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JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022, NEW DELHI,LATE CITY, 18 PAGES SINCE 1932 `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

INDIA & BANGLADESH

Partnering for New Frontiers : Emerging Stronger Together

Confederation of Indian Industry

welcomes

H. E. Sheikh Hasina
Hon'ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh
and
the accompanying Delegation

New Delhi
 2022
OUR TEACHERS
WILL MAKE INDIA NO.1
State Teachers' Award- 2022

Chief Guest
Date : 5th September, 2022
Manish Sisodia
Deputy Chief Minister, Delhi Venue : Thyagaraj Stadium

On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, I salute all our teachers, who build and shape
DIP/Shabdarth/D/0087/22-23

the future of our nation and society. Wishing you all a very Happy Teachers’ Day!
-Arvind Kejriwal
Chief Minister, Delhi

Directorate of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi

New Delhi

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES
‘Romantics want a
Google, Uber in
politics. We need
revolution, not total
disruption’
MILINDA MORAGODA
SRI LANKAN HIGH COMMISSIONER
PAGE 13
Need for
modernising
jails, prison
reforms law
coming: Shah
VAIBHAV JHA
AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 4
UNION HOME Minister Amit
Shah Sunday asked all states to
modernisetheirprisonsandsaid
that a new law on jail reforms is
coming soon.
He also called for a rehabili-
tativeview of prisonersandjails,
saying India’s incarceration sys-
tem is prone to abuse because it
was set up by the British to sub-
jugate political prisoners.
Shah was speaking after in-
augurating the All India Prison
Duty Meet, a three-day event in
Ahmedabad. Gujarat Chief
Minister Bhupendra Patel and
Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi,
among others, were present.
Attheevent,Shahsaidthejail
department is a major
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Taliban using Indian assistance for their own
families, not people in need: Ahmad Massoud
EXPRESS
EXCLUSIVE
SHUBHAJIT ROY
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
THE TALIBAN regime has used
India’shumanitariansupportfor
“their own forces and their fam-
ilies, not the people truly in
need”, according to Ahmad
Massoud, leader of the National
As Jharkhand
MLAs return,
trust vote
buzz grows
ABHISHEK ANGAD
RANCHI, SEPTEMBER 4
THE GROUP of over 30 MLAs
from the ruling JMM-led UPA al-
liance in Jharkhand, which had
landed in neighbouring
Chhattisgarh five days ago amid
allegations of a poaching bid by
the Opposition BJP, returned to
Ranchi on Sunday, a day ahead
of the expected trust vote to be
called by Chief Minister Hemant
Soren’s government in a special
Assembly session.
The MLAs will spend the
night together at the Circuit
House with JMM sources saying
that a trust vote may be held
Monday to “show the solidarity
of thealliance”evenasGovernor
Ramesh Bais is yet to officially
convey the Election
Commission's view on the dis-
qualification of Soren as MLA
over a mining lease he had
granted himself last year.
Speaking to reporters, Soren
said, “Whether there will be a
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
BUSINESS AS USUAL
BY UNNY
ON WAY TO MUMBAI FROM GUJARAT
Cyrus Mistry, former head of
Tata Sons, killed in car crash
Mumbai doc lost control of Mercedes, seriously injured along with husband
CYRUS MISTRY
1968-2022
VALLABH OZARKAR
& YOGESH NAIK
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 4
CYRUS MISTRY, the former head
of Tata Sons, was killedinahigh-
speed car crash on National
Highway 48 in Maharashtra’s
Palghar district on Sunday after-
noon. Mistry (54) was travelling
with three others from Gujarat
to Mumbai.
One other person, Jehangir
Pandole, Director at KPMG
GlobalStrategyGroup,waskilled
after the car, a Mercedes, veered
out of control, hit a road divider,
and smashed into a wall on
Charoti bridge over the Surya
river around 3.15 pm.
The driver of the car, leading
Mumbai gynaecologist Dr
Anahita Pandole, and her
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Resistance Front of Afghanistan,
which is the key opposition to
the Taliban.
Massoud also drew a link be-
tween Afghanistan under the
rule of the Taliban and an in-
crease in violence in Kashmir.
In an exclusive interview to
TheIndianExpressfromanundis-
closed location in the region,
Massoud, the 33-year-old son of
the legendary Ahmad Shah
Massoudwhowasknownas the
Lion of Panjshir, said, “I do not
want power and my struggle is
DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
Policemen inspect the car after the crash in Maharashtra’s
Palghar district, Sunday. Deepak Joshi REPORTS, PAGES9,14,15
An introvert bruised by
Tata battle, who took
knocks on the chin
COOMI KAPOOR
INDECEMBER2012,whenCyrus
Mistry took over the much-cov-
eted position of chairperson of
themighty TataGroup at theage
of 44, replacing outgoing chair-
personRatanTata,itseemedasif
he was indeed fortune’s
favourite. But Cyrus’s appoint-
P8
THE EXPRESS
INTERVIEW
AHMAD MASSOUD
LEADER OF THE NATIONAL RESISTANCE
FRONT OF AFGHANISTAN
JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
SINCE 1932
ment at the Tatas proved to be a
poisoned chalice. The Mistry
family, that is still recovering
from the death of Cyrus's father,
billionaireconstructionmagnate
Pallonji Mistry, in June this year,
has suffered a series of setbacks
ever since Cyrus was sacked as
chairpersonof TataSonsin2016.
An introvert who shied away
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
for justice right now... my fight,
it's for justice and freedom.”
India is in the process of
sending 50,000 tonnes of wheat
to Afghanistan through the UN's
World Food Programme. But
Massoud said that “Taliban has
used[India’s]humanitariansup-
port for their own forces and
their families, not the people
truly in need”.
“Theyarenotdistributingaid
justly,andtheygiveittoonearea
more than the others based on
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Seated with
Cyrus at back
of car, KPMG’s
Pandole dies
SANDEEP SINGH
& RUPSA CHAKRABORTY
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 4
JEHANGIR Pandole, Director,
GlobalStrategyGroupatKPMG’s
London office in the United
Kingdom,whowas seated inthe
backwithCyrusMistry,alsodied
in the car accident that claimed
Mistry’slife.Twoothermembers
of the well-known family in
Mumbai,DariusPandole(seated
in the front, and Jehangir’s elder
brother)andDrAnahitaPandole
(driving the car, and wife of
Darius)areseriouslyinjuredand
currently undergoing treatment
at Rainbow Hospital in Vapi.
TheMistry andPandole fam-
ily have long been close to each
other, with Darius Pandole,
Managing Director and CEO of
JM Financial Private Equity, a
childhood friend of Cyrus, hav-
ing studied with him at the
Cathedral and John Connon
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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Hatred, fear on rise, fear of
price rise, joblessness: Rahul
‘Only 2 industrialists benefiting, be it airports, ports, roads’
MANOJ C G
& ABHINAV RAJPUT
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
SET TO embark on a nationwide
yatranextweek,seniorCongress
leaderRahulGandhiSundaysaid
there is no option before the
party but to go to the people di-
rectly as the governmenthassti-
fled the voice of the Opposition
in Parliament, controlled the Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders at the rally in
media through two industrial-
ists, and has attacked and put
Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday. Prem Nath Pandey
pressure on India’s institutions,
be it the judiciary or the Election
Commission.
Significantly, he also said the Azad vows to bring J&K
together, seeks statehood
Congress and the Opposition
“together... will defeat the ideol-
ogy of the BJP and RSS”.
Addressing the Congress’s
Mehangai Par Halla Bol Rally at ARUN SHARMA Claiming
the Ramlila Maidan here, Rahul
followed a familiar script.
JAMMU, SEPTEMBER 4 middle ground
Mirroring his earlier speeches, ADDRESSING HIS maiden rally AZAD’S MESSAGE for
he accused the Narendra Modi in Jammu and Kashmir after re- J&K was an outreach
government of spreading “ha- signing from the Congress, across its provinces, and
tred, anger and fear”, of benefit- Ghulam Nabi Azad stressed that to those apprehensive
ing industrialists, and using his new party would bring to- that he was backed by
agencies like the CBI, gether the people of the two BJP. He sought to claim
Enforcement Directorate and provinces of the Union Territory, the middle ground.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Before last-over heartbreak, Kohli warms
Indian hearts with slice from the past
THE CROWD rose from the seats
— as they often do when Virat
Kohli walks in to bat or when he
approaches a milestone. They
wanted to get a fuller view of
him. Then, Kohli whipped
EXPRESSINUAE
Pakistan pacer Mohammad
Hasnain's 150 kmph thunder-
bolt over the midwicket bound-
SANDIP G
SEPTEMBER 4 Virat Kohli after scoring his
half century on Sunday. AP
ary for a stunning six to bring up
his fifty. The fans scrambled for
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
New Delhi
 4 EXPRESS NETWORK
FROM PAGE ONE
Cyrus Mistry
husband Darius Pandole, who
was in the front passenger seat,
suffered serious injuries. They
were taken to a private hospital
in Vapi, Gujarat.
DrAnahita Pandole isthesis-
ter-in-law of the deceased
JehangirPandole.Mistrywasbe-
hind her in the back seat of the
Mercedes, and Jehangir Pandole
was sitting next to him. Both
men died of internal injuries.
A police official from
Palghar'sKasasaid:“Thetwode-
ceased in the back were not
wearing seat belts due to which
their airbags did not deploy.
They got jammed between the
front and back seats.”
The Pandoles are family
friends of the Mistrys. Darius
Pandole is Managing Director &
CEO, PE & Equity AIFs-JM
Financial. He was earlier on the
board of Tata Global Beverages
Limited (TGBL), and had re-
signed after Mistry was ousted
from the Tata Group.
Dr Anahita Pandole is also an
activist who had filed a PIL in the
High Court on illegal hoardings
across Mumbai.
The three Pandoles had gone
to Udvada in Gujarat for a prayer
ritual, and Mistry had accompa-
nied them. They were returning
to Mumbai on Sunday.
Constable Yogesh Avtar took
the badly injured Pandole cou-
ple to Rainbow Hospital in Vapi.
Dr Tejas Shah of the hospital
said: “Their oxygen saturation
levels had dropped and so had
theirbloodpressure.Theyhavea
lotof fracturesandareintrauma.
But their BP and O2 saturation is
better now.”
Sources in Mumbai said
Darius sustained a bilateral jaw
fracture, as a result of which his
airway got obstructed. A max-
illofacial surgeon pulled out the
jaw, and his airway is clear now,
and he is stable, a source said.
Dr Anahita has a fractured
hipandandacollapsedlung.She
will be airlifted to Mumbai early
on Monday, sources said.
The bodies of Mistry and
Jehangirhavebeenkeptatagov-
ernment hospital, and will be
broughttoMumbaiwhereapost
mortem examination will be
done at the state-run JJ hospital.
There is an old and a new
bridge over the Surya river at
Charoti, about 120 km from
Mumbai, and Dr Anahita had
taken the new bridge. She was
speeding, and no other vehicle
was involved, police said.
“Anahita was overtaking a
vehicle from the left. At the
bridge, the road narrows from
three lanes to two lanes. She
rammed into the edge of the
bridge,” Balasaheb Patil, police
superintendent of Palghar dis-
trict, told The Indian Express.
“We suspect there was an er-
ror of judgment,” Patil said.
Asked how fast the Mercedes
might have been travelling, and
whetheramechanicalfailuremay
have caused the crash, Patil said,
“A team from the RTO
Department will ascertain the
speedandanymechanicalissues.”
Suraj Singh, project director
of NHAI, who has responsibility
for NH48, said: “The highway
has six lanes. On the way to
Gujarat, there are three lanes on
the bridge, but on the way to
Mumbai, there are two bridges
of two lanes each. Drivers have
to take a slight turn, which
Anahita Pandole may not have
taken due to high speed.”
EXPRESS EDUCATION
Contact for Advt. Booking: M/s Friends Publicity Service
(M): 9212665841, 9212008155
Singh said no damage had
been caused to the bridge, but
the crash barrier had some
scratches. Maharashtra Deputy
Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis has ordered an in-
depth investigation.
Thepolicesaidtherewereno
CCTV cameras at the spot, nor
was there a camera in the car.
The spot is not prone to acci-
dents, and the road is in a good
condition,withoutpotholes.The
Kasa Police said they were wait-
ing for the forensic report, fol-
lowing which an FIR would be
registered against the driver.
They said the vehicle is owned
by a private finance company.
Police have identified two
eyewitnesses: a person from an
automobile workshop and a
passingmotorist.Theyarelearnt
to have told police that they saw
the vehicle go out of control.
Mistry’s sons and other
members of thefamily are in the
UKforafamilyfunction.Theyare
likely to reach Mumbai on
Monday. On Sunday, Mistry's fa-
ther-in-law, senior counsel Iqbal
Chagla, and his brother-in-law,
Justice Riyaz Chagla of the
Bombay High Court, were coor-
dinating with the authorities.
Mistry, son of Pallonji Mistry,
the owner of Shapoorji Pallonji
Group and the biggest stake-
holderin the Tata group,was ap-
pointed the sixth chairman of
Tata Sons in 2012. He was the
chairmanof theTataGroupfrom
2012 to 2016.
The Tata Group and promi-
nent political figures expressed
shock over Mistry's death.
N Chandrasekaran,
Chairman, Tata Sons, said: “I am
deeply saddened by the sudden
demise of Mr Cyrus Mistry. He
had a passion for life.”
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi tweeted: “He was a prom-
ising business leader who be-
lieved in India’s economic
prowess. His passing away is a
big loss to the world of com-
merce and industry.”
Fadnavis also tweeted his
condolences,adding that he had
spoken to the DGP and sought
detailed investigations.
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar
called Mistry “a dynamic and
brilliant entrepreneur”. “It is an
irreparable loss to Indian
Industry,” he tweeted.
CM Eknath Shinde said,
“Mistry was a successful indus-
trialist and a young and future
orientedindividual...Hisdeathis
not only a loss to the family but
India’s industrial sector.”
Among others who ex-
pressed condolences were
Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari,
Smriti Irani, and Piyush Goyal,
Opposition leaders Supriya Sule
and Shashi Tharoor, and busi-
ness tycoons Anand Mahindra
and Harsh Goenka.
(WITHINPUTSFROM
JAYPRAKASHSNAIDU
ANDRUPSACHAKRABORTY)
An introvert...
from public gaze, and a straight-
forward, scrupulously honest
businessman, Cyrus Mistry
never really recovered from the
trauma of being thrust into the
limelight for daring to challenge
theTatabehemoth.Thelongand
expensivelitigationhe launched
against the Tatas in a bid to
avengehishonourlefthimbadly
bruised and took a heavy toll on
the Mistry family fortunes.
Thedingdonglegalbattlebe-
tween Cyrus and the Tatas
stretched over many years.
Though the appellate tribunal of
the National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) upheld all of
Mistry’s charges, the Supreme
Court last year took a diametri-
callyoppositeviewandruledde-
cisivelyinfavourof theTatas.The
court held that a private com-
pany is not subject to the norms
of good governance meant for
public and listed companies.
Though shocked, Cyrus com-
mented sportingly after the out-
come, “We will take the knocks
on our chins. My conscience is
clear. My aim at Tata was to en-
sure a robust, brand-driven sys-
tem of decision-making and
governance that is larger than
any single individual.”
The last few years have not
been kind to the Mistrys on sev-
eral fronts, with the family suf-
feringheavyfinanciallossesdur-
ing Covid, since their assets are
mainly tied up in construction
and real estate. The family also
lost huge revenues that they tra-
ditionally enjoyed through their
association with the Tata Group.
Most tantalizing for the
Mistrys is the fact that they are
unable to monetize their 18.37
per cent shares in Tata Sons
without the consent of the Tata
Sons board thanks to new
Articles of Association which
were put into effect just before
Ratan Tata relinquished charge
in December 2012. The Articles
of Association ensured that the
Tata charitable trusts tightened
their grip over Tata Sons, the
holding company which man-
ages India’s top corporate house
with an annual turnover of well
over $100 billion. (Two years
back, while the Shapoorji
PallonjiGrouppeggedtheworth
of its Tata shares at Rs 1.76 tril-
lion, the Tatas valued it at a mere
Rs 80,000 crore and refused to
evengivetheMistrystherightto
pledge their shares for raising
money in view of their debts.)
A qualified civil engineer
with a degree from Imperial
College, London, and an MBA
from the London Business
School, Cyrus along with his
brother Shapoor had helped
modernise and diversify the
family’s core business and were
extremely successful at it. When
his father stepped down as a di-
rector of the Tata Sons board in
2005, it was he, rather than his
more flamboyant elder brother
Shapoor, who was chosen by
Ratan Tata to become the family
nominee on the board.
Eventually, when Ratan Tata
retiredaschairpersonof theTatas
at the age of 75, Cyrus was cho-
sen to step into his shoes since
the selection committee could
not find a suitable candidate.
Unfortunately, once Cyrus took
over charge of the group, the re-
lationship between Ratan Tata
and him slowly deteriorated. On
October 24, 2016, Cyrus was un-
ceremoniously and abruptly re-
moved as chairperson, though
there were only five months left
for renewal of his contract. The
reason for the differences be-
tween the two men was never
completely clear. Cyrus believed
he was trying to fix things, Tata
perhaps feared he was attempt-
ing to undo his legacy.
Both Tata and Cyrus were
members of the small minority
Parsi community, but they came
from rather different back-
grounds. (Technically Cyrus was
anIrishcitizenashismotherwas
born in that country. Though he
triedwhileattheTatastochange
his nationality, he did not man-
age to complete the necessary
formalities.) The Tatas, as one
Parsi businessman put it to me,
considered themselves aristo-
cratic, and the Mistrys mere real
estate people. But while Cyrus’s
grandfather, the legendary
builder Shapoorji Pallonji, and
father, Pallonji Mistry, were hard
nosedbusinessmenintherough
and tumble of the construction
world, the bespectacled, earnest
Cyrus grew up in a different era
and environment.
He earned a reputation for
sincerity and straightforward-
ness. A team player, he deliber-
ately kept a low profile as Tata
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chairperson and believed the
CEOs of the respective compa-
nies should be projected rather
than himself. Business journal-
ist Sucheta Dalal described him
to me as “incapable of guile and
very genuine... What he says is
generally backed by docu-
ments.” Business executive
MukundRajan, who hasworked
closely with both Ratan Tata and
Cyrus, in his book Brand
Custodian described Cyrus as
“one of the smartest people I
have ever met, a great leader
who was not insecure, and vol-
untarily surrounded himself
with people with great talent,
skillsandstrongopinions,unlike
many other leaders I have seen”.
Cyrus once corrected me
when I termed his famed con-
frontation with Ratan Tata as a
corporate battle. In a conversa-
tion, he remarked, “I was re-
movedinaninappropriateman-
ner. I can lick my wounds and
put that behind us. That phase is
over.Butwehavetodowhatever
is necessary to protect our 18.37
per cent in Tata Sons.” The rea-
sonhehadpersistedinhisDavid
versus Goliath fight was to en-
sure that the values of the Tata
Group’s founders were re-
spected. “This is about gover-
nance. It’s not about me, it’s not
about position,” he stated.
The long, messy legal battle
was also a fight for his reputa-
tion. Cyrus wanted to tell the
world that he was doing the
right thing. He was deeply hurt
by Tata executives' insinuations
that he was removed for incom-
petence. Thefactssuggestother-
wise. During Cyrus’s three-and-
a-half-year tenure as Tata
chairperson, Tata shares fared
better than average on the
Bombay Stock Exchange. Cyrus
could also feel vindicated in the
fact that his successor, N
Chandrasekharan, would go on
to implement most of the meas-
ures he hadalready conceivedin
his recovery plan for the group.
After his exit from Tata Sons,
Cyrusdidnottakebackmanage-
ment control at Shapoorji
Pallonji and Co. and instead
carved out something for him-
self. He floated a venture capital
fund, Mistry Ventures, to back
startups. In 2022, the Shapoorji
Pallonji Group cleared a major
portion of its outstanding debts
by selling its stake in companies
such as Eureka Forbes and
Sterling and Wilson Renewable
Energy.PosttheCovidpandemic
and subsequent lockdowns, its
real estate division had finally
started picking up.
In the tradition of most Parsi
businessfamilies,theMistrystoo
were notable philanthropists. In
2018, Shapoor and Cyrus set up
the Institute for Zoroastrian
Studies in the memory of their
grandfather Shapoorji Pallonji,
at the School of Oriental and
African Studies, London.
Cyrus is survived by his wife
Rohiqa, the daughter of leading
lawyer Iqbal Chagla, and sons
Firoz and Zahan.
The writer is Contributing
Editor, The Indian Express, and
the author of The Tatas, Freddie
Mercury & Other Bawas: An
Intimate History of the Parsis
Jehangir Pandole
School in Mumbai. Anahita is a
top gynaecologist and works
with Breach Candy Hospital in
Mumbai.
Sources close to the family
said Darius and Anahita are be-
ingtreatedformultiplefractures
and other complications, and
willbeairliftedearlymorningon
Monday to a top Mumbai hospi-
tal. Dr Mehli Nazir, a renowned
surgeon at Breach Candy and a
closefriendof MistryandDarius,
hasalsorushedtoVapi,theysaid.
A source close to the family
said the four had gone to
Udwada — a place of pilgrimage
for the Parsis. “The Mistry fam-
ily had renovated the shrine.
DariusandCyruswereveryclose
friendsandtheyhadgonetovisit
the place of worship.”
Incidentally, Cyrus and the
Pandole brothers (Jehangir and
Darius)hadlosttheirfathersear-
lier this year. While Cyrus’s fa-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Rohini Nilekani on why
India’s wealthy need to
do more to boost civil
society
Rohini Nilekani joins host Sandip Roy to
discuss her latest book, ‘Samaaj, Sarkaar,
Bazaar’, in which she talks about the need
for a balance between these three sectors
ther Pallonji Mistry died in June
2022, the Pandole brothers lost
their father Dinshaw Pandole
just a week ago.
Darius is well regarded in the
investment banking circles; he
managed the operations of the
family-owned soft drink busi-
ness, Duke and Sons Ltd, prior to
entering the investment bank-
ing space. Darius led successful
negotiations for the sale of the
business to PepsiCo in 1994.
Darius previously served as a
non-executive independent di-
rectorontheboardof TataGlobal
Beverages. He resigned in
December 2016, soon after
Mistry was removed from the
chairmanship of Tata Sons Ltd.
Pandole had voted against the
resolution for Mistry’s ouster.
Anahita Pandole, wife of
Darius,hasbeenassociatedwith
BreachCandyHospitalforalong.
She has over 30 years of experi-
ence and is known to have han-
dled child delivery in families of
several high-profile people in
Mumbai. She has on several oc-
casions raised her voice against
hoardings in the city.
Last week, she wrote to the
BMC opposing hoardings
erected on footpaths, along the
Western Express Highway,
whichcouldposeadangertothe
motorists. She gained recogni-
tion for the preservation of the
Parsi heritage.
Under the Bombay Parsi
Panchayat Fertility Project, she
addressed the issue of popula-
tiondecline inthe Parsicommu-
nity. She was part of the Jiyo
Parsi programme for the same.
The Pandole family is also
well-known for squash and
other sports. Jehangir was a pro-
fessional squash player and was
selectedtorepresentIndiaatthe
Asian Junior Squash
Championships in 1991. Darius
and Anahita have two sons.
Rahul
Income Tax department to tar-
get those who speak against the
Prime Minister.
Rahul also framed the battle
against the BJP as, again, a battle
of ideologies. With one differ-
ence. In his concluding address
at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir of
the party as recently as May
RahulhadsaidthattheCongress
alonecouldfight theBJPandRSS
and the regional parties could
not do so as they neither had an
ideology nor a centralised ap-
proach. On Sunday, Rahul said:
“The Congress party’s ideology
and all our Opposition parties...
together we will defeat the ide-
ology of the BJP and the RSS.”
The rest of the script at the
Sunday rally was also familiar,
with leader after leader hailing
Rahulandaskingthat“hishands
be strengthened”. Despite Rahul
reportedlynotwantingtoreturn
asCongress president,therewas
a clear expression of support for
him, with Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhurymentioningaposter
at the rally that said, “We want
Rahul Gandhi as INC president”.
Among those who hailed
Rahul was prominent G-23
leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Almost the entire top leadership
of the party, including Chief
Ministers Ashok Gehlot and
BhupeshBaghel,CWCmembers,
AICCgeneralsecretariesandsev-
eral PCC presidents, were pres-
ent on the dais.
Senior Congress leader
Ashok Chavan, whose meetings
with BJP leaders in Maharashtra
have been the cause of much
speculation, was also present.
In his speech, Rahul said:
“The Government has blocked
all avenues for us. The Congress
andtheOppositioncannotspeak
in Parliament. Our microphones
are switched off. We cannot
speak on any issue -- be it the at-
tackbyChina,unemploymentor
price rise. Our institutions -- be
it the media, the Election
Commission or the judiciary --
are under pressure... Only one
path is open for us, and we like
that path the most -- go to the
people and tell them the truth.”
Rahul said that was the rea-
son the Congress was embark-
ing on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
Calling the battle against the
BJP as one of ideology, he said
“hatred” and “anger” had been
on the rise since the BJP came to
power. He linked this to people
being “scared”. “Hatred is an-
other form of fear. When we say
hatred is on the rise in India, you
can say it another way. Fear is on
the rise in India. Fear of the fu-
ture, fear of price rise, fear of un-
employment... And what hap-
pens when there is hatred? It
dividesthepeopleandthecoun-
try, and the country weakens.”
Rahul said: “Are the poor
benefiting from this hatred and
fear? What benefit has the
Narendra Modi government
given to the poor, the farmers,
the working class and the small
shopkeepers? The entire bene-
fit of this hatred and fear is being
reaped by two industrialists.
Even the other industrialists
would say they have not got any
benefitinthelasteightyears...Be
it airports, ports, roads... cell-
phones, oil, everything is going
into the hands of the two peo-
ple... Media scares the country,
hatred is created....”
Rahul said jobs cannot be
created now even if one wants
as the government has broken
the back of small and medium
enterprises which traditionally
create jobs. Unemployment, he
said, will only increase.
Lashing out at the govern-
ment over the rise in prices of
fuel and food items, he com-
pared the same to 2014.
“Two industrialists work 24
hours for Modi and Modi works
24 hours for these two industri-
alists... they control the Prime
Minister.Icantellyou,Modican-
notremainPrimeMinisterwith-
out the support of those two in-
dustrialists.”
Rahul accused the Modi gov-
ernment of creating “two
Indias”. “One India is of the
workers, poor, farmers and un-
employedyouth.Inthatcountry,
no one can dream, you won’t get
jobs, you can’t send your chil-
dren to colleges and universi-
ties... And there is another India,
an India of 10-15 industrialists,
where you are free to dream,
whatever you want, you get.”
He urged the people to join
the fight against the BJP. “Our
Constitution,whichisthesoulof
our country, every Indian will
have to come forward to protect
it. If we don’t do this... the coun-
try will not survive.”
The UPA government had
lifted 27 crore people out of
poverty,Rahulsaid,whiletheBJP
government had pushed 23
crore of them back into poverty.
“This (the hatred and fear)
will benefit India’s enemies...
China and Pakistan. The more
hatred, anger and fear increase,
the more India willweaken.And
Modi has weakened India.”
Azad
with its topmost agenda being
restoration of statehood to J&K
and “protection of the rights of
locals” to land and employment.
Arriving to a welcome by
hundreds of his supporters,
Azad, a former chief minister of
J&K, also said that the Congress
had lost its will to fight.
He hoped to dismantle “the
walls of hatred” being raised
among people, Azad said, start-
ing with the name of his party. “I
will not issue a diktat sitting in
Delhi about the name and flag of
the party. It will be decided by
people from both Jammu and
Kashmir divisions... My party’s
name will be in the Hindustani
language,inlinewiththeGanga-
Jamuni culture envisioned by
Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal
Nehru...Thisisthelanguagespo-
ken by the common man in his
house,anditisnotinamaulana’s
Urdu or a panditji’s Sanskrit, but
understood by all the people of
India,” Azad said, adding that he
hoped to get support both in vil-
lages and towns and cities.
Seeking that J&K be restored
as a state, the senior leader said:
“We do not want an Assembly
which has a Lt Governor, but an
Assembly which can legislate
laws and has a Governor.”
Azad also questioned why
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
J&K had a different nomencla-
ture when it came to rural local
bodies, in the form of District
Development Councils and
Block Development Councils,
when these were called zilla
parishad and block samitis else-
where. “They (the government)
themselves create divisions and
ask us to integrate,” he said.
Taking a dig at the Congress,
he said he was not like armchair
leaderssendingoutmessageson
computers. “I have always re-
mained connected to the
ground,” Azad said.
With the Congress alleging
that he is acting in tandem with
theBJP,AzadtookadigattheBJP
as also the Apni Party, the
Kashmir-basedoutfitbelievedto
have the Centre's backing.
Among those present on the
dais at Sunday's rally of Azad
were former MLA Suhaib Lone,
who earlier left the Congress to
join the Apni Party, and Syed
Bashir,whowasaministerinthe
coalitiongovernmentheadedby
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
TheCongresslaunchedanat-
tack on Azad soon after his rally,
including questioning his claim
during his speech that he had
won his first Lok Sabha election
from Washim in Maharashtra in
1980 practically on his own.
The party's J&K spokesper-
son, Jahanzaib Sirwal, said that
prior to the Washim election,
Azadhadfacedahumiliatingde-
feat on his home turf Doda, in
Inderwal Assembly con-
stituency, polling only 959 votes
in the 1977 Assembly polls.
“Statistically and factually,
Ghulam Nabi Azad has never
been able to win a single elec-
tion, except for an Assembly by-
electionfromBhaderwah(when
he was the CM),” Sirwal said.
Ahmad Massoud
ethnicity,”hesaid.Thisisthefirst
time an Afghan leader has made
this charge against the Taliban.
Asserting that Afghanistan
has gone back to the “dark ages”,
Massoud said the Taliban is har-
bouring Al Qaeda and other ter-
ror groups.
Referring to the American
strike that killed Ayman Al
Zawahiri, he said that the pres-
ence of the Al Qaeda leader in
central Kabul at the time of the
attack was “not surprising”.
“Giving in to the will of the
Taliban, is giving in to the will of
terrorism,” he said, as he lashed
out at Pakistan for being a “men-
tor” to Taliban. “This is a fire that
Pakistan played with, and we
willseesoonerorlaterthatitwill
backfire at them,” he said.
“TheruleoftheTalibanwillbe
a safe haven... for many groups,
Jaish-e-Mohammed and many
others,whichareathreattoIndia
and to the region,” he said.
“There is a direct link be-
tween Afghanistan under the
rule of the Taliban and the in-
creaseintheviolenceinKashmir
and also increase in the violence
of theseterroristgroups,because
they (feel) that just like the
Taliban, we will also will be sup-
ported, successful in establish-
ing an extremist government
somewhere else. It is very im-
portanttoputalleffortstogether
and to defeat this extremist nar-
rative,” Massoud said.
Askedaboutthedifferencein
India’s approach from earlier
when it is said to have covertly
helped his father Ahmad Shah
Massoud’s Northern Alliance in
the 1990s, he said, “I think the
differenceinapproachisthehes-
itation.Indiaisstillintheprocess
of assessing the situation. This
hesitation is fatal.”
He said, "We are on the same
page, and we are continuing the
same path of my father. So the
sooner the hesitation is over, the
sooner we come to the conclu-
sion that there should be a joint
effort together against terrorism
in the region,the better.” He said
that he has reached out to India
“all levels of the government”
and sought “political support”
and “[military] logistics”.
Massoud also said that he
was offered a position in the
Taliban government, and that he
had declined the offer.
On the resistance being
mounted by his fighters, he said
there are about 3,500 of them
spread out from Panjshir valley,
and expanding to Herat, Faryab,
Mazhar, Kunduz, Baghlan,
Takhar and Badakhshan.
“We have no support from
outsidewhatsoever...Ourtacticat
this moment is exactly what my
father (Ahmad Shah Massoud)
usedagainsttheSoviets,guerrilla
warfare,” he said.
Shah
componentof the nation’sinter-
nal security and should not be
neglected.
“There is a need to make jails
modern and technologically
adept, and to introduce better
living and health facilities... For
that reason, the Narendra Modi
government in 2016 introduced
the ‘Model Prison Manual’,” said
the Union Home Minister.
In the manual, Shah said, the
government considered aspects
such as human rights, the reha-
bilitation of prisoners etc.
Shahsaidnoteveryonejailed
is criminal by nature and could
be a victim of circumstance.
“Punishment is necessary.
However, it is the responsibility
of the jail administration to en-
sure that jails are a medium for
such people who are not ‘born
criminals’ or ‘criminals by na-
ture’ to get back to society... I am
not saying this from a humani-
tarian point but also from a law-
and-order perspective.”
As per the National Crime
Records Bureau’s 2021 statistics,
therewereatotalof5,54,034peo-
pleinprisonsacrossIndia,against
a capacity of 4,25,609. The pris-
oner occupancy rate in the 32
Gujarat jails in 2021 was 118%.
Jharkhand
trust vote or not, this will be
known only after the session is
over. And there are many hours
left for the session to start... The
way the Opposition is weaving
conspiracies... the nets they have
laid, they will be caught in the
samenetandwillbethrownout.”
The ruling alliance has 49
MLAs — 30 from JMM, 18 from
Congress and one from the RJD
— in the 82-member House.
However, three Congress MLAs
face disqualification after being
arrested with unaccounted
money in their vehicle.
“The (Jharkhand) Assembly
tribunal has completed its hear-
ing on the issue of the disqualifi-
cation of Babulal Marandi, who
had merged his JVM(P) with the
BJP, and a few other leaders. The
Speaker may announce this on
Monday,” an insider said.
The BJP and AJSU together
have 28 seats, with 14 more
needed to form a government.
Mithilesh Thakur, JMM gen-
eralsecretaryandaminister,told
The Indian Express: “All legal ad-
visories that the state received
said that Soren wouldn’t be dis-
qualified. But whatever the re-
sult, our government won’t be
affected... If debarment comes,
we will try to get relief in six
hours...itwillnotstandincourt.”
Kohli
the ball. They were reluctant to
throw it back, as though they
were holding a slice of Kohli. It
was Kohli’s first six and his last
boundary. That stroke bore the
full stamp of Kohli-ness.
And yet, it was a mixed day
for India fans. They couldn't cel-
ebrate an Indian win. Kohli's 60
from 44 balls took India to 181
for seven but that didn't prove
enough to stop Pakistan as they
won by five wickets and one ball
tospare.Inalllikelihood,thearch
rivalsareexpectedtomeetagain
in next Sunday's Asia Cup final.
Earlier, Pakistan stunned
IndiabypromotingMohammad
Nawaz to No.4, who came up
with a match-turning 20-ball 42
with Mohammad Rizwan.
Kohli fans, though, would
take home a slice of their hero.
What caught the eye was
somethingnew.WhenhasKohli
beenasrelaxedashehasbeenin
this Asia Cup? Smiling, winking,
chatting in the dugout, chirping
with opponents, indulging the
crowd. The veins didn't pop, and
there were no screams.
Even when he hit that swat-
flick and raised his fifty, he had a
lovely smile. As a pure stand-
alone itself, the stroke has great
value. Kohli just shuffled to the
off-side a bit and with a violent
whirl of the wrists, whipped the
full ball away.
His every stroke today was
purposeful — defensive pushes
were rare. Deepak Hooda would
testify to Kohli's intent. Hooda,
freshtothecrease,wascaught in
twomindswhethertorunornot
after Kohli had nudged the ball
to square leg. But when he
turned back, Kohli was more
than midway through his sec-
ond, wildly gesticulating at him.
It was also the perfect Kohli
T20 knock — one where he
wears the hybrid aggressor-an-
chor role. He is the aggressor as
wellastheanchor.WhenShadab
Khan erred slightly on the
shorter side, he thundered him
through midwicket, bisecting
two fielders. Similarly, he was
ruthless on anything short, pace
or spin. Kohli also checked his
ego—inthetouchhewas in,and
in the backdrop of criticism that
he bats too slow in T20, he could
have unlocked his full range of
strokes. But he let himself be
himself.
Coach Rahul Dravid had em-
phasised on the eve of the
match: “For those outside, it is
abouthis(Kohli's)numbers,runs
andstats.Butforusitisaboutthe
contributionshecanmakeindif-
ferent situations... It does not
have to always be a 50 or a 100,
or a big statistic. Even small con-
tributions mean a lot for us. That
said, he is a big player and would
be keen on big performances.”
FULLREPORTSON
www.indianexpress.com
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
WOMAN WAS WITH A FRIEND: POLICE
Cab driver held for
‘sexual misconduct’
with lawyer from UK
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
A CAB driver has been arrested for al-
leged sexual misconduct with a 23-
year-old woman from the United
Kingdom while he was ferrying her to a
hotel in South Delhi, said police Sunday,
adding that the complainant, a London-
based lawyer, left the country after the
incident.
Police said the woman had come
with her friend to visit India and the duo
had planned to stay in Delhi and
Rajasthan. The incident took place
Friday night when the two women
booked a cab on an app from Indira
Gandhi International Airport.
They were being ferried to a five-star
hotel in South Delhi when the cab driver
allegedly masturbated inside the car,
said police.
“The woman and her friend caught
the driver and objected. However, he
misbehaved with them and threatened
25-year-old man ‘kills his
mother, later commits suicide’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
A25-YEAR-OLDmanallegedlykilledhis
mother and later committed suicide in-
sidetheirhouseinDelhi’sRohiniSunday
night. Police said the mother was al-
legedly killed two-three days ago and
her body was found lying in the bath-
room. The son later killed himself with
a knife, said police.
Police said a PCR call was made
around 8 pm by neighbours who said a
foul smell was coming from the house.
PranavTayal,DCP(Rohini),said,“The
investigatingofficerreachedthespotand
foundthemaindoorboltedfrominside.
Staff broke into the house from the bal-
conyandfoundamaninapoolof blood.
A body of a woman was found in the
washroom;itwashighlydecomposed.”
“Wealsofoundasuicidenoteofabout
them not to tell anyone. The com-
plainant called police and gave a verbal
complaint,” said a senior police officer.
Manoj C, DCP (Southwest), said po-
lice registered a case under IPC sections
294 (obscene act) and 509 (insulting
modesty of a woman).
“Though the complainant was hesi-
tant and scared, we took proactive ac-
tion and caught the man in less than
four hours near the airport area,” he
said.
The accused was arrested and sent
to judicial custody, said police, adding
that they recorded the woman’s state-
ment but she left within a few hours of
registration of the case.
“We have been told she had booked
her return flight ticket in advance. We
arrested the accused based on evidence
and statement,” said an officer.
The cab driver has been identified as
Maakhan Lal, a resident of Lalganj dis-
trict in Uttar Pradesh. Officials said he
started working as a cab driver six
months ago.
Police said neighbours
alerted them of a foul smell
from the house
77pagesatthespotwrittenby(theman).
In the note, (he) admitted that he killed
his mother on Thursday. Later, he com-
mitted suicide by slitting his neck. We
sentcrimeteamsandforensicsciencelab
teams to the spot. Legal action has been
initiated in the case,” added the DCP.
Police sources said the man men-
tionedin the purportednotethat he has
been “depressed” for some time and
wanted to end his life because he was
also unemployed. Police recovered the
note and the weapon used during the
offence. Police are also trying to contact
relatives to ascertain more details about
the family.
THE CITY 5
Screening drive in
schools to identify
kids with special
needs, disabilities
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
IN A move to identify children with disabilities and
special needs, the Delhi government is planning to
conduct a special screening drive in all schools, in-
cluding civic schools that come under the New Delhi
Municipal Council and the Municipal Corporation of
Delhi, officials said.
The screening drive will be conducted under the
theme'Buildinginclusivecommunitiesforall'aspart
of activities in association with the International
Week for Persons with Hearing Impairment, they
added.ThedrivewillbeginonSeptember12andwill
conclude on September 23 when the International
Day of Sign Languages will be observed in all Delhi
schools.
"Underthisdrive,screeningof 21disabilities,asgiven
in the RPWD (Rights of Persons with Disabilities) Act
2016, will be done. A school-level screening will be
conducted in collaboration with the class teacher,
subject teachers, CWSN (Children with Special
Needs) and PGT, TGT special education teachers. The
main aim of the project is not to label or isolate the
children, but for further assessment, identification,
certification, enhancing academic support, enhanc-
ing learning and encouraging participation of sub-
ject/head teachersamongchildrenwithdisabilities,"
said a government official.
Underthisdrive,studentsunderMissionBuniyad
will also be re-examined on their skills in counting
and identification of characters and digits, officials
said. Officials said that the screening process will be
conducted by special education teachers in all
schools.
New Delhi

