised several
ethical concerns, as it can
be used to create highly
realistic material that may
be misused.
In the case, the hus-
The Delhi High Court
said the husband
would have to prove
his wife’s identity
in the pictures
this is an aspect that the
husband, perhaps, would
have to prove by way of
evidence before the family
court,” it added.
The court noted that
since the petition filed for
divorce by the husband is
pending adjudication, if
this issue of adultery is
pressed, the concerned
court may give opportuni-
ty to the parties to place
their evidence on record
in support of their respec-
tive cases.
‘Desperate measure’

vehicles to greet those who
had extended their sup-
port for the victory of Jana-
sena chief K. Pawan Kalyan
in the election. Mr. Varma
As tension prevailed in
the constituency, police
personnel were deployed
to prevent untoward inci-
dents.
politics of two Telugu
States.
Born in a middle-class
family in Krishna district of
Andhra Pradesh, he rose to
some of them in Hydera-
bad and the political class
sitting in Hyderabad, was
seen as a revolution and
calculated bravery. It conti-
stage in the country show-
cased his vision. He was
the first to offer a 24-hour
news channel in Telugu
apart from several South-
es and some of the sensa-
tional films of that era in-
cluding Prathighatana,
Mayuri, Mouna Poratam
and Nuvve Kaavali.
band, an architect, had
challenged a family court
order passed in April di-
recting him to pay a
monthly sum of ₹75,000
to his estranged wife and
five-year-old daughter as
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
“Notably, this aspect,
which is vehemently
pressed before us, almost
as a measure of despera-
tion to wriggle out of the
obligation cast in the im-
pugned judgment, finds

Congress, BJP slam Pinarayi for his comments on Bishop

The Hindu Bureau
PATHANAMTHITTA
The controversy ignited by
a social media post by Me-
tropolitan Geevarghese
Mar Coorilos about the
Left Democratic Front’s
(LDF) massive defeat in the
recent Lok Sabha election
and the sharp retort from
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi-
jayan intensified on Satur-
day with leaders from va-
rious political
backgrounds rallying in
support of the prelate.
The Congress and the
BJP criticised Mr. Vijayan’s
alleged disparaging com-
ments, citing them as
further evidence of his im-
periousness and intole-
rance toward criticism.
‘Not ready’
Leader of the Opposition
V.D. Satheesan took strong
exception to the Chief Mi-
nister’s remark, arguing
that calling the prelate ig-
norant demonstrated that
he was not ready for a
course correction. “Is the
Geevarghese Mar Coorilos
bishop not free to criticise
the government as a citi-
zen.” The bishop was
pointing out a significant
deviation in Mr. Vijayan’s
policies toward the ex-
treme right. Several Con-
gress leaders also support-
ed the bishop.
The BJP used the occa-
sion to highlight what it al-
leged to be the Chief Minis-
ter and his party’s
anti-Christian stance. “Mr.
Vijayan has not changed a
bit from the mental state in
which he once called the
Bishop of Thamarassery a
wretched creature,” said V.
Muraleedharan.
BJP State president K.
Surendran pointed to the
Chief Minister’s response
to the bishop as an exam-
ple of double standards. “It
is shocking to see the Chief
Minister, who stood silent
to scathing criticism from
Samasta leader Jifry Muth-
ukoya Thangal and the Su-
prabhatam newspaper,
terming a Christian bishop
ignorant,” he said.
Amid the heated de-
bate, the bishop chose to
remain silent. “I have al-
ready said what I have to,
and it’s still there on my
page,” he said. He also clar-
ified that his support for
the Left front remained
unwavering.
The former Metropoli-
tan of the Niranom diocese
of the Jacobite Syrian
Christian Church had re-
marked in a Facebook post
that “floods and epidemics
do not always come to the
rescue and people in Kera-
la will not fall more than
once for ‘kit politics’.”
In response, Mr. Vijayan
said the priest’s post
showed “that even among
priests there are ignorant
people”.
maintenance.
He had submitted in his
plea that the wife was “in
an adulterous relation-
ship”, and attached photo-
graphs to prove his case.
‘Establish authenticity’
While rejecting the hus-
band’s plea, the High
Court said, “We have
looked at the photo-
graphs. It is not clear as to
whether the wife is the
person in the photograph,
as alluded by the counsel
for the husband.”
“We may take judicial
notice of the fact that we
are living in the era of
deepfakes and, therefore,
no mention in the judg-
ment [of the family
court],” the High Court
said.
The family court, after
looking at the status of the
couple, had concluded the
defence taken by the hus-
band that he earns
₹40,000 to ₹41,000 per
month did not commensu-
rate with the transactions
reflected in his bank ac-
count. It also noted that
the husband, a profession-
al architect, had set up his
own company, while the
wife, a postgraduate in
mass communication, is
unemployed and has been
residing with her parents.

INBRIEF Makeover mode Muraleedharan plays

쑽
down differences
within Congress party
The Hindu Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Despite the thumping win
that the Congress-led Unit-
ed Democratic Front (UDF)
Rain prediction: IMD issues secured in the Lok Sabha
election in Kerala, the rag-
alert for 9 districts in Kerala ing factional feuds within
the party, especially in
North and central Kerala are likely to witness Thrissur, have caused
heavy spells of rain, triggered by a ‘shear zone of some concern for the
turbulence’ formed in the atmosphere over the leadership.
South Peninsula. The shear zone is filled by However, Congress
opposing winds at a specified height in the leader K. Muraleedharan,
atmosphere, where the rain-bearing systems are who suffered a massive de-
used to play around in activating the rain. The feat in Thrissur, appeared
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has to play down the differenc-
issued an orange alert for Kannur and Kasaragod, es with his appeal to the
warning of very heavy rainfall, and a yellow alert, party workers to maintain
warning of isolated heavy rain for seven districts a united front. Speaking to
from Ernakulam to Wayanad on Sunday. mediapersons in Kozhi-
More amenities: Southern Railway is revamping the Mangaluru Junction railway station at a cost of ₹18.98 crore under the Amrit Bharat kode on Saturday, he said
Station Scheme. H.S. MANJUNATH that though the defeat was
unexpected, intra-party
fights over it would further
affect the party in the up-
coming byelection and lo-
cal body election next year.
On KPCC president K.
Sudhakaran offering the
presidentship to him, he
said that someone who led
the party to a major victory
in 18 seats should continue
in that post atleast till the
next local body elections.
Mr. Muraleedharan also
rejected calls for him to
contest from the Wayanad
Lok Sabha seat, to be va-
cated by Rahul Gandhi, or
to take up a RS seat.
Leader of the Opposi-
tion V.D. Satheesan said on
Saturday that the party will
enquire into the defeats at
Thrissur and Alathur.

Congress-backed nominee
wins MLC seat in Telangana
Though the Congress-backed candidate
ISRO set for landing experiment of reusable vehicle 4 Karnataka
MPs-elect to
Chintapandu Naveen emerged victorious in the
byelection for the Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam
graduate MLC constituency, BRS-backed
Tiki Rajwi
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
A Mission Readiness
Review held on
under the RLV-TD, the IS-
RO will use an unmanned
resign from
candidate Anugula Rakesh Reddy would have
won the seat, according to his supporters and Taking its Reusable Launch
Friday cleared the Orbital Re-entry Vehicle
(ORV). The vehicle used
legislature
analysts, if he had not quit the BJP and lost the Vehicle (RLV) programme
mission for the will be 1.6 times the size of
support of BJP activists. Despite securing 1,22,813 one more step closer to first half of June ‘Pushpak’ used for LEX. It The Hindu Bureau
first preference votes, Mallanna did not achieve reality, the Indian Space will be placed in a 400 km BENGALURU
the required 50% threshold of 1,55,095 votes out Research Organisation (IS- orbit around earth using a
of a total of 3,36,013 polled, necessitating the RO) is all set to carry out tude corrections to touch modified Geosynchronous With the notification of
counting of second preference ballots. the third and final RLV down on the runway,” he Satellite Launch Vehicle successful candidates in
landing experiment (RLV said. The LEX-03 mission (GSLV). the Lok Sabha election is-
LEX). will look at how the sink This mission is expected sued on Thursday, four
Speaking to The Hindu rate, or the rate of descent, in two years time. “Various newly elected members to
20 persons hospitalised about the upcoming test
mission, S. Unnikrishnan LEX-02 making a successful landing in March. FILE PHOTO
can be cut down to reduce
the impact load. It will also
experiments will be car-
ried out in orbit. It will
the Lok Sabha have less
than two weeks to resign
after gas leak in Mysuru Nair, Director, Vikram Sa- have on board a real-time have, among other things, from their membership of
rabhai Space Centre Dr. Unnikrishnan Nair said. metres to one side of the kinematics (RTK) package. a thermal protection sys- the State legislature.
About 20 persons were rushed to hospitals after (VSSC), said a Mission Rea- runway using an IAF Chi- Yet another challenge be- tem for safe re-entry into Janata Dal (S) leader
inhaling gas leaked from cylinders in a scrap yard diness Review (MRR) held 3 Mission details nook helicopter and re- fore the upcoming mission the earth’s atmosphere H.D. Kumaraswamy, BJP
on the outskirts of Mysuru on Friday evening. on Friday cleared the mis- RLV-LEX missions involve leased. In LEX-02, the se- is handling tailwind and a retractable landing leader Basavaraj Bommai,
Sources in the Health Department said the sion for the first half of taking an unmanned cond mission, the altitude conditions. gear. The ISRO has started Congress MLA for Sandur
affected persons complained of respiratory June, subject to weather winged prototype, chris- was the same but the later- work on the ORV,” Dr. Nair E. Tukaram and the Lead-
distress, cough and discomfiture in the throat conditions, at the Aero- tened Pushpak, to a desig- al distance from the run- Pushpak development said. er of the Opposition in the
and chest after inhaling the gas, suspected to be nautical Test Range at Chi- nated height and releasing way was 150 metres. The VSSC at Thumba was The ISRO had success- Legislative Council, Kota
chlorine, that had been leaked from the cylinders tradurga, Karnataka. it to land safely under vary- “It has to autonomously responsible for the design fully carried out the LEX-01 Srinivas Poojary are the
in a scrap yard in the locality. The residual gas in “We are scaling up the ing conditions. In LEX-03, approach the runway, ma- and development of mission on April 2, 2023 leaders who should resign
the cylinders is believed to have escaped from difficulty level with the Pushpak will be carried to noeuvre by making cross- Pushpak. and the LEX-02 on March their State legislature
the cylinders during their handling at the yard. third and final mission,” a height of 4.5 km and 500 range, downrange and alti- In the next stage of tests 22, 2024. membership.
CM A ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
Sunday, June 9, 2024 7
Delhi
States

All geared up
DMK MPs seek JD(U), Amritpal’s parents
meet him in jail after
TDP backing on NEET his Lok Sabha win
Meeting of newly elected MPs from Tamil Nadu passes resolution that
States seeking exemption should be allowed to dispense with the test Press Trust of India
DIBRUGARH
The Hindu Bureau solution warned.
CHENNAI The meeting also con- Jailed ‘Waris Punjab De’ ac-
demned the removal of the tivist Amritpal Singh’s pa-
meeting of newly statues of Mahatma Gand- rents arrived here on Sa-

A elected DMK MPs

on Saturday, de-
manded that the Centre
New chapter: Preparations under way for the swearing-in of the new government at the Rashtrapati abolish NEET, in the wake
Bhavan on Saturday. PTI (REPORT: PAGE 10) of large-scale irregularities
in the conduct of the exam-
ination for admission to
medical courses.
Naidu to take oath on June 12
A resolution adopted in
the meeting chaired by
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin
The Hindu Bureau constituencies, the NDA urged Bihar Chief Minister
VIJAYAWADA bagged 164 — the TDP won Nitish Kumar and Telugu
135, the JSP 21 and the BJP Desam Party leader N.
The Telugu Desam Party 8, while the YSR Congress Chandrababu Naidu, the
(TDP) national president N. Party (YSRCP) won 11 seats. alliance partners of the
Chandrababu Naidu will Meanwhile, all eyes are BJP, to consider the plea
take oath as the Chief Mi- on the government and Ca- and advise the Centre to
abolish the test.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
M.K. Stalin
demned the Centre’s deci-
sion to involve the Central
Industrial Security Force
(CISF) instead of Parlia-
ment Security Service for
security of the Parliament
complex.
“The Parliament be-
longs to the MPs who are
elected by the people.
hi and B.R. Ambedkar
from the Parliament com-
plex and urged the govern-
ment to restore them in the
same place.
Yet another resolution
said the people of Tamil
Nadu had defeated the BJP
in the Lok Sabha poll since
the government at the
Centre had failed to com-
pensate the State for the
loss from GST, allot adeq-
uate funds for the Metro
Rail Project and construct
the building for AIIMS in
Madurai.
“Tamil Nadu was not gi-
ven its due in central
turday and visited him in
Dibrugarh Central Jail. This
visit comes after his victory
from Punjab’s Khadoor Sa-
hib Lok Sabha constituen-
cy in the just-concluded
parliamentary polls. Newly elected Independent MP
Tarsem Singh and Bal-
Amritpal Singh’s parents
winder Kaur were received outside the Dibrugarh Central
at the airport by Mr. Amrit- Jail on Saturday. PTI
pal’s wife Kirandeep Kaur,
who has been camping by such a huge margin,” his
here since June 5 and went father said.
to the Dibrugarh Central Mr. Tarsem said they
Jail to meet their son who will ask Mr. Amritpal his
has been housed here “message for the people of
since March 2023. his constituency”. His
“We are very happy that mother distributed sweets

nister of Andhra Pradesh
on June 12 at 11.27 a.m, said
S. Suresh Kumar, Principal
Secretary, General Admi-
nistration (Political) De-
partment, in a memo on
June 8 (Saturday).
A place close to an IT
park at Kesarapalle near
the Gannavaram airport
has been zeroed in as the
venue for the oath-taking
ceremony. National Demo-
N. Chandrababu Naidu
cratic Alliance (NDA)’s
Prime Ministerial candi-
date Narendra Modi, a few
senior NDA leaders, and
the Chief Ministers of a few
other States will attend the
ceremony.
Of the total 175 Assembly
binet formation. Obliga-
tions from the alliance
partners, former Ministers,
seniority, regional balance,
caste and gender equations
are among the factors that
could influence the choice
of the candidates.
Krishna District Collec-
tor D.K. Balaji and Superin-
tendent of Police Adnan
Nayeem Asmi visited the
site of the ceremony.
Parliament security
“States that seek exemp-
tion from NEET should be
allowed to dispense with
the test. We will raise the
issue in Parliament,” said
the resolution. The meet-
ing was also attended by
DMK’s Rajya Sabha
members.
Another resolution con-
There is a lot of difference
between security arrange-
ments in public places and
the Parliament.” the reso-
lution said.
“The PSS cadre are
trained to identify and deal
with current and former
members of the Parlia-
ment. Handing over the
task to the CISF will create
a lot of difficulties,” the re-
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
our son has won the elec- to the jail employees and
schemes and railway pro- tion. We have come to said she has brought a new
jects. The Centre remained meet him so that he will al- clothes and shoes for Am-
indifferent to the State of so feel happy that people ritpal which he will “need
Tamil Nadu and the Tamil love him and elected him for his oath taking as MP”.
language. The Governor of
the State constantly creat-
ed problems for the State
government and the
Centre had treated Tamil
people as secondary citi-
zens,” the resolution
alleged.

Timings
DELHI
SUNDAY, JUN. 09
RISE 05:23 SET 19:19
RISE 07:40 SET 22:13
MONDAY, JUN. 10
RISE 05:23 SET 19:19
RISE 08:41 SET 22:53
TUESDAY, JUN. 11
RISE 05:23 SET 19:20
RISE 09:41 SET 23:28

CM A ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
8 Sunday, June 9, 2024

CSDS-LOKNITI POST-POLL SURVEY Delhi

Delhi voters were satisfied with Clearing misconceptions

about the post-poll survey
performance of Central govt. Over the last three days,
we at Lokniti-CSDS have re-
The electorate kept the Central government’s performance in mind while voting and said that they wanted to give the ported the findings of our
BJP-led government another chance. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest was a non-issue post-poll survey, which
have been published in
these pages. We published
our national analysis on
the first two days and
State-wise patterns the fol-
lowing days.
On June 3, we reported
the estimated vote share
for different parties based
on the post-poll survey da-
ta. It is important for the
readers to know how the
survey is conducted, how
vote shares for different
parties are estimated, and
how seat shares are
estimated.
Voting choice
Biswajit Mohanty During the survey, we
Ramzan Shaikh asked respondents which
party they had voted for.
elhi did not wit- This question was not
though it was very margi-
nal in case of our survey in
view of the approximation
with actual demography
reported on the first day.
Blank responses
Often, not all the people
we interviewed responded
to the voting question. This
means that we got blank
responses to the ‘vote
choice’ question. We re-
ferred to this as ‘don’t
know, no opinion, no res-
ponse’ in the survey re-
search method. The ‘don’t
know’ responses for voting
questions were distributed
to different parties looking
at their responses to other
questions related to politi-
cal opinion. It was a sub-
jective exercise, but need-
ed to be done carefully.
Lokniti believes in
complete transparency
and non-interference in
its survey exercise by
any outside agency and
assures its readers about
the complete reliability
of the findings
we arrived at the vote
share estimates for diffe-
rent parties at the State le-
vel as well as the national
level.
Estimating seat share
Finally, as per the standard
method of estimating seats
(which Lokniti did not do
in this survey), seats are es-
timated based on vote
share estimates using pro-

D
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

ness the changes
that we saw in its
neighbouring States of Ut-
tar Pradesh, Haryana, and
Rajasthan. Delhi voted the
way it did in the previous
two general elections,
though its overall vote
share dipped marginally.
The combined vote shares
of the INDIA alliance (the
Congress and the Aam
Aadmi Party) improved by
a few percentage points
compared to 2019. Yet the
INDIA alliance’s combined
vote share was 11 points
lower than that of the BJP.
The Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) got a lot of sup-
port from the upper castes
and Other Backward Class-
es (OBCs). Among the Da-
lits, the BJP’s vote share
was roughly equal to that
of the INDIA alliance (Ta-
ble 1). The BJP received
one-seventh (14%) of the
Muslim vote — double its
all-India average vote share
Hat-trick: Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrates the party’s victory, at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. AFP
among Muslims. The com-
bined vote share of the IN-
DIA alliance was substan-
tially high among Muslims
(83%). The BJP did well
across class categories.
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal’s arrest and the
AAP’s slogan, “Jail ka ja-
wab vote (the answer to jail
is vote)” turned out to be a
non-issue: three-fourth
(76%) of the respondents
said it hardly affected their
vote.
Two major factors con-
tributed significantly to the
result. First, the overall sa-
tisfaction of voters with the
BJP-led Central govern-
ment’s performance dur-
ing the last five years was
high. It was clear that the
respondents focused more
on the Central govern-
ment’s performance than
the State government’s
performance while voting.
Close to two-third (63%) of
the respondents wanted to
give the BJP another
chance. Second, while Na-
rendra Modi remains pop-
ular, respondents indicat-
ed that they voted for the
party. When people were
asked whether they would
have voted for the same
party if Mr. Modi had not
been the prime ministerial
candidate, as many as six
of every 10 (60%) said they
would have voted for the
party irrespective of the
prime ministerial candi-
date. Among BJP voters, se-
ven in every 10 said so.
This time, there were no
winds of change in Delhi.
Whether the stranglehold
of the BJP will loosen in the
upcoming Assembly elec-
tions remains to be seen.
Biswajit Mohanty is Associate
Professor in the Department of
Political Science, Deshbandhu
College, University of Delhi, and
Ramzan Shaikh is PhD scholar at
Delhi University
asked in the open; we used
a method which allowed
the respondent to main-
tain the secrecy of the res-
ponse about their vote.
The question was asked us-
ing an app which had the
names and symbols of all
the political parties. All the
responses were collated.
Based on the responses to
the question on voting, we
estimated from the survey
what we call the raw vote
share.
The next step was to
look at the demographic
profile of voters of each
State to estimate the var-
iance in the demographic
profile of voters and the
sample. The variance in
the demographic profile of
voters (if that happened)
was adjusted (weighted) by
the actual demographic
profile of all the voters in
the State. This resulted in
an automatic adjustment
in vote share estimates
That was another stage of
adjustment of vote share
where the researcher did
not arbitrarily decide the
respondent’s answer but
through a uniform proce-
dure applicable to all simi-
lar cases. In the latest Lok-
niti-CSDS post-poll survey
for 2024, we had 11% ‘don’t
know’ responses. In some
States, it was 3-4%, but
there were States where
the share was much higher.
In the survey, we often
got underestimations of
vote for independents and
smaller regional parties. In
the last stage of vote share
adjustment, we tried to fix
the vote share of smaller
regional parties and inde-
pendents based on pre-
vious election results and
other available informa-
tion. Once that was done,
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
jection models. Since the
vote-seat relationship is ve-
ry tricky, Lokniti-CSDS
tries to keep away from
seat forecast. The vote
share of the Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party declined only by
1% in 2024, but the party
lost 63 seats. There could
have been a possibility of
the party not losing such a
large number of seats with
the vote share declining by
just 1%.
We hope that this infor-
mation helps clarify the
process as well as the
doubts about the survey
data not being reliable.
Lokniti believes in com-
plete transparency and
non-interference in its sur-
vey exercise by any outside
agency and assures its
readers and the academic
community about the com-
plete reliability of the find-
ings as is admissible within
the scientific parameters of
the survey method.

