- National

- Regional

- Science

- Edit

- Business

- Foreign

- Sports

National

- CBI arrests 2 in Patna for leak of NEET paper

- President flags NEET, mentions Emergency in her Parliament speech

- Uttarakhand govt. to study risk posed by 13 glacial lakes during monsoon

- Unrelenting waves

- Chargesheet filed against Yediyurappa in POCSO case

- INDIA plans adjournment motion on NEET issue

- In a U-turn, Mamata says eviction of hawkers is not the goal of West Bengal government

- India and U.S. in talks for Stryker infantry vehicles

- Modern solutions

- Plea in Supreme Court seeks stay on implementation of three new criminal laws

- Mamata says women don’t feel safe in Raj Bhavan amid row over MLAs’ swearing-in

- Manipur BJP chief meets Amit Shah for solution to conflict

- Jaishankar raises concern over violence in Myanmar

- Land grab case: Eknath Khadse files special plea

- INDIA plans adjournment motion on NEET issue

- Rajya Sabha decides to revoke suspension of AAP MP

- Rahul meets Om Birla, says resolution on Emergency could have been avoided

- L-G dissolves Delhi govt. think tank, calls it ‘clear case of nepotism’; petty politics: AAP

- Raising objections

- INDIA bloc parties back SP MP’s views on removing Sengol

- In Jammu, BJP leader seeks termination of Indus Water Treaty

- Congress’s invocation of Constitution a pretence: BJP

- Students protest at Jantar Mantar, want NTA dissolved

- 10 fishermen arrested in Sri Lanka to be booked for Navy sailor’s death

- 14213

- Antelope-like mammal from Bhutan recorded at lowest elevation in western Assam

- SC, Delhi HC seek NTA response to petitions on NEET

- Connect with God

- Another bridge caves in; 4th collapse in eight days in Bihar

- No permit for J&K Bar Association election

- ‘Drop cases against Arundhati Roy over Kashmir comments’

Amit Bhelari

PATNA

Accused allegedly rented a play school where leaked papers were given to candidates on exam eve; CBI quizzes principal of Oasis School in Hazaribagh, finds possible link between NEET, UGC-NET leaks; the CBI finds that the school had been a centre for both the NEET-UG examination, held on May 5, and the UGC-NET conducted on June 18

Raising questions: Members of the Youth Congress protest over the alleged rigging of the NEET-UG exam at Jantar Mantar on Thursday.SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAPSHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

In its first arrests from Patna in the NEET-UG paper leak case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took two persons into custody on Thursday.

According to the agency, the accused — Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar — played a crucial role in arranging to rent the Learn Boys Hostel and Play School in Patna’s Khemnichak locality, where the leaked question papers were allegedly distributed to candidates on the eve of the examination.

The CBI also gained custody on Thursday of Baldev Kumar, alias Chintu, and Mukesh Kumar, two accused who had been arrested by the Bihar Police’s Economic Affairs Unit which had been previously investigating the case. The Central agency brought them to its office in Patna for questioning after a medical check-up. On Wednesday, a special CBI court granted custody of them to the CBI till July 4.

However, Mr. Prakash’s wife Archana Kumari claimed that her husband had arranged to rent the Patna play school in good faith, and was unaware of the malpractice being carried out at the location.

“He (Manish Prakash) is never involved in such things; in fact he is engaged in social work. I think he is falsely arrested by the CBI,” Ms. Kumari said.

“He just arranged the house for a few students but was not aware of what was going inside the house. One person Madhayam from his village called him and requested that few students stay for one night for the exam and urged him to arrange the place. He did so in good faith,” she said.

However, she agreed that a fair probe should be carried out, adding that if her husband was found to be guilty, the CBI should take action against him given that the case was related to the future of thousands of students.

The CBI continued its intensive questioning of Oasis School principal Ahsanul Haque in Hazaribagh for the second consecutive day. The agency has detained seven people in Hazaribagh, including the principal.

Suspicious centre

During questioning, the CBI found that the Oasis School had been an examination centre for both the NEET-UG exam, held on May 5, and the UGC-NET exam held on June 18.

Given that the Oasis School was already under scanner in the NEET paper leak case, agency sources asked how the NTA had selected the school as a centre for the UGC-NET exam as well. On Wednesday, the CBI had questioned the SBI bank officials and the courier company responsible for transporting NEET question papers.

Three days ago, in conversation with The Hindu, Mr. Haque had admitted that the box and envelope containing the NEET question papers had been cut. He claimed that the digital lock which was supposed to open by itself at 1:15 p.m. did not open, and so the outer box had been opened using a cutter.

President flags NEET, mentions Emergency in her Parliament speech

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

President Draupadi Murmu addresses a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday.ANIANI

In her first address to Parliament since the Lok Sabha election results were announced, President Droupadi Murmu asked MPs to rise above “partisan politics” with regard to the row over “paper leaks” in examinations for medical college admissions and government recruitment.

The Union government is “fully committed” to investigating the issues and punishing the guilty, she said.

“The recent irregularities and paper leaks are being dealt with strongly (and) the government’s focus is on improving the exam process,” the President said, as Opposition MPs raised an uproar at the mention of NEET, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for undergraduate medical programmes.

The President’s customary address to a joint sitting of both Houses is usually about the agenda of the government and in anticipation of the Union Budget. However, Ms. Murmu raised several other issues which she said were of concern, including the Emergency imposed by the Congress-led government in 1975, terming it “the biggest and darkest chapter of direct attack on the Constitution”.

“Today is 27th June. The imposition of Emergency on 25th June, 1975, was the biggest and darkest chapter of direct attack on the Constitution. The entire country felt outraged. But the country emerged victorious over such unconstitutional forces as the traditions of the Republic lie at the core of India,” she said, amid table thumping by the treasury benches and protests by the Opposition.

BJP’s counterattack

The President’s reference to the Emergency came a day after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out a statement condemning it on the floor of the House, to mark its 49th anniversary. In a letter to Mr. Birla, Congress general secretary and MP, K.C. Venugopal, termed his statement as a “grave matter, impacting upon the very credibility of the institution of Parliament”.

Many Opposition MPs held copies of the Constitution while affirming their oath as members, after an election campaign claiming that the BJP’s slogan asking voters for a brute majority of “400 paar” seats was a precursor to radically amending the Constitution. Anxious to dispel these notions, the BJP has counterattacked by raising the spectre of the Emergency, imposed by a Congress government 49 years ago.

Ms. Murmu also spoke out in robust defence of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in elections across the country. In a counter to demands for a return to paper ballots by a section of the Opposition, she reminded MPs of the days when ballot boxes could be looted.

“We all remember those times when ballot papers were snatched and looted. To ensure the sanctity of the electoral process, it was decided to use EVMs,” the President said.

When Ms. Murmu said that the government had been eager to promote peace and prosperity in the north eastern states, the Opposition benches erupted with questions on Manipur.

Uttarakhand govt. to study risk posed by 13 glacial lakes during monsoon

Ishita Mishra

New Delhi

Major risk: The glacial lake breach at Rishiganga Valley in Chamoli claimed 72 lives in February 2021. PTI

With the monsoon setting in, the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Department (USDMA) will do a vulnerability study of 13 glacial lakes, five of them in “high-risk zone”, from July. The study aims to provide data to help avoid calamities such as lake outbursts.

Ranjit Sinha, Secretary, USDMA, briefed reporters about the new lakes which were identified through satellite earlier this year.

Mr. Sinha said the Himalayan glaciers were in danger from climate change, and continued checks were required to ensure safety.

The lakes in Darma, Lasaryanghati, and the Kutiyangti Valley in Pithoragarh district, and the Vasudhara Tal lake of the Dhauli Ganga basin in Chamoli district are posing a high risk. These lakes, ranging between 0.02 sq. km and 0.5 sq. km in area, are situated at elevations of 4,000 metres above sea level.

“Our teams will start a bathymetry study of the five potentially high-risk lakes from the first week of July. The study will give us correct and accurate information regarding the size of the lakes, how the glaciers were formed, how they are melting, and more,” Mr. Sinha said.

Earlier this month, the USDMA has asked the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to share a report on the status of the five high risk glacial lakes. “After accessing the risk, we will puncture the lakes and place pipes inside it,” he said.

Two expert teams

In March, the State government formed two expert teams to assess the risks associated with these glacial lakes. The teams comprised experts from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, the Geological Survey of India, the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology.

Two major glacial lake outburst floods took place in Uttarakhand in the past decade. The first was at the Kedarnath valley in June 2013 which led to 6,000 deaths. The other was at the Rishiganga Valley in Chamoli in February 2021, which claimed 72 lives.

Unrelenting waves

Defences breached: Huge waves break over geotextile bags laid along a section of the Kerala coast to resist sea incursion which causes flooding, at Kannamaly in Kochi on Thursday. Thulasi KakkatTHULASI KAKKAT

Chargesheet filed against Yediyurappa in POCSO case

The Hindu Bureau

BENGALURU

The Criminal Investigation Department filed a chargesheet against BJP leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, charging him under Section 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and Section 354A (sexual harassment) and 214 (offering gift or restoration of property in consideration of screening offender) of the Indian Penal Code, on Thursday.

The chargesheet lists 74 individuals as witnesses, including the minor who has been the victim in the case.

INDIA plans adjournment motion on NEET issue

Sandeep Phukan

NEW DELHI

Opposition parties belonging to the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance will move adjournment motions in both the Houses of Parliament on Friday over the alleged irregularities in National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test and paper leaks in other public exams.

In a U-turn, Mamata says eviction of hawkers is not the goal of West Bengal government

Shiv Sahay Singh, Moyurie Som

Kolkata

Packing away: Hawkers remove encroachments after the police carried out an anti-encroachment drive in Kolkata on Tuesday. DEBASISH BHADURIDEBASISH BHADURI

After two days of action against encroachments on footpaths by hawkers, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a U-turn on Thursday, saying hawker eviction was not the goal of her government.

Ms. Banerjee, who addressed a review meeting on encroachment by hawkers with senior officials and Ministers of the State government, constituted a committee to conduct a survey and submit a report to her office within 15 days.

A month’s time

“We are not going for hawker eviction immediately. Since they (the hawkers) have sought one month’s time, we should complete our work in one month,” the Chief Minister said.

For the past two days, civic authorities and police in Kolkata, and in the districts, had undertaken hawker eviction drives. Bulldozers were brought out on the streets and temporary structures built by hawkers blocking footpaths were razed.

“I have no right to take away anyone’s source of income or render anyone unemployed. Millions run their family by hawking. There will be no eviction for one month. During this period, the hawkers have to clear the footpaths,” the Chief Minister said at the meeting.

The Trinamool Congress chairperson blamed political leaders and policemen forthe hawkers occupying the streets. She threatened councillors with arrest if hawkers sitting on pavements illegally are not removed.

BJP office bulldozed

A party office of the BJP was bulldozed by police officials in Kolkata’s Taratala area on Thursday, amid the anti-encroachment drive by the police and civic authorities following the Chief Minister’s warning on illegal encroachment.

The police said the demolition of the party office was done based on a Calcutta High Court order, adding that the office was illegally constructed on land belonging to the Kolkata Port Trust. However, the exact contents of the order are not known. A scuffle broke out between police and BJP workers, with women workers resisting thedemolition. Some of the workers were detained by the police.

Shaktiman Ghosh, leader of street vendors’ union Calcutta Hawker Sangram Committee, said he agrees with the directives announced by the Chief Minister on Thursday and will conduct meetings with fellow street vendors in the upcoming days to establish a proper system.

India and U.S. in talks for Stryker infantry vehicles

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

Deals for MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles and GE-414 jet engines are making progress along with defence industrial collaborations under the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology

The deal on Stryker could potentially see local manufacture of variants under licence with some customisations for the Army. AP

India has expressed interest in co-producing the Stryker infantry vehicles and it is in “relatively” early stages of talks with the U.S. on the Stryker and the Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), says the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell.

At the same time, deals for MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles and GE-414 jet engines are making progress along with defence industrial collaborations under the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) framework.

Discussions on Stryker have been going on for several months now, and officials said the deal could potentially see local manufacture of several hundred variants of the vehicle under licence with some customisations for the Indian Army, including one with Javelin mounted on them.

However, several defence officials expressed reservations on going for Stryker given that several such vehicles have been developed and demonstrated by Indian companies in recent years.

Early stages

“India has expressed an interest in the co-production of Stryker, and I think we’re still in relatively early stages and the U.S. Army plans to demonstrate the capabilities of the Stryker to the Indian Army at an early opportunity,” Mr. Campbell stated.

“We’ve had some discussions around the co-production of Javelin and Stryker. We’re exploring a number of avenues for both co-production and engagement around technological areas where we could collaborate together on development more generally in R&D.”

Mr. Campbell was speaking in a virtual briefing on Wednesday on the second India-U.S. iCET dialogue that was chaired by the two National Security Advisers last week.

The U.S. has in the past demonstrated both Stryker as well as Javelin for the Indian Army during bilateral exercises. Javelin was extensively evaluated by the Indian Army, though the deal did not go through.

On the MQ-9B deal, Mr. Campbell noted that the letter of offer and acceptance was delivered to India in early March, and they are awaiting signature to move forward.

“General Atomics is negotiating details of the sale with the Ministry of Defence and we are prepared, obviously, to work with them in addressing any outstanding questions,” he stated.

The deal is in advanced stages and expected to go for approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in the next few months. Similarly, the deal for licence manufacture of the GE-414 engines by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.(HAL) to power the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk1A is also in advanced stages.

Modern solutions

Beating the heat: Traffic police personnel wear special-issue helmets with inbuilt air cooling units in Lucknow on Thursday. The State of Uttar Pradesh has experienced extreme temperatures this summer, resulting in dozens of deaths on a single day.APRajesh Kumar Singh

Plea in Supreme Court seeks stay on implementation of three new criminal laws

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

A petition was moved in the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking a stay on the implementation and operation of three new criminal laws, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, scheduled to come into effect from July 1.

The writ petition filed by Anjale Patel and Chhaya Mishra, represented by advocates Sanjeev Malhotra and Kunwar Sidharth, has urged the court to constitute an expert committee immediately to assess viability of the three new laws which overhauls the criminal procedure and justice system and replaces the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) and the Indian Evidence Act.

The plea highlighted that the three laws were passed without detailed debate or effective discussion in Parliament as a large number of Members from the Opposition were suspended.

“The passing of the Bills in Parliament was irregular as many Members of Parliament were suspended. There was very little people’s participation in the passage of the Bills,” the petition submitted.

The petition, extensively referred to reports in The Hindu about the suspension of 146 Opposition MPs from Parliament. It quoted representations from the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal Chief Ministers to the Home Minister, objecting to the new laws.

It contended that the new laws were ambiguous, anti-bail, and even “inhumane” at some points such as the revival of handcuffs during arrest and provided extensive powers to the police.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which replaces the IPC, does not define terms such as “gang” and “mobile organised crime groups”. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, which replaces the Cr.PC, allows 15 days of police custody, either to be taken all at once or in a staggered manner.

The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, which takes over from the Evidence Act, has classified electronic records as primary evidence.

Mamata says women don’t feel safe in Raj Bhavan amid row over MLAs’ swearing-in

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata

Mamata Banerjee-

Amid the row over the venue for the swearing-in ceremony of two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs, West Bengal Chief MinisterMamataBanerjee on Thursday saidwomen “are not feeling safe” in the Raj Bhavan andGovernorC. V. Ananda Bose had no right to delay the oath-taking ceremony of her MLAs.

“Why must everyone go to the Raj Bhavan? TheGovernorcan authorise the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker, or can attend the Assembly himself. Women have informed me they are not feeling safe to visit Raj Bhavan due to recent incidents reported there,” Ms. Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister was alluding to the case of harassment levelled against the Governor by a woman staff member of the Raj Bhavan in May.

Two MLAs, Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar, elected from the Baranagar and Bhagwangola Assembly constituencies in the recently concluded byelections, have been demanding that the Governor administer the oath to them in the Assembly. The Raj Bhavan had invited them to the Governor’s house for the oath-taking ceremony, but they did not show up.

On Thursday, the MLAs held protests in the Assembly for the second consecutive day. On Wednesday, the Governorrefused to hold the swearing-in in the Assembly and left for New Delhi.

Slams Governor

The Chief Minister broke her silence on the issuethat has been festering for the past several weeks. “Nearly a month has passed but my MLAs are unable to take oath. TheGovernoris obstructing them from doing so. It is the people who have elected them, not theGovernor. He cannot deny them the right to take oath,” she said.

The Chief Minister and the Ministers have not visited the Raj Bhavan since May 2.

Manipur BJP chief meets Amit Shah for solution to conflict

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

A. Sharda Devi

The chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday seeking “immediate attention to bring permanent solution and tranquillity to the State”.

A. Sharda Devi met Mr. Shah for “an extensive discussion on the current situation in Manipur”. Her three-year tenure as party president ended on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a State government programme to be presided over by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh in Imphal on Friday (June 28) for the distribution of benefits under various existing schemes and announcement of new schemes was cancelled at the eleventh hour. No reason was cited but sources said that the programme has been postponed to the first week of July.

Mr. Singh posted on X late Thursday evening, “Convened a meeting with the ruling MLAs to deliberate on the current situation in Manipur.”

Ms. Devi said in a post on X, “Conveyed the people’s aspirations and urged immediate attention to bring permanent solution and tranquillity to the State, while appreciating the ongoing efforts. Additionally, highlighted the need for resettling IDPs (internally displaced persons) and providing maximum support for smooth rehabilitation. He assured that the Centre is aware of the delicate situation on the ground and committed to uplifting the people’s aspirations.”

The meeting comes days after Mr. Shah reviewed the security situation with State government officials in Delhi, on June 17.

Jaishankar urges Myanmar for safety of Indian projects

Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

S. Jaishankar JAM STA ROSA

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister U. Than Shwe on Wednesday as the latter transited through Delhi on his way to Tehran for the 19th Asia Cooperation Dialogue.

The meeting acquires significance as it materialised in the backdrop of the fast deterioratingsecurity scenario in Myanmar where the military rulers are facing a tough resistance from the Ethnic Armed Organisations.

“Discussed our deep concern at the impact of continuing violence and instability in Myanmar on our border. India is open to engaging all stakeholders in addressing this situation. Particularly flagged illegal narcotics, arms smuggling and trafficking in persons as priority challenges,” said the External Affairs Minister after the meeting.

The Ministry of External Affairs is yet to share further details about the meeting but indicating heightened concern about the safety requirements for the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, Mr. Jaishankar said he “pressedfor credible security protection for our ongoing projects in the country.”

Mr. Jaishankar also offered to help Myanmar “in anymanner” during the conversation and urged for a return to the path of “democratic transition” in Myanmar.

Mr. U Than Shwe is in Tehran at present where he met with counterparts from Thailand, Nepal, Iran, and Qatar among others. Myanmar’s international borders with Thailand, Bangladesh, India and China in recent months have come under the control of EAOs.

Land grab case: Eknath Khadse files special plea

The Hindu Bureau

MUMBAI

NCP (SP) leader Eknath Khadse, his wife Mandakini, and son-in-law Girish Chaudhari on Thursday moved a special court in Mumbai against the charges in an alleged 2016 money laundering case related to a land deal in Pune district of Maharashtra.

Advocate Swapnil Ambure filed their applications before special judge R.N. Rokade who was hearing cases of Ministers and political leaders.

Accepting the application, the special court has asked the ED for a response on the appeal of the accused in the case.

Mr. Khadse stepped down from the BJP in 2016 after he was accused of involvement in misusing his ministerial position to buy government land in Bhosari near Pune.

Sandeep Phukan

New Delhi

Decision was taken at a meeting of the Opposition bloc held at Kharge’s official residence ; both the Houses of Parliament are expected to start debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President today

Course of action: Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and K.C. Venugopal at a meeting on Thursday. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Opposition parties belonging to the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc will move adjournment motions in both the Houses of Parliament on Friday over the alleged irregularities in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) and paper leaks in other public exams.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Opposition bloc, held at the official residence of Congress president and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was present at the meeting attended by floor leaders of parties in the alliance. Mr. Gandhi is likely to formally spell out the Opposition’s strategy on Friday morning at a media interaction just before the Lok Sabha begins.

An adjournment motion is a tool that seeks to stop all other businesses of the House and take up the issue for which the motion has been moved. On Friday, both the Houses of Parliament are expected to start the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address.

While the government is unlikely to agree to such a motion, sources indicated that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is ready to answer queries on all issues regarding NEET and other public exams and steps taken to strengthen the National testing Agency (NTA), which conducts many of these exams. The source cited above said the Minister will intervene even during the Motion of Thanks debate since Opposition members plan to raise the issue while participating in that debate.

In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament on Thursday, President Droupadi Murmu said the Union government is fully committed to a fair investigation in the recent incidents of paper leaks and ensure that the guilty are punished.

Reacting to the President’s Address, Mr. Kharge, in a post on X, said: “Listening to the President’s address written by the Modi government, it seemed as if Modi ji is in a perpetual state of denial! The mandate was against him because the people of the country rejected his slogan of ‘400 plus” and kept the BJP away from the figure of 272”.

The Congress chief said there was nothing in Ms. Murmu’s speech that suggested a way forward to resolve the the NEET issue.

“Modi government cannot run away from its responsibility by just simply saying that ‘we should rise above partisan politics’. The youth is demanding justice. Union Education Minister will have to take responsibility for this,” Mr. Kharge said.

CPI general secretary D. Raja, in a post on X, said, “The first 15 days of Modi 3.0 have seen major mismanagements like frequent paper leaks, jeopardising the future of lakhs but the Government still wants to continue with a centralised and homogenising education system, which has evidently failed”.

Rajya Sabha decides to revoke suspension of AAP MP

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

Sanjay Singh

Six newly elected MPs from Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh took oath as members of the Rajya Sabha in the first sitting of the House after the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar also announced the revocation of suspension of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member Sanjay Singh.

Mr. Singh was suspended from the House from July 24, 2023, till the Committee of Privileges submitted its findings. The committee had presented the reports on the pending matters against Mr. Singh and 11 others on Wednesday.

“The committee, while holding Sanjay Singh guilty of breach of privilege of the Council in all the cases, recommended that the member has already suffered sufficient punishment for the transgression,” Mr. Dhankhar said.

The committee had held 12 Opposition MPs, including Mr. Singh, guilty of misconduct for disrupting House proceedings last August, and cautioned them to desist from such behaviour in future. The report stated that the panel has accepted Mr. Singh’s unconditional apology in the matter and recommended revocation of his suspension after considering that the punishment suffered by him was sufficient.

“The committee concludes that the 12 members, namely Sanjay Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Sushil Kumar Gupta, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Naranbhai J. Rathwa, L. Hanumanthaiah, Syed Nasir Hussain, Kumar Ketkar, Phulo Devi Netam, Jebi Mather Hisham, Ranjeet Ranjan and Imran Pratapgarhi are held guilty of serious transgression of privileges and commission of contempt of the Council of States. The committee, accordingly, recommends that no action is warranted against Kumar Ketkar, Naranbhai J Rathwa and L. Hanumanthaiah who have since retired from membership of the council. That Sanjay Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Sushil Kumar Gupta, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Syed Nasir Hussain, Phulo Devi Netam, Jebi Mather Hisham, Ranjeet Ranjan and Imran Pratapgarhi should desist from indulging in such misconduct in future and scrupulously adhere to exemplary conduct and optimise their performance in the House,” the panel said in its report.

Motion of Thanks

The House met after President Droupadi Murmu addressed a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. The House will pass a Motion of Thanks to the President for her address after a discussion.

Among those who took oath was Congress MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh, followed by Sarfaraz Ahmad of JMM and Pradip Kumar Varma of the BJP. BJP leaders Banshilal Gurjar, Maya Naroliya and Balyogi Umeshnath also took oath as members of the House.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of the House J.P. Nadda and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi were among those present in the House.

Rahul meets Om Birla, says resolution on Emergency could have been avoided

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

Point of contention: Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi with newly elected Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday. ANI

A day after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out a resolution on the imposition of Emergency, referring to it as a dark period, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the House Rahul Gandhi met Mr. Birla to convey his displeasure. He said the Chair should have remained “impartial and avoided the resolution”.

Separately, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal wrote to the Speaker, in which he said “such a political reference from the Chair is unprecedented in the annals of the history of Parliament”.

Asked about the meeting between Mr. Gandhi and the Speaker, Mr. Venugopal described it as a courtesy call after Mr. Birla officially designated Mr. Gandhi as the LoP.

“We discussed so many things about Parliament functioning. Of course, this issue also came up. Rahulji, as Leader of Opposition, informed the Speaker about this issue, and said it could have been avoided from the Speaker’s reference. That is clearly a political reference, it could have been avoided,” Mr. Venugopal said, referring to the resolution on the Emergency.