6 THE CITY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
BRIEFLY
Gurgaon’s
AppuGhar
sealedover
‘non-payment’
ofdues
Gurgaon: The Haryana
Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran
(HSVP) Sunday sealed
Appu Ghar amusement
parkinGurgaonforalleged
non-payment of dues of
over Rs 48.56 crore, two
days after it terminated
lease agreement with the
theme park’s operator for
violationsoftermsandcon-
ditions. Officials said land
was leased out to M/S
International Recreation
andAmusementLtd(IRAL)
for33yearsandagreement
was executed in June 2011.
Rakesh Babbar, suspended
director, IRAL, said, “The
company is going through
corporate insolvency reso-
lution process and is man-
aged by resolution profes-
sional (RP) appointed by
National Company Law
Tribunal, and company is
under moratorium. HSVP
hasillegallysealedproperty
despite...RPshowingallrel-
evant documents.”
Manstabbed
todeath
afterfight
New Delhi: A 40-year-old
manwasallegedlystabbed
to death by an 18-year-old
afterthetwogotintoafight.
The incident took place in
Outer Delhi’s Ranhola
Saturday night. The de-
ceased,JitenderMehto,was
eating momos when the
accused accidentally
pushed him and his plate
fell on the ground. The two
started fighting and the
teenager stabbed Mehto.
Policesaidlocalscaughtthe
teenager and he has been
senttojudicialcustody. ENS
Daysafter
twoshootings,
assailants
stillatlarge
New Delhi: Daysaftera 48-
year-old realtor and hote-
lier was shot at by un-
known assailants in North
Delhi’s Burari, he suc-
cumbedtoinjuriesatacity
hospital. No arrests have
been made in the case yet.
Police suspect jailed gang-
sters from the Gogi gang
targeted the victim, Amit
Gupta, over his alleged
links to the rival Tillu
Tajpuriya gang. Police also
suspectthecaseislinkedto
another shooting in Outer
Delhi, where two men
were gunned down in a
caseofmistakenidentityin
Bakkarwala. ENS
Raitochair
winteraction
planmeeting
New Delhi: Environment
Minister Gopal Rai will
Monday chair a crucial
meetingtodiscussdepart-
ment-wiseresponsibilities
under the 15-point winter
action plan to fight air pol-
lution this year. PTI
SELF-TAUGHT ARTIST WEAVES DETAILED TAPESTRIES
How a former auto driver, gardener is making a mark in the art world
VANDANA KALRA
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
AS VISITORS queued up to get
hold of a microscope to view
Bapi Das’s detailed tapestries at
anexhibitioninthenationalcap-
ital,theartistseemedateasedis-
cussing queries related to his
work and background. “People
areusuallycurioustolearnabout
embroidery techniques that I
use. At times, we also talk about
my journey from being an auto
driver to an artist,” said Das.
At Bikaner House, where
Das’s (44) work was part of a
group exhibition titled “Riyaz”,
TRANSPORT DEPT REPORT
69 fatal spots mapped in city saw 5
accidents per km in last 2 years: Data
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
THE DELHI transport depart-
ment has identified about 69 fa-
tal crash spots across the city,
which has seen more than five
accidents per kilometre in the
last two years.
According to data shared by
thedepartmentinitsreport,‘Delhi
road crash fatalities 2021’, of the
total fatal spots or blackspots,
thereare17high-riskareaswhich
have seen more than seven fatal
crashes. The top 10 include
Mukarba Chowk, Peeragarhi
Chowk, Punjabi Bagh Chowk,
SeelampurChowk,Intersectionof
Outer Ring Road and Wazirabad
Road near Signature Bridge,
Nirankari Chowk, Azadpur
Chowk-Outer Ring Road in front
Rohini court near Madhubani
Chowk among others. (see map)
Besides, data shows, there
are about five corridors which
haveseenmorethantwopedes-
trian deaths per kilometre and
10corridors,includingRingRoad
from IG stadium to Outer Ring
Road spreading over around 123
km, was found to be very unsafe
for motorists.
“Ring Road Bypass recorded
the highest number of persons
killed per kilometre. Outer Ring
RoadandRingRoadreportedthe
highestnumberof personskilled
in 2021. Identification of high-
riskcorridors/stretchessupports
planning, engineering and en-
forcement interventions focus-
ing mainly on speed manage-
mentandroadsafety riskfactors
such as use of clasped helmets
by rider and pillion rider, use of
seat-belt...,” states the report.
Officials further said the
numberof fatalcrashesaswellas
deaths was highest in March
Poor upkeep of transplanted trees in
capital, officials mull policy changes
ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
CHANGES IN Delhi’s Tree
Transplantation Policy or an ad-
ditional set of guidelines to
streamline the process is likely
to be developed.
CD Singh, Principal Chief
Conservator of Forests (PCCF),
Forest Department, Delhi, said,
“We are working in this direc-
tion. A meeting has recently
been called, which will be
chaired by the Minister and
wherethenitty-grittywillbede-
cided,andthenwewillcomeout
with an amendment in the pol-
icy,orguidelines,whateverform
the government may think fit...
this is the line of discussion.”
Singh pointed to mainte-
nance of transplanted trees as a
key issue that needs to be ad-
dressed. “We will discuss the
shortcomings,theexperiencewe
havegainedinthepasttwoyears,
and accordingly we will take
steps. We have to fix a mainte-
nance clause. If the user agency
ismaintaining(thetransplanted
trees),theyhavetobeseriousand
they must be accountable for
maintaining the trees,” he said.
Onthemaintenanceof trans-
planted trees, the policy states:
“Theresponsibilityof thetechni-
which also features veterans
suchasK GSubramanyan,Manu
Parekh, Amit Ambalal, and con-
temporary artists such as Riyas
Komu and Jayasri Burman, Das
showedasetof fiveintricatetap-
estries with motifs, which also
tell his story. If one frame has an
auto on a lone road, in another a
cycle awaits its rider. “This is the
cycle I used to ride as a child.
Later, it was the auto. All the
scenes are from Kolkata, a city
that is my home,” said Das.
The self-taught artist, who
completed education till class X,
vividlyrecalledthewinterdayof
2017, when he received a call
from Anita Dube, curator of the
TOP 10 FATAL
CRASH
SPOTS
These are among
17 high-risk
areas which
have seen
more than
7 fatal
crashes
1.MukarbaChowk
2.IntersectionofOuterRing
RoadandWazirabadRoadnear
SignatureBridge
3.NirankariChowk
4.SeelampurChowk
5.PeeragarhiChowk
6.AzadpurChowk
7.Dabriroundaboutcrossing
20 high-risk
corridors saw 2
or more deaths per km
*Areas in red represent areas with a high incidence
of fatal crashes
Data: Delhi transport dept
2021.Therewasasuddendecline
in crashes in April and May 2021
when the lockdown was im-
posed due to the pandemic.
Road crash death rate per
1,00,000 population was high-
est among people aged between
50-54 years, data also shows.
Onstepsbeingtakentomake
roads safer, transport commis-
sioner Ashish Kundra said:
“Along with our partner, BIGRS
(Bloomberg Philanthropies
InitiativeforGlobalRoadSafety),
IIT-Delhi and Save Life
Foundation,thedepartmenthas
Of 16,461 trees transplanted
in 3 years, 33.33% have
survived so far. Archive
calagencyinchargeof transplan-
tation will be limited to one year
of the completion of tree trans-
plantation to a new site, subject
to the following: (a) Survival as-
sessmentreportshallbesubmit-
tedbythetechnicalagencyatthe
end of one year with an assess-
ment of tree survival rate at the
newsites(b)Thebenchmarktree
survival rate at the end of one
yearof treetransplantationshall
be 80% or as notified by the
Department,fromtimetotime.”
Of about 16,461 trees that
weretransplantedinDelhiinthe
past three years, only 33.33%
havesurvivedsofar,accordingto
data submitted before the Delhi
fourth edition of the Kochi-
MuzirisBiennale(2018-19),who
hadbeeninformedabouthistap-
estries and wanted to view his
work. Just back after completing
his duties as a gardener at the
Kolkata Municipal Corporation
(KMC)—ajobhestillholds—Das
had immediately begun sifting
throughhistapestriestoshortlist
works that he wanted to share
with Dube. Months later, seven
of them were showcased at the
Biennale. “To show at a platform
like that was the best that could
have happened. It gave me
tremendousexposure,”saidDas.
Whileheconfessedtohaving
initiallyfoundtheworldof artin-
CORONAVIRUS
IN THE CAPITAL
Heat
map of fatal
crashes
(2020-21)*
9
1 3
8 6 2 ernment schools will try to in-
5 10 4
7 fatal accidents occur between 8
8.OuterRing
RoadinfrontRohinicourtnear
MadhubaniChowk
9.IntersectionofGrandTrunk
RoadandmainLibaspurroad
10.PunjabiBaghChowk
5 corridors saw more
than 2 pedestrian
deaths per km
actively been working on the re-
design of 14 crash-prone junc-
tionstomakestreetssaferforall.”
In addition to this, more than
2,300DelhiTrafficpoliceperson-
nel have been trained in the past
six months by IACP and GDCI to
improvetheirunderstandingand
on-groundproactiveresponseto
ensure safety on roads.
The transport department
has further launched a social
media campaign called
#SadakSurakshitDilliSurakshit
andsafeschoolzonesinitiativeto
makeDelhiroadssafer,headded.
What
experts say
RAMACHANDRAAPPARI,
founder director, Green
MorningHorticulturePvt
Ltd, said transplantation
requires expertise. "It is
still a nascent subject.
Transplantation itself is
only 60% of the work
done, the rest is mainte-
nance. It's like the trees
areputinanICUandneed
intensivecare.Weneedto
add growth promoting
hormones so that new
roots are formed and
branches are regained.
Not all trees react in the
same way," he said.
High Court in an affidavit by the
Forest Department in May.
“What most project propo-
nents do is that they engage a
contractor,andtheyassignthem
the work of pruning the tree and
getting it transplanted. This is a
process that takes around six to
seven months. They transplant
the tree, then take care of it for
four to five months. After that
nobody takes care of it,” Singh
said, adding that post transplan-
At Bikaner House, Bapi Das’s (44) work was part of a group
exhibition titled “Riyaz”
VACCINATIONS IN
LAST 24 HOURS
32,677
PATIENTSINHOSPITAL: 140
OXYGEN SUPPORT
VENTILATOR SUPPORT
2-wheeler riders
and pedestrians
top casualty list
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
LAST YEAR saw a 3% increase in
fatal accidents as compared to
2020 — 1,238 persons were
killed in 2021, whereas 1,197
were killed in 2020 — transport
department data shows.
A break-up of the fatalities
shows that:
■ Pedestrians account for
42% of deaths, motorcyclists
36%, pillion riders 7%, cyclists
4%, light motor vehicles 5%,
auto-rickshaws 4% and heavy
motor vehicles 2%. Overall, both
motorcycle riders and pillion
riders accounted for 43% of
deaths.
■A total of 93% of deaths oc-
curred among vulnerable road
users (pedestrians, motorcy-
clists,cyclistsandauto-rickshaw
occupants—bothmotorisedand
electric).
■ Men accounted for 1,068
fatalities.Of these,426weremo-
torcyclists and 420 pedestrians.
A total of 127 women died in
roadaccidents,of whom71were
pedestrians and 37 motorcycle-
pillion riders.
■Menwerefoundatfaultfor
mostof thefatalcrashesinDelhi.
Only 1% of drivers found at fault
were female. Cases with un-
known gender were excluded,
the report noted.
■ Data also shows that most
tation,maintenanceisnecessary
for a minimum of 18 months,
which is the minimum period
required to judge if the planta-
tion is a success or failure.
Ramachandra Appari,
founderdirector,GreenMorning
Horticulture Pvt Ltd, one of the
agencies empanelled by the
ForestDepartmentfortransplan-
tation,said,“Properresearchwill
have to be done on why some
trees are dying. Transplantation
isnotverypopularinIndia.With
trial and error, we have been fig-
uring it out. When research is
done, standard operating proce-
dures can be developed. Now no
SOP is available because we are
still in trial-and-error mode.”
Headded:“Ourchallengenow
is the timeline. We have divided
species into three categories —
those that are easy to transplant,
thosethatrespondmoderatelyto
transplantation,andthosethatare
difficulttotransplant.Thesediffi-
cult to transplant species require
time and effort, like neem that
doesn’t respond well. There’s a
process where it takes three
months to transplant a tree. The
project period is two years, and
withinthat,weneedtofitinthree
months of transplantation. The
civil contractors are not able to
wait for three months, and they
don’t give us proper time.”
DELHI TOTAL
CASES
20,00,641
38
Sept 3
Sept 4
8 Cases
Total
*Total active cases in Delhi
pm and 1 am on weekdays and
weekdays while peak crash tim-
ings are observed between 11
pm to 12 am. However, Friday,
Saturday and Sunday saw more
fatal crashes than other week-
days.
Offending vehicles
In 40% of the total fatal
crashes,thecollidingvehiclewas
unknown.Incaseswheretheve-
hicle is known:
■ Heavy vehicles were re-
sponsible for 44% of crashes
■ Light motor vehicles ac-
count for 30%
■ Motorcyclists for 21%.
“Light motor vehicles and
heavy vehicles (goods carriers)
were responsible for most
pedestrian(76)andmotorcyclist
deaths (94) respectively. Most
cyclists (20) were killed by light
motor vehicles. 81 persons were
killed in single-vehicle crashes
involving motorcyclists,” shows
the data.
Hit-and-run
Hit-and-run cases in Delhi
increased from 600 in 2020 to
708 in 2021, accounting for 59%
of fatal crashes. Of these
■ Pedestrians killed in hit-
and-runs up by 29% — 379 in
2021, 293 in 2020.
■Motoristskilledinhit-and-
runsupby 7% — 280 in 2021, 261
in 2020.
Afghan man
arrested with
4 kg of heroin
New Delhi: Police arrested a 22-
year-old Afghan national for al-
legedly processing and smug-
gling heroin in Delhi-NCR. The
accused was caught with 4 kg of
heroin and has been arrested for
allegedly running a drugs man-
ufacturing unit in UP and Delhi.
Police said they recently
busted a racket and found that
foreign nationals were smug-
glingdrugsfromothercountries
through drones and boats. Once
the consignment reached India,
police said the accused used
delivery apps to also deliver
drugs to clients. The accused,
Wahidullah, was caught by a
teamledbyACPUmeshBarthwal
afterthecrimebranchreceiveda
tip from the Gujarat Police (ATS)
about the accused and his gang.
“Weweretoldheissupplying
drugsinhugequantity.Ourteam
tracedandarrestedhimwith4kg
of heroin. We found he came to
India in 2016 on a medical VISA
for 6 months but got involved in
drug dealing with his father. His
father would import and sell dry
fruits but suffered losses in busi-
ness. He then started manufac-
turingandsupplyingnarcoticsin
NCR. He further disclosed that
they had a secret processing unit
inUP,”saidRavindraSinghYadav,
Special Commissioner of Police
(Crime). ENS
timidating, the appreciation he
received encouraged him to
reinvent and pursue his passion.
“At first, I started embroidering
because I found it therapeutic.
My mother and sister would be
very amused. But now I am at-
tempting to work on it as an art,”
said Das, who previously also
worked in a cupboard manufac-
turing factory.
Inclined towards art since
childhood, he learnt nuances of
drawing from a neighbour in
Kolkata’sNarkeldanga,wherehe
resides.In2007,hefoundamen-
tor in artist Abhijit Dutta, who
guided him on picture composi-
tion, and the technique he
New Delhi
Total Vacant
HOSPITAL BEDS 9,391 9,252
ICU BEDS 2,145 2,100
Cases Recoveries Deaths
236
218
398
338
3
0
1,172* 19,72,992 26,477
Delhi govt school
kids will soon elect
their own ‘Student
Advisory Boards’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
ANEWprogrammeinDelhigov-
crease student leadership and
ownership of their schools by
setting up elected ‘Student
Advisory Boards’. This project
will first be introduced in 20
schools on a pilot basis, and the
boards will comprise two chil-
drenfromeachsectionof grades
7,8,9and11whowillbeselected
through intra-section elections.
According to a note prepared
by the Directorate of Education
onthisinitiative,“Itisenvisioned
that the Student Advisory Board
will assist in augmenting and
maximising student participa-
tioninvariousleadershiprolesat
the school level. The SAB will act
as a voice of students. SAB will
contributetowardsdevelopinga
sense of ownership in students,
by designing, managing and ex-
ecutingvariousschoolactivities.”
Schoolshavebeenissuedstrict
instructions that these boards
shouldbeequallysplitintermsof
gender in co-ed schools. Before
theelections,studentswillalsobe
told about “values and actions to
look for” while choosing board
members such as “always helps
his/her classmates”, “actions
never cause physical, emotional
or mental harm to self or others”.
Once the boards have been
elected, schools have been en-
couraged to set up different sub-
committees such as a co-curric-
Govt school teachers
seek protection from
assault, meet Sisodia
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
A DELEGATION of government
school teachers met Delhi
Deputy Chief Minister Manish
Sisodia Saturday, and presented
him with a memorandum seek-
ing legislation to make assault-
ing teachers on school premises
a non-bailable offence.
Last week, a teacher at a
Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Nand
Nagri, was assaulted on the
premises during school hours.
Police arrested three people in
connection with the incident
Saturday. R Sathiyasun-daram,
DCP(Shahdara),saidtheteacher
had allegedly slapped a Class 8
student on grounds of ‘indisci-
pline’ Friday after which the stu-
dent’s grandmother, uncle and
twofriendsof theuncleallegedly
entered the school where both
parties had an argument before
they assaulted the teacher.
In their memorandum, the
Government Schools Teachers’
Association(GSTA)wrote,“There
isnodenyingthattherehasbeen
a drastic rise in hostility against
government school teachers by
parents and students. However,
theghastlyincidentof August27
shook the entire teaching com-
munity and only cemented our
preceding statement.”
They have demanded intro-
duction of legislation “to declare
anycriminalactorassaultagainst
adapted was Das’ own reinven-
tion after he was attracted to
postcards with thread paintings.
“I had never seen anything like
that before, it was so intricate.”
Though he discussed his
work with numerous artists and
galleristsinKolkata,thebigbreak
came in 2014, when he partici-
patedinhisfirstgroupexhibition
titled “Lost in Transition” at the
HarringtonStreetArtCentre.The
photorealistic needlework won
him instant accolades. Taking
months,eachworkisexemplary
of neat handiwork and made
withfinethreadspulledfromdu-
pattas and embroidered by
wieldingsteelrodsattachedtoan
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
NOIDA
Sept 3 Sept 4
Cases N/A N/A
Tests Deaths N/A N/A
14,023
11,267
GURGAON
92 75
3,99,99,533
Deaths 1 0
The project will first be
introduced in 20 schools
on a pilot basis. Archive
ular sub-committee, sports af-
fairsub-committee,culture&as-
semblysub-committee,andstu-
dent discipline sub-committee
to look at discipline-related is-
suesand organise events suchas
a theatre festival, musical day
and awareness campaigns.
The DoE will even be con-
ducting training sessions for the
SchoolAdvisoryBoardmembers
with the stated goals of ‘vision of
excellence’, ‘a sense of responsi-
bility’, ‘vision setting’, ‘goal set-
ting’ and ‘execution’, and will be
conducting “exposure visits” to
other schools with such boards.
Before this, the Directorate
has introduced various meas-
ures to increase parent partici-
pation in school governance by
making School Management
Committees active and bring-
ing on board parents as school
mitras.
Education Minister Sisodia
teachers and staff on school
premisesanon-bailableoffence”
alongthelinesof DelhiMedicare
Service Personnel and Medicare
Service Institution Act, 2008.
They demandedall schools with
a student strength over 2,500 be
run in two shifts for “better sta-
bility, discipline and safety of
staff”.Anotherdemandwasthat
all teachers be relieved from
Covidduties,andGSTAelections,
pendingsince2017,beheldsoon.
Meanwhile, ahead of
Teachers’ Day, Sisodia met some
government school heads
Sunday.Accordingtohisoffice,he
tried to motivate them to inno-
vate in developing better school
environments and establishing
better relations between the
school and community. He said,
“Our teachers have contributed
incredibly to nation-building.
They have influenced millions of
lives with their work...”
The Delhi government will
alsobeconferringStateTeachers
Awards for different categories
on Monday.
embroidery hoop that Das has
designed for himself.
The subjects come from his
life and surroundings, often re-
ferringtohishumblebeginnings.
If road maps that appear in the
series “Missing Route” are the
very roads that he navigated as
an auto driver, the motif of the
rear-view mirror represents the
uncertaintyof life.Intheself-por-
trait titled ‘ID Proof’, he depicted
hisownpredicament.“Asanauto
driver, I struggled a lot, and was
constantlysearchingformydes-
tination. The work has a portrait
onapostagestamp,representing
howIwastryingtobuildanindi-
vidual identity,” said Das.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022 GOVT & POLITICS 7
JD(U)NATIONALCOUNCILMEETENDS:BIHARCMSAYSPACTWITHNDAMISTAKE

Rahul,Kejriwal,Yechuryonhis‘Oppunity’
itinerary,NitisharrivesinDelhitoday
DELHI CONFIDENTIAL
UP CM Yogi Adityanath
addresses a public meeting
ishJD(U).HesaidseniorBJPlead- 300delegates,discussedcircum- in Rampur, Sunday. PTI
SANTOSH SINGH ers like Rajendra Prasad Singh stances that led to NDA split and
PATNA, SEPTEMBER 4 and Rameshwar Chaurasia con- Nitish's role in national politics.

BIHAR CHIEF Minister Nitish

Kumar on Sunday said he would
never have an alliance with the
BJP now and going back to the
NDAwasamistake.TheBiharCM
would be leaving for a three-day
visittoDelhionMondayinhisfirst
bidtowardstheOppositionunity.
GOING STRONG After the two-day JD(U) na-
tional executive and national
WHEN FORMER chief minister of Karnataka B S Yediyurappa council meet concluded here on
wasinductedintothetopbodiesoftheBJP–ParliamentaryBoard Sunday, Nitish said all eastern
and Central Election Committee – the message was clear: the statesshoulddemandspecialcat-
BJPneededhiscloutandpopularitytofacethenextelectionsin egory status. The CM reiterated
thestate.DuringhisvisittoKarnatakalastweek,PrimeMinister that the Centre kept denying
Narendra Modi publicly showed warmth and affection for the Bihar's demand for special cate-
veteranleader.AtaprogrammeinMangalore,thePrimeMinister gory status despite JD(U) being
took along Yediyurappa – who did not have an invitation from part of the NDA for a long time.
the organisers to be seated on the dais – to the stage and made
himsitonthefrontrow,nexttoGovernorThawarChandGehlot.
PartyinsiderssayModialwayshadrespectforYediyurappaand
hadmadeitapointthattheLingayatleaderwhohadlefttheBJP BJP takes dig: Cong rally Congress rally agenda: price rise;
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with JD(U) leaders during
the party’s national council meeting, in Patna, Sunday. PTI
JD(U) national spokesperson
KC Tyagi told The Indian Express:
"Nitish was very clear about not
going back to BJP again and ad-
mitted that returning to NDA in
2017 was a mistake. He also
talked at length on how BJP had
beensystematicallytryingtofin-
testingfromLJPin2020pollsam-
ply proved that Chirag Paswan
was a BJP ploy to damage us.”
Tyagi, however, made it clear
that the party had never talked
about projecting Nitish in 2024
polls. "We have only authorised
Nitish to work towards
Opposition unity. In Delhi, he is
likely to meet Rahul Gandhi,
Sitaram Yechury and a few other
Opposition leaders. Nitish ji has
also got a few more invitations
on which the party would re-
spond innear future,” Tyagisaid.
Nitish is also expected to meet
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
The two-day JD (U) meet,
which had participation of over
Meanwhile, the JD(U) also al-
leged that Home Minister Amit
Shah would try to "trigger com-
munal disturbances" during his
tour of the state later this month.
JD(U) national president Rajiv
RanjanSinghaliasLalan,however,
added that the people of Bihar
werevigilant,andShahwouldnot
beabletoreapbenefitsfortheBJP.
"AmitShahjiwilltrytotrigger
communal disturbances in Bihar
and across the country. But, the
people of Bihar are alert (‘satark')
and they (BJP) will not be able to
cash in on communal polarisa-
tion,”Lalansaid.Shahisscheduled
tovisitPurneaandKishanganjon
September 23-24. (WITHPTI)
Yogi: Those
who exploited
Rampur paying
price for it now
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, SEPTEMBER 4
IN A veiled attack on Samajwadi
Party in Rampur on Sunday,
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath said the
'Rampuri chaaku' which was
earlier used as a means of ex-
ploitationandtofulfillself-inter-
estsisnowbeingusedforthese-
curity of the common man and
to draw investment to the state
under the BJP government.

