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National

- LS to witness rare contest for Speaker’s post

- Sri Lankan Navy sailor dies during pursuit of Indian boat; 10 Tamil Nadu fishermen held

- Overstretched Railways to bring down speed of Vande Bharat, Gatiman trains

- Moscow preparing for likely visit by Modi, says Putin aide

- Delhi HC stays bail granted to Kejriwal

- Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

- Assange to be ‘freed’ after U.S. plea deal

- Atishi’s hunger strike over water crisis ends in hospital

- Cost of future wars is enormous, resources should be optimised: Chief of Defence Staff

- Ahead of rollout of the new criminal laws, Union Home Ministry tests eSakhsya App

- Pune car accident: HC orders release of juvenile accused

- BSF raises issue of attack on personnel during talks with BGB

- T.N. to allow regulated culling of wild boars in fields close to forest

- Urban Affairs Ministry to revamp affordable housing scheme

- Two more arrested in Arang ‘lynching’ case

- Ex- J&K Bar president Mian Qayoom ‘questioned’

- VHP leader’s murder: NIA offers ₹10 lakh for leads

- Congress curbed rights during Emergency, has no right to speak for Constitution: PM

- Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

- Bihar cancels contracts worth ₹826 cr. awarded by grand alliance regime

- From the first Lok Sabha to the 18th, a snapshot of Speaker elections

- More Opposition MPs swear by Constitution on second day of oath-taking

- Prime Minister raking up past to hide his failures, says Congress president

- Bail petitions should not be adjourned indefinitely: SC

- NTA reform panel to elicit views of parents, students

- 14211

- Defence Ministry signs 350th contract under iDEX for ‘miniaturised satellite’

- Jal Shakti Ministry conceives ‘new project’ to fix water deficit in Jal Jeevan Mission

- Pak. delegation inspect Ratle power project on Chenab river in J&K

- Janardana kills Janardana

- NEET-UG case: Maharashtra police detain 2 ‘sub-agents’

- CBI to seek remand of accused in NEET case

- Jaishankar meets Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong

- Government officer driving in inebriated state kills three

Sandeep Phukan

New Delhi

NDA government and INDIA bloc fail to arrive at consensus candidate ; Opposition fields eight-term MP Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress against NDA’s Om Birla; Congress accuses government of not following convention of making Opposition candidate Deputy Speaker; there are only three instances of a vote being held for the Speaker’s post

Firm stance: NDA leaders, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister J.P. Nadda among them, signing papers in favour of Om Birla for the Speaker’s post, at Parliament House in Delhi. ANIANI

The 18th Lok Sabha is all set to witness a rare contest for the Speaker’s post on Wednesday between Om Birla of the the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP ) and Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the INDIA bloc failed to arrive at a consensus.

On Tuesday, Congress leader K.C. Venugopal and DMK’s T.R. Baalu from the Opposition and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister J.P. Nadda had met at Mr. Singh’s office in Parliament to evolve a consensus. However, with both sides sticking to their position, the two Opposition leaders walked out. Mr. Venugopal accused the government of not following the “convention” of an Opposition candidate for the Deputy Speaker’s position.

The decision to field Mr. Birla, a third-term BJP MP from Kota in Rajasthan, underlined the BJP-led NDA’s theme of continuity as he was the Speaker of the previous Lok Sabha. The INDIA bloc’s nominee, Mr. Suresh, is an eight-term MP from Kerala and belongs to a Dalit community.

In Independent India, there are only three instances (in 1952, 1967 and 1976) when there was a voting for the Speaker’s post.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition was willing to support the NDA candidate but the government was non-committal on giving them the Deputy Speaker post.

Union Ministers Piyush Goyal of the BJP and Lalan Singh of the Janata Dal (United) accused the Opposition of resorting to “pressure politics” by putting precondition.

The decision to field Mr. Suresh had also exposed the fault lines within the INDIA bloc as Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee had accused the Congress of taking a unilateral decision without consulting them. Almost immediately, the Congress’s top leadership reached out to Trinamool and managed to secure their backing for the Opposition candidate.

‘Not about winning’

“It is not about winning or losing but about a convention that the Speaker will be of ruling party and the Deputy Speaker from the Opposition,” Mr. Suresh told The Hindu.

“Now we are recognised as the Opposition and the Deputy Speaker post is our right,” the INDIA bloc’s nominee added.

Sri Lankan Navy sailor dies during pursuit of Indian boat; 10 Tamil Nadu fishermen held

Meera Srinivasan, R. Rajaram

COLOMBO/NAGAPATTINAM

Indian trawler in custody of the Sri Lankan Navy after its operation against ‘illegal fishing’ off Kankesanthurai. Special arrangementSRI LANKAN NAVY

A sailor from the Sri Lankan Navy was killed in an operation targeting Indian fishermen and their fishing vessel in the early hours of Tuesday, according to Sri Lankan authorities.

As many as 10 Indian fishermen — seven from Nagapattinam, one from Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu and two from Andhra Pradesh — were arrested on charges of illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters, off Kankesanthurai, in the Jaffna peninsula. The bottom trawler they used was seized.

Following this, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote to Union Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar, requesting that he convene the Joint Working Group to secure the release of all the fishermen and their fishing boats from Lankan custody.

He also insisted on measures to be taken to prevent such arrests in the future.

In an official statement, the Sri Lanka Navy said it had conducted a special operation to “chase away Indian poaching trawlers from Sri Lankan waters”. While the patrol unit arrested the fishermen and seized the trawler, a sailor from the Navy Special Boat Squadron sustained critical injuries “due to the aggressive manoeuvres of an Indian trawler, resisting its seizure”.

The sailor died of injuries at the Teaching Hospital in Jaffna.

‘Frequent encounters’

The Sri Lankan Navy said it “frequently encounters aggressive manoeuvres by Indian trawlers” that often result in injuries to naval personnel and damage to Navy’s ships and craft.

The arrested fishermen were taken to the Kankesanthurai naval base, sources in Tamil Nadu said.

Coastal Security Group sources said the 10 fishermen had, on June 21, set sail on a mechanised boat from the Akkaraipettai fishing harbour in Nagapattinam district. On board the mechanised boat, they were fishing about 40 nautical miles east of Kodiyakarai when they were intercepted and arrested at around 1.30 a.m. on Tuesday by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of trespassing into the island nation’s waters, the sources said.

This is the third incident of the arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy this month.

The Sri Lankan Navy’s account of the mid-sea confrontation is a reflection of an enduring fisheries conflict in the Palk Strait that severely impacts daily waged fisherfolk in northern Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, without any durable solution at sight.

(With inputs from Dennis S Jesudasan in Chennai)

Railways to bring down speed of select Vande Bharat, Gatiman Express trains

S. Vijay Kumar

CHENNAI

This revision is expected to increase the running time of these premium trains by 25-30 minutes. File photoK Ragesh

The Indian Railways will soon cut down the maximum speed of premium trains, including Vande Bharat and Gatiman Express, from the present 160 kmph to 130 kmph on select routes to ensure safety.

Highly placed railway sources told The Hindu on Tuesday that North Central Railway had written to the Railway Board to slow down Train no. 12050/12049 Delhi-Jhansi-Delhi Gatiman Express, 22470/22469 Delhi-Khajuraho-Delhi Vande Bharat Express, 20172/20171 Delhi-Rani Kamalapati-Delhi Vande Bharat Express, and 12002/12001 Delhi-Rani Kamalapati-Delhi Shatabdi Express trains.

Going by the proposal that was “desired to ensure safety”, the speed of Gatiman and Vande Bharat Express trains will be reduced from 160 kmph to 130 kmph while that of Shatabdi Express will be cut down from 150 kmph to 130 kmph.

This will result in an increase in running time by 25-30 minutes and lead to changes in the timings of at least 10 superfast express trains on these routes, the sources said.

TPWS failure

Asked if the reduction in speed was due to the increasing number of accidents across the country, since the order was issued within a week of the Kanchanjunga Express accident, a senior railway official said the failure of Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) on the Delhi-Agra-Jhansi routes was the reason the premium trains were being slowed down.

A Northern Railway proposal to dispense with TPWS or reduce speed of trains to 130 kmph was pending with the Board since November 6, 2023.

Yet, the North Central Railway came up with another proposal on Tuesday.

As repair or maintenance of TPWS was not possible, according to a report of the Divisional Railway Manager, the Railway Board was requested to downgrade the premium trains to be operated “at a much safer speed of 130 kmph”, the sources said.

Moscow preparing for likely visit by Modi, says Putin aide

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

Yuri UshakovKristina Kormilitsyna

In what could be his first visit since the Ukraine war began, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to Moscow in the coming weeks to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin under the much-delayed annual summit mechanism that has been in place since 2000 but suspended for the past few years.

“I can confirm that we are preparing a visit by the Prime Minister of India,” Kremlin official and Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to Russian state-owned RIA Novosti news agency, adding that he could not reveal dates for the visit until they were agreed upon by both sides.

The Russian agency said that preparations were being made for Mr. Modi’s visit in “early July”. The External Affairs Ministry declined to comment on the possible visit, and no confirmation of Mr. Ushakov’s statement was made by the government.

Mr. Modi is also due to visit Russia in October as Mr. Putin plans to host the extended BRICS Summit in Kazan.

The plans for a bilateral meeting with Mr. Putin are significant as Mr. Modi decided last week to cancel plans to travel to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council meeting in Kazakhstan on July 3 and 4. Mr. Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are due to attend the meeting.

Breaking precedent

If Mr. Modi travels to Moscow in July, shortly after the Parliament session ends, it would also break with past precedent for Indian Prime Ministers to make their first bilateral visit in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Modi’s first visit abroad in this tenure was to Italy for the G-7 Outreach Summit on June 14.

Delhi HC stays bail granted to Kejriwal

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal ANI

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday imposed a stay on the regular bail granted by a trial court to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case.

Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said the trial court had not sufficiently appreciated the evidence submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The judge also concurred with Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju’s contention that the Central agency had not been given adequate chance to argue its stay application.

“The [trial court] Vacation Judge while passing the Impugned Order did not appropriately appreciate the material/documents submitted on record and pleas taken by ED,” the High Court said.

“Accordingly the application [ED’s] is allowed. The operation of the impugned order is stayed,” Justice Kumar ruled.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said it disagreed with the order of the Delhi High Court and would challenge the order in the Supreme Court.

Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

Rahul Gandhi will be the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, the Congress announced on Tuesday.

The announcement was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of the INDIA bloc at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s official residence.

The decision came on a day when Mr. Gandhi took oath as an MP for the fth consecutive term. This is the rst Constitutional position that Mr. Gandhi would be holding in his 20- year-old political career.

Assange to be ‘freed’ after U.S. plea deal

Agence France-Presse

Bangkok

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is on his way to face a final United States court hearing on Wednesday under a plea deal that is expected to bring his years-long legal drama to a close.

He was released on Monday from a high-security British prison where he had been held for five years while he fought extradition to the U.S.

He flew out to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory where he will plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy.

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

AAP will write to Prime Minister Modi to provide Delhi with its rightful share of water from Haryana, Sanjay Singh says; BJP alleges that she was fasting to hide ‘administrative failures’

Relentless strike: AAP members and supporters take part in a candle march in support of Delhi Water Minister Atishi for her hunger strike in in New Delhi on Monday. Shashi Shekhar KashyapSHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Delhi Water Minister Atishi was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Tuesday after she fell ill while sitting on a hunger strike for the past four days to demand water for Delhi in view of a severe shortage.

Ms. Atishi was admitted to the emergency ICU at Lok Nayak Hospital, and her condition is stable now. She began her hunger strike on June 21.

Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said the Minister ended her fast after she was hospitalised.

The senior AAP leader was admitted to LNJP Hospital around 3.45 a.m., Mr. Singh said.

He added all MPs of the party would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide Delhi with its rightful share of water from Haryana. The issue will also be raised by the AAP and its political allies in Parliament, he added.

Wishing her good health, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said that she should stop misleading the public.

“We have been saying since June 21 that you cannot do Satyagraha because you have no connection with truth, Ms. Atishi,” he added.

The BJP leader further said, “The essence of Satyagraha is to fight for the truth. From Mahatma Gandhi and Lala Lajpat Rai to Vinoba Bhave and Anna Hazare, satyagrahis fasted to reveal the truth, not to hide their administrative failures, as Ms. Atishi intended to do.”

A post on X from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official handle said the people of the city “will definitely give a reply to the injustice that the BJP government is doing” to the national capital. The post has been made by his team.

“Delhi’s Water Minister Atishi ji was on an indefinite hunger strike so that the people of Delhi could get their rightful share of water. She has been admitted to the hospital after her health deteriorated last night.

“Today, every Delhiite is worried about her health. The people of Delhi will definitely give a reply to the injustice that the BJP government is doing to Delhi. We all wish Atishi good health. Every Delhiite is with her in this satyagraha. Posted by: Team Arvind Kejriwal,” the post read.

Cost of future wars is enormous, resources should be optimised: Chief of Defence Staff

Dinakar Peri

New Delhi

General Anil Chauhan

Saying that the cost of future wars would be “enormous”, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday stressed the need to optimise resources and manpower and bring in efficiencies to afford weapons and systems of the future.

Before talks of fusion between civil and military resources, there should be fusion within the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, General Chauhan said.

“We have taken that up (service integration) and at last count, we had almost 170-odd initiatives where the three Services can work together in an integrated manner. In these processes, we will be able to optimise time, resources, processes, infrastructure and manpower,” General Chauhan said at the Air Force capstone seminar which marked the culmination of the third Warfare & Aerospace Strategy Program (WASP) course.

Strategic programme

WASP is a strategic education programme of 15 weeks that was started in 2022 to provide participants with a deep understanding of geopolitics, grand strategy and comprehensive national power, and is conducted by the IAF along with the College of Air Warfare and Centre for Air Power Studies.

General Chauhan said that after integration within the three Services, the logical step would be to take the approach forward to other Services. For instance, the Navy and Coast Guard can get the inventories and maintenance, repair and overhaul together. “We can also involve the Central Armed Police Forces into whatever logistics and infrastructure (need to be) created,” he said.

Alternate ways

He added that there are “hundreds of things where we can actually help the government to reduce costs”. “Because the cost of future wars is enormous, weapon systems and platforms are going to be very costly,” he said.

Noting that civil aviation is expanding, General Chauhan asked if it could have a military payoff. “We need to think on alternative ways of doings things. It has to be very practical and time bound,” he said.

Addressing the seminar, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal V. R. Chaudhari said WASP has refined the definition of scholar warriors.

“A scholar warrior is a military professional who combines intellectual acumen with combat prowess in today’s increasingly complex and dynamic security environment,” he said.

Talking of India’s strategic culture, the Air Force chief said it is shaped by historical experiences and the ever-evolving geopolitical environment. “It emphasises strategic autonomy, caution and a strong focus on territorial integrity,” he said.

Ahead of roll-out of the new criminal laws, Union Home Ministry tests eSakhsya App

Vijaita Singh

NEW DELHI

Days ahead of the implementation of the three criminal laws, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is testing eSakshya (e-evidence), a mobile-phone application to help police record scene of crime, search and seizure in a criminal case and upload the file on the cloud-based platform. The police official will have to upload a selfie after the procedure is complete. Each recording could be maximum four minutes long and several such files could be uploaded for each First Information Report (FIR), according to the details shared with State police departments.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that replaces the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) which replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 are all set to come into force from July 1.

Conviction rate

The BNSS mandates compulsory audiovisual recording of search and seizure in each criminal case and mandatory forensic examination in all cases where an offence attracts punishment of seven years or more. Procuring hardware and cloud space is an expensive affair and many States do not have enough resources, said an official, adding that it will also help uniformity in investigations, thereby increasing the conviction rate.

The mobile application developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) will be available to all police stations which register and download the app.

A senior government official said the app was under final stages of trial and the police were given two options. “If there is connectivity issue, the police can record the crime scene on their own device such as personal mobile phones and generate a hash value, come back to the police station and upload the file. The other method is they can directly upload through eSakhsya for which good Internet speed is required,” explained the official.

Another police officer cautioned that the sanctity of the chain of evidence submission will have to be adhered to, else, it could benefit an accused.

“Many accused escape the clutches of law due to procedural infirmities. The new laws make everything digital; if there is slightest of issue in procuring digital evidence, it could lead to criminals walking free. Forensic evidence is not always challenged on the grounds of quality but on the chain of command,” said the officer.

Pune car accident: HC orders release of juvenile accused

The Hindu Bureau

MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered the release of a 17-year-old accused in the Pune luxury car accident case that killed two young IT professionals. The court declared the remand order illegal and set it aside.

A Division Bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande pronounced the order on Tuesday after reserving it on June 21. Passing the order, the Bench observed that the custody order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) was illegal and issued without jurisdiction, and allowed a habeas corpus writ petition filed by the paternal aunt of the accused who filed the plea seeking his release from the observation home. The court has directed that the JJB-ordered counselling sessions with a psychologist should continue after the minor’s release.

The Bench said, “We allow the petition and order his release. The Child in Conflict with Law/minor (CCL) shall be in the care and custody of the petitioner [paternal aunt]. The CCL is under 18 years old. His age needs to be considered.” The court also observed that though the accident was unfortunate, the boy could not be kept in an observation home.

In the last week’s hearing, the JJB was pulled up by the court for remanding the minor to an observation home when he was already released on bail. The court said the remand and extension had “completely nullified the effect of bail”.

Representing the Pune Police, Chief Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar objected to the maintainability of a habeas corpus plea, and argued that a writ of habeas corpus could not be filed until and unless the order was illegal.

He also stressed that sending the minor to the observation home was necessary for his safety and well-being under section 104 of the JJ Act.

BSF raises issue of attack on personnel during talks with BGB

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata

The South Bengal Frontier of Border Security Force (BSF) raised the issue of attacks on its personnel by smugglers during the 20thIG BSF- Area Commander BGB (Border Guards Bangladesh) talks held in Kolkata over the past four days. The talks concluded on Tuesday.

“Deep concern was expressed over the increasing attacks by Bangladeshi miscreants/smugglers on BSF jawans and Indian citizens. On this issue, both sides decided to work together and carry out joint patrolling. This will help in identifying vulnerable areas and preventing crimes,” a press statement by the BSF South Bengal Frontier said.

Two attacks

At least two incidents of attack on BSF personnel were reported in the month. A BSF constable suffered serious injuries at a border outpost in Nadia district on June 10 and BSF personnel were attacked at Murshidabad district on June 23.

A senior BSF official said that attacks have increased because of attempts of cattle smuggling and smuggling of narcotics, particularly, Phensedyl. In cases where BSF personnel are attacked, smugglers from both sides of the border join hands, the official said.

Strict steps

“Incidents of illegal border crossing by Bangladeshi citizens were also discussed. Both sides decided to deal with it strictly and take effective steps to prevent illegal activities,” the press statement said.

The issue was also raised by the border guarding forces of both the country during Director General level talks in March this year.

The Hindu had reported that between 2018 and February 2024, as many as 204 BSF personnel deployed along the Bangladesh border have been injured by miscreants.

During theIG BSF-Area Commander BGB talks, both sides decided to carry out joint patrolling to identify sensitive areas which will enhance security along the border and keep an eye on the activities of criminals.

T.N. to allow regulated culling of wild boars in fields close to forest

The Hindu Bureau

Chennai

Shooting of wild boars will not be allowed within 5 km from the reserve forest, says MinisterBHAGYA PRAKASH K

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to allow culling of wild boars that cause distress to farmers in farmland close to forest areas.

Minister for Forests M. Mathiventhan said in the Assembly on Friday that the decision was taken based on a report by the Farmers’ Conflict Resolution Committee, which was constituted to study the impact of raids by elephants and wild pigs on agricultural crops. The committee comprises representatives from the Departments of Forest, Revenue, Agriculture, and Horticulture, scientific experts, and wildlife enthusiasts.

During the debate on the demand for grants for his department, the Minister said that the areas adjacent to reserve forests would be divided into three zones — Zone A (within one kilometre from forest limits); Zone B (one to five kilometres); and Zone C (beyond five kilometres). Shooting of wild pigs will not be allowed within five kilometres from the reserve forest, he added.

While farmers have been requesting the State government to allow culling of wild boars, experts have expressed concerns about indiscriminate killing.

Mr. Mathiventhan said the shooting must adhere to a scientific approach and take into account the intensity of conflict and the frequency of incidents on farmland, located outside Zone C.

Urban Affairs Ministry to revamp affordable housing scheme

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), a scheme to enable affordable housing for urban poor, would be revamped with new features based on learning from the past nine years since when it has been operational, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said on Tuesday.

The PMAY (Urban), launched in 2015, has been given an extension till December 2024. The mission aims to address urban housing shortage among the poor and middle income groups, including the slum dwellers, by ensuring a pucca house to all eligible urban households.

No delays

A senior official of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said that the revamp would focus on ensuring that there are no delays on reaching out to beneficiaries who have signed up for the scheme.

The Ministry had also announced a scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2023-24 and 2022-23 and for improving and speeding up basic urban planning ecosystem in cities by incentivising the States.

Both the schemes among other things also incentivised States for creating an enabling ecosystem for affordable housing for built up area up to 66 sq m through favourable bye-laws and adoption of enabling policy by the States.

Under the scheme, the States have reported that through the enabling provisions under their affordable housing policy, approximately 5,00,000 dwelling units have been constructed in last four to five years in States like Gujarat, Haryana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, the official said.

During 2023-2024, as reported by the States, approximately 44,000 dwelling units have been constructed in Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Two more arrested in Arang ‘lynching’ case

The Hindu Bureau

RAIPUR

Two more people were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the death of three cattle transporters from Uttar Pradesh in Arang earlier this month.

With this, the total number of arrests in the case — the victims’ families have alleged an act of mob lynching — is now four. The police are yet to shed light on the events that led to the killings on June 7.

The two men arrested on Tuesday are Mahasamund residents Navin Singh Thakur, and Mayank Sharma.

The police arrested two others identified as Harsh Mishra and Raja Agarwal on June 22 and 23, respectively.

On June 7, Saddam Qureshi, 23, and his cousins Guddu Khan, 35, and Chand Miya Khan, 23, were waylaid while transporting cattle from Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund to the State capital. They were attacked by a mob on the Mahanadi river bridge in Arang.

The police found all three lying below the bridge. While two died the same day, Saddam died of his wounds on June 18.

Additional Superintendent (Raipur Rural) Kirtan Rathore said that all the accused have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 of the IPC.

Ex- J&K Bar president Mian Qayoom ‘questioned’

The Hindu Bureau

SRINAGAR

Mian Qayoom, former president of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, was detained and questioned by J&K police on Tuesday in relation to the assassination of lawyer Babar Qadri in 2020 in Srinagar.

The J&K Police’s Special Investigation Agency (SIA) has not officially confirmed the arrest of Mr. Qayoom or divulged any details till late Tuesday evening.

However, several Srinagar-based news outlets quoted SIA officials and suggested “Mr. Qayoom was formally arrested by a team of the SIA in Srinagar”.

Unknown gunmen shot dead advocate Babar Qadri at his residence in Srinagar’s Zahidpora, Hawal, on September 2, 2020. The gunmen posed as clients and opened fire from a close range at the lawyer, who would take part in debates on television and on social media platforms.

VHP leader’s murder: NIA offers ₹10 lakh for leads

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday declared a ₹10-lakh cash reward each for the arrest of two persons accused of being involved in the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Vikas Prabhakar in Punjab’s Nangal on April 13.

The agency has identified the accused as Harjit Singh, aka Laddi, son of Kuldip Singh and resident of Garpadhana in Nawanshahr, Punjab, and Kulbeer Singh, aka Sidhu, son of Sukhvinder Singh and resident of Yamuna Nagar in Jagadhari, Haryana.

Congress curbed rights during Emergency, has no right to speak for Constitution: PM

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

Scathing attack: BJP chief J.P. Nadda during a programme ‘Dark Days of Democracy’, in New Delhi on Tuesday. ANI

The 49th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency became the springboard from which Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a sharp attack on the Congress, saying the Opposition party had in the past “trampled over the Constitution”. The Congress has been accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of subverting the Constitution.

He said the “dark days” following the imposition of the Emergency on June 25, 1975, which led to the jailing of political activists and suspension of civil liberties, were a reminder of how the Congress “subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution which every Indian respects greatly”.

“Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution,” Mr. Modi said in a series of posts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

“These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 (President’s Rule in a State) on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution,” he posted.

“The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again,” he said.

The then Congress government had disregarded every democratic principle and turned the nation into a jail, “Just to cling on to power,” Mr. Modi said.

“Socially regressive policies were unleashed to target the weakest sections,” he said.

‘Voices suppressed'

The BJP marked the occasion with party president and Union Minister J.P. Nadda speaking to workers at the party headquarters here, saying the Congress’s decision to impose the Emergency “had shaken the very pillars of democracy”.

“During this period, those who today claim to be guardians of Indian democracy left no effort to suppress voices raised in defence of constitutional values,” Mr. Nadda said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recalled former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s words in Parliament on the subject of Emergency.

“The yuvraj of the Congress [a reference to party leader Rahul Gandhi] has forgotten that his grandmother imposed the Emergency and his father, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, on July 23, 1985, said in the Lok Sabha, taking much pride in this horrific episode: ‘There is nothing wrong with an Emergency if any Prime Minister of this country who feels that an Emergency is necessary, under these circumstances and does not apply the Emergency, he is not fit to be the Prime Minister of this country.’ This very act of taking pride in a dictatorial act shows that nothing else is dear to the Congress other than the family and power,” Mr. Shah posted on X.

Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

It is the first constitutional position that he would be holding in his 20-year political career ; the announcement was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of INDIA bloc at Kharge’s residence

Key decision: Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi during a meeting with floor leaders of the INDIA bloc.ANI

Rahul Gandhi will be the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, the Congress announced on Tuesday.

The announcement was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) grouping at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s official residence.

The decision came on a day when Mr. Gandhi took oath as an MP for the fifth consecutive term. This is the first constitutional position that Mr. Gandhi would be holding in his 20-year-old political career.

As LoP, Mr. Gandhi is likely to open the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to the join session of Parliament when the Lok Sabha takes it up later this week or next week.

