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Front Page

- Four drown in underpasses, city rain fury toll rises to 11

- Judiciary must be free from bias: Mamata

- Boy undergoes surgery at AIIMS after 6-year wait

- Woman fakes death twice for `1.1cr insurance

- Bhojshala survey completed, ASI report on July 4

- ‘Ayodhya winner’ for dy Speaker?

- Youth thwarts 2 police teams, dies

- CPM has funds from bank fraud, says ED

- CS Setty set for SBI chairman post

- Siblings abducted, rescued in 3 hrs

- Pregnant woman dies, kin cry foul

- Day after IGI, canopy outside Rajkot airport collapses after rain

- Court sends Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12, says probe is on

- Hold periodic review of staff: DoPT to ministries

- JD(U) passes resolution for Bihar spl status

- ONE NATION ONE JOY

- 5 soldiers in tank swept away in Ladakh floods

- NEET: CBI arrests scribe in Jharkhand, Bihar ‘link’

Four drown in underpasses, city rain fury toll rises to 11

IMD Alert For Heavy Showers Mon And Tues

On Saturday, the bodies of three labourers who fell into a pit at a building site in south Delhi’s Vasant Vihar on Friday were recovered. The pit had been dug to construct the basement

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The flooded underpasses in the capital have taken a heavy toll with four lives being lost in them between Friday and Saturday following the torrential rain which disrupted normal life. This has brought the toll in the city in the aftermath of the intense downpour to 11.

A 60-year-old security guard’s body was removed from an underpass in Okhla in south Delhi while another body of a young man, about 20 years old, was taken out of the flooded Shalimar Bagh underpass in north-west Delhi on Friday. The latter is still to be identified. Meanwhile, two boys, aged around 12, drowned in another waterlogged underpass in Samaypur Badli, also in north-west Delhi, on Saturday.

The reasons for the senseless deaths was in one case a desperate attempt to cross to the other side for work and in the rest going for a swim or bath. In either case, the autho- rities must be blamed for being negligent in not barring access to the underpasses early enough and not draining out the water fast enough.

Though some parts of the city witnessed light rain on Saturday, IMD has sounded an orange alert for moderate to heavy rain Sunday and heavy rain Monday and Tuesday.

At 6.23am on Friday, police received information about a man having drowned in the water at the Okhla underpass. “A passerby spotted him in the water with a scooter found nearby,” said a senior officer. A team from the local police station rushed to the scene and pulled the man out. They found an Aadhaar card in his pocket which identified him as Digvijay Kumar Chaudhary, a resident of Jaitpur Extension.

He worked as a security guard at a private firm in Okhla Phase 2 and was probably on his way to work when the incident occurred. The man was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre where he was declared dead. Police have initiated legal proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC. The underpass is managed by DDA but a spokesperson denied any knowledge of the incident.

4 boys drown in city, P 2

FULL COVERAGE: P 2-6

P 2

Judiciary must be free from bias: Mamata

Kolkata: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Saturday made a strong pitch for the judiciary to be free from “political bias”, while speaking at a conference by the National Judicial Academy in Kolkata, reports Debahis Konar. Addressing the gathering that comprised CJI D Y Chandrachud, Mamata said: “It is my kind submission... please see to it that there are no political biases in the judiciary.” The CJI seemed to concur, as he said judges should refrain from allowing their personal ideologies to influence their judgments.

P 15

Boy undergoes surgery at AIIMS after 6-year wait

After waiting for almost his entire life of 6 years, Aayansh Kumar, a little boy from Bihar, was finally operated upon for his heart disorder at AIIMS on Saturday, reports Anuja Jaiswal.

The boy’s cardiac ailment was detected when he was 3 months old in 2018 but was not operated on, despite being given several dates, until TOI highlighted his and his family’s plight earlier this month. On June 19, NHRC took suo motu cognisance of TOI’s report.

P 6

Woman fakes death twice for `1.1cr insurance

In an insurance fraud involving Rs 1.1 crore in claims, a 45-year-old woman allegedly faked her death twice in two years. Her husband and son collectively claimed Rs 1.1 crore from five insurance firms. They had received nearly Rs 70 lakh in death claims and were awaiting the remaining amount when the fraud was exposed. All three accused are at large. The scam involved obtaining death certificates and cremation receipts with the help of a doctor, who is also on the run.

P 12

Bhojshala survey completed, ASI report on July 4

The HC-ordered survey of the disputed Bhojshala/ Kamal Maula mosque complex in MP was completed Thursday, and ASI has reportedly found 1,710 relics, including 39 broken idols. ASI is expected to submit its report on July 4. Sources, however, said it might seek a second extension to “dig deeper” into the structure and nearby areas.

FLAP INSIDE

‘Ayodhya winner’ for dy Speaker?

Trinamool, SP and Congress are exploring the option of projecting SP’s Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad as INDIA bloc’s candidate for deputy Speaker. Prasad, 78, is a Dalit who won from the unreserved seat that covers Ayodhya.

P 12

Youth thwarts 2 police teams, dies

A 22-year-old man who allegedly put up staunch resistance to a relative’s arrest, first thwarting a Delhi Police team and then a UP Police team, died of a self-sustained gunshot wound.

P 10

CPM has funds from bank fraud, says ED

Kerala’s governing CPM is in possession of proceeds of crime in the Karuvannur bank fraud and it has been invested in properties and credited to five accounts, ED claimed on Saturday.

P 12

CS Setty set for SBI chairman post

Financial Services Institution Board has recommended SBI MD Challa Sreenivasulu Setty as the bank’s next chairman. He oversees international banking, global markets & tech divisions.

P 12

Siblings abducted, rescued in 3 hrs

A businessman’s 11-yearold daughter and 3-yearold son were abducted in Shakarpur as the family was returning to Gurgaon. After a 3-hour chase, the children were found.

P 5

Pregnant woman dies, kin cry foul

A 23-year-old pregnant woman died under mysterious circumstances at a Delhi govt-run facility in Malviya Nagar on Saturday. Her family has accused the hospital of negligence.

P 6

Day after IGI, canopy outside Rajkot airport collapses after rain

A portion of the canopy outside the terminal’s pick-up/drop area came down on Saturday

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Rajkot: A day after a roof collapsed at Delhi airport killing one person and leaving scores injured, a fibre canopy outside Gujarat’s Rajkot International Airport terminal crashed on Saturday just when a flight from Mumbai was scheduled to land.

No one was injured and no flight operations were affected due to the incident that occurred at the pick-up and drop-off point outside the interim terminal building. The airport, located at Hirasar, was inaugurated by PM Modi in July last year.

“The canopy collapsed due to water accumulation and heavy wind, and nobody was injured in the incident. We have deployed a team to clear the water above the canopy,” Diganta Borah, air- port director, told TOI.

Sources said the canopy is made of a sustainable fabric using wood pulp considered a high-end material known for being soft and durable.

Ready by Feb-end? P 19

Court sends Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12, says probe is on

Vineet.Upadhyay@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday sent CM Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12 in a corruption case related to the alleged excise policy scam after his three-day CBI custody ended.

“Considering the fact that the conspiracy alleged against the accused involves a large number of persons who were involved in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy and also the persons who acted as facilitators in the use of ill-gotten money, I find that there exist sufficient grounds for remanding the accused to judicial custody,” said vacation judge Sunena Sharma of the Rouse Avenue courts.

She said the probe was still in progress and may require custodial interrogation of the accused to confront him with more material likely to be collected. The court allowed the CM to meet his family and lawyers inside the court. It also allowed him to carry medicines and medical devices required for monitoring and controlling his diabetes.

The court passed the order after CBI, represented by special public prosecutor DP Singh, did not seek extension of police custody but requested the court to send the CM to judicial custody for 14 days.

 Custodial interrogation, P 7

Hold periodic review of staff: DoPT to ministries

New Delhi: Pointing out laxity on part of certain Union ministries and departments to periodically review staffers’ performance to ascertain if they are deadwood and fit cases for premature retirement in public interest, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has instructed the ministries to identify the employees due for review under Fundamental Rules 56 j/l and Rule 48 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, and submit their cases expeditiously to the review committee.

“All ministries/departments/organisations are… requested to adhere to the timeline mentioned in DoPT’s OM dated 28.08.2020 for undertaking the exercise of re- view of performance of govt servants and employees of PSUs/banks/autonomous institutions/statutory organisations to ensure employees with doubtful integrity or found to be ineffective are not allowed to continue in govt,” DoPT stated.

TNN

340 officers, P 13

PM: Don’t make good policies ‘stillborn’

PM Modi asked civil servants to be focused on meeting citizens’ needs, and advocated a flexible approach to ensure good policies don’t get entangled in legal provisions and become stillborn.

P 13

JD(U) passes resolution for Bihar spl status

JD (U) president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Saturday reiterated his demand for special status or a special package for Bihar as the party passed a resolution for the same, an issue on which there have been differences between the Centre and state in the past. Nitish also appointed his confidante, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha, as his number-two (working president). The call is significant since Jha is known to have a good equation with BJP leadership.

P12

ONE NATION ONE JOY

AFTER 13 YEARS, A WORLD COUP: 17 yrs after winning the 1st T20 World Cup, 13 yrs after winning their 2nd ODI WC, and after 2 heartbreaking losses in the World Test Championship and ODI WC finals in 2023, India finally ended their title drought, edging out S Africa by 7 runs in a thriller that went down to the last over. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the 2 highest rungetters in T20Is, ended their int’l T20 careers. A look at the game, in all its swinging glory:

CHAMPIONS! Our team brings the T20 World Cup home in STYLE! We are proud of the Indian Cricket Team. This match was HISTORIC —PM Narendra Modi

Photos: Getty Images

➤ India score 15 off the 1st over as Kohli races to 14 off 5 balls, but then tumble to 34/3

➤ Kohli goes into a shell as India rebuild, eventually gets to 50 off 48 balls — his slowest T20 half-ton ever. Doesn’t hit a boundary from the 4th over to the 18th

➤ Promoted to No. 5, Axar Patel responds with a useful 47 off 31 balls but is brilliantly run out by SA keeper Quinton de Kock

➤ Shivam Dube contributes 27 off 16 balls even as Kohli accelerates at the death before falling for a 59-ball 76 — 1 more than his aggregate of 75 runs in 7 matches before the final

➤ India score 42 runs in the last 3 overs to finish at 176/7, the highest total in a T20 WC final

➤ Bumrah and Arshdeep strike to reduce SA to 12/2. Tristan Stubbs and de Kock counter-attack, and Heinrich Klaasen slams 52 off 33 balls. Needing 30 to win off 30 balls with 6 wickets in hand, SA seem set for victory. But Hardik Pandya dismisses Klaasen and India begin to extract victory from the jaws of defeat

➤ Bumrah (2/18) and Arshdeep (2/21) bowl superbly at the death. Pandya, booed throughout the IPL, has to defend 16 in the final over

➤ Suryakumar Yadav pulls off an unbelievable catch to dismiss David Miller. Rabada swings lustily but it’s a Bridge(town) too far for SA

Fitting Farewell For Coach Dravid

Rahul Dravid, who never won a World Cup in a distinguished career as a player, finally bagged a title in his last outing as Team India coach. He leaves with a superb track record:

SKY Is Not The Limit

Catches win matches, goes the maxim. This one won the World Cup. With SA needing 16 in 6 balls, Miller hit Hardik for what looked like a sure sixer till Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) ran full tilt, grabbed the ball, lobbed it into the air as he went over the ropes, and then stepped back to complete a catch that became an instant legend. A couple of inches literally made all the difference for India and SA

FULL COVERAGE | P 23 & 25

5 soldiers in tank swept away in Ladakh floods

A file photo of Indian tanks in Pangong Tso region of Ladakh

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Five Army soldiers drowned when their tank got stuck after a flash flood in Shyok river in the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) region of eastern Ladakh, which is near the Line of Actual Control with China, late on Friday night.

The Russian-origin T-72 main-battle tank, which had a crew of one junior commissioned officer (JCO) and four jawans, was ‘de-inducting’ from a military exercise when the mishap occurred while fording the river near Saser Brangsa due to “a sudden increase in the water level” around midnight. “Rescue teams, including combat engineers in boats, rushed to the location. But the soldiers could not be saved due to the strong current in the river. All bodies were later recovered,” an officer said.The 52 Armoured Regiment soldiers who died were identified as MRK Reddy (JCO), Subhan Khan, Bhupendra Negi, Ekeidaung Teibam & Sadarbonia Nagaraju.

Drill at night, P 18

NEET: CBI arrests scribe in Jharkhand, Bihar ‘link’

Abhijit Sen & Kalyan Das TNN

Hazaribag/Dehradun: A journalist from Jharkhand’s Hazaribag and another suspect in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, believed to be linked to the accused in Bihar, have been arrested by CBI over the NEET leak even as the agency took remand of other accused in Bihar and Gujarat, report Abhijit Sen & Kalyan Das.

Journalist Md Jamaludin, 35, was taken into custody Friday for allegedly helping Ehsanul Haque, principal of Hazaribag’s Oasis School and district coordinator for National Testing Agency. Haque and viceprincipal Imtiaz Alam are in CBI net. Jamaludin, Haque and Alam were taken to Patna, where they were sent to CBI cu- stody for 5 days, sources said.

Jamaludin, a journalistcum-ad executive with a local paper, allegedly tried to help Haque and Alam, they said.

Leak suspect held, P 18

New NEET-PG schedule in 1-2 days: Pradhan, P 18

Push for pen-paper mode under scanner, P 18

Times Nation

- Xi invokes Panchsheel as key to end today’s global conflicts

- EAM to visit Qatar today, to focus on trade, energy, security

- ‘39 broken idols found at Bhojshala complex in MP during ASI survey’

- No help for Indian helps when ‘dream’ foreign job turns into a nightmare

- CPM received crime proceeds in Kerala bank scam, says ED

- Indira put us in jail, but never abused: Lalu

- Graft FIR against passport officials

- Jawan gets jail for pilgrim death

- Oppn may field SP’s Faizabad MP for dy Speaker contest

- Eyeing `1.1cr insur ance money, woman ‘dies’ twice

- At key meet, JD(U) reiterates spl status demand for Bihar

- MVA doesn’t need CM face in Maha polls: Pawar

- Setty gets FSIB nod as next chairman of SBI

- Court orders fresh probe into Cadila rape case

- Lynched to death. Charged with dacoity 10 days later

- Serve people with same devotion as shown for God, PM tells babus

- 340 officers were prematurely retired between 2014 and 2020, govt informed RS in Feb 2021

- Govt panel to finalise new base year for GDP

- World Bank OKs $1.5bn financing for green H2 projects in India

- Comic cancels show after MLA threat over joke

- Judiciary must be free from political bias, says Didi in presence of CJI

- BJP set to contest Haryana polls on its own, declares Shah

- Mysuru man loses Rs 2.9 crore in crypto scam

- UGC’s push for pen-paper NET, CUET-UG now under scanner

- U’khand NEET leak suspect held on way to Mussoorie

- Principal’s arrest stuns Hazaribag

- CAUGHT IN THE NEET NET

- New NEET-PG schedule ‘in one or two days’, says Pradhan

- Prime accused among 9 held in Gauhati univ marksheet scam

- ‘Will be happy to include suggestions given at TOI Dialogues for policy rejig’

- Soldiers swept away during river-crossing drill at night

- Debate over norms for ad self-certification reaches Parl

- New terminal at Rajkot airport was to be ready by end of Feb

- 3 of family killed in crash, girl, 4, is lone survivor

- Coming from wrong side, car hits another on Maha eway, 7 killed

- Hit-and-run: Flung 35ft off flyover, jogger, 19, dies

Xi invokes Panchsheel as key to end today’s global conflicts

‘It Set A Historic Benchmark For International Rule Of Law’

Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted the relevance of Panchsheel at a conference in Beijing to mark its 70th anniversary. No Indian official was reported to have participated in the conference

TNN & A GENCIES

Beijing/ Delhi: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday highlighted the relevance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which gained traction with the Non-Aligned Movement, to end the present-day conflicts and sought to expand influence in the Global South amid i ts tussle with the West.

Xi, 71, invoked the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, termed as Panchsheel by India, at a conference in Beijing to mark its 70th anniversary and also sought to juxtapose them with his new concept of Global Security Initiative envisaging a shared future for mankind.

The Panchsheel pointers were first formally enunciated in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India signed on April 29, 1954, according to the MEA.

No Indian official was reported to have participated in the conference on Friday. The invitees included former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and several politician and officials from various countries that have close ties with China.

The five principles formed part of the legacy of the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in their unsuccessful quest to find a solution to the vexed boundary issue.

“The Five Principles answered the call of the times, and its initiation was an inevitable historic development. The Chinese leadership in the past specified the Five Principles in their entirety for the first time, namely, ‘mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity’, ‘mutual non-aggression’, ‘mutual noninterference in each other’s internal affairs’, ‘equality and mutual benefit’, and ‘peaceful coexistence’,” Xi said.

“They included the Five Principles in the China-India and China-Myanmar joint statements which jointly called for making them basic norms for state-to-state relations,” Xi said.

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were born in Asia but quickly ascended to the world stage. In 1955, over 20 Asian and African countries attended the Bandung Conference, Xi recalled.

The Non-Aligned Movement that rose in the 1960s adopted the Five Principles as its guiding principles, he said.

“The Five Principles have set a historic benchmark for international relations and international rule of law,” he said, highlighting their relevance to ending the present-day conflicts.

EAM to visit Qatar today, to focus on trade, energy, security

New Delhi: Foreign minister S Jaishankar will pay an official visit to Qatar on Sunday, Indian govt said in an announcement. During the visit, he will meet the prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar,Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

Jaishankar’s visit will enable both sides to review various aspects of bilateral relations including political, trade, investment, energy, security, cultural and people-to-people as well as the regional and international issues of mutual interest, govt said.

India and Qatar share historic and friendly relations which are marked by regular exchange of high-level visits, said the MEA in a statement, recalling PM Modi had visited Qatar on 14-15 Feb 2024 and held discussions with Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

TNN

‘39 broken idols found at Bhojshala complex in MP during ASI survey’

ASI is likely to submit its report in HC on July 4. The Muslim side doubts the findings, wondering ‘where they came from’

Rajesh Jauhri TNN

Mhow: As many as 1,710 relics, including 39 broken idols, were found during the 98-day high-court-ordered survey carried out by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to establish the ‘true nature’ of disputed Bhojshala/ Kamal Maula Mosque complex in MP’s Dhar district.

The idols include those of Vagdevi (Saraswati), Mahishasur Mardini, Ganesh, Krishna, Mahadev, Brahma and Hanuman, say sources. The Muslim side doubts these findings, wondering “where they came from”.

The multi-disciplinary scientific survey concluded on Thursday, and ASI is expected to submit i ts report on the findings before the court on July 4. Highly placed sources said ASI might seek a second extension to ‘dig deeper into the structure and surrounding areas’.

Hindus believe Bhojsha- la was a temple to Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati), while Muslims say it has always been a mosque. The Hindu Front for Justice moved Indore bench of high court, seeking an ASI survey, which was granted in March this year. Representatives from both Hindu and Muslim sides were allowed to accompany ASI experts during the survey every day.

On June 27, the last day of the survey, ASI found at least seven structures during ex- cavation in the northern side of Bhojshala, said HFJ representative Gopal Sharma. “One of them was the broken idol of a goddess, and the r est are broken pieces of a pillar. Only the neck and face of the idol were found,” he added.

ASI roped in Geological Survey of India and used ground-penetrating radars to examine the area in and around the Bhojshala complex.

HFJ’s Ashish Goyal told TOI, “ASI has declared end of excavation, stating that all the work related to it has been completed and they don’t find need for any further excavation.” All the relics found so far have been cleaned, numbered and many have been sent for carbon dating.

The Muslim side says court norms were not adhered to during the inspection. Dhar Shahar Qazi Wakar Sadiq said, “Our main objection is that the survey was not conducted asper the guidelines of Supreme Court.”

No help for Indian helps when ‘dream’ foreign job turns into a nightmare

Both nanny institutes and immigrant consultancies are mushrooming but as Hinduja case shows, domestic workers need legal protection

HELD TO ACCOUNT: Hinduja conviction in Swiss court spotlights how domestic workers are treated even in some wealthy households

Sneha.Bhura@timesgroup.com

Anjali from Ulhasnagar in Thane has quite a few stamps on her passport. Having worked in Dubai, Hong Kong and Muscat (where she was employed by a ‘sheikh’) as a domestic worker, she reels off the dos and don’ts. “Do not give your phone to your employer. Remember, they need you more than you need them. Ensure that you are allowed to speak to your family every day. Clients will say they have spent lakhs on your visa, so they have a right to take away your passport but don’t fall for that. Don’t go for a lower salary, and don’t fall for scammy agents,” says the 35-year-old, who has drawn a salary of up to Rs 45,000 a month abroad and wants to go to London for her next job.

Not everyone is as savvy. While the money is more than what they would get in India for a similar job, it’s still nothing compared to what a local would be paid. Before that comes the hurdle of getting there. Many of them take loans to pay greedy agents who don’t give them the proper paperwork. Without that, they are held hostage by employers who take their passports and withhold salaries. As the recent Hinduja case in which four members of the family were convicted for exploiting domestic staff at their luxury villa in Geneva showed, even wealthy NRI tycoons can behave that way and not just a sheikh in the Gulf. Besides other charg- es like confiscation of passports, low salaries and long hours, the lead prosecutor pointed out that the family’s annual spend on their pet dog surpassed the salary they offered their house-help.

In the Hinduja case, the domestic workers took a rare step and fought back against exploitation, but the case highlights a larger problem — that of India’s lack of protective mechanisms for domestic workers at home and abroad. India has not ratified the ILO Domestic Workers Convention No 189, which requires signatory governments to protect the rights of domestic workers. “India should negotiate stronger bilateral labour agreements with destination countries to ensure that domestic workers are granted legal protections, fair wages, and safe working conditions,” says Karan S Thukral, a Delhi-based immigration lawyer. “Implementing accessible and effective reporting mechanisms for workers who don’t speak the local language to report abuse and exploitation is critical. These mechanisms should ensure confidentiality and protection against retaliation,” he adds.

Sister Josephine Amala Valarmathi, Tamil Nadu state coordinator at the non-profit National Domestic Workers’ Movement, says people use loopholes to not formalise this labour. “More often than not, domestic workers are taken abroad as ‘relatives’ to escape any formal work agreement or contracts.”

That several ‘nanny institutes’ have sprouted across north India shows that there is a demand to cater to busy NRI couples who seek help with child and elderly care. These institutes teach aspirants, who must have studied till either class 10 or 12, the basics of nutrition, first aid, etiquette, child behavioural psychology, etc through six-month certificate courses. Sometimes they are even required to take IELTS exams as part of the course, after which they travel on special caregiver visas.

The day the Hindujas were convicted, the Kerala government became the first in the country to announce plans for a legislation for safeguarding house-helps, with the draft laying out minimum wage, fixed hours, workplace security, rest time, and outlining responsibilities of the employer and private placement agencies. Sonia George, vice-president of SEWA, a union of informal workers, and an executive committee member of International Domestic Workers’ Federation, points out that while this is a welcome step, it isn’t applicable overseas. “The draft emigration Bill proposed by the external affairs ministry in 2019 and revised in 2021 would have addressed the concerns of overseas Indian domestic workers had it seen the light of day. Post-pandemic international migration of domestic workers acquired through illegal recruitment agencies has gone up in Kerala. These agencies tap into the most marginalised sections, including workers from tribal communities, Dalits and fisherfolk,” says George, adding that the urgency to pay off debts accrued during the pandemic has only increased the need to go work abroad.

FORGOTTEN AYAHS OF THE RAJ

Indian female domestic workers going abroad for higher wages is not new. The experiences of ‘travelling ayahs’ who traversed between India and Britain during the imperial era have been well documented. These women primarily served families onboard ships rather than in stable residences in either country. While generally treated adequately at sea, they often faced abandonment and mistreatment upon arrival in Britain. In 1825, a women's committee founded the Ayahs' Home in Aldgate, England, to help stranded ayahs find new jobs and return to India.

Historian Arunima Dutta, who researched the subject for her 2023 book, 'Waiting on Empire: A History of Indian Travelling Ayahs in Britain', says some found ways to engage in entrepreneurial activities while they waited, while others went to the India Office in London to appeal. “There were some who even took their irresponsible employers to court for failing to pay the ayah’s return passages," says Dutta.

A ‘travelling ayah’ on a troopship in ‘Waiting on Empire’

CPM received crime proceeds in Kerala bank scam, says ED

‘Party Collected Money From Beneficiaries Of Benami Loans’

Sour ces said CPM may be named as an accused in the next supplementary char gesheet to be filed in this case. If so, it will be the second political party after AAP to be arr aigned as accused in a money laundering in vestigation

Loan amounts were disbursed in cash to prevent money trail, ED said

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kochi: Kerala’s governing CPM is in possession of proceeds of crime in the Karuvannur bank fraud and it has been invested in immovable properties and credited to five accounts of the party in Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank Ltd, Enforcement Directorate claimed on Saturday.

CPM received funds from beneficiaries as donations through the bank’s governing body, the central agency said in a statement.

ED sources said the agency was carrying out PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) investigation in the case by considering the party as a respondent. Official sources said the party may be named as an accused in the next supplementary chargesheet to be filed in this case. If so, it will be the second political party to be arraigned as accused in a money laundering investigation after Aam Aadmi Party. AAP was recently named by the ED in the Delhi excise policy case.

ED confirmed in the statement that it has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 29.29 crore of various individuals and entities, includ- ing CPM’s Thrissur district secretary, as part of the investigation. The attached assets include 18 immovable proper- ties valued at Rs 28.65 crore, consisting of land and buildings in Kerala belonging to beneficiaries of the scam, the agency said. This includes an immovable property valued at Rs 10 lakh registered in the name of the CPM district secretary for its party office. The attached assets also include balances of Rs 63.62 lakh in eight bank accounts of CPM committees in Thrissur.

ED claimed in the statement that benami and illegal loans were sanctioned by the co-operative at the behest of the CPM Thrissur district committee. In return, the party district committee collected money from the beneficiaries.

The statement added that bogus loans were sanctioned by Karuvannur bank on the same property multiple times without the knowledge of society members. Benami loans were sanctioned to non-members against inflated property valuations in the names of other members and such loan funds were siphoned off and laundered by the beneficiaries, the ED claimed. The loan amounts were disbursed in cash to prevent a trail of the money, the statement said.

The total proceeds of crime attached so far in this case by the ED is Rs 117.78 crore. The chargesheet was filed by the agency in Nov 2023.

Indira put us in jail, but never abused: Lalu

Patna: RJD chief and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav Saturday recalled what they went through during the dark days of Emergency and said that PM Indira Gandhi put many functionaries behind bars, but never abused them.

In a post on X, Lalu shared an article “The Sangh Silence in 1975” written by him and journalist Nalin Verma. In the article, they attacked BJP-led govt and said that although 1975 is a stain on country’s democracy, let’s not forget who doesn’t respect the opposition in 2024.

“I was in jail under MISA for 15 months. My colleagues and I did not know many of BJP ministers speaking about Emergency today,” he posted on X. “Indira put many of us behind bars, but she never abused us. Neither she nor her ministers called us “anti-national” or “unpatriotic”.

TNN

Graft FIR against passport officials

CBI has registered 12 FIRs against passport officials posted at Passport Seva Kendra in Mumbai’s Malad and Lower Parel, and touts for engaging in corruption to issue passports based on forged documents. CBI said the touts would bribe passport officials to issue passports by avoiding mandatory document verification with the help of forged documents. In some instances, they issued passports despite pending criminal cases against applicants, thus ‘compromising national security of our country.’ CBI searched 33 premises and seized evidence related to passport documents. The agency is examining role of senior passport officials.

TNN

Jawan gets jail for pilgrim death

A jawan of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was sentenced to two years of imprisonment Friday by the court of a judicial magistrate in Joshimath, Chamoli district for reckless driving resulting in the death of a pilgrim during Char Dham yatra on Nov 10, 2021. The incident occurred near Mana Tiraha in Badrinath town when 29-year-old Sandhya, a native of Haryana, was on a pilgrimage with her husband and 5-year-old son. While crossing the road to her hotel, she was struck by a speeding four-wheeler driven by the intoxicated jawan, identified as Deepak Parki, a resident of Pithoragarh. Despite efforts to save her, the woman died upon reaching the hospital.

TNN

Oppn may field SP’s Faizabad MP for dy Speaker contest

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Congress are exploring the option of projecting SP’s Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad as INDIA bloc’s deputy Speaker candidate. Prasad (78) is a Dalit who won the unreserved seat that covers Ayodhya. This comes amid reports that Congress was keen to have K Suresh — an eight-time MP from Kerala — as opposition bloc’s deputy speaker pick.

TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav and Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi have already discussed this and are likely to take it up with other allies, said sourc- es. The sources added the nomination of Prasad was an idea of West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who conveyed it to nephew Abhishek.

According to sources, the three INDIA bloc senior partners seemed to agree that Prasad would be an “out-of-the-box” candidate and his nomination would carry “strong symbolism” as he won the high-stakes contest by over 50,000 votes.

While conferring with Rahul and Akhilesh, Abhishek suggested that choosing INDIA bloc’s deputy Speaker pick should “send out a strong message”, said sources. He focused on symbolism since numbers don’t stack up for INDIA bloc if there is a contest.

ATrinamool MP said: “IN- DIA bloc will contest for the deputy Speaker’s post. In the remaining three days of this session... even later... we will collectively demand the post. Aconsensus is being worked out on possible nominees.”

Article 93 of the Constitution says the Lok Sabha “shall choose two of its members as Speaker and deputy Speaker”. The 17th LS was the first since Independence which didn’t have a deputy Speaker.

Asked about the situation in which NDA didn’t accept the opposition’s proposal of a deputy speaker election, the TMC MP added: “The 17th Lok Sabha and the 18th Lok Sabha are very different. There’s an NDA govt now, not a BJP govt. We will continue to aggressively push for the election in this session and all following sessions.”

Eyeing `1.1cr insur ance money, woman ‘dies’ twice

Mumbai: In an insurance fraud involving Rs 1.1 crore in claims of which close to Rs 70 lakh was already received, a 45-year-old woman from Bhayander, Kanchan Pai, also known as Pavitra, allegedly faked her death twice in two years, reports Sandhya Nair.

Her husband and son collectively claimed Rs 1.1 crore from five private sector insurance companies between 2021 and 2023. They had received nearly Rs 70 lakh in death claims and were awaiting the remaining amount when the fraud was exposed. All three are absconding. The scam involved obtaining death certificates and cremation receipts with the help of a medical practitioner, identified as Dr Ashutosh Yadav, 50, who is also absconding.

Investigations revealed that Kanchan alias Pavitra had taken insurance policies from a total of five private companies using two separate Aadhaar card and PAN card.

At key meet, JD(U) reiterates spl status demand for Bihar

Akhilesh.Singh@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: Janata Dal (United) chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Saturday appointed his confidante, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha, a BJPfriendly face as his numbertwo (working president), while reiterating his demand for special status or a special package for Bihar, an issue on which there have been differences between Centre &the state in the past.

“Time has come when state should get special status or a special package so that the script of a developed Bihar could be written,” the party said in the resolution.

The decision was taken at ameeting of JD(U)’s national executive where the party reiterated its demand for special category status for Bihar, while adding that Centre could consider an alternative in a special package, its functionary Neeraj Kumar said.

JD(U) also demanded stringent action against culprits in paper leak cases and called for a strong law to rule out such incidents in future.

The decision to appoint Jha as working president is significant since he is known to have a good equation with BJP as he started his political innings with the saffron party before switching to JD(U). He also played a crucial role in reviving BJP-JD(U) alliance, which defied the challenge of INDIA bloc in Bihar.

Following his appointment, Jha said PM Modi has always paid attention to Bihar and expressed hope that the party’s demand for special category status or a package for the state would be met.

Jha’s elevation was welcomed by BJP. “We welcome Nitish Kumar’s decision to appoint Sanjay Jha working president of JD(U). It’s a move to promote NDA’s stability as Jha has worked for better JD (U)-BJP ties since 2005,” said BJP LS MP Vivek Thakur.

Cong takes ‘state cabinet’ dig at JD(U)

Highlighting that JD(U) — a critical ally in NDA govt at the Centre — has just passed a resolution reiterating demand for special category status in central assistance to Bihar, Congress sought to know if CM Nitish Kumar will summon the courage to have the state cabinet also pass such a resolution.

Congress’ Jairam Ramesh shared video snippets on X drawing from speeches of PM Modi where he is seen assuring the people of Bihar & Andhra Pradesh of addressing and delivering on their demands and concerns.

TNN

MVA doesn’t need CM face in Maha polls: Pawar

Kolhapur: NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar Saturday countered ally and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut’s claim about the necessity for aCM face in the Maharashtra assembly elections later this year, reports Abhijeet Patil.