is Rahul’s relaunch 4.0 Congress rally refrain: Rahul

in 2012 returned to the party in 2014.
PREPARING PITCH ENS & PTI
WHILE CONGRESS organised a protest rally against the gov- NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
ernmentoverpriceriseinDelhionSunday,UnionAgriculture
Minister Narendra Singh Tomar spent his weekend in MOCKING THE Congress rally
Raebareli,theGandhifamilybastion.Tomar,whohadworked againstthepriceriseinDelhi,the
in Uttar Pradesh as BJP’s general secretary in-charge of the BJP on Sunday took on opposi-
state, has been tasked by his party to work in the Raebareli tion leader Rahul Gandhi and
cluster,whichincludesthreeotherparliamentaryconstituen- said his speech was “immature”
cies – Ambedkar Nagar, Shravasti and Lalganj – to prepare and sought “contempt of court”
ground for the party’s win in 2024. This is as part of BJP’s fo- for his comments on judiciary.
cus to win 144 seats where the party had lost in the 2019 Lok Addressing reporters, BJP
Sabha elections. During Tomar’s two-day visit, one of the en- spokesperson Sambit Patra said
gagements was a “tiffin meeting” with local BJP workers. the rally – Mehangai Par Halla
During such meetings, everyone carries his own food, said a Bol-was“RahulGandhirelaunch
close aide of Tomar. 4.0” and took a dig at him over
his slip of tongue, saying he does
TAKING STOCK not even know whether flour is
solid or liquid.
LASTWEEKEND,seniorBJPleadersheldameetingattheparty Speaking at the rally at
headquarters to make an assessment on the governance RamlilaMaidan,Rahulsaidflour,
processandthestatusof developmentprojectsinparty-ruled whichwasearlier“Rs22perlitre,
states. Although the meeting was not attended by the top BJP isnowRs40perlitre”.Heimme-
leaders, there were discussions on the popularity of the BJP diately corrected it to kilograms.
chief ministers. Apparently, internal surveys indicated that Patra said Rahul was “speak-
not many of the chief ministers enjoy such popularity that ing on the topic of inflation and
would make the party's mission of returning to power in the he converted flour into litres. He
poll-bound states a cakewalk. So,most of theattendees in the doesn't know whether potatoes
meeting – mainly from the states that are going to polls be- growabovethegroundorunder,
fore the 2024 Lok Sabha elections – were of the view that go- he doesn't know whether flour
ing to polls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face would is solid or liquid but [he] speaks
be the best bet. But there were also apprehensions that this on every subject”.
strategy had not worked in many Assembly elections since According to Patra, Rahul's
2014. Tougher times ahead, the party leaders concluded, ac- remarks on judiciary and media
cording to sources. at the rally was “contempt of
court” and “abysmally low”.
In his speech, the Congress
leader said there is pressure on
all institutions, including judici-
ary and media. The government
is attacking them, while the me-
dia is controlled by a few corpo-
rates and not functioning inde-
pendently, he alleged.
Patrasaid,“Fromthishightable
oftheBJP,wewouldliketoappeal
to your Lordship this is contempt
of court.”Withoutthemedia,this
democracyisincomplete,hesaid.
He said the Congress rally
was 'Parivaar Bachao Andolan'
and said it was organised to save
the Gandhi family's existence.
“He repeated his old script...
Rahul and responsibility cannot
movetogether...RahulGandhi,the
Congress'shehzada'(prince)today
rolled out an immature speech,”
Patra said. Hitting back at Rahul
over his remarks that the BJP and
theRSSwerespreadinghatredand
anger in the country, he said,
“Actually it was his speech which
wasfullof hatredandanger.”
“IntheNationalHeraldcase...,
RahulandSoniaareoutonbail,in-
vestigationisgoingon.Thosewho
arecorruptandwhousedtothink
thatcorruptionistheirbirthright,
today they are scared. Because of
this fear, hatred and anger were
reflected in his speech.”
MANOJ C G
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
THE CONGRESS is ostensibly
heading for election to the party
president's post in which Rahul
Gandhi does not want to partici-
pate.However,leaderafterleader
used Sunday's big rally by the
Congress against rising prices, to
hail him as a leader of the party
whosehands,theysaid,havetobe
strengthened.
Gauging the mood, even
prominent G-23 leader
Bhupinder Singh Hooda joined
the pro-Rahul slogans as he
walked onto the stage at the
Ramlila Maidan here.
TheformerHaryanaCMisun-
der attack from a section of the
partyleadersforrecentlymeeting
Ghulam Nabi Azad, after the lat-
ter quit the Congress with a
scathing attack on Rahul. As the
latter walked in to deliver his
speechattheRamlilarally,Hooda
immediately raised the ‘Rahul
Gandhi zindabad’ slogan and ex-
horted the crowd to join him.
Earlier, another G-23 leader,
Mukul Wasnik, declared that
“SoniaGandhiisourleader,Rahul
Gandhi is our leader”. His party
colleague and Congress leader in
the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan
A cutout of Rahul Gandhi at
Ramlila Maidan in New
Delhi, Sunday. Prem Nath Pandey
dent”.Hedidnotelaborate.Rahul
was present when he spoke.
While Rahul has held out on
resuming the Congress presi-
dent's post since 2019, when he
resignedfollowingtheparty'ssec-
ond big electoral loss in the Lok
Sabha, a section of the leaders re-
main hopeful of persuading him
to change his mind.
In his speech, Chowdhury re-
peatedly mentioned Rahul, say-
ing: “Rahul believes the
the difference... Rahulji says the
BJP government helps only two
people. The BJP has become a
party of hum do, hamare do...
Under BJP rule, (Gautam) Adaani
sahab has become the third rich-
est in the world.”
Madhya Pradesh Congress
president Kamal Nath asked
Congress workers to “strengthen
thehandsofRahul”.“Hewillwalk
3,500 kilometres in the Bharat
Jodo Yatra. Together we will give
strengthtoRahul,andonceagain
thevoiceoftheCongresswillecho
in every village. I have no doubt
that the Congress flag will once
againflutterinourParliamentand
Assemblies in various states.”
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh
Baghel said: “Those in power are
notworkingtoreininpriceriseor
tackle the issue of unemploy-
ment. They have only one aim --
to stop Rahul Gandhi and fight
against Rahul Gandhi.”
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot
said the Bharat Jodo Yatra will
createtremors.“Toshowsolidar-
ity with Rahul... we have to con-
tinuously hold programmes in
districts and blocks," he said.
Gehlot added Modi wants
Congress-mukt Bharat and
keeps talking about the Gandhi
family and dynasty. “But has any
member of this family become
“Earlier, the Rampuri chaaku
(knives) had gone in wrong
hands and became a means of
exploitation and fulfillment of
self-interest.But,whenthisknife
came in positive hands, BJP's
double-engine the government
used it to provide safety to citi-
zens and traders and draw in-
vestment,” the CM said.
In the recent Lok Sabha by-
polls,BJP'sGhanshyamLodhiwas
elected as an MP from Rampur
parliamentary constituency by
defeatingSPcandidateAsimRaja,
whoisconsideredtobeacloseas-
sociate of Rampur MLA Azam
Khan. Before BJP's win in the by-
election,Rampurwasconsidered
to be an SP bastion. Azam Khan
has been a 10-time MLA from
Rampur Sadar.
TheCMlaunched22develop-
ment projects worth Rs 72 crore
and said that the residents of
Rampurhavepavedthewayfora
newerabyvotinginfavourof de-
velopment,securityandprosper-
ity. “They have sent a clear mes-
sage to those who had exploited
the land of Rampur which has its
own mythological and historical
identity,” he said while adding
thattherewasaneedtomaintain
the identity of Rampur. “In the
past, those who did not have de-
velopment or public welfare on
their agenda exploited Rampur
for their self-interest. They
launchedperson-centricdevelop-
mentprojectsasamediumtoha-

Idea that India should not interfere in world Chowdhury began his speech by
mentioningaposterheldaloftby
some workers which read, “We
‘mehangai ka ravan’ has to be de-
throned. He is trying to unite the
society.Modiisindulginginsabo-
PM or Central minister in last 30
years? If they are involved in the
organisation... the entire coun-
rass the people, which halted de-
velopment.Finally,theyarefacing
the consequences,” the CM said

problems should change, says Jaishankar want Rahul Gandhi as INC presi- tage to break the society. That is tryandCongresspeoplewantit.” without taking any names.

have capability. We had our own will define us or we will define

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 4
THEIDEAthatIndiashouldnot“in-
terfere” in emerging problems of
theworldisadogmaofIndianfor-
eign policy which should change,
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S
JaishankarsaidonSunday.
Jaishankar made this com-
mentwhiledeliveringalectureaf-
ter releasing the Gujarati transla-
External
Affairs
Minister S
Jaishankar
tion of his book “The India Way:
StrategiesforanUncertainWorld”.
“If someproblemarisesinthe
world, we should not interfere in
it. This too is a sort of a dogma.
Maybe in 1950-60, we did not
interests.Butnow,justafewdays
back, we have reached number
fiveintheworldineconomy.The
thinking of an entity which is at
number20andtheonewhoisat
numberfivecannotbethesame,”
Jaishankar said at the event.
“The change as per our capa-
bilities and the expression of
confidence is not there because
the old habits keep us tied
up...Our challenge is if the world
ourselves,” he added.
The function was organised
by Bharatiya Vichar Manch,
FoundationforPublicAwareness
and Policy and R R Sheth &
Company at Ahmedabad
Management Association.
TheEAMtalkedaboutachap-
terinhisbookwhichsaiditistime
forIndia“toengageAmerica,man-
age China, cultivate Europe, reas-
sureRussia,bringJapanintoplay.”

Yogendra Yadav
resigns from
SKM committee
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4

SOCIAL ACTIVIST Yogendra

Yadav, who played an instru-
mental role in coordinating the
recent farmers' movement, has
resigned from the Samyukta
Kisan Morcha (SKM) coordina-
tion committee. He, however,
said he would continue to be a
"soldier" of the farmers' collec-
tive.
TheSKM,anumbrellabodyof
around 40 farmer unions, made
Yadav's resignation letter public
during a press conference at
Gurudwara Rakabganj in Delhi.
"I will no longer be able to
shoulder the responsibility of be-
ing the member of SKM's coordi-
nation committee. It is important
thattheenergiesofallmovements
andoppositionpoliticalpartiesbe
joined to fight against the anti-
farmer Modi government. So, for
this, I am in touch with other
movements as well apart from
farmers' movement. Seeing my
thispriority,itwillnotbepossible
for me to do justice with the re-
sponsibility of SKM coordination
committee,"Yadavsaid.
He appealed to the farmers'
body to relieve him of his re-
sponsibilities. He stressed that
being a member of "Jai Kisan
Andolan", he would always be a
"soldier" of the SKM. He said Jai
Kisan Andolan president Avik
Saha would shoulder responsi-
bilities in his place.

New Delhi
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

8 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

BRIEFLY
HARYANA
Phogatmurder:
‘Afghanistan has gone back to the dark ages’
There is no such thing as justice somewhereelse.Itisveryimpor- and the world to put political
Amid Gorkha
recruitment
uncertainty,
Goacopsvisit SHUBHAJIT ROY in Afghanistan. My people are tant for all of us to put all efforts pressure on the Taliban for them
Army Chief
accused’shome NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4 being targeted and persecuted. together and to defeat this ex- toestablishalegitimate,inclusive

Chandigarh/ Gurgaon: A A YEAR after the Taliban took

Goa Police team investi-
gating the murder of BJP
leader Sonali Phogat
Sunday visited her per-
sonal assistant and prime
accusedSudhirSangwan’s
houseinRohtak.Theteam
later went to a flat in
Gurgaon that Sangwan
and Phogat had rented.
Police investigations have
revealed that the two had
stayed at the apartment
before leaving for Goa.
Police have seized
Sangwan’s passport, be-
sides some jewellery,
watches, a mobile, and
some documents. ENS
GOA
over Afghanistan, Ahmad
Massoud — the founder and
leader of National Resistance
Frontof Afghanistan,the keyop-
positiontotheTaliban—saysthe
countryhasmovedseveralsteps
back on all fronts. In an exclusive
interview to The Indian Express
from an undisclosed location,
the33-year-oldsonof legendary
fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud,
who was known as the Lion of
Panjshir, talked about the situa-
tion in Afghanistan under
Taliban, Pakistan’s role in sup-
porting the Taliban and terrorist
groups, and how he wants help
from India in military logistics.
Edited excerpts:
What is your assessment of
There is no freedom. There is no
rightforwomenorforothereth-
nicities. There's tyranny in my
country. So in this situation, my
fight,itisforjusticeandfreedom.
I do not want anything for my-
self as long as I see my country
breathing theair of freedom and
having a just government which
is appointed by the people.
You mentioned the issue of
terrorism. Al Qaeda chief
Ayman Al Zawahiri was living
in Kabul and was killed in a
drone attack. What does that
tell you about existence of
terror groups?
I believe that this was a good
step, one evil man less in this
world. However, it was not sur-
prising for us that the Taliban
were harbouring Zawahiri. Our
tremist narrative, because it is
spreading.
How do you see India's role,
and will this spread to India?
Absolutely, this fire will burn
many countries…Afghanistan
will become a safe haven for
groups which will target India's
securityinterests.Withoutashred
ofdoubtwewillseeanincreasein
violence and in motivation.
Your father Ahmad Shah
Massoud fought the Taliban,
led the Northern Alliance,
and was supported by India.
What is the difference in
India’s approach?
Ahmad Massoud stands in front of a painting of his father, I think the difference in ap-
Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was known as Lion of Panjshir proach is the hesitation. India is
stillintheprocessofassessingthe
situation. This hesitation is fatal.
government through the deci-
sionof theAfghanpeople.Myex-
perience shows that just by con-
demnations or releasing
statements, the Taliban will not
surrender. What we need is a
continuation of the resistance,
working together to liberate the
country or part of the country to
put pressure on the Taliban to
cometothisacceptance.Thiswas
my father’s vision. He said we
need the Taliban to come to the
terms of the world and to the re-
gionthatwerequirealegitimate,
acceptable government by all.
People are ready to stand up
andfight,buttheyneedsupport.
The new generation, especially
thewomen andtheyoung,want
to stand up. The most important
thing is the political support and
logistics. People of Afghanistan
lands in Nepal
Gen. Manoj
Pande
will meet
Nepal’s
President
and PM
YUBARAJ GHIMIRE
KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 4
CHIEF OF Army Staff General
Manoj Pande arrived in
Kathmandu Sunday on a five-
day visit that comes at a time of
uncertainty regarding the re-
cruitment of Gorkhas from
Nepal into the Indian Army.
During his visit, General Pande
will meet Nepal’s President and

BasilicaofBom the Afghan situation under

Jesusshutfor
repairs:Rector
Panaji:TheBasilicaofBom
JesusinOldGoa,aUNESCO
worldheritagesite,willbe
closed for visitors for a
monthstartingSeptember
5. The Basilica, which
housesthemortalremains
ofSt.FrancisXavier,willbe
closed on account of "ur-
gentandmajorrestoration
work", said its Rector,
Father Patricio Fernandes
SJ. Father Fernandes said
spiritualprogrammesand
masses will instead be
held on the Basilica’s
YouTube channel and the
‘St Francis Xavier Official’
app. ENS
JAMMU & KASHMIR
Taliban rule in the last one
year?
Icansaythatundertheruleof
the Taliban, Afghanistan took not
justoneortwobutmanybigsteps
back, from political, social and
economicdevelopment,andfrom
tolerance, openness, acceptance
andmanyotheraspectsofourso-
ciety.Wehavelosttheruleof law,
institutions, and the trust of the
people. Afghanistan has become
isolatedonceagain.Ithasalsobe-
came a hub for terrorism under
Taliban rule. Let's not forget that
womenhavecompletelylosttheir
rights -- to study, to work, to be
part of the government and even
to live. The minorities, like Sikhs
and Shias, have lost their sense of
security,safetyandacceptancein
society.Wehavelostthefreedom
of speech and we have lost free-
dom as a whole. Afghanistan has
gone back to the dark ages.
intelligence, from Taliban and Al
Qaeda's behaviour, indicated
that the two are in complete co-
operation. The Taliban are har-
bouring them, and many other
terrorist groups are now active
inAfghanistan.Theyarewalking
around and operating freely. In
the past one year, we have tried
to explain to the world that giv-
ing in to the will of the Taliban is
giving in to the will of terrorism
as a whole. We must put all the
pressure required to make them
accountabletointernationallaw,
especially when it comes to
countering terrorism, and also
establishing a justice system.
How do you see Pakistan's
role in their support to the
Taliban and the terrorist
infrastructure?
Pakistan has always played
this double game, that they al-
ways try to support the groups
whichdestabiliseothercountries
the Taliban, they
harboured them for
supporter andmen-
tor to the Taliban.
Itisverywrong.Andweneedim-
mediate action before the ideol-
want to fight and to continue re-
sistance against terrorism.
Prime Minister, and will also be
conferred with the ‘Honorary
the past 20 years.
The leaders were
The rule of the
Talibanwillbeasafe
ogy takes root or before the ter-
rorist find a foundation. It is very India has revived its
General’ rank of Nepal Army.
The recruitment of Gorkhas
found there, and if
THE EXPRESS
haven, and espe- important to understand we are diplomatic mission and is to the Indian Army was sus-
Afghanistanwasnot cially when there is on the same page, and we are extending humanitarian pended by Nepal last month,
recaptured by the
Taliban, we could INTERVIEW no legitimate gov-
ernment in Kabul. It
continuing the same path of my
father. So the sooner the hesita-
support. But you seem to want
more than just food grains.
with the country’s Foreign
Minister NarayanKhadkatelling
definitely see the is a safe haven for tion is over, the sooner we come With all my heart, I am Indian ambassador Naveen
WITH
killing of Ayman Al many terrorist to the conclusion that there thankful and grateful for the Srivastava that recruitment un-
ZawahiriinPakistan, AHMAD groups, Jaish-e- should be a joint effort together support that India has been giv- der India’s Agnipath scheme
instead of Kabul — MASSOUD Mohammed and against terrorism in the region, ing. I thank the Indian govern- does not conform with provi-
LEADER OF NATIONAL
just like Osama bin RESISTANCE FRONT OF
many others which the better. Because whether we ment and amazing Indian peo- sions of the tripartite agreement
Laden. So Pakistan AFGHANISTAN are a threat to India, like it or not, we are the last line ple. And I urge them to continue signed by Nepal, India and
has supported and and to all countries of defence of Afghanistan’s peo- the support because Britain on November 9, 1947.
harbouredAlQaeda, in the region... The ple against terrorism. Afghanistan is going towards a GeneralPandewillmeetNepal
the Taliban and many other events in Kashmir have multi- humanitarian crisis. The people counterpart General Prabhu Ram
groups. plied since the takeover of the Is Amrullah Saleh, who have nothing to eat. Sharma and hand over medical
Instead of supporting a legit- Taliban. There is a direct link be- worked with your father, and However,itisveryimportant equipment, vehicles and other
imate, independent ally in tween Afghanistan under the with India still with you. And to monitor it because my intelli- itemstotheNepalArmy.
Afghanistan, called the govern- rule of the Taliban and the in- what help do you want in genceshowsthattheTalibanhas On Monday, he will be con-
ment of the Republic of creaseintheviolenceinKashmir concrete terms? used this humanitarian support ferred the ‘Honorary General’
Afghanistan with all the differ- and also increase in the violence Yes, Mr Saleh is with us and for their own forces and their rankof NepalArmy.Thispractice
ences, they took the wrong path of theseterroristgroupsbecause he is a part of the struggle. And families, not the people truly in is as old as Gorkha recruitment.
and the wrong strategy, which theyseethepossibilitythatif we healsobelievesthatthereshould need. They are not distributing Although the Gorkha issue is
caused Afghanistan to fall. This continue the bloodshed and the be an effort together to liberate aid justly, and they give it to one not mentioned in the itinerary,
isafirethatPakistanplayedwith, terror acts, just like the Taliban, thecountry.AndregardingIndia, area more than the others based the length of his visit, which will

LGwilldiscuss What are you fighting for?

I do not want power and my
statehoodwith struggle is for justice right now.
without understanding the con-
sequences of it. They obviously
and we will see sooner or later we will also be supported, we
that it will backfire at them. will also be successful in estab-
we require a few things.
We need a political solution
on ethnicity.
FULLINTERVIEWON
be more than that of other Army
chiefs in the past, indicates that
accept it — that they supported Pakistan played the role of a lishinganextremistgovernment and we need the whole region www.indianexpress.com the issue may be talked about.

PM:Bukhari
Srinagar: J&K Apni Party
chief Altaf Bukhari said Lt
Governor Manoj Sinha
promised a party delega-
tion on Sunday that he
would take up its state-
hoodrestorationdemand
with PM Narendra Modi
this week. Bukhari said
Sinha also promised the
delegation that the re-
cruitment exams would
be re-conducted within
two months and these
will be held first for those
whose selection process
wascancelled.Healsoas-
suredthatthesewouldbe
held in a transparent
manner. PTI
CPM says no, former
Kerala health minister
declines Magsaysay
Collective decision, says K K Shailaja
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
SEPTEMBER 4
FORMER KERALA Health
Minister K K Shailaja, who re-
ceived plaudits for spearhead-
ing the state’s fight against the
Nipah virus and Covid-19, has
confirmed reports that she was
considered for the prestigious
Meerut: Parents among
3 arrested for ‘pushing
minor girl into canal’
AMIT SHARMA
MEERUT, SEPTEMBER 4
THE PARENTS of an 11-year-old
girl were arrested on Sunday for
allegedly pushing their daugh-
ter intoa canal andclaimingthat
she had gone missing in Meerut
district's Ganganagar police sta-
tion area. Police said the girl's
body is yet to be found.
K K Shailaja has received “The accused Babloo Kumar
praise for spearheading (40)andhiswifeShikha(34)told
the state’s fight against the the police that they had pushed
ter and then pushed her into the
canalwiththehelpoftherelative.
Theywaitedatthecanalforafew
minutestomakesurethegirlwas
swept away by the water. They
later lodged a complaint and
claimed that their daughter had
gone missing,” police added.
“However, when the police
visited the couple's home, their
younger son told them that his
parents had left the house on
September 1 with his sister.
Babloo and Shikha were fre-
quently changing their state-

PUNJAB
Ramon Magsaysay Award 2022
but that her party, the CPI(M),
had decided that she should not
10 injured as accept it.
Nipah virus and Covid-19
toaccepttheawardwas acollec-
BIDDING ADIEU theirdaughterintoacanalasshe
didn't listen to them. They said a
relative, who was also arrested,
ments about the time when the
girl had gone missing. Their dif-
ferent versions made us suspi-
A Ganesh idol is immersed in the sea at Mumbai’s Juhu beach. Over 3,900 Ganesh idols were helped them,” police said. cious. We interrogated them in

Dera followers, On Sunday, The New Indian

Nihangs clash
over cows
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AMRITSAR, SEPTEMBER 4
AT LEAST 10 people suffered in-
juries as followers of DeraRadha
Soami Satsang Beas and a group
of Nihangs clashed over cows in
Beas town of Amritsar on
Sunday, police said.
SSP (Amritsar rural) Swapan
Sharma said, “Three Nihangs,
three dera followers and three
policepersonnelwereinjuredin
theclashwhichbrokeoutaround
Express had reported that
Shailaja’s name had been fi-
nalised for the honour, but that
the CPI(M) had asked her not to
accept the award. The party's
general secretary Sitaram
Yechurysaidthe“brutal”oppres-
sion of Communists by Ramon
Magsaysay — the former presi-
dent of Philippines after whom
theawardisnamed—wasoneof
the reasons for the decision. He
also said that Kerala's successes
in dealing with the pandemic
was a joint effort led by the state
government, but that the award
foundation considered Shailaja
as an individual.
Shailaja said the decision not
tiveonetakenbytheCPI(M)cen-
tral committee, of which she is
also a member.
“I was considered for the
award as an individual. Being a
political leader, I had consulted
with the party about accepting
theaward.Ithankedthefounda-
tion (which confers the award)
for considering my name and
then communicated my deci-
sion to them,” she said.
Shailaja added that it should
notbeseenasthedenialof anho-
nour to the state. “I haven’t seen
the Magsaysay award conferred
onpoliticalleaders.Government
initiatives during the Covid-19
and Nipah had been widely ap-
preciated,” she said.
immersed across Mumbai on the 5th day of the Ganpati festival Sunday. Amit Chakravarty
UP teacher assaults Dalit student for touching his bike, booked
Adhikari, Mani Ram Singh, said
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE the teacher, 43, was suspended
LUCKNOW, SEPTEMBER 4 after allegations against him
were found to be true during a
A GOVERNMENT school teacher preliminary inquiry.
in Ballia allegedly thrashed an According to the student’s
11-year-old Dalit student and mother, her son, who studies in
locked him inside a classroom Class VI, came late from school
after the boy touched his motor- on Friday. “When I asked him
cycle, police said on Sunday. why he came home late, he told
Police have booked the me about the incident in the
teacherbut not arrested him yet. school. He said that during the
Ballia’s Basic Shiksha interval, he touched the motor-
cycle of a teacher. Irked over it,
theteacherabusedhimandbeat
him up badly. Later, the teacher
locked my son inside an empty
room... After the school got over,
the teacher allowed my son to
return home. The teacher also
made casteist remarks.”
The mother said that after
knowing about the incident, she
called the school principal. “I
asked him why my son was ha-
rassedandbeatenupinhispres-
“On September 1, the couple
left the house with their daugh-
ence. When he did not give any
specific reply, I told him to regis-
ter an FIR with the police. The
principalrequestedmenottoes-
calate the matter,” said the
mother. The student’s father
works as a labourer in Gujarat.
On Saturday, villagers
protestedoutsidetheschooland
demanded the suspension and
arrestof theaccusedteacher.The
matter was resolved when offi-
cials of district administration
separate roomswhere they con-
fessed,” said a police officer.
and police reached the spot and
assured action against the
teacher.
Despite repeated attempts,
the school principal was not
available for comment.
The FIR against the school
teacher has been lodged on
charges of voluntarily causing
hurtand wrongful confinement.
Police have invoked the SC/ST
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act
against the accused teacher.

In a first in Bihar, district office goes paperless

5.00 pm. The injured police per-
sonnelincludeJandialaSHOwho
suffered injury to his head”.
On Sunday, cows of Nihangs
called ‘Gauan Wale Babe’ had al-
legedly entered into the land of
Dera Radha Soami, which has its
headquarters in Beas. The SSP
said, “Both sides have land along
the National Highway. Around
4.00pm,cowsofNihangsentered
intothelandofdera.Thederafol-
lowers objected to it. It triggered
aheatedexchangebetweenboth
sides. The situation turned ugly
with both the groups attacking
eachotherwithstones.Theyalso
fired in the air.”
Police restored to mild lath-
icharge to avoid further clash.
Belonging to Tarna Dal, a fac-
tion of Nihangs with headquar-
ters on the outskirts of Amritsar
town,agroupofBabaPalaSinghis
based in Baba Bakala and they
havemorethan5,000straycows.
BabaPalahaddiedin2018.His
group,however,isstilltakingcare
of cows.
SANTOSH SINGH
PATNA, SEPTEMBER 4
WALKING INTO the collectorate
inSaharsa,onecaneasilybecon-
fused. Tables are no longer bur-
dened with dusty files and cor-
ridors are no longer congested
by rusty almirahs. Instead, there
are laptops all around and e-
tracking of information is the
mantra. From the dealing assis-
tant to the district magistrate,
the movement of files has been
seamless. That is because
Saharsahasbecomethefirstdis-
trict in Bihar to have gone com-
pletely paperless.
At any level or hierarchy in
the office, a file can be kept for a
maximum of three days. If there
are delays, it is easy to fix ac-
countability becauseevenwhen
an official is outside the office —
Saharsa District Magistrate
Anand Sharma. Express
if they are travelling or at home
—theycanstilldisposeof thefile.
Saharsa District Magistrate
AnandSharma,a2013-batchIAS
officer, told The Indian Express:
“While working with the
Cooperative Department in
Patna,Ihadthefirst-handexperi-
GOVERNANCE
AN EXPRESS SERIES
BIHAR
ence of the benefits of a depart-
ment going paperless. It was the
first such department in Bihar to
have achieved the feat [in 2020].
When I joined Saharsa as DM
earlythisyear,thefirstthingIdid
wastomaketheofficepaperless.”
The process took time and
money. About 3 lakh pages of
about5,000files,atthecostof 34
paise a page, had to be scanned
and converted into digital files.
TheprocessstartedthisFebruary
withworkshopstotrainemploy-
ees and stakeholders.
But all the efforts are bearing
fruit.Thee-officeinSaharsa,adis-
trict in the Kosi region and one
which often gets affected by
droughts, comes in very handy.
With the new system in place,
dieselandfertilisersubsidiescan
bespedupforfarmers.“Decision-
making is fast now. We can track
the file movement anytimenow.
Officials know they have to ex-
plain the reasons for any delay in
disposal,” said Sharma, explain-
ing that a lot of money is now
saved on stationeries.
Anotherimmediatebenefitof
an e-office, added the DM, is that
unlike in the past when the mere
absence of an official could derail
the office work because the file
mighthavebeendifficulttolocate,
now work never suffers because
it is easy to track and locate a file.
Apart from the ease of use,
the new system also provides
better security. Sharma said that
while in the previous system
there was no confidentiality
about files, the new system has
notonlyexpeditedthefilemove-
ment immensely but also raised
the element of confidentiality.
"E-office is the need of the
timeinthepost-Covidscenario,”
said Sharma. Since the threat of
Covid still looms, the DM said
thatgoingpaperlesshasensured
that the office always remains
functional. “It is not necessary to
be in the office to run the office
anymore,” he said.
At least 15 departments of
theBihargovernmenthavegone
fully or partially paperless by
now. But of 38 Bihar districts,
onlytheSaharsacollectoratehas
gone paperless.
The DM said: “The best part
of the e-office is that I can now
dispose of files while travelling.”
Next on Sharma’s agenda: To
make the sub-divisional offices
go paperless.
KRK in police custody in
actor molestation case
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 4
ACTOR AND self-proclaimed
filmcriticKamalRKhan,52,who
was in judicial custody for al-
leged derogatory tweets on
Akshay Kumar’s movie Laxmii,
was taken into custody by the
Versova police Saturday for al-
legedly molesting an actress in
2019 by promising her the lead
role in a Hindi movie.
The27-year-oldcomplainant
told the police she came to
Mumbai in 2017 and that she
metKhan,knownasKRK,indur-
ing a house party. She alleged
that in January 2019, when she
was athis house, KRK spiked her
orange juice and then tried to
have sex with her.
Kamal
R Khan
The woman said that in mid-
2021, she narrated her ordeal to
another friend, who advised her
to approach the police. She then
approached the Versova police
stationandanFIR wasregistered
on June 26, 2021, against Khan
underSections354A(sexualha-
rassment) and 509 (insulting a
woman’s modesty) of the IPC.
KRK’slawyersaidtheactorhas
deniedtheallegation.OnSaturday,
theVersovapolicetookKRK’scus-
tody from jail. He was produced
before a magistrate court in
BandraSunday.