The LoP, enjoying the rank of a Cabinet Minister, is also on the selection panel for key official appointments such as Election Commissioner, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director, Central Vigilance Commissioner and National Human Rights Commission chief.

‘Letter sent to Mahtab’

“Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson [Sonia Gandhi] has already sent a letter to pro tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab, informing him that Rahul Gandhi will be the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha,” party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal told presspersons.

“As Congress president, I am confident that a leader who has traversed the length and breadth of the country from Kanniyakumari to Kashmir, and from Manipur to Maharashtra shall raise the voice of the people — especially the marginalised and the poor,” party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

‘Voice of people’

“We are confident that as LoP, Rahul ji will be a bold voice for the common people of India and ensure that the NDA government is held firmly accountable at all times,” Mr. Venugopal added in a post on X.

The Congress was unable to secure the official post of Leader of the Opposition 2014 and 2019 as the party did not have the minimum required 10% strength in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

However, with 99 MPs, the party is now entitled to the post, and therefore, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had urged Mr. Gandhi to take over the responsibility.

Bihar cancels contracts worth ₹826 cr. awarded by grand alliance regime

Amarnath Tewary

Patna

Second look: The contracts were cancelled citing ‘irregularities in the process of awarding them’. PTI PTI

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar has cancelled 350 contracts worth ₹826 crore in the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) awarded by the previous grand alliancedispensation, in which the Janata Dal(U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were in alliance.

The department has ordered a probe into the “irregularities in the process of awarding contracts”.

“During the previous regime, several contracts were awarded by the department and now an inquiry by the department revealed that due process was not followed in awarding 350 contracts worth ₹826 crore which were related with rural water supply and installation of hand pumps. Subsequently, an order was issued to cancel them,” Public Health Engineering Department Minister Niraj Kumar Singh said on Tuesday. Mr. Singh said the department had already submitted the preliminary inquiry report to the competent authority for a probe.

“After getting the preliminary report, I called a meeting of senior officials of the department and ordered for cancellation of the projects,” he said.

Review old decisions

In January, when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the RJD and teamed up with the BJP, the new government issued an order to review decisions taken by some departments, including PHED, Rural Works Department and Urban Development.

Senior RJD leader Lalit Yadav was the PHED Minister in the previous government that was in office for 17 months. “During these 17 months, 1,160 contracts worth ₹4,600 crore were awarded in PHED,” said Mr. Singh.

Asked about the details of the “irregularities”, Mr. Singh refused to divulge any and said that “the matter is being investigated by a competent authority”.

Sources in the department said contracts on rural water supply systems have been cancelled in Banka, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Aurangabad and Bhojpur districts. PHED installs hand pumps and small water supply systems in villages and urban civic wards.

Lakhs of jobs

The RJD reacted sharply to the decision. “The previous government executed several people-friendly projects and provided lakhs of jobs. The NDA government in the State is scared of our party leader Tejashwi Yadav’s popularity,” RJD leader Mrityinjay Tiwari said.

“RJD is not scared of any probe by the government,” he said.

Mr. Tejashwi was the Deputy CM in the Mahagathbandhan government.

From the first Lok Sabha to the 18th, a snapshot of Speaker elections

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

Keen contest: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate for the election. ANI

The hard-fought, polarised election continues to inform the first session of the Lok Sabha with the election to the Speaker’s post being contested by two candidates, Om Birla of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) who was the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha, and K. Suresh, eight-term MP from the Congress.

This is, however, not the first instance that the Speaker’s post has seen a contest, with at least three previous occasions witnessing voting on the floor of the House, while in two other instances, the Opposition parties put up a candidate but the Speaker’s election was held on the basis of a voice vote.

According to Ravindra Garimella, former Joint Secretary (Legislation), Lok Sabha Secretariat, the first time an election for the Speaker’s post took place was in the first Lok Sabha of 1952, when G.V. Mavalankar defeated Shantaram More.

Then again, in 1967, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy of the Congress won against Tenneti Viswanathan, whose candidature was supported by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then an MP.

And finally, in 1976, during the Emergency, in the fifth Lok Sabha, Baliram Bhagat was elected Speaker against a competing claim by Jagannath Rao Joshi of the Jana Sangh.

“In 1976, the election of Baliram Bhagat was necessitated by the fact that the previous Speaker had been made a Cabinet Minister in the then Congress government,” Mr. Garimella said.

There were two other instances when competing candidates were put up, in the 10th and 12th Lok Sabha, respectively, but since the government’s candidates were elected via a voice vote, other motions were considered lapsed.

These instances shine light on the fact that despite the vicissitudes of coalition politics, it has been a while since voting has taken place in a contest to elect the Speaker.

The BJP, reduced to 240 MPs in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and at the head of a coalition government, is keen to demonstrate its dominance of the House and the stability of its coalition.

The effort, say sources in the party, is to register a comprehensive number backing their candidate, over and above the NDA’s numbers, for which four YSRCP MPs have also pledged their support to the NDA.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju stressed that the Lok Sabha Speaker was above party lines and it was a desirable aim that his or her election to the post should be unanimous and without rancour.

For the Opposition, contesting would be an opportunity to demonstrate the consolidation of the anti-NDA bloc.

More Opposition MPs swear by Constitution on second day of oath-taking

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

DMK leader Kanimozhi taking oath as a Lok Sabha MP in New Delhi on Tuesday. ANI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress and former Speaker Om Birla were among the prominent MPs who took oath on the second day of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha.

Those who affirmed their duties as lawmakers included Kanimozhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, BJP MP and actor Hema Malini, Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AlMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

A total of 262 members took oath on Monday, pro-tem speaker Bhatruhari Mahtab said as the House assembled in the morning. Among those who could not be present were Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Shatrughan Sinha and Deepak Adhikari of the Trinamool, Afzal Ansari of the Samajwadi Party and Independents Rashid Engineer and Amritpal Singh.

‘Red Constitution’

Mr. Gandhi, who took oath as MP for Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, said “Jai Hind, Jai Samvidhan” (hail India, hail Constitution) as he held aloft a copy of the red Constitution book.

Several Opposition MPs took oath while holding a copy of the Constitution.

Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, BJP MP for Bareilly, elicited protests from the Opposition ranks for making a majoritarian comment after taking oath.

A reference to a West Asian region by Mr. Owaisi also triggered an uproar. Reacting to his comments, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told presspersons outside the House: “Is it appropriate for any member to raise a slogan praising another country? We will see the rules”.

Independent MP from Purnea in Bihar, Pappu Yadav took oath wearing a shirt with “RE-NEET” written on it.

As Manipur MPs Angomcha Bimol Akoijam and Alfred Kan-Ngam Arthur, were called for taking oath, Opposition members shouted “Manipur, Manipur”.

When Ms. Moitra, who had been expelled from the 17th Lok Sabha, walked up to take oath, her party MPs were heard shouting, “Look how she has come back. The ethics committee has lost, Mahua Moitra has won”.

Prime Minister raking up past to hide his failures, says Congress president

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept raking up the past to hide his failures. The remarks came as Mr. Modi and BJP leaders attacked the party for the Emergency in 1975.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s stress on consensus, he pointed out the instances when the Modi government took decisions unilaterally.

“Modiji, the country is looking forward to the future but you keep scratching the past to hide your failures. In the past 10 years, you made 140 crore Indians realise what ‘undeclared Emergency’ is, which caused a deep trauma to democracy and the Constitution,” Mr. Kharge said in a post on X. “Breaking parties, toppling elected governments through the backdoor, misuse of agencies like ED, CBI, IT against 95 per cent of Opposition leaders, putting Chief Ministers in jail, and using the official machinery before elections and disturbing the level playing field, is this not undeclared Emergency,” he asked.

“Modiji talks of consensus and cooperation but his actions are just the opposite,” he said. He asked whether there was consensus when 146 Opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament and three new laws were brought to change the Code of Criminal Procedure, Indian Penal Code and Indian Evidence Act.

“Where was the consensus when statues of stalwarts like Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar were relocated within Parliament complex without even asking the Opposition. Where was this consensus when three new farm laws were forced on 15 crore farmer families and they had to sit on the roads for months together,” Mr. Kharge added.

“The BJP has disregarded democracy and Constitution while the Congress has always stood by democracy and the Constitution and will continue to do so,” he said.

Bail petitions should not be adjourned indefinitely: SC

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it loud and clear that courts should not indefinitely adjourn bail applications, while hearing a plea filed by former Delhi Minister Satyender Jain.

Mr. Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on allegations of money laundering in May 2022. Appearing before a Bench led by Justice Manoj Misra, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for the AAP leader, said the Delhi High Court had adjourned his bail plea for six weeks.

“It goes without saying that bail prayers are not to be indefinitely adjourned and therefore, we hope and trust that the High Court shall take its own call in the matter,” the Supreme Court observed in an order.

The court recorded this observation on its order after Mr. Singhvi urged that the High Court decide the bail plea on July 9, the date of hearing fixed by it.

NTA reform panel to elicit views of parents, students

Maitri Porecha

NEW DELHI

Revised NEET-PG date will be announced next week, says President of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences; CBI seals NTA office in New Delhi and curtails outsider entry

In strength: Youth Congress workers staging a protest in Gurugram on Tuesday against the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG. PTIPhoto by Yogendra Kumar (Gurugram)

A day after convening the first meeting of the National Testing Agency reform committee, K. Radhakrishnan, head of the panel and former ISRO Chairman, said on Tuesday that its first priority was to elicit from students and parents across the country their concerns and suggestions regarding the recent instances of exam paper leak that had compromised the NTA’s integrity.

“We are going to engage with them as far as possible in person or through electronic media, and in the next fortnight, we will like to consolidate this,” he said in a statement.

“The next priority for us is to build quickly a robust system for starting the tests. We are also looking at the future — to develop in this country a robust tamper-proof system, a system with zero error, and a system which will lessen difficulty and stress for the students with adequate flexibility built into it.”

A day after taking over all police cases pertaining to the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate paper leak across States, the Central Bureau of Investigation sealed off the first floor of the NTA office in NSIC-MDBP building here, and covered the premises with white cloth to prevent any public view of the offices. The office is under heavy security with multiple checkpoints, and movement of people has been severely curtailed.

New date

Setting aside rumours on social media that NEET-PG, 2024, which is conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, has been indefinitely delayed, Board president Abhijat Sheth said the revised date would be announced next week.

Dr. Sheth said the integrity of the test had never been in doubt. “For the past seven years, we have conducted it successfully but in view of the recent events, what has happened is, there are a lot of concerns about the test in student community,” he said.

He said the government had decided to make sure that sanctity, safety and security of the tests must be maintained so they had decided to review the standard operating procedures and protocols.

Commenting on rumours that NEET-PG has been indefinitely postponed, he said: “Social media is so vast these days, any one can put any thing on social media which gives wrong message to students. I must regret that the exam was postponed at the last moment. I must ensure student community that we will conduct this exam safely and securely. We are working closely with government to ensure all promises are maintained.”

Dr. Sheth said NEET-PG could be conducted earlier than September. “I can’t say at this stage, but we are trying to ensure that further delay does not happen and it does not upset the student community,” he said.

The Centre notified rules under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, or the anti-cheating law, on Monday.

They provide a framework of actions to prevent cheating and lay down parameters for preparation of norms, standards and guidelines for computer-based tests for physical and digital infrastructure and activities and so on.

(set by Hypatia)

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Across

1 Wrong claims about university being harmonious (7)

5 Against discharge dumped in river (7)

9 Sanskrit text, originally from Srinagar, contains Persian art (7)

10 Jumping over every other tree of jungle, he's one seeking a safe place (7)

11 Needs ten Chiclets to mask bad smell (6)

12 Man, nearly fired stealing founder's capital (8)

14 Auditor's extremely lively and ahead of time (5)

16 Loved touring city's stadium (9)

18 Classic tales of French alongside romance novel (9)

19 Conservative veils maiden drops in tubs (5)

20 Expecting UN leader to follow behind China (8)

22 Start from word Carl's playing in Scrabble (6)

26 Soldiers at Ground Zero in American city (7)

27 Browsing thread in gossip groups (7)

28 Heading to Republic Day parade finally kept on account of time in iconic location (3,4)

29 Sign left above hospital ward (7)

Down

1 Old man sometimes careless, forgetting lost item (5)

2 Film degree (5)

3 Doctor acts calm tackling emergency, ultimately a disaster (9)

4 Lounge for cake (4)

5 Competitive exam held in favourite city (10)

6 Seekers ultimately following Islamic spiritual principles! (5)

7 Smart and trendy say, raising new loans (9)

8 They draw viewers - clearly! (9)

13 Turned veto around - it's done! (4,3,3)

14 Try and finish each volume belonging to us (9)

15 How to make idols firm? (4-5)

17 Spooner said, "Scrutinize risk: one could lie here" (4,5)

21 Delicious fruit among bananas (5)

23 Put up American offer at the start of elections (5)

24 Switch to the other side to fix match (5)

25 Trim growth (4)

Defence Ministry signs 350th contract under iDEX for ‘miniaturised satellite’

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

Rajnath Singh ANI

The 350th contract under the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), the flagship initiative of the Defence Ministry, was signed with SpacePixxel Technologies for the design and development of a “miniaturised satellite capable of carrying electro-optical, infrared, synthetic aperture radar, and hyperspectral payloads up to 150 kg”, the Defence Ministry announced on Tuesday.

This challenge is being led by the Indian Air Force.

Pros of the satellite

“This 350th iDEX contract enables innovation in space electronics, wherein many payloads earlier deployed on dedicated large satellites are now being miniaturised,” the Ministry said.

The modular small satellite will integrate multiple miniaturised payloads as per requirement, providing advantages such as faster and economical deployment, ease of manufacturing, scalability, adaptability, and less environmental impact, it stated.

The contract was exchanged between Anurag Bajpai, Additional Secretary (Defence Production) & CEO, Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), and Awais Ahmed Nadeem Alduri, founder and CEO of the SpacePixxel Technologies.

SpacePixxel has been actively working to build and launch high-resolution hyperspectral imaging satellites to provide detailed earth observation data, the statement said.

Established by the DIO under the Department of Defence Production, iDEX has launched 11 editions of the Defence India Start-up Challenge and recently unveiled the Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI) scheme to promote innovations in critical and strategic defence technologies.

Jal Shakti Ministry conceives ‘new project’ to fix water deficit in Jal Jeevan Mission

Jacob Koshy

NEW DELHI

C.R. Patil

Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil said at a public event on Monday that the government was conceiving a “new project” to ensure that rural households which were provided taps under the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission but had not yet been able to get water, would soon be provided potable water.

“In some places, we have not been able to fully accomplish the Prime Minister’s target,” Mr. Patil said at a workshop organised for officers in the Ministry. “Some people say in jest that we have taps but no water. We are in the process of setting up a new project, where in a time-bound manner, we shall ensure that households with taps and no water, and those without taps are all covered,” he added.

The ₹3.6-lakh-crore Jal Jeevan Mission was implemented after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised from the ramparts of the Red Fort in 2019 to provide potable tap water to every rural household in India.

As of June 25, the scheme had encompassed 77% of its target household, officials from the Ministry said at an event on Monday.

Overall, 15 crore households out of a targeted 19 crore have been provided with tap water connections. However, as The Hindu has earlier pointed out, there is a difference between a household getting a tap connection and the daily quota of 55 litres per person day of water being provided.

To measure households that have been provided water connections, the water supply departments of the States or Union Territories aggregate the numbers provided by districts of the households, anganwadi or schools in their respective administrative units who have been provided tap water connections.

Peerzada Ashiq

SRINAGAR

A five-member Pakistan delegation and neutral experts of the World Bank toured the Ratle power project, a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power project in the Chenab Valley, on Tuesday.

The delegation, which is on the second day of its visit to Kishtwar, visited the 850-MW Ratle project on the Chenab river at Drabshalla village and inspected several units of the project. The inspection by the 40-odd member team, including delegates from India, was kept away from the media gaze.

Pakistan has been raising technical objections in different forums, including the Permanent Indus Commission, since 2006regarding power projects in J&K and even demanded an arbitration by different international forums, which was rejected by India.

Pakal Dul project

Official sources said the Pakistani delegation is also likely to inspect the 1,000-megawatt Pakal Dul hydroelectric project being built on the Marusudar river, which emergesfrom the Marwah Valley before joining the Chenab river.

Pakistan also raised its objection over the Kishanganga project in Kashmir valley in 2006. Officials are tight-lipped on whether the delegates will be given access to the power project set up over the Kishanganga river in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

The delegation will be in Jammu and Kashmir till June 28.

Janardana kills Janardana

It was no wonder Gajendra — the king of elephants, went down deep into the pond; no excitement from the elephant plucking lotus from the pond, no perturbation from the crocodile holding the leg of the elephant with its jaws, but what was peculiar was Janardana killing Janardana. Quoting from “Kunjara Ranjanam”, composed by his grand Acharya Villur Srinidhi Swamy, Thirukudanthai Dr. Venkatesh said in a discourse that as a paronomasia, those who give trouble to others are called Janardana. The crocodile troubled the elephant and hence called Janardana. Lord Vishnu is called Janardana because He destroys those who give trouble to others. So Lord Janardana killed the crocodile Janardana (Janardanam Janardanas Tatavadhi Asaam Pradhaam).

God’s melting compassion towards Gajendra was because of the elephant’s dedicated devotion to offer a lotus at His feet (though it bloomed in a muddy sludge). It is human nature to find fault with someone, even though he would have done hundreds of good things. But God is pleased to select our good deeds even though we commit hundreds of other deeds. The elephant got entangled in danger (vipathi:). In Sanskrit, “vi” refers to a bird, and “pathi” refers to a master. The elephant called the Lord — the master of birds’ chief Garuda.

An allegorical expression is that Gajendra is compared to Jivathma. The sludgy pond is our senses, and we are immersed in it. Garuda, the embodiment of the Vedas, is compared to Acharya, and Lord Janardana extends moksha through the Acharyas.

NEET-UG case: Maharashtra police detain 2 ‘sub-agents’

Shoumojit Banerjee

Pune

The Maharashtra Police have detained two “sub-agents” who were allegedly working under the “direction” of one of the arrested zilla parishad teachers involved in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) question paper leak case, informed sources said on Tuesday.

The two persons have been detained from Beed district, and they were reportedly in touch with Jalil Pathan, who was arrested on Sunday and will be in police custody till July 2. The other zilla parishad teacher involved in the case, Sanjay Jadhav, was on Tuesday produced before a local court where he was sent to police custody till July 2.

The accused teachers were said to have taken advance payment of ₹50,000, while the remaining amount — said to be in lakhs — was to be given by the candidate after they “passed” the test. After candidates paid the advance, their admit cards were given to Iranna Kongalwar from Nanded. A case was registered against four at the Shivajinagar police station in Latur on Sunday night.

CBI to seek remand of accused in NEET case

Amit Bhelari

Patna

The Central Bureau of Investigation will soon seek remand of the 18 accused in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test paper leak case for interrogation.

Thirteen of the accused from Patna and five from Jharkhand are now in judicial custody. They have been named by the Economic Offences Wing (EOU) of the Bihar Police which was investigating the case before the CBI took over on Monday.

“The hearing of the bail plea of the 13 accused and the anticipatory bail plea of the main accused Sanjeev Mukhiya will be held in the Special CBI Court on July 15. We will submit the case transfer order letter in the CBI court today [Tuesday],” Uday Shankar Singh, public prosecutor, said.

Earlier, hearing the bail petitions, Additional District Judge Rajendra Kumar Singh asked the accused to approach the Special CBI Court as the case was now being investigated by the Central agency.

The CBI team had discussions with Additional Director-General of Police, EOU, Nayyar Hasnain Khan and Senior Superintendent of Police, Patna, Rajiv Mishra.

Jaishankar meets Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong

Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong called on External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday. The meeting came days after a high- powered U.S. Congressional delegation visited Dharamshala and met Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. “We exchanged views on China-India relations. Look forward to working with the Indian side to push forward the development of China-India relations towards the right direction,” Mr. Xu Feihong said. The Minister also met a number of other envoys, including High Commissioner of Sri Lanka Kshenuka D. Senewiratne and High Commissioner of New Zealand Patrick John Rata.

Government officer driving in inebriated state kills three

A woman and two of her nieces were killed and her daughter was injured after an Additional Block Development Officer ran them over with his car in Tehri Garhwal of Uttarakhand on Tuesday. The accused was in an inebriated state when caught by the public, after the accident. The video of the accident, making rounds on social media, shows Reena Negi, 34, walking on the roadside along with the children when a speeding car, on the wrong side, hits them. One of the children was flung into the air in the collision, while the other violently hit the ground. The sound of the collision and cries for help by the woman prompted the local people to rush to the spot and rescue the injured.

Regional

- After 20 years of resistance to reservation of seats for women, Nagaland to vote in civic polls today

- Maharashtra Cong. gearing up for Assembly poll after strong Lok Sabha showing

- Ex-BJD MLA stirs row over razing of ‘illegal’ structures ahead of vacating govt. quarters

- Naidu declares ₹100-cr. action plan for his native Kuppam constituency

- U.P. Cabinet clears Ordinance to curb exam paper leaks

- M.P. Ministers to pay income tax as old rule gets revoked

- T.N. hooch tragedy death toll rises to 59; 26 discharged

- H.P. govt. to issue notices to teachers over ‘poor’ results

- User fee at Kerala’s capital city airport up by 50% from July 1

- Don’t abandon Sabari rail project: Kerala to Railways

- Having a ball

- Haryana AAP calls for complete ‘badlav’ in State in Assembly poll

- Jagan urges A.P. Assembly Speaker to recognise him as LoP

- Udhayanidhi Stalin gets bail in Sanatana Dharma remark case

- Nandini packets to cost ₹2 more with 50 ml additional milk

- ‘Organised foul play behind NEET fiasco’

- KCR moves Telangana HC to stay inquiry against him

- Former Vizag MP, 2 others booked in forgery case

- Second case of sodomy filed against Suraj Revanna

After 20 years of resistance to reservation of seats for women, Nagaland to vote in civic polls today

Rahul Karmakar

Guwahati

New dawn: The polls are being billed as ‘historic’ after the election of the first woman to the Rajya Sabha from Nagaland in 2022 and of two women as MLAs in the Assembly in 2023.File photoYIRMIYAN ARTHUR

After a hiatus of two decades, Nagaland will vote for the urban local bodies (ULBs) on Wednesday. This is the first time the civic polls in the State will be held with 33% reservation for women.

Of the 16 districts in the State, the civic polls will be held in 10 because of the non-participation of the communities in six eastern districts where the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) exercises its clout. Nagaland has three municipal councils – Dimapur, Kohima, and Mokokchung – and 36 town councils. Six of the 19 wards in Kohima, eight out of 23 wards in Dimapur, and six out of 18 wards in Mokokchung have been reserved for women.

Elected unopposed

State Election Commission officials said 64 candidates were elected unopposed while the fate of 253 will be decided by the voters on June 26. The ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) had the most candidates (45) winning unopposed followed by its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with seven, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with five, the Congress with three, and the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and Independents with two each.

The Nagaland Municipal and Town Council Act was passed in 2001 without the provision of reserving 33% of the seats for women, as required under Article 243T of the Constitution. This was amended in 2006.

Stiff opposition

The first election under the Act was conducted in 2004 without the reservation of seats for women, except in Mokokchung, as it was deemed to undermine the special provisions granted to Nagaland under Article 371A of the Constitution.

Efforts to hold the urban local bodies polls with a 33% quota for women after 2004 met with resistance from social and apex tribal groups.

The decision to hold the elections in 2017 triggered violent protests, claiming two lives while government properties were damaged across the State.

The 60-member State Assembly passed the Nagaland Municipal Act of 2023 on November 9 last year, following which the Supreme Court directed the State government to complete the electoral process for the urban local bodies by April.

NDPP-BJP rift

The run-up to the civic polls exposed the cracks in the partnership between the NDPP and the BJP.

The two parties fielded candidates against each other without any seat-sharing agreement as was the case during the 2023 Assembly elections.

The NDPP blamed the BJP for failing to retain the lone Nagaland Lok Sabha seat while the BJP said the NDPP should have been grateful for helping it form the government in 2018 despite finishing 13 seats short of the majority mark.

A few candidates had filed their nominations in the six eastern districts despite the ENPO’s call against participation. All of them withdrew their candidature later to stand in solidarity with the ENPO’s demand for the creation of Frontier Nagaland Territory, a self-rule zone.

The ENPO and people across the six districts stayed away from the Lok Sabha elections on April 19 for the same reason.

Church appeal

The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) called for “one person, one vote” and “vote without influence” in Wednesday’s elections. The appeal is believed to be against the issue of proxy voting that has troubled Nagaland for long.

“In this coming elections, let us exercise our franchise with dignity and pride to choose the right leader to represent us in our ward for the benefit of the community,” it said in an appeal to the voters.

The NBCC said the voters have a responsibility to pray before casting their votes to pick whoever they believe would do the best job for their ward or colony.

The polls have been billed as “historic” after the election of the first woman to the Rajya Sabha from Nagaland in 2022 and of two women as MLAs in the Assembly in 2023.

Maharashtra Cong. gearing up for Assembly polls after strong Lok Sabha showing

Abhinay Deshpande

Mumbai

Party president Kharge chairs meeting with key party leaders as it aims to refine strategy and collaborate with MVA allies to oust Mahayuti coalition from power in election due later this year

Brainstorming session: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and K.C. Venugopal during a review meeting on Maharashtra, in New Delhi on Tuesday.PTI

Weeks after the Congress emerged as the single-largest party in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha election, its national president, Mallikarjun Kharge, said on Tuesday that the country is now looking for change, and the State has clearly signalled this through the outcome of the recent election.

“Congress had made Maharashtra the most prosperous and developed State of the country. But the BJP government has destroyed industries and pushed people into a vicious cycle of unemployment and inflation. Farmers have been subjected to utmost injustice,” he said in New Delhi, following a meeting with State leaders to formulate the party’s strategy for the Assembly election due later this year.

Former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, AICC in-charge for Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala, State leaders Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar, Prithviraj Chavan, and Vishwajeet Kadam were among those present at the meeting, presided over by Mr. Kharge at the party’s headquarters in the national capital.