In Rajasthan, Congress Social coalitions shaped

had a strategic approach the verdict in Karnataka
while BJP was complacent Sandeep Shastri
Veena Devi

Sanjay Lodha Karnataka was a key battle-

The Congress’ perfor-

mance in Rajasthan ap-
pears all the more dramat-
ic in the backdrop of the
clean sweep by the Bharati-
ya Janata Party (BJP) in the
last two parliamentary
elections. After losing the
Assembly election barely
six months ago, the Con-
gress-led alliance won 11
seats in the State. The BJP
lost almost 9% points of
the vote from 2019 and
Congress improved its vote
share by over 3 points.
The Congress per-
formed admirably in the
northern and eastern parts
of the State, which shares
borders with Punjab, Ha-
ryana, and Uttar Pradesh,
winning seven of the eight
seats. This area actively
participated in the farm-
ers’ movement and was al-
so affected by the Agniveer
scheme. The BJP managed
to retain its stronghold in
the western and south-
eastern parts, winning
nine of the 12 seats. It won
all the three constituencies
of central Rajasthan.
Post-poll data show that
the BJP once again drew
substantial support from
the urban, more educated,
economically better-off,
upper caste sections of the
electorate in the State. The
Congress in partnership
with its allies drew most of
its votes from the socially
and economically under-
privileged sections of so-
ciety, i.e., Dalits, Adivasis,
Muslims, the economically
poor, the less literate vo-
ters, and rural voters (Ta-
ble 1).
The following were the
major factors responsible
for the re-emergence of the
CM
YK
Making promises: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with
party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Jaipur in
April 2024. PTI
construction of the Ram
Mandir’ and the ‘promo-
tion of Hindutva ideology’.
Nearly two out of every 10
voters wanted to give the
BJP another chance be-
cause of ‘good welfare
schemes’, ‘good gover-
nance’ and ‘development
in the country’ and the
‘strong leadership of Na-
rendra Modi’.
The outcome of the Lok
Sabha elections in Rajas-
than has thus put paid to
the possibility of one-party
domination in the State. In
fact, the result has once
again led to a normalisa-
tion of political contest
Congress: effective social with both poles securing
engineering through al- nearly equal support. The
liance partners, unity of people’s verdict has led to
purpose among the top a strengthening of bipolari-
leadership in the State, and ty of political competition.
selection of candidates. At the same time, this ver-
On the other hand, the dict has also signified the
BJP appeared complacent emergence of effective re-
and over-confident after its gional players. A number
victory in the Assembly of factors are going to
elections. That the party make political contestation
still won 14 seats could be and governance interesting
explained by the fact that in the coming five years.
nearly one-third of the res-
pondents in the post-poll Sanjay Lodha is Lokniti-CSDS,
survey appreciated ‘the State Coordinator, Rajasthan
ground-State. It was a vital
State for the Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party (BJP), which
was trying to expand it
reach south of the Vind-
hyas. The importance of
Karnataka was seen in the
alliance that the BJP
stitched up with the Janata
Dal (Secular) before the
elections. For the Con-
gress, this election was a
survival battle. The verdict
in the State left no out-
standing winner or devas-
tated loser. The BJP expe-
rienced a fall in seat share,
but stayed above the ma-
jority mark. The Congress
got a little over one-third of
the seats. The Lokniti-
CSDS post-poll survey indi-
cates a few visible trends in
the Karnataka verdict.
Close to two-third (62%)
of the respondents were
satisfied with the Central
government’s perfor-
mance. Among them, one-
third (32%) were quite sa-
tisfied with the Central go-
vernment. Another
one-third were dissatisfied.
The endorsement of the
Central government was
not overwhelming but just
above average. These num-
bers are in consonance
with the support for the
BJP-led alliance and the
Congress.
The election campaign
in Karnataka seems to have
made a difference. In the
post-poll survey, one-third
of the respondents decid-
ed their vote on the day of
the poll or a few days ear-
lier. Merely one-fourth of
the respondents decided
their vote before the decla-
ration of candidates.
The BJP continued to do
well among the upper mid-
dle class and the rich. The
The majority mark : BJP workers celebrate the victory of Dharwad
candidate Pralhad Joshi, in Dharwad. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Congress saw greater sup-
port among the lower mid-
dle class. The votes of the
poor were equally divided
between the two parties.
The Congress secured
more than half the votes of
women. There was a 10%
point lead over the Nation-
al Democratic Alliance
(NDA) among women vo-
ters. The impact of the par-
ty’s guarantees is evident
as is the Prajwal Revanna
abuse case, especially dur-
ing phase two of voting.
Though the JD(S) had no
candidate in this phase,
the impact of the contro-
versy seems evident.
Among men, the NDA
had a 10% point lead over
the Congress. The BJP per-
formed better among the
younger voters while the
Congress performed better
among the older voters.
The social coalitions
that the NDA and Congress
stitched together impacted
their performance. The
BJP helped the NDA hold
on to the upper caste vote.
The BJP has always ap-
pealed to the influential
Lingayats, a dominant
caste in Karnataka. This
time, the NDA secured
three-fourth of the vote
from the Lingayats. The
vote of the Vokkaligas, the
other dominant caste, was
split between the NDA and
Congress. The NDA se-
cured over two-third of the
non-dominant Other Back-
ward Classes vote. On the
other hand, two-third of
the Dalit vote (66%) went
to the Congress. The Mus-
lim vote was strongly
aligned with the Congress
(92%) (Table 1). Thus, the
social coalitions on both
sides shapes the electoral
verdict.
Sandeep Shastri is
Director-Academics, NITTE
Education Trust and the National
Coordinator of the Lokniti
Network, and Veena Devi is
Lokniti-CSDS, State Coordinator
for Karnataka
Strategic manoeuvres
helped Congress put up
good show in Haryana
Harish Kumar
Devesh Kumar
Despite changing the Chief
Minister just before the
Lok Sabha elections to con-
solidate the non-Jat vote,
the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) appears to have been
outmanoeuvred by the
Congress in Haryana. The
strategic placement of pol-
iticians such as Deepender
Hooda and Selja Kumari in
a personality and family-
driven political contest
yielded political dividends
for the Congress. Riding on
strong anti-incumbency
sentiment and issues such
as unemployment, farmer
protests, the Agniveer
scheme, inflation, and dis-
crepancies in Parivar Peh-
chan Patra, a platform to
create authentic, verified
and reliable data of all fa-
milies in Haryana, the Con-
gress forged a broad social
coalition, winning five out
of 10 seats in the State.
The BJP suffered a signif-
icant loss in vote share,
from 58% in 2019 to 46% in
2024. Consequently, it lost
five out of 10 seats to the
Congress. Meanwhile, the
Congress improved its vote
share from 28% in 2019 to
44% in 2024. The Indian
National Lok Dal (INLD)
and the Jannayak Janta Par-
ty ( JJP) performed poorly.
The Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP)’s votes were split bet-
ween the BJP and Con-
gress, benefiting the latter
the most.
The Congress success-
fully penetrated the non-
Jat voter base of the BJP, in-
cluding Baniyas, upper
castes (Brahmins, Rajputs,
Punjabis), and Other Back-
ward Classes (Yadavs and
Gujjars). While the BJP lar-
gely retained its upper
caste votes, it experienced
a big dent in its OBC voter
base — an almost 29% de-
cline since 2019. Most of
this support appears to
have crossed over to the
Congress. More than half
the OBCs voted for the
Congress. Traditionally,
Scheduled Caste (SC) votes
have been split between
the BSP and the BJP, but
this time, two of every
three Dalits voted for the
Congress. The Jat vote,
which holds significant lev-
erage, also favoured the
Congress, as two in every
three Jats voted for the par-
ty (Table 1).
The Congress’s strategic
manoeuvres and its crea-
tion of a broad social coali-
tion in Haryana paid off.
The big question is wheth-
er this success will be repli-
cated in the Assembly elec-
tions later this year.
Harish Kumar is Professor of
Journalism and Mass
Communication at Maharshi
Dayanand University, Rohtak, and
Devesh Kumar is Researcher at
CSDS
A ND-NDE

Sunday, June 9, 2024
Delhi
UDF strikes in Kerala, thanks to
strong anti-incumbency wave
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Kerala, the Congress-led front won 18 out of 20 seats; BJP secured its first seat in the State
while the LDF retained only one seat; voters considered 2024 poll more as a direct contest between the UDF and the NDA
K.M. Sajad Ibrahim
Nithya N.R
nce again, as in the
O
ed
2019 Lok Sabha
election, the Unit-
Democratic Front
(UDF), led by the Indian
National Congress, swept
the 2024 polls in Kerala,
winning 18 out of 20 seats
(19 seats in 2019). For the
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), opening its account
in Lok Sabha elections in
the State, was a historic
achievement.
The Left Democratic
Front (LDF), won just one
seat, as was the case the
last time around.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
The CSDS-Lokniti post-
poll study shows a strong
anti-incumbency wave
against the Union govern-
ment.
In the study, seven of ev-
ery 10 (70%) of the respon-
dents said that the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government should not be
given another chance.
Focus on work
The 2024 Lok Sabha elec-
tion was considered by the
people of Kerala more as a
direct contest between the
UDF and NDA, given their
potential to form the go-
vernment. Rahul Gandhi
was the preferred Prime
Ministerial choice of over
In Chhattisgarh, women
voters give a push to BJP
Akash Tawar
Chhattisgarh is one of the
States where most contests
are often clearly bipolar
between the Congress and
the BJP. The recent loss in
the Assembly election had
already set the stage in fa-
vour of the BJP. The BJP
won 10 out of 11 seats in the
2024 Lok Sabha election in
Chhattisgarh, with only
one seat going to the Con-
gress. The BJP in Chhattis-
garh got a higher percen-
tage of votes than they did
in recent Assembly elec-
tions. The Congress’ vote
share has more or less re-
mained constant. The ad-
ditional vote received by
the BJP compared to the
Assembly vote share
meant that the distance
between the two parties
further widened.
An interesting pattern
that emerges from Chhat-
tisgarh is that non-Con-
Fadnavis rescinds resignation, preps for polls AIP moves Delhi court for
The Hindu Bureau
MUMBAI
Days after offering to re-
sign over the BJP’s poor
performance in the Lok
Sabha election in Maha-
rashtra, Deputy Chief Mi-
nister Devendra Fadnavis
announced on Saturday
that he would remain in his
position.
This decision followed a
party meeting where State
BJP legislators expressed
their confidence in him
and urged him to continue
as their leader.
He said senior party
leader Amit Shah too asked
him to stay on, and he has
since started preparing for
the Assembly election. “I
met Amit Shah who asked
me to continue, and I will
CM
YK
CSDS-LOKNITI POST-POLL SURVEY
Joyous moment: Mahila Congress workers celebrating UDF candidate N.K. Premachandran’s massive
victory in Kollam. C. SURESHKUMAR
one-third (35%) of the res-
pondents while a little less
than one-fourth (23%) of
them favoured Narendra
Modi. More than half the
gress/non-BJP candidates
got support almost exclu-
sively from men voters on-
ly — thus slightly fragment-
ing the male vote at the
cost of the Congress. Fol-
lowing the formation of the
State government, the BJP
initiated its manifesto pro-
mise and introduced the
Mahatari Vandan Yojana
that credits ₹1,000 to wo-
men’s bank accounts every
month. The State govern-
ment ensured that women
get their payments before
the elections. This move
may have additionally
helped the BJP in getting
women’s votes.
The BJP was slightly
do that. We have a strategy
and I have already started
the work,” he added.
Mr. Fadnavis clarified
that his initial resignation
offer was not driven by
emotions or disappoint-
ment over the electoral re-
sults. “I do not retreat; I
fight back. In times of ad-
versity, we can rebound
with strength, as taught by
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maha-
raj,” he stated.
He attributed part of the
electoral loss to a “fake
narrative” that acted as an
additional opposition force
for the Mahayuti. “False
rumours about the BJP
planning to change the
Constitution had harmed
the ruling alliance. This
fake narrative acted as a
fourth (opposition) party
respondents opposed the
arrest of Opposition lead-
ers and believed that it was
done for political reasons.
Similarly, while deciding
stronger among urban vo-
ters. But what helped the
BJP most in achieving this
success was robust sup-
port across three impor-
tant social groups — the up-
per castes (74%), OBCs
(56%) and the Dalits (59%).
In contrast, the Congress
received more support
among Adivasis (59%).
Last time, though the
Congress was in power at
the State level, Chhattis-
garh had stood firmly with
the BJP and that tradition
continued this time around
too.
Akash Tawar is Lokniti-CSDS, State
coordinator from Chhattisgarh
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis arrives for a meeting with BJP
Maharashtra MLAs, MLCs and other office-bearers in Mumbai. PTI
alongside the three-party
Maha Vikas Aghadi. We
realised this after the
fourth phase of election,”
Mr. Fadnavis explained.
“Fake narratives have a
long life. Prime Minister
THE HINDU
Rahul Gandhi was
the preferred Prime
Ministerial choice of
over one-third of the
respondents while a
little less than
one-fourth of them
favoured Modi
which party to vote for,
one-fourth (26%) of the res-
pondents considered the
work done by the Union
government, while anoth-
er one-fourth (24%) looked
at the work of the State go-
vernment.
However, one-third
(32%) of the respondents
Modi as PM pitch did not cut much ice in Punjab
Ashutosh Kumar
Nirmal Singh
Subir Singh Jamwal
Punjab saw a multi-cor-
nered contest and a keen
electoral battle among key
actors. Despite both being
part of the INDIA alliance
in Delhi, the AAP and the
Congress were adversaries
here. Though both polled
roughly equal votes, the
Congress was more suc-
cessful in terms of seats (7)
than the AAP (3) with the
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
winning one seat and two
going to Independents. In-
terestingly, the BJP polled
more votes (18.6%) than
the SAD (11.6%).
The CSDS-Lokniti post-
poll data shows that the vo-
ters in Punjab considered
the candidate as well as the
party while making their
electoral choice. The BJP
seeking vote in the name of
the party’s Prime Ministe-
rial candidate did not cut
much ice with the voters.
The Opposition alliance fo-
cusing on the need to save
News
Modi has decided to cele-
brate the 75th anniversary
of the Constitution, yet the
narrative spread…” the BJP
leader said.
In the recent Lok Sabha
election, the MVA secured
believe the work of both
the Union and State go-
vernments were kept in
mind when deciding on
who to vote for. It means
the strong presence of an
anti-incumbency wave
against the Centre and the
State government helped
the Congress-led alliance.
Voting patterns
The increase in BJP’s vote
share was made possible
by a slight change in the
demographic voting pat-
terns. Close to a majority
from among the Nairs
(45%) voted for the BJP/
NDA. The Ezhava com-
munity, the leading Hindu
caste group in Kerala that
traditionally supports the
LDF, also moved to the BJP
(32%). This adversely ef-
fected the LDF’s election
prospects. Moreover, for
the first time, 5% of the
Christian minority voted
for the BJP. Despite these
shifts, the UDF retained its
traditional vote share of
Muslims, Christians and
other caste groups, which
helped it to secure 18 seats.
K.M. Sajad Ibrahim is Professor,
Department of Political Science,
and Dean, Faculty of the Social
Sciences, University of Kerala and
Nithya N.R. is Assistant Professor,
Department of Political Science,
University of Kerala
Choosing wisely: Voters in Punjab considered the candidate as
well as the party while making their electoral choice. ANI
the constitution and the
rights of the citizens, espe-
cially the socially marginal
groups and minorities, did
find an echo among the vo-
ters of the State. Close to
half (44%) of the respon-
dents held their right to
change the government es-
sential to the well-being of
democracy whereas four
of every 10 (40%) priori-
tised equal rights for every
citizen.
The role of social media
during the campaign was
unmistakable as more than
30 out of 48 Lok Sabha
seats in the Western State,
while the ruling alliance
won 17 seats, with an addi-
tional seat won by a rebel
Congress candidate.
Mr. Fadnavis said while
there was talk of sympathy
for Shiv Sena (UBT) leader
Uddhav Thackeray, his par-
ty failed to win any seats in
the Thane and Konkan
areas. In Mumbai, Mr.
Thackeray’s success was
due to the consolidation of
votes from a specific com-
munity, not broad Marathi-
speaking voter support, he
claimed.
“They (Shiv Sena (UBT))
had a narrow lead in Ma-
rathi-dominated Assembly
segments of Worli, Shivdi,
Vikhroli and Bhandup,” he
said.
BJP retains power, faces
minor challenges in Gujarat
Bhanu Kumar Parmar
Shivani Choudhary
Gujarat continues to be un-
der the spell of the BJP. Af-
ter winning all 26 seats in
the State in 2014 and 2019,
this time, the BJP lost only
one seat in the State. Even
in terms of vote share, the
BJP retained its domi-
nance, losing only 13%
votes in 2019. In the run-up
to the elections, it was be-
ing said that there were dis-
sensions within the BJP
and also that various social
sections, particularly the
Kshatiryas were unhappy
with it. But the BJP seems
to have warded off these
challenges. This is not to
say that there were no ob-
servable changes in how
various social sections are
aligned with the State’s
two major parties. Lokni-
ti’s post-poll study suggests
the Congress making some
inroads in rural areas and
among Kshatiryas as well
as the Dalits and Adivasis.
The BJP has a uniform
and robust vote share both
in rural and urban areas
with almost two in every
three voters supporting it
but the Congress was able
to register a slightly better
support of voters from ru-
ral areas than in urban
areas. In urban areas, it
tended to lose votes to oth-
er smaller players.
Even in terms of the vot-
ing pattern among diffe-
rent caste groups and com-
munities, the stranglehold
half (51%) of the respon-
dents were contacted by all
the contesting parties
through WhatsApp, text
messages, Facebook and
X. The State once famous
for civil society activities
like processions and plays
saw few such activities.
Nine of every 10 respon-
dents reported in the nega-
tive when asked about
their participation in such
events. A majority (51%) of
the respondents reported
being either fully or partly
dissatisfied with the NDA
Engineer Rashid’s release
The Hindu Bureau
SRINAGAR
The Awami Ittehad Party
(AIP) has petitioned a Delhi
court to allow its MP-elect,
Engineer Rashid, currently
lodged in Tihar jail, to par-
ticipate in the oath-taking
ceremony in Parliament.
The party also hinted at
expanding its membership
drive to central and south
Kashmir.
Mr. Rashid, a two-time
MLA, was arrested in 2019
by the National Investiga-
tion Agency on terror-
funding charges under the
draconian Unlawful Activi-
ties (Prevention) Act (UA-
PA).
of the BJP is evident. Only
the Dalits, Adivasis and
Muslims have voted for the
BJP in fewer numbers.
Both Dalits and Adivasis ex-
tended support to the Con-
gress — 46% and 41%, res-
pectively. But consider
this: among the Patidars,
who have for long been the
backbone of the State BJP,
the support for the BJP was
to the extent of 80%!
Though as reported during
the campaign, there might
have been some murmurs
among the Kshatriyas, the
BJP still managed to get the
support of a large number
of Kshatiryas (58%) while a
little less than four of every
10 Kshatriyas voted for the
Congress. As against the
government at the Centre.
The failure to create em-
ployment opportunities
and control the price rise
were considered the worst
failures of the Union go-
vernment in the last five
years. In this Sikh majority
State, it is important to
note that close to nine of
every 10 respondents
(86%) believed that the go-
vernment was duty-bound
to protect the interest of
minorities even if the ma-
jority community did not
appreciate it. Showing
trust in peaceful and pe-
riodic transfer of political
power, a majority of res-
pondents (53%) endorsed
the same. Thus, the post-
poll surveys showed a high
level of awareness among
the respondents about the
sanctity of liberal demo-
cratic values and trust in
the well-being of the
institutions.
The post-poll survey
throws light on the voting
preferences of different so-
cial sections in the State.
While the AAP draws more
Engineer Rashid
He won the Lok Sabha
election from Baramulla by
a thumping margin, defeat-
ing National Conference
leader Omar Abdullah.
“We have initiated legal
formalities for Mr. Rashid’s
oath-taking ceremony. A
petition for interim bail has
9
national average of a barely
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
8% vote share for the BJP
among Muslims, in Guja-
rat, as many as three in ev-
ery 10 Muslims supported
it.
It needs to be noted that
among the BJP supporters,
27% said they would have
voted differently if Naren-
dra Modi was not the PM
candidate. Thus, even
though Gujarat has be-
come the strong bastion of
the BJP, the Modi factor is
equally important in shap-
ing the political choices of
the Gujarat voters.
Bhanu Kumar Parmar is the
Lokniti-CSDS state Coordinator for
Gujarat and Shivani Choudhary is
a researcher at Lokniti-CSDS
of its support from rural
voters (every third of rural
voters choosing AAP), the
Congress and the BJP were
the main competitors for
the urban vote. Every third
urban voter voted for the
BJP. Both among Hindu Da-
lits and Sikh Dalits, the
Congress was successful in
getting around 31% sup-
port. Sikh OBCs were
mainly divided between
the Congress and the AAP
while the BJP was the most
preferred party of the Hin-
du upper castes (56%). The
most critical aspect of this
vote distribution was that
Akali Dal failed to win the
support of any section in
any substantial manner.
This decline of the Akalis
opens up space for both
the Congress and the AAP
to build a more durable so-
cial coalition.
Ashutosh Kumar is a Professor at
Panjab University, Nirmal Singh is
Assistant Professor at Doaba
College and Subir Singh Jamwal is a
research scholar at Panjab
University, Chandigarh
been moved before the Pa-
tiala House Court in New
Delhi. The court has been
very liberal to us. It has set
the next date for hearing as
June 18. However, if the
need arises, the court
could hear the plea early in
spite of the ongoing sum-
mer vacations,” an AIP
spokesman said.
The party spokesman
said Mr. Rashid’s commu-
nication channels, which
were barred, are likely to
be lifted. He said the party
was hopeful about the re-
lease of Mr. Rashid.
Mr. Rashid surprised
everyone in the Lok Sabha
election by defeating Mr.
Abdullah and J&K Peoples
Conference’s Sajad Lone.
A ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
10 Sunday, June 9, 2024

