DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES SINCE 1932 `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MoU – NBCC
NBCC inked an MOU with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) for the
planning, designing & execution of the IMA House at Indraprastha
Marg, IP Estate, New Delhi. The MoU was signed by Dr. Anil Kumar
Jaydev Nayak, Secretary General, IMA, Dr. Sharad Kumar Agarwal,
National President, IMA & Pradeep Sharma, CGM (Engg.) NBCC.
EVENT – SCOPE
SCOPE held a Bhoomi Pujan of a first-of-its-kind ‘Social Interaction
Club’ for PSEs at the SCOPE Complex in New Delhi. It was performed
by Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Chairman, SCOPE & CMD, GAIL & Atul
Sobti, DG, SCOPE along with Executive Board Members of SCOPE,
CMDs, Directors & senior officials of PSEs & SCOPE.
AGREEMENT – EIL
EIL executed a collaborative agreement with CSP Sunrise Pty Ltd. & its
group companies – Sunrise CSP India Pvt. Ltd. & Sunrise CSP Inte-
rnational Ltd. The collaboration marks a significant step towards fostering
innovation & promoting sustainable solutions, wherein both organizations
aim to leverage their combined expertise to deliver cutting-edge solutions
in the field of concentrated solar & other renewable technologies.
MEETING – INDIAN COAST GUARD
The 5th Regional/Zonal Commanders’ level meeting between the Indian
Coast Guard & Bangladesh Coast Guard was conducted recently thr-
ough video conferencing. The meeting was co-chaired by Inspector
General Iqbal Singh Chauhan, TM, Commander Coast Guard Region
(North East) & Captain Mohammad Kibria Haq, PCG MS, AFWC, PSC,
BN, Zonal Commander, West Zone of Bangladesh Coast Guard.
CONFERENCE - INDIANOIL
IndianOil organized a conference on "Leveraging Carbon Finance for
Affordable Solar Cooking" addressing India's clean cooking challenges.
The event was conducted in New Delhi through its knowledge partners
Finovista &Modern Energy Cooking Services. Industry experts,
Dignitaries of Union & State Governments, key stakeholder, poli-
cymakers & manufacturers participated in the event.
MoU - NTPC
NTPC & Oil India Ltd. have signed an MoU to explore collaboration in the
areas of renewable energy, green hydrogen & its derivatives, geothermal &
other decarbonization initiatives. The MoU, signed in the presence of
Gurdeep Singh, CMD, NTPC & Dr Ranjit Rath, CMD, OIL & their Functional
Directors, shall facilitate knowledge & experience sharing on the upcoming
decarbonization technologies like Carbon Sequestration.
ROZGAR MELA - CRPF
CRPF participated as a national-level coordinator in the mega Rozgar
Mela, held in 45 locations & hosted by the CAPF. During the 8th tranche
of distribution of appointment letters, more than 51000 appointment
letters were handed over to newly recruited candidates as PM Modi
remotely inaugurated the Rozgar Mela & addressed the newly-
recruited candidates through video conferencing.
INAUGURATION – DDA
As per PM Modi’s vision & to promote ease of living, Vinai Kumar
Saxena, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, inaugurated two foot-over
bridges, connecting Madhu Vihar with Dwarka’s Sector 4 & Sulhakul
Mandir with NSIT Dwarka, & a Utsav Pandal in Dwarka. Ramesh
Bidhuri, MP South Delhi, Parvesh Sahib Singh, MP WD, Subhasish
Panda, Vice Chairman DDA & other dignitaries graced the occasion.
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
CORPORATE BRIEFS
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – NHPC
NHPC hosted its 47th Annual General Meeting recently through video conferencing from its corporate office in
Faridabad. The members of the company considered the proposal for the declaration of a dividend of Rs 1.85
/- per equity share for the year 2022-23, which is inclusive of an interim dividend of Rs 1.40 /- per equity
share paid in March 2023. R.K. Vishnoi, CMD, NHPC addressed the shareholders at the meeting, wherein
members of the NHPC Board including R.P. Goyal, Dir. (Finance), Biswajit Basu, Dir. (Projects), Uttam Lal, Dir.
(Personnel) & Independent Directors Dr. Uday Sakharam Nirgudkar, Prof. (Dr.) Amit Kansal, Prof. (Dr.) Rashmi
Sharma Rawal, Jiji Joseph, Premkumar Goverthanan & Rupa Deb, Company Secretary, NHPC were also
present. CMD, NHPC highlighted various key achievements by NHPC & addressed various queries of members.
MEETING – THDCIL
RK Vishnoi, CMD, NHPC & THDC held a meeting with the Lt. Governor of J&K Manoj
Sinha. During the meeting, Vishnoi laid emphasis on the need for the development of
Mega Hydro Projects for harnessing the vast untapped hydropower potential in J&K,
which would be an important milestone for the UT’s overall development apart from
immensely contributing towards the National Energy and Water Security. Vishnoi
informed that the Government of India has set an ambitious target of attaining the Net
Zero Carbon Emission norm by 2070. J&K has the most significant role in this
Mission with the UT having a total hydropower potential of some 20 gigawatts. He
added that Central CPSUs such as THDC India Ltd. & NHPC have core strength in the hydro sector & are the most
appropriately positioned for efficient & economic harnessing of hydro energy.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – RAILTEL
The 23rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of
RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. (RCIL), was
held through Video Conferencing. The CMD of
RailTel, Sanjai Kumar addressed the AGM,
wherein the Annual Report of the Company for
the financial year 2022- 23 was presented.
Members of the RailTel board, namely, V Rama Manohara Rao (Director/Finance), Manoj Tandon (Director/
Project, Operations & Maintenance) and Yashpal Singh Tomar (Director / Network Planning & Marketing),
Rakesh Ranjan (Govt Nominee Directors), Rameshwer Meena (Govt Nominee Directors), Dr. Subhash Sharma
(Part-time Non-Official Director/ Independent Director) & N. Manoharan (Part-time Non-Official Director/
Independent Director) were present during the meeting. A resolution to pay a final dividend of Rs. 1.05/- per
share (10.5% of paid-up share capital) was also passed during this AGM. Talking about RailTel’s close
partnership with Indian Railways, Kumar said that RailTel has been playing a pivotal role in driving the digital
transformation of Indian Railways. RailTel is implementing the project of Tunnel Radio Communication systems
for various railway sections and is actively exploring opportunities in related domains such as the Modern
Train Communication System and Kavach.
VISIT – GSL
A high-level delegation from Kenya led by H.E. Aden Bare Duale,
Cabinet Secretary for Defence of Kenya visited GSL recently. The
delegation included the High Commissioner of Kenya in India, Amb
Willy K Bett & the DG of Kenya Shipyards Limited (KSL), Maj Gen.
Paul Otieno. GSL & KSL signed an MoU during the bilateral meeting
held between the Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh & H.E. Aden
Bare Duale, Cabinet Secretary for Defence of Kenya at New Delhi.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
IRCTC convened its 24th Annual General Meeting through
VC/OAVM from its registered office in New Delhi. The meeting was
convened online in compliance with the Companies Act 2013, rules
thereto & SEBI guidelines. The CMD Seema Kumar chaired the
meeting in the presence of IRCTC’s Directors & thanked all the
shareholders for their presence & support. She stated that India's
service sector witnessed a swift rebound in FY22 driven by growth
in the contact-intensive services sub-sector & that this subsector
completely recovered from the pre-pandemic level in Q2 of FY23,
driven by the release of pent-up demand, ease of mobility
restriction, and near-universal vaccination coverage.
PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK has launched the PNB GST Sahay App,
a mobile application based on the GST Sahay scheme, an end-to-
end digital product under which lending can be done on the basis of
GST invoices. With this integration, PNB has become the first public
sector bank to facilitate frictionless credit flow to MSMEs using
GST invoices. This initiative is also in line with the bank’s strategy to
further the development of the MSME sector & digital credit
ecosystem in the country. The most significant feature of PNB GST
Sahay is that the entire loan process journey is digitized. Through
this service, the loan amount will be directly credited into the
borrower’s current account maintained with the bank. All the GST-
registered MSME business entities (Proprietorship) having an active
account with PNB are eligible for the PNB GSTSahay service. The
credit limit starts from Rs10,000 and goes up to Rs2lakhs per
invoice, subject to capping of Rs 10 lakhs per borrower.
LIC celebrated its 67th anniversary, symbolizing decades of trust,
integrity & excellence in the Insurance industry. It has sustained its
leadership position after twenty-plus years of liberalization of the
insurance sector with a 62.58% market share in First Year Premium
Income in FY23. Through its massive distribution network spread
across India, positioning it for further growth, LIC continues to play
a strategic role in inculcating a culture of insurance and savings
across India. With 27.74 crore policies being serviced by LIC as
of 31 March 2023, LIC has floated a Special Revival Campaign for
lapsed policies with effect from 1 September 2023 for its valued
policyholders. Beginning with an initial capital of Rs 5 crores in
1956, LIC as on 31 March 2023 has Assets Under Management
of Rs 43,97,205 crores.
Steel Authority of India Limited has once again contributed
significantly to India's defence capabilities by providing the entire
quantity of special steel plates of about 4000 Tonnes for the
construction of the seventh frigate ship under the indigenous P17 A
Project for the Indian Navy. The upcoming launch of this seventh
frigate ship, the fourth warship built by M/s Mazagon Dock Ltd, is
scheduled for launch on 01 September 2023 by Jagdeep Dhankar,
Vice President of India. This event marks a significant milestone
for the nation's maritime security. Steel Authority of India Limited
has emerged as a crucial partner in the development of the P17 A
frigates, underlining the company's commitment to advancing
India's defence indigenization.
NHB India’s 8 key residential markets witnessed appreciating
property prices during the Apr-Jun 2023 period. Ahmedabad (9.1
percent), Bengaluru (8.9 percent), Chennai (1.1percent), Delhi (0.8
percent), Hyderabad (6.9 percent), Kolkata (7.8%), Mumbai (2.9
percent) & Pune (6.1percent) recorded increase in the index on an
annual basis as per the Housing Price Index published by National
Housing Bank. Quoted prices for under-construction and ready-
to-move unsold properties have registered an improvement on a
Y-o-Y basis.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES
BUSINESS AS USUAL
BY UNNY
EXPRESS NETWORK
FIRST SET OF INFRA
LOANS FOR TIER 2,
TIER 3 CITIES TO BE
DISBURSED SOON
J&K LECTURER
SUSPENDED OVER
ART 370 HEARING IN
SC REINSTATED P 6, 7
Highways to health
centres and railway
stations: Smaller cities
too dress up for G20
DIVYA A
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
FOR YEARS, if someone had a
cardiac episode in Khajuraho,
the patient had to be rushed to
the district hospital in
Chhatarpur, 45 km away, for
emergency medical attention.
Not anymore. The local CHC in
Khajuraho has state-of-the-art
life-saving equipment now to
deal with most medical emer-
gencies.
Withmorethan250meetings
—ministerialandworkinggroup,
amongothers—beingheldacross
60 cities in the run-up to the G20
Leaders’SummitinNewDelhion
September9-10,small-townIndia
has had a makeover.
The Khajuraho CHC, for in-
stance, now boasts a two-bed
ventilator ICU, an OT equipped
with an anaesthesia worksta-
tion, an ECG machine, defibrilla-
tor, 16 beds and two advanced
life-support ambulances on
standby, an official from the
‘More like abduction’:
Last Kuki-Zomis in
Imphal locality say
forced to evacuate
SUKRITA BARUAH
GUWAHATI, SEPTEMBER 3
IN THE four months since vio-
lence erupted in Manipur, thou-
sands of people from the Kuki-
Zomi community in
Meitei-majorityImphalhaveleft
the city. However, a group of 24
Kuki-Zomis had stayed back in
their locality, which they kept
guarded with jagged gates.
These 24 residents were
evacuated from Imphal by secu-
rity personnel soon after mid-
night on Saturday. Jimmy
Touthang, who was among
them, alleged that the evacua-
tion was forced and that it felt
“more like an abduction”.
PAGE 1
ANCHOR ‘Spent most of my life fighting Amarmani. What’s another 20 yrs?’
MAULSHREE SETH
LAKHIMPUR KHERI,
SEPTEMBER 3
EVERYTHING IS frozen in time
insidethehouseinanarrowlane
of Lakhimpur Kheri district’s
Misha tola — from the faded
photographs of Madhumita
Shuklatothenow-tarnishedtro-
phies from kavi sammelans to
almirahs,suitcasesburstingwith
papers related to her case, and
her “twin” Nidhi Shukla’s life.
Sittingintheirfather’shouse,
Nidhi, now in her early 40s, is
reeling from a fresh blow — the
“premature”releaseof politician
AHEAD OF G20, SAYS GLOBAL BODIES MUST RECOGNISE CHANGING REALITY
Stable government with a decisive
mandate reason for reforms, says PM
Warnsagainstpopulism, irresponsiblepolicies;saysnoroomforcasteismandcommunalismby2047
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
WITH JUST months to go for Lok
Sabha elections, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi Sunday stressed
on the twin aspects of “stability”
and “decisive mandate”, saying
governments in the three
decadesbefore2014wereunsta-
ble and, hence, unable to get
much done. He said several re-
forms across sectors could be
rolled out in the last nine years
because of stability.
His remarks, in an interview
The Ghum railway station
in West Bengal received a
facelift in April 2023. DHR
health department said.
All this was done a few
months ago, just ahead of the
firstG20CultureWorkingGroup
meeting held in February, as per
protocol. While the meet went
on smoothly, the CHC is now
Khajuraho’smostprizedposses-
sion — besides, of course, its an-
cient temples.
Chhatarpur district Chief
Medical Officer Lakhan Tiwari,
who oversees the operations at
Khajuraho too, said, “Khajuraho
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
They had kept their New
Lambulane locality, close to the
heart of Imphal, blockaded
against the rest of the city. Its six
entry points were blocked by
walls that its remaining resi-
dents had erected out of large
woodenplankswithsharpends.
Around 300-odd Kuki-Zomi
residents of the locality had ear-
lier left amid the violence.
Touthang and his wife, Neikim,
had stayed back to guard their
home. They said they were not
given any prior notice about the
evacuation early Saturday.
“I don’t know what was go-
ing on. As soon as we stepped
out of the house, we were
herded into the vehicle,”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Amarmani Tripathi and his wife
MadhumaniunderUP’s2018re-
mission policy. The couple were
sentenced to life by a CBI court
in 2007 for the murder of
Madhumita who was allegedly
in a relationship with Ama-
rmani. The budding poet was
shot dead at her Lucknow resi-
dence on May 9, 2003.
“I was the first in the family
to see Madhu after the shooting.
Her body was covered in blood.
My hands turned bloody when I
picked her up,” says Nidhi.
Alleging that Amarmani and
his wife spent most of their jail
term in the private ward of Baba
Raghav Das Medical College in
DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
to news agency Press Trust of
India, are politically significant
given that the 28-party
Opposition INDIA alliance is po-
sitioning itself as a challenger to
the BJP in the forthcoming Lok
Sabhaelections,pledgingtofight
the elections together and field-
ing one common candidate
against the ruling party in as
many seats as possible.
With key state elections
round the corner, the Prime
Minister also rekindled the de-
bate on the culture of freebies –
last October, he had slammed it
as the “revdi culture” — saying
DELHI DRILL FOR G20
The Delhi Police held full dress rehearsals ahead of the September 9-10 G20 Summit, escorting carcades from different parts
in the national capital, on Sunday. Amit Mehra
‘We bought the facile
story you could be a
great software power
ignoring hardware…
that was a fragile
assumption’
N K SINGH
ECONOMIST
PAGE 12
RUSSIA HITS UKRAINE
PORT DAY BEFORE
GRAIN DEAL TALKS
PAGE 10
Gorakhpur from 2012 onwards,
she says, “Hum dar-dar bhatakte
rahe, aur woh bina jail gaye hi
chhoot gaya (I kept running from
pillar to post, but Amarmani got
released from jail without actu-
ally spending time in one). It
took a four-year fight, but I have
proof that they spent their sen-
tence at the medical college
since 2012. I will file an appeal
because the verdict mentions a
prison sentence, not a lavish life
in a private ward.”
Amarmani and his wife are
yet to leave the hospital.
On her decision to pursue
justiceforhersisterallbyherself,
Nidhi,whoisguarded bytwoUP
JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
SINCE 1932
New world order is taking
shape post-Covid: Modi PTI
EXCERPTS OF PM’s
INTERVIEW PAGE 6
INDIA bloc insulting
Cricket on front foot as Olympics our culture: Shah slams
panel looks to include new sports Stalin son’s remarks
MIHIR VASAVDA
against Sanatan Dharma
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 3
CRICKET COULD soon begin a
new innings of its own. It is
among nine sports vying for a
spot at the 2028 Olympics and is
emergingasafrontrunnerasthe
International Olympic Comm-
itteelookstotapintoitsdie-hard
fan base, The Indian Express
has learnt.
Thedecision willbemadeon
October 15-16, just after the
World Cup marquee clash be-
tween India and Pakistan, when
more than 100 IOC members
vote in Mumbai to include new
sports in the 2028 Los Angeles
Olympics.
The likelihood will be clear
this week itself as the IOC’s all-
powerful Executive Board is due
to meet in Lausanne,
Switzerland on September 8.
The Board, which includes IOC
Nidhi Shukla holds a photo
of sister Madhumita, who
was shot dead at her home
in May 2003. Maulshree Seth
“financiallyirresponsiblepolicies
and populism may give political
results in the short term but will
extract a great social and eco-
nomic price in the long term.”
Asserting that India’s G20
Presidency has sowed the seeds
of confidence in the countries of
the “so-called Third World”, the
PrimeMinistersaidthatinterna-
tionalinstitutionsneedtorecog-
nise changing realities, expand
their decision-making forums,
relook at their priorities and en-
sure representation of voices
that matter.
Ahead of the G20 Summit in
RELATEDREPORTSPAGES4,5,6
The IOC is keen to woo the cricket-loving Indian and South
Asian fan base. PTI File
presidentThomasBach,willtake
a call on the sports programme
for the LA Olympics and it will
then be ratified during the IOC
session in Mumbai.
Theothersportsfightingfora
place in the Olympics are flag
football, karate, kickboxing,
policemen24/7,says,“Ihavetwo
elder brothers, but I have asked
them to stay away from the case
becausetheyhavefamilies.Their
life will be in danger if they get
involved. I have also sent our
mother (70) to a relative’s house
so I can concentrate on the
case without fearing for her
well-being.”
“Amarmani is very powerful.
Had I not turned into a zinda
laash (walking dead) the day I
sawmysister’sbody,thefearand
paranoia would have killed me
long ago. There have been threat
callsandstrangerstryingtoway-
lay me to scare me, but I never
missed a single case hearing in
`7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
New Delhi, Modi pointed out
thattheGDP-centricviewof the
world is now changing to a hu-
man-centric one. “Like a new
world order was seen after
WorldWar2,anewworldorder
is taking shape post-Covid. The
parametersof influenceandim-
pactarechangingandthisneeds
to be recognised,” he said.
The ‘Sabka Saath Sabka
Vikas’ model of his government,
hesaid,hasshownIndiacanalso
be a guiding principle for the
welfare of the world.
He said the “decisive man
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
baseball-softball, lacrosse,
breakdancing, squash and mo-
torsport.
But Michael Payne, a former
marketing and broadcast rights
director of the IOC who is famil-
iar with its inner workings after
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Nainital. I would go there nearly
four times a month, but take dif-
ferent routes and modes of
transporteachtime,”Nidhisays.
“There was tremendous
pressure (during the case hear-
ing)...The mostdifficult part was
linking Amarmani, Madhumani
and the others to the crime. The
CBI eventually managed to find
thatlink,”VirendraAdhikari,one
of Nidhi’s advocates, told The
Indian Express.
However, Amarmani’s sub-
sequent conviction failed to
bring her peace of mind, says
Nidhi. She would be filled with
dread each yearwhen August 15
(IndependenceDay)andJanuary
Aditya L1 healthy,
spacecraft’s first
orbit-raising move
successful: ISRO
Solar mission spacecraft’s next
manoeuvre will be early Tuesday
ANONNA DUTT
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
A DAY after it launched the
Aditya-L1 spacecraft, the coun-
try’s first mission to study the
Sun, the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) carried out
the first orbit-raising manoeu-
vre Sunday.
Stating that the satellite is
“healthy and operating nomi-
nally”, the ISRO said the first
Earth-bound manoeuvre has
been “performed successfully”
from ISTRAC, Bengaluru.
“The new orbit attained is
245 km x 22459 km” and the
nextmanoeuvre,itsaid,issched-
uled for 0300 Hours IST on
September 5.
The Aditya-L1 mission was
launched from the Sriharikota
spaceport shortly before noon
Saturday and placed in an Earth
orbit, 235 km x 19,500 km, an
hour later.
Over the next few days, the
spacecraftwillcontinuetomove
HAMZA KHAN
JAIPUR, SEPTEMBER 3
UNION HOME Minister Amit
ShahonSundaylashedoutatthe
INDIAcoalitionoverDMKleader
Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks
against Sanatan Dharma, accus-
ingtheOppositionblocof insult-
ing the country's culture for vote
bank and appeasement politics.
At the launch of BJP's second
Parivartan Sankalp Yatra in
Rajasthan, Shah said at a rally in
Dungarpur: “I am seeing for two
days that you (INDIA coalition)
want power, but at what cost?
For two days you are insulting
this country’s culture, history
and Sanatan Dharma.”
He said: “Two major parties
of INDIA coalition, DMK and
Congress, their senior leaders –
one a son of a (former) Finance
26 (Republic Day) approached
because “these days meant spe-
cial remission to prisoners”.
“Ultimately, my fears came
true. I have spent most of my life
fighting Amarmani. What’s an-
other 20 years?”
She was studying music in
Lucknow, but gave it up after
Madhumita’s death. “People tell
me to resume singing and to go
out. If I start doing all that, who
will fight the case? Woh itna
bada aadmi hai, uske itne bade
wakil, aur idhar akele hum
(Amarmani is a very powerful
man with powerful lawyers,
while I am alone),” she says.
Two years ago, Nidhi mar-
E
E X P L A I NE D
Seven
payloads,
● the task
THE OBSERVATORY-
CLASS spacecraft is
carrying seven payloads.
The main objective of the
mission is to get a deeper
understanding of the
Sun, and how its radia-
tion, heat, flow of parti-
cles, and magnetic fields
affect the Earth. Studying
the Sun from space
ensures that there are no
distortions to the meas-
urements that would be
experienced on Earth
due to the atmosphere,
magnetic field and dust
particles.
around the Earth, progressively
raising its orbit and gaining mo-
mentum, before embarking on
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Union Home Minister Amit
Shah; Udhayanidhi, son of
TN CM M K Stalin. File
Minister and the other a Chief
Minister’s son – are saying that
Sanatan Dharma should be
ended. Tell me, are you ready to
end Sanatan Dharma?”
On Saturday, alleging that
Sanatan Dharma is against
equality and social justice, Tamil
Nadu Youth Welfare and Sports
Minister Udhayanidhi — son of
Chief Minister M K Stalin — said
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
ried a sales manager, but says
her husband is better off with-
out her. “I cannot lead a normal
married life. There is a constant
threat to the life of my loved
ones. So I have asked him to
stay at his house, while I live
here… I think I have spoiled my
husband’s life, but it is his deci-
sion in the end. For me, the case
will always be a priority,” says
Nidhi.
“Madhu and I would fight
over clothes and over who was
the better singer among us.
Clothes and singing, nothing in-
terests me any more. The fight
for justice for Madhu is my life
now,” she says.
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
Ghosi bypoll campaign FROM PAGE ONE WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
ends; BJP, SP accuse each Stable government with decisive mandate reason for reforms: PM
other of malpractices
EXPRESS NEW SERVICE
LUCKNOW, SEPTEMBER 3
THE CAMPAIGN for the bypoll to
theGhosiAssemblyconstituency
concluded on Sunday, with the
two parties in the fray — BJP and
Samajwadi Party — submitting
complaints to the Uttar Pradesh
ChiefElectionOfficer(CEO)accus-
ingeachotherof malpractices.
BJPstatepresidentBhupendra
Singh Chaudhary wrote to the
CEO,sayingthattheSPcandidate
ishandingoutmoneytopeoplein
areas with a predominantly Dalit
and minority population.
“For this, there is a list at the
level of sector and booth. The list
hasthesignatureof SP’sMaudis-
trict president and general secre-
taryforthedistrict…TheSPistry-
ing to influence the voters… and
money is being distributed in
dozensofvillages,”readtheletter.
The party requested Election
Commission officials to take cog-
nisance of the issue and take ac-
tion so that the SP couldn’t influ-
ence the election outcome.
On the other hand, SP chief
spokesperson and national gen-
eral secretary Rajendra
Choudhary wrote a letter to the
CEO, alleging that the election is
beingriggedinGhosi.Intheletter,
itwasallegedthatthelocalpolice
● Cricket on front foot for Olympics
working there for nearly two
decades, agrees that cricket re-
mains a favourite to get the nod.
Payne cited the “current
cricket boom” in the US, where
some of the biggest tech firms
have invested in the Major
League. Adding to cricket’s ad-
vantage, Payne said, is that the
2032 Olympics will be held in
Australia, where cricket is a ma-
jor sport.
“In 2032, the Games are in
Brisbane, Australia… there will
bealocalinterestincricket...And
alsofromabusinessperspective,
cricket is booming in America.
The Los Angeles (organising)
committee is headed by a gen-
tlemancalledCaseyWasserman,
who is a very astute business
leader and owns one of the
world’s largest sports media
groups. He could see the poten-
tial in cricket,” he said.
And then, Payne added,
there’s the IOC’s larger interest
in wooing the cricket-loving
Indian and South Asian fan base,
besidestappingintothesubcon-
tinent’s vast market.
As per reports, Indian broad-
casters Viacom 18 paid approxi-
mately $31 million to bag the
rights to show the Olympics, in-
cluding the Paris Games. In con-
trast, American network NBC
paid $7.65 billion for a deal that
runs from 2021 to 2032.
“If you look at all the regions
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are cutting power lines in minor-
ity-dominated areas and at the
homesof peoplewhoareSPsup-
porters.Itsaidthatthelocalpolice
officersareharassingSPsupport-
ers,includingthosefromminori-
ties, and are putting pressure on
them “to vote in favor of BJP by
calling them to the police sta-
tions”.
“The police and administra-
tion are creating an atmosphere
of terror in the entire con-
stituency…Pleaseensurefreeand
fair elections,” the letter added.
Meanwhile, campaigning for
the bypoll concluded at 6 pm on
Sunday. Both Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath and SP chief Akhilesh
Yadavaddressedpublicmeetings.
All eyes are on the con-
stituency because it will be
among the first battles between
a constituent of the INDIA bloc
of 26 Opposition parties and the
BJP since the bloc was formed.
SP’s Sudhakar Singh is facing
BJP’s Dara Singh Chauhan who
recently went back to the ruling
party after switching to the SP in
the run-up to the 2022 state
Assembly polls. Both the
Congress and the BSP have not
fielded candidates with the
Congress supporting Sudhakar
Singh. Polling will take place on
Tuesday and the results will be
announced on September 8.
around the world, the one area
where frankly the Olympic
Games is not nearly as strong as
elsewhere in the subcontinent,
you know, India, Pakistan. And if
you were to bring cricket onto
the Olympic programme, it
would have a major impact,”
Payne said.
India is also bidding to host
the Olympics in 2036, with the
selection process still in the nas-
cent stages.
Cricket was last played at the
Olympics in 1900, where a one-
off gold-medal match was
played between two teams rep-
resenting Britain and France.
It has remained out ever
since, largely due to the IOC’s
rigid policy on including one
sport only if another was
dropped, and the International
Cricket Council's (ICC's) indiffer-
ence to that. That has, of late,
changed with Bach making the
sports selection policy flexible
and the ICC in recent years put-
ting wheels into motion to get
cricket back to the Olympics.
The ICC has pitched the T20
format with five teams in each
gender likely to feature in LA.
The stadium currently being
built by Indian Premier League
(IPL) heavyweights Kolkata
Knight Riders, one of the found-
ing investors in the Major
League, is expected to host the
matches.
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
LIFESTYLE
date” that the electorate had
given in 2014 and 2019 ensured
that there is a stable govern-
ment, predictable policies and
clarity in the overall direction.
“In the three decades before
2014, our country saw many
governmentsthatwereunstable
and, therefore, unable to get
much done. But in the last few
years, the people have given a
decisive mandate, which has led
to a stable government, pre-
dictable policies and clarity in
the overall direction,” he said.
“This stability is the reason
thatoverthepastnineyears,sev-
eral reforms were brought in.
These reforms, related to the
economy, education, financial
sector,banks,digitalisation,wel-
fare, inclusion and social sector,
have laid a strong foundation
and growthis a natural by-prod-
uct. The rapid and sustained
progressmadebyIndianaturally
evoked interest across the world
and many countries have been
watching our growth story very
closely. They are convinced that
this progress is not an accident
but is happening as a result of a
clear, action-oriented roadmap
of ‘Reform,Perform,Transform’,”
he said.
Asked where he sees India in
2047 when the country cele-
● Last Kuki-Zomis in Imphal locality say forced to leave
Touthangsaid.InjustaT-shirtand
shorts at the time of the evacua-
tion, he said security personnel
denied his request to pack some
of his belongings. “We were not
giventimetopackourthings.We
were not even informed where
theyweretakingus.Whentheve-
hiclestopped,wefoundourselves
in Motbung,” he said.
Motbung is located in Kuki-
dominatedKangpokpidistrict,25
km from New Lambulane.
Before Saturday, Touthang
said,personnelfromAssamRifles
or police would pay them a visit
fromtimetotime,askingthemto
evacuate. But the 24 residents
chose to stay put.
“Whyshouldweabandonour
homes? We had already made it
clear to ourselves that we would
taketherisk,anddieinourhomes
if the security forces cannot pro-
tect us,” Touthang said.
Asourceinthesecurityforces
said the evacuation had been re-
questedbytheadministrationon
the grounds that the presence of
the Kuki-Zomis in New
Lambulanehadmadethemavul-
nerable target, and that authori-
tieshadreceivedinputsregarding
threats to the group of residents.
Thestrife-tornstatewitnessed
afreshroundofviolencelastweek,
with at least nine people dying in
intensefiringalongtheBishnupur-
Churachandpur border. Senior
Congress leader P Chidambaram
● Smaller cities too dress up for G20
can now treat its emergency pa-
tients on its own.”
InGujarat,forinstance,ahead
of the tourism working group
meeting in Dhordo village earlier
thisyear,workonthe long-pend-
ing 32-km-long stretch of
National Highway 754, from
KhavdatoDholavirainKutchdis-
trict, intensified last December.
“We were told early in
December that G20 delegates
coming to Kutch will travel from
Dhordo to Dholavira by road on
February 9. The contractor was
given daily targets after that,” a
seniorofficerwithGujarat’sRoads
and Buildings department said.
The distance from Dhordo to
Dholavira through existing roads
was around 300 km, but the 32-
km section of NH 754, which
passesthroughtheGreatRannof
Kutch, cuts it to just 88 km.
Tenders for this section were
issued in June 2019, with a dead-
lineofDecember2020.However,
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE MOON, THE SUN AND GETTING PARCELS FROM SPACE
Inhisweeklycolumn,‘Watchthisspace’,SethuPradeepwritesaboutISRO’sAdityaL1misssion
tostudytheSun,theEuropeanSpaceAgency’shelpinghandandNASA’sambitiousasteroid
samplemission.
A LOOK AT AN 1815
MASTERPIECE
Courageandpatriotism
inElizabethThompson's
“ScotlandForever!”
FULL REPORTS ON
brates 100 years
Independence,Modisaidhewas
of
confident that India will be
among the developed countries
by then.
“Our economy will be even
more inclusive and innovative.
Our poor people will compre-
hensively win the battle against
poverty. Health, education and
social sector outcomes will be
among the best in the world.
Corruption, casteism and com-
munalism will have no place in
our national life. The quality of
life of our people will be at par
with the best countries of the
world.Mostimportantly,wewill
achieveallof thiswhilecaringfor
bothnatureandculture,”hesaid.
Modi said India was per-
ceived for a long time as a nation
of over 1 billion hungry stom-
achs.
“But now, India is being seen
as a nation of over 1 billion aspi-
rational minds, more than 2 bil-
lionskilled hands, andhundreds
of millions of young people. We
are not only the most populous
country in theworldbutalsothe
nation with the largest youth
population. So, perspectives
about India have changed,” he
said.
Replying to a question on
whether he was expecting any
said in a post on the social media
platformXthatSaturday’s“force-
ful” evacuation “means that ‘eth-
nic cleansing’ is complete in the
Imphal Valley that is dominated
bytheMeiteipeople”.
“AStateGovernmentpresides
over ‘ethnic cleansing’ and the
central government claims that
thegovernmentofthestateisbe-
ingcarriedoninaccordancewith
the Constitution,” he
posted.“There can be nothing
moreshamefulthanthisdevelop-
ment.ItmarksanewlowinIndia’s
descent into lawlessness.”
Before the evacuation, the 24
peopleleftinthelocalityhadbeen
taking turns to guard it through
the night in makeshift shelters in
openareasofthesettlement,with
nets and repellants at hand to
keep mosquitoes at bay. A large
numberofsecuritypersonnelhad
alsobeenguardingthesurround-
ings of the locality.
New Lambulane was one of
thefirstKuki-Zomisettlementsto
beattackedwhentheviolenceen-
gulfingthestatespreadtoImphal
on May 3. The locality is sur-
rounded by settlements of the
Meitei community to its east and
south,ofMuslimstoitsnorth,and
of a small group of Nagas on its
western side. It has been a con-
stant target of attack through the
months,andinevitablybecomesa
targetofarsonorattemptedarson
whenviolenceflaresupinperiph-
onlya12-kmsectionofthe32-km
stretch was ready. “We lost time
duetolandacquisition,andclear-
ancesfromforestandwildlifede-
partments,”MilanVisavadiya,ex-
ecutiveengineerof Gandhidham
division of NH division in Roads
and Buildings department, said.
Eventually, the delegates
made their bus journey from
Dhordo to Dholavira. While the
contractorisyettoapplytheseal-
ingcoatonthehighwayandtech-
nicallyitisnotopentothepublic,
local residents say it has already
ledtoaboominlocaltourism.“In
May and June, the hottest time in
Kutch, nearly 200 people visited
Dholavira daily,” said Nagji
Parmar, a guide at Dholavira.
Asked about the plan of hav-
ing more than 200 meetings
across all states, G20 Sherpa
AmitabhKanthadtoldTheIndian
Express a few months ago, “India
has spread out into all states.
Therefore, there’s massive trans-
consensusattheG20Summiton
the challenge of debt restructur-
ing, which has become a prob-
lem for the global South, he said,
“The debt crisis is indeed a mat-
ter of great concern for the
world, especially developing
countries. Citizens from differ-
ent countries are keenly follow-
ing the decisions being taken by
governments in this regard.”
“There are some appreciable
results too. First, countries that
aregoingthrougha debtcrisis or
have gone through it, have be-
gun to give greater importance
to financial discipline. Second,
others who have seen some
countriesfacingtoughtimesdue
tothedebtcrisisareconsciousof
avoiding the samemissteps.You
are well aware that I have urged
ourstategovernmentstobecon-
scious about financial discipline
as well.”
“Whether itis inthe National
Conference of Chief Secretaries
or any such platform, I have said
that financially irresponsible
policies and populism may give
politicalresultsin the shortterm
butwillextractagreatsocialand
economic price in the long term.
Those who suffer those conse-
quences the most are often the
poorest and the most vulnera-
ble,” he said.
eral areas of the valley.
Most recently, on July 27, six
houses–fourofthemabandoned
– that belonged to Kukis and two
houses that belonged to Meiteis
wereburneddespitethepresence
of security forces in the area. The
two burnt Meitei houses were in
close proximity to the Kuki
houses.
Mamang Vaiphei, one of the
24 residents evacuated, claimed
that security forces were not ca-
pable of protecting the locality,
and that this was why the resi-
dents insisted on staying back.
Vaiphei said he and a friend
weresittingintheirusualspotfor
night duty when a large number
of forces entered their locality. “It
was around 12.30 am. They ap-
proachedthetwoofusandasked
ustocalloutallthepeopleforver-
ification,” he said. When the resi-
dents were subsequently herded
into the security forces’ vehicle,
the personnel did not respond to
any of their questions, he said.
“We are citizens of the state
andwehaveeveryrighttostayin
Imphal.Itisveryunfortunatethat
they forcefully evacuated us
against our wish,” said Vaiphei.
“For a moment I forgot about
theviolence,asweweretakenout
ofmylocality.Iwasoverwhelmed
with the very thought that I had
beendrivenoutofmyownhouse
andlocalitywhereIwasbornand
brought up,” he said.
formationonthegroundincities,
be it Hyderabad, Aurangabad,
Pune, Udaipur and Jaipur.”
Officials say the change is vis-
ible not just in states where the
ruling BJP is in government.
In April, just ahead of the sec-
ondmeetingofthetourismwork-
ing group, the Ghum Railway
Station of the Darjeeling
Himalayan Railway (DHR) re-
ceived a facelift. While the UN-
ESCO-certified toy train has al-
ways been a big draw, the station
fell short of visitor amenities.
SpeakingtoTheIndianExpress,
DHRDirectorPriyanshusaid,“The
outdoorheritagegarden,flooring,
bathrooms,museumandwaiting
room were all upgraded.”
Local businessman Bishal
Lama,35,said,“Therenovatedsta-
tion looks very clean now.”
The turnaround touched
Srinagar too. Despite its pristine
glory, the city remained poorly
equipped in terms of infrastruc-
ture. Ahead of the G20 official
meetinMay,thePoloViewmarket
was spruced up. Roads leading to
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
UPSC SPECIALS
Scan the QR code and
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India’s G20 Presidency, he
said,hasplacedasignificantem-
phasis on addressing the global
challengesposedbydebtvulner-
abilities, especially for nations in
the Global South. “G20 Finance
Ministers and Central Bank
Governors have acknowledged
the good progress in debt treat-
ment of Common Framework
countries and beyond the
Common Framework too. We
have also been greatly sensitive
totheneedsof ourvaluedneigh-
bour, Sri Lanka, during their
tough times,” he said.
“To accelerate global debt re-
structuring efforts, the Global
Sovereign Debt Roundtable, a
joint initiative of the IMF, World
Bank and the G20 Presidency
was launched earlier this year.
This will strengthen communi-
cation among key stakeholders
andfacilitateeffectivedebttreat-
ment. While a lot is being done
to address these issues, as I said
earlier, I am positive that rising
awareness among the people of
different countries will ensure
that such situations don’t recur
often,” he said.
He said India’s G20
Presidency has also sowed the
seeds of confidence in the coun-
tries of the so-called ‘Third
World’.
● INDIA bloc insulting our culture: Shah
at an event in Chennai that it
should be eradicated. “Some
things cannot be opposed, they
shouldbeeradicated.Mosquitoes,
denguefever,malaria,andcorona
cannot be opposed. They should
be eradicated. So should Sanatan
[Dharma],” he said in his address
to the Tamil Nadu Progressive
Writers and Artists Association.
After some BJP leaders tar-
geted Udhayanidhi on social me-
dia, Congress leader Karti
ChidambaramSaturdaytweeted:
“SanathanDharmaisnothingbut
code for a Caste Hierarchical
Society. Allthosebatting for itare
hankeringfortheGoodOleDays!
Caste is the Curse of India.”
In his address, Shah said,
“These people (INDIA coalition)
have spoken of ending Sanatan
Dharma to do politics of vote-
bank and appeasement. Our cul-
ture,historyandSanatanDharma
have been insulted, and they
haven’t done it for the first time.
Manmohan Singh ji said that the
minorities have the first right on
the Budget. We say that the poor,
adivasis,Dalitsandthebackward
havethefirstrightontheBudget.”
“Today the UPA says, the
Congresspartypresidentsaysthat
if Modi ji wins, there will be
Sanatan rule. But the rule of
Sanatanisalreadyintheheartsof
people and no one can remove it.
Modi ji has said that this country
will run on the basis of the
MughalGardens,high-endhotels,
Chashma Shahi, Dachigam
NationalParkandotherimportant
venues were renovated. The
SKICC,thevenuefortheG20meet,
received a Rs 7.5-crore makeover.
Though upgradation of the city’s
infrastructure—excepttheSKICC
— is part of the Rs 3,000-crore
Smart City project, being imple-
mentedbytheSrinagarSmartCity
Limited since 2018, work was ex-
pedited ahead of the G20 meet. A
cycletrack,anewclocktower,tree-
linesalongtheroads,Wi-Fizones,
3Dpaintingsonflyoversandwalls,
andrenovationofsecuritybunkers
andpickets—Srinagarwasdecked
up ahead of G20 meet. “This (up-
grading of infrastructure) was al-
readyinthepipeline.Wehavejust
expedited it in wake of G20,”
Iftikhar Kakroo, chief engineer,
SmartCityproject,said.
—WITHGOPALKATESHIYA
INRAJKOT,BASHAARAT
MASOODINSRINAGAR,ANAND
MOHANJINBHOPALAND
SANTANUCHOWDHURY
INKOLKATA
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Siddhartha Basu on
taking India from
Quiz Time to KBC
In The Sandip Roy Show, quiz master and
producer Siddhartha Basu talks about how
quizzing has evolved in the country, and
what knowing the right answer means in
the era of Google.
“They are gaining greater
confidence to shape the direc-
tion of the world in the coming
years on many issues such as cli-
mate change and global institu-
tional reforms. We will move
faster towards a more represen-
tative and inclusive order where
every voice is heard. Further, all
this will happen with the coop-
eration of the developed coun-
tries, because today, they are ac-
knowledgingthepotentialof the
Global South more than everbe-
fore and recognizing the aspira-
tionsof thesecountriesasaforce
for the global good,” he said.
Modi said his government’s
decision to hold G20 related
meetings in states across the
country was a well-thought-out
strategy.
“India, across its various
states, Union Territories and
cities, has so much potential to
welcome,hostandconnectwith
the world. Unfortunately, in the
past, there used to be an attitude
of getting things done right here
in Delhi, in and around Vigyan
Bhavan. Perhaps because it was
an easy way out. Or perhaps be-
causethoseinpowerlackedcon-
fidence in thepeopleof different
parts of the country to success-
fullyexecuteplansof suchscale,”
he said.
Constitution,” he said.
Referring to an old statement
of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
onradicalHinduoutfits,Shahsaid,
“They have a prince, Rahul baba,
who said that the Hindu organi-
sations are more dangerous than
Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rahul baba, you
are comparing Hindu organisa-
tions with the Lashkar-e-Taiba
andyour(former)HomeMinister
usedtosaythatthereisHinduter-
ror. Brothers and sisters, tell me,
do you agree to attach the name
ofHindunexttoterror.ThisINDIA
coalition can stoop to any level to
do politics of vote bank and ap-
peasement.”
“But I have come to tell them
that the more you speak, the less
you will become,” he said, refer-
ring to the previous election re-
sults. “Now that you have started
speaking against Sanatan
Dharma, you will not be spotted
even with binoculars,” he said.
RepeatedlyreferringtotheIN-
DIA coalition as “ghamandiya
gathbandhan”,hesaid:“Themain
partyofthisalliance,stopped(the
construction of) Ram temple for
years... You made Modi ji the PM
again,andacourtjudgmentcame
andModijididthebhumipoojan.
I have come to tell you that in
January, a grand temple will be
constructed at the place where
Lord Shri Ram was born. The
ghamandiyaghatbandhancannot
stop it. It is Narendra Modi’s rule,
●Aditya-L1’s first orbit-raising
move successful, spacecraft healthy
its four-month journey to the
Lagrange-1 point of the Earth-
Sun system.
It is from this point, about 1.5
million km from Earth, that the
Aditya-L1 spacecraft will ob-
serve the Sun and carry out ex-
periments.
The heavier version of the
PSLV rocket that put the satellite
in orbit Saturday achieved a
milestone of its own. This was
the first time that the fourth
stage of the PSLV was fired two
separate times to insert the
spacecraft in the intended orbit.
Duringthefiringof thefourth
stage of PSLV and the coasting
phase in between, there were
twoinstances–onefornearly25
minutes and another for just
over two minutes – when there
were no eyes on the satellite. It
was only after a ship-based sta-
tion in the Bay of Bengal and
Asserting that his govern-
menttrustedthepeopleof every
region, he said his government
had consciously decided to hold
high-profile summits in differ-
ent parts of the country.
“By the time our G20
Presidency term ends, over 220
meetings would have happened
across 60 cities in all 28 states
and 8 Union Territories. Over 1
lakh participants from around
125 nationalities would have
witnessed the skills of Indians.
Over 1.5 crore people in our
country have been involved in
theseprogrammesorhavecome
in touch with some aspects of
them.... This is also giving the
world an idea of India’s incredi-
ble diversity,” he said.
“I have also appealed to vari-
ous states during the Chief
Ministers meeting that they
should ensure that each state
continues to strengthen its rela-
tionship with the delegates who
visited them during G20 and
their countries. This will also
openupalotof opportunitiesfor
the people in future. So, there is
a deeper plan behind the decen-
tralisation of the activities re-
lated to G20. We are investing in
capacity building in our people,
our institutions and our cities,”
he said.
you cannot stop it.”
At a separate rally in Madhya
Pradesh’s Chitrakoot, BJP presi-
dent J P Nadda also targeted the
Opposition coalition over's
Udhayanidhi remarks.
“RahulGandhi's‘Mohabbatki
dukaan’ has turned out to be
‘nafrat failane wali dukaan’
(spreading hatred). The
Opposition (alliance) that met in
Mumbaiacoupleofdaysagoisat-
tacking India's culture, traditions
andreligion,”Naddasaidatafunc-
tion before flagging off the Jan
Ashirwad Yatra.
“The (Opposition) alliance is
attackingourreligion.TamilNadu
Chief Minister M K Stalin's son
UdhayanidhiStalinhasremarked
that Sanatan Dharma should be
abolished. He had likened it to
coronavirus,malaria.Throwaway
suchanalliancethatisagainstour
Sanatan Dharma and spreading
poison. They want to abolish it
(Sanatan Dharma), eradicate
them,” Nadda said.
Udhayanidhi,meanwhile,has
said that he stood by his words.
RespondingtoBJPleaderAmit
Malviya’s allegation that he had
called for the “genocide of 80%
population of Bharat, who follow
Sanatan Dharma”, Udhayanidhi
tweeted late Saturday that he
never “called for the genocide of
peoplewhoarefollowingSanatan
Dharma”. WITH INPUTS FROM
ENS,NEWDELHIANDPTI,BHOPAL
then the Kourou ground station
in French Guiana acquired the
data that the flight path could be
seen.
A scientist from the space
agency said the mission should
ideally have been launched in
August. Launching it in
September meant that the
spacecrafthad to travel longer to
achieve the specific angle at
which it needed to be inserted.
“Traditionally, satellites sent
to orbits around the Earth do not
require such an angle. This was
akin to the need for one to leave
their house from the backyard,
but if you have come out of the
frontdoor,whatwillyoudo?You
will go around to the back.
Similarly, the satellite had to go
around the Earth for a while in
the coasting phase before being
inserted into the precise orbit,”
the scientist said.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
BOY APPREHENDED BY POLICE
‘Sexually assaulted and blackmailed’
for months by tutor, teen ‘kills’ him cals in a Southeast Delhi locality
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
AFTER BEING subjected to re-
peated sexual assault at the
hands of his tutor, who also pur-
portedlyfilmedavideoandused
it to threaten him, a 15-year-old
boy allegedly slit the former’s
throat with a paper cutter.
Policehaveapprehendedthe
teenager, who claimed he was
being sexually abused and tor-
tured by the deceased for
monthsandplannedthemurder
last week.
Theincidentwasreportedon
Wednesday afternoon after lo-
With sale of 61 cr liquor
bottles, old regime earns
excise dept Rs 7,285 crore
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
THE OLD excise regime, which
was brought in after the Delhi
government scrapped its ambi-
tious new liquor policy, has
earned the Excise Department
Rs 7,285 crore with the sale of
more than 61 crore liquor bot-
tles in a year.
According to data shared by
officials, the Excise department
has collected a total revenue of
Rs 7,285.15 crore in the last one
year, between September 1,
2022 and August 31, 2023. Of
this, an amount of Rs 2013.44
crore was collected as Value
Added Tax (VAT).
Under the new excise policy,
on an average, the department
collected around Rs 535.2 crore
per month, which totaled up to
Rs 5887.2 crore from October
2021 to August 31, 2022.
Over the last one year, the
revenue excise department col-
lected per day stood at Rs 21.12
crore with a total sale of 61 crore
—nearly 17 lakh per day average
— liquor bottles.
The old excise regime, which
is in operation at present, was
found the 28-year-old tutor ly-
ing in a pool of blood, with deep
cuts on his neck, at his family’s
home.
Investigators checked the
man’s call records and con-
ducted a local enquiry. It was re-
vealed that the deceased would
go to several houses in the area
to give tuition to kids. He was of-
ten seen with the minor, whom
he met two months back at a
park.
DCP (Southeast) Rajesh Deo
said, “The one-room set (where
the victim was found dead) was
occupied by tenants who va-
cated the place a few days back.
Overthelastoneyear,
therevenueexcisedept
collectedperdaystood
atRs21.12crore
implemented last year on
September 1, following the
scrapping of the Aam Aadmi
Party ambitious new liquor pol-
icy 2021-22. The policy was
scrappedfollowinginvestigation
into alleged corruption and ille-
gality in the formulation of the
policy by multiple agencies, in-
cluding the CBI and ED.
Former Excise Minister
ManishSisodiawasalsoarrested
bybothCBIandtheEDinthecase.
Under the new policy, with
thegovernmentexitingthebusi-
ness, private parties had greater
say in retail liquor sale and had
come up with offers and dis-
counts such as "buy one get one
free”.
After the new policy was
scrapped, only government
shops were given permission to
operate in Delhi under four cor-
porations: DCCWS, DTIDC, DSI-
IDC and DSCSC. Currently, the
city has 628 active vends.
Multiple teams were put on the
case. During surveillance, it was
found that a juvenile was in-
volved; he was identified and
called to the police station.”
“It emerged that the de-
ceased was sexually assaulting
the boy for months. He also
made a video and threatened to
release it if the boy didn’t listen
to him... Fed up with the threats
and repeated sexual assault, the
boy planned to kill the tutor,”
added the DCP.
Deo said that on Wednesday
around 11.30 am, after the tutor
called him, the boy took the cut-
ter and went to the house.
“Finding an opportunity, he
A riverside citadel to an infamous prison for multiple
empires: The 16th-century fort in shadow of Lal Qila
UPASIKA SINGHAL
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
DELHIISacitysteepedinhistory
but few monuments have seen
the passage of time as closely as
the oft-ignored Salimgarh Fort.
Nestled along the banks of the
Yamuna River in the heart of
Delhi, Salimgarh Fort stands as a
silentwitnesstotheebbandflow
of empires, political intrigues,
andtherelentlessmarchof time.
Built in 1546 by Sher Shah
Suri'ssonSalimShahSuritopro-
tect the Sur kingdom's territory
fromHumayun'sarmy,whohad
been dislodged from his throne
sixyearsprior,thefortwasstrate-
gicallylocatedonariverineisland
bulwarked by the Yamuna on
one side and the Aravallis on an-
other. However, the defence did
not last for long and Humayun
defeated Sikander Shah Suri in
1555 after returning from his
pulled out the cutter and at-
tacked the deceased.”
Hetooktheman’sphoneand
fled from the spot, said police.
TheDCPsaidtheyhadrecovered
mobilephonesandclothesworn
by him at the time of the mur-
der.Sourcesalsosaidtheboyhad
recently bought the cutter.
Police said the boy lives with
his five sisters and an elder
brother. Their father died a few
years back and their mother
went for Hajj in June.
“During questioning, the mi-
norrevealedhewastraumatised
but didn’t know how to ask for
help,” said an officer, adding that
hecouldn’tgatherthecourageto
The Salimgarh Fort was built in 1546 by Sher Shah Suri's son Salim Shah Suri to protect the
Sur kingdom's territory from Humayun's army. Amit Mehra
self-imposed exile. Salim Shah
never lived to see the fort being
completed.
AccordingtoAlfredFrederick
Pollock Harcourt's travelogues,
so humiliated was Humayun by
the betrayal of the Surs that he
decreed the fort be renamed to
Nurgarh. Few records exist of
what happened to the fort be-
tween the reigns of Humayun
and Shah Jahan.
During Jahangir's reign, a
cbc 09102/13/0002/2324
speak to his siblings because of
the video the accused had
recorded.
Another officer said, “We
have found some videos and
photos... The deceased knew the
minorandhisfriendsandthreat-
ened him that he would share
the videos with everyone. The
family didn’t suspect anything
since they thought the deceased
was helping the boy with his
studies.”
Investigators are now ques-
tioningotherchildreninthearea
whom the deceased tutored to
ascertain if there have beensim-
ilar instances of sexual abuse or
if they knew about the minor.
bridge was built connecting the
forttothemainland;beforethat,
the jagir of the fort was handed
over to a Mughal noble named
Murtaza Khan during Akbar's
reign, according to Gordon
Sanderson and Maulvi Shuaib's
Delhi Fort: A Guide to the
Girl stabbed and bludgeoned
in Outer Delhi was raped
before her death, say police
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER3
MONTHS AFTER a 16-year-old
girl was allegedly murdered by
her 20-year-old boyfriend, the
DelhiPolicesaidtheyhavefound
evidence that she was raped be-
foreher death.Policehavefileda
case pertaining to charges of
rape and the POCSO Act against
unknown persons and said they
will carry out a DNA test to as-
certainif theaccused,SahilKhan,
was the perpetrator.
On May 28, Khan had ac-
costed the minor, allegedly
stabbed her at least 20 times,
and then bludgeoned her to
death using a concrete slab — in
Buildings and Gardens.
Under the rule of Aurangzeb,
it was converted into a prison
where he infamously held his
brother Murad Bakhsh after he
helpedtheformerwinthewarof
succession against their elder
brotherandShahJahan'sheirap-
THE CITY 3
Police have filed a
case pertaining to
charges of rape and
the POCSO Act against
unknown persons
full view of bystanders who
didn’t alert police — on a
street in Outer Delhi. He was ar-
rested from Uttar Pradesh’s
Bulandshahr a day later after
CCTV footage of the incident
went viral on social media.
Apoliceofficersaid,“Thegirl’s
post-mortem examination con-
firmed she was sexually as-
saulted. We also found semen
samplesandsentthemforforen-
parentDaraShikoh.Aurangzeb's
daughter Zeb-un-Nissa also
spent the last 20 years of her life
writing poems of love and devo-
tion, which were later compiled
into the Diwan-i-Makhfi, whilst
languishing in the cellars of the
Salimgarh Fort.
Thefort'sroleasaprisonwas
sictests.Wesuspecttheaccused
rapedherbeforethemurder;we
will be conducting further DNA
analysis tests and forensic tests
to confirm this. He had earlier
been booked under charges of
sexual harassment (IPC) and
POCSOActSection12(sexualha-
rassment with minors). We’ve
now filed an FIR under IPC
Section376(rape)andPOCSOAct
Section 4 (penetrative assault).”
Policehadearliersaidthemi-
nor wanted to end the relation-
shipwiththeaccused,whichen-
raged him. “On May 28, he
followed her and waited for her
near a public washroom. She left
herfriend’s house andwas going
to a party when the accused ac-
costed her,” said an officer.
briefly interrupted during the
1857 revolt. British civil servant
Herbert Charles Fanshawe re-
counted in his book Delhi Past
and Present how rebel soldiers
marchedfromMeeruttoDelhito
proposition the ailing Mughal
emperorBahadurShahIItoonce
moretakeupthehelmof leader-
ship over India. Bahadur Shah II
would apparently hold regular
durbars in the Salimgarh Fort,
where the mutineers had set up
camp.Asthesituationslowlyde-
volvedandtheEnglishtookover,
it was converted into an army
camp.
During the Second World
War, the fort was used to im-
prisonIndianNationalArmysol-
diers who were subjected to un-
speakable horrors and many
were tortured to death.
Today, the fort sits quiet and
unnoticed in the shadow of the
grander, and more famed, Red
Fort. Perhaps, with the premises
being spruced up in light of the
G20 Summit, the Salimgarh Fort
will find new life and new
visitors.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