‘Talks on strategy’

“We have to start preparing for the elections. Today the leaders of Maharashtra Congress discussed the strategy for the upcoming Assembly election,” Mr. Kharge said, adding that in the State, the party fought the Lok Sabha election in completely adverse circumstances.

The meeting was crucial for the Congress as it aims to refine its strategy, collaborate with its allies in the State, and oust the Mahayuticoalition from power. In the 18th Lok Sabha poll, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) secured 30 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the State. The Congress alone won 13 seats out of 17 that it had contested.

The success of the MVA could pose challenges ahead of the Assembly election as the Congress might demand a lion’s share of the 288 seats.

Claiming that the Congress has deep roots in every part of the State, Mr. Venugopal said its leaders will work in a united way to ensure a decisive victory. “...we are determined to further improve our performance and dethrone the illegitimately formed NDA government in Maharashtra,” he said.

‘Panel for seat sharing’

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Patole said they decided to form a committee to facilitate a smooth seat-sharing arrangement following the issues faced during the Lok Sabha election. “Now, the Congress will play a pivotal role. Our presence is extensive,” he said.

Another leader said Mr. Kharge and Mr. Gandhi also endeavoured to resolve factions within the State unit. “They also addressed internal conflicts alongside discussing critical issues such as farmer suicides and strategies to further strengthen the party.”

The tenure of the Maharashtra Assembly ends on November 26.

Ex-BJD MLA stirs row over razing of ‘illegal’ structures ahead of vacating govt. quarters

Satyasundar Barik

BHUBANESWAR

A demolished structure on the premises of the government quarters allotted to Pranab Prakash Das in Bhubaneswar.Special Arrangement

Pranab Prakash Das, 52, Biju Janata Dal’s general secretary (organisation), has stirred controversy by demolishing two structures allegedly built illegally on the premises of his government quarters in Bhubaneswar. Mr. Das, who was allotted the quarters when he was elected as an MLA from Jajpur for the third consecutive time in 2019, said he has to vacate the residence by July 15.

A former Minister, who is considered the No. 2 in the BJD after party president Naveen Patnaik, Mr. Das had contested the Lok Sabha election from the Sambalpur seat in western Odisha but lost to BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

“The constructions raise many questions. Why would an MLA need an underground house and a swimming pool on a government premises? There must be some nefarious activities going on. A thorough investigation is needed,” said Anil Biswal, a State spokesperson for the BJP. He said the illegal construction showed that the former BJD government had utter disregard for established law.

The BJP government will be finding out if Mr. Das had taken permission for both building and razing the structures, and how he was allegedly allotted a quarters meant for a Minister when he held the position of a legislator.

“We inspected the premises. The original quarters has not been altered, but there were two new constructions. The structures have been razed. No demolition can take place without government approval. Action will be taken as per law,” said an official from the General Administration Department.

‘Permission granted’

Mr. Das, however, claimed that permission had been taken for constructing the structures, which were to accommodate BJD leaders and workers who called on him. “Since I was holding the post of organisational secretary of the BJD, many people used to come to meet me. Therefore, a grievance room was constructed,” he said.

On ordering the demolition now, the former legislator said he wanted to “return the property to the government as it was during its allotment”.

Right to Information activist Prakash Das said the constructions had raised suspicion and a response was sought under the RTI Act, but “we were not supplied any information”.

In a related development, a woman journalist on Tuesday accused former BJD Minister Raghunandan Das of setting his dogs on her after she visited his official residence to report on the demolition carried out by Mr. Das on the adjacent plot.

“As we were about to leave, he shouted at us and set his two dogs on me. When I screamed for help, his security guards restrained the dogs,” said Chinmayee Sahoo, a journalist with Argus News, a TV channel.

Mr. Raghunandan Das could not be reached for comment on the incident.

Naidu declares ₹100-crore action plan for his native Kuppam constituency in A.P.

K. Umashanker

KUPPAM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu inspecting a canal near Kuppam on Tuesday. Special Arrangement

Describing his Kuppam Assembly constituency as a laboratory, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said that his government was committed to distributing the fruits of the experiments all over the State.

Addressing a public meeting here on Tuesday, Mr. Naidu announced that a ₹100-crore action plan was ready for a historic development of Kuppam. He announced the creation of two new mandals - Rallabuduguru and Mallanur - in the constituency, in addition to the existing four — Kuppam, Ramakuppam, Gudupalle, and Shantipuram. “An allocation of ₹10 crore for each mandal will be made for their holistic development. Each major panchayat will get ₹2 crore, and minor panchayat ₹1 crore,” he said. Saying that his visit to Kuppam was to thank the people, Mr. Naidu said he would desire to be born as the son of the soil in his next birth, “for having elected me for eight consecutive terms whether I campaigned here or not”, he said.

The CM said that steps would be taken to augment milk production from the present 4 lakh litres per day to 10 lakh litres in Kuppam. Apart from promising to renew the Kuppam Area Development Authority (KADA), he said that the proposed airstrip project in Kuppam, which was shelved by the YSRCP government, would be revived and cargo services would be introduced to different parts of the globe.

“Kuppam would be permanently freed from drought, by early completion of the Handri Neeva project canal and construction of summer storage tanks at Yamiganipalle and Maadanapalli villages. Check-dams will be built across the Palar river,” Mr. Naidu said, resolving to give a new lease of life to the region by bringing more pulp industries and cold storage facilities for horticulture crops.

U.P. Cabinet clears Ordinance to curb exam paper leaks

Press Trust of India

Lucknow

Those arrested for question paper leak would face jail term, says Minister Suresh Khanna.

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday cleared an Ordinance to prevent question paper leaks and use of unauthorised means in exams, awarding jail term of two years to life imprisonment and fines up to ₹1 crore.

The move comes following recent incidents of question paper leak in the State Police Constable Recruitment exam and State Public Service Commission (SPSC) test for review officers and assistant review officers.

The Ordinance was given a go-ahead at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Finance Minister Suresh Khanna said.

Under the Ordinance, those arrested for question paper leak would face a jail term ranging from two years up to life imprisonment, Mr. Khanna said after the meeting. Fines of up to ₹1 crore would also be imposed on such offenders, he added.

Mr. Khanna said the Ordinance includes exams of SPSC, Subordinate Service Selection Board, Uttar Pradesh Board, universities and institutions nominated by them. It will also be applicable on any kind of recruitment exams, regularisation or promotion exams, entrance exams for degree-diploma certificates or educational certificates, he added.

Under this Ordinance, distributing fake question papers and making fake employment websites have also been marked as punishable offences, Mr. Khanna said.

He said in case the exam is affected, the financial burden will be recovered from the ‘paper solving gang’ and the institution. The service providers who commit irregularities in the exam will be blacklisted.

Mr. Khanna said since the Assembly is not in session at present, an Ordinance has been proposed in place of a Bill.

M.P. Ministers to pay income tax as old rule gets revoked

The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday decided that the Ministers will now pay their income tax instead of the State government bearing the burden. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, in a statement, said the Cabinet has taken a decision to strike off the 1972 rule under which the State government was paying the income tax on the salaries and perks of Ministers. Urban Administration Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said the Chief Minister suggested that the Ministers themselves pay their income tax. The suggestion was accepted and hence the decision was taken in this regard, he said. PTI

Tamil Nadu hooch tragedy toll rises to 59; 26 discharged

The Hindu Bureau

KALLAKURICHI

The toll in the hooch tragedy in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi district rose to 59 on Tuesday with one more person dying at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital in Salem.

So far, 32 persons have died at the Kallakurichi Government Medical College and Hospital; 20 at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital in Salem; four at the Villupuram Government Medical College and Hospital; and three at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in Puducherry. Around 138 people are undergoing treatment, and 26 people have been discharged so far. At least 223 people who had consumed illicit liquor had been admitted to the four hospitals. The deaths occurred due to the consumption of illicit liquor mixed with methanol.

H.P. govt. to issue notices to teachers over ‘poor’ results

Show-cause notices will be served on teachers of schools affiliated with the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education and where the pass percentage in Class 10 board results is less than 25%, officials said on Tuesday. These notices will be issued by the State Education department seeking explanation from the teachers for “poor results”, they said. An analysis of Class 10 board result showed that it was less than 25% in 116 schools, out of which in 30 schools the result was zero, Elementary Education Director Ashish Kohli said. The teachers have been identified and the process of sending notices would start on Tuesday, he said. PTI

User fee at Kerala’s capital city airport up by 50% from July 1

Jagriti Chandra

NEW DELHI

AERA says for domestic passengers, fee for embarking will be ₹770 and for disembarking ₹330 ; international passengers to pay twice the tariff levied on domestic travellers each year

Rate revision: The landing charges for aircraft have been raised three-fold from ₹309 to ₹890 per MT of aircraft weight. PTIS.GOPAKUMAR

Flying out of the Adani-controlled Thiruvananthapuram airport will get costlier from July 1 as the user development fee (UDF) levied on passengers as part of air tickets will go up by 50% from ₹506 to ₹770 for domestic travellers for a year and further raised every subsequent year. Landing charges for aircraft have been jacked up three-fold by the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) only for Thiruvananthapuram airport.

The revised levies are part of the tariff order issued by the AERA on June 21 for a period of five years from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2027, and will be effective from July 1. This is the first revision for the airport since its privatisation. The Thiruvananthapuram Kerala International Airport Ltd (TKIAL) is owned by Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), incorporated in 2019 as a 100% subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited, that controls eight airports. The Authority determines tariff for an airport or a group of airports every five years.

In its order, the AERA said the applicable UDF for embarking domestic passengers from July 1 to March 31, 2025, will be ₹770 and ₹330 for disembarking passengers. From April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, domestic travellers departing from the airport will have to pay ₹840, while those landing will have to pay ₹360. In the subsequent financial year, the fee for domestic travellers will be raised to ₹910 and ₹390, respectively. International passengers will have to pay twice the tariff levied on domestic travellers each year.

The landing charges for aircraft have been raised three-fold for the first year from ₹309 to ₹890 per metric tonne (MT) of aircraft weight. This will increase by 4.6 times and 5.5 times for the subsequent financial years with a levy of ₹1,400 per MT and ₹1,650 per MT. The regulator has rejected the airport’s projection for non-aeronautical revenue that is used to cross-subsidise passenger costs and raised it four-fold to ₹392 crore as opposed to ₹102 crore proposed by the airport.

‘Improve transparency’

The airport operator said it has framed a procurement policy to avoid subjectivity and improve transparency in decision making and followed the process relating to procurement of goods and services as required in the concession agreement signed with the AAI.

Don’t abandon Sabari rail project: Kerala to Railways

Dhinesh Kallungal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Sanctioning of the Chengannur-Pampa corridor should not be done at the expense of Angamaly-Erumeli Sabari line, says Minister.

Even as uncertainty prevails over the more than two-decade-old Angamaly-Erumeli Sabari Railway project, the Kerala government has requested the Union Ministry of Railways to consider the project as a major connectivity line to the popular hill shrine of Sabarimala instead of the newly proposed Chengannur-Pampa corridor.

V. Abdurahiman, Minister in-charge of Railways in the State, said the sanctioning of the new line should not be at the expense of Angamaly-Erumeli Sabari, sacrificing an already approved project for which ₹250 crore has already been spent.

Further, the lands on the alignment have already been earmarked for acquisition for the line. In addition, an amount of ₹100 crore has been sanctioned in the current year’s Budget for the project, the State said in a letter addressed to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Comparing both projects, the State made it clear that the Angamaly-Erumeli Sabari line has a slew of advantages.

Feeder line

The Chengannur-Pampa line will serve only as a feeder line for Sabarimala pilgrims alighting at Chengannur. The distance to Pampa will be shorter along the Angamaly-Erumeli route for pilgrims coming from the northern side of Kerala. On the other hand, the distance on the Chengannur-Pampa line will be shorter only for people coming from the southern side. More than 80% of the Sabarimala pilgrims come from the northern side by train from the neighbouring States.

Further, the Sabarimala pilgrimage season lasts only for 114 days in a year, and the newly proposed line from Chengannur to Pampa will serve only pilgrims for a shorter duration since there are no major towns of commercial and social importance on the alignment, whereas the Angamaly-Sabari rail project will serve as the third rail corridor for central Kerala considering the survey projects of railways, which has already sanctioned surveys for Erumeli to Punalur line, and Punalur to Thiruvananthapuram line.

If these two rail projects are also taken up, the Angamaly-Erumeli Sabari line will become practically the third corridor for the entire State of Kerala.

Further, this will provide connectivity to the upcoming Vizhinjam International Seaport, which will open corridors for international freight movements.

However, the letter was silent on the reassurance the Railways sought in sharing the project’s cost.

Having a ball

Water game: The sky over central Travancore has remained overcast for the past couple of days with the region witnessing a sharp rise in rainfall. Youth prepare for a game on the banks of the Kodoor river near Muttambalam in Kottayam on Tuesday.vishnu prathapVISHNU PRATHAP

Haryana AAP calls for complete

The Hindu Bureau

GURUGRAM

AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak.

Aam Aadmi Party national general secretary (organisation) and Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak on Tuesday sounded the poll bugle for the upcoming Assembly election in the State at the party’s workers meet in Karnal with a call for “badlav (change)”.

He also announced the launch of 15-day-long “Jan Samvad” programme for the party workers and leaders to interact with the electorate in the villages to ascertain their expectations and aspirations.

Calling for a “complete change” in the State with just over a hundred days to go for the polls, Mr. Pathak said it would not be enough to change the “brakes, steering and wheels, and there was a need to change the complete vehicle” to bring about a meaningful difference in the governance.

Refraining from naming the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said the people of Haryana had given ten years each to both major parties, but it had not brought any visible difference to their lives, with the government schools and hospitals being in pathetic conditions and the unemployed youth pushed into drug-addiction or forced to go abroad through illegal means in search of livelihoods.

Making an appeal to the people to rise above caste politics and vote for the future of their children, he stressed that the party must get an opportunity in Haryana, a native State of its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, when the people in other States had shown faith in it.

Mr. Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal could not make it to the meet being busy with his bail hearing at Delhi High Court, said Mr. Pathak.

He took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the alleged irregularities in NEET exam saying that they talked about making India the world leader, but could not conduct an exam properly.

The AAP had contested the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency election as part of the INDIA bloc with its candidate and Haryana president Sushil Gupta losing to BJP’s Naveen Jindal by a margin of over 29,000 votes, but there is no word on any alliance for the State election.

In 2019, the AAP contested four Lok Sabha seats in coalition with Jannayak Janata Party, but drew a blank. It fielded candidates on 46 out of 90 Assembly seats a few months later, but finished behind NOTA with 0.48% vote share.

Jagan urges A.P. Assembly Speaker to recognise him as LoP

The Hindu Bureau

VIJAYAWADA

Jagan Mohan Reddy

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday wrote a letter to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu, urging the latter to recognise him as Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the House.

Going by the precedents in the Lok Sabha, the Delhi Assembly and the Assembly of undivided Andhra Pradesh, the LoP status should be given to the YSRCP leader.

The LoP post was given to a leader of the Opposition party though its numerical strength was less when compared to the total strength of the House, the YSRCP chief said.

Mr. Reddy said that there were discussions in the public domain that the YSRCP would not be entitled to have the LoP post because it did not have 10% members of the total strength of the House.

“The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly notified under Article 208 of the Constitution do not prescribe any such mandatory percentage of seats for a leader of a party to be recognised as the LoP. Nor has there been any convention on the insistence of the 10% strength on the floor of the House for the Opposition parties,” said Mr. Reddy.

Govt. response

Meanwhile, Minister for Tribal Welfare Gummidi Sandhya Rani said Mr. Reddy does not have a sufficient number of MLAs to recognise him as the LoP and “he will be considered as an MLA as per the rules”.Referring to the letter sent by Mr. Reddy, the Minister said, “Mr. Reddy got only 11 MLAs, which falls short of the required 10% of the total 175 members in the House to consider him as the LoP.”

Udhayanidhi Stalin gets bail in

The Hindu Bureau

Bengaluru

Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin leaving the Bengaluru court on Tuesday. K. MURALI KUMARMURALI KUMAR K

Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin appeared before a Bengaluru court on Tuesday in connection with a case registered against him for his alleged derogatory remarks on Sanatana Dharma and was granted conditional bail.

Activist V. Paramesha accused Mr. Udhayanidhi of making remarks against Sanatana Dharma in Chennai in 2023, comparing it to dengue and malaria, calling for its eradication.

Mr. Stalin was charged under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups), 298 (Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) and 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. Amidst tight security, Mr. Udhayanidhi appeared before the special court, which granted him bail with a surety of ₹1 lakh. The next hearing has been posted for August 8.

Nandini packets to cost ₹2 more with 50 ml additional milk

The Hindu Bureau

Bengaluru

Earlier, the cost of one-litre toned milk was ₹42. SUDHAKARA JAIN

The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) said it will sell an additional 50 ml of milk in half and one-litre sachets of Nandini and charge ₹2 extra for the same from Wednesday.

While the Opposition condemned the price increase, which follows the petrol and diesel price hike, the KMF said it was being done to help farmers as milk procurement had reached record levels this season, and there was “no real hike”; only additional milk was being charged extra. Now, a one-litre packet containing an additional 50 ml of the popular Nandini toned milk will cost ₹44 per litre, and a half-litre packet containing an additional 50 ml will cost ₹24. Earlier, the cost of one litre of Nandini toned milk was ₹42, while a half-litre sachet was sold at ₹22.

With the additional 50 ml, Santrupti milk at ₹57 a litre is the costliest, while double-toned milk at ₹43 will be the cheapest. Despite the increase, milk in Karnataka remains cheaper compared to the neighbouring States.

‘Organised foul play behind NEET fiasco’

The Hindu Bureau

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala State Higher Education Council vice-chairperson Rajan Gurukkal has expressed deep concern over the recent NEET fiasco, highlighting serious flaws in the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) conduct of the examinations.

The scandal, he added, has rocked the aspirations of 24 lakh medical aspirants across the country and raised significant questions about the integrity of India’s premier medical entrance test. Professor Gurukkal criticised NTA for its alleged incompetence and lack of transparency. The NEET scam of 2024, the academic pointed out in a statement, is a stark reminder of systemic failures within our national testing framework.

“It (the scam) raises questions as to why the NTA proved to be incompetent and failed during a short span of five years. What prevented NTA from achieving the level of efficiency, transparency and the credibility of any of the international testing agencies like Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL),” he asked.

KCR moves Telangana HC to stay inquiry against him

The Hindu Bureau

HYDERABAD

Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi supremo and former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao approached the Telangana High Court seeking a direction to stay all further proceedings of Justice L. Narasimha Reddy Commission constituted by the Congress government to inquire into Power Purchase Agreements made by his government and construction of thermal power plants at Manuguru and Damaracherla.

The former CM stated in his petition that setting up the Commission was ultra vires the provisions of the Commission of Inquiry Act-1952 and the Electricity Act-2003.

Former Vizag MP, 2 others booked in forgery case

The Hindu Bureau

VISAKHAPATNAM

The police have registered a case against former Visakhapatnam MP M.V.V. Satyanarayana, his close associate and auditor Gannamaneni Venkateswara Rao and another builder Gadde Brahmaji, for allegedly forging land documents to grab about 12.51 acres of land, popularly known as ‘Hayagreeva Lands’ at Yendada, a prime locality in the city.

The case was filed on a complaint by Ch Jagadeeswarudu, who alleged that the trio had forged his and wife’s signature on fabricated documents to grab his land. “They also made us sign on blank papers,” he said in the complaint.

Second case of sodomy filed against Suraj Revanna

Press Trust of India

Bengaluru

A second case of sodomy was registered against JD(S) MLC Suraj Revanna on Tuesday at Holenarasipura police station in Hassan district. The case was filed based on a complaint by a close aide of Suraj Revanna. “The process of registering the second FIR is on against Suraj Revanna,” a senior police officer of Hassan said.

Suraj is the grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and son of Holenarasipura MLA H.D. Revanna.

Science

- Brains that don’t see in greyscale first over-rely on colours

- BIG SHOT

- Death by oxygen deprivation

Project Prakash is a U.S.-based initiative by IIT Delhi, Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It treats and rehabilitates blind children in India. In a new study, these children have helped researchers shed light on how the brain learns to see

1 of 2 A newborn baby mostly sees the world in black and white. The photosensitive cone cells in the child’s eyes don’t mature until they’re around four months old. In this time, the brain uses other visual cues to make sense of the world

2 of 2 Cognitive neuroscientist Priti Gupta with three newly sighted children at Project Prakash. Naviya Lall and Alish Dipani

The world has many colours and being able to see them is a great source of joy. But a newborn baby mostly sees the world in black and white. The photosensitive cone cells in the child’s eyes don’t mature until they’re around four months old. In this time, the brain uses other visual cues to make sense of the world.

In May, a team of Indian and U.S. researchers reported in the journal Science that this delay in developing colour vision is actually important for overall vision development.

“We are able to explain why normal visual development happens the way it does,” study co-lead Dr. Priti Gupta, a cognitive neuroscientist, told The Hindu.

Dr. Gupta leads the research team in India for ‘Project Prakash’, a U.S.-based initiative of IIT Delhi, Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Project Prakash treats and rehabilitates blind children in India. These children helped the researchers shed light on how the brain learns to see.

Importance of colour vision

Humans don’t need colour vision to recognise objects but colours can provide adaptation and survival advantages, Dr. Gupta said.

“If you look at food, you can recognise it without colour. But if something has gone bad, then you need to see the colour of that thing to understand.”

Yet there is more to colour vision than meets the eye.

“They’re very mesmerised by colours,” Dr. Gupta said of the children at Project Prakash. They often described objects around them with their colour. “Their reliance on colours is a little more than what normal children have.” This observation gave the researchers an idea: “to show them some things without colour”.

They brought together a group of visually impaired children and young adults between eight and 26 years of age and asked them to identify objects in images — a tree, a bus, chicken, a stack of books, etc. — first in greyscale and then in colour. In another test, they asked the group to determine which of two discs presented to them had a lighter hue while the researchers adjusted the colour.

The children could recognise colour images and discs quite well — even those who were barely two days out of eye surgery. But they had a tough time recognising black and white images.

Children without any visual impairment had trouble neither with colour nor greyscale images, on the other hand.

The researchers realised the issue wasn’t the colour vision of the visually impaired children. Instead, it was the abnormal way in which their vision had developed: to rely too much on colour.

Mimicking visual development

Normally, a child first understands the world in greyscale. But the first time the children at Project Prakash experienced normal vision, their eyes had developed enough to see colours as well, so they skipped the greyscale phase. Their brain processed black and white images differently as a result.

To understand the effects of this issue, the researchers needed a proxy to the brain that they could tweak to learn in response to different visual stimuli. They set up a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) — a computer program that processes information the way neurons in the brain’s visual cortex do. Engineers have previously used deep CNNs in image recognition software.

“They are not perfect models. But they are the best models people have at this point of time,” Dr. Gupta said.

They trained four CNNs, one each on colour and greyscale images in a particular order: grey-grey, colour-colour, colour-grey, grey-colour.

They found the grey-CNN recognised both greyscale and colour images better than any of the other models.

The colour-colour model — which most mimicked visual development among Project Prakash’s children — fared worse at identifying greyscale images.

The researchers attributed this to the colour-colour model’s overreliance on colour cues when examining images because its training data was composed solely of colour images.

The grey-colour model had learnt enough cues from the greyscale images and was thus better able to recognise colour images.

These findings suggest why the children too performed poorly in colour tests. “They already start out with very clear vision as compared to a normal, developing baby,” Dr. Gupta said.

It’s fascinating that the brain develops object recognition and colour perception at different times, study co-author Dr. Suma Ganesh and Project Prakash’s clinical lead said.

Optimising visual development

Dr. Ganesh is an eye surgeon, paediatric ophthalmologist, and medical director at Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi.

“We never thought that if one [perception] is removed, it has a lot of impact on the other.” she said.

It’s unclear whether this particular study would bring about any rehabilitation benefits though.

“At the moment, I wouldn’t say we have done anything much on the rehabilitation side,” Dr. Gupta said.

“But all of this knowledge that’s coming to us will eventually be used for better treatments.”

But she added that there are ideas that can help. For example, children could also be made to experience a room deprived of colour, simulating a black and white or a greyscale environment, for a few hours at a time.

“Maybe that helps to fine-tune their cells to actually generalise better,” she said. However, she admitted there could be ethical concerns about such “tests” and that their efficacy would have to be checked with animal models first.

(Karthik Vinod is interning with The Hindu.)

The artist and activist Mundano performs inside a giant wave of plastic waste, known as "The Plastic Tsunami", made from more than 60 kilograms of disposable bags during an act on the dangers of plastic pollution in Brasilia, Brazil on Tuesday.REUTERSADRIANO MACHADO

Death by oxygen deprivation

The Hindu Bureau

1 of 2

2 of 2 A small but deadly mass of potassium cyanide crystals next to a one-eurocent coin. morienus (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Q. How does potassium cyanide cause sudden death?

A: Potassium cyanide when consumed causes death by gradually arresting the supply of oxygen to our body’s cells by forming complexes with haemoglobin and cytochrome (a protein which helps in the respiration of cells), depriving them of their capacity to transport or exchange oxygen.

Normally, oxygen is carried to different parts of the body from the lungs by the blood using haemoglobin — the iron-containing, oxygen-carrying molecule of the red blood cells.

Haemoglobin is made up of a globular protein and four heme groups. The iron (in ferrous state) present in these heme complexes can bond to either an oxygen molecule or a water molecule or exchange one for the other without much difficulty. It is because of this ability that haemoglobin is able to pick up oxygen from the lungs, carry it to the cells, and bring water in return.

Cells respire oxygen with the help of myoglobin (haemoglobin-like proteins present in the cells) and cytochrome, which carries electrons. Specific forms of cytochrome and haemoglobin also cause sudden death when poisoned by cyanide.

When potassium cyanide is consumed, it splits into a potassium ion and a cyanide ion. The cyanide ion has a greater affinity for the ferrous ion than. As a result it occupies the site meant for oxygen in haemoglobin. This process is irreversible and prevents the transfer of oxygen.