News Delhi

From Page One Modi’s coalition Ministry ‘Neighbourhood

First’ to be on
CWC asks Rahul to be
Leader of Opposition
set to assume office today show at swearing-in
TDP likely to get four berths; former CMs such as Chouhan may find a place in govt; over 9,000
The Prime Minister ran a campaign “anchored in invitees, including heads of nations, labourers, welfare beneficiaries, will attend oath-taking event Press Trust of India INDIA leaders to
lies, hate, prejudice, divisiveness and extreme bi- NEW DELHI
gotry”, the resolution read. jointly decide on
In its resolution, the CWC noted that the people The Hindu Bureau Prime Minister-designate attending event
of the country had placed the party firmly on the NEW DELHI Narendra Modi’s swearing-
path of revival but challenges still remain. in on Sunday is set to be NEW DELHI
“The people of India have spoken — the Con- arendra Modi is all witnessed by several inter-
gress has been given another chance. It is now up
to us to build on it. We must and we will,” read the
CWC resolution.
N set to be sworn in
with his Council of
Ministers for a third succes-
national leaders and diplo-
mats. India on Saturday an-
nounced that leaders of
Opposition parties of the INDIA
bloc will take a call on Sunday
on attending the swearing-in of
Prime Minister-designate
The resolution also highlighted Mr. Gandhi’s sive term — a feat achieved seven countries from its Narendra Modi and his Council
contribution, especially how the Bharat Jodo Ya- only by India’s first Prime neighbourhood and the In- of Ministers. On Saturday,
tra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra became “his- Minister Jawharlal Nehru — dian Ocean region, includ- Congress leaders K.C.
toric turning points in our nation’s politics and in- though as the head of a ing Maldivian President Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh
stilled hope and confidence in lakhs of our coalition government. Mohamed Muizzu and had said Congress leaders had
workers and crores of our voters”. Massive preparations Bangladesh’s Prime Minis- not received any invitation.
Inside the closed-door meeting of the extended are under way for the cere- ter Sheikh Hasina, will at-
CWC, most members argued that Mr. Gandhi mony to be held on Sunday tend the swearing-in sche-
needed to take up the LoP position to build on the evening at the Rashtrapati duled to begin at 7.15 p.m. Mr. Muizzu said on Sa-
momentum generated by the Lok Sabha results. Bhavan forecourt, after Mr. on Sunday. turday that he would be
Senior leader Digvijaya Singh was the first lead- Modi was elected leader of Necessary arrange- honoured to attend Mr.
er to move a motion but several others joined in to the NDA’s Parliamentary ments have been made for Modi’s swearing-in and his
make it a chorus. Lok Sabha member Gaurav Go- Party on Friday. Saffron saga: BJP workers celebrate after Narendra Modi was elected the leader of the NDA the guests, including desig- first visit to India for the
goi said Mr. Gandhi would be a powerful voice of Over 9,000 invitees are Parliamentary Party, at Balurghat in South Dinajpur district of West Bengal. PTI nated enclosures for the historic event would de-
the 235 Opposition members in the Lower House.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
expected — from heads of Ministers to be sworn in monstrate that bilateral
Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa argued that as governments of Bangla- Sources say that many of The TDP is likely to get Maharashtra, where the and the VVIPs, the officials ties are heading in a “posi-
LoP, Mr. Gandhi can force the government to de- desh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the NDA’s alliance partn- four berths, with three- BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance said. tive direction”.
liver on some of the guarantees like scrapping the Bhutan, the Maldives and ers, such as the Telugu De- term MP Ram Mohan Nai- has fared poorly, and Bihar, Mr. Muizzu, Ms. Hasina, Unlike his predecessors,
Agniveer scheme, making minimum support Mauritius, to sanitation sam Party, the Janata Dal du a front runner for one of where the Opposition has Sri Lankan President Ranil who made the first port of
price (MSP) for farmers a legal right and corner workers, labourers who (U), the Shiv Sena, the Lok these berths. JD(S) leader shown signs of revival, may Wickremesinghe, Vice-Pre- call to New Delhi after as-
the government over the provisions of the worked on the Central Vis- Janshakti Party and the Ja- H.D. Kumaraswamy is also be in focus during the go- sident of the Seychelles suming office, Mr. Muizzu
Constitution. ta construction in New Del- nata Dal(S), are set to get a shoo-in for a Cabinet vernment formation exer- Ahmed Afif, Prime Minis- had travelled to Turkiye
Lauding her brother’s determination, Congress hi, and those who worked ministerial berths. berth, so is Chirag Paswan, cise. ter of Mauritius Pravind and China for his first state
general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told the on the Vande Bharat trains. whose party, the LJP, has The Assembly election is Kumar Jugnauth, Nepal’s visit in January.
CWC that even if she had a doubt about the party’s Beneficiaries of Central Portfolio allocation won all five seats it contest- due in the western State in Prime Minister Pushpa Ka- “The visit of the leaders
performance, Mr. Gandhi had unflinching faith in schemes, a few of whom Senior sources in the BJP ed in Bihar. October, while the polls mal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, to attend the swearing-in
Congress’s ability to bounce back and perform. were present at the launch have confirmed that the Within the BJP, it’s being will be held in Bihar next and Bhutan’s Prime Minis- ceremony of Prime Minis-
She said personal attacks and ridicule by the BJP of the BJP’s manifesto in party would be retaining said that former Chief Mi- year. ter Tshering Tobgay have ter Narendra Modi for his
over the past 10 years could not shake his April, too have been invit- the “Raisina Hills portfo- nisters who won the Lok The desertion of sup- accepted invitations to the third consecutive term is in
confidence. ed. lios”, that is, Defence, Sabha election such as port by a section of voters, event. Mr. Prachanda will keeping with the highest
Ms. Vadra also said BJP’s defeat in Uttar Pra- On Saturday, senior BJP Home, Finance and Exter- Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Ba- especially from the Sche- be accompanied by his priority accorded by India
desh has taken away the aura of invincibility from leaders Rajnath Singh, nal Affairs but a fair share savaraj Bommai, Manohar duled Castes and other de- daughter Ganga Dahal, and to its ‘Neighbourhood
the ruling party, both in the State and at the Amit Shah and the party’s of important Ministries Lal and Sarbananda Sono- prived sections, may also Minister for Law, Justice First’ policy and ‘SAGAR’
Centre. national president J.P. Nad- would be allocated to the wal may also be accommo- be a guiding factor in go- and Parliamentary Affairs vision,” Ministry of Exter-
Reflecting on the results, Mr. Gandhi said those da held hectic parleys. partners. dated. vernment formation. Padam Giri. nal Affairs said.
who had to leave have done so and those who re-
main with the party and in Opposition ranks are
the real “warriors of democracy”. He also praised

INDIA bloc partners should work

the party’s campaign and communication strate-
gy that allowed the Congress to fight the elections 2 Sena (UBT) VIP culture
on its own turf instead of reacting to the BJP.
Speakers like Manish Tewari also noted that ef-
MPs-elect in unacceptable,
forts at polarisation did not work as the party kept
its focus on livelihood issues.
touch with us: cohesively, collectively: Kharge Adityanath
“The BJP had only one agenda: to divide the pe-
ople. They had no answer to unemployment,
Shinde’s party tells Ministers
price rise, Agniveer issue, but the Congress party Sobhana K. Nair centage points, winning
and INDIA alliance stood very strongly and we The Hindu Bureau Sandeep Phukan eight of the 17 seats, five The Hindu Bureau
stuck with our guarantees, our narrative,” party NEW DELHI NEW DELHI more than the tally in the LUCKNOW
general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal previous election.
told the media at a briefing with his colleague, Jai- Chief Minister Eknath Calling the people’s man- “We will soon be hold- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minis-
ram Ramesh. Mr. Kharge also praised party trea- Shinde’s Shiv Sena has said date in the Lok Sabha polls ing separate discussions on ter Yogi Adityanath, chair-
surer Ajay Maken for managing the election ex- that two MPs-elect from a “decisive rejection” of each such State. We have ing a special meeting with
penses well despite a severe fund crunch because Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv the politics of “divisiveness to take urgent remedial the Council of Ministers on
of curbs put on the party’s bank accounts by the Sena (UBT) were in touch and hatred”, Congress pre- measures. These are States Saturday, categorically
Income Tax department. with them. Addressing a sident Mallikarjun Kharge which have traditionally fa- stated that VIP culture was
press conference in the na- on Saturday sounded a voured the Congress, unacceptable. “The go-
tional capital on Saturday word of caution on the par- where we have opportuni- vernment is for the people
morning, Shiv Sena spo- ty’s “below par” perfor- ties that we have to har- and public interest is para-
NTA sets up panel to kesperson and MP Naresh
Mhaske refused to name
mance in the States where
it is in government. Talking strategy: Mallikarjun Kharge with Rahul Gandhi at the
ness, not for our own ad-
vantage but for the benefit
mount for us. The pro-
blems, expectations, and
look into NEET issues the two MPs-elect, citing
the anti-defection law, but
In his opening remarks
at the Congress Working
extended Congress Working Committee meeting. PTI of our people. This exer-
cise I propose to hold very
needs of the person stand-
ing at the last rung of the
said that four more law- Committee (CWC) meeting INDIA bloc partners, say- proved by eight percentage soon,” he said. society, must be resolved,”
“We had formed a committee of experts, analysed makers would soon join here, Mr. Kharge asserted ing each party played its points, the BJP won 17 seats During the discussion read the statement by the
the issue and addressed the grievances. To allay the two and cross over. that while celebrating a designated role in different in the State. later on, according to State government.
the fear of 1,600 candidates especially, and other The Shinde-led party “revival”, the party should States and each party con- In Himachal Pradesh, sources, senior Congress Mr. Adityanath asked
23 lakh candidates, NTA has decided that a high- won seven Lok Sabha pause a little for it had not tributed to the other. the Congress, despite in- leader Sachin Pilot, while Ministers to follow the
powered committee will analyse the recommen- seats, while the Shiv Sena performed to its abilities He hoped that the bloc creasing its vote share by applauding the collective mantra of ‘samvaad, sa-
dations by the grievance redressal committee, (UBT) won nine. and expectations in some would “function cohesive- over 14 percentage points, leadership in Rajasthan for manvay, samvendansheel-
thereby addressing all the issues again,” Mr. Singh Mr. Mhaske’s claim States. “We could not re- ly and collectively both in lost all four seats. In Telan- the party’s success in the ta’ (dialogue, coordina-
added. comes amid assertions by peat our performance in Parliament and outside.” gana, where it had an im- State, said that when the tion, and sensitivity),
The Ministry of Education had earlier issued a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader States where we had pre- pressive victory in Novem- party reviews results, it regularly go to the field, en-
press statement addressing the issues raised by Sanjay Raut that several viously done well in the As- Remedial measures ber, the party could not should scrutinise the can- gage with the public and
the aspirants. lawmakers, both from the sembly elections and In Karnataka, the Congress sustain the momentum. didate selection process, coordinate with local re-
“The candidates have raised several issues such Assembly and Lok Sabha, formed the government,” managed to win only nine In comparison with examining which candi- presentatives and govern-
as high scores and many candidates making it to are keen to return to Mr. he said. of the 28 seats. Though the 2019, the party’s vote share date was recommended by ment administration to re-
the toppers list. There were 17 students in the top- Thackeray’s party. Mr. Kharge hailed the Congress’s vote share im- increased by only five per- which leader. solve issues.
pers list, which increased to 61 as 44 candidates
got perfect score due to revision of one Physics
answer key, for which two options have now been
taken as correct. It is the one of the largest com-
petitive exams conducted in a single shift,” Mr.
Singh said.
Meghalaya, Nagaland INDIA bloc may stake claim to form
Explaining the process to grant grace marks,
Mr. Singh said it was based on questions attempt-
ed by the candidates in a said time frame. “The
leaders slam Sarma’s government in future, says Mamata
maximum score after grace mark was 720, the
lowest was -20, it depended on the candidates,”
‘anti-Christian’ views The Hindu Bureau on Sunday.
he said. KOLKATA The Trinamool leader-
The D-G stated that after exams were conduct- The Hindu Bureau choose any person as long ship has retained Sudip Ba-
ed on May 5, writ petitions were filed by some can- GUWAHATI as he is an Indian citizen Emphasising that the coun- nerjee as its Parliamentary
didates in the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana, and qualified to contest. try needs change, West Party leader and Kalyan
Delhi, and Chhattisgarh, raising concerns of loss Meghalaya and Nagaland- They are not so naïve to Bengal Chief Minister Ma- Banerjee as the Chief Whip
of exam time at a few exam centres. “Candidates based political parties have not know the aims, objec- mata Banerjee on Saturday in Parliament. In the Rajya
stated that they did not get the full 3 hours and 20 slammed Assam Chief Mi- tives, agenda, and manifes- said that while the Opposi- Sabha, Derek O’Brien will
minutes to complete the exam at these centres, nister Himanta Biswa Sar- tos of the political parties tion INDIA bloc may not be the leader and Sagarika
for reasons ranging from wrong distribution of ma for blaming the electo- which contested the polls,” have staked claim to form Ghose will be the deputy
question papers, torn OMRs, etc. A Grievance Re- ral loss of the NDA Mr. Basaiawmoit said, con- the government today, it leader.
dressal Committee (GRC) consisting of experts candidates in these States demning the Assam Chief might do so in the future. Ms. Banerjee also said
from the field of examination and academia was on leaders of a “particular Minister for trying to por- “If the INDIA bloc has Trinamool MPs in Lok Sab-
constituted by the NTA to look into such grievanc- faith”. tray Christians in the re- not staked a claim to form Mamata Banerjee with MPs-elect Abhishek Banerjee, Yusuf Pathan, ha and Rajya Sabha would
es/representations and to submit its recommen- Candidates of the Bhara- gion as partisan. a government today, it Sudip Bandyopadhyay, and Shatrughan Sinha at her residence. ANI seek repeal of the Citizen-
dations. The NTA submitted in the courts that re- tiya Janata Party allies — The Rising People’s Par- doesn’t mean it will not do ship Amendment Act, and
presentations of the candidates will be decided on the National People’s Party ty (RPP) in Nagaland criti- so in future. I will be happy her party would be in a should not become the stressed that the Centre
the basis of recommendations of the GRC, which (NPP) and the Nationalist cised Mr. Sarma for “con- to see this unstable govern- “wait and watch” mode. Prime Minister this time. should release funds pend-
considered the grievances on the basis of factual Democratic Progressive sistently berating ment [NDA government] “The country needs “Modi should have left it to ing to the States, including
reports of the functionaries and CCTV footage Party (NDPP) — lost the Christians” and attributing go at the earliest,” Ms. Ba- change; the country wants someone else [to become West Bengal. She highlight-
from the concerned exam centres. The loss of ex- Shillong and Tura Lok Sab- the NDA’s loss to the com- nerjee said, addressing change. This mandate was the Prime Minister] after ed that her party has the
amination time was ascertained and such candi- ha seats in Meghalaya and munity. “The voters, re- presspersons at her resi- for change,” she added. such a big defeat,” she said. highest number of women
dates were compensated with marks based on the lone constituency in gardless of their religion, dence after meeting the The Chief Minister said Ms. Banerjee said that MPs in the Lok Sabha at
their answering efficiency and time lost, as per Nagaland. are intelligent enough to MPs-elect. the mandate of the people the party MPs would not 38%. Of the 29 Lok Sabha
the mechanism/formula used by the Supreme “The people of Megha- choose their preferred can- The Trinamool Con- in this election was against participate in the swearing- members of the Trina-
Court in a 2018 case,” Mr. Singh said. laya have the right to didate or party,” it said. gress chairperson said that Narendra Modi, so he in of the new government mool, 11 are women.
CM A ND-NDE
YK