4 HARDLOOK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

G 2 0 Summit

COUNTDOWN TO

G20
GAYATHRI MANI & SAMAN HUSAIN
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3

FOUNTAINS AND statues of all shapes and

sizes, street art depicting the length and
breadth of Indian history, mythology, art
and culture, and a variety of plants: Delhi is
all set to roll out the red carpet for the G20
Summit this week. The Public Works
Department (PWD) and other civic agen-
cies are busy adding final touches to proj-
ects under them.
For the PWD, preventing waterlogging is
of paramount importance. To this end, it has
made a list of key points and ensured all
pumps, pump houses and permanent
pumps are in working order.
For security, the department has in-
stalled 44 more CCTV cameras in addition
to 1.20 lakh existing ones across Delhi.
Further, quick response teams, wearing a
special uniform, will be stationed at key
roads which will work in coordination with
Delhi Police and security personnel.
Talking about what’s next on the agenda,
a PWD official said: “We have met our target
date — August 31. We will conduct a dry run
from September 1-7. All roads, tunnels, un-
derpasses and footpaths will be washed and
water in fountains will be changed. From
September 8-10, officers with valid permis-
sion will be stationed at various locations to
ensure everything is in place. The PWD con-
trol room will personally monitor the func-
tioning of fountains, lights, and civic infra-
structure round the clock.”
The Indian Express visited key stretches in
South and Central Delhi that have been re-
vamped tocheckout what delegates willsee
as they traverse the Capital.

Gurgaon-DelhiExp
Amit Mehra

A red carpet welcome

Ulan Batar Marg
IGI T3 Terminal
NSG junction Ring Road

Airporttunnel Raj Ghat-Shantivan

The starting point: Airport DilliGate

Road stretch
Decorativelamp posts, likethe onesused Supreme Court
in the redevelopment of Central Vista, lush After months of work that involved coordination between various civic agencies, the Capital’s G20 Metro station ITO
green plants and a Nandi statue with a foun-
tain — for G20 delegates and their families, transformation is complete. As the Summit draws closer, officials make last-minute inspections to Pragati Maidan
this will be the first look of the city, specially Bhairon
curated over the past few monthsin the run- ensure things are in order. The Indian Express visits 5 key areas to check out what’s new stretch Marg
up to the Summit. The 11.5-km-long Airport
Road stretch was designed and divided into IndiaGate
two parts. One is to welcome bureaucrats
Purana
andleadersfromforeigncountries.Theother
Qila
—Technical areaof AirForcestation at Palam
— is to welcome heads of all countries and
states. Here’s what’s new: Mathura Road
(DPS)
Dhaula Kuan Metro Station to NHAI
wall: Connects the Airport, Gurgaon and
Mahipalpur
■ This stretch now sports the Nandi
statue with a fountain, a G20 logo and its
TAKING STOCK
tagline ‘Vasudev Kutumbakam - one earth,
one family, one world’.
■ Flanking tall red walls, built earlier by
the NHAI, are 24 volcano fountains and nu-
merous pots with flowers and other plants
arrangedalongside.Atnight,thefountainsand
walls will be lit up with multicolour lights.
■ Footpaths from the NHAI wall to Ulan
Batar Road have stone benches and a stone
receptaclethatcanholdfloatingdecorations.
Afootoverbridgeonthestretchalsohasnew
Amit Mehra
facade lighting.
Statues Fountains
Ulan Batar Road to NSG junction: installed installed
■ On this stretch, delegates will be able
to spot an array of statues and fountains — a
49 109
3-foot black marble lion, two geyser foun-
tains with a lion statue mounted on a base,
and four lions with fountains.
PROJECTS ACROSS DELHI
■ Towards Mehram Nagar, two pink District Important Hotels Total
sandstone elephants with fountains, several roads projects
nozzle fountains, and horse fountains have New Delhi 37* 17 54
been installed. Southeast 5 3 8

NSG junction to Airport Tunnel: This South 6 1 7

stretch leads to Terminal 3. Central 5 5
■ Apart from lion statues (6-ft tall), the Shahdara 3 1 4
two sides of the roads have statues of yakshi- Southwest 2 1 3
nis. There are also rectangular screens with
Prem Nath Pandey East 4 4
the G20 logo that show Bharat Mandapam
(the Summit venue) and other iconic places (Clockwise from above) Fountains and an artifical rock waterfall installed along the Airport road; street art on the walls of Mandi House Metro station and TOTAL 61 23
of Delhi. At the tunnel exit are two artificial Bhairon Marg; (on top) a view of the Pragati Maidan stretch near Bharat Mandapam, the Summit venue. Abhinav Saha *including ITPO and Palam Technical Area
rock waterfalls.

