ROHIT, JADEJA HOLD FORT AS ENGLAND TOIL
Hundreds by India captain and all-rounder rescue the team after it was
CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI
Modi Sarkar ki
Guarantee
Hamara Sankalp
Viksit Bharat
BJP had made electoral SC has delivered a
bonds a medium for verdict, we respect it.
bribe and commission. Electoral bonds had
Today a stamp has been laudable objective of
put on this bringing transparency
Rahul Gandhi, Congress Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP
ORDERS SBI TO GIVE EC DATA ON BUYERS AND RECIPIENTS POLL PANEL
TOLD TO UPLOAD INFO ON ITS SITE VERDICT WEEKS BEFORE LS POLLS
SC NIXES ELECTORAL BONDS
S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y
@ New Delhi
IN a landmark judgment, a five-mem-
ber Constitution bench the Supreme
Court on Thursday unanimously
struck down the electoral bond
scheme notified by the BJP govern-
ment at the Centre in early 2018, as
unconstitutional. The verdict is a
moral blow for the government ahead
of the general elections.
The bench headed by Chief Justice
of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud gave
the State Bank of India, the issuing
bank, time till March 6 to share with
the Election Commission of India
full data on the purchasers of the
electoral bonds and their recipients.
It went on to instruct the poll body to
upload the SBI’s information on its
official website within a week of re-
ceipt of the data — by March 13.
The court also declared the
amendments to the Income
Tax Act and Section 29C of
the Representation of the
People Act to facilitate the
electoral bonds, null and
void. The CJI further said the
amendment to the Companies
Act that opened the door for blanket
corporate political funding was
unconstitutional.
“The Union has been unable to es-
tablish the measure adopted in clause
7(4)(1) of the electoral scheme is the
least restrictive measure (on funda-
mental rights),” the verdict authored
by the CJI for himself as also for jus-
tices B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and
Manoj Misra, said. Justice Sanjay
Khanna wrote a separate verdict. He
had a different reasoning but arrived
at the same conclusion.
“The scheme is not fool-proof.
There are sufficient gaps in the
scheme which enable political par-
ties to know the particulars of the
2.5L houses to be CM lists DMK’s feats, says state
repaired at a cost contributes 9% to nat’l economy
of `2K cr in 2 yrs
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai
CHIEF Minister MK Stalin on Thurs-
day said 2.50 lakh houses built by
government under various schemes
before 2001 would be repaired and
renovated at a cost of `2,000 crore
over the next two years. The decision
has been taken after representations
were received from marginalised
people in rural areas, the CM said.
When TNIE contacted an official
from the Tamil Nadu Rural Develop-
ment and Panchayat Raj Depart-
ment, he said the assessment to iden-
tify the houses will be completed
soon. “Houses built under govern-
ment schemes, including Indra Awaz
Yojana, are in various stages of de-
cay due to ageing. We will undertake
roof repair, flooring and painting
work,” the official said.
Referring to the demand of Ma-
nithaneya Makkal Katchi leader MH
Jawahirullah to extend the reserva-
tion benefits applicable to BCs to
those who embrace Islam from SC/
ST, BC, and Most Backward Class
and Denotified Communities, the
CM said appropriate steps will be
taken after consulting legal experts.
CHENNAI � FRIDAY � FEBRUARY 16, 2024 � `9.00 � PAGES 38 � LATE CITY EDITION
It is the most historic
judgement that we
have got from the SC in
5-7 years. It is a great
boon for democracy
S Y Quraishi, former CEC
BEARER INSTRUMENT
An electoral bond has the nature
of a promissory note, which is
bearer in character. A bearer
instrument does not carry the
name of the buyer
or payee
LE
P
M Scheme does not require parties to mention the
SA
contributions made to them,”
Justice Chandrachud said.
Information about funding of
political parties, he added, is es-
sential for the effective exercise of
the choice of voting.
Data shows that 94% of the dona-
tions were in the denomination of
`1 crore. In other words, electoral
bonds provide economically power-
ful contributors access to lawmakers
and the ability to influence policy de-
cisions while giving them selective
anonymity vis-a-vis the public. The
court said information about politi-
cal funding would enable voters to
assess if there is any correlation be-
tween policy making and financial
contributions.
In an affidavit filed in the SC on
March 27, 2019, the EC had informed
that it had written to the Centre ques-
Chief Minister M K Stalin at the
TN Assembly on Thursday | PTI
CM: GUV’S CONDUCT
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
Chennai: The CM said the
governor’s conduct appeared to
be an extension of his political
activities. “We have been facing
fascism and autocracy at the
national level and will not be
cowed down by the childish acts
(of the governor),” he said | P4
ED SAYS
DID NOT TAMPER
WITH EVIDENCE
reduced to 33/3 in the first innings of the third Test on Thursday
SENIOR PROS STEP UP
After losing three early wickets for
33 runs, Rohit Sharma scored 131 and
Ravindra Jadeja was batting on 110 to
take India to 326/5 at stumps
DREAM DEBUT FOR SARFARAZ
After piling runs in Ranji Trophy, an
emotional Sarfaraz Khan finally got
his India cap on Thursday in front of
his dad and wife. He made 62 | P13 Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja
Modern farming, Prosperous farmers Government of India
3.5 fold increase in fertilizer
subsidy in last 10 years; Increase
������������������������������������
cbc 22201/13/0272/2324
over ���������������� now Scan for more information
FARMERS PROTEST
Modi invites
Burning midnight oil Qatari Emir to
visit India
to resolve agri unrest
It is a historic judgment, Welcome this
it’s in the interest of a unanimous judgment
clean democracy. I hope scrapping the electoral
that political parties will bonds that legalise Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi
learn their lessons political corruption
H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh PRIME Minister Narendra
T S Krishnamurthy, ex-CEC Sitaram Yechury, CPM Modi on Thursday thanked the
THE third round of talks between Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Ha-
the Centre and farmer leaders were mad Al Thani, for the release
held in Chandigarh on Thursday of eight naval veterans who
night, even as the stand-off between were under custody in Doha
protesters and security personnel since 2022. The PM also invited
continued for the third day on the the Emir to visit India.
Punjab-Haryana border. The two leaders held detailed
The meeting between three Union discussions, first in a delega-
ministers—Arjun Munda, Piyush tion level format and then in a
Goyal, and Nityanand Rai—and restricted format. The topics of
farmer leaders started three hours discussion included bilateral
later than scheduled. Security personnel deployed at the Punjab- cooperation, trade partnership,
Sources said the Union ministers Haryana Shambhu border during a protest investment cooperation, ener-
were closeted with Punjab CM Bhag- march in Patiala district on Thursday | PTI gy partnership, regional secu-
want Mann at a five-star hotel ahead rity, cultural affinity, and peo-
of their meet with the delegation of CM Mann and Punjab finance min- ple-to-people ties.
14 farmer leaders including Jagjit ister Harpal Singh Cheema also “My visit to Qatar has added
Singh Dallewal, Sarwan Singh Pand- joined the negotiation talks at the new vigour to the India-Qatar
her, and Jarnail Singh. Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of friendship. India looks to scale
Videograb of the five-judge bench headed by The meeting between the Central Public Administration. up cooperation in trade, invest-
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and ministers and farmer union leaders The situation at Shambhu and ment, technology and culture,’’
comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, was ongoing at press time. Two pre- Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana Modi said.
J B Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra | PTI vious rounds of talks on February 8 borders remained calm compared
and 12 were not successful. with the past two days. WITH THIS ISSUE
DENOMINATION UP TO `1 CRORE
Sources said the Centre has a new Train services were disrupted at CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 38 PAGES,
The scheme allows Indian citizens and domestic proposal, which, if accepted, could many places in Punjab following the
INCLUDING 24
OF INDULGE
companies to donate these bonds issued in
offer a resolution to the agitation. ‘rail roko’ call by some unions. (TABLOID)
multiples of `1,000, `10,000, `1 lakh, `10 lakh
and `1 crore to parties of their choice. These
bonds have to be redeemed within 15 days
NO CAP ON BUYING
No limit on the number of electoral bonds that
an individual or corporate entity can purchase.
names and addresses of the contributors in their
annual reports to the Election Commission
tioning the changes in several laws
relating to political funding, saying
it will have serious repercussions on
transparency. It had also warned the
government that changes in the For-
eign Contribution (Regulation) Act,
2010 could allow unchecked foreign
funding of political parties. “In a sit-
uation where electoral bonds were
not reported, it cannot be ascertained
whether the political party has taken
any donation from government com-
panies and foreign sources.”
Justice Sanjiv Khanna, in his sepa-
rate verdict, said retribution, victim-
isation or retaliation against any do-
nor to a political party is an abuse of
law and power. It needs to be correct-
ed but cannot be seen as justification
to make the scheme anonymous.
“Transparency and not secrecy is the
cure and antidote,” he said.
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai
CHIEF Minister MK Stalin on Thursday listed
out 10 key achievements of his government, a
day after AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palan-
iswami questioned the DMK government on its
performance in the past 33 months. “Tamil Nadu
contributes 9% to the country’s total economy.
This is our foremost achievement,” the CM told
the Tamil Nadu Assembly. “All this has been
achieved despite facing severe financial crunch,
challenges posed by natural calamities, and step-
motherly treatment meted out to the state by the
union government,” Stalin said.
Replying to the discussion on the motion moved
in the State Assembly to express the House’s ago-
ny over the governor’s decision to read out only
the first page of his customary address, the CM
said, “Once upon a time, we raised the slogan
‘vadakku vaazhkirathu; therkku theikirathu’
(north is thriving; south is waning). But now we
have grown to the level where people say ‘south
grows and it also contributes to the growth of
north’. This has become possible for TN only be-
cause of the Dravidian movement.” P5
Agency denies charge of ex-minister Senthil
Balaji, says all evidence in laundering case
came from TN police. Court rejects Balaji’s
plea to defer trial in the PMLA case till CCB
completes probe into predicate offence | P2
 ALMANAC TODAY MIN MAX Sunrise 06.31 am
Friday: 16/02/2024 Year: Shobhan Maasi: Valar Pirai Magh: Shukla Paksha 24 C 30 C
0 0 Sunset 06.15 pm
Tithi: Saptami till 08-55 hrs Nakshatra (Star): Bharani till 08-47 hrs Moonrise 11.22 am
Moon in Mesh till 14-43 hrs. Today is Arogya Saptami, Rathsaptami, Krittikai FORECAST
Rahukaalam: 10:30-12:00 Yamagantam: 15:00-16:30 Gulikakalam: 07:30-09:00 WEATHER Partly Cloudy Moonset 12.33 am