Speaking in Kolhapur, Pawar said that instead of any individual, the alliance — Maha Vikas Aghadi — itself is a “consensual face” and collective leadership would be the approach to the polls.

Recently, Raut had said that a chief ministerial face was necessary for the as- sembly elections. However, Pawar pointed out that in the recent LS elections, MVA was ahead in 155 of the 288 assembly segments. This, the NCP (SCP) chief said, reveals the trend and proves that MVA is in a good position to win assembly polls.

“We won 30 seats and one MP extended support to us. This shows the trend among people. LS election results have put (the governing) Mahayuti in shock. That is why the (state) interim budget presented is full of flowery promises,” added Pawar.

TNN

Setty gets FSIB nod as next chairman of SBI

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Financial Services Institution Bureau (FSIB) has recommended Challa Sreenivasulu Setty, MD, State Bank of India, as the next chairman of the bank. The board conducted interviews to select a successor for the incumbent Dinesh Khara, whose extended term ends in Aug 2024.

According to a statement from FSIB, the board interviewed three candidates on June 29 for the position of chairman at SBI. “Keeping in view their performance in the interviews, their overall experience, and the existing parameters, the board recommends CS Setty for the position of chairman,” the statement said. The other two candidates are understood to be Ashwini Kumar Tewari and Vinay Tonse.

Setty (born September 1965) currently oversees the international banking, global markets, and tech- nology divisions at SBI. He started his career with the bank in 1988 as a probationary officer. Setty holds a BSc degree in agriculture and is a certified associate of Indian Institute of Bankers.

Before being appointed MD in 2020, he held several critical positions at SBI, such as deputy MD of the stressed assets resolution group, chief general manager, general manager in the corporate accounts group, deputy general manager in the mid-corporate group, and vice-president and head of syndications at SBI’s New York branch.

Initially, as MD, he led the retail and digital banking verticals before taking on his current responsibilities. His term as MD was extended by two years in Jan 2023.

FSIB is an autonomous body in India responsible for recommending appointments and evaluating the performance of top management in public sector banks, insurance companies, and financial institutions.

Ravi Agrawal to be new CBDT chief

Govt Saturday appointed Ravi Agrawal as the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). He replaces Nitin Gupta whose extension ends on June 30. An official statement said Agarwal’s tenure will start from July 1 and he would be in office till the date of his superannuation on Sept 30 this year.

After that he would be re-appointed on a contract basis up to June 30 next year on terms and conditions applicable to re-employed central govt officers, as per the statement from the secretariat of Appointments Committee of Cabinet. Agrawal is a 1988 IRS officer and was appointed as member of CBDT, which oversees direct tax issues. He was member admin in CBDT and had also served as DG investigation in Delhi.

TNN

Court orders fresh probe into Cadila rape case

Ahmedabad: A local court ordered Saturday further investigation into the rape allegations levelled by a 27-yearold Bulgarian woman against Cadila Pharmaceuticals CMD Rajiv Modi and sought a report in two months.

Acting on a protest petition filed by the former flight attendant, additional chief judicial magistrate did not accept the Sola police clean chit given to Modi and a Cadila employee named Johnson Mathew at this stage. Instead of accepting the summary report, the court ordered the investigator to probe further under CrPC Section 173(8) — (further investigation can be done in respect of an offence wherein a police report or chargesheet has been forwarded to a magistrate).

As per complainant’s advocate Rajesh Mishra, the court observed that impor- tant witnesses in the case who were cited by the Bulgarian were not examined by the investigator. It said that not recording statements of important witnesses caused damage to case and these witnesses need to be examined.

The court also said the police ignored important documents and directed the investigator to take them into consideration during further investigation. The court noted that electronic evidence made available during the investigation was ignored and, besides documents, electronic evidence on which the complainant relied should have been considered.

The court noted the investigator did not investigate allegations of human trafficking by Cadila and its management. It directed the roles of all those allegedly connected with this be probed.

TNN

Lynched to death. Charged with dacoity 10 days later

Agra: Ten days after a mob allegedly lynched Mohammad Farid, 35, in Aligarh, an FIR was filed against him, his brother and five others Saturday. The FIR was registered under IPC sections 395 (dacoity) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman), reports Deepak Lavania.

In her complaint, the wife of textile trader Mukesh Chand Mittal, alleged that Farid, his brother Zaki and their aides carried out a dacoity at her house. She claimed that Farid threatened her at gunpoint, snatched her gold chain, and took Rs 2.5 lakh cash and jewellery from her.

DSP Rakesh Sisodia said, “On basis of the complaint, an FIR was filed against seven persons, including Farid, who died purportedly after being beaten by a mob, and two unknown persons. The matter is being investigated.”

On June 18, Farid was beaten to death by a group of men who suspected him of theft. A purported video of the incident was circulated on social media. It showed the assault with sticks, sparking widespread outrage. The next day, police arrested six accused after registering an FIR against 10 named and a dozen unidentified people in connection with the lynching.

Following the incident, police claimed Farid was attacked after he was seen coming out of Mittal’s house and running towards the gate. In his police complaint, Zaki claimed the group attacked Farid “only after they came to know about his religion”.

Zaki told TOI Saturday: “An FIR was filed against my dead brother under pressure from politicians and rightwing functionaries to divert attention from his murder.”

Serve people with same devotion as shown for God, PM tells babus

‘Ensure Good Policies Aren’t Entangled In Web Of Legal Provisions’

It was PM Modi’s first meeting with secretaries after returning to office

Dipak Dash & Sidhartha TNN

New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi on Saturday instructed top civil servants to be completely focused on meeting the needs and aspirations of citizens, saying that they should be served with the same devotion that is shown for God, while advocating a flexible approach to ensure that good policies don’t get entangled in a web of legal provisions and make them stillborn.

TOI has learnt that PM told officers “niyam ki jaal mein niti ki baal mrityu mat karayiye”, echoing the lament over numerous instances of well-intentioned policies turning out to be stillborn after they were sucked into complex webs of rules and regulations.

During his first meeting with secretaries after returning to office, Modi described the top officials as “assets” and said that it was due to their efforts that policies and schemes had been implemented, helping his govt win a third term.He also spoke about policy-based governance and the need to do away with adhocism while putting focus on Ease of Living of common citizens.

Sources said Modi told officers that India being an as- pirational society, govt agencies need to look at fulfilling the aspirations as an “opportunity” and not as a burden. He said the imprint of India becoming the third largest economy in the next few years must be seen in every sphere, be it physical and social infrastructure or public oriented governance.

The PM said there has to be greater focus on faster and effective addressing of public grievances and that all should treat service to common citizens as service to God, said an official. The focus was clearly on a citizen-centric approach with Modi underlining that people should get precedence in governance.

The PM is also learnt to have urged officers to look into methods of giving incentives to govt entities for capacity development since progress on that score remains patchy despite this being talked about for years. Modi also directed the top officials to go ahead with govt’s 100-day agenda for inauguration of projects, roll out of schemes and taking policy decisions.

In the meeting, which lasted for nearly three hours at the PM’s residence, over a dozen secretaries spoke giving their suggestions.

340 officers were prematurely retired between 2014 and 2020, govt informed RS in Feb 2021

 Continued from P1

In an office memorandum dated June 27, DoPT asked the departments concerned to furnish a report in this regard “by 15th day of each month starting from July 2024”.

FR 56j/l empowers the appropriate authority to retire any govt servant, if it is in public interest, by giving him a three-month notice in writing or three months’ pay and allowances in lieu of such notice. The broad criteria followed in recommending premature retirement is that the govt servant should be of doubtful integrity and ineffective and not fit or competent to continue in the post held.

As per information shared by junior minister for personnel Jitendra Singh with Rajya Sabha in Feb 2021, a total 340 officers were prematurely retired between 2014 and 2020. For Group A and B employees, premature retirement under Rule FR 56j may be handed after the employee turns 50 years if he has joined service before 35 years of age, and 55 years in other cases. For Group C employees, the premature retirement in public interest can be done after they complete 30 years of ser- vice. Rule 48(1)(b) too allows govt to retire an employee after completing 30 years of service, in public interest.

The guidelines for evaluating cases fit for premature retirement were issued by DoPT in 2020. These lay down the time schedule for the exercise of review of performance of govt servants by the concerned departments.

“The objective is to strengthen the administrative machinery by developing responsible and efficient administration at all levels and to achieve efficiency, economy and speed in disposal of govt functions,” DoPT said.

Govt panel to finalise new base year for GDP

To Also Advise On New Data Sources

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The ministry of statistics and programme implementation ( MosPI) ministry has notified the setting up of a 26-member panel to oversee the revision of the base year for national accounts.

The panel headed by Biswantah Goldar, former professor of Institute of Economic Growth, has been tasked to review the existing databases and advise on inclusion of new data sources for improving the estimates of national accounts.

“To advise on the methodology for compilation and presentation of National Accounts Statistics for purposes of economic analysis and policy including methodology for seasonal adjustment of quarterly national accounts and on promotion of research in the field of National Accounts Statistics,” a gazette notification said while detailing the terms of reference of the panel.

The panel will also advise on the base year for national accounts and its alignment with other related products like wholesale price index, producer price index , consumer price index, the index of industrial production among others. The base year now used is 2011-12 and an advisory committee had recommended 2020-21 as the new base year.

It has also asked to advise on implementation of latest UN standards, adoption of new classifications recommended by the UN Statistics Division in development of sequence of accounts for various institutional sectors.

The tenure of this committee will be five years or till the completion of next base year revision of national accounts, whichever is later. For operational feasibility, the committee may constitute sub committees on different aspects with maximum tenure of two years, according to the notification.

The other prominent members of the panel include G C Manna, former director-general CSO, Chetan Ghate, director of Institute of Economic Growth, Partha Ray, Director NIBM, Pune, Subrata Guha, professor Centre of Economic Studies and Planning Jawaharlal Nehru University, Mausumi Das, Professor Delhi School of Economics, Shalabh, professor of Statistics & Dean of Academic Affairs Department of Mathematic & Statistics Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Ranjan Kumar Sahoo, professor, Department of Statistics Central University of Haryana, CEO, GSTN, DG’s of Mospi and NSS and others.

Panagariya: Must continue data-driven policy-making to climb growth ladder

India should continue its data driven policy making in order to move along its development trajectory, Arvind Panagariya, chairman of the 16th Finance Commission said on Saturday.

“The challenge of the current times is to produce authentic, robust and accurate statistics to cope with the huge demand for information that is now almost universally accessible through digital and other channels,” said Panagariya in his address at the 18th Statistics Day, which is held to mark the birth anniversary of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis who led the foundation for statistics and economic planning in the country.

“The need of the hour is to ensure the availability of accurate data so that these can be appropriately fed into the decision making processes through the aid of modern technology,” said Panagariya, who was earlier the vice chairman of govt think tank Niti Aayog.

Panagariya also urged MOSPI to create a portal, which will serve as a “home” for the data of the finance commission.

“Somebody needs to take the lead in creating a home for this data on a permanent basis so that the work of the commission will get much smoothened out for at least in the future,” said the 16th FC chairman.

TNN

World Bank OKs $1.5bn financing for green H2 projects in India

New Delhi:The World Bank’s Board has approved $1.5 billion loans to help India accelerate the development of low-carbon energy. The operation will seek to promote the development of a vibrant market for green hydrogen, continue to scale up renewable energy, and stimulate finance for low-carbon energy investments, according to the multilateral agency.

The programme will support reforms to boost the production of green hydrogen and electrolyzers. It also supports reforms to boost renewable energy penetration, for instance, by incentivising battery energy storage solutions and amending the Indian Electricity Grid Code to improve renewable energy integration into the grid. The financing includes a $1.46 billion loan from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and a $31.5 million credit from International Development Association (IDA).

“The World Bank is pleased to continue supporting India’s low-carbon development strategy which will help achieve the country’s net-zero target while creating clean energy jobs in the private sector,” said Auguste Tano Kouame, World Bank Country Director for India.

The reforms are expected to result in the production of at least 450,000 metric tonne of green hydrogen and 1,500 MW of electrolyzers per year from FY25/26 onwards. It will also help to increase renewable energy capacity and support reductions in emissions by 50 million tonne per year.

TNN

Comic cancels show after MLA threat over joke

Hyderabad: A stand-up show by comic Daniel Fernandes at a restaurant in Hyderabad’s Jubilee Hills was cancelled on Saturday after BJP MLA T Raja Singh threatened to disrupt it allegedly over the artist’s objectionable remarks on Jain community.

Raja released a video threatening to beat up Fernandes if he went ahead with the show. Police reached the restaurant only to find that the event was cancelled .

Fernandes had recently joked about members of the Jain community dressing up as Muslims to save goats from being slaughtered on Bakrid.

TNN

Judiciary must be free from political bias, says Didi in presence of CJI

Banerjee was speaking at inauguration of a two-day conference organised by National Judicial Academy in Kolkata

Debashis.Konar@timesgroup.com

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday made a strong pitch for the judiciary to be free from “political bias”, while speaking at the inauguration of a two-day conference organised by National Judicial Academy in Kolkata.

Addressing the gathering that comprised CJI D Y Chandrachud, senior Supreme Court judges including justices B R Gavai, Dipankar Datta and Rajesh Bindal, and Calcutta high court chief justice T S Sivagnanam, among others, Mamata said: “It is not my intention to humiliate anyone. But it is my kind submission, a humble submission... please see to it that there are no political biases in the judiciary. The judiciary must be absolutely pure, honest and sacred, and let people revere it like a temple.”

The CJI appeared to concur, as he said judges should refrain from allowing their personal ideologies to influence their judgments.

Mamata’s remarks come at a time when her govt’s relationship with the judiciary has been fraught with tension, with the CM even criticising some of the HC rulings in the recent past.

In a post on her X handle later, she said: “Judiciary stands as a guardian of our constitutional rights, a beacon of justice, and a cornerstone of our democratic framework. In these times, more than ever, we must strive to uphold the purity and honesty of our judi- cial processes, free from any political bias. People place immense faith in the judiciary, looking to it as a source of fairness and truth. It is this trust that we must honour and protect.”

Chandrachud, on his part, emphasised that judgments should be based on constitutional morality, not a judge’s idea of morality. Reminding the judges that they were “servants” of the constitution, not its “masters”, he said the values judges had to espouse were values the Constitution had enshrined for them, whether they liked it or not — “that is, a society based on human dignity, fraternity, equality, liberty, respect for all, tolerance for all and inclusion of all”.

The CJI, however, expressed reservations at the use of the term “temple of justice” for courts. “Because ‘temples’ postulate that judges are in the role of deities. I would rather recast the role of judges as servers of the people. Then you bring that compassion and empathy — judging people but not being judgmental about people.”

BJP set to contest Haryana polls on its own, declares Shah

Shah sought to play down BJP’s less-than-expected performance in LS polls, focusing on PM’s feat

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Undeterred by the loss of five seats during Lok Sabha polls in Haryana, senior BJP leader and home minister Amit Shah on Saturday announced that the party will contest the forthcoming assembly polls in the state solo and exhorted party workers to gear up for a two-thirds majority.

“We have lost a few seats in Haryana by small margins but our vote share has gone up by 5% from 2014. This time too, we will not ally with anyone and will contest on our own and win. This time, we must win Haryana with a two-third majority,” Shah said, in his first public rally after Lok Sabha polls, as he addressed BJP workers at Panchkula.

The decision to go alone is significant after Congress halved BJP’s tally from the state. Just before LS polls, Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which was an ally of BJP in the state, severed ties and contested the polls on its own. Shah made it clear that the party does not intend to make concessions to woo the former ally back.

Shah sought to play down BJP’s less-than-expected performance in LS polls , focusing instead on Narendra Modi’s feat in being the first PM in 60 years to score a third consecutive victory “How can this be possible without the blessings of the people of India?” the home minister said.

He said that Congress is trying to make their defeat in the Lok Sabha election look like a victory through false propaganda.

“ BJP got 5% more votes in the last election than in the previous election. On the other hand, BJP alone has won more seats than the total number of seats won by all INDI Alliance parties,” the home minister asserted.

He dubbed Congress as a party of dynasts and referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as “Tara” and former CM B S Hooda’s son Deepender Singh Hooda as “Sitara”. “Tara and Sitara cannot have their sway in Haryana. Sonia Ji’s Tara and Hooda Saheb’s Sitara won’t shine in Haryana anymore.”

Sensing strong resistance from Congress after the loss of five seats in Lok Sabha polls in the state, the BJP brass has taken measures to improve the party prospects in the state polls, appointing party’s key strategist Dharmendra Pradhan as poll in-charge and former Tripura CM Biplab Deb as his deputy.

Mysuru man loses Rs 2.9 crore in crypto scam

A resident of Mysuru’s Saraswathipuram lost Rs 2.9 crore in a crypto scam. TNN

UGC’s push for pen-paper NET, CUET-UG now under scanner

New Delhi: National Testing Agency (NTA) late on Friday announced new dates for three exams: National Common Entrance Test (NCET), University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), and Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-UGC-NET. All these exams will be conducted as computer-based tests (CBT). This raises the question: why were UGC-NET and Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG), overseen by UGC and administered by NTA, shifted to pen-paper and hybrid (partially pen-paper) modes respectively? Ministry of education as well as seven member exam reform panel are reviewing these changes made “at the insistence of UGC”, reports Manash Gohain.

Investigations into the alleged Central Selection Board of Constable (CSBC) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 paper leak cases revealed security breaches during transportation of question papers. This has led to scrutiny of NTA, which was established to conduct “highquality” exams digitally with minimal human interference and in collaboration with a credible technology partner.

An NTA source stated, “UGC insisted on making CUET-UG hybrid or pen-paper in 2023 itself. However, NTA disagreed and conducted the exam in CBT mode. The first edition faced a lot of criticism due to technical glitches, and in 2023, it was conducted over a month. However, like JEE (Main), the exam’s integrity was not questioned and there were no technical glitches. With change of leadership in NTA last year, UGC once again wanted the exam to be conducted in hybrid mode, with papers for a large number of candidates delivered in pen-paper mode.”

Despite criticism over delays, glitches, and centres lacking basic amenities, NTA has been “performing adequately with computer-based JEE (Main) and UGC-NET since 2018,” according to a senior MoE official. Official added, “It is intriguing that UGC reportedly wanted UGC-NET to be in pen-paper mode, and this decision by the commission also needs to be questioned.”

U’khand NEET leak suspect held on way to Mussoorie

 Continued from P 1

The principal had blamed a local SBI branch, where the papers were stored, and a private courier company. Jamaludin’s family sources said he was friends with Haque for several years. Jamaludin had organised a news conference recently for Haque to clear his stance on the leak, they said.

In Uttarakhand, the suspect arrested was identified as Gangadhar Gunde, aged around 60. A resident of Gurgaon, Gunde was intercepted Saturday on way to Mussoorie by Dehradun police, who assisted CBI in the action.

“Gunde was, perhaps, in touch with the (NEET leak) accused in Bihar. We cannot divulge more details as the case is being handled by CBI’s Delhi unit. Our role was only to secure his arrest and hand him over to our Delhi unit,” a CBI officer in Dehradun said.

In Gujarat’s Godhra, four people arrested and jailed in a NEET attempt-to-copy case were remanded in four-day CBI custody on Saturday.

Later, the agency took their custody from Godhra jail for questioning. The four are Purshottam Sharma, principal of Jai Jalaram School; Tushar Bhatt, a teacher in the same school, Arif Vahora, a suspended BJP functionary who referred students to Bhatt; and Vibhor Anand Singh of Bihar who roped in candidates from other states.

Vahora had allegedly paid Rs 7 lakh in cash to Bhatt and the money was recovered from the latter’s car on May 5 when the copying bid was foiled by the district collector on a tip-off.

The remand order cited CBI’s claims that some NEET students chose Jay Jalaram School as their test centre and Gujarati as their language despite being from other states. The modus operandi was to ask students to leave out questions they did not know blank so that they could be filled in later. In his remand order, the sessions judge called it “an exceptional case which prima facie has a deeprooted conspiracy”.(With inputs from Patna and Ahmedabad)

Principal’s arrest stuns Hazaribag

Haque Had Turned Oasis Into One Of Dist’s Most Prestigious Schools

Vishvendu.Jaipuriar@timesgroup.com

Hazaribag: Arrest of principal of Hazaribag’s Oasis School, Ehsanul Haque, by CBI in NEET-UG paper leak case has left those who have known him since his days of struggle in shock and disbelief. Many of them find it hard to accept that the softspoken teacher, who built the reputation of Oasis as the city’s premier school from scratch, could be involved in the paper leak.

Haque, 42, once ran a coaching institute called ‘Seed’ on Pugmil Road in the city. In 2013, he was roped in to head the Oasis School, located on Mandai Road in Hazaribag district, at its inception by its owner and chairman, Shabbir Ahmad.

He faced significant challenges, right from taking the school to new heights to securing a CBSE affiliation, but succeeded in both, making Oasis one of Hazaribag’s most sought-after schools, thanks to its top-notch infrastructure and faculty.

The school, which started with 100-odd students in 2013, now has over 4,000 students and over 40 teachers, and runs from a modern building with state-of-the art facilities for academics and sports. The school got CBSE affiliations for classes X and XII in 2020.

Sources said a total of 118 students appeared in class X board exams in 2012-2022, and the school had a 100% pass percentage, with 38 stu- dents securing marks above 85%. In 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, too, all students who appeared for class X and XII board examinations passed.

The academic success of the school also established Haque, who holds PhD and BEd degrees, among the noted academicians in Hazaribag. After being appointed as CBSE coordinator, he became a prominent figure of the city and was often invited to various programmes organised by different schools, said one of his acquaintances. Haque, his friends revealed, comes from a humble background. His father, a former employee of Central Coalfields Limited, passed away recently. A bachelor, he takes care of his two younger brothers and their families, and a married sister. “He always remained busy from morning to evening, with most of his time spent at the school,” one of his friends said.

The staff at Oasis School and his neighbours in the Hasmia colony are still in shock over his arrest on Friday. None in the school or the locality wished to speak anything on record on Saturday.

“It’s beyond my expectation as to why he did what he did. It’s a tough time for his family,” said one of the locals, who did not wish to be identified. Another person said, “When the almighty gave him everything, right from the chair of a big school to the CBSE coordinator, what was the use of indulging in wrong activities?”

CAUGHT IN THE NEET NET

A nationwide investigation into the NEET exam fraud has led to numerous arrests, uncovering a vast network of people — including junior engineers, teachers, school administrators, students, and political functionaries — suspected of involvement in leaking question papers, providing answer keys, and arranging dummy candidates

Economic Offences Unit personnel with an arrested accused in Patna on June 23, 2024

BIHAR, JHARKHAND

May 5/6 (Patna) | 13 arrested, including four aspirants and three parents. Key figures: Sikandar Yadavendu (junior engineer), his driver Bittu, Amit Anand, Nitish Kumar, Mukesh, and Roshan Kumar. Charges: Providing question solvers, handling aspirants, transporting to safe houses

June 21 (Deoghar, Jharkhand) | Six arrested — Paramjit Singh alias Bittu, Baldev Kumar alias Chintu, Prashant Kumar alias Kaju, Ajit Kumar, Rajiv Kumar alias Karu, Pinku Kumar. Charges: Leaking question papers, providing solvers, coordinating leaks

June 27 (Patna) | Manish Anand and Ashutosh Kumar arrested by CBI. Charges: Sheltering aspirants to memorize answer keys

June 28 (Hazaribagh, Jharkhand) | Principal Ehsanul Haque, vice principal Imtiaz Alam, and journalist Jamaluddin arrested. Charges: Leaking question paper

RAJASTHAN

May 5 | 22-year-old female student and Bhagwan Singh arrested for appearing as dummy candidates. Hukma Ram Godara (AIIMS Jodhpur) allegedly appeared as dummy candidate in Bihar; currently on the run

May 8 | Student mediator and six students from Jhalawar Govt Medical College arrested by Delhi police

June 13 | 21-year-old student from Jhalawar Govt Medical College arrested in Mumbai for liaising with the female dummy candidate

UTTARAKHAND

June 25 (Dehradun) | Gurgaon resident Gangadhar Gunde, originally from Marathwada, arrested while on the way to Mussoorie. Charges: Helping leak question papers in Bihar

MAHARASHTRA

June 23/25 (Latur and Solapur) | Headmaster Jaleel Khan Pathan (34) in Latur district and Santosh Jadhav (40), a teacher in Madha of Solapur, arrested. Charges: Identifying students, collecting hall ticket photos, collecting money, and passing info to an absconding ITI instructor

GUJARAT

May 10 | Parshuram Roy, a Vadidara-based overseas education consultant, arrested. Charges: Coordinating with other accused in medical exam leaks

May 12 | Tushar Bhatt, a teacher at Jalaram School in Godhra who lived in Vadodara, and Godhra-based Arif Vahora, a suspended BJP functionary, arrested. Charges: Receiving money (Rs 7 lakh or more) for students, coordinating with other accused. Roy gave a list of students to Bhatt on WhatsApp

May 19 | Vibhor Anand Singh, a Bihar native living in Vadodara, arrested. Charges: Referring students to Roy

May 20 | Parshottam Sharma, principal of Jay Jalaram School in Godhra, arrested. Charges: Ensuring school selection as exam centre; conspiring with Bhatt

New NEET-PG schedule ‘in one or two days’, says Pradhan

New Delhi: National Board of Examinations (NBE) will announce the new schedule for NEET-PG “in one or two days”, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday. Last week, NEET-PG was among the several exams that were can- celled as a pre-emptive measure against alleged irregularities in competitive tests.

Pradhan told this to reporters in Panchkula during Haryana BJP’s extended state executive meeting. His comment follows the announcement of revised dates for three cancelled exams by NTA. UGC-NET, which was cancelled a day after being conducted on June 18 due to “compromised exam integrity”, will now take place from Aug 21 to Sep 4.

Pradhan mentioned that the UGC-NET question paper was leaked on the darknet and circulated via the Telegram app, and the matter is under CBI investigation. UGC-NET determines eligibility for the junior research fellowship (JRF) award, assistant professorships and PhD admissions.

TNN

Prime accused among 9 held in Gauhati univ marksheet scam

Guwahati: Nine people, including the prime accused, have been arrested so far in an alleged marksheet scam in Gauhati University, police said on Saturday. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had on Thursday revealed the alleged scam at a press briefing in Barpeta, reports Mukut Das.

The arrests were made from Guwahati, Barpeta and Dhubri. The latest one was made on Friday.

Six to seven cases have come to light in Barpeta and the prime accused, who is incharge of the firm responsible for computerised marksheet system, was arrested.

The scam came to light when authorities at Ganeshlal Chaudhary College in Barpeta Road detected forged marks of Azizul Haque, a sixth-semester undergraduate student, prompting a detailed probe that led to arrest of eight individuals from across Assam.

‘Will be happy to include suggestions given at TOI Dialogues for policy rejig’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

UP deputy CM Brajesh Pathak praised the TOI Dialogues initiative for fostering healthy exchanges of ideas, saying “TOI brings along irrefutable credibility”. He delivered his keynote address at TOI Dialogues in Lucknow on June 25, marking the start of a series of pan-India conclaves. “We will be happy to include suggestions gathered at this event for a policy rejig,” he said.

The series — held in Gorakhpur on June 21, Lucknow on June 25, and Varanasi on June 27 — featured a diverse range of participants, including MP Ravi Kishan, policymaker Awanish Awasthi, sportspersons Mohammad Kaif, Sardar Singh, and Yogeshwar Dutt, Bollywood stars Randeep Hooda, Vikrant Massey, Jimmy Sheirgill, Rasika Dugal, Shweta Tripathi, Faisal Malik, Amit Sial, and Rahul Mittra, historians Vikram Sampath, Abhijit Chavda, and Anuj Dhar, and cultural icons Malini Awasthi and Yatindra Mishra.

In Varanasi, the session titled “Intersection of History and Modern Politics” resonated with the city’s timeless charm. Senior journalist Yahwant Deshmukh highlighted the unique political under- standing of Varanasi’s natives, who accommodate diverse ideologies but maintain unwavering reverence for Baba Vishwanath. Historian Vikram Sampath remarked on the city’s spirit and the people’s faith in rebuilding it after each invasion.

Awanish Awasthi described Varanasi as a pivotal element of UP’s growth story, attributing the state’s turnaround to CM Yogi Adityanath’s efforts to enhance law and order. Actor Massey praised Yogi govt for its support to the film industry and the ancient city’s turnaround. “This is the reason why Varanasi is getting more tourists than Goa,” said Massey. Actor Sheirgill, speaking in Gorakhpur, expressed amazement at the city’s transformation since his family left in 1985.

Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan echoed these sentiments, highlighting the city’s shift. “Gorakhpur was once known as Chicago of the East because of mafia raj. That all changed after CM Yogi Adityanath came to office in 2017,” he said.

In Lucknow, ex-cricketer Kaif and actor Hooda shared their personal connections to UP. Kaif, reminiscing about his childhood in Prayagraj, hailed UP as a hub of talent. Hooda reflected on the state’s impact on art and culture and its improved image as film-friendly.

Soldiers swept away during river-crossing drill at night

 Continued from P 1

The night exercise, which included river crossing drill, was taking place amid continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh, which is into its fifth year now. Border Roads Organisation, incidentally, is in the final stages of completing a new alternate 130-km road from Sasoma in Nubra Valley through Saser Brangsa to DBO outpost.

DBO, which includes an advance landing ground at an altitude of 16,614-ft, overlooks the Karakoram Pass and is just a few kilometres from LAC and China-occupied Aksai Chin region beyond.

Expressing sadness at “loss of lives of five soldiers in the unfortu- nate accident”, defence minister Rajnath Singh said, “We will never forget the exemplary service of our gallant soldiers. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.”

India has forward deployed over 50,000 troops, along with around 100 tanks and 330 BMP infantry combat vehicles as well as scores of artillery guns and surface-to-air missile systems, to match Chinese deployments since multiple incursions by People’s Liberation Army into eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020.

China has till now refused to undertake troop disengagement at the two remaining major face-off sites in Depsang Plains and CNN track junction at Demchok as a precondition for overall de-escalation and de-induction.

Debate over norms for ad self-certification reaches Parl

‘Media houses face difficulties in preparing self-declaration certificates, registering on the portal, and troubleshooting issues, which could deter advertisers from using print media and affect revenue. Storage of self-declarations, weeding out, and handling emergency ads pose more challenges,’ RS MP Kartikeya Sharma said

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Unease over the recent norms requiring self certification of advertisements, which kicked in earlier this month, has reached Parliament. On Friday, Rajya Sabha member Kartikeya Sharma flagged the issue in the Upper House, expressing concern over the unintended consequences of the Supreme Court-mandated initiative.

“Recent directive requiring self-declaration certificates for all advertisements (print, digital and electronic) aims to safeguard consumer interests and uphold advertisement integrity. However, this directive has introduced several operational challenges. There remains significant ambiguity, especially regarding non-claim advertisements published by small media houses for SMEs. These advertisers may struggle to comply due to the technical nature of the process and limited resources,” he said, talking about a new challenge for media in giving authentic information to people, which has become crucial amid a flood of disinformation.

He said handling of govt and public sector advertisements under this directive remained unclear. “Media houses face difficulties in preparing self declaration certificates, registering on the portal, and troubleshooting issues, which could deter advertisers from using print media and affect revenue. Storage of self-declarations, weeding out, and handling emergency advertisements pose further challenges, particularly within the digital media ecosystem. Given the potential for legal challenges and technical issues with the portal, it is requested that the ministry delay the implementation of these guidelines until clear and objective procedures are established. It is also suggested that the implementation be initially limited to medical ads and that a wider consultation with stakeholders be conducted,” said Sharma, a member from Haryana.

SC’s May 7 directive in a case involving IMA and Centre resulted in the prescription of a self-dec- laration certificate prior to broadcast any type of advertisement online or in print.

The concerns raised by the lawmaker have already been flagged by ad industry experts as well as the Indian Newspaper Society. In a representation to the I&B ministry INS has cited multiple problems, including those with the portal where self-declaration must be made. It had suggested It has suggested that the existing mechanisms should be strengthened and sought that govt consider limiting the mandate to healthcare and medical ads.

As reported by TOI, several ad industry veterans have argued that implementation may not be easy and the entire process will only end up creating bureaucratic hurdles. Newspaper reports have suggested that getting the approvals on time has been a problem, impacting the release of topical advertisements.

New terminal at Rajkot airport was to be ready by end of Feb

The portion of the canopy at the passenger pickup and drop area outside Rajkot airport terminal that collapsed on Saturday

Continued from P 1

The airport has been functioning in a temporary building meant for cargo handling. The new permanent terminal was supposed to be completed by end of Feb. However, it is still under construction and the new deadline has been set for Aug 15 this year.