NSG junction-Hanuman Junction

towards Palam airport:
■ Here, the central verge and traffic is-
landhavebeentransformedintoagreenbelt
withseasonalflowersandnative plantssuch
as marigold, bougainvillea and nymeria.
■ As one drives down the road, six bub-
ble fountains, a model of an MiG aircraft in-
stalled by the Air Force, and three LED
screens come into view.
■There are also 18 Shivling fountains, 14
horse sculpture fountains; and 8 sculptures
of dancing figures.
■Around730 lamp posts have been dec-
orated while 900 focused lights and up-
lighters are installed around plants.
■ 10 sets of flags of all G20 countries will
be installed on both sides of roads from
DhaulaKuantoNSGcrossing andNSG cross-
ing to the Airforce Gate, including Thimayya
Marg and Parade Road.
APWDofficialsaid:“Theentirestretchhas
been redeveloped. Work started last year in
June-July...25,000metrictonnesofdebriswas
removed from the VVIP road and 15,000 MT
from Ulan Batar Road. We are putting finish-
ing touches. Some plants and flowers will be
placedjustbeforetheeventsotheylookfresh.”
Bhairon Marg to Bharat
Mandapam gate no. 7
The road, which earlier had rows of
parked cars, damp walls with beetle juice
stains, and garbage on the side, now tells the
story of culture and folklore through street
art,withthescenechangingevery50metres.
World leaders and delegates will also get a
glimpseof Indianmythology—fromapaint-
ing of lord Hanuman with folded hands and
‘JaiSiya Ram’ written on the side;a wall with
Ram, Laxman and Hanuman; Krishna with
gopis—whentheymakethejourneytowards
Bharat Mandapam on September 9 and 10.
Incidentally, the slums in front of Pragati
Maidan have been covered with temporary
sheds bearing posters with G20 logos.
What’s new:
■ Below railway under-bridge 13, where
the road divides into three, one wall depicts
asteamenginetraincrossingabridgeagainst
a forested backdrop, while the others show
modern India with multi-storey buildings
and a Vande Bharat Express train.
■ There are ‘welcome’ icons and G20-
themed lights installed at several points
while the sidewalks have been decorated
with big plants. The central verge, too, sports
fountains.
■ Foot overbridges are painted light blue
and fitted with facade lighting. Ornamental
poles have been installed for illumination
and beautification.
■ A 240-metre section of the Bhairon
Marg drain has also been spruced up to give
ita‘canal-like’appearance—theovergrowth
has been cleared, decorative stones line the
banks and a selfie point has been created.
Bharat Mandapam Gate-
Supreme Court Metro station
Traffic has been streamlined on the
stretch, while hawkers and encroachments
have been removed. The station’s walls also
have a fresh coat of white and blue paint.
What’s new:
■ A steel sculpture has been installed
outside Bharat Mandapam gates 6 and 7
with carvings that say ‘Tiranga, Sovereign
states’. There is another steel sculpture of
butterfly wings.
■ A number of fountains dot the area —
13 fountains from gate no 4 to 7 of Bharat
Mandapam; four statues of crowns with jet
fountains; and nozzle and jet fountains sur-
rounded with shrubbery and plants such as
bamboo, calendula, numerical alba, hibis-
cus and bougainvillea.
■ Flags of 20 member countries along
with those of international organisations —
World Bank, United Nations, African Union,
Asian Development Bank, International
Labour Organisation — have been installed.
■Therearealsotwoselfiepointsnearthe
gates. Traffic islands and vacant spaces near
the underpass and tunnels have been con-
verted into parks. There are also droplights
on over 200 trees.
ITO to Rajghat
Unlike the Pragati Maidan stretch, this
area was developed under the Delhi govern-
ment’s streetscaping project. Starting from
the ITO traffic signal towards Dilli Gate, all
old lights have been replaced with smart
poles that have LED lights.
What’s new:
■ Vacant spaces, including central
verges, now have seasonal flowers, plants
and small trees.
■ At Dilli Gate, a small replica of the
wheelfromKonarkhasbeeninstalled,along-
side two Dhaulpur sandstone fountains.
■ At the stretch outside Shantivan, four
fountains have been installed.
■ PWD has installed signboards, where
pedestrians will get information about
places nearby. Decorative lights, walkways
and cycle tracks have also been constructed.
■ On Satyagrah Marg and near Gandhi
Darshan,statuesof MahatmaGandhicycling
andwiththe charkha havealsobeenerected.
Purana Qila to
DPS Mathura Road
The National Zoo, Purana Qila and Crafts
Museum have been lit up with facade light-
ing while roadsides and central verges sport
newgrills.Quickresponseteams,emergency
vehicles and workers, and round-the-clock
cleaning crews will be deployed.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
To oversee G20 prep, NDMC
turns disaster management
centre into control room
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
THE NEW Delhi Municipal
Council (NDMC) has turned its
Disaster Management Centre,
which has been so far used for
training and meetings, into its
dedicated G20 Control Room.
Twelve senior officers at the
head-of-department level have
been appointed asnodal officers
to facilitate coordination among
various NDMC departments
during the Summit. The centre
will coordinate with external
agenciessuchastheDelhiPolice,
Traffic Police, and CPWD from
September 4 to 10 to ensure that
everythingisspickandspandur-
ing the event.
A team of officers will also
work in four shifts, round the
clock, to ensure smooth func-
tioning of civic services in the
New Delhi area. The control
room will be overseen by three
senior officers, NDMC chairman
Amit Yadav said in a statement.
According to NDMC vice-
chairperson Satish Upadhyay,
“One nodalofficerfrom eachde-
partmentwillbestationedatthe
control room at night to ensure
swift response to any overnight
issues... This will include nodal
officers from departments like
Civil-I, Horticulture, Public
Health, Enforcement, Electrical
Civil defence volunteers not paid salaries
for several months: Atishi raps officials
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
REVENUE MINISTER Atishi
pulledupofficialsovernon-pay-
ment of salaries to civil defence
volunteers for the past several
months and instructed the
Principal Secretary (Revenue) to
release them in a week.
In the orders given to the
Principal Secretary (Revenue),
Atishi emphasised the need
forimmediatecoordinationwith
the finance department to
expedite the process of disburs-
No renovation at new
police HQ without
intimation: Advisory
to senior officers
MAHENDER SINGH
MANRAL
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
FOLLOWING INSTANCES of offi-
cials installing ACs leading to
structural damage to the build-
ing, Special Commissioner of
Police (CP) Garima Bhatnagar
has asked all senior officers of
Delhi Police not to carry out any
kind of renovation work at the
new Police Headquarters (PHQ)
on Jai Singh Road without prior
intimationtothelandandbuild-
ing unit of the department.
InarecentadvisorytotheOSD
to Delhi Police Commissioner, all
Special CPs, Joint CPs, and
AdditionalCPsoperatingfromthe
PHQ, Special CP Bhatnagar said,
“The New Police Headquarters
was constructed under Public
Private Partnership mode. Delhi
Police (Authority) has given the
concessionaire exclusive right to
take care of the building for a pe-
riod of 15 years, commencing
fromMarch31,2016.Hence,each
kind of construction/alteration/
renovationistobedoneeitherby
Concessionaire or with the con-
currence of the Concessionaire.”
She further wrote: “Recently,
the Concessionaire has brought
to the notice that an AC at room
in the seventh floor of tower-II
was installed by a third party
vendor by cutting the post-ten-
sion(PT)slabtotakeoutthecop-
per pipe of outdoor AC unit kept
on the seventh floor terrace. The
matter was not discussed... and
third party vendors cut the PT
slab which is very risky/unsafe
asstrengthof thefloorhasweak-
ened. It is well-informed that no
oneisallowedtomakeanyholes
in PT slab in any circumstance as
this causes fall of the slab.”
Bhatnagar, who took charge
on August 1 in the Provisioning
and Finance Division, further
stated:“IndependentEngineerof
theprojecthasalsoobservedthat
itwasaPTslabhavingstrands(PT
wires).Ifastrandiscut,itmayim-
The park has sculptures of animals and birds from the
G20 nations. Archive
Engineering,Transport, Fire, and
Security.”
OnFriday,Upadhyayhadsaid
that the command and control
centre at Nagar Palika Kendra on
Sansad Margwill also beutilised
to ensure higher vigilance dur-
ing the G20 meet.
Constructed in 2010, the
Disaster Management Centre is
asingle-storeysemi-permanent
structure that spans an area of
3,771 sqm, with a built-up area
of 502 sqm. It is equipped with a
conference hall that can accom-
modate 80 people. It also has a
dedicatedcontrolroom,spacious
officers’ rooms, restrooms, a
pantry,astoragearea,andtoilets.
G20 park to open today
On Monday, the NDMC will
throw open its G20 park in
ing salaries to civil defence
volunteers.
“It has come to my attention
that despite their service in var-
ious government departments,
civil defence volunteers have
not received their salaries for
the past several months. This
situation is alarming and should
be addressed immediately,”
said Atishi.
The minister further stated
that during the Covid pan-
demic, the role played by civil
defence volunteers was ex-
traordinary. At that time, she
said, they assisted millions of
The new building on Jai
Singh Road
pact the slab strength and slab
maycrack.Hence,itisnotrecom-
mendedtocuttheslabinanyway
and an advisory in this regard
needstobedisseminatedineach
office in PHQ so that the same
shouldnothappeninthefuture.”
Last month, an internal audit
was conducted by the land and
building (L&B) cell, which found
thataround20officesinthePHQ
have conducted modification or
renovation work. “Different
wingsof DelhiPolicestationedin
newPHQhavecarriedoutmodi-
ficationworkintheirofficeswith-
out the permission/approval of
the Competent Authority and
without the knowledge of (L&B)
cell.Despiteknowingthefactthat
the new PHQ is designed with a
centralised air conditioning sys-
tem,thereareanumberofoffices
whereofficershaveinstalledtheir
personal AC due to which prob-
lemsrelatedwithseepagearebe-
ingreported,”Bhatnagarpointed
out in her advisory.
She emphasised that no one
shouldcarry outanykindof ren-
ovation work or cut the PT slab
without prior intimation to the
L&B Cell to avoid any untoward
discrepancies or incident in the
new HQ building.
The new building was inau-
gurated by Union Home
MinisterAmitShahin2019.Built
at a cost of Rs 286 crore, the
headquarters is spread over an
area of eight acres.
Chanakyapuri to the public. It
will be inaugurated by L-G VK
Saxena.
In December 2022, the
NDMC announced its plans to
create a park displaying sculp-
tures of animals and birds from
the G20 nations. The sculptures
have been crafted out of scrap
metal to promote the concept of
waste to art. A total of 19 art in-
stallations have been crafted by
25 Lalit Kala Academy artists
from all across India.
The animals portrayed in-
clude Bison (national mammal
of USA), Jaguar (Brazil), Red-
crowned crane (China), Arabian
Camel (Saudi Arabia), Magpie
(South Korea), Rooster (France),
Redwing (Turkey), Sparrow
(Italy), Emu (Australia), and
Peacock (India), among others.
Revenue Minister Atishi
Delhi residents and supported
the government by mobilising
people and delivering relief
>OBBOP
"5-/"00
THE CITY 5
Revamped For Summit visitors,
roads will be Metro introduces
maintained ‘tourist smart cards’
even after
New Delhi: In a bid to enhance the experience of
internationaldelegatesandvisitorsattendingthe
G20 Summit, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
Summit: PWD Cards.’Thesecards,designedtofacilitateseamless
has announced availability of ‘Tourist Smart
travel in the city, will be sold at select Metro sta-
GAYATHRI MANI tions from September 4 for a 10-day period.
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3 The smart cards will be accessible through
dedicatedcountersat36Metrostationsandwill
THE DELHI government is plan- come in two variants — one-day validity and
ning to create a system to en- three-day validity cards. They will offer unlim-
sure the upkeep and mainte- ited rides on the Metro network, allowing
nance of key stretches tourists to explore Delhi’s prominent tourist at-
beautified for the G20 Summit tractions with ease. The one-day validity card is
after the event ends. These pricedatRs200,whilethethree-daycardcanbe
include Bhairon Marg, Airport purchased for Rs 500, which includes a refund-
Road, ITPO, Purana Qila Road, able security deposit of Rs 50. ENS
Rajghat, Delhi Gate among
others.
Delhi minister Atishi has
given special directions to the
Public Works Department
(PWD) to create a system for
maintenance of the stretches,
upkeep of footpaths, street fur-
niture, street lights, fountains,
statues, potted plants and other
expensive items.
“We are planning to create a
system so that the stretch re-
mains the same even after the
Summit ends. I have issued di-
rections to the PWD in this re-
gard,” said Atishi.
Meanwhile, with days to go
for the mega event, a dry run of
all equipment and installations
is likely to be held on Monday,
said officials.
The PWD has installed
around 100 fountains as well as
numerous sculptures on city
roads to create an aesthetic look
when delegates arrive.
services to those in need.
She mentioned that when
Delhi faced floods recently, their
role was of utmost importance.
These volunteers worked
diligently in every relief camp,
delivering relief supplies to
flood-affected individuals and
organising facilities for them,
she said.
“The Principal Secretary
(Revenue) should immediately
take notice and coordinate with
the finance department to re-
lease salaries of all civil defence
volunteers within seven days,”
added the minister.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

6 GOVT & POLITICS

THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

‘We have repeatedly emphasized that a divided world

will find it difficult to fight common challenges’
EXCERPTS OF PRIME MINISTER
NARENDRAMODI’Sexclusivein-
terview to PTI’s Editor-in-Chief
Vijay Joshi and senior editors late
last week at his Lok Kalyan Marg
residence.
With just days left for the
summit, please share your
thoughts on achievements of
Indian Presidency.
Thegenesisof theG20wasat
the end of the last century. The
major economies of the world
got together with a vision of a
collective and coordinated re-
sponse to economic crises. Its
salience grew even more during
the global economic crisis in the
first decade of the 21st century.
But when the pandemic
struck, the world understood
that in addition to the economic
challenges,therewerealsoother
important and immediate chal-
lenges impacting humanity.
By this time, the world was
alreadytakingnoteof India’shu-
man-centric model of develop-
ment. Whether it was economic
growth, technological progress,
institutionaldeliveryorsocialin-
frastructure, they were all being
taken to the last mile, ensuring
none was left behind.
Therewasgreaterawareness
of these massive strides being
taken by India. It was acknowl-
edged that the country which
used to be seen just as a large
market had become a part of the
solutions to the global chal-
lenges.
LookingatIndia’sexperience,
it was recognized that a human-
centric approach works even
during a crisis. India’s response
to the pandemic through a clear
and coordinated approach, di-
rect assistance to the most vul-
nerable using technology, com-
ing up with vaccines and
running the world’s largest vac-
cine drive, and sharing medi-
cines and vaccines with nearly
150 countries – were noted and
well appreciated.
Bythe timeIndiabecamethe
president of G20, our words and
visionfortheworldwerenotbe-
ing taken merely as ideas but as
a roadmap for the future.
What do you see as the
biggest challenge facing the
G-20 as you hand over the
Presidency to Brazil. What
advice will you give to
President Lula.
It would not be right for me
togiveanycountryanyadviceon
what to do during their G20
Presidency. Everyone brings
their unique strengths to the
table.
I have had the privilege of in-
teracting with my friend
President Lula and I respect his
abilities and vision. I wish him
and the people of Brazil great
successinalltheirinitiativesdur-
ing the G20 Presidency.
We will still be part of the
Troika over the next year which
will ensure our continued con-
structivecontributiontotheG20
beyond our Presidency as well.
I avail of this opportunity to
acknowledge the support that
we received from our predeces-
sor in the G20 Presidency,
Indonesia and President
Widodo. We will carry forward
the same spirit into the
Presidency of our successor,
Brazil.
India has proposed making
the Africa Union a permanent
member of G-20. How will it
help in giving a voice to the
global south a presence.
I would like to draw your at-
tention to the theme of our G20
Presidency - ‘Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakam – One Earth, One
Family, One Future’. It is not just
a slogan but a comprehensive
PM Narendra Modi
philosophy that is derived from
our cultural ethos.
This guides our outlook
within India and towards the
world too.
Look at our track record
within India.
We identified districts that
were earlier labelled ‘backward’
and neglected. We brought a
fresh approach and empowered
the aspirations of the people
there. The Aspirational Districts
programme was launched. It is
bearing wonderful results with
many of these districts showing
significant progress…
This is the approach that
guidesusevenatthegloballevel.
We work for the inclusion of
those who feel their voices are
not being heard.
…During COVID-19, our ap-
proach was not that of isolation
but of integration. Despite our
constraints, we assisted nearly
150 countries of the world with
medicinesandvaccines.Manyof
these countries were from the
Global South….Similarly, we
started the Coalition for Disaster
Resilience so that countries
across the world, especially de-
veloping countries, learn from
each other and build infrastruc-
ture that is resilient even during
disasters.
We have also worked with
smallisland nations of theworld
to further their interests, includ-
ingundertheForumof Indiaand
Pacific Island Countries.
When we say we see the
world as a family, we truly mean
it. Every country’s voice matters,
no matter the size, economy or
region.
In this, we are also inspired
by the humane vision and ideals
of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela,
and Kwame Nkrumah.
Our affinity to Africa is natu-
ral. We have had millennia-old
culturalandcommercetieswith
Africa. We have a shared history
of movements against colonial-
ism. As a youthful and aspira-
tional nation ourselves, we also
relate to the people of Africa and
their aspirations.
How did you envisage this
concept of spreading G-20
meetings across India. What
was the rationale behind this
strategy?
India, across its various
states,unionterritoriesandcities
has so much potential to wel-
come,hostandconnectwiththe
world.Unfortunately,inthepast,
there used to be an attitude of
getting things done right here in
Delhi, in and around Vigyan
Bhavan. Perhaps because it was
an easy way out. Or perhaps be-
causethoseinpowerlackedcon-
fidence inthepeople of different
parts of the country to success-
fully execute plans of such scale.
I have great belief in the abil-
ities of our people. I come from
an organizational background
and there are many experiences
during that phase of life from
which I learned a lot. I had the
privilege of witnessing first-
hand the feats common citizens
were capable of when given a
platform and an opportunity.
So, we reformed the ap-
proach.
If you observe carefully, over
the years, we trusted the people
of every region. Here are some
examples. The 8th BRICS
Summit happened in Goa. The
2nd FIPIC summit involving
many Pacific Island nations hap-
pened in Jaipur. The Global
Entrepreneurship Summit hap-
pened in Hyderabad.
Similarly, we ensured that
many foreign leaders who vis-
ited our country were hosted at
various places across the coun-
try rather than just in Delhi.
Thesameapproachiscontin-
uing in G20 too, at a larger scale.
By the time our G20
Presidency term ends, over 220
meetings would have happened
across60citiesinall28statesand
8 union territories. Over 1 lakh
participantsfromaround125na-
tionalitieswouldhavewitnessed
theskillsofIndians.Over1.5crore
people in our country have been
involvedintheseprogrammesor
have come in touch with some
aspects of them.
Your message to President
Putin in Samarkand that this
is not an era of war has won
worldwide endorsement.
Given the differences
between G-7 and China-
Russia combine, it will be
difficult for the bloc to adopt
this message. In that context
what can India do as the
president to help forge a
consensus, and what will be
your personal message to the
leaders to help build that
consensus.
There are many different
conflicts across various regions.
All of them need to be resolved
through dialogue and diplo-
macy. This is our stand on any
conflict anywhere. Whether as
G20 president or not, we will
support every effort to ensure
peace across the world.
We recognize that we all
have our positions and our per-
spectives on various global is-
sues. At the same time, we have
repeatedlyemphasizedthatadi-
vided world will find it difficult
to fight common challenges.
The world is looking at G20
to deliver results on many issues
such as growth, development,
climate change, pandemics, and
disaster resilience, which affect
every part of the world. We can
all face these challenges better if
we are united.
We have and we will always
stand in support of peace, stabil-
ity and progress.

‘One nation, one election’ subterfuge First set of infra

DELHI CONFIDENTIAL
to dismantle federal structure: Kharge loans for tier 2,
KEJRIWAL:WENEED tier 3 cities to be
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
‘ONENATION,ONE
EDUCATION’INSTEAD disbursed soon
A DAY after the Centrenamed an
eight-member high-level com-
mittee headed by former
President Ram Nath Kovind to
“examineandmakerecommen-
dationsforholdingsimultaneous
elections” to Lok Sabha, state
Assemblies, municipalities and
panchayats, Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge Sunday said
the idea of ‘one nation, one elec-
tion’isa“subterfuge”fordisman-
VISITORS’ FLUX tlingthefederalstructureofIndia.
SeniorCongressleaderRahul
BEFORE THE government named him the chair of a high-level Gandhi, too, said the idea of si-
committee to examine the issue of simultaneous elections, multaneous elections was an at-
former President Ram Nath Kovind was busy attending to tack on the states. “INDIA, that is
high-profile visitors in the preceding weeks. Kovind was vis- Bharat, is a Union of States. The
ited at home by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on July idea of ‘one nation, one election’
19,LokSabhaSpeakerOmBirlaonJuly23,andHomeMinister is an attack on the Union and all
Amit Shah on August 1. The day before the Law Ministry no- its states,” he said.
tified the committee, BJP president J P Nadda paid a visit to Alleging that the Narendra
the former President on September 1. And, just days before Modi government wants to turn
that,onAugust28,RSSchief MohanBhagwatcalledonKovind India into a dictatorship, Kharge
at his residence. questioned the rationale behind
CLASS APART DAY AFTER COPS, PROTESTERS CLASHED IN JALNA
BIHAR GOVERNOR Rajan Arlekar recently gave anxious mo-
ments to political leaders from the state when was travelling
to his home state Goa. When he entered the aircraft, the IN-
Maratha stir spreads, protesters demand
DIA bloc leaders, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who
were on their way to attend the united opposition meeting in
Mumbai, were already seated in the business class. Arlekar
Fadnavis resignation; Shinde orders probe
quietly walked past their seats up to the economy class. Many
of themofferedtheirseatstotheGovernorbutherefused,po- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
litely telling them that he always travels by economy class. MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 3
Congress
president
Mallikarjun
Kharge
settingupofthecommitteewith-
out consulting the political par-
tiesatthenationallevelandatthe
state level and without elected
state governments on board.
“The Modi government
wants to slowly turn democratic
India into a dictatorship. This
gimmick of forming a commit-
teeon'onenation,oneelection'is
a subterfuge for dismantling the
federalstructureof India,”hesaid
in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
He said the Government will
have to make at least five
amendmentstotheConstitution
and make massive changes in
theRepresentationof thePeople
Act, 1951. Amendments to the
Constitution, he said, will be re-
quired to truncate the terms of
the elected Lok Sabha and the
Legislative Assemblies, as also at
the level of local bodies, so that
they can be synchronised.
“Without undermining the
wisdom of any individual, is the
proposedcommitteebestsuited
to deliberate and decide on per-
hapsthe most drastic disruption
in the Indian electoral process?
Shouldthishugeexerciseunilat-
erally be undertaken without
consultingthepoliticalpartiesat
thenationallevelandatthestate
level? Should this humongous
operation happen without
bringing states and their elected
governments on board?” he
asked.
OnSaturday,Congressleader
in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury—whowasthelone
opposition voice in the commit-
tee—declinedtobeamemberof
the panel saying he cannot be
partof thecommittee,the“terms
of reference” of which “have
been prepared in a manner to
guarantee its conclusions”.
also initially spoke well with us.
But then there was a call and
they started forcefully remov-
ing us, leading to the incident.”
Chandigarh:DelhiCM Arvind
Kejriwal on Sunday rejected
the'Onenation,Oneelection'
concept,askingwhatwillthe
common man get from such
an arrangement. He insisted
the country needs “one na-
tion, one education”.
“IhaveseenthattheseBJP
men have started a new ru-
mourof‘onenation,oneelec-
tion’. What will we achieve
from one election or 12 elec-
tions?Willtheaamaadmiget
anything from this?”
He said: “All should get
equal education. The educa-
tion the child of Ambani and
Adani get, the similar educa-
tion should be provided to
the child of farmer and a
labourer.” ENS
DAMINI NATH
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
THE FIRST tranche of loans to
fund ongoing projects in tier-2
and tier-3 cities — under the
Urban Infrastructure
Development Fund (UIDF) an-
nounced in the FY24 Budget —
will likely be disbursed soon,
said officials from the Union
Housing and Urban Affairs
Ministry. States are also in the
process of preparing proposals
for new projects, said the offi-
cials.
The fund makes low-cost
loansavailableto459tier-2cities
with a population between 1
lakh and 9,99,999 and 580 tier-
3 towns with a population be-
tween 50,000 and 99,999 as per
the 2011 Census. The National
Housing Bank (NHB), in charge
of executingtheUIDF,hadissued
guidelines in July and asked
states to submit their proposals
by September.
“We have allowed the cities
to seek funds for ongoing proj-
ects for the first two years of
UIDF, so the funds will be dis-
bursed soon. For funding new
projects, the states are prepar-
ing detailed project reports
plants and sewerage networks,
said another official. The UIDF
funding can be combined with
funding under other schemes of
the Ministry such as Swachh
Bharat Mission and AMRUT, the
official said.
As per NHB guidelines, cities
can get loans at a rate that is 1.5
percentage points less than the
prevailing bank interest rate.
They will have to repay the
amount within seven years
from the date of withdrawal in
five equal instalments, includ-
ing a two-year moratorium pe-
riod where interest will have to
be paid at the end of each
quarter.
The amount of the loan will
be 90 per cent, 85 per cent and
75percentforprojectcostsof Rs
5-10 crore, Rs 10-50 crore and Rs
50-100 crore, respectively.
Among the projects that can
be funded under the UIDF are
water supply, sanitation, con-
struction of roads, comprehen-
siveareadevelopment,localarea
planning for decongestion, her-
itage conservation, town-plan-
ning schemes and parks with
open gyms that do not involve
major construction.
The fund cannot be used for
maintenance work, administra-

CLEARING THE AIR

THE MARATHA Kranti Morcha
(MKM) on Sunday intensified
its agitation by staging demon-
DAYS AFTER Russian ambassador Denis Alipov’s remarks that strations across Marathwada,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is a “womaniser” cre- North Maharashtra, Western
ated a flutter, the Russian envoy on Sunday came out to clear Maharashtra, Konkan and
the air, saying that the only thing he meant was that “Lavrov
is popular among women as a gentleman, and he’s much ad-
Vidarbha even as demand for
the resignation of Deputy Chief
mired by men too for his intellect, charisma and wit”. Alipov's Minister Devendra Fadnavis
remarks had come during a press conference after a reporter gained momentum. In
referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin's absence at the Mumbai, MKM workers held
G20 summit in Delhi. protest at Dadar.
State transport bus services
remained suspended in several
places, including Solapur and
Ex-deputy CM named Pune. The street agitation was
the fallout of Saturday incident
A demonstration in Mumbai on Sunday. Amit Chakravarty
where police used baton and
lobbed tear gas shells to dis-
perse the crowd at Antarwali
Sarathi in Jalna district. The
clashes between police and
protesters left more than 40 in-
jured both sides. Police had
gone to the site to shift Manoj
Jarasange who was on an indef-
inite hunger strike to hospital.
Jarasange said, “We were
protesting peacefully and police
An MKM coordinator who
did not wish to be named said,
“The protesters want govern-
ment to immediately issue a GR
( government resolution) on
Maratha reservation and im-
plement the quota in govern-
ment jobs and education...
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis
who holds Home portfolio
should resign.”
Meanwhile, CM Eknath
Shinde ordered a probe and an-
nounced that the
Superintendent of Police, Jalna,
Tushar Doshi, has been sent on a
compulsory leave.
(DPRs),” said a senior Ministry
official.
Among the projects set to be
funded are sewage treatment
Sonia in hospital, condition stable
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
Senior Congress leader Sonia
Gandhi has been admitted to Sir
Ganga Ram Hospital here with
mild fever, but her condition is
stable, sources said on Sunday.
tive expenses, housing, power,
telecom, urban transport, health
and education projects, as per
the guidelines.
Gandhi was admitted to the
hospital in central Delhi
Saturday evening, a senior doc-
tor said. "She has mild fever, but
she is doing fine.
Her condition is being mon-
itored by a team of doctors," he
said. Her condition is stable, the
sources added.

BJP candidate for RS

by-election from UP
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, SEPTEMBER 3
THEBJPonSundaynamedformer
deputy Chief Minister Dinesh
Sharmaasitscandidatefortheby-
electiontoaRajyaSabhaseatfrom
Uttar Pradesh that had fallen va-
cant due to the death of Hardwar
Dubey in June this year.
The term of the seat will end
in November 2026.
September 5 is the last date
fornominationsandtheby-elec-
tion is scheduled for September
15.Sharma’selectionisnearcer-
tain as the BJP has a strong ma-
jority in the state assembly.
Like Dubey, Sharma is also a
Brahmin and by naming him as
the candidate, the BJP has tried
to keep the uppercaste commu-
nity in good humour ahead of
the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Sharma was elected as a
member of the UP Legislative
Council for the first time in 2017,
a few days after he was inducted
in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet as
deputy CM. He got the second
termin2021.Hiscurrenttermex-
piresinJanuary2027.Hiselection
totheRajyaSabhawillcreateava-
cancy in the Legislative Council.
Sharma was one of the two
deputy CMs in the first tenure of
the Yogi government.
Mona Lisa to Magna Carta, G20 venue to show 29 nations’ heritage
DIVYA A
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
AT THE venue of the G20
Summit, all 29 countries will be
represented through their art
and culture — be it an 18th-cen-
tury Qing dynasty jar from
China, a statue of Apollo from
Italy or a copy of the 13th-cen-
tury Magna Carta. The second
level of Bharat Mandapam,
which holds the main summit
room, will host an exhibition
comprising showpiece artwork
from all participants in both dig-
ital and physical form, said offi-
cials in the Ministry of Culture.
Coming from the UK, the
Magna Carta is a royal charter of
rights agreed to by King John of
England at Windsor on June 15,
1215.
Indiawillberepresentedbya
copyof thePaniniAshtadhyayi,a
linguistic text that set the stan-
dardforhowSanskritwasmeant
to be written and spoken.
Ashtadhyayi,whichmeanseight
chapters, was written by the
scholar Panini towards the end
of the fourth century BC.
Each of the 20 member
The Kosode garment from
Japan, to be showcased in
the digital section.
countriesandnineguestnations
were requested by India to sub-
mit five objects — in physical or
digital format — which are con-
sidered cultural masterpieces or
hold historical significance in
their respective countries, said
ministry officials.
Submissions were requested
under five categories: ‘object of
cultural significance’ (as a phys-
icaldisplay),‘iconicculturalmas-
terpiece’(asadigitaldisplay),‘in-
tangible cultural heritage’
(digital), ‘natural heritage’ (digi-
tal) and an ‘artefact related to
democratic practices’ (physical
or digital). The Culture Corridor
has received participation and
submissions from all 20 G20
members and 9 invitee coun-
tries, officials said.
Thedigitalsectionwillshow-
case the iconic Mona Lisa paint-
ing (France’s submission), the
Gutenberg Bible (earliest major
book printed) from Germany,
the Coatlicue statue (an Aztec
sculpture) from Mexico,
Abrahamic Family House (an in-
terfaith complex in Abu Dhabi)
from the UAE and the Kosode (a
short-sleeved garment, the di-
rect predecessor of the Kimono)
from Japan.
Theinternationalprojectwill
beunveiledatBharatMandapam
on September 9 and will open to
thepublicaftertheleaders’sum-
mit. Envisioned as a G20 legacy
project, this Culture Corridor-
G20DigitalMuseumisafirst-of-
its-kind collaborative project
which has sought participation
from G20 countries to create a
“museum in the making”.
The exhibit will also show-
casea12-footdigitalcubewhich
willdisplaymasterpiecesaswell
as objects related to democratic
practices.