02 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024

� �

One-stop centres Critically-endangered turtles found in Cauvery

to bring schemes S V K R I S H N A C H A I TA N YA @ Chennai

A healthy breeding population

In Cauvery, they were found
during a first-of-its-kind pilot
study carried out by a group of
recorded all the sightings
through visual encounter sur-
vey from October 2022 to Sep-
better understand their popula-
tion, feeding and breeding be-
haviour and threats.

to PwD’s doorstep
of 31 elusive Leith’s soft-shell researchers to estimate their tember 2023. It was a painstak- The turtles have distinctive
turtle (Nilssonia leithii), a criti- population in the wild in the ing exercise since sightings are physical characteristics. When
cally endangered species pro- state. The study results were difficult as these turtles are young, they possess distinct ocel-
tected under Schedule 1 of presented at the third annual highly elusive.” li (eyes) on their carapace (upper
Wildlife Protection Act, have research conference on Thurs- The researchers said the shell) which tend to fade as they
As part of World Bank-funded project, 39 been spotted in Cauvery river day at the Advanced Institute presence of turtles was con- grow. Adults exhibit an olive
between Mekedatu and Ho- for Wildlife Conservation. firmed when they were ob- green or greyish hue on their
OSCs to come up at sub-divisional level genakkal in the state. The study was well received served while surfacing for carapace, while their plastron
Leith’s soft-shell is large by the state forest department Leith’s soft-shell turtle | EXPRESS breathing, basking on rocks, (chest cover) is white or cream-
S U B A S H I N I V I J AYA K U M A R through online at the block and freshwater turtle species en- as there has been a steady de- and through spoor marks. “Vis- coloured. Notably, many adults
@ Chennai neighbourhood centres. “We demic to peninsular India. So cline in the soft-shell turtle the process of publishing a re- ual encounter surveys were display a captivating head pat-
have provision to create 97 OSCs far, only sporadic sightings of sightings in recent years due to search paper along with other carried out 24 times in the Cau- tern with black stripes near the
IN a bid to take the rehabilitation under the project. Thirty-nine the species were recorded in poaching, habitat fragmenta- researchers from Wildlife Insti- very river between Tamil Nadu- lips and interlaced red blotches.
services and welfare schemes to centres will be created in phases parts of the Thungabhadra, tion, hydropower projects and tute of India, Natural History Karnataka border near Ho- Their diet includes mosquito lar-
the doorsteps of disabled per- one and two, and the identifica- Ghataprabha, Bhavani, Goda- to some extent illegal river Museum in London and Indig- genakkal,” Christopher said. vae, crabs, freshwater molluscs
sons, the state differently-abled tion of government buildings for vari, Krishna, Chalakkudy, sand mining. enous Biodiversity Foundation He said a comprehensive and fish, and they grow up to 700-
welfare department will soon es- the phase-one projects has been Cauvery, and Moyar rivers. Peter Christopher, who is in in Pondicherry, told TNIE, “We study should be carried out to 1000mm in length.
tablish 39 one-stop centres (OSCs) completed. We have given funds

ED: Didn’t tamper with

at the sub-divisional level under to the Public Works Department
the World Bank-funded RIGHTS to renovate the government
project. Serving as the apex body buildings. We are trying to en-
for rehabilitation services, the sure that the centres are near