One form of cytochrome, designated cytochrome-a, also binds with the cyanide ion and stabilises the iron to such an extent that it does not take part in the electron transfer to the cell. This prevents oxygen intake by the cell.

The symptoms of cyanide poisoning are giddiness, headache, and bluish tinge of the skin. If not treated immediately, unconsciousness and death will follow.

(A. Karthikeyani, Udumalpet; C. Ravi Chandra, Secunderabad; and R. Ramaa, Chennai)

Edit

- Agony still in Manipur, a year later

- India needs the anchor of a national security strategy

- letters to the editor

- Free man

- Call for consensus

- Lack of focus, not finance, behind sluggish Kavach deployment

- Preventing another NEET fiasco

- The persistent problem of toxic liquor

- Sikkim ruler in Delhi for talks on new Constitution

- The “Advocate of India”

- Analysing Maharashtra’s water crisis

- Will the Agnipath scheme be revamped?

- WikiLeaks: the enemy of the deep state

- J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ was first published on this day in 1997. Quiz yourself on the book, and the subsequent film of the same name

- Know your English

Agony still in Manipur, a year later

Pradip Phanjoubam Editor, Imphal Review of Arts and Politics

The high-level security meet on Manipur convened by the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, in New Delhi on June 17, 2024, was loudly conspicuous by its exclusion of the Manipur Chief Minister, N. Biren Singh. It also threw light on the way the Centre has been handling the violent ethnic clashes in Manipur between two of its major communities, the Meitei and Kuki-Zo tribes. There seem to be no signs of respite even after a year of bloodletting. It seems to confirm the long-held suspicion that there has been undeclared President’s Rule in the State, with the Manipur government having been placed in virtual animated suspension.

Those invited for the meeting included Indian Army Chief Manoj Pande, Army Chief-designate Lieutenant GeneralUpendra Dwivedi, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Intelligence Bureau director Tapan Kumar Deka. From the State were the Director General of Police Manipur, Rajiv Singh, and the Security Adviser, Kuldeip Singh — both brought in from outside the State and appointed to these posts in the wake of the outbreak of violence on May 3, 2023. As a media columnist pointed, also conspicuously absent were officers from Manipur’s stakeholder communities.

Considering that this meeting had quickly followed another one Mr. Shah had had in New Delhi with the Manipur Governor, Anusuiya Uikey, speculations were rife that this was a prelude to a formal invocation of Article 365 to impose a spell of President’s Rule in the State. This anticipation, however, proved premature, as it is now clear that the meeting merely chalked out a strategy to contain the violence so that a dialogue process between the two warring communities can be initiated.

The messaging about the State government

Not long after the ethnic violence broke out, it had become clear that the State government was no longer in charge. First, there was a viral news that Article 355 had been imposed in the State, passing on the State government’s responsibility of law-and-order upkeep to the Centre. This was later officially denied. Still, from the patterns of security deployments and operations henceforth, it was more than apparent that the State government had been almost sidelined. For instance, Mr. Biren Singh was unceremoniously removed from the customary chairmanship of the unified command of the different security establishments in the State by an order of the Governor on May 31, 2023. Only his power to summon meetings of this body was retained.

It was probably unintentional, but in noisy cross-questioning in the Lok Sabha on August 9, 2023, during the no-confidence motion faced by the then National Democratic Alliance government, Mr. Shah when asked why the Manipur Chief Minister had still not been removed, again gave a glimpse of ‘this unofficial Central rule’. In a Freudian slip, he said that there was no need for this as the Chief Minister was “cooperating” with the Centre.

Earlier, when Mr. Shah made his first trip to Manipur on May 29, 2023, after a fortnight of lull punctuating the outbreak of mayhem in the State, violence again exploded in several places along the foothills. Mr. Shah made another declaration. There was to be a buffer zone along the foothills where the Imphal valley meets the surrounding hills. And, the hills were to be looked after by central forces while the State police were for the valley.

This may have been well-intentioned, but it proved to be ill-conceived. Probably, the assumption was that separating the warring communities would freeze the feud, and that normalcy would return. But when the conflict dragged on longer than anticipated, several unanticipated consequences became obvious. For one, the Meiteis, now confined in the valley, began to suspect the central forces, especially the Assam Rifles, of siding with the Kuki-Zos in the hills. And, conversely, the Kuki-Zos began viewing the State police as partisan to the Meiteis. This is despite the fact that the Assam Rifles has several Meitei officers and troopers, just as the Manipur police constabularies draw their recruits from the many communities in the State. These forces may just have been doing their brief, but amidst the dangerous and hateful passions, they ended up being coloured with communal hues.

The drift

The wisdom in the cliched adage that peace is not merely the absence of violence seems to have been completely missed. The absence of violence does give a semblance of normalcy, but when no efforts are made alongside to identify the underlying causes of discord and put them to rest, a single spark — intentional or accidental — can cause an inferno. This has been the pattern of clashes in Manipur’s year of mayhem so far.

Today, the number of central and State forces in Manipur is estimated to be about 70,000 personnel. Yet, the outlook of unofficial President’s Rule in Manipur has been to manage and moderate the feud, so as to keep the damage minimal and not resolve it. It is bewildering to wonder why no move has been made yet to clamp down on both sides of the fence, using proportionate and legitimate force, to establish the law firmly and to strengthen the hands of the law. Maybe it was the forthcoming general election then, and the issue of optics being the inhibitor — to have a Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled State under President’s Rule would have been damaging. That the public resented this approach was demonstrated empathetically. In the 2024 general election, voters across the conflict buffer rejected the BJP in Manipur’s two seats.

Reminiscent in this is also what Jolle Demmers writes in her book, Theories of Violent Conflict: An Introduction. In 1993, the United States-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization was set to strike Bosnia when genocidal clashes between Serb and Albanian Muslims broke out. The Albanians bore the brunt of it. But U.S. President Bill Clinton is said to have been gifted Robert D. Kaplan’s best-selling Balkan Ghosts, which portrays the antagonism between the two communities as primordial. There was nothing much anybody could do to change the situation but to wait “until those folks got tired of killing each other”. The intervention was delayed and peace could be restored only in 1995, after much preventable damage.

It is true that the roots of some conflicts are deeper than others but there can be nothing as primordial. Scholars agree that the objective must be to trace the roots of the problem, at whatever depth, and address them. There are too many, however, who are too eager to oversimplify and caricaturise conflicts, fitting them into set categories they are familiar with. Thus, Hindus, Muslims or hillmen and plainsmen are portrayed as preconditioned to hate each other.

The ground reality

The latest and officially confirmed body count in Manipur’s tragic conflict is 225, of whom, 115 are Kuki-Zos, 102 are Meiteis and eight are from other communities. The picture is not very different when it comes to the numbers affected in displacement as well, for there has been mutual ethnic cleansing on either side of the newly-created conflict buffer. A year after the outbreak of violence, even the idea of victim and perpetrator, so readily lapped up by many, has become blurred.

With so many lives and properties having been lost already, asking people who have suffered these losses to come to terms with their losses and move on, especially when it involves loved ones, is never going to be easy. But there is no other way than for those who have suffered to see their trauma being shared by their adversaries. And in the acknowledgment of this shared suffering, find the empathy bond and, ultimately, common redemption in tragedy.

India needs the anchor of a national security strategy

Arzan Tarapore a research scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, U.S., and a senior non-resident fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute

The new National Democratic Alliance government faces some thorny old problems in national security. It will have to make decisions — or else continue to defer them — on everything from whether to build another aircraft carrier, to the process of implementing theaterisation, to managing strategic relations with the United States and competition with China. How will the coalition government, with competing demands on its resources and attention, make those decisions?

Its best option is to step back and consider national security holistically, from first principles. It should not consider this reform or that relationship in a piecemeal, haphazard way; that would risk wasting scarce resources and undermining national goals. It should, instead, commit to a new rubric for making these decisions — it should commit to writing a National Security Strategy (NSS).

Most powerful states publish some form of national security strategy. India does not. Consequently, its capability investment decisions are made by haggling between the military services. Plans and priorities get stuck in well-worn grooves, and are never systematically re-evaluated. Grand strategic vision becomes concentrated in the hands of a few individuals at the apex of government, where it gets hidden behind closed doors, or crowded out by other political whims.

Many strategic risks

India cannot afford to be so reactive. The world is throwing up a slew of strategic risks, from climate change to pandemics, which require decades of coordinated policy effort to address. China alone represents an unprecedented array of interconnected challenges, from an explosive naval build-up, to geoeconomic clout in South Asia, to leverage in global supply chains. And even distant conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza, are revealing new technologies and tactics of war that will invariably spread to India’s neighbourhood. India needs a regular process to make sense of this tumult and plan for it.

A blueprint for expanding power

A regular and well-crafted NSS would give India five critical benefits that it currently lacks. First and logically foremost, it would force the government to undertake a comprehensive strategic assessment — a review of the country’s threats and opportunities, and a stocktake of global security trends. Such a periodic review would force New Delhi to spotlight evolving challenges, such as the growth of the Chinese navy, even though it does not pose an urgent and lethal threat today. In the absence of an NSS, long-term threats will be neglected until they pose an immediate and grave threat — when they will be much harder to manage.

Second, an NSS would provide a coherent framework for long-term planning. Strategic competition requires intense work in peacetime, to conceptualise how best to secure India’s expanding interests and deter its adversaries, and then to develop the requisite military capabilities and international partnerships. An NSS, done rigorously, would give the government an overarching strategic blueprint to adjudicate, for example, between the Indian Navy demanding a new aircraft carrier, or the Indian Army seeking to raise a new infantry division. In the absence of such a process, scarce resources may get wasted on vanity projects with comparatively little strategic value, and the military services left scrambling to fill capability gaps with emergency procurements.

Third, an NSS would provide an instrument for signalling to friend and foe alike. It would help to clarify India’s strategic intent — declaring that, for example, India takes seriously its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean, so that it will counter armed coercion against other, smaller countries.

Equally valuable, an NSS would also clarify India’s policy for its partners, highlighting areas of converging interests, or explaining the limits on cooperation — to help mitigate instances of mismatched expectations.

Fourth, an NSS would create a mechanism to force various arms of the government to synchronise their efforts. Within the military, an NSS would give the Integrated Defence Staff and future joint organisations a clearer top-down mandate to better align the work of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy. Beyond the military, an NSS would provide common goals and plans so that various national security agencies, including the Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, and Home Affairs, and the intelligence agencies, could better coordinate daily at the working level, rather than episodically at the Cabinet level.

Issue of accountability

Finally, an NSS would introduce a novel accountability tool, to ensure that the bureaucracy adheres to the political leadership’s intent, and that the government’s policies are as transparent as possible to Parliament and the people. The citizens of India have a legitimate need to know how their government is planning to safeguard their national security, and how well it is performing.

Some national security strategies are better than others. A fully effective strategy should be a public document issued with the imprimatur of the Prime Minister, because its purpose is to synchronise efforts widely across government, and credibly signal the government’s political intent throughout the country and the world. A strong NSS would not automatically resolve conflicts between various arms of the government, but it should at least identify trade-offs and opportunity costs, so that political leaders can make rational decisions for long-term growth. In that way, an NSS would offer the intellectual scaffolding that is absolutely necessary for India to become one of the world’s leading powers.

‘Will work for consensus’

The Prime Minister’s “aggressive note”, that his government “Will work for consensus in Parliament, says Modi” (Page 1, June 25), is befuddling. Has the top leader forgotten that he needs to shun “double speak”? Right now, Modi phraseology is about one-way traffic. In the coalition government that he runs, the most important portfolios are with the BJP. The pro tem Speaker selection too has been his/the party’s choice. Mr. Modi has already enjoyed two stints as Prime Minister. In his third term, he could accommodate fine gestures and democratic values.

P.K. Sharma,

Barnala, Punjab

Water seepage

The Prime Minister took a personal interest in the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and the inauguration was grand. Alas, the gigantic structure now has flaws (Inside pages, “Chief priest complains of water seepage in Ayodhya Ram Temple”, June 25). The traditional Agama Shastra does not seem to have been followed in the temple’s construction

D. Sethuraman,

Chennai

The report reminded me of something that is fundamental to the Indian way of life. My friend constructed a house some years ago and the structure was one of unmatched extravagance. Soon, the problems emerged. The expensive ornate windows and doors would not close properly. The drainage had many issues. The list can go on. We in India pay more attention to creating an impression, with needless extravagance, when close attention ought to be paid to the minute details. Only then can there be quality. Does anyone care?

Mohan Das,

Bengaluru

Nothing seems to be going right for the government, from competitive entrance examinations to the quality of temple construction. Ancient Indian temples have stood for hundreds of years without any issue because that were built out of devotion. Not for votes.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,

Faridabad, Haryana

Food packaging

Unwrapping a biscuit pack in today’s world is about getting past layers of plastic laminates. In my younger days, biscuits came wrapped in biodegradable, environment-friendly butter paper or paper flute board and were crispy with a good shelf-life. The Pollution Control boards must focus on the use of plastics in food wrappers.

Dinar L. Barros,

Betalbatim, Goa

Free man

Assange deserves his freedom, but his conviction is a setback for free speech

Julian Assange did what journalists do in free societies. He published troves of secret documents exposing the conduct of America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and of its diplomacy. And for that, he was denied his freedom for more than 14 years. The hounding of Mr. Assange is a rare modern story of western democracies across the Atlantic, which take pride in their freedoms, working hand in hand to punish a journalist, publisher and whistle-blower. The WikiLeaks founder was first arrested in Britain in 2010 on a European warrant over sex crime allegations reported in Sweden — those charges were later dropped. While on bail, he took asylum in the Ecuador embassy in London, where he was holed up until 2019. He was kicked out of the embassy, and Britain rearrested him and put him in the high-security Belmarsh prison. After five years of life in jail, where he was largely confined to a solitary cell, the U.S. entered into a plea deal with Mr. Assange, that would set him free. The 52-year-old will plead guilty in the espionage case before a U.S. federal judge in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth territory in the western Pacific. According to U.S. and British media, Mr. Assange is expected to be sentenced for about five years, the time he has already served in Britain. He will then go to Australia, his native country.

While Mr. Assange’s release, which brings his years-long ordeal to an end and is a reprieve for those who have been fighting for him, is welcome news, the road towards this day was not smooth. The way he is being released still raises concerns. The classified documents WikiLeaks published were handed to Mr. Assange by Chelsea Manning, a U.S. military analyst. Ms. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of violating the Espionage Act. U.S. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence, allowing her to go free in 2017, but Mr. Assange remained unfree. The Trump Justice Department indicted him in 2019 on 18 counts. And the Biden administration continued to push for his extradition, which he fought doggedly. Last year, Australia’s Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged the U.S. to conclude the case, while lawmakers there passed a resolution this year calling for Mr. Assange to be allowed to return home. In recent years, the case has also become a public relations disaster for Joe Biden’s Democratic administration. So when Mr. Assange agreed to plead guilty, all sides found a deal to conclude the case that would get the U.S. a conviction which it had been seeking and Mr. Assange his freedom. Yet, the fact that Mr. Assange would be convicted for publishing state secrets is a setback for free speech. And the pursuit of a whistle-blower for over 14 years would remain a blot on western democracies, especially the U.K. and the U.S., forever.

Call for consensus

Parliament should give room for extended debates and disagreements

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to govern by consensus even as the 18th Lok Sabha began its first session. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition INDIA bloc have both reiterated their rhetoric on protecting the Constitution, which was one of the central themes of the recent campaign during the 2024 general election. While both sides say they seek consensus, and are loyal to the Constitution, a demonstration of any convergence between them on any key question of governance or politics, unfortunately, remains elusive. The first session was in fact marked by mutual hostility that carried over from the campaign. The NDA and the INDIA bloc sparred over the selection of the pro tem Speaker and now appear set for a face-off over the Speaker’s post. The Opposition has expressed willingness to support the NDA’s candidate in return for the post of Deputy Speaker. In the past, the Deputy Speaker’s post has mostly gone to a member of the Opposition. In the 16th Lok Sabha, the post went to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam; and in the 17th Lok Sabha, the post remained vacant for its entire term, unprecedented in the history of Indian Parliament. The BJP remains non-committal on supporting an Opposition candidate for Deputy Speaker.

Mr. Modi’s call for consensus and parliamentary debates can be a reassuring sign of a healthy democracy, but only if that statement is translated into tangible action. Union Minister Rajnath Singh, who has emerged as the government’s key interlocutor, has reached out to Opposition leaders, and such interactions should become frequent. Consensus may be unachievable in many instances, and may not even be necessary in some cases. By demonstrating a commitment to sharing power within the ruling alliance and with the Opposition, Mr. Modi could expand his political authority and legitimacy. Beyond the limited tactical question of the stability of the government, in which the BJP is shy of a majority by 32 seats, the building of coalitions should be treated as a cornerstone of India’s progress and prosperity. The first session of the new Lok Sabha should set the tone for extended debates, more room for disagreements and the pursuit of common ground across parties. The proceedings of the House and of Committees fell short on these counts during the last two terms of the Lok Sabha. As the leader of the ruling coalition, the BJP should demonstrate a renewed commitment to the norms and substance of Parliament and the Opposition should respond constructively.

Lack of focus, not finance, behind sluggish Kavach deployment

Mahima Rao,, Sambavi Parthasarathy,, Vignesh Radhakrishnan

Under 2% of the Indian Railways’ yearly capital expenditure is enough to implement Kavach across all engines and tracks in 10 years

The railway accident on June 17 involving the Sealdah-bound Kanchenjunga Express and a goods train in Darjeeling, West Bengal, has once brought focus to the absence of ‘Kavach’, India’s Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system. Ten people died in the incident. On average, 80 people are killed annually in train collisions in India (Chart 1).

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed the progress of an advanced version of the ATP Kavach 4.0 a week after the accident. He directed the installation to be taken up in “mission mode”. Data show that availability of funds is not the worry for implementing Kavach; the issue lies with the pace at which it is being deployed.

Kavach can warn loco pilots if the train is at risk of overshooting the signal at red. It also has the capability of automatically applying the brakes if the loco pilot fails to reduce the speed below a certain limit. The three systems needed to implement Kavach are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags placed in the tracks; the engine setup with RFID readers, a computer, and brake interface equipment; and radio towers installed at railway stations. The cost of installing Kavach in the tracks, including station equipment, is ₹50 lakh per kilometre. It costs ₹70 lakh to fit the equipment in one engine.

The route length of the Indian Railways is approximately 68,000 km. The cost of equipping Kavach on this route is about ₹34,000 crore (68,000 km X ₹50 lakh). There are about 15,200 diesel and electric engines in the Railways network. The cost of equipping the total fleet is ₹10,640 crore (15,200 engines X ₹70 lakh). In total, it costs about ₹45,000 crore to implement the system across all the tracks and in all the engines. Given that the job will require skilled labour, specially designed equipment, and traffic diversion during implementation, assuming a 10-year window for deployment would mean that the yearly cost would be ₹4,500 crore.

The capital expenditure budget of the Railways increased substantially in the past few years to peak at ₹2,52,000 crore in FY25 (Chart 2). Even assuming that there is no increase in this amount in the next 10 years, the yearly cost of deploying Kavach is still less than 2% of the capital expenditure every year (₹4,500 crore/₹2,52,000 crore). This shows that covering the entire Railways network with Kavach would require only a small fraction of the Railways’ budget.

The current rate of progress of installation of Kavach is sluggish. Field trials on passenger trains started in February 2016. Three firms were approved to supply the equipment in 2018-19. Kavach was adopted as the national ATP system in July 2020. As Chart 3 shows, until February this year, of the 68,000 km of route length (Rkm), Kavach has only been installed only in 1,465 Rkm (close to 2% of the total). Of a total of about 15,200 diesel and electric locos, only 139 are equipped with Kavach (less than 1% of the total).

Even if we were to assume that the government did this in one year instead of four years (2020 to 2024), it would take another 46 years to deploy this system across all route km (68,000/1,465) and at least a hundred years to install Kavach in all engines (15,200/139) at the current pace. To be able to complete the installation of Kavach in 10 years, the pace will have to be increased to 6,800 Rkm/year for the tracks and 1,500 locos/year. Table 4 lists the calculations.

Mahima Rao is an intern with The Hindu

Preventing another NEET fiasco

Rajeev Kumar a former Computer Science professor at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, BITS Pilani, and JNU

During the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year, scores and ranks were inflated. As a consequence, many candidates may not get admission to their desired college as predicted based on previous years’ scores.

Coaching and admission counselling centres, typically run by business tycoons, have realised that clients, the NEET aspirants, have failed to secure preferred seats despite their advice. However, despite this fiasco, the industry has found a way to enhance their brand value through media and social media coverage. The owners of this trillion-rupee industry, along with the 23 lakh NEET aspirants this year, are up in arms. Their hypothesis is that mapping scores to ranks cannot vary very widely from previous years. In this conundrum, various allegations of cheating and paper leakage, amongst others, have been raised. Despite numerous crackdowns and investigations, paper leakage in medical admission exams remains a persistent issue.

No room for weak links

Since its inception, NEET has emerged as the largest exam in the ‘One Exam, One Nation’ model because of the number of candidates taking the exam, the number of languages the exam is conducted in, and the diversity of various other factors. The quality of education and the college fees payable are critical factors that vary widely. A seat in a top government college with good quality education could cost a few lakhs, whereas a seat in a private college could cost a few crores. Moreover, parents are willing to go beyond their means to secure higher ranks for their children in these competitive exams, as the family’s reputation is considered to hinge on this.

Thus, the stakes in NEET are incredibly high, making it vulnerable to irregularities, accidental or intentional. Therefore, we need strong governance in the form of foolproof and complete Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and their compliance. There cannot be any weak link in the chain of operations from setting question papers to conducting the exam to admissions.

However, there are many weak links, as seen from the distribution of the wrong question paper at some centres, for example. Reportedly, some centres distributed the back-up question paper instead of the primary paper. How were both sets — the primary and the secondary/back- up question papers — accessed almost simultaneously? Were they accessed from banks’ strongrooms or another reserve? How was the back-up question paper set taken from the banks’ strongrooms without any emergency circumstances or protocols? There are several unanswered questions about the authorisation and attitude of the officials concerned. This seemingly inconsequential event is actually of enormous consequence and could give us an idea of how the exam was conducted this year.

This one error led to a cascade of errors. A wrong question paper was distributed, subsequently taken back along with the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet, thus creating panic among the candidates. The correct question paper was then distributed, and no additional time was given for the time lost. Then, exceptionally huge grace marks were awarded for the time lost, which was later scrapped due to a public outcry.

Each of the above demonstrates the need for critical SOPs for complete governance of the exam, which includes several stakeholders such as those who set the question paper, translators, reviewers, the printing press, officials at examination centers, banks’ strongrooms, and invigilators. Any loose links in this chain have the potential for malpractices. Only proper investigation may reveal any substantial wrongdoing.

Despite all the above pitfalls, it is commendable that the National Testing Agency (NTA) voluntarily disclosed most of the information, as per Section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. Since the declaration of NEET 2024, the NTA has disclosed the most relevant information through its press releases. In addition, the NTA has followed SOPs for disclosure of answer keys, collecting feedback about wrong questions and answer keys, disclosure of the individual OMR sheet, and self-evaluation of one’s score, which seem to have worked with no issues at all.

The way forward

It is on record that these SOPs were developed and directed through a decade-long (2006-2015) protracted legal battle by the author of this article in the Supreme Court and High Courts to ensure transparency and develop well-defined rational SoPs for admissions to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). In one such judgment, the Supreme Court observed in 2011, “In fact the action taken by the appellants in challenging the procedure for JEE 2006, their attempts to bring in transparency in the procedure by various RTI applications, and the debate generated by the several views of experts during the course of the writ proceedings, have helped in making the merit ranking process more transparent and accurate.”

However, this alone is not enough for NEET. The NTA should devise SOPs to get stabilised cut-offs, as done by the IITs, avoid inflated scores and ranks, and achieve a long-tail distribution. It should work to replace ad-hocism with well-defined, sound, and secure SOPs. It should follow a professional war-room culture to facilitate quick and sound decision-making during the entire process. As the Supreme Court said in 2011, “The selection process requires to be upgraded and fine-tuned year after year with periodic changes..., so that the selection process and examination remain relevant and meaningful.”

The persistent problem of toxic liquor

T. Ramakrishnan

The State government does not seem to have learned lessons from the past

The hooch tragedy on June 18 at Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu, which has claimed 59 lives so far, has caused major embarrassment to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led front, which has been celebrating its superlative performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

This is the second such tragedy in the last two years in the State. Just last year, 22 people died and 45 were hospitalised in Viluppuram and Chengalpattu districts after consuming toxic alcohol. This time, the death toll is much higher. So is the number of people who have been hospitalised (more than 150). Ironically, the government had informed the Assembly in 2023, before the deaths occurred, that there had been “no hooch tragedies in the State” in the last 14 years due to its “zero tolerance” policy towards blending units. Significantly, during 10 of those 14 years in question, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), now the principal Opposition party in the Assembly, was in power.

As was the case in 2023, action has been taken against police and other officials this time too. More than half a dozen people have been arrested so far. The victims predominantly belonged to Scheduled Castes and other vulnerable groups in society. Apart from announcing a solatium of ₹10 lakh each to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 for those undergoing treatment, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has ordered the constitution of a one-man commission headed by Justice B. Gokuldas, a former High Court judge, to conduct an inquiry into the incident. The government has also offered to support the education of children in the villages affected by the tragedy. This is a change in approach by the DMK: in 1996, when people died after drinking contaminated liquor in Pudukottai, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Mr. Stalin’s father, ruled out compensation to the victims and their families arguing that it could be construed as encouragement for people following the wrong path.

Methanol has been cited as the cause of many such incidents, at least since 1990. When it was found to be the main reason for hooch tragedies in 2002, the liquid chemical was brought within the ambit of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937. Yet, it was once again cited as the cause of the 2023 incident, too.