7 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
BRIEFLY
RAJASTHAN
Threearrested
forabducting,
tryingtosell
minorgirl
Kota : Police have arrested
three men for allegedly
kidnapping and attempt-
ingtosella17-year-oldgirl
from Jharkhand in
Rajasthan’s Kota district,
officials said on Sunday.
The girl and her mother,
who were locked in a
house, were rescued on
Thursday with the help of
Bachpan Bachao Andolan
activists, police said. The
accusedhavebeenidenti-
fied as 49-year-old
RajendraMandalaliasRaju
from Giridih (Jharkhand),
32- year-old Ravi Kumar
from Harla (Jharkhand)
and local resident Lalit
Maheshwari (39). PTI
JAMMU & KASHMIR
CRPFpersonnel
killshimselfwith
servicerifle
Srinagar: A CRPF person-
nel allegedly died after
shootinghimself withhis
own service rifle in
Jammu & Kashmir’s
Ramban district on
Saturday night. The
provocation was not
known, police said,
adding a case has been
registered in the matter.
Identified as Bashir
Narayan Yadav hailing
from Bihar, the deceased
wasondutynearBanihal-
Qazigund tunnel along
the Jammu-Srinagar na-
tional highway. ENS
ARUNACHALPRADESH
Teacherheldfor
rapingstudents,
saypolice
Itanagar: A 50-year-old
teacher of a school in
Arunachal Pradesh’s
Lower Subansiri district
wasarrestedonSundayfor
allegedly molesting and
raping several students,
policesaid.Theprincipalof
the school was also
nabbed for not taking any
action despite having
knowledge of the crime, a
senior police officer said.
Based on an FIR lodged by
a parent, a case has been
registered under POCSO
Actandprobeisunderway,
he said. PTI
HIMACHAL PRADESH
8housesgutted
inblaze,no
deathreported
Shimla: A fire broke out at
a multi-storey house in
Shimla's Rohru subdivi-
sion that spread across
seven otherhouses, com-
pletelydamagingthemin
the blaze, officials said on
Sunday. No casualty was
reported as the residents
managed to get out of the
houses as soon as the fire
started spreading, they
said. About 21 families
have been left shelterless
and arrangements have
been made for these af-
fected families, DC Aditya
Negi said. PTI
GOA
ItalianDJheld
forpossessing
narcotics
Panaji: The Anti Narcotic
Cell (ANC) of Goa police
on Sunday arrested an
Italian disk jockey (DJ)
and his associate and
seized 50 grams of LSD
liquid and 50 grams of
charas from their posses-
sion. According to the po-
lice, Michael Lawrence
Steffenoni, 32, an Italian
national, popularly
known as DJ Bobblehead,
is among the top names
inthepsychedelictrance-
party circuit in Goa and
has been working as a
resident DJ in a popular
night-club in Vagator in
North Goa. ENS
ADRENALINE RUSH
A farmer runs with his bulls during the Nangrani festival, a bull racing event, in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district on Sunday. PTI
RSS ideologue claims curbs on women ‘had
to be imposed’ because of Islamic invasions
DEEPTIMAN TIWARY
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
CHILD MARRIAGE, sati, ban on
widow remarriage and illiteracy
among women crept into Indian
society because of Islamic inva-
sions,accordingtoRSSjointgen-
eral secretary Krishna Gopal.
Speaking Sunday during an
event on “women’s empower-
ment” at Delhi University, Gopal
said before the 12th century,
women were reasonably free
and contributed significantly to
Indian society. He also warned
againstWesterncultureandsaid
managingthekitchenwasasim-
portant as becoming a scientist.
“Let’scometothemiddleages.
Itwasaverydifficulttime...theen-
ASSEMBLY BYPOLL IN KERALA’S PUTHUPPALLY
Half century on, Chandy turf may
see a contest as CPM sniffs chance
SHAJU PHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
SEPTEMBER 3
FOR 53 years, the Puthuppally
Assembly constituency in
Kerala has thrown up no poll
surprises. These days, it is hard
to believe that.
One-and-a-half monthsafter
the demise of its candidate of 12
terms,OommenChandy,theen-
tire constellation of the state's
political stars, led by Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, have
descended on this constituency
of 1.75 lakh voters to vie for
Puthuppally come September 5.
ThebonhomieoftheCongress
andCPI(M)attheINDIAMumbai
meeting is a long way from here,
with the two parties the main
contestants in the bypoll.
The Congress has fielded
Chandy’s son and Youth
Congress leader Chandy
Oommen, whilethe CPI(M)can-
didate is Jaick C Thomas, a cen-
tral committee member of its
own youth wing, Democratic
Youth Federationof India (DYFI).
The BJP may barely register a
As floods wreak havoc, Punjab farmers ask: Who will compensate us?
ANJU AGNIHOTRI CHABA
JALANDHAR, SEPTEMBER 3
WHILE LARGE parts of India
have seen dry weather, Punjab
has experienced quite the op-
posite. June-July, in particular,
witnessed heavy rains and
flooding across over 2.4 lakh
hectares in the state where
farmers had already planted
paddy. Even as the waters
eventually receded, the paddy
plants in nearly 86,500
hectares couldn't survive the
continuous inundation. The
farmers here were then left
with two options: Write off this
kharif season or re-transplant
the crop, entailing spending the
same money all over again. The
Indian Express profiles two
farmers who chose the latter
RSS joint gen secy Krishna Gopal during the event at DU.
tirecountryisstrugglingwithsub-
jugation. Temples were broken,
universities destroyed and
women were in danger. Lakhs of
womenwerekidnappedandsold
ininternationalmarkets.(Ahmed
Shah) Abdali, (Mohammed)
Ghouriand(Mahmoodof)Ghazni
presenceontheballot,butonthe
field, it is as visible as the other
twoasitcampaignsforitscandi-
date and Kottayam district pres-
ident, G Lijin Lal. A 17-member
groupof stateleadersiscamping
here,undertheleadershipof the
partyKeralaco-in-charge,Radha
MohanDasAgarwal.Seniorlead-
ers, including Union minister
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, have ad-
dressed family gatherings at the
booth level.
The ruling CPI(M)'s narrative
is development, with the theme
of its campaign being that
Puthuppally has been deprived
of the progress that the rest of
Kerala has seen, by putting all its
eggs in the Congress basket.
Party leaders highlight the de-
velopment initiatives under the
LDF regime in Kerala since 2016
– reinforced by several “micro-
leveldevelopmentconventions”
the party has held here – and
contrast it with “the lack of
proper infrastructure and basic
amenities” in Puthuppally.
Apart from the prestige bat-
tle, for Pinarayi, it is a chance to
further demonstrate his hold on
the state. In the last two weeks,
and one the former.
Balbir Singh: Sheikh Manga
village, Sultanpur Lodhi
tehsil, Kapurthala district
The 35-year-
old completed
the transplanting
of Supreme-110,a
hybrid paddy, on
13 acres (six own and seven
taken on lease at Rs 50,000 per
acre) by mid-June. Almost a
month later, the floods from
heavy rain and embankment
breaches had submerged all his
fields under 8-10 feet of water.
Towards July-end, he man-
aged to pump out the water
from five acres, while the re-
maining eight continue to re-
main under water. On this five
acres,here-transplantedPR-126,
a short-duration paddy variety,
had all taken women from here
and sold them…. It was an era of
great humiliation. So, to protect
our women, our own society put
multiple restrictions on them,”
Gopal said.
He claimed that before
Islamic invasions, there was no
the CM has visited the con-
stituency thrice, and attended
public meetings in all eight vil-
lage panchayats.
TheCongressknowsithasno
bettercardthanthelastingaffec-
tion for Chandy, lovingly called
Kunjoonjuhere,bylocalscutting
acrosspoliticalandreligiouslines.
Since his death last month, vil-
lagershaveensuredthatthecan-
dles at his grave in Puthuppally
have never gone out. The party is
projecting Chandy Junior as the
extension of his father.
As the campaign enters the
last lap, those who are carrying
the Congress baton include CWC
membersShashiTharoorandKC
Venugopal. Even an ailing A K
AntonyaddressedaCongresscon-
ventioninPuthuppallyonFriday.
The reason the Congress is
nottakingiteasy,andtheCPI(M)
is giving the fight its all, is that
despite Puthuppally being a
Congress stronghold, the CPI(M)
has a strong party machinery in
the constituency. Six out of eight
local self-governing bodies here
are ruled by the LDF.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
during the second week of
August.
Balbir says he spent around
Rs 8,000 per acre on his first
crop: Rs 1,500 for seed and nurs-
ery sowing, Rs 1,500 for pre-
transplanting puddlingandfield
preparation, Rs 4,000 for labour
to transplant the seedlings and
Rs 1,000 for urea and other fer-
tilisers. That added up to Rs 1.04
lakh, in addition to the Rs 3.5
lakh lease rent on seven acres.
A month later, he would
spend another Rs 40,000 to re-
plant on five acres, even while
the remaining eight acres re-
mainsunder6-7feetand uncul-
tivable.
“Who will compensate me
for my loss? Also, I would have
harvested about 35 quintals per
acre from Supreme-110,
whereas the PR-126 trans-
tradition of sati in India.
“To ensure that our girl chil-
dren were safe, child marriages
started. Our country had no
satipratha.Theremayhavebeena
couple of examples… but (after
the advent of Islamic invaders), a
large number of women started
committing jauhar, sati...,” Gopal
said,addingtherewasnorestric-
tiononwidowremarriageeither.
“This is how women gradu-
allybecameuneducatedandtra-
ditions such as child marriage
crept in. Widow remarriage was
stoppedandmultiplerestrictions
wereputonwomen.Thiswasan
era of society’s degradation,”
Gopal said, adding that these re-
strictions were not our society’s
rules, but a measure to deal with
“an emergency situation”.
Ex-councillor in
UP killed over
complaint on
molestation of
minor daughters
AMIT SHARMA
MEERUT, SEPTEMBER 3
A 51-YEAR-OLD former munici-
pal councillor in Uttar Pradesh's
Sambhal district was killed al-
legedly by four people on
Saturday afternoon, police said.
The attackers barged into the
victim’shouse,slithisthroatand
assaulted his elder daughter, a
minor, when she tried to inter-
vene, police said.
The victim's wife told police
that two of the assailants had
been putting pressure on the de-
ceased to withdraw a complaint
alleging molestation of their two
minordaughters,basedonwhich
the police had registered an FIR.
She said her husband, an inde-
pendent councillor from 2017 to
2021,hadrefusedtoagreetotheir
demand,whichledtothemurder.
A police officer said, “We are
conducting raids to nab the cul-
prits who are at large... the body
hasbeenhandedovertothefam-
ilymembers.Wehopetonabthe
absconding accused soon.”
planted so late will give me 26-
28 quintals at best,” says this
farmer, who is investing all his
hopes on the next rabi season
wheat crop.
Daljit Singh: Gatti Raipur
village, Shahkot tehsil,
Jalandhar district
This 71-year-
old farms 40
acres, 20 of his
own and the rest
leased at Rs
55,000/acre. The entire 40 acres,
along with the 20-25-day-old
transplanted paddy on them,
were submerged by the floods
on July 11.
It included 20 acres next to a
bund near the Sutlej river that
burst. The crop on this land suf-
feredtotaldamageafterbeing5-
6 feet under water for two
J&Krevokessuspension
oflecturerwhoappeared
beforeSCinArt370case
BASHAARAT MASOOD
SRINAGAR, SEPTEMBER 3
JAMMU AND Kashmir’s School
Education Department has re-
voked the suspension of senior
lecturer Zahoor Ahmad Bhat,
who had appeared as peti-
tioner-in-person in the
Supreme Court during the on-
going hearing on the abrogation
of Article 370.
Bhat’s suspension was re-
voked following the completion
of a departmental inquiry into
his conduct that had been or-
dered by the administration.
The Supreme Court had last
week raised concern about the
suspension and asked the
Attorney General and the
Solicitor General to look into the
matter.
Alok Kumar, principal secre-
tary, Education, J&K, said in an
order issued on Saturday that
“having regard to the attending
circumstances and after careful
deliberation”, the government
order issued on August 25 sus-
pending Bhat was withdrawn.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the inauguration of
BJP’s Parivartan Sankalp Yatra in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur
district on Sunday. PTI
Failed in ensuring
women’s safety: Shah
targets Gehlot govt
HAMZA KHAN
JAIPUR, SEPTEMBER 3
UNION HOME Minister Ashok
Gehlot on Sunday targeted the
Ashok Gehlot government in
Rajasthan,whereAssemblyelec-
tions are due later this year, say-
ing that it has failed on the law
and order front, specially in en-
suring safety for women.
“Daily, almost 19 cases of
crimes against women are re-
ported. And when it comes to
rape cases, 22 per cent of the
country comes from Rajasthan
alone,” Shah said in his address
in Dungarpur at the launch of
BJP's second Parivartan Sankalp
Yatra in the state.
“Gehlot ji is a magician, he
makes many things disappear. In
Rajasthan, Gehlot made the elec-
tricity disappear. Jadugar saheb
madethehealthservices,employ-
mentforyouth,andwomensafety
disappear too,” he said, accusing
theGehlotgovernmentof notco-
operatingwiththeNarendraModi
governmentattheCentre.
The Union minister also tar-
geted the Gehlot government
over communal incidents in the
state.
weeks.
Daljit, however, managed to
salvage the paddy on the re-
maining 20 acres that were far-
therawaybyerectingtemporary
mud embankments before the
water levels rose.
On the damaged crop land,
he had to undertake re-trans-
planting around August 5.
“I had earlier planted
Supreme-110 and basmati vari-
eties such as Pusa-1847 and
1692, now fetching Rs 1,000-
1,500/quintal more than the
minimum support price (of Rs
2,203 for ordinary paddy). Now,
I have been forced to plant PR-
126thatyieldsless,"complained
Daljit, who is also sarpanch
(head) of his village.
He estimated his own losses,
on account of additional re-
transplanting expenses and rev-
The August 25 suspension
order came after Bhat, a political
science lecturer, appeared in the
Supreme Court on August 23 as
petitioner-in person during the
hearing of a petition challenging
theabrogationof Article370.The
order had said that Bhat was be-
ing suspended for “violations of
provisions of J&K CSR, Jammu
and Kashmir Government
Employees (conduct) rules 1971,
J&K Leave Rules”.
Last week, Senior Advocate
Kapil Sibal raised the issue of
Bhat’s suspension in the
Supreme Court, after which
Chief Justice of India D Y
Chandrachud asked Attorney
General R Venkata Ramani and
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta
to look into the matter and to
speak to J&K Lt Governor Manoj
Sinha about it.
The order suspending Bhat
had also called for a departmen-
tal inquiry into his conduct, and
during the inquiry, Bhat made
the case to the inquiry officer
that he had taken leave ahead of
hiscourtappearanceandthathe
had prior permission from the
“Bydoingpoliticsof appease-
ment, they have created an en-
vironment of insecurity in all of
Rajasthan,” Shah said.
Referring to various inci-
dents, he said: “Kanhaiyalal was
beheadedinUdaipur,therewere
prohibitions on Hindu festivals
post Karauli violence, path san-
chalan was prohibited during
Vijayadashami, 300-year-old
ShivtempleinAlwarwasrazed.”
Naming several districts
which reported communal inci-
dents in the last four-and-a-half
years,hesaid:“Tellme,shouldthis
riot-organising Gehlot govern-
ment, which has made appease-
mentitspolicy,bekeptrunning?”
He said that in the past 20
years, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi launched several schemes
in Gujarat and in the country
“and what did the Congress
party do?”
“They (Congress) launched
Rahul Gandhi 20 times and all
the20timeshislaunchingfailed.
Under UPA’s 10 years there were
scams and corruption totalling
Rs 12 lakh crore. Now Modi ji’s
government has been running
for nine years and even our op-
ponents can’t levelallegations of
corruption on Modi ji,” he said.
enuesforgonefromlowervalue-
cum-yield paddy, at Rs 40,000-
45,000 per acre.
Like Balbir, he wasn't sure
howmuchof thiswouldbecom-
pensated by the government.
Mahinder Singh: Gatta Mundi
Kasu village, Shahkot,
Jalandhar
On the fateful
night of July 11-
12, the 52-year-
old's five-acre
farmland as well
ashousewereen-
gulfed by flood waters that are
10-12 feet deep. Mahinder had,
only three weeks earlier, trans-
planted paddy on his land. More
than 50 days after the floods, the
water levels in his field are still
at 2-3 feet.
"I spent around Rs. 40,000 in
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
department to leave station.
Following the completion of
the inquiry, the administration
revoked his suspension, and on
Sunday, it issued another order
directing Bhat to rejoin his orig-
inal posting at the Government
Higher Secondary School,
Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar. Bhat
teaches Political Science to class
11 and 12 students.
A resident of Chadoora vil-
lage in central Kashmir's
Budgam, Bhat has a Masters in
Political Science from Indira
Gandhi National Open
University, as well as a Masters
in Economics. In 2016, he joined
Kashmir University's Law de-
partment as an 'in-service can-
didate' andcompletedhis three-
year law degree.
He had also been the coordi-
nator as well as the nodal officer
for the Chief Minister's Super 50
– acoachingprogrammestarted
by the late Mufti Mohammad
Sayeed, former chief minister of
the erstwhile state of Jammu
and Kashmir, for the aspirants of
civil services at state and na-
tional level.
Give number of
complaints,
reasons for delay
in condoning
medical claims:
MHA to CAPFs
MAHENDER SINGH
MANRAL
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
THE MINISTRY of Home Affairs
(MHA) has asked the Director
Medical of the Central Armed
PoliceForces(CAPFs)toinformit
aboutthenumberof complaints
with regard to delay in condon-
ing medical reimbursement
claims under the Ayushman
CAPFschemes.TheMHAhasalso
sought to know the reasons be-
hind such delays, saying it has
been receiving complaints from
CAPFspersonnelthattheirmed-
icalbillsforreimbursementtake
morethan180daysforclearance.
The MHArecently sought re-
sponses from the CRPF, BSF, SSB,
ITBP, CISF, Assam Rifles, and
NationalSecurityGuard(NSG)in
thisregard.Alltheforcestogether
have around 9-lakh personnel.
MHA has asked to find out
the number of complaints with
regardtothemedicalclaimsand
their percentage vis a vis total
number of claims in 2022-23;
andtheprobablereasonsbehind
delays and suggestions to to re-
duce complaints.
An official said the MHA has
been receiving queries from the
personnel regarding difficulties
they face in uploading medical
reimbursement claims. “The
MHA has already conveyed that
the condonation of delay in sub-
missionof medicalclaimsshould
be considered by the concerned
head of department (HoD) – IG
(Frontier/Sector)-levelonacase-
to-case basis,” the official said.
“After this condonation is re-
ceived, the individual should be
allowed to upload his docu-
mentsandnecessarychangesbe
made on NHA IT-portal to up-
load documents even after six
months,” an official said.
all then. With my land still under
water, it is not possible to do any
puddling (wet-tilling) or field
preparation.So,re-transplanting
isruledout,”lamentedMahinder,
who has just returned home af-
ter a month's displacement and
forced stay at a relative's place
that did not suffer inundation.
The challenges don't end
there. The floods also brought in
4-5 feet of sand into his fields
throughtheriver'scourse,which
makes sowing of the next wheat
orpotatocroppracticallyimpos-
sible. Restoring the land to its
original cultivable status would
require investing substantial
money. “I cannot afford that,”
said Mahinder, who is now rec-
onciled to engaging in manual
labour: “What option do I have?
Can the government help me to
become a farmer again?

8
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
THE EDITORIAL PAGE
FOUNDED BY
A climate question for G20
§
§
RAMNATH GOENKA
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
SEBI MUST ANSWER FROM PLATE TO PLOUGH
by Ashok Gulati and Purvi Thangaraj
Regulator needs to address questions that have been raised in
CHANDRAYAAN-3’S SUCCESSFUL LANDING
Adani matter. That matters for investor confidence, too
F
onthemoon,andthisquarter’s(Q1FY24)GDP
OLLOWINGTHEROUTinthestocksof companiesof theAdaniGroup,afterpub- growthrateof 7.8percent,willbolsterIndia’s
licationof theHindenburgreport,theSecuritiesandExchangeBoardof Indiabe- image in the upcoming G20 final meetings,
scheduled on September 9-10. India can
gan to look into the gamut of issues this episode has raised, including allega-
showcase not only its scientific prowess in
tionsagainstthegroup,andpossiblemanipulationof stockprices.Subsequently, spacetechnologiesbutalsothemanagement
the report of the expert committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, broadly outlined of its economy, which looks set to clock the
thescopeandextentof SEBI’sinvestigation.Whilethecommitteeconcludedthattherewas highest growth rate amongst G20 countries
no evidence of regulatory failure, several reports over the past week, which provide gran- for two successive years. This will surely be
ular details on issues such as minimum public shareholding and stock market activity, laudedbymany,andPrimeMinisterNarendra
ModiislikelytoannounceIndia’semergence
suggestotherwise.Thesereportspointtowardsgapsintheregulatoryarchitecture,andraise
on the global stage during this Amrit Kaal up
questions that the stock market regulator needs to address urgently. to2047,makingscienceandeconomydeliver
LastTuesday,areportinthispaperprovideddetailsof aninvestigationcarriedoutbythe forhumanityatlargeunderthephilosophyof
Enforcement Directorate which concluded that a dozen companies, including foreign in- 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' – One Earth, One
vestors based in tax havens, were “top beneficiaries” from short selling of companies of the Family, One Future.
Adani Group. Some of these investors had, in fact, taken positions just a few days before the The question before us is: How can India
with its G20 presidency walk the talk to ben-
release of the Hindenburg Research report. None of these entities, however, are reported to
efit the masses in the Global South for whom
havedisclosedtierownershipstructurestoincometaxauthorities.Asperthereport,EDhad
foodandnutritionalsecurityisstillachallenge,
shareditsfindingswithSEBI.Afewdaysafterthat,anotherreportdetailedhowtwoindivid- onemadeworsebyclimatechange?Thelikely
uals — one from the UAE and another from Taiwan — who had taken large positions in the answer to this question is embedded in the
Adani Group companies were associates of Vinod Adani (Gautam Adani’s brother). If these Deccan High-Level Principles as outlined in
the ‘Outcome Document and Chair’s
individuals were to be considered as proxies for Vinod Adani, and treated aspart of the pro-
motergroup,itwouldimplythattheAdaniGroupcompaniesmayhaveviolatedstockmar- Summary'of theAgricultureWorkingGroup
ketrules.Anotherreportinthispapershowedthattwooffshoreshellcompaniesregistered
(AWG) of G20 nations that was held on June
15-17 at Hyderabad. The Deccan High-Level
intheBritishVirginIslandsthataresaidtohaveinvestedinAdaniGroupstocksarealsolinked Principlesare:One,facilitatehumanitarianas-
tothegroup.ThedenialsissuedbytheAdaniGrouphavedonelittletoaddresstheconcerns. sistance to countries and populations in vul-
Questionshavealsobeenraised,andrightfullyso,aboutSEBI.If the“legislativepolicy”of nerable situations; two, enhance availability
the regulator moves in the opposite direction of its “investigation and enforcement”, it lim- and access to nutritious food and strengthen
its its operational space, and curtails its ability to carry forward its responsibilities. foodsafetynets;three,strengthenpoliciesand
collaborativeactionsforclimate-resilientand
Apprehensions are also stoked when a former SEBI Chairman, to whose tenure some of the
sustainableagricultureandfoodsystems;four,
allegationsmadeinthereportscanbetraced,becomesanindependentdirectorandnon-ex- strengthen resilience and inclusivity in agri-
ecutivechairpersonof anewchannelownedbytheAdaniGroup.Asthestockmarketregu- culture and food value chains; five, promote
lator, whose primary duty is to ensure the integrity of the markets and protect the interests theonehealthapproach;six,accelerateinno-
ofinvestors,SEBIwoulddowelltoaddressthequestionsraisedinacomprehensivemanner. vation and the use of digital technology, and
seven,scale-upresponsiblepublicandprivate
investments in agriculture.
PLUS AND MINUS
These are steps in the right direction.
However,implementingtheseprinciplesina
time-bound manner remains a challenge.
Where will the funding come to achieve all
INDIA’s Mumbai meeting takes a step forward on jointness. these objectives?
But it still lacks shared and affirmative ideas In any case, the AWG of G20 highlighted
T
priority areas to encourage diversification in
HE THIRD MEETING of INDIA, the 28-party Opposition alliance, in Mumbai agriculture, promoting sustainable agricul-
ended with a commitment, a caveat and the announcement of committees. ture, and channelling financial resources to-
The commitment is that these parties will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls wards environmentally conscious and cli-
together and field joint candidates. The caveat is that they will do so “as far
as possible”. A national alliance that is largely made of parties rooted in regional identi-
ties such as the DMK and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or parties with regional influence
such as the TMC and NCP is bound to face challenges. There are internal contradictions
and rivalries – such as between the CPM and Congress and TMC in Bengal or the CPM vs
Congress in Kerala — that make nationwide seat-sharing arrangements an uphill task.
To navigate the way forward, the bloc has announced the setting up of a coordination
committee. In addition, there are committees to oversee rallies and for media and social
media campaigns. But while, for the alliance, Mumbai is certainly a step forward from
Patna and Bengaluru, a long distance remains to be covered.
The show of unity in Mumbai will be tested by the arduous seat-sharing negotiations
that lie ahead. The real challenge for INDIA, however, is to recognise that adding up of IN GOOD FAITH
§
political arithmetic is no substitute for a joint platform that is based on shared ideas. After
the two-day meeting in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi said that “this stage represents 60 per
Das Kabira Kahe Samjhai/Ant Kaal Tera
cent of the Indian population. If the parties on this stage unite, it is impossible for the BJP KaunSahai/SunMereSajanSunMereMeeta/Ya
to win an election.” The figure of 60 per cent is broadly correct, but it does not speak of Jeevan Me Kya Kya Beeta.” (How can Kabir ex-
the full picture. It does not necessarily mean that the non-BJP vote is an anti-BJP vote or plain to you my friend/At the end, who will
that one Opposition party’s vote is transferable to the other. For instance, there is no rea- be your helper?/Listen, to me, lovers and
son to believe that a Samajwadi Party supporter will seamlessly back the AAP candidate, friends/And bear witness to life).
— Kabir
or that a CPM voter in West Bengal will easily vote for the joint Opposition candidate from
the Congress or TMC. This oversimplification of political-electoral math and excessive “BIGOTRY,”ANARTICULATEfriendsaid,“has
reliance on a mechanical adding up of vote-shares evades a fundamental and yet unan- becomeaspectatorsport.Iwillnotbepartof
swered question: What does INDIA stand for, really? it.” She was, in a sense, correct.
The sense that emerges from Mumbai, as it did from Patna and Bengaluru, is that the The video in question from a
Muzaffarnagar school shows its principal,
alliance is looking to frame its campaign in negative terms: It is asking the electorate to
Tripta Tyagi, turning children as young as
vote against Narendra Modi’s BJP. Its articulation of what is at stake in 2024 follows from
this negative pitch and it is apocalyptic — it paints a picture of endangered secularism,
seven years old into a mob as she instructs
students to hit one of their classmates while
democracy, federalism and fundamental rights. What is missing, still, is a big affirmative referring to his religion in a derogatory man-
idea that is being offered by the Opposition alliance. As things stand, therefore, this nar- ner.Heweepsashisclassmates—some,per-
rative lends weight to the ruling party’s allegation that INDIA has come together merely haps,friends—continuetohithim.Itisachill-
against the PM, not for the people. In the months ahead, the Opposition alliance needs to ingsight.Itwillstaywithyou,gnawingatyour
outline what it stands for — not just who it stands against. That would give the idea of conscience. The images may come flashing
back as youtypeoutanemailat work, or jos-
Opposition unity substance and meaning.
tle around a crowded Metro. At least that's
what you think will happen.
The video hit social media on Friday. By
Freeze Frame E P Unny Tuesday, mundane concerns like EMIs, holi-
dayplanningandrelationshipwoes,areagain
front-of-mind.Theboy’scriesreturn,attimes.
There is a pause when reports emerge that,
according to his family, he cannot sleep after
his public humiliation. But there is nothing
you can do, is there? So, it’s time to move on.
And, perhaps, it would be better to not feel a
moral outrage that is, in a sense, impotent.
Canthese countriescomeupwithamodelandtime
frametomakeagriculturelessdamagingtotheplanet?
If India can demonstrate the
application of precision
technologies in space, with
Chandrayaan-3 by spending
a fraction of the cost that the
US would incur for the same
feat, why can’t the country
use the same principle to
develop technologies to help
farmers overcome challenges
of extreme weather events?
The country could then
share these technologies
with other countries of the
Global South. We believe
this is feasible and can be
done cost-effectively,
provided it’s on the
government’s priority list
and there is a time-bound
action plan. The ultimate
goal is to enhance the
efficiency and resilience of
agri-value chains and
promote digitisation as a
catalyst for agricultural
transformation.
DON’T LOOK AWAY
You have a moral responsibility to watch video of 7-year-old boy in Muzaffarnagar
Aakash Joshi
It is also important not
merely to view but to
remember. In the Information
Age, this is, perhaps, the most
difficult of all. From Akhlaq
to Junaid, Una to
Muzaffarnagar — and from
the highest pulpit in the
capital to the village dealing
with a ‘civilisational’ system
of hierarchy — there is a
barrage of prejudice, loud
proclamations and
convenient silences. To hold
them all in our minds
constantly and to empathise
requires a degree of fortitude.
But, then, neither morality
nor decency are easy.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1983, FORTY YEARS AGO
CALL FOR JIHAD
ATLEASTSEVENpeoplewerekilledbygunfire
inprotestsinPakistan’stroubledSindprovince
followingajailedleader’scallfora“jihad”(holy
war) against martial law, opposition sources
said. Five policemen and two demonstrators
died in Moro, central Sind, where the son of
GhulamMustafaJatoi,thepresidentoftheSind
unit of the banned Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP) led several thousand people in a march
for democracy, they said.
NEPAL DEPORTS INDIANS
THE INDIAN EMBASSY in Kathmandu has
WORDLY WISE
The purpose of law is to prevent the
strong always having their way.
— OVID
mate-resilient farming. This involves adopt-
ingclimate-smartfarmingpracticesandpre-
cision technologies for agricultural produc-
tion to withstand climate fluctuations.
If India can demonstrate the application
of precision technologies in space, with
Chandrayaan-3 by spending a fraction of the
costthattheUSwouldincurforthesamefeat,
whycan’tthecountryusethesameprinciple
todeveloptechnologiestohelpfarmersover-
comechallengesof extremeweatherevents?
It could then share these technologies with
other countries of the Global South. We be-
lievethisisfeasibleandcanbedonecost-effec-
tively,providedit'sonthegovernment'sprior-
ity list and there is a time-bound action plan.
Theultimategoalistoenhancetheefficiency
and resilience of agri-value chains and pro-
mote digitisation as a catalyst for agricultural
transformation. This includes the establish-
ment of standardised agricultural data plat-
forms as digital public goods and harnessing
noveldigitaltechnologiestorevolutionisethe
agri-food sector. Sensor-equipped drips,
drones and LEOs (Low Earth Orbits), for in-
stance,canbeusedinagriculturetoget“more
fromless”,savingtheplanet’sscarceresources.
TheAWG'sproceedingsalsohighlightthe
need to promote food and nutritional secu-
rity via higher investment in agri-R&D, espe-
cially biofortification. Encouraging research
inbiofortificationanddisseminatinginforma-
tiononfortifiedcropvarietiestofarmersiskey
to achieving nutritional security. ICAR scien-
tistshavealreadydemonstratedthatevenba-
sicstaplecropssuchaswheat,rice,maize,and
milletcanbebio-fortifiedwithenhancediron,
zinc,andevenanti-oxidants.ICARhascreated
87varietiesofclimate-resistantandnutritious
crops.Thesecropsincluderice(8),wheat(28),
maize (14), pearl millet (9), finger millet (3),
small millet (1), lentil (2), groundnut (2), lin-
seed(1),mustard(6),soybean(5),cauliflower
(1), potato (2), sweet potato (2), greater yam
(2), and pomegranate (1) varieties, which
were developed as a result of collaboration
betweennationalandinternationalorganisa-
tions. However, the dissemination of this re-
search to the Global South is equally impor-
tant for India. In India, Prime Minister
NarendraModihasreleasedzinc-richriceand
But the decision to look away, especially
forthoseof uswhoare—byidentity,faith,in-
heritanceorprivilege—membersof thema-
joritycommunity,maynotbetheethicalone.
Theclipisrare,perhaps,inthatitinvolves
children. But it belongs to a disturbing genre
of videos that have become a part of our so-
cial-media landscape. Even a cursory search
for“MuslimmanforcedtochantJaiShriRam”
throwsupverymanyhits.Inmanyinstances,
in a gross inversion of the global millennial's
lived motto — “if you didn't (Insta)gram it, it
didn't happen” — the perpetrators them-
selves want to share their “exploits”.
There is a way of turning the “spectator
sport”intosomethingelse.Todoso,however,
requires the moral courage to bear witness.
Thefatigueisunderstandable.Asearlyas
2000, John Ellis argued in Seeing Things that
violence and its portrayal produces “a sense
of complicity” among viewers. This feeling
may be exacerbated in the digital age — by
watching,youareliterallyhelpingthosethat
postvideosmakemoneyandgarnerthecur-
rency of “views”.
Thereis,however,adifferencebetweena
spectator and a witness. In courts of law and
evenreligioustraditions,theideaof “bearing
witness” carries with it a responsibility es-
sentialtoanideaof community.Anactof wit-
nessing is a commitment — both to memory
and to those that suffer. It says that we will
see and we will remember. And, if and when
we can, we will act and help.
lodged a protest “at a high level” on the re-
ported “deportation” of Indians from
Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal. An
Indian Embassy spokesman said that Indian
vendorsandhawkerssellingconsumersitems
in the streets of Kathmandu were lifted and
sentbytruckstoRaxaulintheIndo-Nepalbor-
der, about 180 km south of Kathmandu.
CURFEW IN INDORE
CurfewwasorderedinIndoreafterabout100
armed Sikhs took to arson and stone-throw-
ing near the Imli Saheb gurdwara area of the
city. Announcing this at a press conference,
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
wheat,whichcanbesharedwithcountriesof
the Global South. Biofortification is much
morecost-effectivecomparedtosupplement-
ing rice with nutrients, say iron, in our public
distribution system. But India spends only
0.48 per cent of agri-GDP on agri-R&D. This
needstobedoubled,ifthecountryhastoplay
the role of a leader.
TheAWGalsohighlightsthe“significance
of strengthening a rules-based, open, pre-
dictable,transparent,non-discriminatory,in-
clusive,equitableandsustainablemultilateral
trading system”. It also emphasises working
together to improve our food systems by
strengthening local, regional, and interna-
tional agri-food value chains. This can lead to
affordableandaccessiblefood,agriculturalin-
puts,andproducts.Asustainablemultilateral
trading system with the WTO at its core, can
increasemarketpredictabilityandboostbusi-
ness confidence.
India would surely like to bring millets to
the fore, even on the dining tables of G20
members. But much more product innova-
tionanddisseminationisneededtomakeita
part of global cuisine, akin to say quinoa.
Is it possible for India to turn this aspira-
tional framework into a reality at home? The
answer lies in re-thinking its agri-policies to
prioritise the well-being of people and the
planet.Currentpoliciesofopen-endedandas-
sured procurement with Minimum Support
Price(MSP)forsaypaddyandwheat,coupled
with massive subsidies on fertilisers, power,
andirrigation,havecauseddamagetoournat-
ural resources, especially soil, water, air, and
biodiversity.Weneedtore-purposeagri-poli-
ciestoamoreenvironmentallysustainableand
nutritious food system. Can G20 countries
comeupwithamodelandtimeframetomake
agriculturelessdamagingtotheplanet?Sofar,
India has not come up with a major move in
this direction, nor have the US or China. Time
is running out and the G20 needs to work
closer, faster, and smarter with demonstrable
resultsby2030tofeedthisworldandalsosave
the planet, by making it green and clean.
Gulati is Distinguished Professor and
Thangaraj is a Research Associate at ICRIER.
Views are personal
There is a reason we are told of Sita’s ab-
duction,of Christonthecross,of howProphet
Muhammad was abused. Those stories are
not just of heroism, but also of villainy and
depravity.
There is also a reason that witnesses can
becompelledtotestifyinacourtoflaw.When
wesee,weassumeatleastsomeresponsibil-
ity.Whenwelookaway,weprecludethepos-
sibility of empathy.
Itisalsoimportantnotmerelytoviewbut
to remember. In the Information Age, this is,
perhaps,themostdifficultof all.FromAkhlaq
to Junaid, Una to Muzaffarnagar — and from
the highest pulpit in the capital to the village
dealingwitha“civilisational”systemof hier-
archy — there is a barrage of prejudice, loud
proclamations and convenient silences. To
hold them all in our minds constantly and to
empathiserequiresadegreeof fortitude.But,
then, neither morality nor decency are easy.
And what of the impotence? Of the fact
that we are, in large part, helpless? Perhaps
atthecurrentmoment,thereisnothingtobe
done. But even the possibility of action re-
quires first that we look, and understand.
That may make us sad, angry, and lose
sleep. But as you lie awake at night, remem-
ber,theremightwellbeaseven-year-oldboy,
whosesufferingisfargreaterthanyours,who
isdoingthesame.Theleastwecandoiskeep
him in our minds.
aakash.joshi@expressindia.com
Chief MinisterArjunSinghsaidhecancelleda
visittoDelhiinviewof thesituationinIndore.
Arjun Singh said the police entered the resi-
dentialareasoftheImliSahebgurdwaraitself.
UN ON KOREAN PLANE
The Soviet Union faced heavy weather in the
Security Council as speaker after speaker
strongly denounced its action in shooting
downaSouthKoreanpassengerplaneandde-
manded“fullaccounting”fortheincident.The
participantsintheemergencydebatewereal-
mostunanimousintermingtheSovietexpla-
nation of the incident as “totally inadequate”.