evidence in Balaji case

one-stop centres will be comple- government health facilities,”
mented by smaller centres at the added the official. The creation
block and neighbourhood levels. of the neighbourhood centres
They are expected to reduce the will be need-based with one cen-
distance travelled by the persons tre for 60-70 persons with E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai ‘CAN MED REPORT BE FILED
with disabilities (PwD). As of disabilities. WITH POLL PAPERS?’
now, they have to visit the respec- There are three components THE enforcement directorate on
Chennai: The first bench of Madras High
tive district headquarters to avail under the $162 million RIGHTS Thursday denied the charges of
Court sought the ECI to file an
various services. project that will be implemented former minister V Senthil Balaji explanation whether the poll candidates
The move aims to change the in phases — strengthening state’s that the agency had tampered could be asked to file their medical
services from centre-based ap- capability through policy deci- with the evidence, saying all such report along with the nomination
proach to family/community- sions and creating an informa- evidences were obtained from papers. The explanation was sought on
based to ensure all persons with tion technology system, rehabili- the state police. a petition seeking a direction to the ECI
disabilities get the required tation through community “There is no tampering of any to make it mandatory for filing medical
help easily. According to and family-based services digital evidence by ED as the pen report along with the affidavit on assets
the officials, the centres under which the OSCs drive was seized by the Central and criminal cases of the candidates.
will have nine experts fall and third, commis- Crime Branch of the state gov-
including a psycholo- sion studies to assess ernment. Forensic test was car- of posts were identified and rate
gist, physiotherapist, and provide skill train- PICTURE IN CONTRAST ried out by the state. The digital was fixed for each post and mon-
speech audiologist, occu- ing for the PwD. We have evidence was filed in the court by ey collected under his directions.
pational therapist and spe- also completed creating a For the men riding the cycle rickshaws, it is livelihood, while it’s fun for the foreign tourists. the state agency. ED got certified The total number of posts was
cial educator apart from a case social enrolment registry of PwD A scene from the streets of Madurai on Thursday | KK SUNDAR copies from the court,” Addition- 2,916 and the total collection was
manager who will be a social in two zones each in Chennai, al Solicitor General (ASG) `67.75 crore.
work professional. Tiruchy, Tenkasi, Cuddalore, and AR L Sundaresan told Following the submis-
“The qualified professionals at
OSCs will also cover welfare ac-
tivities like receiving applica-
Dharmapuri. This will be linked
to the case management tool that
is managed by the OSC staff. We
IIT-M prof elected to US engg academy the court.
The submission was
made before Justice N
sion of the ASG, the judge
adjourned the matter to
Monday for senior coun-
tions for the schemes from all the will track the delivery of the Anand Venkatesh dur- sel C Aryama Sundaram
departments and ensure that services to disabled persons E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai vides engineering leadership. It of technology, making major ad- ing the hearing of the to advance his reply to the
they reach the deserved. They throughout their lives, said has more than 2,000 peer-elected vancements in traditional fields bail plea filed by Senthil ED’s submissions.
will also assess the persons to officials. IIT Madras faculty, Professor members and international of engineering, or developing/ Balaji. Meanwhile, the Principal Ses-
find out the need for therapeutic At present, there are no serv- Thalappil Pradeep, has become members, senior professionals in implementing innovative ap- Explaining the root of the gen- sions and Special Court for
intervention and psychosocial ice provider who will impart the 23rd member from India to be business, academia, proaches to engineer- eration of proceeds of crime, he PMLA Cases Judge S Alli reject-
counselling apart from provid- skill training exclusively for elected to the United States Na- and government who ing education.” recalled the cash-for-job scam in ed Balaji’s plea to defer the trial
ing disability certificates, unique PwD. “We will study the syllabus, tional Academy of Engineering are among the world’s “I could reach this the transport department had of money laundering case until
disability ID cards, and CM curriculum, and pedagogy in de- (NAE). most accomplished far only because of the happened when Balaji was the the CCB completes the probe into
health insurance cards,” said an tail and work on the adaptations The professor at department engineers. tremendous support transport minister. The number the predicate offence case.
official overseeing RIGHTS. needed. The sector skill council of Chemistry, IIT Madras, was Academy member- my institution and my
The centres at the block level is carrying out a study to match elected for his contributions to ship honours those nation. This fellow-
will have skeletal staff with a
special educator and psychother-
apist while the neighbourhood
the skill requirement of the
PwDs and industry sectors and
there is no in-depth study in the
cluster chemistry and the discov-
ery and implementation of af-
fordable drinking water solu-
who have made out-
standing contributions
to “engineering re-
ship once again reaf-
firms my belief in the
interdisciplinary na-
HC stays judge’s order on
centres will have community fa-
cilitators. They will train the par-
ents and family members of
area at present. After the studies,
we will implement pilot schemes
under the project. This will focus
tions and will be formally
inducted during the NAE’s an-
nual meeting on September 29,
search, practice, or ed-
ucation, including,
Thalappil Pradeep ture of science,” said
Pradeep. He works on
where appropriate, significant aspects of materials and has won
revision of guideline value
PWDs with the basic therapy. on how we can productively in- said a statement. contributions to the engineering many recognitions including the E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai gan, who set aside the March
The department will also imple- clude PwDs in economic reha- Founded in 1964, the NAE is an literature” and to “the pioneer- Padma Shri and the Shanti 30, 2023 circular issued by the
ment rehabilitation facilities bilitation,” the official added. independent institution that pro- ing of new and developing fields Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. A division bench of the Madras Inspector General (IG) of Reg-
High Court has stayed a single istration, after finding that the
judge’s order setting aside the government has not followed

Govt schools yet to get second instalment of maintenance grant revision of guideline values of
properties.
The bench consisting of Jus-
tices SM Subramaniam and K
the statutory provisions on re-
vision of guideline values of
properties in revising the
guideline values.
S U B A S H I N I V I J AYA K U M A R to be desired. two instalments. students. These funds are used to school,” said the headmaster of a Rajasekar granted the interim Pointing out that the statu-
@ Chennai Sources said the late release of There are three major conduct maintenance activities school in the city. stay on an appeal filed by the tory provisions were followed
funds will put pressure on the au- funds: composite in the schools. “Our school R Srinivasan, state legal secre- state government. while revising the guideline
WITH just two months remaining thorities to spend them hastily grant, reimburse- has 35 classrooms and four tary of the Tamil Nadu Higher Ordering notice to the re- values in 2017 based on the sub-
in this academic year, the inte- without proper planning. ment of special laboratories and a student Secondary Headmasters’ Associa- spondents, including the Con- committee’s report, the judge
grated education department is Under the Samagra Shiksha fees by the gov- strength of more than tion suggested the department federation of Real Estate De- said procedures including ob-
yet to release the second instal- scheme, the schools are given ernment, and 1,000. We get around `2 should release the first instal- velopers Association of India taining the report of the sub-
ment of the composite mainte- composite maintenance grants the Parent lakh for maintenance ment during summer holidays (CREDAI), to file reply to the committee or experts, fixing
nance grant worth `65 crore for ranging from `10,000 to `1 lakh Teacher As- from all three funds and the second instalment in Sep- appeal, the bench adjourned the value by the evaluation
government schools across the depending on the student sociation which is not enough con- tember. “This way, we can carry the matter by four weeks. committee and calling for ob-
state even as the condition of strength. The funds, previously fees collect- sidering the upkeep re- out important work from the start The appeal was filed against jections from the public were
classrooms and toilets leave a lot released in one go, is now given as ed from the quired for such a large of the academic year,” he added. the order of Justice P Velmuru- not followed.

ARIES
(Mar 21 - Apr. 20)
If you’re
P E T E R V I DA L handling
16th February: Today’s key sign is Aquarius. complex
emotional situations,
I expect many of you have heard that old please be practical, flexible
song, ‘This is the Dawning of the Age of and prepared to alter
long-standing
Aquarius’. If you haven’t, it’s all about arrangements where
the coming of a new age of peace and necessary. Partners will
prosperity. It’s a nice thought. Perhaps eventually come to
appreciate your wisdom
today really will bring its share of good and maturity, with
news about the future. I hope so! welcome results all round.
TAURUS
(Apr. 21 - May 21)
You are
reluctant to
break the habits
of a lifetime, but a
charming relationship
between Venus and Jupiter
suggests that pleasing and
harmonious conditions will
greet those who have done
what must be done.
Strangely, freedom
sometimes comes when
you do what you have to.
GEMINI
(May 22 - June 21)
Ambitious
Geminians are
now well into a
phase which emphasises
the role of personal
contacts. This means, as
the old cliché runs, that
who you know is at least
as important as what you
know, if not more so. Still,
if there are people who are
prepared to help you,
you’re fortunate indeed.
CANCER
(June 22 - July 23)
You have every
right to be
hopeful. Wise
and intelligent person that
you are, you should be the
one to offer an olive
branch and hold out the
hand of friendship. Your
financial questions should
now have been answered,
so if you still don’t have
the relevant information,
get on with it!
LEO VIRGO LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES
(July 24 - Aug. 23) (Aug. 24 - Sept. 23) (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23) (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) (Nov. 23 - Dec. 22) (Dec. 23 - Jan. 20) (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) (Feb. 20 - Mar 20)
Financial Venus’ motion Please avoid all You must be As the days There’s a lot on An unexpected You are now
matters are today may not forms of prepared to pass, you may your mind, turn of events coming under
about to grab have intrigue and involve collea- begin to plan there’s no doubt may prompt Venus’ glorious
the headlines, not in any immediate personal unconventional behaviour. gues and associates in your financial future. Clean about that. It looks as if you to alter plans or rays, surely a sign that
dramatic sense, just in your plans. Within an up your act - this doesn’t even change the whole
consequences. However, This is a moment to keep someone is trying hard to your social life and
the form of routine
within the week you your head below the
overall context of mean spending less, but
pressurise you into making
direction of your life. The
emotional morale are
affairs that must be goodwill and co- better - and paying more important consideration
dealt with now before should become aware of parapet and stay away operation you should attention to the facts. It’s an early decision. However, from your point of view about to improve. You may
they get any worse. Keep new feelings, especially of from risky situations. now be able to make the all a question of finding a you may smile and ignore is to take the initiative allow more time for
a romantic nature. You Peace and quiet are of the their protestations. You pleasure, gratification and
up to date with all bills
will learn to appreciate essence, for you need to
most of your emotional lifestyle which suits you.
will be on top in all
rather than wake up
self-indulgence, for all
and loans, before you intensity, determination Ultimately, though, it is and discover that fate
suddenly find that you’ve qualities in loved ones recharge your batteries and unparalleled your emotional welfare discussions, negotiations has taken your those activities which
let someone down. that once annoyed you. and restore your morale. leadership qualities. which counts. and meetings. decisions for you. make life worth living.