New Delhi

9 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
Ex-CJI: Courts CYRUS MISTRY DEATH
expected to
play role of
Opp in certain
situations
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
COURTSSHOULDbedispassion-
ate, and although people’s ver-
dict should lead to a course cor-
rectioninademocracy,incertain
situations the courts are ex-
pected to play the role of or sup-
plant the Opposition, former
Chief Justiceof IndiaNVRamana
said on Sunday.
Ramana, who was speaking
after he received the Justice V R
Krishna Iyer Award from the
Capital Foundation Society, said
that the 1960s and 1970s were
the most challenging periods in
modern Indian history.
The “era saw the tussle be-
tween Parliament, which tried
to maintain its primacy, and the
Supreme Court trying to up-
hold constitutional su-
premacy”, he said.
The former CJI, who retired
on August 26, said the courts
have played an important role in
ensuring that constitutional
rights are not a dead letter.
“Courts should be dispas-
sionate institutions. In the
march of democracy, ideally,
the people’s verdict is the only
way of course correction. But in
certain situations, it is expected
that courts will play the role of
or supplant the Opposition,”
Ramana said while delivering
the annual lecture at the event.
Admit atrocities in JHARKHAND CM’S REMARK TRIGGERS ROW
USSR, China: Kavita Dumka teen death: Soren says carnival ride mishap
Krishnan stirs debate such incidents keep happening
as she leaves CPI(ML)
ESHA ROY
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
WHILE QUITTING all her posts
and responsibilities in the
Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist) Liberation —
including as a member of the
CPI(ML)’s Polit Bureau and
Central Committee, secretary of
theparty’swomenwingAllIndia
ProgressiveWomen’sAssociation
andtheeditorof theparty’sjour-
nal “Liberation” — Kavita
Krishnan said that she needed to
“pursue certain troubling ques-
tions” that was “not possible to
explore” in her party fold.
Amongquestionshighlighted
byKrishnan,aprominentMarxist
feministandcivillibertiesactivist,
are those pertaining to the Indian
communists’inconsistencyinnot
recognising the subversion of
rightsinsocialistregimesthathave
beentotalitarian,suchasUSSRun-
der Stalin and China, while fight-
ingsuchsubversionsinIndia.
A failure to acknowledge
these facts, said Krishnan, has
prevented the Indian and global
Left from standing with Ukraine
— a victim of Russian and Soviet
colonialism and imperialism.
“The question is very simply
aboutdemocracy.Allmypolitical
life,theworkthatwehavedoneis
to advocate free thinking and the
agency of people. The fact is that
governments do not respect
democracy–theStatedoesnotre-
spect the people’s constitutional
rights–andthiscanbeseeninthe
atrocitiescarriedoutbythepolice
includingarbitraryarreststhatwe
In Ayodhya, work underway on 252 projects for Ram temple hub
LALMANI VERMA
AYODHYA, SEPTEMBER 4
THE PINK sandstones brought
from Rajasthan are being
cleaned; streets are being
widened; a new outer ring road
has been approved; an interna-
tional airport is coming up,
alongwith a revamped railway
station;andarivercruiseisbeing
planned on the Sarayu.
With a little more than a year
togofortheRamlallaidoltobein-
stalled inside the Ram temple, a
majority of the mega infrastruc-
ture projects in Ayodhya have
been launched, officials said.
On Sunday, Chief Secretary
Durga Shanker Mishrareviewed
the progress of the proposed
projects and inspected some of
Sitenotaccident-prone;speeding,
judgementerrorlikelycause:cops
VALLABH OZARKAR
PALGHAR, SEPTEMBER 4
THE TWO-LANE bridge over the
Surya River (also called Surya
River Charoti bridge) on the
Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway,
where former head of Tata Sons
Cyrus Mistry died on Sunday, is
not an accident-prone site and
also does not feature in the list of
“black spots” where fatal acci-
dents have taken place before,
police said.
The spot is situated near
Charoti village in Kasa tehsil in
Palghar.
Around the time of the acci-
dent, Mistry’s vehicle was com-
ing from Ahmedabad side of the
highway towards Mumbai. As
the vehicle reached Charoti vil-
lage, it took the Kasa flyover
which is just a few hundred me-
ters from the Surya River bridge.
GettingdowntheKasaflyover
leads one to a three-lane road.
However,whileapproachingthe
Suryariverbridge,withina50-80
metres distance, there is a curve
which narrows down from a
three-lane road to two lane.
Notably, there are two sepa-
rate Surya River bridges, one of
whichisaserviceroadonleftside
and the other on the right side
where the accident took place.
Police said when Mistry's car
crossedtheflyovertogotowards
Many injured in Mohali
Activist
Kavita
Krishnan
are increasingly seeing. There is a
need to protect people from the
power of the State — once we
clearly acknowledge that, only
then can we protect the rights of
the people. This is something I
have been thinking of for a long
time now. The situation is worse
since2014,butevenpriorto2014,
citizen’s rights have not been re-
spected,’’ said Krishnan while
speaking to The Indian Express.
Krishnan, who grew up in
Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, began politi-
calactivismwhenshejoinedJNU,
going on to become the joint sec-
retary of the JNU Students Union
in1995.Shealsobecamethepres-
ident of the All-India Students’
Association. Since the 1990s, she
hasbeenaleadingLeftactivists,es-
peciallyforgenderrights.
CPI(ML) general secretary,
Dipankar Bhattacharya, told the
Express that the issues raised by
Krishnan were not “taboo” sub-
jects. “These are discussions that
we hold internally in the party all
the time. As a matter of debates
such issues, including those con-
cerningcivillibertiesinChinaand
Russia have always been dis-
cussed...,” he said. “Probably the
difference is that Kavita felt that
this should be a more public dis-
course, while we debate these is-
sues internally. She has made a
choice,andwecompletelyaccept
and respect that choice,’’
Bhattacharyasaid.
the sites. He directed the
Divisional Commissioner,
District Magistrate and
MunicipalCommissionertoreg-
ularly meet and examine the
projects. According to the UP
government, 252 projects are
currently underway in Ayodhya.
“It is expected that Ramlalla
will be installed by December
2023.Thegroundfloorofthetem-
pleisexpectedtobecompletedby
thattime.Thenumberofdevotees
has already surged,” Anil Mishra,
member,ShriRamJanmabhoomi
Teerth Kshetra Trust, said.
“Almost40percentoftheen-
tire temple-related work has
been completed,” Mishra said.
The trust was set up by the
CentralGovernmenttoconstruct
thetempleatRamJanmabhoomi.
Accordingtoofficials,thetown
TheSUVinwhichCyrusMistrywastravellingistowedaway,inMaharashtra’sPalghar,Sunday. ANI
Mumbai, the vehicle was on the
left side lane of the three lane
road and was speeding.
Whenitreachedthebridgeon
the Surya river, where the road
narrows from three lanes to two
lanes, the car — in its attempt to
move to the right side of the lane
— rammed into the boundary
wall or railing of the bridge after
veeringoutofcontrol,policesaid.
The police claimed that the
spot is not accident-prone.
“We checkedtheearlieracci-
dents records but none had
taken place on the spot where
this one happened. It looks like
ABHISHEK ANGAD
RANCHI, SEPTEMBER 4
ADAYaftera16-year-oldgirlwas
found hanging from a tree in
Dumka, Chief Minister Hemant
Sorenon Sundaytriggered arow
by saying that “such incidents
keep happening”, comments
that the opposition saw as
downplaying of the incident.
The girl, who the police said
had allegedly been raped, was
found dead just days after an-
other teenage girl died after be-
ing set on fire by a man “whose
advances she had spurned”.
When asked by reporters
present outside his residence to
comment on the deteriorating
law and order situation in the
state, Soren said: “Ghatna to hoti
rehtihain,ghatnakahannahihota
hai.Ghatnato bolkeaatanahihai.
Isko kis tareeke se liya jaaye (The
incidents do happen, and hap-
pen everywhere, and it does not
warn before happening. How
doesoneseeit).Ihavesaidwhat-
ever I had to say earlier.”
CBI searches TMC MLA Subodh Adhikari in chit fund case
ATRI MITRA
KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 4
THE CBI on Sunday searched six
places in Kolkata and North 24
Parganas district in connection
with a chit fund case from 2018.
Among those whose residences
were searched were TMC Bijpur
MLA Subodh Adhikari who is a
strongman in the Barrackpore-
Halisahar industrial belt in
North 24 Parganas, and his
willsportanentirelynewlook“in
the next three to four years” with
anestimatedfootfallofupto2lakh
on normal days and upto 5 lakh
on“specialdays”.Currently,anav-
erage of around 50,000 devotees
visitthemakeshiftRamtempleon
a normal day.
Paths: There will three key
pathways: Shri Ram
Janmabhoomi Path (5.77 km) to
connect Ram temple with Naya
GhatviaSugreevQila;BhaktiPath
(850metres)tolinkthemainroad
tothetempleviaHanumanGarhi;
Ram Path (12.9 km) to connect
Saadatganj to Ramjanmbhoomi.
Land acquisition and demolition
ofstructuresfortheBhaktiPathis
underway.Atleastfivemulti-level
parkinglocationsarebeingdevel-
oped in different locations.
Roads & highways: To tackle
the car was speeding and there
was an error in the judgment of
the driver while taking the
bridge. Since the road narrowed
to two lanes from three, the
driver could not shift from left to
right and lost control of the
wheel and rammed into the di-
vider,”saidapoliceofficer.Police
said that two witnesses, a mo-
torist and a garage mechanic,
have told as much to the cops.
A local resident, Salim
Shaikh, said it is the first time
that such accident has taken
place on the spot. “Even though
no accident has taken place at
OnSaturday,whilecomment-
ing on the fresh incident, Soren
hadtweetedhis“anguish”saying
"The accused has been arrested
and has asked the Dumka Police
to ensure justice."
However, after Soren's re-
marks on Sunday, BJP state pres-
ident and Rajya Sabha MP
Deepak Prakash took to social
media and called the CM's state-
ment "very shameful". "The CM
does notknowhowtokeeppeo-
ple safe,” he wrote.
Godda MP Nishikant Dubey
alsoslammedSorenforthecom-
ments. “Tukde tukde gang
brother and Kanchrapara mayor
Kamal Adhikari.
The raids took place a couple
of days after the CBI arrested
TMC leader and Halisahar civic
body chairperson Raju Sahani in
connection with its probe
Sanmarg chit fund scam.
Hailsahar is a part of the Bijpur
Assembly constituency and
Sahani, according toCBIofficials,
is Adhikari’s close associate.
Adhikari is the latest TMC
leader to be raided by a central
With a little more than a year to go for the Ramlalla idol to be
installed inside the Ram temple, a majority of infrastructure
projects in Ayodhya have been launched. Lalmani Verma
rushontheLucknow-Gorakhpur
highway,a65-kmouterringroad
willbedevelopedbytheNational
Highways Authority of India as a
the spot, the bottleneck that
forms here while taking the
bridge results in heavy traffic on
the highway,” Shaikh added.
Police said they are awaiting
reports from Forensic Science
Laboratory, Regional Transport
Office and Mercedes company to
ascertainiftherewasanymechan-
icalortechnicalglitchinthecar.
An official said that Palghar
police, FSL, Toll plaza and RTO
team are working jointly on the
case. “Prima facie, it appears
that over-speeding and error in
judgement led to the accident,”
the official said.
Police personnel
offer sweets to
Jharkhand Chief
Minister
Hemant Soren
to thank him
for announcing
extension of
their services, in
Ranchi on
Sunday. PTI
should take notice," he wrote on
social media. Legislature Party
leader Babulal Marandi said: “I
feel pity on the...Chief Minister’s
rubbish thinking.”
Meanwhile, National
Commission for Protection of
Child Rights chief Priyank
Kanoongo on Sunday saidhis
team will visit Jharkhand to take
stock of the probe status.
Kanoongosaidheandhisteam
wouldmeetpoliceofficersduring
hisMondayvisittothestatetofind
out details of two recent cases of
teenagers' death in Dumka, news
agencyPTIreported.
Bijpur MLA
Subodh
Adhikari
agencyinacaseofallegedcorrup-
tion. Since the last week of July,
partyfunctionariessuchasPartha
Chatterjee (since then expelled)
and Anubrata Mondal have been
arrested while the Enforcement
Directorate has questioned Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee’s
greenfield project. Expected to
cost Rs 2,500 crore, the four-lane
ring road will pass through
Ayodhya, Gonda and Basti.
Most number of sedition
cases in last 8 years came
from Assam: NCRB data
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
ASSAM RECORDED the most
number of sedition cases in the
country in the last eight years,
according to an analysis of offi-
cial data.
ThedatafromNationalCrime
Records Bureau (NCRB) reports
showed that out of 475 sedition
cases registered in the country
between 2014 and 2021, Assam
accounted for 69 cases — 14.52
percent.Thismeansthataround
one in six sedition cases regis-
tered in the country in the last
eight years came from Assam.
TheNCRBcompilesandpub-
lishescrimestatisticsasreported
by states and Union Territories,
and data on sedition cases (reg-
istered under Section 124A of
the IPC) is available since 2014.
The latest edition of the
NCRB’s Crime in India report
showed that 76 sedition cases
were registered acrossthe coun-
try in 2021, a marginal increase
from the 73 registered in 2020.
The number of thesecasesstood
at 93 in 2019, 70 in 2018, 51 in
2017, 35 in 2016, 30 in 2015 and
47 in 2014.
A state-wise analysis of sedi-
tioncasesshowsthatafterAssam,
the most number of such cases
were reported from Haryana (42
cases), followed by Jharkhand
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MOHALI, SEPTEMBER 4
SEVERALPEOPLEwereinjuredaf-
ter a carnival ride broke during in
Mohali late on Sunday evening.
According to the information, a
carnival was being organised at
the Dussehra Ground and the in-
cident happened around 10 pm,
when the people were taking a
ride on the vertical tower.
According to eyewitness, at
least15to16people,mostlychil-
dren and women, were injured
in the incident.
“We saw people falling from
the swing when it went up.
Therewerechildrenandwomen
sitting in it,” a woman said,
adding that the people gathered
in the carnival helped take the
injured to hospitals.
DSP (City 2), HS Bal told The
Indian Express that as per their
informationtheyhave,fourpeo-
ple were injured but they are in-
vestigating the matter. “A carni-
val was being organised and the
eyewitness told us that there
wasatechnicalsnagintheswing
and it had fallen,” DSP Bal said.
nephew and Diamond Harbour
MP Abhishek Banerjee.
Central agency investigators
reachedAdhikari’sapartmenton
Halishahar station road on
Sundaymorningandsimultane-
ously conducted searches at his
flatsinPaikparaandDakshindari
inKolkata,andonBTRoadonthe
Capital's outskirts. They also
searchedKamal’shome.Sources
in the CBI said the MLA and his
family members were ques-
tioned for more than six hours.
The ring road is part of high-
wayprojectsworthRs8,698crore
for which Union Road Transport
and Highways Minister Nitin
Gadkari had laid the foundation
stone this January. They include
the 230-km, 84-Kosi Parikrama
Marg passing through Ayodhya,
Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki,
GondaandBastidistricts--theRs
4,000-croreprojectisexpectedto
be completed by 2023-end.
Internationalairport:InApril,
UP’s civil aviation department
signed a lease agreement with
Airports Authority of India (AAI)
for transfer of 318 acres for the
Maryada Purshottam Shri Ram
International Airport near the
Lucknow-Gorakhpurhighway.“It
isa821-acreproject,ofwhich793
acres has been acquired and con-
struction of the first phase has
New Delhi
2014-21: STATES WITH MOST SEDITION CASES
69
42 40
Assam Haryana Jharkhand
(40), Karnataka (38), Andhra
Pradesh (32) and Jammu and
Kashmir (29). These six states ac-
counted for 250 cases — more
thanhalfthenumberoftotalsedi-
tioncasesrecordedinthecountry
— in the eight-year period.
Of Assam’s 69 sedition cases
registered in that period, three
werefrom2021,12from2020,17
from 2019, 17 again from 2018,
19from2017andonefrom2014.
No sedition case was registered
in the state in 2015 and 2016.
NineotherstatesandUTsreg-
istered sedition cases in double
digits in the last eight years —
Manipur(28),UttarPradesh(27),
Bihar (25), Kerala (25), Nagaland
(17), Delhi (13), Himachal
Pradesh (12), Rajasthan (12) and
West Bengal (12).
Three states — Odisha, Tamil
Nadu and Telangana — reported
eight sedition cases each in the
2014-21 period, while
ChhattisgarhandMadhyaPradesh
registeredsixcasesandGoafour.
Maharashtra, Punjab,
Uttarakhand and Lakshadweep
The vertical tower ride at the
carnival in Mohali. Screengrab
Alltheorganisersofthecarni-
val allegedly fled from the spot.
The Mohali Trade Fair, where the
incident happened, was to con-
tinue till Sept 11. Mohali Deputy
Commissioner Amit Talwar said
they will hold an inquiry to see if
the organisers had permission
fromtheconcernedauthorities,to
hold the carnival.
Adhikari’s wife Rinku said
the CBI confiscated several im-
portant files, includingbank and
life insurance documents from
the Paikpara flat, where the
searchwasconductedfrom9am
to 3 pm. Asked about her hus-
band’s alleged links to Sahani,
Rinku said, “Both of them are
Halisahar residents. If you live in
one place, there will be some
friendship.Apartfromthat,there
wereparty-relatedcommunica-
tions and nothing else.”
started,”saidNitishKumar,District
Magistrate, Ayodhya. Before the
AAI started work, there was a
1,500-metreairstripusedforstate
planes and a flying club. Joint
General Manager (Civil-EIC), AAI,
and project in-charge Rajeev
Kulshreshtasaidinthefirstphase,
a 2,200-metre runway that costs
Rs100crorewillbedeveloped.
Railway station: The
AyodhyaDhamrailwaystationis
being expanded with three new
platforms to be developed by
Decemberthisyear.Landscaping
andthedevelopmentof another
railway track will be done in the
second phase. The project is ex-
pected to cost Rs 200 crore.
Township: UP Housing and
DevelopmentBoardwilldevelop
a “Nav Ayodhya” township on
1,200-acreareawherestateguest
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
38 32
Karnataka AP
registered just one sedition case
each. Sikkim and Tripura
recordedtwosedition cases,and
Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat
registered three each.
States and UTs that did not
register even one sedition case
in that period were Meghalaya,
Mizoram,AndamanandNicobar
Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and
Nagar Haveli and Daman and
Diu, and Puducherry.
In the NCRB reports, data on
sedition cases is given under the
headline'OffencesAgainstState'.
Whilecasesregisteredunderthe
Section 124A of the IPC have
been mentioned under the sub-
head ‘Sedition’, the cases regis-
tered under Section 121, 121A,
122 and 123 IPC have been given
under the second sub-head
‘Others’. In all, 149 offences
against the state were registered
in the country during 2021, of
which 76 were sedition cases
and 73 were under the ‘other’
subhead.Thetotalnumberof of-
fences against the state stood at
172 in 2020 and 163 in 2019.
ASSAM: PROBE ON
Doctor stitches
back pregnant
woman after
finding foetus
premature
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
KARIMGANJ, SEPTEMBER 4
A GYNAECOLOGIST in an Assam
governmenthospitalhasbeenac-
cusedof performingaCaesarean
section procedure on a pregnant
woman, three and half months
beforeherduedate,andstitching
theincisionafterrealisingthatthe
foetus was premature.
Authorities of Karimganj
Civil Hospital, where the inci-
dent took place, on Sunday said
an inquiry was being conducted
to ascertain the facts.
The doctor had allegedly
tried to hush up the matter and
asked the woman's family notto
discuss it with anyone, but her
relatives and neighbours came
to know of it when the patient's
health worsened after she was
discharged from the hospital.
“Wehavereceivedareportof
such an incident. We are con-
ducting an inquiry to ascertain
the facts. Any action against the
doctor or anyone else, if found to
be erring, will be taken depend-
ing on the inquiry report,” the
hospital authorities said.
An 11-member committee
has been formed to look into the
matter and the preliminary re-
port was submitted on Friday,
they said. “We have forwarded
the preliminary report to the
HealthDepartmentinGuwahati.
We are awaiting submission of
the full report,” an official said.
The pregnant woman was
admitted to the hospital on
August 21 after she felt unwell.
houses will be built. Land will be
auctioned for hotels while resi-
dentialplotswillalsobeprovided
after development of a road,
sewage and drainage system.
River cruise: District
Magistrate Kumar said that a
double-storey solar-powered
cruise boat will provide rides on
a 9-km stretch from Naya Ghat
to Guptar Ghat on the Sarayu
river. Work on this project will
commence next month, District
Magistrate Kumar said.
Other projects: They include
a degree college (Rs 245 crore),
sewage system development (Rs
243 crore), water supply project
(Rs 417 crore), power stations (Rs
180 crore) and underground ca-
bling (Rs 179 crore). At least 181
lanes were identified for renova-
tionbyMarch2023.

10
THE INDIAN EXPRESS,MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
THE EDITORIAL PAGE
FOUNDED BY
Building the future
§
§
RAMNATH GOENKA
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
THE TEACHER’S DAY Vikram S Mehta
In a post-pandemic classroom, students will require individual
THE PRIME MINISTER has called for “Energy
attention. The case for teacher’s autonomy was never stronger
T
Atmanirbharta” by 2040. I offer below 10
HE LAST TWO academic years were unlike any other. As the Covid pandemic suggestions for achieving this objective.
took a toll on lives and livelihoods and limited social interaction, educational First, definitional clarity. Atmanirbharta
translates literally to self-reliance. Many in-
institutions had to make do with emergency arrangements that placed diffi-
terpret it to mean self-sufficiency. That
cult demands on teachers and students. Now with schools, universities and should not be our goal. Energy self-suffi-
otherinstitutionsof learningbeginningtotakestepstoundothedisruption,onethingisbe- ciency is infeasible and uneconomic. A bet-
comingclear—studentsreturningtoclassroomswillrequiremuchmoreattentionthanin ter statement of intent would be “strategic
the pre-pandemic years. Several studies and reports at the school-level, including the autonomy”.
NationalAchievementSurvey2021,haveconfirmedtheworstfearof educationists—sub- Second, prioritise access to fossil fuels.
The transition to a green energy system will
stitutingclassroom-levelinteractionswithonlineteachinghasaffectedtheabilityof asub-
take long. American factories took four
stantialnumberofstudentstoread,writeanddobasicmath.Manyofthemhaveundergone decades to shift from steam power to elec-
grief and trauma during the past two years. It’s increasingly becoming evident that restor- tric power. This was because they had to be
ing the confidence of youngsters will require increasing the teacher's agency. Called on to redesigned, if not rebuilt. Our policy must
re-invent pedagogy as a healing process, she must be free of the shackles imposed by edu- continuetoemphasiseaffordableandsecure
cational authorities and the management bodies of institutions, even curricula. access to oil and gas. Part of this objective
The New National Education Policy (NEP) — announced during the pandemic — does could be met by intensifying domestic ex-
ploration. We must recognise, however, the
have provisions that could enable far-reaching innovations in the education system. It un-
low probability of finding substantive, addi-
derlines the importance of making the child the centre of classroom processes, makes a tional domestic resources of hydrocarbons.
strong case for the use of creative methods of instruction and suggests measures to em- Our geology is complex. Also, the fact that
powerteachers.Thepolicyaspirestodraw“outstandingtalent”intotheteachingprofession. evenif weweresuccessful inmakingdiscov-
It suggests several measures — scholarships, housing, providing opportunities for the con- eries, it may be difficult to produce them on
commercially viable terms. This is because
tinuousprofessionaldevelopmentof teachers—thatcouldmaketeachingamorereward-
of high exploration and development costs.
ing profession than it is today. Implementing these proposals is likely to take time. NAS,
The larger point is our PSUs do not have an
2021, data gives some indication of the challenges ahead. For instance, only 52 per cent of impressive track record in this respect. We
schoolteachersparticipatedinprofessionaldevelopmentprogrammesconductedbyDistrict
must ask, therefore, whether scarce public
Institutesof EducationandTraining,CBSEandNCERT.Thedisinclinationof teacherstopar- resources should continue to be directed to-
ticipate in training programmes could stand in the way of implementing some of the rad- wards this high-risk, capital-intensive activ-
icalobjectivesof thepolicy,especiallytheonesthatenvisagemovingawayfromarigidcon- ity. Shoulditnot be driveninstead by thepri-
vate sector? Might it be time to privatise the
tent-driven rote learning system to experiential learning. In any case, a teacheroverloaded
ONGC?
with work — according to the NAS 65 per cent of them had such a complaint — would be Third, prioritise access to the building
veryhard-pressedtobecreativeintheclassroomorgiveattentiontostudentsindividually. blocks of green energy. We have ambitious
The last two decades have seen an explosion of aspirations and a manifold rise in the targetsforrenewables.TheCentralElectricity
demand for education. By all accounts, the country’s education system has not kept pace Authority (CEA) has forecast that wind and
with this social reality. It has fallen short of honing and nurturing the skills required by a solarenergywillmakeuparound51percent
of the installed power generation capacityof
growingknowledgeeconomy.Educationalinstitutesareincreasinglybeingoverwhelmed
830 GW by 2030. This will be an increase
by centrifugal tendencies and their role as platforms that encourage inclusivity and nur-
from 22 per cent today. The sine qua non for
ture a diversity of views is seriously embattled. Acknowledging these challenges and realising this forecast will be cost-competi-
framing policy, accordingly, would be the most befitting recognition of the educator’s tiveaccesstominerals/components(copper,
work this Teacher’s Day. cobalt, lithium, semiconductor chips etc) re-
quired to build EVs, solar panels, wind tur-
bines and batteries. The problem is these
CLEAN HANDS
commodities are concentrated in countries
that are not on the same political page with
India. A study by S&P Global has noted, for
Congress leadership must walk extra mile to ensure that the instance, that 38 per cent of copper is pro-
credibility of presidential election is not questioned
T
HE CONGRESS LEADERSHIP should accept the demand made by a few senior
leadersthatthepartymake the electoralrollsfor its presidentialelectionpub-
lic. The Congress, long used to a nomination culture, has attempted to carve
a new path, and probably enthuse cadres, by deciding to elect the party chief:
The last time it held an election to the president’s post was in 2000, which Sonia Gandhi
won by defeating Jitendra Prasada, while Rahul Gandhi was elected to the post unop-
posed in 2017. This is a small but important step that can further internal democracy and
enthuse cadres in the country's main Opposition party. An elected president, especially
from outsidetheNehru-Gandhi family, canalsoblunt theBJP campaign that the Congress
is merely a family enterprise. In such circumstances, it is necessary for the Congress to en- Prabhash Ranjan and Aman Kumar
sure that the election process is held in a free and fair manner, and also seen to be doing
so. It will also send out a message across the political spectrum, which, unfortunately, is AS A REACTION to the visit of United States
HouseSpeakerNancyPelositoTaiwan,China
crowded with outfits led by founder-chiefs who prefer to appoint family members to
has been conducting provocative military
party posts and ministerships than allow leaders to emerge through internal elections. drills in the Taiwan Strait. Chinese drones
However, the Congress's Central Election Authority (CEA) has refused to budge on the have been intruding on Taiwan’s airspace,
matter citing absence of precedence. It has held that the presidential election is an inter- which forced Taiwan to shoot down a drone
nal matter of the party and the electoral rolls could be misused if rivals manage to access recently. While the world assesses the polit-
them.Thesearefacilearguments.LeaderssuchasShashiTharoor,ManishTewari,Prithviraj icalandeconomiccostsof arevisionistChina
that will not shy away from using force to
Chavan and Pradyut Bordoloi, some of them potential candidates, havea point when they
achieve its territorial ambitions, an impor-
insist thatmakingtherolls publicis an essential stepto ensuringtransparency in theelec- tant question is will Beijing’s use of force
tion process. Also, the electoral college consists of about 10,000 Pradesh Congress against Taiwan be consistent with interna-
Committee delegates and it is not an easy task for a candidate to reach out to each of them tional law?
via the PCCs. The CEA would be doing the party a disservice if it continues to be intransi- One of the scathing criticisms of the
gent on the issue and allow critics to question the fairness of the election process. Leagueof Nations(predecessorof theUnited
Nations)wasthatitfailedtooutlawwar.This
The presidential poll comes in the wake of a section of the Congress turning sceptical
failure was partly responsible for the Second
about the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty’s ability to run the party or win elections. Old-time World War, after which the UN was estab-
family loyalist Ghulam Nabi Azad’s scathing criticism of Rahul Gandhi in his resignation lished. The Charter of the UN outlaws war in
letter is a severe indictment of the dynasty’s record in helming the party. The presiden- clear terms. This is evident from the
tial poll, in the midst of the Rahul-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, is expected to settle the leader- Preamble and Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter.
ship question for now and mute the criticism of G-23 leaders. This would, however, re- Forexample,Article2.4statesthat“Allmem-
quire the Congress to ensure that the credibility of the poll process is not compromised. bers shall refrain in their international rela-
tions from the threat or use of force against
A failure could further damage the party and discredit its claim to lead the Opposition.
theterritorialintegrityorpoliticalindepend-
ence of any state.” The only situation where
the UN Charter allows for war is those given
Freeze Frame E P Unny in Article 51, which recognises the “inherent
right of individual or collective self-defence
if an armed attack occurs” against a UN
member state. Two points must be noted
here: First, the provisions relate to a “state”,
and second, the right of self-defence is trig-
Ten steps to achieve energy
atmanirbharta by 2040
Mark Carney, the former
Governor of the UK central
bank coined the phrase ‘the
tragedy of horizons’ to
highlight the differing time
horizons of politics,
economics and society
regards the energy
transition. Jean-Claude
Juncker, the former
president of the European
Commission said ‘we all
know what to do but we
don’t know how to get re-
elected once we have done it’.
These two comments strike
at the nub of our challenge.
We need leadership that can
reconcile temporal
differences and balance the
short-term pressures of
elections with the longer-
term imperatives of
sustainability.
CHINA’S TAIWAN MISADVENTURE
Even if Taiwan’s statehood is not settled, an attack would violate international law
The people of Taiwan for the
last 70 years have lived
outside Beijing’s control and
many Taiwanese do not
identify as Chinese. In such a
situation, for China to
forcefully re-unify Taiwan as
part of its territory will be a
grave violation of the right to
self-determination of the
Taiwanese people. No matter
how one slices it, Chinese
belligerence towards Taiwan
is a blatant violation of
international law. The world
collectively needs to stand
up to potential Chinese
aggression against Taiwan.
SEPTEMBER 5, 1982, FORTY YEARS AGO
LIQUOR TRAGEDY
POISONOUS BREW, SOLD through licensed
arrack shops in Vypeen, an island off Cochin,
killed 57 and blinded or incapacitated sev-
eral others in the worst-ever liquor that oc-
curred in Kerala. What is more poignant is
thatitcameasadenouncementtothehappy
festival of Kerala, Onam. Several hundred
others are still battling for life.
SUCCESSFUL STRIKE
READERS WENT WITHOUT their favourite
newspapers following a nation-wide strike
by journalists and non-journalists in protest
WORDLY WISE
Teaching is the greatest act of optimism
— COLLEEN WILCOX
duced from Chile and Peru. These countries
have left-wing governments unreceptive to
privatesectormining.Further,Chinacontrols
47 per cent of copper smelting and 42 per
cent of copper refining. Rajesh Chadha and
Ganesh Sivamani (CSEP ) have noted in their
paper, “Critical Minerals for India: Assessing
their criticality and projecting their need for
green technologies,” India has some re-
sources such as cobalt, nickel and heavy rare
earth metals but it has done little to expedite
their mining and processing. Their message
is clear. India must remove the obstacles to
domestic mining and develop strategies to
manage the dynamics of market concentra-
tion, global competition and unfavourable
geopolitics.
Fourth, infrastructure development. The
German economyistodayinaperilousstate.
Thisisbecauseitisnotconnectedbypipeline
to the LNG import and regassification facili-
ties built by Spain. Germany has no
option,therefore, but to source Russian gas.
Thatinrecentmonthshasbeenweaponised.
India cannot afford such vulnerability. GAIL
is investing in the development of a national
gas pipeline grid. In addition, we must ex-
pand our strategic petroleum reserves to
cover at least 30 days of consumption and
upgrade the transmission grid and battery
storage systems to scale up renewables and
smoothen its supplies. We will need to de-
velop innovative financing mechanisms to
fund green infrastructure. It should be em-
phasised that all such investments will get
impaired if state discoms are financially in-
solvent.
Fifth,greenincentives.Thegovernment's
production-linked incentive scheme (PLI )
offers benefits for investment in green en-
ergy. The investor response has so far been
encouraging. Other governments are, how-
ever, going down a similar route. They are
also looking to attract private capital to help
them meet their net carbon zero targets. The
US CHIPS and Science Act has offered, for in-
stance, tax credits and subsidies that are a
multiple of that offered under PLI. (viz $30
billion subsidies plus 10-year tax credit for
solarpanels/windturbines/batteries;$30bil-
lion for green utilities; $5 billion tax credit
for blue hydrogen; $27 billion for a green
gered only in the case of an “armed attack”.
In the context of the China-Taiwan dis-
pute, the most important question is: Is
Taiwan a state? Arguably, if Taiwan is not a
“state”, as China contends, Article 2(4) of the
UN Charter does not protect Taiwan’s terri-
torial integrity or political independence.
Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention pro-
vides that to qualify as a state, an entity must
have a) a permanent population; b) a de-
fined territory; c) government; and d) ca-
pacity to enter into relations with the other
states. Taiwan satisfies all these criteria. It is
a prosperous country, with robust democ-
racy, and a well-functioning government. Its
political and economic systems are diamet-
rically opposed to that of China. It has ex-
isted as an independent entity, outside the
control of China for more than 70 years.
However, despite all of this, Taiwan has
never formally declared its political inde-
pendence. Thus, its statehood in interna-
tional law remains disputed. Nonetheless,
as many international lawyers assert,
Taiwan is a stabilised “de facto” state that
has a comparable right to self-defence just
like any other UN member.
In other words, even if the question of
Taiwan’s statehood has not been settled un-
der international law, nothing gives China
therighttoeither useorthreatentouseforce
againstit.Pelosi’svisitpersecan’tbeinvoked
as a justification for launching an armed at-
against the Bihar Press Bill and anti-press
laws in Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Jammu and
Kashmir.Thestrikewasneartotalinnewspa-
per establishments and news and news
agencies in the Capital and other publishing
centres in the country. The strike call was
given by the joint action committee of jour-
nalist organisations. Only the Congress (I)
supported National Herald and Navjeevan,
its sister publication in Hindi, appeared on
the day of the strike. The strike was a total
success in the news agencies in New Delhi.
FLOODS WORSEN
WHILE THE FLOOD situation in Cuttack and
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
bank). We may have to go back to the draw-
ing board to retain the interest of potential
investors.
Sixth, demand conservation and effi-
ciency. In the face of high gas prices (at its
peak, the oil equivalent of $500/barrel),
Europeisdiscoveringthedisproportionately
positive benefits of demand management.
In India, the latter has not attracted as much
attention as supply-side issues. This must be
corrected.Energyusagenormsmustbestan-
dardised and tightened. Legislation should
be contemplated to ensure compliance.
Seventh,retrainingandupskilling.Thena-
ture of jobs and their location will change
withtheprogressivetransitiontoagreenen-
ergysystem.Theremightbe,forinstance,less
needformaintenanceworkersonoilrigsand
morefortechniciansonsolarfarms.Thecon-
sequentialrequirementsfortraining/skilling
should be anticipated and delivered.
Eighth,energydiplomacy.Ourdiplomats
should add the arrows of energy diplomacy
totheirquiver.Thisisbecauseof ourdepend-
ence on the international energy supply
chains. Success in navigating the cross-cur-
rents of economic and geopolitical uncer-
taintieswillrestgreatlyon skilfuldiplomacy.
Ninth, holistic governance. The current
siloed structures of energy governance are
suboptimal. A root and branch administra-
tive overall is required. Institutions should
be created to facilitate integrated energy
planning and implementation.
Finally, political statesmanship. Mark
Carney, the former Governor of the UK cen-
tral bank coined the phrase “the tragedy of
horizons”tohighlightthedifferingtimehori-
zons of politics, economics and society as re-
gards the energy transition. Jean-Claude
Juncker, the former president of the
European Commission said “we all know
what to do but we don’t know how to get re-
elected once we have done it”. These two
comments strike at the nub of our challenge.
We need leadership that can reconcile tem-
poraldifferencesandbalancetheshort-term
pressures of elections with the longer-term
imperatives of sustainability.
The writer is Chairman, Center for Social and
Economic Progress
tack.Thevisitwasadiplomaticoneandnon-
threatening in the sense that there was no
indicationof an“armedattack”againstChina
as understood under Article 51. In fact,
China’s bellicosity towards Taiwan is a vio-
lation of Article 33 of the UN Charter which
requires parties to any dispute to use peace-
ful means for settling their differences.
A final point is about the Taiwanese peo-
ple’s right to self-determination — the legal
right of people to decide their own destiny -
- which is a settled principle of customary
internationallaw.Althoughtraditionally, the
principle of self-determination has been ap-
plied in the context of colonial settings, ex-
perts like Christopher Hughes argue that
Taiwan is a special case because it is already
a well-functioning stable, democratic state.
The people of Taiwan for the last 70 years
havelivedoutsideBeijing’scontrolandmany
Taiwanese do not identify themselves as
Chinese. In such a situation, for China to
forcefully re-unify Taiwan as part of its ter-
ritory will be a grave violation of the right to
self-determination of the Taiwanese people.
Nomatterhowoneslicesit,Chinesebelliger-
ence towards Taiwan is a blatant violation of
international law. The world collectively
needs to stand up to potential Chinese ag-
gression against Taiwan.
Ranjan and Kumar teach at the Jindal Global
Law School and IFIM Law School respectively
Puri districts of Orissa remained grim for the
sixth day, reports received from Patna said
Saran district of Bihar had been cut off from
the rest of the state by the swirling waters of
the Ganga and the Sone. East Uttar Pradesh
was still in the grip of floods as Army task
forces and PAC units stepped up rescue and
relief operations in Gonda district in the face
of an aggravated situation.
ISRAEL PULLS OUT
ISRAELI TROOPS BEGAN pulling out from po-
sitions south of Beirut they had held for
months, leaving them to the Lebanese army
who have not controlled them for years.