The Opposition delegation that accompanied Mr. Gandhi included Dharmendra Yadav and Dimple Yadav (Samajwadi Party); Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam); Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party-SP); Misa Bharti (Rashtriya Janata Dal); Kalyan Banerjee (Trinamool Congress); and N.K. Premachandran (Revolutionary Socialist Party).

In his letter to Mr. Birla, Mr. Venugopal said it was a grave matter that impacted “the very credibility of the institution of Parliament” and made a travesty of parliamentary traditions.

“Making such a political reference from the Chair is unprecedented in the annals of the history of Parliament. This coming from the Chair as one of the ‘first duties’ of a newly elected Speaker assumes even graver proportions. I, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, express our profound concern and anguish over this travesty of parliamentary traditions,” he said.

On Wednesday, when Mr. Birla was re-elected Speaker of Lok Sabha, he read out a resolution in the House on the 1975 Emergency.

The resolution blamed the Congress for “suppressing the rights of the people” and “attacking the principles of democracy”.

L-G dissolves Delhi govt. think tank, calls it ‘clear case of nepotism’

Satvika Mahajan

New Delhi

V.K. Saxena

Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena on Thursday approved the temporary dissolution of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission (DDCD) until a mechanism is reached for the screening and selection of its members and vice-chairman, according to Raj Niwas officials.

The DDCD acts as a think tank for the Delhi government and helps the government in various projects across departments.

In a note to the Chief Secretary, Mr. Saxena called the DDC a “clear case of nepotism and favouritism in utter disregard of all rules”, and said it allowed the Delhi government to “extend financial benefits and extend patronage to certain favoured political persons of partisan inclinations”. He also noted that screening for positions was not conducted transparently. “Huge salaries were also paid from the public exchequer, which were incommensurate to the duties assigned,” he added.

An official said the L-G has also asked the Finance Department to explore the possibility of recovering the salaries paid to non-official members of the government think tank.

In 2022, the L-G in an order had restricted DDCD vice-chairman Jasmine Shah from discharging his duties, and his office was sealed while the facilities used by him were also withdrawn.

Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the L-G of playing “petty politics”.

“It is ironic that even his appointment as the L-G is a political appointment made without any advertisement, test, or interview. If there had been a public advertisement for the post, he would have enlightened the country about it. Perhaps he competed in a written examination before being selected for the post, only he can clarify,” he said in a statement.

He added that is was “well known” that the commissions, boards and committees of the Centre and BJP-ruled States often had political appointees without former interviews.

Raising objections

Aam Aadmi Party MPs hold placards as they stage a protest against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at the Samvidhan Sadan on Thursday. They also boycotted President Droupadi Murmu's address to protest the Chief Minister’s arrest. ANI

INDIA bloc parties back SP MP’s views on removing

The Hindu Bureau

New Delhi

Parties of the INDIA bloc on Thursday rallied behind Samajwadi Party MP R.K. Chaudhary’s views that “Sengol” (sceptre) should be removed from Parliament and a copy of the Constitution be placed there instead.

Mr. Chaudhary has, in a letter to pro tem Speaker Bhatruhari Mahtab, contended that the “Sengol”, which was installed in the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with much fanfare last year, was a symbol of “monarchy” and not “democracy”.

INDIA bloc parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Congress, came out in support of the SP member.

“The sceptre represents monarchy. In a democratic country, it has no role to play. Its place is in the museum. Where democracy rules and people elect their representatives, it is better to have the Constitution. We don’t have any stand, but if SP has said it, it is justified,” T.K.S. Elangovan of the DMK said.

His party colleague, Dayanidhi Maran, echoed his views. “It is silly politics played by the BJP. It is their narrative.”

Congress MP Manickam Tagore supported Mr. Chaudhary’s demand, criticising the government for creating high drama during the inauguration of the new Parliament building. “This is a good suggestion from our SP colleague.”

Misa Bharti of the RJD said the “Sengol” should be kept in a museum.

Mr. Chaudhary on Thursday said that now the SP leadership would decide what had to be done. “ Maybe there will be a movement and then maybe people in the BJP who support the Constitution and Babasaheb Ambedkar will support us”.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav defended him suggesting that the remark might be a reminder for Mr. Modi. “When the Sengol was installed, the Prime Minister bowed before it. He might have forgotten this while taking oath. Maybe our MP’s remark was to remind him of that”.

The NDA criticised the comments. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath posted on X that the remarks revealed the ignorance of the SP leaders and showed their lack of respect for history and culture.

In Jammu, BJP leader seeks termination of Indus Water Treaty

Peerzada Ashiq

SRINAGAR

Devender Singh Rana

With a five-member Pakistani delegation currently touring power projects in Jammu and Kashmir along with neutral experts from the World Bank, the BJP on Thursday sought the termination of India’s Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan.

“I hope that the Centre will intensify initiatives to terminate the treaty in the larger interests of the country in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular,” senior BJP leader Devender Rana said in Jammu.

He reiterated the BJP’s stand on revisiting the treaty signed in 1960 during Congress rule. “It has been beneficial for Pakistan and hasdetrimental effects on the development and water security of J&K,” Mr. Rana said.

Revisiting the IWT is imperative to address the longstanding issues of J&K, the BJP leader said. “An earnest resolution holds the key for faster development of this part of the country, especially in the power sector,” he added.

His statement assumes significance as a 40-member team, which includes the Pakistani delegates and World Bank experts, returned to Jammu after a three-day tour of the Chenab valley, where they inspected two major power projects, the 850-MW Ratle project and the 1000-megawatt Pakal Dul hydroelectric project. The team was given access to these power projects under the treaty.

Under the treaty, India has rights over the run-of-the-river water from the three rivers flowing through J&K and complete rights over the water flowing through the three rivers in Punjab. Pakistan alleges that the power projects set up on rivers in J&K “will cut flows on the river”. India maintains that water usage was carried out as per the treaty.

Congress’s invocation of Constitution a pretence: BJP

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday criticised the Congress for objecting to the condemnation of Emergency in a resolution read out by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the House on Wednesday.

BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said the main Opposition party’s invocation of the Constitution was just a pretence. “It irks the Congress whenever the issue of Emergency is raised... Why shouldn’t it be discussed even though 50 years have passed,” he asked, adding that citizens needed to be informed about it.

He said during the Emergency, then Opposition leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh, Nitish Kumar, and Ram Vilas Paswan were jailed and activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were tortured. Journalist Kuldeep Nayar was sent to prison and censorship was imposed on the press. The then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu was dismissed, he said, adding: “The Congress continues to carry this sin.”

Students protest at Jantar Mantar, want NTA dissolved

Ashna Butani

New Delhi

Raising the NEET issue, Youth Congress, NSUI members and multiple student outfits demand resignation of Union Education Minister; police detain 30 agitators and released them later

Against malpractices: Security personnel lathi-charging Youth Congress workers during a protest in New Delhi on Thursday over paper leak of NEET-UG. SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

While President Droupadi Murmu spoke about the NEET issue in Parliament on Thursday, just a few kilometres away, Jantar Mantar saw back-to-back protests with students and youth leaders demanding the dissolving of the controversy-riddled National Testing Agency (NTA) and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Simultaneously, the Congress-affiliated NSUI members marched to the NTA and demanded its closure, attempting to lock the office from outside.

Two protests took place at Jantar Mantar simultaneously — one by the Congress’s youth wing, which resulted in detentions, and the other by multiple student outfits that have come under the banner of “India Against NTA”, which saw the participation of two elected MPs, Raja Ram Singh from Bihar and Shashikant Senthil from Tamil Nadu.

Jantar Mantar, which has emerged as the focal point for the anti-NTA protests over the past few days, had posters such as “NTA must go”, “No Test Agency”, and “Dharmendra Pradhan must resign” strewn across the roads.

Towards the afternoon, as Youth Congress members climbed barricades, the police detained some of them. A senior police officer said 30 to 40 protesters were detained and later released.

Indian Youth Congress national president Srinivas B.V. said the NEET issue not only failed 24 lakh students but also cheated the “country’s medical system and future”.

‘Direct attack’

NSUI members reached the NTA office in Okhla, where they raised slogans such as “Shut down NTA”. NSUI national president Varun Choudhary said, “The frequent postponements and paper leaks are not just administrative failures; they are a direct attack on the future of our youth. We demand that the NTA be banned and a more reliable, transparent system be put in place.”

The students said their primary demand was the dissolution of the testing agency. Mr. Choudhary added, “From tomorrow, we will lock NTA offices all over India if our demand to ban the NTA is not met.”

On the other end of Jantar Mantar, multiple student outfits, including the All India Students’ Association, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan, and smaller groups such as Disha and Collective, congregated with students from DU and JNU.

10 fishermen arrested in Sri Lanka to be booked for Navy sailor’s death

Press Trust of India

Colombo

A T.N. Fisheries Department official advising fishermen not to cross the International Maritime Boundary Line. Special ArrangementHANDOUT_E_MAIL

Ten Indian fishermen, arrested for alleged involvement in illegal fishing in the Sri Lankan waters on Monday, will be charged with the death of a Sri Lankan Navy sailor who was killed in an operation to seize their trawler, the authorities here said.

A senior sailor from the Navy Special Boat Squadron sustained critical injuries due to “the aggressive manoeuvres of the Indian trawler, resisting its seizure”, the Sri Lankan Navy said in a statement, adding: “Unfortunately, the sailor succumbed to his injuries after being admitted to the Teaching Hospital, Jaffna...”

The trawler of the arrested fishermen was brought to the Kankesanthurai Harbour, and the fishermen had been handed over to the Mailadi Fisheries Inspector for legal proceedings. The Kankesanthurai Police had sought their prosecution.

“They face charges for illegal fishing in the Sri Lankan waters, death of a naval person and causing damage to naval property,” the statement said. A post-mortem was done, and it was found that the sailor’s death was due to damage to spinal cord, the Sri Lankan Navy said.

Contentious issue

The Jaffna fishermen attended the 40-year-old sailor’s funeral in the north-western district of Kurunegala.

The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters.

The Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, is a rich fishing ground for fishermen from both countries.

Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other's waters.

The Sri Lanka Navy said it has arrested more than 200 Indian fishermen and seized 27 trawlers for illegal fishing in the country's waters so far this year.

In 2023, the Navy arrested 240 Indian fishermen along with 35 trawlers for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters.

(set by Avtaar)

1 of 4

2 of 4

3 of 4

4 of 4 Scan to play

Across

1 Foreign worker in Indian political group arrested by state (2,4)

5 Fell, like Archer? (4,4)

9 Christmas clothing section stocking knight's headgear (8)

10 Case of engineer ducking training for duty (6)

11 Doctor sends man away for resources (4,3,5)

13 Ice-cold expression? (4)

14 Company honcho in Delhi on vacation, joined by minister (8)

17 Spooner's discarded stinking bird (8)

18 Carol abused - one left (4)

20 Liked relaxing outside a particular place with hills, dales and water bodies (4,8)

23 American agents catching accountant's bloomer (6)

24 Casual help in need steals book (4-4)

25 Judges back old German service on the radio (8)

26 Trapping of people inside ends in fighting with one troublemaker starting to attack leader of Opposition (6)

Down

2 Periodically stamp out escalating poisonous growth (4)

3 Avtaar's unfinished task - cutting supplies for groups that destroy food (4,5)

4 Races run by English Amateur Society (6)

5 Bears led kittens around for idle enjoyment (4,3,8)

6 They swing with force, avoiding those stopping the ball (8)

7 Ounce jumped at the precise moment (2,3)

8 Ike's introduction in episode with new hero is amazing (10)

12 Slippery character in European country, close to politicians, works on his own (10)

15 Criminals counter cop (9)

16 Recycling of plastic outside American cities like Lincoln and Phoenix (8)

19 Bent on skipping Disney movie (6)

21 Host discussed Einstein's ratio of energy to speed of light (5)

22 Official record of proceedings from Alcatraz, nicked every now and then (4)

Antelope-like mammal from Bhutan recorded at lowest elevation in western Assam

The Hindu Bureau

GUWAHATI

Lone ranger: A mainland serow at the Raimona National Park in western Assam. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The mainland serow, a mammal that looks like a cross between a goat and an antelope, has been recorded at the lowest elevation beyond Bhutan, its natural home, in Assam.

A team of scientists recorded a lone mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis thar) at 96 metres above the mean sea level at the Raimona National Park in western Assam. Also, the elusive animal has been found for the first time within a radius of 1 km from a human habitation.

The finding with photographic proof was published as a scientific paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The paper was authored by M. Firoz Ahmed, senior scientist at biodiversity conservation group Aaranyak; senior conservation biologist Dipankar Lahkar; Nibir Medhi; Nitul Kalita; Bhanu Sinha, Divisional Forest Officer, Kachugaon; forest officials Pranjal Talukdar, Biswajit Basumatary, and Tunu Basumatary; Ramie H. Begum, Associate Professor, Assam University; and Abhishek Harihar, the director of Tiger programme, Panthera.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the mainland serow inhabits areas at altitudes of 200 metres to 3,000 metres. Its habitat is across the border in the Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.

SC, Delhi HC seek NTA response to petitions on NEET

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

The National Testing Agency (NTA) continued to face the heat over the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) for admission to undergraduate medical courses on Thursday with the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court seeking its response to separate petitions raising grievances with respect to the uploading of the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets by the agency prior to the announcement of the results and out-of-syllabus questions.

A Vacation Bench of the top court headed by Justice Manoj Misra issued notice to, and directed, the NTA to clarify the time limit for raising the grievance that some candidates had not been able to access their OMR sheets.

Justice Dharmesh Sharma of the Vacation Bench of the Delhi High Court ordered the NTA to state its stand on a petition alleging “out of syllabus” questions.

OMR sheets

In the Supreme Court, senior advocate R. Basant, appearing for a private coaching centre, said a few students had not received their OMR sheets on the NTA website. Though the Bench initially questioned the coaching centre’s locus standi to file a writ petition under Article 32 alleging violation of fundamental rights, it later asked the NTA counsel to file a reply and tagged the petition along with other NEET matters scheduled for hearing on July 8.

On June 20, the top court had sought responses from the Centre, the NTA and others on a slew of petitions, including those seeking scrapping of the test and a court-monitored investigation.

The court had orally observed that even “0.001 per cent negligence” on the part of anyone in the conduct of the examination should be thoroughly dealt with.

The petition in the High Court alleged that a physics question on radioactivity was out of syllabus. The petitioner alleged a “manifest error” with respect to another question.

The Bench posted the petition for July 16.

Connect with God

We live in a world where there are many things, but we need not go anywhere in search of God. The Tamil saying, “Engum ulla Kannan” sums it up concisely. We can see Him anywhere and everywhere but we need to have the eye to see Him in our mind. His divine presence is in all things around us. We should establish the connectivity with Him. We need to focus our inner eye upon Him, said Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar in a discourse.

It is a fact of life that where there is light there is also darkness. A lamp is lit to dispel darkness. Similarly the darkness within one should be replaced with the light of divinity. It is natural for a person to love another, but even that is divine, when viewed correctly. When one says, “I cannot live without you,” he is the jivatma and the person addressed is paramatma.

The concept of developing the inner eye to see God is best exemplified by the Vaishnavite Azhwars, whose works are codified under Nalayira Divya Prabhandam. Born in Tamil Nadu, the Azhwars experienced God like none other, while leading simple, ordinary lives. Vibrating with divinity, the Nalayira Divya Prabhandam has encompassed the universe, with the verses being rendered every day at homes and temples. he Prabhandams are not mere lyrics composed by scholars, but a soulful rendering resulting from experiencing God. They conversed with Him, chided Him, treated Him like a friend, urged Him to take care from evil eye: in short, the Azhwars, through the Divya Prabhandams, written in simple Tamil, showed mankind the ways and means of experiencing God.

Another bridge caves in; 4th collapse in eight days in Bihar

A fourth bridge has collapsed in Bihar within eight days. On Wednesday evening, a bridge came crashing down in Kishanganj district of the northeast Seemanchal area of the State. Since June 19, bridges have collapsed in Araria, Siwan and Motihari (East Champaran) districts. In the past two years, six bridges have caved in across the State. On Wednesday, a portion of the bridge, 70 metres long and 12 metres wide, built in 2011 under the Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojna (Chief Minister’s Rural Road Project), collapsed. The bridge over the Mariya river connects the Bahadurganj and Dighalbank blocks in the district.

No permit for J&K Bar Association election

The Hindu Bureau

SRINAGAR

The J&K administration has for the fifth continuous year denied permission for elections to the J&K High Court Bar Association in Srinagar, citing “secessionist ideology” and “free legal aid to anti-national elements” as one of the reasons.

“I have perused all the facts/reports and inputs of the matter placed before me and am satisfied that there is an emergent situation which can lead to breach of peace and disruption of public order, (if) the JKHBA, Srinagar, proceeds forward with the scheduled elections,” the Srinagar District Magistrate said.

It is the fifth year that elections of the Bar are not being allowed in Kashmir.

‘Drop cases against Arundhati Roy over Kashmir comments’

The top UN human rights official on Thursday voiced concern over the use of anti-terror law in India to silence critics, and urged authorities to drop cases against author Arundhati Roy. “#India: We are concerned by the use of #UAPA anti-terror law to silence critics. Repeat call for review of law & release of human rights defenders detained under it. Urge authorities to drop cases against Arundhati Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain,” the UN Human Rights Office, led by High Commissioner Volker Turk, said. Earlier this month, Delhi L-GV.K. Saxena accorded sanction to prosecute Ms. Roy and professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain under the UAPA for speeches at an event in 2010. PTI

Regional

- Uddhav mounts attack on Centre, Mahayuti govt. over NEET, Ram Temple leakage

- Reel life peps up Kashmir as top directors put spotlight on film-making

- JJP offers support to Cong. for Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana, denies any alignment with BJP

- SAD to support BSP nominee for bypoll in Punjab

- ED gets custody of kingpin in 2022 J&K S-I paper leak case

- 13 illegal bars razed in Maharashtra as crackdown continues

- Arvind Kejriwal will not bow down, says Punjab CM Mann

- NHRC notice to U.P. DGP over brothers’ death by suicide

- Two women Naxalites with ₹16 lakh bounty surrender

- Himachal to launch scheme for overall growth of children

- Woman tourist washed away in Parvati river, body found

- CID files chargesheet against Yediyurappa in POCSO case

- Slow and steady

- Amnesty for RMP founder’s killers: Kerala govt. suspends officials, but UDF sees red

- CBI files chargesheet against 5 former police officials in ISRO case

- Make way for Shivakumar, Vokkaliga seer publicly tells Siddaramaiah

- Centre’s agreement with BIAL may play spoiler to T.N. CM’s plan to open airport at Hosur

- Tax hike on tourist buses: Kerala Transport Minister warns Tamil Nadu of tit for tat

- 4 members of banned Maoist outfit surrender at Paderu in A.P.

- Man held for stealing jewellery worth ₹2 cr. from air passengers

- Telangana Cabinet expansion next week

Uddhav lambasts Centre, Maharashtra govt. over NEET, Ram Temple leakage

Abhinay Deshpande

Mumbai

On first day of final session of Assembly before Maharashtra goes to polls, Sena (UBT) chief demands farm loan waiver, raises issue of unemployment; ‘govt. is against farmers, youth and daily wagers’

Stepping up the heat: Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray with party leaders on the first day of the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly, in Mumbai on Thursday. EMMANUAL YOGINIEMMANUAL YOGINI

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday criticised the Mahayutigovernment, calling it a “Mahagalti sarkar” and a “leakage sarkar”, referring to alleged irregularities in NEET and water seepage at Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Addressing a press conference, he termed the monsoon session of the State legislature, the final session before Maharashtra goes for voting later this year, as the “send-off” session for the government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The former Chief Minister also demanded a complete waiver of farm loans before the election.

“The Centre and the State are ‘leakage sarkar’, not ‘double engine sarkar’ because exam papers (NEET) were leaked and also because there is leakage in the Ram temple’s sanctum sanctorum. They have no shame. They can’t build a temple properly and run the administration, why should we vote for them,” he alleged.

Earlier, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) legislators, including those from the Sena (UBT), the Congress, and the NCP (SP), had protested against the government over the NEET exam and demanded loan waivers for farmers on the premises of the Assembly. As Mr. Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis passed by, they raised slogans such as “commission sarkar down down”.

Stating that 6,250 farmers have died by suicide in the State in the last two years, with 1,046 such deaths since January this year alone, the Sena (UBT) leader demanded a complete waiver of farm loans. “This government is against farmers, youth, and daily wagers. There should be a complete waiver of farm loans and this should be implemented before the State election. Moreover, this government had announced an assistance of ₹10,020 crore for the farmers which is yet to be released,” Mr. Thackeray said, accusing the Central government of insensitivity over water issues in the country.

He predicted a “rain of assurances” in the Budget to be presented by Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday and called for a white paper on the promises fulfilled over the past two years.

On reports that the State will launch a scheme for women on the lines of Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Scheme, Mr. Thackeray suggested a similar initiative for men, citing rising unemployment.

Elevator encounter

Regarding his chance meeting with Mr. Fadnavis in a lift at the State Assembly, which gained attention on social media, Mr. Thackeray called it a “mere coincidence” and an “informal meeting”.

Reel life peps up Kashmir as top directors put spotlight on film-making

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

Cinema calling: L-G Manoj Sinha with film director Imtiaz Ali at the J&K Tourism Development Conclave in Srinagar on Thursday. PTi

Bollywood’s star movie directors on Thursday held no-holds-barred deliberations with locals about the magical reel life and sought to further strengthen the decades-old relation between scenic Kashmir and the silver screen byprodding locals to enterinto film-making.

In a rare bid to share the knowledge of cinema at a place where movie-making almost halted in the past three decades, Bollywood directors Vishal Bharadwaj, Imtiaz Ali, Kabir Khan, and actor Sanjay Suri made it easy for the local audience to understand what it requires to leave a mark in cinema.

They were speaking at the ‘Film Tourism and its potential in promoting J&K Tourism’ session of the two-day tourism conclave held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre.

‘Dispel resistance’

With many in the audience identifying the real and imagined hurdles to arrive at cinematic skills, Mr. Ali, who put a fresh spotlight on Kashmir through movies like Rockstar and Highway, asked locals “to work hard to leave a mark”. “People of Kashmir will have to dispel the persisting resistance regarding opening of cinema halls and people choosing films as a career,” Mr. Ali said. He said Bollywoodalways awaitsa good scriptwith Kashmir as the theme.

Around a dozen cinema halls closed in Kashmir with the onset of militancy in the 1990s. In the past five years, the Lieutenant Governor’s administration has beenreviving cinema in Kashmir by reopening cinema halls in every district across the Valley.

Mr. Khan, whose blockbuster movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan put spotlight on Kashmir’s Sonamarg,dispelled the myth of the existence of a bloc in the Bollywood. “None of our relatives were in the Bollywood. We flew from different States and today came to represent Bollywood, which yearns for new talent. It requires a lot of hard work though. The key is the passion to do something different,” Mr. Khan said.

He praised the locals for their cooperation and understanding of the making of cinema. “Besides the fact, it’s reasonably easy to get permission for shooting andprovidesscenery, it’s the people who genuinely help in film-making. Shooting in Delhi is far harder than Kashmir. It’s much easier to have an audience of three thousand to stay silent in Kashmir while shooting at a location. They understand what isrequired when dialogues are recorded. This one element makes all the difference,” the director said.

In a bid to attract local film-makers, Mr. Bharadwaj, whose film Haider brought to fore multiple layers of Kashmir’s violent past, asked locals to avail from the new film policy.

‘Double subsidy’

“Local language film-makers can avail double subsidy, which amounts to ₹3 crore. I made my first movie for ₹40 lakh. A Bengali film costs no more than ₹3-4 crore. Theyproduce good cinema,” Mr. Bharadwaj pointed out.

The introduction of the J&K Film Policy by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has resulted inshooting permission of 350 films in the past four years in Kashmir.

The Hindu Bureau

Chandigarh

Dushyant Chautala

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) co-founder Dushyant Chautala, a former ally of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Thursday asked the Congress to take the lead in fielding a common candidate for the Rajya Sabha election in Haryana to which the JJP will extend support.

Mr. Chautala, former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, also dismissed the possibility of an alliance with the ruling BJP in Haryana before or after the next Assembly polls, which are due later this year.

After Congress party’s Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda won the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat in the recently concluded polls, the seat in the Upper House of Parliament has become vacant.

Mr. Chautala alleged that both the national parties — the Congress and the BJP were deceiving the public. “In the Rajya Sabha elections to be held in Haryana, Congress is running away from the battle. Former Chief Minister Bhupindar Hooda’s statement that they do not have the numbers shows ‘match fixing’ with BJP. If Congress really wants to compete with BJP, then it should field a joint opposition Rajya Sabha candidate. We are ready to support them. The Opposition should unite to get a social personality, a player or an artist to lead Haryana in the Rajya Sabha,” he said at a press conference here.