CROSS WORD JUMBLE UNSCRAMBLE THESE JUMBLES, ONE LETTER TO

EACH SQUARE, TO FORM FOUR ORDINARY WORDS.
BY DAVID L. HOYT
ACROSS DOWN
AND JEFF KNUREK
1 Say it’s complete (5) 1 One needs pluck to play it (7)
4 Talk about a point raised 2 One with a serious part
by a nurseryman (7) in reading at random (9)
8 One Italian girl’s name (3) 3 Travel round the German
9 A road not made for capital in the saddle (5)
racing? (4,5) 4 He stole away from the store (6)
10 A feature of singular 5 Desert nation’s competition (3,4)
weather (7)
Solutions to Yesterday’s puzzle

11 A North European
returned in dismay (5)
13 Show a di�erent Venice (6)
15 Goods thrown out from
planes in the morning (6)
18 Dance it takes two
to do, they say (5)
19 I lament about disorder (7)
21 A good one gets a
lot of backing (9)
23 Jets may use this fuel (3)
SU DO KU HARD 24 Tabby is prepared to look
after another’s young (4-3)
TEST YOUR NUMBER 25 Strange direction
CRUNCHING SKILL WITH OUR leading to the lake (5)
UNIQUE PUZZLE YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS
Across: 1 False tooth, 8 Not in,
� Fill in the grid with digits in such a manner 9 Antonio, 10 Genuine, 11 Alarm, 12 Tea bag,
that every row, every column and every 3X3 box
14 Tehran, 17 Rhoda, 19 Amnesia,
accommodates the digits 1 to 9, without repeating any. 21 Setting, 22 Motet, 23 Conversion.
6 Meadow in which
cattle are fattened (3)
7 Rustic couple get left behind (5)
12 He’s transported by
Dad’s cooked greens (9)
14 Linen chest that’s new.
Look inside (7)
16 Miss tea when involved
in painting (7)
17 One is supposed to look
better for eating it (6)
18 Pulse found in the
cooking of broth (5)
20 Be untruthful about for
example being loyal (5)
22 It can swell a father’s pride (3)
Down: 2 Antenna, 3 Sinai, 4 Tracer,
5 Outrage, 6 Henna, 7 Commandant,
Yesterday’s
8 Nightdress, 13 Arabian, 15 Risotto,
16 Bangle, 18 Optic, 20 Names.
 The PM 2.5 level recorded at Alandur NEWS UPDATE FROM TN

147 µg|m3 on Thursday. Nitrogen dioxide level

was at 46 µg/m3 against the
prescribed standard of 80 µg/m3
Twitter @ xpresstn
‘TNIE Tamilnadu’ @ xpresstn

03 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024

� � newindianexpress com

Commercial zones make Chennai-B’luru double 7th Youth

Health Mela
most of Namakku Naame decker service begins begins in city
Local projects worth over `10 crore implemented in five city zones
with six non-AC coaches EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Chennai

The langurs were recently brought from
Kanpur zoo in Uttar Pradesh | EXPRESS
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE will now have eight AC coach- AROUND 6,500 shops across
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE meanwhile, undertaken 208 @ Chennai es, while the composition of the state have been sealed in
BUILDING BLOCKS
@ Chennai projects worth `36.5 crore. the remaining coaches, includ- the last three months for sell-
No. of Total work Among these projects, ten- THE Chennai-Bengaluru Dou- ing the five ‘second sitting non- ing banned tobacco products,
THE industrial and commer- ders have been floated for 32 ble Decker Express commenced AC reserved’ coaches, will re- including gutkha, said health
projects value
cial zones in the city have evi- projects and administrative its service with revised coach m a i n u n c h a n g e d . T h e minister Ma Subramanian on

Two Hanuman dently made the most use of the Central zones 265 `42.8 cr sanction is awaited for 43 composition on Thursday, Bengaluru Double Decker and Thursday. Addressing the press
Namakku Naame scheme, un- Northern zones 208 `36.5 cr projects. The works, apart from drawing hundreds of passen- Coimbatore UDAY express, at the 7th Youth Health Mela

langurs escape
der which residents can take up beautification projects, include gers to the new non- which hitherto oper- jointly organised by the Adyar
local projects by contributing Southern zones 120 `25 cr the renovation of school and AC second-class coach- ated with separate Cancer Institute, and health
33% of the estimated work val- hospital buildings, the intro- es and one general rakes, will now under- and education departments,

from Vandalur ue while the corporation would

bear the rest.
initiatives,” said a corporation
official.
duction of smart classrooms in
corporation schools and resto-
class coach.
After revision of the The
non-AC
addition
coaches
of
go interchanging of
their rakes.
among others, Subramanian
said to detect cancer at an early

zoo enclosure
S V K R I S H N A C H A I TA N YA @ Chennai
TWO male Hanuman langurs
have escaped from Vandalur
zoo enclosure allegedly due to
the animal keeper’s negligence
on Wednesday.
The langurs were recently
brought from Kanpur zoo in Ut-
tar Pradesh as part of an ani-
mal exchange programme.
Zoo director Srinivas R Red-
dy told TNIE, “According to the
usual protocol, the animals will
be moved and locked in another
enclosure before entering for
cleaning. Here, the keeper en-
tered the enclosure without
moving the langurs, giving the
A review of the works taken
up in each zone two years after
the scheme’s launch, would re-
veal that Tiruvottiyur, Manali,
Ambattur, Teynampet and Ad-
yar have each handled projects
amounting to around `10 crore
or more. As for the number of
projects too, Tiruvottiyur, Am-
battur and Teynampet top the
list.
The project expenses are
borne through CSR initiatives
of large concerns, small or me-
dium businesses, residents’
welfare associations or individ-
uals. “When a zone has several
commercial establishments, it
is easier for residents associa-
tions to receive sponsors or for
the companies to themselves
undertake projects under CSR
On the flip side, Madhavar- ration of ponds. Some projects train’s configuration, Sources attribute stage, the health department
will significantly
am, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Vala- also concern the relaying of previously consisting benefit
this decision to the re- screened a total of 4.5 lakh peo-
saravakkam and Perungudi roads and installation of centre of 10 AC double-deck- commuters from location of the prima- ple in Tirupattur, Ranipet, Kan-
zones have each undertaken medians and footpaths. er coaches, it now Chennai, Katpadi, ry maintenance of niyakumari and Erode dis-
projects worth only around comprises eight AC and Ambur. Now, a Coimbatore-Bengalu- tricts, where tanneries and
`2 crore in the past two double-decker coach- section of ru UDAY express rake dying units are rampant.
years. In a region- es, five non-AC coach- Brindavan from Bengaluru to “A few cases of cervical,
wise comparison, es, and one general Express’ Chennai. The mainte- breast and oral cancers were de-
the central zones class coach. The dou- passengers will nance slot in Bengalu- tected. The government is tak-
likely shift to the
of the city to- ble decker service of- ru may have been al- ing serious efforts for cancer
Double Decker
gether ac- fers a faster journey, located to a Vande prevention. PET scan facilities
commodate covering the entire S Vinoth Raj, Bharat Express. have been provide to five hospi-
as many as ro u t e w i t h i n f ive a rail enthusiast S Vinoth Raj of Kat- tals,” he added. The 7th Youth
265 projects hours and 10 minutes, padi, a rail enthusiast, Health Mela was organised to
worth `42.8 compared to the other remarked that the create awareness among youth
crore, while superfast trains that typically Brindavan Express has been about cancers caused by tobac-
the southern take 6 hours and 15 minutes for running with overcrowded co products. Cultural events,
zones lag be- the same distance. coaches throughout the year workshops and symposiums
hind with 120 Similarly, the Coimbatore- and they have been demanding will be part of three-day event.
projects wor th Bengaluru UDAY, previously a new intercity train between Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi,
around `25 crore. The operating with seven AC dou- Bengaluru and Chennai during Minister for School Education
norther n zones have, ble-decker chair car coaches, day hours. and others participated.