11
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
THE IDEAS PAGE
The missing bond
Krishna Kumar
THE NEWLY ELECTED panchayat of a village
in Madhya Pradesh invited a retired teacher
as the chief guest on Independence Day this
year. Several members of the panchayat are
his former students. The years he served the
village school are remembered as a golden
age. His name was once sent by the district
office for consideration for a national award,
but a higher official tossed it out. While the
changeshehadintroducedweresetasideaf-
ter his retirement, his elementary-level stu-
dents never forgot him. Nor did they forget
what he had taught them through personal
example: Dedication to your job. Had he ac-
ceptedapromotiontoasupervisoryposition
two years before retirement, he would have
been transferred from this village. By fore-
going this promotion, he thereby voluntar-
ily lost two increments which would have
augmented his pension.
He was among the last teachers who en-
joyedacareer-trackappointmentand,there-
fore, a pension. Madhya Pradesh switched to
new-age educational planning in the late
1990s. The governing philosophy from then
onwards was committed to expanding en-
rollment and reducing the cost. The older,
“dying cadre” — an official term — was re-
placed by young people whose aspiration to
serve in schools would permanently com-
pete with other emotions, including the fear
of destitution. Political change did not dis-
rupt the new policy trend.
This was a radicalised version of what
was already happening in other states of the
north. A new scenario was taking shape.
Making children’s education cost-effective
also meant encouraging budget schools set
up by private players. They were local men
with limited aims and vision. Some went on
to start teacher training outfits. The clutter
was well-documented by the late Justice J S
Vermawhochairedacommissionappointed
bytheSupremeCourttolookintothevarious
pathologies of teacher education. Justice
Verma submitted his report in 2013. It
aroused great expectations, but they didn’t
last long.
Soon after the celebration of this year’s
special Independence day — marking the
completion of 75 years of freedom — came
heartrending news. The nine-year old boy,
who was hit on the head by a private school
teacher in Rajasthan, had died. Facts about
his caste identity and the reason he was hit
took time to emerge. His parents had taken
him to several hospitals, but his injuries
proved fatal. He had reportedly angered his
upper caste teacher by trying to drink water
from a vessel he was not supposed to touch.
The accused teacher has denied this charge
although he acknowledged hitting the boy.
TheRightToEducationActmayhavebanned
it, but corporal punishment remains a rou-
tine reality. How the accused in this case be-
came a teacher requires little imagination. If
Vamsee Juluri
INARAREconcessiontoreality,USnewsout-
lets recently reported on something that
many Hindus in the country have been
warning us about. The hateful displays of
racism by Americans of various ethnic back-
grounds in the past few days against Indians
in California and elsewhere got reported as
whattheywereaboutexplicitlyorotherwise
— Hinduphobia.
It is of course unsurprising that even as
anti-Hinduphobia activists felt heard, at last,
other academicians and lobbyists continued
to prevaricate. Somehow, even the glaring
video evidence that showed strangers as-
saulting Hindus for simply being Hindus
with recognisable anti-Hindu slurs and slo-
gans, was not sufficient to move them from
their beliefs.
“Look, this (anti-Hindu hate) is what you
(“Hindu Nationalists”) have given rise to,” is
what their blame-the-victim reaction
sounded like, with not a word of contrition
fortheirownroleinnormalisingsevereanti-
Hindu hate speech in social media all these
years.
American academia, or at least the part
of it which has made outrageously false
claims about the history of Hinduphobia in
the past, needs to change at least now.
First, the near-universal view in this
group of academic experts (and their jour-
nalistic allies), that the term “Hinduphobia”
is a recent coinage of the “Hindu Right”, has
been shown to be incorrect. Sarah Gates, a
doctoral student in cultural studies and
founder of Hindu Human Rights Australia,
has documented the use of the term
“Hinduphobia” starting with anti-colonial
writing in British newspapers as early as the
Why are an increasing number of teachers
failing to relate to students?
you read Justice Verma’s report, you will re-
alise that anyone can become a teacher.
No aerial snapshot can cover the millions
of classrooms where teachers serve. Despite
the limited resources available for engaged
pedagogy, many teachers succeed in leaving
an inspiring memory in their students’
hearts. But so deep is official suspicion of
theirintegritythatmanystateshaveinstalled
CCTV cameras in classrooms. That is not the
only form of insult teachers face. They have
little power to assert their professional dig-
nity in the face of bureaucratic or manage-
rial authority. Teaching children is not re-
gardedasaseriousprofession.Non-teaching
duties are routinely assigned, and now the
digital regime has washed away the few
traces of professional autonomy even in the
best of private schools.
Three weeks separate Independence Day
fromthedaythatremindssocietythatteach-
ers should matter. The celebration of this day
takes different forms. Sentimental routines
are common. In many schools, teachers take
offonapicnic,leavingseniorstudentstoman-
age junior classes. Others hold special morn-
ing assemblies to recall the life of President S
Radhakrishnan — whose birthday is marked
as Teacher’s Day. A typical item in these as-
sembliesisarenditionofKabir’scoupletpoint-
ing to a guru’s spiritual role. The atmosphere
inteachertraininginstitutionsisequallyritu-
alistic, featuring posters, greeting cards and
rangolionthefloor.Festiveeventsdisallowre-
flectionorexpressionofwhat’sactuallygoing
on in the teacher’s lives and minds.
On top of the bureaucratic legacies of
colonial rule, the Indian school teacher now
faces new social and economic forces.
Coaching institutions have marginalised the
secondary-level science teacher. All over the
country, children are allowed to bunk school
Minority report
BydenyingHinduphobia,westernacademiaandmediaenableit
1860s — long before “Hindu Nationalism”
wasevenathing.“Hinduphobia”wasalways
inusebywriters(WesternandIndian),tode-
scribe anti-Hindu prejudice as it existed,
nothing more, either from British
Christianity or South Asian Islam.
Yet, no South Asia studies scholar writ-
ing about Hindus or Hindutva has acknowl-
edged this history of the term’s usage.
Second, while falsely attributing the ori-
gins of the term to the wrong century and to
the wrong ideologies (“Hindu Nationalism”
instead of “anti-imperialism”), defenders of
this dogmahave also continuedadeplorable
practice in academia of whitewashing the
history of anti-Hindu hatred and violence
through propagandistic tactics. (Tactics doc-
umented meticulously by Sitaram Goel and
Arun Shourie among others, and rendered
into a powerful story about the neo-colonial
Indianstate’swaronmemoryandindeedre-
ality, in S L Bhyrappa’s novel Aavarana.)
From the words of the hagiographers of
early Islamic iconoclasm to the words of the
random South Asian American in a cafe who
spews spit and anti-Hindu terms like “cow-
piss” on a stranger, the evidence is obvious.
There are ideas, words, phrases, and most of
all, actions, that attest to the existence of
specifically anti-Hindu bigotry in this world,
whether theHinduwasdespisedas“Pagan,”
“Kafir,” or more recently, as a mostly dishon-
estly constructed “HinduNationalist” bogey.
Simply put, the claim that apologists and
enablers of anti-Hindu hate in the American
academy hide behind, that Hinduphobia is
used by Hindu nationalist groups to deflect
valid criticism of the Indian government, is
grossly exaggerated. Could an academician,
Despite the limited resources
available for engaged
pedagogy, many teachers
succeed in leaving an
inspiring memory in their
students’ hearts. But so deep
is official suspicion in their
integrity that many states
have installed CCTV
cameras in classrooms. That
is not the only form of insult
teachers face. They have little
power to assert their
professional dignity in the
face of bureaucratic or
managerial authority.
Teaching children is not
regarded as a serious
profession. Non-teaching
duties are routinely assigned,
and now the digital regime
has washed away the few
traces of professional
autonomy even in the best of
private schools.
or even a school child in today’s liberal, anti-
racist educational culture, truly believe that
a phrase like “cow-piss-drinker” somehow
makes a distinction between an average
Hindu and a politician or political party?
How about “idol-worshipper”? Or “shrik” or
“jahil”? Terms like this have been used by
mass murderers and suicide bombers — and
by academicians and journalists.
But I am not without hope for academia
to mend its ways. I knowmanyscholars who
have ended up in this ignoble position out of
a misplaced understanding about what it
means to be in a “good fight” (against what
they call Hindu nationalism but inevitably
soundsliketheymeanjustHinduism).Ithink
it would not be too difficult for anyone, in ac-
ademia, university administration, govern-
ment, or the US Hindu community, to cross-
examine the lists and claims made about
Hinduphobia and Hindu nationalism in re-
cent times and arrive at something like a
broad consensus in good faith.
There are now at least a few peer-re-
viewed publications (including one of my
own) from scholars that have sought to en-
gage with the idea of Hinduphobia, and to
identify the tropes and conventions of anti-
Hinduhateinmediaandsocialmedia.Surely,
universities,schools,mediahouses,andeven
corporate HR divisions can use these works
to operationalise anti-Hinduphobia policies
along a three-fold division of terms and
ideas: Language that is clearly expressed as
acriticismof Indiangovernmentpoliciesand
positions (not Hinduphobia), language that
is clearly using weaponised hate speech
against Hindus for being
Hindus/Kafirs/Pagans (Hinduphobia), and
C R Sasikumar
to attend NEET and JEE coaching classes.
Scienceandmathteacherswere,inanycase,
aware that their pedagogic effectiveness
would be measured by an unreformed ex-
amination system. The pressure to use tech-
nological resources is now pushing the
teacher to surrender to pre-designed peda-
gogic practices. Social science teachers are
coping with a different kind of challenge —
to justify their knowledge and interpreta-
tion. Children’s access to the internet ex-
poses them to a wilderness of sociopolitical
ideasandinformation.Itisnoteasyforsocial
science teachers to convince children that
they are more reliable than a YouTube video
or a WhatsApp message.
The ethos that surrounds education to-
day makes it easy to forget that teaching is
essentially a relational activity. No matter at
which level someone is teaching — from
kindergarten to college — it is the ability to
relate to the class that distinguishes good
pedagogy from its poorer variant. The im-
pact some teachers make lasts lifelong. And
even in many cases, the teacher is not re-
membered, the residue of how we learnt a
subject in his or her class remains. It be-
comes a part of how we think. People who
argue that because good teachers are few
technological substitutes are necessary,
don’t appreciate the bond that teachers
alone can create. The question to contem-
plate, therefore, is why so many teachers fail
to establish a bond. It seems that teaching
the young is no longer an attractive profes-
sion because systemic conditions are so dis-
couraging. Even if this is a partial truth, it
points towards the kinds of salvaging and
reforms that education now requires.
The writer is former Director of NCERT. His
forthcoming book is Thank You, Gandhi
language or positions that are perhaps more
ambiguous and in the middle.
This hasn’t been done until now because
neither the gatekeepers of the ivory tower,
nor, regrettably, some of the self-styled
Hindu American organisations professing to
fight Hinduphobia, have sought to build on
scholarly work on Hinduphobia. Instead,
eachhasproclaimeditsownglossariesabout
either Hinduphobia or Hindu nationalism,
without admitting the existence of the po-
sitions of the other.
Toconclude,Hinduphobiaisareality,and
Hindus’ concerns about it need to be ad-
dressed,asmuchbypoliticalgroupsthatride
on such Hindu concerns as by their oppo-
nents (who seem lost in the incredible delu-
sion that by spreading anti-Hindu hatred
they will somehow make the “Hindu
Nationalist” party they hate lose its appeal
among Hindu supporters!)
I hope that both sides can broaden their
minds, and their hearts, and see the bigger
picture. Hindu survival in a world where al-
most every one of its 200 countries has
turned its back long ago on its ancestral and
indigenous religions, almost always under
duress,isnotamerefictionalgrievanceof ei-
ther a demographic majority (in India) or an
allegedly privileged minority (in America).
It is a question that every Hindu, or at least
every Hindu who notices temples, trees,
deities, languages, cultural and artistic line-
ages, nature, life, everything, being de-
stroyed, very, very quickly, is thinking about
today.
The writer is professor of media studies at the
University of San Francisco
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“A deeply unsatisfactory method of finding a successor to Boris Johnson has at
last come to an end. After a wasted summer, the next prime minister is likely to
find that his or her honeymoon period is short indeed.”
Feeding humanity,
saving the planet
Precisionfarmingneedstobe
promotedtogetmoreoutputwithless
exploitationof naturalresources
FROM PLATE TO PLOUGH
by Ashok Gulati
THERE IS INCREASING awareness that hu-
mans are over-exploiting this planet’s nat-
ural resource endowment. This may
boomerangandthreatentheveryexistence
of humanity.Whetheritisaquestionof sur-
vival or prosperity of the human race, one
thing is clear: Lands are degrading, espe-
cially the topsoil that is crucial for provid-
ing us with food, animal feed and fibre.
Groundwater is depleting and its quality is
becoming poorer with the increasing use
of chemical fertilisers and other industrial
waste. The air that we breathe is becoming
pollutedatanalarmingrateincertainparts
of the world, especially in India, where at
times it is difficult to even breathe in a city
like Delhi when stubble burning peaks in
farmers’ fields in Punjab and Haryana. As a
result of many of these factors and some
more, even biodiversity is taking a hit.
Against this backdrop, the moot ques-
tionthatarisesis:Whatistherealcausebe-
hind such a rapid deterioration in nature’s
wealthandwhetherhumanitywillbeable
to feed itself in a sustainable manner. Are
thereanysilverliningsonthehorizonwith
improved scientific knowledge? Or do we
need to go back to natural farming/organic
farming to survive? These are some of the
questions weighing over every awakened
citizen’smind.Theextremeweatherevents
suchastherecentheatwavesinEuropeand
Asiaalongsidedroughtsandfloodsinother
areas, exacerbate these issues even more.
Let us focus here on the imbalance be-
tween people, our planet and the political
economy of policies.
What we know is that roughly it took
more than 2,00,000 years for homo sapi-
ens to evolve into the current form of
mankind. In 1804, for the first time in his-
tory, the human population touched one
billion. The next billion was added in 123
years with the count touching two billion
by 1927. Several major breakthroughs in
medical science ensured that the next bil-
lion was added in just 33 years by 1960.
Thereafter, humanity progressed even
faster, no matter that a country like India
faced a “ship to mouth” situation on the
food front. The next billion was added in
just 14 years with the population reaching
four billion in 1974. The next billion took
just 13 years (five billion in 1987), 11 years
thereafter (six billion in 1998), 12 years
thereon(sevenbillionin2010),andanother
12 years to touch eight billion in 2022. This
explosive growth of humans, with higher
and higher aspirations, has created a huge
imbalance between the demands of peo-
pleandthecapacityof thisplanettosupply
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
TEACHERS’ DAY
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Teachers in
times of Google’ (IE, September 3).
Teachers have contributed immensely
to society. They play a distinctive role in
every student’s life, shaping young
minds with care. Our future lies with
our youth. Reaching out to teachers on
Teachers’daywouldmeanreachingout
to our youth — that would be a positive
step towards nation building.
Indira Satyanarayan, Mumbai
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Teachers in
times of Google’ (IE, September 3).
Whileteachersare expected to relate to
each student personally, they are
weigheddownbyheavysyllabuses,ex-
amination-centric studies and expec-
tations, and poor infrastructure. No
wonder students seek out academic
content on the internet, some of which
is of excellent quality. Instead of feeling
insecure, the teaching community
should try encouraging the use of such
content, with possible vetting of the
content bythem.Suchanapproachwill
notonly expand the students’horizons,
it will also make teachers more open to
alternate approaches.
Anjan Ray, New Delhi
INTEGRATED APPROACH
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Why
Engineers need the Arts’ (IE, September
3). It is, indeed, important to include the
arts as an academic discipline in STEM
programmes. Doing so would lead to
positive learning outcomes and in-
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
—THEGUARDIAN
them in a sustainable manner.
Can this planet provide food for all
throughnaturalfarmingwithouttheuseof
anychemicalfertilisers,pesticides,modern
high yielding varieties of seeds, etc? Many
governments, religious organisations, and
some NGOs and individuals believe that
there is no option but to go back to nature
and practice organic/natural farming. Sri
Lanka, for example, wanted to get rid of
chemical fertilizers. Even in India, we have
some states (like Sikkim) declared as or-
ganic states, and many others are attempt-
ing to do so. Even the Union government
has initiated a major programme on natu-
ralfarmingalongtheGanga,fivekilometres
on each side of its banks. Many states like
Andhra Pradesh are also scaling up natural
farming.Ihavenothingagainstsuchefforts
and I feel that farmers should have all the
freedom to practice whichever farming
techniques make sense to them, so long as
they are safe for society, augment their in-
comes and ensure food security for the
massesthroughampleavailabilityof foodat
affordable prices.
Most of the studies conducted by ICAR
inIndiashowthatwiththeadoptionof nat-
ural farming yields go down for major sta-
ple crops like wheat and rice by as much as
30 to 50 per cent. These experiments have
beenconductedbyscientistsunderspecific
conditions over three years. But there is
otherevidenceattheindividualfarmerlevel
thatthisauthorknowsof,whichshowsthat
yields recover back to normal levels after
some time. Given that India is going to be
themostpopulouscountryontheplanetin
2023,weneedtotakepolicydecisionswith
better and more scientific evidence if we
want to avoid a Sri Lanka-like fiasco.
For me, the answer lies in aggressively
promoting precision farming. It is this sci-
ence of precision farming that can give us
“more from less”. The innovations and de-
velopments in GIS (Geographical
Information System), AIML (Artificial
IntelligenceandMachineLearning),which
can use enormous data to bring about pre-
cision in farming, use of sensors, drones,
doves, and LEOs (low earth orbits), space
technologies, cloud computing, are all
bursting out to provide the basis for a revo-
lutionary epoch. Drips, hydroponics, and
aeroponics, vertical farming, are all avail-
able for mankind to get much more with
very little exploitation of the planet’s natu-
ral resource endowment.
Butonecriticalfactorinallthisisthepo-
litical economy. In India, specifically, we
have the culture of free power, free water,
almost 80 to 90 per cent subsidy on urea,
andsoon.Thesesubsidypoliciesmayhave
been good in the 1960s or the 1970s when
the country was hugely food deficit. But
they are continuing and even increasing.
This casts serious doubt on whether we
want to get the best results from the lim-
ited use of natural resources. It is this pol-
icy conundrum which is leading to irra-
tionalexploitationof nature’swealth.Who
will bell the cat?
Gulati is Distinguished Professor at ICRIER.
Views are personal
creasedcriticalthinking,ethicaldecision
making,problemsolvingandteamwork.
Suhana, Chandigarh
REST IN POWER
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘A rebel
heart’ (IE, September 3). Mary Roy will
be remembered for her lone and long
struggle to make sure that women of
hercommunitygetanequalshareinin-
heritance. An educator par excellence,
she promoted critical thinking in stu-
dents in her school, Corpus Christi
School. She brought up her daughter
Arundhati Roy as an intrepidindividual
who earned fame as a gifted writer and
activist. Mary Roy's persistence for
women's rights makes her an icon of
the feminist movement in India. May
she rest in power.
Samiul Hassan Quadri, Bikaner
A LONG JOURNEY
THISREFERSTOtheeditorial,‘Longroad
ahead’ (IE, September 3). Sri Lanka’s fi-
nancial health is in shambles due to the
indiscreet and indiscriminate approach
to economic matters adopted by the
mandarinsoftheislandnation.TheIMF's
rescue package can lead the nation out
ofthewoods,providedthepoliticalclass
is unanimousindecidingupontheroad
ahead.Withpoliticalinstabilitycontinu-
ing and people in no mood to trust their
leaders, it will be a mighty difficult task
forRanilWickremesinghetotaketheop-
position along and win back the faith of
Sri Lankans.
Vijai Pant, Hempur

12 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
Li Zhanshu is ranked
third in China’s
political hierarchy
Chinatopleader
tovisitNepal
nextweek
LI ZHANSHU, the head of
China's legislature, will
visit Kathmandu next
weekduringwhichhewill
holdtalkswithNepal'stop
leadership.Li,Chairmanof
the Standing Committee
of the National People's
Congress - the country's
parliament, is visiting
NepalonSeptember12at
the invitation of Speaker
of the House of
Representatives Agni
PrasadSapkota,according
toapressreleaseissuedby
the Foreign Ministry.
DuringhisstayinNepal,Li
willcallonPresidentBidya
Devi Bhandari and meet
Prime Minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba. Li is ex-
pected to retire at the
Communist Party's na-
tional congress next
month. PTI
PALESTINE
Hamasexecutes
5foraidingIsrael
HAMAS AUTHORITIES
Sunday executed five
Palestinian men con-
victedinseparatecasesof
murder and alleged col-
laboration with Israel.
The Interior Ministry said
the executions meant “to
achievepublicdeterrence
and security,” but rights
groups in the past have
questionedfair-trialstan-
dards in the military and
civilian courts of the
Islamic militant group.
Two of the men, both
members of the
Palestinian security
forces, were killed by fir-
ing squad, and the other
three were hanged. AP
FRANCE
Trialbeginsin
2016attack
EIGHT PEOPLE will go on
trial Monday in the 2016
Bastille Day attack in Nice
thatkilled86persons and
injured 450. The eight are
accused of helping the at-
tacker, Mohamed
Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who
left a gruesome trail of
crushed and mangled
bodies across 15 city
blocks. Bouhlel himself
was killed by police the
same night. Three sus-
pects have been charged
with terrorist conspiracy
for alleged links to the at-
tacker. Five others face
othercriminalcharges,in-
cluding for allegedly pro-
viding arms to the as-
sailant. If convicted, they
face sentences ranging
from five years to life in
prison. The verdict is ex-
pected in December. AP
KENYA
Topcourtruling
onpollstoday
KENYA'SSUPREMECourt
will decide Monday
whether to uphold or
nullify the result of last
month's presidential
election, a ruling anx-
iously awaited in a coun-
try scarred by previous
bouts of poll-related vio-
lence. Opposition leader
Raila Odinga, making his
fifth presidential bid, has
said Deputy President
William Ruto's narrow
win was the product of
massivefraud.Fouroutof
seven election commis-
sioners disowned the re-
sult announced by the
commission chairman,
saying the tallying had
been opaque. AP
A flooded locality in Sohbat Pur city in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan. AP
LAKE BREACHED TO DIVERT WATER, BUT FEARS REMAIN
Pak officials warn of more flooding
ZARAR KHAN
ISLAMABAD, SEPTEMBER 4
OFFICIALS WARNED Sunday
thatmorefloodingwasexpected
as Lake Manchar in southern
Pakistan swelled from unprece-
dented monsoon rains that be-
gan in mid-June and have killed
nearly 1,300 people.
Meteorologists predicted
more rain in the region in the
coming days and authorities
urged villagers in the Jamshoro
and Dadu districts of Sindh
province near the lake to
evacuate.
The rising waters reached
dangerous levels and posed a
threat to a protective dyke and
On D-day eve,
Sunak says will
support new govt
ADITI KHANNA
LONDON, SEPTEMBER 4
RISHISUNAKsaidonSundaythat
if helosestheConservativeParty
leadershiprace,hisjobwouldbe
tosupportthenextgovernment,
giving the first hint at what's in
store beyond Monday's election
result to replace PM Boris
Johnson.
In his fi-
nal inter-
view with
theBBCbe-
fore the re-
sults are
declared,
Rishi Sunak
Sunak said
he plans to
stay on as a
member of
Parliamentandcontinuetowork
for his constituents in Richmond,
Yorkshire, if he is defeated by
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the
race.
“I look forwardtosupporting
the Conservative government in
whatever capacity,” said Sunak,
when asked about his future
plans if the result does not go his
way.“I'mgoingtostayasamem-
ber of Parliament…”
On whether he would con-
sider a second go at the top job
at 10 Downing Street in a few
years' time if he loses this time,
he said: “Gosh, we've just fin-
ished this campaign and I need
to recover from this one.”
This is being seen as the first
sign that even the 42-year-old
formerfinanceministerbelieves
he may not have got enough
votes to clinch the Tory leader-
ship election. PTI
AWARD BRINGS HIM CLOSER TO RARE GROUP WHO HAVE WON EMMY, GRAMMY, OSCAR AND TONY
From Potus to half an Egot as Obama wins Emmy for Netflix series
AP & PTI
SEPTEMBER 4
BARACK OBAMA is halfway to
becoming an Egot after winning
an Emmy award to go with his
two Grammys.
The former president won
the best narrator Emmy on
Saturday for his work on the
Netflix documentary series Our
Great National Parks.
The five-part show, which
features national parks from
around the world, is produced
by Barack and Michelle
Obama’s production company,
embankment, they said.
The lake, located west of the
Indus River, is the largest natural
freshwater lake in Pakistan and
one of the largest in Asia.
Fariduddin Mustafa, admin-
istrator forthe Jamshoro district,
said Sunday that officials made
a cut into the lake’s embank-
menttoallowexcesswatertoes-
capeandultimatelyflowintothe
Indus. Still, the water continues
to rise, he said.
Partsof Dadudistricthaveal-
readybeenflooded,officialssaid.
“Afterweassessedwaterlev-
els reached(a)dangerous level ...
and there was fear that the em-
bankment of the lake might be
caved in at any time, the admin-
istration decided to make a cut
China, Japan ground flights as
year’s strongest typhoon nears
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING, SEPTEMBER 4
CITIES IN eastern China sus-
pended ferry services and
classes and flights were can-
celed in Japan on Sunday as
Typhoon Hinnamnor, the
strongest global storm this year,
blew its way past Taiwan and
the Koreas with fierce winds
and heavy rains.
Shanghai grounded ferry
services and deployed more
than50,000policeofficerstoaid
with rescues and guide traffic
away from danger areas. The
eastern business hub of
Wenzhou ordered all classes
suspended on Monday.
Hinnamnor is forecasted to
move gradually northward into
the East China Sea with maxi-
mum sustained winds of 175
kilometres per hour, according
to the Hong Kong Observatory.
Evacuations and flight can-
cellations have been ordered in
At first rally since classified files seized,
Trump’s war cry: Biden enemy of state
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 4
DONALD TRUMP has lashed out
atUSpresidentJoeBiden,brand-
ing him an "enemy of the state",
at his first rally since the FBI
searched the former US presi-
dent’sFloridaestate forsensitive
classified files.
Trump hit back at Biden’s as-
Higher Ground.
He was the biggest name in a
category full of famous
nominees for the
award, handed out
at Saturday night’s
creative arts
Emmys, including
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
David Attenborough and
Lupita Nyong’o.
Barack Obama is the
secondUSpresidenttohave
an Emmy. Dwight D
Eisenhower was given
a special Emmy in
1956.
Obamapreviously
on the Bagh-e-Yousuf side to
avert any uncontrollable flow of
water,” he said.
The development comes a
day after Pakistan appealed
again to the international com-
munity for aid to victims of the
unprecedented flooding from
monsoon rains that have left
nearly 1,300 people dead and
millions homeless around the
country.
Planes from multiple coun-
tries have been bringing sup-
plies to the impoverished coun-
try across a humanitarian air
bridge.
Multipleofficialsandexperts
have blamed the unusual mon-
soon rains and flooding on cli-
mate change, including UN
Officials have told ships to return to their ports to take
shelter from the wind. AP
Japan’s southern Okinawa
Island. The typhoon is also ex-
pected to bring intense rainfall
to the Korean Peninsula, bring-
ing the possibility of flooding.
China’s National
Meteorological Center issued a
yellow typhoon warning at 10
am local time Sunday, and
warned of heavy rains in north-
eastern Zhejiang, Shanghai and
self-governing Taiwan.
sertionlastweekthattheformer
leader and his die-hard
Republicansupportersareunder-
mining American democracy.
Trump slammed Biden’s re-
marksasthe“mostvicious,hate-
ful and divisive speech ever de-
livered by an American
president”. “You want to know
the truth. The enemy of the state
is him,” Trump said on Saturday.
“There can be no more vivid
won Grammy awards for his au-
diobook reading of two of his
memoirs, The Audacity of Hope
and A Promised Land. Michelle
Obama won her own
Grammy for reading her au-
diobook in 2020.
Egotreferstoaspecialcat-
egory of entertainers who
have won an Emmy, a Grammy,
an Oscar and a Tony. To date, 17
people have done it.
The late Chadwick
Boseman also won an Emmy
on Saturday for his voice
work.
The Black Panther
actor won for out-
Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres, who last week called
onthe world to stop“sleepwalk-
ing”throughthedeadlycrisis.He
will visit Pakistan on September
9 to tour flood-hit areas.
In its latest report, Pakistan’s
National Disaster Management
Authorityputthedeathtollsince
mid-June — when monsoon
rains started weeks earlier this
year — at 1,290.
According to initial govern-
ment estimates, the devastation
has caused $10 billion in dam-
age but Planning Minister
Ahsan Iqbal said Saturday “the
scale of devastation is massive
and requires an immense hu-
manitarian response for 33 mil-
lion people.”
Ships were told to return to
port to take shelter from the
wind, and the center also urged
people against large gatherings
both indoors and outdoors.
In Japan, the typhoon lashed
Okinawaandnearbyislandswith
heavy rain and fierce winds,
threateningfloodingandground-
ingmorethan100flightsconnect-
ing the islands and parts of the
main southern island of Kyushu.
example of the very real threats
from American freedom than
just a few weeks ago, you saw,
when we witnessed one of the
most shocking abuses of power
by any administration in
American history,” Trump said,
referring to the FBI raid on his
Mar-a-Lago home.
He warned it would produce
“a backlash the likes of which
nobody has ever seen”.
Obama is the second US president to have an Emmy. Dwight
D Eisenhower was given a special Emmy in 1956. AP File
JOHN PAUL I: POPE FOR 33 DAYS
‘SMILING POPE’ MOVES TOWARDS SAINTHOOD
John Paul I, who died in 1978, was beatified Sunday by Pope Francis at a ceremony in Saint
Peter’s Square. Beatification is the last step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
John Paul was known as ‘The Smiling Pope’ because of his meekness and simplicity.
EUROPE MOVES TO EASE ECONOMIC PAIN
As Zelenskyy sounds
caution, Scholz unveils
$65 bn relief package
NYT AND AP
BELRIN, KYIV, SEPTEMBER 4
THE GERMAN government an-
nounced a $65 billion relief
package on Sunday to help ease
the burden on citizens facing
soaringinflationandsurgingen-
ergy costs that have worsened
withRussia’sinvasionof Ukraine
— and have sent European lead-
ers scrambling to prepare the
continent for winter.
This came as Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
warned Europeans to expect a
difficultwinterastheRussianas-
sault on his country leads to cuts
inoilandgasexportsbyMoscow.
Zelenskyy was speaking on
SaturdaynightafterMoscowshut
down a main pipeline that sup-
pliesRussiangastothecontinent.
“Russiaispreparingadecisiveen-
ergy blow on all Europeans for
thiswinter,” Zelenskyysaidinhis
daily video address.
The German package is the
third and largest announced by
ChancellorOlafScholz’scoalition
as part of its response to the en-
ergycrisisresultingfromthewar
in Ukraine. With energy prices
soaringasEuropetriestoweanit-
self offRussianfossilfuels,andan
emergencymeetingof European
Union energy ministers planned
AP
for this week, leaders are racing
to implement stopgap measures
as fall and winter loom.
France is embarking on its
biggest conservation effort since
the 1970s oil crisis. On Sunday,
Liz Truss, the front-runner to be-
comeBritain’snewprimeminis-
ter, said that she would “act im-
mediately” to deal with soaring
energy costs if elected.
Turkish warship
docks in Israel
as ties warm
REUTERS
HAIFA, SEPTEMBER 4
A TURKISH warship has docked
in Israel for the first such visit in
more than a decade as relations
between the US allies improve
followingfiercefeuding over the
Palestinian cause.
ThefrigateKemalreisdocked
in Haifa on Saturday as part of
NATO manoeuvres in the
Mediterranean sea, a Turkish of-
ficial said. An Israeli official said
Ankara had submitted a prelim-
inary request for the crew to dis-
embark on shore leave.
AHaifaportofficialsaiditwas
thefirsttimeaTurkishnavalves-
selhadvisitedsinceatleast2010,
when bilateral ties were shat-
teredbyIsrael'sstormingofapro-
Palestinian aid convoy that tried
to breach its blockade of Gaza.
Ten Turks were killed by
Israeli marines in that incident.
For its part, Israel has voiced
objections at NATO-member
Turkey's hosting of members of
Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist
movement that is proscribed as
a terrorist group in the West.
Butthecountrieshavemoved
to mend their relationship in re-
centmonths,withenergyemerg-
ing as a key area for potential co-
operation. They are expected to
appoint new ambassadors soon.
New Delhi
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Ukrainian PM Denys
Shmyhal in Berlin on Sunday. Reuters
E
E X P L A I NE D
Urgent
● measures
GERMANY’S MOVE
came as Zelenskyy
warned Europe to brace
for a harsh winter in view
of the Ukraine war. With
energy prices soaring as
Europe tries to wean itself
off Russian fossil fuels,
leaders are racing to
implement stopgap me
asures as winter looms.
Berlinannounceditspackage
two days after Gazprom, the
Kremlin-controlled Russian en-
ergy giant, announced an indef-
inite halt to the Nord Stream 1
pipeline that terminates in
Germany and provides gas to
much of Europe. Gazprom said
that problems had been found
during inspections, and that the
The difference between the charter’s supporters and the
rejection camp has been narrowing. AP
Chile votes to decide
on new constitution
DANIEL POLITI
SANTIAGO, SEPTEMBER 4
CHILEANS ARE voting in a
plebiscite Sunday on whether to
adopt a far-reaching new consti-
tution that would fundamen-
tally change the country.
The proposed charter is in-
tended to replace a constitution
imposed by a military dictator-
ship 41 years ago.
The new constitution would
characterise Chile as a plurina-
tional state, establish au-
tonomousIndigenousterritories
and recognise a parallel justice
system in those areas, although
lamakers would decide how far-
reaching that would be.
standing character voiceover for
the Disney+ and Marvel Studios
animated show “What If...?”
On the show, Boseman
voiced his Black Panther char-
acter, T’Challa, in an alternate
universe where he becomes
Star-Lord from Guardians of the
Galaxy. It was one of the last
projects for Boseman, who died
of colon cancer in 2020 at the
age of 43.
Acclaimed filmmaker Peter
Jackson won two Creative Arts
Emmy Awards for “The Beatles:
Get Back” documentary series.
This was his first time receiving
anEmmy.AccordingtoDeadline,
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
pipeline would be closed until
they were eliminated, giving no
timeline for the resumption.
German officials have said
themoveispoliticallymotivated,
anditcameonthesamedaythat
finance ministers for the Group
of 7 countries agreed to impose
a price cap on Russian oil in an
effort to cut off some of the en-
ergyrevenueMoscowcontinues
to earn from Europe.
WiththelatestGermanrelief
package — once approved by
Parliament,whichisallbutguar-
anteed — the government will
have spent about $95 billion on
economic aid measures since
Russia’s invasion in February,
oneof thelargestsuch programs
among industrialised nations.
Berlin plans to fund the latest
measureswithawindfalltaxtar-
geting companies whose profits
are rising due to energy crisis.
“Our country is facing a diffi-
cult time,” Scholz told a news
conference in Berlin, promising
that “no one will be left behind.”
In contrast, the current con-
stitution is a market-friendly
documentthatfavorstheprivate
sector over the state in aspects
like education, pensions and
health care.
It also makes no reference to
the country’s Indigenous popu-
lation, which makes up almost
13% of the country’s 19 million
people.
The outcome will have a re-
sounding impact on President
Gabriel Boric, 36, who has been
one of the main proponents of
the new constitution.
Voting is mandatory in the
plebiscite, which climaxes a
three-year process since the
countryexplodedinstudent-led
street protests in 2019. AP
“The Beatles: Get Back” debuted
last year on Disney+.
The three-episode do-
cuseries was built from the ma-
terial originally shot by Michael
Lindsay-Hogg in 1970 for “Let It
Be”, a documentary about the
making of the Beatles' album of
the same name.
Jackson, best known for
helming the “Lord of the Rings”
film franchise, utilised the un-
used footage and audio material
to weave a story challenging
long-held beliefs that the mak-
ing of the ‘Let It Be’ album was
marked entirely by tensions be-
tween the Beatles.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

13 IDEA EXCHANGE
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

Newsmakers in the Newsroom

W H Y M I L I N DA M O R A G O DA
Our economy was Sri Lankan High ecosystem inside out. As We get around 300 ships
opened in 1977 but our Commissioner Milinda leader of the Pathfinder from around the world
mindset, unfortunately, Moragoda has had a Foundation, he is best placed every year and these are
distinguished political career, to analyse what went wrong
was very statist. Eighty having worked with current in the island nation. approved very routinely.
per cent of our revenue Sri Lankan President Ranil Drawing on his vast We need to develop a
goes to pay salaries of Wickremesinghe and former experience, he advocates the framework in this new
President Mahinda need for structural reforms,
public servants. So Rajapaksa. Having held many the kind that will steer the context and have a
basically, you start the portfolios as a Cabinet economy out of its rut, spur dialogue with India
year with only 20 per Minister, he knows the growth and build synergies because it’s the anchor
political and economic with India.
cent in your hand for regional security

‘Romantics want a Google, Uber in politics.