The greenfield airport spread over 1,025 ha was built at the cost of Rs 1,405 crore. With a 3,040m-long and 45mwide runway, it handles 10 to 12 flights connecting destinations like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Goa, and 3,000 to 4,000 passengers travel every day.

3 of family killed in crash, girl, 4, is lone survivor

Bhopal: A four-year-old child is the only survivor of a freak accident that killed all her family members in MP’s Satna on Saturday. A truck carrying iron rods overturned on their car, crushing her parents and elder brother to death. The girl was thrown into a safe pocket inside the mangled car & survived.

TNN

Coming from wrong side, car hits another on Maha eway, 7 killed

Mangled remains of a car on Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway in Jalna on Friday

Mohammed.Akhef@timesgroup.com

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Seven people died and four were seriously injured Friday in a head-on collision between two cars, one of them coming from the wrong side, on Samruddhi Mahamarg in Maharashtra’s Jalna district.

Deceased include Fayyaz Mansuri, Faisal Mansuri and Altamash Mansuri, all from Mumbai, who were travelling in one car. The second car’s driver, Sandeep Budhwant, and passengers Pradeep Misal, Vilas Kayande, and Aniket Chavan also perished in the accident. The injured are Shakeel Mansuri, Altaf Mansuri, driver Rajesh Kumar and an unidentified man.

As per preliminary probe, the Mansuri family was heading to Mumbai from Nagpur. People in the other car, driven by Budhwant, halted at a fuel station. But instead of driving towards Mumbai and taking U-turn a few kilometres ahead, Budhwant decided to drive on the wrong side of the highspeed corridor. Mansuri family’s driver, Rajesh Kumar, who was maintaining an estimat- ed speed of 100kmph, did not expect any vehicle on the opposite direction.The impact of the accident flung one of the cars into the roadside barricade.

Patrol teams of the highway traffic police reached the spot and, with the help of nearby villagers, carried out rescue operation. Highway traffic police inspector Ganesh Giri, in his report to the highway traffic headquarters, pointed out that wrong side driving was the reason for the accident.

Taluka police station in Jalna registered a case and initiated probe.

Hit-and-run: Flung 35ft off flyover, jogger, 19, dies

Mumbai: A19-year-old jogger died after he was flung off Andheri flyover, near Gundavali metro station, some 35 feet below, in a hit-and-run on Saturday. His friend of the same age, who was jogging with him, is in hospital and is slated to undergo surgery. Deceased was Vivek Yadav. The injured, Aman Yadav, is being treated for multiple fractures and head injuries. A group of cyclists found them,reports V Narayan. ACP Dr Shashikant Bhosale said, “We are depending on cameras to track down the vehicle involved in the accident.”

Times City

- New Drainage System For Capital Need Of The Hour

- Bodies of 3 labourers retrieved in Vasant Vihar

- FILTHY WORK DAMAGING & DAMNING!

- 4 boys drown in city, man electrocuted

- Govt seeks permanent solution to waterlogging

- LG asks agencies to carry out desilting on war footing

- Tunnel Vision: Drainage Was Overlooked

- Bouncer shot six times at market by two on a bike, dies

- An anti-caste library that seeks to bridge gaps battles rain

- 3 kids who died in Noida wall collapse had come on vacation

- Chaos on at IGI: 36 flights cancelled, 40 get delayed

- Take steps to utilise rainwater, DMRC told

- Heavy Rain Likely In City, Air Quality Dips

- After heat came deluge, this June is unique

- Siblings kidnapped with car as parents go to buy sweets, rescued after 3 hours

- AAP, Congress in war of words over desilting

- AIIMS centre OTs still not working

- Metro records 69L passenger journeys on Fri

- After 6-Year Wait, 6-Year-Old Undergoes Surgery At AIIMS

- Pregnant woman dies at govt hosp, kin cry foul

- CM’s Custodial Interrogation May Be Needed, Says Court

- AAP protests Kejriwal’s arrest by CBI

- 4 policemen held for extorting `24L from Panipat resident

- SUV knocks down toddler in Noida

- Car Driven By 16-Yr-Old Runs Amok In Shahdara, 5 Injured

- Minor’s rape, murder planned, finds probe

- Govt readies fifth home for sr citizens

- ‘I considered a medical career, but feel unsure after the NEET scam’

- Atishi attends defamation case

- 3-Minister Panel To Probe Tree Cutting

- After 2 shootouts with cops, man dies in ‘accidental firing’

- Mahamaya flyover revamp affects Noida-Delhi traffic

New Drainage System For Capital Need Of The Hour

Shah Holds Meet On Waterlogging, Plan May Take 4 Years

A DAY AFTER THE RAIN: Sludge-filled Aurobindo Marg

Atul Mathur & Siddhanta Mishra TNN

New Delhi: Heavy downpour and subsequent waterlogging on Friday has brought focus back on the need to overhaul the city’s drainage system. Union home minister Amit Shah held a meeting with senior Delhi officials on Saturday to discuss the issue of waterlogging and find a solution to the nagging problem that returns to haunt the people of the city every time it rains heavily.

While Shah directed the officials to maintain inter-department coordination, complete desilting of drains at the earliest and take temporary measures to solve local problems, officials maintained that the city will have to deal with waterlogging unless the city gets a new drainage system. They, however, agreed that it will take at least 4 years to put in place the new drainage set up that suits the requirement of the ever-growing population in both urban areas as well as the unplanned colonies of Delhi.

Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar said the city has been divided in three parts – Najafgarh basin, Barapullah basin and Trans-Yamuna basin – and consultants have already been appointed to prepa- re the drainage plan for each of them. “We are likely to get the report by March next year and once approved, it will take at least three years for modify the city’s drainage system as per the new plan,” Kumar said.

There are multiple agencies in Delhi that manage the city’s big and small drains while the high court has called for a single agency to look after them. With the current design of the drainage system, which was put in place almost 50 years ago in 1976, Delhi can easily drain only 50mm of rain in a day. However, the city came to its knees whenever it witnessed massive intense rains. On Friday, Delhi saw 228mm of rainfall and almost the entire city got submerged. In 2023, 153mm of rainfall was recorded on July 9 and 107.3mm on July 10, which led to widespread waterlogging across the city resulting in long traffic jams.

It was in 2009 that the then LG Tejendra Khanna had directed the civic bodies to prepare a master plan for the watershed and drainage system. The project was given to IIT Delhi in 2012 . Almost five years since the report was submitted in 2018, a modern drainage master plan continues to evade the capital.

Retired IAS officer Ramesh Negi, who worked in MCD, Delhi Jal Board and Delhi govt’s urban develop- ment department said the city’s faulty drainage system was the making of everyone. “More than half of the city is unplanned. Go to the unauthorised colonies and villages and you will find the drains choked with garbage and construction waste. In posh localities such as Civil Lines, which was flooded after the Yamuna spilled over, Panchsheel, Hauz Khas and all others, drains have been covered to park vehicles,” Negi said. “I don’t blame the govt agencies. I blame the citizens for this problem,” he added.

Former additional director general in central public works department, MCT Pareva, who served in the irrigation and flood control department of Delhi govt twice as chief engineer, said the first spell of rain always leads to waterlogging. “Most drains are covered and difficult to clean. Also, our engineers are not trained to deal with the situation when it rains so much. The disaster management teams should conduct a drill before the monsoon to check if the system is fine,” Pareva said.

While he also advocated for a new drainage master plan for Delhi, Pareva said if the 1976 plan is properly implemented, the problem of waterlogging won’t occur.

Bodies of 3 labourers retrieved in Vasant Vihar

Devanshi.Mehta@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: After a 24-hour-long operation, teams from Delhi Fire Service (DFS) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) retrieved the bodies of three labourers who fell into a pit for basement at an under-construction building in south Delhi’s Vasant Vihar on Friday.

A senior DFS officer said two bodies were recovered around 9 am on Saturday, and the third one was retrieved 20 minutes later. The pit had been dug up to construct the basement of a building in B block of Vasant Vihar.

The bodies of Santosh Pal (19), Santosh Ram (19), and Daya Ram (45), all natives of Bihar, have been recovered, a police officer said

Santosh, a resident of Araria village who studied up till class10, had come to Delhi just a month before the accident to earn a living and send money back home, said Dilkhush, his friend. "At the construction site, he was hired to cut iron bars as a daily wage labourer. He wanted to give a good life to his family, but sadly he died," he added.

The firefighters said that the labourers had set up 3-4 temporary shelters (jhuggis) right on the edge of the pit for basement was dug up. Due to heavy rain, trees, as well as these shelters, fell inside the pit due to the mud underneath sliding because of the rain.

Other labourers present on the site informed TOI that though three bodies have been recovered; they were not the only ones who fell into the pit. A middleaged man and a woman had also fallen into the pit, but they grabbed the branch of a tree that fell inside and managed to survive. However, another shelter right above the basement, in which the security guard was living, didn't fall.

The officer said that the major challenge in this rescue operation was to pump out all the water from the dug-up basement to retrieve the bodies. Since the water had filled up to 12 feet, more than 6-8 fire units were used by DFS to pump out the water, and subsequently, MCD also pumped out water. With the help of NDRF, the bodies could be retrieved, he added.

Another challenge was removing the semi-solid mud slush formed due to the debris of the material used by the labourers to build their makeshift shelters, the officer added.

FILTHY WORK DAMAGING & DAMNING!

Anindya.Chattopadhyay@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: In an era where technology can be expected to do most work, the capital of India’s civic authorities have turned the clock back by getting manual scavengers to remove the muck from drains. Workers in orange safety vests arrived at Vinod Nagar in east Delhi and proceeded to shatter the pavements on the service lane of the Delhi-Meerut expressway. They then descended into the murky depths and began shovelling out the accumulated silt.

Deshraj, Rohit, Gulshan, Vinod, Sumit and Chand, all residents of Trilokpuri and Jal Vihar, identified as most labourers are by just their first names, have been tasked to clear the stormwater drain by their contractor and will continue their assignment for three months. Sumit proudly proclaimed, "I am reputed for sewage clearing. It’s become my calling card.”

Deshraj toiled beneath the fractured pavement, stooping uncomfortably in the 2 ft tall drain, scooping out the muck and passing them to his colleagues outside. Vinod expressed his apprehensions, saying, "We can't work in a bent posture in the drain for extended periods. Machine sey pani nikalna chahiye, hum to katori se pani nikalte hain." For their exertions from 9am to 6pm, the six men receive a daily remuneration of Rs 500 from their contractor, whom Rohit mentioned was hired by the Public Works Department.

Nihal Singh, a resident of West Vinod Nagar, was aghast to see the destruction required for the crucial task of preventing flooding of the drains. "It's truly agonising to witness the ravaged pavements where we frequently come for evening strolls,” he sighed.

Following the heaviest downpour in June in 88 years on Friday, the orangeclad men were in a rush on Saturday to finish desilting that particular stretch. And although manual scavenging has been banned in India, the practice continues.

Urban local bodies and private contractors employ people to manually clear clogged sewers and drains of mud, waste and plastic bags.

Photos: Anindya Chattopadhyay

Delhi-Meerut e-way near Vinod Nagar in east Delhi

4 boys drown in city, man electrocuted

Sarita Vihar Underpass still choked after Friday's heavy rain

Continued from P1

In the incident at the Samaypur Badli underpass, bodies of the two boys were fished out at 4:15 pm on Saturday after the police responded to a call at 2:25 pm. "Upon reaching the spot, we found that the underpass near the metro had approximately 2.5-3 feet of water," the officer said.

One of the deceased was identified as a resident of Siraspur while the other remains unidentified. Proceedings under Section 174 of CrPC have been initiated.

In other incidents, two boys had drowned in a ditch in northeast Delhi's New Usmanpur while a 40-year-old man was electrocuted in Prem Nagar, north-west Delhi, on Friday.

Meanwhile, bodies of three labourers were finally recovered from a pit in Vasant Vihar on Saturday morning, more than 24 hours after they got buried in mud because of a mishap at a construction site.

On Friday, a canopy at the forecourt of Terminal 1 at IGI Airport had collapsed, leaving a cabbie dead and eight injured.

Govt seeks permanent solution to waterlogging

TIMESNEWSNETWORK

New Delhi: Delhi urban development minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Saturday visited several rain-affected areas in East Kidwai Nagar and Golf Links and coordinated with various departments to address the issue of waterlogging.

Delhi govt, in a statement, said that despite these areas falling under New Delhi Municipal Council, Bharadwaj called for a permanent solution to fix the waterlogging problem. He also discussed the overflow in Barapullah drain with the officials of various central govt departments.

“Bharadwaj received information from Golf Links that water had entered people’s homes due to heavy rain and waterlogging. A team was sent from the chief minister’s office to the spot and the waterlogging was cleared by calling the NDMC staff. Water was removed by 4am,” said the statement.

It added that Bharadwaj visited Golf Links and took stock of the situation and found that the problem had been temporarily resolved. “To find a permanent solution, the minister had an extensive discussion with the officers of all departments concerned. He instructed the departments to provide an effective solution so that the problem does not recur,” said the govt, adding that Bharadwaj also visited Barapullah drain and discussed cleaning of drain with the staff present there.

Officials said complaints of waterlogging were reported from East Kidwai Nagar also where vehicles were submerged in water in the parking lot and lifts had to be closed.

LG asks agencies to carry out desilting on war footing

LG said a comprehensive plan be drafted

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: A day after LG VK Saxena issued instructions to officials to deal with flooding that occurred due to heavy rainfall and backflow from choked drains, he inspected some of the most severely affected drains and areas on Saturday. He directed the agencies concerned to carry out the desilting on a war footing.

LG also asked officials to put in place a comprehensive plan comprising long-term measures to deal with the problems of waterlogging rather than dealing with the issue in a “crisis management mode”.

According to Raj Niwas officials, Saxena directed the agencies to make the water drainage system foolproof to avert the recurrence of such incidents in future. Officials said LG expressed displeasure that none of the major drains were desilted and cleaned in the run-up to the monsoon preparations and this led to heavy waterlogging in several parts of the city. He also noticed encroachment along the drains and asked authorities to remove them immediately. Some of the drains that LG visited included Taimur Nagar, Barapullah drain, ITPO, Tilak Bridge, Kushak Nullah, Golf Links and Bharti Nagar.

Saxena was accompanied by chief secretary Naresh Kumar, who also holds the charge of NDMC chairman, MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar, PWD principal secretary A Anbarasu and other senior officials. Union minister and East Delhi MP Harsh Malhotra and New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj also accompanied LG during the visit in their respective areas.

Raj Niwas officials said LG first inspected the Taimur Nagar drain and found it heavily by a huge quan- tity of silt and garbage deposit that prevented the water from flowing down. He later went to ITPO and Tilak Bridge drains, both owned and maintained by PWD, where he found similar conditions. Clogged drains due to garbage and debris resulted in backflow of water and flooded the entire stretch around ITO, the LG office said.

Saxena also visited Kushak Nallah opposite Dyal Singh College, Golf Links drain and Bharti Nagar where locals complained of choked drains and sewer lines. “LG directed NDMC officials to immediately get desilting of drains done and deploy additional pumps as and when required to clear waterlogging in case of heavy rain,” said an official. “He also directed of- ficials to deploy additional pumps at the chronic waterlogging sites to prevent waterlogging and flooding. LG warned that any negligence will be viewed seriously and action will be taken against the erring officials,” the official added.

Raj Niwas, in a press statement, said LG also expressed displeasure over the garbage dumped in all drains and issued instructions for its removal within four days and submission of photographic and video evidence.

“Since day one of assuming office, LG has accorded topmost priority to monsoon preparedness to ensure people are not inconvenienced due to waterlogging, flooding, overflowing drains and falling of trees,” Raj Niwas added.

Tunnel Vision: Drainage Was Overlooked

Transit Corridor Got Filled With Rainwater After Silt In Drain 12A Blocked Flow On Friday

Siddhanta.Mishra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: The age-old adage of haste makes waste encapsulates the quandary of the subterranean Pragati Maidan transit corridor, where expedited construction has resulted in complications that persistently inconvenience commuters. On Friday, the heavy rainfall caused rainwater to accumulate in low-lying areas on the slip road of Mathura Road, along which are located VIP bungalows. The natural outfall is into two drains: the regulator drain No. 12A and a smaller drain near Bhairon Mandir. Both connect with a larger drain managed by Delhi govt’s irrigation & flood control department.

The silt in drain No. 12A obstructed the flow of water from Mathura Road, Supreme Court area and Tilak Bridge, resulting in a backflow. The water was dumped into the main tunnel, causing accumulation from both the basement and above. "While the Bhairon Marg drain was working fine, drain No. 12A caused a discharge problem. We have written to the municipal corporation on the lack of silting," claimed a PWD official.

Despite measures taken after last year's floods, such as installing CCTV cameras and constructing roadside drains on Mathura Road, the area still experienced waterlogging. PWD had worked on desilting and redesigning of the stormwater drain on Mathura Road recently. A five-member PWD committee formed in March submitted a report in April about the area’s problems, but govt agencies didn’t take any steps to prevent or manage the waterlogging in and aro- und the tunnel before the rainy season began.

The expert report determined that one of the reasons for the waterlogging was the involvement of two different agencies working on different components of the Pragati Maidan complex redevelopment. The tunnel network, connected with Bharat Mandapam managed by ITPO, experiences significant water infiltration from the underground parking ramps and branch tunnels after every spell of rain leading to frequent closure of the tunnel. PWD, responsible for managing the transit network, attributes the problem to the incomplete drainage system within the Bharat Mandapam campus.

Among the suggestion made by the expert committee in its report, dumping of water by civic authorities, mainly NDMC, around the tunnel was a major problem and should be stopped. An NDMC official countered, "This is just a blame game. It is PWD itself which resorts to dumping rainwater inside the tunnel."

The high-level report also highlighted the need for a new drain around the tunnel, in addition to the two existing drains.

A PWD official maintained, "While the tunnel project progressed ahead, the redevelopment of the campus was slow and ITPO misma- naged proper drainage construction work inside it. There is a drain but it is in parts, so whenever there is rain or leakage of water it seeps through walls, ramps inside the main tunnel. Despite numerous communications sent to ITPO urging them to address the issue on priority, no action has been taken."

The walls of the parking lot at Pragati Maidan have shown signs of severe seepage during the recent rains and the underpasses of the transit network have been temporarily closed for repairs. The tunnel was again closed for traffic on Friday as PWD worked to clear out the accumulated water.

An ITPO official responded to a query with: "ITPO is managing its campus in an utmost professional manner. There is no source of water accumulation on the part of ITPO. The fault in this case does not lie with ITPO. Rather we are at the receiving end."

A new drain is being constructed around the tunnel, as per the panel’s recommendation

Bouncer shot six times at market by two on a bike, dies

Anuj Dayama was having juice in his car at Ullawas market when the two assailants crashed into the vehicle and shot him

Ankita.Anand@timesgroup.com

Gurgaon: A 24-year-old bouncer with a local club was shot dead in the middle of a crowded market in the city on Friday night by two bike-borne men.

Anuj Dayama, who lived in Kadarpur village, was having juice in his car at Ullawas market when the two assailants — wearing T-shirts of a food delivery app and online grocery store — crashed into the vehicle from behind around 8.45pm, police said. No sooner did he come out to check what had happened, he was fired at. As Anuj started to run to save himself, the two attackers chased him down the road for around 100 metres, firing at him almost a dozen times.

Six bullets hit Anuj. Four bullets pierced his body while two scraped past his arm.

Footage from CCTV cameras installed in the market shows a youth in a black Tshirt — Anuj — running through the market crowd. As two men in red and yellow tees chase him, Anuj crashes into a tin shed and slumps to the ground. The attacker in the yellow T-shirt fires at him first, while his accomplice joins him after a few seconds.

Anuj’s father Ranbir Singh lodged a police complaint. He said his son was returning home to Kadarpur village from HBR Chowk along with his uncle when he was attacked.

“At the market, Anuj was sitting in his car and drinking juice while my brother was buying fruits at a nearby stall. Two youths crashed their bike into Anuj’s car from behind. When he came out, they started to fire at him. My son tried to flee, but the assailants caught up with him and pumped six bullets into him. He was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to injuries during treatment,” Singh said in his complaint.

An FIR was lodged against the unknown attackers under sections 302 (murder), 34 (common intent) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code. A senior police officer said that they were scanning CCTV footage to identify the attackers. The cops are also tracing Anuj’s criminal antecedents, cops said.

“We have come across three FIRs against Anuj as well. We are analysing them to find out if the attack on him was the result of some old enmity,” an officer said.

An anti-caste library that seeks to bridge gaps battles rain

With the rain having damaged books, members of the initiative are seeking donations in the form of books and cash to return to normalcy

Komal.Sharma@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: The torrential downpour on Friday hit an event called Pride organised by the Community Library Project in Khirki Extension, Malviya Nagar. The rain damaged the space and the books, the anti-caste library’s crown jewels. The rainwater resulted in a claimed loss of Rs 10 lakh for the unique library.

"We were shocked to see the rainwater destroying the books and the furniture,” exclaimed Mausam, 24, deputy director of the library. “Luckily, we were closed on Fridays so no members came and we had some hours to clean the space. We were planning a ‘Pride’ workshop on Saturday, but the rain damage meant we had to cancel it,” said a regretful Mausam.

With the rains having damaged some books, members of the initiative are seeking do- nations in the form of books and cash to help them return to normalcy. Those who are willing to help can access the website of the Community Library ProjectKhirki Extension.

The library, with its motto of ‘Hum Nahi Toh Kaun aur Ab Nahi Toh Ka’, reflects the fervour of the youth who run the programme, driven by a strong anti-caste ethos. It provides free access to over 10,000 books and a variety of educational programmes and creates a vital bridge between the community library and the populace.

Mausam said, "We are an anti-caste, people's initiative. We believe all people should have access to books and education. Approximately 200 people come here every day. We have three branches, one in South Extension and another in Gurgaon.”

The library, she declares, is owned by the community itself. “We only run it,” said Mausam. "We come from a leadership development programme in which a member learns librarian skills and leadership skills and then takes charge of the library."

Simpy, 23, director, added, "Members have to commit to giving four hours a week to the library. There are two ty- pes of groups in leadership development, one below the age of 18 years and another above it. Everyone chips in and does his or her bit in ensuring the library functions smoothly."

Asked how someone can become a member of the library, trustee and community organiser Sumit, 27, said, "The admission form includes basic details of the applicants, but it is important to adhere to our code of conduct. No fees or documents are needed." Mausam added, "We cater to those who want to learn English, Hindi and basics of reading and writing."

Sumit said, "This is a firstgeneration library. No one in the benefactor’s family has gone to college. There are multiple barriers for many people getting into a college. I got my degree through an open college because there was no one to tell me I could go to a regular college. It is because of this we have a programme called ‘College Ka Haq’, which encourages members to access information on education. We are running this space because we know our community has been excluded from educa- tion and healthcare and has been excluded from everything else. So, a place like this library needs to exist if only to make sure that they are welcomed there in a space where they can seek and get equality.”

The members of the collective went on to add that they had started an e-library called 'Duniya Sabki' during Covid to enable the flow of in- formation for the community during the lockdown phase. “First, we started on WhatsApp and connected all the members. We used to create videos so that people wouldn’t get disconnected from us,” said Simpy. “We also provided information related to Covid to them. From there, we conceptualised and began operating our e-library.”

The members of the library are clear. They want free space from govt for similar efforts. “The rent we have to spend on a library can instead be spent on books and other facilities," one of the members declared.

TOI POSITIVE

3 kids who died in Noida wall collapse had come on vacation

Noida:A five-year-old boy injured in the wall collapse in Greater Noida’s Surajpur on Friday night is on ventilator support. Four other injured kids are stable, but under observation.

Three children — the youngest of them just 2 years old — died and five were injured after the wall collapsed on them around 7.45pm in Khodna Kalan village. It was not immediately clear if the wall came crashing down because of rain or if substandard material was used to build it. The wall had been built around a plot where a local resident — Saghir — was constructing a house.

Police said all eight kids who were buried under the rubble were Saghir’s grandsons and had come to his house for the summer vacation. The three kids who died were Ahad (4), Alfiza (2) and Adil (8). The injured are identified as Ayesha (16) and Sameer (15), Hussain (5), Sohna (12) and Wasil (11). Ayesha and Sameer are Saghir’s children. Hussain, with critical injuries to the head, is on life support.

Saghir told TOI his son, daughter, and nephew had come to his house along with their families for the summer vacation around 10 days ago.

TNN

Chaos on at IGI: 36 flights cancelled, 40 get delayed

Priyangi.Agarwal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: Flight were impacted for the second day at Delhi Airport after the operations at Terminal-1 were suspended indefinitely on Friday. Over 36 flights were cancelled on Saturday and over 40 were delayed.

IndiGo cancelled 23 flights and SpiceJet two at T-1 on Saturday till 6.30 pm. Six IndiGo flights were cancelled at T-2 and one each of IndiGo and Alliance airlines at T-3 till Saturday evening.

After the operations at Terminal-1 were suspended, all departures and arrivals of IndiGo were shifted to both T-2 and T-3, while operations of SpiceJet were moved to T-2. Only domestic flights of IndiGo and SpiceJet operate from T-1, averaging 200 flights a day including arrivals and departures.

Passengers claimed that they received messages about the delay. Ayushman, who had booked a flight from Kolkata to New Delhi, said, “My flight on Saturday was initially scheduled to arrive at T-1, but I was informed that it will now land at T-2.”

The service at Delhi airport was hit after the canopy at the forecourt of Terminal-1 at Indira Gandhi International Airport collapsed around 5 am on Friday, killing one and injuring eight people. Soon after the incident, the departure at T-1 was suspended. While arrivals continued till 10.30 am, it was then shifted to other terminals.

The canopy, spanning from departure gates 1 to 2, collapsed due to heavy rain. Due to this incident, the new T-1 building, which was expected to become operational by next month, may be affected as they both have a common ramp, said airport officials.

Though the newly constructed and expanded T-1 was inaugurated in March, it is yet to become operational. The expanded T-1 can serve 40 million passengers per annum, more than double its previous capacity. The overall area of the expanded T-1 has been tripled from earlier 55,740 sqm to 206,950 sqm.

Take steps to utilise rainwater, DMRC told

New Delhi: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked DMRC to complete the work connecting viaduct spans to the central median with outlet pipes to facilitate recharging of groundwater as per the timeline of Aug 31.

TOI had earlier reported in Feb this year that DMRC has identified 961 viaduct spans where outlet water pipes will be connected to the central median and into the ground to facilitate recharging of groundwater. DMRC informed NGT said the budget for the exercise would be Rs 89.5 lakh and it is expected to be completed by Aug 31.

“We pointed out to DMRC that work of taken of down take pipe along with storage depth is comprehensive and integrated, therefore, nothing should be left to any other authority and entire work should be undertaken and discharged by DMRC itself,” said NGT, adding, “We permit DMRC to proceed accordingly, and complete work as per above timeline.” NGT observed that the system of rainwater harvesting pits for utilization of rainwater along metro lines across the country needs to be undertaken in the same manner by all concerned agencies as there is lot of depletion of groundwater as well as surface water particularly whom water is in scarcity.

TNN

Heavy Rain Likely In City, Air Quality Dips

IMD Expects Intense Activity For Four Days

REJOICING IN RAIN

Priyangi.Agarwal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: Some parts of the city witnessed light rain on Saturday. An “orange” alert has been sounded for moderate to heavy rain on Sunday and heavy rain on Monday and Tuesday.

After the arrival of monsoon, the city is likely to witness moderate to heavy rain for the next few days, shows forecast of India Meteorological Department.

The maximum temperature on Saturday was 35.6 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal. It was 3.1 degrees higher than Monday’s maximum. The minimum temperature stood at 28 degrees Celsius. The relative humidity oscillated between 61% and 97%.

A day after Safdarjung, which is the city’s base station, saw an extremely heavy rainfall of 228.1mm, some parts of Delhi saw light rain on Saturday. From 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Saturday, Safdarjung and Lodhi Road logged 8.9 and 12.6 mm rainfall, respectively.

The city saw a rain deficit till June 27 as Safdarjung had logged just 6.4 mm rainfall. However, the monsoon, which arrived in Delhi on Friday, brought extremely heavy rainfall of 228.1 mm rainfall in just one day. It was the highest single day rainfall seen since June 1936.

The one-day intense rainfall activity covered up the entire deficit as the city has now recorded an excess rainfall of 253%. The month has received 243.4 mm rainfall till Saturday 5.30 pm. It is also the third highest monthly rain- fall logged in June since 1901.

IMD has predicted intense rain activity over the next four days. “Moderate to heavy rain or thunderstorm is likely on Sunday. The showers are likely to be accompanied by gusty winds at the speed of 30-40 kmph. However, heavy rain is expected on both Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday may see moderate to heavy showers,” said a Met official. The official added that moderate rain or thunderstorms are expected on July 4 and 5.

The maximum temperature is likely to stay around 34 degrees Celsius on Sunday, but it may dip to 30 degrees Celsius on Monday and further to 29 degrees Celsius on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, the minimum temperature is predicted to hover around 25-26 degrees Celsius over the next seven days.

Rain had also cleaned Delhi’s air quality as the city saw the lowest air quality index (AQI) at 64 on Friday and 79 on Thursday in the satisfactory category after Sept 2023. However, the air quality deteriorated to “moderate” on Saturday with an AQI of 118.

After heat came deluge, this June is unique

MET OFFICIAL SAYS Even the minimum temperature on some days stayed 4.5 degrees higher than normal, causing warmer nights

Priyangi.Agarwal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: Delhiites witnessed a unique June as they reeled under the intense daytime heat and warm nights with a dry spell for most part of the month. However, belying expectations, the city saw intense rainfall by the month-end. With a mean maximum temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius, it was the hottest June in at least 14 years, at par with June 2012, when the mean maximum temperature was also 41.9 degrees Celsius.

Apart from daytime temperatures, the nights were warmer as the mean minimum temperature was 29.8 degrees Celsius this June. It was the highest minimum temperature in the past 12 years. Before this, the higher average minimum temperature was recorded in June 2012 at 30.6 degrees Celsius.

There were nine heatwave days this June, the highest number recorded in the month in at least 14 years, according to India Meteorological Department’s data from 2011 to 2024. Some parts of Delhi, including Pitampura, Jafarpur, Najafgarh and Narela, recorded a higher number of heatwave days.

From June 1 to June 22, the maximum temperature remained above 40 degrees Celsius for consecutive days. However, the streak of the maxi- mum temperature surpassing 40 degrees Celsius continued from May 14 to June 22, with Delhiites experiencing scorching heat. Rain accompanied by cold breezes brought down the maximum temperature to 39.4 degrees Celsius only on June 23. The mercury again crossed 40 degrees Celsius on June 25 when the mercury read 40.4 degrees Celsius.

“The dry and warm westerly winds from Rajasthan and south Haryana, which were witnessing high temperatures, blew into Delhi. No significant rain activity was re- corded in the first 20 days of the month, and the city saw a prolonged dry spell. It led to an intense heatwave condition,” said a Met official. “Even the minimum temperature on some days stayed 4.5 degrees higher than normal, causing warmer nights. Since the difference between maximum and minimum temperatures was in the range of 10-12 degrees on some days, the outdoor temperature of both days and nights were uncomfortable.”

The city was staring at a rain deficit till June 27 because Safdarjung, which is the city’s base weather station, had logged just 6.4mm of rainfall. However, the arrival of the monsoon winds in Delhi on Friday brought extremely heavy rainfall of 228.1mm in just a single day, the most in a day since June 1936.

June 2024 has now logged 243.4mm of precipitation till 5.30pm on Saturday, making it an excess rainfall of 253% for the month. It is also the third highest monthly rainfall logged in June since 1901.

Siblings kidnapped with car as parents go to buy sweets, rescued after 3 hours

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: A nightmare unfolded for a businessman who had come to Delhi with his family from Gurgaon to enjoy some street food. His 11-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son were kidnapped in Shakarpur on Friday. The parents had left them in their vehicle near a sweet shop when the abductor drove the car away and later demanded a hefty ransom of Rs 50 lakh for their safe return. Police were, however, turned the tables on the kidnapper and rescued the children from Samaypur Badli within three hours even if the suspects managed to escape.

Police received information about the kidnapping at 11. 40 pm. A team rushed to the scene and met the parents at Heera Sweets on Vikas Marg. A police officer disclosed, "The family was returning to Gurgaon after enjoying street food when the children requested sweets. The parents were gone only for six or seven minutes. When they came out of the shop they found the car missing. The father received a phone call soon after in which the kidnapper demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh for the release of the two children."

The child's father told the media later that the kidnapper insisted on the payment of ransom at any cost. "My daughter was in a panic and told us on the phone not to call the cops," the father said. He stayed on the phone continuously with the kidnapper.