Sunday, June 9, 2024
Delhi
INBRIEF
쑽 30 houses, two police
outposts torched in
Manipur’s Jiribam
Militants behind arson and violence, says CM; additional Central security
forces and police personnel rushed to the district; SP transferred
India-China relations must be
based on mutual respect: MEA Vijaita Singh
NEW DELHI
The Government of India on Saturday thanked
China for congratulating Prime Minister uspected militants
Narendra Modi on his election victory and said it
would continue to make efforts for normalisation
of bilateral ties based on "mutual respect, mutual
S torched nearly 30
houses and two pol-
ice outposts in Jiribam dis-
interest and mutual sensitivity". The comments trict of Manipur on
by Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Saturday.
Randhir Jaiswal (in photo) came as relations Chief Minister N. Biren
between India and China remained frosty in view Singh said additional pol-
of the lingering border row along the Line of ice personnel and Central
Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. Mr. Jaiswal was security forces had been
replying to a congratulatory message to Modi rushed to the district fol-
posted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on X. PTI lowing arson and violence.
A forest outpost too was set
on fire by suspected mili-
tants early on Saturday, he
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
said.
Post elections, EC seeks action “The militants torched
against IPS officer in Odisha around 30 houses also.
This follows the abduction
The Election Commission has recommended and killing of a 59-year-old
action against Odisha-cadre IPS officer Ashish farmer (May 6),” Mr. Singh
Kumar Singh for “misrepresentation of fact” said. “Around 100 Manipur
about his health condition while revoking the Police personnel, other
suspension order on another senior police officer than reinforcements from
D.S. Kutey. In a letter to the Chief Electoral the Central Reserve Police
Officer of Odisha, the EC said the report of the Force and the Assam Ri-
special medical board of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, fles, have been sent to Jiri-
has declared Mr. Singh, a 2010-batch police bam. The district had been
officer, physically and mentally fit. He has been peaceful so far, it never
on leave on health grounds since May 4. Mr. witnessed violence at this
Kutey, the Special Secretary to Odisha Chief scale,” he told The Hindu.
Minister, was suspended by the EC on May 28 for He is in Delhi to attend
“unduly interfering in conduct of election”. PTI the swearing-in ceremony
Trinamool Congress MLA
‘assaults’ restaurant owner Four J&K government employees
Trinamool Congress MLA and actor Soham
Chakraborty allegedly assaulted a restaurant dismissed, teacher suspended
owner in Kolkata on Friday night. The tiff, which
was captured on CCTV, reportedly escalated over
the issue of parking of the actor’s vehicle and film Peerzada Ashiq
crew outside the restaurant at New Town. When SRINAGAR
the restaurant owner, Anisul Alam, had asked the
Chandipur MLA to park his car elsewhere as it A crackdown by security
was inconveniencing other customers, a verbal agencies in Jammu and
duel broke out between the two, following which Kashmir on Saturday re-
Mr. Chakraborty assaulted Mr. Alam. On sulted in the termination of
Saturday, the MLA said he was “apologetic”, services of four govern-
adding that as a public representative, he “should ment employees, the seal-
not have behaved like that”. ing of militants’ residenc-
es, and the suspension of a
schoolteacher who criti-
cised the government
Bill to raise women’s legal online.
The sacked employees
marriage age lapses in LS are Abdul Rehman Dar, a
selection grade police con-
With the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha, a Bill stable from Larmooh in
that aimed to bring uniformity in the age of Pulwama; Ghulam Rasool
marriage for men and women has lapsed. The Bhat, a constable from Lal-
Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, gam in Pulwama; Shabeer
2021 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in Ahmad Wani, a teacher
December 2021 and was referred to the Standing from Bungam in Kulgam;
Committee on Education, Women, Children, and Anayatullah Shah Pir-
Youth and Sports. The Bill aimed to amend the zada, assistant lineman in
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, to the Jal Shakti Department
increase the minimum age of marriage of women from Watergam in Bara-
to 21 years. Under the 2006 Act, a person mulla. An official said they
married below the minimum age may apply for were dismissed from ser-
annulment within two years of attaining majority vice under Article 311 of the
(i.e., before 20 years of age). The Bill increases Constitution “for their in-
this to five years (i.e., 23 years of age). PTI volvement in anti-national
activities”, based on the re-
ports filed by the security
agencies and without a for-
mal inquiry.
SUDOKU “The activities of these
쑽
₹2,000 hike in annual
honorarium paid to
farmers in Rajasthan
The Hindu Bureau
JAIPUR
After the Bharatiya Janata
Party’s dismal perfor-
mance in the Lok Sabha
election in Rajasthan, the
State government on Satur-
day announced an in-
crease in the annual hono-
Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku rarium paid to farmers
under the Union govern-
ment’s Kisan Samman Nid-
hi.
With the BJP-ruled State
government now contri-
buting ₹2,000, the amount
given to each farm house-
hold has been enhanced
from ₹6,000 to ₹8,000 per
year. Chief Minister Bhajan
Lal Sharma said the BJP go-
CM
YK
THE HINDU
News
On alert: Security forces during a joint search in Bishnupur and
Imphal East districts of Manipur on Friday. PTI
of Prime Minister-desig-
nate Narendra Modi on
Sunday.
The Manipur Police said
in a statement that in the
violence that broke out fol-
lowing the murder of the
farmer, “several houses be-
longing to both Meitei and
Kuki communities were
burnt by unknown mis-
creants in Jiribam district”.
“Further, two police
pickets and the Borobekra
Forest Beat Office were al-
so burnt down by mis-
creants. Situation is tense
but under control at pre-
sent. The police are also
The administration has alleged that the sacked employees have
links to terror groups. FILE PHOTO
employees had come to
the adverse notice of law
enforcement and intelli-
gence agencies, as they
found them involved in ac-
tivities prejudicial to the in-
terests of the state, such as
involvement in terror-relat-
ed activities,” the govern-
ment spokesperson said.
In Doda district of the
Chenab valley, a teacher
was suspended for criticis-
ing government policies.
Officials said that he had
highlighted the bad road
conditions and “shabby ac-
commodation” of the Go-
vernment Middle School,
Draman, in a video that
was widely shared across
the region.
vernment was moving for-
ward with the resolve of
farmers’ uplift.
“The State government
is committed to ensuring
all-round development of
farmers,” Mr. Sharma said
in a post on X (formerly
Twitter).
Rajasthan Finance Mi-
nister Diya Kumari had
stated the government’s in-
tention to fulfil the pro-
mise while presenting the
vote-on-account in the As-
sembly on February 8.
The BJP goverment’s an-
nouncement was seen as
an attempt to mollify farm-
ers ahead of the upcoming
local body and panchayat
polls in the State.
monitoring social media
updates that may incite
communal feelings,” the
police said.
200 people evacuated
About 200 people, mostly
from the Meitei communi-
ty and some from the Kuki-
Zo community, were evac-
uated from their houses in
Jiribam district and moved
to a camp over the last two
days after violence broke
out.
The Manipur govern-
ment transferred Jiribam
Superintendent of Police
A. Ghanashyam Sharma.
“Dar was involved in not
only carrying illegal arms
and ammunition from one
place to another for their
delivery to the terrorists
but also providing camou-
flage uniform cloth and
other materials to them.
Bhat was also involved in
carrying illegal arms and
ammunition from one
place to another for deliv-
ery to the terrorists. He
was linked to the ecosys-
tem through a network of
overground workers
(OGWs), operating at the
behest of terrorists based
in Pakistan,” the govern-
ment order said.
The spokesperson said
Mr. Wani was an active
Kolkata-based filmmaker’s Mehroon
wins laurels at KASHISH film festival
Shrabana Chatterjee
KOLKATA
The short film Mehroon, di-
rected by Abu Sohel Khon-
dekar, has won laurels at
the KASISH International
Film Festival in Mumbai.
After the film’s screen-
ing at Liberty Cinema in
Mumbai on May 19, Khon-
dekar, 34, a Kolkata-based
queer filmmaker, won the
Special Jury Mention for
the Riyad Wadia Award for
best emerging Indian film-
maker. She had won the
KASHISH QDrishti Film
Grant of ₹2.5 lakh in 2023
to make the film.
Mehroon was highly ap-
preciated by the audience
at the screening. The film-
Jarange-Patil begins
fresh hunger strike
for Maratha quota
Abhinay Deshpande
MUMBAI
Maratha activist Manoj Ja-
range-Patil began an indefi-
nite fast on Saturday de-
manding the
implementation of a draft
notification that recognises
all blood relatives of Ma-
ratha community mem-
bers as Kunbis, an agrarian
group classified as an Oth-
er Backward Class (OBC)
community, who are eligi-
ble for quota benefits.
“I will not give up until
the Maratha reservation is
granted,” he said.
The Maratha quota acti-
vist’s fresh agitation began
at 10.30 a.m. in his native
Antarwali Sarati village in
Marathwada’s Jalna dis-
trict, despite the district
administration and police
authorities denying him
permission.
His demands include
OBC status for Marathas,
and the implementation of
the draft notification is-
sued by the State govern-
ment earlier this year.
Mr. Jarange-Patil also
called for a law to be
framed for identifying Kun-
bis as Marathas, warning
that he would field candi-
dates for all 288 Assembly
seats in Maharashtra in the
upcoming State election if
member of the banned Ja-
maat-e-Islami ( JeI). “Va-
rious FIRs have been regis-
tered against him because
of his direct involvement in
inciting and leading an un-
lawful assembly of mob in-
stigating rioting and vio-
lence in D.H. Pora, during
the 2016 unrest,” the spo-
kesperson said.
The spokesperson said
that Mr. Pirzada was a ter-
rorist associate and over-
ground worker of the Al-
Badr Mujahideen. “He had
direct association with
dreaded terrorists such as
Yousuf Baloch and Ta-
meem, who were the com-
manders of the Al-Badr
Mujahideen,” the govern-
ment said.
The J&K police attached
the properties of two mili-
tants in north Kashmir’s
Baramulla. An official said
that the properties, includ-
ing eight kanals and four
marlas of land that be-
longed to two terror han-
dlers based in Pakistan,
were attached. These han-
dlers were identified as Ja-
leel Ahmad Rather and Mo-
hammad Ashraf Mir of
Tilgam in Baramulla.
A poster of the silent short film
Mehroon. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
maker remained in antici-
pation that much of the
movie would fall through
the cracks as there was no
Manoj Jarange-Patil
his demands were not met.
“Marathas were granted
reservations by the BJP-led
government on both occa-
sions,” Deputy Chief Minis-
ter Devendra Fadnavis
said, following a party
meeting where State BJP le-
gislators passed a resolu-
tion reposing faith in him
and seeking his conti-
nuance as party leader.
Without naming specific
individuals, he added: “It
is surprising that those
who opposed reservations
since 1980 got maximum
votes in Marathwada.”
Previously, Mr. Jarange-
Patil had led an agitation
over the issue from Febru-
ary 10 to 26.
On February 20, the le-
gislature passed a bill pro-
viding 10% reservation for
Marathas in education and
government jobs under a
separate category.
Bodies of 4 students
who drowned in
Russia recovered
The Hindu Bureau
MUMBAI
The bodies of four medical
students from Maharashtra
who drowned in the Volk-
hov river in Russia were re-
covered on Saturday, the
Consul-General of India in
Russia, Kumar Gaurav,
said.
They were studying at
the Yaroslav-the-Wise Nov-
gorod State University in
Veliky Novgorod city in
Russia.
The deceased are Har-
shal Anantrao Desale from
Bhadgaon in Jalgaon dis-
trict; siblings Jishan Ash-
pak Pinjari and Jia Firoj
Pinjari from Amalner in Jal-
gaon; and Malik Gulam-
gous Mohammad Yakub
from Mumbai. Nisha Bhu-
pesh Sonawane from Pune
survived the accident that
occurred during an outing
on June 4.
“The university is in
constant communication
with the parents of the chil-
dren. We express our
deepest condolences to
the bereaved families. The
Ministry of External Affairs
narration, and the au-
dience had to figure out
the story on their own
without verbal cues.
However, the movie re-
ceived a great response
from the audience and the
jury. With much praise
pouring in, Khondekar
said, “It was a dream to see
my own film on 35 mm and
have an audience appre-
ciate it and clap for it.”
She said the thought to
title the film, Mehroon,
came from Mehroon Nissa,
the wife of the Mughal em-
peror Jahangir, often de-
scribed as the real force
that ran his empire. The tit-
ular character in the mo-
vie, Anirban Mandal at
birth, chooses the name
11
SIT to probe
death of cattle
transporters
near Raipur
The Hindu Bureau
RAIPUR
The police have registered
a case of culpable homi-
cide not amounting to
murder and attempt to
murder against unknown
persons in a lynching case
at Arang in Chhattisgarh.
On Friday, Guddu Khan
and Chand Miya Khan of
Uttar Pradesh were killed
and Saddam Qureshi was
injured in the Arang area of
Raipur. With Mr. Qureshi
still not in a condition to
provide a statement, the
police have not been able
to identify the suspects, in-
vestigators said on Satur-
day.
“A 14-member special
team has been formed to
ensure a detailed investiga-
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
tion. We have registered an
FIR under Section 304
(culpable homicide), 307
(murder attempt) and 34
(act done with common in-
tention) of the IPC,” said
Senior Superintendent of
Police (Raipur) Santosh
Singh.
The FIR has been regis-
tered suo motu by the pol-
ice based on information
provided by Shoaib, a rela-
tive of Chand Miya Khan
and Mr. Qureshi, who was
privy to two phone calls
made by them at the time
of a purported attack.
Emergency services personnel
searching for the victims in
the Volkhov river near
St. Petersburg, Russia.
through the Indian embas-
sy in Russia is working with
Russian authorities to send
back the bodies to their fa-
milies at the earliest,” Mr.
Gaurav said.
Desale’s uncle Rajendra
Bhilaji Desale, a farmer,
said, “The agent who
helped all the children get
admission and visa is coor-
dinating with the universi-
ty. We will receive the body
either on Tuesday or Wed-
nesday. We have not been
able to perform any funer-
al rituals, which should
have been done at least on
the third day of death, but
we do not have a choice.”
Mehroon, as a symbolic
break from the Brahmini-
cal conservatism to give
herself a completely new
identity. Her journey is
traced through the silent
yet impactful frames of the
movie.
Khondekar said, “The
film’s story was born out of
the necessity to create so-
mething with the bare mi-
nimum. I believe we as the
trans community can’t
wait for the larger Indian
mass to accept us and then
come out.” After the suc-
cess at KASHISH, Mehroon
has been nominated to the
Chennai International
Queer Film Festival, where
it will be screened in a
month or two.
A ND-NDE

12
INBRIEF
쑽 CCI draft regulations
attempt to tighten
grip on Big Tech
Proposes shift in how regulatory compliance will be monitored in India;
suggests independent agencies to monitor regulatory implementation
GreenCell Mobility to scale up K.R. Srivats
fleet to 5,000 within 3 years NEW DELHI
I
Electric bus operator GreenCell Mobility n a significant move
promoted by climate impact investor Eversource aimed at enhancing
Capital, is planning to scale up its fleet to 5,000 regulatory oversight
units within three years from about 1,100 and compliance, the Com-
currently to provide green mobility to intercity petition Commission of In-
and intra city commuters across India. The dia (CCI) has proposed
company has also announced plans to more than new rules to monitor the
double its charging infrastructure comprising settlements, and commit-
250 chargers by that time. ments of industry giants.
The CCI’s latest consul-
tation paper, and draft reg-
ulations, promises to usher
‘Clay Craft aims to increase in a new era of transparen-
cy and accountability for
exports fourfold in 3 years’ the technology sector.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
The draft regulations
Clay Craft, which is into ceramic tableware have introduced a compre-
manufacturing, producing more than one lakh hensive framework for ap-
pieces daily and exporting to more than 22 pointment of independent
countries, is planning to increase exports
fourfold in three years, said its director Deepak
Agarwal. “India continues to be our focus
agencies to oversee the im-
plementation of the Com-
mission’s orders.
market. Currently exports account for less than
5% of our total turnover. But we aim to have at
This move aims to en-
sure industry giants adhere
least 15% to 20% of our total production out of to their commitments and
India for the export market,” he added. do not exploit loopholes to
evade regulatory scrutiny,
sources said.
ACC, Atal Incubation Centre Independent agencies
The proposed regulations,
ink pact to boost start-ups empower the CCI to ap-
point a range of indepen-
The Andhra Chamber of Commerce (ACC) has dent agencies, including
signed a memorandum of understanding with accounting firms, manage-
Atal Incubation Centre at the Anna University ment consultancies, pro-
Incubation Foundation, aimed at boosting the fessional organisations,
start-up ecosystem and aspiring entrepreneurs. and individuals such as
The tie-up would help both partners to leverage chartered accountants,
their strengths and reach out to a wider company secretaries, and
audience. The focus would be on the social cost accountants. These
sectors initially and later expanded to others agencies will be tasked
based on the start-ups’ interests. PTI with the critical responsi-
bility of monitoring the im-
plementation of the CCI’s
orders, ensuring that the
GSTN rolls out form for terms of engagement are
strictly followed.
tobacco manufacturers To maintain integrity,
and impartiality, agencies
The GST Network (GSTN) has rolled out a special must confirm their inde-
form for manufacturers of pan masala and pendence by disclosing po-
tobacco products to report inputs and outputs tential conflicts of interest.
procured with tax authorities to check evasion. This measure, is de-
This new form — GST SRM-II — comes within a signed to prevent any un-
month of GSTN rolling out GST SRM-I form for due influence, and ensure
registering machines of such manufacturers. unbiased monitoring of
Moore Singhi’s Executive Director Rajat Mohan compliance.
said the new form requires detailed monthly The agencies appointed
reporting of inputs and outputs. PTI under the new regulations,
CM
YK
THE HINDU
Business
will ensure orders of the
Commission are imple-
mented. They must inform
the CCI of instances of non-
compliance and disclose
any direct, or indirect pe-
cuniary or non-pecuniary
interest, that could prejud-
ice their performance, and
submit periodic reports re-
lated to the monitoring of
order compliance, as di-
rected by the Commission.
Additionally, the agen-
cies shall maintain the
highest standards of confi-
dentiality, regarding any
information received, or
collected, during the dis-
charge of their obligations
and will perform any other
duties as stipulated under
the terms of engagement,
as directed by the CCI.
No challenge in court
The CCI will retain the
authority to suspend or
terminate the engagement
of these agencies if they fail
to meet the stipulated stan-
dards. This can be done in
accordance with the terms
of their engagement, or, if
deemed necessary by the
Commission, for reasons
recorded in writing. Im-
portantly, any such revoca-
tion by the CCI cannot be
challenged in any court of
law, ensuring swift and de-
cisive action.
The proposed regula-
tions state that payment to
monitoring agencies will
be made by the person
who has filed an applica-
tion, under the relevant
regulations of the Competi-
tion Commission of India
(Settlement) Regulations,
2024, or the Competition
Commission of India (Com-
mitment) Regulations,
2024. In cases where the
application is filed under
the Combination Regula-
tions, or any other relevant
regulation, the payment
responsibility will lie with
the appropriate person as
directed by the CCI. This
will ensure the financial
burden does not fall on the
regulatory body, but on the
parties seeking settlement
or commitment.
Big tech consequences
These proposed regula-
tions signify a landmark
shift in how regulatory
compliance will be moni-
tored in India for the tech
sector. By instituting a ro-
bust and independent
monitoring mechanism,
the CCI aims to prevent big
tech firms, from circum-
venting regulatory orders,
and ensure that they adh-
ere to their commitments
in letter and spirit.
The CCI’s move to tight-
en oversight through these
new regulations, is expect-
ed to set a benchmark in
regulatory enforcement.
With their implementa-
tion, the CCI will aim to en-
sure transparency, accoun-
tability, and compliance in
the tech sector, as the mar-
ket evolves.
(The writer is with The
Hindu businessline)
‘Global firms are
adopting large AI
models to cut costs’
Mini Tejaswi
BENGALURU
Enterprises globally are
adopting Large Action Mo-
dels (LAMs) that under-
stand complex goals com-
municated with natural
language, and they follow
up with autonomous ac-
tions to achieve them, said
Adnan Masood, Chief AI
Architect at UST, a Califor-
nia-based digital technolo-
gy services provider.
LAMs are advanced AI
models. They go beyond
generating and interpret-
ing text like ChatGPT, and
can perform tasks interact-
ing with applications and
devices in the real world.
Mr. Masood said, ‘‘They
can autonomously handle
complex tasks like end-to-
Expecting consumer demand to
return in H2: Sundaram Finance
N. Anand
CHENNAI
Continuity in policy, a fa-
vourable monsoon, and a
vibrant festive season are
expected to bring back
consumer demand and en-
sure momentum during
the second half of the cur-
rent fiscal, said Sundaram
Finance Ltd. (SFL) Manag-
ing Director Rajiv Lochan.
“The government is
continuing... so there will
be continuity in most of
the policy agenda,” he said
during an interaction.
On macro and econom-
Adnan Masood
end vacation planning, job
application automation, in-
vestment portfolio optimi-
sation, and personalised
social media content crea-
tion, all while continuously
learning and adapting to
user preferences.” This has
helped cut significant la-
bour costs at U.S. insu-
rance firms and other sec-
tors, Mr. Masood added.
The new government
is expected to ensure
continuity in
infrastructure policy,
says MD Rajiv
Lochan
ic front, Mr. Lochan said
that the new government
was expected to focus on
economic growth, ensur-
ing continuity in infras-
tructure policy, besides
containing inflation and
creating jobs.
He hoped that driving
up consumption, improv-
ing exports and bringing
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Delhi
Bajaj Housing
Finance files
papers for
₹7,000-cr. IPO
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI
Bajaj Housing Finance has
filed preliminary papers
with capital markets regu-
lator SEBI to raise ₹7,000
crore through an initial pu-
blic offering (IPO).
The proposed IPO com-
prises a fresh issue of equi-
ty shares of up to ₹4,000
crore and an offer for sale
(OFS) of equity shares
worth ₹3,000 crore by pa-
rent Bajaj Finance, accord-
ing to the draft red herring
prospectus (DRHP).
The share sale is being
conducted to comply with
the Reserve Bank of India's
regulations, which require
upper-layer non-banking
finance companies to be
listed on stock exchanges
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
by September 2025.
back private sector capital
investments would remain
priorities.
On the medium to long-
term prospects, he said,
“Our primary objective is
getting to a market share in
the geographies that we
operate in.”
“If the market moves up
by 10% in a particular asset
class, we would want 10%
of that growth. If the mar-
ket plateaus, we would still
want to hold the same
10%,” Mr. Lochan said.
“So, we let the market
growth determine our ov-
erall growth,” he added.
A ND-NDE