Pointing out that the JJP suffered electoral loss by allying with the BJP, Mr. Chautala said: “There is no reason for JJP to go with the BJP in the future. Due to issues like the farmers’ movement, the public was angry with the BJP and JJP had to bear the brunt of it,” he added.

Feedback from workers

Mr. Chautala said the party will take feedback from workers of all 22 districts in the State and will start preparing for the upcoming Assembly election.

Hitting out at the BJP, Mr. Chautala said the law and order situation is rapidly deteriorating in the State due to the failure of the State government.

SAD to support BSP nominee for bypoll in Punjab

Press Trust of India

Chandigarh

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will support the BSP nominee in the bypoll for the Jalandhar West Assembly seat in Punjab instead of the candidate it had officially fielded, as she was picked by a panel, two of whose members have now rebelled against party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The party is unable to change its “authorised candidate” now as the last day for this has already passed.

The SAD now does not have its own authorised candidate for the July 10 bypoll, senior party leader Daljit Singh Cheema told reporters on Thursday.

On Wednesday, SAD’s Jalandhar district unit chief announced that the party has withdrawn support to its Jalandhar West candidate Surjit Kaur, who is a two-time municipal councillor.

Ms. Kaur was selected for the seat by a SAD panel comprising Bibi Jagir Kaur, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, MLA Sukhwinder Sukhi and Mohinder Singh Kaypee. However, Ms. Jagir Kaur and Mr. Wadala are now among rebel party leaders who revolted against Mr. Badal, demanding that he should step down as party chief.

Mr. Cheema said the party has conveyed to its workers to support Bahujan Samaj Party nominee Binder Kumar in the bypoll. The senior SAD leader also said he has requested Surjit Kaur not to contest the bypoll.

Allotted party symbol

Surjit Kaur has already been allotted the SAD symbol and she was among 15 candidates who were left in the fray for the bypoll, which was necessitated following the resignation of Sheetal Angural as Aam Aadmi Party legislator.

Meanwhile, the SAD’s move to withdraw support to Surjit Kaur drew a sharp reaction from rebel party leaders, who on Thursday said they will support her in the bypoll, accusing the party leadership of “running away” from the electoral battle.

ED gets custody of kingpin in 2022 J&K S-I paper leak case

The Hindu Bureau

Srinagar

A kingpin involved in the paper leak of sub-inspectors (S-I) posts in Jammu and Kashmir has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Jammu.

An ED spokesperson identified the kingpin as Yatin Yadav.He was arrested on June 24 in the J&K Service Selection Board paper leak case and produced before the Special PMLA Court, Jammu, on June 25. The court has granted the Central agency Mr. Yadav’s custody for seven days.

“The ED investigation revealed that the accused, Yatin Yadav, is the kingpin of the paper leak gang, who had arranged for the smuggling out of the paper of the S-I exam. He conspired with the other accused persons to arrange for candidates willing to access the leaked paper against monetary payments ranging from ₹15 lakh to ₹30 lakh. Post examination, the payments were collected mainly via cash and via bank account transfers from the aspirants routed to accused Yatin Yadav,” the ED said on Thursday.

‘Chain of transactions’

The probe agency said the scrutiny of the suspected bank accounts showed that the chain of transactions had been used to route cash deposits, and other funds into the bank accounts related to Mr. Yadav.

“The funds were also routed into his proprietorship firm, M/s New Global Fumigation Corporation and were dissipated vide transactions of smaller amounts,” the ED said.

13 illegal bars razed in Maharashtra as crackdown continues

Press Trust of India

Thane

The Thane civic body and Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) on Thursday razed 13 illegal bars and over 30 paan shops, a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde directed action against joints selling intoxicating substances in the wake of the Pune bar case, officials said.

Earlier this week, the Pune Municipal Corporation started cracking down on unauthorised structures at pubs and bars in the city following a viral video clip from a bar — Liquid Leisure Lounge or ‘L3’ — on Pune’s Fergusson College Road. The police have arrested eight persons, including an event organiser, and suspended four police personnel after the L3 pub was found operating beyond the permissible time. Besides, the Excise Department has arrested six waiters of L3 for allegedly flouting norms related to serving of liquor.

In Thane, eight unauthorised bars and pubs and 31 paan shops were pulled down for operating without permission, the civic corporation said in a release. The drive will continue unabated, it said. Civic body chief Rajesh Katkar said five illegal bars were demolished and more will face action on Friday.

Arvind Kejriwal will not bow down, says Punjab CM Mann

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will not bow down no matter how much atrocities are committed on him. Mr. Mann’s statement came a day after Mr. Kejriwal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a corruption case linked to the alleged excise scam. The Punjab CM also shared Mr. Kejriwal’s picture in a post on X. “This picture represents the struggle against dictatorship. The CBI’s arrest after the ED’s bail is a blatant misuse of the CBI at the behest of the BJP,” Mr. Mann said in the post. PTI

NHRC notice to U.P. DGP over brothers’ death by suicide

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday said it has issued a notice to the police chief of Uttar Pradesh over the reported deaths of two brothers by suicide due to alleged atrocity by Hathras police personnel.

The police are supposed to protect the people from any atrocity, but in this case, it appears that they became the “perpetrators” which is a matter of concern, the panel observed. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that said the two brothers in Agra died by suicide “within three days due to alleged harassment by police personnel... in Hathras”, it said in a statement.

Those in distress may contact Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health suicide prevention helpline 011-40769002.

Two women Naxalites with ₹16 lakh bounty surrender

Two women Naxalites carrying a cumulative reward of ₹16 lakh on their heads surrendered in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district on Thursday. A release from the office of the Superintendent of Police identified them as Bali alias Rambatti alias Zarina Narote (28) and Shashikala alias Chandrakala alias Manisha Uike (29), both platoon party committee members of the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) company number 10. The surrender of the two women, with rewards of ₹8 lakh each on their heads, comes within a week of DKSZCM (Dandkaranya Special Zonal Committee Member) Giridhar, who was the district’s top Naxalite, and his wife Sangeeta Usendi laying down arms. PTI

Himachal to launch scheme for overall growth of children

In line with the New Education Policy, 2020, the Himachal Pradesh government is all set to launch the ‘Himachal Pradesh Early Childhood Care and Education Tutor Scheme’ that is aimed at the overall growth of children between the age of 3 and 6 years. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday said 6,297 pre-primary sections in primary schools were currently being run by the government in the State catering to approximately 60,000 children and 2,377 anganwadis were also co-located with these primary schools. “The State government is also launching Rajiv Gandhi Day Boarding School in every Assembly constituency,” Mr. Sukhu said.

Woman tourist washed away in Parvati river; body found

A 31-year-old tourist from Haryana was washed away after she slipped into the gushing waters of Parvati river while taking photographs near the riverbed near Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district, police said on Thursday. The incident occurred on Wednesday evening when the couple — Ajay and his wife Kavita — from Jhajjar in Haryana were taking photographs along the fast-flowing river around 6.30 p.m., an eyewitness said. The body of Kavita was recovered during the rescue operation near Suma Ropa, about four kilometres from the spot where she fell, police said. Kavita’s husband identified her body, they said. PTI

CID files chargesheet against Yediyurappa in POCSO case

The Hindu Bureau

Bengaluru

The former Karnataka Chief Minister is accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl , who had gone to meet him on February 2, 2024, seeking his help to speed up probe into a past rape case

B.S. Yediyurappa

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed a chargesheet against BJP leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, charging him under Section 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and Section 354A (sexual harassment) and 214 (offering gift or restoration of property in consideration of screening offender) of the Indian Penal Code, on Thursday.

The victim in the case is a 17-year-old girl, who had gone to meet the former Chief Minister along with her mother at his residence on February 2, 2024, seeking help to speed up probe into a past rape case.

The victim was raped by one of her relatives when she was seven years old.

The former Chief Minister is accused of sexually assaulting the girl in a room at his house. The FIR was registered at Sadashivanagar police station here on March 14 and the case was handed over to the CID.

The High Court of Karnataka had halted the arrest of Mr. Yediyurappa in the case on June 14, following an arrest warrant issued by the trial court.

The CID filed the 750-page chargesheet against four accused: Mr. Yediyurappa for sexual assault and three of his aides for destruction of evidence and trying to cover up the case on his behalf, at the Fast Track Court 1 for POCSO Act cases in the city on Thursday.

The other three accused are Arun Y.M., an advocate, M. Rudresh, a close associate of Mr. Yediyurappa, and G. Mariswamy, a close relative of the former Chief Minister, who allegedly tried to destroy evidence in the case and paid money to the victim and her family, to shield the accused.

They have been charged under Sections 204 (destruction of document or electronic record to prevent its production as evidence), and 214 of the IPC.

The chargesheet lists 74 individuals as witnesses, including the minor who has been the victim in the case. She has been listed as witness number 1. Her mother, the complainant in the case, who died reportedly of cancer on May 26, was also listed as a witness. The mother-daughter duo had already recorded their statements before the magistrate under Section 164 of the Cr.PC.

Slow and steady

Resource in demand: Sand being carried on a bullock cart near Nandigama in Andhra Pradesh’s NTR district. Only bullock carts are allowed to transport sand in the State, say officials.G.N. RAORAO GN

Amnesty for RMP founder’s killers: Kerala govt. suspends officials, but UDF sees red

G. Anand

Thiruvananthapuram

T.P. Chandrasekharan

The political backwash of the 2012 murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) founder T.P. Chandrasekharan beset the Kerala Assembly again on Thursday.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) walked out for the second time in three days, accusing the government of ‘lying’ to the House about the move to grant remissions to lifers serving time for Chandrasekharan’s assassination.

Political theatre preceded the UDF’s effort to raise the issue. The State government hastily suspended three Kannur jail officials, who purportedly initiated the remission process, from service pending investigation minutes before the House took up Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan’s submission on the topic.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was absent and Local Self-Governments Minister M.B. Rajesh replied in Mr. Vijayan’s stead to the submission. Speaker A.N. Shamseer, who had drawn Opposition criticism for allegedly defending the government on the issue, was not on the Chair. Deputy Speaker Chittayam Gopakumar officiated in his place.

Mr. Satheesan accused the government of diluting prison rules and conditions for remission of sentence to stack the decks in favour of Chandrasekharan’s killers. He said the police had asked K.K. Rema, MLA and Chandrasekharan’s wife, about her dispensation to grant clemency for her husband’s killers even when the government swore there was no such move. “You should be ashamed of yourself for using the establishment’s heft to release the hardened killers,” Mr. Satheesan told the treasury benches.

Mr. Rajesh conceded that “anomalies” had crept into preparing the list of prisoners for remission of the sentence as per an amnesty scheme linked to the 75th anniversary of Independence. He said the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, had rectified the irregularities. He condemned the UDF’s move to generate an adjournment debate on the pretext of moving a submission.

CBI files chargesheet against 5 former police officials in ISRO case

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

Nambi Narayanan

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against two former DGPs, Siby Mathews of Kerala and R.B. Sreekumar of Gujarat, and three other retired police officials in connection with the alleged framing of space scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case, officials said.

Three years after registering a case in 2021 following the Supreme Court’s directions, the CBI has filed its chargesheet against then Deputy Inspector General of Police Mr. Mathews, who headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the case, Mr. Sreekumar, who was the Deputy Director in the Intelligence Bureau, P.S. Jayaprakash, then posted in the SIB-Kerala, then Deputy Superintendent of Police K.K. Joshua and inspector S. Vijayan.

The CBI has charged them under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 342 (wrongful confinement), 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to extract a confession), 167 (creating false documents), 193 (fabricating evidence), 354 (criminal assault on women) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the officials said.

The agency had lodged the case on the Supreme Court’s orders on April 15, 2021.

The top court had ordered the probe on the basis of the report of a high-level committee, which had said the investigation into the role of erring police officials in the 1994 case involving Mr. Narayanan be given to the CBI.

The Kerala Police had registered two cases in October 1994 after Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines for selling to Pakistan.

Mr. Narayanan, then director of the cryogenic project at the ISRO, was arrested, along with the then ISRO deputy director D. Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda.

False allegations

The CBI probe had found the allegations to be false.

Terming the police action against the former ISRO scientist “psychopathological treatment”, the top court had, in September 2018, said his “liberty and dignity”, basic to his human rights, were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and, despite all the glory of the past, was eventually compelled to face “cynical abhorrence”.

Seer publicly appeals to CM to make way for Shivakumar

The Hindu Bureau

Bengaluru

Bringing the power tussle in the ruling Congress back in focus, Vishwa Vokkaligara Mahasamsthana Math seer Chandrashekhara Swami on Thursday publicly asked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to give up his post in favour of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

The comes close on the heels of demands by many Ministers, believed to be close to Mr. Siddaramaiah, to create more posts of Deputy Chief Minister, seen as an attempt to undercut the influence of Mr. Shivakumar, who is now the only one occupying the post.

The seer made the plea in the presence of both the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, while participating in the 515th birth anniversary of Bengaluru’s founder Kempe Gowda, who is also seen as a Vokkaliga icon.

“Various leaders have occupied the Chief Minister’s position and experienced power. Only Mr. Shivakumar has not got this post yet. Hence, I request Mr. Siddaramaiah, who has already held this post, to give up the position for Mr. Shivakumar and bless him. This can happen only if Mr. Sddaramaiah makes up his mind,” the seer said.

The seer also claimed that he was not making the demand because Mr. Shivakumar belonged to the Vokkaliga community, but only considering the Deputy Chief Minsiter’s role in bringing the party to power in Karnataka.

‘Up to high command’

Both Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar desisted from responding to the remarks of the seer. However, talking to presspersons, Mr. Siddaramaiah stated that the Congress high command would take the final call on such issues.

The demand for creation of multiple Deputy Chief Minister’s posts on the basis of communities re-surfaced soon after the Lok Sabha election results.

While the demand for additional Deputy Chief Ministers have found support among a few Cabinet ministers, mostly supporters of the Chief Minister, it is being viewed as a measure to counter-balance the influence of incumbent Mr. Shivakumar, who is currently the lone one occupying the post. After B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, Satish Jarkiholi, and Mr. Rajanna, Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa on Thursday also supported the idea of more Deputy Chief Ministers

Mr. Siddaramaiah is learnt to have urged the Ministers not to issue public statements on the issue. In particular, he is learnt to have spoken to Mr. Rajanna, who started the debate months before the Lok Sabha election. It is learnt that the Chief Minister spoke to Mr. Rajanna over phone and warned him not to make any more public statements on the topic.

Centre’s agreement with BIAL may play spoiler to T.N. CM’s plan to open airport at Hosur

The Hindu Bureau

Bengaluru

Can Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s plans for an international airport in Hosur become a reality?

As per the agreement for the Development, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) signed between the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, and Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) on July 5, 2004, no airport can operate within an aerial distance of 150 km of the airport before the 25th anniversary of KIA, which falls in May 2033.

The agreement states: “No new or existing airport shall be permitted by GoI to be developed as, or improved or upgraded into, an international airport within an aerial distance of 150 km of the airport before the 25th anniversary of the airport opening date.”

The agreement grants exclusive rights to BIAL to handle domestic flights.

The proposed airport at Hosur falls within an aerial distance of 150 km of the KIA.

In order to operate commercial flights, airport operators will have to get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from BIAL if the proposed site is within an aerial distance of 150 km of the KIA.

BIAL has refused to allow operation of commercial flights at the HAL airport on Old Airport Road in Bengaluru citing the agreement.

Refuses to comment

The BIAL, operator of the KIA in Bengaluru, has refused to comment on the plan. “We would not like to comment on this,” said a BIAL spokesperson.

The proposed airport would come as a relief for those living in the southern parts of Bengaluru as it will reduce the travel time to reach KIA.

Tax hike on tourist buses: Kerala Transport Minister warns Tamil Nadu of tit for tat

The Hindu Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala Minister for Transport K.B. Ganesh Kumar has lashed out at Tamil Nadu for raising tax on tourist buses from the State.

Rounding off the discussion on the demand for grants for the Transport Department and taxes on vehicles in the Budget in the Assembly on Thursday, the Minister said even Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus had been seized.

Pilgrimage season

As Tamil Nadu officials were not relenting, Kerala would also impose a similar tax hike on vehicles from Tamil Nadu, making it difficult for Sabarimala pilgrims from the neighbouring State during the impending pilgrimage season.

Though Kerala had good relations with Tamil Nadu, the latter had raised the tax on tourist buses by ₹4,000 a seat without any discussion with the State government here or asking its opinion, said the Transport Minister. The Minister said if people travelling from the State to Tamil Nadu were harassed, those coming from there would meet the same fate.

If KSRTC buses were stopped there, buses from Tamil Nadu would be meted out the same treatment here.

No leniency would be shown, the Minister said, warning of a strong stance on the matter.

4 members of banned Maoist outfit surrender at Paderu in A.P.

The Hindu Bureau

PADERU

Four militia members of Galikonda Dalam of the banned CPI (Maoist) surrendered before Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district Superintendent of Police Tuhin Sinha at Paderu on Thursday.

The surrendered members have been identified as Thambelu Sairam alias Dombu, a militia commander, 21; Vanthala Kiran alias Sromani, a militia member, 20; T. Ramesh, a militia member; Korra Baburao alias Siru, an armed militia, all hailing from Budaralla Panchayat in Koyyuru mandal.

Influenced by Kakuri Pandanna alias Jagan and some other Maoists of the Galikonda Dalam, Sairam joined the outfit and worked as the militia commander of Nallabilli pocket. He performed various tasks such as showing interior routes to the Dalam members, attending Dalam meetings and providing food to the Dalam. He has been named an accused in seven Maoist cases registered in Alluri Sitahrama Raju district, which includes participation in an exchange of fire at Theegalametta village in Koyyuru mandal in June 2021, in which five Maoists died. The other surrendered militia members also performed similar tasks.

Mr. Tuhin Sinha said that the Maoists had lost strength in Galikonda due to the loss of cadre to a series of exchanges of fire, surrenders and arrests and lack of proper leadership prompted the militia members to surrender.

Man held for stealing jewellery worth ₹2 cr. from air passengers

Lavpreet Kaur

HYDERABAD

The police in Hyderabad have taken into custody a 40-year-old Delhi resident for stealing jewellery from the baggage of several women aboard flights across the country.

Explaining his modus operandi, the police said he took several flights in just 110 days, and usually placed his baggage next to the victim’s baggage in the cabin.

“He would steal the valuables mid-flight in the guise of taking something out of his bag or wait for the women to go to the washroom. Often, he just would not return home until the job was done, even if it meant taking a new flight to a new destination,” the officials involved in the investigation said.

Rajesh Kapoor’s luck ran out when he was arrested by the police at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in May. He was flown to Hyderabad on a transit warrant on June 15.

Six women travellers based in Hyderabad had been relieved of valuables including gold, diamonds and cash worth ₹2 crore in a span of less than six months by Mr. Kapoor.

Telangana Cabinet expansion next week

The Hindu Bureau

HYDERABAD

A meeting of the Congress in New Delhi on Thursday, which was attended by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, witnessed the go-ahead to the proposed Cabinet expansion in Telangana in the first week of July.

Sources said the party high command did not want to fill up all the six Cabinet berths. “The idea is to induct four to five into the Cabinet keeping the caste equations in order,” a Congress functionary said.

Science

- Healthcare providers need to pay greater attention to informed consent

- A playbook to handle gestational diabetes better

- BIG SHOT

Christianez Ratna Kiruba

Consent is supposed to be taken by the doctor performing the procedure, however, in most places in India, this work is relegated to the nurses to save the doctors’ time. The patient’s signature has to be taken only after explaining all the information in the form clearly

1 of 2 While 75% per cent of women who underwent caesarean sections were told why they needed the surgery, only 25% were told what complications could be expected. Getty Images nito100

2 of 2 Informed consent is considered the cornerstone of a doctor-patient relationship

In April, I visited a popular private hospital in Guwahati so that my father-in-law could be treated for a collection of fluid around his left lung — known as a pleural effusion. To diagnose the cause, doctors suggested that some of the fluid be removed via a needle for testing, which is the standard practice.

In the procedure room a nurse placed an unfilled consent form before me and said “Sign here.” This was the ‘Informed Consent’ form. Informed consent is considered the cornerstone of a doctor-patient relationship. It means that a patient needs to be given all the information regarding their condition, including treatment options, the steps of a procedure if one is suggested along with possible complications. This information allows the patient to make a balanced, well-informed decision on available options, including whether they would like to undergo the procedure (or consent to a treatment option or procedure, so to speak).

This blank consent form which was presented to me did not serve its intended purpose. It flouted the principles of informed consent as laid down by a seminal judgement of the Supreme Court in 2008, in several ways. Firstly, consent is supposed to be taken by the doctor performing the procedures. However, in most places in India, this work is relegated to the nurses to save the doctors’ time. The form also needs to contain information about the procedure and the possible complications in a language that the patient understands. The patient’s signature has to be taken only after explaining all the information in the form clearly . However, in most hospitals across India, “Sign here” is often the only instruction patients receive before they are asked to consent to treatments and medical procedures.

Inadequate process

Over the years, several studies have been published auditing the informed consent process in various treatment fiacilities n India. These studies reveal gross inadequacies in the process of obtaining consent from patients. A study published in 2015 in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology India revealed that while 75% per cent of women who underwent caesarean sections were told why they needed the surgery, only 25% were told the steps of the procedure and what complications could be expected. Another study, published in the Journal of Medical Society in 2019, audited 100 consent documents from different hospitals to check whether adequate information was provided in them. This study revealed that almost all the documents lacked around one-third of the essential medical information they needed to contain.

The other important aspect of health where consent plays a crucial role is biomedical research, where people may be enrolled as participants in clinical trials. There too, it appears that there are several issues with the robustness of the informed consent process. A 2023 study published in Perspectives in Clinical Research revealed that out of 44 online surveys audited, 10 completely lacked informed consent forms while the remaining 34 had informed consent forms which were either incomplete or not adherent to the guidelines set by ICMR.

“An informed consent form is a very important legal document,” says K. Mathiharan, a forensic medicine and medical law expert. “When a doctor faces litigation for medical negligence or for complications, the signed informed consent will prove that the patient was counselled regarding the complications and consented to the procedure with knowledge of the same. This is why doctors and hospitals prioritise getting signatures on these forms for every procedure,” he explains. However, as evidenced by my own experience, a signed consent form does not necessarily mean that any information was communicated.

Inability to consent

“Most of the forms you see in hospitals are in English. This means that they cannot be read by people who don’t know the language and they depend on doctors/nurses to tell them what’s in the form. Some patients may not know how to sign and one will see an interesting juxtaposition of their fingerprints on a paper in English,” adds Dr. Matiharan.

“I have met patients carrying forms that state that they have left a hospital against medical advice,” says a duty doctor working in Satribari Christian Hospital, Guwahati. “When asked why they left the hospital, they say that they were told that the hospital had no beds and that they were being referred elsewhere and made to sign the paper. They did not know that the paper implied that they left against the advice of the doctor.”

These narratives as well as statistics come together to impress upon us that the informed consent procedure in India leaves a lot to be desired. Before considering solutions, it is crucial to understand why it is important. Studies show that patients experience more satisfaction with their treatment if adequate information is provided and consent is taken. Studies also reveal that patients respond better to treatment when a good informed consent process is employed before initiating it. Informed consent also opens the door for shared decision-making — where a patient and the doctor work as a team to ensure the best possible outcome while keeping patient preferences in mind.

“When done right, the informed consent process can protect doctors in more ways than one,” says Dr. Mathiharan. In India, a country where there is recorded distrust of doctors which has led to violence; rapport and trust must be built by providing detailed and timely information to patients and their relatives. “I prioritise explaining everything to my patients in detail,” says Pravin Singarayar, an obstetrician from Sittlingi, in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, who serves a tribal population. “I always give them timely updates and I ensure I do it in person. I think it’s because of this habit that I have never faced any threat of violence to date,” he adds.

Moral imperative

The informed consent process is a moral imperative — something that holds good even without statistics to justify its existence. Every person deserves to know exactly what is happening to their body and what might happen if they agree to a treatment or procedure. This becomes especially relevant in cases where the loss of life or organs is involved. An example would be severely-ill patients who may have signed a “Do not resuscitate” form either on their own or via their relatives. In these cases, consent taken with inadequate information can lead to an infringement on the patient’s right to life.

“I think the important first step is to create awareness among patients that they have a right to this information,” says Dr. Mohammad Aslam Ali, a consultant dermatologist in Guwahati. “No one should sign any papers given to them in hospitals unless they have read and understood the contents well. I would suggest patients demand the consent form in their native language or ask family or friends to read it to foster good comprehension. Once patients start making these demands, it’s only a matter of time before doctors and hospitals course correct,” he adds.

“Some hospitals refuse to give patients their papers or printed copies of test reports. Patients must know that they have a right to their medical information and can demand it.”

