ROW OVER ODISHA ‘RESULTS SHOW PM, JAISWAL, GILL WRAP UP

GOVERNOR’S SON SHAH'S CREDIBILITY INDIA’S SERIES

14 JULY 2024 DECLINING’ WIN AGAINST
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WEATHER
INDIA bloc emerges on Eight crore new jobs report by
RBI shut false narratives: PM
top in Assembly bypolls
GENERALLY CLOUDY SKY WITH VERY
LIGHT RAIN. THE MAXIMUM AND
MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
AROUND 35 AND 26 DEGREES CELSIUS NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
RESPECTIVELY. INDIA parties win 10 out of 13 seats, BJP bags two ~Hamirpur in HP & Amarwara in MP
RAINFALL: 013.6 mm Prime Minister Narendra
NIKHIL VYAS Amarwara in Madhya Modi on Saturday said
RELATIVE HUMIDITY NEW DELHI, 13 JULY Pradesh. despite challenges like Coro-
Max. 94 % Min. 56 %
The TMC made a clean na, record jobs were creat-

I
TEMPERATURE n the first key face-off
Max: 35.6 °C (0) Min: 25.0 °C (-2)
SUN RISES SUN SETS
between the INDIA
05:34 hrs 19:21 hrs
alliance and NDA after
MOON RISES MOON SETS the Lok Sabha polls, the
12:52 hrs 00:13 hrs Opposition parties on Sat-
urday won 10 out of the 13
seats in the Assembly
bypolls which were held
THUMBNAILS across seven states earlier
this week.
The Trinamul Congress,
Congress, AAP and DMK
which are the constituents
of the Opposition INDIA
bloc at the national level
dominated in the Assem-
bly bypolls by collectively
winning 10 seats while the
BJP bagged two seats. An
Independent won the
Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh remaining seat in Bihar’s
Shekhawat enjoys sky diving on the occa- Rupauli. The counting of
sion of World Sky Diving Day, in Narnaul votes for the 13 legislative
Haryana on Saturday. ANI assembly seats spread
across seven states was
Modi government invading privacy of politi- held on Saturday. Bypolls
cal opponents, says KC Venugopal: Congress were held in 13 Assembly
leader KC Venugopal on Saturday accused constituencies across seven
the Narendra Modi-led government at the states on 10 July in the first
Centre of acting in a criminal and unconsti- electoral contest since the
tutional manner and invading privacy of the Lok Sabha polls.
political opponents. In a post on X, Venu- The bypolls were held in
gopal, who is the Congress General Secre- West Bengal (4 seats),
tary in-charge of Organisation said Apple has Himachal Pradesh (3 seats),
alerted him to “malicious spyware” detected Uttarakhand (2 seats), Mad-
in his phone, which he blamed the Modi gov- hya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
ernment for. “Thank you PM Modi ji for send- Bihar, and Punjab (1 seat
ing your favourite malicious spyware on my each). The Assembly con-
phone also. Apple has been kind enough to stituencies included Raiganj,
intimate me about this special present of Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda,
yours,” Mr Venugopal stated in a post on and Maniktala in West Ben-
microblogging platform X. (Page 5) gal; Dehra, Hamirpur, and
sweep of all four Assembly
constituencies in West Ben-
gal, while the Congress
won two out of three seats
in Himachal Pradesh and
both seats in Uttarakhand.
The AAP’s Mohinder
Bhagat won the Jalandhar
West seat in Punjab while
in Tamil Nadu, the DMK's
Anniyur Siva won the Vikra-
vandi assembly seat
The BJP won a total of
two seats, Hamirpur in
Himachal Pradesh and the
Amarwara seat in Madhya
Pradesh. Following the vic-
tory of Congress candi-
dates in two out of three
Assembly constituencies
in the state, Himachal
Pradesh Chief Minister
Thakur Sukhvinder Singh
Sukhu said it was a victo-
ry of the people over money
power.
Congress candidate and
Mr Sukhu's wife, Kamlesh
Thakur, won from the Dehra
constituency by defeating
Hoshyar Singh of the BJP.
The Congress also claimed
the Nalagarh seat, while the
BJP managed to secure a win
in Hamirpur.
Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh being offered Independent candidate
sweets by supporters after the victory in the Dehra and Shankar Singh has won
Nalagarh by-elections, in Shimla on Saturday. � ANI (P 3) the Rupauli assembly bypoll
in Purnea district in Bihar
Nalagarh in Himachal Jalandhar West in Punjab; with a margin of 8204 votes
Pradesh; Badrinath and Rupauli in Bihar; Vikra- over JD(U) candidate Kalad-
Manglaur in Uttarakhand; vandi in Tamil Nadu; and har Mandal.
ed in the country in the past
four years or so, and the RBI
report on creation of eight
crore jobs in the last three
to four years has shut the
voice of people spreading
false narratives on job cre-
ation.
Speaking after launch-
ing development projects
worth nearly Rs 30,000 crore
in Mumbai, he said the
people spreading false nar-
ratives on jobs are “enemies
of investment, infrastruc-
ture development, and
progress of the country,
and their plans are to betray
the youth and to oppose cre-
ation of jobs.”
These people are now
exposed, he said and peo-
ple have rejected their lies.
The Prime Minister said
when bridges, railway tracks,
roads or coaches are built,
people do get jobs. As the
pace of infrastructure devel-
opment projects gets pace,
creation of jobs is getting
faster, he said.
In the next some years,
with fresh investment, these
opportunities will multi-
ply, Mr Modi said. He said
the development model of
the NDA is to give priority
to the disadvantaged, the
people who have been at the
last place in society for
decades. The Prime Minis-
ter said, after taking over for
PM Narendra Modi being felicitated by Maharashtra Chief
Minister Eknath Shinde and state DY CMs Ajit Pawar and
Devendra Fadnavis during the launch and laying of founda-
tion stones of various projects in Mumbai on Saturday. �ANI
its third term, his govern- he said. The Prime Minis-
ment took decisions on ter said he was happy to
construction of pucca hous- launch the Rs 30,000 crore
es for the poor and farmer- projects as these will improve
friendly issues. So far, four connectivity around Mum-
crore pucca houses have bai by rail and road schemes.
been built in the country and The projects include a
in the next few years, three scheme to improve skill
crore more poor families will development of State youth.
get pucca houses. Two to three weeks back,
Lakhs of these houses will the Centre had approved the
be built in Maharashtra for Vadhavan port project worth
the poor and Dalits, he said. Rs 76,000 crore and it is
“We are trying to meet the expected to create more
housing needs of the poor than 10 lakh jobs.
and middle classes in urban In the past one month,
areas also,” he said. Mumbai has been wit-
He said Rehri-footpath nessing investors from all
vendors will also get justice over the world and the
through Swanidhi yojana. country. The investors have
So far, 90 lakh loans have welcomed the third term of
been sanctioned for them, his government in a big
including 13 lakh loans in way. People know only NDA
Maharashtra, with 1.50 lakh government can ensure
people getting the loans in stability and permanency.
Mumbai. A study has shown “After taking oath for
the Swanidhi has increased the third time, I had said the
income of the beneficiaries NDA government will work
by Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 at triple the speed, and we
every year. These are repay- can see it happening today,”
ing their loans on time also, he said.

Kashmiri leaders
allege they’ve
been put under
house arrest
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, 13 JULY
Many political and religious
leaders were on Saturday
barred by the authorities from
visiting the Mazar-e-Shuha-
da in Srinagar to pay homage
to the martyrs of 13 July 1931.
Saying that the gates of their
houses have been locked by
the police to prevent them from
proceeding to the Mazar, the
leaders stated that sacrifices
of martyrs are a testament that
the spirit of Kashmiris cannot
be crushed.
Former chief ministers,
Omar Abdullah and Mehboo-
ba Mufti, Peoples Confer-
ence chief Sajad Lone and Mir-
waiz Umar Farooq claimed
that gates of their houses
have been locked from out-
side and they have been
stopped from paying homage
to those who sacrificed their
lives. National Conference
President Dr. Farooq Abdul-
lah stated that the sacrifices
of the brave martyrs were
timeless and continue to ignite
the flames of justice, truth, and
peace in the hearts of millions.
Lashing out at the authorities,
National Conference (NC)
vice-president Omar Abdul-
lah while paying rich trib-
utes to 13 July martyrs said the
precious lives have been sac-
rificed to establish a just, fair
and democratic system in
Jammu and Kashmir.
Taking to micro-blogging
site X, Omar said: “Another
13th July, Martyr’s Day, anoth-
er round of locked gates &
police excesses to stop peo-
ple from paying homage to
those who sacrificed their
lives to establish a just, fair &
democratic regime in J&K.
Everywhere else in the coun-
try these people would have
been celebrated but in J&K the
administration wants to ignore
these sacrifices. This is the last
year they will be able to do this.
Insha Allah next year we will
mark 13th July with the solem-
nity & respect this day
deserves”.
Row erupts over J&K LG getting
more administrative powers
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI/JAMMU, 13 JULY
The Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) has amended the
rules of the Jammu and Kash-
mir Reorganization Act, 2019
enhancing the administrative
powers of the Lieutenant
Governor of the Union Ter-
ritory.
The move, coming ahead
of the Assembly elections in
Jammu and Kashmir, has
triggered a controversy with
opposition parties in the
erstwhile state accusing the
BJP-led central government
of disempowering Kashmiris
by making the elected chief
minister a “rubber stamp”.
According to the amend-
ments, almost all key pro-
posals would now go to the
Lieutenant Governor through
the Chief Secretary.
Friday’s amendment of the
33 Indian labourers freed from ‘slavery’ in Italy Oli claims Nepal PM’s post
AGENCIES
ROME/NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Italian police said on Satur-
day they had freed 33 Indian
farm labourers from slave-like
working conditions in the
northern Verona province
and seized almost half a mil-
lion euros ($545,300) from
their two alleged abusers,
also from India.
The alleged abusers, also from
India, brought fellow nation-
als to Italy on seasonal work
permits, asking them to pay
17,000 euros each and prom-
ising them a better future,
Reuters news agency quoted
police as saying.
The migrants were given
farm jobs, working seven days
a week and 10-12 hours a
day for just 4 euros per hour,
which was docked from them
until they settled all their
debts, police said, describing
the migrants' treatment as
“slavery”.
Some were asked to con-
tinue working for free to pay
According to the
amendments, almost
all key proposals
would now go to the
Lieutenant Governor
through the Chief
Secretary.
rules of the Jammu and
Kashmir Reorganisation Act,
2019, grants increased author-
ity to the Lieutenant Gover-
nor of Jammu and Kashmir
regarding the transfer, post-
ing, and appointment of all
key all-India service officers
such as IAS and IPS, police
personnel, law and order
issues, and the appointment
of judicial officers.
After the Home Ministry
amended the rules, Nation-
al Conference leader Omar
Abdullah on Saturday said
that this move of the central
�The alleged abusers,
also from India, brought
fellow nationals to Italy on
seasonal work permits,
asking them to pay 17,000
euros each and promising
them a better future,
Reutersnews agency quot-
ed police as saying.
�The migrants were given
farm jobs, working seven
days a week and 10-12
hours a day for just 4
euros per hour, which was
docked from them until
they settled all their debts.
�Labour exploitation came
under the spotlight in
Italy following an acci-
dent in June in which an
Indian fruit picker died after
his arm was severed by
machinery.
an additional 13,000 euros for
a permanent work permit
"which, in reality, would have
never been given to them," the
police statement said.
The police added that the
government is going to make
the new Chief Minister “pow-
erless” and this also indicates
that elections would be held
soon in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Abdullah wrote on
the microblogging site X;
“Another indicator that elec-
tions are around the corner
in J&K. This is why a firm com-
mitment laying out the time-
line for restoration of full,
undiluted statehood for J&K
is a prerequisite for these elec-
tions. The people of J&K
deserve better than power-
less, rubber stamp CM who
will have to beg the LG to get
his/her peon appointed”.
PDP chief Mehbooba
Mufti’s daughter and her
media advisor Iltija Mufti
also took to X saying that state-
hood to J&K is out of the ques-
tion and the elected gov-
ernment will be reduced to
a municipality.
alleged abusers have been
charged with crimes con-
nected to slavery and labour
exploitation, while the victims
will be offered protection,
work opportunities and legal
residency papers.
Labour exploitation came
under the spotlight in Italy fol-
lowing an accident in June in
which an Indian fruit picker
died after his arm was severed
by machinery.
Like other European
nations, Italy has growing
labour shortages often filled
via immigration, particular-
ly in lower paid jobs, and has
a migrant work visa system that
has faced cases of fraud.
In the June incident, Sat-
nam Singh, a labourer work-
ing illegally on a melon farm
in Italy’s Latina, had his arm
severed in an accident involv-
ing heavy farm machinery.
According to the Flai CGIL
trade union, instead of receiv-
ing help from the employer,
"Singh was dumped like a bag
of rubbish near his home”
RAIN WOES
A biker commutes through a flooded road after rain at Itaunja in Lucknow district on Saturday. ANI
without any medical assis-
tance, leading to his death.
Singh, from Moga in Punjab,
was airlifted to Rome after he
was found, but died two days
later.
His employer was later
arrested even as the incident
sent shockwaves through the
country and its leaders.
Thousands of Indians are
said to be working illegally on
farms in Italy, especially in the
Pontine Marshes area.
Singh's death highlighted
the brutal exploitation of
undocumented migrants in
Italy. According to Ministry of
External Affairs data in May
2024, there are over 2 lakh over-
seas Indians in Italy. The
number of documented Indi-
ans in Italy is highest in con-
tinental Europe just after Ger-
many. Following the Satnam
Singh incident, the Indian
government had raised the
issue of the exploitation and
ill-treatment of Indian work-
ers in Italy with the Italian
authorities.
after Dahal loses trust vote
THE KATHMANDU
POST/ANN
KATHMANDU, 13 JULY
CPN-UML Chairman KP
Sharma Oli has staked his
claim to the post of new
prime minister after President
Ramchandra Paudel invit-
ed a member of the House of
Representatives who is able
to command a majority with
the support of two or more
parties to do so. Following the
failure of Pushpa Kamal
Dahal, the outgoing prime
minister, to secure a major-
ity in Friday’s floor test, the
President invited political
parties to form a new gov-
ernment under Article 76 (2)
of the Constitution of Nepal
on Friday evening.
UML chief Oli presented
the signatures of 165 law-
makers on Friday night, short-
ly after the President issued
the invitation giving parties
until 5 p.m. on Sunday. Oli
and Nepali Congress Presi-
dent Sher Bahadur Deuba
have jointly signed an appli-
cation asking the President
to appoint Oli as the new
prime minister citing his
majority support in the House
of Representatives.
Nepali Congress Presi-
dent Sher Bahadur Deuba, Oli
and a few other leaders had
visited the President’s Office
to present their letter.
During the conversation
with Deuba and Oli, the Pres-
ident said he would appoint
Oli the new prime minister
as soon as the deadline expires
and agreed to administer
oath of office and secrecy
immediately after 5:00 pm,
Sunday. (Page 9)
Pistol threat case:
Pune police book
probationary IAS
officer’s parents
AGENCIES
MUMBAI, 13 JULY
The Pune police has registered
a case against at least seven
persons, including contro-
versial probationary IAS offi-
cer Puja D. Khedkar's moth-
er Manorama D. Khedkar,
who had allegedly threat-
ened a farmer with a pistol,
officials said on Saturday.
The complaint was lodged
at Paud Police Station in
Pune late on Friday by farmer,
Pandharinath K. Pasalkar
against Manorama Khedkar,
her husband Dilip Khedkar,
relative Ambadas Khedkar,
two unidentified men and two
women, said Paud Police
Station IO S.S. Devkate.
“The incident happened
on June 5, last year at Dhavali
village on the lands owned by
Pasalkar when his caretaker
Maruti Maragale and his
family were abused, and
threatened at gun-point by
the Khedkars and others,”
Devkate told IANS.
Earlier, Pasalkar had
claimed that despite repeat-
ed attempts, the police failed
to take cognisance of the
matter for a year, but it was
only after a video of the inci-
dent went viral in the past cou-
ple of days that the Paud
police registered the com-
plaint, and have initiated a
probe. Simultaneously, the
Pune Municipal Corpora-
tion (PMC) has served a
notice to Manorama Khed-
kar asking her to remove cer-
tain illegal constructions
within and outside her bun-
galow in the posh Baner Road
in the city.
02
NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
THUMBNAILS
34-year-old woman dies
from ‘electrocution’: A 34-
year-old allegedly woman
died of electrocution in
North East Delhi, the police
said on Saturday. The inci-
dent took place on Satur-
day morning at around
7:39 am, where the victim
woman was electrocuted
near Moral Hospital, Bha-
janpura. There was water
logging in the area due to
rain, the police said.
According to findings by
the police so far, it is sus-
pected that a live wire
from an electricity pole
near the footpath caused
her to get electrocuted,
and after that she fell in
water. She was rushed to
the nearby hospital, where
the doctor declared her
dead, a police official
added.
DDA organises plantation
drive at several places: The
Delhi Development Author-
ity organised a plantation
drive as part of the 'Ek Ped
Maa Ke Naam' campaign at
various places in the
national capital on Satur-
day under the directions
of LG VK Saxena and the
direct supervision of Vice
Chairman Subhashish
Panda. In a concerted
effort to enhance environ-
mental sustainability, a
plantation drive was con-
ducted at Dwarka in DDAs
Sector 19B housing devel-
opment. A similar drive
was also organized at
DDA's Jahanpanah City For-
est with the help of school
students recently.
BJP’s main aim is to play with Kejriwal's life: Sanjay Singh
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Senior AAP leader Sanjay
Singh on Saturday said the BJP
and Prime Minister Narendra
Modi are “conspiring” to keep
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal in jail as well as play
with his health.
Singh, who is AAP MP in
Rajya Sabha, also claimed
that Kejriwal lost 8.5 kg weight
in jail and added that is a sign
of serious illness.
Addressing a press con-
ference, he said, “We have
been saying from day one
that on one hand, BJP's aim
is to harass Arvind Kejriwal,
to keep him in jail. On the other
hand, the aim of the BJP and
the Modi government is to play
West Delhi restaurant firing:
Alleged shooters killed during
exchange of fire in Haryana
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Three criminals including
two shooters, allegedly
involved in a shootout at a West
Delhi restaurant last month,
were killed during an exchange
of fire between them and
teams of Delhi Police and
Haryana Police, an official
said on Saturday.
It was on Friday that a
credible information was
received that both the
absconding shooters, identi-
fied as Ashish and Vicky will
be going to Kharkhoda
(Haryana) along with anoth-
er associate in a mid size SUV
to execute some heinous
crime.
Immediately, the Delhi
Police Crime Branch team
swung into action and simul-
taneously, shared the intel with
the Deputy Superintendent
and one more police officer
of the STF, Sonipat, Haryana
Police.
Accordingly, a joint team
of the Delhi and Haryana
police was formed to trace the
accused persons.
The joint team intercept-
ed the suspected vehicle on
Rohtak-Chinauli road at
around 2040 hours on Friday,
and upon sensing police pres-
ence, the suspects tried to flee.
`900 cr for development
of Delhi villages: Minister
'Development works underway in villages of Bijwasan Assembly constituency'
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
D
elhi Environment
and Development
Minister Gopal Rai
on Saturday said
this year the city government
has kept a budget of Rs 900
crore for the development of
the national capital's villages.
"The Kejriwal government
is committed to providing
all facilities to the people liv-
ing in villages on par with that
in urban areas," Rai said dur-
ing the 2nd Vikas Sabha organ-
ised in the Bijwasan legisla-
tive assembly to speed up
the development work of vil-
lages.
On this occasion, Bijwasan
MLA Bhupinder Singh Joon
and officials of the Irrigation
and Flood Control Department
and Forest Department were
present.
"To provide better ameni-
ties in all the villages of Delhi,
Chief Minister Arvind Kejri-
wal has formed Delhi Village
Development Board under
which development work is
being done in all the villages
of Delhi," said Rai.
"This year, a budget of Rs
900 crore has been allocated
for Delhi’s village development
work. Under this, development
works related to roads, drains,
water bodies, community
centres, parks, crematori-
with Kejriwal's life. A con-
spiracy is being hatched by the
BJP and its central government
to make him suffer from the
most serious disease, for an
incident to take place with him
in jail, to have some serious
health problem.”
“When Kejriwal was arrest-
ed on 21st March, his weight
was 70 kg and today his weight
has dropped by 8.5 kg to 61.5
kg. Losing 8.5 kg weight and
not knowing the reason for it
are symptoms of many seri-
ous diseases. If the weight is
continuously decreasing and
the reason for it is not known,
then it is definitely a sign of
a serious illness. This is a
matter of concern for all of us,”
the AAP MP said.
Singh further said, “Since
However, their vehicle got
stuck in the farm, as they
wanted to evade the police,
taking an off- road trail.
According to police, upon
being stuck, the accused per-
sons started firing indis-
criminately upon the police
party from inside the vehicle
and also as they stepped out.
They were warned, and
asked to stop firing, and to sur-
render, but they did not budge
to police warning and con-
tinued shooting, and a bullet
hit a police sub-inspector,
while other rounds also hit bul-
let proof jackets of DCP,
Crime Branch, Amit Goel,
and ACP Umesh Barthwal.
In self defense and in order
to apprehend the criminals,
the police party also returned
fire, where in the alleged
accused persons got injured.
According to the police, a
total of 43 rounds were fired
during the exchange-of-fire,
including 24 fired by the
assailants and 19 by the police
teams.
The Sonipat Control Room
was soon informed about the
incident and ambulances
were immediately called to
rush the injured to a hospi-
tal. Unfortunately, the injured,
who were rushed to the hos-
pital, were declared brought
dead.
ums, sports grounds, among
other works are being done,"
added Rai.
He further said develop-
ment works are being done
in the villages of Bijwasan
Assembly at a cost of Rs 50
crore. Out of total 48 devel-
opment projects of villages in
Bijwasan assembly, 24 proj-
ects have been completed
and work on the remaining
24 is going on.
Rai instructed the officials
‘AAP's claims on Kejriwal's jail, bail and
health nothing but a repeat of rhetoric’
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Delhi BJP President Virendra
Sachdeva on Saturday took
a dig at Aam Aadmi Party Rajya
Sabha MP Sanjay Singh,
claiming that the AAP leader's
statement on party conven-
er Arvind Kejriwal's jail, bail
and health is nothing but a
repeat of rhetoric.
Sachdeva has alleged that
every time the AAP leaders see
any hope of bail for their
party chief Kejriwal, they
start their old rhetoric alleg-
ing that the saffron party
wants to keep Delhi CM
behind the bars, and that his
health is steadily deteriorat-
ing with weight loss, and
possibility of a serious ill-
ness.
"Sanjay Singh should recall
Kejriwal is in jail, it has hap-
pened about five times, when
his sugar level suddenly fell
below 50 at night. We all
know that the increase in
sugar level can be controlled
for once but if a person's
sugar level suddenly falls
Munak canal embankment MCD launches Police lodge FIR on alleged 'lewd'
repaired, water supply in drive to prevent remarks against martyr's widow
Dwarka to be restored: Atishi vector-borne
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Delhi Minister Atishi on Sat-
urday said that the repair
work of the embankment of
Munak canal has been com-
pleted and the Water Treat-
ment Plant (WTP) at Dwarka
will start functioning by
evening.
According to the minister,
the water supply which was
affected in Dwarka area will
resume from Saturday night.
The repair of the broken
embankment of the Carrier
Link Channel (CLC), a sub-
branch of Munak canal, had
been completed on Friday
night and Haryana had
released water from Kakroi
head at 10:30 am on Saturday
morning, she added.
Atishi informed this by
taking to social media platform
X, and also wrote that the water
released by the neighboring
People want to destroy dictatorship, estab-
lish rule of justice...
of the Irrigation and Flood
Control Department to com-
plete the work soon.
The Minister said the Kejri-
wal government is taking all
necessary steps to improve the
condition of roads, parks,
drains and multipurpose
community centers in vil-
lages.
"The Delhi government
is committed to providing
basic amenities to the people
of Delhi living in urban areas
every time Kejriwal gets bail,
he never goes in for any treat-
ment instead his political
diatribes increase to new
heights," alleged Sachdeva,
the Delhi BJP chief.
The BJP leader further said
that Singh should note that
people of Delhi have no trust
left in Kejriwal and his party,
claiming that they have clear-
ly shown this by rejecting
AAP in recent Lok Sabha
elections, despite AAP's "Jail
Ka Jawab Vote Se," Sachde-
va added.
Sachdeva, taking a dig at
the AAP chief said that
while sleeping, he can go into
a coma.”
“When there was every
possibility that he would get
relief from the Supreme Court,
just before that the CBI made
a false case against Kejriwal
so that these people could play
state will reach Delhi by 1:30-
2:00 pm on Saturday.
She had earlier said that the
repair and restoration work
of the broken embankment
part of the Munak Canal sub-
branch was done on war foot-
ing. It was during the early
hours on Thursday, between
12 am to 2 am that the unfor-
tunate incident of a breach in
the embankment of the canal
that supplies water from
Haryana to Delhi, took place,
which resulted in huge volume
of water flowing in vicinity,
including the JJ colonies in
Bawana, causing massive
waterlogging.
Delhi Minister Atishi who
had reached on the spot to take
stock of the situation, had said
that the branch of the Munak
canal is maintained by the
Haryana irrigation depart-
ment, and their team was on
the spot along with the DJB
team.
CONGRESS LEADER RAHUL GANDHI
ON BY-ELECTION RESULTS
as well as to provide facilities
to the people living in rural
areas."
"These development works
related to the development
department are being done
through the irrigation and
flood control department,
MCD and other government
departments," he said.
Rai said that Vikas Sabha
has been organised to speed
up the development work of
the villages.
despite his repeated request
to the electorate, seeking
their vote, to see him as a free
man, the people of Delhi,
Gujarat, Haryana and Pun-
jab totally rejected the AAP
chief's call.
On Friday, Sachdeva had
said that Kejriwal must resign
from the post of CM if he had
some morality left.
The saffron party's state
unit chief had said that, 'Kejri-
wal's interim bail order regard-
ing ED's case clearly states that
the Delhi CM has been asked
not go to the secretariat, sign
any files, or fulfill any duties
as the Chief Minister, and
added that following the
court's order, if the Delhi
CM has any morality left, he
should consider whether to
remain on the position,
Sachdeva added.
with his life. They are harass-
ing Kejriwal, but it is a con-
spiracy of the BJP and Prime
Minister Modi that some acci-
dent happens to Kejriwal in
jail. Therefore, the court
should also take cognizance
of this,” he said.
diseases in city
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
The Municipal Corporation
of Delhi (MCD) on Saturday
said that it has intensified its
drive across the national
capital to prevent and con-
trol vector-borne diseases.
"Due to rains in Delhi, the
risk of Dengue, Chikungun-
ya and other vector-borne
diseases has increased. In
view of the situation, the
MCD has intensified the
drive across the city to pre-
vent and control vector borne
diseases.
Several measures are
being taken by the MCD to
control the diseases," the
civic body said.
The MCD said that this
year, 18019250 visits in hous-
es have been done to detect
mosquito breeding and in
43650 houses mosquito
breeding was found.
A total of 218415 houses
were sprayed with insecticide.
Special campaigns for
anti-mosquito drive were
conducted to cover vulner-
able areas like drains and
water bodies, construction
sites, parks and nurseries
and institutions like hospi-
tals, schools, government
offices etc.
Urgent need to provide legal aid to
victims of cybercrime: VP Dhankhar
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Vice President Jagdeep
Dhankhar on Saturday
emphasised the need of pro-
viding legal aid to cyber crime
victims, especially in rural
areas.
Taking cognisance of
increasing cyber crime inci-
dents in view of digital pen-
etration in the country, he
noted that this was a new area
of concern for agencies, inves-
tigators, regulators and legal
fraternity, and called for devel-
oping technical and human
expertise to tackle it.
Addressing the valedicto-
ry session of the 3rd Cyber
Security Conference organ-
ised by Global Counter Ter-
rorism Council (GCTC) at
Vigyan Bhavan here, the Vice
President said that innocent
people are being duped by
fraudulent elements, and
underscored the importance
of data protection awareness
even in the remotest corner
of the country. Highlighting
India's prominent position as
one of the largest digital soci-
eties globally, Dhankhar
underlined that "Bharat boasts
over 820 million active inter-
net users and has achieved
banking inclusion for over 500
million individuals."
He also drew attention to
the fact that the country
accounted for 50 per cent of
global digital transactions for
the year 2023.
Praising India’s achieve-
LG sanctions appointment of
165 junior scientific assistants
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Lieutenant Governor Vinai
Kumar Saxena has sanctioned
recruitment of 165 Junior
Scientific Assistants (JSA) on
contract basis to meet imme-
diate needs, pending finali-
sation of Recruitment Rules
(RRs), in a bid to strengthening
of the Forensic Science Lab-
oratory (FSL), Delhi.
These JSAs would be
deployed at the crime scene,
the LG Office said on Satur-
day.
Directing FSL to finalise
RRs for various vacant posts
at the earliest, the LG on Fri-
day directed FSL to maintain
total transparency in the
recruitment process, so that
there is no scope for any
complaint even in the future,
it said.
The LG also asked the FSL
to come out with details of
recruitment that has to be
done and fix a deadline for pur-
chasing and installing required
equipment.
The role of FSL in the new
regiment with the Bharatiya
Nyaya Samhita, Bharatiya
Nagrik Suraksha Samhita and
Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam
in place has become all the
more crucial with scientific
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
The Delhi Police's Special
Cell has registered an FIR
under relevant sections of
the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
(BNS) in connection with the
alleged lewd remark made
against a martyr's widow,
official sources said on Sat-
urday.
The National Commission
for Women (NCW) confirmed
the development on Saturday
through a post on its social
media handle on platform X,
stating, "NCW has recently
taken suo motu cognisance
over a lewd remark made
about the widow of Kirti
Chakra awardee Captain
Anshuman Singh. Delhi Police
has registered an FIR in the
matter," the post read.
According to a police offi-
cial, a complaint was received
from the NCW, alleging that
a Facebook profile had made
extremely lewd and deroga-
tory comment on a picture of
a martyr's widow, committing
offences under Section 79 of
BNS - 2023 and Section 67 of
the IT Act, 2000.
The police took cogni-
sance of the complaint, and
after a preliminary examina-
tion of its contents, an FIR was
registered with the Special Cell
of the Delhi Police.
The Intelligence Fusion
and Strategic Operation (IFSO)
ments in ensuring technolo-
gy penetration, the Vice-Pres-
ident said the world today is
stunned at the large-scale
use of technology in service
delivery in India, right down
to the village level.
"Technology is becom-
ing a buzzword with the ordi-
nary man, he relishes his
transactions being digital,"
he said. Emphasising the
immense potential of dis-
ruptive technologies, the
Vice-President underscored
the impact that such tech-
nology can have, not only on
economics, business, or indi-
vidual productivity, but also
on national security. Stating
that the challenges these
emerging technologies pose
must be converted into oppor-
tunities, Dhankhar called for
updating systems to harness
their positive potential. He
also stressed on the need
for proactive measures to
integrate these advance-
ments for the country's ben-
efit. Highlighting the chang-
ing nature of contemporary
warfare, Dhankhar empha-
probe and analysis of evidence
becoming critical.
To this effect, while Sax-
ena successfully supervised
the construction of new Mod-
ern Building Blocks at the FSL,
Rohini, that he inaugurated
in December, 2023, he has also
driven acquisition of latest
tools and the block chain
technology, that was inte-
grated into FSL in August,
2023, the LG Office said.
The role of qualified pro-
fessionals and human
resource has also become
much more important for
which the LG has approved
creation of 421 new posts in
FSL.
These will be in addition
to the existing 346 posts,
which includes officials in
various verticals of FSL, it
said.
unit under the Special Cell has
initiated the probe.
On Monday, July 8, Mon-
day, the NCW said that it had
identified a lewd and deroga-
tory comment allegedly made
by a person based in Delhi on
a photograph of the martyr's
widow.
In its communication to
Delhi Police Commissioner
Sanjay Arora, the commission
had said that the alleged
remark violates Section 79
of the BNS, 2023, and Section
67 of the IT Act, 2000.
The NCW also condemned
the behaviour of the offend-
er and urged the national
capital's top cop to take imme-
diate action by the law enforce-
ment agency in this regard.
NCW Chairperson Rekha
Sharma had sent the letter to
Arora, asking him to take
appropriate action in this
matter. She also sought a
detailed report within three
days.
sised that war has tran-
scended conventional bound-
aries, extending beyond land,
space, and sea into new tech-
nological realms.
The Vice President said a
nation's preparedness in
terms of advanced tech-
nologies will be crucial in
defining its global promise and
strategic strength. He also
pointed out that soft diplo-
matic power is increasingly
dependent on a nation's tech-
nological prowess.
Highlighting the Govern-
ment's proactive measures to
fortify India’s digital defences,
Dhankhar noted the imple-
mentation of pivotal initiatives,
including the National Cyber
Security Policy, the estab-
lishment of the Indian Com-
puter Emergency Response
Team, and updates to the
Information Technology Act
2000. These initiatives, along
with enhanced public-pri-
vate partnerships, signify a sig-
nificant advancement in safe-
guarding the country’s digi-
tal infrastructure, said the
Vice President.
If water problem
is not resolved,
Rohini residents
will take to
streets: Gupta
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Former Delhi BJP President
and presently MLA from Rohi-
ni Vijender Gupta on Satur-
day said the water scarcity in
his assembly constituency
continues to persist since the
canal breach in Bawana.
He accused the Delhi gov-
ernment of failing to restore
the water supply in the area
and warned that if the water
problem is not resolved by Sat-
urday night, the residents of
Rohini will be forced to take
to streets.
He claimed that due to
the Kejriwal government’s
negligence towards public
issues, people in the city are
facing one problem after
another.
The drinking water crisis
has been ongoing in Delhi for
quite some time, and the
recent flood has added to the
woes by causing waterlog-
ging in many parts of the city,
the BJP leader added.
He has claimed that the
waterlogging in the city is
causing disruptions in sever-
al areas of Delhi, affecting
day-to- day life.
Gupta further alleged that
due to lack of preparations for
tackling the monsoon relat-
ed issues, such as cleaning the
sewers and drains, which are
clogged with mud, have result-
ed in waterlogging across sev-
eral places in the city.
Gupta, hitting out at Delhi
ministers Atishi and Saurabh
Bharadwaj, alleged that they
are busy in politics and have
no attention towards public
issues. Sharpening his attack,
the BJP leader has alleged
that despite receiving timely
information about the breach
in the Munak canal barrage,
the Delhi government did not
act, and the crack widened,
causing the embankment to
break, he claimed.
The breach not only led to
water entering homes in
Bawana, but also resulted in
a water crisis in many parts of
Delhi.