Sagar Singh Kalsi, joint commissioner of police, immediately formed teams under the leadership of inspector Sanjay Gupta. One team accompanied the mother, another the father, while two other teams started pursuing the family car based on technical surveillance. The accused remained in contact with the father throughout.

After a three-hour, high-speed chase involving around 20 police vehicles covering over 80km, the kidnapper abandoned the car in Samaypur Badli with the children unharmed. Although the suspect managed to escape, the children were safely recovered and reunited with their parents.

“A few valuables, including jewellery and mobile phones, were also found intact in the car because the kidnapper had no time to take anything while being chased by the cops from different directions," Kalsi said, adding that raids were under way to track and apprehend the culprit.

When asked if this was a targeted kidnapping, an officer said that so far it appeared to have been impetuous. Upon finding the car running, the kidnapper had taken the opportunity to drive off with the kids.

AAP, Congress in war of words over desilting

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: A war of words broke out between Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and Congress’ state unit chief Devender Yadav on Saturday after the latter alleged corruption in desilting of drains and demanded a probe into it.

In a post of X, Yadav said Congress had formed an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi for Lok Sabha elections and not to save Kejriwal on the issue of corruption.

Talking to reporters in a press conference on Friday, Yadav had alleged that massive waterlogging that brought Delhi on its knees and led to huge traffic jams was caused because of corruption in the desilting of drains and de- manded that responsibility should be fixed on that.

When a television reporter sought Bharadwaj’s reaction on Saturday, he said the two parties were part of INDIA bloc at the national level and were fighting together on larger issues such as saving the Constitution and democracy.

Reacting to it, Yadav posted on X, “Congress has formed an alliance to save democracy and the Constitution. We have not formed any alliance to save corruption. The main reason for waterlogging (in Delhi) is corruption. After the press conference by Congress on waterlogging, the statement of minister @Saurabh_MLAgk ji is understandable.”

When asked, Bharadwaj refused to comment on it.

AIIMS centre OTs still not working

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: The operation theatres in the vital trauma centre at AIIMS remained non-functional for over 24 hours following heavy rainfall in the city on Friday. However, trauma surgeries are not being postponed and are being conducted at the burn and plastic surgery centre, said officials.

The downpour had disrupted medical services at AIIMS to a great extent, causing inconvenience to patients, particularly those who had their surgeries scheduled.

As per authorities, the neurosurgery unit’s operating ro- oms at the cardiothoracic and neuroscience centre were back in service from Friday evening. The RP Centre’s surgical theatre also resumed operations at midday on Friday.

The trauma centre conducted a trial run in the evening on Saturday, but the authorities deemed it inappropriate to commence operations in the OT at that time.

Prof Rima Dada, who leads the media cell at AIIMS, told TOI that the trauma centre was conducting frequent moisture checks. However, surgeries are no longer being postponed. The trauma centre authorities are putting in their best efforts to guarantee the safe and swift reopening of the operation theatre, AIIMS officials said.

The water in the third basement level of the parking had not receded even after 24 hours.

Despite the heavy rain, the hospital’s staff performed 347 surgeries and admitted 1,028 patients on Friday. The number of admissions at the trauma centre was lower compared to previous days.

AIIMS authorities claimed that they managed to maintain normal operations at the hospital even though many of the faculty members were on vacation.

Metro records 69L passenger journeys on Fri

New Delhi: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) recorded over 69 lakh passenger journeys on Friday. It recorded 69,36,425 passenger journeys. On Thursday, the figure stood at 62,58,072.

“On Friday, Delhi Metro recorded an increase of almost 7 lakh additional passenger journeys, which indicates that many passengers preferred to use the Metro instead of their private vehicles or other modes of travel due to heavy rainfall in the city,” said Anuj Dayal, principal executive director, corporate communications, DMRC.

“Despite some hindrances caused by minor waterlogging outside station premises and entry/exit points, DMRC continued to provide regular services throughout the day on Friday with excellent punctuality of over 99%,” he added.

DMRC defines a passenger journey as the total number of Metro lines used by passengers to complete their journey. However, ridership data includes total tickets sold and Metro cards used by commuters to exit a station.

TNN

After 6-Year Wait, 6-Year-Old Undergoes Surgery At AIIMS

Dad Says Docs Have Informed Hole In Heart Closed, Issue In Veins Fixed

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: After waiting for almost his entire life of 6 years, Aayansh Kumar, a young ailing boy from Bihar, was finally operated upon for his heart disorder at AIIMS on Saturday. The little boy was detected with his cardiac ailment when he was 3 months old in 2018 but was not operated on, despite being given several dates, until TOI highlighted his and his family’s plight earlier this month.

According to doctors, there was a hole in the child's heart, and he was also suffering from ‘Tetralogy of Fallot’, a congenital heart defect. This condition involves four related heart defects that change the way blood flows to the lungs and through the heart.

On June 19, National Hu- man Rights Commission had taken suo motu cognisance of the TOI report on the boy.

The surgery was performed by Dr A K Bisoi.

On Friday, the boy underwent a CT angiography in the emergency department. This procedure was deemed necessary by the attending physician to obtain a more precise diagnosis, following an initial assessment that required further clarification, said doctors.

The boy’s father, Ankit Kumar, a 32-year-old medical store helper, told TOI that his son was taken to the operating theatre at approximately 8.45am, and he was informed about the successful completion of the procedure around 3pm. The child has been shifted to the ICU for monitoring.

“The doctors informed me that the hole in the heart has been closed and the issue related to the veins has also been fixed. There were no complications during the surgery,” Kumar stated.

He expressed hope that the next 24 hours would be uneventful and that his child's recovery would progress smoothly.

Ankit had earlier told TOI, “We brought Aayansh to AIIMS in Nov 2018, when he was just three months old. After seeing the child in OPD, Dr Sachin Talwar, professor of cardiothoracic & vascular surgery, had asked him to deposit Rs 60,000 for the surgery and Rs 8,000 for some tests and had given them an appointment for the operation four months later but despite completing all formalities the surgery was not performed.”

With TOI reporting the issue and NHRC taking it up, the hospital administration stated that they promptly reached out to the patient's family upon discovering the postponement of the surgery. However, the family members were unable to arrive at the hospital immediately. They conveyed to the administration that they would be present on June 27.

AIIMS had conducted an inquiry to reveal the reasons for this unprecedented delay, but its findings have not been made public yet.

Pregnant woman dies at govt hosp, kin cry foul

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: A 23-year-old pregnant woman, Monu Kumari, and her unborn child died under mysterious circumstances at Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, a Delhi govt-run facility in Malviya Nagar, on Saturday. Her family accused the hospital of negligence.

Sudhakar Singh, the husband of Monu Kumari and a resident of Samastipur, alleged that his wife did not receive timely care from a senior doctor, despite her ultrasound of the breast being mar- ked as “urgent”. She was left waiting for nearly three hours before the procedure was conducted.

After the ultrasound report was reviewed, a doctor prescribed pain medication and administered an injection in the emergency room. She was advised to lie down for half an hour and then leave for home. Subsequently, another doctor ordered an ECG. Following these events, the doctors pronounced both the woman and her unborn child dead around 1.30 pm.

Singh, who works in a private sector, claimed that despite his wife experiencing complications, no senior doctor attended to her. Frustrated by the situation, he decided to involve police and file a complaint against the hospital staff. “My wife’s body has been sent to a mortuary for postmortem,” he said.

Police said in such cases they rely on postmortem report and take opinion from Delhi Medical Council.

Following the tragic incident, Singh expressed his grief and disappointment with the hospital’s handling of his wife’s case. He alleged that the medical staff failed to provide adequate care and attention to his wife during her critical condition.

Chandan, a family member of Monu, told TOI that her remains were being transported to All India Institute of Medical Sciences for an autopsy on Sunday.

The postmortem examination will be conducted to determine the cause of Monu’s death and gather other crucial evidence related to the case.

When contacted, Dr Pankaj Agarwal, the media nodal officer of the hospital, stated that based on preliminary details, the patient, who was 38 weeks pregnant, was under the care of a senior gynaecologist. He added, “Until the postmortem happens, we will not be able to comment on details.”

Dr Agarwal further said that the patient’s body had been handed over to police. “An autopsy will be conducted to know the cause of death. The medical examiner will perform a thorough postmortem examination to determine the factors that led to the patient’s demise. Further investigations may be conducted based on the findings of the autopsy”.

CM’s Custodial Interrogation May Be Needed, Says Court

CBI Claims Kejriwal Evasive, Couldn’t Explain Hiked Profit Margin

The agency expressed apprehension that Kejriwal being the CM may use his influence to tamper with the evidence and may also try to influence potential witnesses who aren’t examined yet

CM Arvind Kejriwal being brought to court by CBI officials on Saturday

Continued from P1

The court, taking note of the available material, said the investigation had revealed that Vijay Nair, media in-charge of AAP and an accused in the case, was a close associate of the Delhi CM. He was contacting various liquor manufacturers and traders “for demanding undue gratification” in order to incorporate provisions favourable to them in the policy, said the court.

The name of Kejriwal had surfaced as one of the main conspirators in the criminal conspiracy, the court said.

The agency claimed in its application that Kejriwal did not cooperate with the investigation, gave evasive replies and had failed to give a proper and truthful explanation regarding enhancement of the profit margin for wholesalers from 5% to 12% under the policy without any study or justification.

CBI told the court that Kejriwal could not explain why during the peak of the second wave of Covid pandemic in 2021, cabinet approval for the revised policy was obtained in a hurried manner and within a day when the accused persons of the South Group were camping in Delhi holding meetings with Nair.

He also could not give, CBI claimed, the reasons for Nair holding meetings with various stakeholders in the liquor business in Delhi and of his own meetings with Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, accused Arjun Pandey and accused Mootha Gautham. Reddy is a Telugu Desam Party MP in Lok Sabha and his son, Raghav Magunta Reddy, is an accused-turned-approver in the case. Pandey and Gautham are other accused.

The agency expressed apprehension that Kejriwal be- ing the CM may use his influence to tamper with the evidence and may also try to influence potential witnesses who are yet to be examined.

Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri, who was appearing for the Delhi CM, opposed the CBI plea, requesting the court to ask the agency to place on record the entire material, including the case diary and evidence collected during investigation to satisfy the court regarding the need for judicial custody. The counsel urged the court to reject the CBI plea for judicial custody in absence of such material and give a direction for releasing Kejriwal.

The investigating officer (IO) has pointed out certain incriminatory material for showing that ill-gotten money was used during the Goa assembly elections for making payments towards air tickets and hotel booking during Kejriwal’s visits to Goa from June 2021 to February 2022, the court noted.

Further, the court said, the IO has also placed chats of the CM with certain persons involved in the transfer of ill-gotten money to Goa through hawala channels.

Since Kejriwal gave evasive replies regarding his connection with the said persons, his further custodial interrogation may be required to “unearth the larger conspiracy hatched among the accused persons” in the matter, the court said, noting the contents of the case diary.

AAP protests Kejriwal’s arrest by CBI

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Terming Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by Central Bureau of Investigation in the excise policy case “illegal”, Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday staged protests across the country and accused central govt of “misusing” investigating agencies.

AAP said that party workers staged protests at BJP offices in 21 states, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Delhi BJP, however, said the protest was organised to divert the public attention from the waterlogging.

In a statement, AAP said Delhi emerged as the epicentre of these demonstrations, as hundreds of party workers, led by ministers, MLAs, and municipal councillors, carrying placards and chanting slogans, marched towards BJP office. They were stopped by police barricading much before BJP headquarter. The demonstrators staged a sit-in demanding immediate release of Kejriwal.

Arrested by Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in the excise policy-linked money laundering case, Kejri- wal was sent to Tihar jail in judicial custody on April 1. He was interrogated by CBI in jail on Tuesday and was placed under arrest on Wednesday after which a Delhi court sent him to CBI custody for three days. On Saturday, the court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said party workers were detained by police during the protests in different parts of the country.

AAP’s Delhi state convener Gopal Rai said a change was brought in Delhi under the leadership of Kejriwal. “The whole country calls Arvind Kejriwal a working hero. His work is the reason why the BJP harbours a hatred for him. They put Arvind Kejriwal, Satyendar Jain, and Manish Sisodia in jail because they want to destroy the AAP,” Rai added.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said AAP has lost the confidence of people in both Delhi and Punjab. “Despite their best efforts, a party with 60 MLAs could barely garner 400 people for the protest,” he added.

“Kejriwal is not answering the questions asked by the CBI.” added Sachdeva.

4 policemen held for extorting `24L from Panipat resident

A senior officer said the four police officers had conducted a raid on a hotel room during the Model Code of Conduct period without authorisation

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Four policemen have been arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 24 lakh from a Panipat resident by threatening to slap hawala money laundering charges on him.

Police sources said these officers had previously been suspended. On May 29, the victim, aiming to send his son abroad for studies, contacted an agent who assured him assistance with a visa. The man was directed to stay at a hotel in Laxmi Nagar. “The trouble began when someone claiming to be an associate of the agent visited me. He recorded the money and left,” the complainant said.

Later, the associate returned with four policemen. They escorted the man to a police station and threatened to level false hawala charges against him. Fearing serious consequences, he handed over Rs 24 lakh to them.

A senior officer said inspector Prakash Roy and three other officers from the Laxmi Nagar police station had conducted a raid on a hotel room in Shakarpur during the Model Code of Conduct period during elections without authorisation. This raised suspicions and prompted an inquiry by the ACP.

Following the investigation, the authorities took suo motu cognizance of the matter and registered a case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 388 (extortion), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The victim had written in his complaint that the policemen accused him of having links with Pakistan and being involved in hawala activities. “I maintained that I had no links with Pakistan and was not involved in money laundering. I told them that I was the former sarpanch of my village. Then they began abusing me,” the complaint said.

“Upon thorough investigation, the sequence of events was clarified, leading to the arrest of five other suspects. The involvement and responsibility of four cops, including an inspector, two head constables, and a constable, was also established,” the officer added.

Consequently, these officers were arrested on June 28.

SUV knocks down toddler in Noida

Noida: A 19-month-old toddler playing with her mother outside her house in Noida sector 63 suffered grievous injuries after being knocked down by an SUV on Friday. The car’s driver took the injured kid and her mother to Kailash Hospital. But as a crowd started gathering, he fled. Three police teams have been formed to nab the accused.

TNN

Car Driven By 16-Yr-Old Runs Amok In Shahdara, 5 Injured

Minor Apprehended, Bizman Father Likely To Be Booked Too

The 16-year-old boy was returning home with two minor friends after having breakfast in Krishna Nagar. Around 7.40 am, the car collided with a cart vendor near Karkardooma Court. The boy lost control of the vehicle and hit four more people

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Five people sustained injuries after they were hit by a car driven by a 16-year-old boy in the Jagatpuri area of Shahdara on Saturday. Police have apprehended the minor, who is the son of a businessman, and seized the car. They also plan to book his father who owns the vehicle. The injured were rushed to the hospital after the incident. All of them have minor injuries.

Police said that they received information about the incident, which took place near the Geeta Colony police station, around 8 am. A team of local cops apprehended the driver at the spot.

Further investigation re- vealed that the boy was returning home with two minor friends after having breakfast in Krishna Nagar. Around 7.40 am, the car collided with a cart vendor near Karkardooma Court. The boy told the cops that when the vendor shouted at the minor, he panicked and lost control of the vehicle. This led to him hitting a woman sweeper working on the road and, despite attempts to reg ain control, he struck three more pedestrians.

The boy’s father owns a shop in Sadar Bazar. Sources said that the minor had left his studies to assist his father in the business. The boy has been booked under different sections of IPC and the Motor Vehicle Act, including those dealing with “rash driving or riding on a public way” and “causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others”. The father may be booked for allowing the minor to drive his car without licence, said an officer.

The incident serves as a grim reminder of the Pune accident case that occurred in May. In that incident, a Porsche car, driven by a minor, collided with a bike in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar, resulting in the deaths of two individuals, both of whom were IT professionals.

In March, a 17-year-old boy ploughed his car into shoppers at Mayur Vihar in east Delhi, killing a woman and injuring nine others. Sheetal, the woman who died in the incident, was 22 years old. She was in the market for groceries when she was fatally hit by the car.

Minor’s rape, murder planned, finds probe

Police are investigating whether the two suspects have previously assaulted any other minor

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The investigation into the gang-rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl in outer Delhi’s Narela has revealed that the suspects had been planning to commit the crime for a long time. Both had previously attempted to entice the girl but were unsuccessful, police said.

On Thursday, they managed to take her to a secluded location to rape and allegedly ended her life when she resisted, a police officer said. Suspects Rahul (20) and his friend Devdutt (30) were victim’s neighbours and she referred to them as elder brothers and would often play with them, the officer said, adding both have a history of liquor addiction, and police are investigating whether they have previously assaulted any other minor.

Police received information about the incident at 12.29am on June 28. The girl's family informed police that she was playing outside her home and later went missing.

Her body was recovered later and Rahul, who worked in a rubber cylinder tube-ma- king factory, and Devdutt, who works in an umbrella factory in Narela, were ar rested, the officer said.

During interrogation, both the suspects told cops that they had been planning the crime for a long time and had also tried previously but were not able to find the right opportunity. “On Thursday, they saw the girl playing and, on the pretext of some food, they took her and committed the crime," the officer said.

The families of Rahul and the victim had known each other for several years. The girl used to call him "bhaiya" and would play with him. Rahul often came to her house. Devdutt was also known to the girl and her family as he lived in the other lane in the area. He was a liquor addict, and his wife left him a year ago because of his behaviour, police added.

Govt readies fifth home for sr citizens

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Delhi govt’s new home for senior citizens in northwest Delhi’s Paschim Vihar is ready and awaiting inauguration. Officials said this would be the fifth such facility in the capital for the old and infirm.

The social welfare department currently operates four old age homes in Bindapur, Wazirpur, Tahirpur and Kanti Nagar, while eight others, including the one in Paschim Vihar, are at various stages of planning and construction.

A senior official of the social welfare department said the five-storey geriatric care building is complete and can be opened anytime for the city’s elderly who need shelter. The new residential home for senior citizens will be able to accommodate 96 persons.

“The building was completed early this y ear. We just need to give some final touches, which can be done 10-15 days before the inauguration. The no objection certificate from the fire department will have to be taken before the opening of the centre,” said an official.

Destitute men and women aged 60 years and above, who are bona fide residents of Delhi and do not have anyone to support or maintain them, are eligible to stay in old age homes provided they do not suffer from any infectious or communicable disease.

Free accommodation, food, clothes, bedding, TV-radio, books, an entertainment centre with frequent religious and spiritual programmes, and facilities for health check-ups and physiotherapy are regularly provided to residents. Officials said round tables are also set up for the elderly so that they can “interact with each other, sit together and talk about their joys and sorrows”.

“Though nobody would want to see people living in old age homes, the govt’s job is to build such facilities and provide all amenities for their comfortable stay. We will make cutting-edge facilities available free of cost to senior citizens in old age homes,” the official said.

Another old age home in Sarita Vihar is likely to be ready in 2025. There are plans to build more such homes in Vasant Kunj, Janakpuri, Rohini, Geeta Colony and Chhatarpur.

‘I considered a medical career, but feel unsure after the NEET scam’

To help readers cope with their anxieties in these stressful times, TOI has launched Talk it Out, a series in which expert counsellors answer your mental health queries. This week’s advice is from counselling psychologist Dr Jyoti Kapoor

■ I am a 17-year-old who just started class 12. I opted for the physics-chemistry-maths-biology combination, with hopes of having numerous opportunities and a clear goal. However, it’s been a year, and I still don’t know what to pursue. Initially, I considered a medical career, but after the NEET scam this year, I feel apprehensive. Competitive exams, in general, intimidate me. Moreover, I lack distinct interests or hobbies; I simply enjoy reading and lazing around. Lately, I’ve developed a general aversion to studying or anything academic. Even when I attempt to study, I get easily distracted and struggle to focus. Please advise on what steps I can take and other career opportunities.

— Anonymous

As we approach higher classes, the emphasis is often on opting for a stream that allows for maximum career opportunities, that’s the classical approach. But, you may have heard from a number of sources now, your choice of profession should depend upon your interest and personal inclination rather than what the socio-economic sector offers. Because if you choose something you enjoy, you are more likely to learn it better, practice it with enthusiasm and passion and thus succeed in it. If you can’t pinpoint what you enjoy, you may go for aptitude tests which are conducted by qualified clinical psychologists to help you in career counselling. To your current response to the stress associated with indecisiveness, I would say it’s an obvious avoidant response because you are overwhelmed by the situation. This makes one anxious, unable to focus or enjoy the things one is not sure of and feel distracted. It may help to write down what you think you enjoy like reading, what skills you possess that can be explored keeping this interest in mind and what are the available resources to help you get into the field that aligns your interests and skills with accessible career options.

■ I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed and anxious lately, especially about my academics and career. Seeing my classmates excel makes me feel like I’m lagging behind. Despite exercising to stay healthy, my mental health is suffering. I often dwell on embarrassing past events, and it’s hard to move forward. I also find myself pulling away from social interactions, only really talking to my mother. I often feel demotivated and procrastination is my biggest problem. Please help.

— Anonymous

Anxiety is a response to stress and it becomes overwhelming if the stress is not mitigated. Chronic stress thus causes a chronic state of hyperarousal of our nervous system, i.e. you stay in a continuous flight or fight situation thereby not able to relax or focus on the day to day activities and gradually may slip into social withdrawal and persistent state of sadness. So the first step is to identify your stressors. Make a stress diary. Identify people, places or situations that make you uncomfortable. Then ask yourself why it happens. Is the person or situation as important as you are making it out to be or just an automatic pattern of thoughts based on perceived notions or beliefs. And finally, what is the best way to deal with it? Thinking of past events or repeating negative scenarios in the brain only increases the stress chemicals causing you to get stuck in the loop of anxiety and avoiding what may cause anxiety. It’s useful to take professional help because it gives you a safe and non-judgmental space to express yourself and develop better coping mechanisms.

■ I have been devoid of a happy family ever since my birth and never seen peace, contentment, and love among the three of us till date. There is hardly any communication between my parents, and whenever they do talk, even about a minor thing, it always results in disagreements and fights, which leads to bitterness for a long period of time. Added to this, my neighbours verbally and mentally harass my mother as the entire neighborhood knows that nobody would support her, and my father would instead blame my mother for everything. Even her own family has never supported her. This is causing me a lot of mental stress and unfortunately, I no longer desire to stay in such a negative environment. I am moreover a single child and no one talks to me either here or much at school. I am lonely and sad and even frustrated at times. Please help.

— Anonymous

It’s unfortunate that a young person has to deal with an environment that is stressful and feels negative all the time. Our early environment impacts the stress threshold in our nervous system making us wary of any circumstance that can cause harm, be it physical or mental. It’s therefore important to either change that environment or learn to manage stress by developing positive perspectives and engaging in activities that inspire positive attitudes. You haven’t mentioned your age but I am assuming you are in school and are aware how the environment is impacting you. Even though it’s easier said than done for a child to take the necessary action to change their environment, I strongly recommend that your parents are apprised of the situation and seek psychological counselling. Sometimes parents are so overwhelmed with their own issues that they become oblivious to what’s happening to their own child and it may help when they are informed what is happening. You need to let them know how you are feeling. If you think you can’t talk to your parents directly, please reach out to a school counsellor, family relative, or another adult in your surroundings you can trust to convey your distress and garner your support. At the same time, try to focus on activities that make you feel happier, like sports or theatre. Expressive arts can help you deal with your emotions and understand other people’s perspectives. Physical exercise, having a balanced diet and proper sleep pattern helps in better stress coping. I hope you can find a way to communicate with your parents. Sharing this column might help.

Atishi attends defamation case

Delhi minister Atishi on Saturday virtually appeared in a defamation complaint filed by BJP’s Praveen Shankar Kapoor. Metropolitan magistrate Tanya Bamniyal listed the matter for hearing on July 23. The court had refused to issue summons to CM Arvind Kejriwal in the case.

ANI

3-Minister Panel To Probe Tree Cutting

Formed For Felling On Southern Ridge

The committee will find out the truth of such a large number of trees felled in Delhi. After this, govt will put it before the Supreme Court, Rai said. This can prevent any kind of illegal action in the city’s green area, he added

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Delhi cabinet, in a meeting on Saturday, unanimously decided to constitute a three-minister fact-finding committee to investigate the orders behind the illegal felling of 1100 trees in Southern Ridge. The committee comprises Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi, and Imran Hussain.

Environment minister Gopal Rai said, “A shocking incident has come to light from Chhatarpur, Satbari in Delhi that in Feb, the DDA violated all the rules and cut 1,100 trees without permission from any agency or govt. The hearing of this case is going on in the Supreme Court. The court is repeatedly asking the vice chairperson of DDA on whose orders 1,100 trees were cut illegally in the capital Delhi.”

“The Apex court is asking whether this order was given by the LG because the communication of some DDA engineers shows that the LG had visited the forest reserve area of Chhatarpur and these trees were cut on his verbal orders. The Supreme Court wants to know the truth behind this. The court has asked the vice chairman of DDA to file his reply by the next hearing. In the hearing of June 26, the Supreme Court had asked the forest department to file its status report,” Rai said at a press conference.

Rai chaired a meeting with senior officials of the forest department on June 26 at Delhi Secretariat. “The officer informed me that they had sent two notices to DDA on March 5 and 22 regarding the illegal cutting of trees in two different areas of Delhi, but no response came. Considering the seriousness of this matter, I instructed them to submit a written report of all the incidents that happened from Feb till now by 11 am on June 27. But when the report did not reach us by 11 am, then our office contacted the officials of the forest department. They said that you first give us instructions in writing, and after that, we will submit all the reports,” said Rai.

He added that he gave written instructions to the forest department along with the minutes of the meeting to send him a report of by 11 am on June 28, but he did not receive the report.

Rai said the senior officer of the forest department said he is on leave and hence, the next notice was sent on June 28.

“The fact-finding committee will find out the truth of such a large number of trees felled in Delhi. After this, we will put it before the Supreme Court. This can prevent any kind of illegal action in the green area of Delhi,” added Rai.

After 2 shootouts with cops, man dies in ‘accidental firing’

Rehan, who police said was injured when his own pistol fired accidentally during the scuffle, was admitted to GTB Hospital in Delhi where he died

Avishek.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Ghaziabad: A 22-year-old man who allegedly put up staunch resistance against a relative’s arrest, first thwarting a Delhi Police team and then taking on a UP Police team, died of a gunshot wound on Friday, apparently sustained during a scuffle with the cops just as they had managed to corner him.

Rehan, who police said was injured when his own pistol fired accidentally during the scuffle, was admitted to GTB hospital in Delhi where he succumbed to his injuries.

A Delhi Police team was in Loni to arrest Mannu alias Sohail in a vehicle theft case. Rehan allegedly tried to stop them and fired at the police team, which allowed Mannu to escape. Subsequently, a Ghaziabad police team went to the locality to arrest Rehan. As Rehan fired at the police team again, head constable Vijay Rathi (29) sustained bullet injuries. He is admitted to hospital.

Police said Rehan had a criminal record. Both he and Mannu are related to Feroz alias Fauji, the UP-based gangster who was gunned down in an encounter in 2014 by Delhi Police.

DCP (rural) Vivek Yadav said, “Around 2.30pm, a Delhi Police went to Dabar Talab to catch the accused. They were accompanied by two constables from Ankur Vihar police station. Mannu was arrested but just as they were taking him away, Rehan fired a few rounds. The Delhi cops also fired but Mannu escaped. Later, the Delhi team left. The constables informed Loni police station about the incident through wireless.”

A five-member Ghaziabad police team led by a sub-inspector subsequently went to Mannu’s house but came under fire from Mannu and Rehan, who had taken cover on the terrace of a neighbouring house. “One of the bullets hit Vijay’s shoulder,” said the DCP.

Police said the exchange of fire continued for around five minutes after which the cops caught Rehan. “When the team tried to take the pistol from his hand, it fired accidentally and a bullet hit his thigh,,” Yadav said, adding Rehan was declared dead around 9.30pm. Mannu managed to escape.

An FIR was filed against Rehan and Mannu under section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC and relevant sections of the Arms Act at Loni police station. Earlier this month, Shabnam (70), the oldest member of Rehan’s family, was arrested for selling narcotics. Imraan Pehalwan (41), Rehan’s father, was arrested in 2017 in an Arms Act case. In 2019, he was an accused in a murder case.

Mannu is wanted in Noida, Delhi, Baghpat and Ghaziabad in 10 cases of robbery, theft, attempt to murder and extortion. Rehan, police sources said, was booked in four cases of extortion, attempt to murder and Arms Act. This Feb, he had allegedly tried to extort a local businessman.

Mahamaya flyover revamp affects Noida-Delhi traffic

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Noida: The Noida Authority has started resurfacing work on the Noida to Delhi side of the Mahamaya Flyway, affecting traffic. Officials said the rains have halted the work for now but it will take 10 days to finish after they resume the resurfacing.

The 100-metre stretch that is being redeveloped connects key areas such as Sector 37, City Centre to Sector 94, Amity University, Kalindi Kunj and parts of Delhi, including Sarita Vihar and Shaheen Bagh. The road has dust and gravel spread all over due to the work being carried on. Commuters are advised to take a detour in order to av- oid snarls and rough roads.

Gaurav Kumar, a commuter and resident of Delhi, said that the condition of the road is not good right now. “The dust and uneven surface are creating traffic jams and posing safety hazards specially for bikers. This needs to be completed as soon as possible,” Kumar said.

Times Global

- Why France will vote twice in polls it didn’t see coming

- Pak CJI slams ‘unlawful’ killing of women over adultery charges

- Pak seeks US arms to fight terrorism

- Here’s what it would take Democrats to replace Joe Biden as party nominee

- AROUND THE WORLD

- Orban takes helm of EU presidency

- AI race: US states try to make sure workers aren’t left behind

- No place for Hinduphobia in UK, says Labour leader

- Russian attacks on Ukraine kill at least 12

- Iran to hold runoff election

- Turbulence in WaPo as daily loses dollars

TOI EXPLAINS

Why France will vote twice in polls it didn’t see coming

Trounced By The Right Wing In EU Polls, French Prez Macron Thrust Snap Elections On The Country That’s Hosting Next Month’s Olympics. It’s Anybody’s Match As Voting Begins Today

ALL OR NOTHING: Marine Le Pen and far-right National Rally chief Jordan Bardella are expected to lead their party to a historic win while Macron and French PM Gabriel Attal will be hoping that the snap poll gamble pays off and they secure a majority in parliament

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

In elections to the European Parliament on June 9, the far-right National Rally party secured double the vote share of Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, which narrowly escaped coming third by staying just ahead of the left. Macron immediately called for elections within 20 days to the French National Assembly, or parliament, taking colleagues and the opposition by surprise.

His party did not have a majority in the outgoing parliament, which meant he had to constantly look for support from others to push through laws, or use constitutional provisions to controversially enact them, like his pension reforms, which have faced wide opposition among the French public. Parliamentary elections were last held in 2022 but failed to return a clear winner with Macron appointing a govt led by his own party.

The assembly was not required to go to polls till 2027, but Macron would’ve been chafing at the constant hassle of cobbling together support and the attendant threat of facing a no-confidence vote.

Why Vote Twice?

French people will vote once today and, in most constituencies, again on July 7 to send representatives to the 577-member parliament. The majority mark is 289 with Macron’s party holding 250 seats in the now-dissolved assembly. National Rally had 88 seats but is expected to vastly improve its tally and emerge as the single-largest party even if it falls short of majority. Much of the outcome will depend on the turnout and political dynamics between like-minded parties.

In constituencies where at least 25% of voters cast their ballot on Sunday, the candidate who corners more than half the votes is declared the outright winner. Failing that, every candidate who bags more than 12.5% of the votes will be on the ticket for the July 7 runoff, where the winner is the one who secures the majority of votes.

This system provides scope for ‘tactical voting’, that is, voters whose candidate doesn’t make it to the runoff may choose to vote for another party (usually to keep out the far-right). Parties also withdraw candidates for the runoff to improve the chances of an ally. This time, the main worry for Macron and his centrist Ensemble alliance will be the broad left New Popular Front coalition, part of which is the well-known radical left figure of Jean-Luc Melenchon of the France Unbowed party. Experts say that the left coalition may eat into Renaissance party’s votes, leaving Macron faced with the prospect of running only the fourth ‘cohabitation’ — implying a president and PM belonging to two different parties — in French govt and the first in the last 20 years.

Roles Of Prez And PM

France has a presidential system of govt, but the PM wields considerable powers. As president, Macron leads foreign policy, European affairs and defence. He is also the commander-in-chief of the army. The PM, on the other hand, is in charge of running the country, formulating domestic legislative policy and introducing bills and getting them cleared by parliament.