It is also important for hospitals to carry these forms in local languages. Other steps to increase understanding of information could be the use of image or video-based tools. Several studies demonstrate the success of video-based informed consent tools in helping patients decide what is best for them. The usage of videos can also overcome language barriers and reduce patient anxiety.

(Dr. Christianez Ratna Kiruba is an internal medicine doctor with a passion for patient rights advocacy. christianezdennis@gmail.com)

A playbook to handle gestational diabetes better

Ramya Kannan

Gestational diabetes is a common medical disorder during pregnancy, it has a global prevalence of 14%. Getty Images Jovanmandic

A new series published in The Lancet on gestational diabetes takes a deep dive into the subject to come up with suggestions for greater focus on the pregnancy-related cnondition, and a shift to a holistic life-course approach in its management.

After a series on menopause in March, The Lancet has launched another series that looks at neglected areas of women’s health. This time it deals with gestational diabetes, which refers to hyperglycaemia or high blood sugar levels first diagnosed during pregnancy. A common medical disorder in pregnancy, it reportedly has a global prevalence of 14%. The series offers insights and evidence into pathophysiology, screening, management, and prevention, besides suggesting new models of care that could protect both women and their children.

Age, family history of diabetes, and high BMI are major risk factors, so it comes as no surprise that rates are rising alongside a broader crisis of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity and cardiometabolic disorders, among women of childbearing age. Helmed by an editorial, the series talks of the increased complications associated with gestational diabetes its long term impact on the mother and infant, its rising incidence, the need to detect it earlier than is being done currently, modern treatment methodologies, and the need for a lifestyle approach to prevent onset of GDM and complications.

Complications

Gestational diabetes is associated with an increased risk of pregnancy complications,but it also threatens serious long-term complications for both mother and baby. Up to 31% of type 2 diabetes cases in parous women are attributable to gestational diabetes. Babies born to women with gestational diabetes are at increased risk not only of short-term perinatal morbidity and mortality but also of long-term complications, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Experts from across the world pitched in as part of the series.

The editorial highlighted, from the research papers in the series, two major barriers to providing appropriate care for these women: first, resources, and second, the isolation of secondary maternal care from primary care, meaning crucial information about a woman’s pregnancy and how it might affect their long-term health is lost. But many other factors probably play into this failure, including a misconceived paternalistic wish to avoid further worrying women, childbearing mostly happening to young and physically well women for whom the long-term risks of non-communicable diseases might seem too distant, and a health-care ecosystem that prioritises the baby’s health after birth over that of the mother.

Glycaemic exposure

The first paper reviews the pathophysiology of glycaemic dysregulation in gestational diabetes pregnancies, and the many maternal, placental, and fetal factors from early to late pregnancy that underlie pregnancy outcomes and programming for the future health of mothers, and offspring exposed to gestational diabetes. The second presents the epidemiology of gestational diabetes (early and late), screening and diagnosis, pregnancy complications, medical and obstetric management, and the health and economic considerations of screening, monitoring, and treating gestational diabetes. The third paper focuses on transforming the current pregnancy-focused approach to a long-term, life-course perspective on gestational diabetes.

Uma Ram, senior obstetrician and gynaecologist and one of the authors, says it is important to focus on the intergenerational impact of gestational diabetes. The Lancet series is helpful in the sense that it is where a call for action emerges.

V. Seshiah a senior diabetologist who is quite a GDM evangelist himself, says he has always recommended early testing of all pregnant women. “We have, in a recent paper, recommended universal screening of all pregnant women during the early weeks of the first trimester. Further, we have proposed a testing strategy that has worked well in India: a two hour postprandial blood sugar level of over 110 mg/dl during the eighth to 10th week of pregnancy can predict the risk of GDM.”

(ramya.kannan@thehindu.co.in)

Palestinian ophthalmologist Bilal Rajab Hasnat, watches an internally displaced boy trying on a pair of glasses at his make shift clinic in the town of al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. AFPBASHAR TALEB

Edit

- Reasi and the ‘years-old’ issue of cross-border terror

- Get the Vande Metro routing right

- Net damage

- Unwarranted arrest

- letters to the editor

- Did a constitutional conscience drive much of the Dalit and OBC vote?

- On a wing and a prayer

- Flashback and fast forward

- Accord with Sri Lanka on Kachativu

- Ruhr problem: Change in policy

- Of monsters and supermen: tracing the roots of TV’s most diabolical villains

- The DAILY QUIZ

- Know your English

Reasi and the ‘years-old’ issue of cross-border terror

Vivek Katju a retired Indian Foreign Service officer

The Reasi terrorist attack of June 9, the day the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, took his oath of office for a third term, , is reminiscent of the attack on the Consulate General of India (CGI), Herat, Afghanistan on May 23, 2014, three days prior to his first swearing-in. Nine pilgrims lost their lives in the attack in Reasi (in Jammu and Kashmir) and 41 were injured. Fortunately, the four Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who attacked CGI Herat were detected in time. One of the terrorists who reached the door of the building was neutralised by an alert Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan. The terrorists had come with the intention of taking hostages and a long-haul operation to coincide with Mr. Modi’s oath-taking ceremony. Clearly, both attacks had the same objective: to embarrass and enrage Mr. Modi and India on a day of great political significance.

Continuing challenge

The possibility of the Reasi attack’s links with terrorist groups in Pakistan remains high. The Jammu division has witnessed many terrorist incidents over the past few months, including after the Reasi attack. They profile the persistence of the terrorist challenge India has faced for almost 35 years especially in J&K. How far has the country succeeded in dealing with this grave problem?

Pakistan and separatists in J&K were encouraged by the success of the Afghan Jihad. Pakistan thought that if a superpower could be defeated by Afghan Islamist groups, other such groups could be used to pressure India in Kashmir through mass uprisings, violence against minorities, and terrorist actions against prominent personalities and the security forces, leading this country to abandon Kashmir. The Indian state and its security forces took time to craft defensive counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism approaches in the first half of the 1990s.

The Pakistan Army and its political class are committed to the “Kashmir cause”. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto who became Pakistan’s Prime Ministers in turn were supportive of the promotion of separatism in J&K by the army and intelligence agencies, through the use of terror. Ms. Bhutto decided not to hold talks with India in 1994 unless India was willing to purposefully engage Pakistan on J&K in a manner Pakistan prescribed. Consequently, there was no dialogue between the two countries while she was in office. Mr. Sharif became Prime Minister in 1997, for the second time. He decided to change Ms. Bhutto’s policy and engage India.

Pakistan desired a structured dialogue with India which would focus on all issues — humanitarian, conflict resolution and the development of cooperative mechanisms. Within this rubric, its focus was on ‘disputes’, J&K being the priority. However, India wished to discuss Pakistani terrorism as a separate issue in the dialogue process. By the mid-1990s, India had gained the confidence to manage Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in J&K. While it was exacting a toll in lives and had disrupted normalcy, the apprehension that Pakistan would take the State out of India’s grip had gone. The decision to hold Assembly elections in J&K in 1996 was a signal that while the application of force to counter terrorism was necessary and would continue, there was space to begin political activity.

India’s choosing diplomacy, dialogue

Thus, a combination of force and the restoration of political activity was used to address the problem in Kashmir: a problem within India’s internal jurisdiction. Distinct from the problem in Kashmir was the issue of Kashmir. This related to the recovery of the State’s territory in Pakistani control. Under the Simla Agreement of 1972, India was committed to resolving this issue peacefully, through negotiations. However, in 1972, the idea that Pakistan would promote terrorism through Islamist non-state actors under its control had not been contemplated. Hence, the constraints imposed by the Simla Agreement became void once Pakistan resorted to terrorism and India could legitimately treat Pakistani terrorism as a ‘strategic’ issue, i.e., one which required the application of force in the external sphere. However, India chose the path of diplomacy and dialogue.

India and Pakistan agreed on the mechanics of a bilateral composite dialogue in September 1998. The composite dialogue listed ‘terrorism and counter-narcotics’ as one of the eight issues of engagement. It became clear to India from the very first bilateral exchange on this issue in October 1998, that Pakistan was unwilling to address India’s concerns. This has continued to remain Pakistan’s attitude because the calibrated use of terrorist groups against India became a part of its security doctrine from the 1990s. Pakistan has adopted this approach for, if nothing else, it has meant pinning down an estimated two lakh security personnel in J&K to handle terrorism. That is a conservative number.

From 1998 to 2016, all three Prime Ministers — Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi — pursued the path of diplomacy, as part of the Composite Dialogue, to address Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Indeed, Dr. Manmohan Singh tried to insulate the larger bilateral relationship by establishing with Pakistan a joint anti-terrorism mechanism, but it went nowhere.

The problem with the diplomatic approach was that public opinion in India was for military action after an ‘unacceptable’ terrorist attack or provocative and ‘unacceptable’ Pakistani action. However, governments chose only to withdraw from the dialogue process. A prominent illustration of this proposition was witnessed after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack when Dr. Manmohan Singh opted out of the dialogue process; he chose to garner global diplomatic support against Pakistan. There was public pressure to take kinetic action but he opted not to. Earlier, India had seriously considered using its military forces against Pakistan in December 2001, as a reaction to the terror attack on Parliament. It was the bravery and the sacrifice of Parliament’s security personnel which had prevented the killing of a number of Indian political leaders. The A.B. Vajpayee government mobilised the Indian armed forces but eventually decided not to go to war because President Pervez Musharraf gave an assurance that Pakistan would not use territory under its control to promote terrorism against India. It did not keep its word.

The use of pre-emption

Where India actually departed from the use of diplomacy and used military force against Pakistani terrorism was after the Pulwama attack of 2019. It undertook the Balakot aerial strike (2019) and also announced a doctrine of pre-emption. Earlier too it had used force in a limited way by way of undertaking surgical strikes in the wake of the Uri terrorist attack of September 2016. Despite these undertakings, the ambiguity on the use of force remains. Obviously, kinetic action is to be undertaken against an ‘unacceptable’ attack. Besides, the doctrine of pre-emption is based on the right to take out terrorist targets if preparations are being made in Pakistan to launch an ‘unacceptable’ terrorist attack. The question is what is ‘unacceptable.

It may be also pointed out that India used the full strength of its defence forces to defeat Pakistan’s regular military intrusion in Kargil in 1999, but that situation obviously did not come within the rubric of terrorism. Hence, sustained kinetic action did not pose a dilemma.

Pakistan’s use of terrorism against its neighbours is generally recognised by the major powers. Its reliance on plausible deniability has not been sustainable for years. India too has given material linking Pakistani terrorist groups to terrorist incidents but Pakistan has not taken action against them. This was clear after the Mumbai terrorist attack. After the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016, India allowed a Pakistani team which included an Inter-Services Intelligence officer to visit the airbase. However, Pakistan again did not take the investigation forward. Despite these cases, it is important to pursue the practice of sharing information and evidence in terrorist cases to ensure the credibility of Indian assertions with the international community.

After the Reasi attack, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expressed the ambitious intention of finding a “solution to years-old cross-border terrorism”. He could begin the process of putting a curb on Pakistani terror by pointing out to the international community that the first step on an escalatory ladder between nuclear countries is the use of terror.

Get the Vande Metro routing right

Thiruvannatha- puram S. Ramakrishnan a railway expert

The Vande Bharat trains have captured India’s imagination. But out of the 51 origin-destination (O-D) pairings with 82 VB rakes of Vande Bharat trains introduced by Indian Railways (IR), at least 10 O-D pairs have very low patronage. Since the Railways recovers only 47 paisa for every rupee it spends on passenger services, it stands to reason that before it introduced the Vande Bharat trains, the Indian Railways should have conducted a scientific identification of O-D pairs to guarantee that these trains are well patronised on all routes. However, that did not happen. Rough estimates indicate that the Indian Railways has been losing about ₹100 crore due to poor patronage of some of the Vande Bharat O-D pairs.

The first Vande Metro prototype rake with 12 coaches and with passenger facilities comparable to those on Vande Bharat trains was produced by the Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala, Punjab. These trains are intended to run up to 250 kilometres between major cities and neighbouring towns. While selecting O-D pairs for the Vande Metro trains, the Railways should not repeat the same error that it did while selecting the O-D pairs for the Vande Bharat trains.

Categories of train services

The Railways provides at least three types of services for distances of up to 250 km. The first is the Express/Mail, which has stops in major towns en route. The second category is ordinary trains in the Railway’s parlance, also known as slow-moving, multi-stop passenger trains. The third is the electric multiple unit/mainline electric multiple unit (EMU/MEMU), also referred to as “local trains”, which make numerous stops to link major cities with their suburbs and even farther out. The passengers on the local trains experience a crush loading during peak hours.

Although national highways have been developed to connect the major cities with smaller towns, for all practical limitations, the buses that ply for distances up to 250 km are not luxury buses (such as Volvo and Scania). Hence, the quality of the ride is not up to the desired level. Car travel may provide about 90 kmph as average speed, but it is not affordable for middle-class passengers.

A potential travel gamechanger

Like Vande Bharat trains, Vande Metro trains include a continuous, fully air-conditioned gangway that allows passengers to board and depart from any entrance, travel between coaches, and use the bio-toilets. When the doors are closed, fatalities that quite often happen during boarding and disembarking in EMU and MEMU trains will not happen on Vande Metro trains. The Vande Metro will, therefore, fundamentally alter how people travel across distances of up to 250 km. With a maximum design speed of 130 kmph, these trains can run between 75kmph and 90 kmph on average, depending on the track and stops. Numerous advantages will follow from this, such as quicker travel times, more pleasant travel, secure boarding and disembarkation, and modern lavatory facilities.

Because of the energy required for air-conditioning facilities, Vande Metro trains have far greater energy costs than non-air-conditioned second-class carriages. A prototype Vande Metro train costs ₹8 crore a coach to manufacture, which is significantly more than the cost of second-class suburban coaches. This could drop to ₹6 crore a coach in bulk production. Given this, the Railways will not be able to run Vande Metro trains at a rate comparable to that of the second class of currently running trains.

Second-class travellers currently pay 45 paisa, 22 paisa, and 18 paisa a kilometre on mail/express, ordinary, and EMU/MEMU trains, respectively. Travelling at extremely low cost is part of the behavioural lock-in that rail travellers have adopted. Whether these second-class passengers would be willing to switch to air-conditioned Vande Metro trains at a higher ticket price is the million-dollar question. The recent installation of air-conditioning coaches on a few rakes of the suburban rail system in Mumbai has not yielded the expected outcomes.

Air-conditioned services, pricing

Since most people in Mumbai use monthly passes for transit, a comparison examination of those pricing would be more appropriate. A monthly season ticket can be purchased for ₹105 to ₹500 if you do not have air-conditioning, and ₹650 to ₹3,150 in an air-conditioned service. Two years ago, the Railways carried out the request made by a number of passengers (they travel at an extraordinarily high density of 14 people per square metre) for a few air-conditioned coaches in each train. Only 4% of local train customers changed from non-air-conditioned to air-conditioned coaches, in 2023. But many people without proper tickets have also begun to use the air-conditioned coaches, which has led to air-conditioned coaches becoming very crowded.

As a result, neither the Indian Railways nor the passengers who travel on air-conditioned services who have had to wait on platforms for their turn or travel in crowded air-conditioned coaches benefited financially from it. There is no systemic check-in for local trains, in contrast to RapidX (Vande Namo), where there is one for executive class and ordinary class.

The Indian Railways should not repeat the same mistake it did on the Vande Bharat trains on the Vande Metro. The Railways would greatly benefit from a methodical analysis of demand projections for various possible O-D pairs before selecting the routes for VM trains (based on the willingness and ability of passengers to pay). This would result in excellent patronage, improved use of the limited train services, and, ultimately, result in higher revenue for the Indian Railways.

Net damage

India’s fisherfolk must be weaned away from bottom trawling

The resumption of fishing off India’s eastern coast including the Palk Bay, after the annual 61-day ban on fishing, has led to the death of a sailor from the Sri Lanka Navy. The Sri Lankan Navy had carried out an operation on June 25 morning to “chase away a cluster of Indian poaching trawlers” in Sri Lankan waters off Kankesanthurai, near Jaffna. A trawler-vessel was impounded and 10 fishermen apprehended, of whom eight were from Tamil Nadu and the rest from Andhra Pradesh. There have also been several cases of Indian (Tamil Nadu) fishermen dying too. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, sought the intervention of the External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, in releasing the vessel and the men. In his reply sent to the Chief Minister on Thursday, Mr. Jaishankar said the Indian High Commission had been seeking the early release of 34 fishermen in judicial remand and six others who were serving sentences.

This is an opportunity for the two countries to revive the negotiation process, exclusively to deal with the fisheries dispute, which became aggravated in the wake of the 1974 and 1976 bilateral agreements to demarcate their maritime boundary lines. Mr. Stalin has done well to remind Mr. Jaishankar to convene a meeting of the Joint Working Group, last held (virtually) over two years ago. The acts of Indian fishermen crossing the international maritime boundary line are clearly illegal; factors relating to protection of livelihood opportunities cannot be delinked from the importance of the preservation of the marine ecosystem. A gradual replacement of bottom trawlers being used by the Tamil Nadu fishermen is a must, but the fisherfolk require time to prepare for diversification — deep sea fishing, marine cage farming, seaweed cultivation and processing, and sea ranching. The experiences of the deep sea fishing project, being executed by the Union and Tamil Nadu governments, are clear enough to conclude that it is a failure. After nearly seven years of implementation, only 61 deep sea fishing vessels have been handed over to beneficiaries, with 19 more under construction. It would be thoughtful if the Union government clubs the project with an all-India programme, where the unit cost of a deep sea fishing vessel is ₹40 lakh higher, at least to get a better response even at this stage. The unit cost of a deep sea fishing vessel under the Central-State project is ₹80 lakh. New Delhi and Colombo can devise additional schemes to help the Northern Province’s fishermen even more. But what is more important is that the two countries, representatives of the fishing community and officials from Tamil Nadu and the Northern Province should meet soon to find a way out of the dispute.

Unwarranted arrest

Timing of Kejriwal’s arrest hints at bad faith, eagerness to deny him freedom

The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the CBI in the Delhi excise policy corruption case is unwarranted and appears tainted by bad faith. It was effected just before the Supreme Court of India was due to hear an appeal against a Delhi High Court order that had stayed the bail granted to him by a lower court in a money-laundering case related to the same allegation. The High Court had stalled his release on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate, but reserved its detailed order. The Supreme Court had deferred its hearing to June 26 to await the outcome. However, the High Court, by a detailed order, formalised the stay on the grant of bail. On June 26 morning, the CBI effected his formal arrest and sought his custody for interrogation in a CBI court. It is quite strange that it decided on this particular day and circumstance to formally arrest someone who has been in custody since March 21, save for a brief interlude during which he was granted interim bail. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the sole purpose was to deny him the possibility of freedom, if the Court had restored the bail order.

The allegation that Mr. Kejriwal was a beneficiary as well as a prime mover behind the controversial excise policy that allegedly procured windfall profits for favoured liquor manufacturers is quite serious. However, the investigation has been going on for nearly two years, and suspects have been arrested from time to time. The evidence largely consists of statements made by accused persons who were subsequently granted pardon and made approvers. In these circumstances, the vacation judge who granted bail in the money-laundering case came to a reasonable conclusion that someone cannot be indefinitely incarcerated in the hope that a money trail and direct evidence would soon emerge to justify the action. Unfortunately, the High Court concluded that this verdict was arrived at without considering the entire material available and without affording sufficient opportunity to the prosecution. The picture of an accused having to go from the lowest to the highest court for bail and facing favourable and adverse orders alternately reflects poorly on a system that has been weaponised by the current regime to target political opponents. A truly impartial agency should not rush to arrest anyone, leave alone those holding high political office, but instead approach the trial court with a strong and well-documented case, and leave it to the courts to decide on the guilt or innocence of the accused. Mr. Kejriwal, on his part, should have resigned immediately on arrest to avoid the perception he could influence witnesses or tamper with the evidence.

On the Emergency

It is strange that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government is now harping on the excesses of the Emergency instead of addressing the pressing concerns being experienced by the people of India (Page 1, June 27). It is noteworthy that there was no mention of the ongoing ethnic strife in Manipur that has drawn world-wide attention.

The BJP does not seem to have changed its spots. If this is its tone and tenor, government and Opposition cooperation and any meaningful dialogue between the two of them is unlikely to happen.

V. Padmanabhan

Bengaluru

The Emergency days were traumatic not only for the general public but also for many a political leader, government employees and several other sections of the society including the media. However, it does not behove well for political leaders to remind the public about those days. People are aware of the sufferings and those responsible for those terrible days have been punished politically. Let us talk about nation development rather than the past misdeeds of certain political parties and their leaders.

V.S. Kannan,

Chennai

Did a constitutional conscience drive much of the Dalit and OBC vote?

1 of 5 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders carry copies of the Constitution during a protest at Parliament House complex in New Delhi. PTI

2 of 5 Harish S. Wankhede is an assistant professor at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU, New Delhi

3 of 5 Ravikant Kisana is an Associate Professor of Cultural Studies at Woxsen University, Hyderabad. His research looks at the intersections of caste with structures of privilege and popular culture

4 of 5

5 of 5

T

he Constitution is seemingly at the centre of political rhetoric and symbolism in India right now. Opposition leaders have held up copies of the Constitution while walking into Parliament. They have waved these in the Prime Minister’s face. They have also held these copies while taking oath. Some argue that this is the Opposition’s tip to the mandate that it believes it has received from the country’s marginalised and oppressed communities to “Save the Constitution”. So, did a constitutional conscience drive much of the Dalit and OBC (Other Backward Classes) vote this Lok Sabha elections? And to what extent? Harish Wankhede and Ravikant Kisana discuss these questions in a conversation moderated by Abhinay Lakshman. Edited excerpts:

How do both of you read these developments? Do you think this is a hat tip to the mandate that the Opposition believes it has received to ‘Save the Constitution’?

Harish Wankhede: For a very long time, the Opposition was wondering how it could [pose a] challenge to the Hindutva onslaught. I think this time the Opposition figured it out. Constitutionalism became a very fascinating force for the Congress and its allies. Further, there was, of course, a decline [in the performance] of parties [that are synonymous with] social justice, such as the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) in Uttar Pradesh and the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) in Bihar. So, there was a space in which the Congress could create a larger dialogue suggesting that they (the Bharatiya Janata Party) are a threat to the ideals of Indian democracy. The Constitution became a sort of mascot of that larger narrative. There was a very assertive, powerful arrival of the BJP as a dominant hegemonic force (over the last 10 years). Constitutionalism has emerged as a significant and powerful ideological tool to challenge that.

Prof. Ravikant, how do you see the waving of the Constitution in the faces of people?

Ravikant Kisana: I see it in a slightly zoomed out, macro way. In India, especially during elections, we have to keep in mind that there are always immediate issues, but voting patterns are dictated by many different grassroots-level issues. In this election, a series of things came together. There are two main stories: one, the Opposition got its story right; and two, the BJP election machinery did not really get its act together (as much as it would have liked). The kind of model that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime set up fundamentally contradicted the political goods that a lot of his core constituents were voting for. And in States where the BJP was able to do that, that is, deliver the public goods, the constitutional narrative did not work, such as in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. There is a national narrative that the Constitution is under threat. Then, this would be the case in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh too, is it not? Gujarat has seen mass movements where Scheduled Castes (SCs) have been mobilising and OBCs are also mobilising. So, that is another framework we need to see this from. There is a larger narrative, yes, of constitutionalism. And so, when the MPs take oath, they wave it in the Prime Minister’s face. But that is, you know, pageantry. That is what MPs have reduced it to in the last two decades. I understand why they are doing that. But I think the issues are slightly complicated.

Let us discuss the places where this constitutional narrative seemed to have worked. The question is, do you think it was a narrow vision that worked, such as the fear of having affirmative action removed? Or did the narrative also bring together larger principles such as maintaining a secular state and institutional independence and fundamental liberties over duties, for instance?

RK: If you see U.P., the BSP was neither aligned with the INDIA bloc nor with the NDA (National Democratic Alliance). The last few elections have been very bad for the BSP because the BSP voter is an ideological voter and is constantly being cornered in U.P. to vote out fascism. So, obviously, the Constitution being under threat became a big issue (for the BSP). Despite many BSP voters shifting to other parties, the party retained in U.P. around 9% of the vote share, which is not a small share (though) it is significantly lower than what (BSP leader) Mayawati usually gets. The BSP voter is probably the voter who is most concerned about constitutionalism. Even then, that party has retained a nearly 10% vote share. So, I think these things have to be looked at in a slightly different way.

We don’t know what has worked. There are many theories going around. One, of course, is the Thakur backlash in U.P., especially the rumour that (Chief Minister) Yogi Adityanath was going to get replaced after the Lok Sabha elections. (Samajwadi Party chief) Akhilesh Yadav’s Bahujan coinage, PDA (Pichhda Dalit Alpsankhyak), resonated with some people.