ShubhajitRoy:WhatdoestheIMF’s$2.9
billionbailout mean forSriLanka?
Thisisarealisticandpragmaticfirststep.
Wehavetonowinitiatestructuralreforms
and take many measures on the revenue

We need revolution, not total disruption’

side.Thisisgoingtobeatoughaskbecause
thisisastaff-levelagreementandhastobe
cleared by the IMF board. In between, we
have to take a series of steps, especially in
thecontextofdebt-restructuring.Wehave
brought in an investment bank, Lazard, to
do this and they have worked out the con-
toursofarestructuringprogramme,which Sri Lankan High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda talks about how the island nation’s economy crumbled, integrating growth
includes looking at our commercial, bilat-
eral, multilateral and domestic debts and hubs with India and working within a system. The session was moderated by Shubhajit Roy, Deputy Chief of National Bureau
balancingthem.First,wehavetotakesome
measures upfront, then move to the pro-
gramme and do the restructuring.
This $2.9 billion package over three
years is not huge for the amount of money
weneedbutitgivesconfidencetoinvestors
to come in. Remittances, which have
droppedbyhalf,couldincrease.Anditalso
gives confidence for our bilateral partners
likeJapan.Indiahelpedusrightthroughthis
yearwithoutanyideaofwherethiswasgo-
ing to end. That’s why we are so grateful to
India because it encouraged us to go to the
IMF. Your Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharamanplayedaroleinthat.ButIthink
therealconfidencewillcomeoncetheIMF
board approves this agreement and actu-
alisestheprogrammeforimplementation.

ShubhajitRoy:TheSriLankaneconomy
hasbeenaconsumption-drivenonefor
decadesandadeficiteconomyforfour
decades.Howdiditreachthisprecipice
wheresuddenlytherewasaforexcrisis,
commoditiescouldn’tbeboughtand
thepoliticalsystemcollapsed?
After the British left, our economy was
doing very well. We were producing rub-
ber and graphite and we started investing
heavily in social programmes, which have
paid dividends. Our quality of life indices
are very impressive by any standard. So, it
would be wrong to write that off. But the
fact is, we didn’t look after our economy as
we spent money without investing in
growth. For a long time, our economy was
closed.Yourswastoobutyouhadyourown
market.Andwhenyouopenedup,itwasa
different journey. Our economy was
opened in 1977 but our mindset, unfortu-
nately, was very statist. Eighty per cent of
ourtotalrevenuegoestopaysalariesofpub-
lic servants. So basically, you start the year
with only 20 per cent in your hand. The 80
percentgoesto1.5milliongovernmentser-
vantsand500,000pensioners.Ourpopula-
tion size is 22 million. So, you can imagine
theproportion,it’soneofthehighestratios
around. Our pension is unfunded and paid
straight out of budget as well.
The university system is geared to gov-
ernment jobs because the private sector is
not developed to absorb the young. That
leaves us with no option but to borrow.
During the civil war period between 1983
and2009,peopledidn’tlendusmuch.After
2009, we had commercial borrowing pos-
sibilities. Since then, we have borrowed
$12.5 billion from international markets.
That’s about 40 per cent of our debt. So,
while80percentofourrevenueisgoingas
salaries and pensions to government staff,
wehavetopayanother70percentasthein-
terestonthedebt.Weendedupborrowing
more.In2020,myownfoundationhadsug-
gestedthatwebegintoclearthedebtbygo-
ingtotheIMF.Unfortunately,ournational-
ists did not support this idea. So when
COVIDstruck,followedbytheUkrainiancri-
sis, Sri Lanka just tipped over.
Thenwehavestructuralissues.InIndia,
you’ve got the private sector in electricity
generation and distribution with the gov-
ernment as a regulator. In our case, the
powersectorisastatemonopolyandislos-
ing huge amounts of money. Trade unions
won’t allow privatisation. We have man-
agedtoderegulatetelecom,petroleumand
thefinancialservicessectorsbutmoresec-
tors need to be opened up. Now our bank-
ingsystemisstressedbecausetheelectric-
ity board, the petroleum corporation and
national airline borrow heavily from state
banks. There has to be a massive recapital-
isationofthebankingsystem.Thiswillhave
huge consequences as we will have to
relook at our social welfare net.
TheIMFprojectsoureconomywillcon-
tract by 8.4 per cent. We will probably see
growth from the following year from a
much-reduced base. Part of the reason is
that our taxation is being increased. A part
oftheIMFagreementistoincreaseourVAT
from 12 per cent to 15 per cent. I think for-
mer Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan
Yew summed it up best: “Sri Lankan
democracyisaperiodicauctionof non-ex-
istentresources.”Politicianshavebeenout-
bidding each other.
Sri Lankan High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda (right) in conversation with Shubhajit Roy during the Idea Exchange. Abhinav Saha
positiveoutlook.Whathappened
whenhisbrotherGotabayatookover?
Onecanargueandpointfingersbutthis
crisis was waiting to happen because we
didn’t restructure the economy. We don’t
have the demographic dividend, ours is an
ageingsocietyandwedon’thavehighpop-
ulation growth. The demographicpeak for
ouryouthwasbasicallyinthe80swhenwe
werefightingacivilwar.Welosttheability
topropelgrowthattherighttime.Iwasthe
Economic Reform Minister in 2001 but I
was demonised for suggesting privatisa-
tion.Butthefactisthatweshouldhavedone
a lot of reforms after the war ended.
GotabayaRajapaksawasnotapolitician
but he was very well-intentioned and
wanted to make a difference. But then
COVID happened and the economy suf-
fered. Our politics is untidy. We can talk
about the Rajapaksas, Chandrika
Kumaratunga, J Jayewardene but nobody
lookedateconomicmanagement.Overthe
next 18months,we need at least$3 billion
of our own money in this game. Where do
wefindthat?Bysellingsomepublicassets.
Butifyousayourairportsandpowerplants
are national relics, then there’s no turning
around.Fortunately,peopleareopentothe
airline sale but nobody wants to buy it be-
causethedebtishuge.Youhavetosellassets
that can get some money. If you keep in-
creasingVAT,it’sapoorpersonwhoisgoing
topayintheend.Ourforeignexchangefrom
remittances,garment,ITandteasectorshas
been static for nearly 40 years.
ShubhajitRoy:WhenIndiareachedout
toyou,whatwereyourconversations?
Howdidthe$4billionLOChappen?
We had discussions with Mrs
Sitharaman. Your External Affairs Minister
SJaishankartookapersonalinterestinthis
as did National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
Our then Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa
haddiscussionswithDrJaishankarandMrs
Sitharaman. We looked at three aspects:
Emergencyassistance,petroleumandbal-
ance of payment support. We had a credit
lineof$1billionforfoodandsupplies.Then
we had a separate line of credit for petro-
leumandtheswapswiththecentralbank,
withsupportfromRBI,forpaymentstothe
Asian Clearing Union.
The other part of the discussion was to
developalonger-termgrowthstrategy.For
example, Indian Oil is a distributor in Sri
Lanka and runs the tank jointly with us in
Trincomalee. How could we make
Trincomaleeintoanenergyhubthatwould
be a win-win for all? We are looking at in-
tegration with India in the tourism, power
and wind energy sectors. Our whole na-
tionalenergycapacityis4,200megawatts,
ment owned, the other is privately con- UnniRajenShankar:If 80percentof
trolled,thethirdisaChineseCICTandnow yourrevenueisgoingintopaying
Adani is coming with the fourth. There’s governmentstaff,isn’tthesizeof your
scope for two more terminals. Most of this governmenttoobigforacountryof
willgotoserviceIndia,whichneedstotrust yoursize?Also,howimportantafactor
usasapartnerinitsshippingnetwork.Asof was organicfarminginyoureconomic
now,wehavethecomparativeadvantages collapse?
vis-a-vis India for deep water terminals. I call myself a compassionate libertar-
Similarly, given your petroleum require- ianbecauseIthinkSriLankaneedsasmaller
ments, if you set up a refinery in government to do its job. The government
Trincomaleeanduseittostoreapartofyour runs everything from fast food businesses,
strategic reserves, it will be a win-win for tohotels,airportsandinfrastructure.We’ve
both. This requires trust. It’s a step-by-step got to grow the private sector so that it can
process. It cannot be done overnight. generate alternative jobs for the skilled
youth.Weneedtodriveupexports,foreign
ShubhajitRoy:DidChina’sdebttrap investment and get into global supply
diplomacyexacerbatematters? chains. And yes, the organic fertiliser deci-
No.Chinaaccountsforjust10percentof siondidimpactus.Ithadtobeaphased-out
ouroveralldebt.That’snotsmallbutalotof programme and that’s a lesson learnt.
that money has gone into infrastructure.
Japanalsoaccountsforaroundthesamebut AmrithLal:Haveyoumanagedto
itstermsaremuchbetter.Japanhasbeena integratetheestrangedTamils?
developmentpartnersincethe1970s.ButI Thewarcostusyoungtalent.Nearlyone
thinkinthecurrentstrategiccontext,there million people of Tamil origin are abroad
is a debate about China’s role in this region and another million are working in West
and that’s something we can talk about. Asia and elsewhere. Out of a population of
22 million, two million are abroad. That’s
ShubhajitRoy:Therewasaflip-flopby thetalentthatshouldhavebeenbackhome.
theSriLankangovernmentonthe In addition, I think we lost our sense of hu-
arrivalof aChineseship.Thereisa manityinsomeways.I’m58now,soIgrew
contestationbetweenBeijingandNew upthroughthatperiod.Ijoinedpoliticsasan
DelhioverColombo.Howdoyousee advisor to Ranasinghe Premadasa. I lost a
yourself caughtinthisinterplay? large number of colleagues and friends to
Our history with India goes back 7,000 the LTTE and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
years, with China, it goes back 1,000 years. (JVP).Itwilltakeusmaybeanother20years
We were colonised three times by the to come out of it (effects of the war).
Portuguese, Dutch and the British. And all We have to re-examine the reconcilia-
ofithadtodowithourgeographiclocation. tion processes because of the highly po-
We get around 300 ships from around the larised nature of our politics. There are
world every year and these are approved many fault lines beyond the ethnic, that of
veryroutinely,withoutpoliticalorabureau- caste, class, religion and language. The
craticintervention.Wehadasimilarsitua- RajapaksasrepresenttheSinhala-speaking
tionwithaChinesesubmarinein2014.We ruralpopulation.TheEnglish-speakingelite
now need to develop some kind of frame- is in cities like Colombo with a dispropor-
work in this new context and have a dia- tionate influence on power play. To some
loguewithIndiabecauseitisclearlythean- extent,theRajapaksaperiodcouldhavecor-
chor for security in this region. We cannot rected this whole imbalance but that’s an-
afford to become a flashpoint. There has to otherfaultline.Wehavereligiousfaultlines.
be communication at the highest level. We have had insurrections in the south in
Our politics is untidy. We
can talk about the
Rajapaksas, Chandrika
Kumaratunga, J
Jayewardene but nobody
looked at economic
management. They
the1970sand 1980s.Inthenorthandeast,
wehadtheLTTEissue.Recently,wehadthe
Easterbombings.That’salottotakeandwe
needtounderstandthatcomplexity.Asfar
as the Tamil community is concerned, the
current President is reaching out to the di-
aspora, which has a strong influence. We
should also look at how we can create a Sri
Lankanidentityatthenationallevel.While
we have to tackle the economic crisis, we
cannot forget this.
I was involved with the peace process
in 2001 in London and Oslo. But I can see
the frustration with politicians across the
board. Wehavetore-examinethesituation
and come up with a new dialogue, a new
conversation more in keeping with the
times.Wearestilltalkingthelanguagethat
was used in the 1980s and the 1990s.
AmrithLal:Isthereanykindof
mechanismtorelease fishermenwho
arearrested bytheSriLankanNavy?
In Sri Lanka, the courts release them in
threeweeks.OntheIndianside,wegetcon-
sularaccessnow.TamilNaduChiefMinister
MKStalinhasjustsetupafocalpointtodeal
with our issues, fishermen being one of
them.Therearethreeissues.Fishinginour
water is non-negotiable. The second is the
ecologicalaspectoffishingbedsgettingde-
nuded.Ifwelosefish,it’snotgoodforeither
side. Then thereis thelivelihoods issuebe-
cause you have commercial trawlers from
the Tamil Nadu side and mainly artisanal
fishermen, that too Tamils, on our side. Mr
Jaishankar has taken an interest and MK
Stalin has a very balanced approach.
RajKamalJha:Wereyousurprised
whenpeoplecameoutonthestreets
andenteredthepresidentialpalace,
somethingthatislikelytobeseenin
non-democraticcountries?Whatdo
youmakeof that?
Ours is a divided, polarised and ex-
tremely volatile society. We have this ve-
neer of tranquility but when it goes off, it
explodes. In 1971, we had one of the most
brutalinsurrectionsinthesouthbytheJVP.
In the 1980s it was the same, triggered by
the Indian presence as part of the Indian
peaceaccord.Thatvolatileelementcontin-
ues in this current movement, especially
with the Inter University Students’
Federationandwithfar-nationalistparties
like the FSB. The backlash was immediate
and it was targetted at politicians’ houses.
The protesters said they didn’t recognise
any institution and wanted people’s coun-
cils instead as a parallel structure. In Sri
Lanka, it’s very easy for this undercurrent
to become a tide.
This time the protest is a middle-class
Rajapaksahimselfwasnotapolitician.Once
he was elected President, his party func-
tionedonitsownwhilehewasfocussedon
managingtheCovidsituationorgettingfer-
tilisers.So,politiciansweredisengagedfrom
thesystemaltogetherandtheeconomywas
crumbling. My concern is that we should
notgetcarriedawaybyprotestsbecausein
the end, we have to work within systems.
Fortunately, we went back to our
Constitution. You may not like it, you may
want to change it but you’ve got to work
within its framework.
AlthoughGotabayacamefromapoliti-
cal family, he wanted to do things his way.
Interestingly, he did not want to use vio-
lencetocrushtheprotestersandIhopehis-
tory will remember him well for that. He
alsogotintheprivatesector.Myconcernis
the marriage between Pol Potist elements
and young romantics, who think that they
can be the Google or Uber of politics, dis-
ruptthewholesystemandseevirtueinthis.
We need a lot of change in Sri Lanka, we
need a revolution but not total disruption.
RajKamalJha:Wereyouintouchwith
GotabayaRajapaksathosedaysand
doeshehaveaplaceinSriLankanow?
Yes...But I don’t think he has a place in
politics. Frankly, I feel we have too many
politicians in Sri Lanka. Former presidents
can be icons. For example, Jimmy Carter.
LizMathew:Whichismoredangerous,
theeconomiccrisisinademocracyor
thedivisionsinsociety?
Both are in tandem. We have not been
able to get our economy right because our
society is divided. If our economy doesn’t
move,wewillbein a chicken and egg situ-
ation. Sometimes our intelligentsia is too
focussed on new constitutions and gover-
nance rather than the economy. The rural
SriLankanhasstillnotfullyunderstoodthe
need for an efficient productive economy.
RajKamalJha:Whataresomeof the
low-hangingfruitsforstructural
reforms?
IwouldusetheconnectivitygridwithIndia
toderegulatethesectorandbringinprivate
investment into electricity generation,
which could mean new power plants, re-
newable energy plants or buying existing
plants. I would liberalise distribution. I
would use the grid with India to create ca-
pacity, export and import if needed. The
other would be oil and India needs to take
acallonTrincomaleeasanenergyhubgiven
thatby2030,itwillapparentlyneed50per
cent more oil than now. We need to priva-
tise Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and
telecom. The problem is corporates are so

ShubhajitRoy:MahindaRajapaksawas
askillfulpoliticianforfourdecadesand
initially,therewasinvestmentanda
sowecouldcreateanenergygridwithIndia
and get investment. Eighty per cent of the
were all disengaged from movementastherewasnogas,fuelorelec-
tricity. The political vacuum happened be-
huge and our market is so small that to get
India started here is not easy. That’s why
businessinColomboportistransshipment. the system cause the main parties were not in a posi- whenpeoplelikeGautamAdanicomein,it
We have three terminals, one is govern- tion to engage with the people. Gotabaya means something. ITC has invested too.

New Delhi
 E EXPLAINED
14
TELLING NUMBERS
In Mistry crash tragedy, a
reminder of high numbers of
road deaths in the country
The wrecked car in which businessman Cyrus Mistry was travelling with
three others when it met with an accident on Sunday afternoon. PTI
ROAD ACCIDENTS IN INDIA
Year Road Deaths
Accidents
2017 4,45,730 1,50,093
2018 4,45,514 1,52,780
2019 4,37,396 1,54,732
2020 3,54,796 1,33,201
2021 4,03,116 1,55,622
Source NCRB
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
FORMER TATA Group chairman Cyrus
Mistry was killed in a road accident on
Sunday on the National Highway in
Maharashtra’s Palghar district. The
tragedy has once again spotlighted the
high numbers of fatalities that Indian
roads witness every year.
Deadly roads
According to data collected by the
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB),
there are around 1.5 lakh deaths on
India’s roads every year, of which one
third are accounted for by National
Highways.
Accordingtothedata,inthepastfive
years,whileroadaccidentsdippedfrom
4,45,730 in 2017 to 4,03,116 in 2021,
deathsintheseaccidentsincreasedfrom
1,50,093 to 1,55,622 in the same period.
A similar trend is seen on the
National Highways. While the number
of accidents on National Highways in
2017 stood at 1,30,942, as many as
50,859 people died in them.
In 2021, while the number of
National Highway accidents dipped to
1,22,204, the number of deaths in-
creased to 53,615.
According to the data, barring the
pandemic year of 2020, which saw long
periods of lockdowns, the data on acci-
dentsanddeathshavebeenconsistently
hovering around 4.4 lakh and 1.5 lakh
respectively through the period be-
tween 2017 and 2021.
Lockdown impact
In 2020, the accident figures dipped
to around 3.5 lakh, while deaths de-
creased to 1.33 lakh.
Ramon Magsaysay of Philippines, and his stance on communism
PAROMITA CHAKRABARTI
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
ONSUNDAY,inresponsetoareportthatthe
CPI (M) had vetoed her selection as a final-
ist for the international Ramon Magsaysay
Award for 2022, former Kerala health min-
ister K K Shailaja said that she had con-
sented to her party’s decision. Shailaja said
that in view of the anti-communist stance
of Ramon Magsaysay, the former
Philippines president whose legacy the
prestigiousawardhonours,andforitsfoun-
dation’s decision to consider her as an indi-
vidual recipient for what was a state initia-
tive, she had declined her nomination.
Launched in 1958, the Ramon
Magsaysay Award, widely considered to be
Asia’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize, recog-
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
National Deaths Deaths
Highway per 100 km
Accidents on NHs
1,30,942 50,859 NA
1,28,573 50,771 44
1,28,602 53,213 47
1,06,933 45,275 36
1,22,204 53,615 40
OnNationalHighways,too,accidents
anddeathsregisteredadipin2020with
1,06,933accidentsaccountingfor45,275
deaths. In all the other years in the pe-
riodtheaccidentsstoodaround1.28lakh
and deaths around 50,000.
Deaths per 100 km
As the length of National Highways
has kept increasing every year, the
NCRB, beginning 2018, also began col-
lecting data on deaths per 100 km of
roads.Accordingtothisdata,in2018,the
deaths per 100 km of National
Highways stood at 44. In 2021, the fig-
ure went down a bit to 40.
Why rides turn fatal
According to NCRB, year on year, the
highest number of road accidents and
deaths are recorded between 6 pm and
9 pm on average on a given day, and in
themonthsof JanuaryandDecemberin
a given year. Sources said this is largely
due to poor visibility in these periods.
The highest number of road acci-
dents every year is attributed to negli-
gent driving and speeding. Speeding
caused 87,000 deaths, accounting for
over half of all deaths, while dangerous
and careless driving was attributed as
the cause for 42,000 deaths in the latest
NCRB report.
As in previous years, two-wheelers
accounted for most deaths (44.5%),
while buses accounted for 3% of deaths
in accidents in 2021.
The largest increase in the number
of traffic accident cases from 2020 to
2021 was reported in Tamil Nadu (from
46,443 to 57,090), followed by Madhya
Pradesh (from 43,360 to 49,493), Uttar
Pradesh (from 30,593 to 36,509),
Maharashtra (from 24,908 to 30,086),
and Kerala (from 27,998 to 33,051).
nises outstanding leadership and commu-
nitarian contributions in Asia. This year’s
annual list of awardees was announced last
week. Shailaja was considered for the
award for her performance as state health
minister from 2016 to 2021, a period which
saw Kerala fight against the Nipah virus and
Covid-19.
Who was Ramon Magsaysay?
Born on August 31, 1907 to a father who
worked as a blacksmith and a mother who
was a teacher, Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay
Senior was the seventh president of the
Philippines, from 1953 until his death in an
air crash in 1957.
Magsaysay started out as an automo-
bile mechanic before being drafted into
the Pacific War (1941-1945), during World
War II.
Why launches have windows
Space missions can’t just take off at any time — they require precise timeslots for launch with the objective
of finding the most efficient way, in terms of time and energy, to get to their destination
AMITABH SINHA
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
TWICE WITHIN a week, space agency NASA
has had to abort the launch of its Artemis-1
mission to the Moon due to problems dis-
covered during the fuelling of the engine
tanks. On Sunday, NASA said it would not
make any further attempts to send the mis-
sion during the available launch opportuni-
ties till September 6.
The next set of launch windows — 14 of
them — are available between September 19
and October 4, and thereafter, 11 launch op-
portunities in the second half of October.
Launch windows
Space missions cannot be launched any-
time they are ready to go. Precise timeslots
are calculated for their launch.
Nothing in space is stationary. The origin
(Earth) is moving, and so is the destination
(Moon, or any other planetary body the mis-
sion is headed to). One reason for schedul-
ing a launch window is to look for the short-
est distance to the destination. The other is
fuel efficiency. There is no refuelling oppor-
tunity in space. The more fuel the rocket car-
ries, the heavier it becomes, which means
more fuel is required to propel it.
So, depending on which side a satellite is
headed in space, the distance it has to travel
to get into an orbit, the nature of the probe it
has to carry — surely, several other factors
must also be in play — a precise launch win-
dow is calculated. The overall objective is to
findthemostefficientway—intermsof time
and energy — to get to the destination.
The launch windows can sometimes be
very narrow, even a few minutes. At other
times, like in the case of Artemis-1 last
Sunday,andnowonSaturday,thereisacom-
fortable two-hour window.
How does it work?
Let’s suppose we have to travel from our
home (Point A) to our workplace (Point B). If
the traffic considerations are removed, any-
time is a good time to travel.
Butwhatif theofficeisnotstationary,but
moving in a circular or elliptical path? Point
B might still be the shortest distance from
our home (Point A) but the office is now not
always located at Point B. It arrives there pe-
riodically. If we do not time our journey to
coincideourarrivalatPointBwiththatof the
Who can enter the ATC complex in India?
PRANAV MUKUL
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4
DELHI POLICE have registered an FIR accus-
ing the deputy commissioner of Deoghar of
sedition after the IAS officer reported to the
JharkhandgovernmentthattwoBJPMPshad
entered Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the air-
port and forced officials to clear their aircraft
for take-off eventhough the airport does not
have facilities for night operations.
According to a complaint filed with
Jharkhand Police on September 1 by airport
security in-charge Suman Anand, Godda MP
NishikantDubey,NorthEastDelhiMPManoj
Tiwari, and some others including Dubey’s
two sons violated “safety standards” by en-
tering the ATC room the previous evening
and pressuring officials to grant take-off
clearance after the air services window had
closed for the day.
On Saturday evening, the DC, Manjunath
Bhajantri, and the MP, Dubey, accused each
otherof violatingrulesonenteringrestricted
areas of the airport. The Delhi Police FIR,
whichisbasedonacomplaintbyDubey,said
the DC “had entered the Deoghar airport’s
secured DRDO-restricted area where one
goes only afterPMO’s permission”.Bhajantri
told The Indian Express that the FIR was “ab-
surd” and “concocted”, and filed as an “after-
The Pacific War would see the Japanese
occupation of the Philippines — then a
colony of the US — for nearlyfour years.The
US formally recognised the Philippines as
an independent nation in 1946.
As a guerrilla leader resisting the
Japanese occupation, Magsaysay’s bravery
and leadership saw his appointment as a
military governor. In 1946, he would be
elected under the Liberal Party to the
PhilippineHouseof Representatives,where
he would serve two terms as a
Congressman before being appointed sec-
retary of National Defence in 1950. On
December 30, 1953, he would be elected
president from the Nationalist Party, the
oldest political party in the Philippines.
Communism and Magsaysay
Founded in 1902, the Unión Obrera
SIMPLY PUT
NASA’s new Moon
rocket at the
Kennedy Space
Centre on
Saturday. A two-
hour launch
window was
available, but a
technical glitch
kept the rocket
from getting off
the ground. AP/PTI
office, then we might have to wait. Or, alter-
natively, we try to get to our office at some
point other than Point B, which then is not
the shortest route. In either case, the journey
is not the most efficient.
But what if our home too is moving
around in a completely different orbit? The
challenge of charting an efficient journey
grows manifold. The points A and B are ren-
dered meaningless now. Depending on the
trajectoriesof ourhomeandoffice,theshort-
est distance between the two may be along
a different route. There would be even fewer
opportunities to make the most efficient
journey. And thejourney would haveto start
at very precise timings.
Mission objectives
It is not just about reaching the destina-
tion in the most efficient manner. The objec-
tive of the mission sometimes is to land on a
particularsideof theMoon,orgoarounditin
thought…(after)gettingcaughtviolatingse-
curity protocol”.
Who can enter an airport in India?
A person who is not a passenger with a
valid ticket requires an Aerodrome Entry
Permit (AEP) that is issued by the airport op-
erator in concurrence with the security
agency in charge of the airport. Typically, at
the bigger airports, the Central Industrial
SecurityForce(CISF)undertakesthesecurity
responsibilities, while at a smaller airport
like Deoghar, it is the state police that man-
ages security. The security in-charge of
Deoghar airport is Deputy Superintendent
of Police Suman Anand, who was the com-
plainant in the case.
What is the ATC in an airport?
Air traffic control, as the name suggests,
Democrática is considered the first modern
trade federation in Philippines.
The CommunistPartyof thePhilippines
or the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP)
was formed in 1930. The Hukbong Bayan
Laban sa Hapon or the People’s Army
Against the Japanese, popularly known as
the Hukbalahap (Huk), was a prominent
guerrilla outfit that fought the Japanese.
As the country plunged into post-war
chaos after 1946, the fortunes of the
Hukbalahaps, too, changed dramatically.
With the expansion of capitalism, the gap
between the rich and poor widened and
the farmers continued to languish. Huk
leaders were viewed with suspicion over
their declaration of commitment to com-
munism and the demand for peasant
rights. With the US as its close ally, the
Philippine government cracked down on
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com
a way that a certain part of the Moon is ob-
servable. There can be hundreds of orbits
around a planetary body. The mission has to
enter one of them for specific needs. The
choice of the orbit, or the location of landing,
would matter in the launch window.
The power of the rocket is also a factor.
One of the reasons why the Artemis-1 has so
many launch opportunities is the fact that it
is being carried by the most powerful rocket
ever built. Named the Space Launch Vehicle,
or SLS, this rocket can take the spacecraft di-
rectlytolunarorbit.TheSaturnVrocketsused
by the Apollo missions could also go directly
totheMoon,makingthejourneyin3-4days.
Most other lunar missions, including
India’s Chandrayaan missions, take a cir-
cuitousroutebecausetheydon’thavetheen-
ergy to make the direct journey. The rockets
deposit the spacecraft in near-Earth orbits.
That requires considerably less energy. Once
there, they periodically fire thrusters to pro-
ATC is the traffic
control room
for aircraft at
airports.
Express Photo
is the traffic control room for aircraft at air-
ports and in certain designated airspaces,
from where ground-based air traffic con-
trollers direct aircraft movements. The con-
trollers use equipment including radar to
track aircraft, and communicate with pilots
over radio. The ATC complex typically has a
tower, which may be attached to a building.
The United States Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) says “the primary pur-
pose of the ATC system is to prevent a colli-
sion between aircraft operating in the sys-
tem and to organize and expedite the flow
of (air) traffic”. Under certain circumstances,
the ATC may have security or defence re-
sponsibilities as well, and may be manned
by military officers.
Does an AEP authorise the holder to
enter the ATC premises?
the Huks, who formed an alliance with the
PKP to take their struggle to a parliamen-
tary platform.
The severe crackdown against the Huks
continued until Magsaysay became the
NationalDefenceSecretaryunderPresident
Elpidio Quirino. Magsaysay drew upon his
own experience of guerrilla warfare to ini-
tiate a two-pronged system of reforms and
militarycampaigns.Itwasunderhisadmin-
istrative and military policies that the Huk
threat was considered to be neutralised.
All through, Maysaysay’s commitment
to the US, too, remained strong.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award
In 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay award
was set up by trustees of the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund and the Philippine govern-
ment to carry forward Magsaysay’s legacy
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
gressivelyincrease theorbit,andgainenergy
to move forward. That is why Chandrayaan-
2 took 12 days to reach the Moon’s orbit.
These routes have to be taken into account
for launch window calculations.
There are other considerations as well.
The satellites in space, in most cases, derive
their energy from the Sun. So, their trajecto-
ries have tobe designed in a manner that the
Sun is not entirely blocked from their view
for prolonged periods.
Earth’s rotation and revolution
Because of their circular (or elliptical) or-
bits, it is possible that the two heavenly bod-
iesareclosestindistanceatatimewhenthey
are moving in opposite directions. The Earth
goesaroundtheSunatthespeedof about1.1
lakhkm/hour.Thenatureof therevolvingor-
bit is such that the direction of movement is
changing continuously.
Ifthemission’sdestination(say,Moon)isin
thesamedirectioninwhichtheEarthismov-
ing at the time of the launch, then the rocket
gets a big boost. It gains from the Earth’s mo-
mentum. In the opposite case, if the Earth is
movinginadirectionthatisoppositetowhere
the destination is located, then the rocket has
anegativemomentum.Ithastochangedirec-
tion. A lot of energy is wasted in that.
That is why, depending on where the
missionisheaded,sometimesof theyearare
more favourable for launch than the others.
There is also the Earth’s rotation on its
own axis from west to east. If the rocket is
launched towards the east, it again gains
from the Earth’s rotation speed.
Because of its shape (bulge in the centre),
the Earth rotates faster at the equator than
atthepoles.Thisisalsothereasonwhysome
of the most prominent launching sites, es-
pecially those for heavier satellites, are lo-
cated near the equator. There are, of course,
manyotherfactorsthatdecidethelocationof
a launch site, including proximity to the sea,
and distance from heavily populated areas
as a security consideration.
Weather matters too
Aspacemissioncannotbelaunchedif the
temperature is too cold or too hot, or if the
wind is blowing at a very strong speed.
Rainfall,humidity,lightning,cloudorsmoke,
are all factors that need to be considered.
Favourable weather conditions are required
not just at the time of the launch, but also
during the fuelling of the engines.
It does not happen automatically; prior
approvalisneededtoentertheATC building.
The AEP application form, which is issued by
the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS),
mentions 13 zones that a person can poten-
tiallyenter.Amongthemarethearrivalshall,
the departures hall, the terminal building,
the security hold area, the apron area, the
ATC building, the ATC tower, the cargo ter-
minal building, etc.
However, the access authorisations are
granted on a ‘need’ basis. For example, air-
line ground staff, who may have authorisa-
tion to enter the arrivals hall, the departures
hall, the terminal building, and the security
hold area, may notnecessarily be authorised
to enter the ATC tower or the ATC building.
Does a Member of Parliament have
special privileges to enter airport
premises?
An order issued by the Ministry of Civil
Aviation in October 2007 on the subject
“Courtesy towards Members of Parliament
at Airports” said a “Member of Parliament
may be allowed free access in the Terminal
building and Visitors Gallery on the basis of
MPs Identity Card”.
However,theorderdidnotstatewhether
MPs were allowed to also enter ATC prem-
ises. The same order was circulated again by
the Civil Aviation Ministry in January 2020.
of service to the people, good governance,
and pragmatic idealism. In the six decades
since 1958 — the first year the Award was
given out — over 300 organisations and in-
dividualshavebeenrecognisedfortheirde-
velopmental endeavours crucial to Asia,
and, consequently, to the world. The award
is given out every year on August 31, on
Magsaysay’s birth anniversary.
Indian winners on the list
Prominent Indians who have won the
award include Vinoba Bhave in 1958,
Mother Teresa in 1962, Kamaladevi
Chattopadhyayin1966,SatyajitRayin1967,
Mahasweta Devi in 1997. In recent years,
Arvind Kejriwal (2006), Anshu Gupta of
Goonj (2015), human rights activist
Bezwada Wilson (2016), and journalist
Ravish Kumar (2019) have won the award.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

15 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022 Market Watch
THREE OF TOP-10 COS LOSE M-CAP
New Delhi: The combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of three of
the 10 most valued domestic firms fell by Rs 1,22,852.25 crore last
week, with Reliance Industries emerging as the biggest laggard.
Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys were the other two. PTI