As with any democratic set-up, having the same party, or like-minded leaders, in both offices makes governance easier. However, in the present circumstances, experts say it’s unlikely that Macron and a PM from either the far right or left will see eye to eye and bridge their significant differences over everything from French support for Ukraine in the war against Russia to the Palestine issue amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Who’s Likely To Form Govt?

Opinion polls put Macron’s party at third behind National Rally and New Popular Front. But Jordan Bardella, leader of the National Rally — the outfit associated most closely with Marine Le Pen and her father Jean-Marie Le Pen — has said his party won’t form the govt unless it wins a majority. The 28-year-old Bardella stands a chance to break the record of becoming France’s youngest PM if he takes over from Gabriel Attal, who was 34 when Macron named him PM in January this year.

Macron has the constitutional prerogative of appointing the PM, but his choice has to reflect the composition of the assembly. If National Rally wins and refuses to form the govt, experts say a ‘technocratic’ dispensation comprising members unaffiliated to any party could be put in place to run the day-to-day affairs till the next elections.

High Stakes

Macron’s gambit would be to confront the French public with the choice of having an extreme far-right govt or voting for liberals and moderates to run the republic. French football star Kylian Mbappe recently said that “the extremes are at the gates of power”, inviting a strong reaction from Bardella about rich sportspersons not understanding the cost-of-living crisis that has hit the ordinary French person on the street.

French voters and mainstream parties have generally acted to prevent radical parties from coming to office but the so-called ‘cordon sanitaire’ in French politics – or, mainstream parties refusing to ally with fringe parties – has broken this time with Eric Ciotti, leader of the main conservative party, the Republicans, saying they would join hands with National Rally. However, that declaration was accompanied by angry rumblings from his colleagues.

For France, these elections kick off a quest to decide whether the country will make a hard right ahead of the next presidential polls, when Macron is automatically disallowed from running, or if the centrist and liberal parties maintain their hold on power in the world’s seventh largest economy, which is also a nuclear-armed UN Security Council member and a major pillar of the EU edifice.

A left alliance that includes prominent far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon is tipped to gain at the expense of Macron’s Ensemble combine

Footballer Kylian Mbappe recently warned about radical parties winning power, inviting a strong reaction from far-right leader Bardella

Pak CJI slams ‘unlawful’ killing of women over adultery charges

Islamabad: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa said on Saturday women in the country were killed in the name of honour without fulfilling the Islamic condition of producing four witnesses in cases of adultery.

Speaking at a conference here on ‘Access to Justice for All,’ the Chief Justice said that the constitution mandates women’s representation across all sectors.

He lamented a disregard for social history within the Muslim community and condemned the misuse of honour killings in the name of dignity. He said according to Islamic teachings, “the condition of four witnesses is necessary (to prove the act of adultery).”

He also said that accusing a woman of adultery is called a ‘Qazf’ and is punishable in Islam and under laws in Pakistan. “Accusing or desecrating a woman is punishable by 80 lashes in the Quran,” he said, adding he had not heard anyone punished for wrongly accusing a woman of adultery.

PTI

Pak seeks US arms to fight terrorism

Washington: Pakistan’s ambassador has urged the US to provide small arms and modern equipment to his country to ensure the success of Operation Azm-i-Istehkam, Islamabad’s newly-approved counter-terrorism initiative. Ambassador Masood Khan made the request while addressing US policymakers at a Washington think tank last week.

PTI

Here’s what it would take Democrats to replace Joe Biden as party nominee

Forcing Him Out To Be A Huge Task

Democrats have ways to replace Joe Biden at the top of their presidential ticket after a harrowing debate against Republican Donald Trump — but doing so without their standard-bearer’s acquiescence would be a daunting task. Party members once united behind Biden are now scouring candidate resumes and researching rules for a contingency plan to present voters with a different nominee after a universally panned performance Thursday cemented worries about the President’s ability to serve a second term.

“The easiest one is, Biden takes himself out of the race,” said Elaine Kamarck, a Democratic National Committee member and author of a book about the presidential nominating process. “Then yes, there’s rules and procedures and the party would replace him.” While pushing Biden off the ticket is possible, the lack of an obvious candidate to replace him makes such a gambit unlikely, Kamarck said.

The debate saw months of Democratic anxiety over Biden, already the oldest US president in history at 81, and his prospects for defeating Trump, boil over.

The president Friday acknowledged the limitations of his debate showing but dismissed calls to exit the race.

If Biden doesn’t step aside, forcing him out would be a Herculean undertaking for Democrats. Any rival would first have to collect 600 delegate signatures on a petition to place his or her name in nomination at the Democratic convention — with no more than 50 signatures from any one state. That’s about 13% of the delegates. But with Biden controlling 99% of the pledged delegates, that would require challengers convincing Biden loyalists to flip their support.

“The odds are not insurmountable, but they’re very high for any scenario that involves a delegate revolt,” said Josh Putnam of FHQ Strategies, a non-partis an consul- ting firm specializing in delegate selection rules.

The Biden campaign has vetted his delegates for their loyalty, but they do have room to change their minds. Unlike Republican delegates, who are often legally bound to cast their vote for a particular candidate, Democratic rules say only that pledged delegates “shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”

Amove to change the ticket — whether Biden agrees to go willingly or is pushed out — would bring a convention freefor-all not seen for decades.

In an “open” or “brokered” convention, no candidate comes into the roll-call vote with enough delegates to be guaranteed the nomination. Vo -ting could last any number of rounds until a candidate wins.

Such a convention would also put so-called “super-delegates” in the spotlight. Those delegates — leaders and elected officials who get to the convention by virtue of their position — have been stripped of some powers in recent y ears as the party worried their influence in the process was undemocratic. But if a nomination goes into a second ballot, those automatic delegates, who number more than 700, could sway the convention.

Another wild card is that the party is free to change its rules a t any time before the nomination, potentially lowering or raising the bar for a Biden challenger.

The most obvious heir apparent is vice-president Kamala Harris — but Democrats don’t have to pick Biden’s running mate. Some of the most discussed alternatives include Governors Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, all of whom say they still support Biden.

The nomination vote was scheduled for Aug 21, but the DNC has raised the possibility of a virtual roll call before Aug 7 to accommodate early ballot deadlines. If Biden steps aside after the convention, the decision on how to replace him would be up to the 400 plus members of the DNC –– the chairman would consult with Democratic congressional leaders and governors and make a recommendation.

BLOOMBERG

AROUND THE WORLD

THE K FACTOR: K-Pop band Seventeen performs on the Pyramid Stage on the third day of the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm in the village of Pilton in Somerset, southwest England, on Friday

Man killed after ‘crossbow attack’ on Israel embassy

An attacker who fired a crossbow at a police officer guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade was shot dead on Saturday in what President Aleksandar Vucic called a terrorist attack against Serbia. No embassy staff were wounded in the attack, the Israeli foreign ministry said, and the policeman was in a stable condition in hospital following surgery to remove an arrow from his neck, Vucic said. Vucic named the attacker as Salahudin Zujovic, a man from central Serbia who had converted to Islam from Serbian Orthodox Christianity, and said he had worked with an accomplice who is at large.

China tightens management of rare earths: China tightened the management of its rare earths industry with the approval of the first comprehensive regulation governing the mining, metal smelting and circulation of the mineral. Rare earths belong to the country and no organization or individual are allowed to claim them, the State Council said in a statement on its website. The state will take charge of protective mining of the resource, it said. The new rules take effect on Oct 1.

Aus says arrogant Meta should pay for news: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called social media companies arrogant and irresponsible, as the government’s battle to have Meta Platforms continue to pay local media organizations for content escalated. Meta’s regional policy director Mia Garlick told a parliamentary committee Friday that “all options were on the table,” when asked whether the company would ban news on its platforms.

5 missiles land near ship in the Red Sea: A ship sailing through the Red Sea came under repeated missile fire Friday in an attack launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, authorities said, the latest targeting the maritime route.

Orban takes helm of EU presidency

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s frequent attacks against Brussels and his warm relations with Russia have left the country increasingly isolated as it takes over the bloc’s rotating presidency on Monday. The longest-serving leader in the European Union, Orban has recently ramped up his rhetoric against what he calls the “technocratic elite of Brussels”, warning “we will rack our brains to hurt them”.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s like the defendant in a trial has suddenly taken over the prosecution,” said his biographer, and journalist, Paul Lendvai.

While he warned not to “overestimate the importance” of Hungary’s six-month presidency, he predicted that Orban would continue to block key issues as he did with EU aid for Ukraine while “loosening restrictions” on rule of law issues on which he has been censured by Brussels in order to unlock blocked EU funds.

Orban openly supports former American president Donald Trump. AFP

AI race: US states try to make sure workers aren’t left behind

Hartford (US): With many jobs expected to eventually rely on generative artificial intelligence, US states are trying to help workers beef up tech skills before they become outdated and get outfoxed by machines.

Connecticut is working to create what proponents believe will be the country’s first Citizens AI Academy, a free online repository of curated classes that users can take to learn basic skills or obtain a certificate needed for employment. “This is a rapidly evolving area,” said state Democratic Senator James Maroney. “So we need to all learn what are the best sources for staying current. How can we update our skills? Who can be trusted sources?”

Determining what skills are necessary in an AI world can be a challenge for state legislators given the fast-moving nature of the technology and differing opinions about what approach is best. Gregory LaBlanc, professor of finance, strategy and law at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley Law School in California, says “we need to figure out what is AI not good at and then teach those things to workers”.

This year, at least four states — Connecticut, California, Mississippi and Maryland — proposed legislation that attempted to deal with AI in the classroom somehow. They ranged from Connecticut’s planned AI Academy, which was originally inclu- ded in a wide-ranging AI regulation bill that failed but the concept is still being developed by state education officials, to proposed working groups that examine how AI can be incorporated safely in public schools. Such a bill died in the Mississippi legislature while the others remain in flux. One bill in California would require a state working group to consider incorporating AI literacy skills into math, science, history and social science curriculums.

While Connecticut’s planned AI Academy is expected to offer certificates to people who complete certain skills, Maroney said the academy will also include basics, from digital literacy to how to pose questions to a chatbot.

AP

No place for Hinduphobia in UK, says Labour leader

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir in Kingsbury, London, Friday

Naomi Canton

London: Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is widely expected to become the next British prime minister, visited the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir in Kingsbury on Friday where he said “there is absolutely no place for Hinduphobia in Britain” and that Labour would “build a new strategic partnership with India”.

He began his speech with “Jai Swaminarayan” and praised British Hindus for not having forgotten their roots, for their “rich Hindu heritage and deep commitment to Britain’s future”.

“If we’re elected next week we will strive to govern in the spirit of seva to serve you and a world in need,” he said. “Strengthened by Hindu values, you’re not only contributing massively to our economy, you’re bringing innovation and expertise that keeps us competitive on the global market.”

He said Labour had a record number of Hindu candidates in the general election. If selected, they will “stand — with the entire Labour party —firmly behind the Hindu community, representing your concerns, listening to your voice, working with you, on issues at home as well as on the global stage,” he said.

Starmer was received by an Indian pipe band in Scottish regalia. He performed “anjali mudra” and then inside the mandir he performed puja which included “abhisheka”, interacted with local schoolchildren and was given “prasad”.

Dr Neeraj Patil, chairman of Hindus for Labour, said: “He is going to address anti-Hindu hatred, which is most welcome. He is sending a strong positive signal to 1.7 million British Hindus that the prospective Labour govt will include Hindus in the growth and prosperity of this country.”

Russian attacks on Ukraine kill at least 12

Kyiv: Russian attacks across eastern Ukraine killed at least 11 people on Saturday, while rescuers in the city of Dnipro dug through rubble after a Russian strike ripped through a nine-story residential building, leaving one dead, officials said.

The attacks came as Russia continues to stretch out Ukrainian forces in several areas along the 1,000-kilometre front. Moscow has stepped up airstrikes in a bid to drain Ukraine’s resources, often targeting energy facilities and other vital infrastructure.

TASS news agency reported citing Kursk governor that a Ukrainian drone has killed five people in Russia’s border Kursk region.

AFP, REUTERS

Priests freed in prisoner exchange

Ukraine and Russia said Saturday that priests were among the dozens of captured soldiers and civilians they had exchanged earlier this week. Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests taken captive in Moscow-held Berdiansk were handed back to Ukraine after the mediation of Vatican.

AFP

Iran to hold runoff election

Dubai: Iran will hold a runoff presidential election on July 5 pitting little-known reformist Masoud Pezeshkian against hard-line former nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, after results Saturday showed the lowest-ever poll turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. More than 60% of voters cast no ballot in the race. Of the 24.5 million votes cast in Friday’s election, Pezeshkian got 10.4 million while Jalili received 9.4 million.

Iranian law requires that a winner gets more than 50% of all votes cast. If not, the race’s top two candidates advance to a runoff a week later. Jalili, once described by CIA director Bill Burns as “stupefyingly opaque” in negotiations, would have won outright had the three hard-liners not split vote.

AP

Turbulence in WaPo as daily loses dollars

ALL EYES: For many observers, the outcome of the crisis lies in the hands of billionaire Bezos, who bought the Post for $250 million in 2013. So far, Bezos has backed his CEO

The prestigious Washington Post is in crisis, with pressure on from owner Jeff Bezos to change its money-losing ways. The Post’s managing editor abruptly resigned; a chosen successor withdrew under fire, and a boss has been targeted in the newspaper’s columns.

At the heart of the storm is the “WaPo”’s new CEO, Briton William Lewis, who was given a mission by Amazon founder Bezos when he appointed him last autumn. Lewis was asked to turn around a newspaper that continues to pile up Pulitzer Prizes half a century after the Watergate scandal it instigated, but which has lost $77 million in 2023 despite job cuts and the disappearance of its Sunday supplement. However, the for- mer journalist, who made history in the 2000s with a scoop on the expenses of British MPs when he was editor of the Daily Telegraph, is finding his position increasingly vulnerable. For weeks now, revelations have multiplied about his role, when he was working for the Murdoch family’s conservative media group about 12 years ago, in a scandal of illegal phone tapping by the tabloid The News of the World. On Friday, Lewis was at the centre of an investigation by his own journalists. According to the Washington Post, he gave the go-ahead in 2011 for the destruction of thousands of emails, fuelling suspicions that he was destroying evidence, which he denies.

As the US presidential election approaches, the affair is poisoning the atmosphere at a long-vaunted newspaper that is “not doing well economically,” says Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy.

The Post was among trusted news outlets that benefited from the upheaval that marked Trump’s four years in the White House that ended with his loss to President Joe Biden. Trump’s departure from the White House meant fewer attention-grabbing stories to keep readers engaged. By the end of 2022, the Post would have 2.5 million subscribers compared with 3 million subscribers when Biden took office in early 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, rival New York Times has grown to m ore than 10 million subscribers, the fruit of a strategy to diversify into fun topics such as games, food, and lifestyle while still serving up hard news.

Professor Kennedy believes that Lewis has no choice but to leave the Post because he has lost the confidence of the team there.

AFP

Times Evoke

- TIMES EVOKE

- ‘Climate history warns us to limit warming to 2°C – humans may not be able to adapt beyond that’

- THEY'VE GOT STORIES TO TELL..

- READERS WRITE

- ‘We must draw from India’s climate history. This respected topography, hydrology and nature as capital’

TIMES EVOKE

THE TIMES OF EARTH

We often hear of ‘history’ as war and peace, celebrating heroic deeds and assigning not-so heroic motivations to others. Those histories are occasionally inspiring — and often disturbing for history is power, holding the ability to unfurl action in the present. It is time, wise reader, to engage with real history — the chronicles of Earth — which comes from rock-hard sources (literally, given the geological layers scientists mine). Today, climate history is essential knowledge. The United Nations estimates between 1980 to 1999, 4,212 natural disasters occurred worldwide, claiming 1.19 million lives and costing US$ 1.63 trillion. Between 2000 to 2019, this rose to 7,348 disasters, affecting 4.2 billion and costing US$ 2.97 trillion.

Climate history explains the difference. The field is a many-layered one. It encompasses Earth’s physical history, from the emergence of its biosphere to the proliferation of its biodiversity. It records diverse elements — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, etc. — which, in stability, ensure life. It also tracks how humanity is making this balance wobble. Climate-related events, doubling between 1999 to 2019, stem from anthropogenic imbalances — between 1850 to 2022, humans emitted several billion tonnes of ‘greenhouse gases’, a planet-heating bouquet of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, by burning fossil fuels, destroying forests and polluting ecosystems. Many of us can’t easily see the link between human actions and environmental reper-cussions. Here, climate history shines a (renewable) light. By illuminating how Earth works, how it breathes and exhales, how its oceans and forests dance with currents and clouds, how its wetlands and peatlands store water and carbon and its species evolve, climate history warns us to stop rushing in where the cosmos fears a heavy tread.

It also encourages. As Times Evoke’s global experts emphasise, climate history helps us prepare for today’s challenges. With extreme weather, the world needs new paradigms of building, growing and being. Climate history offers panaceas of resilience. Also, it is part of your own extraordinary tale — you live on the universe’s only known home to life. You arrived here, a mix of stardust and personality, after 14 billion years. You hold journeys and prophecies in your hands — don’t overlook that in the maze of everyday thrills, bills and prattle. Join Times Evoke in exploring climate history — and your life.

IN A WARMING WORLD

‘Climate history warns us to limit warming to 2°C – humans may not be able to adapt beyond that’

Dagomar Degroot is associate professor of history at Georgetown University. Speaking to Srijana Mitra Das at Times Evoke, he discusses archives of climate collapse — and resilience:

What is the core of your research?

■ I’m an environmental historian. I work on identifying how climate changed in the past, often by collaborating with scientists and scholars from related disciplines, and figure out how such climate change influenced diverse populations. Some collapsed while others managed to survive, even thrive. My work explores this and sees if these findings can inform climate policy now.

What sources are used in such history?

■ For identifying past climatic changes, I work with scientists in part. They use ‘the archives of nature’, aspects of the natural world that record the influence of earlier climatic variations. The rings of trees are an example — these correspond to how much a tree has grown. Bits of these rings could be thicker or thinner, depending on weather. You can use their width to figure out how the weather changed over a tree’s lifetime. Ice cores also accumulate gradually as layers, akin to tree rings. There’s some melting at the poles in summer, causing these layers. By measuring different isotopes in the layers, you gain a sense of the temperature of the whole planet because heavier isotopes tend to evaporate more when Earth is warmer and then precipitate into ice sheets.

Researchers like me also use ‘the archives of society’. These can be direct reports of weather. Educated people would often keep weather diaries while officers on ships would record changes in wind direction and velocity. Many texts describe activities profoundly influenced by the weather — the date of harvests, sowing times, when cherry blossoms would reach full bloom or how battles were conducted, all these indicated weather. Archaeological remains show us material cultures while oral histories, through word of mouth, mirror the state of climates. You can combine all these different sources and synthesise them to see how the planet changed — and people responded.

When did it become clear humans were impacting climatic processes?

■ Humans have been altering the atmosphere for thousands of years, changing landscapes, wiping out megafauna and developing agriculture.

Potentially bigger changes came with the 15th century genocide in the western hemisphere when European colonisers began killing millions of indigenous people, perhaps so many that previous agricultural and forest management regimes were no longer viable on a scale which could allow the regrowth of tropical forests that pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere.

Large-scale pollution of the atmosphere came with industrialisation and the use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas releasing vast amounts of CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases — the weight of all the greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere over the last 150 years is estimatedly about 2 trillion tonnes. That outweighs the weight of all organisms on Earth plus everything we have built. In the mid1890s, Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, wrote about how industrialisation was releasing warming gases into the atmosphere which would cause a ‘benign’ heating of Earth. By the 1930s, Guy Callendar, an English engineer, figured out Earth was already warming due to CO2. The emergence of a climate consensus between a vast majority of scientists and experts, on the links between a warming world and human emissions, came in the 1970s-1980s.

Why do you posit the Dutch flourished under climate change?

■ Some of my work focuses on the Dutch but they were not an exception. I’ve been working with scholars all over the world to identify such resilience globally. Humans endured climatic changes even before industrialisation. Our species evolved in the Pleistocene epoch. This was distinguished by spectacular climate changes, a vast transition between glacial conditions, when Earth was about 7ºC colder than now, and inter-glacial conditions when it was as warm as now. There was a huge oscillation with shortterm instability but humans adapted.

Then, the Holocene enabled agriculture 11,700 years ago. The global climate became relatively stable but even here, there were profound regional changes, the most important being the drying-up of the Sahara, a grassland at the Holocene’s start, becoming the world’s largest desert very rapidly.

Another example was the Little Ice Age, a period of dramatic cooling from the 13th to the 19th century. This was globally modest but locally powerful. In this cooling climate, the Dutch built up a trade empire with networks that gave them access to diverse resources which could be imported from several locations — if the prices of commodities like grains went up, they benefitted. Trade also meant breaking away from battles where you had to besiege cities for ages. Waiting around for very long was hard to do when it was so cold. Spanish soldiers, with a huge empire, had a terrible time waiting in sieges while the Dutch discovered sailing. They relied on wind power while other states were more dependent on farming, made harder by the Little Ice Age. But wind currents didn’t change then, which powered the Dutch.

Can climate history empower people today?

■ The world is currently headed for warming of about 3ºC by the end of this century. This is extremely dangerous. Many collapses, from the Mayans to the Vikings, occurred when the climate wasn’t changing as much. Resilience might not be readily available because there are eight billion humans on the planet now. We must limit warming to 2ºC because there is a possibility we can’t adapt beyond that. We’ve recently seen tragic losses of life due to heatwaves in India. Societies which survived climate change were very proactive — climate history can tell a hopeful story but only if we learn its lessons.

SETTING THE SIGNS

● An awareness of climate existed in India before modern climatological science. In the 2cnd century BCE, Chanakya, Chandragupta Maurya’s eminent minister, wrote the Arthashastra, which recognised how rain worked — and impacted stability. He centralised water management and curbed profligacy, pricing water through labour or crops, taxing the wealthy more. He also gave tax breaks to communities managing water tanks — a worthy idea today

● 18th century palaeontologist Georges Cuvier linked organismal biology to Earth’s epochs. Organising species into ‘branches’ as vertebrata, articulata (anthropods), mollusca (soft invertebrates) and radiata (aquatic animals), and studying the mammoth-like mastodon, Cuvier proved extinction — animals vanishing forever due to climatic instability

● Paul Crutzen discovered certain substances damaged Earth’s ozone layer — 1987’s Montreal Protocol, to phase these out, is due to him. In 2000, the Nobel Laureate outlined how human-induced changes had started a new climatic epoch on Earth — the Anthropocene

Research: IMD, BBC Science Focus Magazine, NASA

LORDS OF THE RINGS: Trees have growth rings which record changing weather

ARCHIVES: Cherry blossoms tell tales

FOSSIL FURY: Burning coal, oil and gas has released once-sequestered carbon

THEY'VE GOT STORIES TO TELL..

● It’s not just humans — other species have also seen Earth changing. Horses evolved 55 million years ago when the dog-sized Hyracotherium roamed forests covering North America. Initially, horses were small-sized forest browsers. But changing climates and new grasslands saw species evolve 20 million years ago. While the Caspian horse emerged in 3000 BCE, an intriguing breed is the Akhal-Teke — the ‘golden horse’ — which originated in Turkmenistan 3,000 years ago, famed for its shimmering coat

● Crabs are tough survivors of Earth’s climatic swings — the horseshoe crab, with its spiny tail, split from its arachnid kin 480 million years ago. As ice gave way to marsh, crabs developed legs to walk over land and shields against predators — they survived continents separating and dinosaurs perishing and 250 million years ago, diverse species started developing legs for paddling, digging under sediments and even climbing trees

● The ostrich evolved 23 million years ago as rainfall reduced and dry savannas emerged across Africa. While being flightless, ostriches have long legs and powerful feet — they cover five metres in one stride and run at 70 kms per hour, despite being 8 feet tall and 159 kgs. Armed with a 10-cm-sharp claw, the peaceful-looking ostrich can also kick — to kill — as many savanna predators, from lions to hyenas, discovered over aeons

Research: Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, American Museum of Natural History

READERS WRITE

Dear Times Evoke,

As an MSc Microbiology student, I find TE perpetually fascinating. The piece on elephants (15th June) was particularly enlightening; learning that they communicate using each other’s names was both astonishing and endearing. Thank you, TE, for always presenting such fresh and enlightening stories.

— Shipra Gautam, Lucknow

I’m in school and I love Times Evoke! I was so delighted to read about elephants. It was the first time I got to know that humans are not the only intelligent beings on Earth, elephants are too! Elephants give each other names — just like we humans do! Thank you so much for such wonderful information, TE.

— Priyanjana Roy, Siliguri

I was amazed to learn elephants use unique vocalisations to ‘name’ each other. This incredible discovery by George Wittemyer, unravelled through machine learning, showcases their remarkable intelligence. I’m very grateful to TE for deepening our understanding of nature.

— Soumyadeep Dutta, Kolkata

Thanks, TE, for informing us how elephants have languages. This fascinating article looked exquisite and I agree with George Wittemyer that animal intelligence is highly underrated by humans. This article made me realise how there’s so much more to know in life!

— Vijayalakshmi Thiyagarajan, Mumbai

Thank you for your superb articles, TE! I was awestruck reading about elephant vocalisations! I eagerly await such wonderful TE articles.

— Ayaan Abbas, Barabanki

It was simply amazing to read about elephants’ naming patterns. With decades of research, George Wittemyer and his team have achieved a great scientific breakthrough. Kudos to them and TE for such wonderful work!

— Saurabh Thakur, Mysuru

Share your thoughts at: timesevoke@timesgroup.com

Read Times Evoke online at: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/times-evoke

RED HEAT & POURING RAIN

‘We must draw from India’s climate history. This respected topography, hydrology and nature as capital’

Mahesh Rangarajan is professor of history and environmental studies at Ashoka University. Speaking to Times Evoke, he discusses India’s rich climatic history — and the insights it offers in times of increasing weather turbulence:

Several parts of India have swung from extraordinary heatwaves to extreme rainfall in a matter of days — just one day ago, Delhi, which was reeling under severe heat, experienced the maximum daily rainfall seen in June in 88 years. This huge volume of water fell over a few hours, flooding the capital, leaving its roads waterlogged and traffic submerged. India has seen weather swings before — but today, the rate of stochasticity or unpredictable, sudden changes has increased. Some of this is due to global warming and the atmospheric concentrations of heating emissions. But some comes from self-inflicted wounds, which also reflect a lack of awareness of India’s rich climate history.

India has a tropical system and a monsoon regime, with a clearly defined wet and dry period. Today, the dry period is growing exceptionally parched and extremely hot, testing the ability of vertebrates to survive. The flipside is very wet periods of intense rain in short durations. Such tumult, impacting people’s lives, well-being and resources, reemphasises the importance of climate history. Any subject of the past is seen through the lens of the present. In the 20th century, after World Wars I and II in particular, many fields of study emerged researching how to create conditions for international peace and prevent nuclear war. Today, studies look at how to achieve peace — with nature. Climate history explores how human civilisations over time understood the nature of the biosphere — the thin skin of blue-green in which all life exists.

Humanity has relied on climatic stability for thousands of years, including in the recent Holocene, characterised by regular atmospheric, weather and moisture conditions. Such stability enabled the thriving of societies. Many of these conditions are changing now. Societies across Asia and Africa experience the monsoon — earlier, this weather phenomenon had specific dates by when it would wax and wane, its waters enriching Earth accordingly. The stability of these dates shaped much of Indian civilisation — consider how rain-regulated our agricultural cycles are and how the availability of water helped create cities, which could depend on a flourishing countryside. As several of these conditions are transformed, we can expect turbulence in what remains a largely agrarian country. Already, the times of sowing and ripening for crops like wheat are changing, influenced by altering winters and transformed rain. India has multiple agro-climatic zones which grow diverse crops — agriculturalists everywhere will face climate challenges now.

Yet, unless we draw from our climatic history, we will be locked into cycles of harsh heat and intense rain, with their accompanying impacts. Heatwaves in cities will intensify unless we retain old urban planning styles, liberally planting shade-giving trees — from neem to peepul, tamarind to jamuns, whose sour purple fruit were eagerly picked by children in the monsoon and loved by birds and small animals too — instead of concretising and deforesting. We also need more intelligent construction — once, we had low-slung buildings with high ceilings and cross-ventilation which made summer bearable. Today, we live and work in towers of metal and glass which intensify heat and need air-conditioning to cool. As we increase air-conditioning units, we create urban heat islands pumping out more emissions — these deepen heatwaves. Older forms of construction were far more sensitive to our ecotype.

Interestingly, climate history spotlights wetlands as a buffer between heatwave and rain. It is noteworthy that Delhi’s recent rain and flooding were preceded by a period of harsh water scarcity. To prevent this, we need to preserve wetlands from being taken over for construction because these are crucial for absorbing rain and renewing aquifers. The book ‘Shades of Blue’, by Harini Nagendra and Seema Mundoli, analyses issues of water across diverse Indian cities, each of which have their own ecological stories — yet, one common factor binds these locations, from Guwahati to Mumbai and Delhi. They have all been draining their wetlands, causing drought vulnerability in summer and floods in the rains. The flooding in Delhi impacted areas urbanised in the last few years where earlier, rivulets flowed or old stream beds existed. In many places, housing and infrastructure have been built on low-lying areas while channels leading to the Yamuna have been blocked. We need to bring back a sense of respect for topography and local hydrology in what we build — and leave alone.

History is learning of the past to be enlightened for the present. There were long periods of climatic instability in the past too — interestingly, India in the 17th century and Tokugawa Japan coped better than many societies in Europe. One reason was India’s elites valued nature. Before the arrival of the British, Indian rulers often gave people interest-free loans to build check dams or wells. The Vijayanagara empire, as Kathleen Morrison’s research shows, provided for long dry periods. There could even be a decade when the monsoon fell short but populations adapted. They used crops which needed less water — today’s push for millets is apt — and learnt how to conserve water in lakes and tanks. While many of these rulers could be exploitative or hierarchical, they saw nature as capital. Their perspective was different from contemporary times when we imagine ‘capital’ as the number of tall buildings, miles of highways and colours of expensive vehicles around us. These are all legitimate aspirations but seeing nature as capital meant investing in resources which would protect us from nature’s turbulence, perhaps the most dangerous existential threat. Our climatic history shows a good deal of cooperation thus between rulers, elites and common citizens. We should take a leaf out of these lessons. As both its heatwaves and floods show, Delhi must protect its floodplain — if the Yamuna can flood naturally, water will sink through sand and aquifer and provide protection from extreme weather impacts.

We also need more discussion of climate issues in our political discourse but these should be framed differently. Voters vote for day-to-day welfare issues — if a political party posited it would recharge the water in aquifers, so farmers don’t have to drill hundreds of feet for a drop, that would bring cultivators to it. If a party promised to cover large parts of a city with greenery where the young could play and the elderly relax, both these groups would support it. If a party promised to protect India’s beautiful birds and animals, those who enjoy biophilia or a love of nature would form a constituency for it. These issues should be presented in positive ways, bridging the gaps between India’s ecological realities and solutions — some of which lie in our own climatic past.

IN A FEW HOURS, JUST LIKE THAT: Several regions of India recently endured a blistering heatwave which claimed lives and challenged infrastructure — in a matter of days though, many parts were experiencing intense rains and flooding which broke historical records

UNCERTAIN HARVESTS: Rain-dependent Indian agriculture faces climate change

PEACE FOR YOU & ME: Preserving wetlands is a boon for humans and other species

All That Matters

- In these polarised times, we need to be aware of what we share as humans

- Rahul versus Modi: LS session reveals two different approaches to politics

- INBOX

- Buy British, huh? Mahatma Gandhi is having the last laugh

- Atmanirbhar with a twist: India’s different from Korea, Latin nations

- No NEET answer, but time to make merit matter again

In these polarised times, we need to be aware of what we share as humans

British-Turkish writer Elif Shafak, who became an international sensation with ‘Forty Rules of Love’, has just written her 19th book, a novel that connects ancient Mesopotamia, Victorian England and present-day Turkey through a single drop of water. Shafak, who listens to heavy metal when she writes, spoke to Namita Devidayal about literature, ecofeminism, and being gentle and radical at the same time

FOR THE RECORD

■ Your new book, ‘There are Rivers in the Sky’ melds history and geography. What motivates you to take that route repeatedly?

As a writer, I’m not only interested in stories, but also silences — people who have been silenced throughout history. Most stories told to us, especially in Turkey, are from the point of view of a man in a position of power. But the stories of women, of minorities, of men who do not have power, for instance, have been forgotten. I’ve always been interested in the untold stories, the silences, the taboos, the gaps. Literature has the power to re-humanise the people who have been dehumanised, to make the unheard heard. That said, this book was very difficult for me to write because all the worlds are built around a single tiny drop of water.