But if you are in U.P., it is not going to be easy for the SCs to trust a Yadav party. So, the Constitution may be in danger and that may have gone down right to the grassroots. But how have people mobilised around it? I think it is too simplistic to say that ‘Oh, because of that slogan, everyone voted for the SP and Congress’. That’s not true; about 9% have still voted for the BSP (which is not part of the Opposition bloc).

Professor Harish, I have heard that you also argued that the large part of this mandate was constitutionalism. How much of it do you think was the development of this constitutional conscience and how much of it were local factors or a multitude of factors coming together?

HW: In the five major States — U.P., M.P., Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Bihar — constitutionalism emerged as a kind of a guiding principle around which the different resentments of the people collided. In these States, BSP-like parties or what is known as Ambedkarite socio-cultural and political movements have been present. These created the base of a political consciousness among the OBCs. Thus, these States already had a strong consciousness about their caste and about the benefits that the political processes had offered the marginalised communities for a very long time. And constitutionalism probably emerged as a kind of force that connected all these issues, which were there at the local level. And there was a possibility of channelising the resentment into a language, which constitutionalism supported.

Of course, there was the failure of the BJP to deliver on substantive issues of economic empowerment, including jobs or social security or mobility in class. And therefore, this national slogan emerged perhaps that the BJP is not keen on delivering justice or social security to the marginalised communities. To deliver those, constitutionalism emerged as a bigger package. You will also find that the issue of social dignity and self-respect was extremely powerful in this discussion.

Prof. Ravikanth, to what extent do you agree with the argument that constitutional conscience significantly drove a large part of the vote?

RK: If you’re going to talk about constitutionalism in a narrow sense — like, there is a Constitution and the BJP is seen as a party which is against it — I was making the point that it has many dimensions. But I think what Harish is trying to suggest, if I am not wrong, is that it becomes like the lightning rod around which many issues can galvanise.

In Haryana, Dalits and Jats voted together for the first time in many decades. In many States, that happened. That word or that idea means different things to different communities. For SCs, it is the idea that representation and caste-based affirmative action are in danger. And that, as we have already seen, is a powerful social motivation for their vote. But in landed communities, there was the question of farm laws.

One of the other reasons was a splitting of long-established political parties by the BJP. This was the case in Maharashtra. That was also seen as a form of unconstitutional activity: people believe that you’re not supposed to win elections like that or ‘steal’ elections like that. The BJP for a long time has been playing with some of these political process, playing with some of these communities too. So, I think all of that came together in that sense. Many different sections had their own interpretations of what that constitutionalism was. So, as a term, it was a mobilising factor which could be used in different parts of the country in different ways.

On a wing and a prayer

A woman who lost her house in flooding due to sea incursions clutches an image of Jesus Christ and a bag of valuable possessions as she makes her way to a rented accommodation in Kannamaly, west Kochi, Kerala. S.S. KUMAR

Flashback and fast forward

Meera Srinivasan

One of the best parts of being a reporter is that you chance upon historic nuggets or linkages when you least expect them

News announcements often bear a ring of novelty. It is perhaps the immediacy of news that makes a current initiative appear new, pioneering, and even unprecedented. But one of the best parts of being a reporter is that you chance upon historic nuggets or linkages when you least expect them. Your colleagues have covered similar, if not the same, stories decades ago or sometimes, even a century ago.

The news thrust of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Colombo on June 20, 2024, was a bilateral commitment to expedite India-backed projects in Sri Lanka. Officials said the two sides followed-up on projects outlined in the India-Sri Lanka Economic Partnership Vision document adopted by the two governments in 2023. Among other things, New Delhi and Colombo vowed to promote and strengthen “connectivity in all its dimensions as the key enabler”. They agreed to enhance maritime, air, energy and economic connectivity, and the media in both countries have been reporting on these initiatives.

Three days later, I attended an event at Wellawatta, a vibrant Tamil neighbourhood in Colombo, where noted Indian historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy launched his latest book, Swadeshi Steam: V.O. Chidambaram Pillai and the Battle against the British Maritime Empire. He said he was keen to present the work in Colombo, because V.O. Chidambaram (VOC) Pillai’s Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company operated a steamer service between Tuticorin and Colombo over a century ago. VOC was undoubtedly a pioneer in Indo-Lanka connectivity.

Venkatachalapathy, who spent years combing through archives in both countries and elsewhere to research the bold business venture, spoke of an enterprising Tamil patriot’s desire to challenge the maritime monopoly of the British, by setting up Swadeshi Steam in 1906. VOC saw economic nationalism as a tool to resist oppressive colonial power. Fascinatingly, nationalism of that time, anchored in a resolve to take on and defeat the colonial powers, transcended borders. VOC set up a Colombo branch office and made frequent business trips before shifting to Colombo with his family for a brief while. Venkatachalapathy pointed to VOC’s interview to Ceylon Observer, and his columns for the Tamil daily Virakesari, published in Colombo. In fact, the first reports of the Swadeshi venture appeared in the Colombo press, predating its coverage in India. Rivalry within the company and inevitable losses would subsequently bring the business down. VOC returned to India, faced imprisonment for his defiance of the British, and died in 1936. The media in Ceylon paid rich tribute to him. Venkatachapathy’s rigorously researched, evidence-based account nudges us to see Indo-Lanka connectivity in a whole new way.

Soon after hearing about this steamer service, I sought the help of my ever-prompt colleagues at The Hindu’s library for any reference to this venture in our archives. They pulled out at least seven reports from 1906 to 1949 that refer to VOC’s Swadeshi Steam company. In 1949, The Hindu’s special correspondent in Tuticorin had covered the inauguration of an Indian shipping service from Tuticorin to Colombo by the Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari. The journalist noted: “Today’s function gathers significance not so much from these circumstances as from the fact that it recalls to the mind of the visitor the pioneer effort of Mr. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai some forty years ago.”

Six decades later, former Colombo correspondent R.K. Radhakrishnan tracked the story of the Indian government reviving the ferry service between Tuticorin and Colombo. It was re-launched in 2011 but terminated soon for commercial and operational reasons. In 2017, a Cabinet Minister in Colombo announced that Sri Lanka would seek expressions of interest to revive the service. But the proposal seems to have gathered little steam since.

meera.srinivasan@thehindu.co.in

Accord with Sri Lanka on Kachativu

New Delhi, June 27: A comprehensive agreement has been reached between India and Sri Lanka on matters relating to the boundary between the two countries in the waters of Palk Bay and related issues including the question of Kachativu.

An official spokesman who disclosed this here to-day, however, declined to give the details of the agreement which will be announced to-morrow evening.

It is learnt from authoritative sources that Sri Lanka’s claim over the island has been conceded. This has been done on the basis of a fresh delimitation of the territorial waters in Palk Bay in such a way that it will automatically settle the issue without going further into the historical claims of either side to the disputed islet.

The Government of India is reported to have taken care to safeguard the fishing rights and navigational rights of India off this island.

Ruhr problem

Berlin, June 27: Following upon M. Herriot’s declaration in the Chamber with regard to expelled Germans, permission has already been given to 80,000 persons to return to French occupied territory. The return of the majority of expelled persons will be rendered possible shortly and the majority of those imprisoned at the time of the Ruhr conflict will be freed.

Of monsters and supermen: tracing the roots of TV’s most diabolical villains

Ayaan Paul Chowdhury

If you’ve been keeping up with you’ve likely cringed through Homelander’s latest display of gut-wrenching malice; but is there another small-screen baddie out there who can give this supe a run for his milk?

There is a perverse elegance to such villains that compels one to watch in fascination as their sense of selves teeters on brink of oblivion.Special arrangementAyaan Paul

In its fourth season, Eric Kripke’s The Boys and its infamously menacing main antagonist, Homelander, have managed to rise to the top — or rather, sink to the very bottom — as one of the most sadistic, evil, and nefarious characters to ever grace the small screen. Played by the excellent and notoriously Emmy-less Anthony Starr, and based on Garth Ennis’s eponymous comic book series, Homelander is not just a perversion of the superhero archetype but a sickening exploration of a psyche marred by unbridled power and deep seated psychological trauma.

The caped nightmare of The Boys, struts through the series with the fanfaronade of a demigod, disdainfully smashing societal norms and human lives with equal abandon. Imagine Superman, with the emotional maturity of a petulant child and a twisted sense of entitlement. His evil is a spectacle, a garish fireworks display of unchecked laserings, and a super-sized spit in the eyes of puny, mortal life.

Yet, among a plethora of deplorable television villains, few can stand toe-to-toe with the Golden Boy of Vought as a terrifying harbinger of chaos and despair. Sure, Los Pollos Hermanos’ drug kingpin Gus Fring and the dastardly Lord of the Dreadfort, Ramsay Bolton, are formidable foes, but to rival the supe, we must look to another blonde wunderkind of comic book lore who embodies malevolence with a similar flair.

Naoki Urasawa’s seminal Japanese manga and anime series Monster has been celebrated for its complex characters and moral themes.

The story revolves around Dr. Kenzo Tenma, an idealistic and compassionate doctor, and Johan Liebert, a manipulative embodiment of evil as his foil. Their contrasting motivations and actions serve as counterpoints, with their paths deeply intertwined. The series explores the nature of good and evil, the corrupting influence of power, and the repercussions of personal choices, emphasising that the line between good and evil is often blurred, and even noble intentions can lead to dire outcomes.

Only Ennis and Urasawa seem to have distilled the archetype of intrinsic evil with terrifying panache. Homelander and Johan, in more ways than one, seem like two sides of the same sinister coin, their characters a fascinating exploration of what unfolds when individuals with no moral compass are endowed with unfathomable power. While they share a core of rancour, the manifestation of their darkness proves a grim reminder of the fragility of humanity in the face of unrestrained evil.

Homelander’s backstory is as disturbing as it gets. Raised in a Vought-sanctioned lab with all the warmth of a freezer, he was subjected to experiments that would make Frankenstein flinch. Unlike good ‘ol Superman, who had the good fortune of a wholesome upbringing, Homelander’s childhood was a sterile, emotionally desolate affair, designed to mould him into the ultimate killing machine. Deprived of any semblance of human connection, he grew into a character devoid of empathy and bursting with a hunger for dominance.

Meanwhile, Johan’s backstory reads like something concocted by the Brothers Grimm. His early years were marred by nightmarish Kafkaesque experiments at the infamous Red Room and subsequently, his orphanage, 511 Kinderheim: These nexuses of psychological manipulation, subjected him to an insidious array of trauma, each session meticulously designed to unravel the threads of his humanity and transform him from a cherubic innocent into a Machiavellian maestro of malice.

In both cases, their psyches, twisted and scarred beyond recognition, serve as a rattling testament to the horrors of human experimentation. Yet comparing their modus operandi is like juxtaposing a house on fire with a silent, deadly poison.

Homelander’s evil is brash, loud, and egotistical — a reflection of a society obsessed with celebrity and spectacle. His violence is performative, designed to assert dominance and instil fear through sheer force.

One of his earliest shockers involves letting a plane full of passengers crash, preferring to keep his squeaky-clean image rather than save innocent lives. This act is a perfect introduction to a character who values his public persona over any notion of heroism.

In the latest episode, he lasers a hole through a man’s gonads after having him publicly humiliate himself. He sees people as props in his grand, horrific play, disposable and insignificant except for their role in feeding his narcissism. He is the ultimate superpowered tyrant, a twisted reflection of the superhero mythos gone horribly wrong.

On the flip side, Johan is the epitome of quiet, cerebral malevolence. If Homelander is a sledgehammer, Johan is a scalpel. His terror is woven into the fabric of Monster with an almost surgical precision, his greatest weapon his mind. His acts are puzzles, his motives enigmatic, his presence a whisper of dread. His reign of terror includes pitting an entire town of people against themselves, grooming children into killers, and leaving a trail of psychological ruin in his wake.

Johan’s lack of empathy is rooted in his nihilistic worldview; he sees life as inherently meaningless, and thus, his acts of evil are almost philosophical experiments, testing the boundaries of human morality and sanity. While Homelander wants to be feared and adored, Johan seeks no validation — his evil is a manifestation of his profound disillusionment with existence itself. Homelander’s most disturbing trait is his desperate need for love and adoration, which he twists into a justification for his horrific deeds. His relationships are transactional, built on power and fear rather than genuine human connection. Johan, in contrast, is a solitary figure, his interactions driven by a cold, clinical understanding of human fragility. He strips away the humanity of his victims, leaving them as empty shells, haunted by the void he represents.

Dark reflections

Both characters serve as dark reflections of our worst fears about power and morality. There is a perverse elegance to their darkness, a kind of monstrous charisma that compels one to watch in petrified fascination as their fractured sense of selves teeters on the brink of oblivion. As we watch on in rapt horror, we are also left grappling with the uncomfortable reality that the most terrifying monsters are not lurking in the shadows, but mingling among us, donning the masks of heroes and innocents.

The murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, was the immediate cause of World War 1. A quiz on the war:

Radhika Santhanam

1 of 2 Visual Question: This Bengali pilot was India’s sole World War 1 flying ace. His nephew became the first Chief of Air Staff. His grand-nephew is one of India’s foremost journalists. Name the ace and the journalist.

2 of 2

Question 1

A German U-boat torpedoed a steamship which killed more than 1,100 citizens of country X. This country had initially sought to stay out of World War 1. However, this event is recognised as one of the key factors for its involvement in the war. Name country X. And what is the name of the steamship?

Question 2

This is one of the most common catchphrases of World War 1. It is the title of a 1914 book by an English writer. He believed that once the Germans were defeated, the world would never have reason to fight again. What is the catchphrase that is often attributed to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson?

Question 3

This was one of the deadliest battles of World War 1. It was an attempt by the British and French soldiers to defeat the Germans along the Western Front. Over 19,000 British soldiers died on the first day alone. The Battle is named after a river which runs through France. What is it called?

Question 4

In January 1918, Woodrow Wilson presented his vision for peace to conclude World War I, and for a peaceful post-war world. A part of this vision became the basis for an international organisation founded after World War 1. Name the vision and the organisation.

Question 5

During the Second Battle of Ypres, this chemical weapon was released by the Germans towards the French lines. Name it.

Questions and Answers to the previous day’s daily quiz: 1. Many of the world’s first generation of nuclear power plants had twin responsibilities: to generate power for the electrical grid and to produce _________ for the national nuclear weapons programme. Ans: Plutonium-239

2. The last first-generation nuclear power station to halt operations was the Wylfa facility on the Isle of Anglesey. Why did its operator have the facility built on the coast of the island? Ans: To use seawater as coolant

3. Name the 1986 event involving an RBMK reactor that brought attention to its disadvantages. Ans: Chernobyl disaster

4. What does INES stand for? Ans: International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale

5. Name the country in whose power generation mix nuclear power has the greatest contribution. Ans: France

Visual: This is the world’s largest nuclear power plant in terms of net electric power. Ans: Kashiwazaki-Kariwa

Early Birds: Bharath Viswanathan | Devendra Singh Chaudhary | Rajmohan V | Md Sarfaraj Nawab | Rajnandini

Know your English

K. Subrahmanian

1 of 2

2 of 2

Origin of the word ‘quiz’ ( E. R. Subramanyam, Amalapuram).

Most dictionaries say that the origin of the word is unknown. But a few claim that the word owes its existence to James Daly, a manager of a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. According to a theory, James Daly made a bet with a friend. The bet was that he (Daly) would introduce a word into the English language. And what is more, he would make the newly introduced word popular overnight. He called little boys and girls and asked them to write the word ‘quiz’ on the walls of houses, offices, schools, factories, shops, in short, wherever they could. By the next morning, all the walls in the streets of Dublin had the word ‘quiz’ written on them. Everyone saw the word, but no one knew its meaning. People became very curious about the word. They wanted to know what the word meant. In fact, Daly himself did not have a meaning for the word ‘quiz’ when he invented it. So the word became synonymous with ‘practical joke,’ for that was what James Daly played on the citizens of Dublin. Gradually the word came to mean ‘a test of one’s knowledge.’

The teacher gave us a quiz.

The quiz was very easy.

Meaning of ‘Dutch Courage’ (D. Vasu, Ranipet).

We very often see in films the hero taking a peg or two of whisky before proposing to his girl friend. They drink in order to overcome their fear; drinking gives them a false sense of courage. And this is what the colloquial expression ‘Dutch courage’ means. It refers to the ‘false sense of courage or bravery induced by alcohol.’

Paul needed some Dutch courage before boarding the plane.

But why is it that it is only the Dutch who are associated with the sort of courage that comes from taking alcohol? The link could be attributed to a practice that was common in the Dutch army. Before going to a battle, the soldiers drank alcohol. Another expression which is synonymous with ‘Dutch courage’ is ‘geneva courage.’ The ‘geneva’ referred to here has nothing to do with the city in Switzerland. It is the name of a Dutch gin, also called Hollands. So geneva courage is the courage one gets when one has had one too many genevas. This expression once again makes a reference to the heavy drinking of the Dutch people.

If one looks at the expressions involving the Dutch, it becomes obvious that the English did not think very highly of these people. For example, if somebody says, ‘What you’re saying is all Dutch to me’ or ‘What you’re saying is all double Dutch to me’, what he/she means is that you are, talking nonsense, it makes no sense.

Published in The Hindu on July 14, 1992

Business

- No GST on MNCs ESOPs to employees of Indian arm

- ‘Economy robust despite global risks’

- SEBI tightens norms on financial influencers, eases rules for delisting

- UltraTech Cement acquires 23% stake in India Cements

- Kotak Life eyes gross written premium of ₹20,000 cr. in FY25

- Quarterly disbursement under PLI to begin for 6 of 8 sectors soon

- Reliance Jio raises mobile data tariffs effective July 3

- ‘Delhi to host global meet on recycled plastics’

- RBI rejigs SAARC currency swap plan

- Persistent heat may dash RBI’s inflation hopes: BoB

- CCI junks competition law violation case against Google

- ‘Infosys CEO settles charges of lacking insider trading curbs’

- BHEL bags ₹13,300-crore thermal power project

- Correction

- Gold loans can help boost the growth of India’s medium, small businesses

- U.S. alarmed by prospect of cheap Chinese EVs from Mexico

- Recycling to kick in as long-term solution to EU rare-earths challenge

- Relief for Fed?

- Study shows car affordability affecting auto lending

No GST on MNCs ESOPs to employees of Indian arm

Shishir Sinha

New Delhi

1 of 2 Tax sop: Based on the recommendations of the GS T Council, the CBIC has come out with a detailed circular. gettyimages/istocksyahrir maulana

2 of 2 This will benefit the likes of Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Walmart and a large number of tech firms and other MNCs whose Indian staff were getting ESOP options

Employee stock option plan (ESOP), employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) and restricted stock unit (RSU) by foreign firms to their employees will not attract Goods and Services Tax (GST), subject to some conditions.

This will benefit the likes of Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Walmart and a large number of tech companies and other MNCs whose Indian employees were getting the benefit from ESOP options.

Most MNCs and start-ups were facing tax demand and were locked in litigation over taxability of these ESOPs. However, if company charges an additional amount, GST will be applicable on this.

Based on the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has come out with a detailed circular.

“No supply of service appears to be taking place between the foreign holding company and the domestic subsidiary company where the foreign holding company issues ESOP/ESPP/RSU to the employees of domestic subsidiary company, and the domestic subsidiary company reimburses the cost of such securities/shares to the foreign holding company on cost-to-cost basis,” as per the circular.

Ending disputes

However, in cases where an additional amount over and above the cost of securities/shares is charged by the foreign holding company from the domestic subsidiary company, by whatever name called, GST would be leviable on such additional amount, the board said. “The GST shall be payable by the domestic subsidiary company on reverse charge basis in such a case on the said import of services,” it added.

Ending disputes

Experts feel the latest circular will end disputes between tax department and Indian companies. Ankit Joshi, Associate Partner with N.A. Shah Associates, said Tax Department at Centre and States were issuing notices to the Indian entity demanding GST on the reimbursement of cost of shares to the head office under the reverse charge mechanism (RCM).

Now, the latest circular will have a favourable impact and clarity for MNCs and their subsidiaries in India, he said.

Brijesh Kothary, Partner with Khaitan & Co, felt that with the latest circular, the authorities have said that the Indian subsidiary is obligated under employment contracts to provide shares to employees, as the subsidiary acts as the employer, and that the subsidiary imports services from its foreign holding company.

As long as the shares form the subject matter of a transaction, they qualify as transaction in securities and under GST laws, they neither qualify as supply of goods nor as supply of services and hence, not liable to GST.

‘Indian holding also’

“Though this circular is issued in the context of an arrangement between foreign holding and Indian subsidiary, in my view, this will also apply for arrangements between Indian holding and subsidiaries,” he said.

Further, the companies that have been issued notices or have paid taxes during the course of investigation may consider seeking relief by citing the circular.

(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)

‘Economy robust despite global risks’

Lalatendu Mishra

Mumbai

India’s financial system remains resilient with scheduled commercial banks’ gross NPA ratio sliding to a multi-year low of 2.8%, RBI says in its Financial Stability Report; lenders’ improved balance sheets is enabling sustained credit expansion

The Indian economy and the financial system remain robust and resilient, anchored by macroeconomic and financial stability, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in the 29th issue of the Financial Stability Report (FSR), which was released on Thursday.

With improved balance sheets, banks and financial institutions were supporting economic activity through sustained credit expansion, the RBI said.

According to the FSR, the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) and the common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) stood at 16.8% and 13.9%, respectively, as at end-March 2024.

SCBs’ gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio fell to a multi-year low of 2.8% and the net non-performing assets (NNPA) ratio declined to 0.6% at end-March 2024.

“Macro stress tests for credit risk reveal that SCBs would be able to comply with minimum capital requirements, with the system-level CRAR in March 2025 projected at 16.1%, 14.4% and 13.0%, respectively, under baseline, medium and severe stress scenarios,” the central bank said in the FSR.

‘Not forecasts’

“These scenarios are stringent conservative assessments under hypothetical shocks and the results should not be interpreted as forecasts,” it added.

Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) remained healthy, with CRAR at 26.6%, GNPA ratio at 4.0% and return on assets (RoA) at 3.3%, respectively, at end-March 2024, it further said.

‘Slow disinflation’

The RBI noted in the FSR that the global economy was facing heightened risks from prolonged geopolitical tensions, elevated public debt, and the slow progress being made in the last mile of disinflation.

Despite these challenges, the global financial system had remained resilient, and financial conditions stable, the Reserve Bank added.

SEBI tightens norms on financial influencers, eases rules for delisting

Reuters

MUMBAI

India’s markets regulator on Thursday asked brokers and mutual funds to stop using the services of unregulated financial influencers for marketing and advertising campaigns.

A booming Indian stock market has increased the popularity of so-called financial influencers who advise on stocks and other related investments through their channels on YouTube and Instagram and often have a large number of followers.

The decision was taken to address concerns related to ‘certain persons, including unregulated entities, inducing investors to deal in securities based on inappropriate claims,’ the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a press statement issued after a board meeting.

It, however, added financial influencers engaged in investor education will be exempt from the new restrictions.

India had 154 million trading accounts as of April, as per SEBI data, a more than four times jump from the 36 million trading accounts in April 2019.

It will be the responsibility of the regulated entity to ensure individuals with whom it is associated do not breach the rules of conduct set by SEBI, including avoiding the promise of assured returns.

Derivative-linked stocks

SEBI also introduced new criteria to decide on stocks that can be linked to derivative products, such as futures and options, as proposed in a discussion paper earlier this month.

The total number of stocks eligible for derivative trading will rise marginally, SEBI Chair Madhabi Puri Buch said.

The SEBI board also approved changes to delisting rules that would make it easier for companies to exit from stock exchanges.

Companies can now offer shareholders fixed prices for shares as an alternative mechanism to delist from stock exchanges.

Currently, delisting is carried out via reverse book-building.

UltraTech Cement acquires 23% stake in India Cements

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI

Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech Cement Ltd. announced it was making a non-controlling financial investment to pick up 23% equity stake in India Cements Ltd (ICL). Block deal data showed UltraTech initially bought 6.02 crore ICL shares, or 19.4% stake.

Earlier in the day, UltraTech’s Board approved the purchase of up to 7.06 crore equity shares of ICL at up to ₹267 apiece.

Having acquired 19.4%, the UltraTech board met again on Thursday and approved acquisition of 3.4%, or 1.04 crore equity shares, up to ₹285 apiece. This transaction is expected to be completed within a month, the cement maker said in a regulatory filing.

The cost of the entire 23% stake is estimated at about ₹1,900 crore.

Damani sells stake

While promoter N. Srinivasan and his family would still remain the largest shareholders in ICL with 28.4% stake, UltraTech will become the second-largest shareholder, after reportedly purchasing the entire stake of serial investor Radhakishnan Damani and his associates.