Irked over police complaint, gang

animals an opportunity to es-
cape.” Zoo assistant director P EXPRESS READ
Manikanda Prabhu said the

ransacks biryani joint, steals `27K

langurs were spotted by the
tracking teams. While one was
photographed near Otteri lake
inside the zoo premises, the
other one crossed the Vandalur-
Kelambakkam Road and was
spotted near the zoo rescue cen-
tre. “We will try to lure them
into animal trap cages on Fri-
day,” he added.
During the recent exchange
programme with Kanpur zoo,
the Arignar Anna Zoo received
a pair of Egyptian vultures,
three Himalayan Griffon, and
five Mottled Wood Owl. Eight
Hanuman Langurs were also
received.
Migrant worker dies after portion of Woman held for submitting fake
sunshade slab collapses at Vadapalani certificates at TN medical council
Chennai: A 23-year-old migrant worker died at a Chennai: A 40-year-old woman has been arrested
private hospital on Wednesday a few hours after a for allegedly submitting fake medical degree EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Minister M K Stalin’s house. damaged my shop,” he added.
portion of a sunshade slab fell on him at Vadapalani. certificates at the Tamil Nadu Medical Council @ Chennai He mentioned in the video Police sources said the gang
The deceased was identified as Sameem Sheik of office in Arumbakkam. Inquiries revealed that that ‘Bottle’ Mani from Velach- ransacked the shop on Wednes-
West Bengal. He was employed for renovation work the woman did not study medicine, but tried to A gang of men ransacked a bir- ery, an autorickshaw driver day night.
at a house in Vadapalani for the past three months. get registered with the council using these fake yani joint on TTK Road in Al- who has several police cases “They attacked the staff and
“On Wednesday, as Sameem was working, a portion certificates. After an inquiry, she was remanded warpet and stole `27,000 cash pending against him, had been threatened them against alert-
of the sunshade slab fell on him. He suffered severe in judicial custody on Thursday. Arumbakkam from the restaurant on Wednes- demanding bribe from him for ing the police. They also threat-
injuries to his chest, hands and legs. The other police identified the woman as Ayesha Tanveer day night. The restaurant’s the past four months. ened to kill them all if they did
workers rushed him to a private hospital nearby, of Telangana. “Ayesha came to the office in owner, Sathish, recorded a vid- “The rowdy and his gang come not pay bribes every week. Be-
where he breathed his last a few hours later,” Arumbakkam on Wednesday and submitted her eo of the incident and shared it here and eat food for free. I fore leaving, they allegedly
Vadapalani police said. Upon information, the police certificates. When the registrar there checked on social media. lodged a complaint regarding stole `27,000 from the joint. A
recovered his body and sent it for postmortem. “We the documents, he found them to be fake. The Sathish, a gym trainer, runs this with Teynampet police on search has been launched for
have booked the house owner, Sriram, and contractor woman was arrested and later, she confessed to the biryani joint just a few hun- Sunday last. Angered over me the suspects,” they further
Abhishek. Further inquiry is on,” police said. ENS fabricating certificates,” police said. ENS dred metres away from Chief approaching the police, they said.

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 EC TERM The Assembly has adopted a bill, Tamil Nadu panchayat (third amendment)
Act, 2024 to increase the term of the office of state election commissioner for
INCREASED six years from the current two years or till the age of 65. It was moved by
minister I Periyasamy and unanimously adopted by voice vote

04 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024

� �

CM slams guv, says action in House TN LONGED FOR WATER AS

extension of his political activity WRD STARVED FOR FUNDS
S G U R U V A N M I K A N AT H A N
‘Govt will consider
`48 lakh 141 tmcft
We won’t be cowed down by Ravi’s childish acts, says chief minister @ Chennai FACT FILE

F
demands of the OR decades now, Tamil
Nadu’s surplus water sanctioned to prepare would be available for
visually impaired’ has been allowed to flow
into the sea due to lack of
DPR increasing Poondi diversion to southern basins
reservoir capacity from through Godavari - Krishna -
storage arrangements Preliminary 3.231 to 5.231 tmcft Pennar - Palar - Cauvery link
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai and when the monsoon fails, report of

Chief Minister MK Stalin addressing the Assembly on Thursday | EXPRESS
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai
CHIEF Minister MK Stalin on
Thursday said that by refusing
to read the customary address
prepared by the state cabinet
on February 12, Governor RN
Ravi behaved in a manner like
using the Assembly to extend
his political activities. Taking
pride in leading a 75-year-old
political party which rose
above numerous obstacles in
the past, Stalin said, “We have
been facing fascism and autoc-
racy at the national level and
will not be cowed down by such
childish acts (of the
governor).”
Stalin levelled these charges
while replying to the discus-
sion on the motion that ex-
pressed the House’s agony over
the governor’s decision to read
`9,176 cr
the state finds itself in a fix. `11,250-cr
MINISTER of Social Welfare After the DMK assumed of-
Nadanthai
Geetha Jeevan on Thursday said fice in 2021, it pledged to build
the DMK government is com- 1,000 check-dams across the
Vaazhi
Cauvery FOR CAUVERY (METTUR DAM) –
mitted to ensuring the welfare state over a span of 10 years.
of the visually impaired, and all However, progress has been Project SARABANGA - THIRUMANIMUTHAR
the demands of those staging slow, with fewer than 50 submitted - AYYAR LINK PROJECT
protests will be considered. Re- check-dams completed in the to Jal Shakti
plying to concerns raised by op- past three years. Ministry on
position leader Edappadi K Pal- Insufficient desilting in Oct 21, 2019
only the first page by including for the gubernatorial post,” aniswami, she said, “Following major reservoirs exacerbates
some phrases on his own in the Stalin asked. a 2012 Supreme Court verdict, water storage concerns, pri-
customary address. Giving a long list of achieve- teachers are appointed only marily due to financial con-
“The governor is bound to ments of his government in based on competitive exam re- straints. Among the south-
read the text in the customary the past 33 months, Stalin said, sults. However, our government er n states, Kar nataka
address prepared by the cabi- “There is another achievement is committed to ensuring their allocated `21,019 crore to its projects. So, better communi- coming budget for 2024–25.
net as it is. But he has that could be consid- welfare. A total of 22,300 visually water resources department, cation and transparency from Then it will become a reve-
acted in a manner ered as the supreme challenged students are benefit- Andhra Pradesh `11,043 t h e g o v e r n m e n t i s nue model benefitting reser-
that made us believe achievement of ours ing from increased educational crore, and Telangana `16,792 necessary.” voirs and enhancing water
as if he used this au- — on seeing Tamil assistance provided by the gov- crore in 2023–24. However, Ajeethan also added, “The storage.”
gust House to extend Nadu growing, ene- ernment. There has been a con- Tamil Nadu’s allocation stood state government has been The official also said that
his political activi- mies of our race are sistent rise in fund allocations at only `7,500 crore. focusing on water manage- state government had already
ties. This is not an in- getting angry and feel- for the physically challenged There is a collective plea to ment, but legislators are not crossed its borrowing limits
sult to us (the ruling ASSEMBLY ing jealous. This is the welfare department — from the state government for in- interested in improving wa- and none of the banks came
party) but to the cen- biggest achievement `667 crore in 2019-2020 to `1,106 creased funding to the water ter catchment areas or rain- forward to lend a helping
tury-old Assembly TIME of this Dravidian crore in 2023-24.” resources department to ad- water harvesting. It is also hand.
and crores of people model gover nment. “Fund allocation for the phys- dress pressing issues. essential to audit major res- “Unless the state govern-
of Tamil Nadu. The Those who are jealous ically challenged person welfare Speaking to TNIE , G. ervoirs frequently, and the ment allocates at least `10,000
governor has acted in a man- of this government show their board has risen and `5.5 crore Ajeethan, state technical sec- details, including storage lev- crore, it is impossible to exe-
ner that went against the Con- anger in different ways. The has been spent over the last 33 retary of the Consortium of el, should be placed before cute even irrigation projects,”
stitution. Was it not an act that governor, who is holding a con- months. A total of 1,000 visually Indian Farmers Association, the public regularly. This will the official added.
maligned the glory of democ- stitutional post, is no exception challenged students have re- said, “Projects help farmers with KV Elankeeran, president
racy and violated the Constitu- to this. But we cannot be ceived devices worth `14,000,” like river linking, t i m e l y of the Federation of Cauvery
tion upon which he took oath silent.” she said. modernisation of cultivation.” Delta Farmers Association,
old canals, desilt- On the issue of also urged the state govern-