Sunday, June 9, 2024
Delhi
Why is China
probing the far
side of the moon?
What is the latest in its ambitious space
odyssey? How did China’s other moon
missions fare?
Vasudevan Mukunth
The story so far:
n the pre-dawn hours (IST) of June 4, a
I small spacecraft bearing lunar samples took
off from the moon’s far side, headed for an
orbit that would bring it in contact with an
orbiter waiting for it. There, the spacecraft
‘handed over’ the samples to a capsule on the
returner, which will bring the samples back to
the earth in a two-week journey. Scientists will
thus finally have access to pieces of moon soil
and rocks from its far side. This is China’s
ambitious and ongoing Chang’e 6 mission.
What are the Chang’e missions?
China’s moon missions are called Chang’e,
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
named for the goddess of the moon in Chinese
mythology. The Chinese National Space
Administration (CNSA) launched the Chinese
Lunar Exploration Programme (CLEP) in 2003,
and the first Chang’e mission happened in 2007.
Chang’e 1 created a map of the moon’s surface.
With Chang’e 2, CLEP launched phase I of its
moon missions, and equipped the orbiter with a
better camera. Its images were used to prepare
the Chang’e 3 mission’s lander and rover for
their descent on the moon, which they
successfully achieved on December 14, 2013,
starting CLEP’s phase II missions.
In 2019, Chang’e 4 carried the first lander and
the rover to descend on the moon’s far side and
explore this more
Chang’e 6 is attempting mysterious region.
to replicate its Phase III began
predecessor’s feat but with the Chang’e 5
from the moon’s far mission. In late
2020, it deployed a
side. This time, the
lander on the
scientific goal is to moon’s near side.
understand why the far It included a
side is so different mission
from the near side component called
an ascender,
which, after collecting and stowing some lunar
soil samples, launched itself into orbit. There, an
orbiter collected the samples, transferred them
to a returner, which brought them to the earth.
Chang’e 6 is attempting to replicate its
predecessor’s feat but from the moon’s far side.
The scientific goal here is to understand why the
far side is so different from the near side.
What is the far side?
The moon is tidally locked to the earth: the
lunar hemisphere facing the earth will always
face the earth, and the hemisphere facing away
(far side) will always face away. The far side has
rockier terrain and fewer smooth plains.
Thus, it’s harder to land a spacecraft on the
far side — more so since it’s impossible to
communicate directly from the earth with a
spacecraft here: there’s no line of sight. A
workaround is to have a second spacecraft in
space that relays signals between ground
stations on the earth and the surface spacecraft.
This makes the mission more complex.
The far side is expected to be a good place to
install large telescopes, which would have a view
of the universe unobstructed by the earth. ISRO
and scientists at the Raman Research Institute,
Bengaluru, are currently working on such a
device, called PRATUSH.
What is the status of Chang’e 6?
CNSA launched the 8.3-tonne Chang’e 6
orbiter-lander assembly on May 3 and it entered
a lunar orbit on May 8. On May 30, the lander
complex split from the orbiter and descended
over a large crater called Apollo on June 1.
CLEP scientists coordinated this part of the
mission with help from the Queqiao 2 relay
satellite, which the CNSA launched in February
this year into an elliptical orbit around the
moon. Once within Apollo, a drill plunged into
the soil, and with help from a scoop extracted
about 2 kg of material, and transferred it to the
ascender. On June 4, the ascender took off for
moon orbit. There, it rendezvoused with the
orbiter and transferred the samples to a capsule
in the returner on June 6.
The returner is expected to bring them to the
earth on June 25.
What might the samples reveal?
Since Chang’e 6 is a Chinese mission, the ‘what’
depends on the samples as much as ‘by whom’
and ‘when’.
CNSA hasn’t been sharing periodic and
detailed updates, as has been expected from
other moon missions.
Once CNSA retrieves the sample-bearing
capsule, Chinese scientists will have first crack at
it before sharing access with foreign research
groups based on their proposals. It’s unknown
whether any Indian research groups have
applied for access.
Scientifically, the far-side samples are
expected to inform insights about why the moon
is the way it is and the formation of planets. For
example, scientists believe the terrain
asymmetry between the two lunar hemispheres
is because of heat released by the earth when
the moon was forming and thermochemical
characteristics near the moon’s surface.
(The details in this article are as of 4 pm on
June 8, 2024.)
CM
YK
THE HINDU
FAQ
Why did several exit polls go off the mark?
What methodology should be followed for accuracy? How do we know that a survey has done its
homework? What are the red flags? When are exit polls conducted? Do respondents open up on
their choice? In a close election, is it more difficult to get seats and voter shares right?
Srinivasan Ramani
The story so far:
everal exit polls predicted the return of
S
the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) to power,
with a tally of more than 300 seats for
the BJP alone. One pollster, Today’s Chanakya,
predicted 400 seats (plus or minus 15) for the
NDA, and another, Axis MyIndia, said the NDA
would win an average of 381 seats. All these polls
were way off the mark, as results showed.
What were the vote share projections?
The CSDS-Lokniti post-poll predicted that the
NDA would receive a vote share of 46% while
that of the INDIA bloc (excluding the Left,
Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and AAP in
Punjab) would be 35%. The error margin was
3.08% points. The results show that the NDA had
bagged 292 seats (43.63% vote share) and the
INDIA bloc 205 seats (excluding the Trinamool
Congress which won 29 seats) with a vote share
of 37%. CSDS-Lokniti did not project seats for
the alliances but predicted that the NDA would
return with a majority. Its vote share figures
were within the error margins but were 2.5
points higher for the NDA. Axis My India
projected 47% for the NDA and 39% for the
INDIA bloc and the results showed that the
projections overestimated the NDA vote share
beyond error margins. C-Voter projected a seat
tally of 353 to 383 seats for the NDA, with a vote
share of 45.3% and 38.9% for the BJP alone,
which was 2.3 points higher than the actual vote
share for the party — 36.56%. Its figures for the
INDIA bloc were also roughly 2.4 points lower
than the actual mark. While the vote shares
were within error margins nationally, its seat
tallies were way off across several States.
What are exit polls?
Opinion polls are sample surveys where a cross
Close contest: A man watching television waits for the release of exit polls at an
appliance store in Ajmer on June 1. AFP
What is the National Health Claim Exchange?
Will the platform help patients access healthcare easily? Will it bring about transparency in the
healthcare claims ecosystem? What are the hurdles to the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority of India’s objective of achieving ‘Insurance for All by 2047’?
Bindu Shajan Perappadan
The story so far:
he Health Ministry along with the
T
Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of India
(IRDAI) are working on measures
aimed at allowing patients to access quality
healthcare swiftly and with reduced
out-of-pocket expenditure. The Ministry and
IRDAI are launching the National Health Claim
Exchange (NHCX), a digital platform which will
bring together insurance companies, healthcare
sector service providers and government
insurance scheme administrators.
How is the NHCX expected to work?
The NHCX will serve as a gateway for
exchanging claims-related information among
various stakeholders in the healthcare and
health insurance ecosystem. The integration
with NHCX is expected to enable seamless
interoperability of health claims processing,
enhancing efficiency and transparency in the
insurance industry, benefiting policyholders and
patients, said the Health Ministry.
Whether a section of the electorate is randomly chosen and
interviewed about their choice of party or
polling
agency has candidates. These polls could either be
conducted in-person or over devices as is the
done a good
case with telephonic surveys. Exit polls ask
survey is voters about their choice right after they have
clear from exercised their mandate, sometimes outside the
what it polling booth. Some pollsters prefer to do
reveals in its “post-poll surveys” which are conducted at the
methodology residence of the voters after voting.
CSDS-Lokniti’s poll is a “post-poll survey”. Other
surveys such as Axis MyIndia’s were “exit polls”.
Did methodology matter in the way exit polls
got the numbers wrong?
For exit polls to be accurate, certain factors have
to be kept in mind like the sample size of the
survey, the selection process of the sample, the
manner in which the survey is conducted, and
the weighting of the sample according to
estimates of the population.
The size of the sample has to be
representative and the largeness of the sample is
immaterial as long as it is significant enough to
statistically predict the winner. If the sample is
randomly chosen and the size of the sample is
enough to accurately predict the possibility of a
certain candidate winning more than 40-45% of
the vote — which is generally the case with
Indian elections — then even a representative
sample of around 20,000-odd respondents is
enough to predict winners in a country of a
voting population of close to 100 crore. One can
conduct larger surveys with more than 20,000
respondents or even with lakhs of respondents
but the key is to get good representation. CSDS
Lokniti’s total sample size was 19,663 across 23
States and 193 parliamentary constituencies
while that of Axis MyIndia’s was 5,82,574 across
all the 543 constituencies. But the former got its
vote share predictions within the error margins
while the latter didn’t.
For good representation, the samples have to
be chosen randomly (so as to avoid bias) and
also be chosen in a stratified manner (so as to
avoid missing out on any section of the
population). The most ideal way of choosing a
random, but stratified sample, is to use electoral
rolls for identifying respondents. Once sampling
is done and the list of respondents are
identified, they need to be weighted on the basis
of the representation of sections in the
population — the percentage of women, Dalits,
minorities, majority population, and urban vs
rural voters. After a representative sample has
been prepared, interviews are conducted.
Ideally, a face-to-face interview works better,
and in the same language as the respondent.
Do respondents reveal their choice?
There is a high probability that many
respondents, especially those from marginalised
‘The primary Asked if the system will help to accommodate
challenge in the dynamic and diverse healthcare system of
health India, S. Prakash, MD & CEO designate, Galaxy
Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited,
insurance
said the healthcare landscape has been evolving
lies in to align with IRDAI’s objective of achieving
improving ‘Insurance for All by 2047’. “The insurance
the industry is poised to support the
relationship implementation of this system by facilitating
between streamlined interactions between hospitals and
hospitals insurers, establishing a seamless, paperless, and
secure contractual framework. Acting as a
and
centralised hub for all health claims, the NHCX
insurance will significantly alleviate the administrative
companies’ burden on hospitals, which currently contend
with multiple portals for various insurers,” he
explained. Twelve insurance companies and one
TPA (Third Party Administrator) have completed
the NHCX integration.
What about cashless claims?
A timeline has been fixed for insurance claims of
cashless claims. The insurance authority has
said that all cashless claims have to be processed
within three hours of the receipt of discharge
authorisation from the hospital. The insurance
regulator has set the insurance provider a
deadline of July 31 to put systems and processes
in place to ensure the smooth facilitation of this
latest directive.
What are some other incentives on offer?
To encourage adoption of digital health
transactions and digitisation of patient health
records in the country, the National Health
Authority had announced financial incentives
under the Digital Health Incentive Scheme
(DHIS) from January 2023. Under the DHIS,
there is a provision that for every insurance
claim transaction through NHCX, financial
incentives of ₹500 per claim or 10% of the claim
amount, whichever is lower, would be given to
hospitals, according to a Health Ministry note.
Why is NHCX being brought in?
GETTY IMAGES A paper titled, ‘Health Insurance Coverage in
13
sections, either do not reveal their voting
preferences or require a measure of trust with
the surveyor before opening up on their choices.
There is a possibility that the pollsters who got
this election wrong either under-sampled
marginalised voters or their surveyors were not
trusted by the respondents to reveal the right
answer or were misled by them.
What happens after the surveys?
Once the survey is done, the results should be
matched with the estimated demographic
information. If there are 12 respondents among
Dalits whose choices are recorded in a
population of 100 and the actual proportion of
Dalits in that population is 15, then the weighting
can be uniformly done for the 15 based on the 12
respondents. But if only 39 women in a
population of 100 are interviewed, extrapolating
the views of the 39 to that of 48 women (the
possible actual estimate of the women
population) would be problematic as women do
not vote as a single category. This could be one
reason why the Axis MyIndia poll got its
estimates wrong. The men-women
representation in the poll’s sample was 69 to 31.
Most of the pollsters, who had tied up with TV
channels, used their surveys to predict seat
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
shares — CSDS Lokniti didn’t. Vote share to seat
share conversions can be done in different ways.
The most commonly used method is by
assessing the swing in vote share for a particular
party from previous elections, either in a State
or to be more accurate, in a particular region
and to be more precise, if the sampling allows
the pollster to do so, in a particular
constituency. The swing for or against a party as
against the same for its opponent(s) can provide
the basis for whether an incumbent will be
returned from a particular constituency or
whether a party can retain a certain number of
seats in a region of a State or a State as a whole.
As veteran psephologist and media
personality Prannoy Roy points out in his book,
The Verdict, written with Dorab R. Sopariwala,
some pollsters look at swings from previous
polls and the “index of opposition unity” to
determine the margin of victory for a particular
candidate and predict seat share from vote
shares. None of the pollsters who tied up with
major television channels got their vote to seat
shares right. Since none of them have revealed
what they consider their “secret sauce” — the
conversion process — it is difficult to ascertain
why they got it wrong.
Is a close election difficult to predict?
It is evident that pollsters in India mostly get the
winner of an election and the seat shares closer
to reality when the outcome is decisive. When
elections are this close, pollsters rarely tend to
be accurate on vote and seat shares. Whether a
polling agency has done a good survey is clear
from what it reveals in its methodology — the
sample size, the mode of survey, the
representation of the sample, and inbuilt error
margins. If a survey doesn’t reveal these, it
should not be considered serious enough.
India: Insights for National Health Protection
Scheme’, noted that health insurance is an
important policy strategy to provide health care
services as well as reduce high out-of-pocket
expenditure which burden individuals. It points
out that for all India, the hospitalisation cases
are highest when insured from private purchase
(54.4 per 1,00,000 persons). In urban areas,
cases for inpatient care are observed to be
highest for those covered by government-funded
schemes (60.4 cases per 1,00,000 persons). On
the contrary, in rural areas, in-patient cases are
substantially higher for those purchasing private
insurance (73.5 cases per 1,00,000 persons).
Also, overall in-patient cases are higher for
urban areas compared to rural areas.
Arguing for the NHCX, the Health Ministry
states that the platform will help in
standardisation and interoperability of health
claims and will bring in seamless exchange of
data, documents and images between payer
(insurance company/TPA/government scheme
administrator) and provider (hospital/lab/poly
clinic). Industry experts also note that the
platform, through uniform data presentation
and centralised validation of claims data, could
bring in a more standardised approach to
healthcare pricing.
What are the challenges?
Health insurance contributes to approximately
29% of the total general insurance premium
income in India. The primary hurdle in health
insurance today lies in improving the
relationship between hospitals and insurance
companies, said Dr. Prakash, adding that the
push towards digitisation requires active
involvement from both parties, necessitating
upgrades to current IT systems and enhanced
workforce training. “Issues such as discharge
delays and miscommunication between
hospitals and insurers further complicate
matters. Building trust among policyholders
hinges on delivering efficient services. The
NHCX portal aims to streamline the claims
process by bringing all stakeholders onto one
platform, reducing claim times and
standardising procedures. While challenges like
data breaches are being effectively tackled, the
NHCX stands as an ongoing benefit for all
involved, facilitating smoother operations within
the healthcare space,” he said.
A ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
14 Sunday, June 9, 2024

PROFILES
Delhi

Return of the kingmaker

N. Chandrababu Naidu
The ‘CEO of Andhra Pradesh’ is back in power in the State with a resounding mandate and emerged as a key player at the Centre as his Telugu Desam Party is the second
largest constituent in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance
ILLUSTRATION: R. RAJESH
Appaji Reddem Cut to 2024: Mr. Naidu has extended which at that time was the biggest THE GIST
“unconditional” support to the NDA. Microsoft facility outside the U.S. 쑽