As per ICL’s shareholding pattern as of March, Mr. Damani and Gopikishan Shivkishan Damani collectively held 20.78% stake in the company. Another 2% was owned by Damani-linked entities.

Southern markets

ICL has a capacity of 14.45 MTPA with eight cement plants located in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.

ICL shares surged 11.5% on the BSE to close at ₹293.15, while UltraTech rose 5.07% to ₹11,714.80.

Kotak Life eyes gross written premium of ₹20,000 cr. in FY25

N. Anand

CHENNAI

Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company (Kotak Life) is hoping to achieve a gross written premium (GWP) of more than ₹20,000 crore for FY25, said a senior official.

“We ended last fiscal with a GWP of ₹17,700 crore and this fiscal, we would like it to be over ₹20,000 crore,” Piyush Trivedi, Kotak Life Product Marketing and Health Tech Head – Alternate Digital Channels, said during an interaction. He said Kotak Life was hoping to increase its market share from 4% to 5% in FY25 by opening new branches, rolling out new products, refurbishing existing products, and strengthening bancassurance and digital channels among others.

New offering

On Thursday, Kotak Life announced the introduction of ‘Kotak Gen2Gen Protect’, a product that covers two generations with a single term plan.

Quarterly disbursement under PLI to begin for 6 of 8 sectors soon

Amiti Sen

New Delhi

Quarterly disbursement of incentives will soon start under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for at least six of the eight sectors that currently are disbursed annually, including automobiles and parts, telecom and networking, electronics products, white goods, food products, textile products and drones, to speed up claim processing, sources said.

“The most successful PLI scheme till now in terms of investments and production is that of smartphones which is one the six sectors for which the provision of quarterly disbursement already exists. The government, therefore, drew the conclusion that quarterly disbursement is a good incentive and should be extended to the remaining eight sectors as well,” an official told businessline.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the nodal department for the PLI scheme, is also planning to hold the next stakeholder review of the PLI scheme sometime next month or just after the budget announcement for 2024-25, the official added.

Apart from increasing the frequency of disbursement of incentives, the government is looking at revamping the scheme in a number of sectors such as textiles, white goods, electronics and solar PVs to make it more attractive to investors.

(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)

Reliance Jio raises mobile data tariffs effective July 3

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. announced an increase in tariff on Thursday, marking the first in a likely industry-wide spike in mobile data prices close on the heels of spectrum auctions. The increase, ranging from 16–22%, will kick in on July 3, and will not apply to users of the company’s JioPhone devices. The price of the cheapest monthly plan has gone up from ₹155 to ₹189. The firm’s average revenue per user is less than this amount, at ₹181.70 as of Q4 2023–24.

‘Delhi to host global meet on recycled plastics’

The Hindu Bureau

Mumbai

Projecting India’s plastic recycling industry to grow to $6.9 billion by 2033, the All India Plastic Manufacturers’ Association and the Chemicals and Petrochemicals Association have announced a Global Conclave on Plastics Recycling and Sustainability (GCPRS), to be held at Bharat Mandapam, Delhi from July 4 to 7.

“GCPRS will convene experts from India and abroad to tackle pressing concerns in plastic waste management, recycling, and sustainability. We will also discuss the impact of plastic on the environment,” the organisers said.

RBI rejigs SAARC currency swap plan

The Hindu Bureau

Mumbai

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to put in place a revised framework for currency swap arrangement for SAARC countries for 2024 to 2027.

“Under the Framework, a separate INR swap window has been introduced with various concessions for swap support in Indian rupee,” the RBI said. “The total corpus of the rupee support is ₹250 billion.” The RBI will continue to offer swap arrangement in U.S. dollar and euro under a separate U.S. Dollar/ Euro Swap Window with an overall corpus of $2 billion.”

Persistent heat may dash RBI’s inflation hopes: BoB

The Hindu Bureau

NEW DELHI

The persistent heat wave in tomato, onion and potato producing States is likely to keep food prices elevated for a few more months, and could push retail inflation past the Reserve Bank of India’s estimates for the first two quarters of FY25, economists at Bank of Baroda said on Thursday.

Mandi arrivals of these vegetables have slid significantly in Q1 FY25, with potato supplies down 12.3%, onion 29.1% lower, and tomato down 18.5%, triggering a sharp price rise.

CCI junks competition law violation case against Google

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has dismissed a complaint against Google India alleging the tech giant abused its dominant position to favour Truecaller in the market for caller ID and spam protection apps, as it found no evidence of violation of competition law. “The Commission finds no prima facie case of contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act is made out against Google in the instant matter,” the fair trade regulator said. pti

‘Infosys CEO settles charges of lacking insider trading curbs’

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh settled charges for failing to place adequate internal controls to prevent insider trading at India’s No.2 IT services exporter during a 2020 contract, the country’s markets regulator said on Thursday. Mr. Parekh agreed to pay ₹2.5 million (about $30,000) to settle the markets regulator’s charge, which related to a contract for Infosys to provide U.S. financial firm Vanguard with a cloud-based record-keeping platform. reuters

BHEL bags ₹13,300-crore thermal power project

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

State-owned engineering firm BHEL has bagged a ₹13,300 crore order to set up a 1,600 MW thermal power plant in Koderma in Jharkhand from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), the power ministry said in a statement.

Correction

The photograph carried with the top INBRIEF ‘Repco Bank sets credit growth target of ₹21,750 cr. for FY25’ (June 27) erroneously referenced RBL Bank. The error is regretted.

Gold loans can help boost the growth of India’s medium, small businesses

George Alexander Muthoot

As gold prices have nearly tripled in nine years, small business owners, particularly those from rural areas or marginalized backgrounds, can leverage their inherited gold as collateral to secure funds to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and contribute to India’s economic development

1 of 2 Harnessing hidden potential: Gold loans ensure sustainable business growth. Getty Images Deepak Sethi

2 of 2 More than 25,000 tons of physical gold valued at $1.69 trillion is already sitting idle in Indian households or in bank lockers. This gold may help meet the credit needs of MSMEs

India’s economic progress is majorly rooted in the resilience and growth of its Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises (MSMEs). From metropolitan cities to the remotest corners of India’s hinterlands, these small businesses are driving innovation, generating more than 199 million job opportunities, and continuing an upward growth trajectory across sectors to fuel the country’s development. However, in the dynamic and often unpredictable business environment, one of the significant challenges that MSMEs face is navigating through unforeseen emergencies and working capital needs.

Can gold loan become an innovative credit solution to empower MSMEs to sail through turbulent business environments? Despite generational shifts, Indians have shown an enduring inclination towards the yellow metal. However, gold is not merely a symbol of wealth today, it is seen as a valuable asset which can fund more than just financial emergencies. Small business owners, particularly those from rural areas or marginalized backgrounds, can leverage their inherited gold as collateral to secure funds to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and contribute to India’s economic development.

Recently, the India Bullion and Jewellers Association said that gold prices have nearly tripled in nine years and reached an all-time high of ₹73,477 on April 18, 2024. This is evidence of how idle gold is worth even more as a collateral now. Plus, gold loans are not a temporary fix; they ensure sustainable business growth. MSMEs can leverage the transformative power of gold to avail bigger loans and fuel their liquidity needs to address emergencies head-on, ensure smooth business continuity, capitalize on promising opportunities, and propel towards new heights. This creates a ripple effect that fosters employment generation, economic activity, and contributes to the overall growth of regional economies.

Gold loan advantage

Gold loans offer numerous benefits to MSMEs to support long-term sustainability and success in a competitive business market. A few key advantages of gold loans are:

1. Flexible loan amount: The amount of loan that can be availed is directly proportional to the value of gold pledged. This flexibility allows MSMEs to secure loans that can meet their specific capital requirement whether it is for new machinery, expansion, employee salaries, or other business purposes.

2. No requirement of external collateral: Compared with other credit options, where external assets are required to be pledged as security, more than 25,000 tons of physical gold valued at $1.69 trillion is already sitting idle in Indian households or in bank lockers. This gold may be used by small business owners to secure loans to meet the credit needs of MSMEs.

3. No credit history required: Young entrepreneurs or new businesses with lesser credit scores or no credit history may often face challenges in obtaining easy financing. However, gold loans are secured against the appreciating value of gold, reducing the risk assumed by lenders and making it easier for MSMEs to raise capital.

4. Competitive interest rates: Since credit is secured with gold, these loans come with lower interest rates as compared to other unsecured loans, thus proving favorable to small business owners by reducing their overall operational cost.

5. Quick and easy access to funds: Unlike other unsecured loans that require extensive paperwork and lengthy approval processes, gold loans generally require minimal documentation. This reduces the administrative burden on small businesses who require urgent funds and speeds up the loan approval process without prolonged waiting period.

6. Repayment flexibility: Gold loans usually offer bullet repayment options allowing MSMEs to repay the entirety of an outstanding loan amount (including principal and interest amount) at maturity which can help MSMEs manage their working capital more efficiently and choose a repayment timeline that aligns with their cash flow.

7. Continued ownership of gold: Although gold is pledged, the borrower retains ownership of the jewelry. Once the loan is repaid, the gold is returned to the borrower, thus ensuring that the small business owner’s valuable family assets that may have been passed down through generations are safe.

8. Reduced risk of default: Given that gold loans are secured with a valuable tangible asset having sentimental value, it is a reassurance to both lenders and borrowers thus fostering a more stable financial arrangement.

Although the process of securing a gold loan requires physical submission of these valuable assets for evaluation, once the gold is deposited, technology integration such as digital record-keeping and automated systems can facilitate faster loan approvals and disbursements.

These distinct benefits of gold loan, coupled with digitalization of services, will not only provide India’s MSMEs a robust financial foundation to foster innovation; but also create more jobs and promote entrepreneurship.

(The author is MD, Muthoot Finance)

U.S. alarmed by prospect of cheap Chinese EVs from Mexico

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Loophole: The trade deal that Beijing could exploit was negotiated by Donald Trump.APMike Householder

It’s a scenario that terrifies America’s auto industry.

Chinese carmakers set up shop in Mexico to exploit North American trade rules. Once in place, they send ultra-low-priced electric vehicles streaming into the United States.

As the Chinese EVs go on sale across the country, America’s homegrown EVs—costing an average of $55,000, roughly double the price of their Chinese counterparts—struggle to compete. Factories close. Workers lose jobs across America’s industrial heartland.

Ultimately, it could all become a painful replay of how government-subsidized Chinese competition devastated American industries from steel to solar equipment over the past quarter-century.

“Time and again, we have seen the Chinese government dump highly subsidized goods into markets for the purpose of undermining domestic manufacturing,’’ Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, wrote in an April letter to President Joe Biden.

The trade deal that Beijing could potentially exploit—the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement—was negotiated by the Trump administration and enacted in 2020. Its rules could let Chinese autos assembled in Mexico enter the United States, either duty-free or at a nominal 2.5% tariff rate. Either way, China could sell its EVs well below typical U.S. prices.

To defuse the threat, the U.S. does have options. Customs officials could rule that Chinese EVs don’t qualify for the low-duty or duty-free benefits of being assembled in Mexico. U.S. policymakers could also pressure Mexico to keep Chinese vehicles out of that country. Or they could bar Chinese EVs from the U.S. on the grounds that they would threaten America’s national security.

Whatever steps the U.S. government might take, though, would likely face legal challenges from companies that want to import the Chinese EVs.

Slowing sales

The threat from Beijing is emerging just as U.S. automakers face slowing EV sales even while investing billions to produce them in a high-priced bet that Americans will embrace battery-powered autos in the coming decades. Comparatively high prices, despite federal tax incentives for buyers, have weakened EV sales in the U.S.

Optimists suggest that an influx of ultra-low-priced Chinese EVs could accelerate electric vehicle purchases in the United States, speed up investment in charging stations and force down prices.

“It would be cheaper just to let the Chinese cars come in, forget all the tariffs and subsidies, let the market figure it out,’’ said Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center who was a trade official in the George W. Bush administration.

But there’s an easier way that Chinese EV makers could use Mexico to try to dodge Biden’s killer 102.5% import tax: They would have to pay only 2.5%—the tax imposed on most cars imported to the U.S.—if they could show that assembling their EVs in Mexico involved a “substantial transformation’’ that essentially turned them from Chinese into Mexican cars.

U.S. officials could reject the notion that a substantial transformation occurred during the assembly process. But the U.S. would struggle to prevail if that decision were challenged in the U.S. Court of International Trade, “given the substantial changes that typically take place in automotive assembly factories,’’ David Gantz, a trade lawyer and a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, has written.

Still, Mr. Gantz said by email: “My takeaway is that using one or more of the available trade and national security mechanisms available to the U.S. government, the U.S. will be successful in excluding Mexican/Chinese electric vehicles.’’

Recycling to kick in as long-term solution to EU rare-earths challenge

Reuters

LONDON

Boosting supply: A rare earth processing plant owned by Belgian chemicals group Solvay in France. Solvay/Handout via REUTERS. SOLVAY

EU firms are gearing up to take advantage of the huge potential for recycling to supply critical rare earths for the bloc’s green transition, but it will take time before there is enough supply of old EVs and wind turbines to process.

The EU will struggle to meet ambitious goals for rare earths in a new legislation designed to boost domestic output of critical minerals and reduce dependence on China.

Under the Critical Raw Materials Act that entered into force last month, the bloc has set a target that recycling should meet 25% of EU demand for critical minerals by 2030, including rare earths. Today, less than 1% of rare earths consumed in EU are recycled.

The 25% target is not due to be met according to a Reuters analysis, but in the longer term, the outlook is strong for the bloc to furnish a large portion of the rare earths needed for electric vehicles and wind turbines from salvaging and re-processing them.

“Today you have magnets leaving Europe every day because there is no possibility to recycle them here,” said Frederic Carencotte, the founder of French start-up Carester.

The firm is collecting old magnets to be ready when its plant is due to go into production in 2026. Initially, it plans to process 2,000 tonne a year of old, permanent magnets and make rare earth oxides. It will also process mine concentrate until enough old EVs and wind turbines are scrapped to boost supply of old magnets.

Another key input will be ‘swarfs’, leftovers when blocks of new permanent magnets are cut into specific shapes, which can total up to a fifth of magnet production.

Relief for Fed?

Welcome pause: A help wanted sign is posted in the window of a hardware store in San Francisco, California. First-time applications for U.S. unemployment benefits drifted lower last week, but the number of people on jobless rolls jumped to a 2-1/2 year high in mid-June, suggesting that labour market conditions were easing amid slowing economic growth.AFPJUSTIN SULLIVAN

Study shows car affordability affecting auto lending

Reuters

Losing power: Q1 auto delinquencies that are 60 days or more past due date rose to 1.33% from 1.19%.REUTERSSTEPHEN LAM

A study on loans for buying automobiles in the United States has found that weaker consumer budgets are negatively impacting loan payments for some borrowers, credit reporting agency TransUnion said on Thursday.

Why it is important

U.S. consumers are continuing to hold back on big-ticket purchases and being careful with their spending amid inflationary pressures and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path. The TransUnion study showed continued declines in auto-loan applications since the pandemic.

Despite the recent recovery in supply-chain shortages, elevated inflation and higher interest rates that followed have put consumers in a tight financial bind, according to the study.

TransUnion said first quarter auto delinquencies that are 60 days or more past due date have risen to 1.33% from 1.19% a year earlier.

Budgetary constraints

Many borrowers have been taking on additional monthly payments to compensate for higher debt levels due to budget constraints, and some are further holding off on new auto leases and purchases, according to the study.

Increased pressures on consumer affordability and spending will further drive a slowdown in an already sluggish auto-origination market, TransUnion said.

Foreign

- Sunak, Starmer clash in final pre-election debate on tax and borders

- Bolivia reels from short-lived coup attempt as apparent calm returns

- Former Chinese Minister kicked out from party

- Flying colours

- Amid Gaza war, Israel warns could send Lebanon 'back to Stone Age'

- ‘Over half of Sudanese face acute food insecurity’

- Sri Lanka calls on Russia to discharge its citizens from army

- Former Myanmar president makes rare trip to China

- Russia sent 10,000 naturalised citizens to fight in Ukraine: official

- US Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho for now

- Kenya police fire rubber bullets, tear gas at protest

- In Myanmar, killing of monk likely to undermine military’s ties with clergy

- Russian troops set their eyes on Ukraine’s once-peaceful town of Toretsk

- Up in flames

- Multiple-warhead missile test success, says N. Korea

- Uzbekistan tries to put fresh spin on its stalling silk industry

- Japan mogul sues govt. over ‘hostage justice’ system

Sunak, Starmer clash in final pre-election debate on tax and borders

Sriram Lakshman

London

Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak take part in the pre-election debate, in Nottingham, Britain on Wednesday.REUTERSPHIL NOBLE

In a final and noisy pre-election debate on Wednesday night, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer argued loudly with each other on the cost of living, taxes and welfare, immigration and gender.

The Prime Minister, in danger of losing his Richmond (Yorkshire) seat, repeatedly warned voters over the 75-minute debate not to “surrender” to Labour on various fronts. Mr. Sunak’s Conservative Party has been in power for 14 years, and has lagged behind Labour in opinion polls by around 20 points. Following the pandemic, Britons have seen four conservative Prime Ministers, crumbling public services (such as the National Health Service) and a cost of living crisis.

The U.K.’s tax burden had hit record levels under the Sunak government. The independent Institute of Fiscal Studies warned earlier in the week that neither party was being upfront about the trade-offs that would have to be made between taxes and public services, which are already in disarray.

Mr. Sunak spoke over his opponentat length during the tax segment, accusing Mr. Starmer of planning atax on pensions. “It is in their DNA. Mark my words. Your pension, your council tax your home, your car, you name it, they will tax it,”Mr. Sunak said.

On immigration, Mr. Starmer attacked the Prime Minister for the impracticality of the government’s plan to deport migrants with failed asylum claims to Rwanda. Mr Sunak argued that opposition leader did not have a plan and that it would be infeasible to return undocumented migrants to countries like Iran and Afghanistan.

Culture wars

The debate also went into some of Britain’s culture wars.The candidates were asked if they would protect women-only spaces. Theyboth agreed on the equivalence of “sex” and “biological sex” but differed on the legal instruments required to achieve women-only spaces. Mr. Starmer accused the Tories of splitting people on a number of issues, as he cautioned people against transphobia.

Both candidates attempted to sidestep questions on mending Britain’s trading relationship with the EU.

Pressed on the issue, Mr. Starmer said he would get a better deal with the EU, as he pushed back against Mr. Sunak’s accusation that a better deal came with the free movement of EU citizens across the U.K. border.

Although Mr. Sunak trails Mr. Starmer in polls, Mr. Starmer also has low popularity. During Wednesday’s debate, both candidates accused the other of making empty promises. “Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next Prime Minister of our great country?” Robert Blackstock, a senior citizen in the audience, asked.

“I get the frustrations, but think about the choice, allow me to finish the job I’ve started,” Mr. Sunak said as he suggested he would protect pensions from tax and “secure” borders.

“People feel like hope has been beaten out of them,” Mr. Starmer said, arguing that Britons felt worse off now than they were 14 years ago when the Conservatives came to power. He talked about his “working class” background and bringing a sense of service to politics.

Following the debate, Mr. Blackstock said he was disappointed with the answers both candidates had provided.

“From my perspective, we want a personality. We want somebody that we can recognise. We want somebody on the world stage, that is going to project our Great Britain. That’s what we want,” he said.

Bolivian general arrested after failed coup attempt

Associated Press

LA PAZ

Led by Army chief Juan José Zúñiga, troops stormed the government palace , but quickly retreated after President Arce sacked the rebel general; ‘everything is now under control,’ says a Minister

Bolivia’s now-dismissed Army chief Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga being escorted by policemen following his arrest on Wednesday. REUTERSCLAUDIA MORALES

Led by a top general vowing to “restore democracy”, armoured vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia’s government palace on Wednesday in what the President called a coup attempt, then quickly retreated — the latest crisis in the South American country facing a political battle and an economic crisis.

Within hours, the nation of 12 million people saw a rapidly moving scenario in which the troops seemed to take control of the government of President Luis Arce. He vowed to stand firm and named a new Army commander, who immediately ordered the troops to stand down.

Soon the soldiers pulled back, along with a line of military vehicles, ending the rebellion after just three hours. Hundreds of Mr. Arce’s supporters then rushed the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags, singing the national anthem and cheering.

The soldiers’ retreat was followed by the arrest of Army chief Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, after the Attorney General opened an investigation. Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo said that in addition to Gen. Zúñiga, former navy Vice Adm. Juan Arnez Salvador was taken into custody.

The government said on Thursday that 17 people, including active and retired military personnel and civilians have been arrested in the case.

“What was this group’s goalTheir goal was to overturn the democratically elected authority,” Mr. del Castillo told presspersons.

Under control

Late on Wednesday, Defence Minister Edmundo Novillo said “everything is now under control”. Surrounded by the new military chiefs appointed by Mr. Arce, Mr. Novillo said Bolivia lived a “failed coup”.

The apparent coup attempt came as the country has faced months of tensions and political fights between Mr. Arce and his one-time ally, former leftist president Evo Morales, over control of the ruling party. The clashes have paralysed the government’s efforts to deal with the economic crisis.

Mr. Zúñiga referenced that paralysis during the rebellion, telling reporters the military was tired of the infighting and was seeking “to restore democracy”.

The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organisation of American States, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.

Two former Chinese Defence Ministers sacked from party

Associated Press

BEIJING

Li Shangfu CAROLINE CHIA

China has expelled two former Defence Ministers from the ruling Communist Party over accusations of corruption that are likely to lead to sentences of life in prison.

The Defence Ministry on Thursday said Li Shangfu had abused his authority to enrich himself by taking bribes in exchange for granting favours in violation of military and party discipline. Mr. Li’s predecessor, Wei Fenghe, was also accused on similar charges.

Such charges have been levelled in the past against many military leaders under the rule of President and party leader Xi Jinping, who also heads the armed forces as chairman of the Central Military Commission and has made a crackdown on corruption a hallmark of his rule since taking power more than a decade ago.

Mr. Li is being investigated for corruption and bribery, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. He was removed from office in October 2023 after disappearing from public view for almost two months.

Mr. Wei was placed under investigation in September and was suspected of “seriously violating political and organisational discipline by helping others gain improper benefits in personnel arrangements,” Xinhua reported.

He was found to have accepted a “huge amount of money and valuables in return, constituting the suspected crime of taking bribes,” Xinhua said, adding that he had “lost his faith and loyalty and contaminated the political environment of the military, bringing enormous damage to the Party’s cause, the development of national defence and the armed forces, as well as the image of senior officials”.

Both face prosecution under the justice system run by the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the Communist Party.

Insiders have alleged a widespread purge of officers suspected of conspiring with outside forces or simply being insufficiently loyal to Mr. Xi. High-ranking officers occupy an elevated position in Chinese politics and can command extensive privileges.

In its statement, the Ministry gave no details of the allegations against Mr. Li, other than saying that his alleged crimes were “exceptionally pernicious” and that they posed “an enormous danger”.

Mr. Li spent most of his career as a specialist in the missile and procurement branches, and was under travel and financial sanctions from the U.S. over the purchase of Russian military hardware at the time he dropped from view last September. Mr. Li was replaced in December by Admiral Dong Jun.

Flying colours

Palette in the sky: French Air and Space Force’s elite acrobatic flying team ‘Patrouille de France’ releases trails of blue, white and red smokes, representing the French national flag’s colours in Versailles, on Wednesday, during a rehearsal. AFPDIMITAR DILKOFF

Can send Lebanon ‘to Stone Age’: Israel

Agence France-Presse

Washington

Israel launched air strikes on Gaza on Thursday after warning Hezbollah, Hamas’s ally in Lebanon, to avoid a large-scale war that would send the neighbouring country “back to the Stone Age”.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant made the comment during a visit to Washington, where he discussed the Gaza war, long-running efforts toward a truce, and ways to avoid a wider regional conflagration.

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told Mr. Gallant this week that a war with Hezbollah could have “terrible consequences for the West Asia”.

UN humanitarian coordinator Martin Griffiths warned that Lebanon was “the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints”.

In the latest clashes on Wednesday, Lebanese media reported about 10 Israeli strikes near the border while Hezbollah claimed six attacks against Israeli military positions.

A U.S. official said Washington was engaged in “fairly intensive conversations” with Israel, Lebanon and other actors and believed that no side sought a “major escalation”.

Sudanese face ‘acute food insecurity’: IPC

Agence France-Presse

Port Sudan

More than half of Sudan’s population is facing high levels of “acute food insecurity”, a situation exacerbated by the country’s devastating war, said a report cited by the United Nations on Thursday.

The crisis would impact “approximately 25.6 million people,” it said.

Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict in the northeast African country of 48 million has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

“Fourteen months into the conflict, Sudan is facing the worst levels of acute food insecurity” that the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, has recorded, the report said.

It further cited “highly dysfunctional health services, water contamination and poor sanitation and hygiene conditions”.