DMK unable to get money from Centre: Edappadi

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai
THE DMK government is ‘in-
competent’ in securing funds
from the union government, AI-
ADMK general secretary Edap-
padi K Palaniswami told report-
ers on Thursday.
Lashing out at Health Minis-
ter Ma Subramanian who said
that the previous AIADMK gov-
ernment had failed to get per-
mission from the Centre to open
PHCs and UPHCs, Palaniswami
said, “ G.Os were issued in 2017
and 2018 for setting up 12 PHCs
and 30 PHCs respectively. De-
spite my offering the clarifica-
tion, the health minister chose to
give false information.”
On Chief Minister MK Stalin’s
reply to the motion of thanks to
the governor’s address, Palan-
iswami said, “He did not say any-
thing on my demand for a white
paper about establishing 52 com-
mittees, the outcome of global
investors’ meet and the expendi-
PIC: P JAWAHAR
ture made by the government to
provide relief to people affected
by Cyclone Michaung and heavy
rain in the southern districts.”
“The DMK made a total of 520
poll promises, out of which only
10% has been fulfilled. The gov-
ernment has failed to bring con-
struction materials under the
essentials list, which is one of
the important promises made,”
he added
Criticising the government for
its ‘inability’ in securing funds
from the Centre, Palaniswami
said AIADMK had stalled Parlia-
ment over Cauvery issue when it
had 37 MPs in the Lok Sabha.
ing work in major s a n d s c a r c i t y, ment to construct more
reservoirs, includ- farmers expressed check-dams from the Upper
ing Mettur, and discontent with Anicut across the Kollidam
increasing water gover nment-run at Mukkombu to the down-
storage facilities WAT ER quarries, citing stream at Anaikarai in
in all dams have unaffordable pric- Thanjavur to enhance water
been pending for years. As a es and political interference. storage in delta districts.
result, farmers are fighting This is the right time to mod- “The maintenance of the
with the Karnataka govern- ernise sand quarries with lakes is very poor. For exam-
ment to release water to save technical expertise from the ple, the Veeranam’s storage is
their perennial crops every likes of IIT to ensure trans- 1.46 tmcft. Even during the
year. Most of the farmers are parency and fair pricing. monsoon, storing above 1 tm-
not aware of the union gov- A senior official told TNIE, cft is not possible due to a
ernment’s Accelerated Irri- “We submitted a proposal to lack of maintenance. There-
gation Benefit Programme desilt Mettur reservoir, fore, it is necessary to invest
(AIBP), which provides fi- Vaigai, and a few major more money in saving exist-
nancial assistance to the state waterbodies six months ago. ing waterbodies and creating
government to ensure early We expect that the fund allo- additional storage facilities,”
completion of irrigation cation will be made in the up- he said.

INFO ON PANELS
NEED NOT BE MADE
CM invites EPS for joint struggle to get central funding for TN COMPENSATION

`17 crore for

PUBLIC: LAW MIN
Chennai: The main purpose
of forming 52 panels is to
enhance performance of
the state administration
and there is no necessity to
make their reports public,
Law Minister S Regupathy
said on Thursday. He was
responding to opposition
leader Edappadi K
Palaniswami’s demand in
the Assembly seeking a
white paper on these
panels. Regupathy added
that the report of AK Rajan
committee, which was
tasked with abolishing
NEET, is already on public
domain. ENS
EXPRESS READ
T M U R U G A N A N D H A M @ Chennai
IN what could be perceived as a
strategic invitation ahead of
the Lok Sabha elections, Chief
Minister and DMK president
MK Stalin on Thursday request-
ed AIADMK general secretary
Edappadi K Palaniswami to
join hands with the government
in demanding funds for state
projects like metro rail from the
BJP-led union government. Sta-
lin made this request to Palan-
iswami while replying to the
motion of thanks to the gover-
nor’s address in the Assembly.
Referring to the question
raised by Palaniswami about
the metro rail project work, Sta-
lin said, “I am happy that those
who have opposed the metro
rail project strongly and sup-
ported mono rail project have
not tur ned to support the
former. Despite several remind-
ers, the Government of India
has not extended funds for
the second phase so far.
As such, the state gov-
ernment has been pro-
viding funds for the
work.”
Having said that, the
chief minister added, “ It
is consoling to note that the
Leader of the Opposition, who
was silent (on this issue) when
he was in alliance with the BJP,
has now started speaking about
this. Even now, it is not too late.
I request him to join hands with
Loco pilots on
us in raising his voice demand-
ing funds from the union
government.”
However, Palaniswami did
not respond to this. Later, when
reporters asked about the CM’s
remarks outside the House,
Palaniswami told report-
ers: “Now the CM has
accepted that we are op-
posing the BJP. He has
admitted that
fact.”Stalin’s request
has triggered a debate
since the DMK has been de-
scribing the AIADMK snapping
ties with the BJP as a drama.
Political analyst Tharasu
Shyam said, “This shows one
thing — the ruling DMK, for the
first time, recognised that the
Video of Tenkasi cop hitting drunk
AIADMK has indeed snapped
ties with the BJP. Only because
of this, Stalin has requested
Palaniswami to join hands with
him and demand funds for the
state schemes.”
Shyam pointed out that al-
ready, on the recommendation
of Stalin, the speaker has recog-
nised RB Udhayakumar as the
deputy leader of the opposition
and allotted a seat for O Pan-
neerselvam in the second row.
Senior journalist T Sigamani
is of the view that by making
this request to the AIADMK
The CM has made a political move. If Palaniswami fails to raise his
voice against the union government on state issues including
disbursal of funds in the coming days, he will face criticism
Senior journalist
leader, the chief minister has
made a political move. “The
DMK is getting most of the anti-
BJP votes in the hustings and
now, the AIADMK is trying to
tap that in the Lok Sabha elec-
tions. At this juncture, Stalin
has requested Palaniswami to
raise his voice firmly against
the BJP. If Palaniswami fails to
raise his voice against the un-
ion government on statue is-
sues including disbursal of
funds in the coming days, he
will face criticism,” Sigamani
added.
delta farmers
who lost
kuruvai paddy
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Thanjavur
THE state has issued orders to
pay `16.85 crore as relief to 22,533
farmers from the Cauvery delta
who lost kuruvai due to deficit
rainfall during the southwest
monsoon and insufficient re-
lease of water from Mettur dam.
The funds are being released
from the State Disaster Response
Fund (SDRF) as per a G.O. issued
on February 13.
According to enumeration
taken up in the four delta dis-