The residents of Kallakurichi knew well that spurious liquor was being sold and consumed. It is hard to believe that the government was completely unaware of the prevalence and spread of the problem. It is said that products sold through the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) are priced higher than illicit liquor, which is why people prefer the latter. It is not yet known whether the Intelligence Wing of the police tipped the authorities of the likelihood of the May 2023 episode recurring. Leading a demonstration in Kallakurichi on June 24, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami claimed that his fellow legislator from the area, M. Senthilkumar, had not only tried to move a calling attention motion in the Assembly last year on this issue, but even alerted the police officer concerned, a few days before the tragedy occurred at Kallakurichi.

Data of the last three decades show that hooch tragedies have invariably occurred in north Tamil Nadu. In other words, they have taken place within a radius of 200-250 km from Chennai, the capital of the State. It is also pertinent to note that in the last 10 years or so, other southern States have not reported any comparable incident of this nature. On June 21, Mr. Stalin informed the Assembly that the methanol used at Kallakurichi to produce the hooch was brought from Puducherry.

While the whole incident requires deeper scrutiny, the Opposition has demanded that the Chief Minister resign and the case be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. While hearing a petition filed by the AIADMK, the Madras High Court wondered whether any lessons had been learned from the previous incidents and any preventive action taken to avert them. The founder of the Naam Tamilar Katchi, Seeman, argued that instead of using the taxpayers’ money, the government should have made bootleggers pay the compensation.

The State government does not seem to have learned lessons from the past. Meanwhile, the Opposition parties, which performed disastrously in the Lok Sabha elections because of division within their ranks, continue to operate in silos to highlight the government’s failure on the Kallakurichi incident.

Sikkim ruler in Delhi for talks on new Constitution

New Delhi, June 25: The Chogyal of Sikkim arrived here to-night for discussion with the Government of India on the new Constitution for the Himalayan Kingdom. The Chogyal left Gangtok early this morning with some senior officials in the wake of the State-wide protest, launched by the supporters of the Sikkim Congress against his reluctance to give assent to the new Constitution Bill.

The draft Constitution sought to usher in a democratic set-up which implied considerable curtailment of the Chogyal’s powers and position. The Sikkim ruler is reported to have felt that some of the provisions went against the Indo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1950.

The Chogyal is expected to put forward his case in detail when he meets the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister here tomorrow.

From the observations he made to pressmen soon after his arrival here it was clear that he had strong reservations on the draft Constitution. He contended that the Assembly had not yet passed the resolution containing its recommendations on the Bill, he added. He also denied that during his last visit to Delhi he had indicated his consent to the clauses in the draft Constitution. According to him, he had told the Indian authorities that he would study the draft and convey his comments to the Prime Minister.

The Sikkim Ruler denied that he was holding back from signing the draft Constitution Bill. Asked about the delay in giving his assent to it, he replied that the Bill went before the Assembly on June 20 for consideration and its recommendations had now come to him in the form of a resolution. “It has not been discussed as a Bill yet. These recommendations are receiving my consideration. It will take a little time as you will appreciate that it is a constitutional matter,” he added.

The “Advocate of India”

Bombay, June 25: The “Advocate of India”, an oldest English evening daily paper of Bombay, the property of Messrs. F.F. Gordon Ltd. in liquidation, was sold by auction this evening. Bidding opened at Rs. 70,000 and closed at a lakh and a quarter at which price the property was secured jointly by Messrs. D.R. Vaidya, Architect and R.F. Munshi, Barrister.

Analysing Maharashtra’s water crisis

Veena Srinivasan

Why do different regions of Maharashtra experience varied levels of water stress? Why is sugarcane production not suited for regions with less rainfall? What is meant by the rain-shadow effect? How can supply-side solutions help the situation?

The story so far:

After the deficient monsoon last year, the Maharashtra government declared many parts of the State to be drought-hit. The impact of the deficiency manifested across the region this summer as wells ran dry and officials brought tankers to provide drinking water and water for irrigation. This situation is in sharp contrast with the State’s coastal areas, where rainfall has often been in excess, leading to severe flooding. Marathwada’s predicament is shaped by its location, topography, soil type, agricultural practices, and crop choices.

What is the rain-shadow effect?

Marathwada lies in the rain-shadow region of the Western Ghats. When moist winds from the Arabian Sea encounter these mountains, they rise and cool, causing heavy rainfall (2,000-4,000 mm) on the western side. But by the time these winds cross the Ghats and descend into Western Maharashtra and Marathwada, they lose most of their moisture, leaving Marathwada much drier (600-800 mm).

A 2016 study by IIT Gandhinagar researchers said climate change is worsening the situation in central Maharashtra. The region has experienced an increasing trend in drought severity and frequency of late. As a result, Marathwada and North Karnataka have emerged as the second driest regions in India after Rajasthan.

How does this affect crops?

Marathwada’s agricultural practices are not well suited to its low rainfall. A major contributor to the region’s water crisis is sugarcane cultivation. Sugarcane requires 1,500-2,500 mm of water in its growing season. While pulses and millets require four or five irrigations across their crop life, sugarcane needs to be irrigated almost every day. The area under sugarcane increased steadily between the 1950s and the 2000s, plateauing in the last decade. Today, the crop occupies 4% of the total cropped area in the region and consumes 61% of the irrigation water. As a result, the average river outflow in the upper Bhima basin has almost halved. Long-standing government support for sugarcane pricing and sales has expanded sugarcane irrigation, restricting the irrigation of more nutritious crops. Since December 2023, the government has been promoting sugarcane-juice-based ethanol production, which may be unwise for this water-starved area: 82% of the sugar grown in Maharashtra comes from low-rainfall areas. The Maharashtra Water and Irrigation Commission in 1999 recommended that sugarcane should be banned in areas that receive less than 1,000 mm of rainfall a year, yet production has increased.

How do soil, topography matter?

Marathwada has predominantly clayey black soil, locally called “regur”. It is fertile and retains moisture well. However, it has a low infiltration rate: when it rains, the water is either logged or runs off, but doesn’t percolate down to recharge groundwater. To capture this high run-off, Maharashtra has been building many dams — such that it is today the State with the most large dams in the country (1,845). The soil also has low hydraulic conductivity and holds on to the water for a long time after rains. WELL Labs’ work in the region has found that farmers face crop loss as a result.

Even within Marathwada, water scarcity is not uniform. The area has parallel tributaries of the Godavari and the Krishna flowing southeast. Each tributary flows in the valley and is separated by a gently sloping hill. The valleys have perennial groundwater while the uplands have seasonal groundwater. This is because groundwater slowly moves underground from upland areas to the valleys. The wells in upland areas dry up a few months after the monsoons, and is where the water scarcity is most acute. They are at a natural disadvantage and deserve special support.

Can Marathwada be water-resilient?

Supply-side solutions are about making the most of available resources. They include classical watershed management work (such as building water-conserving structures like contour trenches, earthen bunds, gully plugs, etc.). Second, rainwater that runs off agricultural fields carries the very soil that doesn’t allow the water to percolate. So many of these structures accumulate silt. Funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme could be used to design silt-trapping mechanisms and organise training programmes for farmers on periodic desilting.

In a low-rainfall region, managing water demand includes practising water-efficient irrigation, cultivating drought-resistant crops, and diversifying livelihoods. Marathwada must also shift to other high-value, low-water-using crops, while sugarcane production must move to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal.

Vivek Grewal is managing partner (technical consulting) at WELL Labs. Veena Srinivasan is the executive director of WELL Labs.

Will the Agnipath scheme be revamped?

Dinakar Peri

Will the formation of a new government lead to a more detailed discussion on the recruitment of soldiers as Agniveers? How have the NDA allies reacted? What is the government’s stance?

The story so far:

The recruitment of soldiers into the armed forces as Agniveers under the Agnipath scheme has been a major issue in the recent general election. After the election results, NDA allies, the Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), raised the issue of Agnipath and called for a discussion on it. The government is open to changes and discussions are on, officials in the know said.

What is the Agnipath scheme?

The Agnipath scheme for recruitment of soldiers, sailors and airmen into the three services was announced on June 14, 2022 doing away with the earlier process of permanent recruitment. Under the new scheme, Agniveers are recruited for four years on the completion of which, up to 25% would be selected into the regular ranks on a permanent basis. The age bracket for new recruits was fixed at 17 and a half to 21 years of age and till 2026 the overall intake has been capped at 1.75 lakh. Subsequently, the Army is inducting 40,000 Agniveers per year and the Navy and Air Force are recruiting around 3,000 Agniveers each. Agniveers during their tenure can get class 12 certificates or a Bachelor’s degree in addition to other skill certificates and when leaving after four years will get a lumpsum amount but are not eligible for pension. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had termed it a transformative initiative and a win-win situation for all.

The government has stated that the Agnipath scheme would bring down the average age of the armed forces from 32 to 26 years in line with the age profile of major armies worldwide. And that when Agniveers return to society, they will contribute to nation-building.

What are the concerns?

One of the biggest concerns for the armed forces, especially the Army, is the accentuating shortage of personnel in the ‘below the officer’s rank’ cadres. There was no recruitment during the COVID-19 period for over two and half years which created a deficiency. For context, around 60,000 soldiers retire from the Army every year, while 40,000 are being recruited every year. So effectively the shortage is adding on year by year. Additionally, the low conversion rate of 25% from Agniveers to regular soldiers is going to further accentuate the shortfall. Given the short duration of four years, the training schedules have also been compressed accordingly.

With the huge demand for recruitment into the Army in some parts of the country, the scheme became a political issue as well as a campaign issue during the election. The country was rocked by violent protests when the scheme was announced. Several parties have demanded that it either be scrapped or the concerns addressed.

There is anger among “certain sections” on the Agnipath scheme, said JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi amidst talks within the NDA on government formation. “The Agnipath scheme should be reviewed clause by clause,” he said.

What is the current status?

As reported by The Hindu earlier, as the Agnipath scheme completes two years of implementation, the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the Defence Ministry headed by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) has sought feedback from the forces on the scheme. This, officials said, is in line with the regular practice in the armed forces of reviewing any major scheme introduced or any weapon platform inducted to make required changes based on a detailed assessment.

Broadly, recommendation for enhancing intake numbers, increasing the permanent recruitment from 25% to at least 50% are among the suggestions. Also, there is a proposal to increase the age limit for entry though the technical route from 21 to 23 years to attract enough technically qualified individuals. This is not a new proposal but also existed in the recruitment process earlier.

Defence officials have stated that Navy and Air Force have compiled the feedback to be sent to the DMA. However, the Army is still in the process of compilation and will take some more time, multiple officials confirmed. The DMA will compile all the recommendations and send it to the Defence Ministry.

WikiLeaks: the enemy of the deep state

Srinivasan Ramani

WikiLeaks’ fortunes have been inextricably tied with the travails of its co-founder Julian Assange , who after a decade-long legal battle with the U.S., has finally been let free

Freedom at last: Julian Assange at Bangkok Don Mueang International Airport, on June 25. REUTERSWikileaks via X

“Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks announced in a statement on X. “He left Belmarsh maximum security prison [in the U.K.] on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there”, it further read. The co-founder of the whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defence documents, thus ending his long battle against extradition to the U.S. He was flown out of the U.K. to attend the court hearing at Saipan, a U.S. Pacific territory, after which he will return to Australia.

Mr. Assange is wanted in the U.S. for criminal charges, including breaking the Espionage Act for WikiLeaks’ actions of leaking thousands of secret U.S. files in 2010. He was looking at a punishment ranging up to 175 years in prison for violations of the Espionage Act.

Mr. Assange’s journey to freedom wasn’t easy, and he had come dangerously close to extradition. On June 17, 2022, then U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel had signed an extradition order for Mr. Assange to the U.S. (which he was able to later appeal). On the same day, the Assange Defense Committee, a U.S.-based coalition of media rights and human rights groups, released a statement through its co-chairs, which include the renowned linguist and public intellectual Noam Chomsky and former U.S. military analyst and whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, that said the decision “was a sad day for western democracy”. It added: “U.S. government argues that its venerated Constitution does not protect journalism the government dislikes and that publishing truthful information in public interest is a subversive, criminal act. This argument is a threat not only to journalism, but to democracy itself.”

These were strong words in favour of a man who has been held in the U.K.’s Belmarsh prison ever since the Ecuador Embassy revoked his asylum and citizenship after he stayed for seven years on its premises in London. Mr. Assange initially underwent imprisonment for bail violations during his stay in the Ecuador Embassy and got a reprieve from a U.K district judge, Vanessa Baraitser, in January 2021, when she ruled that he could not be extradited to the U.S. because of concerns about his mental health and the possibility of suicide in a U.S prison with strict incarceration conditions.

U.S. prosecutors later filed an appeal, and the British High Court, this time in December 2021, ruled in favour of the U.S. following the Joe Biden administration’s assurances on the terms of Mr. Assange’s possible incarceration — that it would not hold him at the highest security prison facility (ADX Florence in Colorado, which houses terrorists, drug traffickers, and high-profile criminals) and that if he were convicted, he could serve his sentence in his native Australia if he requested it. Mr. Assange moved the British Supreme Court against the verdict, but on March 14, the Court refused permission to appeal.

Mr. Assange’s travails have mirrored those of the WikiLeaks organisation itself. In February 2022, on WikiLeaks’ website, the submission system for files (by whistleblowers, ‘hacktivists’, etc.) and its email server went completely offline, months after the organisation’s secure chat services had stopped working in October 2021. This was no surprise.

The organisation has been inevitably linked to its co-founder, who still remains a director. Ever since his incarceration, the release of whistleblower documents have only been few and far between and much less in consequence compared to what the organisation managed to achieve between 2010 and 2019.

Origins and impact

WikiLeaks’ journey began in 2006 when the website was first established and its domain name registered by Mr. Assange. While initially the website began as a disclosure portal on the lines of the Wikipedia model, with anonymous submissions being put up and edited by volunteers, it soon became a repository of anonymously sourced material. News and classified information could be uploaded on it using the anonymity software Tor, which protects the uploader’s identity from being eavesdropped on any network and even by WikiLeaks itself.

Internal dissension and wrangling between WikiLeaks employees had resulted in problems with the submission system, which resulted in its suspension in 2010, but WikiLeaks relaunched the site in 2015.

One of the earliest revelations by Wikileaks was on how the U.S. government had been deploying practices at the Guantanamo Bay facility holding terror suspects, that were in violation of the Geneva Convention protocols.

Some of the most consequential leaks during the period when the site’s anonymised submission system still remained active included the millions of classified files from the U.S. Defence Department on the Iraq and the Afghan invasions, besides lakhs of State Department communiques — both were released by former U.S. soldier Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning. These leaks began with a 39-minute video released on April 5, 2010 that showed gun-sight footage of two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters in action during the Iraqi insurgency against the U.S. occupation in 2007. The video showed the helicopter crew firing indiscriminately and killing civilians and two Reuters war correspondents. For nearly three years, Reuters had sought access to this video via the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, but had failed.

WikiLeaks promptly released the war logs, which were published by a host of media organisations and exposed human rights abuses by occupation forces, besides the increased fatality counts in Iraq. The war logs’ release was followed by the publication of several news stories, including by The Hindu, based on thousands of leaked diplomatic cables that were also released by Ms. Manning, leading to significant public exposure of the ways, lifestyles and attitudes of the elite in various countries.

The WikiLeaks model — using cryptographic tools to protect sources and allowing for anonymous “leaks” of sensitive information (that could also be in public interest) to be published — suddenly brought forth a new model of extensive investigative journalism into areas that were relatively shielded from the public eye, such as the functioning of the deep state in democratic societies and the operation of power agencies in autocracies.

While initially the cables were released to five newspapers that undertook the exercise of redacting sensitive information before reporting on them and published them over a year from late 2010 to 2011, the leak of the encryption key of the full cache of files (of what was then termed “Cablegate”), resulted in the release of unredacted material, an action that was condemned by many media outlets.

The lack of an anonymised submission system between 2010 and 2015 did not deter it from publishing other files that were obtained from other hackers such as the Stratfor email leaks. Later, WikiLeaks also published then presidential candidate (and former Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton’s aide John Podesta’s emails before the 2016 presidential elections. This action invited severe critique of WikiLeaks from activists and media personnel, who likened these leaks to an effort to intervene in the 2016 elections with Mr. Assange having been quoted as saying he wanted to “harm” Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency and accusing WikiLeaks of obtaining this information from Russian intelligence agency hackers, something Wikileaks denied.

Later, it emerged that someone from WikiLeaks had conversed with Clinton’s presidential opponent, Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., seeking to promote the leaks and even asking for favours for Mr. Assange in Twitter DM conversations.

Probe in the U.S.

Wikileaks’ releases, meanwhile, resulted in reprisals from the U.S. government. The Barack Obama administration began investigation of the Manning leaks, and Ms. Manning was convicted by court martial in July 2013 for violating the Espionage Act and underwent rigorous imprisonment before her sentence was commuted in January 2017 by the President. However, the administration concluded that it would not pursue criminal charges against Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks. The U.S. Justice Department under former President Donald Trump, however, charged Mr. Assange with collaborating in a conspiracy with Ms. Manning to crack a password on a Defense Department network to publish classified documents and communications on WikiLeaks in a sealed indictment in April 2017. These charges were unsealed in 2019.

Later, the Trump administration further charged Mr. Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 — he was indicted on 17 new charges related to the Act at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. In June 2020, the charges were further expanded for conspiracy with hacker groups. The Biden administration had made no attempt to reverse these charges. Until now.

In April, Mr. Biden said that he was considering a request from Australia to drop its prosecution of Mr. Assange, indicating a change in policy. And now the U.S. with the plea deal has agreed to drop all other charges, except one, against the whistleblower.

Mr. Assange’s legal case sets a precedent for the future of investigative journalism of the kind that WikiLeaks represents and also serves as a litmus test for free expression laws that allow for unhindered journalism in countries like the U.S.. While the organisation is now a shell of what it was a decade ago, its ability to harness the act of whistleblowing to shine a light on the inner workings of those in power transformed investigative journalism, even as its decisions to intervene in the U.S. polity complicated its legacy.

The copy, published on June 19, 2022, has been updated.

J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ was first published on this day in 1997. Quiz yourself on the book, and the subsequent film of the same name

Sindhu Nagaraj

Visual question: This actor essayed the role of one of the most famous characters in the whole series. However, after portraying the role for two films, he passed away, after which another actor played the role. Name both actors. Which is the character?APGEORGE COURTNEY WARD

Question 1

Let’s start with a simple and fun question. After the letters failed to reach Harry, which character travels to Harry’s house to personally deliver the Hogwarts acceptance letter?

Question 2

Which filmmaker had become a fan of the book series after his daughter persuaded him to read the first three books, leading him to call his agent to arrange a meeting at Warner Bros. to direct the film?

Question 3

Another from the book’s plot: what is the platform number to board the Hogwarts Express at King’s Cross railway station?

Question 4

The director of the film (answer to question 2) wanted Daniel Radcliffe to be cast for the role of Harry. Which previous work of Radcliffe had impressed the director to cast him for the role?

Question 5

This character is a poltergeist who causes trouble in Hogwarts. Rik Mayall was cast for this character’s role in the film, but his scenes were cut from the final film, which eventually led to the character being omitted from all the Harry Potter films that followed. What is the name of the character?

Questions and Answers to the previous day’s daily quiz: 1. The place where India’ s first Test match was held and its result. Ans: At the iconic Lord’s and India went down by 158 runs

2. The two ‘royals who stepped down for the Test and the veteran star who was chosen to lead. Ans: Maharaja of Porbandar Natwarsinhji Bhavsinhji Sahib Bahadur and his brother-in-law Ghanshyamsinhji Daulatsinhji gave way for Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu to helm the side

3. The England captain who became ‘infamously’ famous later that year. Ans: Douglas Jardine of ‘Bodyline’ fame

4. The siblings who donned the India whites in the historic first Test. Ans: Syed Nazir Ali and Syed Wazir Ali

5. The distinction Bill Bowes shares with the 11 Indians who played in that match. Ans: He was the lone English debutant!

6. Lall Singh born in this country. Ans: Malaysia

Visual: Name this tearaway fast bowler. Ans: Mohammad Nissar

Early Birds: Prashant Nain| Vamsi Mamidala| M. Suresh Kumar| Tamal Biswas| Abhinav Satwat

Know your English

K. Subrahmanian

1 of 2

2 of 2

“What is the meaning of ‘save’ in the following sentence? ‘In our country, save for some big cities, boys and girls cannot mingle freely.’ (N, Ulaganathan, Madras)”

“It means ‘with the exception of’. What the writer means is that in our country boys and girls cannot mix freely except in some big cities. Here are some examples:

I know nothing about Sailaja save that she’s Hari’s wife.

No one saw the gruesome accident, save Balagopal.

In these two sentences, the word ‘save’ is used as a synonym for ‘except’. This use of ‘save’ is normally found in formal writing. You hardly ever use the word in the sense of ‘except’ in conversation. If you do, you are likely to be thought of as a snob. What would your friend think if you told him, “Listen Vasu. I’d like to help you save I have no money. I’m broke!” In fact, some grammarians disapprove the use of ‘save’ even in writing. They feel that ‘save’ is old fashioned.”

“Can we say ‘thank you ever so much’? (V. R. Moorthi, Thiruvananthapuram)”

“Yes, we can. But this expression is not used very often. “Thank you ever so much” cannot be used with everybody. One has to be careful with the use of this expression. It should be used only with the people you are very, very intimate with — relatives, and close friends.

Thank you ever so much for the wonderful pair of earrings, Aunty.

That was a wonderful meal, Usha. Thank you ever so much.

This expression is normally used when someone has done or given something for which your are very, very grateful. The more common ways of thanking people are: ‘thanks’, ‘thank you’, ‘many thanks’, ‘thank you very much’, ‘thanks a lot’, ‘thanks a million’, and ‘thanks awfully’. ‘Thanks a lot’, ‘thanks a million’ and ‘thanks awfully’ should not be used in formal situations; they are colloquial expressions. But don’t say ‘thank you a lot’ and ‘thank you a million’.”

“Go down with (V. Kulkarni, Nagpur).”

“You ‘go down with’ an illness.

Her son has gone down with dysentery.

For a couple of days, she was feeling awfully tired and finally went down with a flu.

“’Drop round’ in ‘She dropped round last evening’. (S. S. Bhatnagar, New Delhi)”

“’Drop round’ means to visit someone without giving notice, without any appointment.

She dropped round on her way back from office.

‘Drop in’ and ‘drop by’ also mean the same as ‘drop round’. ‘Drop in’ and ‘drop by’ are more frequently used.

Published in The Hindu on June 30, 1992.

Business

- Sugar output set to rise on good monsoon: Joshi

- ‘Water stress can hurt credit profile’

- JPMorgan bond index India entry to draw $11 billion from S. Africa, Poland, Thailand

- Cotton consumption second highest in 10 years, says Ministry

- India’s external debt rises $39.7 bn YoY to $663.8 bn: RBI data

- Quant MF investors redeem in panic

- FinMin must raise RoDTEP outlay: FIEO

- K-shaped recovery fuelling similar trend in inflation: HSBC

- India kicks off $11.5 billion telecom spectrum auction

- ‘India’s coal use overtook N. America and Europe’

- ‘India must focus on reducing inflation to 4%’

- iD Fresh Food announces expansion to 11 cities

- TI Clean Mobility completes fund raising for EV verticals

- China’s retail outlook dims after mid-year shopping festival flop

- Bank of Japan opens door for a hawkish double surprise

- Japanese households facing more pain from weak yen: BOJ watcher

- Trouble in cocoa land

- ‘Adani mulls ₹1.3-lakh-crore in FY25 capex’

Sugar output set to rise on good monsoon: Joshi

Prabhudatta Mishra

New Delhi

Watchword is caution: A decision on exporting sugar will be taken after first determining the total output, says Joshi. REUTERSAMIT DAVE

Sugar production in India, the world’s largest consumer and second-biggest producer, is set to rise next season (October 2024-September 2025), but the Union government indicated there is no plan to allow export at least during current season as it wants to keep a watch on how rainfall pans out over different regions.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference, Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “it is estimated there will be better (cane) production than last year. However, it all depends on how will be the rainfall (distribution), though India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted above-normal monsoon.”

On whether India will allow sugar export, Mr. Joshi said, “first, we will have to see how is the monsoon rainfall this year. We will take a decision on (export) based on how much will be the sugar production.”

According to the estimate of Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), sugar production in the current season ending September 30, may be about 32 million tonne. Though there is no ban on export of sugar, the government has not issued any permit except for some quantities on diplomatic requests.

The Minister said since sugarcane consumes a lot of water, there is a need to reduce the water intake for which research and development should focus on it. “We will make a balance in the interests of both consumers and farmers,” he said and stressed on promotion of ethanol, which is a by-product of sugarcane, amid climate change impact.

Earlier, inaugurating the “Sugar & Bio-Energy — Emerging Vistas” workshop, organised by the International Sugar Organisation (ISO), Mr. Joshi said sugar has a traditional linkage with Indian consumers as every event has to have sweet distribution.

In his address, Sanjeev Chopra, Chairman, ISO, said the earlier expectation was lower production of sugar in 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Better output

“However, the weather god has been kind and rains have been quite good in western and southern parts of India. We are hoping in 2024-25 season, we will end up with better than expected sugar production number. This will ensure that not only we would be able to meet the requirements of the domestic sugar consumption, but also to set aside reasonable quantity for the purpose of making ethanol,” said Mr. Chopra, also the Union Food Secretary.

Ethanol blending

Highlighting the success story of India’s ethanol blending with petrol (EBP) programme, he said from a level of 1.2% blending in 2013-14 it has reached 12.5% till end of May in current Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) that runs from November to October. The government is committed to achieve 20% blending by 2025-26, he added.

He also said probably the supply of ethanol from grain-based plants would be more than from sugar-based distilleries in 2023-24 ESY.

Industry sources said till now, in the total supply of 327 crore litre of ethanol, the share of grain-based and sugarcane-based distilleries were almost equal. However, going forward, the sugar industry may not be able to supply due to government’s restrictions on making ethanol from cane juice. Even, oil marketing firms have placed more quantities with grain-based plants due to availability issue with sugar mills.

To achieve 15% EBP in current ESY, as targeted by the government, the ethanol requirement is about 700 crore litre out of which oil marketing companies (OMCs) have already contracted to procure about 648 crore litre.