■ Why water?

Even at this age (52), I really don’t know where the stories come from. All I know is I am interested in nature. We have turned ourselves into consumers and the more you consume, the more value you have. I think we need to question that. We need to understand that we are only a small part of a very delicate ecosystem in which trees have a voice, water has presence. I am also interested in ecofeminism. When we talk about the climate crisis, we are actually talking about a freshwater crisis, and this especially impacts women all around the world, for they carry water to their communities and often have to walk long distances, increasing the possibility of gender violence. So, everything is connected. This is my love poem to water.

■ Tell us about how your childhood in Turkey shaped you as a writer.

I was born in France but shortly afterwards, my parents got separated and my mother brought me to Ankara in Turkey. So, two things are very crucial to me: First, the sense of displacement and the idea of homeland. The second is the solidarity and sisterhood between my mother and my grandmother. Even though they are very different, they supported each other tremendously. My grandmother was barely educated but she whole-heartedly believed in women’s independence. So, when my mum returned as a young divorcee with no career, no money, no diploma, it was my grandmother who encouraged her to go back to university so that she could have choices, and she took care of me. At a very vulnerable moment in our life, my grandmother’s support changed our destiny. I’m a big believer in women supporting women.

■ Do you consider yourself spiritual or religious or secular? Can one be all three things at the same time?

I’m not religious at all, especially when it comes to organised religion. I think spirituality Photo courtesy: Ferhat Elik is an individual quest and everyone’s journey is different, like fingerprints. Secularism is crucial — where religion does not try to dominate and shape public life, especially for women.

■ You said somewhere that you don’t like certainties — that you can learn equally from faith and doubt, from being simultaneously gentle and radical. Could you please elaborate on this non-binary approach?

I think it’s one of the most important questions of our time precisely because of how deeply and bitterly polarised we have become. For storytellers, there is no such thing as us versus them. There are only human beings. There is no ‘other’. So, we have to question these dualities that are constantly being imposed on us. We have to find a new narrative that is aware of what we share as human beings. To me, words like diversity and multiculturalism are precious — not only the diversity outside, but also the pluralism within my own soul. I sincerely believe that in life, we don’t learn so much from sameness but from differences. I don’t want to be surrounded by people who think like me, dress like me, talk like me, because that is a very self-centred existence. If what you’re telling me makes sense, I’m willing to revise my opinions, to leave the door a little open. What we have lost in the age of internet is real intellectual exchange. Coming back to the question of certainties, the absolute certainty of dogma really frightens me. It is a beautiful thing to be able to say, ‘I don’t know’. I like the humility of people who say, I’m on a journey, I’m learning, I’m a student of life.

■ What’s your advice to a young writer?

While giving talks at schools, I found that six and seven-year-olds have so much courage and chutzpah. When you ask if there are any artists or poets in the room, many hands go up. At that age, girls are so confident, sometimes more than boys. But in middle and upper school, it’s amazing how much things change. Girls don’t want to speak up. No one wants to be an artist or writer. We have basically told these kids — don’t stand out, blend in. So, little by little, we chip away their confidence and creativity. All I can tell the young writer is: Don’t let that happen to you. Go back to that inner garden you had as a child and rebuild it.

Rahul versus Modi: LS session reveals two different approaches to politics

RIGHT & WRONG

SWAPAN DASGUPTA

There was an eerie predictability about the disruptions and manufactured controversies that greeted the brief, inaugural session of the Lok Sabha last week. Inspired by what it perceived was its great success in denying the ruling BJP an outright majority on its own, opposition can now be expected to reduce Parliament to a boisterous slugfest. The underlying belief is that agitational politics both inside and outside Parliament will expose the Narendra Modi government’s fragility and make governance difficult. Since BJP had crafted its election plank on the promise of providing a smooth ride to its Viksit Bharat destination, opposition now believes it is positioned to throw a spanner in the works, at least at frequent inter- vals over the next five years.

On his part, Prime Minister Modi has entered his third term with a business-as-usual approach. The selection of senior ministers suggests that continuity will be the hallmark of the government. The restiveness apparent in different layers of BJP, not to mention the wider Sangh Parivar, at the reduction of the government’s majority and the big losses in UP, Maharashtra and West Bengal, has not found expression in the functioning of the government. Whether this insouciance is strategy or merely an interim decoy pending a more considered assessment of the outcome is not known. However, govt strategists need to consider the mismatch between the unbridled optimism of stock markets and a mood of tentativeness among people over the future.

No doubt some of the question marks have arisen out of the episodic anger over the NEET turmoil. There are suggestions that the Agniveer issue is also on a slow burning fuse. There will be other such hiccups that the govt will have to confront in the future. What matters is whether its sincerity of purpose is accepted by the public.

However, BJP’s loss of seats has also been accompanied by a media-inspired resurrection of tensions involving the RSS, a facet of public life that had been eased out of the political imagination after Modi’s 2014 victory. Political speculation along such lines tends invariably to be salacious and these, in turn, gnaw away at the moral integrity of a govt. The Modi govt has so far made its mark on the strength of its achievements in governance and on the development front. People’s perception has been shaped by its energy and record of delivery. Modi hasn’t been distracted by the political shenanigans that prime ministers from P V Narasimha Rao to Manmohan Singh had to expend their energies on. It is in his own interest to ensure that the fears of ‘coalition adharma’ turn out to be false scares.

India, it would seem, has unexpectedly been confronted by two different approaches to politics. Quite unwittingly, Rahul Gandhi detected the conflicting impulses in his first speech as Leader of Opposition. In welcoming the Speaker, he said: “Speaker sir, the question is not how efficiently the House is run, the question is how much of India’s voice is allowed to be heard in this House. Speaker sir, so the idea that you can run the House efficiently by silencing the voice of the Opposition is a non-democratic idea.”

While wilfully overstating and mocking the disciplinarian compulsions of a Speaker, he astutely identified a unique facet of the Modi govt: its use of efficiency as the yardstick of good governance and politics. From directing govt employees to attend office punctually, using technology to stop the proverbial transmission losses of government funds, to holding periodic audits of ministerial and departmental performance, Modi’s political priorities are implicitly non-discursive. He seems to loathe yesterday’s meandering pravachans.

This is in marked contrast to the political imagination of the INDIA combination that (at least for the moment) wants elaborate parliamentary deliberations to set the tone of politics. There is a view of liberalism that celebrates decision-making which flows from the laboured aggregation of conflicting philosophies — a confederal system where even the views of CPI (ML-Liberation) and AIMIM are given disproportionate weightage. This approach is at best akin to taking the scenic route or, more likely, travelling by the mail train that stops at every station. What matters is the journey, never the destination.

Maybe there are countries where non-urgency and plebiscitary democracy are ideals. But does it suit the imperatives of an India where the real challenge is to bring all parts of a vast and diverse country into the 21st century, without losing our sense of who we are? It is shaping up to be a battle between the cacophony of liberal democracy and the choral chants of national democracy.■

INBOX

Email your letters to the editor at sunday.times@timesgroup.com with ‘Sunday Mailbox’ in the subject line. Please mention your name and city

Roadmap to dealing with heat waves

Apropos of the interview ‘How will cities...’ (ATM, June 23), the ongoing heat wave conditions in the country reflect the effects of global climate change. To be more effective, heat action plans must be tailored to each region, keeping in mind differences in meteorological and socioeconomic conditions. They should also focus on longterm nature-based mitigation measures. Additional funds should be pledged for this.

—Kamal Laddha, Bengaluru

I read Dileep Mavalankar’s interview ‘How will cities...’ (ATM, June 23) with interest. It is indeed undoubtedly true that most of the state governments do not properly report deaths due to heat waves. As a forensic surgeon, there have been instances where I have had to perform autopsies on 10-12 bodies in a single day during the month of May, all of which were heat stroke deaths, yet the vital statistics rarely reflect this. As the interviewee rightly said, a national health action plan is need of the hour.

—Dr K R Reddy, Visakhapatnam

AI-generated exams?

Apropros of ‘NET is far...’ (ATM, June 23), the cancellation of exam fails to mitigate the issue in the long run. With the advent of new tech and AI, competitive exams shouldn’t be conducted on pre-set question papers which are prone to leaks. Instead, we can have instant AI-generated papers based on the prescribed syllabus.

— Amit Tiwari, Amethi

Buy British, huh? Mahatma Gandhi is having the last laugh

BY INVITATION

SANDIP ROY

In 1921, Gandhi took a pledge to boycott foreign goods by burning 1,50,000 pieces of English cloth in Bombay. The swadeshi movement had started earlier after the Partition of Bengal in 1905 with calls to boycott Manchester cloth and Liverpool salt. But now it truly captured the imagination of the Indian public. Gandhi called it the soul of the dream of swaraj.

Almost 100 years later, a British prime minister of Indian origin has given the call for swadeshi in London in the hope that he too will capture the imagination of his public as Britain heads into an election next week. In a tweet Rishi Sunak exhorted his fellow countrymen to “Buy British”, saying, “We shouldn’t be reliant on foreign food.”

An X user’s post saying, “Babe wake up the Brits are starting a Swadeshi movement,” promptly went viral. Gandhi, the man Britain’s great hero Winston Churchill described as a “seditious half-naked fakir”, would have been amused that a British PM seems to be wanting to take a page out of his playbook.

Sunak’s aim was to appeal to national pride and promote self-reliance. His opponents pointed fingers at the role his own party has played in the decline of British agriculture as well as the impact of Brexit on food supply. A London School of Economics study said British households paid 7 billion pounds since Brexit to cover the cost of trade barriers on food imports from the European Union. Controversial trade deals with Australia and New Zealand have flooded British markets with cheap beef from Down Under. But, for Indians, this was a juicy moment to give the Brits a history lesson.

When Indians launched the swadeshi movement in 1905, thousands were arrested and sent to jail. Colleges whose students had been part of the movement found their grants and scholarships cancelled. Sunak’s clarion call, instead of igniting a similar fervour, has set off a meme fest and social media hilarity.

One X user said it was a great idea, but could Sunak direct them to the nearest British tea garden. Also, the ‘Buy British’ slogan rings a little hollow in a country where curry-houses are as ubiquitous as pubs and chicken tikka masala is the unofficial national dish.

But there was a more sobering message as well. Britain once boasted that the sun never set on the British Empire. Even after Independence many Indians remained fascinated by London and knew more about British history than their own. But now, it has truly been cut to size. The emperor has no clothes (and no spices of its own either).

While the Indian leaders’ call for swadeshi actually made an impact, Sunak’s plea just had people rolling on the floor in laughter as some asked for a “squeeze of British lemon” and a “drizzle of British olive oil” and “those British spices.” In the comedy series ‘Goodness Gracious Me’, the characters once go out for ‘an English’ which meant ordering 12 bread rolls and the “blandest thing on the menu.” ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ was a spoof on English culture by British-Asian comics but now Sunak himself has become the joke. He is pretty much the “blandest thing on the menu.”

It was actually also an unwitting reminder of how a very small country had colonised so much of the world and cornered so much of its resources for its own gain for so long. The mention of “British spices” is particularly pointed because it was in the name of spices that European colonisers ravaged many parts of the world. That is why Amitav Ghosh used nutmeg as a way to recount a larger story about colonialism and capitalism all leading us towards climate change through the exploitation of the planet’s resources in his book ‘The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis’. Now, as Sunak tells his countrymen to buy British, it reminds us that the British went out to colonise so many parts of the globe precisely because there wasn’t that much to buy at home. The raw materials of places like India finally gave Britain its chicken tikka masala, and there’s no going back to mashed peas and boiled potatoes.

In fact, if they had just bought British in the first place, the history of the world would be very, very different. In that light, Sunak’s plea sounds more plaintive than passionately patriotic. He has made it with a rather stoic disregard of the intertwined histories of both the country he leads and the country his ancestors came from. Social media is chortling that this is Gandhi’s revenge, but Sunak remains straight-faced and impassive. Revenge might be a dish best served cold but post-colonial comeuppance, it seems, must come with a stiff upper lip.■

SWADESHI PITCH: Sunak has ignored the histories of both the country he leads, and the country his ancestors came from

Atmanirbhar with a twist: India’s different from Korea, Latin nations

SWAMINOMICS

SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR

Last week, this column described how the govt’s atmanirbhar policy was evolving into an Indian version of the Korean chaebol, where industrial conglomerates are backed by their govt with support and subsidies to become world-class national champions. Similar policies mark other East Asian countries.

Will India emulate East Asia? Or will it go the way of Latin America, which also aimed to create national champions with high tariffs, quasi-monopolies, cheap credit, and ended with disasters in country after country? The chaebol bribed politicians. But Latin American corruption was enormously higher, with crony capitalism ruining economies. Despite historical advantages, the region failed to move from middle-income to high-income status. Argentina, among the richest countries in the 19th century, went bust seven times and regressed.

East Asian countries were always export-oriented and, hence, globally competitive. By contrast, Latin Americans aimed at self-sufficiency. The resulting lack of competitiveness doomed them.

Will India succeed in its version of chaebolisation? Or will it go the Latino crony way, as liberals like Raghuram Rajan fear? Consider three major fears...

One is incomplete chaebolisation. Korea kept out big multinationals. But atmanirbhar has mixed aims. It seeks national champions but also wants to attract the biggest multinationals. It boasts of success in attracting Apple to make and export billions worth of iPhones, and Micron (with subsidies of 70% of cost) for semiconductor assembly and testing. This has been denounced as an unwarranted gift to foreigners. By contrast, Korea never allowed foreign investment in production, reserving favours for chaebol. Samsung and Hyundai rose by first buying foreign technology and, later, investing massively in R&D to become technological leaders.

India’s atmanirbhar is far from pure chaebolisation. It is a jumbled mix of attracting FDI and backing India’s Big Three — Tata, Ambani and Adani — to become national champions to take on the world.

Atmanirbhar includes high tariffs (hopefully temporary) to keep out imports, subsidies through production-linked incentives (PLIs), and rules favouring national champions. Govt has raised import duties on many low-tech items, protecting small producers of items like kites, candles, clocks, and textiles. But it wants multinationals like Amazon and Walmart too, even while changing e-commerce rules to benefit homegrown companies like Reliance. So, unlike Korea, India seeks both MNCs and national champions.

The second fear is that Indian businessmen will become mainly uncompetitive palm-greasers buying favours from corrupt govts. Some Indian economists say India is going the Latino way of crony capitalism, with companies like Ambani and Adani making money in non-competitive sectors like infrastructure. Much of this criticism reflects caste bias against Marwaris and other Vaishyas. Ambani runs one of the biggest oil refineries in the world, and has made petroleum products India’s biggest export. His refining margins are higher than those of Singapore’s famed refineries. These are not crony feats. Reliance Jio has given India one of the cheapest telecom networks in the world.

Adani is mostly in infrastructure. He started with Mundra port. It had to be competitive to attract cargo away from major ports like Mumbai and nearby Kandla. Today, Mundra is India’s biggest port with the biggest attached Special Economic Zone.

A decade ago, Adani audaciously decided to invest $16 billion in a new Carmichael coal mine project in Australia. No crony would make such a huge bet in a foreign country. He had to battle environmentalists and tribal groups for years. Besides, rival miners said Carmichael would need an export price of at least $110/ton to succeed, which was unlikely as the world gradually stopped using coal. Adani fought critics for years, finally got all the permits, and commenced production. The price of Australian coal today is $140/tonne, so Adani calculated rightly and his critics did not.

Tata is an established global player. It is now the biggest private sector employer in Britain, running TCS, Tata Steel Europe (formerly Corus) and Jaguar Land Rover.

The third fear of critics is that Indian companies will fail for want of R&D. India spends only 0.6% of GDP on R&D against China’s 2.4% and Korea’s 4.8%. Most Indian R&D is by the govt, not corporations. This must change radically if India is to chaebolise. However, top Indian companies are aiming to do just that. Ambani and Adani plan massive R&D in renewables. They aim to reduce the price of green hydrogen from $3/kg to just $1/kg, which is cutting-edge stuff. Jaguar’s R&D will help Tata become world class in e-cars. Bajaj, India’s fourth biggest group, has converted most of its Pune factory into an R&D centre.

Success is by no means assured. But India is well-placed to charge uphill. Let us be optimists.■

NOT JUST LOOKING INWARD: Unlike Korea, India wants both multinationals and national champions

No NEET answer, but time to make merit matter again

THE UNDERAGE OPTIMIST

CHETAN BHAGAT

It’s fair to say that NEET, the national-level medical entrance exam, has become a mess. Allegations of paper leaks, mismanagement of centres, unfair marking schemes, mathematically improbable result patterns abound. This is not only stressful to the millions who took the exam, but to those planning to take it in the coming years.

Even with no irregularity, Indian entrance exams are already intensely stressful. Long after one has stopped being a student, the recurrent nightmare is usually to do with an exam. NEET is extremely competitive. Some 23 lakh students took NEET-UG this year, aiming to get one of the approximately 50,000 seats in government medical colleges. This makes it a rejection rate of 97.8%. There are some more seats for private medical colleges, but they are a) not as prestigious and b) are expensive to study in, sometimes costing crores (compared to a few lakhs for government ones). Even including private colleges, total medical seats cap out at a little over 1,00,000.

The big fight is, however, for government seats, or to obtain one of the top 50,000 ranks. Imagine the value of obtaining this top rank in NEET. Ignore all morals, merit, hard work. Let’s just go into pure greedy, shameless, crony-capitalist mode. What if you could auction and sell those top ranks? How much do you think they would sell for? You save in crores given the lower fee at government colleges. There’s higher prestige. You avoid the stress and hard work of preparation and save the coaching fee as well. Perhaps these top ranks could be sold off, in a greedy pure capitalist world, for Rs 3 crore each. So, for the top 50,000 ranks, we are talking about a potential Rs 1,50,000-crore revenue opportunity annually, if we were ready to sell our souls. This is why there is a massive incentive for things to go wrong. It’s the same story with other entrance exams — the money to be made in rigging them is massive. In a nation that has rarely prioritised merit and ethics, is it really surprising that a mini industry has come up to make money off these tests?

When did we care about fairness, integrity and merit anyway? It isn’t how our politics works which is almost always about identity — some mix of religion, caste, regionalism and nationalism. So why care now? Why bother with silly things like merit? Why not sell everything? If we can have crony capitalism, where certain corporates who pay up have an advantage, why not let rich families buy seats for their kids?

But it bothers us, doesn’t it? It makes us sick actu- ally. Mass-level cheating in our few, extremely difficult but supposedly honest exams shakes us to the core. It isn’t just about students. It is about all of us, who suddenly feel nothing is sacrosanct, nobody can be trusted and, finally, it is only power and money that talks. Exams like NEET, JEE, UPSC are the only outlets in our country for young people to jump class. For someone to get a better life of dignity for themselves and their parents. They are extremely hard, but at least carry hope in a country with few avenues to rise.

Hopefully, this NEET fiasco wakes us up. It makes us realise that values such as integrity, honesty, merit, and respect for hard work are values that need to be guarded. Humans are flawed. If there is massive opportunity to rig and cheat, some people in the system will do so. But we as citizens must stay vigilant. Students are the victims here but here’s a bit of feedback for them. They may not like to hear this, but over the last few years, the average Indian student has disconnected from politics. Lost in their Insta reels, YouTube videos, memes, OTT series and video games, they say, ‘Who cares, politics doesn’t affect me. Let boring oldies do it.’ No, you must care. For if you don’t, you will suffer the most. How did NEET finally attract national attention? When enough students finally kicked up a fuss. Stay engaged in your democracy. Don’t check out. Don’t think voting every five years and ignoring national issues otherwise is enough. Your regular vigilance is needed to keep everyone accountable.

For this specific NEET situation, all problems lead to National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts these high-stakes exams without good systems in place. With lakhs of crores in malpractice possible, we deserve a more foolproof organisation. For exams like NEET, centres must be reputable and secure. If enough good centres are not available, exams can be phase-wise, like elections. For this, multiple question papers can be set of equal difficulty and scores normalised. Only a tight circle should be aware of which exact paper will be used on exam day. Conducting an exam with integrity is possible but it depends on those conducting it. Leaking papers is essentially selling of seats. It is selling Indian merit, honesty and hard work. It is selling India’s soul. We can’t let that happen.■

TESTING TIME: Exams like NEET give young people an opportunity to jump class so leaks feel like a betrayal

Times Sport

- India prise Cup out of SA’s hands

- CIAO ITALY! HELLO SWISS!

- Tricks and treat: Spain’s perfect record to be tested by Georgia

- VINICIUS STEPS UP FOR BRAZIL, FINALLYFOR

- COLOMBIA BEAT COSTA RICA TO BOOK LAST-8 SPOT

- ENGLAND SEEK SPARK, SLOVAKIA SEE OPPORTUNITY

- PASSING THETHE SPEEDD TESTEST

- ‘King Kohli’ saves his best for last

- Luus, Kapp keep South Africa alive

- Emotions, tears flow as Indian players savour the triumph

- THE WORLD IS ENOUGH

- GALLERY

- Sizzling run by Thompson

- Djokovic ‘pain free’ ahead of Wimbledon

- Verstappen holds off McLaren challenge

- Avinash Sable bags 3000m steeplechase gold

- Tvesa, Vani tied 4th in Swiss Open

TIMES IN THE CARIBBEAN

India prise Cup out of SA’s hands

Virat Kohli, Pacers Star In Nerve-Shattering, Soul-Redeeming 7-Run Win As Proteas Choke Again With Finish Line In Sight

ROHIT’S BRAVEHEARTS: Indian players celebrate the fall of Kagiso Rabada’s wicket in Bridgetown

Dwaipayan.Datta@timesgroup.com

Bridgetown (Barbados): There was a new sunrise for Indian cricket on the banks of the North Atlantic Ocean on Saturday. All the agony of losing at the final hurdle is a thing of the past. The balm for years of hurt — that reached its crescendo on Nov 19 last in Ahmedabad when India lost to Australia in the final of the 50-over World Cup — has been provided by a group of brave-hearts who refused to give up.

In lifting the T20 World Cup after 17 long years, India gave Virat Kohli the ultimate T20 farewell as he announced his retirement from the format while accepting the Man of the Match award.

There can be a million moments that you’ll keep talking about all your lives, but the one that will never be forgotten is Suryakumar Yadav’s outstanding catch off the first ball of the 20th over. South Africa needed 16 runs off the last over and Hardik Pandya was the desperate choice. A yorker gone wrong had been hit in the air and it seemed to be going for six, but only until Suryakumar completed a catch that will be remembered as the most memorable, after the one taken by Sreesanth to send Misbah-ul-Haq home off the last ball of the 2007 final.

It was a battle of nerves after that and Hardik, who has gone through so many upheavals in his life recently, kept landing every ball on the spot. As Keshav Maharaj’s last shot went nowhere, Hardik just sat down on the pitch with tears in his eyes. He had redeemed himself and so had Team India.

It wasn’t just the last over. Hardik had the ball in his hand when Heinrich Klaasen and Miller were going great guns. All South Africa needed were 26 off 25 balls. Jasprit Bumrah’s over had been negotiated, the flags were being folded, the journalists were switching their laptops off. Hardik bowled one slightly wide and Klaasen, who probably believed the World Cup was theirs by then, tried a punch that got a nick and went to the wicketkeeper. And that’s where the infamous South African choke started setting in.

A team that had played with remarkable positivity until then started thinking about losing the game. Once such emotions start creeping in, there’s a man in the Indian lineup who can simply hammer you. In came Bumrah for the 18th over and Marco Jansen’s stumps were shattered. South Africa managed virtually nothing from those six balls and that turned the game. South Africa stuttered and stumbled, as they always do.

And now let’s talk about a man who might not have played this game if the world had had its way. Captain Rohit Sharma had said before the final that Kohli was saving his best for the final. And how the ‘King’ kept his word!

Things had gone wrong for India after they were reduced to 45-3 in the first Powerplay. Kohli (76 off 59 balls), after the first three boundaries that he hit in the first over, struggled to force the pace in the middle. But he didn’t throw his wicket away and held one end up as Axar Patel (47 off 31 balls) played an innings of quality.

At a time when left-arm spinner Maharaj was looking to get on top, Axar took on the slog sweep and attacked the longer boundary, clearing it with ease. Axar and Kohli ran well between the wickets and the partnership of 72 was central to India reaching a score of respectability. Axar was looking for quite a few more, but a moment’s lapse of concentration allowed Quinton de Kock to take an aim at the stumps and break the stumps at the far end.

CIAO ITALY! HELLO SWISS!

Murat’s Men Stun Defending Champions To Enter Quarterfinals With An Impressive Display

Berlin: Switzerland dumped reigning champions Italy out of Euro 2024 with a stunning 2-0 victory on Saturday to reach the quarterfinals for the second time in their history.

Murat Yakin’s supremely well-drilled side outplayed the flat two-time winners in the last 16 clash in Berlin and will face England or Slovakia in the next round.

Ruben Vargas teed up Remo Freuler for Switzerland’s 37th minute opener before curling home superbly himself right at the start of the second half to deservedly double their lead. A new-look Italy, short on star power and without many of the key figures that led them to Euro 2020 glory, offered little in response to Switzerland’s energetic display.

Former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, arriving at the Euros after a stunning season with German champions Bayer Leverkusen, pulled the string.

Italy coach Luciano Spalletti dropped Jorginho after his worrying group stage performances, bringing in Nicolo Fagioli in defensive midfield among a hefty six changes which failed to bring the Azzurri to life. The 23-yearold started a major tournament match for the first time, having missed most of the season with Juventus after a seven-month ban for gambling on football matches.

Spalletti said his team had no alternative but to improve in the knock-out rounds. However it was Switzerland who grew in confi- dence and pulled off their best display yet, making a bright start at the Olympiastadion in a sweltering Berlin, where a far more impressive Italy won the 2006 World Cup.

Former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been regaling the squad with stories from that triumph but it did not inspire a convincing performance -apart from by his modern day counterpart, Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper could not stop Freuler from firing Switzerland ahead after 37 minutes when the midfielder controlled Vargas’ low cross and drilled home at the near post. Augsburg midfielder Vargas, who started in place of the suspended Silvan Widmer but on the left of the attack, broke into the area and arced a superb curling shot over Donnarumma in the 46th minute.

AFP

HEADING FOR THE TOP CORNER: Ruben Vargas curls in a stunning effort for Switzerland’s second

Tricks and treat: Spain’s perfect record to be tested by Georgia

(AGAINST PORTUGAL) WE COULD SEE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO PLAY WITH EVERY TEAM AND IT IS POSSIBLE TO WIN. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO YOUR OPPONENTS ARE BECAUSE THERE ARE NO EASY TEAMS AT THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP.” —Khvicha Kvaratskhelia | Georgia striker

Spain beat Georgia twice in qualifying. A 7-1 rout saw Lamine Yamal set a record for youngest ever goalscorer in a Euros qualifier, two months after his 16th B’day since then. Georgia have shown improvement, their low block and quick counterattacks are similar to those of Albania, who caused Spain problems in the group stage

Velbert: Willy Sagnol ranked just qualifying for Euro 2024 with Georgia as one of the finest achievements in his impressive football career, but the Frenchman topped that by leading the tournament’s rank outsiders into the knockout stages where they face Spain on Sunday.

The country of 3.7 million people in the Caucasus sits 74th in the FIFA rankings and had never been to a major tournament since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. “I thought we reached our maximum by qualifying in March,” Sagnol admitted after Georgia beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal 2-0 to reach the last 16.

Georgia got to the Euros in a rather roundabout way, finishing fourth in their qualifying group behind Spain, Scotland and Norway. However, their impressive performances in the Nations League gave them another crack at making it via the play-offs, in which they beat Luxembourg and then defeated Greece on penalties.

Georgia’s success on the pitch, where they are led by Napoli’s old-school winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, comes at a time of political turmoil in the country.

On Friday, there was a much more laidback atmosphere as Sagnol gathered his players together in the sunshine on their training pitch in Velbert, where the stadium looks down over the Ruhr valley towards the city of Essen.

Just after taking charge, Sagnol’s Georgia played Spain at home in a 2022 World Cup qualifier. They went ahead, but Spain came back to win 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time goal. Spain beat them 4-0 at home in that campaign, and won both meetings in qualifying for this tournament, including a 7-1 victory in Tbilisi. That shows the size of the task awaiting Georgia in Cologne.

AFP

NICO WILLIAMS

VINICIUS STEPS UP FOR BRAZIL, FINALLYFOR

I played a game that is compatible to the level of the player I am. I always say that I never play for myself, I play for the team, for Brazil. Always try my best, but it’s not always possible.” —Vinicius

Atlanta: Vinicius Jr unleashed his inner beast in a little over 45 minutes of pure Brazilian football mayhem to guide the five-time World Cup champions to their first 2024 Copa America win against Paraguay on Friday.

The 23-year-old electric winger scored twice and delivered a muchneeded statement performance that Brazilian fans have long been waiting for. The Real Madrid rising star may be one of the best players in the world but until now that fiery spark has not been seen in his na- tional team performances.

Even in Brazil’s Copa America opener this year a goalless draw against Costa Rica Vinicius ended up being substituted halfway through the second half after not managing a single scoring attempt. After that, Brazil manager Dorival Jr changed tack and that decision paid back in a major way.

Instead of being deployed as more of an orthodox winger wide on the left against Costa Rica, Dorival gave Vinicius the freedom to roam across the front line on Friday against Para- guay and fans were shown why he is a strong contender to win the Ballon d’Or after guiding Real to a LaLigaChampions League double. After their disappointing opener, Brazil were initially struggling against another defensive opponent and almost lost their composure when Lucas Paqueta badly missed a penalty halfway through the first half.

But instead, they were rescued by Vinicius, who took charge and was all over the field, striking twice and creating another chance that allowed Savinho to score, helping Brazil to go to the break with a comfortable 3-0 lead. That was more than enough for a Brazil who were playing under huge pressure.

REUTERS

COLOMBIA BEAT COSTA RICA TO BOOK LAST-8 SPOT

Glendale: Colombia cruised to a 3-0 win over Costa Rica in Group D on Friday and booked their spot in the Copa America quarters thanks to strikes from Luis Diaz, Davinson Sanchez and Jhon Cordoba.

Colombia started the match well and took the lead in the 31st minute through Liverpool winger Diaz, who confidently converted from the penalty spot after Costa Rica goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira bundled over Cordoba in the box.

As Costa Rica pressed for an equaliser they left themselves open on the break and Colombia made them pay, with Sanchez outmuscling defender Juan Pablo Vargas to head Jhon Arias’ corner past Sequeira from close range in the 59th minute.

After scoring, Sanchez held up the jersey of team mate Jhon Lucumi, who missed the match due to an injury. Cordoba rounded out the scoring three minutes later after timing his run perfectly to stay onside and latch onto James Rodriguez’s long ball.

REUTERS

ENGLAND SEEK SPARK, SLOVAKIA SEE OPPORTUNITY

Mainoo May Start, Shaw Set To Return As Southgate’s Men Face Fierce Criticism

We remember where we started. When our coach first took the job, we were playing friendly matches in front of 2,000 people in the stadium. And now, after two years of hard work, we’re among the best 16 teams in Europe. So, it’s really wonderful, and we’re happy about it.” —Milan Skriniar SLOVAKIA CAPTAIN

Gelsenkirchen: Gareth Southgate’s gamble of naming longinjured Luke Shaw to his squad for Euro 2024 could soon pay off with the left back expected to make an imminent return in what would be his first game in more than four months.

England face Slovakia in the Round of 16 on Sunday in Gelsenkirchen and while the 29-year-old is not expected to start, he could provide a boost off the bench to a squad that has been without a left-footer in his position. “It’s a calculated risk,” Southgate told reporters when his squad was announced earlier this month. “I think you can take one gamble and that’s a gamble, we’ve got enough evidence to believe it can pay off.”

Southgate is also reportedly considering starting teenager Kobbie Mainoo in midfield.

Defence has been the most positive part of England’s performance in Germany, with them conceding one goal in the group stage. While boasting some of the world’s best attackers, England mustered only two goals in three games and were 20th in goal attempts.

Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier is right-footed and so tends to turn inside, while Shaw is an attacking defender who loves to make overlapping runs down the left flank much like the team’s right back Kyle Walker. England’s two goals by Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane were assisted by Bukayo Saka and Walker on the right.

Shaw was solid in England’s 2020 European Championship run, scoring an early goal in the team’s loss to Italy in a penalty shootout in the final.

Bitter revisit

England also scored only two goals in the group stage of the last Euros before progressing to a first major tournament final in 55 years. However, it is the shades of Euro 2016 that will send shivers down the spines of England fans heading to Gelsenkirchen. Eight years ago Roy Hodgson’s side also stumbled their way through the group phase with five points only to be handed a seemingly kind draw against Iceland. Iceland pulled off a shock 2-1 win.