fast, seek cut in

tricts of Nagapattinam, Mayi-

man goes viral, SP orders inquiry

laduthurai, Tiruvarur and
Thanjavur, the yield loss was

working hours more than 33% in around 12,484

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai
LOCO pilots have staged a sit-in
hunger strike presenting a se-
ries of demands before South-
ern Railway which includes re-
duction in working hours and
Govt seal at beach sand mineral godown damaged weekly off.
The loco pilots, represented
Thoothukudi : Thattarmadam police has registered an FIR to trace the by the All India Loco Running
miscreants who broke government seals of a beach sand mineral Staff Association, urged a re-
godown in Arasoor-2 village. On receiving information about the break- view of duty hours, daily rest,
in at the beach sand mineral godown owned by BMC minerals on the weekly rest, and the limit for
Idaichivilai to VV College Road, officials inspected the premises on continuous night duty for train
Wednesday. The godown, stocked with four tonnes of minerals, was drivers. They also demanded the
sealed by the Satyabrata Sahu panel in 2018 following HC orders. In the scrapping of old pension
wake of repeated complaints of mineral theft, the VAO has been scheme. A number of loco pilots
pressed to inspect the premises every week since November 2021. ENS staged hunger strikes sitting in
front of the crew booking office
at MMC complex, Tambaram,
750 special buses to tackle weekend rush and other places on Thursday.
V Balachandran, central or-
Chennai: To clear the rush ahead of the weekend, the transport ganising secretary of AILRSA,
department will deploy 750 special buses from KCBT, CMBT and said, “The per-day working
Bengaluru to different parts of the state. Special buses from KCBT will hours should be reduced to 10
run to Tirvannamalai, Tiruchy, Kumbakonam, Madurai, Tirunelveli, from 12-14 hours. Hundreds of
Nagercoil, Kanniyakumari, Thoothukudi, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and train drivers have been working
Tiruppur. Special buses from CMBT will be directed towards without weekly off. The rota-
Nagapattinam, Velankanni, Hosur, and Bengaluru. Additionally, 200 tional off for every 40 hours has
buses will operate from Bengaluru. A total of 9,679 people have booked to be implemented.”
tickets for Friday, 5,468 for Saturday, and 8,481 for Sunday. ENS
T H I N A K A R A N R A J A M A N I @ Tenkasi
AFTER the video of a Tenkasi
police personnel attacking a
youth, who was allegedly drunk
on Wednesday night went viral,
SP TP Suresh Kumar ordered
the DSP to initiate an inquiry.
Speaking to TNIE, the youth,
J Anston, claimed, “My friends
Vishnu and Mohammed Kasim
and I were drunk and searching
for food at the new bus stand
around 11.15 pm on Wednesday.
We were stopped by the police,
who inquired about what we
were doing. After finding out
that we were drunk, they seized
our vehicle. When Vishnu asked
for the vehicle, he was assaulted
and taken to Tenkasi police sta-
tion. I requested the police to re-
lease my vehicle. But, the per-
sonnel, whom I can identify,
assaulted me. One person pushed
me down and kicked me on my
back and chest, causing severe
internal injuries. They sent me
to the Tenkasi district headquar-
ters hospital. I was treated as an
outpatient and denied admission
The videograb of the incident was widely shared
on Thursday; (Inset) The injured man receiving
treatment at Tenkasi district headquarters
hospital | EXPRESS
on request of police personnel.” demanded action against the
Vishnu alleged that the police police.
slapped him at the station, and When contacted, the SP said
took `2,000 from him before let- that he has initiated an inquiry,
ting them go. Anston was admit- but a complaint is yet to be filed.
ted at GHQH on Thursday after- “Anston’s associates are named
noon. VCK district secretary in some cases. The video was in-
Panpozhi Selvam and union sec- tentionally shot. But, assault, is
retary Kamal Thuraiarasu have not acceptable,” he said.
hectares. Following this the gov-
ernment issued orders to release
`16.85 crore as relief. The farm-
ers will get `13,500
per hectare as
relief.
Of the four
districts, Na-
gapattinam
was affected the
worst as paddy
cultivated over 12,125 hec-
tares by 21,816 farmers was lost.
Farmers in the district will get a
total of `16.73 crore as relief. A
total of 623 farmers in Tiruvarur
will get a total of `38.47 lakh for
paddy loss over 285 hectares,
where the yield loss was more
than 33%. In Thanjavur district,
77 farmers will get a total of `7.52
lakh, while in Mayiladuthurai
district, 17 farmers will get a to-
tal of `2.38 lakh as relief, the gov-
ernment order stated. It may be
noted that following demands by
farmers whose crop was dam-
aged owing to lack of Cauvery
water release by Karnataka,
Chief Minister MK Stalin had on
October 5, 2023, announced a
compensation of `13,500 per
hectare.
 RAJADHANI AP High Court on Thursday issued an interim stay
on the screening of ‘Rajadhani Files’ movie. YSRC
FILES general secretary Appi Reddy filed a plea stating
that film’s sole objective was to defame CM Jagan

05 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024

� �

KL not happy over talks with Six held for hurling stones at cops in Cuddalore
centre about borrowing limit
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE the same village on February Subsequently, the body was re- some individuals hurled stones
@ Cuddalore 13 night. Later, the inebriated turned to the family for final at the police, resulting in inju-
youngsters were released with rites. However, tension gripped ries to special sub-inspector
SIX individuals, including a a warning. However, later that the village as relatives and oth- Ravi.
minor, were arrested in a case night, Anburaj was found dead er residents protested alleging Additional police force ar-
Centre said vital matters can’t be discussed due to SC case: Minister of stone pelting at police per- along P Ponnerin Road with in- foul play in Anburaj’s death. rived to disperse the protestors
sonnel, which resulted in inju- juries on his face and head. R Mohan, deputy superin- and a case was registered un-
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ T’Puram whether the Centre would ef- ries to a special sub-inspector. Upon information, Pennad- tendent of police (Thittakudi der seven sections of the Indian
fect any change in its policies The altercation occur red am police ar- sub-division) ad- Penal Code. Subsequently, six
THE meeting between the state due to the meeting. amidst protests sparked by the rived at the Briefly detained dressed the agi- individuals, including a 17-
government delegation and the The secretary-level meeting suspicious death of a youth scene and tated crowd, af- year-old, were arrested.
Union government on the is- to be held on Friday will discuss near Thittakudi. transfer red On the day of B Anburaj’s death, f i r m i n g t h a t In another development, R
sues raised by Kerala regarding certain disputes regarding the According to official sources, the body to he and three others were detained Anburaj’s death Veeramani (42) of Soundra-
the restrictions on borrowing accounts and calculation of B Anburaj (19) of Avinangudi Thittakudi by Pennadam police while the was due to an chozhapuram near Pennadam
limit failed to resolve the im- funds based on the GSDP, he and three others were detained Government youngsters were en route to a accident and as- was arrested on Thursday for
passe. Finance Minister K N added. by Pennadam police near the Hospital for funeral ceremony in an inebriated sured to nab the his suspected involvement in
Balagopal, who led the state del- station while they were en post-mortem state. They were soon released culprits soon. the accident which led to the
egation, said the discussion did
Price of essential items hiked route to a funeral ceremony in examination. with a warning, said police Meanwhile, death of Anburaj.
not yield the desired result. In a major policy shift that
The meeting was held as per could make life miserable for
the direction of the Supreme
Court, which is considering a
common people, the state gov-
ernment has decided to in- Stalin, EPS welcome SC EXPRESS READ

verdict on electoral bonds Man mauled to death by Cheyyar protesters object

petition filed by the Kerala gov-
ernment alleging Centre’s ille-
gal interference in the state’s
finances and budgeting.
Speaking to reporters after
the meeting in Delhi on Thurs-
day, Balagopal said the central
delegation refused to discuss
some key issues citing the mat-
ter was being considered by the
court.
The state delegation handed
over a memorandum to the cen-
tral team. “The meeting was
neither positive nor did it yield
any result. The only decision
taken at the meeting was to
hold a secretary-level meeting
to sort out the dispute over cer-
tain accounts,” he said.
Balagopal said the Union
government took an unfair
stand that important matters
cannot be discussed because of
the court case. He also raised
concern whether the Centre
would disrupt normal fund
transfers in future citing the
court case.
Besides Balagopal and secre-
tary-level officers of both gov-
ernments, the meeting was at-
tended by the additional
solicitor general.
Balagopal expressed disap-
pointment over the cold re-
Finance Minister K N Balagopal | EXPRESS
The meeting was neither
positive nor did it yield any
result. The only decision
taken at the meeting was
to hold a secretary-level
meeting to sort out dispute
over certain accounts
K N Balagopal
sponse of the central team to a
separate list of urgent and less-
important matters. “These mat-
ters did not require policy deci-
s i o n s bu t s o m e f e a s i bl e
proposals that would have been
sorted out in the meeting. But
they did not respond favoura-
bly,” he said.
“The Centre did not respond
positively to the issues faced by
the people of Kerala. We will
report the development to the
Supreme Court,” he said.
Balagopal said he was unaware
crease the price of thirteen es-
sential items sold through
Supplyco outlets. Now the gov-
ernment will provide a subsidy
of up to 35 % of open market
rates. Therefore the price of es-
sential items will change ac-
cording to the price fluctuations
in the market.
A decision was taken by the
state cabinet to change the fixed
rate system introduced when
the first Pinarayi Vijayan gov-
ernment came to power in 2016,
to arrest price hike.
Instead, the gover nment
brought back the subsidy rate
system that existed before 2016.
As per the system, the govern-
ment will give 35 per cent sub-
sidy to these 13 items. The gov-
ernment has also decided to
change the subsidy rate accord-
ing to market fluctuations.
In 2016, the Left government
had taken a policy decision not
to increase the price of essen-
tial items, as part of an effort to
arrest price hike. The govern-
ment fixed the rate that existed
in 2014 (26 per cent less than the
then market price) for these
items. However, considering the
huge price hike in the open
market, the cabinet gave its nod
to go for a policy change.
lion at Tirupati zoo to Velu’s SIPCOT remark
Tirupati: A 38-year-old man from Tiruvannamalai: A statement made
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai Rajasthan was mauled to death by a by Highways Minister E V Velu at the
lion at the Sri Venkateswara Assembly that around 99% farmers
Chief Minister MK Stalin, AIADMK general secretary Zoological Park in Tirupati on in Cheyyar support SIPCOT expansion
Edappadi K Palaniswami and leaders of various political Thursday. The victim, identified as has sparked uproar from the
parties have welcomed the verdict of the Supreme Court Prahlad Gujjar from Bansur protesters. The opposition group of
terming electoral bonds unconstitutional. municipality in Alwar district, jumped Melma SIPCOT issued a statement
In a post on X platform, Stalin said, “The Supreme into the enclosure of the lion at the on Thursday condemning the remark
Court has rightly held that #ElectoralBonds are uncon- Zoo. It is suspected that he was and added that they will present
stitutional. This will ensure a transparent electoral proc-
either in an inebriated state evidence at the knowledge centre to
ess and integrity of the system. This judg- or mentally disturbed. ENS counter the minister’s claim. ENS
ment has restored #democracy and
level-playing field for all political parties.
It has also ensured the common man’s
faith in the system.”
Palaniswami in an interview wel-
comed the verdict saying that the AIAD-
MK was the only party not to receive funds
in this manner.
Edappadi K Palaniswami also alleged that certain par-
ties utilised electoral bonds to get funds and suppress
parties like the AIADMK.
PMK founder S Ramadoss welcomed the verdict and
urged the Election Commission and the Supreme Court
to collaboratively take action against the cash-for-vote
culture.
VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan hailed the ver-
dict and urged the apex court to expedite the hearing on
the case related to the use of EVMs in elections. CPI state
secretary R Mutharasan also praised the verdict.
TNCC president KS Alagiri, CPM state secretary K
Balakrishnan, DK president V Veeramani, and others
SAIL OFF INTO THE SUNSET
also welcomed the verdict. Youngsters get ready for skimboarding on Vypin Beach in Kerala on Thursday | TP SOORAJ