(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)

‘Water stress can hurt credit profile’

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

Moody’s says India among those most vulnerable to water management risks ; country has the poorest access to basic services, including water, among G-20 economies, the rating major flags; warns of implications to sovereign credit strength

Moody’s Ratings on Tuesday warned that India’s growing water shortage and increasingly frequent climate change-driven natural disasters, amid a rise in consumption and rapid economic growth, could negatively impact the country’s sovereign credit strength.

Currently rated Baa3 stable, which as per Mooddy’s denotes the lowest investment grade rating, India is susceptible to increasing water stress, and any drop in water supply, for which it is heavily reliant on monsoon rains, could disrupt operations in factories and farms. This, the rating firm said, would spur inflation in food prices and declines in income for affected businesses and communities, while sparking social unrest.

“This, in turn, can exacerbate volatility in India’s growth and undermine the economy’s ability to withstand shocks given that more than 40% of the country’s workforce is employed in agriculture,” Moody’s said in a note on environmental risks for India, identifying coal-fired power generation and steel production as the industrial sectors most vulnerable to water stress.

‘Poorest access’

Moody’s stressed that India is one of the sovereigns most vulnerable to risks associated with water management and has the poorest access to basic services, including water, among G-20 economies.

India’s fast economic growth, accompanied by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, is reducing water availability in the most populous country.

Average annual water availability per capita is likely to drop to 1,367 cubic meters by 2031 from an already-low 1,486 cubic meters in 2021, Moody’s said. A level below 1,700 cubic meters indicates water stress, with 1,000 cubic meters the threshold for water scarcity, as per the Water Resources Ministry.

JPMorgan bond index India entry to draw $11 billion from S. Africa, Poland, Thailand

Reuters

India’s imminent inclusion in the world’s most widely followed emerging market bond index, JPMorgan’s GBI-EM, is expected to draw a combined $11 billion away from South Africa, Poland and Thailand’s local markets, the bank’s analysts have estimated.

The Wall Street lender said India’s entry, which starts on Friday and will take 10 months to complete, was likely to pull $4.7 billion from South Africa, $3.3 billion from Poland and $3.2 billion from Thailand.

It will also pull $2.9 billion and $2.5 billion from the Czech Republic and Chile respectively.

‘Zero-sum game’

“For EM-dedicated investors, we view India’s index inclusion as a zero-sum game and expect outflows from other EM local bond markets to accommodate,” JPMorgan’s strategists led by Michael Harrison said.

On a broader level, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) area is estimated to see the largest regional hit to index weight.

EMEA EM’s aggregate weight is expected to drop to 26.2% by March when India’s inclusion is complete compared to about 32% at the start of this month and 40% in 2021, before Russia’s 2022 exclusion from the index following its invasion of Ukraine.

International investors bought more than $10 billion of Indian government bonds in the nine months since India’s inclusion was announced in September, taking their ownership to a record high.

Cotton consumption second highest in 10 years, says Ministry

The Hindu Bureau

COIMBATORE

Cotton consumption by the textile industry in the current marketing season (October 2023 to September 2024) is one of the highest this decade, said a press release from the Ministry of Textiles.

The third meeting of the Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption for this season was held on Monday. Roop Rashi, Textile Commissioner, said this year will be the second-highest consumption in 10 years with demand of about 307 lakh bales, including 103 lakh bales from the MSME textile units.

Cotton production this season is expected to be 325.22 lakh bales, imports 12 lakh bales, and exports 28 lakh bales. The season is likely to end with 47.38 lakh bales as closing stock.

Industry stakeholders said current Indian cotton prices are higher than those internationally and are unlikely to rise further, and textile mills are operating at 75-80% capacity.

India’s external debt rises $39.7 bn YoY to $663.8 bn: RBI data

The Hindu Bureau

MUMBAI

India’s external debt at the end of March 2024 was at $663.8 billion, an increase of $39.7 billion from its level at end-March 2023.

The external debt-to-GDP ratio declined to 18.7% at end-March 2024 from 19.0% at end-March 2023, according to data released by RBI on Tuesday.

Valuation effect due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar vis-à-vis the Indian rupee and other major currencies such as yen, euro and SDR amounted to $8.7 billion.

U.S. dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India’s external debt, with a share of 53.8% at end-March 2024, followed by debt denominated in the Indian rupee (31.5%), yen (5.8%), SDR (5.4%), and euro (2.8%). Outstanding debt of both government and non-government sectors increased at end-March 2024 over the year earlier level.

Loans remained the largest component of external debt at 33.4%, followed by currency and deposits (23.3%), trade credit and advances (17.9%) and debt securities (17.3%).

Quant MF investors redeem in panic

Suresh P. Iyengar

Mumbai

Quant Mutual Fund has started feeling the initial ripple effect of the ongoing investigation by market regulator SEBI into front-running charges with investors redeeming investment in a knee-jerk reaction.

The net asset value of most of the fund house’s schemes have declined despite markets remaining bullish. With trust being the basis of a mutual fund, many financial advisors are recommending investors to book profit.

The NAV of Quant PSU Fund fell by 1.09% on Monday while that of small-cap and mid-cap was down 0.66% and 0.94%, respectively. The NAV of Quant Active Fund slid 0.69%.

Other than the normal note from the fund house, there has been no communication or assurance from the SEBI or the Association of Mutual Funds of India and financial advisors do not want to risk their reputation by advising clients to stay invested in Quant MF schemes, said Avinash Karpe, a MF distributor.

Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director, Morningstar Investment Research India said while investors can choose not to invest incremental money in these funds, an ideal approach will be to hold on to the existing investments.

Instead of knee-jerk reaction, he said, investors can make more informed decisions once there is greater clarity on the situation as the case is still under probe and no conclusions have been reached.

(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)

FinMin must raise RoDTEP outlay: FIEO

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

Focus on fiscal austerity must not come in the way of ensuring zero rating for exports, the FIEO urged the Finance Ministry, signalling the need to raise outlay for Remission of Duties, Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme.

In a pre-Budget consultation chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Federation of Indian Exporters’ Organisations (FIEO) President Ashwani Kumar said zero rating of exports is an “avowed policy” of the government and should not be limited due to budgetary constraints.

Zero rating of exports means no local taxes are added to export goods. The RoDTEP scheme is aimed at refunding duties incurred in production or export process to the exporter. RoDTEP has a budget of ₹15,070 crore for 2024-25.

The FM also held consultations on education, skilling and employment with domain experts.

K-shaped recovery fuelling similar trend in inflation: HSBC

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

An uneven K-shaped recovery in economic growth is also fuelling a similar trajectory for inflation dynamics, with food and rural price rise outpacing the inflation in other goods and services, and that faced by urban consumers, respectively, HSBC researchers said on Tuesday.

There has been much debate over India’s post-pandemic recovery being driven by demand for higher-end goods and services. Apart from the dichotomy between rural and urban inflation, and food prices compared with other goods, HSBC pointed to goods inflation being higher than that for services.

“Perhaps inflation and growth dynamics were never meant to differ,” HSBC’s chief economist for India and Indonesia Pranjul Bhandari wrote. “The same shocks that are driving the variance in growth, like the pandemic and climate change, hurting some groups more than others, are also likely driving the variance in prices,” Ms. Bhandari added.

India kicks off $11.5 billion telecom spectrum auction

India has offered telecom spectrum worth about ₹962.38 billion ($11.53 billion) for auction on Tuesday, even as analysts expect lacklustre participation from players as they shore up their existing spectrum. A total of 10 GHz of radiowaves is up for sale in this auction, ranging between 800 MHz to 26 GHz. The government derives a big chunk of its revenue from spectrum auctions, which award telecom companies rights over airwaves for a particular period. reuters

‘India’s coal use overtook N. America and Europe’

The Hindu Bureau

Bengaluru

For the first time, India’s coal consumption surpassed that of North America and Europe combined in the calendar year 2023, Energy Institute and KPMG said in a report titled ‘2024 Statistical Review of World Energy’.

Fossil fuel use accelerated in India and many African nations, outpacing the growth of renewables, the organisations observed.

Anish De, Global Head, Energy, KPMG said, “Globally, energy demand was up 2% and emissions exceeded 40 Gross Tonnage for the first time.”

‘India must focus on reducing inflation to 4%’

Reuters

MUMBAI

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Tuesday that India needs a clear and unambiguous focus to lower inflation to its 4% goal.

Retail inflation eased to 4.75% in May, from 4.83% in April.

“When dealing with the challenge of inflation, a single wrong move can distract you, throw you off track and coming back on track would be far more costly and will [take] much more time,” Mr. Das said in a speech.

iD Fresh Food announces expansion to 11 cities

iD Fresh Food, a Bengaluru-based food products company, on Tuesday, announced its pan-India expansion into 11 new cities, including tier 2 and tier 3 markets, across six states. Clocking in 25% year-on-year growth, the company said it was eyeing a revenue of ₹700 crore in FY2024-25. ‘‘As we prepare for international expansion and IPO journey, our aim is to become the market leader in these regions within the next 12 to 18 months,” said Global CEO and co-founder P.C. Musthafa.

TI Clean Mobility completes fund raising for EV verticals

Tl Clean Mobility Pvt. Ltd. (TICMPL) said it had raised the targeted fund of ₹3,000 crore from Tube Investments of India Ltd. (TII) and other investors to fund multiple verticals of electric vehicles. On Tuesday, the Murugappa group firm said in a filing it allotted 1,60,00,000 Series A2 compulsorily convertible preference shares to South Asia Growth lnvest lll LLC, amounting to ₹160 crore. TICMPL is currently focused on creating EV-native commercial vehicle platforms.

China’s retail outlook dims after mid-year shopping festival flop

Reuters

SHANGHAI

E-commerce sales declined for the first time during the so-called 618 festival that ended last week ; discounts have become available year-round since the pandemic, with retailers competitively offering them to woo stingy consumers, thereby helping stunt sales growth during big shopping festivals

1 of 2 Spending slump: Chinese consumer sentiment has remained stubbornly low since 2022.REUTERSTINGSHU WANG

2 of 2 If Chinese consumers are not spending during this (618 sale), when on earth are they going to consume? Alicia Garcia-Herrero Asia Pacific chief economist,Natixis

Retailers in China face a daunting near-term future after a disappointing mid-year online shopping festival that has also clouded the recovery prospects of the world’s second-largest economy.

E-commerce sales declined for the first time during the so-called 618 festival that ended last week, reports said, reflecting the pressures building up on retailers who are already locked in a gruelling price war.

The festival, named after the June 18 founding date of e-commerce provider JD.com but embraced by all platforms, is China’s second-biggest annual sales event after ‘Singles Day’ in November and is seen as a key indicator of household consumption in the country.

The two events once showcased the rampant rise of Chinese consumerism, providing a reliable bump in sales for platforms and brands alike. The last time Alibaba reported Singles Day revenue, in 2021, sales hit $84.54 billion over the event’s duration.

This year, however, 618 sales numbers have instead proven just how hard it is to get consumers spending at all.

“Chinese spend has been basically focused on sales opportunities and coupons. If they’re not spending during this (618 sale), when on earth are they going to consume?” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Asia Pacific chief economist at Natixis.

To be fair to the event, discounts have become available year-round since the pandemic, with retailers competitively offering them to woo belt-tightening consumers, thereby helping stunt sales growth during big shopping festivals.

Sales during the marquee Singles Day shopping bonanza last year grew just 2%.

While the discounting has helped slow the flow of consumers away from platforms such as JD.com and Alibaba-owned Tmall and Taobao to low-cost players such as Pinduoduo, it has not supercharged consumer spending—recent quarterly results showed revenues for Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce arm rose by only 4%.

Investors also remain unconvinced, with Alibaba shares trading around 5% down this year and JD.com down over 3%.

But the bigger concern is weak consumer sentiment, which has remained stubbornly low since 2022.

A new Bank of America’s China consumer survey found that sentiment weakened further in June.

The share of respondents who plan to spend more over the next six months fell to 45% in June, compared to 55% in April. And only 31% of respondents are expecting an increase in income over the next six months, a fall of 10 percentage points from April.

‘Everest commerce’

Josh Gardner, CEO of Kung Fu Data, which manages online stores for over a dozen global brands, said e-commerce in China is commonly referred to as “Everest commerce” for its enormous sales peaks around 618 and Singles Day.

But these peaks may become less pointy as sales periods lengthen and consumers lose interest, turning instead to everyday discounts offered, for example by livestream shopping on platforms such as ByteDance-owned Douyin, he said.

“I think what we’re seeing this year is a shift away from full price retail altogether... It’s more rational consumption and caution and looking for value,” Mr. Gardner said.

Consumers in China have been reluctant to spend amid concerns about their personal wealth fuelled by a real estate slump, stunted wage growth and high youth unemployment, putting at risk China achieving its stated economic growth goal of “around 5%” this year.

But rather than stimulate consumption—as they once reliably did—festivals such as 618 might be working against a consumption rebound in a year like this in which everyone is focused on buying what they need at the lowest possible price.

Kang Li, a 45-year-old mother-of-one who works in sales in the southern city of Changsha, is among those who are turning more frugal and shunning purchases of non-essential items.

“(I bought) household essentials, and some clothes and shoes for my kid, plus my own skincare products,” Ms. Kang said, referring to her 618 shopping this year.

“Basically, I stock up on these when shopping events like 618 come around so I don’t need to purchase them again for half a year,” when Singles Day rolls around, she added.

Jason Yu, greater China managing director of market research firm Kantar Worldpanel, warned that the coming months would be challenging for retailers as people bought what they needed during 618.

“This pantry loading behaviour is an overdraft of the future consumption potential... July is going to be very challenging,” he said.

Ms. Garcia-Herrero of Natixis forecast the second half is likely to see retail sales growing only by low single digits, meaning consumption’s share of China’s GDP will shrink rather than expand as many economists believe it needs to.

“This is terrible news for rebalancing the global economy because China will continue to have to export its way out of trouble,” she said.

Bank of Japan opens door for a hawkish double surprise

Reuters

TOKYO

Policy change: The BOJ could make a “sizeable” cut to its bond buying programme. REUTERSKIM KYUNG-HOON

The Bank of Japan is dropping signals its quantitative tightening (QT) plan in July could be bigger than markets think, and may even be accompanied by an interest rate hike, as it steps up a steady retreat from its still-huge monetary stimulus.

Hawkish hints delivered over the past week highlight the pressure the central bank faces in the wake of renewed yen falls, which could push inflation well above its 2% target by raising import costs.

Notwithstanding a market shock or severe economic downturn, a rate hike would be on the table at each policy meeting, including July’s, said three sources familiar with its thinking.

“Given what’s happening with inflation, interest rates are clearly too low,” said one of the sources. “Much depends on upcoming data, but a July rate hike is a possibility,” another source said, a view echoed by a third source.

The BOJ kept interest rates steady around zero this month.

However, the board debated the need for a timely hike with one member signaling the chance of doing so to prevent cost pressures from pushing up inflation too much, a summary of the meeting showed on Monday.

That was largely read as a sign the bank is gearing up for near-term action.

Governor Kazuo Ueda told reporters after the meeting that a rate hike next month cannot be ruled out.

Hiking rates at the July 30-31 meeting could have a huge impact on markets, as the BOJ also intends to announce a detailed plan on how it would trim its massive bond buying and reduce the size of its $5 trillion balance sheet.

Mr. Ueda has said the BOJ could make a “sizeable” cut to its bond buying, suggesting the scale of reduction could be large to ensure markets shake off the shackles of yield curve control—a policy that was ditched in March.

Balancing act

As with other central banks, the focus of the BOJ would be to craft a QT plan that avoids causing unwelcome spikes in bond yields. But concerns over the weak yen also require the QT plan to be ambitious enough to avoid underwhelming market expectations and triggering sharp declines in the yen.

The trade-off means the BOJ will likely announce a plan to trim monthly buying at a steady, set pace, while leaving some flexibility to adjust the speed as needed, the sources said.

While there is no consensus within the bank on the details, one idea being brainstormed is a design similar to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s that mechanically trims buying, albeit with more flexibility.

The BOJ can do this by indicating a narrow range, instead of a set figure, at which it will trim bond buying. It can also insert an “escape clause” that pledges to slow or temporarily halt tapering if markets become too volatile, the sources said.

The bank will taper across various bond maturities in a way that does not cause distortions in the yield curve, they said.

The BOJ will hold a meeting with bond market participants on July 9-10 to collect their views on what kind of plan will work, a move one board member said was aimed at ensuring it can trim buying “to a greater extent,” the June meeting summary showed.

Izuru Kato, chief economist at Totan Research and a veteran BOJ watcher, said the central bank must balance the need for exchange rate stability with the need for bond market stability.

For that reason, it may look to deepen the cuts to its bond buying each quarter.

“If the yen keeps weakening, the BOJ could do both the taper and a rate hike in July,” Mr. Kato said. “Just going with a taper might not be enough to prevent the yen from falling further.”

Japanese households facing more pain from weak yen: BOJ watcher

Reuters

TOKYO

Policy pain: The weak yen has boosted the cost of imported inputs, pushing up inflation and hurting consumption. REUTERSDado Ruvic

Japanese households are bearing the brunt of the central bank’s snail-pace normalisation of loose monetary policy which is giving investors a perfect excuse to push down the yen, Izuru Kato, a prominent Bank of Japan watcher, said on Tuesday.

The weak yen has become a headache for Japanese policymakers by boosting the cost of imported raw materials, pushing up inflation and hurting consumption.

Mindful of the negative economic impact of the weak currency, the BOJ could raise interest rates in July and move them up to 1% by the end of next year, said Mr. Kato, chief economist at Totan Research who has close ties with incumbent policymakers.

“Real rates remain very low in Japan and the BOJ’s balance sheet extraordinarily huge,” he told Reuters in an interview. “The longer it keeps rates low, the bigger the risk of causing a damaging spiral of a weakening yen and rising inflation.”

The yen has depreciated more than 10% against the U.S. dollar so far this year.

As wages failed to rise more than inflation, Japan’s real consumption remains below levels before the BOJ deployed its massive asset-buying programme in 2013, he said.

While the BOJ ended eight years of negative rates and other remnants of its radical stimulus in March, it keeps short-term rates at about zero and continues to buy roughly ¥6 trillion ($37.6 billion) of government bonds each month. “With the yen so weak now, the central bank needs to reconsider its priorities. In the end, exchange-rate stability is as important as bond market stability,” he said,

Trouble in cocoa land

Harvesting woes: Recently extracted cocoa beans at a farm in Asikasu. Despite government efforts to stabilise the sector and recent soaring global cocoa prices, many Ghana farmers say they feel abandoned and have turned to illicit trade to survive in the world’s number two producer. Ghana is emerging from one of it worst economic crisis in years after securing a $3 billion credit from the International Monetary Fund and restructuring most of its debt. AFPCRISTINA ALDEHUELA

‘Adani mulls ₹1.3-lakh-crore in FY25 capex’

Avinash Nair

Ahmedabad

Fund-raising spree: The Adani Group is planning to raise $2-3 billion in equity in FY25.REUTERSAMIIT DAVE

The Adani Group is planning a capital expenditure of ₹1.3-lakh crore in 2024-25, Jugeshinder Singh, Group CFO, said on Tuesday. This is almost double the capex of 2023-24. Of the total capex for FY25, 85% will be in the airport business and for Adani New Industries.

Mr. Singh said Adani Enterprises will list the airport business in FY28. Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. currently manages seven facilities.

This comes a day after Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said the group was “well-positioned to continue the economic and social programmes that have taken the company on a spectacular journey” in the last 10 years.

‘Asset completion’ year

“This year will largely be an asset completion year. The Navi Mumbai airport will be completed and will be handed over by this year or early next year,” Mr. Singh said, adding that smaller aircraft such as Cessna have started landing at the Navi Mumbai airport as part of the “testing process”.

The capital expenditure for 2023-24 for the Adani Group was ₹70,000 crore, which included completed assets of ₹57,000 crore. While addressing the media at Ahmedabad on Tuesday, Mr. Singh also said subsidiary Adani Green will spend an estimated ₹34,000 crore to add 6-7 Gigawatt (GW) in the current financial year, including capacities at Khavda in Gujarat. The group plans to raise $2-3 billion in equity in FY25.

(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)

Foreign

- ICC issues warrants for Russia Army chief, ex-Minister

- Five shot dead as protesters breach Kenya’s parliament

- Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with first samples from far side of the moon

- ‘Love sans boundaries’

- Julian Assange set to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge and then walk free

- Start enrolling ultra-Orthodox into Army, says Israeli court

- Regions east of Mahakali river are ours, says Nepal PM

- 10 children per day are losing one or two legs in Gaza, says UNRWA

- U.S. surgeon general declares gun violence public health emergency

- Indians in Italy protest to end ‘slavery’ following worker’s death

- Russia set to block dozens of EU media outlets in 'retaliatory' move

- EU, China charge batteries for ‘trade war’ over tariff on electric vehicles

- Ukraine begins formalities for EU membership, with accession set to take years

- Fight for rights

- Macron under fire over France ‘civil war’ warning

- New ‘tipping point’ of runaway melting found in Antarctica

- Ethnic groups continue fight against junta in Myanmar

ICC issues warrants for Russia Army chief, ex-Minister

Agence France-Presse

The Hague

Controversial figures: Valery Gerasimov and Sergei Shoigu are accused of directing attacks at civilian targets.AP

The International Criminal Court on Tuesday said it had issued arrest warrants for Russia’s Army chief and former Defence Minister over strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure that constituted alleged war crimes.

The ICC warrants are the latest in a series of actions by the court over the Ukraine war, including an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The warrants, issued on Monday but made public on Tuesday, concerned the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, and former Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The pair is accused of the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian targets and causing excessive incidental harm to civilians, as well as the crime against humanity of “inhumane acts” in Ukraine, the ICC said in a statement.

ICC judges said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023.” The court said these strikes were “directed against civilian objects” and even when targets could be considered military, civilian damage “would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage”.

Ukraine hailed the “important” decision, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Kyiv hoped to see the pair “behind bars”.

“This decision is a clear indication that justice for Russian crimes against Ukrainians is inevitable,” Mr. Zelenskyy said on social media.

Russia dismissed the warrants as “insignificant”.

The country’s security council said: “It’s all hot air since the ICC’s jurisdiction does not cover Russia” and the decision was taken “as part of the West’s hybrid war against our country.”

The ICC, based in The Hague, does not have its own police force to enforce arrest warrants. It relies on the justice systems of its 124 members to carry them out.

In theory, anyone under a warrant is prevented from travelling to an ICC member state for fear of arrest.

Mr. Putin himself has travelled abroad, notably to Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — none of whom are ICC members.

However, he did skip a meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group in South Africa, which would have been expected to carry out the warrant.

“As I have repeatedly emphasised, no individual, anywhere in the world, should feel they can act with impunity,” said ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who pressed the charges.

Moscow lashed out at the warrant against Mr. Putin, calling it “void” and issuing its own warrant against the ICC’s president in response.

Five shot dead as protesters breach Kenya’s parliament

Agence France-Presse

Nairobi

As demonstrators enter parliament complex, fire erupts and police begin shooting, injuring 31 ; lawmakers were debating a contentious Bill featuring tax hike proposals that citizens opposed

Burning house: Protesters run to take cover at the fence of the Kenyan Parliament in Nairobi on Tuesday.AFPLUIS TATO

Five persons were shot dead and 31 wounded on Tuesday during protests in Kenya over proposed tax hikes, as crowds opposed to the move breached barricades to enter the parliamentary complex where a fire erupted.

The rallies, led by the youth, began last week, and caught the government off guard, with President William Ruto saying over the weekend he was ready to talk to the protesters.

But tensions escalated sharply on Tuesday afternoon, as crowds began to throw stones at police and push back against barricades, making their way towards the parliament complex, which was sealed off by police in full riot gear.

Police fired at crowds massing outside the parliament building, where lawmakers had been debating a contentious Bill featuring tax hike proposals.

Shortly before, Irungu Houghton, the executive director of Amnesty International Kenya, said “human rights observers are now reporting the increasing use of live bullets by the National Police Service in the capital of Nairobi”.

Anger over a cost-of-living crisis spiralled into nationwide rallies last week, with demonstrators calling for the Finance Bill to be scrapped.

Despite a heavy police presence, thousands of protesters had earlier marched through Nairobi’s business district, pushing back against barricades as they headed towards parliament. Police in full riot gear were firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd.

Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with first samples from far side of the moon

Associated Press

BANGKOK

New landmark: The landing module of the Chang’e-6 moon probe after it landed in Inner Mongolia in northern China on Tuesday.AFPSTRINGER

China’s Chang’e 6 probe returned on Earth with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first.

The probe landed in the Inner Mongolian region in northern China on Tuesday afternoon.

“I now declare that the Chang’e 6 Lunar Exploration Mission achieved complete success,” Zhang Kejian, Director of the China National Space Administration, said in a news conference after the landing.

Chinese scientists anticipate the returned samples will include 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock and other material that scientists hope will answer questions about geographic differences on the moon’s two sides.

The near side is what is seen from Earth, and the far side faces outer space. The far side is also known to have mountains and impact craters, contrasting with the relatively flat expanses visible on the near side of the moon.

The probe had landed in the moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater created more than 4 billion years ago.

The samples scientists are expecting will likely come from different layers of the basin, which will bear traces of the different geological events across its long chronology, such as when the moon was younger and had an active inside that could produce volcanic rock.

First of its kind

While past U.S. and Soviet missions have collected samples from the moon’s near side, the Chinese mission was the first that has collected samples from the far side.

The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the U.S. — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.

China’s leader Xi Jinping sent a message of congratulations to the Chang’e team, saying that it was a “landmark achievement in our country’s efforts at becoming a space and technological power.”

‘Love sans boundaries’

Ten LGBTQ couples celebrate “getting married in a mass wedding” ceremony in Hong Kong on Tuesday, performed by a pastor online from the State of Utah in the U.S., as same-sex marriages or civil unions are not recognised in Hong Kong. AFPPETER PARKS

Julian Assange set to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge and then walk free

Associated Press

BANGKOK

Julian Assange

A plane with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange departed Bangkok after refuelling on Tuesday and he is on the way to Saipan to enter a plea deal with the U.S. government that will free him and resolve the legal case over the publication of a trove of classified documents.