Under coach Francesco Calzona, Slovakia have produced one of the shocks of the tournament by beating Belgium 1-0 in their opening game.

AFP

JURAJ KUCKA

The Slovakia midfielder has two assists so far. He has 100 per cent crossing accuracy in 3 matches. He is 8th in key player stats rankings, covering a distance of 34.02km. Kucka will make a record-extending 11 appearances for Slovakia at Euros

KOBBIE MAINOO

PASSING THETHE SPEEDD TESTEST

Players Are Getting Quicker And Putting In The Distance

STAR RUN: FRANCE’S MBAPPE CAME IN JOINT 10TH AT 35KPH

Players are getting quicker, with Slovenia’s Benjamin Sesko clocking a top speed of 35.9 kph (22.3 mph), fastest among the 45 players who, according to the UEFA numbers, eclipsed the 33.8 kph reached by both Hungary’s Loic Nego and Italian Leonardo Spinazzola in Euro 2020.

And they are putting in the distance. Five players in Germany have beaten the 36 km (22.4 miles) covered by Russia’s Aleksandr Golovin in the group stage of Euro 2020, with Albania’s Ylber Ramadani running 37.5 km at an average 12.3 km per match.

Slovenia defender Erik Janza scored the most powerful goal of Euro 2024 in the group stage at 128.76 kph (80 mph), while Danish midfielder Morten Hjulmand’s 28-metre (30.6-yard) strike was the longest. The built-in technology of the tournament’s ball also showed that Hungary’s Kevin Csoboth hit the goal with the most spins in his last-gasp strike against Scotland with a total of 16 rotations.

HARDEST WORKER: ALBANIA’S RAMADINI COVERED 37.5KM IN 3 GAMES

SECOND BEST: ROMANIA’S VALENTIN MIHAILA AT 35.8KPH

THE FASTEST: SESKO AT 35.9KPH

‘King Kohli’ saves his best for last

Got The Job Done When Mattered, Says Batter; Announces Retirement From Format

THE MASTER AT WORK: Kohli in full flow on Saturday

Dwaipayan.Datta@timesgroup.com

Bridgetown (Barbados): Virat was smiling one moment and crying the next. It was a moment that was meant for ‘King Kohli’ and he deserved every bit of it. As India’s greatest T20 cricketer announced his international retirement from the format, he had a Man-of-the-Match award in his hand. And he had just fashioned a World Cup victory for India.

Nothing had gone wrong for Virat in this World Cup. If the twitterati had its way, he wouldn’t have been playing the final, but there was a team management that believed Kohli would come good. “He is saving his best for the final,” captain Rohit Sharma said after India won their semifinal without much of a hassle.

Even on Saturday, the world ranted as Kohli was fighting it out in the middle. After hitting three beautiful boundaries in the first over, India had lost three quick wickets and Virat was suddenly left to pull off a rescue act. Yes, he wasn’t connecting, but the old pro knew how to deal with those moments.

Many of those who remember Kohli from his days in the 2016 World Cup — when he took Australia apart in Mohali to fashion one of India’s greatest-ever run chases — believed he would play in the same vein every day, year after year. On Saturday at the Kensington Oval, the homeground of Sir Garry Sobers, Kohli showed the world that taking a few blows on the chin and battling it out is also a rare quality.

“One day you feel you can't get a run, then things happen. I got the job done for the team on the day it mattered. It was now or never for me, I wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to lift the cup, wanted to respect the situation rather than force it,” Kohli said.

The champion batter said about his T20I retire- ment that “this was an open secret”. In fact, he might not have played the T20 World Cup had India won the ODI World Cup last year. But it was the hurt of that defeat that kept Virat pushing for it. He had a magnificent IPL and put all speculation about his inclusion in the squad to rest.

The team management opened a slot for him — that of the opener — to make his game relevant for the format. Kohli was there for the insurance he provided at the top of the order, which wasn’t happening till the final. But he was not ready to let go. Some of his batting in the nets of Barbados against Jasprit Bumrah, India’s greatest white-ball match-winner, was beyond brilliant as he prepared himself for the moment.

And once he got it done, the ‘King’ announced that was time for the younger lot to take over. “It's time for the next generation to take over, some amazing players will take the team forward and keep the flag waving high.” They will surely do, but Virat will never be forgotten.

Luus, Kapp keep South Africa alive

ONE-OFF TEST

...After India Pile Up Record Total

Neha.Surana@timesgroup.com

Chennai: Gritty half-centuries from Sune Luus (65, 164b; 6x4, 1x6) and Marizanne Kapp (69*, 125b; 8x4) sparked a South African resurgence as they crawled their way to 236-4 after India declared their record-shattering innings at 603-6 on Day Two of the one off Test. They stitched a nearcentury stand to stay alive in the contest.

The visitors remained unfazed about India’s gigantic total and went about their business calmly. Proteas openers Laura Wolvaardt (20) and Anneke Bosch (39) were undeterred by the scorching heat in their seven overs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as they began their innings in smooth fashion. Both got off the mark with a four and went on to hit the pacers for bounda- ries occasionally.

To separate the duo, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who had closely observed the passage of play in the morning session, was tempted to bring in the ever-reliable Sneh Rana (3-61) on the spin friendly surface. Right after the lunch break, Sneh hit the nail on the head by giving India their first breakthrough.

The right-arm off-break bowler looked determined to get rid of South Africa captain Wolvaardt. In the eighth over, she first lost a review when a sharply turning delivery appeared to be on the path of Wolvaardt’s stumps. Three deliveries later, she finally got her prized wicket as the ball kept low and did not turn as much as it did in the previous deliveries, trapping Wolvaardt LBW. Speaking after the match, Sneh, who was the pick of the bowlers, said: “Laura’s wicket was the most satisfactory one. I’m happy that I finally got it.”

After losing Wolvaardt, Bosch and Luus kept India at bay in a well-curated stand of 63 runs off 137 balls.

Emotions, tears flow as Indian players savour the triumph

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

It was a time for the tears and emotions to flow freely. India beat South Africa in a humdinger of a final in Bridgetown to clinch the T20 World Cup. Obviously, the stars found it difficult to articulate their thoughts. But Jasprit Bumrah, who was named Player of the Tournament, was his usual calm self.

“Usually, I’m the one who tries to keep my emotions in check and get the job done but today I don’t have many words. I don’t usually cry after a game but the emotions are taking over. We were in trouble but we’re really over the moon to win from that stage. My family is here, we came close last time and we got the job done, there’s no better feeling than to get your team through in a game like this.”

The ace bowler added, “It just felt good, and I tried to keep myself in a bubble and tried not to think too far ahead. When the big day comes, you have to do it. I always think about one ball and one over at atime, don’t think too far ahead. Emotions can take over, it was taking over but you have to keep it in check but now that the game is over, it can come out.”

Player of the Match Virat Kohli finally showed his class in the final with a superb 76. “This was my last T20 World Cup, this is exactly what we wanted to achieve. One day you feel like you can’t get a run and this happens, God is great. Just the occasion, now or never kind of situation. This was my last T20 game playing for India and we wanted to lift that cup.”

The master batsman revealed that he would have announced his retirement from T20 Internationals even if India had lost. “It’s time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward. It's been a long wait for us, waiting to win an ICC tournament. You look at someone like Rohit, he's played 9 T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it. It’s been difficult to hold emotions back and I think it's going to sink in later.

It's an amazing day and I'm thankful.”

Axar Patel, who chipped in throughout the tournament with allround contributions, said, "It means everything for me. The last few years I've been getting injured, not getting that performance. I wanted to do something for India and I'm feeling proud. I tried to keep it simple. Just thought of it as another match. That worked for me."

Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya, who found his form in the tournament and helped India immensely, was seen crying his heart out after the triumph. "It means a lot. I'm very emotional, we’ve been working very hard and something was not clicking. But today we got what the whole nation wanted.”

Alluding to the difficult period he has gone through in the last 6 months, Hardik said, “It's more special for me, after how my last six months were, I haven’t spoken a word. I knew that if I kept working hard I could shine and do what I could do.”

THE WORLD IS ENOUGH

MIRACLE OF BRIDGETOWN: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (clockwise from top) pose with the Tricolour after India’s come-from-behind win in the final; Jasprit Bumrah, one of the chief architects of the win, celebrates with Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja; South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj (from left), Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller are inconsolable after the narrow defeat; Arshdeep Singh, who became the joint-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, exults after dismissing Aiden Markram

GALLERY

Pragg lets Gukesh off the hook on a day of draws

Bucharest: R Praggnanandhaa missed out on becoming a joint leader at the the Superbet Classic chess tournament after settling for a draw against compatriot D Gukesh in the third round here. After losing to Gukesh in the last Candidates tournament in April earlier this year, Praggnanandhaa had a great opportunity to equalise the score this year but could not find a winning continuation after Gukesh spoiled a drawn endgame.

Malvika shocks Kristy to enter semis: Malvika Bansod stunned Scotland’s Kristy Gilmour in a thrilling three-game match to advance to the women’s singles semifinals of the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament. The 22-yearold from Nagpur, ranked 49th, registered a 10-21 21-15 21-10 win over Kristy, a 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist. In men’s singles, Priyanshu Rajawat produced a good show but couldn’t get past fourth seed Lei Lan Xi of China, losing 21-15 11-21 18-21 in a quarterfinal match. Second seed Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost 17-21 21-17 19-21 to Japanese sixth seed Rui Hirokami and Yuna Kato to also end their campaign in the last eight round.

Tabilo first Chilean man to win grasscourt title in Open era: Alejandro Tabilo became the first Chilean man to win a grasscourt title in the Open era at the Mallorca Championships on Saturday. Tabilo, seeded fourth, defeated the unseeded Sebastian Ofner of Austria 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

Kasatkina, Fritz win Eastbourne titles: Daria Kasatkina and Taylor Fritz won the women’s and men’s singles titles respectively at the Eastbourne International on Saturday as they both enjoyed morale-boosting grasscourt triumphs just days out from the start of Wimbledon. Kasatkina’s 6-3, 6-4 victory over Leylah Fernandez gave the Russian her first grasscourt title.

AGENCIES

ACTION TODAY

AUTO: F1, Austrian GP, Race 6.30 pm (Fancode);

BADMINTON: US Open, Finals, 10.30 pm (Jio);

CRICKET: India Wom vs SA Wom, only Test, Day 3, 9.30 am (Jio);

FOOTBALL: Euro 2024, Eng vs Slovakia, 9.30 pm; Spain vs Georgia, 12.30 am Monday (Sony)

Sizzling run by Thompson

Year-Leading Mark Of 9.77 Seconds Set To Win 100m Sprint In Olympic Trials

PUTTING ON A SHOW: Kishane Thompson in action

Kingston: Kishane Thompson registered a sizzling world-leading mark of 9.77 seconds to win the men’s 100 metres at the Jamaican Olympic trials on Friday, becoming the joint ninth fastest man in history.

Two-time World Championships finalist Oblique Seville was second in 9.82, while World Indoor 60m bronze medallist Ackeem Blake finished third in 9.92.

Thompson, who is in only his second season as a professional, had not raced at all this season before the Jamaican championship and told Reuters he believes he can go faster. “My coach instructed me just to run the first 60 metre, nothing more, after that, shut it down,” he said.

“If I came second or third, I would’ve made the team. The goal wasn’t to prove anything, just run the 70 or 60 metres and see where I was.”

Thompson, now the fourth fastest Jamaican behind Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell said he had much to improve on making his Olympic debut in Paris.

“It’s kind of new to me, but I’m getting it slowly,” he said.

Fraser-Pryce, Jackson earn 100m spots for Paris

Shericka Jackson recovered from a poor start to win the women’s 100m in 10.84, clawing her way from the back of the field after 30 metres to power past Tia Clayton (10.90) and twice Olympic champion ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce (10.94). Both Jackson and FraserPryce earned their place at the Paris Olympics.

Jackson, the back-to-back world champion in the 200m, said winning was more important than running a faster time. “Coach and I sat down and talked about how we wanted the approach the season, and I think we did pretty good, having only ran one 100m prior to the national trials,” Jackson told Reuters.

“It’s a work in progress and I will now turn my attention to retaining my 200m title over the next two days.”

Malik James-King won the 400m hurdles in 47.42, moving up to number five in the world this season as he crossed the finish 0.62 seconds ahead of national record holder Roshawn Clarke, while Jaheel Hyde was third in 48.35. James-King said he never panicked, even as he left it until hurdle number nine to catch Clarke.

REUTERS

Djokovic ‘pain free’ ahead of Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic proclaimed himself “pain free” after defeating Daniil Medvedev in an exhibition match on Friday ahead of Wimbledon.

Former world number one Djokovic, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, needed surgery earlier this month following a serious knee injury at the French Open.

But on Friday the 37-year-old took his place in the draw for Wimbledon, which starts on Monday, with Djokovic, seeded two, taking on 123rdranked Vit Kopriv of the Czech Republic at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

Djokovic’s movement was not completely smooth in a 6-3, 6-4 win over Medvedev during an exhibition event at London’s Hurlingham Club, with the Serbian’s right knee strapped up. But he struck the ball crisply and served well. “I can tell you that I enjoyed myself really, really much today,” said Djokovic afterwards. “I can tell you that pain-free tennis is the best tennis. I was pain-free and I’m really glad. It was a great test obviously against one of the best players in the world. I’ve played a couple of practice sets but I really wanted to test myself. The test was very successful so I’m obviously really glad. It’s been an intense three week after surgery, spending a lot of hours rehabbing.”

Djokovic, whose tally of 24 singles titles at Grand Slam tournaments is the most won by any man in tennis history, added: “I kind of always wanted to give myself a chance to be in London. I think my surgeon is here. He’s the MVP (most valuable player) for sure the last three weeks. I’m trying to take it day by day and see how far it goes.”

Djokovic was forced to pull out ahead of his quarterfinal at the French Open against Casper Ruud after tearing the medial meniscus in his right knee. He has since been looking to learn from fellow tennis players and athletes who have suffered similar injuries.

AGENCIES

Verstappen holds off McLaren challenge

IN FORM: Max Verstappen

Spielberg, Austria: Formula 1 leader Max Verstappen held off an early attack by Lando Norris before pulling away from the two McLarens to comfortably secure his third sprint race victory of the year Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen finished 4.616 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to make it three wins out of three in sprint races this season, with Norris another 0.732 seconds back in third. The dominant Verstappen has also won seven of the 10 grand prix races this season as he aims for a seemingly inevitable fourth straight F1 title, but he was put under serious pressure early on in this one.

“We had to work for it,” Verstappen said.

Norris started second behind Verstappen and stayed glued to the Red Bull for the first few laps, using his DRS to attack the championships leader. Norris even managed to overtake Verstappen briefly on lap five after a daring move on the straight leading into a sharp turn, but the Dutch driver responded by quickly retaking the lead at the next corner.

Norris ended up being overtaken by his teammate as well during that sequence, but Piastri could not seriously challenge Verstappen after that and the Red Bull driver gradually extended his lead over the 23-lap race.

Verstappen said the key was to get out of the range of the McLarens’ DRS system, which allows the chasing driver to reduce the drag by opening up the rear wing of his car to get a burst of speed.

“It was a good first lap but once the DRS opens it is very hard to get out of it,” Verstappen said.

AGENCIES

Avinash Sable bags 3000m steeplechase gold

Panchkula (Haryana): Paris Olympics-bound star athlete Avinash Sable ran in the “training mode” but his modest timing was still good enough to win gold in the men’s 3000m steeplechase on the third and penultimate day of the National InterState Championships here on Saturday. The 29-year-old Sa- ble, who holds the national record of 8:11.20 in his pet event and was representing Maharashtra, clocked a slow 8 minute 31.75 seconds to win the race under humid conditions at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium.

“The Athletics Federation of India has made it mandatory for all the athletes to take part in the National In- ter-State, so I ran the race as a practice, just like in training (in the USA). I was not thinking of timing, hence I was taking it easy, there was no pressure at all,” Sable said later.

“In a way, it was good to be able to run in a domestic competition after a long time,” said the Asian Games gold medallist, who last ran a 3000m stee- plechase race in a domestic event in March 2022. Sable, who has been training in the USA, has run just one 3000m steeplechase race this year -on June 8 at Portland Track Festival -and he said it was a strategy chalked out by him and his coach.

Sable has already qualified for the Olympics.

PTI

Tvesa, Vani tied 4th in Swiss Open

Rotkreuz (Switzerland): India’s Tvesa Malik joined Vani Kapoor in the top-four of the Swiss Ladies Open with a fine round of 3-under 68 after a similar first round here.

Vani Kapoor, who had a share of the lead after the first day with 5-under under 66, managed a 1-under 70 in the second round. Both Vani and Tvesa were 6-under and two behind Fatima Fernandez Cano of Spain (68-66) at 8under. For India, the third player assured of making the cut was Ridhima Dilawari (72-69).

Two players were tied for second at 7-un- der -Sara Kjelker (66) and Kristyna Napoleava (68). Tvesa and Vani were tied fourth alongside Emily Penttila (66) and Luna Sobron Gomes (66) at 6-under 136 for 36 holes.

Dilawari, who had four birdies in her first six holes finished with 69 following three bogeys in her last five holes. She also birdied the 17th. At 1-under for two days she is tied 35.

Amandeep Drall (72-73) was hanging by a slender thread just outside the projected cut line of 2-over with a few players yet to finish their second round.

PTI

Delhi Times

- YOUR POV

- TRIPPIN

- My road trip across Germany was pure bliss: Dino Morea

- Never expected Gulabi Sadi to go viral, says Sanju Rathod

- FURRY FRIENDS

- This was not the ﬁrst time I underwent a physical transformation: Jaideep

- WHEN I FEEL INSECURE, I GO BACK TO MY ROOTS: RADHIKKA

- BUZZ STOP

- It was hard to resist the cravings, says Jaideep Ahlawat

- DRENCHED IN FITNESS

- I’m enjoying the OTT and film space right now, says Nandish

- People don’t call us for auditions because we work in TV: Jayati

- DID YOU KNOW?

- Best styles from Paris Haute Couture Week

- BTS agency staff face insider trading charges

- Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt expecting third baby

- Jason Kelce gets emotional at Swift concert

- Celebs meet tennis stars ahead of Wimbledon

- Soulful Fridays with reggae, jazz and classic rock fusion

- AURORA: I WOULD LOVE TO SING FOR BOLLYWOOD

- Awarding and celebrating diplomas students in Delhi

- Must-try places for Asian cuisine in Delhi

- Best bars in Delhi to sip, savour, celebrate

- Best and worst rated Indian food list bafﬂes desis

- Boomers to Gen Z, love for word games scores over doomscrolling

- NOW I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF FOCUSING ON MY HEALTH: RADHIKKA

YOUR POV

Here’s what your point of view was to our POV

The sisterhood of travelling stars

Refer: June 26, 2024 edition

The sisterhood of travelling stars: Veteran actress Asha Parekh recently posted a series of photos from a Kashmir vacation with friends and colleagues Helen and Waheeda Rahman...

High time we have a movie on women friends and their experience on a travel expedition. Industry has already seen this in the context of men be it Dil Chahta Hai or Shaukeen. Those belonging to the fairer sex will enliven emotions on screen especially when they also happen to be best of friends in real life.

– Sandeep Chaudhury

It is indeed good to see Asha Parekh, Helen and Waheeda Rehman bonding with each other in Kashmir. We also raise a toast to Dimple Kapadia and Deepti Naval. There are no permanent friends in the film industry and Bollywood heroines have suffered more in their personal lives, hiding it all behind their glamorous exterior, while captivating our hearts with their enchanting performances. Here is extending warm wishes to these lovely women of the celluloid world, who know how to keep themselves happy and finding solace in each other’s company and certainly giving others some relationship goals .

– Parimala G Tadas

Let’s get this straight. No one’s your servant

Refer: June 24, 2024 edition

Let’s get this straight. No one’s your servant: I am not your servant sir,” an angry air hostess had argued with a passenger, who was allegedly...

The treatment meted out to our maids by Indian expatriates, our diplomats and other rich Indians like the Hindujas remain appalling to say the least. It is heartening that the Swiss government has taken up the case of the poor domestic staff who have been treated worse than slaves and the Hin- dujas should be given exemplary punishment. This would deter other Indians from treating their domestic staff in the most inhuman way, and treat them honorably.

– Tharcius S Fernando

I saw this on BBC and thought our media would highlight this, but most people didn’t. Seeing this in POV gives me hope but I do think we have different standards for different strata of society. I have seen this in almost every middle /upper middle and rich in India. Be it professionals, richest families or Govt servants. I have seen lady constables made to do dishes in the homes of police officers.

– Jasjeet Kaur

I could relate it to a recent incident, which occurred in the lift of a gated community. I had taken my grandson in a stroller for a walk with the nanny and we had just entered the lift. A school kid instructed us to take the service lift instead. She must have been in the 6th or 7th grade. We still have not got over that mentality of treating our helpers/workforce differently. And she was just a kid.

– Rama Prabhakar

Agree? Disagree? Got a POV idea? Write to us at: pov@timesgroup.com

TRIPPIN

ROHAN MEHRAA is enjoying some time off amid nature and his latest pics from his SINGAPORE holiday are a proof

My road trip across Germany was pure bliss: Dino Morea

Dino Morea rented a sleek red sports car to explore the stunning locales across Germany during his recent trip. The actor says he spent ample time soaking in the lush greenery

Adventure junkie Dino Morea loves driving when he is holidaying abroad. The actor, who was recently in Germany for a vacay, explored the picturesque locales there. He says, “Germany had always been on my radar as a destination for a thrilling driving experience. The country’s beautiful landscapes, well-maintained roads and the freedom to push the limits on the iconic autobahns (federal controlledaccess highway system there) were simply too alluring to ignore.”

Dino’s journey began in the bustling city of Munich, where he picked up a sleek sports car. He shares, “The drive from Munich to the Black Forest region was nothing short of breathtaking. The roads that snaked through the valleys and mountains, coupled with the burst of adrenaline as I pushed the car to its limits, made for an exhilarating experience,” he shares.

The Empire actor also ventured north to explore Heidelberg. Dino says, “The Romantic Road route was the true highlight of my trip. Driving through those scenic landscapes with the wind in my hair was pure bliss.”

— Onkar Kulkarni

Never expected Gulabi Sadi to go viral, says Sanju Rathod

Sanju Rathod; (right) with Prajakta Ghag in Gulabi Sadi

Preeti Atulkar

From Madhuri Dixit-Nene to Remo D’Souza, there’s hardly anyone who hasn’t shaken a leg to the viral Marathi song Gulabi Sadi. Sanju Rathod and G-Spark’s track struck a chord with music lovers globally with its catchy lyrics and upbeat music. But for Sanju, who has sung the track, this was unexpected. “It is overwhelming to see celebrities trying the hook step of our song on social media,” says Sanju, adding, “People have created multiple versions of the song in various Indian languages. I have received appreciation messages from renowned rappers like Divine and Badshah. Artistes from Pakistan and Bangladesh have also reached out to express their love for Gulabi Sadi. We knew the song would become popular but never expected it to go viral.”

‘I started rapping to impress my now-former girlfriend’

Reflecting on his journey, Sanju, who hails from a small town called Dhanwad in Jalgaon (Maharashtra), reveals that he has had no formal training in singing but music is a creative outlet for his emotions. He recalls, “My former girlfriend was a huge fan of Yo Yo Honey Singh. I used to feel a bit insecure as she would constantly praise him and his music. So, I decided to try my hand at rapping just to impress her. We eventually went our separate ways, but I found joy in rapping and ventured into the world of music with my brother Gaurav Rathod, aka G-Spark.”

FURRY FRIENDS

JOHN ABRAHAM and PRIYA RUNCHAL recently celebrated their furry pal Sia’s first birthday. On Friday, Priya shared photos from the celebration on Instagram

This was not the first time I underwent a physical transformation: Jaideep

Natasha Coutinho

From 109.7 kg to 83 kg in five months – Jaideep Ahlawat’s post sharing his weight loss journey went viral on social media recently. So, what’s the diet plan and the exercise regimen that led to this amazing transformation?

JAIDEEP’S WORKOUT

● 60 minutes of high intensity weight training with chest press, shoulder press, deadlifts and squats

● 45 mins of incline walk on the treadmill

● 5 days of workouts that focus on different parts of the body, 2 days of rest

CONTINUED ON 2

The before-and-after photos Jaideep Ahlawat shared on Insta, which show his body transformation after losing 26 kg in five months

WHEN I FEEL INSECURE, I GO BACK TO MY ROOTS: RADHIKKA

Radhikka shares, “I’ve realised that the more I stay in Mumbai, the more I’m surrounded by film industry talks, and somewhere, I start seeing life through that lens”

Vinay MR Mishra

Being an actor is exciting, and most in the profession would say that they wouldn’t trade it for any other job in the world. However, it comes with its own set of pitfalls and pain points. Six months into 2024, Radhikka Madan admits she is regaining the fire and the energy that she lost by being a workaholic. The actress did back-to-back seven projects in the last couple of years, and while on the seventh project, she realised, “I just didn’t have anything left in me. I was emotionally so drained.” Radhikka talks to us about battling insecurities, her safe zone in life and being confident in her own skin.

CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE

BUZZ STOP

VASHU BHAGNANI OWES OVER `65 LAKH TO CREW, SAYS FWICE

Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) president BN Tiwari has said veteran film producer Vashu Bhagnani owes over `65 lakh to crew members who worked on three of his films Mission Raniganj, Ganapath and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. “The production owes `33.13 lakh to director Tinu Desai, who helmed their 2023 film Mission Raniganj. It owes `31.78 lakh to over 250 set workers who worked on movies,” Tiwari said. PTI

It was hard to resist the cravings, says Jaideep Ahlawat

Losing weight is always more challenging. It was tough to control my cravings at the beginning, but I am passionate about my work and resisted the temptation of cheat meals. My two-hour workout involved a combination of weight training and cardio

Jaideep recently shared a picture of his physical transformation. He went from 109.7kg to 83kg in five months

CONTINUED FROM 1

‘I GORGED ON PARATHAS IN THE LOCKDOWN’

Jaideep got his wakeup call when he was approached for a film soon after the lockdown. “I don’t gain weight easily, but during the lockdown, I gorged on parathas regularly and my weight rose to around 110 kg,” says the actor, who hails from Haryana and grew up on a diet of ghee, milk, and yogurt.

The task was cut out for him, and for five months he didn’t eat anything that his diet plan didn’t allow. “My body is used to exercise, and this was not the first time I was undergoing a physical transformation. When I was approached for Paatal Lok, I weighed 85kg and had to gain weight to play Hathiram Chaudhary. I changed my eating habits, and I was 102kg when we started shooting,” he adds.

‘Each meal was 100 gm, but had adequate proteins’

Jaideep’s trainer, Prajwal Shetty, would send him customised meals during the training period. “My diet comprised chicken, quinoa, paneer, eggs, and leafy vegetables. This combination helped maintain my metabolic rate. Each meal was 100 grams, but it ensured I got adequate proteins. Avoiding refined sugar completely and limiting carbs gave me a good start,” he says.

DRENCHED IN FITNESS

Whether you prefer the comfort of indoor exercises or the exhilaration of dancing in the rain, there is a fitness routine for all seasons

There are plenty of effective and engaging indoor workout options to help you stay active

Artha.Neog@timesgroup.com

The gentle pitter-patter of raindrops outside does not have to put a damper on your fitness goals. In fact, the mon- soon season can be the perfect backdrop for a refreshing and invigorating home workout. From cosy indoor routines to energising exercises that celebrate the rain, you can turn gloomy days into opportunities for fitness and fun.

“Monsoons are a great relief from the severe heat, but the wet and unstable weather may disturb your gym routine. Fret not! With the necessary equipment and a few alternations, you can achieve your fitness goals even during the monsoon,” says Sanjay Goyal, MD of a premium fitness equipment brand.

CHOOSE INDOOR WORKOUT OPTIONS

Stuck indoors during the monsoon season? There are plenty of effective and engaging indoor workout options to help you stay active and healthy. Whatever you choose, get moving and stay motivated – your body and mind will thank you. Here are a few options curat- ed by Goyal:

Squats: Builds strength in legs and glutes,

Lunges: Targets quads, hamstrings, and core,

Push-ups: Various modifications available for different fitness levels,

Plank variations: Strengthens core and improves posture,

Dips: Utilises chairs or benches to target triceps,

Wall sits: An isometric exercise for building leg endurance,

Jumping jacks: Full-body cardio workout, Mountain climbers: Provides a cardio burst while engaging core,

Burpees: High-intensity exercise for overall fitness,

Jumping rope: Easy to use and provides a great cardio workout,

High-knees or butt kicks: Cardio exercises that can be done anywhere,

Stair running: Utilise stairs in your home for an intense cardio session, or Online fitness classes: Many offers cardio-focused routines.

DO WHAT YOU LIKE

Cardio with a Twist

"If you are feeling adventurous and the rain is not too heavy, take your workout outside. Walking or taking small steps are important. Embrace the drizzle with a dance-inspired cardio routine. Incor- porate movements like salsa steps, jumping twists, and side shuffles," shares Akshay Verma, co-founder of a leading fit tech brand.

Meditation and Mindfulness

After sweating it out, wind down with a mindfulness session that mirrors the serene ambiance of the monsoon. Find a quiet corner of your home, light a few candles, and focus on your breathing. Practicing meditation during rainy days can promote mental clarity and inner peace, aligning your mind with the calming nature of the rain.

Health on plate

Nourish your body with plenty of vegetables, grains, fruits, and meat that is low in fat. It is essential to this way of eating, which fosters greater energy required for exercising and general well-being. Furthermore, remember to drink enough water because it takes part in many important processes within our bodies.

Go Trekking

In case the weather favours do up your shoes and go out and explore the gorgeousness of nature. Trekking is an excellent method of getting some fresh air, pushing your limits for the body as well as better understanding the world around you.

"Maintaining fit- ness goals even during periods of heavy rain is possible. The cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle lies in discovering activities that you find enjoyable and that can consistently integrate into your routine," concludes Juily Wagle, fitness trainer, nutritionist and founder of a popular fitness company.

I’m enjoying the OTT and film space right now, says Nandish

When I say that I’m not doing TV right now, it’s not that I’m not grateful for what it has given me. But I want to grow and experience different things

Nandish Singh Sandhu; (inset) with Hrithik Roshan in Super 30

Nandish Singh Sandhu started his career as a TV actor before transitioning to OTT and films. Reflecting on his decision, the actor says, “I think OTT is a good space for every artiste and it has bridged the gap beautifully between TV and films. In movies, we are connected to the story and in web space, we are more connected to the characters because every character has a bigger arc. I’m enjoying the OTT and film space right now. I’ve done television for a long time.”

‘I DON’T WANT TO GET STUCK BECAUSE I’M COMFORTABLE DOING SOMETHING’

His last appearance on TV was in 2015 with shows like Nach Baliye 7 and Darr Sabko Lagta Hai. Since then, Nandish says he has consciously moved towards films and web series. “On TV, I have to play the same character for a year or two, whereas on the web, I get to do more roles in the same year, which is exciting. I wanted to be able to play different characters, grow as an artiste and improve my craft,” he explains, add- ing “I don’t want to get stuck just because I’m comfortable doing something in a particular way.”

‘MY CRAFT IS GETTING BETTER AND I SEE THAT AS SUCCESS’

About his move from TV, Nandish says, “I’ve always believed in learning something new and growing in life. When I say that I’m not doing TV right now, it’s not that I’m not grateful for what it has given me. But, at the same time, I want to grow and experience different things. My craft is getting better and I see that as success.”

— Hasti Doshi

People don’t call us for auditions because we work in TV: Jayati

Jayati Bhatia; (right) in a still from Sasural Simar Ka

TV actors face discrimination when it comes to bagging roles in other mediums, and Jayati Bhatia is no exception. The actress may have been working for nearly three decades, but it hasn’t been easy even for her to break the mould. “A lot of people don’t call us for auditions because we work in TV shows and that is really unfair,” she says, adding, “Acting is my profession. Wherever I got work and respect, I gave it my best. Earlier, I didn’t get work in films, but I bagged good roles on TV, and that is how I earned my bread, butter, cheese and everything. I made my house, got a car... all thanks to television.”

— Vinay MR Mishra

DID YOU KNOW?

Imtiaz Ali shot Rockstar in reverse

Filmmakers often employ creative techniques to achieve their desired results. In Rockstar, Ranbir Kapoor’s character undergoes a significant transformation throughout the film. To ensure continuity in Ranbir’s hairstyle, Imtiaz Ali shot the movie in reverse order, starting with the climax.