Sri Lanka calls on Russia to discharge its citizens from Army

AFP

Sri Lanka has asked Russia to allow its former soldiers fighting in Moscow’s war against Ukraine to return home voluntarily, the government said on Thursday. An official delegation held two days of talks in Moscow this week where it called for compensation for 17 Sri Lankans killed in fighting, Colombo’s Foreign Ministry said. AFP

Former Myanmar President Thein Sein makes a rare trip to China

REUTERS

Former Myanmar President Thein Sein departed for an official visit to China on Thursday, Beijing’s embassy in Yangon said, in his first foreign trip since the military seized power three years ago. Former general Thein Sein, 79, ruled Myanmar from 2011 to 2016 as the reformist President of a quasi-civilian government. AFP

Russia sent 10,000 naturalised citizens to fight in Ukraine: official

REUTERS

Russia has sent around 10,000 naturalised citizens to fight in Ukraine, a top official said on Thursday. The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee said that Russia was cracking down on migrants who had received Russian citizenship but were not registering with military authorities. AFP

U.S. Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho

AP

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to permit – for now – abortions to be performed in Idaho when pregnant women are facing medical emergencies. Following the 2022 abortion ruling, a series of states including Idaho enacted Republican-backed laws imposing bans on abortion. Reuters

Kenya police fire rubber bullets, tear gas at protest

Agence France-Presse

Nairobi

Kenyan police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators in Nairobi on Thursday, as protesters returned to the streets despite President William Ruto scrapping contentious tax hikes after deadly clashes.

The protests — led largely by young Kenyans — caught the authorities off-guard, as Ruto’s government ricocheted between taking a tough line on the unrest and calling for dialogue.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Nairobi’s central business district, with soldiers deployed and police in anti-riot gear blocking access along roads leading to Mr. Ruto’s office at State House and Parliament, according to presspersons.

Officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas at small groups of protesters and arrested at least seven people, with scuffles erupting as some demonstrators threw stones at police.

Associated Press

BANGKOK

The killing of Bhaddanta Munindarbhivamsa, a retired member of the State Sangha Mahanayaka Committee, the monastic organisation overseeing the Buddhist clergy, drew outrage, especially because the military government first lied and blamed it on resistance fighters opposed to Army rule

Last rites: A crowd of clergy and devotees attend the cremation of the Buddhist monk Bhaddanta Munindarbhivamsa, who was shot dead by soldiers last week, in Bago, Myanmar on Thursday.AP

Hundreds of people in Myanmar on Thursday attended the funeral of a senior monk who was fatally shot by soldiers in an incident that could undermine the cosy relationship that the country’s military government has tried to maintain with its Buddhist clergy.

The body of 78-year-old monk Bhaddanta Munindarbhivamsa was carried on a vehicle in the design of a Karaweik barge — an ornate vessel with a golden image of a mythical bird at its bow — through crowds from a temple in the city of Bago where it had been kept for the past week for mourners to pay their respects.

The mock barge was accompanied by more than a hundred other vehicles and a long procession of monks and devotees to a newly built pyre at a cemetery on the outskirts of the city for cremation.

Buddhist clergy are extremely influential in Myanmar, an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation in which the religion is deeply entwined with tradition and culture.

The killing of Bhaddanta Munindarbhivamsa, a retired member of the State Sangha Mahanayaka Committee, the monastic organisation overseeing the Buddhist clergy, drew outrage, especially because the military government initially lied and blamed it on resistance fighters opposed to army rule.

Myanmar’s military junta came to power in February 2021 after the army ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

After security forces used deadly force to suppress non-violent protests, armed resistance arose and the country is now in a civil war.

The military, which likes to portray itself as the guardian of Buddhism, has worked hard to keep the clergy on its side to try to bolster its legitimacy, devoting resources to construction and repair of religious structures and donating money and gifts to monasteries and senior monks.

State media earlier this month publicised the head of the military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, donating limousines to senior monks in the State Sangha Mahanayaka Committee.

Historically, monks played major roles in resistance to British colonial rule in Myanmar, and in more recent times, previous military governments. Monks have taken part in protests against the 2021 takeover, and some have allied themselves with armed resistance forces.

Bhaddanta Munindarbhivamsa, who had been serving as the abbot of a monastery in Bago where hundreds of young monks from around the country come to learn Buddhist scripture, was travelling in a car in the central region of Mandalay on June 19 when it was fired upon by soldiers on a truck.

However, state-run MRTV television announced that night that the monk had died in an explosion of a landmine planted by a local unit of the People’s Defence Force, which is the loosely organised armed resistance movement opposed to military rule. That explanation was discredited the next day when another monk who had been travelling in the car announced details of the incident to monks and devotees at the monastery in Bago.

Narrative debunked

Bhaddanta Gunikabhivamsa said soldiers fired seven or eight shots at the car, killing his senior colleague and wounding the driver and himself. Videos of him delivering the explanation were widely shared on social media, causing outrage at both the soldiers and state media for trying to cover up the killing.

The military government, faced with a major public relations debacle, was forced to quickly backtrack as the surviving monk’s account spread, acknowledging that soldiers had shot the monk.

Gen. Min sent Religious Affairs and Culture Minister Tin Oo Lwin on Monday to read his apology at the late monk’s monastery.

In the statement, Gen. Min expressed his deep grief for the death of the monk but also said the security forces had to shoot at the civilian vehicle because it did not pull over when ordered to stop as it had been driving at high speed with its windows closed in an area where the resistance was reportedly active.

Gen. Min said an investigation of the incident by high-ranking officials had begun and that the military government would continue to serve the interests of the Buddhist religion by working together with monks.

The military government’s efforts to win support among senior clergy builds on the army’s long-standing alliance with right-wing monks who share their ultranationalist views and have their own followers who can be mobilised for political action.

The monk who was killed was one of several senior clergy members who have publicly denounced the army’s 2021 seizure of power.

He and 10 other monks signed a protest letter that was posted on Facebook a few days after the takeover that accused the army of destroying the country’s development and the hopes of its youth. The letter has resurfaced since his death and has circulated widely on social media.

Russian troops set their eyes on Ukraine’s once-peaceful town of Toretsk

Agence France-Presse

Toretsk

Ghost town: A ruined residential building in the Ukrainian town of Toretsk on Tuesday.AFPROMAN PILIPEY

Compared to others in war-scarred east Ukraine, Galyna Poroshyna had been lucky to live in Toretsk, a mining town nestled in a relatively sleepy sector of the front line.

Then, suddenly, the Russian assaults began, and life in the town, some 40 kilometres north of Donetsk city, deteriorated drastically.

As rockets and air strikes started raining down on shaken residents this month, Ms. Poroshyna and her neighbours sheltered in basements, emerging between barrages to assess the damage.

The Internet and electricity shut off. A shell landed near Ms. Poroshyna’s home. Ukrainian forces struggled to hold positions that had been under their control for months.

Like her mother and grandmother, the 63-year-old was born and raised in Toretsk. She married there. Her son was born and buried in the town after succumbing to an illness.

Strong bonds

“This is the kind of bond that is very hard to break. I can’t leave and go away. I can’t,” the 63-year-old said.

That Russia now has Toretsk in its sights underlines a worrying trend for Kyiv as the war grinds through its third year.

Ukraine’s troops, already exhausted and outgunned, are being further stretched by new Russian attacks and advances across the more than 1,000-kilometre front line.

Kyiv said the Russian onslaught came following a “protracted lull” in fighting. But the Kremlin is determined to capture the entire Donetsk region, which it claims is part of Russia.

Like many towns and cities in eastern Ukraine, Toretsk bore a different name during the Soviet era: Dzerzhinsk, after Felix Dzerzhinsky, the notorious founder of the Kremlin’s secret police.

Ms. Poroshyna’s husband Oleskandr described it as a quiet industrial settlment — mines below ground, roses above and where around 12,000 regular people lived regular lives.

“It was a good town. Small, compact and always clean. A lot of people stayed here and got married,” he recounted.

When Russian forces invaded in 2022 that changed. First the water went, then gas, then heating, Ms. Poroshyna recounted.

“But it was okay. We survived somehow,” she said. “People get used to everything, even this.”

She and her husband described having taken peace in the town for granted, reminiscing over their favourite park and visiting restaurants and concerts.

The recent surge in Russian attacks had rendered their hometown a “dead, broken city,” she said.

Charred Soviet-era housing blocs ripped open by Russian bombardments dot Toretsk. Shelling echoes throughout its emptying streets. Black smoke rises over the horizon.

Important to survive

“Now the most important thing is human life, to survive,” she said. “To save even the memory of relatives. It is so painful when you can’t go to the cemetery.”

After a spate of fresh attacks, the Donetsk Governor this week urged residents to evacuate.

“The best thing to do is to evacuate and not endanger your own life and health,” Governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Holding back the Russian advances in the area was becoming “difficult”, a 30-year-old commander of a Ukrainian military unit deployed near Toretsk said.

Russian forces had been dropping devastating guided aerial bombs, launching rockets and sending small sabotage teams forward, the commander, who goes by the name of Kurt, said.

Ukrainian forces had also botched a troop rotation, compromising their defence of the town, he added.

“Certain mistakes were made. The enemy analysed and used them,” he said.

“The defensive lines outside the city don’t mean anything,” he added, pointing out that Russia had captured other towns buttressed by such installations.

Up in flames

Burned to ashes: A firefighter controls the blaze after illegal drugs were set afire during a destruction ceremony to mark the UN’s International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Yangon, Myanmar on Wednesday. AFPSTR

Multiple-warhead missile test success, says N. Korea

Agence France-Presse

SEOUL

A missile takes off during an individual mobile combat separation and guidance control test in North Korea on Wednesday.REUTERSKCNA

North Korea successfully tested its multiple-warhead missile capability, state media said on Thursday, while dozens more trash-laden balloons sent by Pyongyang landed in the South.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash it says are in retaliation to similar missives sent northwards by activists in the South.

North Korea claimed it had “successfully conducted the separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads”, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The “separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets” during the test carried out on Wednesday, it said.

“The test is aimed at securing the MIRV capability,” KCNA added, referring to multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle technology — the ability to fire multiple warheads on a single ballistic missile.

South Korea’s military had said the North’s test on Wednesday appeared to be of a hypersonic missile, but that the launch ended in a mid-air explosion.

More smoke than usual appeared to emanate from the missile, raising the possibility of combustion issues, a South Korean military official said.

Uzbekistan tries to put fresh spin on its stalling silk industry

Agence France-Presse

NURAFSHON

Fine lines: Employees dry silkworm cocoons at a silk production facility in Kattakurgan, Uzbekistan. AFPSTRINGER

In the shade of an almond tree in Nurafshon, south of the capital Tashkent, Zubayda Pardayeva began the age-old and barely profitable process of turning cocoons into silk that Uzbekistan wants to overhaul. With her expert fingers honed by 40 years of labour, Ms. Pardayeva delicately removed the white silkworm cocoons from bushy dried mulberry branches.

The silk industry — an ancestral tradition in the Central Asian country which is the world’s third biggest producer — is state-controlled and unprofitable. This is the result of decades of Communist economic planning until 1991, followed by a quarter of a century of isolation under former leader Islam Karimov. “The silk industry is run using methods borrowed from the Soviet past, with farmers forced to grow cocoons, particularly those who already have mulberry plantations,” Uzbek economist Yuli Yusupov said.

While forced labour in cotton fields has been abolished by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the United States still bans imports of Uzbek silkworm cocoons on grounds of the “use of forced labour in their production”.

But there are reasons to “hope for change” in Uzbekistan’s growing silk sector. “The President has ordered that it be reformed from 2025 to introduce market mechanisms, so we hope to see a revolutionary transition,” Mr. Yusopov said.

Mr. Mirziyoyev wants to make the silk sector one of the country’s major employers by 2027.

Japan mogul sues govt. over ‘hostage justice’ system

Agence France-Presse

TOKYO

The ex-chairman of a major Japanese publishing house who was indicted over bribery allegations linked to the Tokyo Olympics sued the government on Thursday over its so-called “hostage justice” detention system.

“Hostage justice” — referring to suspects being held at length — allows suspects to be detained for up to 23 days per charge. Re-arrests are common and bail requests are often denied under the Japanese system, which Human Rights Watch criticised in a report last year.

Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, the former chair of Kadokawa Corporation was arrested and indicted in 2022 on bribery charges.

Prosecutors accused him of paying around 69 million yen to Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympics board member.

The 80-year-old publishing mogul was released on bail in April last year after more than seven months in detention. He said three other bail requests were denied during that time.

Mr. Kadokawa filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday against the government for illegal detention and interrogation. The suit “is not related to my Tokyo Olympics case, but about the inhumane treatment I experienced at the detention centre,” he told presspersons on Thursday.

He also plans to file a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee.

“We will argue that this hostage justice situation violates various human rights and violates international laws of human rights,” Kadokawa’s lawyer Hiroaki Murayama said.

Sports

- Rohit, Suryakumar take India to 171 on tricky pitch

- Clinical South Africa demolishes Afghanistan, storms into the summit clash for the first time

- Trott calls the surface at Tarouba ‘unfit’ for a WC semifinal

- Finding a way to win is most important: Markram

- Farooqi the bowler with most wickets in an edition of T20 WC

- Bumrah is 1000 times a better bowler than me, says Kapil

- Flower calls pitch for South Africa- Afghanistan semifinal ‘dangerous’

- Hope we’ve inspired young kids to pick up a bat and ball: Trott

- SCOREBOARD

- SCOREBOARD

- Spinners give India the edge as South Africa seeks consistency

- Kiran smashes Olympic qualifying mark, books Paris ticket

- ‘Series will help us understand the wickets’ : Harmanpreet

- Play more Tests across levels or leave it: Wolvaardt

- Georgia makes history with shock win over Portugal

- Gukesh starts with a win; Praggnanandhaa held

- Venezuela into quarters after a victory over Mexico

- Shiven, Aadya, and Gowshika move into the semifinals

- Rahane to play for County side Leicestershire

- Euro 2024 — a German summer fairytale in the making

Rohit, Suryakumar take India to 171 on tricky pitch

Ashwin Achal

GEORGETOWN

On a start-stop-start day, the duo stitches together a crucial 73-run partnership for the third wicket after Kohli and Pant fall cheaply; Hardik, Jadeja and Axar provide the final flourish

1 of 2 On the ball: Rohit and Suryakumar showed attacking intent despite the tough conditions, powering the Men in Blue to a challenging total. PTI & GETTY IMAGESRAMON ESPINOSA

2 of 2

Rohit Sharma (57, 39b, 6x4, 2x6) and Suryakumar Yadav (47, 36b, 4x4, 2x6) excelled on a challenging pitch to push India to 171 for seven against England in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup semifinal here on Thursday.

The sticky Guyana National Stadium surface tested batters with low bounce. It took tremendous skill and patience for Rohit and Suryakumar to come good. The duo put on a crucial 73-run third-wicket stand to take India to safe waters.

The start of play was delayed, as rain appeared in instalments. The groundstaff was a busy lot — rushing in with covers when the showers came and getting the outfield ready in brighter times.

The small crowd cheered as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli took strike. Kohli flattered to deceive, flicking a full ball for six before completely missing a straight one.

Rishabh Pant did not last long either, chipping a length ball from Sam Curran to the infielder.

India blossomed when Rohit and Suryakumar came together. There was attacking intent despite the tough conditions. Suryakumar got going with a clean straight hit in the second cherry he faced.

The trademark paddle scoop was unleashed as well, when Suryakumar hoisted a wayward Chris Jordan into the deep fine-leg stands.

Skilful

Rohit judged the pace of the surface well, staying low and hitting late. The captain negated the threat of leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who entered the attack in the seventh over. Rohit greeted Rashid with a reverse sweep, and followed up with a conventional sweep to leave the spinner rattled.

India was on a roll, but rain returned to cause another delay. With 250 minutes in the bank to extend playing hours, there was no reduction of overs required.

Rohit and Suryakumar continued from where they left off. Left-arm seamer Curran took a beating in the 13th over, leaking 19 runs.

Suryakumar drew first blood with an inside-out scoop over point, and the second maximum came through an outrageous Rohit sweep.

Rashid got the big breakthrough in the next over, deceiving Rohit with a googly which crept under the bat. Jofra Archer dismissed Suryakumar with a slower ball, leaving India at 124 for four. Hardik Pandya,

Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel struck a few big blows to keep the scoreboard moving at a healthy pace.

India will believe that this total is well above the par score, as the pitch offers a great deal of help to the spinners. Kuldeep Yadav, Axar and Jadeja will be itching to have a crack at it. England, on the other hand, needs a couple of batting heroes to stay alive in the tournament.

Clinical South Africa demolishes Afghanistan, storms into the summit clash for the first time

Ayan Acharya

Tarouba (Trinidad)

Setting it up: Jansen’s wickets of Gurbaz and Kharote up front sent Afghanistan to a point of no return.Getty ImagesRobert Cianflone

The first T20 World Cup semifinal between Afghanistan and South Africa at the Brian Lara stadium on Wednesday laid bare the fickle beauty and cruelty of sport. Having gained Full Member status in 2017, Afghanistan was now competing for a chance to feature in its first final against a South African side, whose cricketing history is replete with World Cup heartbreaks.

In the end, Aiden Markram’s team inflicted upon its opponent a nine-wicket defeat and with it, the kind of pain that will linger.

On a mildly overcast evening, on a tough grassy pitch with a cracked look, the Proteas blew Afghanistan to smithereens, skittling it for 56, the lowest total in a T20 World Cup knockout game.

In response, South Africa lost opener Quinton de Kock early, leaving Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram to negotiate a tricky half hour of play, where the Afghan new-ball bowlers used the variable bounce and seam movement to keep them quiet. But the paltry nature of the target meant Hendricks remained unbeaten on 29 off 25 and Markram on 23 off 21 as they got past the finish line with more than 11 overs to spare.

Earlier, Afghanistan’s collapse after choosing to bat was slightly surprising but not shocking. The surprise lay not in how it collapsed, but where it collapsed. That it happened in Tarouba, a venue not known for housing a batting minefield, should raise eyebrows. Was this an Afghan collapse or a tribute to South Africa’s top-drawer bowling? Both teams wanted to bat, but bowling first might not have been a bad option, as Marco Jansen (three for 16), Kagiso Rabada (two for 14) and Anrich Nortje (two for seven) soon demonstrated.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the first to go, nicking a full ball from Jansen to Hendricks at slip. After a few errant deliveries down the leg side, Jansen got one to tail away from middle and off and was immediately rewarded. It wasn’t an unplayable ball, but Gurbaz’s mistake proved costly as it exposed the middle order.

In a blink-and-you-will-miss span of play, Afghanistan was cut open by the South African seamers. The bowling was certainly disciplined and even intelligent as the tall South African quicks exploited the up-and-down bounce with back-of-length deliveries. But it did not justify a scorecard that read 50 for eight at the halfway stage.

As heart-wrenching as this defeat was, Afghanistan will take pride in its inspiring run this edition, while South Africa will get down to preparing for its date with destiny.

Trott calls the surface at Tarouba ‘unfit’ for a WC semifinal

Press Trust of India

TAROUBA (TRINIDAD)

Crestfallen: Afghanistan coach Trott has words of solace for skipper Rashid.PTI

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott lambasted the pitch that was used for the T20 World Cup semifinal against South Africa, saying it was unfit for a contest of such magnitude.

“I don’t want to get myself into trouble and I don’t want to come across as bitter or it being a case of sour grapes but that’s not the pitch that you want to have a match, a semifinal of a World Cup on, plain and simple,” Trott said.

“It should be a fair contest. I’m not saying it should be flat completely with no spin and no seam movement, I’m saying you shouldn’t have batters worrying about going forward,” he explained.

“They should be confident in foot movement and be able to hit through the line or use their skills. T20 is about attacking and about scoring runs and taking wickets, not looking to survive.”

“If the opposition bowled well and got to a position where they bowled very, very well and it’s through skill, then that’s fine and then it’s about adapting to that,” he said.

“But once the ball starts misbehaving and rolling, if we had bowled as straight as South Africa had, I think you would have seen a very interesting second half as well,” he added.

“We only got back to hotel at three o’clock and had to leave at eight... we didn’t get much sleep so the guys obviously were very tired and a lot to process emotionally and physically”.

Finding a way to win is most important: Markram

Press Trust of India

Tarouba (Trinidad)

South Africa skipper Aiden Markram was certain that he does not want to play another match on the pitch here, but was chuffed to see his side tame a challenging track in the semifinal to enter its maiden T20 World Cup final.

“If we reflect back on this wicket, we’ll probably be pretty happy that we’re not playing here again. T20 cricket as a whole, you want entertainment,” said Markram.

“The wickets that we’ve had throughout the competition have been pretty challenging. Having said that, still taking the positives we can. Wickets are tough. So, finding a way to win is probably the most important thing. So, it’s again just adapting and playing the pitch and the game that’s in front of you.”

Markram wants to relish the feeling of entering a World Cup title clash.

Nice feeling

“The bits that we’re realising now, it’s obviously a really nice feeling. This team’s been together for a long time now as a white ball group, and it’s nice for us to get to a final.”

Farooqi the bowler with most wickets in an edition of T20 WC

AFPTIMOTHY A. CLARY

Afghanistan left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi made history on Thursday, becoming the bowler with most wickets taken in a single edition of ICC T20 World Cup. Farooqi reached this milestone against South Africa, dismissing Quinton de Kock. He has taken 17 wickets in eight games at an average of 9.41 and an economy rate of 6.31.

Bumrah is 1000 times a better bowler than me, says Kapil

K.R. DEEPAKDEEPAK KR

Kapil Dev feels Jasprit Bumrah is a “1000 times better” bowler than what he was at his prime. Bumrah, who has been doing exceptionally well in the T20 World Cup, snaring 11 wickets at an economy of 4.08. “Bumrah is 1000 times better than me. These young boys are far better than us. We had more experience. They are better,” Kapil said.

Flower calls pitch for South Africa- Afghanistan semifinal ‘dangerous’

PTIRICARDO MAZALAN

Former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower on Thursday labelled the pitch for the T20 World Cup semifinal between South Africa and Afghanistan as ‘dangerous’. “You can't blame Afghanistan for doing what they did at the toss, but batting first was tough. You didn't know what a good score would be and they were blown away.”

Hope we’ve inspired young kids to pick up a bat and ball: Trott

REUTERSASH ALLEN

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott hopes his team’s historic T20 World Cup run will “inspire young kids to pick up a bat and ball” in the war-ravaged country. “I hope that we've inspired young kids to pick up a bat and a ball and play cricket, and want to play for their nation. Hopefully, everybody’s proud of what the side did,” he said.

AFGHANISTAN

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Hendricks b Jansen 0 (3b), Ibrahim Zadran b Rabada 2 (5b), Gulbadin Naib b Jansen 9 (8b, 2x4), Azmatullah Omarzai c Stubbs b Nortje 10 (12b, 2x4), Mohammad Nabi b Rabada 0 (3b), Nangeyalia Kharote c de Kock b Jansen 2 (7b), Karim Janat lbw b Shamsi 8 (13b, 1x4), Rashid Khan b Nortje 8 (8b, 2x4), Noor Ahmad lbw b Shamsi 0 (2b), Naveen-ul-Haq lbw b Shamsi 2 (8b), Fazalhaq Farooqi (not out) 2 (2b); Extras (b-6, lb-1, w-6): 13; Total (in 11.5 overs): 56.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-4 (Gurbaz, 0.6 overs), 2-16 (Naib, 2.3), 3-20 (Ibrahim, 3.1), 4-20 (Nabi, 3.4), 5-23 (Kharote, 4.6), 6-28 (Omarzai, 6.3), 7-50 (Janat, 9.3), 8-50 (Noor, 9.5), 9-50 (Rashid, 10.2).

SOUTH AFRICA BOWLING

Jansen 3-0-16-3, Maharaj 1-0-6-0, Rabada 3-1-14-2, Nortje 3-0-7-2, Shamsi 1.5-0-6-3.

SOUTH AFRICA

Quinton de Kock b Farooqi 5 (8b, 1x4), Reeza Hendricks (not out) 29 (25b, 3x4, 1x6), Aiden Markram (not out) 23 (21b, 4x4); Extras (w-2, nb-1): 3; Total (for one wkt. in 8.5 overs): 60.

FALL OF WICKET

1-5 (de Kock, 1.5).

AFGHANISTAN BOWLING

Naveen 3-0-15-0, Farooqi 2-0-11-1, Rashid 1-0-8-0, Omarzai 1.5-0-18-0, Naib 1-0-8-0.

Toss: Afghanistan.

PoM: Jansen.

South Africa won by nine wickets with 11.1 overs to spare.