PLAYED VITAL ROLE IN ONE-TIME RESTRUCTURING PLAN, PAYING OFF DEBT

Key in getting the SP Group back ‘A MAN OF SUBSTANCE .... GOT LITTLE TIME TO LEAD TATA’

in shape, Cyrus leaves a big gap

SANDEEPSINGH
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 4
CYRUS MISTRY, son of Pallonji
Mistry, who led a prolonged six-
year battle with the Tata Group
after his ouster as Chairman of
Tata Sons in October 2016, was
not on the board of the family’s
flagship Shapoorji Pallonji and
Company Ltd, but was instru-
mental in getting the Rs 10,900-
crore one-time restructuring
(OTR) scheme implemented by
banks last March.
Thishadcomeasabigreliefto
the Shapoorji Pallonji Group
which was facing defaults on
commercialpapers.Cyrusplayed
a key role in the restructuring
plan under which the group
planned to monetise its assets
and sell stake in some of the
group companies including
Eureka Forbes and Sterling and
Wilson Solar among others.
Warmly welcomed back into
the group by his elder brother
ShapoorMistryafterhelmingthe
Tata Group for almost four years,
he along with his brother fol-
lowedupontheOTR,paidoff the
entire debt, and exited the
scheme in March this year. Not
only was the OTR one of the
largest, but also one of the first to
be fully repaid.
Described by people who
know him closely as a highly ca-
pableindividual,Mistrylaunched
twolimitedliabilitypartnerships
in April-May 2018 — Mistry
Ventures LLP and CPM NexGen
Ventures LLP. He is also on the
board of seven other companies
including Cyrus Investments
PrivateLtd.BesidesTataSonsand
Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Mistry
had also served as a director on
the boards of several other firms,
including Forbes Gokak and
United Motors (India). He was a
trustee of NICMAR, an au-
tonomous, not-for-profit, aca-
demic body.
Prof NirmalyaKumar,theLee
Kong Chian Professor of
Marketing at Singapore
Management University, who
worked as Member, Strategy, in
the Group Executive Council of
TataSons,duringMistry’stimein
the Tata Group, said Cyrus was a
Cyrus Mistry
“brilliantandunderstatedhuman
being”. “Loved your smarts and
integrity. You gave me an oppor-
tunity no one else would have –
andmentoredmewithpatience.
Let me argue in front of others
which no other promoter would
havetolerated,”hesaidinatweet.
Cyrus was the younger son of
Pallonji Mistry, who died in June
this year. He was the sixth
Chairman of Tata Sons and was
the second person from outside
theTatafamilytoheadthegroup
in its over 150 years of existence.
Hetookoverthechairmanshipin
December 2012 after Ratan Tata
retiredfromhisexecutiverole.In
November 2011, Mistry was ap-
pointed the Deputy Chairman of
the Tata Group; he was a board
member in Tata Sons since 2006
after his father retired.
After his ouster as Tata Sons
ChairmaninOctober2016dueto
reports of disagreements with
Ratan Tata over several business
decisions, he was also removed
as a director on the board of the
holding company in February
2017.TheMistryfamilyowns18.5
per cent stake in Tata Sons and is
the largest single shareholder in
Tata Sons.
Born July 4, 1968, Cyrus
Mistrycompletedhisgraduation
in Civil Engineering from the
Imperial College of Science,
Technology and Medicine,
London. He also holds a master’s
degree in management from the
London Business School and is a
fellow at the Institution of Civil
Engineers.Hewasinvolvedinthe
family’s flagship construction
business before he left it to join
the Tatas.
Cyrus was the Managing
Director of the Shapoorji Pallonji
Group till he moved to Tata Sons.
Havingjoinedthefamilygroupin
1991 as a director, he has been
creditedwiththegroup’sexpan-
sion outside India, in the Middle
East and Africa.
He had challenged his ouster
from the Tata Group in the
NationalCompanyLawTribunal,
but his petition was rejected.
Though that decision was over-
turnedbytheNationalCompany
Law Appellate Tribunal in 2019,
his dismissal was upheld by the
Supreme Court. Among the rea-
sonscitedforhisremovalwasthe
fact that he had replaced some
trusted hands of Ratan Tata and
hisproposedsaleoftheTataSteel
portplantintheUKwasnottaken
well. Further, the long dispute
with Japan’s Docomo group also
worked against him.
He was a promising
business leader who
believed in India’s
economic prowess ...
His passing away is a
big loss to the world of
commerce and
industry”
NARENDRA MODI,
PRIME MINISTER
He was committed to
carrying forward and
strengthening his
business in infra and
infra projects. He
desired to keep
contributing to India’s
economic progress”
NIRMALA
... deeply saddened by the HegotlittletimetoleadTata,
sudden and untimely demise butdidagoodjob…
of Mr Cyrus Mistry. He had a Unfortunately,theunanimity
passion for life and it is really withcolleaguesinTataGroup
tragic that he passed away at wasnotmaintained,thushe
such a young age” hadtoleavehispost”
NCHANDRASEKARAN, SHARAD PAWAR,
TATA SONS CHAIRMAN NCP CHIEF
He was a friend, a gentleman, a man
of substance. He was instrumental
in creating Shapoorji Pallonji and
ably led the Tata group”
HARSH GOENKA,
RPG ENTERPRISES CHAIRMAN
I got to know Cyrus well Deeply saddened by the
during his all-too-brief news regarding the tragic
tenure as the head of the demise of Cyrus Mistry. Too
House of Tata. I was young to go. Knew him
convinced he was destined personally so immensely
for greatness” disturbed”

SECTOR WATCH
TAXATION Mistry’s first tryst with SITHARAMAN,
FINANCE MINISTER
ANAND MAHINDRA,
MAHINDRAGROUPCHAIRMAN
SANJIV BAJAJ,
CII PRESIDENT

life under a spotlight

Shocked and Deeplyanguished&
saddened to hear of shockedbythe

Online gaming: Lens the passing of Cyrus

Mistry. One of the
suddenpassingaway
of CyrusMistry.Indian

had ended in darkness

finest gentlemen I industryhaslostone

on winners to pay have known, he was

one of the best
of itsshiningstars
whosecontributions

taxes, update ITRs

business minds of his toIndia’seconomic
GAUTAM ADANI, generation. It is a PIYUSH GOYAL, progresswillalways

E
particularly in Nano and small
RISHIRAJ 18.5% TATA STAKE commercial vehicle segment ADANI GROUP CHAIRMAN tragic loss.” COMMERCE MINISTER beremembered.”
&RAJESHKURUP (SCV)causedhugeNPAlosstothe
E X P L A I NE D

AANCHALMAGAZINE Focus on NEWDELHI/MUMBAI,SEPT4 ■ Cyrus Mistry’s tuneofRs4,000croretothecom-

NEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER4
TAXAUTHORITIESonboththe
directandindirecttaxsideare
raising scrutiny for possible
evasion in one major upcom-
ing sector — online gaming.
Directtaxofficialsarelearntto
be scrutinising data for win-
ningstothe tuneof Rs58,000
croreoveraspanofthreeyears
foranonlinegamingplatform,
urgingtaxpayerstocomefor-
wardandpaytaxes.Meanwh-
ile, a ministerial panel will
meet Monday to discuss the
contours of Goods and Servi-
ces Tax (GST) for online gam-
ing, horse racing and casinos.
Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Nitin
Gupta has urged taxpayers to
come forward and report the
undeclaredwinningsfromthe
onlinegamingplatforminthe
facility for updated returns,
whichallowstaxpayerstoup-
date their information for last
two assessment years, i.e.
FY20andFY21.“ItisanIndian
(online gaming) company ...
requesting the winners to
comeforwardandfiletheup-
dated return to pay the tax.
Whatsoeverdatawehave,we
willproceedforward.Taxpay-
ers should come forward vol-
untarilyanditisthebestthing.
Some may have earned more
and some less, some might
have earned in millions and
some in small amounts. They
areusuallyinaledgeraccount
and they merge win and loss,
it (data) is humongous,” he
told The Indian Express.
GameKing, Dream 11,
updated
● ITR use
WITH THE provision for up-
dating returns introduced in
the Budget, the taxman has
turned the focus on gains
made by people from online
gaming and similar transac-
tions during AY21 and AY22.
The tax department wants
taxpayers to make use of
updated returns to volun-
tarily disclose and pay taxes
on undeclared gains.
NazaraTechnologiesaresome
bigplayersintheonlinegam-
ing industry. The online gam-
ing industry is currently con-
tributing more than Rs 2,200
crores of GST, as per a recent
study by EY and Assocham.
Tax authorities are asking
taxpayers to make use of the
updatedreturnsfacilityintro-
ducedunderSection139(8A)
in this year’s Budget to report
any such undeclared transac-
tions. As per the Income Tax
Department, over 1.55 lakh
updated ITRs have been filed
up to September 2 and more
than 20,000 taxpayers have
filedupdatedITRsforbothAYs
2020-21 and 2021-22.
“OverRs50croreworthof
undeclared tax payments
have come in through these
updated returns. In times to
come, this is expected to in-
crease,” a senior tax depart-
ment official said.
Full report on
www.indianexpress.com
IN 2012, a five-man selection
team, which included Cyrus
Mistry himself, had spent 15
monthssearchingforasuccessor
to Ratan Tata at the corner office
of Bombay House, the Tata head-
quartersinMumbai.Attheendof
it all, the succession process
provedtobeananti-climaxasthe
selection committee found the
“guy sitting with them” as the
most suitable for the post.
Thatwasthelow-profileCyrus
Mistry’s first tryst with life under
a spotlight — something he had
shunned all along till then. He
guarded his “man in the back-
ground”imagefiercelyashekept
avoidingthecentrestageanddid-
n’t give a single media interview
as chairman of Tata Sons.
The guard came off only after
he was unceremoniously ousted
fromchairmanshipafterabriefal-
mostfour-yearperiodonOctober
24,2016.Hisfather,areclusivebil-
lionairewithanestimatedwealth
of $7.6billionaccordingtoForbes,
hadreportedlypavedthewayfor
his younger son’s ascendancy to
the top of a group founded by
Ratan Tata’s great-grandfather.
Mistry’s grandfather had first
bought shares in Tata Sons in the
1930s, a stake that currently
standsat18.5percentandisheld
by the Mistry family. Cyrus was
the brother-in-law to Noel Tata,
RatanTata’shalf-brother.Though
the exit was bitter, Mistry’s stint
cannotbefaultedintermsof per-
formance. The group annually
outperformedtheSensexby5per
centinmarketcapitalisationdur-
inghistenureandthegroupcom-
panies saw a near 35 per cent an-
nual jump in profits.
grandfather had
first bought shares in
Tata Sons in the
1930s, a stake that
currently stands at
18.5% and is held by
the Mistry family
According to various filings
made by Mistry in his long legal
battlewiththeTataGroupoverhis
exit,histenurealsosawa100per
cent rise in the patent filings,
whichalongwithothermeasures
saw $5 billion gain in the group’s
brand value. It was precisely due
tothesereasonsthatMistry’ssud-
den sacking was received with
shock in the corporate circles.
According to corporate ob-
servers, the restructuring which
Mistry was trying to bring about
inthebusinessesofcertaingroup
companiesdidnothavetheback-
ingofRatanTata,andhisfailureto
cement the differences on these
fronts led to his ouster.
After his ouster, Mistry talked
aboutthelegacyproblemsandhis
differences with Ratan Tata. The
areas of discord were Tata Steel’s
European venture, the Nano car
and telecom services, the busi-
nessesfromwhichMistrywanted
to get out. This became clear
when, in 2017, Mistry issued a
statement on the Nano project
and how it proved to be a failure.
He said that Tata Motors had
taken a unanimous decision to
discontinue production of Nano,
whichwasaloss-makingventure,
almostayearback,butitstillcon-
tinues to be manufactured at a
sub-scale level. He also alleged
that“thepracticeoflendingwith-
out adequate risk assessment”
pany and Tata Motor Finance.
Mistry had termed Tata’s de-
cision to acquire London-based
Corus for over $12billion in 2007 Scaled heights at a young age
as“oneman’sego”andagainstthe
reservationsofsomeboardmem- An industry leader, who always kept a low profile but scaled heights at a young
bersandseniorexecutives.Hehad age, Cyrus Mistry was a soft spoken yet a candid person. Following are some of
stated that this was available for the facts about Mistry.
less than half the price a year.
Later in 2016, Mistry decided
towindoff Corus’operationsand
solditoffforatokenamount,even
though he was sacked before the
closure of the deal.
“Mistry wanted to bring in
corporate governance in the
group and a group that would be
managedbytheboardratherthan
one run by shadow directors. His
fight was for corporate gover-
nance and rights of minority
shareholders,” C Aryama
Sundaram, senior counsel who
appeared on behalf of Cyrus
MistryintheMistry-Tatalegaltus- Cyrus Mistry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File
sle,said.Mistryisalsounderstood
tohavebeenuncomfortablewith
Ratan Tata’s relationship with C MISTRY WAS the sixth DURING HIS tenure as of its flagship construction
Sivasankaran, the promoter of person — and the youngest Chairman of Tata Sons, he company, Shapoorji
Sterling Infotech. On its part, Tata at the age of 44 — to become focussed on profitability Pallonji & Co. Ltd. His
Grouprebuttedalltheallegations the Chairman of Tata Sons and sustainability. He took brother, Shapoor, directed
levelled by Mistry. when he took over in 2012 many decisions to get rid of the group’s real-estate
SinceMistry’sdeparturefrom from Ratan Tata non-performing assets, business, and their father
Tata Sons, Nano got phased out including the sale of the UK continued as chairman of
and the Tata Group later also ex- MISTRY SUCCEEDED assets of Tata Steel, and the board of directors
itedthetelecomservicesbusiness. his father Pallonji Mistry , shutting down the soda ash
During his chairmanship, who was the single largest and calcium chloride plant SOFT SPOKEN and candid,
Mistry depended on a specially shareholder of Tata Sons of Tata Chemicals at he is known to enjoy playing
created group executive council with 18.5 per cent stake, on Winnington in the UK golf and was a prolific reader
(GEC) consisting of handpicked the board of Tata Sons.
executives from within Tata In 2006, Cyrus, then 38, BEFORE BEING picked to HE GRADUATED in civil
Group, industry executives and was appointed on board of become the Chairman of engineering from the
alsoacademiatodriveoperations. Tata Sons after his father Tata Sons, Mistry was the Imperial College, London
He was termed as a studious Pallonji retired. managing director of and was also an MSc in
backroom executive who had a He was also a director Shapoorji Pallonji Group. In management from the
sharp mind. on Tata Power and 1991, he entered the family London School of Business
Full report on Tata Elxsi board business, becoming director PTI
www.indianexpress.com

BRIEFLY
Byju’sfunding
New Delhi: Edtech major
Byju’s is likely to raise over
$500million(aboutRs3,900
crore) at a valuation of
around $23 billion in about
a week, sources privy to the
developmentsaid.Thecom-
pany is planning to use the
fundingforacquisitioninthe
US, they added.
Paytm,probe
New Delhi: Digital financial
services firm One97
Communications, which
operates under the Paytm
brand, denied any link with
the merchants that are un-
der the Enforcement
Directorate scanner in the
Chinese loan app case. PTI
GUSTAVO ARNAL, 52, HAD JOINED CO IN 2020
Bed Bath & Beyond CFO falls to his death
REUTERS
BENGALURU, SEPTEMBER 4
BED BATH & Beyond Inc’s chief
financial officer fell to his death
from New York’s Tribeca sky-
scraper known as the “Jenga”
tower on Friday afternoon, po-
lice said, just days after the com-
pany said it was closing several
stores.
GustavoArnal,52,joinedBed
Bath&Beyondin2020.Heprevi-
ouslyworkedasCFOforcosmet-
ics brand Avon in London and
had a 20-year stint with Procter
& Gamble, according to his
LinkedIn profile.
DAYSAFTERCOSAIDSEVERALSTORESTOSHUT
■ Gustavo Arnal, 52, joined
Bed Bath & Beyond in 2020.
He previously worked as
CFO for cosmetics brand
Avon in London and had a
20-year stint with Procter &
Gamble, according to his
LinkedIn profile
■ Last week, Bed Bath &
Beyond said it would close
On Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET
(1630GMT),policerespondedto
a 911 call and found a 52-year-
150 stores, cut jobs and
overhaul its merchandising
strategy in an attempt to
turn around its
money-losing business
■ On August 16, Arnal, sold
55,013 shares in the
company, Reuters’
calculations showed based
on SEC filings.
old man dead near the building
who appeared to suffer injuries
from a fall. Police identified the
man as Gustavo Arnal.
The police statement did not
providefurtherdetailsonthecir-
cumstances leading to Arnal’s
death but added that the New
York City Medical Examiner’s
Office will now determine the
cause of the fatality.
Bed Bath and Beyond did not
immediately respond to re-
quests for comment.
On August 16, Arnal, sold
55,013 shares in the company,
Reuters’ calculations showed
based on SEC filings.
The big-box chain — once
considered a so-called “category
killer” in home and bath goods
— has seen its fortunes falter af-
ter an attempt to sell more of its
own brand, or private-label
goods. Last week, Bed Bath &
Beyond said it would close 150
stores, cut jobs and overhaul its
merchandising strategy in an at-
tempt to turn around its money-
losing business.
Bed Bath & Beyond forecast a
bigger-than-expected 26 per
cent slump in same-store sales
for the second quarter and said
it would retain its buybuy Baby
business, which it had put up for
sale. The 60-story tower at 56
Leonard Street in Tribeca gets its
name from the way the apart-
ments are stacked like blocks in
the Jenga game.
Giving final touches
to assured return
scheme: PFRDA chief
New Delhi: The PFRDA is giving
final touches to the assured re-
turn investment plan under the
NPS architecture, while keeping
the option to offer a fixed mini-
mum return or benchmark it to
a real-time rate open, a top offi-
cial has said.
PensionFundRegulatoryand
DevelopmentAuthority(PFRDA)
is most likely to give the final
shape to the product by the end
of this month. However, the
launching may take another few
months, PFRDA Chairperson
Supratim Bandyopadhyay said.
“Wehadtwo-threeroundsof
discussions with the pension
fund managers, the EY team
along with our expert commit-
tee members. We have given
some kind of a shape to that
(product),mostlythefinalshape
will be done by the end of
September. The launch will take
some time because it requires a
lot of system-related develop-
ments as it is a new kind of
scheme altogether,” he told PTI
in an interview.
As the name suggests, the
scheme intends to offer a mini-
mum guaranteed return to in-
vestors. However, the regulator
hasnot yetdecidedonthe quan-
tum. PTI

New Delhi
 16 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER AND SXfªfÀ±ff³f ÀfSXIYfSX

DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING
Government of Andhra Pradesh, Guntur.
E-PROCUREMENT TENDER NOTICE
E-procurement T.No.CE(AM)/AP/GNT/Ep/16/2022-23, Dated: 04-09-2022
IYf¹ffÊ»f¹f CX´f ½f³f ÀfaSXÃfIY, ÀfeIYSX (SXfªfÀ±ff³f)
(Àffa½f»fe SXûOX, ÀfeIYSX-332001; Ph. No. 01572-274094; email: dcf.sikar.forest@rajasthan.gov.in, Classifieds
Online tenders are invited by the Chief Engineer (AM) Guntur for AP Civil Supplies
dcfsikar@gmail.com)
Department from the Registered Weigh Bridge Manufacturing Firms for Ii ¸ffaI : ER () ·f¯OfS/C½fÀfaÀfe/2022-23/9167 dQ³ffaI : 31/08/22 PERSONAL
Establishment of 258 Nos. of Weighbridges nearby RBKs Across the State of ¶fû»fe Af¸faÂf¯f Àfc¨f³ff
Andhra Pradesh Costing approximately for Rs. 51,60,00,000/-. E procurement Site d½fØfe¹f ½f¿fÊ 2022-23 ¸fZÔ ½f³f ¸f¯O»f, ÀfeI S IZ A²fe³f ³fZ¨fS ´ffIÊ , R °fZW ´fbS ½f BÊI û»ffgªfe ´ffIÊ , »føf¯f¦fPÞ ¸fZÔ Àfa¨ffd»f°f d½fI fÀf I f¹fûË IZ I, Varsha Singh, D/o Shri
Opens on Dt. 10-09-2022 at 4.00 P.M. Any other Information can be had from the Kamlesh Kumar Singh, R/o E-
d»fE d³f¸³ff³fbÀffS Àff¸f¦fie Af´fcd°fÊ E½fa dR d¢Àfa¦f I f¹fÊ dI ¹fZ ªff³fZ ¶ff¶f°f ¹f±ff d½fd²f SdªfÀMOÊ d³f¸ffÊ°ff/Af´fcd°fÊI °ffÊ A³fb·f½fe R ¸fûË ÀfZ d³fd½fQfEa Af¸fadÂf°f
www.tender.apeprocurement.gov.in or from the office of the Chief Engineer (AM), 66, I.A.R.I. Pusa, New Delhi -
I e ªff°fe W` Ü Àf¸fÀ°f d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf dQ³ffaI 20.09.2022 Àffa¹f 6:00 ¶fªfZ °fI Àfa¶fad²f°f BÊ-d³fd½fQf ÀffBÊO ÀfZ OfC³f»fûO I S d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf ¸f¹f 110012, dohereby solemnly
O/o. Commissioner & Director of Agrl. Marketing, Chuttunta Center, Guntur.
Sd/- Chief Engineer (AM), A³¹f QÀ°ff½fZªf A´f»fûO dI ¹fZ ªff ÀfI °fZ W`Ô Ü Afg³f»ffBʳf d³fd½fQfEh ½f³f ¸f¯O»f I f¹ffÊ»f¹f ¸fZÔ dQ³ffaI 21.09.2022 I û A´fSf³W 2.00 ¶fªfZ Jû»fe declare that I have changed
O/o. Commissioner and Director of Agrl. Marketing, Govt. of A.P, Guntur. ªff½fZ¦feÜ my name from Varsha Singh to
VarshaaSiingh for all future
IiY. d³fd½fQf ³ff¸f Àff¸f¦fie
Àff¸f¦fie Af´fcd°fÊ A³fb¸ffd³f°f A³fb¸ffd³f°f A¸ff³f°f MD, d³fd½fQf purposes vide Affidavit dated
Àfa. Àfa£¹ff dIY¹fZ ªff³fZ ½ff»fZ ¸ffÂff »ff¦f°f SXfdVf RISL Vfb»IY 03.09.2022. 0040630511-1
SmÔXªf IYf¹ffÊ»f¹f SXfdVf Vfb»IY (÷Y´f¹fZ
I Neeraj Kumar S/o Kashmiri Lal
IYf ³ff¸f (»ffJûÔ ¸fZÔ) (÷Y´f¹fZ ¸fZÔ) ¸fZÔ)
R/o G-12/88, Pocket - 12,
1 20/2022-23 Supply of white ³fZ¨fS ´ffIÊ , 46700 145.00 2,90,000/- 1000/- 1000/- Rohini, Sector 15, Delhi-110089
Ashalar/Soorsagar stone kerb R °fZW ´fbS ³f¦f have changed my name to
stone machine cut size 600 × ½f BÊI û»ffgªfe ´ffIÊ , Niraj Kumar 0040630327-1
200 × 125 mm one edge 50 ×
50 mm (Moulded)
»føf¯f¦fPÞ I,Virender Kumar Aneja,S/O-
UBN-FOR 2223GLOB00460 Jagtar Singh Aneja,R/O-
23,Upper Ground,Pocket-
2 21/2022-23 Providing and fixing of Iron ªfe-dVfOйfc»f 30.10 60,200/- 500/- 500/-
grill on boundary wall 6,Sector-22,Rohini,Delhi-11008
IZ A³fbÀffS 6,hereby inform that my father
UBN-FOR 2223WSOB00461
name has been wrongly
d³fd½fQf ÀfZ Àfa¶fad²f°f Àf¸fÀ°f d½f½fS¯f ½fZ¶fÀffBÊM http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in, www.sppp.raj.nic.in ´fS QZJf ªff ÀfI °ff W` Ü d³fd½fQf written in my documents Janki
IZ d½fÀ°fÈ°f d³f¹f¸f Vf°fZË E½fa ¸ff»f/ÀfZ½ff ÀfZ Àfa¶fad²f°f ¸ffÂff/Àfa£¹ff E½fa d½fdVf¿M¹ffa AfdQ d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf ¸fZÔ AadI °f W` Ü Swroop Aneja instead of
WXÀ°ff./- Jagtar Singh Aneja.
(½feSmX³ýi dÀfaWX IÈYd¿¯f¹ffa) 0040630564-1
CX´f ½f³f ÀfaSXÃfIY,
I,Varsha Agarwal,D/o-Anil
DIPR/C/11429/2022 ÀfeIYSX Agarwal aged 22 Years,R/o-C-
105,Express Green, Sector-
1,Vaishali,inform that in my
10th Marksheet & Certificate
RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE my name has wrongly
DEVELOPMENT COMPANY HAV (LATE) RAM BAHADUR CHHETRI,
mentioned as Varsha
Aggarwal instead of Varsha
SENA MEDAL (POSTHUMOUS)
(KARNATAKA) LIMITED The Tagra Teyees family proudly remembers
Agarwal. 0040630564-5

(A Joint Venture of Government of Karnataka & Ministry of Railways) HAVILDAR RAM BAHADUR CHHETRI, SENA I,Trupthi T Sapalya,D/o Late B
Regd. Office: 1st Floor, Samparka Soudha, Opp. Orion Mall, MEDAL (Posthumous) who in the true traditions of Thimmappa Sapalya,residing
Dr. Rajkumar Road, Rajajinagar Bengaluru - 560010 the Assam Rifles made supreme sacrifice while at-10-138’Kalpatharu’Near-
Email ID: gmfinance@kride.in CIN: U60100KA2000PLC028171 bravely combating terrorists in Kunthal, Doda Ullal Railway-
No.K-RIDE/FIN/SAP/03/2022 Dt: 03.09.2022 District, (J&K) on 05 September 1994. May the Station,Kotekar,Post-
Almighty grant eternal peace to his soul. His Someshwara-Mangaluru,
e-Tender Notice gallant action will continue to inspire us all. Karnataka-575022,has
e-tenders are invited from Experienced agencies for the DEEPLY REMEMBERED BY changed my name as Trupthi
below Services. COMMANDANT & ALL RANKS Ajith kumar. I,have executed
23 ASSAM RIFLES ‘TAGRA TEYEES’ Affidavit-dated.03-09-
Tender Notice Name of the Work 2022,before the Notary
No. & Date Public/Judicial Officer to the
K-Ride/FIN/ Implementation of ERP-SAP/S-4 HANA said effect.I,shall be known as
Trupthi Ajith kumar,for all
SAP/03/2022, Solution (HR-Human Resources Management
purposes in future.
dated including Payroll, FICO-Financial &
0040630506-1
03.09.2022 Accounting Module, PS-Project Systems
& MM - Materials Management). I,Rehan Masroor,S/o-Masroor
Ali Shamsi,R/o-9/107,Tan tan
Last date for subm ission of the above tender is Para,upper kot,near Shams
06.10.2022 till 15:00 hours. For details visit: https:// Plaza,koil Aligarh,U.P.-
eproc.karnataka.gov.in with Tender No: KRIDE FIN SAP 202001,have changed my
03 2022 and www.kride.in OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER PROJECT, name M Rehn Masroor to M
Rehan Masroor for all future
Sd/- General Manager (F)/K-RIDE PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, JODHPUR purposes. 0040630564-3
DIPR/DD-C.P/2057/MCA/2022-23 Tel. 0291-2651700 E-mail : rj_cejod@nic.in I,Piu Kundu W/o-Vikas Jain R/o-
No. CE(P)/PHED/Ju/Ar. Pali/22-23/11710-11752 Date: 30.8.2022 47-B, Ayodhya Enclave, Sector-
SXfªfÀ±ff³f ÀfSXIYfSX
Notice Inviting Bid (NIB No. 20/2022-23) IYf¹ffÊ»f¹f A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ff Àff½fʪfd³fIY d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f-½fÈ°f ÀfeIYSX
13, Rohini, New Delhi-110085
Bid for Execution of works related to "Drinking water supply project for have changed my name to Piu
(OXfIY ¶fa¦f»ff I`Y¸´fÀf Àfe½fSX 332001; email: piu_sikar1@rediffmail.com,
providing FHTCs in 68 villages of tehsil-Sheoganj, Distt. Sirohi through Jain for,all purposes.
seskr.pwd@rajasthan.gov.in)
Jawai Dam" viz. RWR, RWPH, WTP, Clear Water Pump Houses, RCC Ii ¸ffaI :- EÀf.BÊ/ÀfeI S/2022/Oe:-2227 dQ³ffaI :- 29.08.2022 0040630342-2
CWR/OHSRs, P/L/J of Transmission mains, Cluster distribution system, ÀfaVfûd²f°f BÊ- d³fd½fQf Àfc¨f³ff Àfa£¹ff: 13/2022-2023
Village distribution system and civil, mechanical, electrical & I,Neelam Rani,W/O-Mr. Manoj
d½f¿f¹f:- BÀf I f¹ffÊ»f¹f IZ ´fÂffaI EÀf.BÊ/ÀfeI S/2022/Oe:-2011 dQ³ffaI 04.08.2022 õfSf Af¸fadÂf°f d³fd½fQf Àfc¨f³ff Àfa£¹ff Talwar,R/O-H.No.396,LIG
instrumentation works including Geo-tagging complete job as per scope
13/2022-23 ¸fZÔ d³f¸³ff³fbÀffS ÀfaVfû²f³f ³fûM I û ´fiI fdVf°f I S³fZ ¶ff¶f°fÜ Flats,Hastsal,Uttam
& specifications on Single Point Responsibility Basis including
necessary Design and Operation & maintenance for 10 years (upto VTC) d½f½fSX¯f ´fc½fÊ IYe dQ³ffaIY ÀfaVfû²f³f dQ³ffaIY Nagar,Delhi-110059,have
after 1 year defect liability period under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) are d³fd½fQf Afg³f»ffBʳf Af½fZQ³f/OfC³f»fûO 08.08.2022 ´fif°f: 10.00 ¶fªfZ ÀfZ 15.09.2022 I û Àffa¹f 6.00 ¶fªfZ °fI changed my name to Bhawana
invited from interested bidders up to 06/10/2022, 14:00 Hrs. Other particulars I S³fZ I e °ffSeJ 29.08.2022 I û Àffa¹f 6.00 ¶fªfZ °fI Talwar. 0040630564-2
of the bid and subsequent amendments /corrigendum issued (if any) may be d³fd½fQf Afg³f»ffBʳf ªf¸ff I Sf³fZ I e °ffSeJ 08.08.2022 ´fif°f: 10.00 ¶fªfZ ÀfZ 15.09.2022 I û Àffa¹f 6.00 ¶fªfZ °fI
visited on the procurement portal (http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in, 29.08.2022 I û Àffa¹f 6.00 ¶fªfZ °fI I,Anirudh Das S/o-Piu Jain R/o
http://sppp.raj.nic.in) of the state; and http://phedwater.rajasthan.gov.in. °fI ³feI e d¶fO Jû»f³fZ I e °ffSeJ 30.08.2022 I û Àffa¹f 2:00 ¶fªfZÜ 16.09.2022 I û Àffa¹f 2:00 ¶fªfZÜ 47-B, Ayodhya Enclave, Sector-
The estimated value of procurement is Rs. 136.02 Cr. NIB NO. PWD2223A1534 13, Rohini, New Delhi-110085
UBN NO. PWD2223WSOB05505 PWD2223WSOB05506, PWD2223WSOB05508, PWD2223WSOB05509, PWD2223 have changed my name to
UBN : PHE2223WLOB06205 WSOB05510, PWD2223WSOB05511, PWD2223WSOB05512, PWD2223WSOB05513, PWD2223WSOB05514,
Anirudh for,all purposes.
Sd/- PWD2223WSOB05515, PWD2223WSOB05517

Chief Engineer Project d³fd½fQf I e A³¹f Vf°fZË ¹f±ff½f°f SWZÔ ¦feÜ WXÀ°ff./- 0040630342-1
DIPR/C/11413/2022 PHED Jodhpur DIPR/RO NO. 10602/2022 (Àff¹fSX ¸f»f ¸fe¯ff)
I,Aakash,S/o-Shiv Charan R/o-
A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ff
DIPR/C/11348/2022 Àff.d³f.d½f. ½fÈØf ÀfeIYSX 551-A,Baba Farid Puri,West
Patel Nagar, Delhi-110008,have
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER PROJECT, changed my name to Akash
PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, JODHPUR Government of India, Department of Atomic for all future purposes.
Tel. 0291-2651700 E-mail : rj_cejod@nic.in Energy, Heavy Water Plant (Kota) 0040630564-4
No. CE(P)/PHED/Ju/Ar. Pali/22-23/10656-687 Date: 12.08.2022 e-Tender invitation notice no. - HWPK/Canteen/2022
I,JESMIN KAUR LAMBHA alias
Online item rate tenders are invited through e-Tendering mode for “Annual
Notice Inviting Bid (NIB No. 15/2022-23) contract for providing canteen services, preparation of meals, tea, snacks,
JASMINE LAMBA D/o Charanjit
Bid for Execution of works related to "Drinking water supply project for housekeeping and allied services at Canteen, Administration and Accounts Singh Lamba R/o A-24, Naraina
providing FHTCs in 69 villages of Block-Rohat, Distt. Pali (package-1)” Section HWP(Kota) for the year 2022-23” by General Manager, Heavy Water Vihar, Delhi-110028 have
viz. Pump Houses, RCC CWR/OHSRs, P/L/J of Transmission mains, Plant (Kota), Post: Anushakti 323303, Via - Kota Rajasthan) for and On behalf of
Cluster distribution system, Village distribution system and civil, changed my name to JASMINE
the President of India, from approved, eligible and experienced contractors.
mechanical, electrical & instrumentation works including Geo-tagging Estimated cost of work: Rs. 4953200/-, EMD. Rs. 99064/-, Work Completion Time LAMBA for all purposes.
complete job as per scope & specifications on Single Point 09 Months. 040629935-3
Responsibility Basis including necessary Design and Operation &
maintenance for 10 years (upto VTC) after 1 year defect liability period Tender document can be viewed/downloaded from 05.09.2022 (10:00 hrs) to

Biju Patnaik University of Technology, Odisha under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) are invited from interested bidders up to
16/09/2022, 14:00 Hrs. Other particulars of the bid and subsequent
14.09.2022 (15:00 hrs). The last date for online submission of tender is 14.09.2022
(15:00 hrs). The technical bids will be opened on 15.09.2022 at 15:00 hrs. LOST & FOUND
Rourkela amendments / corrigendum issued (if any) may be visited on the procurement
portal (http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in, http://sppp.raj.nic.in) of the state; and
The detailed NIT and Tender Documents are available on the website
https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app for free to view/download. The detailed I, Arti Bhardwaj, have lost my
KK-136 http://phedwater.rajasthan.gov.in. The estimated value of procurement is NIT can be seen at website www.hwb.gov.in For further information please contact Original Lease Deed of
Rs. 111.83 Cr. Telephone no. 01475- 242201/242217, fax -01475- 242203 on all working days. Property No. 2/15, East Patel
Tender Notice No. BPUT/ CS&P/75/2022/5068 Date: 03.09.2022 General Manager Nagar, Delhi, regd. Document
UBN : PHE2223WLOB05365
TENDER CALL NOTICE FOR SUPPLY OF Sd/-
Chief Engineer Project
For & on behalf of President of India no. 229, Book no.1, Volume No.
8 on dated 19.11.1952. If found
GOLD MEDALS- 2022 DIPR/C/11412/2022 PHED Jodhpur pls. Contact: 7011732128

Sealed Tenders are invited from the reputed “IMPORTANT” 0040630524-1

Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance of
and experienced agencies/ Firms for Supply advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its
contants. The Indian Express (P) Limited cannot SITUATION VACANT
of Gold Medal for 10th Convocation of the be held responsible for such contents, nor for any
Andromeda Hospitals &
University. The details of the Tender is loss or damage incurred as a result
transactions with companies, associations or
of
Healthcare Private Limited,
available in the website i.e www.bput.ac.in. individuals adversing in its newspapers or Address-GD-13, 3rd Floor,
Publications. We therefore recommend that Vishaka Enclave, Pitam Pura,
The last date and time of receiving of sealed readers make necessary inquiries before sending Delhi-110034, 0040630564-6
Tender by Speed Post/ Registered Post any monies or entering into any agreements with
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addressing to the “Registrar, Biju Patnaik advertisement in any manner whatsoever.