9
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
THE IDEAS PAGE
Transition without playbook
Shifting away from fossil fuels will require mediating domestic and international conflicts,
facilitating global cooperation, and building new institutions
OVER THE BARREL
by Vikram S Mehta
“FOR EVERY COMPLEX problem, there is an
answer that is simple, clear and wrong”. I
am reminded of this comment, attributed
to the journalist H L Mencken whenever I
reflect on the “green energy transition” with
one caveat. The answer is not wrong. It is
just not good enough to solve the problem.
The energy transition is no doubt com-
plex. How else can one categorise the effort
to shift a $100 trillion global economy built
on fossil fuels to one underpinned by clean
energy. The answer on how to achieve this
shift is known and has been clearly and sim-
ply defined. The industrial and transporta-
tion systems must be electrified through
green energy, technological advancement
mustbringdownthecostsof generationand
storage,infrastructuremustbeupgradedand
innovativefinancingmechanismsdeveloped
tofinancethisupgradation.Demandconser-
vation and energy efficiency must be the
running thread that connects all initiatives.
Why then do I think these answers are
not good enough? The reason is whilst
these essentially technocratic solutions lay
out the road map, they do not guarantee
movement, at least not at the pace required
to keep global temperatures from rising
above 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-in-
dustrial levels, not to speak of the 1.5 de-
grees Celsius limit agreed by the global
community at COP21 in 2015. This is be-
cause these solutions do not take into ac-
count international dynamics and domes-
tic political and social realities
Two verities frame the green energy
transition.
One, it is taking place at a time when the
energy order has fragmented. Global lead-
ers remind each other that climate change
recognises no national borders.
Notwithstanding that resource nationalism
is back on their agenda, many governments
are incentivising investors to create green
energy capacity in their national backyard
and are raising high fences to protect the in-
vestment. The standout example is the
Inflation Reduction Act enacted by the US
Congress in 2022. The value of the tax cred-
its, subsidies, guarantees and grants on of-
fer under this act is $365 billion -- possibly
the most generous green energy package
ever legislated. Europe has also put in place
a similar set of incentives, albeit less gener-
ous and the production-linked incentive
scheme in India is cut from a similar mould.
Two, it has distributional consequences.
The transition will not be socially neutral.
There will be winners and losers. There will
be,forinstance,lessneedforcoalminersand
oil riggers. And more for engineers who can
installandmaintainsolarmodules,windtur-
bines and batteries. Those who stand to lose
will resist change. Governments face the so-
cial choice of deciding how to distribute the
costs and benefits.
Keeping in mind the fact that global
warming cannot be tackled without shifting
away from fossil fuels, the one lacuna in the
Balbir Punj
ON AUGUST 29, the 15-year-old Class X stu-
dent was discharged from the hospital after
five days of treatment for blows his two
teachers had rained on him. Like all Indian
children,hehasbeenbroughtupinacultural
milieu in which a teacher is known as a
“guru”andplacedanotchhigherthangod.In
our tradition, a guru is a protector, guide and
an embodiment of patience, empathy and
compassion for his students.
TheIndianExpress(August27)quotingthe
FIR reported: “He (Farooq sir) then took the
boytotheprincipal’sroom,andbothof them
(lecturer Farooq Ahmed and principal Mohd
Hafiz) locked the room and beat the child.
They told him that if he does such a thing
again (write Jai Shri Ram on the blackboard),
they will kill him. They then sent a staff and
got the board washed with water.” Hafiz has
beenarrested,Farooqissaidtobeabsconding.
The Indian Express editorial (‘Teaching
hate', August 29) took cognisance of the
Kathua boy’s travails but as a trope to high-
light the unfortunate Muzaffarnagar class-
room incident in which a teacher is accused
of instructing students to slap a Muslim
classmate as a punishment for slackness in
completing his schoolwork.
This esteemed daily has termed the sor-
didepisodeas“bigotryintheclassroom”and
observed, “The prejudice that made the
teacher in Muzaffarnagar choreograph the
answer provided so far is, in my view, the
absence of institutions of governance that
reflect these verities. Why is this the case?
Why this absence? I can think of several
reasons but let me cite two.
One, the phrase “green energy transi-
tion” lacks conceptual clarity. Transition
suggests transformation, a change from one
state to another. This is not what is going to
happen in the green transition. It will not
lead to the complete replacement of fossil
fuels by clean energy, at least not in the fore-
seeable future. What it will lead to is the de-
cline in the market share of the former to
the point the latter dominates the energy
basket. This is what happened in the 18th
century when coal replaced wood and
again over the course of the 20th century
when oil passed coal. In both these cases
the “transition” resulted in the addition of
new fuels; not in the substitution of one set
with another.
All leaders recognise this reality. For to
deny it would be to fly in the face of eco-
nomic fact. The IMF reported only a couple
of weeks back, for instance, that in 2022,
governments allocated $1.5 trillion to ex-
plicitly subsidise fossil fuels. The report
added that if the implicit cost of underpric-
ing the consequential negative externality
of air pollution and global warming (esti-
mated to be $5.5 trillion) were added, the
world would have spent the equivalent of
7.1 per cent of global GDP to “support” fos-
sil fuels. The nature and scope of this sup-
port differs from country to country but the
reason to do so is the same. The fossil fuel
industry is integral to energy security and
“good politics”.
The problem is leaders find it politically
Two crimes, two responses
Outrage over Muzaffarnagar should not cancel brutality of Kathua
horrific punishment and draft seven-year-
olds into its brutish design, and the normal-
isation of prejudice which dictates her and-
so-what responses in the aftermath, speak
of disquieting things.” But a stunning silence
ontheshockingbehaviourof thetwoKathua
teachers! While mentioning that case, the
editorialiscircumspectandeconomicalwith
words.Itsays:“TheincidentinKathua,...does
not cancel out the Muzaffarnagar outrage —
it only adds to it.”
I agree with it to the extent that the two
incidents cannot cancel each other out.
Why? Because the binary is fake — there is
anoceanof differenceinthenuancesandde-
tails of the two.
The Kathua boy was set upon by two
teachers because he had the audacity to
write‘JaiShriRam’.Howeverhardwetry,we
can’t understand what infuriated the two
teachers.
Shri Ram is a god to millions and also a
national hero who represents all that’s no-
ble and sacred in Indian public life. Gandhiji
had his name on his lips while breathing his
last and his Samadhi at Rajghat bears the
words “Hey Ram”. The handwritten copy of
the Constitution — calligraphed by Prem
Behari Narain Raizada — has Ram’s painting,
along with the pictorial depiction of several
otherIndianiconswhohadinspiredthefree-
dom struggle.
The energy transition has to
be accelerated. On that, there
is no debate. But there is no
playbook regarding the
process. One has to be
created. Institutions have to
be built that facilitate global
cooperation, skill
development and technology
transfer and also enable the
mediation of the domestic
and international conflicts
that have been inevitably
aroused. Were that to
happen I would not think of
Mencken every time I reflect
on the green transition.
TheincidentattheschoolinMuzaffarnagar
falls into yet another category, reminiscent of
NupurSharma’scase.Noonepointedoutwhat
wrongtheBJPleaderhadsaid.Agentprovoca-
teurstwistedherstatement,accusedherofin-
sulting the Holy Prophet. Such was the hate
generated against her that even those who
dared to stand by her, were vilified.
Was it a clear-cut Hindu-Muslim issue in
Muzaffarnagar?
Here are excerpts from what the princi-
pal characters had to say about the incident.
Thechild’sfather has expressed concernand
anguish over his son being beaten up even
as he told this newspaper that his son and
his cousin have been studying there for
years: “My family and I are worried about
our future here. I am a farm labourer. I don’t
want Tripta ma’am to be arrested or pun-
ished. My son and his cousin have been
studying there for years. We only wanted an
apology and an explanation from her. It was
my nephew who shot the video and showed
it to me on Thursday. I was shocked to see
my boy being beaten over his identity. He
was humiliated because he didn’t do his
homework. We have never faced such an is-
sue in the village, but now everyone is talk-
ing about it.”
There is no Hindu-Muslim dimension to
the sordid episode.
Tripta Tyagi, the teacher in the dock, told
C R Sasikumar
inadvisable to acknowledge this reality in
theirpublicdiscourse.Asaresult,theyconvey
themessage,inadvertentlyof course,thatitis
possible to leapfrog from where we are to
where we want to reach. What they should
convey instead is the imperative to resolve
themultipleblockers(vizgeopolitics,vested
interests, finance, competitiveness etc) that
currently slow the pace of transition.
Second, a new curtain has been drawn
between China and the West. This curtain is
not made of iron. It contains lithium, nickel,
cobalt and copper and is studded with chips.
I have written before of the rise of new cen-
tres of energy power with China in pole po-
sition in the supply of minerals essential for
the transition and the West in control of the
levers of sophisticated technology and
equipment. Neither entity wants to be de-
pendent on the other; but neither can do
without the other, at least not for the pres-
ent. “De-risking” and not “decoupling” is,
therefore, their strategic byword. Countries
like India that have to deal with both prefer
the word “multi-alignment”.
The energy transition has to be acceler-
ated. On that, there is no debate. But there
is no playbook regarding the process. One
has to be created. Institutions have to be
built that facilitate global cooperation, skill
development and technology transfer and
also enable the mediation of the domestic
and international conflicts that have been
inevitably aroused. Were that to happen I
would not think of Mencken every time I
reflect on the green transition.
The writer is chairman and distinguished
fellow, Centre for Social and Economic
Progress (CSEP)
The Indian Express: “The video has been ed-
ited. I said other things but those lines were
removed. I made a mistake and I accept that.
I shouldn’t have asked other students to hit
him. I am a heart patient and am handi-
capped, so I couldn’t stand to hit him. I only
said that Muslim mothers shouldn’t take
their kids to their maternal home during ex-
ams. I was only trying to maintain discipline
in class. I didn’t know the boy’s uncle was
recording the video.”
Accordingtothisnewspaper(August27),
theschoolhas50-60students,roughlyhalf of
them Muslim. Several families said they
were aware of corporal punishment being
meted out to their children. Isn’t it bad
enough that an innocent child was beaten
up and humiliated for not doing his home-
work? Certainly, getting other children to
beathimupdehumanisestheclassroom.But
why communalise the issue?
WhiletheKathuaschoolisagovernment
higher secondary school, with direct ac-
countability to the system, the one at
Muzaffarnagar is a small private institution
run by a differently-abled woman teacher.
That school has been sealed. Why not allow
thelawtotakeitscourse?TheMuzaffarnagar
outrage can’t cancel the brutality of Kathua.
The writer is a former Member of
Parliament and a columnist
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“BERC cannot shrug off its responsibility. It seems that the regulatory body has
confined its work to fixing prices, even though monitoring the market should
also be a priority. We urge BERC to take every step necessary to keep LPG
cylinder prices within reach of ordinary people.”—THEDAILYSTAR,BANGLADESH
If you feel an
irregular heartbeat
A key finding of my ‘state of our hearts’ survey is
that the amount of hate required to shock our
hearts rises with every passing week
Priya Ramani
FOR YEARS NOW, our tickers have been
among the most diseased in the world. In
2016 — months after the daytime lynching
ofMohammedAkhlaqathishomeinDadri,
Uttar Pradesh — the World Health
OrganisationremindedusthatIndianscon-
tribute to a fifth of all heart disease-related
deaths. I’m sorry to report that as our car-
diovascularsystemsarepumpedwithareg-
ular supply of hate and disinformation, our
heart health grows more precarious with
every passing day.
Assurveysfocusonthemoodof thena-
tion ahead of the 2024 general election, I
feelitis myduty tosharewidelythe results
of my “State of Our Hearts” rumination. I
hope it will nudge you to examine the
health of the central organ of your cardio-
vascular system.
A key finding of my survey is that the
amount of hate required to shock our
hearts rises with every passing week, indi-
cating that our hearts are getting increas-
ingly infected. Think of it as alcohol addic-
tion where you have to drink more for the
same effect. There’s enough evidence to
show thatin 2023ourheartsneedahigher
level of hate to feel anything more than
they did a decade ago.
Someofusrecognisethisinabilitytofeel
for what it really is. As Mohammed Rafi fa-
mously sang, our hearts are breaking into a
thousand pieces, falling here and there.
First,thebiology.Ahate-fuelledmyocar-
dialinfarctioniscausedwhenapartof your
heart muscle only gets blood that’s tainted
withvitriol.Hateisawideumbrellainmod-
ernIndiabutasyouknow,theheartdoesn’t
discriminate. It is affected equally by any
hateyouimbibe,whetherit’sIslamophobia
orcasteismorhatredforanythingthatgoes
on inside a church. It could be hate against
theLGBTQIA+community,chieflytranspeo-
ple, or that old favourite, hate against
women, especially if they belong to any of
the above groups.
Your family history, your voting history,
yourlifestyle(forexample,howmuchtele-
vision you watch and how many family
WhatsApp groups you belong to), your
favouritecolour,yourresidents’association
membership and your state of residence —
all affect how diseased your heart has be-
come. As a parent, you have the heady
power to transmit this disease to your chil-
dren. Here are some early symptoms that
will alert you that your heart is in danger:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
OUR RIGHTS
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Many,
not one’ (IE, September 2). PM Modi
has shared his vision of India at 2047
many times. It is, therefore, intriguing
that such a big announcement of “One
nation, one election” was not made
from the ramparts of the Red Fort on
August 15, while he addressed the na-
tion. The use of the word “stealth” in
this regard sums up the opaque work-
ing culture of the current political dis-
pensation. They often talk about the
“will of the people” to change the con-
stitution but here, they are not willing
to share crucial pieces of information
with the people. It is more so, glaring
when these decisions have far-reach-
ing social, political and economic
repercussions, not to mention the
constitutional and logistic hurdles.
Paulo Freire said, “Leaders who do not
act dialogically, but insist on impos-
ing their decisions, do not organise the
people — they manipulate them”.
L R Murmu, New Delhi
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Many,
not one’ (IE, September 2). The
strength of our democracy lies in the
dynamics of our multiparty system,
where the collective conscience of a
particular group of people does not
necessarily have to fit into an already
established political group, but rather
can — and should — be expressed
through a political party of their own.
This multiparty system, alliances, and
the continuously changing political
loyalties, at times, necessitate snap
elections. Instead of once in a five-year
simultaneous election, we can have a
dedicated election month every year,
so that our developmental plans can
be rolled out keeping the election
month in mind.
Sudip Kumar Dey, Barasat
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Your chest feels tight, squeezed or aches
whenyouhearchurchbells,theazaanorthe
soundof yourchild’svoiceclearlyasserting
her right to choose a life partner.
You break out in a cold sweat when you
findoutthatacasehasbeenfiledunderthe
AtrocitiesAct.Youmayormaynotfeelnau-
sea.Itwasjustaregularcrimeright,whyuse
thisact?Someof youmaysufferfromwhat
canonlybedescribedasaversionof hyper-
hidrosis,amedicalconditioninwhichaper-
son sweats excessively and unpredictably.
Except, your condition is predictable and
triggeredbyanyof thefollowing:Dalitman
on a horse; Dalit man proud of his mous-
tache; Dalit child picking up cricket ball;
Dalit woman resisting harassment; Dalit
drinking from a pot of water meant for you
and yours. The list of everyday actions that
canevokeyoursweatfestisendless.Youare
at increased risk if you live in a state such as
Madhya Pradesh.
You feel lightheadedness or sudden
dizziness when you hear feminists talk
about criminalising marital rape or when
you think about the forthcoming verdict of
the marriage equality case pending in the
Supreme Court.
You feel an irregular heartbeat — ar-
rhythmia — when you spot a Muslim citi-
zen praying. Pain or discomfort spreads
quickly to your shoulder, arm, back, neck,
jaw,evenyourbelly,whenaMuslimfamily
tries to buy an apartment in your building.
The very mention of the word Muslim or
Mughal or Eid may give you heartburn or
indigestion — even without going near any
festive feast.
Yourconversationsarepremisedmainly
on whataboutery and perceived historical
slights. You feel fatigue and shortness of
breath every time someone uses facts.
I’msorrytoinformyoubutyourheartis
diseased. The only hope for you is to switch
off all your news sources; spend time with
friends and family who don’t see red when
green and orange stand together and who
don’t think that their “merit” is what af-
fordedthemthebesteducationalopportu-
nities and made them successful. Look for
inspiration — you’ll find it in love, in sport,
intheideaofachosenfamily.Itresidesinin-
terfaith and inter-caste marriages; in the
record-breaking teamwork of the Indian
4X400 men’s relay team comprising two
Muslims, a Christian, and a Hindu; or in the
career of javelin champion Neeraj Chopra,
who invited his Pakistani contemporary to
stand next to him as he stretched out his
armsandheldbehindhimtheTricolourthat
enveloped them both.
It’salong,hardclimb,buttheviewofhu-
manity from the top is guaranteed to heal
your heart.
The writer is a Bengaluru-based writer and
co-founder of India Love Project on
Instagram
TIME TO ACT
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Missing
in G20 — road safety’ (IE, September
2). Road safety should be a priority on
the G20 agenda, but merely adding it
there will not accomplish much. There
are outdated laws that need to be up-
dated. As Chairman of the All India
Committee reviewing the RTC Act,
1950, I was witness to the Motor
Vehicle Act amendment. A holistic re-
view of the RTC Act was undertaken,
but only the financial facet was ac-
cepted because of various constraints.
The amended Motor Vehicle Act pro-
hibits/restricts parking of vehicles on
the road, but it is not enforced.
Highways are constructed to promote
connectivity, but there must also be a
focus on safety. Digitalisation, better
IT infrastructure, regulation of speed,
a trauma-like medical system for acci-
dents, and walk-over pedestrian
bridges are some imperatives that the
government can take while develop-
ing road infrastructure. There are
enough surveys and studies on the ac-
tions required, what is needed now is
the implementation of these actions.
A L Agarwal, Delhi
A GRACIOUS WINNER
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘A grace-
ful Gold’ (IE, September 2). Neeraj
Chopra’s conduct on and off the field
has been worth emulating. He is an
example not only for sportspeople but
also for the youth in general on how
they should carry themselves during
and after big wins. Another Olympian,
Sushil Kumar, has failed in that en-
deavour. Even as he secures top spots
and medals at international events
regularly, he is not as outspoken or
graceful as Chopra after his victory.
Amit Singh Khokhar, New Delhi

10 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
Haikui is the first
typhoon to directly hit
Taiwan in four years
TAIWAN
Manyevacuated
astyphoon
Haikuibarrelsin
Taipei: Domestic flights
were cancelled and 4,000
people were evacuated as
Typhoon Haikui barrelled
intoTaiwanSundaybring-
ing rain and strong winds.
Haikuimadelandfallinthe
far southeast of Taiwan
mid-Sunday, the first ty-
phoontohitTaiwaninfour
years. Counties and cities
in the region cancelled
classesand declareda day
off for workers. President
Tsai Ing-wen told a meet-
ing of disaster manage-
ment officials that people
shouldavoidgoingoutand
notgoupmountains,orto
the coast. REUTERS
PAKISTAN
Womanstoned
todeathover
allegedadultery
Lahore: A woman was
stoned to death in
Pakistan's Punjab for al-
legedlycommittingadul-
tery, police said Sunday.
Theincidenttookplacein
Rajanpur district, some
500 km from Lahore, on
Friday.Thehusbandof the
woman,whoisinher20s,
accused her of adultery,
the police said . The man
along with his two broth-
ers tied the woman
againstatreeandtortured
her before killing her. The
brothers fled the scene
later and are believed to
behidingattheborderre-
gion between Pakistan’s
Punjab and Balochistan,
police said. PTI
IRAQ
Clasheskill3
protesters,over
adozeninjured
Baghdad: Three protest-
erswereshotdeadand14
were wounded on
Saturday during clashes
between ethnic groups in
the northern Iraqi oil city
of Kirkuk that broke out
after days of tensions, se-
curity forces and police
said. The dispute centres
on a building in Kirkuk
that was once the head-
quartersfortheKurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP)
but which the Iraqi army
has used a base since
2017. The violence was
sparked when a group of
Kurdish protesters ap-
proached the camp on
Saturday, police said.
REUTERS
NIGERIA
Presidentrecalls
ambassadors
worldwide
Abuja: President Bola
Tinubuhasorderedarecall
of Nigeria's ambassadors
world over with immedi-
ate effect, his spokesman
said Saturday. “The presi-
dent is determined to en-
sure that world-class effi-
ciency and quality, will
henceforth, characterize
foreignanddomesticserv-
icedeliverytocitizens,res-
identsandprospectivevis-
itorsalike,”itsaid.Nigeria's
United Nations perma-
nent representatives in
New York and Geneva are
exempted from the "total
recall" due to the upcom-
ingUnitedNationsGeneral
Assembly (UNGA) later in
the month. REUTERS
THOUSANDS STRANDED AT BURNING MAN
People walk through the mud at Burning Man festival in the Black Rock City, in the Nevada desert, Sunday. Nevada authorities
Sunday said they were probing a death after a rainstorm left tens of thousands of revelers attending the annual Burning Man
festival stranded in mud, and asked that they shelter in place and conserve food and water. The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office
said the entrance to Burning Man had been closed due to flooding and anyone trying to get in will be turned away. Reuters
Internet snapped in Gilgit-Baltistan
after flare-up of sectarian tensions
Situation tense after Shia groups call for action against Sunni cleric over remarks
SAJJAD HUSSAIN
ISLAMABAD, SEPTEMBER 3
PAKISTAN’S INTERIM
Information Minister Murtaza
Solangi said on Sunday that the
situation in Gilgit-Baltistan was
“completely peaceful”, amid re-
ports of sectarian tensions in the
region that forced authorities to
indefinitely suspend mobile in-
ternet services.
“The situation in Gilgit-
Baltistan is completely peaceful
and the news and speculations
circulating in media regarding
the deployment of Pakistan
Army are completely baseless,”
Solangisaidinapostonplatform
X, citing a statement released by
Australia govt
to introduce
Bill barring
‘wage theft’
KIRSTY NEEDHAM
SYDNEY, SEPTEMBER 3
AUSTRALIA'S LABOUR govern-
mentwillintroducelegislationto
close "loopholes" in workplace
law,amoveopposedbyemployer
groupsfearinghighercosts,when
parliament returns on Monday.
Workplace Minister Tony
Burke said on Sunday he would
introduce the bill making it a
criminal offence to deliberately
underpay workers, with a max-
imum penalty of 10 years in jail
and a maximum fine of A$7.8
million ($5.0 million).
Details of the legislation have
not been released. Burke said in a
speech last week that in addition
to criminalising "wage theft", the
billwouldmakeiteasierforcasual
workerstogainpermanentroles,
scrutinise the use of labour hire
firms to undercut minimum pay
rates, and introduce minimum
standards for “gig economy”
workers, including in food deliv-
eryandrideshareapps. REUTERS
ACTIVE RULING PARTY RIVALS FACE NUMEROUS COURT CASES, PARALYSING OPPOSITION AS CRUCIAL ELECTION NEARS
Quietly crushing a democracy: Millions on trial in Bangladesh
MUJIB MASHAL
DHAKA, SEPTEMBER 3
BANGLADESH’S MULTIPARTY
democracyisbeingmethodically
strangled in crowded court-
rooms across this country of 170
million people.
Nearly every day, thousands
of leaders, members and sup-
porters of opposition parties
standbeforeajudge.Chargesare
usually vague, and evidence is
shoddy, at best.
But just months before a piv-
otalelectionpittingthemagainst
the ruling Awami League, the
immobilizing effect is clear.
Situationcompletelynormal:
PakministerSolangi. Twitter
the region's home department.
He said all roads, trade cen-
tres, business activities and ed-
ucational institutions are open
as usual in the region, which has
a history of rivalry between the
Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Israel PM rues minister’s disclosure
of meeting with Libyan counterpart
REUTERS
JERUSALEM, SEPTEMBER 3
ISRAELI PRIME Minister
BenjaminNetanyahuonSunday
appearedtoshiftblametohistop
diplomat for the disclosure of a
secret meeting with the Libyan
foreign minister that has caused
a backlash in Tripoli.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli
Cohen's office on August 26
went public with his having met
Najla Mangoush, his Libyan
counterpart,inItalyearlierinthe
80 years on, Italian victims of Nazi crimes to get compensation
CRISPIANBALMER
FORNELLI,SEPTEMBER3
ON OCTOBER 1943, after the
Nazis began a brutal occupation
of their former ally, German
troops hanged six Italian civil-
ians on a hillside in southern
Italyascollectivepunishmentfor
the killing of a soldier, who had
been foraging for food.
About half of the five million
membersof themainopposition
party, the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party, are embroiled
in politically motivated court
cases, the group estimates. The
most active leadersandorganiz-
ers face dozens, even hundreds,
of cases. Lives that would be de-
fined by raucous rallies or late-
night strategizing are instead
dominated by lawyers’ cham-
bers, courtroom cages and, in
Dhaka, the torturously snail-
paced traffic between the two.
One recent morning, a party
leader, Saiful Alam Nirob, was
ushered into Dhaka’s 10-story
magistrate court in handcuffs.
Theministersaidthatservices
of thePakistanArmyandthecivil
armed forces had been requisi-
tioned “only to maintain law and
order” on the eve of the chehlum
orArbaeen.Headdedthatspecial
measureshavebeentakenforthe
security of the procession routes
and Imambargahs as per past
practiceandsection144hasbeen
imposed across the region.
The situation turned tense
Friday when protests were held
in Gilgit and surrounding areas
on call of a Shia group, hours af-
ter a prominent Sunni cleric al-
legedly made derogatory re-
marks during a protest in Gilgit.
The protesters were de-
manding action against the
cleric.
Remarks
cameafter
foreign
ministers of
twonations
heldtalks
month. The statement came on
the heels of an Israeli media re-
port about the meeting.
The news triggered protests
in Libya, which does not recog-
nise Israel and where pro-
Palestinian sentiment is strong,
and led PM Abdulhamid al-
Eighty years later, some of
the relatives of the men put to
death in Fornelli are finally set to
receive a share of 12 million eu-
ros ($13 million) awarded by an
Italiancourtascompensationfor
their families' trauma.
"We still mark the event
every year. It hasn't been forgot-
ten," said Mauro Petrarca, the
great-grandson of one of those
killed, Domenico Lancellotta, a
Mr.Nirob facesbetween317 and
394 cases — he and his lawyers
are unsure exactly how many.
Outside the court, a dozen sup-
porters — facing an additional
400casesamongthem—waited
in an alley whose bustle was
cleared only by intermittent
monsoon downpours and the
frequent blowing of a police
whistle to open the way for an-
other political prisoner.
“I can’t do a job anymore,”
saidoneof thesupporters,Abdul
Satar, who is dealing with 60
cases and spends three or four
days a week in court. “It’s court
case to court case.”
In recent years, Bangladesh
The authorities have been
dealingwithatensesituationfor
over a week, due to the alleged
derogatory statements by both
sides, the Dawn reported.
Meanwhile, mobile internet
serviceshavebeensuspendedun-
til further orders. An official said
an FIR had been filed against the
Sunni cleric at City Police Station
Gilgitforhiscomments,whilean-
otherFIRagainstaprominentShia
cleric had already been file in
Skardu, the newspaper reported.
The authorities in the area
have suspended two police per-
sonnelandaschoolteacheronal-
legations of sharing sectarian
posts on social media. Over 12
persons have been detained for
posting controversial posts. PTI
Dbeibah to fire Mangoush.
"It is not helpful, now that's
clear," Netanyahu told Cypriot
TV station ANT1 when asked
about the publication.
“I've issued a directive to all
our government ministers that
such meetings of this kind have
tobeclearedinadvancewithmy
office, and certainly their publi-
cation has to be cleared in ad-
vance with my office.”
In the ANT1 interview,
Netanyahu called the handling
of the Cohen-Magoush meeting
"an exception to the rule".
52-year-old Roman Catholic fa-
ther of five daughters and a son.
Allbutoneofthefamilymem-
bersaliveatthetimeofthekillings
are now dead, but under Italian
law, damages owed to them can
still be passed on to their heirs.
This means Petrarca is set to
receive around 130,000 euros
($142,000) under the terms of a
2020 court ruling.
In an ironic twist, it will be
Bangladesh National Party (BNP) supporters during a
protest in Dhaka. AP file
PERMANENT SECRETARY TO NOW REPRESENT COUNTRY
THAI PM TO MISS ASEAN SUMMIT
Thailand's new Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin will miss a regional meeting of Asia's leaders in
Jakarta next week, the foreign ministry said on Sunday. Permanent secretary Sarun Charoensuwan
will represent Thailand at the Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) Summit. REUTERS
DRONE BARRAGE LASTS 3 HOURS
RussiaattacksUkrainian
portdaybeforePutinand
Erdogan’sgraindealtalks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KYIV, SEPTEMBER 3
TWO PEOPLE were hospitalized
followingathree-and-ahalf hour
Russian drone barrage on a port
in Ukraine’s Odesa region on
Sunday, officials said.
The attack on the Reni sea-
port comes a day before Russian
President Vladimir Putin is due
to meet with his Turkish coun-
terpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to
discuss the resumption of food
shipments from Ukraine under
a Black Seagrain agreementthat
Moscow broke off from in July.
Russian forces fired 25
Iranian-made Shahed drones
along the Danube River in the
early hours of Sunday, 22 of
whichwereshotdownbyairde-
fenses, the Ukrainian air force
said on Telegram.
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy ’s chief of
staff, Andriy Yermak, described
the assault as part of a Russian
drive “to provoke a food crisis
and hunger in the world.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry
saidthattheattack wasaimedat
fuelstoragefacilitiesusedtosup-
ply military equipment.
Putin and Erdogan’s long-
awaited meeting is due to take
place in Sochi on Russia’s south-
Patience of business
in US is wearing thin,
Raimondo tells China
PHIL STEWART
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 3
US COMMERCE Secretary Gina
Raimondo warned China in in-
terviews broadcast on Sunday
that the patience of US business
was “wearing thin,” saying
American companies deserved
a “predictable environment and
a level playing field.”
Thetwobiggesteconomiesin
the world used to be each other's
largest trade partners, but
Washington now trades more
with Canada and Mexico, while
BeijingtradeswithSoutheastAsia.
“China is making it more dif-
ficult,” Raimondo told CBS. “I
was very clear with China that
we need to - patience is wearing
thin among American business.
They need and deserve a pre-
dictableenvironmentandalevel
playing field. And hopefully
China will heed that message,”
Raimondo has said US firms
faced new challenges, raids on
businesses and changes to a
Italy rather than Germany that
paysup,afteritlostabattleinthe
International Court of Justice
overwhetherBerlincouldstillbe
liable for damages tied to World
War Two crimes and atrocities.
Jewish organisations in Italy
believe Berlin should be paying
to acknowledge their historical
responsibility. But victims'
groups also fear Rome is drag-
gingitsfeetindealingwithadel-
A firefighter at a site hit by Russia’s drone attacks in Odesa
region, Ukraine, on Sunday. Reuters
‘2 more ships
leave via Black
Sea corridor’
Kyiv: Ukrainian President
VolodymyrZelenskyysaid
that two more ships had
passedthrougha“tempo-
rary” Black Sea shipping
corridor established since
Russia withdrew from a
UN-backed grain export
dealinJuly. Thisbringsthe
number to four that have
used corridor. REUTERS
Commerce
SecyGina
Raimondo
wasinBeijing
lastweek
E
E X P L A I NE D
Grappling
with
● slowdown
CHINA IS grappling with a
slowdown that has rattled
global markets, with the
spotlight now firmly fo-
cused on troubled devel-
oper Country Garden's
spiraling debt crisis in a
sector that contributes to
a quarter of the economy.
counterespionage law.
Sheaddedthat China’secon-
omy did better when it was
more transparent and market-
oriented. REUTERS
uge of claims that could weigh
on state accounts.
A study funded by German
government and published in
2016 estimated that 22,000
Italians were victims of Nazi war
crimes,includingupto8,000Jews
deported to death camps.
Thousands more Italians were
forcedtoworkasenslavedlabour-
ers in Germany, making them el-
igible for reparations. REUTERS
has been known mostly as an
economic success story, with a
strongfocusonagarmentexport
industrythatbroughtinasteady
flow of dollars, increased
women’s participation in the
economy and lifted millions out
of poverty. A country once de-
scribed by American officials as
a basket case of famine and dis-
ease appeared to be overcoming
decades of coups, countercoups
and assassinations.
But under the surface, PM
Sheikh Hasina has waged a cam-
paign of political consolidation
whose goal, opposition leaders,
analystsandactivistssay,istoturn
the South Asian republic into a
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
west coast on Monday.
Turkish officials have con-
firmed that the pair will discuss
renewingtheBlackSeagrainini-
tiative,whichtheKremlinpulled
out of six weeks ago.
The deal — brokered by the
United Nations and Turkey in
July 2022 — had allowed nearly
36 million tons of grain and
other commodities to leave
three Ukrainian ports safely de-
spite Russia’s war.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, two
people were killed and two oth-
erswerewoundedduringRussian
shelling Sunday on the village of
Vuhledar in the Donetsk area.
Indonesia
offers ‘golden
visa’ in bid to
attract foreign
investment
REUTERS
JAKARTA, SEPTEMBER 3
INDONESIA IS introducing a
goldenvisaschemetoattractfor-
eign individual and corporate in-
vestors in an attempt to boost its
national economy, a statement
from ministry of law and human
rightsdistributedonSundaysaid.
“Thegoldenvisaisgrantinga
residencepermitforanextended
period of five to 10 years," direc-
torgeneralof immigration,Silmy
Karim said in the statement.
Thefive-yearvisarequiresin-
dividual investors to set up a
company worth $2.5 million,
while for the 10 years visa, a $5
million investment is required.
Other countries around the
world including the U.S., Ireland,
New Zealand and Spain have in-
troduced similar golden visas for
investors,seekingtoattractcapi-
talandentrepreneurialresidents.
Meanwhile, corporate in-
vestorsarerequiredtoinvest$25
million to get five-year visas for
directors and commissioners.
They need to invest double, or
$50million,togaina10yearvisa.
Different provisions apply to
individual foreign investors who
do not want to establish a com-
panyintheSoutheastAsiancoun-
try.Therequirementsrangefrom
$350,000 to $700,000 in funds
that can be used to purchase the
Indonesian government bonds.
“OncetheyarriveinIndonesia,
golden visa holders no longer
need to apply for permit,” Silmy
Karim said.
one-party state.
Overher14yearsinoffice,she
has captured Bangladesh’s insti-
tutions, including the police, the
military and, increasingly, the
courts,byfillingthemwithloyal-
ists and making clear the conse-
quences for not falling in line.
With an election expected in
DecemberorJanuary,thecountry
againfeelsonthevergeoferuption.
The opposition sees the vote as a
last fight before what could be its
fullvanquishing.
Hasina’s lieutenants, for their
part,sayinnouncertaintermsthat
they cannot let the BNP win —
“they will kill us” if they come to
power,asoneaideputit. NYT
 E EXPLAINED
11
THIS WORD MEANS
PIROLA VARIANT
Covid-19 cases driven by a new variant, called BA.2.86
or Pirola, have been reported in various countries
RISHIKA SINGH
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
AN ARTICLE published in the Yale
Medicine Review on August 31 has noted
Covid-19 infectionsin multiplecountries
driven by a new Coronavirus variant
called BA.2.86, informally termed Pirola.
Whilethereportsaysthatitistooearly
to know if this strain is more transmissi-
ble than other ones, there may be a rea-
sontoworry.Thereportsaysithas“more
than 30 mutations to its spike protein
comparedtoXBB.1.5,avariantof Omicron
that had been the dominant strain in the
United States... The spike protein is how
the coronavirus enters human cells.”
Where have the cases been reported?
Pirola has been witnessed in the US,
the UK, and other countries, in unrelated
cases.
AccordingtoYaleMedicineinfectious
diseases specialist Scott Roberts, MD, the
high number of mutations is a point of
concern here. He said in the report that
this was similar to the number of muta-
tions that differed between Delta, one of
the early strains of the coronavirus, and
Omicron (that was dominant in the win-
ter of 2021).
EXPLAINED GLOBAL
WHAT’SATSTAKEASERDOGANMEETS
PUTINTOREVIVEUKRAINEGRAINDEAL
TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip
Erdogan will meet Vladimir Putin on
Monday, hoping to persuade the Russian
leader to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal
that Moscow withdrew from in July.
Where will the talks be held?
The meeting in Sochi on Russia’s
southern coast comes after weeks of
speculation about when and where the
two leaders might meet. Erdogan previ-
ously said that Putin would travel to
Turkey in August.
Why did Russia quit the deal?
The deal — brokered by the United
NationsandTurkeyinJuly2022—hadal-
lowed nearly 33 million metric tonnes
(36 million tonnes) of grain and other
commodities to leave three Ukrainian
ports safely despite Russia’s war.
However, Russia pulled out after claim-
ing that a parallel deal promising to re-
moveobstaclestoRussianexportsof food
and fertilisers hadn’t been honoured.
Why is Turkey a broker?
Since Putin withdrew from the initia-
tive, Erdogan has repeatedly pledged to
renew arrangements that helped avoid a
food crisis in parts of Africa, the Middle
East and Asia. The Turkish president has
maintained close ties to Putin during the
18-month war in Ukraine. Turkey hasn’t
joined Western sanctions against Russia
followingitsinvasion,emergingasamain
trading partner and logistical hub for
Russia’s overseas trade.
your go-to institute for
general studies preparation
One nation, one poll: When does a change in Constitution need states’ nod?
APURVA VISHWANATH
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
THE CENTRE on Saturday set up a commit-
tee to examine various aspects, both legal
and logistical, for implementing the “one
nation, one election” idea.
The Law Ministry has outlined seven
terms of reference for the eight-member
panel headed by former President Ram
Nath Kovind and including Union Home
MinisterAmitShah. Oneof thetermsof ref-
erence is to examine if a constitutional
amendmenttofacilitatesimultaneouspolls
would have to be ratified by the states.
While some amendments to the
Constitution can be made like any ordinary
legislation, others need more rigorous
methods.
The power to amend
Informally, the Constitutionisamended
throughjudicialinterpretationandconven-
tions established through usage. Take, for
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
“With every respiratory virus, as it
spreads from person to person, it evolves
gradually over time. But these massive
shifts, which we also saw from Delta to
Omicron,areworrisome…Theothercon-
cern is that this strain has been picked up
in at least six countries, and the cases are
unrelated. This suggests some degree of
transmission in the [international] com-
munitythatwe’renotdetecting,”hesaid.
How do viruses mutate?
It is natural for all viruses to mutate
over time and such changes are particu-
larly common in viruses that have RNA
as their genetic material, as in the case of
coronaviruses and influenza viruses.
Once a virus enters the human body,
its genetic material — RNA or DNA — en-
ters the cells and starts making copies of
itself which can infect the other cells.
Whenever an error occurs during this
copying process, it triggers a mutation.
Occasionally, the mutation proves to be
advantageous for the virus.
Speaking to the Yale School of
Medicine, Anne Hahn, a postdoctoral as-
sociate who leads the Yale SARS-CoV-2
GenomicSurveillanceInitiative, saidthat
Pirola is a “much more interesting sub-
variant”, when compared with the
Omicron subvariant, known as XBB.1.9.
Erdogan (left) and Putin in Tehran
last year. The two have maintained
close ties amid the Ukraine war. AP
NATO member Turkey, however, has
also supported Ukraine, sending arms,
meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy and backing Kyiv’s bid to join
NATO.
What are Russia’s demands?
The Sochi summit follows talks be-
tween the Russian and Turkish foreign
ministers on Thursday, during which
Russia handed over a list of actions that
theWestwouldhavetotakeforUkraine’s
BlackSeaexportstoresume.Erdoganhas
indicatedsympathywithPutin’sposition.
UNSecretary-GeneralAntónioGuter-
resrecentlysentRussianForeignMinister
Sergey Lavrov “concrete proposals”
aimedatgettingRussianexportstoglobal
markets and allowing the resumption of
the Black Sea initiative. But Lavrov said
Moscow wasn’t satisfied with the letter.
AP
VAJIRAM & RAVI
Institute for IAS Examination
  