THUMBNAILS
Fire breaks out at a chemical
factory in Khundewala vil-
lage: A fire broke out at a
chemical factory in Haryana's
Khundewala village area, an
official said. No casualties
reported, and fire tenders
are present at the spot.
Fire at multi-storey Patna
building claims one life: One
person died after a fire
broke out at a multi-storey
building in Patna's Nehru
Nagar locality on Saturday.
The deceased has been iden-
tified as Anil Kumar Singh, a
builder having his residence
in the building. The SHO at
the Patliputra police station
confirmed Singh's death, say-
ing that the exact cause of
his death will be determined
after the postmortem
report. The fire started
around 3 p.m. at Super City
Enclave in Nehru Nagar. Resi-
dents immediately informed
the local police and fire serv-
ices about the incident. By
the time help arrived, the
fire had engulfed a large por-
tion of the building. Four
people were trapped on the
top floor and, unable to
descend due to the intense
flames, sought refuge on the
rooftop. They were eventual-
ly rescued by firefighters.
Omar insists on ‘full, undiluted
statehood as a pre-requisite' to
Assembly polls in J&K
AGENCIES
SRINAGAR, 13 JULY
Former Jammu & Kash-
mir Chief Minister, and
Vice President of Nation-
al Conference, Omar
Abdullah, on Saturday,
reacted to the amendment
in transaction of business
rules of J&K government
announced by Ministry of
Home Affairs.
The amendment made
yesterday in the transac-
tion of business rules for
J&K has brought sub-
jects like prosecution, pris-
ons, law and parliamentary
affairs of the Union Ter-
ritory under the executive
powers of the Lt Governor.
Omar Abdullah said that
this is a prequel to the
forthcoming Assembly
elections in J&K and
Investments will strengthen Madhya Pradesh, Centre fixes meeting with states to
contribute to country's GDP: CM Mohan Yadav boost maritime, waterways transport
AGENCIES
BHOPAL, 13 JULY
Madhya Pradesh Chief Min-
ister Mohan Yadav said that
the state government wel-
comes industrialists and with
investment, the state would
become economically strong,
through which the state would
move forward with the full
potential to increase the GDP
of the country.
CM Yadav made the
remark while addressing lead-
ing industrialists from various
sectors in an interactive ses-
sion on investment oppor-
tunities in Madhya Pradesh
at Hotel Taj Mahal in Mum-
bai on Saturday.
The industrialists were
invited to the interactive ses-
sion to make "Invest Madhya
Pradesh-Global Investor
Summit-2025" a success. GIS-
2025 is proposed to be organ-
ised in Bhopal in February next
year.
"Investments are being
made continuously in Mad-
hya Pradesh. A favourable
environment has been created
for investment in the state from
the point of view of industry,
Cong slams Centre over move to expand LG's powers
in J&K, says statehood unlikely in near future
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh
has hit out at the BJP-led gov-
ernment over its notification
expanding powers of Jammu
and Kashmir Lt Governor by
inserting new sections in the
Jammu and Kashmir Reor-
ganisation Act, 2019, saying that
the Centre's move means that
full-fledged statehood for J-K
does not seem likely in the
immediate future.
Jairam Ramesh said there
CM: People rejected ‘betrayal’
& ‘money power’ in HP bypolls
‘With this victory, the number of Congress party MLAs in the assembly has risen to 40 again’
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 13 JULY
W
ith the Congress
winning two out
of three Assem-
bly Constituen-
cies (ACs) in the by-polls in
the Himachal Pradesh, Chief
Minister Thakur Sukhvin-
der Singh Sukhu said that the
poll outcome is victory of peo-
ple who rejected betrayal
and money power.
He said this while address-
ing a large gathering of Con-
gress supporters celebrating
electoral victory at his offi-
cial residence, Oak Over
after the results were declared
on Saturday.
Attributing the win to the
voters and the dedicated
efforts of Congress party
workers, he said that it is a
triumph over attempts to
lure the voters with money.
“The people have shown
dust to those who betrayed
the faith of the people and
it is a victory by defeating
the amended rules are
intended to make the elect-
ed government here a
"mere rubber stamp."
Omar has sought
restoration of what he calls
"full, undiluted statehood
as a pre-requisite" for
Assembly elections in
J&K.
Taking to X, Omar said:
“Another indicator that
elections are around the
corner in J&K. This is why
a firm commitment laying
out the timeline for restora-
tion of full, undiluted state-
hood for J&K is a pre-
requisite for these elec-
tions."
“The people of J&K
deserve better than pow-
erless, rubber stamp CM
who will have to beg the LG
to get his/her peon
appointed,” he asserted.
trade, and business. There is
immense investment poten-
tial in all sectors like energy,
tourism, health, mining, etc.
The state government has
also made adequate provisions
in the budget to encourage
industry and trade. Focusing
on the conditions and char-
acteristics of different areas
of the state, it has also been
decided to hold industrial
summits in different areas,"
CM Yadav said.
has been a consensus across
political parties that Jammu and
Kashmir should again become
a full-fledged state of the Indi-
an Union.
"The Supreme Court had
mandated that elections to
the J&K Assembly should be
held by Sept 30th, 2024. The
self-anointed non-biological
PM is on record saying that full-
fledged statehood would be
restored to J&K, which had been
reduced to a Union Territory
in August 2019," he said in a
post on X.
Media keeps people aware, and makes them know their rights and tells them
about their capacity. If people in a country get confidence about their capacity,
they climb new heights of success. This is what is happening in India today...
those who believe in luring
people with money power.
It was a victory over ‘Dhan
Bal’ (money power), he
asserted.
The voters decision has
portrayed as a strong rebuke
to the political of horse-
trading and vote for main-
tain political integrity in the
Jharkhand CM accuses BJP of ‘humiliating’ judiciary Our borders are fully safe
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Jharkhand Chief Minister
Hemant Soren on Saturday
accused the ruling BJP of
humiliating the judiciary and
hoped that Delhi Chief Min-
ister Arvind Kejriwal, who
was in judicial custody in the
excise policy case, would
come out of Jail soon.
The chief minister was
talking to reporters after meet-
ing Congress leader Sonia
Gandhi at her residence, 10
Janpath, in Delhi.
"I hadn't met Sonia Gand-
hi after coming out of jail; that
is why I came to meet her. Dis-
cussions for the Jharkhand
Assembly elections will con-
tinue... Indians are very tol-
erant and cooperative. They
tolerate a lot until they can-
not and then they make them-
selves heard by voting. The BJP
has humiliated the judiciary.
I hope Arvind Kejriwal will be
granted bail soon," Soren
"The Madhya Pradesh gov-
ernment welcomes industri-
alists. With investment, the
state will become economi-
cally strong and people will
also get employment in the
areas where investment will
be made. With this, we will
move forward with our full
potential to increase the GDP
of the country," he added.
Referring to Ranmuk-
teshwar Mahadev and Sam-
rat Vikramaditya, the chief
"Last night, the Ministry of
Home Affairs notified the
amended Rules under Sec-
tion 55 of the J&K Reorgani-
sation Act, 2019, inserting new
Sections giving expanded pow-
ers to the LG. The only mean-
ing that can be drawn from this
notification is that full-fledged
statehood for J&K does not seem
likely in the immediate future.
There has been a consensus
across political parties that
J&K must immediately become
a full-fledged state of the Indi-
an Union once again, and not
state. “It had been long 25
years since Congress candi-
date won in Dehra. In Nala-
garh too congress candidate
secured a significant victo-
ry. The election outcome
has sent a clear message to
the entire country and in
future no candidate of any
party in Himachal Pradesh
and secure: Nityanand Rai
said. Kejriwal got interim bail
from the Supreme Court on
Friday in money laundering
charges linked to the excise
policy case. But he could not
come out of jail as he was sep-
arately arrested by the Cen-
tral Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) under the Prevention of
Corruption Act in connection
with the same case on June
25. He is under remand till July
25 in the CBI case.
Hemant Soren was released
from the Birsa Munda Jail
on June 28 after nearly five
months following bail from
Jharkhand High Court in a
minister further said that the
powerful governance was
envisaged in Indian culture.
It was believed that the spir-
it of governance should be
noble. There must not be
narrowness in the approach
of governance.
"According to Indian cul-
ture, the government aims to
make all the citizens pros-
perous and happy by estab-
lishing good governance. The
Madhya Pradesh government
is continuously making efforts
in this direction under the lead-
ership of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. PM Modi
has made the country the
fifth largest economy in the
world by improving all the sys-
tems in a short time. Now
under his leadership, we are
moving toward the goal of
becoming the third largest
economy in the world," he
added.
CM Yadav also held a
round table meeting and one-
to-one discussion with indus-
trialists on the occasion. A film
focusing on industrial invest-
ment opportunities and main
tourist destinations in Mad-
hya Pradesh was also screened.
remain as a UT," he added.
The Home Ministry on Fri-
day amended the rules of the
Jammu and Kashmir Reorga-
nization Act, 2019 enhancing
some powers of the Lieutenant
Governor of the erstwhile state.
President Droupadi Murmu
gave approval to the amend-
ments. Congress spokesperson
Pawan Khera also attacked
the BJP-led government over
the move. He said the gov-
ernment's move has shown that
it will not trust the government
which will come to power in
will dare to engage him or her
in horse-trading for the next
50 years,” said the Chief
Minister. He said that
attempts to destabilize the
government since February
28, has been successfully
thwarted and the conspira-
cies aimed at toppling the
democratically elected gov-
ernment has failed.
“With this victory the
number of Congress party
MLAs in the assembly has
risen to 40 again,” said Sukhu.
Criticizing the leader of
opposition Jai Ram Thakur
for his repeated claims of
forming BJP government in
the state and the centre
before Lok Sabha elections
and called the BJP’s “Oper-
ation Lotus” a biggest failure.
He said that despite the
clear mandate of public, Jai
Ram Thakur continued mis-
leading the people of the
state by making false and
exaggerated claims.
The Chief Minister also
condemned the deeds of
money laundering case linked
to an alleged land scam.
On July 8, days after he was
sworn in as the Chief Minis-
ter of Jharkhand for the third
time, Soren won the floor
test during a special session
of the state assembly.
Hemant Soren won the
vote of trust with the votes of
45 MLAs in his favour.
He had resigned as Chief
Minister before his arrest on
January 31. He was arrested
by the Enforcement Direc-
torate (ED) in January on
charges related to an alleged
land scam and money laun-
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
The Ministry of Ports, Ship-
ping, and Waterways will
convene the State Maritime
& Waterways Transport Com-
mittees’ meeting on Tues-
day to hold discussions for the
comprehensive development
of maritime and waterways
transport across India and
expanding its reach to include
the remaining states.
The meeting to be held via
video conferencing will be
chaired by T. K. Ramachan-
dran, Secretary, Ministry of
Ports, Shipping, and Water-
Jammu and Kashmir when
elections are held.
"You don't trust the gov-
ernment which will take charge
when the elections happen, you
already passed a no-confi-
dence motion against an elect-
ed government, which is yet
to be elected. What kind of a
no-confidence is this and who
is Mr Narendra Modi to pass
a no-confidence motion even
before a government is formed,
even before the elections are
held," Khera said at a press con-
ference.
NARENDRA MODI
PRIME MINISTER
three independent MLAs,
and said these three have
imposed the by-election on
the people by conspiring to
overthrow the government.
“Rather than supporting
the opposition in the assem-
bly, these MLAs left the state
for a month and staged a
protest to have their resig-
nations accepted outside
the Vidhan Sabha. The pub-
lic has given a befitting reply
to their obstinacy through the
election results which is also
a good lesson for all those who
were trying to destabilize
the congress government in
the state,” he said.
He said that in the bye-
polls were held in 13 ACs all
over the country and the
BJP has only managed two
seats out of 13 and that too
with thin margin which
clearly indicates that the
people across the country has
rejected the autocracy of
the BJP leaders, its ideology
and policies of being in
power by befooling people.
dering. Earlier in a video mes-
sage Hemant Soren had
accused the BJP of leveling false
allegations against him.
"In the 2019 Jharkhand
Assembly Elections, the peo-
ple of Jharkhand gave our
party mandate but the con-
spirators were unable to digest
how an Adivasi youngster
can sit in such a high position.
At last, on January 31, they (the
BJP) made false allegations
against me and removed me
from the post of Chief Min-
ister. Because of the people's
blessings, I'm out here sitting
in front of you. We will always
be the voice of the people.
Today, the public opinion of
the people of Jharkhand will
rise again. By taking charge,
the work will be carried out
again,"
Hemant Soren's return as
CM will bolster the JMM,
which won three seats in the
tribal-dominated state of
Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha
elections.
ways, according to an official
statement issued on Saturday.
“The meeting will focus on
the preparation of state-spe-
cific Maritime and Water-
ways Transport Master Plans,
formulation of Maritime Sec-
tor Policies, Green Initiatives,
Waterways Development,
Cruise Tourism, Urban Water
Transportation, and the Devel-
opment of Lighthouses,” the
statement added.
Recognising the need for
a unified approach to man-
age and integrate the water-
ways transportation sector, the
Ministry has established State
Maritime & Waterways
NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
Himachal bypoll results:
Congress wins Dehra and
Nalagarh, BJP Hamirpur
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 13 JULY
With Kamlesh Thakur (53),
wife of Chief Minister Sukhvin-
der Singh Sukhu winning
Dehra by-poll, she has script-
ed history by opening Congress
account in Dehra Assembly
constituency.
Debutant Kamlesh Thakur
defeated her rival, two-time
MLA and BJP candidate Hosh-
yar Singh by a margin of 9,399
votes. She got 32,737 votes,
while Hoshyar Singh got 23,338
votes. Congress has also won
Nalagarh by-poll, as its can-
didate Hardeep Singh Bawa
defeated his opponant BJP
candidate K L Thakur by 8,990
votes.Bawa secured 34,068
votes, while Thakur got 25,618
votes.In Hamirpur Assembly
constituency BJP's candidate
Ashish Sharma got 27,041
defeating Congress candidate
Pushpinder Verma who got
25,470 votes.
Sharma won by 1,571 votes.
The by-polls in Dehra,
Nalagarh and Hamirpur was
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Union Minister of State for
Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai,
along with 78th battalion of
Border Security Force (BSF)
visited forward posts on the
Indo-Pakistan Border area of
Jammu and Kashmir in
Bandipura District of Gurez
Valley on Saturday and took
stock of the security situation
at an altitude of 12,000 feet.
Speaking to ANI, MoS
Home Nityanand Rai said
that as our Jawans are engaged
in guarding the country's
borders, that's why country-
men remain safe.
Rai further said that the
paramilitary force has become
stronger under the leader-
ship and inspiration of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi Ji and
the guidance of Home Min-
ister Amit Shah Ji.
"Our borders are fully safe
Transport Committees
(SMWTCs) to coordinate var-
ious initiatives and schemes
within each state.
These committees will
be pivotal in consolidating
efforts and providing focused
leadership in the maritime
and waterways sector. Each
state committee is headed by
the Chief Secretary or Addi-
tional Chief Secretary and
includes representatives
from major ports, maritime
boards, state PWD, Inland
Waterways, Department of
Tourism, Department of
Fisheries, Railways, NHAI
and Customs.
03
held on July 10, with an over-
all voting percentage of 71
percent.Nalagarh Assembly
constituency had witnessed the
highest voter turnout at around
79 percent, followed by Hamir-
pur 67.72 percent and Dehra
65.42 percent.
The counting to these seats
began at 8.00 am. Thirteen can-
didates were in the fray for the
by-polls. These elections were
necessitated after the State
Legislative Assembly Speaker
Kuldeep Singh Pathania accept-
ed the resignation of the three
independent MLAs, K L Thakur
of Nalagarh, Hoshyar Singh of
Dehra and Ashish Sharma of
Hamirpur on June 3. The three
independent MLAs had sub-
mitted their resignation to
the Speaker on March 22,
before joining BJP the next day.
Since their resignation was
not accepted by the Speaker,
they approached the High
Court and even staged a protest
in the premises of the State Leg-
islative Assembly on March 30,
demanding acceptance of
their resignation.
and secure and anyone who
try to infiltrate through bor-
ders security forces is very
much capable to give befitting
reply to enemy" Rai added.
During BSF forward post
visit in Jammu and Kashmir,
MoS Home Nityanand Rai
interacted with the soldiers,
had food with them, and took
stock of the security prepa-
rations.
Nityanand Rai on Two
days official visits in Jammu
and Kashmir begins from
today.
J&K Police bounds
down two clerics
for using
inflammatory
language
AGENCIES
SRINAGAR, 13 JULY
J&K Police on Saturday took
action against two clerics in
Anantnag district for using
“derogatory language” against
a particular community.
“We have taken decisive
action against two religious
clerics, Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri
and Abdul Rashid Dawoodi,
for using inflammatory lan-
guage targeting a specific
community,” police in a state-
ment said.
“The derogatory remarks
made by the clerics were
brought to the attention of the
Anantnag Police, who prompt-
ly initiated proceedings under
the relevant provisions of the
law. The clerics have been
bound down to prevent fur-
ther inflammatory speech,”
police said. J&K Police said that
they have adopted zero tol-
erance towards those preach-
ers and clerics who indulge in
reckless, inflammatory speech-
es stoking tension between the
communities.
04 NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
TN: DMK retains Vikravandi by More BRS legislators
a huge margin; Oppn cries foul join Cong in Telangana
AIADMK boycotted bypoll on the pretext that the ruling DMK will not allow free and fair election
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE in which the DMK-led INDIA
CHENNAI, 13 JULY alliance has swept all the 39
seats in TN and the lone seat
C
ontinuing its win- in neighbouring Puducherry.
ning streak, the rul- DMK’s Anniyur Siva polled
ing Dravida 1,24,053 votes while his near-
Munnetra Kazhagam est rival C Anbmani of the the
(DMK) on Saturday retained OBC-Vanniyar dominant Pat-
the Vikravandi assembly seat tali Makkal Katchi (PMK), an
in the by-election with a huge NDA constituent, secured
margin of over 67,000 votes. 56,296 votes.
This is the first election short- The Tamil nationalist
ly after the Lok Sabha elections ‘Naam Tamil Katchi (NTK)
nominee K Abinaya has
received 10,602 votes. The
principal opposition AIADMK
has boycotted it on the pre-
text that the ruling DMK will
not allow free and fair elec-
tion.
LEGAL NOTICE DMK president and Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister MK Stal-