INDIA

Rohit Sharma b Adil Rashid 57 (39b, 6x4, 2x6), Virat Kohli b Topley 9 (9b, 1x6), Rishabh Pant c Bairstow b Curran 4 (6b), Suryakumar Yadav c Jordan b Archer 47 (36b, 4x4, 2x6), Hardik Pandya c Curran b Jordan 23 (13b, 1x4, 2x6), Ravindra Jadeja (not out) 17 (9b, 2x4), Shivam Dube c Buttler b Jordan 0 (1b), Axar Patel c Salt b Jordan 10 (6b, 1x6), Arshdeep Singh (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (lb-2, w-1): 3; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs): 171.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-19 (Kohli, 2.4 overs), 2-40 (Pant, 5.2), 3-113 (Rohit, 13.4), 4-124 (Suryakumar, 15.4), 5-146 (Hardik, 17.4), 6-146 (Dube, 17.5), 7-170 (Axar, 19.5).

ENGLAND BOWLING

Topley 3-0-25-1, Archer 4-0-33-1, Curran 2-0-25-1, Adil Rashid 4-0-25-1, Jordan 3-0-37-3, Livingstone 4-0-24-0.

Toss: England.

Spinners give India the edge as South Africa seeks consistency

S. Dipak Ragav

Chennai

Sneh and Rajeshwari add depth to the arsenal; Wolvaardt, Kaap and Luus need to do the heavy lifting for the visitors

Gearing up: Pacer Arundhati will look to create a buzz if she’s handed a Test debut. B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

With an in-form batting line-up, a high-quality bowling attack led by a strong spin core and home advantage, India starts as a firm favourite against South Africa in the one-off Test that begins here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.

Having won the One-Day International series in Bengaluru comprehensively (3-0), the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side will look to continue its unbeaten run against the Proteas.

Considering that the core of the team is largely carried over from the ODIs, the home team will feel it has most of its bases covered.

Smriti Mandhana was on song in the one-day leg, scoring two centuries and a 90 in the final match, and the stylish left-handed batter will look to continue her purple patch while Harmanpreet, too, was in fine nick, scoring a century.

More importantly, all-rounders Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar, who were impressive in the ODIs with bat and ball, give the hosts a crucial edge.

The fact India can also depend on Sneha Rana, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Shubha Satheesh in this format shows the depth in the squad.

The Chepauk pitch is known for being one of the most spin-friendly surfaces in the country, and the red soil surface for this game is expected to help the tweakers considerably.

Meanwhile, for the visitors, a lot will depend on skipper Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp and Sune Luus shouldering the responsibility of tackling the Indian spinners.

Wolvaardt and Kapp were amongst the runs in the 50-over format, and if they get going in this contest, it will allow the rest of the batters to play around them.

On the bowling front, South Africa will rely heavily on newly-turned off-spinner Luus and left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba to give the breakthroughs.

Speaking on the eve of the match, Wolvaardt felt consistency over four days would be crucial for her side.

“In Bangalore, we were inconsistent with the ball and bat. I think we had some really good cricket in patches. But then we had some pretty bad cricket in different patches that lost us the entire game.

“And I think in Test cricket, it will be even more important to stay more consistent over a longer period of time,” said Wolvaardt.

The teams (from):

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Priya Punia, Shafali Verma, Shubha Satheesh, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetri (wk), Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Arundhati Reddy and Renuka Thakur Singh, Shabnam Shakil.

South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (Capt.), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder (wk), Sinalo Jafta (wk), Marizanne Kapp, Masabata Klaas, Suné Luus, Eliz-Mari Marz, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukune, Nondumiso Shangase and Delmi Tucker.

Match starts at 9.30 a.m.

Kiran smashes Olympic qualifying mark, books Paris ticket

Uthra Ganesan

PANCHKULA

1 of 2 Special day: Kiran broke a few records in the women’s 400m while Parvej sauntered to victory in the men’s 1500m.Ritu Raj Konwar

2 of 2

Kiran Pahal had already caused a flutter on Thursday morning, running the fastest 400m in the heats. But the extent of her achievement sunk in only in the evening when the 23-year old from Haryana smashed everything in sight — the meet record, her personal best and, most importantly, the Olympic qualifying mark — on the opening day of the 63rd Inter-State athletics championships here.

Kiran clocked 50.92 seconds — the OQ mark is 50.95s — to become only the second Indian ever to go under 51, behind national record holder Hima Das. Interestingly, she was participating in her first competition this year, after an eight-month gap, and this is the first time she has breached the 51-second mark.

Her previous best was a 51.84s set during the Haryana State championships in 2022. Add the fact that she trains on her own in Rohtak, has no sponsors and is practically disowned by her family and it becomes clear why her eyes welled up after the race.

“My father was my biggest support but after his death two years ago, I have been alone. My mother and brother haven’t spoken to me in over a year. There was a time when I had thrown away my kit and decided I won’t compete again. But competition is a high only an athlete can understand,” a choked Kiran said.

Family is only one of the many fronts on which she has been fighting. Having made it to the national camp in 2022, she was removed last year. Everything from training to competition to diet has been a struggle. “I even wanted to enter in the 200m but was unable to do so from the State,” she revealed.

While the Indian men’s and women’s relay teams have already qualified, India is racing against time in the mixed relay. With her time here, Kiran might be an asset for the relay side, which looks tough with the AFI rule of not considering national campers but she is open to the idea. “Anything that can help India,” she shrugged.

In the men’s event, however, things were more settled with the relay team stars all getting direct entry into the semifinals and easily booking their spots in the final.

In the men’s 1500m, the showdown between NCAA sensation Parvej Khan and Avinash Sable never happened with the former sauntering to victory in the first heat and the latter not starting. Sable, however, is confirmed for the 3000m steeplechase as per AFI.

In the morning heats, 100m national record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar finished a disappointing fifth with 11.10 seconds and did not start in the semifinals.

There were no surprises otherwise with the top 3 — Animesh Kujur, Amlan Borgohain and Gurindervir Singh — winning their respective semifinals. Hima Das timed 12.69s in the 100m to finish sixth in her heat and did not qualify for the semifinals. The main contenders in men’s high jump — Sarvesh Kushare, Tejaswin Shankar and Jesse Sandesh — all qualified for Friday’s final.

New meet record

In the 5000m — one of the three finals held on the day — Gulveer Singh set a new meet record of 13 minutes, 34.67 seconds, bettering his own previous mark by more than eight seconds but it was far from the Olympic qualifying mark of 13:05.00. Among the women, Uttarakhand’s Ankita clocked 16:12.27 to take gold while in hammer throw, Manju Bala finished on top with 63.66m.

The results (only finals):

Men: 5000m: Gulveer Singh (UP, 13:34.67), Sunil Dawar (14:02.75), Gagan Singh (Har, 14:05.66).

Women: 5000m: Ankita (Utk, 16:10.31), Seema (HP, 16:10.37), Sanjivani Jadhav (16:12.27); Hammer Throw: Manju Bala (Raj, 63.66m), Harshita Sehrawat (Del, 62.20m), Tanya Chaudhary (UP, 61.57m).

‘Series will help us understand the wickets’

S. Prasanna Venkatesan

CHENNAI

Talking tactics: Skipper Harmanpreet and bowling coach Salvi discuss key points on the eve of the Test. B. JOTHI RAMALINGAMJOTHI RAMALINGAM B

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Thursday recognised the importance of Indian players getting to play at different venues across the country through National assignments and the Women’s Premier League (WPL) ahead of next year’s ODI World Cup in India.

Last December, India played two Tests versus England and Australia at the D.Y. Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai and the Wankhede stadium. Subsequently, the Women’s Premier League (WPL) was held at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium and the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Three ODIs versus South Africa were also played in Bengaluru this month. Now, as the players get to experience playing at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium here in a one-off Test versus South Africa from Friday, she said: “As a team, it’s a great opportunity for us. We’re getting used to home conditions. Even though they are home conditions, we don’t have much experience. But I think these series will definitely give us a lot of confidence to see how the wicket is going to behave and what combinations we can look for the World Cup. Just one year left, and I think as a team, we are taking this opportunity with both hands.”

Harmanpreet still has the best bowling figures by an Indian woman against South Africa in Tests, courtesy her match haul of 9/85 which helped India thrash the Proteas by an innings and 34 runs ten years ago in Mysore. While the skipper chooses not to bowl as much in the longer formats off late, she didn’t rule out the possibility of rolling her arm at Chepauk.

“If I get the opportunity (to bowl), definitely (I will bowl). Not only me, but Smriti (Mandhana) is also bowling now, and if need be, we can use her as well,” she quipped.

While the Indian think tank balances big picture planning alongside match progression, Harmanpreet underlined that it was important for the players to view the game in parts.

“"In the long format you have to be there (in the middle) for four days. But if you think like that, as a player you can overthink. The last time (we played a Test), we only thought about winning the sessions and that really helped us. The best thing about Test cricket is you have time to come back. If you lose one session, you always have time to make up for things.”

Play more Tests across levels or leave it: Wolvaardt

Sports Bureau

CHENNAI

Wolvaardt. B. JOTHI RAMALINGAMJOTHI RAMALINGAM B

South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt underlined the need for an improved red-ball framework back home, calling for more fixtures across levels or abandoning the format.

South Africa does not have a domestic multi-day structure with all senior members coming into the fixture with sparse Test experience.

“It’s obviously a challenge for most of us not having any sort of preparation in the format. Just coming straight into an international multi-day game is difficult,” said Wolvaardt ahead of the one-off Test against India.

“For example, balls that I’ve been cover-driving my whole life, I now need to leave. That is difficult for me because it happens on instinct and I have to fight the way that I’ve been batting for my entire career.

“I think either we need to play a lot more Test cricket and incorporate it into our domestic practice and training, or we must just leave it because playing one in three years is very hard to adapt to. But I’m on the side to have more of it.”

One of the biggest consequences of the gulf in experience is a spin handicap the Proteas are wary of. The visitors faced plenty of spin in the nets, anticipating a wicket primed for tweakers to thrive on. For instance, opener Tazmin Brits was seen facing only spin from the net bowlers in her brief and breezy net session on Thursday afternoon. She often went down the pitch and even played a reverse-sweep.

“India do have a really big home ground advantage. I think winning a Test in India is very tough,” the 25-year-old said.

Georgia makes history with shock win over Portugal

Agence France-Presse

Gelsenkirchen

Georgia is through to the last 16 of Euro 2024 after Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Portugal, a historic triumph in the former Soviet Republic’s first appearance at a major international tournament.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave Georgia a shock lead against a second-string Portugal team with just over a minute on the clock.

Georges Mikautadze then ensured Georgia would claim the biggest football victory in the Black Sea nation’s history with a 57th-minute penalty.

Willy Sagnol’s team qualifies from Group F as one of the four best third-placed finishers after its first ever European Championship win, which set up a daunting clash with red-hot Spain on Sunday.

Portugal had already qualified for the next round as group winner and coach Roberto Martinez made eight changes from the team which swept Turkey aside to guarantee first place last weekend.

Meanwhile, Turkiye reached the knockout phase at a major tournament for the first time in 16 years after a bad-tempered 2-1 win over a battling 10-man Czechia on Wednesday.

Vincenzo Montella’s Turkiye finished second behind Portugal to progress, as the Czechs were eliminated despite a brave performance on a sweltering night in Hamburg.

The results:Group F: Czechia 1 (Soucek 66) lost to Turkey 2 (Calhanoglu 51, Tosun 90+4); Georgia 2 (Kvaratskhelia 2, Mikautadze 57-pen) bt Portugal 0.

Gukesh starts with a win; Praggnanandhaa held

D. Gukesh started off on a positive note, beating Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania in the first round of the Superbet Classic chess tournament here on Wednesday. R. Praggnanandhaa tried hard but had to settle for a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in a keenly-contested game.

The results: Round 1: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi; Nodirbek Abdusattorov drew with R. Praggnanandhaa; D. Gukesh bt Deac Bogdan-Daniel; Firouzja Alireza lost to Fabiano Caruana; Anish Giri drew with Wesley So.

Venezuela into quarters after a victory over Mexico

Venezuela booked its place in the quarterfinals of the Copa America on Wednesday with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Mexico.

The results: Ecuador 3 (Palmer 13-og, Paez 45+4-pen, Minda 90+1) bt Jamaica 1 (Antonio 54); Venezuela 1 (Rondon 57-pen) bt Mexico 0.

Shiven, Aadya, and Gowshika move into the semifinals

India’s Shiven Agarwal, Aadya Budhia and M. Gowshika moved into the semifinals in their respective age categories at the 31st Asian junior individual squash championships in Islamabad on Thursday.

Indian results (quarterfinals):Boys: U-15: Shiven bt Abdul Ahad Butt (Pak) 11-4, 11-7, 11-5. U-17: Yusha Nafees lost to Abdullah Nawaz (Pak) 1-11, 7-11, 2-11.

Girls: U-13: Aadya bt Mahnoor Ali (Pak) 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6; Gowshika bt Makaela Lin Cassidy (HKg) 11-8, 11-9, 11-8. U-15: Ankita Dubey lost to Harleein Tan (Mas) 2-11, 5-11, 5-11; Diva Shah lost to Lo Pui Yin Chole (HKg) 6-11, 6-11, 9-11. U-17: Unnati Tripathi lost to Doyce Lee Ye San (Mas) 3-11, 1-11, 6-11. U-19: Nirupama Dubey lost to Akari Midorikawa (Jpn) 7-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 5-11.

Rahane to play for County side Leicestershire

Ajinkya Rahane has signed with English county side Leicestershire for the second half of the ongoing season, the club announced on Thursday. As per the deal, he will be featuring in the team’s final five games of the ongoing County Championship, besides playing the One Day Cup, where the Foxes are the defending champions.

Euro 2024 — a German summer fairytale in the making

Vighnesh P. Venkitesh

With stunning goals, end-to-end play and new records, the tournament still has a long way to go before a champion is crowned; judging by the way the group stage has gone, the second act has the potential to make it a fairytale for football fans around the world

1 of 2 Memorable moment: Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili celebrates with a teammate after the stunning win over Portugal. The victory put the team in the round-of-16.AFPPATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA

2 of 2 Bundle of joy: Mattia Zaccagni’s equaliser deep into injury time (90+8) broke Croatian hearts and sent Italy into the next stage. AFPJOHN MACDOUGALL

Curtains are down after the first act of European drama playing out in the German theatre and the audiences have witnessed every emotion playing out. From elation to heartbreak, from scare to survival, the group stage of Euro 2024 delivered more than what fans expected from a continental tournament.

After a delayed tournament with reduced and controlled crowds owing to the pandemic and a World Cup held in West Asia, Europe has come alive to celebrate international football in its backyard with no distancing and disruptions, and the exuberance brimmed in the stands for each match.

What played out in Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena sums up the emotions that were on display throughout. Croatia, needing nothing less than a victory to go through to the knockouts was leading Italy since the 55th minute of the game when its veteran talisman Luka Modric made amends for a missed penalty to become the oldest goalscorer in the history of the tournament.

But Italy took the game back with the last kick of the game, silencing the Croats waiting for the final whistle to storm the pitch. And when their joy turned to tears, the defending champion let out a sigh of relief having come back from the brink of elimination to see another day.

“Football is cruel,” Modric said after the loss. “That’s part and parcel of football. Sometimes it brings a lot of happiness, but sometimes it makes you very sad as well.”

Meanwhile Georgia had another story to tell.

A miracle

Arriving at the tournament with no expectations and celebrating its entry itself as a historic moment, the team managed by Frenchman Willy Sagnol has conjured up a miracle.

“The only responsibility we had was to make the Georgian nation proud of their players. And I think we’ve done it the best way, “ Sagnol said.

Given the same requirements as Croatia to make the grade in its first ever major tournament, Georgia had a real Goliath in front in the form of former champion Portugal and the mighty Cristiano Ronaldo leading the line. But Georgia had its slingshot loaded and struck in the second minute of the game through Napoli’s Kvicha Kvaratskhelia. And its grit proved more than enough to fend of Portugal’s relentless attacks and won the game with a comfortable 2-0 scoreline to book a place in the round of 16.

“When you’re the small team, you know you have nothing to lose,” Sagnol said after qualification. “The only thing we said before the competition is whatever happened, we don’t want any regrets after the competition, the regret of maybe not having played our football or maybe not having enjoyed the competition as much as we should have done.”

“So, you have no weight on your shoulders. It’s difficult when you’re France, when you’re England, when you’re Spain, when you’re Portugal, because you’re under pressure, because people expect you to win.”

While every tournament has its own dark horses, looked over during discussions and predictions only to go farther than anyone could have imagined, Germany has been a tournament of Davids so far. Though no major Goliaths other than Croatia fell in the group stage, the heavyweights and favourites had their task cut out. The underdogs made it clear from the first matchday that every group was a group of death, and no one should expect a cakewalk.

But as every team struggled at one point or the other, from hosts Germany on the hunt for a sommermarchen (summer fairytale) to give a perfect farewell to their beloved Toni Kroos, who came back from retirement to provide much needed anchor to the team, to the star-studded France seeking to re-establish dominance and England looking to bring football home but nearly stumbled along the way from lack of chemistry and incompatible tactics, one team stood tall and brought back memories of its scary prime.

Spain became the first team to lock in its position in the knockout roster and was the only team to win all three matches in its group: the group B which pundits had declared the group of death. And what makes it more appreciable is the fact that it did it without conceding a goal, again the only team to do so.

There is a visible shift in gameplay and mentality of La Roja, who have moved on from their tiki taka era, whose loss of steam was evident from the way the team played for majority of the last decade.

Gone are the days when the team prioritised possession over offensive manoeuvrers, and the current crop of players under the guidance of former national youth team coach Luis de la Fuente are making use of young guns Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal in the wings to thrust forward at every chance possible.

As with every tournament, such dominance is by no means a measure to predict the trajectory of the team, but the Spanish armada has spread its sails, full wind behind and looking formidable. Yet, de la Fuente is trying his best not to get the performances make them lose focus. “It doesn’t cost anything to dream, but we need to keep our feet on the ground,” he said after the conclusion of the group stage.

With Spain, Germany, France and Portugal on a collision course after being slotted into the same side of the knockout roster, the tournament is far and wide open.

With stunning goals, end-to-end gameplay and new records, the tournament still has a long way to go before a champion is crowned, and judging by the way the group stage has gone, the second act has the potential to make this German summer indeed a fairytale for football fans around the world.

Table of Contents

The Hindu Jun 28, 2024

National

CBI arrests 2 in Patna for leak of NEET paper

President flags NEET, mentions Emergency in her Parliament speech

Uttarakhand govt. to study risk posed by 13 glacial lakes during monsoon

Unrelenting waves

Chargesheet filed against Yediyurappa in POCSO case

INDIA plans adjournment motion on NEET issue

In a U-turn, Mamata says eviction of hawkers is not the goal of West Bengal government

India and U.S. in talks for Stryker infantry vehicles

Modern solutions

Plea in Supreme Court seeks stay on implementation of three new criminal laws

Mamata says women don’t feel safe in Raj Bhavan amid row over MLAs’ swearing-in

Manipur BJP chief meets Amit Shah for solution to conflict

Jaishankar raises concern over violence in Myanmar

Land grab case: Eknath Khadse files special plea

INDIA plans adjournment motion on NEET issue

Rajya Sabha decides to revoke suspension of AAP MP

Rahul meets Om Birla, says resolution on Emergency could have been avoided

L-G dissolves Delhi govt. think tank, calls it ‘clear case of nepotism’; petty politics: AAP

Raising objections

INDIA bloc parties back SP MP’s views on removing Sengol

In Jammu, BJP leader seeks termination of Indus Water Treaty

Congress’s invocation of Constitution a pretence: BJP

Students protest at Jantar Mantar, want NTA dissolved

10 fishermen arrested in Sri Lanka to be booked for Navy sailor’s death

14213

Antelope-like mammal from Bhutan recorded at lowest elevation in western Assam

SC, Delhi HC seek NTA response to petitions on NEET

Connect with God

Another bridge caves in; 4th collapse in eight days in Bihar

No permit for J&K Bar Association election

‘Drop cases against Arundhati Roy over Kashmir comments’

Regional

Uddhav mounts attack on Centre, Mahayuti govt. over NEET, Ram Temple leakage

Reel life peps up Kashmir as top directors put spotlight on film-making

JJP offers support to Cong. for Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana, denies any alignment with BJP

SAD to support BSP nominee for bypoll in Punjab

ED gets custody of kingpin in 2022 J&K S-I paper leak case

13 illegal bars razed in Maharashtra as crackdown continues

Arvind Kejriwal will not bow down, says Punjab CM Mann

NHRC notice to U.P. DGP over brothers’ death by suicide

Two women Naxalites with ₹16 lakh bounty surrender

Himachal to launch scheme for overall growth of children

Woman tourist washed away in Parvati river, body found

CID files chargesheet against Yediyurappa in POCSO case

Slow and steady

Amnesty for RMP founder’s killers: Kerala govt. suspends officials, but UDF sees red

CBI files chargesheet against 5 former police officials in ISRO case

Make way for Shivakumar, Vokkaliga seer publicly tells Siddaramaiah

Centre’s agreement with BIAL may play spoiler to T.N. CM’s plan to open airport at Hosur

Tax hike on tourist buses: Kerala Transport Minister warns Tamil Nadu of tit for tat

4 members of banned Maoist outfit surrender at Paderu in A.P.

Man held for stealing jewellery worth ₹2 cr. from air passengers

Telangana Cabinet expansion next week

Science

Healthcare providers need to pay greater attention to informed consent

A playbook to handle gestational diabetes better

BIG SHOT

Edit

Reasi and the ‘years-old’ issue of cross-border terror

Get the Vande Metro routing right

Net damage

Unwarranted arrest

letters to the editor

Did a constitutional conscience drive much of the Dalit and OBC vote?

On a wing and a prayer

Flashback and fast forward

Accord with Sri Lanka on Kachativu

Ruhr problem: Change in policy

Of monsters and supermen: tracing the roots of TV’s most diabolical villains

The DAILY QUIZ

Know your English

Business

No GST on MNCs ESOPs to employees of Indian arm

‘Economy robust despite global risks’

SEBI tightens norms on financial influencers, eases rules for delisting

UltraTech Cement acquires 23% stake in India Cements

Kotak Life eyes gross written premium of ₹20,000 cr. in FY25

Quarterly disbursement under PLI to begin for 6 of 8 sectors soon

Reliance Jio raises mobile data tariffs effective July 3

‘Delhi to host global meet on recycled plastics’

RBI rejigs SAARC currency swap plan

Persistent heat may dash RBI’s inflation hopes: BoB

CCI junks competition law violation case against Google

‘Infosys CEO settles charges of lacking insider trading curbs’

BHEL bags ₹13,300-crore thermal power project

Correction

Gold loans can help boost the growth of India’s medium, small businesses

U.S. alarmed by prospect of cheap Chinese EVs from Mexico

Recycling to kick in as long-term solution to EU rare-earths challenge

Relief for Fed?

Study shows car affordability affecting auto lending

Foreign

Sunak, Starmer clash in final pre-election debate on tax and borders

Bolivia reels from short-lived coup attempt as apparent calm returns

Former Chinese Minister kicked out from party

Flying colours

Amid Gaza war, Israel warns could send Lebanon 'back to Stone Age'

‘Over half of Sudanese face acute food insecurity’

Sri Lanka calls on Russia to discharge its citizens from army

Former Myanmar president makes rare trip to China

Russia sent 10,000 naturalised citizens to fight in Ukraine: official

US Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho for now

Kenya police fire rubber bullets, tear gas at protest

In Myanmar, killing of monk likely to undermine military’s ties with clergy

Russian troops set their eyes on Ukraine’s once-peaceful town of Toretsk

Up in flames

Multiple-warhead missile test success, says N. Korea

Uzbekistan tries to put fresh spin on its stalling silk industry

Japan mogul sues govt. over ‘hostage justice’ system

Sports

Rohit, Suryakumar take India to 171 on tricky pitch

Clinical South Africa demolishes Afghanistan, storms into the summit clash for the first time

Trott calls the surface at Tarouba ‘unfit’ for a WC semifinal

Finding a way to win is most important: Markram

Farooqi the bowler with most wickets in an edition of T20 WC

Bumrah is 1000 times a better bowler than me, says Kapil

Flower calls pitch for South Africa- Afghanistan semifinal ‘dangerous’

Hope we’ve inspired young kids to pick up a bat and ball: Trott

SCOREBOARD

SCOREBOARD

Spinners give India the edge as South Africa seeks consistency

Kiran smashes Olympic qualifying mark, books Paris ticket

‘Series will help us understand the wickets’ : Harmanpreet

Play more Tests across levels or leave it: Wolvaardt

Georgia makes history with shock win over Portugal

Gukesh starts with a win; Praggnanandhaa held

Venezuela into quarters after a victory over Mexico

Shiven, Aadya, and Gowshika move into the semifinals

Rahane to play for County side Leicestershire

Euro 2024 — a German summer fairytale in the making