F
or Nara Chandrababu Naidu,
the 74-year-old Telugu Desam
Party (TDP) supremo, the
2024 elections brought a
double victory. His party captured
power in Andhra Pradesh by winning
135 seats in the 175-member Assembly,
and emerged as the second largest
party in the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) by securing 16 Lok
Sabha seats (out of the 25 in the State).
With the Narendra Modi-led
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) falling
short of the halfway mark in
Parliament by 32 seats, Mr. Naidu has
emerged as a kingmaker. The BJP is
also banking on the Janata Dal
(United), led by Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar, which won 12 Lok Sabha
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
The TDP’s emergence as a key ally Later, several global corporations, Chandrababu Naidu
of the BJP in a coalition government is mostly IT firms made a beeline to set became Chief Minister of
a timely opportunity for Mr. Naidu. He up shop in Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh for the
has already made it clear that the TDP However, in the 2004 polls, Mr. first time in 1995 after a
will be a part of the Union Cabinet and Naidu lost power to the Congress revolt against his
he may bargain for plum portfolios. party. There were criticisms that his father-in-law and the then
His immediate goal is to finish the high-tech governance overlooked the Chief Minister, N.T. Rama
incomplete task of rebuilding the economic conditions in the rural areas. Rao
bifurcated A.P. and, especially, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of the
Amaravati as the capital city — his Congress won two consecutive terms 쑽
brain child. and remained the CM till he died in a While in power, Naidu was
He fought the 2024 polls in an helicopter accident in 2009. Mr. Naidu hailed as the ‘CEO of A.P.’
alliance with the BJP and Pawan was back as CM post bifurcation of the as he promoted high-tech
Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party ( JSP). State in 2014. During this term, he and transparent
Explaining the logic behind the promised to build Amaravati like he governance
alliance, he stated that ‘without the once transformed Hyderabad. Now
Centre’s support, it is not possible to that he is back in power, his pet 쑽
rebuild the bifurcated A.P.” project is in the limelight again. However, in the 2004 polls,
Mr. Naidu may also revive his Naidu lost power to the

seats, and other smaller NDA partners,
to form the next government at the
Centre.
Post elections, there were rumours
that the Congress and the INDIA
alliance had offered the special
category status to Andhra Pradesh and
key portfolios to the TDP in return for
the party’s support, but Mr. Naidu,
who flew to Delhi to join an NDA
meeting after the results were
announced, made it clear that he
would stay with the BJP-led alliance.
Prime Minister Modi thanked Mr.
Naidu for extending the TDP’s support
for the NDA. And Mr. Naidu said Mr.
Modi is the right leader for India at the
right time, adding that balancing
regional aspirations with national
interests is a must for India, while
ensuring the holistic development for
all sections of society.
For record, Mr. Naidu played a key
role in national politics in 1996 and
2014 when he was the Chief Minister of
Andhra Pradesh. He extended his
support from outside to the Atal Bihari
Vajpayee government. In 2014, when
Mr. Modi came to power at the Centre,
he was part of the NDA, but the
alliance fell apart in 2018 as the
demand for the special category status
(SCS) for the bifurcated Andhra
Pradesh was not met. The TDP high
command then asked its Ministers in
the Union Cabinet — Ashok Gajapathi
Raju and Sujana Chowdary — to quit.
demand for the SCS for the State,
which was promised by the former
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in
the Rajya Sabha, in 2014 when A.P. was
bifurcated to carve out Telangana.
While the then ruling Congress offered
the SCS to AP for five years, the BJP
had endorsed the same to be extended
for 10 years. This apart, Mr. Naidu is
expected to seek the Centre’s support
for completing the long-pending
Polavaram Multipurpose Irrigation
Project, say TDP leaders.
Grandiose plan
As the first CM of bifurcated A.P. in
2014, Mr. Naidu came up with a
grandiose plan to build Amaravati with
the help of a Singapore consortium,
which submitted a master plan. He
could gather over 34,000 acres from
thousands of farmers in 29 villages
through a land pooling plan for
Amaravati.
But he could not complete the
project as he was voted out in 2019
and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR
Congress party came to power.
The YSR Congress government
came up with a three-capital plan:
Amaravati as legislative capital;
Visakhapatnam as executive capital
and Kurnool as judiciary capital, to
ensure decentralised development of
the State. But the plan did not take off
either within the five-year term of Mr.
Jagan’s government.
Mr. Naidu started his political career
right from his student years in Sri
Venkateswara University, Tirupati,
where he did MA in Economics.
Hailing from Naravari Palli in Chittoor
district, he joined the Congress party.
He became an MLA at the age of 28
and a Minister at the age of 30. Mr.
Naidu served as the Minister for
Cinematography, Technical Education,
Irrigation and Archives during T.
Anjaiah’s government between 1980
and 1983.
Later he married Bhuvaneswari,
daughter of the late N.T. Rama Rao, the
founder of the TDP and a doyen of
Telugu cinema. Later Mr. Naidu
switched to the TDP and became Chief
Minister in 1995 in united A.P. after a
revolt against his father-in-law and
Chief Minister NTR. During his 10-year
tenure, Mr. Naidu created a space for
Hyderabad in the global map as a
favourite IT destination.
During this time, Mr. Naidu was
termed the CEO of A.P. as he
promoted high-tech and transparent
governance. He convinced Bill Gates to
set up the Microsoft India
Development Centre in Hyderabad,
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
Jail term Congress party. There were
After his 2019 defeat, Mr. Naidu faced criticisms that his
multiple cases and was arrested in high-tech governance
September 2023 in a multicrore scam overlooked the economic
related to the Skill Development conditions in the rural
Corporation. He spent 53 days in jail. It areas
was a low point in his political career.
But it was at this time,
actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena
Party leader Pawan Kalyan announced
his support for the TDP after meeting
Mr. Naidu in Rajahmundry jail. Mr.
Kalyan also said he would work
towards bringing the JSP, the TDP and
the BJP together to form an alliance.
The trio fought the 2024 election
together, and the rest is history.
“It’s a wonderful result and such
huge majorities became possible only
due to the combined efforts of the
TDP, the Jana Sena and the BJP,” said
TDP State president K. Atchannaidu.
“The victory has enhanced our
responsibility multifold. The State is
sabotaged, systems failed and the
YSRCP has thrown the State into a
financial crisis. But still, I’m very
confident that the State is under the
able and experienced leadership of
Nara Chandrababu Naidu and a
stalwart like Narendra Modiji is the
PM; we will bring the State back on the
right track. And we will live up to the
responsibility given to us by people,”
he said. “I bow to the five crore Telugu
people in the State who gave us such a
great victory.”

The Dalit commander The giant killer

Chandrashekhar Azad Geniben Thakor
The leader of the Azad Samaj Party, who won from U.P.’s Nagina, says his work will be for Dalits, The Congress leader denied the BJP a hat-trick clean sweep of Gujarat by winning the
tribals, Muslims, youth and women, and it will always be against injustice Banaskantha constituency
ILLUSTRATIONS: SREEJITH R. KUMAR
Abhinay Lakshman CAA protests that had Mahesh Langa Chaudhary was her rival,
erupted across the country for all practical purposes,

S F
itting in his room at
the Western Court
MP Hostel along Jan-
path, Chandrashekhar
Azad fields calls on a
phone that does not stop
ringing. Two Uttar Pradesh
Police personnel are sitting
on the couch next to him.
There is a beeline of jour-
nalists, fellow MPs, politi-
cians, and political work-
ers waiting to meet him.
Among them is Manoj
Kumar, the newly-elected
Congress MP from Bihar’s
Sasaram — one of the 19 SC
seats the INDIA bloc
flipped from the BJP dur-
ing this Lok Sabha elec-
tion. After an endearing
embrace, Mr. Azad intro-
duces him to the room:
“He used to be a state unit
president of Azad Samaj
Party (the party Mr. Azad
founded) — a Majboot Cha-
mar.” Then he turns to Mr.
Kumar, “This is our mo-
ment. So what if we are
from different parties, we
are stepping into Parlia-
ment together now.”
Mr. Kumar replies,
“What can I say? Iss baar
Chamaron ne Samvidhaan
bacha diya hai bhai saab
(This time the Chamar peo-
ple have rescued the
Constitution).”
“This is what has hap-
pened in this election,” Mr.
Chandrashekhar, 37, tells
The Hindu as he tries to
prepare his schedule for
the next few weeks after
having won a decisive vic-
CM
YK
tory in Uttar Pradesh’s Na-
gina constituency — a tradi-
tional bastion of the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Mr. Chandrashekhar’s
victory by a margin of over
1.5 lakh votes on a seat like
Nagina, put together with
the BSP’s abysmal perfor-
mance this year (the party
drew a blank), is now giv-
ing more credence to the
argument that the fire-
brand leader has occupied
a special place among Dalit
voters in the region.
An Ambedkarite activist
and lawyer by education,
Mr. Chandrashekhar’s pol-
itics is built on a visible as-
sertion of his Dalit, specifi-
cally Chamar, identity. As
an activist, his initial focus
was on bringing volunteer-
run schools to the people
of his community.
One of the early instanc-
es that catapulted Mr.
Chandrashekhar and his
organisation, the Bhim Ar-
my, into the spotlight was
the installation of a board
in 2015 on a private land in
Gharkauli, proclaiming,
“The Great Chamar: Dr.
Bhimrao Ambedkar Vil-
lage, Gharkauli welcomes
you”, which triggered ob-
jection from Thakurs.
Ever since, the Bhim Ar-
my and its members have
worked hard to become
the first port of call for the
people of their community
— whether it is about atroc-
ities by upper caste folk or
police brutality or about
protecting Ambedkar sta-
tues from bulldozers.
The Bhim Army has also
organised protests de-
manding government ac-
tion against atrocities on
Dalits and arranged legal
help to the victims.
As the conversation in
Mr. Azad’s Western Court
quarters continues, he
says, “Now you see what
they are doing with the
Ambedkar statue’s reloca-
tion in Parliament com-
plex. I am not going to let
that go.”
Dalit-Muslim unity
A significant part of Mr.
Azad’s politics over the
years has also been to
build Dalit-Muslim unity,
which was buoyed by his
participation in the anti-
in December 2019. His
protests in front of the Del-
hi Police headquarters and
at Jama Masjid won him an
almost cult-like status.
Following the promi-
nence his politics gained
after this, Mr. Azad regis-
tered his party — the Azad
Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)
— and immediately started
preparing to build his polit-
ical organisation. In 2021,
TIME magazine put him on
a list of 100 “emerging
leaders who are shaping
the future”.
Now, as he prepares to
take oath as a member of
the 18th Lok Sabha, Mr.
Azad is clear about his
priorities — “My work will
be for the Scheduled Caste,
Scheduled Tribe, back-
ward classes, Muslims,
youth and women and it
will always be against injus-
tice,” he says, without get-
ting into the specifics ex-
cept one thing — the need
for a Caste Census.
At the same time, when
asked if he thought the
vote for his politics was
one rejecting Hindutva,
Mr. Azad was cautious in
his response. “Religion is a
personal thing. It should
not be brought into polit-
ics. So I won’t say this was
a rejection of anything, but
I will say this: BJP leaders
repeatedly talking about
making a theocratic nation
and their arrogance has
upset the people and they
have spoken accordingly.”
or the first time in a
decade, the Con-
gress will have a
member in the Lok Sabha
from Gujarat. In the 2014
and 2019 elections, the BJP
had swept the home State
of Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi, winning all 26
Lok Sabha seats.
However, in the just
concluded national polls,
Geniben Thakor, the 49-
year-old Congress candi-
date from Banaskantha in
North Gujarat denied a hat-
trick sweep to the BJP, by
defeating the ruling party’s
Rekha Chaudhary.
“Geniben has become a
giant killer not just for de-
feating the BJP candidate
but also for smashing the
BJP’s giant ego that Gujarat
was theirs,” said Gulabsinh
Rajput, a former Congress
legislator who played a key
role in Ms. Thakor’s victory
from Banaskantha, a rural
district where large num-
ber of residents are depen-
dent on dairy farming and
animal husbandry. The lo-
cal Banas Dairy is the lar-
gest among over a dozen
district milk unions that
make up the Gujarat Coop-
erative Milk Marketing Fed-
eration, which markets
dairy products under the
Amul brand. It was in Ba-
naskantha, where, during
the campaign, Prime Mi-
nister Modi said, “if you
had two buffaloes, the
Congress would take away
one if it is voted to power.”
Ms. Thakor comes from
a lower middle-class family
in Banaskantha. Thakors in
Gujarat are spread in the
North and Central regions
and are called OBC Kshatri-
ya. They are mainly en-
gaged in agriculture with
small holdings or are la-
bourers in the farms.
A student of the Jain
Vishwa Bharti Institute in
neighbouring Rajasthan,
Ms. Thakor joined the Con-
gress as a grassroots work-
er. In 2012, she contested
the Assembly elections
from Vav constituency but
lost. Five years later, she
defeated the BJP’s strong-
man Shankarbhai Chaud-
hary, who was a Minister
and chairman of the Banas
Dairy and Banaskantha
District Cooperative Bank.
In December 2022, she
won again even when the
Congress suffered a huge
defeat in the State, winning
only 17 out of 182.
In the parliamentary
polls, the Congress decid-
ed to field her from Banas-
kantha, a seat the party
last won in 2009, given her
popularity and fighting spi-
rit. Known for her rustic
speech and aggressive
style and seen as an ap-
proachable leader who at-
tends social gatherings fre-
quently, Ms. Thakor caught
the fancy of her communi-
ty.
Daunting challenge
Notwithstanding her pop-
ularity and the community
support she enjoyed, the
challenge of fighting a Lok
Sabha poll was daunting
on several counts. First,
she hardly had any finan-
cial support to take on the
BJP’s resources. Second,
neither she nor the Con-
gress party had a network
of workers and leaders to
match the BJP’s well-oiled
election machinery.
“It was a fight between
Banas Ni Ben (Sister of Ba-
nas) vs Banas Bank & Dairy.
Everyone in the district
knows how the BJP mis-
used the two institutes [the
diary and bank coopera-
tives] to win the polls and
yet, the people of Banas
have blessed their sister,”
Ms. Thakor said.
Though Rekhaben
the election was between
Ms. Thakor and local
strongman Shankar
Chaudhary, who is now the
Gujarat Assembly Speaker
and the head of the Banas
Dairy, which has an annual
turnover of over ₹15,000,
and vice chairman of the
Gujarat State Cooperative
Bank. In Gujarat, Chaud-
harys are a dominant caste
spread in the northern dis-
tricts such as Banaskantha,
Mehsana and Sabarkantha
and wield considerable
clout in local dairies.
To garner financial re-
sources, Ms. Thakor
crowdfunded her election,
urging the public to contri-
bute to her campaign,
which she said would de-
mocratise her contest and
make it participatory. “Ob-
viously, I had to ask people
to support me not only
with their votes but also
with their monetary con-
tribution because the sky
was the limit on the other
side with the bank and dai-
ry coffers,” she said, ad-
ding that she had urged pe-
ople to make small
contributions like ₹111.
“Her victory is huge
considering that she was
fighting not only against
the BJP, but also against the
state machinery, bootleg-
gers supported by the pol-
ice and cooperative institu-
tions,” said Congress
leader Jignesh Mevani,
who is also a legislator
from Banaskantha district.
A ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Sunday, June 9, 2024 15
Delhi
World
WASHINGTON COPENHAGEN WASHINGTON KYIV
U.S. destroys drones and missiles in ‘Danish leader Mette Frederiksen Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders Attacks in Russia-held Kherson,
Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen suffered light whiplash in assault’ dies in small plane crash at age 90 Luhansk leave 28 dead: officials

AP AFP AFP REUTERS

X X X X
American forces destroyed four drones and two anti-ship ballistic Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suffered a light William Anders, the former U.S. astronaut who took the historic Russia-installed officials in the partially occupied Ukrainian regions
missiles in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, whiplash injury after she was assaulted by a man in central “Earthrise” photo from space over 55 years ago, died in a plane of Kherson and Luhansk said Ukrainian attacks left at least 28
the U.S. military said on Friday. The Houthis have been targeting Copenhagen on Friday, her office said on Saturday. “Apart from crash on Friday at the age of 90, his family said. Anders had been people dead as Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange drone
vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in that, the Prime Minister is safe and sound, but she is shocked by the piloting a small plane which crashed off the coast of Washington attacks overnight into Saturday. Officials declared Saturday a day of
attacks they say are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. AFP incident,” it said. REUTERS state on Friday morning, his son told the U.S. media. AFP mourning in Luhansk. AP

UN to add Israel, Hamas to the global Hamas was hiding captives

list of offenders that harm children among civilians, says Israel
mani, 26, Almog Meir Jan,
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
Reuters An Israeli military
The Islamist group and the Jewish state are violating children’s rights and leaving them exposed to danger, António JERUSALEM/CAIRO spokesperson said 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and
Shlomi Ziv, 41. They were
Guterres will tell the UN Security Council; ‘adding Israel to the list of shame will not bring back our children,’ says Palestine Israeli forces rescued four
the rescue operation
taken to hospital for medi-
was conducted in
hostages held by Hamas cal checks and were in
Associated Press this month will likely just him that Israel would be in since October in a raid in a residential area good health, the military
UNITED NATIONS put more of a global spot- the report when it is sent to Gaza on Saturday while ov- said.
light on the country’s con- the Council next week, UN er 200 Palestinians were They were all kid-
he UN Secretary- duct of the war in Gaza and spokesman Stéphane Du- killed in airstrikes in the rescue operation unfolded napped from the Nova

T General will tell the

Security Council
next week that both Israel
and Hamas are violating
children’s rights and leav-
ing them exposed to dan-
ger in their war to elimi-
nate each other.
The Secretary-General
annually makes a global list
of states and militias that
are menacing children and
threatening them. Parties
on the list have ranged
from the Kachin Indepen-
dence Army in Myanmar to
— last year — Russia during
its war with Ukraine. Now
Distressing scene: Palestinians look at the aftermath of an Israeli
strike on a UN-run school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. AP
Israel is set to join them.
António Guterres sends
the list to the Security
Council and the council
can then decide whether
to take action. The United
States is one of five veto-
wielding permanent coun-
cil members and has been
reluctant to act against
Israel.
The inclusion of Israel
increase already high ten-
sions in its relationship
with the global body.
‘Killing children’
The preface of last year’s
UN report says it lists par-
ties engaged in “the killing
and maiming of children,
rape and other forms of
sexual violence perpetrat-
ed against children, attacks
on schools, hospitals and
protected persons.”
The head of Mr. Gu-
terres’ office called Israel’s
UN Ambassador Gilad Er-
dan on Friday to inform
jarric said.
The militant groups Ha-
mas and Palestinian Islam-
ic Jihad will also be listed.
Palestine’s UN ambassa-
dor said that adding Israel
to the “‘list of shame,’ will
not bring back tens of
thousands of our children
who were killed by Israel
over decades.”
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said,
“The UN put itself on the
black list of history today”
as the move heightened
the long-running feud bet-
ween Israel and the UN.
same area, according to
Hamas officials, in one of
the bloodiest Israeli as-
saults of the war.
It was not immediately
clear if the hostage rescue
and the Israeli air assault
were part of the same op-
eration but both took place
in central Gaza’s al-Nusei-
rat, a densely built-up and
often embattled area in the
eight-month-old war bet-
ween Israel and Hamas,
the Palestinian territory’s
ruling Islamist group.
An Israeli military spo-
kesperson said the hostage
under fire in the heart of a
residential neighbour-
hood, where he said Ha-
mas had been hiding cap-
tives among Gaza civilians
under guard by armed
militants.
Israeli forces returned
fire, including with air-
strikes, added the spokes-
person, Rear Admiral Da-
niel Hagari. An Israeli
special forces commander
was killed during the oper-
ation, a police statement
said.
Israel named the res-
cued hostages as Noa Arga-
music festival during the
deadly raid by Hamas-led
Palestinian militants on Is-
raeli towns and villages
near Gaza on October 7,
which precipitated the de-
vastating war in the Ha-
mas-run enclave.
Hamas’ raid killed some
1,200 people, according to
Israeli authorities, and Is-
rael’s subsequent bom-
bardment and invasion of
Gaza has killed at least
36,801 Palestinians, ac-
cording to an updated tally
by the territory’s Health
Ministry on Saturday.

Macron hosts Biden, Countdown begins Pakistan, China agree

trade ties on agenda to upgrade Corridor
Associated Press The two allies aim Press Trust of India
PARIS to show off their ISLAMABAD

President Joe Biden is be-
ing feted by French Presi-
dent Emmanuel Macron
with a state visit on Satur-
day as the two allies aim to
show off their partnership
on global security issues
and move past trade
tensions.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Ma-
cron attended ceremonies
marking the 80th anniver-
sary of D-Day on Thursday
and met separately the fol-
lowing day with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Ze-
lenskyy in Paris.
The leaders both used
those engagements to un-
derscore the urgent need
to support Kyiv’s fight
partnership on global
security issues, move
past trade tensions
against Russia’s invasion.
But Mr. Macron and Mr.
Biden have often chafed at
the pace of support for Uk-
raine, especially as the Un-
ited States was forced to
pause aid shipments for
months.
The state visit began
with a ceremony at the Arc
de Triomphe and a mili-
tary parade along the
Champs-Élysées leading to
the Élysée Palace
“Proud to be here,” Mr.
Biden said.
Pakistan Prime Minister
Shehbaz Sharif and Chi-
nese President Xi Jinping
in their meeting have af-
firmed consensus on the
upgradation of the China-
Pakistan Economic Corri-
dor (CPEC) and advancing
high-quality development Chinese President Xi Jinping,
of the multi-billion dollar Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif.
project in the second
phase. The leaders held an the first meeting of Mr.
in-depth discussion at the Sharif with Mr. Xi since as-
historic Great Hall of the suming office in 2024.
People in Beijing on Friday The CPEC, which con-
during the five-day official nects Gwadar Port in Pakis-
visit of Mr. Sharif which be- tan’s Balochistan with Chi-
gan on June 4. na’s Xinjiang province, is
The leaders were ac- the flagship project of Chi-
Ballot sorting: An electoral worker climbs onto a table as European and local ballot papers are separated before starting the count, at a companied by the Minis- na’s ambitious Belt and
local election counting centre, in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday. REUTERS ters and officials. This was Road Initiative (BRI).