in celebrated the victory by dis-
IN THE COURT OF
Sh. Ashutosh Kumar,
tributing sweets to party work-
District Judge (Commercial Court- ers and functionaries at the
01), West, Room No. 201, 2nd Floor, DMK headquarters ‘Anna Ari-
Extension Block,
Tis Hazari Court, Delhi valayam’.
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING With the DMK’s Anniyur
ATTENDANCE OF DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the Code of Siva establishing an unas-
Civil Procedure) sailable lead of 40,000 votes
Suit No. : CS (COMM) 994/2022 by noon against his nearest
CANARA BANK
-Plaintiff PMK rival C Anbumani, cel-
Vs ebrations erupted in Chennai
ANURAG BHASKAR AND ORS
-Defendant and across the state with
To,
DEFENDANTS
Owaisi claims MHA, fearing electoral No issues with probing Nagendra, ED’s action
DEFENDANT NO. 2
SMT. LAVINA BHASKAR, R/O 42,
MAYA APARTMENTS, VIKAS PURI,
NEW DELHI
DEFENDANT NO. 4
M/S GAYATRI INFRA PLANNER PVT.
LTD., THROUGH ITS AUTHORISED SIG-
NATORY, PLOT NO. 1F, SECTOR-16,
GREATER NOIDA (WEST) U.P.
loss,enhanced powers of J&K LG
ALSO AT : B-121, FIRST FLOOR, SEC- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
TOR-2, NOIDA-201301
THE DEFENDANTS ABOVE NAMED HYDERABAD, 13 JULY
WHEREAS you are intentionally
evading service of summons it is
hereby notified that if you shall not AIMIM chief Asaduddin
defend the case on the 24-07-2024 the Owaisi has alleged that the
day fixed for the final disposal, MHA has amended the
it will be heard and determined
ex-parte. Jammu and Kashmir Reor-
Defendant shall file written state- ganisation Act of 2019 giving
ment within 30 days (extendable
upto 120 days with the leave of the more powers to the Lieu-
Court and subject to terms) from tenant Governor (LG) since
the date of service of process as
pre amendment Proviso of Sub Rule
the BJP is aware it will not be
1 of Order 5 Rule 1 CPC as applicable able to form the government
to The Commercial Courts Act from if elections were held.
the date of this publication.
Given under my hand and the seal Owaisi claimed that the
of the court, this 06-07-2024. NDA government wanted
District Judge (Commercial
Court-01), West, Extension Block, the state government to be
Tis Hazari Court, Delhi lame duck one without any
Seal of the Court
say in the postings of bureau-
crats or in matters of securi-
CHANGE OF NAMES ty.
Taking to social media
I Deepak Mehra S/o Sh. Roshan platform ‘X’ Owaisi pointed
Lal Mehra, R/o House No-140, Uday out “These are not normal
Park, Andrewsganj, South Delhi, amendments. They encroach
Delhi-110049, hereby declare
that Deepak Kumar Mehra and upon the subjects vested
Deepak Mehra both names are one with an elected government
and Same person.
J-6626 under J&K Reorganisation
I Hitherto Knows as Shikha Chugh Act. JKAS officers can be
D/o Harsh Vardhan Chugh, R/o posted as administrative sec-
D-2/2356, Vasant Kunj South-West
Delhi, Delhi-110070 have changed
my name and shall here often be
Vijayan govt trying to take credit Kerala HC judge, known for speedy
known as Shikha Chugh Pahwa.
PUBLIC
NOTIFICATIONS
Be it known all that my clients
Mr. Rakesh Chaudhary S/o Late Sh.
for Vizhinjam Port, says Kerala LoP case disposals, wraps up judicial career
Pratap Singh and Mrs. Sunita AGENCIES
Choudhry W/o Mr. Rakesh Chaud- ERNAKULAM, 13 JULY
hary both R/o House No. 61, Madan-
gir Village, New Delhi-62 do hereby
disown their son Mr. Prateek Choud- Launching a scathing attack
hary @ Ayad Choudhary and his
wife Mrs. Azleena Khanam from their
on the Kerala government
all moveable and immoveable prop- for not inviting him to the inau-
erties. My clients also severe all guration of the Vizhinjam
their relations from the abovesaid per-
sons. My clients will not be respon- Port, Leader of the Opposi-
sible for any of their acts, deeds or tion, VD Satheesan, said that
things. If anyone deal with them do
the same on their own risk and cost. in 2015, his government had
ABDUL SATTAR inaugurated the construc-
Advocate tion and now Chief Minister
Enrol. No-D/619/1990, Chamber
No. 419, Lawyers Block, Saket Pinarayi Vijayan is trying to
Court New Delhi.
Mob. No. : 98180843630
take credit.
Satheesan said, "The
Vizhinjam Port is a reality, after
six months, it will be com-
missioned. The opposition of
Kerala is celebrating this day
because it is our 'baby'. We
have been trying to make
this port since last 3 decades.
We started this project in
1991 when K Karunakaran was
the CM, unfortunately, we
couldn't complete it. We
Hyderabad Police Commissioner
reviews Muharram arrangements
AGENCIES
HYDERABAD, 13 JULY
Hyderabad City Police Com-
missioner Kothakota Sreeni-
vasa Reddy reviewed prepa-
rations for Muharram 2024
during his visit to Bibi-Ka-
https://epaper.thestatesman.com
ALL CLASSIFIED ARE CARRIED
Alawa here on Saturday.
The team, which includ-
ed Additional CPs Vikram
ON OUR WEBSITE
Singh Mann and P Viswa
Prasad, and DCP South Zone
FREE OF COST
Sneha Mehra, inspected the
route for the upcoming ele-
phant procession scheduled
on July 17.
"Hyderabad City Police
Commissioner Kothakota
Sreenivasa Reddy, IPS, along
with senior police officers, vis-
ited Bibi Ka Alawa and
reviewed the arrangements
DMK workers bursting crack-
ers. Thanking the voters, Stal-
in said “it is a victory to be
inscribed in gold in the his-
tory of the DMK. To hide
their defeat, the BJP-led
alliance has unleashed lies and
canards against me and the
DMK, touching a new low in
public discourse.
The people have chased
away these idlers, disregard-
ing them.” “Parties in the
India bloc have registered
victories while the BJP is fac-
ing losses in other states
mustn’t be politically-motivated: K’taka HM
retaries only by LG. LG will
be the Super CM (Sixth fin-
ger). He then further went on
to say that the BJP was appre-
hensive that it will not be able
to win Assembly elections
in Jammu and Kashmir and
hence brought in the amend-
ments to reduce the power
and authority of the state
government.
“In anticipation that after
elections (if they are held) BJP
will not be able to form the
government almost all pow-
ers have been “gifted” to LG.
The elected government will
inaugurated the construc-
tion in 2015. For the last 8 years,
the present government did-
n't take any initiative to make
any road or rail connectivity
and now Pinarayi Vijayan's
government is trying to take
credit."
"They didn't invite me to
the inauguration programme
though I am the state Assem-
bly LoP," he added.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
welcomed the first mother-
ship, "San Fernando " at the
Vizhinjam International Sea-
port in Kerala on Friday.
for Muharram 2024. The
team, including Additional
CPs Vikram Singh Mann and
P Viswa Prasad, and DCP
South Zone Sneha Mehra,
inspected the route of the
upcoming elephant proces-
sion, scheduled for July 17,"
as per a press release from PRO
Hyderabad police Commis-
sionerate.
Following the inspection,
the Commissioner held a
meeting with police officials
at Purani Haveli office, issu-
ing instructions on main-
taining law and order, traf-
fic diversion, and parking
arrangements during the pro-
cession.
The police are taking all
necessary measures to ensure
a peaceful and smooth con-
where bypolls were held. The
BJP should learn from these
defeats,” the DMK chief added.
Stalin further said, “It is still
a mystery as to why the PMK,
which was steadfastly opposed
to contesting by-polls as a pol-
icy of the party, has entered
the fray.” With the DMK’s
victory in Vikravandi, the
trend of the ruling party win-
ning bypolls in Tamil Nadu
continues. Earlier, the Con-
gress had won the Erode
bypoll with a similar huge mar-
gin, riding on the DMK’s back.
be lame duck and will have
no say in postings, security
etc. It will be much like
Puducherry.”
The MHA has amended the
Transaction of Business Rules
giving the LG more say in mat-
ters related to police, public
order, All India Service (AIS).
Proposals regarding appoint-
ment of advocate-general,
law officers or grant or refusal
of prosecution sanction or fil-
ing appeals will now require
the nod of LG. On Friday
MHA had notified the amend-
ed rules of the Jammu and
Kashmir Reorganisation Act.
Jammu and Kashmir has
been under Central rule since
June 2018 and in 2019 it was
made an Union Territory
after the abrogation of Arti-
cle 370 of the Constitution.
The Assembly elections will
have to be held before 30 Sep-
tember this year, following a
directive of the Supreme
Court.
Welcoming the ship, the
CM highlighted that India
had now entered the global
map through Vizhinjam port
and called it a proud moment
for India.
"India enters into the glob-
al map through Vizhinjam. It
is a huge port among world
ports. The biggest ships in the
world can berth in Vizhinjam.
The operation is starting
through a trial run. And will
start completely function-
ing soon. This is becoming the
mother port and it is a proud
moment" said CM Vijayan.
Vizhinjam seaport is very
close to the famous Kovalam
beach. It has water connec-
tivity to many regional and
international ports. This is the
first transhipment port in
the country. Till now India was
dependent on Colombo,
Dubai and Singapore ports for
duct of the Moharrum pro-
cession, as per PRO Hyder-
abad police Commissioner-
ate.
"The visit and meeting
aimed to ensure that all
aspects of security and crowd
management are in place for
the upcoming event. With
Moharrum processions
attracting large crowds, the
police are leaving no stone
unturned to maintain pub-
lic safety and order in the city,"
as per the release.
Muharram holds signifi-
cant religious importance
for Shia Muslims.
In India, the 7 to 8 crore
Shia Muslim community,
along with people of differ-
ent religions, participate in
large processions and tazias.
As such, the opposition reac-
tion was on expected lines.
NTK chief coordinator
Seeman termed the bypoll as
open bidding and not as an
election. As in the Erode
bypoll, the NTK had secured
a little over 10000 votes in
Vikravandi. PMK founder S
Ramadoss, in a statement
maintained that, “the ruling
DMK had used money power
and won the election. Free flow
of liquor, cash and gifts was
witnessed. Yet, more than
56,000 voters casting their
votes for the PMK is a victo-
ry for the party. It was the PMK
which has won the election.”
Accepting the verdict of the
people, BJP State president K
Annamalai, said “This bypoll
result will have no reflection
in the 2026 assembly election.
There will be change and it is
certain. DMK ministers were
deployed in full strength. Vio-
lations and irregularities were
so common. But, despite the
DMK employing its money
power and official machinery
at its disposal, people have
voted for our alliance in large
numbers.”
AGENCIES
BENGALURU, 13 JULY
Commenting on the arrest of
former minister B Nagendra
by the ED, Karnataka Home
Minister, G Parameshwara
said on Saturday that there was
no issue with the ED investi-
gating him, but the central
agency’s action should not
be politically-motivated.
The ED had arrested Nagen-
dra on Friday in connection
with irregularities in the trib-
al welfare Board.
Speaking to reporters at his
residence on Saturday in Ben-
galuru, HM Parameshwara
stated, “The ED is investigat-
ing him, and they have arrest-
ed him based on the infor-
mation they have gathered. This
is a legal procedure.”
“We have been saying for
a long time that this should not
be political. The ED and CBI
should not become political
transhipment. Now Vizhin-
jam International Seaport
will be the transhipment port
of the country.
The Vizhinjam Interna-
tional Seaport has been built
by Adani Ports and Special
Economic Zone Ltd, (APSEZ).
The port is built with a total
investment of Rs 8,867 crore.
The state government of Ker-
ala has contributed about Rs
5,595 crore while the central
government contributed Rs
818 crore for the port.
Built on the public-private
partnership, Vizhinjam Inter-
national Port's construction
started in 2016. The project
was allotted to APSEZ on
December 5, 2015, after the
Government of Kerala and
Adani Vizhinjam Port Pri-
vate Ltd. (AVPPL) agreed to
a concession agreement on
August 17, 2015.
`85.34 crore granted to CIBS for the
preservation of Buddhist culture: Rijiju
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, 13 JULY
The Minister for Minority
Affairs and Parliamentary
Affairs, Kiren Rijiju on Satur-
day inaugurated the ‘Bhoo-
mi Poojan’ ceremony of the
Traditional Arts Academic
Block of the Central Insti-
tute of Buddhist Studies (CIBS)
at Choglamsar in Leh.
Chairman-CEC, Ladakh
Autonomous Hill Develop-
ment Council (LAHDC), Leh,
Tashi Gyalson, Advisor to Lt
Governor, UT Ladakh, Dr
Pawan Kotwal and Vice Chan-
cellor Prof Rajesh Ranjan
were among those present on
the occasion.
The ceremony com-
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
HYDERABAD, 13 JULY
With two more BRS MLAs
defecting to the Congress,
the number of defectors has
risen to nine. While Prakash
Goud the four-time MLA of
Rajendranagar joined Con-
gress yesterday late evening
Arekapudi Gandhi, the MLA
of Serilingampally defected
today morning.
Gandhi joined the Con-
gress along with four GHMC
corporators. The BRS had
won almost all the seats in
Hyderabad and adjoining
Ranga Reddy district in the
last Assembly elections but
weapons for the central gov-
ernment,” the HM added.
When asked whether the
ED’s actions were politically-
motivated, HM Paramesh-
wara stated, “We don’t have
any issues with the ED inves-
tigating Nagendra. We have also
formed an SIT, and our sleuths
have summoned former min-
ister Nagendra and Board
Chairman Basanagouda Dad-
dal and recorded their state-
ments. Meanwhile, the CBI has
started conducting an inves-
tigation following the complaint
by the bank. The ED has made
a sudden entry into the scene.”
AGENCIES
KOCHI, 13 JULY
Kerala High Court Justice P.
Somarajan, whose career
spanned over 35 years, bid
adieu to his glittering legal
career on Saturday. Justice
Somarajan has a unique cred-
it to his name, which is a
record of disposing of cases
during his tenure.
“I had ensured speedy dis-
posal of all old civil appeals
including second appeals
ranging from 10 to 65 years old
during my tenure,” the retir-
menced with monks per-
forming the solemnization
of land seeking blessings for
a safe and successful project
of the upcoming construction
of Traditional Arts Academ-
ic blocks. The ceremony also
featured an exhibition show-
casing Thangka Paintings,
now with the defection it has
started to lose ground rapidly
in the urban areas as well.
Most of the BRS MLAs in
the city and adjoining areas
were originally with the TDP
and had won in 2014 on its
ticket.
However, as TDP’s influ-
ence waned after Nara Chan-
drababu Naidu chose to shift
to Vijayawada following the
cash for vote case its MLAs
shifted to the BRS. In the last
Assembly election when the
BRS miserably lost in the
rural areas its urban MLAs not
only held ground but also
bucked the trend.
Significantly, both Prakash
“The ED might have infor-
mation; I won’t dispute it.
Our party leaders are stating
that the ED and CBI should not
be used to pursue a political
agenda,” he underlined.
When asked about Daddal
allegedly trying to take shel-
ter with the SIT to escape
arrest by the ED, HM Para-
meshwara stated that he did
not have any information in
this regard. “The SIT sleuths
had asked Nagendra and Dad-
dal to appear before them. Their
statements have been record-
ed, and they will be sum-
moned if necessary,” he said.
Regarding Daddal being
missing, Parameshwara stat-
ed that he was with his fami-
ly when he enquired on Fri-
day. “When Nagendra was
arrested, I asked about Dad-
dal, and I was told that he is
with his family,” Parameshwara
stated.
When asked about the ED
ing judge said during his
farewell speech in the court
premise. In 1988, Justice
Somarajan began his career
as a lawyer. In 2001, he was
appointed as District &
Sessions Judge at the Addi-
tional District Court in
Palakkad.
“I have the enviable dis-
tinction of a record disposal
of second appeals in India.
During my tenure, I can say
with pride that I have accom-
plished a landmark record of
the disposal of second civil
appeals within a short span
different spiritual texts and the
statues of Avalokiteshvara.
Vice Chancellor, CIBS,
Prof Rajesh Ranjan expressed
gratitude to Rijiju for his assis-
tance in funding the Tradi-
tional Arts Academic Block.
He said that CIBS has sent four
proposals under the Bud-
dhist Development Plan out
of which three got approved.
He also thanked the CEC
for his support in the newly
renovated auditorium of CIBS.
Emphasizing the ancient
roots of Buddhism, Rijiju
assured full assistance for
the development and the
preservation of the Buddhist
Community and its culture.
He further informed that
under the Ministry of Minor-
Goud and Arekapudi Gand-
hi went to meet Chandrababu
Naidu last week when he was
in Hyderabad after his mas-
sive win in AP. Incidentally,
Telangana PCC president
and chief minister A Revanth
Reddy was also in TDP before
he joined the Congress.
After the defections the
strength of the Congress in the
state Assembly has increased
to 75 from 64. It has wrested
the Secunderabad Canton-
ment seat from the BRS in the
bypoll. The BRS which had
won 39 seats is down to 29.
However, at least 26 MLAs will
have to defect from BRS in
order to effect a merger with
the Congress Legislative Party
(CLP).
According to another turn-
coat MLA Danam Nagender
barring three or four MLAs the
rest of the BRS Legislative party
will join the Congress in the
next few days. He seemed to
indicate apart from BRS chief
K Chandrasekhar Rao, his
son KT Rama Rao and nephew
T Harish Rao the rest of the
MLAs will join the Congress
soon. The ruling party too
wants their ducks in a row
before the local polls com-
mence in rural Telangana.
looking into the tribal welfare
Board money being used for
the election, he stated, “The
ED has not provided any infor-
mation to our police. It won’t
be correct to make comments
based on imagination.”
Asked about the arrest of
former BJP MLC, DS Veeraiah,
he said, “It’s regarding a scam
amounting to Rs 45 crore.
Veeraiah was arrested dur-
ing the investigation of the cor-
ruption case while he was the
President of Devaraj Urs Truck
Terminal Limited, which is a
state government entity.”
Answering a question on BJP
objecting to the detention of
party workers, HM Para-
meshwara stated, “We don’t
have any objections to them
staging protests. But, if they
decide to protest at their will
and trouble the public, the
Supreme Court has given a ver-
dict on this. They can’t be big-
ger than the Supreme Court.”
of one year and three months,”
he said. In 2016, Justice
Somarajan was elevated to
Additional Judge of the Ker-
ala High Court and was con-
firmed as a permanent judge
in March 2018. He said that
he had also had an opportu-
nity to dispose of a case which
was filed on the day he was
born. “I have also disposed
of some of the cases which were
filed even before my birth,”
he said. He said that these cases
didn't get much recognition
in the media. “However, I see
it as part of one's duty, car-
ried out without expecting any
applause,” he said. Acting Ker-
ala Chief Justice A. Mohammed
Mustaque, in his speech,
termed Justice Somarajan as
‘one of the finest gentlemen’
whose tenure was marked by
integrity, impartiality, and a
relentless pursuit of justice.
ity, Rs 85.34 crore have been
allocated to CIBS for the
preservation of Buddhist Cul-
ture.
Deputy Chairman, LAHDC,
Tsering Angchuk; Commis-
sioner/Secretary, Higher Edu-
cation, Padma Angmo; ADGP,
Ladakh, Dr SD Singh Jamw-
al, Deputy Commissioner,
Santosh Sukhadeve; SSP, Leh,
Shruti Arora; President Ladakh
Buddhist Association, Tser-
ing Dorjey Lakrook; former
MP, Jamyang Tsering Nam-
gyal, founder of MIMC Ven
Bhikkhu Sanghasena; Presi-
dent, All Ladakh Gonpa Asso-
ciation; dignitaries, faculty,
staffs and students of CIBS
were also present during the
ceremony.
 NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024 05
Bypoll results proof of declining BSF intercepts Pak drone in Punjab's Fazilka district
AGENCIES nical counter-measures to with a suspected packet at