example, the process of appointment of
judges to the higher judiciary. While the
Constitution refers to a consultation be-
tween the President and the Chief Justice of
India for appointment of judges, the
Supreme Court has interpreted this to the
effect that consultation means “concur-
rence.” This interpretation led to the evolu-
tion of the collegium system of appoint-
mentof judges,andvirtuallyachangeinthe
letter of the Constitution.
The Constituent Assembly debated ex-
tensively on whether the Constitution
should be flexible or rigid. The British con-
stitution is considered flexible, as it can be
amendedbyParliamentpassingalawinthe
same manner in which it would pass any
ordinary legislation. On the other hand, the
United States Constitution cannot be
amended without the ratification of atleast
three fourths of the individual states.
In India, Article 368 of the Constitution
deals with the power and process of
amending the Constitution. The interpre-
tation of this provision has been fraught,
Bumper crops, yet high cereal prices
Govt estimates of record rice and wheat production do not square with double-digit cereal inflation since
last September. The imposition of export curbs and stockholding limits also point to grain shortage
Harish Damodaran
CEREALINFLATIONbasedontheofficialcon-
sumer price index has been ruling at double
digits year-on-year since September 2022.
For a majority of Indians — the 813.5 mil-
lion persons covered under the National
Food Security Act (NFSA), out of a total 1,400
million-plus population — that didn’t mat-
ter beyond a point, until recently.
Thereason:AllNFSAbeneficiaries,before
January 2023, were getting 10 kg of rice or
wheat per month practically free of cost.
Since that more or less met their entire re-
quirement — the last national sample survey
of 2011-12revealedthepercapitacerealcon-
sumption at 11.22 kg for rural and 9.28 kg for
urban India — they hardly had to buy grain
from the open market.
Butfromthenewcalendaryear,theNFSA
entitlement was restored to the original 5
kg/person/month level prevailing prior to
April 2020. The same ration cardholders,
nowhavingtopurchasericeandwheat from
the open market, are feeling the pinch of ce-
realinflation,whichhasnearlydoubledfrom
6.9% to over 13% between July 2022 and July
2023 (chart).
According to the department of con-
sumer affairs, the all-India modal (most-
quoted) retail price of rice on September 3
wasRs40perkg,comparedwithRs35ayear
ago and Rs 30 two years ago, with these at Rs
28, Rs 25 and Rs 22 per kg for wheat.
Covid protection
During the three post-Covid financial
years(April-March)of 2020-21,2021-22and
2022-23, the offtake of rice and wheat from
governmentwarehousestotaled92.9million
tonnes (mt), 105.6 mt and 92.7 mt respec-
tively, way above the average lifting of 62.5
mt during the first seven years after the im-
plementation of the NFSA from 2013-14 and
48.4mtinthesevenyearsprecedingthelaw.
The public distribution system (PDS)
emerged as the most effective social safety
net during the pandemic. There was no
Why payment for paddy has been delayed in Kerala
SHAJU PHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPTEMBER 3
FARMERS IN Kerala have been protesting
against the delay in payment for paddy pro-
curement in the last season. Malayalam film
actor Jayasurya recently raised the issue of
paddy farmers on social media, and was
trolled.
Paddy procurement scheme
The decentralised paddy procurement
scheme has been functional in Kerala since
1997-98, jointly implemented by the Centre
and the state government. The State Civil
Supplies Corporation, or Supplyco, is the
nodal agency for the procurement.
Supplyco directly procures paddy from
farmers and the price is transferred to their
bankaccounts.Theagencythenconvertsthe
paddy into rice, which is distributed through
the state’s Public Distribution network or ra-
tionshops.Thequantityof thericebeingsup-
plied by Supplyco into the state PDS system
is considered part of the state’s share of food
grains.Hence,Keralaliftsitsfoodgrainsstock
leadingtotensionsbetweenParliamentand
the judiciary since 1951.
The process
TheConstitutionprescribesthreediffer-
entstandardsforamendingdifferentprovi-
sions.
Simple majority: Several provisions of
the Constitution can be amended by the
simple legislative process adopted in pass-
ing any ordinary legislation in
Parliament. This is done thro-
ugh a majority of those pres-
EXPLAINED
ent and voting and does not
require a quorum.
LAW
Interestingly, Article 368 does not di-
rectly make a list of such ‘less significant’
provisions. However, throughout the
Constitution, such provisions are excluded
from the purview of Article 368, creating a
separate category. Versions of the text “no
such law shall be deemed to be an amend-
ment of the Constitution for the purposes
of Article368”isfoundinseveralprovisions,
including in Article 4, which provides that
EXPLAINED ECONOMICS
RISINGCEREALAVAILABILITY...
WHEAT
2020-21 2021-22 2022-23
1.Production 1095.86 1077.42 1127.43
2.Procurement 433.44 187.92 262.02
3.Exports 31.54 94.67 13.65
Domestic Market 630.88 794.83 851.76
Supply (1-2-3)
Note: Production and exports are for July-June agriculture years; procurement is for
marketing seasons: April-June of 2021, 2022 and 2023 for wheat and October-September of
2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 for rice; *As of 15.08.2023.
Source: Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Food Corporation of India, and
Department of Commerce
...BUT DOUBLE-DIGIT CEREAL INFLATION
20.0
17.5
13.79%
15.0
6.9%
12.5
3.46%
10.0
7.5
5.0
2.5
0
Jan-22
Feb-22
Mar-22
Apr-22
May-22
Jun-22
Jul-22
Aug-22
Sep-22
Oct-22
Nov-22
Dec-22
Jan-23
Feb-23
Mar-23
Apr-23
May-23
Jun-23
Jul-23
Source: National Statistical Office
dearth of grain for the poor and vulnerable,
evenamidthemassivejobandincomelosses
following the lockdowns.
Interestingly, during this period, India’s
exports of rice and wheat also hit all-time-
highs, aggregating 19.8 mt in 2020-21, 28.4
mt in 2021-22 and 27 mt in 2022-23. This
was against 12.9 mt, 12.1 mt and 9.7 mt in
2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
In other words, it was a time of abun-
dance.Notonlywastheremorethanenough
grain to give out free, the country could also
ship out record quantities.
The contrast
Comparethatwiththepresent,wheredou-
ble-digit cereal inflation co-exists with what
logically would suggest a shortage of grain.
Depleting rice and wheat stocks in gov-
ernment godowns — these, at 65.5 mt on
fromFoodCorporation of Indiaonlyafterde-
ducting the supply of rice from Supplyco.
Price of procurement
Thepaddyprocurementprice is declared
by the state government in two components
— on top of the minimum support price
(MSP) declared by the central government,
Kerala gives an incentive bonus.
At present, the MSP for one kg of paddy is
Rs 20.40 and the state incentive bonus is Rs
7.80 per kg. In the last season of 2022-23, the
price of paddy fixed by the government was
Rs 28.20 per kg.
The payment system
The procurement of paddy begins in
September. The state government can make
its claim for the Centre’s share of procure-
mentprice,i.e.minimumsupportprice,only
after the processed paddy is distributed as
rice through the PDS network in Kerala. This
takesfivetosixmonths.Toavoidthisdelayin
payment of the MSP, Supplyco has imple-
mented a loan scheme for farmers.
Supplyco issues paddy receipt sheets
(PRS) to the farmers at the time of procure-
Parliament can make changes relating to
organisation of states. Changing of names
of states,admittingnewstatestotheUnion,
andre-drawingtheboundariesof states fall
under this category.
Special majority: For amending provi-
sions that do not fall under the first cate-
gory, Article 368 requires that the amend-
ment Bill is passed in both Houses of
Parliament by a majority of not less than
two thirds of the members
present and voting. Under
Rule 158 of the Lok Sabha
Rules, ‘total membership’
means the total number of
members of the House, irrespective of any
vacancies or absentees at the moment.
Ratification by states: A third category
of provisions need not just a special major-
ity to be amended, but also require ratifica-
tion by the legislatures of at least half of the
states. Only after the states’ ratification can
such an amendment be presented to the
President for assent.
While the first two categories are not
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com
(lakh tonnes)
RICE
2020-21 2021-22 2022-23
1243.68 1294.71 1355.42
602.45 575.88 570.46*
197.62 215.00 221.03
443.61 503.83 563.93
(% year-on-year)
13.04%
16.73%
August 1, were at a six-year-low for this date
— led the Centre to stop issuing the 5-kg of
additional grain per month to NFSA benefi-
ciaries from January. In Karnataka, the ruling
Congress has been forced to give cash in lieu
of an extra 5-kg free rice that was promised
for all members of poor households in the
party’s Assembly election manifesto.
ButtheCentre’sactionshaven’tbeenlim-
ited to restoring the PDS grain allocation to
the old 5 kg/person/month.
Since May 2022, it has banned exports of
wheat.InJunethisyear,stocklimitswereim-
posed, with wholesale traders and big retail-
ersnotbeingallowedtoholdmorethan3,000
tonnesofthecerealatanytime.InJuly,exports
of allwhite(non-parboiled)non-basmatirice
wereprohibited.OnAugust25,a20%dutywas
leviedonparboilednon-basmatiriceexports.
Evenbasmatiwasn’tspared;onlygrainpriced
Around 23,000 paddy farmers are yet
to get their dues. Wikimedia Commons
ment.Farmerscanpledgethesereceiptswith
banks to avail loans equal to the price of the
procured paddy. Farmers have to go through
theprocessforavailingthepersonalloan,but
Supplyco repays the loan amount with in-
terestwhenthecentralgovernmentallotsits
share of MSP to the state.
Why the delay in paying
As of now, the Centre owes Rs 637 crore
to Supplyco for the paddy procured from
Kerala. This delay has hit Supplyco hard, and
specificallylistedunderArticle368,thepro-
visions that require ratification are listed
out. These involve the federal character of
the Constitution and are referred to as “en-
trenched provisions”.
For example, the 99th Constitutional
amendment in 2014, establishing the na-
tional judicial accountability commission,
wasratifiedby16statelegislaturesbeforere-
ceiving the President’s assent. Similarly, in
2016,the122ndConstitutionalAmendment
Bill, which introduced the Goods and
ServicesTaxregime,wasratifiedby23states.
In Kihoto Hollohan v Zachillu, a 1992 de-
cision of the Supreme Court, the question
of ratification emerged as important. One
of thegroundsonwhichtheconstitutional-
ity of the Tenth Schedule — which deals
with disqualification of elected representa-
tives—waschallengedwasthattheamend-
ment was not ratified by the states. The
amendment, among other things, sought
to bar jurisdiction of courts in any matter
connectedwiththedisqualificationprocess.
This tinkered with one of the six aspects
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
above $1,200 per tonne is being permitted to
leave the country.
The Centre’s actions point to grain short-
age not just in public warehouses, but also in
the open market. The imposition of export
curbs and stockholding limits are essentially
aimed at improving domestic availability of
grain and preventing any “hoarding and un-
scrupulous speculation” that normally en-
sue from shortages.
The paradox
But here’s the paradox: Going by official
production statistics, there’s no grain short-
age at all.
The accompanying table shows a 11.2 mt
increaseinIndia’sriceoutputbetween2020-
21 and 2022-23 (the agriculture years from
July-June). Wheat production, too, has reg-
istered an overall 3.2 mt rise, notwithstand-
ingreportsof yieldlossesfromtheheatwave
in March 2022 and unseasonal excess rain in
March 2023.
Domesticavailabilityof grainis,of course,
not a function of output alone. To the extent
what is produced also gets procured by gov-
ernment agencies and is exported, it leaves
thatmuchlessgrainforthedomesticmarket.
In this case though, higher production, as
pertheagricultureministry’sestimates,isn’t
reflectedinprocurement.Governmentgrain
purchases have actually fallen — and partic-
ularly sharply for wheat. Even after netting
out procurement and exports, the domestic
market supplies of both rice and wheat have
apparently gone up in the last two years!
It raises the question: If there is more
wheat and rice in the market, shouldn’t that
exert downward pressure on prices? How
does it square with double-digit inflation?
One possibility is that the NFSA beneficiar-
ies who were earlier getting 5 kg of extra
grain are now buying the same from the
market, thereby driving up prices. But those
purchasesshouldplausiblybeoffsetbylower
government procurement. Moreover, cereal
inflation has been in double digits since last
September, even before the additional free
grain allocations stopped.
Whichever way one looks at it, there is a
dissonance between the government esti-
mates of record rice and wheat production
and sustained double-digit cereal inflation.
Thevarious“supply-side”actions,intheform
of export bans and trade controls, are more
suggestive of short supply than abundance
of grain in the system.
it could not pay back the loans availed by the
farmers. The cash-strapped state govern-
ment, too, could not provide the requisite
funds to Supplyco.
Lastmonth,thestategovernmentformed
a consortium of banks comprising SBI,
Federal Bank and Canara Bank to mobilise
the money to pay the farmers. However,
there was a delay on the part of the banks to
ensure timely transfer of money.
How the delay has hit farmers
AlthoughSupplycohastorepaythe loans
availed by farmers, the delay in repayment
negatively affects their SIBIL score. There is
also a delay in getting money from banks af-
ter submitting the PRS. This has left many
farmers in dire straits, forcing them to keep
away from the next season of cultivation.
Supplyco has procured 7,31,184 tonnes of
paddyuntilJuly31thisseasonfrom2.50lakh
farmers across the state. They should have
beenpaidatotalamountof Rs2,070.71crore.
However,onlyRs1,820.71crorehasbeendis-
bursed so far. Around 23,000 farmers are yet
to get the amount due to them for the paddy
procured by Supplyco.
that require ratification by half the states —
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the
High Courts. The Supreme Court struck
downthispartof theamendmentwhileup-
holding the validity of the Tenth Schedule.
Entrenched provisions
Article 368 lists six parts of the
Constitution that have an additional safe-
guard for amending them. These are:
1. Article 54 and 55, dealing with the
election of the President of India.
2. Article 73 and 162, dealing with the
extent of executive power of the Union and
states.
3. Articles 124–147 and 214–231, which
dealwithpowersof theSupremeCourtand
the High Courts
4. Article 245 to 255, dealing with the
scheme of distributionof legislative, taxing,
and administrative powers between the
Union and the states.
5. Article 82-82, dealing with the repre-
sentation of states in Parliament.
6. Article 368 itself.

12 IDEA EXCHANGE
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
The big challenge, which
the president of the
World Bank and
other presidencies face
is, how to change the
work culture, processes
and procedures to be
able to harness
substantially enhanced
private capital
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: Expert group
consultations initiated by the World
Bank have suggested that the world
finds itself in a state of emergency,
given the pandemic and the impact of
climate change. It cannot be status
quo for Multilateral Development
Banks (MDBs), which are at the core of
it — in providing finance. How do you
and Lawrence Summers (former US
Treasury Secretary) view this?
The original raison d’etre, so to say, of
thefirstmultilateraldevelopmentbank—
InternationalBankforReconstructionand
Development (IBRD) — was the twin vi-
sionof povertyalleviationandsharedper-
spective.Overaperiodof time,otherchal-
lenges have come. The most important
beingthoseof globalpublicgoods,climate,
issues of pandemic, and fragility of coun-
tries. (In the report) we tried to figure out
theresourcesneededtoaddressthese.The
ballparkfigureis$3trillionperannumbe-
tween now and 2030.
How do you get $3 trillion? Most as-
sume $2 trillion will come from domestic
resource mobilisation. What does that
mean? It means this will be generated
through policies on economic growth,
growthmultipliers,taxreforms,andbuoy-
ancy in all countries. Where does the bal-
ance $1 trillion come from? So, we took it
that $500 billion will come from the pri-
vatesector,andprivatecapitalharnessing.
And $500 billion should come from offi-
cial sources — concessional and non-con-
cessional... If you take all the MDBs and
add, the average lending, in a typical year
itwouldbebetween$110billionand$120
billion a year. We need $500 billion.
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: So, this means
raising significant resources?
Wearedoingthisprimarilywiththree
devices. The first is what is called balance
sheetoptimisation.TheWorldBankGroup
(WBG) is capitalised at just $20 billion.
Against that, it has already lent over $900
billion.Nootherfinancialentityhassosuc-
cessfully leveraged its equity, lent such
huge amounts.
You can then talk to rating agencies.
Can rating agencies give higher (ratings)?
And do all this without impairing the
triple-Astatusof thesebanks,whichleads
to the preferred creditor status? So, one
big chunk of the issue is harnessing and
optimising the balance sheet strength of
each MDB.
Second, how to enhance concessional
lending? I didn’t realise that large parts of
Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa,
have slipped deeper into poverty.
Outcomes have worsened in the recent
past,sharedprosperityhasgonedown.My
attitude is don’t go and seek out private
capital.Thebigchallenge,whichthepres-
ident of the World Bank and other presi-
dencies face is, how to change the work
culture, processes and procedures, to be
abletoharnesssubstantiallyenhancedpri-
vate capital.
Lastly, the capitalisation of the bank.
That's a big issue. Which comes first,
should you set out the balance sheet first
beforeyouaskformorecapital?Ordothey
go in tandem? If the market realises that
theshareholdersarebackingthem,they’ll
put in the money.
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: Was the aspect of
higher voice for developing countries
taken on board in your discussions?
It’saquestionof priorities.Thecurrent
voting powers in the multilateral institu-
tions may or may not reflect the altered
geopolitics and the changing power con-
figuration. We know that every attempt
bytheInternationalMonetaryFund(IMF)
for a review has only meant kicking the
candownthestreetfurther.So,thechoice
is, do we wait for that to happen? An arti-
cle that Professor Larry Summers and I
wrote, published in Project Syndicate, had
acaption,‘Theworldisonfire’.Webelieve
it.Thatiswhywebelieveaddressingthese
issues must occupy priority before some
of the more difficult and complex issues
can be addressed.
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: Clearly, the
World Bank has failed in leveraging its
capital and private finance. Are the
risks very high for the private sector to
come and invest?
So, three factors: One is the work cul-
ture itself. The World Bank has, over the
years, become a vast bureaucracy caught
in its own quagmire of procedures. So, an
attitudinalchangeisneeded.Second,har-
nessingprivatecapitalhasnotbeenahigh
point in the World Bank’s own evaluation
processes. And the third, is private capital
shybecausetherisksarehigh?It’saques-
tion of how you calibrate incentives with
returnsinwhichtheprivatecapitalcomes
in.Onesizedoesn’tfitall.Riskperceptions
in countries with more fragile govern-
‘We bought the facile story that you could be
a great software power ignoring hardware…
that was a very fragile assumption’
Economist NK Singh talks about reforming multilateral development banks, finding ways to harness private capital and the
challenges of helming the G20 expert group. The session was moderated by Executive Editor P Vaidyanathan Iyer
Economist and policymaker NK Singh was in conversation with Executive Editor P Vaidyanathan Iyer. Gajendra Yadav
ments are significantly higher than in
countries where governance processes
andstructuresaresettled.Itakepridethat
we are a vibrant democracy, we are not
perceived as a very risky country because
we have settled processes and rule of law
and settled systems.
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: During the
expert group discussions, what were
the challenges you encountered?
One challenge is priorities and se-
quencing. If roughly there was a degree of
consensus, is it appropriate that you are
now seeking a tripling of the lending ca-
pacity of MDBs from $120 billion to $400
billion? The second issue was on how
much should come from harnessing the
balance sheet and how much from other
measures to attract private capital. The
problemsof smallislandcountriesandthe
problems of countries in the Caribbean
form a category in itself... middle-income
countries require much greater lending.
Forinstance,if youaddChina,India,Brazil,
andsomemiddle-incomecountries,these
countries with such a large population
look to a path of lower fossil fuel imprint.
So, contradictions in being able to har-
monise the typology of growth of coun-
tries in different stages of development is
an important challenge.
Finally, are we creatively able to har-
ness dual forms of capital — hybrid capi-
tal and blended finance? That is why we
have recommended a new mechanism,
which is flexible enough under the um-
brellaof MDBswithguarantees,itsuseand
its accountability. These are the multicel-
lularityof challengesthatweencountered.
Anil Sasi: How much of early initiation
of capital increase is linked to credit
rating agencies? And the need to sweat
it out, how do you balance the two?
In summing up our first report, the fi-
nance minister of India used the word
‘roadmap’.The‘roadmap’isbetweennow
and 2030. So, it’s a question of recalibrat-
ing that roadmap as you go along. Here’s
thedilemma:thosewhoarediehardpeo-
pleworkinginmultilateralentitieswould
much rather want to see recapitalisation
earlier. Those who believe that a lot more
needstobedonetoharnesstheefficiency
andproductivityof thebankwouldliketo
see it ‘at an appropriate time’, that is after
youhavefullyharnessedtheoptimisation
of the balance sheet.
Thenthecreditratingagencycomesin.
Theyprovidecomfortwithwhichthebank
wishes to harness private capital. Private
capitalwouldliketoseethecomfortof the
rating agency or the security of resources.
WHY NK SINGH
Policymaker, economist and
politician NK Singh is the
co-chair, along with former
US Treasury Secretary
Lawrence Summers, of one of
the most important G20
expert groups on the reform
of multilateral development
banks (MDBs). The group
submitted its first report to
the G20 Chair on July 18, in
Gandhinagar, and the next
So,theissueisaverysimpleone—atwhat
point do rating agencies and the market
want comfort. That brings into question
theenigmaof howyoudefinecallablecap-
ital. Well, I believe it's called callable capi-
tal because it’s never been called. So, if it
embeds the opacity of the callable capital
phenomenon, rating agencies are behind
ahigherleveragebytheWorldBankGroup
or private capital. That is a calibration
which is easier said than done.
Shyamal Majumdar: In your report,
you’ve mentioned that $60-70 billion
of private capital is coming in now and
what you need is around half a trillion.
This report talks about the problem, it
doesn’t really offer a solution. So, what
is the solution?
Risk mitigation and incentivising and
catalysing private capital flows is the an-
swer. What kind of risk mitigation would
beappropriate,(while)avoidingthemoral
hazard question? For instance, would the
firstlossbeappropriate,wherethebalance
sheet of the entity takes the first loss?
Wouldthefullbalancesheetbefullorpar-
tial? That’s a judgment call because, his-
torically, the flow of capital has usually
been from the northern countries to the
southern countries. But beyond that,
should the foreign exchange risk be in
some way borne by a special-purpose ve-
hicle? And what kind of foreign exchange
fluctuationscanbebornebyit?Ultimately,
the risk-return equation has to be appro-
priate...Whatkindof hybridcapitalwillbe
appropriate? Will blended financework?
Does a cascade principle work?
Shyamal Majumdar: You said India is
not perceived to be a risky country.
We’ve seen studies that say India is not
really in the most-favoured list.
Newsmakers in the Newsroom
report is due in October.
Singh believes that the
broadening of vision for
MDBs comes with a moral
hazard of overlooking the
initial challenges of extreme
poverty and shared
prosperity. He was the
chairperson of the 15th
Finance Commission and was
the economic advisor to then
Prime Minister AB Vajpayee.
Any statement that is made must be
seeninacontext.Thatcontextisthatcom-
petitiveformsof politicalstability,therule
of law,andthefunctioningof institutions,
putIndiainacategoryof countries,which
isfarsuperiortocountriesthatdonothave
democratically elected forms of govern-
ment.Thatdoesnotmeanthatrisksdonot
exist. I mentioned that one of the areas,
whichinvestorsperceiveisacomplexfed-
eral entity. That the rule of Delhi may or
may not reach the shores of
Visakhapatnam. You, of course, know the
issue when solar investments were made
based on a certain cost of solar power at
that time. When the costs went down,
theywantedtorenegotiatethecontracts...
These are regulatory risks, which are per-
ceivedasevolving.WithIndia,therearen’t
zero risks. There are regulatory risks, they
varyfromplacetoplacefromstatetostate.
Look at the flow of direct foreign invest-
ment in India. If we look at the last five
years’ figures, it has gone up significantly.
Look at figures on the way remittances
have gone up... Comparatively speaking,
it’sacountrythathasmanageditsaffairs...
Weareamongthecountriesthatwillcon-
tinue to be very large recipients of tech-
nology,accesstotechnologyandlargefor-
eigninvestments,andwearedefinitelyin
a more advantageous position compared
to many other parts of the world.
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: Do you think that
MDBs can be made politics-proof?
Also, will this expert group eventually
kick the can on reforms relating to a
larger voice for some countries in a
changed geopolitical scenario?
So, the first part is that one can take
some prudential measures on the un-
known. But if it is unknown-unknown,
then assumptions become increasingly
Can we harness dual
forms of capital — hybrid
capital and blended
finance? That is why we
have recommended a new
mechanism, which is
flexible enough under
MDBs with guarantees,
use and accountability
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
It is true that we were
deeply conscious of our
moral duty. That while we
need to address the
problems of climate, this
should not be at the
expense of the compelling
needs of poverty...
particularly in countries
with large vulnerabilities
problematic.If Iweretoplanforthat,there toaddressaschairmanof the15thFinance
would be no way in which you can give a Commission was the issue of tensions
reportof anykindof credibleactioninthe (betweenCentreandStates)onresources.
near term or in the medium term. So, we Thattension will continueto exist, appro-
have assumed that geopolitics doesn’t priate balancing would be the continuing
deteriorateanyfurther.Wehaveassumed challenge of governance. If you go back to
thatbecausenatureabhorsavacuumand the Constitution, it says that the Finance
because MDBshaveaveryimportantrole Commission’s recommendations are ad-
to play for the reasons — predictability, visory and they are not binding on the
transparency in terms of stability to effi- Parliament. Should this evolve? Should,
cient financial intermediation — they re- forinstance,cessesandsurchargesbeout-
main preferred instruments to address side the divisible pool, which have crept
compelling global needs. That’s an as- up so that the net divisible pool has gone
sumption... We won’t kick the can but the down. But those require changes in the
shareholders have a prerogative... One of Constitution. That’s why I’ve often said
the most challenging terms of reference that perhaps the seventh schedule of the
for this report, was how to bring about a Constitutionof Indiamayrequiretobere-
greater harmony in the working of the visited in the light of the experiences that
MDBs... What I learn something from the the country has undergone.
Asian Development Bank or from the
AfricanDevelopmentBank,cantheirstan- Sukalp Sharma: How do you view
dards be applied here? Can the European the reaction to the first volume of
InvestmentBankbeof muchuse?Canthe your report? Certain factions said that
balance sheet of the Inter-American perhaps it wasn’t wholeheartedly
Development Bank be harnessed tem- endorsed at the Gandhinagar
porarily for use? While looking at this, we meeting.
have to be deeply mindful that each of Please do not forget two things. First,
these MDBs has their own shareholders, we were constituted after the second
their own governance structure and their meeting of thefinance ministersandgov-
own accountability patterns. So, we have ernors of central banks in Bangalore. We
to make recommendations, which are were given a very daunting timeline but
doable,practicalandwhichwillbeaccept- equally, we were given even more daunt-
abletothevarietyof theshareholders, un- ing terms of reference, which needed to
derthenormsof poverty,sharedprosper- beaddressed...Havingsaidthis,donotfor-
ity and enhanced financing needs for get one more thing. Most parts of the re-
globalpublicgoods.So,wedonothaveany port have not been contentious...
inclination to kick the can down.
Sukalp Sharma: How difficult a task
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: Economies has it been, considering that you have
around the world, including India, advocated that broadening the vision
are turning more inwards and of the MDBs must not be at the cost of
protective. Don’t you think that concessional finance and poverty
$2 trillion of global financing is a very alleviation?
ambitious target? We have categorically said that the
Forcountriesthathavegrownatfaster needs of compelling poverty and shared
rates of economic growth, one of the en- prosperity will remain the two funda-
ginesof thisgrowthhasbeentrademulti- mental twin goals of these MBDs. Why?
pliers... The prudent response is diversifi- Because they have not been fulfilled.
cationandenhancingyourowndomestic Why? Because countries or large parts of
capabilitysothatyouarebringingintoplay the world in low-income countries have
genuine and competitive market play, gone deeper into poverty. Why? Because
whichwillenableyoutoinnovate.Thefact shared prosperity has become even more
that we bought the facile story that you and more elusive.
could be a great software power, ignoring It is true that we were deeply con-
hardware, was perhaps a very fragile as- scious of our moral duty. That while we
sumption. That’s one of the reasons why need to address the problems of climate,
we are dependent on a single source for this should not be at the expense of the
many things. compelling needs of poverty... These are,
therefore,tosomeextent,fictionalchoices
P Vaidyanathan Iyer: As India heads that we are deeply conscious of, particu-
towards elections, how do you see the larly in countries with such large vulner-
increasing friction between the abilities. That moral dimension has been
Centre and States? an overarching philosophy we have
One of the obvious areas that I sought worked towards.