Bicycle-sharing, infrastructure push make cycling a popular choice in China

Nikhil M. Babu
BEIJING/FUJIAN
On a May morning, in the
Jianguomen area in the
heart of Beijing, a father
was teaching his son how
to ride a bicycle, a mother
and son duo came and
parked their bicycles at a
designated area, and a col-
lege student locked his
bike using his smartphone
after reaching his
destination.
“I use shareable bicycles
every morning to go to my
college. It’s easy and
cheaper compared to cabs
and is also environmental-
ly friendly,” said Zhang Yi
Fei, 23.
Mr. Zhang is not alone
and this trend is not limit-
ed to Jianguomen.
Across Beijing, people
riding blue, yellow and
green bicycles are hard to
miss and one can see do-
zens of bikes, at times hun-
dreds, parked outside me-
tro stations. These
CM
YK
shareable bicycles belong-
ing to three different priv-
ate companies have made
cycling hassle-free and
popular.
One can unlock a bicy-
cle by scanning a QR code
using a mobile app, ride it
and park it at a different
stand and pay using the
same app.
For example, from Jian-
guomen metro station to
Ritan Park, which is less
than 2 km, there are at
least five cycle stands. It is
1.5 yuan (around ₹17) for a
30-minute ride and you
can also take unlimited
monthly or annual passes
for as little as 17 and 200
yuan, respectively
Liu Daizong, East Asia
Director of the Institute for
Transportation and Deve-
lopment Policy (ITDP), an
organisation that works
with governments to de-
sign and implement tran-
sport and urban develop-
ment systems, said he
cycles to and from work ev-
ery day using shareable
bicycles.
“It takes me about 45
minutes to ride 10 km to
work in the morning and it
is one of the best ways to
commute in Beijing and it
is a good exercise, too,” Mr.
Liu said.
Infrastructure push
In Beijing, there are sepa-
rate bicycle lanes in most
parts of the city. These
lanes are marked on the
main road by intermittent
broad red stripes on the
right side of the road or
large white signs of cycle.
The government has
built a 6.5-km dedicated
three-lane bicycle track in
the northwest part of the
city, which is 6 metres
wide. About 3 km of this is
an elevated bicycle lane
that runs over the main
roads.
It connects the Huilong-
guan area, where housing
is comparatively cheaper,
with the Shangdi area,
Hassle-free: The shareable bicycles belonging to three different
private companies have made cycling popular. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
which hosts many technol-
ogy companies.
Cycle lanes are not limit-
ed to Beijing. In different
cities of Fujian and Hainan,
two coastal provinces in
the southeast and south of
China, bicycle-sharing is
picking up and cycle lanes
are seen.
But there are problems,
too. An increasing number
of electric scooters/bikes
use the cycle lanes and
whoosh past cyclists at
higher speeds.
In Xiamen, a city in Fu-
jian, cycle tracks were seen
on the sidewalks and not
on the main road like in
Beijing. Sometimes the
tracks were not marked
separately on the side-
walks, leading to pedes-
trians, cycles, and electric
bikes, sharing the same
space.
Interestingly, China’s bi-
cycle journey over the
years has not been a
smooth one.
“In the 1960s, owning a
bicycle means you were
rich and it was like owning
a car today,” said Mr. Liu.
But by the 1980s, it would
not be uncommon to see
thousands of cyclists, rath-
er than cars, crowd the
streets of major cities dur-
ing the rush hour com-
mute, and China was often
recognised as the ‘King-
dom of Bicycles’, accord-
ing to the ITDP.
“But in the early 1990s,
the number of buses on
the roads increased and in
the later half of 1990s, the
number of cars also grew.
China was trying to adopt
the U.S. model of econom-
ic development,” Mr. Liu
said.
A 2004 article pu-
blished by the state-
run China Daily, titled
“China ends bicycle king-
dom as embracing cars”,
speaks about how more
people were buying cars.
Mr. Liu said that slowly
the number of cycles fell
and people started asso-
ciating cars with economic
progress and success.
But air pollution and
traffic congestion became
a problem in many cities.
“When China hosted the
Olympics in 2008, facto-
ries were shut down for a
month in Beijing to show
the world that the air was
clean,” Mr. Liu said.
Concrete steps
After the Olympics, people
started demanding perma-
nent solutions and the go-
vernment also started se-
riously looking for
solutions.
“After Xi Jinping became
President in 2012, the go-
vernment took many con-
crete steps and pumped in
more money and cycles
were seen as a solution to
both the problems,” he
added.
In the early 2010s, bicy-
cle-sharing started becom-
ing popular. By 2016, there
were many private compa-
nies providing shareable
bicycles. Bicycles were
dumped in the streets, and
in 2017, the government
stepped in to regulate
them. “By of 2017-en, 90%
of these private companies
went bankrupt and what
we are seeing now are the
ones who survived and the
second generation of
shareable bicycles,” Mr.
Liu said.
He added that people’s
mindset is also changing
and since COVID-19, more
people have taken up cy-
cling. Bicycles are also part
of Mr. Xi’s “Healthy China
2030” policy.
“China still needs more
infrastructure for bicycles
and can learn from cities
such as Copenhagen and
Paris. But China can also
be a model for many other
countries,” he said.
(The correspondent is in
China at the invitation of
the China Public Diploma-
cy Association)
A ND-NDE

16
NOTHING NEW
We used to play Pakistan once in
four years, now it’s different: Rohit
X X
Playing against Pakistan in the World Cup does not feel particularly
different from any other game, India captain Rohit Sharma said.
“We used to play them once in four years, now it is different. We
play them more often. Nothing changes for me. We must approach
this as another international game,” Rohit said.
On the prowl India faces ‘cornered tiger’ Pakistan
Rohit’s men will be the happier side heading into the big-ticket affair while their counterparts are in a must-win situation after the demoralising loss against USA; the focus will be on the pitch again
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
T20 WORLD CUP
Ashwin Achal
NEW YORK
t is the Super Bowl on
I steroids. This is how a
Nassau County official
described the India-Pakis-
tan Group-A clash which
will be held on Sunday.
The marquee affair of a
World Cup has come to
new shores, but the hype
and excitement has not
dipped. Tickets for the
34,000-capacity Nassau
County International
Cricket Stadium is long
sold out, with prices now
soaring high in the reseller
market.
Pakistan, smarting from
an upset at the hands of
USA, will have to revert to
the “cornered tigers” ava-
tar made famous by their
predecessors from the
1992 ODI World Cup. It is
all or nothing for Babar
Azam’s men. Another loss
would seriously jeopardise
its progress to the Super 8
stage.
India enters in better
shape, having whipped Ire-
land at the same venue in
its opening game. Only the
top-order batters were
needed on the day, while
the fast bowlers Arshdeep
Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mo-
hammed Siraj and Hardik
Pandya got a full and satis-
fying work out.
Bumrah, the player of
the match when the sides
clashed in the 2023 ODI
World Cup, was nearly un-
playable on Wednesday.
Pakistan might be forced to
see out his quota of four
Pakistan would look to exploit the Miller saves South Africa’s blushes
vagaries of the New York deck
Sunil Gavaskar
India versus Pakistan is a
match looked forward to
by millions of cricket lovers
across the Indian subconti-
nent and also by many oth-
ers all over the world.
In recent times India’s
dominance over Pakistan,
especially in the white-ball
format, with the odd stum-
ble like in the ICC T20
World Cup in Dubai in
2020, has made Indian
CM
YK
K.R. DEEPAK
Back on his feet: Rohit hit the nets after an injury scare against Ireland. K.R. DEEPAK
overs and look for scoring
options elsewhere.
A shoddy pitch, mean-
while, could turn out to be
a dampener. The toss plays
a big role, as the side bat-
ting first runs the risk of be-
ing blown apart. This
grand occasion deserves
more than a low-scoring
one-sided affair.
Given the up and down
nature of surfaces here, it
was a surprise to see the In-
dian batters face the pacers
at full tilt in their nets ses-
fans a lot less nervous and
more confident about their
team. They will be even
more confident after Pakis-
tan crashed to a defeat to
hosts USA in their first
match in this campaign.
The shorter the format,
the greater the chances of
an upset, for it takes just a
couple of deliveries or a
couple of lusty hits to turn
the game on its head. Pa-
kistan will want to come
charging back and they
know that the one sure
way of restoring their fans’
faith is by beating India.
In normal circumstanc-
es, India, with its all-round
strength, would be a shoo-
IRRELEVANT
Pakistan’s loss against USA holds
no significance, says Rohit
Pakistan’s heart-breaking defeat at the hands of USA does not hold
significance when it comes to form or momentum in T20s,
according to India skipper Rohit. “Pakistan lost to Zimbabwe in the
2022 T20 World Cup, but they made it to the final eventually.
Anything can happen in T20 cricket,” Rohit said.
sion on Friday. The worst
fears nearly came true
when Rohit Sharma took a
blow to the finger by way
of a rising delivery from
left-arm throwdown spe-
cialist Nuwan Seneviratne.
Rohit grimaced in pain and
took an extended break.
Much to the team manage-
ment’s relief, he shook it
off and continued to bat.
Speedsters Shaheen
Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mo-
hammad Amir and Haris
Rauf may not have fired
in to clinch the game.
That said, the pitch at
the New York stadium is, to
put it mildly, a bit tricky
and that evens things up
for Pakistan as their bow-
lers could exploit that to
good effect.
Of course, they will have
to bowl better than what
they did against USA where
they bowled some rubbish
particularly in the Super
Over. But, every Pakistan
player knows that a match-
turning performance
against India means he will
be remembered forever.
If Pakistan wins the toss
and bowl first, then the
morning freshness of the
THE HINDU
Sport
K.R. DEEPAK
against USA, but when pre-
sented with a helpful sur-
face, can do similar dam-
age. It is the flailing batting
unit which requires imme-
diate redressal.
India-Pakistan games
has a habit of conjuring
magical moments. Virat
Kohli’s majestic straight six
off Haris Rauf in the 2022
T20 World Cup. Sachin
Tendulkar’s square cut ov-
er the point fence which
left Shoaib Akhtar shell-
shocked in 2003. Venka-
pitch, added to its chal-
lenging bounce, could
make it tough for the In-
dian batters. India has a
couple of bruised batters
in skipper Rohit Sharma
and Rishabh Pant, and
they don’t need any more
as the tournament pro-
gresses to the business
end. As always, this will be
a contest between the In-
dian batters and Pakistan
bowlers.
India start as the favou-
rites but Pakistan can be
unpredictable. Even more
than the pitch at the New
York stadium.
(Professional Manage-
ment Group)
DIFFERENT LENS
Seeing the same frenzy I saw when
I was the India coach, says Kirsten
X X
During his tenure with India, Gary Kirsten saw the hype surrounding
India-Pakistan games. This time around, as the Pakistan coach,
Kirsten gets a view from a different lens. “I see the same frenzy I saw
when I was the India coach. It is great to be a part of these games. I
have seen two of them, it’s great to be involved again.”
tesh Prasad’s send-off to
Aamer Sohail at the M.
Chinnaswamy Stadium in
1996.
This tournament needs
another iconic image to
showcase cricket in the
best light in the USA.
The teams (from): India: Rohit
Sharma (Capt.), Hardik Pandya,
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli,
Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant,
Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube,
Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel,
Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra
Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit
Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (Capt.),
Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar
Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar
Ahmed, Imad Wasim,
Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad
Amir, Mohammad Rizwan,
Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub,
Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi,
and Usman Khan.
Agence France-Presse
NEW YORK
South Africa overcame an
early batting collapse be-
fore sealing a four-wicket
victory over bogey team
the Netherlands in its T20
World Cup Group-D clash
on Saturday.
The Proteas, chasing a
modest victory target of
104 after opting to bowl
first, looked to be in peril
after slumping to 12 for
four after 4.3 overs.
But David Miller’s un-
beaten 59 steadied the ship
and dragged South Africa
over the line.
Rampant Afghanistan
mauled a lethargic New
Zealand by 84 runs to grab
top spot in Group-C on
Friday.
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Delhi
MOVING ON
I don’t think I need to motivate
the team for this game: Kirsten
K.R. DEEPAK AFP
Pakistan’s defeat to USA in the previous outing is a thing of the past,
Kirsten said. “I don’t think I need to motivate the team for this
game. The important thing is to operate as a team. Playing games
like this is a real team effort. The team is motivated. Two days ago is
gone; we can’t take it back. We need to make sure we play the best.”
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
Even the curator is confused
about the NY track, says Rohit
Ashwin Achal
NEW YORK
Rohit Sharma did not agree
with suggestions that the
Indian team’s familiarity
with conditions here
counts as an advantage ov-
er Pakistan.
India has played two
matches at the Nassau
County International
Cricket Stadium, while Pa-
kistan only had a nets ses-
sion here on Saturday.
Not our house
“New York is not our
house. We have only spent
four to six days here. It
rained for three days and
we did not practice. We
don’t know what pitch we
will get, and we don’t
know how it will play,” Ro-
hit said on the eve of the In-
dia-Pakistan Group-A clash
here.
There were chuckles in
the press conference hall
when Rohit spoke about
his interaction with the
pitch curator.
“The curator was con-
fused about how the track
will play; how much grass
to remove or leave on. If
the pitch curator is con-
fused, then imagine how
confused we players are,”
Rohit said.
The pitch might be a mi-
nefield, but that is no rea-
son for batters to give up
without a fight, Rohit said.
“It is tough, but that is
where experience counts.
The reason they are repre-
senting the country is be-
cause they are mentally Titans: Kohli’s blistering starts in the PowerPlay and Bumrah’s
tough. You want to thrive toe-crushing yorkers will be key to India’s success. K.R. DEEPAK
in difficult conditions. This
is the World Cup — nothing On Rishabh Pant’s eleva- middle to bat freely, take
can get bigger than this. tion to the number three on attacks, and play maxi-
You are playing for your spot, Rohit revealed: “We mum deliveries. Besides
nation. These blows to the have three right handers in the openers, none of the
body are secondary. You the top four, so it is nice to other positions are fixed.
need to put the team’s get a southpaw in. We We will be flexible with our
cause first,” Rohit said. wanted someone in the batting order.”
Group-D contest in Dallas
on Friday.
The scores:
Group-C: At Georgetown:
Afghanistan 159/6 in 20 overs
(Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim Zadran 44,
Boult 2/22, Henry 2/37) bt New
Zealand 75 in 15.2 overs (Farooqi
4/17, Nabi 2/16, Rashid 4/17);
Toss: NZ; PoM: Gurbaz.
Group-D: At Dallas: Sri Lanka
124/9 in 20 overs (Nissanka 47,
Taskin 2/25, Hossain 3/22,
Mustafizur 3/17) lost to
Bangladesh 125/8 in 19 overs
Killer Miller: The South African is all pumped up after his (Litton 36, Hridoy 40, Thushara
calm approach sealed the deal in a low-scoring thriller. AP 4/18, Pathirana 2/27); Toss:
Bangladesh; PoM: Hossain.
Set a target of 160, the 56-ball 80, while Fazalhaq At New York: Netherlands 103/9
in 20 overs (Engelbrecht 40,
Black Caps were dismissed Farooqi and Rashid Khan
Jansen 2/20, Baartman 4/11,
for 75 in 15.2 overs to suffer returned identical figures Nortje 2/19) lost to South Africa
their first defeat against Af- (four for 17) to clinch the 106/6 in 18.5 overs (Stubbs 33,
ghanistan in T20Is. tie. Miller 59 n.o., Kingma 2/12, van
Opener Rahmanullah Bangladesh beat Sri Beek 2/21); Toss: South Africa;
Gurbaz led the way with a Lanka by two wickets in a PoM: Miller.
A ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Sunday, June 9, 2024 17
Delhi
Sport

INBRIEF
쑽 It’s a hat-trick of titles for
Swiatek at Roland Garros
Extends her reign as she dominates Paolini to breeze through in straight sets; the Pole becomes
only the third woman to win the tournament three years running after Henin and Seles

Associated Press
PARIS Battle of equals: Alcaraz and Zverev will give it their all in their
quest to get their hands on the elusive title. AFP
Poland’s Milik to miss Euro oland’s Iga Swiatek

2024 with knee injury P extended her

French Open reign
on Saturday as she
Alcaraz-Zverev bid
Poland attacker Arkadiusz Milik will miss Euro
2024 after suffering a knee injury in a
thrashed Jasmine Paolini
6-2, 6-1 in the final to win for maiden title in
pre-tournament warm-up match, the Polish her third successive Ro-
federation (PZPN) announced on Saturday. The
Juventus player, 30, suffered the injury during a
land Garros title.
World No. 1 Swiatek
final face-off
3-1 friendly win for the Poles against Ukraine in dominated Italian 12th
Warsaw on Friday. seed Paolini, a first-time Reuters Nadal. I wanted to put my
Grand Slam finalist, need- PARIS name on that list of the
ing just 68 minutes to cap- Spanish players who won
ture a fourth crown in five Carlos Alcaraz will face a this tournament.” Not only
Anshu Malik settles for silver years in Paris. major test of nerves when Rafa. ( Juan Carlos) Ferre-
Swiatek has now won all he takes on Alexander Zve- ro, (Carlos) Moya, (Albert)
medal in Budapest five Grand Slam finals she rev in a potentially high-oc- Costa, a lot of Spanish
has contested. Her other tane French Open men’s players, legends from our
Anshu Malik could not match the skills of her victory came at the 2022 singles final as both players sport who won this tourna-
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

21-year-old Chinese rival Kexin Hong in the final, US Open.
bowing out tamely to settle for a silver in the 57kg She is the fourth woman
category of the Budapest Ranking Series in the Open era to lift the
wrestling in Budapest. Competing against the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen
No.1 ranked Chinese, Anshu lost 1-12 on technical four times — after Justine
superiority against the Hangzhou Asian Games Henin, Chris Evert and
bronze medallist in the 53kg category. Steffi Graf.
Clicking into gear
“It’s amazing to be here. I
Leverkusen signs French love this place. I wait every
year to come back,” said
teenager Belocian Swiatek, who clicked into
gear after saving a match
Bundesliga champion Bayer Leverkusen has point against Naomi Osaka
signed French teenager Jeanuel Belocian from in the second round.
Ligue 1 side Rennes until 2029, the German club “I was almost out of the
announced on Friday. Sky Germany reported the tournament,” she said.
centre-back arrived for a fee of €15 million. Swiatek becomes only
Calling the defender “a great talent”, Leverkusen the third woman to win the
sporting director Simon Rolfes said the tournament three years
19-year-old “has the potential to become an running.
important player for Bayer Leverkusen”. Henin, in 2005-07, was
the last to do so. Monica
Seles also achieved the feat
as a teenager at the start of
the 1990s.
At 23, her four Roland
Garros titles is the same
number Rafael Nadal, the
record 14-time champion,
had at the same age.
For the 28-year-old Pao-
lini it was a sorry conclu-
sion, at least in singles, to
an otherwise brilliant fort-
night in the French capital.
The World No. 15 had
won a total of four matches
in 16 Grand Slam appea-
rances before advancing to
the fourth round of the
Australian Open in
January.
“I have to say congratu-
lations to you, Iga,” said
Paolini. “I think to play you
here is the toughest chal-
lenge in this sport.”
look to claim a maiden Ro-
land Garros title on Sun-
day. Alcaraz, who already
has two Grand Slam titles
to his name, has been seen
as Rafael Nadal’s successor
on the Paris clay.
In Friday’s last-four en-
counter against Jannik Sin-
ner, he owed his long co-
meback from a woeful,
tense start to the Italian’s
inconsistency.
As long as he is mentally
prepared for the challenge,
however, Alcaraz, the
youngest to reach a Grand
Slam final on all three sur-
faces - hard, clay and grass
- will be the favourite to lift
the Musketeers Cup and
add his name to the list of
Spanish players.
“I watched a lot of
matches. Of course Rafa
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
ment. I really want to put
my name on that list.”
Fourth seed Zverev,
who scored a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4,
6-2 victory over Casper Ru-
ud in the semifinals on Fri-
day, will look to settle a
score with the tournament
itself, having been elimi-
nated in the semifinals
here in the three previous
editions while still chasing
his maiden Grand Slam tit-
le. He has reached the final
at a major once previously,
at the 2020 U.S. Open.
Zverev, who has been
tested in marathon match-
es here this year, has ho-
wever been playing some
of his best tennis, and his
ability to prevent Alcaraz
from revving up his devas-
tating forehand will be a
key of the contest.