credibility of Modi, Shah: Kharge

FAZILKA, 13 JULY
The Border Security Force
(BSF) troops intercepted a
Out of the 13 Assembly seats spread across HP, U’khand, WB, Bihar, Punjab,& TN, INDIA bloc won 10 seats Pakistani drone intruding in
the border area of the Fazil-
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE itics. The INDIA alliance has ka district of Punjab on Sat-
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY secured an impressive 10 seats urday. The troops immediately
demonstrating the rejection fired on it and activated tech-
neutralise the illicit drone. The
movement of the drone was
tracked and an extensive
search operation by BSF
troops along with SSOC Fazil-
ka was carried out in antici-
pated dropping zone. The
search operation culminated
in the recovery of a drone along
about 05:30 am. The packet
was wrapped in yellow colour
packing material. A metal
ring and a small plastic torch
were also found attached to
the packet. In addition to
this, three pistols and seven
empty pistol magazines were
found inside the packet.

C
ongress president
Mallikarjun Kharge
on Saturday asserted
that the Assembly
bypoll results in seven states
is a proof of “declining cred-
ibility” of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Home
Minister Amit Shah.
Out of the 13 Assembly
seats spread across Himachal
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West
Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, and
Tamil Nadu, Congress and
other parties of INDIA bloc won
10 seats, BJP two and one
Independent.
Reacting to the Assembly
bypolls results, Kharge, who
is also the Leader of Opposi-
tion in Rajya Sabha, in a post
on X wrote, “We bow before
the people for the positive
results of the Assembly bypolls.
We salute all the Congress
workers for their hard work and
efforts in adverse circum-
stances.”
“This victory shows that the
public has now completely
rejected the arrogance, mis-
governance and negative pol-
itics of the BJP.This is also a
strong proof of the declining
political credibility of Modi-
Shah,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments,
Leader of Opposition in Lok
Sabha Rahul Gandhi said,
“The results of the bypolls
held in seven states have
made it clear that the web of
'fear and confusion' woven by
the BJP has been broken.
Every class including farmers,
youth, laborers, businessmen
and employees wants to com-
pletely destroy dictatorship and
establish the rule of justice.”
“The public is now com-
pletely standing with INDIA
of the BJP's anti-people, anti-
youth policies, and divisive pol-
itics.” “Today’s results are
not just a political victory;
they are a triumph for democ-
racy and constitutional values.
They reaffirm the people’s
commitment to governance
that prioritizes welfare and
inclusivity over divisive tac-
tics and power grabs,” Venu-
gopal said in a statement.
for the betterment of their lives
and to protect the Constitu-
tion,” he wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Congress gen-
eral secretary in-charge of
Organisation KC Venugopal
said, “Today’s by-poll results
stand as a resounding victo-
ry for democracy and a strong
rebuke to the BJP’s divisive pol-

Modi govt invading privacy of Bihar independent

political opponents: Venugopal candidate Shankar
Singh wins Rupauli
assembly bypoll
AGENCIES
PATNA, 13 JULY

Independent candidate Shankar Singh has

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Senior Congress leader KC Venu-
gopal on Saturday accused the Naren-
dra Modi-led government at the Cen-
tre of acting in a criminal and uncon-
stitutional manner and invading pri-
vacy of the political opponents.
In a post on X, Venugopal, who is
the Congress General Secretary in-
charge of Organisation wrote, “Thank
you PM Modi ji for sending your
favourite malicious spyware on my
phone also. Apple has been kind
enough to intimate me about this spe-
cial present of yours. Let’s be clear,
the Modi government is acting in a crim-
inal and unconstitutional manner,
going after political opponents and
invading their privacy in this manner.”
Referring to the recently conclud-
ed Lok Sabha elections, he said, “The
message of the Lok Sabha elections
was that the people reject any attack
on the Constitution and the BJP’s fas-
cist agenda. We will oppose this bla-
tantly unconstitutional act and breach
on our privacy tooth and nail.”
The senior Congress leader along
with his post also shared an alert
reportedly sent by Apple to him which
read “Apple detected that you are being
targeted by a mercenary spyware
attack that is trying to remotely com-
promise the iPhone associated with
your Apple ID. This attack is likely tar-
geting you specifically because of
who you are or what you do. Although
it’s never possible to achieve absolute
certainty when detecting such attacks,
Apple has high confidence in this
warning please take it seriously.” It fur-
ther said, “Apple previously sent you
a notification on 30th October, 2023.
This is not a repeat notice, it is to inform
you that we detected another attack
against your device.”
It may be mentioned that on 31st
October last year, Congress MP Rahul
Gandhi and several leaders from the
Opposition had accused the ruling dis-
pensation of trying to hack their
phones.
The government had rejected their
allegations and said they were trying
to distract the people from the progress
the country is making under the lead-
ership of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
won the Rupauli assembly bypoll in Purnea
district with a margin of 8204 votes over JD(U)
candidate Kaladhar Mandal.
He received 67,782 votes, while Mandal,
who led until the sixth round of counting,
got 58,578 votes.
This is the second time when an Inde-
pendent candidate has defeated a JD(U) can-
didate in the Purnea district. Earlier, Rajesh
Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, as an Indepen-
dent candidate, defeated Santosh Kushwaha
in the recent Lok Sabha election.
RJD candidate Bima Bharti finished
third with 30,114 votes. NOTA (None of the
Above) received 5,675 votes, coming at fourth.
Out of 11 candidates, only four garnered
more than a thousand votes after the final
round of counting, with Independent can-
didate Lalu Prasad Yadav receiving 1,418
votes.
Shankar Singh, previously associated with
Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJPRV),
had won an assembly election on an LJP
ticket. Denied a ticket by Chirag Paswan
to contest for LJPRV, Singh ran as an Inde-
pendent candidate in the Rupauli bypoll.
The polling was held in Rupauli on July 10.
According to the Election Commission, 52.75
per cent of the voters exercised their fran-
chise which was much lower compared to
the 2020 Assembly poll when 61.19 per cent
voting was recorded.
The Rupauli assembly seat fell vacant
after Bima Bharti, the then JD (U) MLA
resigned to contest the Lok Sabha election
on the ticket of RJD. Bima Bharti lost the
Lok Sabha elections.

Amit Shah reviews projects for

development of vibrant border villages
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Home Minister Amit Shah on
Saturday held a high-level
meeting to review imple-
mentation of the "Vibrant Vil-
lages Programme" for all-
round development of bor-
der villages and to prevent
migration from there.
Under the leadership of the
Prime Minister, the ambitious
scheme was launched on
14th February, 2023 with an
allocation of Rs 4,800 crore.
The Home Minister told the
meeting the government is
committed to all-round devel-
opment of the border vil-
lages.
He said there is need to
provide employment oppor-
tunities to local residents
and to increase connectivi-
ty of the villages to prevent
migration from there.
Mr Shah said that Central
Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)
and Army deployed around
the border villages should pur-
chase local agricultural and
handicraft products through
cooperatives.
Benefit of healthcare facil-
ities of the Army and CAPFs
should be regularly extend-
ed to residents of nearby vil-
lages, he said. The Home
Minister and Minister of
Cooperation stressed upon
the maximum use of solar
energy and other renewable
sources of energy like wind-
mills etc.
He said efforts should
continue by senior ministers
and officials to understand
the issues of border villages
under the Vibrant Villages Pro-
gramme. So far, more than
6000 events have been organ-
ized in these border villages,
which include about 4000
service delivery and aware-
ness camps. More than 600
projects have been sanc-
tioned by the government for
employment generation in
these villages. During the
meeting, the Home Minister
laid special emphasis on
review at the highest level at
regular intervals to dispose
of pending issues.
Under the ‘Vibrant Villages
Programme’ scheme, 136
border villages are being pro-
vided connectivity through
113 all-weather road projects
at a cost of Rs 2,420 crore.
These villages will get 4G
connectivity by December
2024. Appropriate steps are
being taken to ensure finan-
cial inclusion in all these vil-
lages and India Post-Pay-
ment Banks (IPPB) are also
being facilitated there. Work
is being done to develop
tourist circuits to bring vibran-
cy to the Vibrant Villages
and to promote tourism. In
this endeavour, capacity
building and tourism relat-
ed infrastructure is being
developed in coordination
with the Ministry of Tourism.
The meeting was attend-
ed by senior officers of the
Ministry of Home Affairs
including Home Secretary
A K Bhalla; Secretary, Border
Management and the Direc-
tor General, Indo Tibetan
Border Police (ITBP).
 06 NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024 Vol. CXXXXXVIII 28 (S)

With which is incorporated

Putin in Vietnam~I A MEMBER
OF THE

ASIAN VOICES
The Englishman ~ Founded 1821
Vietnam‘s conduct of foreign policy finds resonance with that of India. Like India, it has
Why AI must be
Rate Cuts Premature dealt with its relations with Russia, especially the war with Ukraine, deftly by maintaining
regulated
I n the intricacies of economic policy, the relationship neutrality, while nurturing its ties with both the US and Russia at the same level. For

between inflation and interest rates is a pivotal one.
Signals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) indicate
that the anticipation of a rate cut remains premature.
This decision underscores the central bank’s cautious
approach towards economic stability and its steadfast
commitment to achieving its long-term inflation target of
4 per cent. Inflation, the silent eroder of purchasing po-
wer, is a metric that central banks around the world vig-
ilantly monitor. For India, maintaining a delicate bal-
ance between fostering economic growth and controlling
inflation is particularly crucial. The uptick in inflation
from 4.75 per cent in May to 5.08 per cent in June is
enough to warrant prudence. This is especially true in an
environment where global economic uncertainties and
domestic challenges persist. The RBI’s decision to hold
interest rates steady for eight consecutive policy meet-
ings reflects a nuanced understanding of the current
economic landscape. Lowering interest rates could po-
tentially stimulate borrowing and investment, theoreti-
cally boosting economic activity. However, this comes
with the risk of further inflating an already above-target
inflation rate. In essence, the central bank is navigating
between stimulating growth and preventing runaway
inflation. One might argue that a rate cut could provide
the necessary impetus for achieving the projected eco-
nomic growth of 7.2 per cent for the fiscal year ending
March 2025. Indeed, such growth would be a remark-
able achievement and a testament to India's economic
resilience. However, the RBI’s cautious stance suggests
that the underlying economic fundamentals might not
yet fully support such a move. The focus remains on
long-term stability rather than short-term gains.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das’s reiteration that it is
I
Vietnam, stress on Asean centrality has helped it in navigating through geopolitical struggle visited the Louvre Museum a cou-
ple of months ago, where legends
and remain relevant in regional diplomacy. Vietnam is convinced that it needs to adhere and mythologies of humankind are
to Asean centrality and remain engaged with all major powers preserved. Before the age of scien-
tific reasoning in the 19th century,
humankind lived based on beliefs and
myths since we could not prove or scie-
ntifically reason what someone else
observed. What became a legend and
then a truth was based on what we
wanted to see as a truth from a com-
pelling story told by others. We could
record what we see with modern recor-
ding technology during the Industrial
Revolution. This included photogra-
phy, filming, audio recording and X-
rays. Finally, others could examine
whether what someone claims is true
or not. Recording technology became
the basis of scientific research and jou-
rnalism. We built scientific institutions
and communities to cross-check scien-
tific observations and established jou-
rnalism to deliver what happened
based on recording technologies. With
one premise, that the recording is au-
thentic and original, we could finally
evolve to an era of scientific reasoning,
humankind concerning a straightfor-
ward thought: “What is true?”
With generative AI, the premise
has collapsed that what we see and
hear, seeming to be recorded, should
be accurate. The last resort for people
to validate facts based on the record-
ing will lose credibility, and we will no

I
“too early to talk about a change in the monetary policy
stance” until inflation aligns more closely with the 4 per n June, Russian President
cent target is a clear signal to markets and policymakers. Vladimir Putin made two
significant overseas visits,
The central bank’s commitment to its inflation target is a
first to North Korea where
cornerstone of its credibility. Any premature deviation he signed a landmark security
could undermine this credibility and destabilise expec- treaty with North Korean leader
tations, which are crucial for economic planning and Kim Jong-Un and then to Viet-
investment. The central bank’s study of the neutral inter- nam, one of Asia’s fastest grow-
est rate ~ where inflation is close to target and growth is ing economies and one of the
near its potential ~ is another layer of its prudent appro- most diplomatically active
ach. This rate acts as a benchmark for assessing whether countries in the 21st century.
current monetary policy is stimulative or restrictive. The All this was before he host-
findings of this study, expected in the next couple of ed Indian Prime Minister
months, will provide valuable insights into the appro- Narendra Modi at a summit
meeting back at home. This arti-
priate policy path forward. India’s economic journey is at cle shall discuss the significance
a critical juncture. With strong growth momentum and of Putin’s visit to Vietnam and
ambitious targets, the path ahead requires a careful bal- what it conveyed to the world.
ancing act. The RBI’s current stance reflects a deep In recent times, Vietnam
understanding of this delicate balance. While the lure of that was once isolated because
rate cuts as a quick fix for economic stimulation is strong, of its ideological positioning, is
longer be able to scientifically reason
ly was that it was Putin’s first and some of the members of the meeting if seen in the context of based on facts. What we want to believe
visit to a Southeast Asian coun- Asean bloc have evinced inter- Vietnam-China tensions over as facts becomes truth to us and, ironi-
try since the war in Ukraine est in joining the grouping, the South China Sea. Putin agr- cally, with the most advantageous te-
broke out. Putin was probably keen to send eed for Russia-Vietnam joint oil chnology humankind has created, we
Already under Western a message of support for exploration in areas that fall will now return to the era of legends
sanctions because of military Hanoi’s potential membership within Vietnam’s Exclusive Eco- and mythology. To prevent humankind
operations in Ukraine and by aspirations. nomic Zone (EEZ), something from rewinding the clock in history, we
choosing to visit Vietnam, Putin Vietnam has not yet openly akin to what India’s ONGC’s need to regulate AI by technologically
intended to send a clear mes- expressed keenness to join the overseas wing has been doing. enforcing disclaimers that it is AI-gen-
sage to the West that Russia BRICS but is now studying the As Russian companies ope- erated. This requires an immediate
continues to remain relevant in possibilities. It may be noted rate in Vietnam’s EEZ, which lies international collaborative effort to
global affairs and that prior to within Beijing’s self-proclaimed understand the impact of generative AI
cannot be isolated. Putin’s visit, a Viet- 10-dash line, Moscow tacitly on society and implement globally
The visit how- namese delegation supports Vietnam’s sovereignty applicable regulations. This also calls
ever did not yield visited Russia to claims in the disputed South for the establishment of an interna-
any significant attend the BRICS China Sea. No wonder, Putin tional organization to govern AI.
agreements for Plus dialogue. signed more deals to further
Hanoi. Discussi- Sooner or lat- Russia-Vietnam cooperation on
ons focused more er, Vietnam will oil and gas exploration, which
on expanding eco- see the advantage could irk Beijing. At the same
nomic coopera- for itself if it joins time, a strong message was sent Health insurance deficit

the central bank’s measured approach underscores the diplomatically very active and
importance of long-term stability over short-term expe- has made an impact of rele-
vance to the world.
diency.
For a long time, the West
had a jaundiced view about
S
tion rather than on BRICS. Since Viet- out by expressing a commit-
security issues. nam prioritises ment to ensure “security, safe- outh Korea’s public health sys-
Viewed differently, dealing with mul- ty, freedom of navigation and tem is still mired in a protracted
RAJARAM
with the frayed ties PANDA tilateral diplomat- aviation” in and over the South dispute between the govern-
with China over ic institutions and China Sea. ment and doctors over the med-

Biden candidacy Vietnam and saw it as pariah the South China advocates a multi- Vietnam is aware that ical school enrollment quota. On top
The writer is former Senior
Fellow, PMML, Ministry of
state. But it has leapfrogged to Sea issue, Hanoi Culture, Government of India, polar world order China is not likely to back-track of the current debacle, there is a poten-

I
n the whirlwind of American politics, moments of
slip-ups and missteps by leaders often become pivotal
points in assessing their capability and readiness for
office. President Joe Biden’s confusion between Vice
President Kamala Harris and former President Donald
Trump, alongside other verbal gaffes including reference
to the Ukrainian head of state as President Putin, has
ignited a storm of debate about his fitness for the presi-
dency as he gears up for a re-election bid. Critics argue
that these instances of confusion are not just lapses in
memory but symptomatic of larger concerns about Mr
Biden’s mental acuity and ability to lead effectively. Such
doubts have only been amplified by internal pressures
within his own party, with some Democrats openly ques-
tioning whether he should continue his campaign. For
them, the stakes are high, especially with the memory of
his lackluster debate performance against Mr Trump still
fresh. Supporters, on the other hand, contend that Mr
Biden’s long career in politics, marked by resilience and
experience, outweighs occasional verbal miscues. They
highlight his successes on the international stage, such as
rallying support for Ukraine amid Russian aggression
and navigating complex geopolitical tensions with
finesse. To them, Mr Biden’s ability to steer global
alliances and tackle pressing issues like the Israel-Gaza
conflict underscore his competence despite verbal slip-
ups. The broader implications of Mr Biden’s situation
extend beyond personal critique. They reflect deeper
concerns about the US presidency itself ~ its demands,
its pressures, and the toll it takes on those who occupy
the Oval Office. The presidency is a grueling role that
demands unwavering focus and mental agility, qualities
the position of one of Asia’s
fastest growing economies and
upgraded relations with Japan,
Australia and India.
Many of these countries
including India have prioritised
the bolstering of economic and
security cooperation with Han-
oi. Hanoi upgraded relations
with key global actors such as
the US and Japan in 2023, and
with Australia in early 2024. This
was a clear demonstration that
its influence on the world stage
has increased.
By welcoming Putin, was
Hanoi trying to make a point to
endorse the view that it remains
a priority to Russia over any oth-
er country? The answer to this
question can be both Yes and
No. The fact is that with its ach-
ievements in multilateral rela-
tionships and neutral foreign
policy and expanding the web of
international relations, Hanoi
was aiming to bail out Russia
from the eyes of the world as a
diplomatic pariah state, a per-
ception that has existed since
Putin came to power.
What the world noted keen-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
choose to lean New Delhi
with a view to stre- on its position in the South tially devastating problem that needs
towards Russia as ngthen economic China Sea so easily. Vietnam too more attention from policymakers: the
a counterbalance measure and ties with growing economies, is unlikely to yield space easily. growth of the country’s health insur-
accorded Putin a 21-gun salute, joining the BRICS fold shall pro- Its diplomatic profile has grown ance deficit. According to research sub-
thereby endorsing the percep- vide additional heft to its aspi- and it has friends to back upon. mitted to the Korean Association of
tion that Russia remains a pri- rations to be a responsible play- So, China runs the risk of re- Health Economics and Policy, the
ority in Vietnam’s foreign poli- er in world affairs. maining isolated and cannot be accumulated deficit of Korea’s health
cy. Vietnam’s conduct of for- expected to have an easy ride. insurance will top 563 trillion won
One cannot miss the timing eign policy finds resonance with Hanoi is aware that China ($408 billion) in 18 years, if the current
and associated symbolism of that of India. Like India, it has shall remain a top concern bloated coverage for medical services
Putin’s decision to visit Vietnam dealt with its relations with Rus- because of its hardened position continues without a drastic overhaul.
at this time when the world’s sia, especially the war with in the South China Sea. For The report authored by a team led by
major powers see Russia with Ukraine, deftly by maintaining Vietnam, besides its own sover- Kim Youn-hee, a medical professor at
suspicious eyes. neutrality, while nurturing its eignty issue, ensuring maritime Inha University, the country’s health
Of course, India stands alto- ties with both the US and Russia security remains at the top of its insurance system is expected to record
gether differently and refused to at the same level. agenda. a deficit of around 1 trillion won this
join the sanctions imposed by For Vietnam, stress on Ase- Does Putin’s visit indicate year, compared with a gain of 4.1 tril-
the West. India has chosen to an centrality has helped it in that Russia would come to Viet- lion won in 2023. The report said that
conduct its relations with Rus- navigating through geopolitical nam’s rescue if a conflict breaks the shortfall is likely to accelerate in the
sia keeping in mind its national struggle and remain relevant in out between China and Viet- coming years: 15 trillion won in 2030,
interests. regional diplomacy. Vietnam is nam? That is a million dollar 40 trillion won in 2036, and 81 trillion
After all, India has a special convinced that it needs to question for which there is no won in 2042. The cash reserve for the
relationship with Russia histori- adhere to Asean centrality and easy answer. In such a situation, national health insurance, which is
cally and that cannot be undone remain engaged with all major while Russia is unlikely to overt- managed by the National Health Insur-
easily. Prime Minister Modi’s powers. ly support Vietnam in case a cri- ance Service, is projected to completely
visit further strengthens this Such an approach will be in sis breaks out in the South dry up by 2029, and the cumulative bal-
time-tested bonding. compliance with Vietnam’s cur- China Sea in order not to openly ance is forecast to come in at a whop-
Russia holds the BRICS rent foreign policy approach in confront China, it can potential- ping 563 trillion won in deficit in 2042.
chairmanship for 2024 and is which geopolitical rivalry among ly play a pacifying role in Chi- The country’s health insurance balance
going to host the summit meet- major powers can be kept at a nese-Vietnamese tensions. was in the black for three years in a row
ing in October. Since there are distance. until last year, as the government tight-
talks about BRICS expansion There is a new twist to the (To Be Concluded) ened medical coverage.
editor@thestatesman.com

that voters rightly scrutinise in their leaders. Mr Biden’s
slip-ups raise legitimate questions about whether he can
meet these demanding standards over another four-year
term.
In assessing Mr Biden’s candidacy, it is crucial to
differentiate between policy substance and personal per-
formance. While verbal mistakes can be jarring, they do
not necessarily equate to incompetence in governance.
The presidency requires a complex balance of leader-
ship, diplomacy, and decision-making, qualities that Mr
Biden has displayed throughout his career. Looking
ahead, the road to re-election for Mr Biden appears frau-
ght with challenges. Internal dissent and mixed polling
results suggest a turbulent path forward. Yet, political
fortunes can shift rapidly, especially in the unpredictable
landscape of American elections. Mr Biden’s campaign
strategy, focusing on key battleground states where his
electoral success hinges, underscores a calculated appr-
oach to secure victory despite the current uncertainties.
Ultimately, the decision lies with the electorate. Ameri-
can voters must weigh Mr Biden’s decades of experi-
ence, his policy achievements, and his capacity to navig-
ate global crises against concerns about his verbal stum-
bles. The outcome will not only determine the next four
years of US leadership but also shape perceptions of
presidential fitness and the standards by which future
candidates are judged. In the end, while Mr Biden’s
recent slip-ups have sparked debate and introspection,
they should prompt a deeper conversation about what
qualities Americans prioritise in their presidents.
Growing challenges
SIR, This refers to the editorial,
“Balanced diplomacy” published
today. The war in Ukraine sharp-
ened the renewed great power
rivalries and India had significant
partnerships with both sides ~ the
traditional relationship with Rus-
sia on the one hand, and deepen-
ing ties with the US on the other.
Two and a half years later, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s first
visit to Russia since the conflict
began shows that New Delhi is
getting more adept on the diplo-
matic tightrope.
Reacting to the alleged
bombing by Russia of a children’s
hospital in Kyiv, he said that such
an incident was “painful” and
“peace talks do not succeed amid
bombs, guns and bullets”.
The joint statement “noted
with appreciation relevant pro-
posals of mediation and good
offices aimed at peaceful resolu-
tion of the conflict in accordance
with international law and on the
basis of the UN Charter in its
entirety and totality”.
These statements mark a
sharpening of the PM’s earlier
formulation that “this is not an
era of war”, first made in 2022
and echoed in the G20 New Delhi
Declaration.
At the same time, they leave
room for India to play the role of
a bridge between Russia and the
West. Calling Russia an “all-
weather friend” is aimed at ensur-
ing that Delhi and Moscow can
carry forward their engagement
despite the looming China factor
and India’s deep and growing ties
with the US and Europe.
Of course, Delhi’s balancing
act is growing more demanding
in a polarised world. The current
scenario is volatile, what happens
in the US election later this year
has significant ramifications.
That’s why the way forward for
India is to continue to engage
with all partners based on its eco-
nomic and strategic interests. If a
partnership with the US, Japan
and Australia is necessary to keep
China in check in the Indo-Pacif-
ic, the relationship with Russia is
needed for energy security and
defence. Doing business with a
growing India is in the interest of
all sides.
Yours, etc., S S Paul,
Nadia, 12 July.
EQUAL RIGHTS
SIR, The decision rendered by the
Supreme Court on alimony for
divorced Muslim women was sig-
nificant. The court determined that
every woman, regardless of faith,
has the right to alimony. Justices
B.V. Nagarathna and Augustin
George Masih made independent
decisions, but came to the same
conclusion. Both indicated that a
divorced Muslim woman could file
a lawsuit against her husband
under Section 125 of the CrPC to
receive alimony. From this per-
spective, the Supreme Court’s rul-
ing is admirable and consistent
with the duties of a welfare state.
This verdict is identical to
the one handed down in the Shah
Bano case on 23 April 1985. In
fact, before now, alimony for div-
orced women was determined by
the Muslim Personal Law.
According to Shariat law, alimony
can only be paid to a divorced
woman during the duration of
MODI’S VISIT
SIR, This has reference to your report on PM Modi’s visit to
Moscow and a letter published on 11 July. Despite pressure from
the West, PM Modi paid a two-day State visit to Moscow on 8-9
July 2024. The bold decision by Modi deserves praise. India’s
friendship with Russia is not liked by the EU countries and other
countries of the Western bloc including the US.
The EU Parliament’s resolution adopted a few months ago
condemning incidents in Manipur and some US organisations’
condemnation of the lack of religious freedom in India have
pushed India to lean more and more towards Russia. Russia is
our all-weather friend and we have one of the biggest military
cooperations with them. Dimitry Peskov, the Russian President’s
Press Secretary said that Modi’s visit had made the US and the EU
jealous. This time PM’s visit created a huge euphoria among the
Russians as it is linked with the balance of world power and Rus-
sia’s growing influence. PM Modi was well received by President
Putin and was awarded the highest civilian award in Russia.
Yours, etc., Amit Kumar Sarkar, Kolkata, 12 July.
iddat. Iddat refers to the three- tain them if their husband aban-
month time during which a dons them. Women who are
woman cannot marry anyone responsible for raising their child-
else. However, the Supreme ren encounter a mountain of cha-
Court declared Section 125 of the llenges. Many divorced Muslim
Indian Penal Code to be equally women do not remarry, therefore
applicable to all women, allowing collecting alimony merely during
women to claim alimony even the iddat period does not resolve
after iddat. In reality, most their issues. Every woman, as a
women in Indian society are still citizen, deserves equal rights.
dependant on their husbands Yours, etc., Abhijit Roy,
after marriage. It is tough to sus- Jamshedpur, 11 July.