Best styles from Paris Haute Couture Week

Kylie Jenner wore a bejewelled bustier gown with translucent veil

The glamorous Paris Haute Couture Week, had many celebs in attendance. Let’s take a closer look at the best-dressed celebs from the event

Both Katy Perry and Nicole Kidman opted for black outfits, and shared a laugh

Rosamund Pike opted for a fringed dress and platform heels

Maria Sharapova wore tailored trousers with a sheer tasselled top

Naomi Campbell in a chic silver skirt suit

Keira Knightley opted for a flared white dressNaomi Campbell in a chic

Jennifer Lopez in a beige dress and matching coat, with classic black accessories

Cate Blanchett in a strapless, corseted jumpsuit and black sunglasses

BTS agency staff face insider trading charges

K-pop band BTS

Three employees from HYBE, the agency behind K-pop megastars BTS, have been charged with alleged insider trading. On June 14, 2022, BTS members told fans that they were taking a break from the supergroup to focus on their solo careers, citing the pressure of their stratospheric success. HYBE’s share price fell nearly 25% when the market opened the day after the announcement.

According to reports, prosecutors said three employees of HYBE, who had prior knowledge of the announcement, sold their shares before it was made public, avoiding losses in the range of $24K-108K (approx `21-90 lakh). “The employees worked for BTS for eight to 10 years since the group’s debut, and therefore were able to obtain this material information that could significantly impact investment decisions,” said the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office in a statement sent to AFP. Agencies

Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt expecting third baby

Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are reportedly expecting their third child. On Friday, June 28, a source close to the couple shared the good news with People.

The Marvel actor and Schwarzenegger, who is a writer, have not yet made an official announcement. The couple tied the knot in 2019 and are parents to daughters Eloise Christina, 2, and Lyla Maria, 3. Pratt also has an 11-year-old son, Jack, from his previous marriage to Anna Faris.

Agencies

Jason Kelce gets emotional at Swift concert

She’s blending from one song to another… It’s amazing. And you have to have great songs and great lyrics, which she obviously has written and made. And then, be able to perform those seamlessly on the spot. That was the highlight of the evening for me – Jason Kelce

Taylor performing at Eras Tour; (inset) Jason Kelce

Former NFL player Jason Kelce got emotional during pop star Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert, which he recently attended in London. In a recent episode of the New Heights podcast with his brother Travis Kelce, who is also Swift’s boyfriend, Jason recalled the singer gifting her hat to a fan in the crowd and hugging her while performing 22.

Jason says, “I was literally tearing up watching this little girl’s entire (show)... I’m about to tear up right now.”

He adds, “It’s just her, a guitar and 90,000 people. And she’s blending from one song to another… It’s amazing. And you have to have great songs and great lyrics, which she obviously has written and made. And then, be able to perform those seamlessly on the spot. That was the highlight of the evening for me.” Agencies

Celebs meet tennis stars ahead of Wimbledon

The build-up to Wimbledon 2024 has seen delightful celebrity sightings. Bringing together the worlds of sports and entertainment in pre-tournament celebrations. (Above) Iga Swiatek, the world No 1 in women’s singles, shared a laugh with Steve Carell at the tournament grounds. (Right) The world No 1 in singles, Jannik Sinner, also enjoyed an exclusive dinner with Ryan Gosling in Mayfair, London TNN

Soulful Fridays with reggae, jazz and classic rock fusion

Velvet Guy Group

It was a melodious World Music Day celebration as Bira 91 Taproom at Saket hosted a week-long celebration, featuring an eclectic mix of genres. The Friday evening showcased performances from independent bands – Guy Velvet Group, Princely States Dub Orchestra, Trouble Clef, and Heavens Down.

The brand’s management said, “The guests experienced an impressive array of blues, reggae, jazz and classic rock, creating a festive atmosphere. The venue buzzed with energy as music enthusiasts revelled in the diverse music. Our dedication to promote diverse musical talents and provide a platform to support independent artists made this celebration a success.”

They added, “Attendees left the celebration with lasting memories of an evening filled with non-stop dancing and an impressive selection of 16 beers on tap. A delectable food menu curated by celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani added to the vibe of the celebrations.”

Address: First floor, Commons @ DLF Avenue, Saket

Timing: 11am to 1am;

Contact: 011 41010658

Trouble Clef

Rahul Singh and Ikram Aulakh

AURORA: I WOULD LOVE TO SING FOR BOLLYWOOD

I love the way love is portrayed in Bollywood, it’s extremely emotional and romantic

Aurora

Debarati S Sen

Norwegian electro-pop music artiste Aurora became a hit in India during the pandemic with her song Runaway. The song became a rage on Instagram and there were filters specially named after it. Many Hindi versions of the song also popped up. In a chat with us, Aurora spoke about her love for Indian music, Bollywood and desi food. Excerpts...

Your songs are always deep. What inspires a 27-year-old to write such lyrics?

When I write, I keep the world and people in mind. It’s more fun for me to write if it has a purpose.

You spoke about your love for India earlier. What do you like about Indian music?

I think especially to someone so far away in Norway, the way you sing traditional Indian music, it’s a scale that we don’t even know in Scandinavia. Indian music is one of the most beautiful types of music that I know. Indian music just moves a piece of my soul which few things do these days. India is a huge country with different cultures, food, music and people, and I’m extremely fascinated by it all. It’s so different from my home, yet, similar in some ways.

Are you familiar with Indian films? Would you like to sing for a movie here, if given a chance?

I would love to! I think it is amazing. I love the action and the fighting scenes in your films are so cool. The way love is portrayed in Indian films, it’s extremely emotional and romantic. I also like the costumes and the dancing.

Do you have plans to come to here?

I want to thank India for letting my music into your heart during a very tough time (pandemic). I know that’s when Runaway kind of touched people’s hearts all over the country and that makes me feel very honoured because it heightens the meaning of the music so much. I want to come to India and taste the delicacies all of you make.

I love the way love is portrayed in Bollywood, it’s extremely emotional and romanticA still from the song Runaway

‘Music is magic to me’

Talking about how much music means to her, Aurora says, “A song can remind us of who we are and make us ourselves again. Some studies suggest that people who often go to concerts and sing are happier. Music to me is proof of the many beautiful things about the mind and about people in the world. So, music is just magic to me, it’s everything!”

A still from the song Runaway

Awarding and celebrating diplomas students in Delhi

After taking the exam at Shahnaz Husain International Beauty Academy in Delhi, students were invited to the residence of Shahnaz Husain, where she awarded them diplomas. The occasion was celebrated with a cake-cutting ceremony

WHAT'S HOT - IF IT'S HAPPENING, IT'S HERE

Must-try places for Asian cuisine in Delhi

Looking to indulge in exquisite pan-Asian cuisine? Discover these top dining destinations in Delhi that offer an unforgettable culinary experience

Unlock the flavours of Asia at NAO Next Asian Outing

Redefining the dining scene with stunning interiors and chic contemporary art, NAO offers pan-Asian delicacies, such as Korean Ramyun and Japanese Ramen. Popular dishes include Potato & Cheese Corn Dogs, Tteokbokki, Korean Fried Chicken, Philly Cheese Dimsums, Fluffy Open Baos, Sushi, Stone Bowls, and refreshing summer cocktails and mocktails, perfectly crafted to pair with vibrant cuisine.

“We focus on using high-quality, authentic ingredients, adhering to traditional processes and recipes, and constantly evolving our menu. With fusion dishes like the Thai Avocado Salad and Tom Yum Stone Bowl, we keep our offerings fresh and exciting,” says founder Amul Kapoor, adding, “We are set to expand our outlets across NCR, significantly increasing its reach for dine-in and delivery, allowing more guests to enjoy its delightful flavours.

Address: M-40, M Block Market, GK-2

Contact: 9354819115

Website: www.naoasiantable.com

Experience culinary excellence at Zen

Nestled in the heart of Connaught Place, Zen Restaurant, has been a beacon of culinary excellence since its establishment in April 1992. The restaurant is known for its Chinese, Japanese, and Thai cuisines, consistently offering delicious food, generous portions, and reasonable prices. The restaurant’s management team says, “Stepping into Zen is like entering a time capsule of old-world charm. The decor features rustic flooring and bronze sculptures that evoke a Victorian-era ambiance. Spread across two levels, the wooden furniture and high ceilings add to its grandeur, creating an inviting atmosphere for patrons from all walks of life. Enjoy happy hours here from 11:00am to 7:45pm with draught beer.”

Must-haves include dim sums, sushi, tea time snacks, and Italian coffees like cappuccino and espresso. Whether you’re a local or a traveller exploring Connaught Place, this restaurant promises an unforgettable dining experience that combines tradition with culinary mastery.

Address: B-Block, main inner circle, Connaught Place

Contact: 011-23357455, 23357444, and 9899666000

Price for two: ₹700-900

Relish Japanese cuisine at Guppy

At a reasonable price, Guppy offers a side of Japanese cuisine that is much more than just seafood with a variety of options.

The resto’s team says, “The resto is a winner of Best Japanese, National Sushi Champions and Chef Of The Year, among many accolades. It offers ramen burger, poke bar, Tokyo mon amour – a Franco-Japanese pop-up, andnabe – a Japanese hotpot dish.”

Address: 28, Main Market, Lodhi Colony

Contact: 9650185005 and 24690005/6

Website: www.guppybyai.com

Explore pan-Asian delights at Chungwa

Serving Chinese since 1974, Chungwa offers Thai, Japanese, and soon Korean and Vietnamese cuisine, making it one of the best Pan Asian restaurants in Delhi. “The resto offers best shredded lamb sesame seed and chili chicken in town. It also offers exotic vegetarian dishes, sushi, bao, and ramen bowls, and is very popular with ladies’ kitties, corporate lunches, and live bands every Saturday evening,” says the resto’s management

team.

Address: M-34, M Block Market, GK-2

Contact: 011 4353 8777 and 35745134

Savour authentic Chinese cuisine at Berco’s

With over 40 years of experience and 50 locations nationwide, the award-winning Chinese chain, Berco’s, has been serving generations of families.

The resto has launched its Viet Thai Food Festival, featuring dishes like Pho, Vietnamese Summer Rolls, Berco’s Signature Glass Noodle Salad, the perfect summer dessert – Sweet Mango Sticky Rice. Enjoy their new Summer Mocktail menu with bubble teas and a variety of refreshing drinks. “For added convenience, the resto offers delivery across NCR, ensuring that you can enjoy our mouthwatering dishes from the comfort of your home. Celebrate Berco’s legacy and join us in tasting the future. Whether it’s a casual meal or a special occasion, we promise a memorable dining adventure for every guest,” says the restaurant’s team.

Locations: Multiple locations

Contact: 9560040271

Time: 11:30am to 11:30pm

Iconic Chinese flavours at Ichiban

One of the most iconic Chinese restaurants in Delhi, established in 1994, Ichiban specialises in authentic Sichuan cuisine, serving dishes like creamy garlic chicken, kung pao chicken, vegetable honey chilli potato, and butter garlic prawns. “Our dim sum selection offers a taste of traditional Chinese flavours, meticulously crafted to perfection. We provide exceptional service and a memorable dining experience,” says the resto’s team.

Address: 9, Pandara Road Market

Contact: 9999801154

Price for two: ₹700 onwards

Manga-inspired culinary journey at You Mee

A real-life Manga-inspired pan-Asian restaurant, where every dish is a journey through the diverse flavours of Pan-Asian cuisine, You Mee, celebrates the essence of Asia with a menu that includes sushi, ramen bowls, dim sums, baos, and a variety of noodles, among other gastronomic delights. Here, each offering is a homage to different corners of Asia, meticulously crafted to capture the essence of its origin.

“With a strong presence across India, we offer an unparalleled dining experience that transports diners from the urban bustle to the dynamic landscapes of Southeast Asia. It’s not just a restaurant; it’s an adventure that beckons Manga enthusiasts and food connoisseurs alike to savour exceptional dishes amidst a thematic ambiance that evokes the spirit of Manga comics, says the resto’s team, adding, “With 21 outlets across Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kochi, and Hyderabad, You Mee has established itself as a haven where culinary artistry meets cultural immersion.”

Address: M Block Market GK2; Epicuria, Nehru Place; COMMONS, DLF Avenue Saket; Advant Navis Business Park, Hyderabad; Ambience Mall, Gurgaon; Cyberhub, Gurgaon; Worldmark Gurgaon; Airia Mall, Gurgaon

Contact: Noida – 9818664711, Gurgaon – 8527061381 and 9999253742, Delhi – 9811967664

Discover Asian flavours at Shibuya

Unveiling a trendy hotspot, Shibuya recently launched their new resto in Meharchand Market, making it a must-visit for all the foodies. “With delectable panAsian cuisine similar to their original restaurant in GK-2, this new resto offers lively illustrations, compact menu, and casual atmosphere. Whether you’re a fan of sushi, ramen, dim sums, bubble tea, you’ll love the buzzing scene crafted for the coolest vibes. Step into this ‘cute as a button’ space and dive into a world of flavour and excitement,” says the resto’s team.

Address: 138, Meharchand Market, Lodhi Colony

Meal for two: ₹1100

Contact: 7982240488

Experience rich culinary heritage at VietNom

Enjoy authentic Vietnamese cuisine crafted through extensive research at VietNom. “We bring the heart and soul of Vietnam to your plate. Complement your meal with our exclusive handcrafted cocktails and mocktails, made with homemade cordials, fresh herbs, and premium spirits. Each sip is an innovative blend inspired by Vietnamese flavours.

Join us and savour the best of Vietnamese cuisine and beverages,” says the resto’s team.

Address: Vietnom, COMMONS, DLF Avenue Saket

Timings: 12 pm to 11:30 pm Contact: 9821620578

Memorable dining experience at Big Wong

Renowned for its Pan Asian cuisine, Big Wong has established itself as a culinary icon in Delhi. With 11 outlets spread across Delhi, and 14 across India, it offers dishes from Sushi and Thai Curries to Burmese Khow Suey, and Cambodian and Malaysian Curries. The resto also offers catering services for your special occasions and gatherings. The resto’s team says, “This place remains a preferred choice for those seeking authentic Asian flavours in the

capital, continuing to deliver memorable dining experiences.”

Address: GK 2; Starling Mall, Noida 104; Baani Square, Gurgaon Other

locations: Bangalore, Hyderabad Contact: 9289677701

WHAT'S HOT - IF IT'S HAPPENING, IT'S HERE

Best bars in Delhi to sip, savour, celebrate

Raise a toast to the good times shared with your loved ones! Indulge in a relaxing and enjoyable experience at some of these top-notch bars in the capital

Amin Ali, food and nightlife critic

Try exquisite beverages at Qavalli

Known for its ambiance and mixology, Qavalli’s Indian botanical bar crafts exquisite cocktails. “Our highlights include The Banarasi and The Gulaabri. Another must-try is The Princely Quince, prepared with saffroninfused white rum, Kashmiri apple-bum chunth, and almond milk. Our enchanting ambiance, with soft lighting, plush seating, and diverse music, makes it perfect for intimate gatherings and lively nights out,” says the brand’s management team.

Address: Lower ground floor, Worldmark 1, Aerocity;

Contact: 7290002916 and 7290002918;

Time: 12pm to 12:30am;

Meal for two: `2000

A rooftop view at Zylo by Kakapo

With a view of Qutab Minar, Zylo by Kakapo offers exotic cocktails. This rooftop bar has a vibrant atmosphere and expertly crafted drinks, blending luxury and excitement. Udit Bagga, owner of the place, says, “Whether you’re looking to unwind or party, we deliver an extraordinary experience, making it one of Delhi’s best bars.”

Food and nightlife critic, Amin Ali recommends Zylo as one of the best bars to visit in the capital.

Address: Rooftop and second floor, Ambawatta One Complex, Mehrauli

Contact: 9319995829 and 9319995830

Enjoy a cosmopolitan appeal at Khubani

One of the premier destinations in Delhi’s bar scene, Khubani offers a blend of sophistication and vibrant energy. The outlet’s management team says, “This place offers an inviting atmosphere that attracts a global clientele. The bar features cocktails by master mixologists and a diverse culinary menu, with highlights on authentic Turkish cuisine prepared by celebrated Turkish chefs. A diverse roster of international artists and themed entertainment nights, such as Sufi evenings, Bollywood galas, and Arabian nights, enhance its cosmopolitan appeal. Additionally, we also offer Sunday brunches for kids and family-themed events.”

Address: Asset no.1, Hospitality District Delhi, Aerocity

Contact: 8069168800

Get cheesy at Olive Bar & Kitchen

Worlds collide and time stops in this Mogul mansion turned alfresco restaurant, home to warm and casual elegance with a courtyard under the vast canopy of a banyan tree. Olive Bar & Kitchen is known for its incredible cocktail program. The brand’s management team says, “Over the last 20 years, we have introduced a long list of culinary firsts including teq-tonics and sorbet gin-tos. Our farm-to-glass menu features cocktails made with cheese, porcini mushrooms, fenugreek, and fennel.”

Address: One Style Mile, haveli no 6-8, Kalkadass Marg, Mehrauli Time: 12.30pm to 12am

Contact: 9810235472 and 9910457373

Website: olivebarandkitchen.com

Embrace vibrancy at Chica

Located in Netaji Nagar, Chica is one of Delhi’s vibrant bars. Known for its chic ambiance and sophisticated vibe, it provides a refreshing escape from the city’s hustle and bustle. The bar has an inviting atmosphere perfect for casual gatherings and special evenings. Some of their must-haves are Ly’chica and Chicante. The bar’s management team says, “Our cocktails and ambiance make it a standout among Delhi’s best bars.”

Address: One Golden Mile, Block A, Netaji Nagar

Contact: 9990019981 and 9990019982

Time: 12pm to 1am

Meal for two: `3500

Naturally delish beverages at Sly Granny

Along with sophistication, Sly Granny’s offers vintage blends. The outlet’s management team says, “Our blends are steeped in secret spices from Granny’s cherished liquor cabinet. Embrace the refreshing cocktails that celebrate the essence of natural ingredients.”

Address: 4, Khan Market, Rabindra Nagar

Contact: 95999 65603

Viva la fiesta at Miss Margarita

Renowned for its authentic Mexican cuisine, Miss Margarita boasts a collection of margaritas, coupled with a wide range of tequila-based cocktails on its bar menu. The restaurant space has a lively and colourful ambiance, with traditional Mexican artwork adorning the walls and cosy seating arrangements that create a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Address: M 31 first floor, M Block Market, Greater Kailash II

Contact: 8920331591

Time: 12.30pm to 3:30pm and 7.30pm to 1:00am

RECOMMENDED BARS IN DELHI

■ Bulach

■ Chica

■ Dandy the Fio bar

■ Dear Donna

■ Harp by Maruchi

■ Home

■ Hoots

■ Khi Khi

■ Khubani

■ Klap

■ Lair

■ Mezze Mambo

■ Miso Sexy

■ Miss Margarita

■ Monkey Bar

■ Nukkad café & Bar

■ Olive

■ Bar &Kitchen

■ PCO

■ Perch

■ Play

■ Public Affair

■ Qavalli

■ Red

■ Sidecar

■ Sly Granny

■ Social

■ Zylo by Kakapo

Best and worst rated Indian food list baffles desis

Taste Atlas, an online food guide that rates and ranks dishes from around the world, has released a list of best and worst rated Indian dishes. While the best rated list had mango lassi, chai masala, butter garlic naan, Amritsari kulcha, butter chicken, Hyderabadi biryani, shahi paneer, chole bhature, tandoori chicken and korma, the worst rated dishes were jal jeera, gajak, thengai sadam, panta bhat, aloo baingan, thandai, achappam, mirchi ka salan, malpua and upma.

The list seems to have baffled Indian foodies.”Bruh India has one of the richest culinary histories and arguably the most culinary diversity out of every country in the world and you chose Mango Lassi as #1? This is like cappuccino being the #1 food of Italy,” read one comment, while another said, “Unfortunately this list is negligence max. All of our heirloom recipes are on that worst list. Indian culture celebrates seasonal produce. Gajak, Panta Baat are all examples of this. And it fell into the worst list. This is what happens when the world wants to think they know everything about India.” Readers also wondered who had rated the dishes and whether the ratings were as “per western tastebuds”.

Over the last several months, the online guide has been prominently featuring many Indian dishes in its best rated lists.

Boomers to Gen Z, love for word games scores over doomscrolling

These puzzles can be hard to crack sometimes, but once you’ve solved them, you get a dopamine rush. Such activities are fun and offer quick results – Suneha Sinha, a teacher who loves solving Sudoku

I don’t feel like opening social media the first thing in the morning. So, I solve the Wordle and Hardword of the day instead. Besides these, I also like Octordle, Blossom, Rebus and Sudoku. This prevents me from doomscrolling as well – Nipun Jain, a content marketer and co-founder of Hardword

Anukriti Sharma

Remember those lazy Sundays at home when you saw your parents solving the crossword in the newspaper? Or those get-togethers with cousins which invariably resulted in a fight over whether what they put together on the Scrabble board was a real word even? If this love for puzzles and word games has continued in your life, you may be among the rising number of people who prefer such activities over doomscrolling on social media during their leisure time.

‘Better than scrolling through social media’

These games offer a bridge between technology and mindfulness, providing moments of clarity and accomplishment amidst the digital noise. Stuti Shah, a digital marketer, usually puts her phone aside post 9pm, only to solve crosswords in the newspaper. “I used to spend my post work hours just scrolling through social media. But lately I have made a conscious effort to push the noise aside and just solve the crossword,” she shares.

The word games community is not a small one

 Nearly 60% of word game players are aged between 25 and 54

 23% mobile gamers engage in word games

 Word games is the 5th most popular genre among players

 The number of Wordle players went from 90 to 3 million within two months of its public release (Sources: Statista, New York Times)

Building communities

Puzzles are fostering vibrant online communities that are abuzz with discussions, strategies, and shared victories. During the pandemic, content creator and marketer Nipun Jain and her husband created their own version of Wordle called Hardword. The game has gotten many hooked. Nipun adds, “My husband and my siblings bond big time over the game, as do other people,” says Nipun. Shivam Rai, who stumbled upon Spelling Bee through a friend’s Instagram story, adds, “Solving these games is a rewarding exercise that puts your mind to work without exhausting it, unlike scrolling on social media.”

Cognitive benefits of puzzles

 Improving memory, information processing and attention

 Promoting sharper critical thinking, improved memory and enhanced problem-solving skills

 Better mental function as you grow older

 15% larger vocabulary if you play word games

(Sources: Harvard Health Publishing, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, and Linguistic Journal)

CONNECTIONS: You look at a grid of 16 words and pick four words that have a connection to each other. You do this four times, until all 16 words in the puzzle are grouped

SPELLING BEE: Create a certain number of words from the given letters with the letter in the centre being common in each word

WORDLE: You have six chances to guess a five-letter word. You’re told if the letters you’ve guessed are in the puzzle, and if they’re in the same spot where you guessed they are

NOW I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF FOCUSING ON MY HEALTH: RADHIKKA

I was told that my jaw was a certain way and that I should get something done to my face. I didn’t agree. I felt it was fine. I didn’t want to get anything done because then I would keep chasing perfection. And life is not perfect. Even your art is not perfect

Radhikka Madan; (inset) in a still from Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo

CONTINUED FROM 1

‘THERE ARE DAYS WHERE YOU FEEL REALLY INSECURE’

The actress who was seen in the web series Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo last year, talks about her safe zone in life. Radhikka shares, “I wouldn’t lie, there are days where you feel really insecure. Not with respect to what others are getting, but it’s just about yourself. It has to do with self-worth. Whenever those feelings pop up, I go back to my safe zone which is Delhi, where I have my family and friends, and then I feel fine. I’ve realised that the more I stay in Mumbai, the more I’m surrounded by film industry talks, and somewhere, I start seeing life through that lens. And life is way more than just that.”

‘NOW I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF FOCUSING ON MY MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH’

Radhikka is glad that she’s at a point in her career where she doesn’t have to stress over bagging her next film. The actress who is ten films old, says, “Earlier, I felt insecure about whether I would get work, but not anymore. Now, I have the privilege of focusing on myself and my mental and physical health. Thankfully, I’m not in the position where I have to worry – will I get a job if I take so many breaks?”

‘A LOT OF THINGS ARE SAID TO YOU ABOUT YOUR FACE AND YOUR BODY’

There’s always been a lot of talk around the industry’s obsession with the idea of perfect beauty and the kind of pressure it puts on actors. Addressing that point, Radhikka says, “A lot of things are said to you about your face and your body. If you’re okay about it (cosmetic enhancements) and you believe that it will help your confidence, then go for it. Why not? It’s your personal choice at the end of the day. I was told that my jaw was a certain way and that I should get something done to my face. I didn’t agree. I felt it was fine. I didn’t want to get anything done because then I would keep chasing perfection. And life is not perfect. Even your art is not perfect.”

‘The pain of a few characters has stayed with me’

Talking about how some roles leave a deep impact, she explains, “Some characters were dark, and they did take a lot out of me. And I didn’t realise it at that point because I felt like I was a superwoman. But the moment the project ended, I realised that there were a lot of residual feelings about the character that I had played. The pain of some characters has stayed with me.” In the last eight months, Radhikka says she spent quality time with her friends and family to be back in a neutral place.

Table of Contents

TOI Print Edition Jun 30, 2024

Front Page

Four drown in underpasses, city rain fury toll rises to 11

Judiciary must be free from bias: Mamata

Boy undergoes surgery at AIIMS after 6-year wait

Woman fakes death twice for `1.1cr insurance

Bhojshala survey completed, ASI report on July 4

‘Ayodhya winner’ for dy Speaker?

Youth thwarts 2 police teams, dies

CPM has funds from bank fraud, says ED

CS Setty set for SBI chairman post

Siblings abducted, rescued in 3 hrs

Pregnant woman dies, kin cry foul

Day after IGI, canopy outside Rajkot airport collapses after rain

Court sends Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12, says probe is on

Hold periodic review of staff: DoPT to ministries

JD(U) passes resolution for Bihar spl status

ONE NATION ONE JOY

5 soldiers in tank swept away in Ladakh floods

NEET: CBI arrests scribe in Jharkhand, Bihar ‘link’

Times Nation

Xi invokes Panchsheel as key to end today’s global conflicts

EAM to visit Qatar today, to focus on trade, energy, security

‘39 broken idols found at Bhojshala complex in MP during ASI survey’

No help for Indian helps when ‘dream’ foreign job turns into a nightmare

CPM received crime proceeds in Kerala bank scam, says ED

Indira put us in jail, but never abused: Lalu

Graft FIR against passport officials

Jawan gets jail for pilgrim death

Oppn may field SP’s Faizabad MP for dy Speaker contest

Eyeing `1.1cr insur ance money, woman ‘dies’ twice

At key meet, JD(U) reiterates spl status demand for Bihar

MVA doesn’t need CM face in Maha polls: Pawar

Setty gets FSIB nod as next chairman of SBI

Court orders fresh probe into Cadila rape case

Lynched to death. Charged with dacoity 10 days later

Serve people with same devotion as shown for God, PM tells babus

340 officers were prematurely retired between 2014 and 2020, govt informed RS in Feb 2021

Govt panel to finalise new base year for GDP

World Bank OKs $1.5bn financing for green H2 projects in India

Comic cancels show after MLA threat over joke

Judiciary must be free from political bias, says Didi in presence of CJI

BJP set to contest Haryana polls on its own, declares Shah

Mysuru man loses Rs 2.9 crore in crypto scam

UGC’s push for pen-paper NET, CUET-UG now under scanner

U’khand NEET leak suspect held on way to Mussoorie

Principal’s arrest stuns Hazaribag

CAUGHT IN THE NEET NET

New NEET-PG schedule ‘in one or two days’, says Pradhan

Prime accused among 9 held in Gauhati univ marksheet scam

‘Will be happy to include suggestions given at TOI Dialogues for policy rejig’

Soldiers swept away during river-crossing drill at night

Debate over norms for ad self-certification reaches Parl

New terminal at Rajkot airport was to be ready by end of Feb

3 of family killed in crash, girl, 4, is lone survivor

Coming from wrong side, car hits another on Maha eway, 7 killed

Hit-and-run: Flung 35ft off flyover, jogger, 19, dies

Times City

New Drainage System For Capital Need Of The Hour

Bodies of 3 labourers retrieved in Vasant Vihar

FILTHY WORK DAMAGING & DAMNING!

4 boys drown in city, man electrocuted

Govt seeks permanent solution to waterlogging

LG asks agencies to carry out desilting on war footing

Tunnel Vision: Drainage Was Overlooked

Bouncer shot six times at market by two on a bike, dies

An anti-caste library that seeks to bridge gaps battles rain

3 kids who died in Noida wall collapse had come on vacation

Chaos on at IGI: 36 flights cancelled, 40 get delayed

Take steps to utilise rainwater, DMRC told

Heavy Rain Likely In City, Air Quality Dips

After heat came deluge, this June is unique

Siblings kidnapped with car as parents go to buy sweets, rescued after 3 hours

AAP, Congress in war of words over desilting

AIIMS centre OTs still not working

Metro records 69L passenger journeys on Fri

After 6-Year Wait, 6-Year-Old Undergoes Surgery At AIIMS

Pregnant woman dies at govt hosp, kin cry foul

CM’s Custodial Interrogation May Be Needed, Says Court

AAP protests Kejriwal’s arrest by CBI

4 policemen held for extorting `24L from Panipat resident

SUV knocks down toddler in Noida

Car Driven By 16-Yr-Old Runs Amok In Shahdara, 5 Injured

Minor’s rape, murder planned, finds probe

Govt readies fifth home for sr citizens

‘I considered a medical career, but feel unsure after the NEET scam’

Atishi attends defamation case

3-Minister Panel To Probe Tree Cutting

After 2 shootouts with cops, man dies in ‘accidental firing’

Mahamaya flyover revamp affects Noida-Delhi traffic

Times Global

Why France will vote twice in polls it didn’t see coming

Pak CJI slams ‘unlawful’ killing of women over adultery charges

Pak seeks US arms to fight terrorism

Here’s what it would take Democrats to replace Joe Biden as party nominee

AROUND THE WORLD

Orban takes helm of EU presidency

AI race: US states try to make sure workers aren’t left behind

No place for Hinduphobia in UK, says Labour leader

Russian attacks on Ukraine kill at least 12

Iran to hold runoff election

Turbulence in WaPo as daily loses dollars

Times Evoke

TIMES EVOKE

‘Climate history warns us to limit warming to 2°C – humans may not be able to adapt beyond that’

THEY'VE GOT STORIES TO TELL..

READERS WRITE

‘We must draw from India’s climate history. This respected topography, hydrology and nature as capital’

All That Matters

In these polarised times, we need to be aware of what we share as humans

Rahul versus Modi: LS session reveals two different approaches to politics

INBOX

Buy British, huh? Mahatma Gandhi is having the last laugh

Atmanirbhar with a twist: India’s different from Korea, Latin nations

No NEET answer, but time to make merit matter again

Times Sport

India prise Cup out of SA’s hands

CIAO ITALY! HELLO SWISS!

Tricks and treat: Spain’s perfect record to be tested by Georgia

VINICIUS STEPS UP FOR BRAZIL, FINALLYFOR

COLOMBIA BEAT COSTA RICA TO BOOK LAST-8 SPOT

ENGLAND SEEK SPARK, SLOVAKIA SEE OPPORTUNITY

PASSING THETHE SPEEDD TESTEST

‘King Kohli’ saves his best for last

Luus, Kapp keep South Africa alive

Emotions, tears flow as Indian players savour the triumph

THE WORLD IS ENOUGH

GALLERY

Sizzling run by Thompson

Djokovic ‘pain free’ ahead of Wimbledon

Verstappen holds off McLaren challenge

Avinash Sable bags 3000m steeplechase gold

Tvesa, Vani tied 4th in Swiss Open

Delhi Times

YOUR POV

TRIPPIN

My road trip across Germany was pure bliss: Dino Morea

Never expected Gulabi Sadi to go viral, says Sanju Rathod

FURRY FRIENDS

This was not the ﬁrst time I underwent a physical transformation: Jaideep

WHEN I FEEL INSECURE, I GO BACK TO MY ROOTS: RADHIKKA

BUZZ STOP

It was hard to resist the cravings, says Jaideep Ahlawat

DRENCHED IN FITNESS

I’m enjoying the OTT and film space right now, says Nandish

People don’t call us for auditions because we work in TV: Jayati

DID YOU KNOW?

Best styles from Paris Haute Couture Week

BTS agency staff face insider trading charges

Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt expecting third baby

Jason Kelce gets emotional at Swift concert

Celebs meet tennis stars ahead of Wimbledon

Soulful Fridays with reggae, jazz and classic rock fusion

AURORA: I WOULD LOVE TO SING FOR BOLLYWOOD

Awarding and celebrating diplomas students in Delhi

Must-try places for Asian cuisine in Delhi

Best bars in Delhi to sip, savour, celebrate

Best and worst rated Indian food list bafﬂes desis

Boomers to Gen Z, love for word games scores over doomscrolling

NOW I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF FOCUSING ON MY HEALTH: RADHIKKA