Carlsen the king, Pragg Seventh straight loss Sahaja loses to

takes the third spot
NORWAY CHESS
Man City goalie Ortega signs
one-year contract extension Sports Bureau
Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega has Magnus Carlsen and Ju
signed a one-year contract extension, saying he Wenjun emerged the
feels “motivated and challenged” at the English champions of the Norway
champion. The 31-year-old German, who joined Chess tournament at Sta-
the club in 2022, extended his stay to the vanger on Friday. Carlsen,
summer of 2026. Ortega is City’s back-up with 17.5 points, was the
goalkeeper but injury to Ederson meant he came clear winner in the open
on against Tottenham in a crucial Premier section, as was Ju, with 19,
League match when he denied Son Heung-min in the women’s.
with a fine save late on, featured in City’s final In the final round, the
league game and made his 20th appearance of local hero defeated Fabia-
the campaign in the FA Cup final defeat to no Caruana of the USA in
Manchester United. Armageddon. His closest
rival, Hikaru Nakamura
(USA), was beaten by R.
Praggnanandhaa, also in
LIVE TELECAST Armageddon.
Nakamura still finished
쑽 Pia Cramling (Swe); Anna
Badminton: Indonesia Open, Sports 18-1 (SD & HD) & JioCi- runner-up with 15.5 points,
nema, 10.30 a.m. while the Chennai teenag-
Hockey: Pro League: Great Britain vs India (Women), Sports er took third place with
18-1 (SD & HD) & JioCinema, 4.30 p.m.; Great Britain vs India, 14.5. Alireza Firouzja of
Sports 18-1 (SD & HD) & JioCinema, 7 p.m. France, with 13.5 points,
Roland Garros: Sony Sports Ten 2, 5 (SD & HD) & LIV, 6.30 ended up fourth after in-
p.m. flicting yet another defeat
T20 World Cup: India vs Pakistan, Star Sports 1 (SD & HD) & on World champion Ding
Hotstar, 8 p.m.; SS Select 1 (SD & HD) & Hotstar, 10.30 p.m.
F-1: Canadian GP, F1 TV, F1 TV Pro App & FanCode, 11.30 p.m. Stimac drops Bose, Ranawade
Liren.
The Chinese player fin-
Clear winner: Carlsen, left, defeated Caruana in Armageddon in
the final round. NORWAY CHESS
ished last, scoring just se-
ven points, 4.5 behind the
fifth-placed Caruana.
Ju ended her campaign
on a high note, beating
compatriot Lei Tingjie in
the classical game. Lei took
third place with 14.5
points, 1.5 behind the run-
ner-up Anna Muzychuk of
Ukraine.
The final day brought
disappointment for both
the Indian women, who
lost in Armageddon — R.
Vaishali to Pia Cramling of
Sweden and Koneru Hum-
py to Muzychuk.
The results (10th round):
Open: Magnus Carlsen (Nor) bt
Fabiano Caruana (USA); R.
Praggnanandhaa bt Hikaru
Nakamura (USA); Ding Liren (Chn)
lost to Alireza Firouzja (Fra).
Women: Ju Wenju (Chn) bt Lei
Tingjie (Chn); R. Vaishali lost to
Muzychuk (Ukr) bt Koneru
Humpy.
Standings: Open: 1. Carlsen
17.5 points, 2. Nakamura 15.5, 3.
Praggnanandhaa 14.5, 4. Firouzja
13.5, 5. Caruana 11.5, 6. Ding 7.
Women: 1. Ju 19 points, 2.
Muzychuk 16, 3. Lie 14.5, 4.
Vaishali 12.5, 5. Humpy 10, 6.
Cramling 8.
for Indian women
HOCKEY
Press Trust of India
LONDON
The Indian women’s hock-
ey team could not break its
sequence of half-a-dozen
consecutive losses in the
FIH Pro League, losing to
Germany 4-2, its seventh
consecutive defeat in the
tournament here on
Saturday.
Squandering advantage
The Indians squandered a
two-goal advantage after
Sunelita Toppo (ninth) and
Deepika (15th) scored ex-
cellent field goals in the
opening quarter to give the
Harendra Singh-coached
side the the best chance to
break the jinx.
The lead was cancelled
out by Germany’s Viktoria
Huse, who converted pe-
nalty corners in the 23rd
and 32nd minutes to bring
her team on the level
terms.
Stinne Kurz (51st) then
converted a penalty corner
before Jule Bleuel scored a
field goal in the 55th mi-
nute of the contest to pile
on more misery on the In-
dians.
Poor results
The latest defeat comes af-
ter India had lost all its four
matches against Belgium
and Argentina in Antwerp
last month and then suc-
cumbed to defeats against
Germany and Great Britain
here last weekend.
India will play Great Bri-
tain in its last Pro League
match on Sunday.
The result: Germany 4 (Viktoria
Huse 23, 32, Stinne Kurz 51, Jule
Bleuel 55) bt India 2 (Sunelita
Toppo 9, Deepika 15).
Maria in
quarterfinals
Sports Bureau
Sahaja Yamalapalli lost 6-3,
7-5 to Maria Mateas in the
quarterfinals of
$60,000 ITF women’s ten-
the
nis in Sumter, USA.
Other results: €148,625
Challenger, Surbiton, Britain:
Doubles: Semifinals: Nicolas
Barrientos (Col) & Diego Hidalgo
(Ecu) bt Yuki Bhambri & Lloyd
Glasspool (GBR) 6-3, 7-6(7).
$25,000 ITF men, Cordoba,
Spain: Doubles: Final: Blake
Bayldon (Aus) & Mats Hermans
(Ned) bt Siddhant Banthia &
Tennyson Whiting (USA) 7-6(3),
6-3.
$15,000 ITF, Monastir:
Semifinals: Men: Cengiz Aksu
(Tur) bt Manish Sureshkumar 6-2,
6-1. Women: Patricija Paukstyte
(Ltu) bt Zeel Desai 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
$15,000 ITF women, Santo
Domingo Pre-quarterfinals:
Antonia Schmidt (Ger) bt Saumya
Vig 6-1, 6-0; Jessica Gomez (Mex)
bt Sharmada Balu 6-1, 6-1; Riya
Bhatia bt Sabastiani Leon (USA)
6-3, 6-4.

and Lalchungnunga for away

‘Keen to be in the top-3 in Asia and in Olympics in eight years’ match against Qatar
BASKETBALL
K. Keerthivasan
CHENNAI
Aadhav Arjuna, president
of the Basketball Federa-
tion of India (BFI), is slowly
and steadily putting in
place a grassroots system
required to make the sport
a truly professional one.
He is looking at the Indian
men’s team competing in
the Olympics in eight
years.
Speaking to the media
after BFI’s AGM here on Sa-
turday, the 42-year-old
said: “Our ambition is to
ensure India takes part in
the 3x3 format at the 2028
CM
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es. Once the organising
partner (for the profession-
al league called the Nation-
al Star Basketball League)
is finalised (likely on June
25), the league will begin in
six to eight months,” said
Aadhav.
“We are firming up our
grassroots structure. We
have signed up with Mani-
pal University and will sign
Grassroots development: BFI officials see the new league as a an MOU with Corvuss
chance to take Indian basketball to newer heights. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT American Academy in
Mumbai soon. According
Los Angeles Olympics and has been the talking point to the MOU, we will select
be a top-3 team in Asia in in basketball circles for a 30 boys and 30 girls in
four years. We are keen to decade or so, is likely to be- U-13, U-16 and U-18 catego-
take India in top-3 in Asia gin in six to eight months. ries from the Nationals and
in 5x5 format and be in the “The tender process for groom them in the acade-
Olympics in eight years.” 3x3 and 5x5 is midway and mies we are setting up
The professional league we are very happy with the across India,” he said.
(men & women), which support of corporate hous- Aadhav added that the
BFI has created a Talent
Research Wing (TRW) simi-
lar to the ones existing in
cricket. It will have promi-
nent former players and
coaches who will play a
crucial role in developing
academies and scouting
for talent.
“TRW has Aman Shar-
ma, SAI coach, who will al-
so be the TRW Chairman;
India coach S. Baskar who
is with SAI and has been
deputed to BFI. We also
have Arnika Gujar Patil, a
FIBA Instructor, and form-
er India star Ramkumar,”
he said.
Aadhav has a mountain
to climb, but he is not in a
tearing hurry to achieve
his goals.
FOOTBALL
Press Trust of India
KOLKATA
Indian football head coach
Igor Stimac on Saturday
named a 23-member squad
without the defensive trio
of Mohun Bagan veteran
Subhasish Bose, Mumbai
FC’s Amey Ranawade and
Lalchungnunga of East
Bengal for its away World
Cup Qualifier against Qatar
on Tuesday.
Stimac chose to give Jay
Gupta the debut as both
Bose and Ranawade start-
ed on the bench and did
not get any minutes in
their match against
Kuwait.
India has five points and
is behind table-topper Qa-
tar which has 13 in the
Group A standings. Af-
ghanistan and Kuwait have
five and three points, occu-
pying the third and fourth
places respectively.
While Qatar has sealed
its third-round berth, the
other three teams, includ-
ing India and bottom-
placed Kuwait, have a
chance to make the cut.
Kuwait will face Afghan-
istan at home in their con-
cluding second-round
clash.
India must win against
the two-time Asian cham-
pions Qatar to make its
maiden appearance in the
third round of Asia’s top-18
teams.
A point will be enough
for the Blue Tigers if the Af-
ghanistan versus Kuwait tie
also ends in a draw.
However, a defeat in Qa-
tar will end India’s hopes
of progressing, irrespec-
tive of the other result.
The squad: Goalkeepers:
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu,
Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith.
Defenders: Anwar Ali, Jay Gupta,
Mehtab Singh, Narender, Nikhil
Poojary, and Rahul Bheke.
Midfielders: Anirudh Thapa,
Brandon Fernandes, Edmund
Lalrindika, Jeakson Singh
Thounaojam, Lallianzuala
Chhangte, Liston Colaco, Mahesh
Singh Naorem, Nandhakumar
Sekar, Sahal Abdul Samad, and
Suresh Singh Wangjam.
Forwards: Manvir Singh, Rahim
Ali, Vikram Partap Singh, and
David Lalhlansanga.
A ND-NDE

18
Many stand a chance as titles
in both sections remain open
WORLD JUNIOR CHESS
Sports Bureau
After a day’s rest, the
World junior chess cham-
pionship will resume at the
Gift City Club here on Sun-
day. With five rounds re-
maining, the open as well
as the girls’ sections look
pretty open with several
players in with a chance to
be crowned champions.
While four players are
jointly leading the open
event, there is a sole leader
among the girls.
Divya Deshmukh had
begun as a firm favourite
and she is on 5.5 points,
out of a possible six.
The Nagpur girl has won
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
CM
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five games and drawn one.
She is followed half-a-point
behind by three players —
Mariam Mkrtchyan, Nar-
min Abdinova and Ksenia
Norman.
In the open section,
there is a four-way tie bet-
ween Jose Gabriel Cardoso,
Kazybek Nogerbek, Rudik
Makarian and L.M.S.T. De
Silva. They are all on five
points.
Behind them are 13
players on 4.5. But the top
seed Abhimanyu Mishra is
not among them; the In-
dian-origin player repre-
senting the United States
has had a disappointing
event so far and is on 3.5
points.
The standings (after six
rounds): Open: 1-4. Kazybek
Nogerbek (Kaz), Jose Gabriel
Cardoso (Col), Rudik Makarian
(FIDE) and L.M.S.T. De Silva (SL) 5.
5-17. A.R. Ilamparthi, Gleb Dudin
(Hun), Daniel Quizon (Phi),
Pranav Anand, Vuppala Praneeth,
Marius Fromm (Ger), V.S.
Nandish, Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE),
Emin Ohanyan (Arm), Luka
Budisavljevic (Srb), Pham Tran
Gia Phuc (Vie), Artiom Stribuk
(FIDE) and Mamikon Gharibyan
(Arm) 4.5.
Girls: 1. Divya Deshmukh 5.5; 2-4.
Mariam Mkrtchyan (Arm), Narmin
Abdinova (Aze) and Ksenia
Norman (FIDE) 5.
5-13. Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze),
Xeniya Balabayeva (Kaz), Sofia
Hryzlova (Sui), Kasthuri Bhai,
Martyna Wikar (Pol), Rakshitta
Ravi, Anna Zhurova (FIDE), Sachi
Jain and Ayalum Kaladorva (Kaz)
4.5.
THE HINDU
Sport
Fighting back: Alonso, who was 15th in the rain-hit first practice, took advantage of early dry conditions
in the second to finish almost a half-a-second ahead of Mercedes’ Russell. AFP
Alonso on top after
wet and wild practice
Russell second; Stroll brightens up a dreary day for the home crowd,
posting third best effort, ahead of Leclerc, winner in Monaco two weeks ago
CANADIAN GP
Reuters
MONTREAL
ston Martin’s dou-
A ble world cham-
pion Fernando
Alonso set the fastest lap in
a wet and wild practice at
the Canada Grand Prix
here on Friday with both
sessions run under a sev-
ere weather watch at the
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Alonso, 15th in the rain-
hit first practice, took ad-
vantage of early dry condi-
tions in the second with
the Spaniard clocking a
time of one minute and
15.810 seconds around the
island circuit almost a half-
a-second ahead of Mer-
cedes George Russell.
Canadian Lance Stroll,
쑽 RB’s Daniel Ricciardo fifth
RB’s Ricciardo ends fifth, ahead
of Haas’s Magnussen while
Hamilton is seventh fastest for
Mercedes
who grew up in Montreal
and whose father owns the
team, brightened up the
day for the home crowd
posting the third best ef-
fort, ahead of Ferrari’s
Charles Leclerc, winner
two weeks ago in Monaco.
Promising start
It was a promising start to
the weekend for Ferrari
with Leclerc third best in
the morning session be-
hind teammate Carlos
Sainz, who was 13th best la-
ter in the afternoon.
Two teams that don’t
routinely feature at the top
of the timesheets made
surprise appearances with
ahead of Haas’s Kevin
Magnussen.
Seven-time world cham-
pion Lewis Hamilton was
seventh fastest for Mer-
cedes. McLaren’s Lando
Norris, who topped the
first session, finished at the
bottom of the second.
Red Bull’s triple world
champion Max Verstap-
pen, who was dominant in
Montreal a year ago lead-
ing every lap from pole,
did not get his bid for a Ca-
nada hat-trick of wins off to
a smooth start.
After clocking the fifth
best effort in the first ses-
sion, the Dutchman could
manage only four laps in
the second before pulling
into the pits saying on the
radio that he smelled
smoke coming from the
car.
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Delhi
Diksha misses cut;
Shubhankar in 20th
HELSINGBORG (SWEDEN):
Diksha Dagar missed her
first cut since February as
the cut fell at 2-under.
Shubhankar Sharma,
had 69 in the second with
she exited early in the Vol- five birdies against two bo-
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
vo Car Scandinavian Mixed geys to be 6-under. When
Open golf. the second round ended,
Diksha was 4-over and he was tied-20.
Riya wins thriller for
women’s title
Sports Bureau
Riya Sachdeva saved two
match points to beat top
seed Aditi Rawat 2-6, 7-5,
6-4 in the final of the
₹100,000 AITA women’s
tennis tournament at the
Faridabad Tennis Acade-
my. In the semifinals, the
17-year-old Riya had beaten
Yashika Shokeen. It was
the third singles title in the
women’s circuit for Riya.
The results (final): Riya
Sachdeva bt Aditi Rawat 2-6, 7-5,
6-4. Semifinals: Aditi bt Samaira
Malik 6-3, 6-1; Riya bt Yashika
Shokeen 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. Riya Sachdeva.
A ND-NDE

Sunday, June 9, 2024
Delhi
X X
Foraging flock: Greater adjutant storks in search of food at a garbage dumping site in Guwahati.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
X
Edged out: A group of birds wait for garbage trucks on the boundary wall of a dumping site near the Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary in Guwahati. The storks are forced to feed on garbage as live prey such as fish and frogs are becoming scarce due to shrinking wetlands.
Adjutant loses territory
With the wetlands of Assam giving way to rapid urbanisation, the endangered greater adjutant storks are finding their survival to be a daily struggle
T
he greater adjutant stork is one of the
most endangered bird species. Its
habitat is in the Brahmaputra valley of
Assam. The birds are found mostly in
three districts of Assam — Guwahati, Morigaon,
and Nagaon.
The wetlands in and around Guwahati were
Ritu Raj Konwar
home to these storks, which depended on them
rituraj.k@thehindu.co.in
for food, water and shelter. But the biodiversity
hotspots have given way to buildings due to rapid
urbanisation and the habitat loss is a major threat
for the survival of this bird species.
Today, the greater adjutant stork is described
as endangered on the Red List of Threatened
Species by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature.
Earlier, the State capital had the largest
concentration of greater adjutant storks in the
country. But with their habitat usurped by
concrete, and the loss of food sources, these large
birds — some almost five feet tall — are now seen
only at a garbage dumping site near the Deepor
CM
YK
THE HINDU
I
News in Frames
Stark reality: The birds depend on the wetlands of Guwahati for fish but piles of garbage are heaped along the shores.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97
Beel Wildlife Sanctuary, a Ramsar site.
Between October and February is the time
when fish and other live prey can be found in
abundance, and this period is also the breeding
season for the greater adjutant stork. During the
non-breeding season, these birds forage in urban
waste disposal sites.
Principally carnivorous, the greater adjutant
stork preys on fish, frogs, snakes and other
reptiles, eels, birds, and, also, carrion.
Seasonally dependent on wetlands for foraging
and tall trees for roosting and nesting, the storks
suffer from the ongoing destruction of habitat
through encroachment, overfishing and drainage
projects. In Guwahati city, most of the roosting
trees are located on private land and many of
them have been felled or are being cut down.
Though the species has received legal
protection in India, in many areas, people drive
out these birds as they may carry pieces of rotting
meat to feed their hatchlings and because their X
droppings carry a strong odour. Scavenging hunter: A greater adjutant stork arrives to feed on garbage.
S ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
II Sunday, June 9, 2024

News in Frames Delhi

X X
Rise and fall: With rapid urbanisation and construction of buildings, the habitat of greater adjutant storks is under threat. Shrinking space: The feeding grounds for the storks are fast depleting.
83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

83036f83-8d27-4153-a04c-7e0637a3df97

X
Fight or flight: A stork stands its ground against a pack of dogs for the same source of food.

X X
Lost homes: Greater adjutant storks stand on the roof of a building as roosting trees are scarce. At risk: The greater adjutant stork is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as their numbers are going down.
CM S ND-NDE
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