Poor bear the brunt in
an unfair world
ANDREW SHENG
L
ast year was certainly the
hottest summer ever, accord-
ing to the Scientific American.
This summer is not yet over,
but it certainly feels like it will break
last year’s record. My air condition-
ing bill has gone up because the
nights are hotter. Malaysia is having
floods and landslides. India has a
record heat wave with a stunning
temperature of 52.3 degrees Celsius
measured in the outskirts of New
Delhi in May.
Flying into Ulaanbaatar, capital
of Mongolia this week, amidst the
blue skies and lush green grasslands, I
was made aware that the land-locked
country suffered a 2.25 degrees Cel-
sius increase in average temperature
in the last 80 years, double the global
average. Moreover, the number of
natural disasters per year had risen
from 2,400 per year during the period
1996-2010 to 4,300 per year since
2010, a 1.8 fold increase.
Climate warming is affecting
Mongolia with the decline in precipi-
tation causing drought, desertification
and soil erosion or degradation. For a
country of 3.3 million that accounted
cumulatively for only 0.04 per cent of
global carbon emission in 2022, it is
suffering from global warming
through external, rather than internal
factors. The severe current dzud or
extreme cold and heat is estimated to
have killed 5.2 million heads of live-
stock or 8.1 per cent of the total live-
stock in the country.
You would have thought there
would be some form of global insurance
or aid for small countries that suffer
from global warming through no fault
of their own. The answer is that the mul-
tilateral agencies such as the World Bank
or Asian Development Bank are trying
their best, but according to the NGO
International Budget Partnership, the
constraints of Mongolia in meeting its
POLITICAL DIARY KALYANI SHANKAR
Modi’s adept external affairs policy on show
L
ast week, the summit between
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and Russian President Vladimir
Putin aimed to strengthen the
longstanding partnership between
India and Russia. Russia's Charge d'af-
faires Roman Babushkin described it as
'historic and game-changing' amid a
turbulent geopolitical environment.
The summit highlighted Modi's adept
management of relationships with two
influential nations, Russia and the
United States.
Despite Russia's war with Ukraine,
the warmth displayed by both leaders
during their meetings underscores the
strategic importance of Modi's visit to
Russia. Modi has visited Russia six
times in the last ten years and met
Putin at least 17 times. During this visit,
the talks over dinner at Putin's private
residence lasted four and a half hours,
while the one-to-one talks were for two
and a half hours. This enabled the two
leaders to discuss issues.
The present trip highlighted the
lasting relationship between India and
Russia. It also involves China and the
domestic political situation.
The summit posed a problem for
U.S.-India relations. It took place at an
inconvenient time even as the conflict
in Ukraine continued. The impact of
the meeting was to show that India
could manage relations with Russia
and the US.
Modi's 'bear hug with Putin and
the latter calling the Indian leader his
'best friend' may have raised eyebrows
CROSSWORD
1 2 3 4 5 6
9 10
11 12 13 14
16 17 18
20 21
23 24 25 26
28 29
30
UN Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) is purely due to its budgetary fac-
tors. In 2022, 27.1 per cent of Mongo-
lia’s population is living below the
poverty line (ADB data). The country
needs external aid to deal with climate
change beyond its own control.
The United Nations recently
estimated that by 2023, only 16 per
cent of its SDGs to deal with global
poverty and climate change by 2030
had been met. The funding gap for
achieving SDGs has been estimated
at between $2.5 trillion to $4 trillion
annually. Global official develop-
ment aid (ODA) to developing coun-
tries was only $211 billion in 2022.
The rich countries have been prom-
ising to give $100 billion for the
developing countries to help them
achieve NetZero, but so far that has
not yet been fully pledged.
The Mongolian government
launched a Billion Tree Fund in 2022 to
try to increase its forest coverage,
which was only 7 per cent in 2018,
compared with 72.8 per cent of pas-
ture land. Reforestation would help to
in the US and the West. CNN said, "The
optics of Vladimir Putin personally
driving Indian Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi around in a mini electric car
at his residence show just how chum-
my the two leaders have become."
The visit further solidified the
bilateral relationship between India
and Russia. It paved the way for new
agreements, including in science, trade,
and climate change initiatives. India
and Russia aim to increase bilateral
trade to $100 billion by 2030, using their
national currencies to bypass Western
sanctions.
7 8
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION
B A S I L DON D B
O A A R T E A ROS E
15 R I C E P A P E R M N
S R S H I A UD I T
T R I C E R A T OP S I
19 A F N C
L O I N S A RCH E T Y P E
C E G O N W
P R E A CH E R S E BOA T
R D T T
22
E A P P E A L J UDGE
27 MO T OR O R A I
I U I MA I N M A S T S
UMB R AGE C E
M E N C A T S E Y E S
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. (By arrangement with The Independent, London)
slow desertification, capture carbon,
retain water and conserve biodiversity.
Climate warming is hitting differ-
ent countries differently, with the
poorer populations taking the brunt of
natural disasters. Since the richer
countries were responsible historically
for most of the carbon emission, you
would have thought that they would
be willing to fund the path to NetZero.
Not bloody likely.
I was with a crowd of central
bankers who insisted that they should
not be directly involved in funding cli-
mate action, because it was not in their
mandate. They feared that moving out
of their mandate to deliver price sta-
bility, financial stability and or employ-
ment would hurt their independence.
Few were willing to accept that central
banks may be independent within gov-
ernment, but they are not independ-
ent of government or the people. As
the Austrian-Hungarian philosopher
Karl Polanyi argued against the free
market ideologue Hayek, the market is
India's energy future was promis-
ing, including the proposed new
nuclear reactors. The way New Delhi
could bypass Western sanctions on
Russia provided a sense of optimism.
At the same time, the Biden
administration's confirmation of
India's crucial partnership with the
United States is reassuring. It under-
scores the strength and stability of the
growing U.S.-India relationship.
Many American officials con-
firmed this. For instance, the Pentagon
press secretary Major General Pat
Ryder stated that the US views India as
ACROSS 23 Day in Ascot
rearranged
1 Perverse aversion to for groups of
whisky eight
P (7,3,5) (6)
9 French left without 25 Wake-up call first for
P social skills (6) Cassandra?
10 Lender cried out to (8)
Rishi initially 28 Fast car reversed
(8) inside – there’s the
M D
11 Protesting members rub
entering America (8)
(2,2,4) 29 Got back trouble
R H
14 Theatre god (6) carrying a
17 Partisan loyalty on box to Baltic
organised trip so state
I typical (6)
(5,8) 30 Policy advisor’s
M T
20 Difficulty finding banker ruins
somewhere to go core review
(13) (9,6)
not independent of the economy,
which is embedded in society, and
society is embedded in the planet.
Since advanced country G10 cen-
tral bankers expanded their balance
sheets by a remarkable $11 trillion
during the pandemic (Feb 2020-May
2021), why can’t they provide some
funding for climate action? The cen-
tral banks will not enter into direct
funding of global climate action,
because they feel that is the remit of
their national governments. National
governments can’t agree on fighting
global climate change due to geopo-
litical considerations.
The good news is that the govern-
ments agreed to increase the Special
Drawing Rights (liability issued by the
International Monetary Fund which
increases the foreign exchange reserves
of the member central banks) by $650
billion in 2021 as part of the effort to
fight the pandemic economic shock.
Since SDRs are distributed to
countries in proportion to their quota
shares in the IMF, about US$275 bil-
lion was allocated to the emerging
a strategic partner and will continue to
engage in robust dialogue. This dia-
logue includes discussions about
India's relationship with Russia and
other key issues such as regional secu-
rity, trade, and climate change.
US State Department spokesper-
son Matthew Miller stated that the US
continues encouraging India to sup-
port efforts for lasting peace in Ukraine.
He emphasised the importance of
India's support in "achieving a just and
enduring peace in Ukraine."
India has reduced its reliance on
Russian weapons in recent years.
Despite Russia being India's primary
source of weapons, New Delhi has
started buying more weapons from the
United States and also from France and
Israel. It is expanding its options for the
purchase of its guns.
During Modi's visit, no new
weapons deals were announced. How-
ever, experts are analysing the recent
speech of US Ambassador to India, Eric
Garcetti, who stated that while the
India-US relationship is strong, it
should not be taken for granted. He
also noted that India's strategic auton-
omy may need to be revised during
conflict.
India and Russia are taking differ-
ent paths in global politics. India is
moving closer to the West by increasing
security cooperation with the United
States and adopting its Indo-Pacific
strategy. On the other hand, Russia is
aligning itself more closely with China,
India's leading strategic competitor.
DOWN 8 Anxiously fixed
2 Greek father is up and 12 Border protection
down for a drink (5)
(6) 13 Times up in West
3 Native American
furious to lose
ancestry 15 One learning about
(5)
4 Curse Cornish listener
(5) 16 Call for attention
5 Loads of headless nails
(5)
6 Looker seen at Suffolk
town dance
(7) 17 Choose detailed
7 Thick-skinned
heavyweight who
charges money
(5)
NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
and developing countries (EMDEs),
of which low-income countries will
receive about US$21 billion. These are
totally inadequate to the funding
needed to deal with climate warming.
It would have been much more
effective if the surplus countries (name-
ly rich or larger shareholders of the IMF)
would be willing to donate their SDRs
to increase the capital of the Multilateral
Development Banks (MDBs), like Asian
Development Bank or World Bank. By
increasing the MDB capital and allowing
more leverage (increase debt to equity
ratio) to say 8 (like a commercial bank),
$650 billion in new capital would yield
$5.2 trillion funding to EMDEs to deal
with SDG goals in alleviating poverty
and tackling NetZero. That would be
serious money.
With such resources deployed,
there would be some hope that we
would avoid global recession and
make some serious effort to cut down
carbon emissions and deploy more
alternative energies.
Since the majority shareholders of
the IMF are mainly in North America
and Europe, the chances of any agree-
ment to be so generous or altruistic are
low. They are fully preoccupied with
their dysfunctional politics and protec-
tionist moods. Migration, which is one
of their most contentious issues, is large-
ly driven by the poor from the global
South seeking cooler climates and jobs
in the richer North. Helping these coun-
tries increase their local jobs and help
fight desertification and regenerating
soil, food and water resources, would
slow down migration and make the
world a more peaceful place to live in.
The default solution to current
disasters is to print more money.
When the weather gets hot, the rich
pay more to stay cool, but the poor
die. Who said the world is fair?
(The writer, a former Central banker, is a
Distinguished Fellow of Asia Global Institute,
University of Hong Kong.)
Special to ANN.
Additionally, Russia aims to play a
more significant role in groupings such
as BRICS.
India is part of BRICS, SCO, and
the Indo-Pacific Quad. Its goal is to
bridge the gap between the global
south and the developed world. In con-
trast, Russia is increasingly involved in
Ukraine and is facing isolation from the
West.
New Delhi has not criticised the
Ukraine war but has asked for it to stop.
Modi said this to Putin again. Accord-
ing to Reuters, Modi indirectly criticised
Putin on Tuesday, the day after a dead-
ly attack on a children's hospital in the
Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Modi told Putin
that the deaths of innocent children
were painful and scary.
The India-Russia alliance helps
balance Russia's increasing relation-
ship with China. It is a concern for both
the United States and India. Even
though Russia depends increasingly on
China for economic and defence sup-
port, it must also consider its long-
standing trade and defence ties with
India.
India has become ambitious and
aims to be a significant player globally.
New Delhi intends to maintain a bal-
ance between the West and Russia to
achieve this goal. Also, the recent sum-
mit has sent a strong message to the
West, confirming India's commitment
to safeguarding its national interests.
Modi's third term has begun with a
good start and indicates how his for-
eign policy would go.
NO-292843
18 Gold that is left for
louvres in city Oxford college
(9) window (5)
19 Intimate meal with no
starter (5)
21 Is absorbed by medal –
perhaps? time to show guts
(5) (7)
22 Dream about Persia
wine region (6)
(5) 24 Say goodbye to a pass
at university (5)
twice, holding 25 Make room at the top
vote for the by trimming trellis
masses (5)
(3,6) 26 Perform without
notes from
books on Brideshead librettist
decorative (2-3)
embroidery 27 Saw excessive award
(5) overturned (5)
NOW AND AGAIN
07
TRANSFER TRAVAILS
CHANDER GUPTA
It was in 1984 that I landed a decent
job in an organisation having a pan-India
network of branches. I served in the states
of U.P., Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Himachal
Pradesh, and the UT of Chandigarh dur-
ing the length of my service till 2019.
Transfers to rural/semi-urban centres
and postings in operational assignments
for prescribed periods were part of eligi-
bility criteria for promotions at different
stages. Premature transfers were therefore
prompted by administrative compulsions
of exposing an officer to all mandatory
postings/assignments at the right juncture.
There were other grounds also, ranging
from promotion to non-performance, for
curtailing the maximum stay of five years
usually allowed at a centre.
During a particular phase in my
career, I was subjected to many changes
of assignments within a short span due to
administrative exigencies. Frequent shift-
ing was, however, viewed with suspicion
by the interview committee at the time of
promotion. A member of the interview
committee, while scrutinising my bio-data,
asked me why I was frequently moved
from one assignment to another in the
preceding five years. Not convinced with
my genuine alibi ascribing continual short
stays to administrative factors rather than
non-performance, the member quipped
sarcastically that “rolling stone gathers no
moss”. I was not promoted as the mind of
the committee had apparently been preju-
diced.
Another tale begins with my posting
as Branch Head in a state capital. As per
prevailing practice, there was an incum-
bency board displayed on the wall. Glanc-
ing at the board I was utterly surprised to
see that my five immediate predecessors
had a stay of less than one year in the
branch. Baffled, I tried in vain to unravel
the mystery from the clueless branch staff.
I wondered whether I would also be
removed before one year. I shared my
scepticism, in a lighter vein, with my col-
leagues. Within a couple of months, I was
well settled in the branch as well as in the
city. I started enjoying both my work and
leisure.
Just as I was very close to breaching
the 1-year jinx, an incident occurred in the
branch due to an inter-personal conflict
between two staff members. Complaints
were filed with the police by both sides,
giving bad press to the organisation. Mak-
ing me the scapegoat, the rattled manage-
ment issued orders for my transfer. It
appeared that I would not be able to break
the jinx. However, as my successor’s name
was announced a little later, my relieving
got delayed to the extent that I achieved
the honour of surpassing one year. Miti-
gating the impression of an unceremoni-
ous transfer, the new place of posting
turned out to be my hometown – a befit-
ting compensation for my innocence.
The culture of frequent transfers does
not serve the interests either of the officer
or of the organisation.
100 YEARS AGO
EAR-RING FADS
PEARLS AS LARGE
AS SMALL PLUMS
THE latest jewellery ensemble is com-
posed of pearl ear-rings and a pearl- set
ring. The greyer the pearls, the smarter
they are considered.
Various forms of ear-rings are chosen.
Some women set large, round pearls close
against the lobes of the ears; others hang
long pear-shaped pearls on a thin plat-
inum stem so long that the pendant pearls
nearly touch the shoulders.
A fortune in pearls and a triumph of
smartness are represented by a set on view
in one of the world-famed Rue de la Paix
jewellers' shops. This consists of a pair of
pear-shaped earrings, slightly irregular in
form, but large as small plums; one is dark
grey, the other a light, greenish grey.
Asymmetric ear-rings are another of the
novelties of the season, and one member of
the "Smart Set" of Paris has made herself
notable by wearing only one ear-ring.
A BEAUTY NOTE
HOW TO APPLY
COLD CREAM
THERE is one thing you must do every
night, however tired you are and that is to
clean your face thoroughly with a good
cold cream. Do not, as most women do,
rub on the cream and wipe it off immedi-
ately. It has a far more cleansing and soft-
ening effect if you leave it on the skin for
about five minutes, say, whilst doing your
hair or undressing. If you take your bath at
night, leave the cream on while you do so,
and then wine it gently off, always in an
upward direction, with a piece of old silk or
linen.
After cleaning your face, take a little
of the cold cream on your finger-tips and
massage it gently, with a circular move-
ment, into the skin above the collar-bones
until all the cream disappears. Then do the
same to the backs of the hands and the tips
of the elbows. This only takes a few min-
utes and is well worth doing, for these are
the spots which give many women away!
08
THUMBNAILS
Caspian Debt: Demonstrat-
ing its unwavering commit-
ment towards building an
inclusive society and miti-
gating the impact of cli-
mate change, Caspian Debt,
a catalytic debt provider to
professionally managed
small and mid-market com-
panies and start-ups, has
launched its Social Perfor-
mance Report FY - 2023-24
(SPM FY 23-24). The report
highlights the reduction of
18.8 million metric tonnes
of CO2 emissions by the
Clean Energy companies in
their portfolio. The SPM
revealed 54,728.15 tCO2eq
in financial emissions, with
36,552 tCO2eq in CO2 emis-
sions and 18,176 tCO2eq in
non-CO2 emissions.
Pan Healthcare Pvt. Ltd:
Pan Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.,
Gujarat-based, one of the
leading hygiene product-
manufacturing companies,
organised a celebration for
the 'Sabka Sath Sabka
Vikas' initiative for their dis-
tributors, channel partners
and team members.The
company saw the participa-
tion of over 500 members,
including 150 esteemed
channel partners, along
with the sales team from
the north region also
attended the celebration.
7th edition of Doctors Day
Conclave 2024 concludes:
The 7th Edition of Doctors
Day Conclave 2024 conclud-
ed in Delhi with the pres-
ence of delegates and
esteemed doctors from
across the country. On the
occasion, Minister of State
(MoS) Jitendra Singh said,
“Doctors, our heroes in
white, play a crucial role in
today's rapidly changing
world. They embody our
hopes, as vividly demon-
strated during the Covid
pandemic. We can apply the
lessons learned from that
time to advance the vision
of strengthening the
healthcare sector through
PM Modi's ambitious Ayush-
man Bharat mission. By
doing so, we can continue
to provide citizens with the
best medical practices and
care."
VET Swiss Professional
Diploma programme: To
promote career opportuni-
ties in the hospitality indus-
try for Indian youth, the
Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), in collabora-
tion with EHL and Hyatt
Hotels, has launched the
Vocational Education and
Training (VET) Swiss Profes-
sional Diploma programme.
Students enrolling in this
diploma will receive eight-
een months of on-the-job
training at Hyatt Hotels in
Delhi-NCR and Lucknow.
LDC relaunches edible oil
brand Vibhor in India: Louis
Dreyfus Company has
announced the relaunch of
Vibhor, its consumer edible
oil brand in India, in line
with the company’s broad-
er strategy to extend its
reach further downstream
in the value chain. The
refreshed product line
includes Vibhor refined soy-
abean oil, palmolein oil, cot-
tonseed oil, mustard oil and
premium vanaspati, all
enriched with essential vita-
mins A and D, catering to
today’s demand for
healthy and nutritious diet
options that also maintain
taste attributes.
Small businesses to launch
over 3,200 new products
on Amazon.in: Small busi-
nesses will launch over
3,200 new products on
Amazon.in across cate-
gories like home and
kitchen, fashion and groom-
ing, jewellery, handmade
products, and others on 20
to 21 July (Prime Day). Tens
of thousands of small busi-
nesses will be participating
on Amazon.in offering lakhs
of Prime-enabled products
to customers across India.
'Hippo Homes': ‘Hippo
Homes’, one of the premier
Omni channel providers of
home building, home reno-
vation and interior solu-
tions, announced the open-
ing of its flagship retail
store in Greater Noida at
Grand Venice Mall. The new
store was inaugurated by
Arvind Mediratta MD & CEO
of Hippo Homes in the pres-
ence of key partners and
others.
NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
Goyal to attend G7 Trade
Ministers' Meeting in Italy
These meetings aim to explore new avenues for trade and investment,
resolve bilateral trade issues, and deepen economic cooperation
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
U
nion Commerce
and Industry Min-
ister Piyush Goyal
will participate in
the outreach session of the G7
Trade Ministers' Meeting
scheduled for July 16-17 in Italy,
according to an official state-
ment.
During this visit, the Min-
ister will also engage in bilat-
eral meetings with the trade
ministers of G7 countries
and other participating
nations in the outreach ses-
sion, reinforcing India's
commitment to global trade
and investment partner-
ships, the Ministry of Com-
merce & Industry said in a
press release on Saturday.
These meetings aim to
explore new avenues for trade
and investment, resolve bilat-
eral trade issues, and deepen
economic cooperation.
The visit is part of the gov-
ernment's efforts to show-
case the immense trade and
PNB SIGNS MoU WITH SAIL
Punjab National Bank has signed a Memorandum of Under-
standing with Steel Authority of India Limited for providing
home loan, car loan and education loan to SAIL employees at
concessional rates. This partnership aims to enhance the
financial well-being of SAIL employees while expanding PNB's
customer base within the steel sector.
Eastern Railway GM inspects
Kanchrapara workshop
The General Manager of East-
ern Railway, Milind K
Deouskar, embarked on a
comprehensive inspection
of the Kanchrapara work-
shop, delving into the heart
of the Loco and Carriage
Complexes on 11 July.
With a keen eye for detail,
he explored the state-of-the-
art facilities, including the
recently inspected PU paint
shed and cutting-edge mica
under-cutting machine.
The highlight of the inspec-
tion was the flagging off of a
newly refurbished EMU rake,
which has undergone a thor-
'Prerna ~ NHPC lecture series'
Paramvir Chakra awardee
Subedar Major Sanjay Kumar
delivered a very motivating and
invigorating lecture at 'Prerna
- the NHPC lecture series' on
9 July at NHPC Corporate
Office, Faridabad.
Uttam Lal, Director (Per-
sonnel), NHPC and Santosh
Kumar, CVO NHPC were pres-
ent on the occasion.
Gayatri Goyal, chairperson,
ladies club alongwith Mona
Lal and other members of
the ladies club were also pres-
ent on the occasion.
25th anniversary of Kargil War: NBT, DMRC organise
2-week exhibition at Rajiv Chowk Metro Station
To honour the 25th anniversary
of India's triumph in the Kargil
War, the National Book Trust
India and Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation have jointly organ-
ised a two-week exhibition at
the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station
in central Delhi.
The exhibition aims to pay
tribute to the bravery, resilience,
and sacrifices of the heroes of
the Kargil War.
Featuring a collection of
archived photographs of the bat-
tlefields shared by the Indian
Army, the exhibition highlights
key battles and acts of courage
on the battlefield.
The inauguration of the
exhibition took place today in
investment opportunities that
the country has to offer to the
world, the ministry said.
Prior to his visit to Italy,
Goyal will be in Switzerland
on the 14th and 15th of July
for business and official meet-
ings with Swiss counterparts,
ough overhaul at the work-
shop. The General Manager
also visited the 'Converse' Art
Gallery and 'Treasure Trove'
Heritage Museum, show-
casing the rich cultural her-
itage of the railway and inau-
gurated opened conference
hall, followed by sapling
plantation.
The programme began
with the lighting of the tradi-
tional lamp.
Paramvir Chakra
awardeeSubedarMajor San-
jay Kumar delivered a high-
ly engaging and insightful
lecture on his experiences
during the Kargil conflict
between India and Pakistan.
He gave a firsthand account
of the various successful army
operations during the Kargil
War which showcased the
high level of bravery and
capability of the Indian Army.
the esteemed presence of Anuj
Dayal, Principal Executive
Director, Corporate Commu-
nication, Delhi Metro Rail Cor-
poration, Professor Milind
Sudhakar Marathe, Chairman,
National Book Trust, India,
and Yuvraj Malik, Director, NBT
India.
On the first day of the exhi-
the release added.
The Ministry said that the
discussions will be centred
around the implementation
of the European Free Trade
Association's (EFTA) Trade
and Economic Partnership
Agreement (TEPA). Both sides
Union steel minister & Minister
of State for steel visit NMDC
HD Kumaraswamy, Union
Minister of Steel and Heavy
Industries visited NMDC head
office in Hyderabad on 12 July,
along with Bhupathiraju Srini-
vasa Varma, Minister of State
for Steel and Heavy Industries.
The Ministers held a meet-
ing with SAmitava Mukher-
jee, CMD (Additional Charge);
Functional Directors and sen-
ior officers of the company to
review the performance, future
roadmap, social initiatives,
and challenges faced by NMDC
and NSL.
The review meeting includ-
ed discussions on projects in
Bangladesh delegation visits SMP, Kolkata
A 13-member delegation
from Bangladesh arrived on
a four-day visit to SMP,
Kolkata from 9 to 12 July, to
assess the possibilities of
transhipment of Exim cargo
of Bangladesh through Indi-
an ports located on the East
Coast.
The delegation, led by the
Joint Secretary, Ministry of
Shipping, Bangladesh S M
Mostafa Kamal, comprises of
representatives from other key
ministries, private stake-
holders and ports of
Bangladesh.
The delegation's visit to
Magicbricks
unveils
PropWorth
Magicbricks, one of the lead-
ing real estate platforms,
unveiled its instant proper-
ty valuation tool, PropWorth.
It is powered by an advanced
machine learning algorithm
to assist buyers and sellers
evaluate the estimated price
for any property.
Trained on 15 years of
data and over 30 million list-
ings, PropWorth covers 50,000
projects in 5,500 localities
across 30 cities, offering com-
prehensive valuations for
various property types, includ-
ing apartments, independent
houses, and villas.
According to Magicbricks,
residential demand has
surged by 23.8 per cent over
the past three years, with
property prices increasing
by nearly 42.6 per cent across
major cities.
bition, a tour of the photo exhi-
bition was organised for young
children, followed by a story-
telling session highlighting the
valor of the Kargil war heroes.
The photo exhibition will be
open to the public every day
from 11 am to 7 pm at the View-
ers Gallery of Rajiv Chowk (first
floor) from 12 to 26 July.
will discuss a roadmap for the
investment commitments
made by EFTA, amounting to
USD 100 billion.
At the G7 Trade Ministers'
Meeting outreach session in
Reggio Calabria, Goyal will
articulate India's vision for
global trade and supply chain
resilience, highlighting the
significant reforms and ini-
tiatives undertaken to enhance
the ease of doing business and
attract foreign investments, the
release said.
The Ministry further said
that participation in these
high-level meetings will fur-
ther India's economic diplo-
macy, promoting the nation's
interests on the global stage.
India's ascent to the 5th
largest economy in the world
is a testament to its dynam-
ic economic landscape and
robust growth potential.
The country offers a con-
ducive environment for glob-
al businesses with its market-
oriented reforms, skilled work-
force, and strategic location,
the statement read.
the pipeline that canset a course
for a future driven by excellence,
innovation, and sustainabili-
ty.
Addressing the NMDC
employees, Bhupathiraju Srini-
vasa Varma, Minister of State
for Steel said, the Ministry of
Steel is fueling the efforts of Steel
PSEs to enhance production and
profit. Envisioning a robust
industrial ecosystem, he said,
NMDC will play a defining role
in uplifting the smaller units of
the iron and steel industry
while meeting the demands
from the key players of the
sector.
Ports in Haldia on 10 July and
in Kolkata on 11 July - was in
line with agreed minutes of
India-Bangladesh Shipping
Secretaries Level Talks (SSLT)
held in Dhaka in December
last year 2023.
In a prospective meet-
ing, with the Chairperson of
Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Port, Kolkata, Rathendra
Raman along with Deputy
Chairperson of KDS, Sam-
rat Rahi, Deputy Chairperson
of HDC, AK Mehra, A P S Siro-
hi, Director (IWT), MoPSW,
AK Bansal, Director, IWAI
and key officials from SMP,
Indian Oil launches STORM-X racing fuel from Paradip Refinery
Indian Oil announced the
maiden dispatch of STORM-
X, a high-octane gasoline
specifically formulated for
racing cars.
The event was virtually
flagged off by V Satish Kumar,
Director (marketing), in the
presence of N Senthil Kumar,
Director (pipelines), and Alok
Sharma, Director (R&D).
Indian Oil has recently
launched premium racing
fuel for top-end motor rac-
Hydro Power Projects reviewed in Arunachal
Union Minister of Power & Hous-
ing and Urban Affairs, in the
presence of Chief Minister of
Arunachal Pradesh and Dy. Chief
Minister, Arunachal Pradesh car-
ried out detailed progress review
of Hydro Power Projects being
implemented in Arunachal
Pradesh by various CPSUs i.e.
NHPC Limited, SJVNL, NEEP-
CO & THDC.
During the meeting various
challenges involved for effective
execution of these projects were
discussed and addressed.
REC Ltd avails green loan facility of JPY 31.96 bn
from Deutsche Bank AG, Gift City branch
In a significant step towards
sustainable development in
India, REC Limited, a leader
in the Indian power sector,
has successfully availed a
green loan of JPY 31.96 bil-
lion (equivalent to $200 mil-
lion) to finance eligible green
projects in India.
This green facility is a first
of its kind successful collab-
oration between an Indian
government entity and
Deutsche Bank AG, GIFT City
branch. This facility sets a
'FPI community to play key
role in positioning India as
third-largest economy'
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
The net foreign portfolio
investor (FPI) inflows turned
green this month, both in
the equity and debt segment,
and as India enters 'Amritkaal',
the FPI community will play
a major role in positioning it
as the third largest economy
in the world, market experts
said on Saturday.
There was a total net inflow
of Rs 2,82,338 crore for both
equity and debt in FY24.
According to market
watchers, the reason for a
quick rebound in the capital
markets can be attributed to
the positive sentiments, a
stable government’s assurance
on continuity of reforms,
tepid US Fed rates, and strong
domestic demand.
"The recent announce-
ments in IFSC Gift City for wide
Kolkata Metro Rly introduces UPI-based ticketing system
Metro Railway authorities
with the help of State Bank of
India and Centre for Railway
Information Systems (CRIS)
have introduced Unified Pay-
ments Interface (UPI) Based
Ticketing System .
UPI Payment Based Tick-
eting System has been intro-
duced in all the Automatic
Smart Card Recharge
Machines (ASCRM) installed
at stations as well as ticket
counters of Blue Line and
Green Line.
As a result, commuters
now don't need to tender the
exact fare in currency notes
and coins at these stations.
Instead, they are now recharg-
Kolkata; the visiting dele-
gates from Bangladesh were
given an introduction to
Kolkata Dock System (KDS)
and Haldia Dock Complex
(HDC), by stating the current
infrastructure and scope for
handling of containerized
cargo shipped from
Bangladesh for third coun-
try export.
The projected plans for
future infrastructural devel-
opment of the dock along with
development of PPP model
(Public-Private Partnership
Model) were also briefly high-
lighted to the delegates.
ing events across the coun-
try and in the international
circuit.
Ideated and inspired by
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya,
Chairman, IndianOil, the
benchmark in the Indian
public sector landscape for
similar green financing trans-
actions, highlighting a grow-
ing commitment to sustain-
able financing.
The facility also marks
one of the first JPY-denom-
inated green loan transaction
for Deutsche Bank AG, GIFT
City . Commenting on this
occasion, Vivek Kumar
Dewangan, CMD, REC said,
"This successful transaction
is in line with REC's com-
participation for foreign and
Indian investors has also divert-
ed the international players to
allocate a substantial portion
of their global portfolio to
India markets," said Manoj
Purohit, Partner and leader, FS
Tax, Tax and Regulatory Ser-
vices, BDO India.
In the first week of this
month, FPIs infused Rs 7,962
crore in equity while their
debt investments in the same
period stood at Rs 6,304 crore.
All eyes are on the budg-
et proposals to be tabled on
July 23 which will hopefully
announce path-breaking
reforms providing India a
golden opportunity against the
other emerging global mar-
kets. "As India enters
‘Amritkaal’, the FPI commu-
nity will play a major role for
the nation to position as the
third-largest economy in the
world," said Purohit.
ing their Smart Cards or pur-
chasing tokens with the help
of this alternative system.
After introduction of this UPI
based ticketing system in
Kolkata Metro, great enthusi-
asm has been observed
amongst the passengers to
purchase tokens or Smart
Cards with this new system
rather than opting for the tra-
ditional method of tendering
the fare in currency notes. In
THDCIL commemorates 37th
Foundation Day
THDC India Limited
commemorated its
37th Foundation Day
marking over three
decades of transfor-
mative contributions
to India's energy land-
scape with grand cel-
ebration at the cor-
porate office in
Rishikesh, as well as
across all its projects
and unit offices across India.
RK Vishnoi, Chairman and
Managing Director, unfurled
the THDCIL flag and addressed
introduction of premium
racing fuels stands as a sym-
bol of IndianOil's relentless
pursuit forinnovation and
excellence.
This premium race fuel was
developed by the IndianOil
Research & Development
Centre, Faridabad, and pro-
duced at the state-of-the-art
Paradip Refinery Indian Oil
has partnered with Madras
Motor Sports Club for sup-
plying STORM-X for the 3rd
mitment to enhance its green
energy financing and sus-
tainable projects capabili-
ties as well as the global com-
munity's support for sus-
tainable development proj-
ects in India." Kaushik Sha-
paria, CEO, Deutsche Bank
Group, India said, "This trans-
action reinforces Deutsche
Bank's expertise in green
financing, demonstrating our
ability to support clients in their
transformation towards a car-
bon-free future."
Robust sovereign
credit rating
agencies need of
the hour: Kant
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
As India embarks on its jour-
ney to become 'Viksit Bharat'
by 2047, it's important that we
have appropriate credit ratings
and call out global agencies
for biases and lack of trans-
parency for not objectively
assessing India’s strong eco-
nomic fundamentals, G20
Sherpa and former NITI Aayog
CEO, Amitabh Kant, said on
Saturday.
Addressing the CareEdge
Ratings ‘Conversations 2024’
conference in Pune, he said
the notion that developing
countries offer more risky
investments is not solely based
on objective financial metrics
but is significantly influenced
by subjective assessment.
Kant stressed the need for
promoting home-grown cred-
it ratings agencies, saying that
appropriate sovereign credit
ratings are actually a very crit-
ical issue that impacts not
only India but also the entire
emerging economies.Hailing
India’s high growth rate of
around 8.2 per cent, he stressed
that future growth will come
from cutting-edge areas.
the first week of July (i.e. from
1st to 8th July, 2024), around
25% commuters have opted for
this new mode of ticketing
system. In stations like Dak-
shineswar, Baranagar,
Esplanade, Rabindra Sarobar,
Gitanjali, Sealdah, Howrah
and Howrah Maidan, highest
numbers of UPI transactions
for purchasing tokens, Smart
Cards and recharging Smart
Cards have been registered.
an esteemed audience of
employees and their
families gathered at the
Rasmanjari Hall, THD-
CIL, Rishikesh.
The celebrations com-
menced with lamp light-
ing by R K Vishnoi, Chair-
man and Managing
Director; Shallinder
Singh, Director (Per-
sonnel); and Bhupen-
der Gupta, Director (techni-
cal), alongside RK Sharma,
former Chairman and Man-
aging Director of THDCIL.
and 4th rounds of the Indi-
an National Racing Cham-
pionship at Madras Interna-
tional Circuit in the 2024 sea-
son. A total of 55 barrels of
STORM-X were dispatched for
the 3rd round at the launch
ceremony.
Paradip Refinery, known
for its advanced technolog-
ical capabilities, played a
crucial role in developing
and producing this premium
race fuel.
PNB Introduces
safety ring
mechanism to
enhance security
In response to the increasing
number of cyber frauds, Pun-
jab National Bank has intro-
duced a new security fea-
ture "Safety Ring" within its
Internet Banking System and
Mobile Banking System.
This mechanism provides
an additional safety layer to
minimize potential losses in
case of unauthorized access
by fraudsters.
Safety Ring is an option-
al feature that allows cus-
tomers to set a daily trans-
action limit with respect to
term deposits on online clo-
sure or availing overdraft
facility on TD's up to the set
limit amount. The limit set
by the customer shall be the
consolidated digital chan-
nels limit up to which the cus-
tomer can close the TD or avail
overdraft facility on TD. Once
set, the Safety Ring ensures
that TD cannot be closed,
withdrawn, or used for loans
beyond the customer-defined
limit through any digital
channels.
 09
Women and men of UNRWA have bravely contin-
ued their work in whatever way they can. They are
the backbone of humanitarian operations in Gaza.
ANTONIO GUTERRES NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