13 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
BANKS RELYING ON RETAIL TO GROW, SAID KVS MANIAN
‘Idon’tseeRBIraisingratesatthis
point...depositratesmaygoup’
THE OUTLOOK on the Indian
economy looks positive. There
are green shoots visible in the
economy with capacity being
built in sectors such as logistics,
pharma and healthcare, says
KVS MANIAN, Whole-time
Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
In an interview to HITESH VYAS,
GEORGE MATHEW and
SANDEEP SINGH, Manian says
the current acceleration in infla-
tion is due to transient items
suchas tomatoand onionprices,
and is unlikely to go out of hand.
He feels the repo rate will stay at
the current level. Given the tight
liquidity condition, he believes
that deposit rates may go up by
25-50 basis points over the year.
Excerpts:
Given the global scenario,
what is your outlook on the
Indian economy?
Generally, the outlook for
India looks positive. We will
grow in the 6-6.5 per cent range
(for FY2024). There has been
some worry about food inflation
but I think it is mostly coming
out of transient items like
tomato and onion prices. I am
not overly worried about infla-
tion getting out of hand. It may
be slightly more than expected
at the beginning of the year but
may not be high enough to war-
rant significant policy turn-
around. It also means that policy
rates will stay where they are.
With inflation remaining ele-
vated, the reduction (in rates) is
out of the question.
However, the market rates
will be slightly higher than what
policy rates indicate. My sense is
that the liquidity in the banking
Framework soon to
borrow from India to
pay for imports in Re
PRASANTASAHU
NEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER3
THE GOVERNMENT is working
out a framework for countries or
sovereign-backedfirmstoborrow
fromtheIndianmarkettopayfor
their imports in rupee, a move
that would help countries that
have trade deficit with India, be-
sides furthering the goal of rupee
internationalisation.
“The countries which have
trade deficit with India or their
firms may explore the possibility
ofborrowingfromIndianmarkets
(to pay for their imports, or take
steps to step up their exports to
India,” a senior finance ministry
official told FE. Even though such
bilateral mechanisms will take
time to stabilise, both export and
importintherupeewouldreduce
pressure on the forex reserves of
both partner countries and have
mutual benefits.
“Ifyou’relookingfromtheex-
portsandinvestmentperspective,
itisgoodforIndia.Itwillalsohelp
India push exports to countries
thatareshortofforeignexchange
as those countries will not have
many options. Therefore, they
would like to work on this with
BRIEFLY
SEBItocurb
finfluencers
Mumbai:Theriseoffinancial
influencers or finfluencers,
whochargeashighasRs7.5
lakhforapostonsocialme-
dia, introduced a new way
for people to access and in-
terpret financial informa-
tion,andnowtheywillsoon
come under the regulatory
purview as SEBI proposed
measures to curb their
mushroomingnumbers. PTI
BSEchanges
JFSstockprice
Mumbai:BSEhasrevisedthe
circuit limit of Jio Financial
Services,thedemergednon-
banking financial services
unitofMukeshAmbani-led
Reliance group, to 20 per
cent from the existing 5 per
cent. PTI
system will be marginally tight,
and therefore, the deposit costs
will tend to rise.
There are talks about a
monsoon deficit, which
means food inflation can
remain high. Do you think
there can be some tightening
by the RBI if inflation
persists?
I do not see them (the RBI)
raising ratesat this pointin time.
As I have said, if food inflation is
contributed by transient items, I
don’t think RBI will react unless
they believethatit(highfoodin-
flation) will affect the core food
items.
How much increase are you
seeing in deposit rates?
It is difficult to answer, but
you should look at a 25 to 50 ba-
sis points (bps) rise in deposit
rates over the year.
Will this put pressure on net
interest margin?
NIM (net interest margin) is
a combination of multiple
things. If you ask, will there be
downward pressure on NIM for
thebankingsystem?Theanswer
is yes. But having said that, re-
member that on the asset side,
you (banks) will also be able to
pass on some rate increase (to
borrowers). If costs rise, banks
willtrytopassit(rates)on.Banks
will need to manage their NIMs.
The actual impact on NIM will
change from bank to bank de-
pending on how well they man-
age the mix of their asset and li-
ability sides.
The government is saying
that private capex has started
India,”FederationofIndianExport
Organisations director general
andCEOAjaySahaisaid.However,
he said, it needs to be known
whether the mechanism will be
in the form of a sovereign loan in
rupee or via bank financing of in-
dividual companies.
The rupee borrowing facility
to fund imports from India may
benefit countries with interna-
tional sanctions and/or those
shortofforeignexchange,includ-
ingsomeinAfricaandSouthAsia,
Sahai added.
Last year, the Reserve Bank of
India allowed countries with ex-
cess balance in their rupee ac-
counts, trade-surplus countries
withIndiasuchasRussia,toinvest
ingovernmentsecurities(G-secs)
and treasury bills.
Russia has channelled a por-
tion of its surplus, thanks to a
sharp increase in Russian oil im-
portsbyIndia,initsrupeeaccount
intotheG-secs/treasurybills,pro-
viding an additional stream of
fundstothedomesticgiltmarket.
To promote growth of global
trade, the RBI put in place an
arrangement for invoicing, pay-
ments and settlement of
exports/importsforinternational
tradeinrupeeonJuly11,2022. FE
Businesses can claim input tax credit
on goods distributed to dealers for
achieving sales target: GST AAR
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
BUSINESSES CAN claim input
tax credit on items, like gold
coins and white goods, pro-
cured for distribution to dealers
upon achieving pre-specified
sales targets as part of promo-
tional schemes, a GST advance
ruling authority has ruled.
The Karnataka-bench of the
AAR (Authority for Advance
Ruling) ruled that ITC can be
availed on taxes paid for pro-
curement of white goods or
gold coins for the purpose of in-
centive to dealer as it is a sup-
ply.
Orient Cement Ltd had ap-
proached the AAR seeking rul-
ing in whether ITC can be
claimed on distribution of gold
THE EXPRESS
INTERVIEW
WITH
KVS MANIAN
WHOLE-TIME DIRECTOR,
KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK
taking off. Do you agree with
this?
We are seeing green shoots.
All corporates are talking about
investments, and it is a matter of
time before investments start
coming in. There are sectors
where investments are begin-
ning to happen. Some sectors
likerenewables,roadsandinfra-
structurehaveseeninvestments
even during the last few years.
We have seen capacity being
built in sectors such as logistics,
pharma, healthcare and chemi-
cals.Forcapextotakeoff,bigcor-
FPI inflows hit 4-month low
After pouring a whopping amount into Indian equities in
the past 3 months, foreign investors have slowed down
NetamountinvestedbyForeign
PortfolioInvestors(FPIs)
`12,262crore:August
`46,618crore:July
`47,148crore:June
`43,838crore:May
`11,631crore:April
`7,935crore:March
Credit outstanding to real estate rises 38% to `28 lk cr in July: RBI
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 3
BANKCREDITtorealtysector,in-
cludinghousingandcommercial
real estate, witnessed nearly 38
per cent annual growth in July,
taking the loan outstanding to
the realty sector to a record Rs
28.35lakhcrore,accordingtothe
latestReserveBankof Indiadata.
The credit outstanding to the
commercialrealestate–consid-
ered as a hot sector -- increased
by 38.1 per cent to Rs 4.07 lakh
crore.
Despite the rise in interest
rates, the credit outstanding in
housing (including priority sec-
tor housing) rose 37.4 per cent
coins and white goods to its
dealers upon achieving a spec-
ified target fixed under the
scheme. The company also of-
fers various promotional
schemes “Monthly/ Quarterly
Quantity Discount Scheme”,
etc. The said sales promotion
scheme helps the company in
achieving their sales and collec-
tion targets.
The AAR noted that the ap-
plicant is issuing these gold
coins and white goods so pro-
cured as incentives as per the
agreement reached between
himself and the recipients. It is
only issued subject to the fulfil-
ment of certain conditions and
stipulations. “Gift is something
which is given without any con-
ditions and stipulations and
hence the same cannot be cov-
ered under the scope of ‘gift’,” it
poratesfromsectorslikecement
and steel need to put up big ca-
pacities, which is probably still
some time away.
Where are you seeing growth
opportunities?
At the sector level, the whole
industry is banking on retail to
grow rather than on corporate. If
you look at corporate loan
growth, excluding bank lending
to NBFCs, it has been in single
digitsforthepastmanyquarters.
So,theoverallbankingsectorhas
relied on the retail segment to
grow, and I don’t think that will
change immediately.
Most corporates are delever-
agedandsittingoncash.Evenfor
small brownfield investments,
they are using cash that they al-
readyhave.Onlylargegreenfield
investments could bring back
corporates to borrow from the
market, but this will take time.
In the interim, I think the re-
liance will be on retail to grow.
How do you see growth in
your corporate loan book?
In corporate loans, we have
always maintained that we are
fine with a growth of 15-20 per
cent. Our market share in the
corporate segment is 2.5-3 per
cent, and we don’t see any prob-
lem in gaining some more mar-
ket share.
Earlier, we had targeted large
corporates,whichwecallcorpo-
rate conglomerate group (CCG).
We have made good progress in
the segment and improved our
marketshare.Butbeyondapoint
when you keep growing in the
same segment, there is a worry
about concentration risk. Our
annually in July to Rs 24.28 lakh
crore, the RBI data shows.
Aman Sarin, Director & CEO,
Anant Raj Ltd, said the growth in
credit indicates that the real es-
tatesectorisgrowingandpeople
are investing in the sector. “This
also indicates that the banking
sectorispositiveaboutrealestate
and willing to provide capital for
construction of commercial and
housing projects,” Sarin said.
A significant driver of hous-
ing demand is the rising impor-
tance of property ownership,
buoyedbyconsumerconfidence
inthebroadereconomicclimate,
Sarin said.
Real estate developers and
consultants exuded confidence
that the sales momentum in the
said.
The applicant’s obligation to
issue gold coins and white
goods to the dealers/ customers
upon achieving the stipulated
lifting of the material/purchase
target during the scheme period
would not be regarded as
“goods disposed of by way of
gift” and input tax credit would
not be restricted, the AAR said
in its order dated August 24.
EY Tax Partner Saurabh
Agarwal said in the matter of
Orient Cement Ltd, the Advance
Ruling Authority of Karnataka
has held that the credit on in-
puts received for promotional
expenses, such as distributing
of gold coins, Godrej digital safe
lockers etc., to dealers should
not be categorized as gifts as it is
associated with certain condi-
tions and not voluntary.
current strategy is to grow the
segment below that - large and
mid-corporates. It is a segment
where you can easily have a 10
percentshareinlending;itgives
us a good wallet share in multi-
ple products and services of the
corporate. We feel that the right
risk-adjusted returns can be
made in this segment, and we
want to grow it.
You have earlier mentioned
competitive pricing pressures
in corporate loans. How is the
situation now?
From our perspective, we are
highly focused on risk-adjusted
returns and always look at pric-
ing vis-à-vis the risks that we
take. Therefore, I would expect
tenor and lower ratings to be
priced well. But yes, we do see
irrationality in that (pricing of
loans). I don’t think the markets
are pricing it well. Competition
can drive you to be irrational be-
cause you want a deal and book
growth. As the cost of funds are
likely to have an upward bias
from here on, I hope it will drive
more rational behaviour among
banks as they will have to build
their costs into pricing. I am see-
ing pricing getting more rational
going forward.
Are you seeing any signs of
stress in corporate or retail
sectors?
Not at all. One good thing is
that the credit quality and asset
quality environment look as
good as it can get. We aren’t see-
ing any stress on the corporate
side, absolutely zero.
FULLINTERVIEWON
www.indianexpress.com
`1.35lakhcrore
TotalinvestmentbyFPIsin
equitysofarin2023
“FPIsareadoptinga‘waitand
watch’approachratherthan
makingacompleteU-turn.There
continuestobeuncertaintyinthe
globaleconomyandtheunderlying
scenarioisfastchanging,”
HIMANSHU SRIVASTAVA
Associate Director - Manager Research,
Morningstar India, said.
Source: PTI
real estate sector will continue.
They are also bullish about
bumper sales in the upcoming
festive season.
Mohit Jain, Managing
Director, Krisumi Corporation,
said:“Thefestiveseasontypically
brings optimism and increased
realestatetransactions.”Theres-
idential real estate sector is
presently experiencing robust
growth, and this trend is ex-
pected to persist, Jain said.
The concept of homeowner-
ship has evolved, with people
viewing houses not just as a ne-
cessity but also as a lifestyle
choice, an investment, and a
means to create assets for future
generations.Thedemandforsu-
perior housing is anticipated to
Airlines to witness strong demand as
advance bookings soar for Diwali
SWARAJBAGGONKAR
MUMBAI,SEPTEMBER3
AFTER A blockbuster summer
season, airlines are set to witness
strongdemandfortheupcoming
Diwali period too as flyers opt for
advance bookings to beat high
fares that have already started
inchingup.Accordingtotravelin-
dustryexperts,airfaresfromsome
metros to holiday destinations
have already risen by 10-25 per
cent.
Unlike last year when Diwali
fellduringthesummerschedule,
this year it falls in the winter
schedulemeaningtherecouldbe
a need for additional flights. But
since there is positive growth in
demandandwithfuelcostsonthe
rise, airfares are expected to keep
moving north.
Indiver Rastogi, President &
Market Watch
7 OF TOP-10 COS LOSE M-CAP
New Delhi: The combined market valuation of seven of the top 10
valued firms eroded by Rs 62,279.74 crore last week, with Reliance
Industries taking the biggest hit. PTI
As UPI crosses 10 bn mark, a
look at India’s key foreign
policy sell: digital public infra
SOUMYARENDRA BARIK
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3
THE UNITED Payments Interface
(UPI) crossed 10 billion in the
volume of transactions in
August, marking a significant
milestone for the payments
service which is not just being
used extensively domestically –
at least for small ticket transac-
tions – but has also become a
key part of India’s foreign policy
outreach.
Throughout India’s presi-
dency of the G20, it has played
up the country’s efforts at creat-
ing digital public infrastructure
– of which UPI is a key part – and
has also explored other nations’
interest to adopt the underlying
technologies that power India’s
digital public infrastructure
(DPI) push, which it brands as
the India Stack.
Industry analysts see this as
India’s bid to set itself up as a na-
tion pioneering digital gover-
nance, especially as it aspires to
assume a leadership role in the
Global South. Within govern-
ment circles, this is also being
pegged as a differentiator from
rival China, which is funding
physical infrastructure develop-
ment in other developing coun-
tries.
India wants to play a key role
in the deployment of digital
public infrastructure and plans
to build and maintain the Global
Digital Public Infrastructure
Repository (GDPIR), a virtual
repository of DPI voluntarily
shared by G20 members and
beyond.
The repository aims to share
the practices and experiences of
development and deployment
of DPI which may include rele-
vant tools and resources in dif-
ferent countries.
Marketing openness
A model that India has come
to pioneer has been to create un-
derlying technology – which re-
mains under the government’s
control – and allow private en-
tities to use it to offer services
and build products. The same is
true of UPI, and Aadhaar, two
crucial elements of the India
Stack.
India Stack is the moniker for
a set of digital codes and digital
public goods that aim to unlock
the economic primitives of
identity, data, and payments at
keeprisingintheforeseeablefu-
ture, Jain said.
Sankey Prasad,CMD,Colliers
India, said a major factor putting
the Indian realty on a high
growth trajectory is India’srapid
GDP growth which is growing
upwards of 6-7 per cent a year,
far higher than developed coun-
tries such as the US and UK
where the economy has inched
closer towards slowdown.
“InitiativessuchasMakeinIndia,
Production Linked Incentive
Scheme and Smart Cities and
policynudgesintheformof Real
EstateRegulatoryActandsingle-
windowclearancehaveplayeda
crucial role in eliminating road-
blocks, thereby fast-tracking
growth of the industry,” Prasad
The festive season forms the second highest travel peak in a
year for India. File
Group Head, Global Business
Travel, Thomas Cook (India) and
SOTCTravelsaid,“TheDiwalisea-
son has already started witness-
ing high travel demand, not just
from India’s metros and mini-
metros, but also from tier 2 and 3
cities.”
The festive season forms the
second highest travel peak in a
India wants to play a key role in the deployment of digital
public infrastructure. File
population scale. The overall ar-
chitecture has three key layers –
identity, payments, and data
management.
The bedrock of India Stack is
a set of digital identity products
centred around Aadhaar, India’s
national identity program. It can
be used to remotely authenti-
cate via two-factor or biometric
authentication, receive digitally
signed records such as driver’s
licences, educational diplomas,
and insurance policies,
and sign documents or
messages using a gov-
ernment-backed digi-
tal signature service.
UPI forms the sec-
ond layer, which deals
with payments, as it is
designed to enable interoper-
ability between money custodi-
ans, payment rails and front-end
payment applications. The tech-
nology which is in the custody
of the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI), has
been licenced to a number of
third-party private entities such
as PhonePe, Google Pay and
Paytm.
The third and final piece of
the India Stack puzzle focuses on
creating a new model for data
governance. It operates as per a
policy called the Data
Empowerment and Protection
Architecture (DEPA), which at its
core has the institution of a con-
sent management system —
which will allow the sharing of
the information — with a view
to provide better financial,
health and telecom-related
products and services to individ-
uals and firms.
Aside from UPI, a number of
digital solutions that the Indian
government has rolled out in the
last few years, including CoWin,
DigiLocker, Aarogya Setu, and
Government e-Marketplace
(GeM), among others, all utilise
said. Prasad said the impact of
global economic sluggishness is
expected to be a mixed bag for
real estate in the near term due
to rising interest rates and slow-
downindemand.Thelong-term
demand is expected to remain
strong as housing has become
oneof themostimportantassets
post COVID pandemic, he said.
Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri
said the impressive loan growth
in the real estate sector is a func-
tion of a large-scale demand re-
vival across the board.
“The commercial office seg-
mentwasreelingunderthepan-
demic’spressurelastyearasem-
ployers were contemplating
strategiesaroundcompletework
fromtheoffice,workfromhome,
year for India after the summer
vacationperiodthatfallsbetween
April, May and June. Diwali flyers
appear keen to avoid the last-
minuterushseenduringthesum-
mer season sending spot fares to
unheard of levels like Rs 50,000
for a one-way flight to Srinagar
from Mumbai. Destinations like
Goa, Chandigarh, Jaipur and
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
the three fundamental layers of
the Indian Stack.
But the Indian government
harbours a larger vision for the
solution – taking it international,
as evidenced by the messaging
on its website: “Although the
name of this project bears the
word India, the vision of India
Stack is not limited to one coun-
try; it can be applied to any na-
tion, be it a developed one or an
emerging one.”
Part of India’s
foreign policy
Since June 2023,
India has signed
agreements with
countries like
Armenia, Sierra
Leone, Suriname, Antigua &
Barbuda and Papua New Guinea
to share India Stack, with coun-
tries like Mauritius, Saudi Arabia
having shown their interest in
adopting the model, the govern-
ment said earlier this month.
Similarly, UPI has also been
taken to international markets
such as France, UAE, Singapore
and Sri Lanka, with countries
like Japan having shown an in-
terest in adopting the payments
system.
DPI has been a key part of the
government’s overall narrative
about India throughout its G20
presidency. During the G20 dig-
ital economy ministers’ meeting
in Bengaluru earlier this month,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
said that India is an “ideal test-
ing lab” for solutions that can be
replicated globally anywhere in
the world.
The PM also said that the
country is willing to share its ex-
periences in the domain of dig-
ital public goods, adding that
India Stack has been envisaged
to ensure ‘no one is left behind,
especially those from the Global
South’.
or a hybrid model. However, as
the situation gained normalcy,
employees returned to offices
andthedemandforgoodquality
commercial offices is high this
year,” he said.
TheRBI’sAllIndiaHPIgrowth
(y-o-y) inched up to 5.1 per cent
in the first quarter of 2023-24
from 4.6 per cent in the previous
quarter and 3.4 per cent a year
ago.AnnualgrowthinHPIvaried
widely across the cities, ranging
from the high growth of 14.9 per
cent (Delhi) to a contraction of
6.6 per cent (Kolkata). On a se-
quential (q-o-q) basis, all India
HPI increased by 2.6 per cent in
Q1:2023-24.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
Cochin from hubs like Mumbai,
Delhi,BengaluruandHyderabad,
have seen a 10-25 per cent in-
creaseinairfaresfortheDiwalipe-
riodcomparedtoDiwalilastyear,
according to Thomas Cook.
“Return fares to tier 2-3 cities
like Bhubaneswar, Indore,
Lucknow,Jaipurfromthehubsare
higher by 5-15 per cent as India’s
migrant working professionals
travel back to their hometown to
celebrate Diwali with their fami-
lies,” Rastogi added.
Rajnish Kumar, Co-founder
andGroupCPTO,ixigosaid,“June
and July, which are traditionally
lean seasons, have already
recorded a higher domestic air
traffic with 1.24 crore and 1.21
crore passengers respectively.
Demand is likely to escalate fur-
ther during this year’s Diwali, re-
sulting in higher airfares across
key routes.” FE
 14 CALENDAR
CROSSWORD 5147
ACROSS
1 Aunt Enid floundering in
swamp (8)
5 Pretty loud music (4)
9 Invents a new word for hard
currency (5)
10 Ring me first when there’s a
dispute about a break (4,3)
11 Control supply of rocks that
are important in building (12)
13 Allow a devil in and he’s not
easily shifted (6)
14 Self-determination to work
on it somehow (6)
17 But a brunette winning a
beauty contest may not be (6,6)
20 Unconventional policeman
when not on duty (7)
21 I’d the wrong name for a girl
(5)
22 It has its ups and downs as a
plaything (2-2)
23 Type of set meals suitable for
vegetarians (8)
Solutions Crossword5146:Across:1Alarmbell,8Exile,9Naughty,10Change,11
Merlin,12Inflated,15Cloister,18Gambit,20Ladies,21Diagram,22Sewer,23Stage
door.Down:2Leave,3Regale,4Botanist,5Lethal,6Dignity,7Dependent,11Matchless,
13Forgoing,14Lowdown,16Shears,17Imaged,19Idaho.
JUMBLED WORDS
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget
theanswerforthegivenquip.
Ionlyknowtwopieces;oneis'ClairdeLune'andthe______.-VictorBorge(5,2,4)
TXEER
FLIOO
Victor Borge
Answer: I only know two pieces; one is 'Clair de Lune' and the other one isn't. -
SOLUTION: EXERT, FOLIO, KITTEN, SHRUNK
Classifieds
PERSONAL
I, SANDEEP KUMAR alias
SANDEEP JINDAL S/o Sh. LAXMI
NARAYAN, R/O L-2, GALI NO-23,
MAHENDRA PARK, ADARSH
NAGAR, DELHI-33, have
changed my name to SANDEEP
KUMAR JINDAL.
0070862365-1
I Nishtha Kharbanda W/O,
Sumit Khurana R/o E-6 Vijay
Nagar Dr. Mukherjee Nagar
Delhi Pin 110009 have changed
my name to Nishtha Khurana.
0040686785-1
It is for general information
that I, NARENDER SINGH S/O
ASHOK KUMAR R/O H.NO-15,
ABCHAL NAGAR, PART-1,
CHANDER VIHAR, NILOTHI
EXTENTION, NILOTHI, WEST
DELHI-110041 declare that
name of my mine, my minor
daughter and my wife has
been wrongly written as
NARENDER CHANANA,
MONIKA, SONIYA CHANANA in
my minor daughter namely
MONIKA KAUR aged 13 years in
her school record. The actual
name of mine, my minor
daughter and my wife are
NARENDER SINGH, MONIKA
KAUR and SONIYA KAUR
respectively which may be
amended accordingly. It is
certified that I have complied
with other legal requirements
in this connection.
0070862409-1
I,Rachi Singla,W/o Amit
Kumar,R/o H.no.277,
U/G/F,Bhera Enclave,Paschim
Vihar, Sunder Vihar,West
Delhi-110087 state that I am
also known as Rachi Aggarwal
and both are one and same
person.Now my correct name
is Rachi Singla for all
purposes.
0040686900-3
I,Mohd Sajid S/O Chhote Khan
residing at H No - 852/69, Gali
No -9, Old Mustafaabd, Delhi -
110094, have changed my
name to Sajid Ahmad
0050226155-1
I Amna Begum W/O Sajid
Ahmad R/ O of H No. 852/69,
Gali No. 9, Old Mustafabad,
Delhi -110094. I want To change
my husband name in my
passport Mohd Sajid To Sajid
Ahmad 0050226153-1
I, Amit Singla R/o B-1103 Elite
Homz Sector 77 Noida have
changed my minor son’s name
from Pulak Singla to Punya
Singla. 0040686781-1
I, Ruby Nasreen R/O B-14/105,
Street No15, Subhash Mohalla,
North Ghonda, Delhi 110053
have changed my name from
Rubee Narsreen to Ruby
Nasreen for all purposes.
0040686958-1
DOWN
1 Part of the foot and chin
broken (4)
2 Even the soldier assumes it (7)
3 Wasn’t allowed to succeed?
(12)
4 In France you get a strange
sort of coaches (6)
6 A grain found in oak (5)
7 Exchange of gunfire’s
declining (8)
8 Useless demonstration of
hunger-marchers? (5,7)
12 Your ills may turn out to be
imaginary (8)
15 Tend not to be on the level
(7)
16 Old man’s edgy companion?
(6)
18 This by itself indicates
equality (5)
19 Huts may be built in this way
(4)
EIKNTT
KRUHNS
I, Asgari Begum R/O 206 Street
No5, Lalita Park, Laxmi Nagar
Delhi 110092 have changed my
name from Asghary Begum to
Asgari Begum for all purposes.
0040686958-2
I Rishab Goel S/o Sh. Sanjeev
Goel R/o C-8/15,4th
Floor,Model Town-III,Delhi -
110009 have changed my name
from Rishab to Rishabh Goel.
Both Rishab & Rishabh Goel
are one and same person . So
henceforth i should be known
by this new name only.
0040686762-1
LOST & FOUND
I,Babita Khatri w/o Rakesh Khatri
inform that I have lost original
property document no. IN-
DL421980539059890, Regd No.
1489, Book no. 1, Vol no. 3555 on
pages 190-194 dated 01-05-2016 of
plot in village Katewara Tehsil-
Narela,Delhi-110039. Finder please
contact- 9953256054.
0130036440-1
This is to bring to your notice
that, I Anil Khosla, s/o
Narinder Nath Khosla , 192
Sector 9 DDA flats Dwarka ,
Delhi , our original
Conveyance Deed is missing
since April 27,2023 . If found
kindly return to the above
address. Mobile 9891416645
0130036383-1
PUBLIC NOTICE
It is for the information of general
public that my clients Sh. Sanjeev
Gupta, S/o Sh. Giri Raj Singh and
Smt. Manju Gupta, W/o Sh. Sanjeev
Gupta, both R/o F-24/134, Sector-3
Rohini, North West Delhi, Delhi-
110085, have disowned their son Sh.
Anuj Aggarwal and daughter in law
Smt. Neha Goel from all their
moveable and immoveable
properties and severed all their
relations with them. My clients shall
not be responsible in future for any
acts and deeds of their disowned son
and daughter in law. SUSHANT
K U M A R A D V O C AT E R Z 9 6
Krishna Vihar West, Najafgarh,
Delhi-110043
PRESS NOTICE
INVITING COMPOSITE
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e-TENDER
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on behalf of The President of India,
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Tenders for the following work:
N.I.T. No.:- NIT/ EEPCND /2023-
24/34 Name of Work:-
Construction of small P.O. building
at Thana Bhawan, Uttar Pradesh.
Estimated Cost:- Rs. 28,46921/-
{(Rs. 2421873 Civil Portion) & (Rs.
425048 Electrical Portion)}
Earnest Money:- Rs. 56938/-
Period of completion: 06 months
Last time and date of submission
of bid: 14.09.2023 upto 11:00
hours.
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be obtained from the website
https://dopcivil. euniwizarde.com
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis
DAY TODAY BY PETER VIDAL
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
No Monday A succession of
morning moans, helpful,
please. Jupiter's harmonious
generous and planetary
optimistic relationship over alignments could set you up
your houses of work and for some very prosperous
creativity is reinforced by financial decisions. At the very
Uranus’ generally surprising least you should keep a sharp
movements. The long-term eye open for rare bargains.
prospects for you, and for Your attitude to cash, though,
partners, are therefore is shaped by deep emotional
excellent. forces.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
Nothing is The Sun is creating
absolutely black or friction in a number
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson white, and an
ethical or moral
of areas of your
chart which are
question may be raised very intimately connected to your
soon. It is not necessary to deepest desires. You have to
sacrifice your interests; remember, at times like these,
neither should you expect that not everyone is on your
anyone else to do so. Overseas wave-length. Neither will
travel may beckon, but you partners necessarily
may be content to dream. appreciate your sense of
humour.
GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)
Every year at SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
around this time It may be hard for
Mercury, your friends and
planetary ruler and colleagues born
hence a natural ally, swings under the other
into a dramatic relationship to eleven signs to admit, but
your sign. In fact, I think you’ll you’re right. However, don’t
start to sit up and take notice take things too far, for there
of everything that you’ve are elements in the current
spent the last eleven months situation which could surprise
ignoring. even you. The last thing you
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong CANCER (June 22 - July 23)
want to do is stir up feelings
which are best left alone.
Sometimes it’s
impossible to figure CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
out what makes You’re on an
people tick, and it is emotional roller-
difficult to gauge whether coaster today, in a
partners will be totally mild sort of a way. If
confused, or utterly inspired. your mood changes from hour
Probably this is something you to hour, try to make sure that
can only assess for yourself, your circumstances can be
although you should avoid altered to suit. In legal matters
hasty judgments. take the longest-term view
possible, and don’t agree to
LEO (July 24 - Aug 23) anything without expert
The Moon is making advice.
waves in areas of
your chart AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
concerned with Your hidden,
work, so you should have few hermit-like
difficulties tackling the real qualities may make
world. Romantic an appearance
DifficultyLevel3s considerations may have to today, and I doubt if you will
SOLUTION SUDOKU 5309
Instructions take second place, just for welcome friends who try to be
now. Mind you, there’s always over-familiar. Anyone who
TosolveaSudokupuzzle, time to tell someone how you tries to extract your secrets
everydigitfrom1to9 feel about them. should be shown the door. I’m
SUDOKU 5310
mustappearineachofthe sure there’s a very good reason
nineverticalcolumns,in VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23) for your privacy.
eachoftheninehorizontal Business, work and
pleasure combine, PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
rowsandineachofthe
by virtue of the There’s a fair degree
nineboxes. Moon’s sensible of agreement
presence. Yet you must be between one part of
aware that behind every your chart and
DifficultyLevel simple statement lies a hidden another, which means that
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; and complicated meaning, and you should be able to make up
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; other people may be your mind for once. It’s a
5s=VeryHard; chronically incapable of saying grand day for confirming long-
what they think. term plans.
6s=Genius
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15 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
BRIEFLY
BaganbeatEB to
winDurandCup
Kolkata: Amomentof sheer brilliance
from Dimitri Petratos proveddecisive
as 10-man Mohun Bagan Super Giant
beat arch-rivals East Bengal 1-0 in a
fiercely contested final to clinch
Durand Cup title for the first time af-
ter 23 years here on Sunday. Mohun
Bagan were one-man down after
Anirudh Thapa was sent off in the
62nd minute, but they still scored the
decisive goal through a brilliant solo
effort from Petratos in the 71st
minute. In a swift counter-attacking
move, the Australian player skilfully
weaved past the East Bengal defence,
before unleashing a powerful strike
from 25 yards out. East Bengal goal-
keeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill was
leftamutespectator.ThiswasMohun
Bagan's 17th Durand Cup title. They
last won the title in 2000 when they
beat Mahindra United via a golden
goal. PTI
FormerZimcaptain
Streakdiesaged49
Harare: Former Zimbabwe captain
Heath Streak has died of colon and
liver cancer at the age of 49,
ESPNcricinfo reported on Sunday.
Streak was the all-time leading test
wicket-taker for his country, taking
216 wickets and scoring 1,990 runs in
65 tests between 1993-2005. He had
been undergoing treatment in
Johannesburg. "In the early hours of
this morning, Sunday the 3rd of
September 2023, the greatest love of
my life and the father of my beautiful
children, was carried to be with the
Angels from his home where he
wished to spend his last days sur-
rounded by his family and closest
loved ones," his wife, Nadine, wrote
on social media. REUTERS
ChennaiyinsignIndia
U-17playerGangte
Chennai: Chennaiyin FC on Sunday
announced signing promising
ManipurstrikerThanglalsounGangee
on a multi-year deal ahead of the
Indian Super League season. Gangte,
who has also played for the U-17
Indian team, has become the 10th
player to sign up with Chennaiyin FC
ahead of the ISL season, the franchise
informed in a release. “Gangte played
a vital role in India's fourth SAFF U-17
Championshiptitlelastyearwithfour
goals—jointhighest —andalsomade
heads turn by scoring a crucial last-
minute equaliser against one of the
world's top clubs, Real Madrid, dur-
ing India's preparatory match for the
AFC U-17 Asian Cup earlier this year,”
the club said. PTI
Dikshafightsback
butslipstoT-3
Dromoland (Ireland): India's Diksha
Dagar overcame a rocky front nine to
stage a magnificent comeback on the
back nine for a card of 1-under 71 on
the third day of the KPMG Women's
Irish Open here. Diksha, however,
slipped to tied third as Anne Van
Dam, lying second after the second
round moved up to a three-shot lead
with a second straight 6-under 66.
Van Dam was in lead at 15-under,
which included three birdies in last
fourth holes of the third round. Van
Dam was in lead at 15-under, which
included three birdies in last fourth
holes of the third round. Swede Lisa
Pettersson (67) was sole second and
Alice Hewson (68) was T-3 with
Diksha, four shots behind leader Van
Dam. PTI
Gajewski, the Polish GM who’s a common link between Anand and Gukesh
AMIT KAMATH
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 3
LAST FRIDAY saw Indian chess turn a page as
17-year-old D Gukesh took over as the coun-
try’s top-ranked player from Viswanathan
Anand in FIDE’s monthly rankings list.
It has been 37 years since anyone other
than Anand was India No. 1.
Grzegorz Gajewski has witnessed India’s
chessrevolutionfromauniquevantagepoint:
the Polish Grandmaster was a second — a
player whose job it is to come up with ideas
and tactics and then test them before big
games — for Anand when the Indian took on
Magnus Carlsen in Sochi for the 2014 World
Championship in a bid to wrest back the title
from the Norwegian.
Since the pandemic, Gajewski has been
workingwithsomeof India’ssharpestminds
at Anand’s academy, WACA. For the last few
months, he’s also assumed the role of
Gukesh’s coach.
Gajewskichucklesashenarratesthetime
he was forced to do push-ups for a whole
week thanks to a pact with Gukesh, in what
was one of their first events working to-
gether. The story goes that at the Tata Steel
Alcaraz’s crafty net gains
Against Evans in Rd 3, Spaniard’s success rate when approaching the net was 79% , far greater than his opponent’s at 55%
NAMIT KUMAR
SEPTEMBER 3
ATTHEendofthesecondsetofhisthird-round
matchagainstCarlosAlcarazonSaturday,Dan
Evans unleashed a pattern of play from his
crafty playbook trying tostayaliveinthe con-
test. An excellent body serve was followed by
a couple of sliced backhands robbing the
Spaniard of any pace to dominate from the
baseline.
But Alcaraz would not back down. He hit
huge forehands until he was given a simple
put-away volley at the net. A few points later,
defendingsetpoint,Evanstriedtotakeapage
outof hisopponent’sbook-supplementinga
big serve with big groundstrokes and coming
up to the net. Alcaraz would toy with him,
sendinghimtrailingwithadeftlobbeforeput-
ting away a simple volley across the net. The
set, and the two-set lead, were his.
On a dry, warm morning session, Alcaraz
putinhisbestperformanceinfourmatchesat
the US Open so far, to beat Evans 6-2, 6-3, 4-6,
6-3.Whilethescorelinemightnotsuggestso,
the Arthur Ashe stadium crowd bore witness
to the show the duo put up with their varied,
crafty games.
Evans, aware that he has the unenviable
task of contending with the world’s best ten-
nisplayer,mixedhisgameupwithslices,drop
shots, and net play, to contend with the
Spaniard's groundstrokes and weight of hit-
ting. And Alcaraz was equal to all.
Many of the big strengths – big forehand
and deceptive drop shot included – in his all-
courtgamehavebeenhighlightedinthistwo-
year-long period in which Alcaraz has as-
cended to the top of the men’s game, coming
into Flushing Meadows as the defending
champion. But perhaps the most uniquely
suited to his well-rounded set of capabilities
happens to be his realisation that finishing
points at the net give him the best chances to
win the rallies he so carefully constructs.
And Evans happened to have the arsenal
to be the perfect dancing partner. Of the 238
points played out between the two on
Saturday, at least one of the two players ap-
proached the net on 117. Evans would ap-
proachthenetonmoreoccasions,buthissuc-
cess rate (55%), was substantially lesser than
that of Alcaraz (79%).
IfEvanswasincorporatingnetplayintohis
game to mix things up on purpose, it was
Alcaraz’s natural point construction that led
him to the net. Well aware of his strengths,
most of Alcaraz’s tactical preparation is evi-
dently based around his stronger forehand
Arsenal score two goals in stoppage time to sink United
REUTERS
SEPTEMBER 3
GOALSDEEPinstoppagetimebyrecordsign-
ing Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus earned
Arsenal a sensational 3-1 victory over
ManchesterUnitedinthePremierLeagueon
Sunday.
Rice forced a shot in at the near post in
the sixth minute of added time and Jesus
then scored a sublime goal on the break to
seal the three points.
United were left crestfallen especially as
they had what they thought was a late win-
ner scoredbysubstituteAlejandroGarnacho
ruled out for offside after a VAR video check.
Marcus Rashford gave United the lead
against the run of play in the 27th minute,
lashing home a shot after a counter-attack,
but their joy did not last long though as
Martin Odegaard fired Arsenal's equaliser
less than a minute later.
Arsenal were awarded a penaltymidway
throughthesecondperiodwhenKaiHavertz
went down in the area but referee Anthony
Taylorchangehismindaftercheckingamon-
itor.
Chess Masters in January, Gukesh had fre-
quently courted time trouble, which had
made himrelinquish evengood positionson
the board. So, to make him stave off trouble
withtheclock,Gajewskimadeanoffertothe
Indian GM.
“Until then, it had been a difficult event
for him. He even lost to Wesley So despite
holding an advantage at one stage, only be-
cause of time trouble. Time trouble at that
stagewasabigfactorforhim.Andhewasgo-
ing to face Magnus Carlsen in the next game.
I knew he had to do something about the is-
sue,” the Pole recalls.
“But it’s not something you can just fix (in
a day)! The message was clear, but how to
conveythemessagetoGukeshwasthetricky
part.SoIcameupwithauniquesolution:Iof-
fered to do 10 push-ups for every minute he
savedontheclock.Itoldhimhehadtohavea
certain amount of time on the clock (in the
gameagainstCarlsen)aftermove30orsome-
thing, and if he was able to do that, he would
do 10 push-ups.”
That offer worked wonders!
“Histime management withCarlsen was
perfect! It felt like he was literally trying to
punish me! He even told me later that at
Carlos Alcaraz beat Dan Evans 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the third round on Saturday. USA Today
How Alcarazconstructs anet point
WHILE HIS signature drop shot may be
the more eye-catching weapon in his
varied tennis arsenal,
Alcaraz's dominance from
the baseline can be sum-
marised in his success at
the net. Typically, when
constructing points, Alcaraz
tends to build them on the
basis of his massive fore-
hand, which he uses to
push opponents further and further
wing, which he hits clean with power, flatter
throughtheairtopushopponentsfurtherand
further behind the baseline.
The20-year-oldthenflexeshisimpressive
physicality – very impressive considering his
age–toshowtheburstofpaceinhisfootspeed
to immediately back up huge forehands from
the baseline at the net. In dealing with his
power, his opponents must match it from the
baseline,orfindacuteanglestobeathimwhen
Arsenal players celebrate after scoring against Manchester United. AP
Mikel Arteta's side have 10 points from
four games with United on six after already
losing twice.
Liverpool ease past Villa
Dominik Szoboszlai scored his first goal
for Liverpool and Mohamed Salah netted his
seventh in seven games against Aston Villa
Grzegorz Gajewski with D Gukesh. Twitter
some point during the game, he started
counting push-ups I would have to do. He
drew the game very comfortably. The rest of
the tournament went very well for him. He
got rid of the time trouble issues,” says
Gajewski, who adds: “The only downside
wasthatIactuallyhadtoworkoutquiteabit.
Ididabout160push-upsoverall!Iwasdoing
them for the next week at least because it
was not possible for me to do them in one
day.”
behind the baseline before using his
footspeed and court position to come
to the net to finish the point
off with an easy volley. The
only option to win those ex-
changes for opponents,
then, are trying to match his
power from the baseline, or
finding acute angles to beat
him at the net. Either, or
both, are hard to do consis-
tently over five potential sets.
heapproachesthenet.Moststruggletodoei-
ther, or both, consistently in a five-set match.
This acute point construction has been on
display against the very best too. In the two
matches at the French Open and Wimbledon
that he played against Novak Djokovic this
summer, despite Djokovic coming to the net
substantiallymoreoften,Alcarazhasahigher
conversionrate.AtWimbledon,inthefirstset
helost1-6beforemakingacomeback,Alcaraz
as the hosts eased to a 3-0 Premier League
victory at Anfield on Sunday.
Juergen Klopp's side, who have won 10 of
their last 12 matches against Villa, climbed
to third in the table on 10 points from four
games. Villa have six points.
"We did quite OK, quick to 2-0 and came
out good and scored a goal in the second half
GajewskiwasasecondforVishy
AnandeversincetheIndiantook
onMagnusCarlseninSochifor
the2014WorldChampionship.
Sincethepandemic,he’sworked
withthebrightestmindsin
IndianchessatAnand’sacademy.
Different eras
HisstintasAnand’ssecondwasmuchdif-
ferent.Notonlyweretherefewerpush-ups—
presumably — it was also the era when chess
engineshadnotcompletelytakenoverthejob
of preparing a player’s strategy. Today, chess
engines are like self-driven cars.
“Many years back, we would sit for five
hoursandanalyselines.We’relikedinosaurs,”
Gajewskijokesbeforeadding:“Somanyposi-
tions that we used to think were dry, equal,
uninteresting…theenginescameupwithlots
of interesting ideas for them. So our genera-
tion basically had to re-learn what we had
learnt in our youth. That was the tricky part.
ESPARGARO WINS CATALUNYA GP
Barcelona: Aleix Espargaro claimed victory ahead of Aprilia team mate Maverick
Vinales at the Catalunya GP on Sunday, as championship leader Francesco Bagnaia
was taken to hospital after crashing on the opening lap. Sprint-winner Espargaro
was second for much of the race, but the Spaniard took advantage of Vinales' worn
front tyre to surge into the lead with four laps left and seal the win. REUTERS
only came to the net four times. As he gained
moreconfidencethroughhisforehandheap-
proachedthenetmoreoften.DespiteDjokovic
coming to the net on 20 more occasions,
Alcaraz had marginally higher success rate –
61% compared to the Serb’s 60%.
While speaking to the New York Times,
Jimmy Arias, a former doubles Grand Slam
champion who runs the well-known IMG
academy in the US, observed this particular
pattern of play in Alcaraz’s game while notic-
ing him play in America this year. He pointed
outthathecouldnotquiteregisterhowAlcaraz
isabletofindimmeasurablepoweroffhisfore-
handwhilestandingdeepinsidehisowncourt,
andthenbackitupwiththe speedtocometo
the net and finish the point off.
While one comparison, with Roger
Federer when he saw him blast past Lleyton
Hewitt in the 2004 US Open final, did come
up, he felt this trait, of finding a clean, pow-
erful forehand and then backing it up at the
net in one, effortless-looking motion, was
unique to Alcaraz’s strengths. Trying to de-
fend that may be futile. Instead, he says, at-
tacking him is the better option.
“The only thing you are going to be able to
do(tobeathim)isout-AlcarazAlcaraz,”hesaid.
“Good luck with that.”
too," Szoboszlai told the BBC.
Two days after Liverpool reportedly re-
jected a 150 million-pound bid for Salah by
South Arabian club Al-Ittihad, the Reds tal-
isman netted goal number 188 of his
Liverpool career with a toe poke at the back
post in the 55th minute off Darwin Nunez's
headed flick from a corner.
"You know it is football everyone is talk-
ing," Szoboszlai said on Salah's future. "We
are really happy that he has stayed. We are
of course speaking between each other but
he wants to stay, he wants to be here and be
with us. We are really happy - we need peo-
ple in the team like him."
Klopp,whomanagedhis300thLiverpool
gameonSunday,shotdownrumoursaround
Salah's departure before kick-off.
"Thiswasamediastoryanditnevercame
true," the German manager told Sky Sports.
"I have a big desk in my office with a lot of
papers are on there, I have a laptop, iPad,
everything that you need and none of them
are busy with this kind of news."
Szoboszlai had given Liverpool a dream
start with a left-footed half-volley from the
edge of the 18-yard box after three minutes.
"It is a special moment," said the
One of the reasons behind Vishy staying on
the top for so many years was that he man-
aged to re-learn.
“WhenIwasworkingwithVishy,itwasthe
eraoftheearlychessengines.Youhadtowork
with engines for many hours and had to lead
them by hand… you had to have your own
ideas,butthenusedtheenginetocheckthem.
Today, you just hit the spacebar on the com-
puterandyougetalltheanswersimmediately.
Thereisnopointarguingwithenginesbecause
they’re basically always correct,” he says, be-
foreaddingproudlythathehasbecomebetter
at ‘arguing with engines’ over the years.
Preparing Gen-Now
InhisautobiographyMindMaster,Anand
laudsGajewski’s“abilitytoseethings”thathe
himself hadmissed.It’sthereasonAnanden-
listed his services for WACA, where his job is
to help prodigies like Gukesh, R
Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and others
with opening preparation.
“At WACA, my job is to show those kids
some interesting material regarding open-
ings; maybe, some nice opening ideas that
haven’t been played yet. I also showed them
how deep they should go with opening
preparations, and how serious they should
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Jabeur relieved
to get past ailing
Bouzkova
REUTERS
SEPTEMBER 3
ONSJABEURsaidshewashappytogetthrough
a tense clash with Marie Bouzkova at the U.S.
Open on Saturday after the fifth seed capi-
talisedonherailingopponent'slimitedmove-
ment to seal a comeback victory.
Havingclaimedtheopeningset,Czech31st
seedBouzkovatookanoff-courtmedicaltime-
outmidwaythroughthesecondduetoanap-
parentlegissue,thensoldieredon,butJabeur
begantomakeheropponentrunaroundmore
with regular drop shots.
"Iwastryingtomakehermoveasmuchas
possible. I know that's not cool, but I wanted
to win," said Jabeur, who overcame her own
early struggles due to flu and prevailed 5-7 7-
6(5) 6-3 after nearly three hours.
Havingclaimedtheopeningset,
Bouzkovatookamedical timeout
midwaythroughtheseconddue
toanapparentlegissue,then
soldieredon,butJabeurbeganto
makeherrunaroundmorewith
regulardropshot.
The Tunisian told a press conference she
was not initially sure how serious Bouzkova's
injury was. "I was trying to observe her a lot,
try to see where she was hurt," Jabeur said.
"Ifeltlikedoingdropshotsonherforehand.
Ididonboth,butfeltliketheforehandsidewas
the side that bothered her a lot. I was tense at
times. I couldn't do my shots.
"I really focussed on her (more) than on
myself. I feel I even forgot that I wasn't feeling
that well. I'm glad I got through this. It's never
easyplayingsomeoneinjured.Itreallygetsinto
your head."
Jabeur, seeking her first Grand Slam title,
said she will need to work on her serve ahead
ofafourth-roundmeetingwithChina'sZheng
Qinwen."Ithinkthat'sgoingtobeveryimpor-
tant playing a talented young player," Jabeur
said."We'lltryto havefunonthe court.That's
really important for me."
Hungarian, who arrived from Leipzig over
the summer. "If you score your first goal for
Liverpool at Anfield it is always special. I am
looking forward to getting even more.
"We knew if we come out and we think
the game isover we weregoing to be in trou-
ble but we wanted to score another one
quick," he added. "We came out and score
another and just enjoy it."
Liverpool doubled their lead when
Nunez'sfirmshothitthepostandrebounded
into the net off Villa defender Matty Cash.
Liverpool never let up, helped by a sur-
prisingly sloppy performance from Villa,
who are now winless in their last six league
visits to Anfield.
Nunez had a couple of scoring including
one moments before halftime that hit the
woodwork, and Trent Alexander-Arnold
gave a master class in midfield before limp-
ing off with a potential injury in the second
half, receiving a hug from Klopp on his way.
"We were excited before the match but
the first half was key," said Villa manager
Unai Emery. "We created good chances but
were not clinical and the defence was little
bit weak, and they were clinical."
be about it,” he says.
“With these two Indian kids — Pragg and
Gukesh — you have to beat them twice. Look
at the game between Pragg and Fabiano
Caruana (semi-final of the FIDE World Cup).
Fabiano was able to outplay him, but he was
never able to out-calculate Pragg. The prob-
lemanyplayerwillfaceplayingthesetwokids
especiallyisthatyouhavetobeatthemtwice.
First, you have to outplay them chess-wise.
Then you still have to out-calculate and out-
trick them. These two start setting up traps,
startmuddyingthewaters,keepaskingques-
tions. Fabiano knew he had a big advantage
againstPragginafewgames.Buthestillwas-
n’t able to prove it,” points out Gajewski.
HavingworkedwithAnandandnowwith
the cream of India’s next generation of chess
wizards, the inevitable question is how the
teensmeasureuptotheloftystandardssetby
Anand.
“It’s not easy to compare (the current
IndianprodigieswithAnand).Vishyisunique,
I don’t think he can ever be replaced by any-
one. But at least some of them — if they work
hard enough and continue to develop as
smoothly as they’re currently developing —
have the potential to achieve a uniqueness of
their own,” says the 38-year-old.
 16 SPORT WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Bangladesh keep
themselves alive
with 89-run win
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
LAHORE, SEPTEMBER 3
MEHIDY HASAN Miraz and Najmul Hossain
Shanto delivered when it mattered the most
by hitting centuries as Bangladesh registered
an emphatic 89-run win over Afghanistan to
keep themselves alive in the Asia Cup here on
Sunday.WhileMirazamassed112runsoff119
deliveries, Shanto picked up where he left off
in the previous game, with a 105-ball 104 to
take Bangladesh to a commanding 334 for 5
after opting to bat.
Bangladeshbowlers,ledbyTaskinAhmed
(4/44 in 8.3 overs) and Shoriful Islam (3/36 in
9 overs), then joined the party as they struck
atregularintervalstobowloutAfghanistanfor
245 in 44.3 overs despite the best efforts of
IbrahimZardan(75off 74)andHashmatullah
Shahidi (51).
Rahul set to make World Cup squad; Samson not included
DEVENDRA PANDEY
MUMBAI SEPTEMBER 3
KLRAHULhasbeenincludedinIndia’sWorld
Cup squad while Sanju Samson is all set to
miss out.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s
(BCCI)seniorselectioncommitteepickedthe
15-man squad late Saturday night. Panel
chairman Ajit Agarkar flew to Sri Lanka
where he met captain Rohit Sharma and
coachRahulDravidtofinalisethenames.The
meeting took place after the India-Pakistan
Asia Cup game at Pallekele was washed out
after the first innings.
Along with Samson, Tilak Varma and
Prasidh Krishna, in Sri Lanka at the moment
for the continental tournament, also didn’t
find a place in the squad for the 50-over ICC
showpiece.
TheteamwillbeledbyRohitSharmaand
after his great showing with the bat in the
middle order against Pakistan, Ishan Kishan
has been named among the chosen 15.
Apart from captain Sharma, Shubman
Gill,ViratKohli,ShreyasIyerandSuryakumar
Yadav will feature in India’s batting line-up.
All-roundersHardikPandya,RavindraJadeja,
Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur also made it
to the squad as the selection committee and
team management put a lot of emphasis on
batting depth.
In the bowling department, Jasprit
Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and
MohammedSirajwillbeleadingthepaceat-
tack while wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav also
made it to the squad.
The selection committee discussed
Rahul’s fitness and after the medical team
at the National Cricket Academy gave a
green signal, he was included in the squad.
Rahul is not with the Asia Cup squad in Sri
Lanka and was expected to miss at least the
first two matches due to a niggle. He has
been hitting the nets and has batted for
several hours at the NCA in Bengaluru. It is
learnt that he will join the rest of the Asia
After getting a green signal from the
medical team at the NCA, KL Rahul was
included in the squad. File
Cup squad in Lanka soon.
September 5 is the deadline to submit
the final World Cup squad to the
International Cricket Council (ICC), so the
selection meeting was earlier expected to
be held on September 4. But after the med-
ical team cleared Rahul, it is understood
that it was felt that there was no point in
waiting for another day.
Rahul, who has been a mainstay in the
first-choice XI and will probably also don the
gloves during the World Cup, underwent
surgeryonhisrightthighandhasbeenoutof
action for the past three-and-a-half months.
During a press conference a few weeks
ago, Agarkar had said that Rahul had picked
up a niggle and that’s why Samson had been
named as a back-up option for the Asia Cup.
“Shreyas is being declared completely fit
while KL Rahul has picked up a niggle. It is
nothis originalinjuryandthat’s whySanju is
travelling with us. We are all expecting him
(Rahul) to be fit, if not at the start of the Asia
Cup then maybe the second and third game,
but he is well on track. They are two impor-
tant players and since we are not picking the
team for the World Cup till September 5, it
gives us some time,” Agarkar had told re-
portersinNewDelhiaftertheAsiaCupsquad
was named.
Even if Rahul recovers in time, there will
bequestionmarksoverwhetherhewillbefit
enough to keep wicket? Agarkar was again
‘hopeful,’ saying, “Obviously, Rahul plays as
awicketkeeper-batter.Theattemptistohave
him fit from our first game. The niggle is a
small setback for Rahul but we all are hope-
ful that he will be okay. Needless to say he is
a very important player.”
Agarkar had already hinted that the se-
lection committee will be picking the World
Cup squad from the 18-member Asia Cup
squad and, as expected, there were no ma-
jor surprises.
India’s provisional squad: Rohit Sharma
(Captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain),
Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL
Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur,
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep
Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Axar Patel, Ishan
Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