The chartered flight from London that Mr. Assange’s wife, Stella, confirmed was carrying her husband left Don Mueang International Airport, according to the Flightradar24 plane tracking app. The official WikiLeaks account on X said Mr. Assange was heading toward Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific, where he's scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

He’s expected to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information, according to the U.S. Justice Department in a letter filed in court.

Mr. Assange is expected to return to his home country of Australia after his plea and sentencing.

The plea deal brings an abrupt conclusion to a criminal case of international intrigue and to the U.S. government’s yearslong pursuit of a publisher whose hugely popular secret-sharing website made him a cause célèbre among many press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose U.S. military wrongdoing.

Stella Assange told the BBC from Australia that it had been “touch and go” over the past 72 hours whether the deal would go ahead but she felt “elated” at the news.

Start enrolling ultra-Orthodox into Army, says Israeli court

Associated Press

JERUSALEM

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for compulsory service, a landmark decision that could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel continues to wage war in Gaza.

The historic ruling effectively puts an end to a decades-old system that granted ultra-Orthodox men broad exemptions from military service while maintaining mandatory enlistment for the country’s secular Jewish majority.

The arrangement, deemed discriminatory by critics, has created a deep chasm in Israel’s Jewish majority over who should shoulder the burden of protecting the country.

‘Selective enforcement’

In its ruling, the court found that the state was carrying out “invalid selective enforcement, which represents a serious violation of the rule of law, and the principle according to which all individuals are equal before the law.”

It did not say how many ultra-Orthodox should be drafted, but the military has said it is capable of enlisting 3,000 this year.

Politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties, key partners in Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition, oppose any change in the current system.

If the exemptions are ended, they could bolt the coalition, causing the Netanyahu government to collapse and likely leading to new elections at a time when its popularity has dropped.

Regions east of Mahakali river are ours, says Nepal PM

Press Trust of India

Kathmandu

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Tuesday said that his government is clear and determined that all territories east of Mahakali River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu pass, come under Nepalese territories.

Prachanda made the remarks while responding to queries raised by lawmakers during the discussion on headings of the Foreign Ministry under the Appropriation Bill, 2081 in the House of Representatives.

He recalled that as per the Sugauli Treaty signed between Nepal and East India Company government in 1816, these territories belong to Nepal and a political map incorporating these territories has also been published.

Nepal unveiled its new political map with the inclusion of Lipulek, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas within its territory in 2020 during the government led by K. P. Sharma Oli. It was later endorsed by Parliament unanimously.

After Nepal released the map, India reacted sharply, calling it a “unilateral act” and cautioning Kathmandu that such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it. India maintains Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to it.

The Nepal government replaced the old map used in all the official documents with the new map despite India’s objection.

Nepal shares a border of over 1,850-km with five Indian States – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

10 children per day are losing one or two legs in Gaza, says UNRWA

AFPEYAD BABA

Ten children per day are losing one or both of their legs in the war in Gaza, the head of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday. Citing figures from the UN children's agency UNICEF, Philippe Lazzarini said that number “does not even include the arms and the hands, and we have many more” of these. afp

U.S. surgeon general declares gun violence public health emergency

AFPSTEFANI REYNOLDS

The U.S. surgeon general on Tuesday declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country. The advisory issued by Dr. Vivek Murthy came as the U.S. grappled with another summer weekend marked by mass shootings that left dozens dead or wounded. ap

Indians in Italy protest to end ‘slavery’ following worker’s death

AFPTIZIANA FABI

Thousands of Indian labourers called for an end to “slavery” in Italy on Tuesday after the gruesome death of a worker. Satnam Singh, 31, who had been working without legal papers, died last week after his arm was sliced off by a machine. The farmer he was working for dumped him by the road, along with his severed limb. afp

Russia set to block dozens of EU media outlets in ‘retaliatory’ move

AFPTHOMAS COEX

Russia said it was blocking access to dozens of European media outlets, including AFP websites, in response to the EU slapping broadcasting bans on Russian outlets last month. France’s Le Monde, Germany’s Der Spiegel and Spain’s El Mundo were among the media outlets Russia named, as was the website of Politico. afp

EU, China head towards a ‘trade war’ over import tariff on electric vehicles

Nimish Sawant

Berlin

The European Commission is set to impose new tariffs going up to 38.1% for battery-operated vehicles imported from China from November; the move comes after it found the EV industry in China benefited from subsidies, causing economic challenges to manufacturers in the EU

Electric contention: A retaliatory stand by China to the tariffs could hit European manufacturers, especially the high-end internal combustion engine sporting cars imported into China.APCaroline Chen

The European Commission released this month its new tariff rates for battery-operated electric vehicles imported from China, which is being perceived as the start of a potential trade war between the European Union (EU) and China.

“The Commission has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers,” noted the European Commission in its statement on June 12.

According to a study by the Rhodium Group, EU imports of EVs from China jumped from $1.6 billion in 2020 to $11.5 billion in 2023, accounting for 37% of all EV imports in the bloc. The Commission began its anti-subsidy investigation on imports of Chinese BEVs in October 2023. These new tariffs will go into force from November 2, 2024.

The extra duties range across brands. BYD, China’s largest EV maker and exporter, will incur a 17.4% tariff. Geely, the parent company of Volvo, will have to pay a 20% tariff, and the Chinese state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) will have to pay the highest tariff, 38.1%. After further discussions, other EV makers, such as Tesla, will have a separate rate. Even German and other European carmakers who make BEVs in China will be subject to the new tariffs.

Different rates

The different tariff rates also depend on which companies cooperated with the EU in its investigations (such as BYD, which pays a lower tariff) and the ones that didn’t (such as SAIC, paying the higher rate). These new tariff rates are over and above the 10% duty already charged on vehicles imported from China.

Loyle Campbell, a research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), noted that China has had a problematic industrial policy for the last two decades where entire industries were aided by the local, regional, and national subsidies. He pointed out how China took over the solar industry.

“The European Commission conducted an anti-dumping investigation on the solar industry in the 2010s, which revealed that Chinese solar panels were entering EU markets well below the cost of production. As a result, solar technology from different countries, such as the U.S., Germany, and Japan, eventually moved to China. The current EU tariffs on EVs have to be seen in that context,” said Mr. Campbell, noting that Brussels is naturally concerned about Chinese EV makers’ rapid expansion and consolidation.

The EU tariff announcements on China have not been received well in Germany, which, according to a trade data report, saw sales of a third of its exported cars in China in 2023.

The German Association of Automotive Industry (VDA) sees this as a further step away from globalisation and an increased risk of a global trade conflict.

VDA President Hildegard Müller said, “The German automotive industry is in favour of free and fair trade. As a matter of principle, any protectionist measure restricts free trade and harbours the risk of trade conflicts ultimately detrimental to all sides. The potential damage that could be caused by the measures now announced may be greater than the potential benefits for the European — and in particular the German — automotive industry.” Germany’s Transport Minister Volker Wissing tweeted on the day of the EU tariff announcement, “Tariffs of the Europen Commission affect German companies and their top products. Vehicles must become cheaper through more competition, open markets and significantly better location conditions in the EU, not through trade wars and market isolation.”

‘Not a punishment’

Mr. Wissing’s coalition partner, German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck differed on the matter. During his visit to China over last weekend, Mr. Habeck addressed the EU tariff debate and said that these measures were not a “punishment”. Mr. Habeck said the measures were meant to level the playing field with China.

German automakers BMW, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz have also spoken against the tariffs. While all these companies have manufacturing plants in China and enjoy some subsidies as Chinese carmakers, they would face the same additional import tariffs.

Beijing has called for the scrapping the preliminary tariffs on its BEVs by July 4. The Chinese Commerce Ministry called these tariffs “a naked act of protectionism, creating and escalating trade friction and ‘destroying fair competition’.”

“The European side continues to escalate trade frictions and could trigger a ‘trade war’. The responsibility lies entirely with the European side,” said a statement from China’s Commerce Ministry spokesperson.

Many critics of the EU tariffs have also pointed to the crucial need to work with China on climate issues. The switching of European car buyers to electric vehicles is seen as an important step in stopping the manufacturing of combustion engine-based cars by 2035.

China has not announced any auto-related tariffs yet. A retaliatory stand by China could hit German automakers – especially the high-end internal combustion engine sporting cars imported into China.

However, its Commerce Ministry has opened an investigation into pork and pig-products-related imports from the EU. China has said it could impose provisional anti-dumping measures on pork imports, a move that could affect countries such as Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Additionally, China had also announced an anti-dumping investigation into European liquor in January 2024, a move that’s expected to hit French cognac imports.

(Nimish Sawant is an independent journalist based in Berlin)

Ukraine begins formalities for EU membership, with accession set to take years

Associated Press

Brussels

Slow and steady: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv.FIle photoEFREM LUKATSKY

The European Union launched membership talks with Ukraine on Tuesday, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West, part of a chain of events that set the two neighbours on the path to war.

Ukraine’s accession negotiations were set in motion at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg. Moldova is also due to launch its membership talks later on Tuesday. While the events are a major milestone on their European paths, the talks could take years to conclude.

In opening remarks presented via video-link, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal described it as “a historic day” that marks “a new chapter” in his country’s ties with the bloc, particularly as the war with Russia rages on.

“We fully understand that there is still much work ahead of us on the path to accession. We are ready for it. We have demonstrated that we can move swiftly and achieve the impossible,” Mr. Shmyhal said.

Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, described it as “a historic moment for us all, and marks a milestone in our relationship.” She said the EU condemns “Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine and salutes the resilience of the Ukrainian people,” and added that the bloc will continue to support Ukraine in the war “for as long as it takes.”

Ukraine’s delegation was led in Luxembourg by Olga Stefanishyna, deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration. “All the nation stands as one behind this decision,” she told presspersons as she arrived for the ceremony.

‘Moral power’

Ms. Stefanishyna said the hope embodied in the opening of the talks will give Ukraine’s citizens “the moral power to continue withstanding” the Russian invasion.

The intergovernmental conference officially started the process of aligning the country’s laws and standards with those of the 27-nation bloc, which is notably concerned about corruption in Ukraine. However, the actual negotiations are unlikely to begin for a few months.

Both Ukraine and Moldova applied to join the EU in the days and weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. By June 2022, EU leaders had quickly made it all official. But things have moved more slowly since then for Kyiv and membership, if it comes, might be years away. Turkiye’s accession talks have lasted almost two decades without result. Still, starting the talks process is sending another strong signal of solidarity with Ukraine beyond the financial support the EU has provided, which officials estimate at around 100 billion euros. It was also a show of support for Moldova, which has faced its own challenges with Russia.

Bordering EU members Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, Ukraine would overtake France to become the largest member of the bloc if it joined, shifting its centre of gravity further eastward.

Together with Moldova, Ukraine stands in a long line of EU hopefuls — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkiye — with years-long membership aspirations and which have felt left behind by Kyiv’s rapid progress.

Fight for rights

In unison: Reproductive rights activists demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Monday.AFP JIM WATSON

Macron under fire over France ‘civil war’ warning

Agence france-Presse

PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, attends a memorial ceremony with PM Gabriel Attal in Suresnes on June 18. APLUDOVIC MARIN

French President Emmanuel Macron came under strong criticism on Tuesday for warning a far-right or hard-left win in the coming polls could spark a “civil war”, with his opponents urging him not to scare the public.

France is preparing to vote on June 30 in the country’s most polarising ballot in decades. Mr. Macron called the parliamentary polls after the far-right National Rally (RN) scored a runaway victory in European Parliament elections earlier this month.

The election is shaping up as a showdown between the far-right RN and the left-wing New Popular Front, which is dominated by the hard-left France Unbowed.

Mr. Macron warned on Monday that the programmes of the two “extremes” could spark a “civil war”, accusing both the RN and France Unbowed of sowing tensions and dividing people.

Leaders of both left and right condemned his remarks.

Eric Ciotti, the leader of the conservative Republicans (LR), who sparked outrage among allies by personally agreeing an election pact with the RN, accused the French President of being irresponsible. “This is a strategy of fear,” he said.

RN heavyweight Marine Le Pen said Mr. Macron’s argument was “weak” and showed “he thinks he’s lost this election”.

Patrick Kanner, head of the Socialists in the Senate, said Mr. Macron’s remarks showed he was fighting for his political survival.

“We are faced with someone who no longer controls anything,” he said.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the head of France Unbowed, also criticised Mr. Macron, saying on Monday night: “He is always there to set things on fire.”

The three main camps — left, far-right and centre — are set for a key TV debate on Tuesday evening.

It will pit Prime Minister Gabriel Attal of Mr. Macron’s centrist Renaissance party against RN leader Jordan Bardella and Manuel Bompard of the New Popular Front.

Some polls have suggested the RN could win around 36% in the first-round vote, ahead of the left-wing alliance and centrists coming third.

A second round of voting will follow on July 7 in constituencies where no candidate takes more than 50% in the first round.

New ‘tipping point’ of runaway melting found in Antarctica

Agence France-Presse

PARIS

Studies have shown that warm seawater is seeping into the ‘grounding zone’, where land and ice meet.File PhotoSTRINGER

Scientists have discovered a new tipping point toward “runaway melting” of Antarctic ice sheets, caused by warm ocean water intruding between the ice and the land it sits on, according to a study published on Tuesday.

While this type of melting has been previously studied, models used by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to project the impact of global warming on the Antarctic have yet to factor in this phenomenon.

They have also systematically underestimated ice loss seen thus far, said the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience. As temperatures rise due to human-caused global warming, Antarctic ice sheets are melting, threatening a rise in global sea levels and putting coastal communities at risk. “Increases in ocean temperature can lead to a tipping point being passed, beyond which ocean water intrudes in an unbounded manner beneath the ice sheet, via a process of runaway melting,” the study said. Antarctic ice sheets sit atop the bedrock and extend beyond the coast to float on the sea.

Previous studies have shown that warm seawater is seeping into the “grounding zone” — where land and ice meet — and further inland. As the water warms, even by a fraction, the intrusion accelerates from short distances of 100 metres to tens of kilometres, melting ice along the way by heating it from below, explained the study’s lead author Alexander Bradley. “Every 10th of a degree (of warming) makes these kind of processes closer, these tipping points closer,” said Mr. Bradley, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey.

Ethnic groups continue fight against junta in Myanmar

Agence France-Presse

YANGON

Ethnic armed groups in Myanmar seized a popular beach resort town in the western Rakhine State of the country and launched attacks on junta positions in the north, a military source and residents said on Tuesday.

Fighting is raging across swathes of the Southeast Asian nation as ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces” battle the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup. Fighters of the Arakan Army have been battling security forces for days around Ngapali beach in Rakhine, home to upmarket hotels and resorts owned by military-backed businesses.

Sports

- Dream, drama, destiny... Afghanistan’s magical journey into the semifinal

- Austria tops a rollicking Group D as France finishes second; Zaccagni bails Italy out, Croatia all but out

- Hardik’s innings was important: Arshdeep

- Call an ambulance but not for me, says Naib

- We’ve proved Lara right by qualifying for the semis: Rashid

- I don’t know how I can describe my feeling: skipper Rashid

- ‘There is no good team and bad team, everyone is equal’

- ‘I don’t know what happened to him but it doesn’t matter now’

- scoreboard

- Warner bows out after Australia’s WC exit

- Belgium plays Ukraine in a Group E too close to call

- No matter what happens now, this is Afghanistan’s World Cup

- Brazil frustrated; Colombia cruises

- Indians hit the nets ahead of one-off Test

- I feel I am on the right path to the Paris Olympics, says Sreeja

- Yuki-Albano duo makes the last eight

- Equestrian Agarwalla to represent India in Olympics

- Indian archery teams’ qualification confirmed

- Frank Duckworth, one of the inventors of DLS, passes away

- Kush Maini finishes second in F2 Spanish GP sprint race

- Chokers to diamond pendants: how South Africa has turned the tide

Dream, drama, destiny... Afghanistan’s magical journey into the semifinal

Press Trust of India

Kingstown

Rashid’s men beat Bangladesh and the rain in a cliffhanger to storm into the last four; Australia knocked out; Naveen, Rashid deliver when it matters

1 of 2 Kings at Kingstown: Afghanistan’s run to the semifinal of a World Cup marks a milestone moment in its cricketing history.AP

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The redoubtable Rashid Khan led the way as Afghanistan qualified for its maiden T20 World Cup semifinal with an eight-run win over Bangladesh in a rain-hit Super 8 match here, adding a golden chapter to its cricketing history.

In the process, Rashid’s maverick team knocked out 2021 champion Australia after having humbled it in its previous Super 8 match. The Afghans will face the South Africans in the semifinal on June 27.

Slow progress

Opting to bat after winning the toss, Afghanistan’s batting stumbled to a below-par 115 for five as the bowlers bowled 66 dot balls.

Rishad Hossain, three for 26, led the charge while for Afghanistan, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a painstaking 43 off 55 balls.

The match was eventually truncated to 19-overs-a-side due to frequent rain interruptions and Bangladesh was given a revised target on 114.

Afghanistan produced a gritty bowling performance, spearheaded by Rashid (four for 23) and Naveen-ul-Haq (four for 26).

Litton Das (54 not out) was the lone warrior for Bangladesh in the game that also featured some questionable delaying tactics by the Afghans when they were ahead on DLS par score.

While Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran forged a crucial 59-run stand with the bat, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen picked up wickets upfront.

Farooqi sent Tanzid Hasan (0) packing in the second over followed by Naveen-ul-Haq in which he claimed the scalps of Najmul Hossain Shanto (5) and Shakib Al Hasan (0).

Rashid then picked up two wickets off his consecutive overs. The skipper went on to snare two wickets off consecutive balls, to also become the fastest to 150 T20 wickets, going past Tim Southee. Afghan coach Jonathan Trott was seen animatedly asking his players to slow down from the dugout and all-rounder Gulbadin Naib went down, apparently complaining of cramps.

Litton Das hammered the ball over square-leg to bring up his half-century. He was left alone as Naveen returned to remove Bangladesh’s No. 10 and 11.

Austria tops a rollicking Group D as France finishes second; Zaccagni bails Italy out, Croatia all but out

Agence France-Presse

Berlin

1 of 3 Delirious: Zaccagni is buried by his teammates after his superb curler ensured Italy’s progression into the knockouts.AFP

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3 of 3 Lashing out: Sabitzer fires in Austria’s winner against the Netherlands.AP

Marcel Sabitzer lashed home to earn Austria a thrilling 3-2 win against the Netherlands on Tuesday and send his team through top of Euro 2024 Group D, ahead of tournament favourites France and the third-place Dutch.

All three nations are through to the last 16 but Ralf Rangnick's intense Austria side showed why some consider it dark horses to win the tournament for the first time on a rollicking afternoon in Berlin.

Donyell Malen's own goal sent Austria ahead but Cody Gakpo pulled the Dutch level early in the second half.

Romano Schmid headed home for Austria with Memphis Depay pegging it back once more, before Sabitzer settled the frantic, end-to-end tussle.

Drawn encounter

In Dortmund, Kylian Mbappe scored a penalty on his return after breaking his nose but Robert Lewandowski's reply meant France and Poland drew 1-1.

On Monday, Mattia Zaccagni kept Italy’s title defence alive with an incredible late equaliser in the holder’s thrilling 1-1 draw with Croatia, as Spain completed a perfect group stage and showed Albania the door.

The Azzurri will play Switzerland in the next round thanks to Zaccagni, who came on with nine minutes remaining and curled in his leveller in the eighth minute of stoppage time following a brilliant burst and pass from defender Riccardo Calafiori.

Spalletti’s team finish Group B in second place on four points, five behind winner Spain which beat Albania 1-0 thanks to a neat Ferran Torres finish in the 13th minute in Dusseldorf.

Croatia meanwhile is all-but out due to Zaccagni’s late equaliser just as it looked as if Luka Modric was once again going to be the hero for his country.

Oldest goalscorer

Modric defied his advancing years by firing Croatia into the lead nine minutes after the break and becoming the oldest goalscorer in Euros history.

Modric made up for Donnarumma pushing away his penalty just moments before, but his goal wasn’t enough and on two points third-placed Croatia is almost certain not to go through.

The results:

Group C: Albania 0 lost to Spain 1 (Ferran Torres 13); Croatia 1 (Modric 55) drew with Italy 1 (Zaccagni 90+8).

Group D: France 1 (Mbappe 56-pen) drew with Poland 1 (Lewandowski 79-pen); Netherlands 2 (Gakpo 47, Depay 78) lost to Austria 3 (Malen 6-og, Schmid 59, Sabitzer 80).

Hardik’s innings was important: Arshdeep

Ayan Acharya

Gros Islet (St. Lucia)

Flying under the radar: Though Hardik’s knock lifted India above 200, it was Rohit’s innings that was the talking point. K.R. DEEPAK DEEPAK KR

On a day when Rohit Sharma’s scintillating 92 led India to a 24-run win against Australia, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh spoke about the significance of Hardik Pandya’s 17-ball 27. “Hardik’s innings was very important,” said Arshdeep.

“At one end, it was extremely challenging for the bowlers to even deliver the ball, and it often ended up flying to the boundary. Therefore, having a cushion of 15 to 20 runs is beneficial for a bowler. It provides the extra freedom to aim for wickets.”

Arshdeep also credited Jasprit Bumrah for creating pressure from one end, which ultimately led to the batters making mistakes. “A lot of credit goes to Jasprit because he concedes just three or four runs per over. As a result, the batters come hard at me, and when they do, I simply try to bowl my best ball. So, many of my wickets are due to Jasprit’s efforts.”

Call an ambulance but not for me, says Naib

Press Trust of India

Kingstown

Gulbadin Naib dramatically falling on his back, clutching his thigh after Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott signalled his players to slow things down in the match against Bangladesh caused both amusement and annoyance.

Naib, who was fielding in the slip cordon, complained of cramps during the 12th over bowled by spinner Noor Ahmad, after Trott was seen on camera asking his players to slow down as Bangladesh had fallen behind on the Duckworth-Lewis par score in the rainy encounter.

“The coach sends a message out to say slow it down, and the first slip just dives on the ground needlessly. That is unacceptable,” said Simon Doull while commentating.

Pommie Mbangwa quipped: “Oscar, Emmy?”

Former New Zealand cricketer Ian Smith said: “I’ve a dodgy knee for the last 6 months, I am gonna see Gulbadin Naib’s doctor straight after the game. He’s the eighth wonder of the world right now.”

“Kabi khushi kabi gham main huta hai (It happens sometimes when you are happy or when you are sad). Hamstring,” Naib later said in a post on X.

Naib was soon back on the field and took a crucial wicket in the 15th over. He seemed fitter than ever as he took part in the team’s post-match victory lap around the ground.

We’ve proved Lara right by qualifying for the semis: Rashid

APRICARDO MAZALAN

Skipper Rashid Khan talked about how only Brian Lara had backed Afghanistan to advance to the semifinal. “I think we have proved one person right. Brian Lara was the only person who mentioned Afghanistan will be in the semifinals. When you get that kind of great statement from a legend, it gives you lots of energy.”

I don’t know how I can describe my feeling: skipper Rashid

PTI

Rashid Khan said Afghanistan’s entry into the semifinal “will inspire the youngsters back home”. “I don’t know how I can describe my feeling but it’s a massive achievement for us as a team and as a nation to be in the semis. The cricket we have played in the whole tournament so far, we deserve to be in the semifinals,” Rashid said.

‘There is no good team and bad team, everyone is equal’

AFPRANDY BROOKS

Rashid Khan opened up about how executing one’s skills is of the paramount importance. “There is no good team and bad team. Every side is equal to each other. We took the right decision at the right time, and that’s where the difference comes. Skill-wise, everyone is equal, I think,” Rashid said.

‘I don’t know what happened to him but it doesn’t matter now’

HOTSTAR

Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan kept his cards close to the chest when asked about Gulbadin Naib’s ‘injury’ update. “Well, he had some cramp, I don’t know what happened to him and I don’t know what’s going on in social media but that doesn’t matter,” Rashid said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

AFGHANISTAN

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Sarkar b Rishad 43 (55b, 3x4, 1x6), Ibrahim Zadran c Tanzim b Rishad 18 (29b, 1x4), Azmatullah Omarzai c Litton b Mustafizur 10 (12b), Gulbadin Naib c Sarkar b Rishad 4 (3b, 1x4), Mohammad Nabi c Shanto b Taskin 1 (5b), Karim Janat (not out) 7 (6b, 1x4), Rashid Khan (not out) 19 (10b, 3x6); Extras (b-5, w-8): 13; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 115.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-59 (Ibrahim, 10.4 overs), 2-84 (Omarzai, 15.5), 3-88 (Gurbaz, 16.1), 4-89 (Gulbadin, 16.4), 5-93 (Nabi, 17.4).

BANGLADESH BOWLING

Tanzim 4-0-36-0, Taskin 4-1-12-1, Shakib 4-0-19-0, Mustafizur 4-0-17-1, Rishad 4-0-26-3.

BANGLADESH

Litton Das (not out) 54 (49b, 5x4, 1x6), Tanzid Hasan lbw b Farooqi 0 (3b), Najmul Hossain Shanto c Nabi b Naveen 5 (5b, 1x4), Shakib Al Hasan c & b Naveen 0 (1b), Soumya Sarkar b Rashid 10 (10b, 1x4), Towhid Hridoy c Ibrahim b Rashid 14 (9b, 2x4), Mahmudullah c (sub) Ishaq b Rashid 6 (9b, 1x4), Rishad Hossain b Rashid 0 (1b), Tanzim Hasan c Nabi b Naib 3 (10b), Taskin Ahmed b Naveen 2 (9b), Mustafizur Rahman lbw b Naveen 0 (1b); Extras (b-1, lb-7, w-3): 11; Total (in 17.5 overs): 105.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-16 (Tanzid, 1.3), 2-23 (Shanto, 2.4), 3-23 (Shakib, 2.5), 4-48 (Sarkar, 6.3), 5-64 (Hridoy, 8.2), 6-80 (Mahmudullah, 10.5), 7-80 (Rishad, 10.6), 8-92 (Tanzim, 14.2), 9-105 (Taskin, 17.4).