WEATHER
Oli claims PM's post with Israeli attack targeting Hamas
military commander kills at
Nepali Congress backing least 71 in southern Gaza
CITY MAX(°C) MIN(°C)
SINGAPORE 31 27 H
HONG KONG 33 31 H
TOKYO 30 24 H
LONDON 18 11 H
DUBAI 41 32 H
SAN FRANCISCO 17 13 H Oli presented signatures of 165 lawmakers to the President on Friday night
NEW YORK 28 23 R AGENCIES
MOSCOW 29 20 H THE KATHMANDU immediately after 5:00 pm, KHAN YOUNIS, 13 JULY
S= sunny, CL= clear, H=hazy, POST/ANN Sunday.
R= rainy... NEPAL, 13 JULY “But with the country Israel said it targeted Hamas’
grappling with floods and shadowy military commander

Yemen’s Houthis
claim responsibility
for fresh Red Sea
attack against
cargo ship
SANAA, 13 JULY
In a televised statement ,
Yemen's Houthi group
said it had attacked what
it called the "Chrysalis
vessel" twice.
The attacks targeted
the vessel in the Red Sea
and the Bab al-Mandab
Strait, using ballistic mis-
siles and bomb-laden
drones, said Houthi mili-
tary spokesman Yahya
Sarea in a television state-
ment aired late Friday
night .
The strait connects the
Red Sea with the Gulf of
Aden and the Indian
Ocean, reported Xinhua
news agency.
He said the ship was
attacked because the com-
pany operating it had dealt
with Israeli ports.
However, internation-
al maritime data indicates
no ship carries that exact
name.
A Liberia-flagged oil
tanker called "Chrysalis"
is the closest match, with
its last recorded position
in the Red Sea. AGENCIES
C
PN-UML Chairman
KP Sharma Oli has
staked his claim to
the post of new
prime minister after President
Ramchandra Paudel invited
a member of the House of
Representatives who is able
to command a majority with
the support of two or more
parties to do so.
Following the failure of
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the
outgoing prime minister, to
secure a majority in Friday’s
floor test, the President invit-
ed political parties to form a
new government under Arti-
cle 76 (2) of the Constitution
of Nepal on Friday evening.
Article 76 (2) says the
President appoints as prime
minister a member of the
House of Representatives
who can secure a majority
with support from two or
more parties.
UML chief Oli presented
signatures of 165 lawmakers
on Friday night, shortly after
Russian assassination plots against those supporting Ukraine uncovered in Europe, says official
AGENCIES
WASHINGTON, 13 JULY
Western intelligence agen-
cies have uncovered Russian
plots to carry out assassina-
tions, arson and other sab-
otage in Europe against com-
panies and people linked to
support for Ukraine’s mili-
the President issued the invi-
tation giving parties until 5
pm on Sunday.
Oli and Nepali Congress
President Sher Bahadur
Deuba have jointly signed an
application asking the Pres-
ident to appoint Oli as the new
prime minister citing his
majority support in the House
of Representatives.
“The President’s Office
has received signatures from
the two major parties com-
manding the majority in the
House,” said Kiran Pokhrel,
tary — one of the most seri-
ous being a plan to kill the
head of a German arms man-
ufacturer, a Western gov-
ernment official said.
The plots have some-
times involved recruiting
common criminals in foreign
countries to conduct the
attacks, said the official, who
press adviser to the Paudel.
“The President will study
the documents submitted
by the parties.”
Nepali Congress Presi-
dent Sher Bahadur Deuba, Oli
and a few other leaders had
visited the President’s Office
to present their letter. Dur-
ing the conversation with
Deuba and Oli, the Presi-
dent said he would appoint
Oli the new prime minister
as soon as the deadline expires
and agreed to administer
oath of office and secrecy
is familiar with the situation
but not authorized to com-
ment and spoke on the con-
dition of anonymity. One
major plot recently uncov-
ered had targeted Armin
Papperger, CEO of defense
company Rheinmetall, the
official said.
The official declined to
landslides and unprece-
dented human casualties,
there is an urgency,” accord-
ing to a UML leader. “So the
appointment will be made on
Sunday morning and the
swearing-in could take place
on the same afternoon.”
“We submitted the sig-
natures of Congress and
UML lawmakers to the Pres-
ident’s Office,” Ramesh
Lekhak, chief whip of the
Nepali Congress, said. “It is
now up to the President to
decide when to appoint the
new prime minister.”
“With the support of the
Nepali Congress, which has
88 lawmakers in the lower
house, we submitted signa-
tures of 165 lawmakers,” he
added.
The UML, the second
largest party in the House of
Representatives, has 77 law-
makers excluding the Speak-
er and suspended lawmak-
er Top Bahadur Rayamajhi,
who is in jail.
offer any details on other
plots, which were first report-
ed by CNN. The CNN report
said the U.S. informed Ger-
many, whose security serv-
ices were able to protect
Papperger and foil the plot.
Rheinmetall is a major
supplier of military tech-
nology and artillery rounds
in a massive strike Saturday
in the crowded southern
Gaza Strip that killed at least
71 people, according to local
health officials. Hamas imme-
diately rejected the claim
that Mohammed Deif was tar-
geted.
It was not immediately
known whether Deif was
among the dead. Israeli offi-
cials confirmed that he and
a second Hamas command-
er, Rafa Salama, were the
targets. A military official
later said they were “still
checking and verifying the
result of the strike,” and did
not deny it took place inside
the Israeli-designated safe
zone.
Deif is believed by many
to be the chief architect of
the Oct. 7 attack that killed
some 1,200 people in south-
ern Israel and triggered the
Israel-Hamas war. Second
only to Hamas’ top official
in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, he has
topped Israel’s most-want-
for Ukraine as it fights off
Russian forces. The com-
pany last month opened an
armored vehicle mainte-
nance and repair facility in
western Ukraine and also
aims to start production
inside the country.
White House National
Security Council spokesper-
ed list for years and is believed
to have escaped multiple
Israeli assassination attempts
in the past.
If Deif has been killed,
cease-fire talks could be
derailed by what would be
seen as a major Israeli victo-
ry in the nine-month war.
“These false claims are
merely a cover-up for the
scale of the horrific mas-
sacre,” Hamas said in a state-
ment in response to Israel.
The Gaza Health Ministry
said at least 289 others were
injured in the attack ~ one of
the war’s deadliest ~ and
that many dead and injured
were taken to overwhelmed
Nasser Hospital nearby. There,
Associated Press journalists
counted over 40 bodies. Wit-
son Adrienne Watson
declined to comment on the
alleged plot to kill Papperg-
er but said, “Russia’s inten-
sifying campaign of subver-
sion is something that we are
taking extremely seriously
and have been intently
focused on over the past
few months.” “The United
nesses described an attack that
included several strikes.
“A number of victims are
still under the rubble and on
the roads, and ambulance and
civil defense crews are unable
to reach them,” the Health
Ministry said.
The Israeli military assert-
ed that “additional terrorists
hid among civilians” and
described the strike location
as an area surrounded by
trees, several buildings and
sheds. Footage of the after-
math showed a huge crater,
charred tents, burnt-out cars
and household belongings
scattered across the blackened
earth. Victims were carried on
the hoods and in the hatch-
backs of cars, and on donkey
carts and carpets.
States has been discussing
this issue with our NATO
allies, and we are actively
working together to expose
and disrupt these activities,”
Watson added. “We have
also been clear that Rus-
sia’s actions will not deter
allies from continuing to
support Ukraine.”

TENDER

Pakistan's apex court declares Imran
Khan's party eligible for reserved seats
AGENCIES
ISLAMABAD, 13 JULY
The Supreme Court of Pak-
istan declared former Prime
Minister Imran Khan's Pak-
istan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
party eligible for the reserved
seats, a decision which might
make it the largest party in
the National Assembly of the
country.
According to the verdict
by a 13-member bench of
Pakistan's top court, the
decision was made on a set
of appeals against the denial
of reserved seats for women
and non-Muslims to PTI-
backed Sunni Ittehad Coun-
cil (SIC) by the Peshawar
High Court (PHC) and the
Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP) and declared
on Friday, reported Xinhua
news agency.
Earlier this year, PTI-
backed candidates had to
contest the General Elections
on February 8 as inde-
pendents after their party
was stripped of its election
symbol by the ECP follow-
ing a verdict by the apex
court.
Later, victorious candi-
dates supported by the PTI
joined the SIC to form a
coalition of convenience to
claim the reserved seats.
However, the ECP refused
to award the SIC and dis-
tributed those seats among
other political parties.
The supreme court, with
the majority of eight judges
to five, canceled the decisions
of the PHC while also declar-
ing the decision of the elec-
tion regulator null and void,
terming it against the Con-
stitution of Pakistan.
"The order of the Election
Commission of Pakistan,
dated 1st of March 2024, is
declared to be too ultra
vires to (beyond the powers
of) the Constitution, with-
out lawful authority and of
no legal effect," according
to the order of the verdict.
The apex court also
declared that the lack or
denial of an election sym-
bol does not affect the con-
stitutional and legal rights
of a political party to par-
ticipate in an election and
to field candidates.
The verdict further
declared that the PTI was and
is a political party that
secured general seats in the
national and provincial
assemblies in the General
Elections of 2024.
The Supreme Court also
said that 39 candidates from
the PTI were confirmed as
elected members while the
remaining 41 who joined the
SIC can file nomination
papers to select the PTI as
their party in the lower
house of the country's par-
liament.
In ‘blue wall’ push, Biden defiantly
says he’s ‘not going anywhere’ as
he slams Trump, Project 2025
AGENCIES
DETROIT, 13 JULY
President Joe Biden on Friday
forcefully defied the growing
number of critics in his own
party who have called on him
to exit the race, pivoting to
warnings about a second
Donald Trump term and
declaring he was “not done
yet.”
As a raucous Detroit crowd
chanted “don’t you quit!”
and “we got your back!” Biden
said ~ again ~ that he was still
running for reelection and
vowed to “shine a spotlight on
Donald Trump” and what
the Republican would do if he
returned to the White House.
Biden lambasted an expan-
sive far-right policy agenda
crafted by conservative think
tanks that Trump has scram-
bled to distance himself from,
while ticking off several items
on his own wish list for the first
100 days of his second term.
At the same school where,
four years ago, then-candidate
Biden positioned himself as
a bridge to the next genera-
tion of Democratic leaders, the
embattled president, who
has been under pressure for
more than two weeks to step
aside, made it clear he was
going nowhere.
“You made me the nom-
inee, no one else ~ not the
press, not the pundits, not the
insiders, not donors,” Biden
said, to cheers. “You, the vot-
ers. You decided. No one else.
And I’m not going anywhere.”
The show of force from
Biden at the evening rally
was part of his team’s relent-
less sprint to convince fretting
lawmakers, nervous donors
and a skeptical electorate
that at the age of 81, he is still
capable of being president. But
a spate of travel to battleground
states, interviews with jour-
nalists and a rare solo news
conference have not tamped
down the angst within the
party about Biden’s candidacy
and his prospects against
Trump in November.