University of Technology, Chhend,

Rourkela-769015 is 24.09.2022 up to 5.00 indianexpress.com
pm. University reserves right to reject any
Tender without assigning any reason thereof.
Sd/-
REGISTRAR
OIPR- 44003/11/0003/2223

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 17 SPORT/CALENDAR WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

Antony, Rashford steer Man

Utd past Arteta’s Arsenal
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEPTEMBER 4
MarcusRashfordstrucktwiceasManchester
United made it four wins in a row and ended
Arsenal's perfect start to the Premier League
season with a 3-1 victory at Old Trafford on
Sunday.
A high-tempo, top quality game was de-
cided by two Rashford goals on the break af-
ter Bukayo Saka had cancelled out United
debutant Antony's opener.
Arsenal remained top of the table on 15
points thanks to their opening five wins and
while they will be disappointed to have
ended that run, this was far from the kind of
meek loss against Big Six opponents they
have produced in the recent past.
United look to have found their belief
againafterstartingthecampaignwithdread-
ful defeats by Brighton and Brentford and
DutchcoachEriktenHag'sapproachisbring-
ing results. Antony was handed a place on
the right flank with Rashford central and
Jadon Sancho on the left but Cristiano
Ronaldo started on the bench alongside
Brazilian Casemiro.
United dominated the opening ex-
changes, camping in Arsenal's half and there
was an early chancefor ChristianEriksenbut
the Dane's volley flashed wide.
Arsenal looked slick on the ball, though,
and Gabriel Martinelli looked to have given
them a 12th-minute lead after finishing off a
swiftbreak.ButrefereePaulTierneywassent
to the monitor and disallowed the goal after
ruling that Eriksen had been fouled by
Martin Odegaard before the counter-attack
was launched.
Martinelli forced two saves from United
keeper David De Gea as the visitors began to
dominatebutitwasthehomesidewhodrew
first blood, 10 minutes before the interval.
Brazilian Antony, signed from Ajax last
week,wasfoundontherightbyRashfordand
coolly drifted a left-foot shot into the far bot-
tomcorner.Arsenaldeservedlydrewlevel,on
the hour, when the outstanding Odegaard
threadedaballtowardsGabrielJesusinthebox
and after a challenge by Raphael Varane the
ball fell to Saka who slotted home.
United might have panicked or faded
away last season but six minutes later they
restored their lead when Bruno Fernandes
found Rashford with a superb through ball
and the England striker confidently beat the
advancing Aaron Ramsdale.
It was another swift counter that led to
United's third with the excellent Erkisen
breaking clear and slipping the ball across to
Rashford for a simple finish.
A four-game winning run, including vic-
tories over Liverpool and Arsenal, has totally
changed the mood at Old Trafford and Ten
Hag was rightly pleased with his players' re-
silience. "The spirit from this team, they can
Manchester United's Antony celebrates
scoring their first goal with Marcus
Rashford and Scott McTominay. Reuters
deal with setbacks so we did, it is really great
and shows your mentality - we have really
improved on that," he said.
"Wearehappyandsatisfiedwiththewin,
also the performance against a really good
team - they played really well," he said.
United climbed to fifth in the standings,
three points behind Arsenal.
Rodgers takes the blame
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers
says the team's poor results this season are
down to him as he deflected blame from his
playersfollowingthe5-2PremierLeagueloss
at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
Leicester defended poorly and gave up
possession too easily in another demoralis-
ing defeat that left them with a single point
from their opening six games having lost
their last five matches in a row, their worst
start to a season since 1983-84.
Next up is a home match against Aston
Villa.
"You can only work hard," Rodgers told
BBC Sport. "We need to pick the players up
for another home game next week, which
willbeabigopportunityforus.If wecansus-
tain the game for longer and not make mis-
takes, we can build towards getting a result."
The defeat will put Rodgers' position in
thespotlightandheacceptedblamefortheir
plight."My focus is on the football and trying
to give the players the confidence and struc-
ture to our game to get back to winning," he
said."Wewillarrivewithanewenergy,focus
andhopefullyconfidenceintothegamenext
week.
"Youputthehardyards innowandwork,
notshirkresponsibility.Theresultsaredown
to me, I am the manager, and we need to go
away and work even harder and get that first
win."
KEY RESULTS
ManUtd 3 1 Arsenal
Brighton 5 2 Leicester
Nadal hits the gas
WorldNo2defeatsRichardGasquetinstraightsetstoadvancetoRound-of-16
ASSOCIATEDPRESS
SEPTEMBER4
RAFAELNADAL'Snosewasjustfine.Sowashis
tennis.Nostitchesorevenabandage,48hours
after he drew blood by accidentally smacking
himself with his racket — and not a trace of
trouble, as usual, against Richard Gasquet.
Nadal improved to 18-0 against Gasquet
across their careers and ran his head-to-head
setstreakto34inarowbywinningtheirthird-
roundmatchupattheU.S.Open6-0,6-1,7-5on
Saturday night.
After No. 2 seed Nadal grabbed the initial
nine games, Gasquet finally claimed one 70
minutesin.Whena97mphservedrewanet-
tedreturnfromthe22-timeGrandSlamcham-
pion, Gasquet raised both arms as the Arthur
Ashe Stadium crowd feted him with a stand-
ing ovation.
Things reverted to form from there be-
tweenthetwo36-year-oldsfortheremainder
of that set, with Nadal's groundstroke power
and placement too much for Gasquet, who
used to be a top-10 player but is now ranked
91st.
Only in the third set did Gasquet make
things more competitive, getting to 5-all, be-
foreNadaltakethelasttwogamestoimprove
to 22-0 in Grand Slam matches in 2022.
Next for Nadal comes a matchup on
Monday against No. 22 Frances Tiafoe, an
American who reached the fourth round at
Flushing Meadows for the third year in a row.
Nadal is 2-0 against Tiafoe.
“Now I believe I can beat him. ... I'm defi-
nitely going to come after him,” said the 24-
year-old Tiafoe, who is from Maryland.
The key?
“Matchhisintensityfromthefirstpointto
the last,” Tiafoe said after getting past No. 14
DiegoSchwartzman7-6(7),6-4,6-4.“Youcan't
reallyhaveanydips.Hetakesadvantageof it.”
NadalwontheAustralianOpeninJanuaryand
theFrenchOpeninJune,thengottothesemi-
finals at Wimbledon before pulling out of the
grass-court tournament because of a torn ab-
dominal muscle.
Before coming to New York in pursuit of a
fifth championship at Flushing Meadows,
Nadal tweaked his service motion to ease the
strain on his midsection, lowering his toss so
asnottoreachasfarontheswing.Theadjust-
ment has not hurt his effectiveness.
Andneitherdidthebizarremishapinasec-
ond-round victory over Fabio Fognini on
Thursday,whenNadal'sracketbouncedoffthe
court and up into the bridge of his nose on a
backhand follow-through. He was left blood-
ied and dizzy and worried he'd broken his
nose.
“Alittlebitbiggerthanusual,butit'sOK,”he
said with a smile after eliminating Gasquet.
“The nose is still there.”
Much like for so many other folks, Serena
Rafael Nadal has now bested Richard Gasquet an unprecedented eighteen times.
Reuters
Williams' last match at the U.S. Open was
must-seeTVforplayersstillinthetournament,
so Jessica Pegula and Petra Kvitova tuned in
from their hotel rooms the night before their
victories led off and set up a fourth-round
showdown.
“OfcourseIwatchedSerena.I'mlikeevery-
oneelse,”saidPegula,a28-year-oldAmerican
whoisseededNo.8atFlushingMeadowsand
beat qualifier Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-0. “You
feel kind of sad that's how it ends. But, I don't
know, like I got a little, like, sentimental, too,
watchingher,howemotionalshewasgetting.”
Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion
from the Czech Republic, credited Williams'
laststand—theownerof 23GrandSlamtitles
fendedofffivematchpointsbeforebowingout
inthreesetsagainstAjlaTomljanoviconFriday
nightinwhatisexpectedtobeherfinalcontest
— with offering inspiration.
“Itwasveryspecial.Shedidn'twanttoleave
thecourt,forsure.Thatwasthesamecasewith
me today, actually. I didn't want to go out of
this tournament, so I was just there hanging
(in), somehow,” said Kvitova, who erased
deficit after deficit, including a pair of match
points, to edge Garbiñe Muguruza 5-7, 6-3, 7-
6 (12-10).
“That's what Serena showed last night,”
saidKvitova,whodroppedherracketandcov-
ered her face with her ends when what she
called a “nightmare” of a tiebreaker was over.
“Itwasnicetoseeheryesterday,fightinguntil
the end.” Yes, Williams is gone, leaving the
year's last major tournament — and, in some
ways,thesportasawhole—withoutitsbiggest
star and storyline. Still, the show must go on.
So there was Kvitova, undaunted as ever,
despitedroppingthefirstset,despitetrailing5-
2 in the third, despite being a point from de-
feat twice at 6-5.
Here'showclosethisonewas:Kvitovawon
109 total points, Muguruza 108.
“Left everything on the court today,” said
No. 9 Muguruza, a two-time Slam winner
whose departure means the bracket is with-
outsixofthetop10womenenteringthefourth
round.
No. 1 Iga Swiatek advanced by beating
Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-4, and No. 6 Aryna
Sabalenka defeated Clara Burel 6-0, 6-2.
WOMEN'S THIRD ROUND:
(1) Iga Swiatek def. Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-4;
(8); Jessica Pegula def. Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-7 (6),
6-0; (19) Danielle Collins def. Alizé Cornet 6-
4, 7-6 (11-9); (21) Petra Kvitova def. Garbiñe
Muguruza5-7,6-3,7-6(12-10);(22)Karolina
Pliskova def. (13) Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-4, 6-
3; (26) Viktoria Azarenka def. Petra Martic 6-
3, 6-0.
MEN'S THIRD ROUND:
(2) Rafael Nadal def. Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-
1,7-5;(3)CarlosAlcarazdef.JensonBrooksby
6-3, 6-3, 6-3; (7) Cam Norrie def. (28) Holger
Rune 7-5, 6-4, 6-1; (9) Andrey Rublev def.
(19) Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4,
7-6 (10-7); (11) Jannik Sinner def. Brandon
Nakashima 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; (22) Frances
Tiafoe def. (14) Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (7),
6-4, 6-4.
Verstappen wins
Dutch GP after
Merc blunder
REUTERS
SEPTEMBER4
RED BULL’S Max Verstappen won his home
Dutch Grand Prix from pole position for the
second year in a row on Sunday to send the
fans wild and his Formula One world cham-
pionship lead into triple figures.
Headded abonuspointforthefastestlap
as George Russell finished second for
Mercedes and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc com-
pleted the podium at Zandvoort.
"They threw everything at us but we
made the right calls," said Verstappen over
the radio as he celebrated his fourth win in a
row, and 10th in 15 races to surge 109 points
clear at the top.
"It's always special to win your home
grand prix, this year I had to work for it even
more," he added as the grandstands full of
orange-shirted fans -- most of the 105,000
attendance -- went into party overdrive.
Leclerc and Verstappen's Mexican team
mate Sergio Perez are tied on points in sec-
ond place overall, with the Ferrari driver
ahead on wins with seven rounds remain-
ing,but Verstappen's secondtitlelooksafor-
mality.
In the constructors' standings, Red Bull
have 511 points to Ferrari's 376.
Mercedes' seven-times world champion
Lewis Hamilton was fourth, the Briton fum-
ing at his team after leading a race he might
have won but for the timing of safety cars
and a tyre strategy that left him on slower
tyres than rivals.
"Ican'tbelieveyouguys,"hesaidoverthe
radio, with expletives filling the airwaves.
The Mercedes drivers had run one-two
forthefirsttimethisseason,afterrivalsmade
their first pitstops, with the pair on an initial
one-stopstrategywhileVerstappenplanned
for two.
A virtual safety car period triggered by
AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda changed that,
however, with Verstappen taking a cheap
pitstopandHamiltoncomplaininghishopes
of winning had been "stuffed".
Tsunoda had stopped by the side of the
track on the 44th of 72 laps, complaining a
wheel had not been fitted properly.
Told it was safe, he got going again and
returned to the pits for a tyre change and
seatbelt check before being sent back out --
and stopping.
Thefullsafetycarwasdeployedonlap55
when Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas stopped
just before the last corner, with Verstappen
pitting for soft tyres and Russell calling for
the same but Hamilton staying out on the
mediums.
Verstappen seized the lead again at the
re-start and did not look back, with Russell
and Leclerc powering past soon after and
triggering a heavily bleeped radio exchange.

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis

CROSSWORD 4838 DAY TODAY BY PETER VIDAL
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
It won't be long An unusual number
before you are of planetary
completely free of influences are
financial worries, jockeying for
and the little crises along the attention. Expect a busy week.
way are just problems sent to In fact, I think you should
annoy you. They are actively take on more than you
opportunities to get your act can handle in the knowledge
together so that next time that even unlikely new
round you make a huge commitments will become
profit. Listen to younger central to your affairs in the
relations. near future.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
The truth will out. Try to see the whole
Eventually. Stormy of the coming week
celestial in the round,
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson relationships follow reaching a peak
one another with great around Wednesday or
frequency. This is hardly a Thursday or Friday. You should
relaxing prospect and most plan all your personal affairs
Taureans will be caught up in with care and don't be alarmed
one stressful situation or if other people try to pull out of
another this week. The trick is joint arrangements; it could be
ACROSS DOWN to come out smiling. for the best.
1 Performer’s attire’s fantastic 1 Tempting fruit? (5)
GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
(7) 2 To love immoderately (3)
Your wit and It's uncertain
5 Some seats of a sort 3 As a result I object to leaving
intelligence will be whether the main
(5) home in London (4)
in much demand pressures on you this
8 Not a big audience though it 4 Notable French studies
this week. You'll be week will be
was for charity (6)
called upon to be the arbiter in completely illusory or, on the
(4,5) 5 Precise remedy (8)
all sorts of disagreements, some other hand, will be all too real.
9 It was said to fly back in record 6 Agonising end of bird is
of them important, others Therefore, you should take
time (3) prohibited (9)
utterly pointless and nothing for granted, but neither
10 Point of issue (4) 7 To get ahead take the other
insignificant. What seems like a should you get too wound up
12 Plain fine diet perhaps man’s place (7)
waste of time now may turn out over worries which may
(8) 11 One caring perhaps but not
to have its uses a little way vanish when fresh light is shed
14 Article in paper is a hoax knowing (9)
(6) 13 Announce that one is no MARVIN by Tom Armstrong down the line. on them.
15 Noted and objected (6) longer an amateur? (8) CANCER (June 22 - July 23) CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
17 Prophetic warning shout to 14 Sounds like they’re suffering. Not for about four Once again, your
players (8) In their chests? (7) months have the stars are moving
18 Break without warning 16 Possibly sit on a donkey to stars achieved such a towards a major
(4) help (6) welcoming alignment that is
21 Time one changed (3) 19 Breathtaking garments formation, encouraging going to shake up the entire
22 I’m in a race - go! (9) (5) partners to offer you full world. You may see the exciting
24 Teams upset by a hot issue 20 Complain about vehicle support. Although you are due events in your own life over the
(5) parking (4) to take another stunning leap next few months as part of a
25 Showing off a chest without a 23 Carbon that is about to freeze forward over the coming two marvellous larger pattern,
lid (7) (3) months, what happens may leading you to much greater
relate back to the events of personal satisfaction.
SolutionsCrossword4837:Across: 1Distance,5Dope,9Skill,10Sceptre,11 long ago.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
Auctionrooms,13Cheers,14Astern,17SaintBernard,20Outdoor,21Incur,22Sure, LEO (July 24 - Aug 23) Major moves are
23Seagreen.Down:1Dusk,2Seizure,3Alliteration,4Castor,6Outdo,7Evensong,
8Representing,12Scissors,15Earache,16Degree,18Inter,19Iron. It's a busy moment, afoot at home this
but an imaginative week. I suspect that
one. You will soon be your priorities may
forced to take some be challenged, either by other
fundamental measures people or by your own
JUMBLED WORDS DifficultyLevel4s
affecting the very foundations tendency to over-commit
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4947

of your life. Yet, while there will yourself. Aquarians in the

Instructions be a sense of urgency it is caring professions will do best
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, unlikely that arrangements at work, and if you put other
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 made now will prove hard people first then you will
SUDOKU 4948

theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe and fast. also gain.

Adultsare___children. nineverticalcolumns,in
-Dr.Seuss(8) VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23) PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
eachoftheninehorizontal In spite of your You're not always as
TREED EERWLT rowsandineachofthe need for certainty, soft as astrologers
nineboxes. it is very difficult to pretend. In fact, you
make firm have the cutting
predictions this week other edge that other people just
BYZOO BELAYS DifficultyLevel
than to say that any disruption seem to lack. You are also more
that does take place must be accomplished than usual, but
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; seen as part of a larger and do please remember to read
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; definitely positive pattern. instructions and heed
- Dr. Seuss 5s=VeryHard;6s= Communication breakdowns directions. It's easy to be too
Answer: Adults are obsolete children. Genius are possibly the major hazard. impatient for your own good.
SOLUTION: DETER, BOOZY, WELTER, BASELY

New Delhi
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

18 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022 MBAPPE SCORES TWICE IN PSG WIN
Kylian Mbappe scored twice from Lionel Messi assists as they won 3-0 at 10-
man Nantes to remain leader of the French league on Saturday. But the French
champions were dealt a blow from Vitinha’s apparent knee injury. The
Portuguese midfielder was forced off the pitch in the first half after falling on
the turf following a late tackle from defender Fabio, who was sent off. AP

BRIEFLY
Nationalgames
mascotlaunched
Official mascot of 36th National
Games 'Savaj'.
Ahmedabad: Gujarat has found a
prominent place in the world of
sports under the leadership of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and there
was no game for which an interna-
tional quality competition cannot be
held in the state, Union Home
Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday.
He was addressing a gathering at the
inaugural function of the 36th
National Games being hosted by
Gujarat. "I would like to tell the peo-
ple all over the country that under
the leadership of Modiji, Gujarat has
broken all records in building sports
infrastructure in the last one
decade," he said. He said that the
sports city coming up adjacent to the
Narendra Modi Stadium will make
Ahmedabad the city with perhaps
the world's biggest stadium and
sports city.
OdishaJuggernauts
Sunday Blues
India fail to defend 181 as Pakistan pull off a
thrilling chase with one ball to spare
cise Bhuvneshwar let him off to a smooth
start. Arshdeep was easy fodder for him as
he hefted him for a fierce six over square-
leg. Every stroke to the boundary seemed
like a slash on India’s belief. Inch by inch,
they surrendered, much before they had
lost, on the penultimate ball of the game.
His confidence restored after the Hong
Kong game, Rizwan controlled the chase
EXPRESSINUAE with the finesse and mastery of a conductor
at the London Opera. He knew which shots
SANDIPG to play, and which not to; when to play
DUBAI,SEPTEMBER4 them and when not to. He ensured that
Pakistan did not panic after they lost Babar
A LATE, final twist it seemed. Mohammad Azam and Fakhar Zaman. After the Hong
Rizwan, he of unflinching spirit and cool- Kong game, he had said: “We would look to
eyed ruthlessness, seemed to be taking be brave and calm.” And so they were.
Pakistan to victory. But what are India-
Pakistan encounters in T20s, from their Old frailties
twin games in the inaugural ICC World T20, Perhaps, Rizwan would have been im-
without late drama? Pounding hearts, possible to stop in this rampaging form. But
sweaty fingers and jangling nerves. With worryingly, India were clueless in dealing
Pakistan needing 35 runs off 20 balls, with the promoted Mohammad Nawaz. As
Hardik Pandya ejected Rizwan for a pugna- the left-hander strode in, they seemed
cious 71 off 51 balls with a short ball. Hope shocked. And when he began to unleash his
rose among the Indian section of the audi- artillery of strokes, India were not just
ence, fear plunged among Pakistanis. The caught off-guard, but seemed frightened,
match could still drift either way. as though they did not have a plan for him.
The next few minutes were more dra- Nawaz comes with a reputation of clean hit-
matic. India sought a review for a caught ting — in interviews he proudly talks of his
behind off Asif Ali, off the bowling of Ravi batting, and to back his claims, he has a T20
Bishnoi. The players and the crowd, chew- strike rate of 124 and five half- centuries —
ing nails, pulling hair, stroking chins, waited and he enhanced his reputation with a tor-
impatiently for the verdict on the screen. rent of boundaries in his 20-ball-42, which
Mohammad Rizwan’s 71 set up Pakistan’s chase against India on Sunday . Reuters

winUltimateKhoKho
The triumphant Odisha
Juggernauts team.
Pune: Suraj Lande's sensational sky
dive helped Odisha Juggernauts
clinched the title of the inaugural edi-
tion of Ultimate Kho Kho after beat-
ing Telugu Yoddhas 46-45 in a
thrilling final here on Sunday. After
Telugu Yoddhas managed to add 21
points in the third turn to take 41-27
lead,SachinBhargoprovidedtwocru-
cial points for his side and also kept
Odisha Juggernauts at bay for 2.44
minutes.
Tilakscoresmaiden
tonforIndiaA
Bengaluru: Promising batter Tilak
Varma scored his maiden first- class
hundred while Kuldeep Yadav
bowled with much more control as
thefirst'unofficialTest'betweenIndia
AandNewZealandA endedinadraw
here on Sunday. The match ended af-
ter New Zealand scored 133 for 4 in
their second innings.
BRIEF SCORES: New Zealand A 400
and133/4in61overs(RachinRavindra
40,KuldeepYadav2/38).IndiaA571/6
(Abhimanyu Easwaran 132, Rajat
Patidar 176, NT Tilak Varma 121)
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
The three-minute wait seemed an eternity, was as central to Pakistan’s victory as
and when the umpire withheld the on-field Rizwan’s 71.
decision that there was no conclusive evi-
dence to give him out,
a section of the crowd
“My batting is as important as bowling.
I perhaps put more
time on my batting
Rahul’s ‘strike rates are very, very overrated’
comment has come back to haunt him
breathed a collective than bowling,” he had
Lessthantwomonthsforthe
sigh of relief; the other once said.
stood in speechless dis- WorldCup, Indiaarestill prone There was a clarity
belief. This was not to toboutsof cluelessness. in his hitting — it was
be their night. For not a blind, mad
Passagesof thegame wherein knock, but one where PRATYUSHRAJ
Pakistan, this was their KL Rahul is making a comeback
night, their name writ- theylook utterlystunned, he leant on his per- SEPTEMBER4
ten on the inky skies. centage strokes. The
after a string of injuries and
bereftof answers,ideas and
A more speechless swings were often EARLIERTHISyear,duringtheWestIndiesse- Covid, and could be cut some
moment arrived — one imagination. Likewhen down the line, and not ries,whenaskedaboutViratKohli’sform,India slack, but his tempered-down
that convinced the Rizwanshiftedthroughthe across. The base was captain Rohit Sharma nonchalantly asked:
Indian supporters the gears.Asdangerousabatsman firm and the head usu- “ViratKohlikoconfidencekizaroorathai?Kya approach in T20Is has been
match was not theirs, ally still. “We needed baat kar rahe ho, yaar. (Virat Kohli needs con- questionable for the past
there was no avenue asheis,theyfedhimwith too 10 runs per over when fidence? What are you talking about!).” few years.
for a comeback. Third manylooseballs. I walked in to bat, so I Sixmonthsdowntheline,Kohliopenedup
ball of the 18th over, knew I had to attack abouthowhewasstrugglingwithconfidence
Arshdeep Singh spilled every chance I got. My and trying to fake his intensity.
a sitter of Asif at short third man, much to mind was clear that I’d hit out at every ball In the recent past, KL Rahul, who is tipped 14-ball fifty against the Delhi Capitals (then
the anger of skipper Rohit Sharma, who in my zone. I didn’t try and overplay, which to take over the baton from Sharma in the fu- DelhiDaredevils).ItisstillthefastestfiftyinIPL
kicked the turf in anger in a rare outburst. you sometimes can when you’re under ture, has completely changed his approach in history. He ended up with 659 runs at a strike
Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had just pressure,” he said. T2Ocricket.Frombeinganaggressiveopener, rate of 158.41.
pulled them back into the game but they Perhaps, it was the possibility of facing he has become an anchor, and his lack of in- Since then, his scoring rate in the IPL has
had contrived to squander the advantage. two leg-spinners that encouraged his pro- tentinthePowerplayhascostIndiaandhisIPL gonedowndrastically.In2019,hescored593
Though India had 26 runs to defend in the motion. But he did not limit his destruction teams (Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super runs at 135.38, followed by 670 (SR:129.34)
last two overs, Ali plundered 19 off the 19th to the leg-spinners — he was especially bru-
over to literally seal the match. Though talonChahal,whomhecartedforthreefours
Giants) in the recent past.
Not to forget, when he was captain of the
From being an aggressive opener, KL
Rahul has become an anchor. AP
in 2020, 626 runs (138.80) in 2021, and 616
runs (135.38) for LSG in their inaugural sea-
Arshdeep Singh knocked out Asif in the last —butextendedthepunishmenttotheseam-
over, the breakthrough came too late. ers too. Hardik, the previous Sunday’s hero,
Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), he de-
fended his changed approach saying, “Strike
son in 2022.
Sharma, in his recent interviews, has re-
The sign of a team that is still a study in was thundered over long-off, before he rates are very, very overrated.” turieshavecomeduringthisperiod.Inthenext peatedlysaidhowadisappointingcampaign
progress and not one that is hurtling to in- smashedhimfortwofoursinthreeballs.The Theright-handerismakingacomebackaf- 29 games, 968 runs came at a strike rate of at the last T20 World Cup has forced the
vincibility. 63-run rummaging stand in 6.3 overs took ter a string of injuries and Covid, and could be 132.96. In his last 20 T20Is, Rahul’s strike rate Indian team to bring about a radical change
Less than two months for the World the match inexorably beyond India’s grasp. cut some slack, but his tempered-down ap- has come down to 126.71. in its attitude and approach. He has talked
Cup, India are still prone to bouts of clue- There was Nawaz to hurt India in every proach in T20Is has been questionable for the If we compare his strike rate to England’s about a more aggressive batting style, and it
lessness. Passages of the game wherein they nook. He was Pakistan’s thriftiest bowler, past few years. white-ball skipper and opener Jos Buttler, will be interesting to see how the teamman-
look utterly stunned, bereft of answers, conceding just 6.25 runs per over, pulling In 58 T20Is (before the India vs Pakistan Rahulfallswellshort.Inhislast20T20Is,Buttler agement deals with Rahul’s batting ap-
ideas and imagination. Like when Rizwan the plug on India’s pacy start, with a master- Super Four tie in the Asia Cup), Rahul has is striking at the rate of 142.31. proach, with Sanju Samson and Deepak
shifted through the gears. As dangerous a ful control over his length. He prised out the scored 1,867 runs at a strike rate of 140.90, in- Meanwhile, Rahul’s opening partner Hooda waiting in the wings.
batsman as he is, they fed him with too precious wicket of Suryakumar Yadav be- cluding two centuries. Sharma’s strike rate in the last 20 games is RahulmightgettoplaythewholeAsiaCup,
many loose balls, which ensured that he fore he swallowed Hardik at short third- 144.31. consideringtheotherRahullovestogiveplay-
could score freely without embracing risks. man, lunging forward to grasp the ball that Fine print Rahul’s conservative approach has been ers a longer rope. But with Virat Kohli back
Yuzvendra Chahal provided him with was dying in front of him. He then duly set- Let’s divide his T20I international career questionedintheIPLaswell.Yes,heisscoring amongruns,Indiacertainlycan’taffordtohave
plenty of width to cut. Hardik gifted him tled under Deepak Hooda’s skier too. Not into two phases: heapsofrunsbutisconsumingtoomanyballs. two players in the anchor role and leave the
with length balls on the leg-side, which he surprisingly, he was adjudged Player of the Inthefirst29games,Rahulscored899runs In2018,whenhemovedtoPunjabfromRoyal dirty job to the likes of Suryakumar Yadav,
routinely demolished. Even the usually pre- Match. atastrikerateof 150.58.Bothof hisT20Iscen- Challengers Bangalore, he set the tone with a Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya.

Arshdeep spills & thrills; Rohit walks the stock-strike; Hooda does a Matrix Neo
EMOTIONAL was his entire body that he was throwing to- game ever so close. Defending just 7, he took

ROLLERCOASTER
Hot heads, calm minds and everything in between at the game
Hooda's arched-back Matrix 4
DeepakHooda’sacrobaticshadViratKohli
roaring and punching his bat in admiration. It
was a sharp bouncer from Mohammad
Hasnain,onthelegandmiddleline,andHooda
arched back. The ball kept rearing at his body.
Hekeptleaningfurtherandfurtherback.That
alone would have been creditable, just the
arching sway-back to evade a bouncer, but
then Kohli won’t be clapping for that.
Somehow in all this Neo-in-Matrix gymnas-
tics, Hooda managed to get the bat in line and
ramped it over the ‘keeper’s head for a stun-
ning four. He dug his bat into the ground, like
plantingaflag,andKohlihadhisbatabovehis
head, punching away deliriously. He also
rushedacrosstocongratulate.-SRIRAMVEERA
Welcome song for Fakhar
You are padded up, ready to go into bat in
a tense chase, the camera is on your face and
what is the worst that can happen to you?
Fakhar Zaman would have the answer. In a
cruel broadcasting decision, they showed his
many slip ups on the field while focusing the
camera on his face. The last two balls of the
Indian innings were a nightmare for Fakhar.
Onthesecondlastball,hefailedtostopalame
drive on the cover boundary and this was fol-
lowed by a goal keeper-type tipping over the
barhelpalongthatresultedinanotherbound-
ary.Thiswasafterhehadalmostbotchedupa
Rohit Sharma catch. -SANDEEPDWIVEDI
Kohli's mutant swat flick
They talk about Virat Kohli's cover drive,
but his signature shot in limited-overs is the
swatflick.ItwasoutondisplayinDubai,when
he shuffled across, and wondrously wristed a
Mohammad Hasnain-length ball over mid-
wicket to bring up his 50.
Kohli’s isn’t a flick, really. It’s a mutant. A
swat-flick,maybe.Thebottom-handpowered
shot feels like a stroke borrowed from table
tennis. A crack of doom. Even he didn’t know
whattocallitinitially.Attheendofapresscon-
ferencein2009inSouthAfrica,ashewasleav-
ing, a short chat bubbled up between us.
‘Hey! Some flick shot, that. Comes natu-
rally to you, na?’ Kohli’s answer stunned. “No,
no, in fact, I can’t recall how and where it be-
came part of my repertoire. I think from play-
Arshdeep Singh dropped the catch of Asif Ali in the 18th over. AP
ing these T20s, I would just play the normal
flicks before. What are you calling it?” ‘Er…
thinkingofswat-flick,youseemtobeswatting
theballbutflickingitatthesametime’.Andhe
pursed his lips and walked away. - SRIRAM
VEERA
Fakhar botch-up
Some catch blinders and there are those
who catch blindly. Khushdil belongs to the
other tribe. There he was, getting under one
RohitSharmsmis-hit.Hewasperfectlyplaced,
hands cupped and eyes on the ball. He was
waiting for the ball to drop and land in his
hands. And suddenly, from the corner of his
eyes he would have seen a green blur. Fakhar
Zamanwasdoingthecricketingequivalentof
pokinghisnoseinothers'business.Actuallyit
wardsKhushdil.Fakhartoohadhiseyesonthe
ball, in his mind it was his catch. He was on a
collisioncourse.WithKhushdilalmostsquat-
ting in anticipation, Fakhar got the first go at
the catch. With the possibility of injury very
high, Khushdil's eyes shut, out of instinct. But
he didn't un-cup his hands nor move them
away from the path of the ball. Fakhar missed
thecatch,theballescapedfromhisfingers,only
tofallinthehandsofKhushdil.Imaginehowit
would have felt to feel the ball in your hands
while in darkness. Several horrific accidents
andinjurieshavehappenedonthefieldinsuch
situations.Thankfully,thisoneendedinlaughs
and a sheepish Fakhar smile. - SANDEEP
DWIVEDI
Arshdeep drops crucial catch
It could well have been real tight - who
knows it might even have been game set
match India - had Arshdeep Singh taken the
catch of Asif Ali in the 18th over. Pakistan re-
quired 32 runs in 15 balls when Asif got a top
edge on the slog sweep off Ravi Bishnoi and
theballswirledtoArshdeepatshortthirdman.
Hewasallcoolaboutit,perhapstoocool,ashe
tried to pouch it nonchalantly. And it popped
out of his hand, to his horror.
And when he saw Asif Ali looting
BhubaneshwarKumarfor19runsnextover,it
mighthavebrokenalesserman.NotArshdeep.
He produced a stunning last over to take the
out Asif with a yorker in the third ball to push
the game to 2 from 2. But redemption wasn’t
oncardsonthenight,andalowfulltosswashit
over his head for two. And even as the fielder
released a weak throw from the deep andbe-
fore the batsmen completed the second run,
Arshdeep flicked out the bails at the non-
striker’send.TheLEDlightslitup,andthelight
wentoutofIndia’sresistance. -SRIRAMVEERA
Bishnoi special
Ravi Bishnoi is a leggie who doesn't really
turn the ball away from right handers. He is
more into top-spinners and wrong-ones. He
alsodoesn'tcareaboutreputations.Ina'dream
cometrue'kindofmoment,BishnoihadBabar
Azam caught at short mid-wicket by Rohit
Sharma. For the untrained eye it looked like a
softdismissal,Babarfailingtokeepdownaflick
off thelegs.Butthat'sBishnoi'sart.Hedealsin
subtlechangesof lengthandprecisetweakto
the ball. The ball to the Pakistan opener was
slightlyshortoflengthandwasaspinner'sver-
sionof theheavyball.ItclimbedonBabarand
what the batsman thought would be milking
thespinnerforasingle,provedtobehisundo-
ing. For Bishnoi it couldn't have been any bet-
ter. If he had stumbled upon a lamp and the
genie inside asked him what he wanted from
theIndia-Pakistangame,theboyfromJodhpur
would have said 'Let me get Babar in the first
over.' -SANDEEPDWIVEDI

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