AFGHANISTAN BOWLING

Naveen 3.5-0-26-4, Farooqi 2-0-15-1, Nabi 2-0-15-0, Rashid 4-0-23-4, Noor 4-0-13-0, Naib 2-0-5-1.

Warner bows out after Australia’s WC exit

Agence France-Presse

Sydney

David Warner’s 15-year international career came to an anti-climactic end on Tuesday as Australia was dumped out of the T20 World Cup in excruciating fashion.

The 37-year-old opening batter Warner had always said the World Cup in the United States and Caribbean would be his farewell to international cricket.

Warner stood tall at the top of the Australian order ever since his international debut in January 2009.

He hangs up his pads as arguably Australia’s greatest three-format player. He is the country’s leading run-scorer in T20 cricket with 3,277 from 110 games.

Warner exited a glittering 112-Test career in January after plundering 8,786 runs at an average of 44.60, with a strike rate of 70.19.

His ODI exploits were equally impressive, crunching 6,932 runs from 161 matches.

Belgium plays Ukraine in a Group E too close to call

Associated Press

Stuttgart

All four teams are on three points each with only goal difference separating them in the table: in Group F Turkiye, Czechia and Georgia will fight to finish second behind leader Portugal

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Belgium plays Ukraine on Wednesday with all to play for in Group E at the European Championship. With all teams in the group — Romania and Slovakia are the other two — on three points after two games, only goal difference separates top to bottom.

Belgium and Ukraine know a win will be enough to guarantee their place in the pre-quarterfinals.

Any team in Group E can still finish in any position from first to last in the standings. It is the only group where each team has won a game and lost a game in the first two rounds. One of Romania and Slovakia will be in the pre-quarterfinals, and a draw will advance both.

If so, Romania will be in the top two because of a superior goal difference to Slovakia, which would be third, and among the four best third-place teams advancing.

Portugal is already qualified for the knockouts and can sign off from Group F in style with a third win when it plays newcomer Georgia on Wednesday.

Chance at qualifying

A draw might give Georgia a chance at qualifying, depending on results elsewhere, but it’s likely to need a shock win.

On its major tournament debut, Georgia has won praise for its battling style and nearly beat the Czech Republic in its second game if not for a last-second miss.

Beating Portugal would be a huge upset and guarantee Georgia a spot in the pre-quarterfinals.

Georgia will know before kickoff if a draw will potentially be enough to qualify as one of the four best third-place teams, or if only a win will do.

If Georgia draws, it would still require the Czech Republic to lose against Turkey, though.

No matter what happens now, this is Afghanistan’s World Cup

BETWEEN WICKETS Suresh Menon

In the recent past, Afghanistan have become the second favourite team of cricket fans (assuming their respective countries are the first) in international tournaments. If you asked them before the start of the T20 World Cup, “If not your country, which team would you like to see win?”, most would have answered, “Afghanistan” (at other times, and for different reasons, New Zealand or Sri Lanka have been second favourites).

And this is not just because of Afghanistan’s recent history of war and terror and human disasters — which are reason enough — but for the brand of joyful cricket and unexpected narratives they bring to the field of play too. And for the sheer spirit and togetherness in the team which now has some world class performers.

Thrill of participation

This support is in no way patronising, nor does it come from a position of superiority. There has always been, in this team, the palpable thrill of participation, and the augury of great possibilities, all communicated to the viewers unselfconsciously. Now they have two bowlers in the world’s Top 10 and a batter in the Top 15 as they prepare to take on South Africa in the semifinal of a World Cup. It is the most romantic cricket story of our times.

The three other semifinalists are the only teams in the top 10 that Afghanistan have not beaten yet. But that hardly matters. This World Cup is already theirs in a bigger sense.

“Cricket is the only source of happiness back home,” skipper Rashid Khan has said. Afghanistan’s cricket is a source of happiness the world over. But there’s more. Cricket spells hope for a country that has suffered for decades, giving the players a sense of purpose and the satisfaction of achievement.

On the other hand, the growth of cricket among Afghans has showed the significance of sport and its ability to mean something beyond itself. Afghanistan and cricket have been good for each other, both have gained from the relationship. Significantly, Afghanistan beat Bangladesh the old-fashioned way, by claiming ten wickets. They didn’t need any help from a rain washout or the rules or the apparently dodgy cramps from a player. This means there will be no mental asterisks against their qualification, for they certainly deserve to be in the semifinals. They beat Australia and New Zealand at the World Cup. They have three of the five most successful bowlers and two of the three most successful batters in the tournament.

But statistics are merely reference points for future researchers. These say nothing of the excitement, the decisions under pressure or how close to the edge either team came.

When Naveen-ul Haq came on to bowl what turned out to be the final over, there was consternation that Afghanistan might have got it wrong. Shouldn’t Fazalhaq Farooqi, the leading wicket-taker of the tournament and a left arm seamer, be the one to bowl it? If the match went into the 19th over, surely it would be the end for Afghanistan?

It needed some magic, perhaps two wickets in two deliveries so opening batter Litton Das would be left stranded at the non-striker’s end. Naveen-ul Haq provided the magic. Two wickets off successive deliveries. Then he took off, arms outstretched, and in danger of achieving lift-off. It was magnificent, a startling reminder of why some people play a sport, other people write about it, and how one hour of crowded glory is worth an age without a name!

Mohammad Nabi, a few months short of his 40th birthday, was less demonstrative than the bowler. He had seen it all while taking Afghanistan from the World Cricket League division 5 to the semifinals of a World Cup. It was his century against a touring MCC that suggested Afghanistan might be a future Test candidate. Much like C.K. Nayudu’s century against the MCC hastened India’s entry into the big league.

Nabi has played 127 of Afghanistan’s 137 T20 internationals — his book, when he writes it, will have some of the most fascinating human stories you can hope to read anywhere.

But all that’s for the future. For the moment, it is celebration time. For Afghanistan, and for the rest of the world (barring perhaps Australia and Bangladesh).

Brazil frustrated; Colombia cruises

Agence France-Presse

Los Angeles

Gung ho: Lerma celebrates after scoring Colombia’s second against Paraguay.Reuters

A lacklustre Brazil launched its Copa America campaign with a dour 0-0 draw against Costa Rica on Monday as James Rodriguez inspired Colombia to a 2-1 win over Paraguay.

Brazil, chasing a 10th Copa America crown, dominated possession and territory in the Group D game at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles but struggled to break down a resolute Costa Rica.

The Brazilians thought they had taken the lead in the 30th minute after Marquinhos tapped in at the back post after a flick on by Rodrygo following a free-kick by Raphinha.

But after an agonising VAR delay, the goal was chalked off for a fractional offside decision as Costa Rica escaped.

That was as good as it got for Brazil, which laboured to break down Costa Rica’s defence for the remainder of the game, registering just three shots on target despite enjoying 73.5 percent possession.

Colombia finished the day top of Group D after collecting all three points in its deserved win over Paraguay at Houston.

Rodriguez shines

Rodriguez, whose club career has languished in the decade since he rose to prominence with a dazzling performance at the 2014 World Cup, created both of Colombia’s goals.

The 32-year-old midfielder has played just a handful of minutes for Brazilian club Sao Paulo in the two months leading into the Copa America.

The results: Brazil 0 drew with Costa Rica 0; Colombia 2 (Munoz 32, Lerma 42) bt Paraguay 1 (Enciso 69).

Indians hit the nets ahead of the one-off Test

S. Dipak Ragav

Chennai

The buzz: Renuka had a long stint at the nets. FILE PHOTO: K. MURALI KUMARMURALI KUMAR K

As Chennai gears up to host the one-off Test featuring India and South Africa from Friday (June 28-July 1), both teams arrived here on Monday.

On Tuesday, a few Indian players took part in an optional practice session at the MAC-B nets.

Top-order batter Shubha Satheesh, spinners Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and pacers Renuka Singh and Meghna Singh had a long session.

Subha, who made her Test debut against England last year and stroked a fine half-century (69), batted for nearly an hour facing the four Indian bowlers.

Later, Sneh Rana, too, had a hit in the middle.

In the previous two one-off Tests against England and Australia last year, India had posted convincing wins, beating them by 347 runs and eight wickets, respectively.

The iconic MAC Stadium last hosted a women’s Test in 1976 when India took on West Indies in a three-day game that ended in a draw.

I feel I am on the right path to the Paris Olympics, says Sreeja

V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD

Sreeja.

India’s premier women’s table tennis player Akula Sreeja said that she was getting prepared to take on any opponent in next month’s Paris Olympics.

Speaking to The Hindu after becoming the first Indian to win a WTT Contender title in Lagos (Nigeria) on Sunday (she completed a double winning the doubles title partnering Archana Kamath), the 25-year-old Sreeja said the Lagos ‘double’ was a huge morale booster for her ahead of the Olympics.

“It is a very special performance for me coming so close to the Olympics. I am really glad the way I have been training and playing in the recent past,” Sreeja said.

“The preparations have been really good and my target in the Olympics is to create as many upsets as possible. But again, a lot depends on the draw too,” she added.

“I feel that I am on the right path to the Olympics given the way I have coped with the hot and humid conditions in Lagos and also the hectic schedule,” she said.

“I am ready for the kind of challenge one expects in the Olympics. The biggest challenge is to stay fit mentally and physically,” she said.

On the plans in the run-up to the Olympics, the champion paddler said she would be competing in two more tournaments in Tunisia and Bangkok before going to Germany for a 10-day training before heading straight to Paris,” she said.

“We have been accompanied by the chief coach Massimo Costantini. But, at the same time, we are trying our best to have my coach and mentor Somnath Sir (Ghosh) and get the accreditation,” Sreeja said. “But, definitely, Somnath will be there in Germany for the camp,” she added.

“The focus will be on doubles also as we are trying to make it big in the team events in the Olympics,” she said.

Yuki-Albano duo makes the last eight

Sports Bureau

Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti eased past Sriram Balaji and Luke Johnson 6-3, 6-3 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €1,005,340 ATP tennis tournament in Calvia, Spain.

Other results: $25,000 ITF men, Hillcrest, South Africa: Singles (first round): Devin Badenhorst (RSA) bt Parth Aggarwal 7-5, 7-5; Ishaque Eqbal bt Reuben Bakker (RSA) 6-4, 6-3; Aryan Shah bt Thando Longwe-Smit (RSA) 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ishaque Eqbal & Kris Van Wyk (RSA) bt Parth Aggarwal & Max Benaim (GBR) 6-7(3), 6-1, [10-3].

$15,000 ITF men, Tianjin, China: Singles (first round): S. Mukund bt Bang Shuo Yin (Tpe) 6-2, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Wroclaw, Poland: Singles (first round): Yurii Dzhavakian (Ukr) bt Yuvan Nandal 6-1, 7-5.

$15,000 ITF men, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): S.D. Prajwal Dev & Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Iliyas Maratuly (Kaz) & Eyal Shurmilov (Isr) 6-4, 6-2; Daniel Ibragimov & Karan Singh bt Bekhan Atlangeriev & Egor Khotchenkov 7-5, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia: Singles (first round): Ilia Simakin bt Dev Javia 7-6(10), 7-5.

$40,000 ITF women, Palma del Rio, Spain: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Leonie Kung (Sui) & Vasanti Shinde bt Warona Mdlulwa & Wozuko Mdlulwa (RSA) 6-1, 6-0.

$25,000 ITF women, Taipei, Taiwan: Singles (first round): Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Rinon Okuwaki (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2.

Equestrian Agarwalla to represent India in Olympics

Asian Games medallist Anush Agarwalla will represent the country in the dressage event of the Paris Olympics after pipping close contender Shruti Vora on better average, the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) said on Tuesday. Agarwalla, who bagged gold in team dressage and bronze in individual dressage events at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, was picked ahead of Vora after a careful evaluation of the recent performances of the two contenders.

Indian archery teams’ qualification confirmed

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has accepted the men and women team quotas allotted to the country by World Archery. Following the conclusion of the World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya, Turkey, Indian men and women qualified through World rankings as they topped among nations which had not booked their tickets through qualifying events. The men’s team gathered 238 points from the World Cup Stage-1 in Shanghai, 2024 (80 points), World Cup Stage-3 in Medellin, 2023 (56), World Cup Stage-1 in Antalya, 2023 (51) and Asian Games in Hangzhou, 2023 (51). The women collected points from the World Cup Stage-4 in Paris, 2023 (56), World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya, 2024 (48), Berlin World Championships, 2023 (45) and Asian Games in Hangzhou, 2023 (42) to total 191. B. Dhiraj (who had secured an individual quota), Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav will be part of the men’s team, while Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur will form the women’s squad.

Frank Duckworth, one of the inventors of DLS, passes away

English statistician and one of the inventors of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, Frank Duckworth died at the age of 84, according to a report. Duckworth passed away on June 21, according to a report in ESPNcricinfo.com. The Duckworth-Lewis method, devised by Duckworth and fellow statistician Tony Lewis, was introduced to determine results in rain-affected cricket matches.

Kush Maini finishes second in F2 Spanish GP sprint race

Indian racer driver Kush Maini enjoyed a good weekend at the F2 Spanish Grand Prix, as he grabbed the second spot in the sprint race in Barcelona. Maini, who drives for Invicta Racing, finished behind Victor Martins of BWT Alpine with DAMS Lucas Oil’ Juan Manuel Correa completing the podium. The Indian driver finished sixth in the main race.

Chokers to diamond pendants: how South Africa has turned the tide

Sankar Narayanan E.H.

If there is one country that deserves the rub of the green going its way, it is the Rainbow Nation; the Proteas have historically found themselves on the wrong side of humdingers, but in the ongoing T20 WC, Markram’s men have managed to hold their nerve in tense encounters and remain unbeaten

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Beware! Supporting South Africa is not for the faint-hearted!

The Proteas, who have the unenvious tag of ‘chokers’ in world cricket, have made a happy habit of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the 20-over extravaganza in the Americas — an experience as gripping as watching a House of the Dragon episode with a cliffhanger finish.

Things could have gone horribly wrong for Aiden Markram’s men on multiple occasions. However, they weathered the storm and sailed into the semifinals unbeaten. Whether they go two steps further to win the whole thing remains to be seen. But the fact that South Africa has players it can depend upon to show up in crucial moments will instil confidence in the ranks.

Remember it all too well

South Africa’s tryst with nail-biting finishes in the 2024 T20 World Cup started against the Netherlands. After an easy win against Sri Lanka, at least compared to the other humdingers that were to follow, the Proteas faced their bogey team in multi-national tournaments. They used up six wickets and 113 deliveries while chasing down the Netherlands’ 103 — granted it was not a modest target on the dicey New York track. They were, at one stage, reeling at 12 for four but a calm and collected David Miller, ably supported by Tristan Stubbs’ efforts, guided them home.

“The game of cricket makes it a bit tricky. We are moving forward as a squad. Sometimes the victories are going to be convincing. To squeeze a win out from that (12 for four) situation is good for the team environment,” skipper Markram said after the game.

While it was a narrow four-wicket win against the Men in Orange, their next assignment saw the Proteas pull off a four-run victory over Bangladesh. After deciding to bat, their top-order once again failed to make a mark and put together 113 to defend. However, the bowlers were accurate (none went for more than 27) as the team clinched a win with some luck going its way.

As fate would have it

In the 17th over of Bangladesh’s chase, Mahmudullah was adjudged lbw by the umpire. The batter went for a review which proved that the ball was missing the stumps. Mahmudullah extended his stay at the crease but lost out on the four leg-byes he would have otherwise got for the ball going for a boundary after hitting his pads as the umpire’s original verdict had already deemed the delivery dead. According to the Playing Conditions, despite the umpire’s verdict being overturned, Bangladesh did not get those crucial four runs which ended up being the victory margin for South Africa.

Nonetheless, if there is one team that deserves the rub of the green going its way thanks to a cricket law, it is South Africa. Remember the 1992 World Cup semifinal against England? The heavens opened up when Kepler Wessels’ side needed 22 off 13 and the target was readjusted (according to the laws then) to 21 from one ball and South Africa had to bow out of its first World Cup unceremoniously.

Back to 2024, the Proteas’ next challenge was against a spirited Nepal side which did its best to hunt down the target of 116 and fell agonisingly short. From requiring just 18 runs from as many balls with seven wickets in hand, it was a safe bet to say that Nepal would get across the line. However, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje and Ottneil Baartman delivered what was asked of them and restricted Nepal to 114 for seven — a one-run victory for South Africa.

This was the closest win for the Proteas in this mega event which saw a final-ball drama break Nepal fans’ hearts. With two runs needed off the last delivery, Gulsan Jha ran for a bye and would have thought that he was safe after wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock’s throw hit his back and deflected. However, as luck would have it, the ball went directly to a vigilant Heinrich Klaasen who flicked the ball onto the stumps. Jha, who slowed down after the ball made contact with him, was late in getting to the crease and failed to take the game to a Super Over.

Coming in clutch

Following a streak of pulsating results, the Proteas would have hoped for an easy win against co-host USA in their first Super 8 fixture. However, Andries Gous — a South Africa-born cricketer — took the co-host close to chasing a target of 195 with his unbeaten 47-ball 80. Before Kagiso Rabada’s exceptional two-run penultimate over reeled things back, South Africa fans would have got flashbacks of the 2015 ODI World Cup semifinal knock by Grant Elliott — also a South Africa native — to take New Zealand into the summit clash. It wasn’t to be in Antigua and the Proteas prevailed by 18 runs.

A crackerjack

After five consecutive victories in the tournament, the wagon moved to St. Lucia for South Africa to face the defending champion England. And, surprise, surprise… this was also a crackerjack of a contest. The pendulum swung in the windy Gros Islet as both teams had the chance to win it easily.

Jos Buttler’s men were chasing South Africa’s 163 and were in trouble at 61 for four after 10.2 overs. Then, Liam Livingstone and Harry Brook cut it down to 46 off 24 to make it anybody’s game. The duo punished the next over, laden with full tosses from Baartman, and cut down the target to 25 off 18. The game was in England’s grasp, but Rabada, Marco Jansen and Nortje had other ideas and turned the contest on its head. Markram’s stupendous catch running backwards to dismiss a dangerous Brook off Nortje’s final over was crucial in the side’s seven-run victory.

Do-or-die clash

South Africa’s most important, and latest, victory came in a do-or-die Super 8 clash against the West Indies. The two-time champion tightened the screws on South Africa’s run chase, which at one stage was in cruise control with 46 runs needed off 55 balls with seven wickets in hand. However, Rovman Powell’s men — playing for a last-four spot themselves — made a match of it thanks to a disciplined bowling effort and brought the equation to nine off seven. Then, a marvellous drive through extra-cover from Rabada and a maximum down the ground by the 6’8’’ towering Jansen, who stood tall in the nervy chase with an unbeaten 14-ball 21, turned the tide and sealed South Africa’s semifinal berth.

“I’m sweating. Quite nervy at the end. That’s been the theme of our tournament — us finding a way to win as a team, no matter what the situation is. Our supporters would probably like bigger wins. But things like this keep us in check,” Shamsi said after the three-wicket victory.

Yes, the scenario could have been different for South Africa. Mahmudullah could have been given not out by the umpire, and Jha could have not hesitated and reached the crease to force a tie-breaker. But, take nothing away from the performances its players have put up and the belief that they have shown to win games of cricket so far. A semifinal clash against Rashid Khan’s Afghanistan awaits Markram’s men. Given their remarkable journey so far, the Proteas will fancy themselves to go all the way and break their World Cup drought.

Table of Contents

The Hindu Jun 26, 2024

National

LS to witness rare contest for Speaker’s post

Sri Lankan Navy sailor dies during pursuit of Indian boat; 10 Tamil Nadu fishermen held

Overstretched Railways to bring down speed of Vande Bharat, Gatiman trains

Moscow preparing for likely visit by Modi, says Putin aide

Delhi HC stays bail granted to Kejriwal

Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

Assange to be ‘freed’ after U.S. plea deal

Atishi’s hunger strike over water crisis ends in hospital

Cost of future wars is enormous, resources should be optimised: Chief of Defence Staff

Ahead of rollout of the new criminal laws, Union Home Ministry tests eSakhsya App

Pune car accident: HC orders release of juvenile accused

BSF raises issue of attack on personnel during talks with BGB

T.N. to allow regulated culling of wild boars in fields close to forest

Urban Affairs Ministry to revamp affordable housing scheme

Two more arrested in Arang ‘lynching’ case

Ex- J&K Bar president Mian Qayoom ‘questioned’

VHP leader’s murder: NIA offers ₹10 lakh for leads

Congress curbed rights during Emergency, has no right to speak for Constitution: PM

Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

Bihar cancels contracts worth ₹826 cr. awarded by grand alliance regime

From the first Lok Sabha to the 18th, a snapshot of Speaker elections

More Opposition MPs swear by Constitution on second day of oath-taking

Prime Minister raking up past to hide his failures, says Congress president

Bail petitions should not be adjourned indefinitely: SC

NTA reform panel to elicit views of parents, students

14211

Defence Ministry signs 350th contract under iDEX for ‘miniaturised satellite’

Jal Shakti Ministry conceives ‘new project’ to fix water deficit in Jal Jeevan Mission

Pak. delegation inspect Ratle power project on Chenab river in J&K

Janardana kills Janardana

NEET-UG case: Maharashtra police detain 2 ‘sub-agents’

CBI to seek remand of accused in NEET case

Jaishankar meets Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong

Government officer driving in inebriated state kills three

Regional

After 20 years of resistance to reservation of seats for women, Nagaland to vote in civic polls today

Maharashtra Cong. gearing up for Assembly poll after strong Lok Sabha showing

Ex-BJD MLA stirs row over razing of ‘illegal’ structures ahead of vacating govt. quarters

Naidu declares ₹100-cr. action plan for his native Kuppam constituency

U.P. Cabinet clears Ordinance to curb exam paper leaks

M.P. Ministers to pay income tax as old rule gets revoked

T.N. hooch tragedy death toll rises to 59; 26 discharged

H.P. govt. to issue notices to teachers over ‘poor’ results

User fee at Kerala’s capital city airport up by 50% from July 1

Don’t abandon Sabari rail project: Kerala to Railways

Having a ball

Haryana AAP calls for complete ‘badlav’ in State in Assembly poll

Jagan urges A.P. Assembly Speaker to recognise him as LoP

Udhayanidhi Stalin gets bail in Sanatana Dharma remark case

Nandini packets to cost ₹2 more with 50 ml additional milk

‘Organised foul play behind NEET fiasco’

KCR moves Telangana HC to stay inquiry against him

Former Vizag MP, 2 others booked in forgery case

Second case of sodomy filed against Suraj Revanna

Science

Brains that don’t see in greyscale first over-rely on colours

BIG SHOT

Death by oxygen deprivation

Edit

Agony still in Manipur, a year later

India needs the anchor of a national security strategy

letters to the editor

Free man

Call for consensus

Lack of focus, not finance, behind sluggish Kavach deployment

Preventing another NEET fiasco

The persistent problem of toxic liquor

Sikkim ruler in Delhi for talks on new Constitution

The “Advocate of India”

Analysing Maharashtra’s water crisis

Will the Agnipath scheme be revamped?

WikiLeaks: the enemy of the deep state

J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ was first published on this day in 1997. Quiz yourself on the book, and the subsequent film of the same name

Know your English

Business

Sugar output set to rise on good monsoon: Joshi

‘Water stress can hurt credit profile’

JPMorgan bond index India entry to draw $11 billion from S. Africa, Poland, Thailand

Cotton consumption second highest in 10 years, says Ministry

India’s external debt rises $39.7 bn YoY to $663.8 bn: RBI data

Quant MF investors redeem in panic

FinMin must raise RoDTEP outlay: FIEO

K-shaped recovery fuelling similar trend in inflation: HSBC

India kicks off $11.5 billion telecom spectrum auction

‘India’s coal use overtook N. America and Europe’

‘India must focus on reducing inflation to 4%’

iD Fresh Food announces expansion to 11 cities

TI Clean Mobility completes fund raising for EV verticals

China’s retail outlook dims after mid-year shopping festival flop

Bank of Japan opens door for a hawkish double surprise

Japanese households facing more pain from weak yen: BOJ watcher

Trouble in cocoa land

‘Adani mulls ₹1.3-lakh-crore in FY25 capex’

Foreign

ICC issues warrants for Russia Army chief, ex-Minister

Five shot dead as protesters breach Kenya’s parliament

Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with first samples from far side of the moon

‘Love sans boundaries’

Julian Assange set to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge and then walk free

Start enrolling ultra-Orthodox into Army, says Israeli court

Regions east of Mahakali river are ours, says Nepal PM

10 children per day are losing one or two legs in Gaza, says UNRWA

U.S. surgeon general declares gun violence public health emergency

Indians in Italy protest to end ‘slavery’ following worker’s death

Russia set to block dozens of EU media outlets in 'retaliatory' move

EU, China charge batteries for ‘trade war’ over tariff on electric vehicles

Ukraine begins formalities for EU membership, with accession set to take years

Fight for rights

Macron under fire over France ‘civil war’ warning

New ‘tipping point’ of runaway melting found in Antarctica

Ethnic groups continue fight against junta in Myanmar

Sports

Dream, drama, destiny... Afghanistan’s magical journey into the semifinal

Austria tops a rollicking Group D as France finishes second; Zaccagni bails Italy out, Croatia all but out

Hardik’s innings was important: Arshdeep

Call an ambulance but not for me, says Naib

We’ve proved Lara right by qualifying for the semis: Rashid

I don’t know how I can describe my feeling: skipper Rashid

‘There is no good team and bad team, everyone is equal’

‘I don’t know what happened to him but it doesn’t matter now’

scoreboard

Warner bows out after Australia’s WC exit

Belgium plays Ukraine in a Group E too close to call

No matter what happens now, this is Afghanistan’s World Cup

Brazil frustrated; Colombia cruises

Indians hit the nets ahead of one-off Test

I feel I am on the right path to the Paris Olympics, says Sreeja

Yuki-Albano duo makes the last eight

Equestrian Agarwalla to represent India in Olympics

Indian archery teams’ qualification confirmed

Frank Duckworth, one of the inventors of DLS, passes away

Kush Maini finishes second in F2 Spanish GP sprint race

Chokers to diamond pendants: how South Africa has turned the tide