Collapse of a school in Alec Baldwin weeps in court as judge announces

northern Nigeria leaves 22
students dead, say officials
AGENCIES
ABUJA, 13 JULY
A two-story school collapsed
during morning classes Fri-
day in north-central Nige-
ria, killing 22 students and
sending rescuers on a fran-
tic search for more than 100
people trapped in the rub-
ble, authorities said.
The Saints Academy col-
lege in Plateau state’s Busa
Buji community collapsed
shortly after students, many
of whom were 15 years old
or younger, arrived for class-
es.
A total of 154 students
were initially trapped in the
rubble, but Plateau police
spokesperson Alfred Alabo
later said 132 of them had
been rescued and were being
treated for injuries in vari-
ous hospitals. He said 22 stu-
dents died. An earlier report
by local media had said at
least 12 people were killed.
Dozens of villagers gath-
ered near the school, some
weeping and others offering
to help, as excavators
combed through the debris
from the part of the build-
ing that had caved in.
One woman was seen
wailing and attempting to go
closer to the rubble as oth-
ers held her back.
Nigeria’s National Emer-
gency Management Agency
said rescue and health work-
ers as well as security forces
had been deployed at the
scene immediately after the
collapse, launching a search
for the trapped students.
“To ensure prompt med-
ical attention, the govern-
ment has instructed hospi-
tals to prioritize treatment
without documentation or
payment,” Plateau state’s
commissioner for informa-
tion, Musa Ashoms, said in
a statement. The state gov-
ernment blamed the tragedy
on the school’s “weak struc-
ture and location near a
riverbank.” It urged schools
facing similar issues to shut
down. Building collapses
are becoming common in
Nigeria, Africa’s most pop-
ulous country with more
than a dozen such incidents
recorded in the last two
years.
involuntary manslaughter case is dismissed midtrial
AGENCIES
SANTA FE, 13 JULY
A New Mexico judge on Fri-
day brought a sudden and
stunning end to the invol-
untary manslaughter case
against Alec Baldwin, dis-
missing it in the middle of the
actor’s trial and saying it
cannot be filed again.
Judge Mary Marlowe
Sommer dismissed the case
based on misconduct of police
and prosecutors over the
withholding of evidence from
the defense in the 2021 shoot-
ing of cinematographer Haly-
na Hutchins on the set of the
film “Rust.”
Baldwin cried, hugged his
two attorneys, gestured to the
front of the court, then turned
to hug his crying wife, Hilar-
ia, the mother of seven of his
eight children, holding the
embrace for 12 seconds. He
climbed into an SUV outside
the Santa Fe County court-
house without speaking to the
media.
“The late discovery of this
evidence during trial has
impeded the effective use of
evidence in such a way that
it has impacted the funda-
mental fairness of the pro-
ceedings,” Marlowe Som-
mer said. “If this conduct
does not rise to the level of
bad faith it certainly comes
so near to bad faith to show
signs of scorching.”
The case-ending evidence,
revealed during testimony
Thursday, was ammunition
that was brought into the
sheriff’s office in March by a
man who said it could be relat-
ed to Hutchins’ killing. Pros-
ecutors said they deemed
the ammo unrelated and
unimportant, while Bald-
win’s lawyers alleged they
“buried” it and filed a motion
to dismiss the case.
The judge’s decision ends
the criminal culpability of the
66-year-old Baldwin after a
nearly three-year saga that
began when a revolver he was
pointing at Hutchins during
a rehearsal went off, killing
her and wounding director
Joel Souza.
“Our goal from the begin-
ning was to seek justice for
Halyna Hutchins,” District
Attorney Mary Carmack-
Altwies said in a statement.
“We are disappointed that the
case did not get to the jury.”
The career of the “Hunt for
Red October” and “30 Rock”
star and frequent “Saturday
Night Live” host ~ who has
been a household name for
more than three decades ~ had
been put into doubt, and he
could have gotten 18 months
in prison if convicted. It’s not
clear what opportunities will
await him now, but he and
his wife signed an agree-
ment for a reality show on their
large family in June.
Baldwin and other pro-
ducers still face civil law-
suits from Hutchins’ parents
and sister, and from crew
members. Hutchins’ wid-
ower and young son had
agreed to settle their own
lawsuit about a year after
the shooting, with the wid-
ower becoming an execu-
tive producer on the then-
unfinished film.
But that settlement was
reportedly in jeopardy before
the trial, and the lawyer who
filed it, Brian Panish, now said
in a statement that “we look
forward to presenting all the
evidence to a jury and hold-
ing Mr. Baldwin account-
able for his actions in the
senseless death of Halyna
Hutchins.”
“Rust,” an independent
Western, was completed in
Montana. It has not found a
distributor or been seen by
the public.
Prosecutors did get one
conviction for Hutchins’
death: Hannah Gutierrez-
Reed, the film’s armorer, was
sentenced to 18 months in
prison on an involuntary
manslaughter
conviction.
10
NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
Row over Odisha Governor’s son Revolt within BJP, claims SP
president Akhilesh Yadav
BJD questions police inaction, CM's silence, Cong hits the streets over alleged manhandling incident
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 13 JULY
A
n ungainly incident
involving Lalit
Kumar, son of Odisha
Governor Raghubar
Das (photo), and five of his
friends allegedly manhan-
dling an assistant section offi-
cer at Raj Bhavan, Puri on 7
July, has escalated into a
major controversy due to per-
ceived police inaction.
On Saturday, the Opposi-
tion BJD and the Congress
came down heavily on the
Mohan Majhi government
over the alleged assault of
officer Baikunthanath Prad-
han. BJD leader Pratap Kesari
Deb criticized the police for
not taking any action despite
an FIR being filed, highlight-
ing that CM Majhi, who also
holds the home portfolio, has
not intervened.
Student and youth Con-
gress activists, led by Yashiz
Nawaz, staged a protest today,
demanding the immediate
‘Centre avoiding
all questions
on Agniveer
appointments’
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, 13 JULY
Bahujan Samaj Party supre-
mo Mayawati has questioned
the Centre on trying to avoid
all the issues relating to
Agniveers appointment in
the Indian army.
In a couple of tweets on
social media X on Saturday,
Mayawati said, “the issue of
short-term and temporary
recruitment of Agniveer in the
army is an issue related to pub-
lic and national interest on
which people are very much
concerned.”
“But like national problems
inflation, poverty and unem-
ployment etc., the central
government is only avoiding
the real issues, which is not
correct."
She further says," Cen-
tral Security Force is prepar-
ing to give reservation to for-
mer Agniveers, a new state-
men by the government in the
media recently . But it is not
a new thing which was not said
before and which had been
accepted by the people".
“ Recruitment in the army
is not just a job but is also relat-
ed to passion/respect on
which the government must
pay attention,” she stressed.
arrest of Lalit Kumar and his
friends. The protesters were
stopped by the police as they
attempted to march to Raj Bha-
van.
FAMILY AFFAIR
Tiger cubs seen with a dummy tiger at Nahargarh Biological Park, in Jaipur. � ANI
Prohibitory orders in Tripura district after
unrest over tribal student’s death, 4 held
AGENCIES
AGARTALA, 13 JULY
As ethnic tensions continued
at tribal-dominated Ganda
Twisa in Tripura’s Dhalai Dis-
trict on Saturday, authorities
imposed prohibitory orders
and deployed
huge contingent of security
forces.
The unrest is the result of
the death of a student on Fri-
day, officials said.
Officials said that attack-
ers burnt houses, vandalised
and looted shops and homes
at Ganda Twisa on Friday
night after Parameshwar
Reang (20) succumbed to
his injuries after being assault-
The Odisha Secretariat
Service Association has also
written to the CM, urging him
to personally intervene and
ensure justice for Pradhan.
Officials said that attack-
ers burnt houses, van-
dalised and looted shops
and homes at Ganda Twisa
on Friday night after Para-
meshwar Reang (20) suc-
cumbed to his injuries
after being assaulted by
a some miscreants on 7 July.
ed by some miscreants on 7
July. Police have so far
detained four people in con-
nection with the incident.
The Tripura Home Depart-
ment suspended mobile
Internet services in Dhalai Dis-
trict till Saturday midnight to
prevent circulation of mes-
sages, videos and photo-
graphs.
Strategy will be decided in the meeting regarding the
assembly by-elections. Political proposals will also be
passed and different tasks will be given to the workers.
According to Pradhan's
complaint, he was deputed to
Raj Bhavan at Puri during
the Rath Yatra when the Pres-
ident, Governor, and other dig-
Former Tripura Chief Min-
ister, Manik Sarkar discussed
the Ganda Twisa situation
with Chief Minister Manik
Saha and requested him to
take appropriate measures to
control the situation.
Dhalai District police in a
social media post said that an
untoward incident has
occurred which resulted in
the death of one person and
the incident was being used
by some anti-social elements
to stoke hatred and commit
offences such as arson and
looting.
“All senior officers along
with sufficient security forces
are camping and patrolling
in Ganda Twisa and the sit-
FORMER MINISTER AND RAJASTHAN BJP VICE-PRESIDENT
As per latest develop-
ments , the matter
which is being
described as a minor
tiff, has been
resolved and Pradhan
has calmed down
nitaries were present. On the
night of 7 July, he was called
to Lalit Kumar's room and
assaulted for not arranging an
SUV for their use.
As per latest developments,
the matter which is being
described as a minor tiff, has
been resolved and Pradhan has
calmed down.
President Droupadi
Murmu was in Puri Raj Bha-
van between July 7 afternoon
to July 8 morning for the Rath
Yatra festival. Being the in-
Charge of Raj Bhavan, Puri,
Pradhan there since July 5 to
supervise the preparedness of
Raj Bhavan for the visit of Pres-
ident Murmu.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi calls for swift action against
unauthorised buses, month-long campaign initiated
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Days after the Unnao bus
tragedy that claimed 18 lives,
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath has directed
the Transport Department
officials to ensure strict com-
pliance with road safety reg-
ulations.
The Chief Minister, in a
warning of sorts, said that
going forward, if any unau-
thorised buses are found on
roads in the future, it will
incur strict action on the
responsible officials.
In a high-level meeting
held at his official residence,
the Chief Minister emphasised
the importance of thorough
checks on permits, fitness,
insurance, and drivers of all
uation is under control. Pro-
hibitory orders U/S-163 BNSS
(formerly 144 CrPc) have
been issued by SDM Ganda
Twisa, prohibiting assem-
bly of more than five people
in and around the Gonda
Twisa sub-division,” the
police’s post said.
Police also urged the peo-
ple to refrain from posting,
sharing, expressing any com-
munal sentiments as it would
amount to an offence under
BNS and IT Act.
Dhalai District Magistrate
and Collector Saju Vaheed A
said that the situation was
under control and peace
meetings were being held
to ensure law and order.
PRABHU LAL SAINI
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, 13 JULY
Samajwadi Party President
Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday
claimed that leaders of BJP
have revolted within the party
after the Lok Sabha poll deba-
cle and several of them were
ready to join the PDA alliance.
Writing a long post in the
social media, SP President
said ," BJP's negative politics
which exploits the common
people and breaks the soci-
ety has no answer to the
positive politics of PDA. That
is why there is panic among
BJP's people. PDA itself is
causing stampede inside and
outside BJP. The so-called
allies of BJP either want to
come out of BJP on some pre-
text or want to show ideo-
logical distance. Someone
is using the letter as a medi-
um, someone is using his
angry statement and some
internal public representa-
tive is using such a video.”
He further said “the con-
passenger and school buses
operating in the state.
Following CM Adityanath's
directives, the Transport
Department has announced
a month-long intensive cam-
paign to crack down on unau-
thorised vehicles.
The Chief Minister has
also ordered an uncompro-
mising campaign against
such buses and called for
necessary actions against
their owners.
KL Sharma backs Rahul Gandhi for
slamming trollers of Smriti Irani
AGENCIES
AMETHI, 13 JULY
Kishori Lal Sharma, Congress
leader and a Member of Par-
liament (MP) from Uttar
Pradesh's Amethi, on Satur-
day, backed party MP Rahul
Gandhi's remarks on former
Amethi MP and BJP leader
Smriti Irani, in which he tar-
geted the trollers using deroga-
tory languages against her.
Sharma backed Gandhi's
remarks and said that it is not
their value to use such lan-
guage against someone.
"Rahul Gandhi is right. I
relate to his statement. Vic-
tories and losses are a part of
life. It is not in our values to
use such language against
Former BSP MP Haji Fazlur Rehman joins the Samajwadi Party in
the presence of the SP national president Akhilesh Yadav, at
the party office in Lucknow on Thursday. � ANI
cern of the BJP camp is not
only about losing the 2027 elec-
tions in UP, but about losing
every future election.”
SP President said PDA is
a renaissance, name of a new
socio-economic conscious-
ness that has come among
today's conscious public is
'PDA'.
“ PDA is a proclamation of
a new future of social integri-
ty on the backdrop of the
present." he added .
Meanwhile , Akhilesh
Yadav has taunted the BJP over
He emphasised that sen-
ior Transport Department
officials will be held respon-
sible wherever such buses
are found operating.
He also instructed that
the fitness, permits, insurance,
and drivers of all registered
passenger and school buses
in the state must be thoroughly
inspected.
Following the CM's instruc-
tions, the state transport
commissioner initiated a
comprehensive month-long
road campaign targeting
unauthorised vehicles across
the state. The campaign will
include rigorous checks on
both passenger buses and
school vehicles.
The Transport Commis-
sioner has instructed all
Deputy Transport Commis-
someone”, he told ANI. Ear-
lier on Friday, Gandhi defend-
ed Irani, saying that humili-
ating and insulting people is
a sign of weakness, not
strength. In a post on 'X', the
Congress MP wrote, "Winning
and losing happen in life. I urge
everyone to avoid derogato-
ry language and being nasty
towards Smt. Smriti Irani or
any other leader for that mat-
ter. Humiliating and insult-
ing people is a sign of weak-
ness, not strength".
The BJP leader has been at
the receiving end of trolls
since her defeat in the Lok
Sabha Polls. Recently trolls tar-
geted the former Minister
after she vacated her official
bungalow in Delhi. Irani was
announcing 25 June to be
celebrated in the country as
‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’
saying similarly 30 January
should be celebrated as a
joint day of ‘Bapu Hatya
Diwas’ and ‘Loktantra Hatya
Diwas ’ because on this day
BJP had rigged the mayor
elections in Chandigarh.
In a post in the social
media on late Friday night,
Akhilesh Yadav said , “BJP
should tell which date should
be chosen for the many dark
days of BJP rule?
sioners (Zones), Regional
Transport Officers (Admin-
istration/Enforcement), and
Assistant Regional Transport
Officers
(Administration/Enforce-
ment) to conduct these inspec-
tions continuously for the
entire month.
Along with this, instructions
have been given that on pre-
scribed dates, each Divisional
Transport Officer (Enforce-
ment) will personally appear
at the respective toll plaza and
take enforcement action along
with all the Enforcement Offi-
cers of the region.
One interceptor will be
deployed at each identified
place. Information and pho-
tos of the action taken will be
sent to the WhatsApp group
of the department.
defeated by Congress leader
and Gandhi family loyalist,
Kishori Lal Sharma, with a mar-
gin of 1,67,196 votes from
Uttar Pradesh's Amethi in
the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls.
Sharma secured 5,39,228
votes while Irani garnered
3,72,032 votes. In the 2019 Lok
Sabha polls, Irani defeated
Congress candidate Rahul
Gandhi from Amethi, a Con-
gress bastion for several years.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha
elections, Rahul Gandhi con-
tested from Rae Bareli and
Wayanad and won from both
constituencies. Later, he gave
up the Wayanad constituen-
cy. Priyanka Gandhi will make
her electoral debut from the
Wayanad.