Pandya in Dhoni avatar

After the victory, Bangladesh were in sec-
ondspotinGroupB,whileAfghanistanneedto
win their final game against Sri Lanka for a
chance to progress in the Super Four stage.
Chasing 335, Afghanistan struggled to
maintain the required run rate which kept on
increasingasBangladeshbowlersbowleddot
balls to building pressure on their opponents.
Afghanistan did not have the best of starts as
the big-hitting Rahmanullah Gurbaz (1) was
trappedlegbeforebyShorifulIslaminthesec-
ond over.
But Zardan and Rahmat Shah (33) batted
intelligentlytohelpAfghanistanrecoverfrom
the early blow. They took their side from 1/1
to79/2butjustwhentheylookedtomakein-
roads,Taskinbowledabackoflengthdelivery
and just as Rahmat tried to slog it, the ball
crashed into the top of off-stump. At the
halfway mark, Afghanistan needed nine runs
perovertowin.Theytriedtouptheantewith
Zardan hitting Miraz for a four, followed by a
sixoverdeepmidwickettocollect14runsfrom
the over.
ButtheBangladeshbowlerswererighton
theirmarkonthenight.HasanMahmud(1/61)
accounted for the dangerous Zardan, which
led to a mini batting collapse.
Najibullah Zadran (17), Shahidi, Gulabdin
Naib (15), Mohammad Nabi (3) and Karim
Janat(1)departedwithinthespaceofsixovers.
Earlier, after an underwhelming batting dis-
play in their tournament opener, the
Bangladeshbattingunitgaveagoodaccountof
itself.Afghanistanbowlerswereguiltyofleak-
ing runs, especially left-arm medium pacer
Fazalhaq Farooqi (0/53 in 6 overs), as skipper
Hashmatullah Shahidi struggled to find an-
swers.EvenstarspinnerRashidKhan(0/66in
10overs)wasineffectiveasheremainedwick-
etless.Playinginthescorchingheat,Mirazput
up a 60-run opening stand with Mohammad
Naim (28) to give Bangladesh a strong start.
However,AfghanistanputBangladeshina
spotofbotherbyclaimingtwowicketsinquick
succession. Off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman
(1/62 in 10 overs) gave Afghanistan the first
breakthrough as he cleaned up Naim with a
perfect googly.
Medium pacer Gulbadin Naib (0/59 in 8
overs) then induced an outside edge to send
Towhid Hridoy packing without opening his
account. Miraz then began the rebuilding act
withShanto.Thetwostitcheda215-runpart-
nership.ThewaybothShantoandMehidybat-
ted, it looked unlikely that any of the Afghan
bowlers would be able to snare their wickets
and that's what exactly happened. Miraz re-
tiredhurtinthe43rdoverduetocrampsinhis
lefthand.Afewovers later,Shantoattempted
areversesweepbutslippedashesetofftotake
arun,puttinganendtohisspectacularinnings.
BriefScores:Bangladesh334/5in50overs
(Mehidy Hasan 112, Najmul Hossain 104,
ShakibAlHasan32notout)btAfghanistan245
all out in 44.3 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 75,
HashmatullahShahidi51,TaskinAhmed4/44,
Shoriful Islam 3/36) by 89 runs.
Heavy rains in
Colombo, Asia
Cup games
Against Pakistan, he filled in the anchor-accumulator-destroyer role, like the former captain might be shifted
VENKATA KRISHNA B
SEPTEMBER 3
EXPRESS WITHCOLOMBOwitnessingheavyrainsover
ATASIACUP the last few days, the Asian Cricket Council is
deliberating a shift in the venue for the Super
4stagesoftheAsiaCup.TheIndianExpressun-
VENKATA KRISHNA B derstands that the teams have been apprised
PALLEKELE, SEPTEMBER 3 of the situation in Sri Lanka's capital and
Pallekele and Dambulla are understood to be
EARLY THIS year, Hardik Pandya was asked looked at as alternate options.
about playing the MS Dhoni role in the ODIs. The ongoing Asia Cup which is being
Pandya would matter-of-factly reply: “I don't played in a hybrid model in Pakistan and
mind coming in and playing the role which Sri Lanka has the all important Super 4
somewheredownthelineMahiusedtoplay.” stage coming up starting next week. The
But the sudden comparison weighed him event hosted by Pakistan is also being
down and he admitted: “But I have to evolve played in Sri Lanka after India's refusal to
and that is life.” cross the LOC. As previously reported by
Itwasapracticalassessmentbecauseit’sa this newspaper, when ACC zeroed in on Sri
difficultandrarearttoperfect—hehastoblend Lanka as the second venue, Sri Lanka
into different costumes in different circum- Cricket had suggested they would host the
stances.Attimes,hehastoanchor,attimeshe event in Dambulla, which is a dry region in
has to accumulate, and at other times he has the central part of the country.
towieldthelonghandle.Often,inthesamein-
nings, he has to play all three roles. That India
haveyettofilltheDhoni-shapedholetellshow Pallekele and Dambulla are
difficultitistomasterthemultiplerolesheper- AgainstPakistanonSaturday,asmanyas53of HardikPandy’s87runs wereaccruedfromsinglesandtwos. AP understood to be looked at as
formed for a decade and more. But in his 90- alternate options.
ball 87 against a fast and furious Pakistan, he
showeddefinitesignsofhimevolvingintothe ing along without taking any risks. As many Yuvraj-roleinthe2011WorldCup.Yuvrajwas himself up the order, often batted in second
Dhoni role. It was a knock straight out of the as 53 of his 87 runs were accrued from sin- the adhesive that glued the middle-order to- andthirdgears, andpreferredtotakethegame However with the broadcasters and
Dhoni playbook. gles and twos. gether. Pandya could ace that role. For a bat- deep before unleashing his brute firepower. teams showing reluctance to travel to
Reaching the middle at 66/4, with more Apart from keeping his partner Ishan ting unit that has shown a tendency to strug- Fromconsolidatingthestartstorescuingacts, Dambulla, Pallekele and Colombo were
than 35 overs left in the bank, India needed Kishan calm and building a partnership that gle against high-quality pace attacks, Pandya Dhoni did it all with aplomb. picked as venues. However with this being
someonetostretchtheinningsasmuchaspos- changed the course of the innings, Pandya relishes pace. Against Pakistan, Australia and Like Dhoni, Pandya also loves hitting big monsoon season in the island both these
sible and Pandya went was swiftly changing the England–threeteamswithexcellentpaceat- sixes.Whenheisinamaraudingmood,hecan places have been witnessing heavy rainfall
about it without fuss. gears, setting up for a tacks—heaverages69.66,54.60and44.66re- inflictenoughdamageontheopponents,irre- over the past five days. Even Saturday's
Realising the pitch was Pandya was not only grandstand finish. In spectively. Like Yuvraj, he could bat at No 4, 5, spectiveofthebowlers’reputation.LikeDhoni match between India and Pakistan in
two-paced and scoring Dhoni’s words, he was not 6 or 7, depending on the situation. If India are could,hecandestroybothspinnersandpacers Pallekele was washed out.
straight was not easy, he taking the game deeper, only taking the game toloseearlywickets,hecouldbetheanchor-ac- withease.But,of late,Pandyaiswillingtorein While there was hope that the situation
used the nudges and pad- but also keeping the deeper, but also keeping cumulator to take the game deep. Then like in that side for the sake of his team, club or could change in Colombo, the recent rains
dle-sweeps against spin- calculative risks in play. the calculative risks in Dhoni, he is capable of finishing games too. country,sothatotherstroke-makerscouldplay in the capital city are now forcing the ACC
ners.Whenseamersoper- play.Havingdecidedtoac- aroundhim.Hisbattinghasmoregearsthanit to rethink. Although the first match in
ated,heguidedthemwith celerate in the last four Similar evolution was thought in his early days. Colombo is only on September 9, the ACC is
theangle,minimisingtherisk.BabarAzamre- oversof thesecondpowerplayto makemost Like Dhoni, Pandya did not seem like a Butitisnotanovernightevolution.Pandya concerned about the weather forecast that
peatedly tempted him to go for the big shots of the fourfielders outside the circle,even af- natural fit in this role. He was considered always had different layers to his game other doesn't seem very promising. Sri Lanka
as he operated with Shadab Khan and ter losing Kishan, Pandya didn’t change his the lower-order power-hitter. So was Dhoni, than six-hitting, but those gifts have often doesn't usually host matches in September
Mohammad Nawaz, but Pandya was not plans. He can cut loose when he wants to, before he evolved from a big-hitter to one of flownundertheradar,oftensparkledsporad- beyond the first week of the month be-
falling for the bait. and that is precisely what he did in the 40th the greatest finishers in the game. From be- ically. The focus was always more on his fit- cause of wet conditions and in case the
Not that he would fail had he decided to over, which Haris Rauf delivered. He pum- ing a pure, unheralded power-hitter, ness, bowling and of late leadershiptraits (his Super 4 stages go ahead in Colombo, it
take them on, but other immediate targets melledhimforthreeboundaries,eachstroke launching the ball long and hard, he showed captaincy in the IPL has often been likened to would be on the mercy of the rain gods.
had to be met. Those sixes could wait, andhe a stamp of his authority. the deeper layers of his batting after the Dhoni’s).ButitfinallytookaDhoni-likerescue With two more matches remaining in
waited till the 72nd ball of his knock. He hit The innings, where he was the anchor, ac- 2007 World Cup. acttothrusthisbattingprowessintothelime- Pakistan, the ACC is likely to take a final call
thefirstballforafour,butinthenext32balls, cumulatoranddestroyer,wouldnothavebeen WiththelikesofSureshRaina,YuvrajSingh light, on the same ground he had scored his on the venue over the next 24-48 hours.
he struck just one more ball to the fence. But timelier.WithIndia’sbattingline-upyettoas- and Yusuf Pathan around, Dhoni – who could only Test hundred. After this knock, Pandya Keeping the tournament in Pallekele also
like Dboni, he can keep the scoreboard tick- sume a full shape, Pandya could perform the hitsixesasandwhenheintended–promoted could say he has indeed evolved. comes with the risk of rain.

Nepal come back from the brink of losing ODI status; to face India today
VENKATA KRISHNA B
KANDY, SEPTEMBER 3
SCALING PEAKS isn’t new for Nepalis, hav-
ing scaled summits that few could even
dream of. On the peaks of Mt Everest where
centimetrescan separatelifeanddeath,they
are known to pull off heroic rescue acts. For
the Nepal cricket team, the past six months
or so have been similar on the sporting scale,
where from the verge of losing ODI status
theywentontofeatureinthe 50-overWorld
Cup Qualifiers and are now in the middle of
their maiden Asia Cup campaign where –
weather permitting in Pallekele – they are
set to face India on Monday.
Ever since they booked their Asia Cup
berth by winning the ACC Premier Cup in
front of a full-house, they have been wait-
ing for this fixture against India. “It is no
doubt going to be a fanboy moment for a lot
of them. They watched India play Pakistan
on Saturday and I’ve told them when they
take the field on Monday they should feel
they belong here and got here by their hard
work. They should feel equal and these fan-
boy moments can happen later on,” Nepal’s
head coach Monty Desai told The Indian
Express.
These moments definitely looked far-
fetched in February when Nepal, which had
gained ODI status in 2018, were on the verge
of losing it. In the World Cup Super League
2 points table, they sat at the bottom of it
with the climb up the ladder looking more
daunting than scaling Himalayan peaks. This
was shortly after Desai had taken over as
head coach. “It still feels surreal as to how
Ever since they booked their
Asia Cup berth by winning the
ACC Premier Cup in front of a
full-house, they have been
waiting for this fixture against
India.
we got there and how we made it here,”
Desai said.
In a 31-day period that included 12
matches, they won them all, beating much
more fancied and resourceful Associate
members Namibia, Scotland, Papua New
Guinea and the UAE not once, but on multi-
ple occasions. In the winner-takes-all clash,
which was played in front of thousands of
fans at the Tribhuvan International
University Cricket Ground in Kirtipur against
the UAE, they snatched a thrilling win un-
der fading light.
“To get a result like this, it was all about
showing the desire. When you are at the
edge of the cliff, you know there is nowhere
else to go. So you first had to save the ODI
status and when you start winning, the trust
gets stronger and you start working and
keep tasting it. When you taste the win in
the right way with roles defined, you tend
to seek more. Each of them completed the
role assigned to them. In most Associate
teams there is no proper domestic structure.
It is all about maximising the resources. So
you will find a real team contribution in such
teams. Now that we have made it this far, it
is all about looking ahead and taking them
Nepal players on the sidelines of Asia Cup game in Kandy. EXPRESS
to the next level,” Desai said.
Having half-a-dozen players, including
captainRohitPaudel,fromtheUnder-19squad
whomhecoachedin2017helpedforgeaquick
relationship which Desai feels helped in the
quick turnaround. The World Cup Qualifiers
didn’tgoonexpectedlineswiththelackofex-
perience and belief in the group showing up
at crucial junctures – especially when they
playedWestIndies,Zimbabwe,IrelandandThe
Netherlands. But Desai feels with experience
they are beginning to show signs of change.
“The domestic structure in place isn’t
greatandweareawareofitanditcanbecome
good because the age-group participation is
hugeandthereisincrediblefanfollowing.The
University ground is good, and we are build-
ingconfidencewithbatting-friendlypitches.
We have to challenge them further and now
itisallaboutbuildingtherightinfrastructure
and building on this momentum,” Desai
added.
Having received widespread eyeballs,
Desai has noticed how his players have been
To-be father Bumrah returns home
Mumbai:IndianpacerJaspritBumrahhas
flown back home to India from Sri Lanka
andwill missIndia’smatchagainstNepal
to be played on Monday.
Bumrah has informed the team man-
agement and the Indian board that he
wants to be with his wife, who is expect-
ingtheirfirstchild.TheBCCIhasagreedto
the speedster’s request and as a result
Bumrah flew back to Mumbai this after-
noon. He will be joining the team ahead
of the Super 4 stage.
Bumrahhadreturnedtointernational
cricketamonthagoafterrecoveringfrom
a long injury break. The Indian team will
play their Super 4 game after a few days’
breakinLankaandBumrahhasinformed
BCCI that he will be returning at the ear-
liest.
keenly following the likes of Hardik Pandya,
Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Babar Azam
whoallrosefromhumblebackgroundstothe
highest level. “When you are looking at such
names, it gives them the hope that they can
get there as well. That is what has impressed
methemostaboutthisbunch.Theyallcome
from humble backgrounds and they pursue
thesportpurelyoutofpassionanddesire.You
need to sustain that in them,” Desai said.
Featuring in these big tournaments
means, it also opens the door for Nepal play-
ers to be on the radar of T20 franchises.
Players from Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland,
It was during the India tour of Ireland
last month that Bumrah donned the
Indian colors for the first time since hav-
ing been ruled out of the T20 World Cup
last year owing to a recurring back injury.
As a result of the injury, he had also
missedouttheseveralbilateralseries,IPL
2023 and the World Test Championship
final earlier this summer for India and his
comeback in time for the World Cup had
been under scanner.
Those reservations were shunned
during the Ireland series in which the
pacer led India to a 2-0 win and, also fin-
ished as the leading wicket taker with
four scalps. India face Nepal in their last
group stage match and the winner of the
game will join Pakistan from Group A to
the Super 4. —Devendra Pandey
Namibia benefitted a lot by featuring in T20
leagues across the globe and Nepal are in a
similarpositionforthefirsttime.“(Sandeep)
Lamichhane has already played in a lot of
leagues and I know a few of them are being
lookedatwithactiveinterest.Withnotmuch
domestic structure, playing the T20 leagues
where they rub shoulders with the best,
means they are getting the sort of exposure
theyneedatthisstageof theircareers.If more
players get that then we will continue to go
upwards,” Desai said.
LIVE: India vs Nepal 3 PM, Star Sports
Network

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