T20 World Cup: Starc recalls
face-off against Rohit Sharma
Acknowledges Rohit’s exceptional performance and his strategic use of the conditions in the World Cup
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
A
ustralia’s journey in
the ICC Men’s T20
World Cup 2024
ended abruptly, as
they failed to advance past
the Super Eight stage. Despite
dominating earlier matches,
they found themselves in a
critical must-win scenario
against India, following a
shock defeat to Afghanistan.
In that outing, India skip-
per Rohit Sharma delivered
a stunning performance,
scoring 92 runs off just 41
balls, effectively knocking
the wind out of Australia in
the early exchange. Mitchell
Starc experienced the full
brunt of Rohit's assault, con-
ceding 29 runs in a single over,
including four sixes and a
four.
Looking back, Starc
acknowledged Rohit’s excep-
tional performance through-
out the tournament and
Paris Olympics: Antim Panghal, Aman Sehrawat
only Indian wrestlers given seedings
AGENCIES
PARIS, 13 JULY
Indian wrestlers Antim Pang-
hal (women’s 53kg) and Aman
Sehrawat (men’s 57kg) have
been seeded fourth and sixth
in their respective weight
categories at the upcoming
2024 Olympics Games in
Paris, starting on July 26.
For the first time ever at the
Olympics, there will be seed-
ings with the top eight wrestlers
in each weight class getting
the opportunity. The two-
time Olympian and coun-
try's medal prospect Vinesh
Phogat will be unseeded in the
women’s 50kg freestyle cat-
egory at Paris 2024.
Seedings were awarded
based on the Wrestlers' per-
formances at the 2023 World
Championships, 2024 Con-
tinental Championships, 2024
Zagreb Open Ranking Series,
and the 2024 Hungarian Rank-
ing Series.
Wood named Anderson’s replacement in England squad PCB denies NOC to Naseem Shah
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Mark Wood has been called into
the squad for the second Test,
replacing James Anderson,
who retired from internation-
al cricket following England's
thumping innings victory at
Lord’s.
Wood, who played three of
the five Tests against India
earlier this year, was part of Eng-
land’s ICC T20 World Cup
squad and featured in five
matches but could pick only
three wickets (all against Oman).
He was left out of England’s last
two matches, which included
a semifinal defeat to India by
68 runs.
His inclusion strengthens
England’s pace attack for the
upcoming match, which already
features Gus Atkinson, Chris
Woakes, Matthew Potts, Ben
Stokes and Dillon Pennington.
Gus Atkinson, the 26-year-
old Surrey pacer, debuted in
the Lord's Test and picked up
Spain goes for record 4th title, England looks to end 58-year wait for major trophy
AGENCIES
BERLIN, 13 JULY
Spain and England meet in the
final of the European Cham-
pionship on Sunday. Spain is
seeking a record fourth title at
the Euros to break a tie with
Germany/West Germany,
while England is bidding for
a first major trophy in men’s
soccer since the 1966 World
Cup. Kickoff is at 9 p.m. local
(1900 GMT) in Berlin. Here’s
what to know about the match:
Spain will start as the favorite
after winning all six of its
matches at Euro 2024 and
being widely regarded as the
best team at the tournament.
Winning the title would con-
tinue a strong period of suc-
cess for Spanish national
teams, with the men having
captured the UEFA Nations
League in June last year and
commended him for his bril-
liant and strategic use of the
conditions in St Lucia.
“I have played a lot against
him. He had a good tourna-
ment, especially at the back
end. I think he targeted that
wind in St Lucia as well. It was
the one end that went for lot
more (runs) than the other.
I think I had five bad balls and
he hit them all for six,” Starc
conceded in a podcast.
Starc managed to redeem
himself somewhat by taking
the wicket of Rohit eight
runs short of a century but
the India skipper had already
inflicted significant damage
by then.
In favourable batting con-
ditions, India set a chal-
lenging target of 206 runs for
Australia to chase. Travis
Head, aiming to replicate
his heroics from the ODI
World Cup 2023 final, kept
Australia in contention with
a brisk 76 off 43 balls.
However, Jasprit Bum-
The seeding is likely to
favour World Championships
and Asian Games bronze
medallist Antim at the Sum-
mer Games.
With her seeding, the Indi-
an wrestler will not face her
rival and two-time world
champion Akari Fujinami of
Japan, Qianyu Pang of the
People's Republic of China,
who won silver in Tokyo
2020, and Emma Malmgren
for The Hundred 2024: Report
12 wickets - a seven-wicket haul
in the first innings followed by
five in the second. Apart from
Atkinson, Chris Woakes and vet-
the women following that up
by winning the World Cup two
months later.
Lamine Yamal is Spain’s
new star having set up three
goals before the semifinals,
where he scored a spectacu-
lar long-range strike in the vic-
tory over France — all at the
age of 16. He turned 17 on Sat-
urday, the day before the final.
It is a breakthrough major
tournament for Yamal, much
like it was for a 19-year-old
Kylian Mbappé at the 2018
World Cup and a 17-year-old
Pelé at the 1958 World Cup.
Spain last appeared in a final
at a major tournament in
2012, when the team won the
third of its European Cham-
pionship titles by beating Italy
4-0. England played in the
final of Euro 2020, which was
played in 2021 because of the
coronavirus pandemic, and lost
rah’s crucial breakthrough
tilted the balance and despite
Head’s efforts, Australia ulti-
mately fell short by 24 runs
in their pursuit.
“We thought it (target) was
close to par, maybe a little
bit over par but it was the best
wicket at the World Cup that
we played on. It was proba-
bly the quickest wicket. (It
of Sweden, who won two
European titles, until the
medal rounds.
However, she could meet
Ecuador’s Lucia Yepez, the
World Championships bronze
medal winner from last year,
in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Aman, the
2023 Asian champion and
the 2022 Under-23 world
champion, could play Japan's
Rei Higuchi or Armenia's
eran James Anderson were
the other pace option in the XI
in the Lord’s Test while Ben
Stokes proved his bowling fit-
in a penalty shootout to Italy.
— England has shown
resilience by coming from
behind in all three of its knock-
out-stage matches at Euro
2024. Jude Bellingham scored
an equalizer from an overhead
kick in the fifth minute of
stoppage time in the extra-time
win over Slovakia in the last
was) certainly chaseable, we
were on target for a while and
a couple of hiccups and
some good bowling from
them just set us back,” he said.
Australia were well on
track to reach the final four,
going unbeaten in the tour-
nament until they came
against Afghanistan and
India. Their first stumble
Arsen Harutyunyan before
the medal rounds begin.
Rei Higuchi is a Rio 2016
silver medallist and the 2022
world champion. Aman lost
to him at the Hungarian Rank-
ing Series in June while Arsen
Harutyunyan won bronze at
the 2023 World Champi-
onships.
The remaining four Indi-
an wrestlers -- Vinesh Phogat
(women’s 50kg), Anshu Malik
(women’s 57kg), Nisha Dahiya
(women’s 68kg) and Reetika
Hooda (women’s 76kg) --
will be unseeded at Paris
2024. They will be randomly
drawn into brackets the day
before the women’s freestyle
wrestling begins in Paris.
Wrestling at the Paris 2024
Olympics will see competitions
in 18 medal events -- six each
in the men’s freestyle,
women’s freestyle, and Greco-
Roman. Sixteen wrestlers will
compete in each of these
events.
ness by bowling 18 overs across
the two innings. Offspinner
Shoaib Bashir was also part of
the Playing XI but did not get
16, Bukayo Saka equalized in
the 80th minute against
Switzerland in the quarterfi-
nals before England won a
penalty shootout, and sub-
stitute Ollie Watkins scored a
winner almost exactly on 90
minutes against the Nether-
lands in the semifinals.
England coach Gareth
came against Afghanistan,
who buried the ghosts of
the Glenn Maxwell special
and the heartbreak of CWC23
with a hard-fought 23-run vic-
tory.
When quizzed about
where it all went wrong for
Australia, Starc said with a
smile, “Two losses (against
Afghanistan and India).”
“The last two games that
we played wasn't our best
cricket and not the result we
wanted. It was probably a
misread of conditions in
that Afghanistan game. They
obviously played some good
cricket and we probably did-
n't play our best. Think our
fielding was a little bit short
throughout the whole tour-
nament,” Starc analysed.
Starc had to watch the
game from the sidelines as
Australia opted to include
Ashton Agar in the team
against Afghanistan. Reflect-
ing on the decision, Starc
admitted he wasn’t pleased
Top ICC officials resign after chaotic T20 WC
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
With just a week to go for the
International Cricket Coun-
cil (ICC) Annual Conference
in Colombo from July 19, the
global body’s Head of Events
Chris Tetley and General
Manager of Marketing &
Communication Claire Fur-
long have stepped down from
their posts after a very chaot-
ic conduct of the recently-con-
cluded T20 World Cup in the
West Indies and the USA.
It has been learnt that
both Tetley and Furlong, who
were closely involved in organ-
ising the T20 World Cup 2024,
had submitted their resig-
nations immediately after
the conclusion of the marquee
tournament and a week ahead
of the conference, which
would be held in Colombo and
were associated with the con-
duct of the championship.
While ICC insiders main-
tained that the resignations
are several months old, it
has been learnt that the duo’s
a single over to bowl.
Anderson retired on a high
with a vintage display of swing
and seam bowling that had the
batters in a daze, recording fig-
ures of 3/32 in his final innings
in international cricket.
Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-
batter Jamie Smith was retained
for the second Test after an
impressive debut, where he
scored 70 runs and took four
catches in the opening Test of
the series.
As a result of their dominant
win, England has closed the gap
with the teams above them in
the World Test Championship
standings. Although they
remain 9th, they are now tied
on points-percentage with
Bangladesh and South Africa
(all at 25%) and are closing in
on the West Indies, who are at
26.67%.
A victory in the next match,
starting July 18 at Trent Bridge,
Nottingham, would see Eng-
land leapfrog all these teams
to secure the 6th spot.
Southgate is often criticized for
his in-game management but
he has changed the culture
inside the squad and is regu-
larly getting the team deep at
major tournaments. In South-
gate’s tenure that started in 2016,
England has reached the World
Cup semifinals in 2018 and now
back-to-back European Cham-
with being left out but under-
stood that the spin-friend-
ly conditions at the Arnos Vale
Ground favoured Agar over
him in the team selection.
“Just the match-up. They
saw previous games on that
ground in St Vincent with spin
playing a big part. Obvious-
ly, Ash (Ashton Agar) and the
left-arm (option) enticed
them to make a change. It is
what it is,” Starc noted.
Starc didn’t take any cred-
it away from Afghanistan,
praising their tactical acumen
and the ability to play spin.
“Ash bowled well in the
Powerplay but they
(Afghanistan) probably
played spin quite well and
batting first, assessed the
conditions a little bit better
than we did. We had a cou-
ple of little stumbles that in
the end cost us the game. It
just set us back. Ultimately,
they played the better crick-
et,” said Starc before
signing off.
departure was fuelled by the
chaotic conduct of the T20
World Cup, especially the
USA leg of the tournament,
where the half-cooked pitch-
es raised serious question
marks on the readiness of the
venues for the big-ticket
event.
The World Cup in the
USA, particularly in New
York, was a major project of
the ICC and the two officials
were closely involved in it. This
is likely in relation with the
scrutiny of the matches host-
ed at the Nassau County
International Cricket Stadi-
um in New York.
The pop-up Nassau Sta-
AGENCIES
LAHORE, 13 JULY
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
has refused to grant a No
Objection Certificate (NOC) to
pacer Naseem Shah to play in
the upcoming edition of The
Hundred.
Naseem was signed by
Birmingham Phoenix for the
tournament which is scheduled
to start on July 23. In the open-
ing clash of the tournament,
Birmingham Phoenix will take
on Oval Invincibles at Ken-
nington Oval.
As per the Geo News report,
sources have confirmed that
PCB has taken the decision to
keep the pacer fit for the World
Test Championship matches
against Bangladesh and Eng-
land in August and October
respectively.
His application has been dis-
missed to protect him from
injuries, since he plays in all three
pionship finals.
Spain captain Alvaro Mora-
ta has been in training this week
after limping out of the semi-
final win over France after
being knocked to the ground
in the post-match celebra-
tions by a steward trying to stop
a pitch invader. Right back Dani
Carvajal returns from sus-
pension, leaving the only real
selection dilemma at center
back for coach Luis de la
Fuente, with Nacho or Robin
Le Normand vying to partner
Aymeric Laporte. Dani Olmo
should again fill in for the
injured Pedri as Spain’s attack-
ing central midfielder.
Southgate has to decide who
to play at left back — or left wing
back — out of Kieran Trippi-
er or Luke Shaw. Shaw is a nat-
ural on that side but has only
made two appearances as a sec-
ond-half substitute at Euro 2024
NEW DELHI, 14 JULY 2024
Aditi sure of cut at Evian,
Diksha makes early exit
AGENCIES
EVIAN LES BAINS, 13 JULY
Aditi Ashok is sure of the cut
at the Amundi Evian Cham-
pionship but the game wazs
suspended due to rain and
lightening. The second round
is yet to be completed.
Aditi added 1-under 70 to
her first round 71 and was 1-
under for 36 holes and T-44th
up from overnight T-52. The
second round is yet to finish.
Diksha Dagar, who had a
rough 76 on the first day, with-
drew before the second round
on medical grounds.
Aditi, who won a LET
event at Hero Women's Indi-
an Open in her first year, has
won a total of five wins.
At 12-under-par after 13
holes, Ayaka Furue of Japan
holds a three-stroke lead,
over Australian Stephanie
Kyriacou and Haeran Ryu
of South Korea, after 16 and
11 holes respectively.
First-round co-leader,
Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand,
who held a three-way share
of the overnight lead, is a
stroke further back in a tie for
fourth position alongside
Angela Stanford of the Unit-
ed States.
First-round co-leader
dium that hosted eight of
the 16 games allotted to the
USA, was dismantled right
after the conclusion of the T20
World Cup matches and came
under sharp criticism. Many
ICC members seemed to be
raising the issue regarding the
pitches at the ICC meeting.
The NY pitches were crit-
icised for its variable bounce,
which offered low-scoring
matches. A key member of the
ICC is said to have raised the
issue through a letter to the
members. The venue also
hosted the high-profile India
v Pakistan game, which saw
Rohit Sharma’s men suc-
cessfully defend a low total
formats of the cricket for the
national side and he faced
some fitness challenges last year,
the report added.
Pakistan head coach Jason
Gillispie had earlier hinted
that premier pacer Shaheen
Shah Afridi is likely to miss the
home Test series against
Bangladesh due to the birth of
his first child.
In the absence of Shaheen,
Naseem's presence will be
crucial for Pakistan to put up
a strong bowling show in the
series.
after recovering from an injury
that had sidelined him since
February. Otherwise, South-
gate will choose the same
players, with the 19-year-old
Kobbie Mainoo having nailed
down the problematic spot in
central midfield alongside
Declan Rice.
Spain’s previous Euro-
pean Championship titles
came in 1964, 2008 and 2012.
There are six players on a
tournament-high three goals
at Euro 2024 and two are
playing in the final: England
captain Harry Kane and Spain
playmaker Dani Olmo. The
others are Georges Mikautadze
of Georgia, Cody Gakpo of the
Netherlands, Ivan Schranz
of Slovakia and Jamal Musiala
or Germany.
It has been six years since
Spain and England met in a
senior men’s international. In
11
Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden is
tied for sixth with South
Korean trio Hyo-Joo Kim,
the 2014 champion, Mi Hyang
Lee and Yu Jin Sung, who had
the lowest round of the day,
an eight-under-par 63.
Fellow first-round co-
leader Gemma Dryburgh of
Scotland lies in a six-way tie
for 10th on six-under-par
after nine holes, with Lauren
Coughlin of the United States,
South Korean trio Hye-Jin
Choi, Jin Young Ko, Narin An
and England's Georgia Hall,
who fought back from a
rough start to card a 67,
whilst carrying an injury.
The Evian Championships
is a 72-hole stroke play com-
petition, with a cut to the top
65 professionals and ties
after 36 holes and a purse of
8 million USD with a winner's
share of 1.2 million USD.
of 119.
After the India-Pakistan
match, the ICC issued a state-
ment on the nature of the
tracks used at the Nassau
County Stadium, stating that
“the ICC recognise that the
pitches used so far at the
Nassau County Internation-
al Cricket Stadium have not
played as consistently as we
would have all wanted. The
world-class grounds team
have been working hard since
the conclusion of yesterday’s
game to remedy the situation
and deliver the best possible
surfaces for the remaining
matches.”
The matter is now going
to be discussed at length in
Sri Lanka next week and a thor-
ough investigation is likely to
happen. More than the West
Indies leg, the skyrocketing
expenses and activities dur-
ing the USA leg haven’t pleased
many in the global body.
Both Tetley and Furlong are
expected to take part in the
annual conference in Colom-
bo.
Naseem made his inter-
national comeback months
before the recently conclud-
ed T20 World Cup following
a long hiatus due to a shoul-
der injury sustained during last
year's Asia Cup match against
India. He bagged five wickets
in three games for Pakistan in
their failed 2024 T20 World Cup
campaign as the 2009 cham-
pions made the group-stage
exit. He returned with figures
of 3-21 against India includ-
ing the wicket of star batter Virat
Kohli.
2018, they played a Nations
League double-header, with
Spain winning 2-1 at Wem-
bley Stadium and England
winning 3-2 in Sevilla a month
later.
“I don’t say it becomes run
of the mill but it’s a little bit
more normal for us. That
statement in itself is proba-
bly ridiculous given our his-
tory.” — England coach Gareth
Southgate on reaching a sec-
ond straight final at the Euros.
“I would like him to work
with the same humility, keep
his feet on the ground in
order to keep improving,
learning with the same kind
of attitude and that profes-
sionalism, that maturity that
he shows on the pitch. He looks
like a much more experi-
enced player, to be honest.”
— Spain coach Luis de la
Fuente on Lamine Yamal.
 NEW DELHI
14 JULY 2024 12
‘THEY CANNOT CONTINUE TO DECEIVE US’
The 2024 Copa America began with Argentina defeating Canada 2-0 in the opening game.
Following the game, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni and goalkeeper Emi Martinez crit-
icised the state of the pitches. Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa has made a shocking
statement labelling the Copa America organisers 'a plague of liars'."They cannot contin-
ue to deceive us that the pitches are perfect. They held a press conference saying that
it was a visual issue, that Vinicius (was wrong), that Scaloni should not speak. Scaloni
was told not to speak anymore. All threats..," said Bielsa in a press conference.

For more updates www.thestatesman.com Posted at RMS, Delhi, Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-11/6089/2022-23-24

Jaiswal, Gill wrap up India’s

series win against Zimbabwe
In the chase of 153 runs, India was off to a fine start as Gill and Jaiswal attacked the bowlers right from ball one
TRIDIB BAPARNASH Sairaj Bahutule, and replaced
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY Avesh Khan as the only
change in Saturday’s match.

Y
ashasvi Jaiswal (93
not out) and cap-
tain Shubman Gill
(58 not out) came
up with contrasting half cen-
turies and a flawless 156-run
opening stand to help India
register a series-clinching
10-wicket win against Zim-
babwe in Harare on Satur-
day. The victory gave India
a 3-1 unassailable lead with
the fifth match of the rubber
to be played at the Harare
Sports Club on Sunday.
The Indian opening pair
made a mincemeat of a 153-
run target with Yashasvi
turning on the heat on the
Zimbabwe bowling before Gill
joined the party but let his
left-handed opening partner
lead the proceedings against
a hapless home attack.
In the process, Jaiswal
raised a 29-ball fifty, and
continued piling agony in the
opposition ranks with as
many as 13 hits to the fence
and a couple over it. as India
took control over Zimbabwe
in the chase.
Gill, on the other hand,
was more measured in his
attack, but kept the momen-
tum going with his 39-ball
unbeaten knock, laced with
six boundaries and two
mighty sixes.
Earlier, India's part-time
bowlers Shivam Dube and
Abhishek Sharma put in a
commendable performance,
restricting the hosts to a
manageable 152 for seven.
Despite skipper Sikander
Raza's explosive 46 off 28 balls,
which included three sixes
and two fours, the Indian duo
managed to keep the pro-
ceedings under control dur-
ing the middle overs.
Abhishek (1/20 in 3 overs)
and Dube (1/11 in 2 overs)
played a crucial role in remov-
ing the dangerous-looking
opening pair of Wesley Mad-
hevere (25 off 24 balls) and
Tadiwanashe Marumani (32
off 31 balls). Their efforts
helped to put the brakes on
Zimbabwe's scoring rate.
Debutant medium pacer
Tushar Deshpande (1/30 in
3 overs) had a mixed per-
formance, often pitching the
ball too full or too short,
allowing the openers to score
easy boundaries. He
redeemed himself by dis-
missing Raza with a slower
delivery in the slog overs, pre-
venting Zimbabwe from sur-
passing the 170-run mark,
which would have been par
on this track.
Despande, the Mumbai
and Chennai Super Kings
(CSK) fast bowler, was hand-
ed his maiden internation-
al cap by assistant coach
His selection comes on the
back of an excellent IPL,
where he was CSK's highest
wicket-taker - 17 wickets in
13 games at an economy of
8.83.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s
best opening stand in the
series was finally broken
when left-arm spinner
Abhishek Sharma forced
Marumani to mistime a pull
shot, which was caught by
Rinku Singh.
Following this, the hosts
struggled to capitalize on
the advantage they had
gained. Madhevere fell to
Dube, failing to get the
required elevation and dis- Ricky Ponting steps down as
tance on a short ball, with
Rinku completing the catch Delhi Capitals head coach after
at deep mid-wicket.
Brian Bennett (9 off 14 seven seasons at the helm
balls), who had been brilliant
with the bat in the second AGENCIES together. Seven summers of
game, also failed to get going NEW DELHI, 13 JULY you being hands-on, but
before being dismissed by also hands-off, so that we
Washington Sundar. Dube Ricky Ponting, Australia’s could become better.”
and Abhishek's disciplined two-time ODI World Cup- “As athletes, yes, but more
bowling, maintaining a wick- winning captain, has stepped importantly, as human
et-to-wicket line, helped down as the head coach of beings. Seven summers of you
keep the scoring in check. Delhi Capitals in the Indian reaching every training ses-
Premier League (IPL), the sion first, and leaving last.
franchise said in a state- Seven summers of you sprint-

Avesh looking forward to play Test cricket World Chess title challenger ment on Saturday. The devel-
opment brings to an end
ing out of the dugout during
strategic timeouts, and bit-

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 JULY
Days after Arshdeep Singh
opened up about his inter-
ests to feature in India’s red-
ball scheme of things, anoth-
er white-ball specialist Avesh
Khan has expressed his desire
to play Test cricket.
Expressing confidence in
his ability to perform in red-
ball format at the interna-
tional level, Avesh high-
lighted his experience and
success in domestic cricket,
asserting that he can repli-
cate that performance on
the global stage.
“I’m very excited for Test
cricket as I feel it’s a format
where I can prove myself,
which I’ve done for my state
team, India A or while Duleep,
Deodhar trophy. I’m waiting
for that chance as there’s a
different kind of fun playing
Test cricket," Avesh said.
“I love to bowl with the red
ball as I bowl around 20-25
overs in a day for my state
team as well. In the entire sea-
son, I bowl around 300-350
overs, so I’m looking forward
to a chance to play Test
cricket and do well for my
country in the longest for-
mat,” Khan said.
Avesh, who is currently a
part of the India squad in the
ongoing Zimbabwe tour, has
been right on the money
against the African side, and
looks on course to retain
his side for the limited-overs
series against Sri Lanka, later
this month as seniors like
pace spearhead Jasprit Bum-
rah are on an extended break
following the T20 World Cup
triumph.
Speaking about the Indi-
an pace spearhead, Avesh
praised Bumrah as a once-
in-a-generation bowler. He
highlighted that the most
remarkable aspect of work-
ing with Bumrah is his will-
ingness to share his vast
knowledge and experience.
“Like Virat bhai said, he
is a once in a generation
bowler, it is true and we all
believe so. His style of bowl-
ing and his mindset are dif-
ferent, but the main (thing)
is his execution, for which we
all practice,” Avesh said.
“Whenever I speak with
him, he tells me to focus on
the execution. If you are
thinking of sending down a
yorker, then it has to be a york-
er; it cannot be a full toss or
a half volley, a bouncer has
to be on the shoulders; a
length ball has to be (aimed
at) the top of off (stump),"
concluded the fast bowler.
Gambhir will want 100
percent from everyone
Sharing insights about
the working style of newly-
appointed head coach Gau-
tam Gambhir, Avesh, who has
worked closely with the for-
mer India left-hander at the
Lucknow Super Giants in
the IPL, said the players are
expected to give their 100 per-
cent and always look to get
better of one’s opponents.
“Whatever I have learned
from him, it is about the
mindset that you should
always look to get the better
of your opponent and give
your 100 per cent,” he said.
Avesh also stated that
Gambhir isn't one to deliv-
er long messages in team
meetings but instead assigns
tasks and roles to players and
always wants to focus on
winning.
“In team meetings, as
well as one-on-ones, he
would speak less but would
convey his point as to what
is to be done. He would
assign tasks and roles to
players and he has always
been a ‘team coach’. He
always wants to win and
everyone to give their 100 per
cent,” Avesh added.
Gukesh to represent India
in Budapest Olympiad
AGENCIES
CHENNAI, 13 JULY
Indian chess Grandmaster
(GM) and the challenger for
the world title D Gukesh
will be part of the country’s
team that will compete in the
upcoming Olympiad to be
held in Budapest, Hungary,
said the official of All India
Chess Federation (AICF).
In the women’s section,
GM Koneru Humpy will not
be playing for the country this
time around owing to some
personal reasons, a senior
official added.
“The players for two teams
–Open and Women- have
been selected for the chess
Olympiad. The teams have
been registered on the FIDE
portal,” AICF president Nitin
Narang told IANS.
“Discussions are on with
a foreign coach to hold a pre-
event camp,” GM Abhijit
Kunte, chief coach and chair-
man, selection committee,
AICF told IANS.
According to Narang, the
camp is scheduled for August
end and coaches and exact
date will be finalised soon.
Interestingly, the Indi-
an Open team consists of
three players who are in the
top 10 clubs in the chess
world in terms of ratings.
Kunte said, “The team for
the Open category would
comprise of GMs Arjun Eri-
gaisi (World No.4 Rating
2778), Gukesh (Rank 7, Rat-
ing 2763), R Praggnanand-
haa (Rank 8, Rating 2757),
Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi
Ponting’s seven-year asso-
ciation with the franchise
ing your nails off until there
were none left.”
ahead of the mega auction
in the run-up to the 2025 sea-
“Seven summers of your
dressing room speeches -
son of the tournament. the speeches, Oh! (Separate
Ponting was appointed as post for that loading) Seven
DC's head coach in 2018 summers of your hugs, shoul-
when the side was called der pats, and fist pump for
Delhi Daredevils. us all - newcomer, superstar...
“Dear Ricky, as you move and everyone in between.
on as our Head Coach, we're Thank you for everything,
finding it incredibly hard to Coach! Like you often close
put this down in words. The out, Let's leave this here
four things you told us about mate, grab a drink, get back
in every huddle -- care, com- to work tomorrow, yeah?”
(Rank 22, Rating 2720) and mitment, attitude, and effort wrote the franchise in its
the reserve P Harikrishna -- sum up our seven summers statement.
(Rank 37, Rating 2695).”
Former World Champi-
on GM V Anand (Rank 11,
Rating 2751) will not be CLASSIC DERBY
playing for the country.
“The Indian Women’s
team for the chess Olympiad
will be GM D.Harika (Rank
11, Rating 2491), GM R
Vaishali (Rank 14, Rating
2488), International Mas-
ter (IM) and Woman GM
(WGM) Divya Deshmukh
(Rank 20, Rating 2464), IM
and WGM Vantika Agarwal
(Rank 63, Rating 2390) and
the reserve player IM and
WGM Tania Sachdev (Rank
66, Rating 2386),” Kunte
added.
According to Kunte, each
team will have a non-play-
ing captain, two coaches
and their names are to be
finalised.
The AICF will also permit
a player’s personal coach as
part of the contingent – on
no cost basis.
Interestingly, Gukesh’s
games will be keenly watched
by the world champion
China’s GM Ding Liren as the
both will be fighting for the
world title this year in Sin- Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal Match, CFL 2024 at Salt Lake
gapore. Stadium��MOUL MONDAL

Novak Djokovic is 37 and had knee surgery last month but faces Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final
AGENCIES
LONDON, 13 JULY
Not surprisingly, Novak
Djokovic was far from con-
vinced he could win Wim-
bledon when the tournament
began less than a month after
his surgery to repair a torn
meniscus in his right knee.
“I was just thinking about
moving well (and) not injur-
ing myself,” he said.
After getting through his first
few matches at the All England
Club, though, Djokovic
thought: “OK, I’m actually
playing close to my best, and
I can have a shot at the title.”
Now he’s just one victory
away from what would be an
eighth championship at Wim-
bledon — equaling Roger Fed-
erer for the most by a man —
and a 25th Grand Slam trophy
overall, more than any tennis
player ever. Won’t be easy: On
Sunday, Djokovic will face
defending champion Carlos
Alcaraz in a rematch of last
year’s Wimbledon final; Kate,
the Princess of Wales, is set to
be there in a rare public appear-
ance after her cancer diagnosis.
“History is on the line,”
Djokovic said about the mile-
stones at stake for him. “Of
course, it serves as a great
motivation, but at the same
time, it’s also a lot of pressure
and expectations. Every time
I step out on the court now,
even though I’m 37 and com-
peting with the 21-year-olds,
I still expect myself to win most
of the matches. And people
expect me to win, whatever,
99% of the matches that I
play.”
It’s doubtful that many
counted on him to win enough
to make his way to the last day
of this fortnight — at least they
probably didn’t on June 3,
the day he hurt his knee at the
French Open. Or on June 4, the
day he withdrew from his
quarterfinal at that tournament,
where he was the defending
champion. Or on June 5, the
day he had the operation in
Paris.
Even Djokovic was uncer-
tain until a few days before the
Wimbledon draw in late June
that he would compete at all.
Still, during Roland Garros,
it was Alcaraz who noted
Djokovic’s past history of
returning from injuries: “He
comes back stronger and he
comes back quickly.” And,
on the eve of Wimbledon, it
was Alcaraz who called
Djokovic superhuman for
managing to return to action.
Djokovic said he derived
some optimism from texting
with Taylor Fritz, the Ameri-
can who injured his meniscus
at the 2021 French Open and
competed at Wimbledon three
weeks later.
Fritz was on a flight home
from Paris this year when he
received a message from
Djokovic with questions about
the procedure and recovery,
then got a later note seeking
more input after the surgery.
“If there’s anything he
probably took from what I said,
it was just confidence that it’s
doable. I said, ‘Actually, you’ll
be surprised how good you feel,
so quickly. You wouldn’t
expect it,’” Fritz said. “I told
him: ‘It’s painful. It’s really
uncomfortable. But you can
play through it.’”
So that’s what Djokovic did.
And by the time he was
defeating Lorenzo Musetti 6-
4, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the semifinals
Friday, Djokovic was pain-free
and moving fine while wear-
ing a gray sleeve on his knee.
All in all, this has been a sub-
par season for the second-seed-
ed Djokovic. Not only hasn’t
he won a title, but he hadn’t
even reached a final at any
tournament until now.
None of that matters on
Sunday, when he will try to stop
the third-seeded Alcaraz from
collecting his fourth Slam
title.
“I know how it’s going to
feel playing against Djokovic.
... I know what I have to do,”
said Alcaraz, who got past
Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (1), 6-3,
6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.
“I’m sure he knows what he
has to do to beat me.”
Alcaraz, still only 21, is 3-
0 in major finals.
That includes beating
Djokovic in five sets 12 months
ago at Wimbledon, plus tri-
umphs at the U.S. Open in 2022
and at the French Open last
month.
“He’s a very all-around
player, very complete player.
Impressive what he has done
for such a young age. ... Prob-
ably all of us share the same
opinion — that he’s going to
win many Slams in his career,”
Djokovic said Friday night.
“Hope he’s going to give me
this one in two days, and let’s
see. After that, I’ll cheer for
him.”

Printed and published by VINEET GUPTA for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi ��Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR ��Managing Editor: ARYA RUDRA ��Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 59445/94