‘TN secured second

place in contribution
to the nation’s GDP’
C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1

The chief minister presented his ‘progress record’

in the House after principal opposition leader
Edappadi K Palaniswami disputed the his claim
about fulfilling more than 95% of DMK’s poll prom-
ises. “The DMK government had fulfilled just 10%
of its poll promises,” EPS had said.
Giving a long list of his government’s achieve-
ments, the CM said TN has secured second place in
contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Prod-
uct. The state’s growth rate stands at 8.19% com-
pared to the nation’s growth rate of (7.24%). While
the inflation rate at the national level stands at
6.65%, it is 5.97% in TN, Stalin said.
The CM said TN stands first in export prepared-
ness index and export of electronic goods. “We
have brought the state to the third spot from 14th
on list of states conducive for industrial invest-
ment. Also, the state stands second
in education and tops in innovative
industries.”
He said youth, women, disabled,
and marginalised and oppressed
people have started saying that
their livelihood has been improv-
ing. I have distributed welfare as-
sistance worth `6,569.75 crore across the state
through government functions, Stalin said.
“After the union government stopped GST com-
pensation on June 30 last year, TN has been facing
a loss of `20,000 crore per year. The centre fails to
offer new schemes to states ruled by the opposition,
and the only announcement for TN on AIIMS hos-
pital, too, remains unfulfilled,” he added.
Referring to the question of Palaniswami about
the Ungal Thoguthiyil Mudhalvar Scheme, the CM
said administrative sanction has been given for 797
works at a cost of `11,132 crore in 234 Assembly
constituencies under this scheme. Of them, G.O.
has been issued for 582 and 63 works have been
completed. The rest of the work has been going on.
In the native constituency of the opposition leader,
five works have been taken up and three have been
completed, he said.

KEY SCHEMES BENEFICIARIES SO FAR

Monthly honorarium of `1,000
for women family heads
Free bus ride for women
Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam
CM’s Breakfast scheme
Jewel loan waiver
Cooperative loans waiver
`1,000 per month under the
Pudhumai Penn scheme
Naan Mudhalvan scheme
Illam Thedi Kalvi scheme
New drinking water connection
New power connections
Mudhalvarin Muhavari scheme
1.15 crore women
445 crore rides
1 crore people
16 lakh school children
13.12 lakh people
1 lakh people
4.81 lakh students
28 lakh youth in two years
24.86 lakh school children
62.40 lakh families
2 lakh farmers
19.69 lakh people
06 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024
� � THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

ODISHA MINING CORPORATION LIMITED

OMC House, Bhubaneswar-751001, Odisha
CIN: U13100OR1956SGC000313, www.omcltd.in

E-auction Notice (19.02.2024 – 155th & 156th E-auction) IRON ORE CLO & FINES
CAD-4123: The Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd intends to sell various grades of Iron ore CLO & Fines
produced at Daitari and Gandhamardan Regions (Block – A & B) and Guali, Jilling Langalota, Tiringpahar,
Khandbandh, Banspani, Unchabali (Mahaparbat) & Roida ‘C’ Mines of Barbil Region in Keonjhar District
and Khandadhar/Kurmitar Mines under Koira Region in Sundargarh District, Odisha through e-auction which
will be conducted by MSTC Ltd. The e-auction shall be held from 11.00 A.M. to 2.00 P.M on 19.02.2024
For details, please visit the website of MSTC i.e. www.mstcecommerce.com
OIPR- 30005/11/0273/2324 Sd/- GENERAL MANAGER (S&M)

Regional Office:No.43, Ground Floor, Hameedia Centre, DEBTS RECOVERY TRIBUNAL II, CHENNAI
Haddows Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai-600006 �����������������������������������������������������
Tamil Nadu. Tel. : +91-44-28281109, 28238250 �������������������������������������������
Email : ro1005@sib.co.in
DEMAND NOTICE U/S 25 TO 28
E - AUCTION SALE NOTICE NOTICE UNDER SECTIONS 25 TO 28 OF THE RECOVERY OF DEBTS AND
BANKRUPTCY ACT, 1993 [AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME] AND RULE 2 OF
SECOND SCHEDULE TO THE INCOME TAX ACT, 1961.
Ref: RO/SAR/SN/280/2023-24 Date : 14.02.2024 ����������������
E-Auction Sale Notice for Sale of Immovable Assets under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial ���������������������������������������� �����������������
��
Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 read with proviso to Rule 8(6) and 9(1) of the Security ����������������������� ������������������
Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002. To
���������������S/o.M.Musthafa, 19/9, Mohammed Abdullah Sahib,
1. Mr. Lakshmikanthan, S/o.M.Munusamy, 2. Mrs.M.Dhanalakshmi, First Street, Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005.
��������������W/o.A.Rahim, 19/9, Mohammed Abdullah Sahib,
Proprietor of M/s.Sri L V Traders, W/o.M.Munusamy, D No.6/23, First Street, Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005.
No.3, Sambantha Moorthy Avenue, Adiyaman Nagar, Singaravelan Street, Sevilimedu, ������������������������� 3, Perumal Mudali Street, Royapettah, Chennai - 600 014.
Sevilimedu, Kancheepuram - 631 501. Kancheepuram - 631 502. �������������������S/o.K.S.Balasubramania Gurukkal, “Sri Hariharasuthan Illam”,
New No.15, Old No.8, Nethaji Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai - 600 041.
Also at : No.74, Mariamman Koil Street, 3. Mrs.Ramyasri, ����������������������������������������������Rep by Managing Director,
Kancheepuram - 631 501. W/o.Lakshmikanthan, No. 74, B.Sivaganesan, 397, Precision Plaza (basement) Anna Salai,
Teynampet, Chennai - 600 018.
Also at : D.No.6/23, Singaravelan Street, MariammanKoil Street, Atchikadu, Mandava, In view of the ��������� ���������� DRC No. 230/2016 issued on 03/05/2016
Sevilimedu, Kancheepuram - 631 502. Villupuram - 604 303. �������������������������������������������������������������������������������-
nai, under Sub Sections 7 and 22 of Section 19 of the Recovery of Debts and Bank-
Notice is hereby given to the public in general and in particular to the borrower/guarantor that the below described ruptcy Act, 1993 (as amended from time to time ) in terms of Order dated 22/03/2016
immovable property mortgaged to the South Indian Bank Ltd, Branch Kancheepuram Branch (Secured Creditor), in OANo.499/2015, specifying that an amount of ����������������������������������
the possession of which has been taken by the Authorised Officer of The South Indian Bank Limited (Secured ���������������������������������������������������������������������������
Creditor), will be sold on “as is where is” basis, “as is what is” and “whatever there is” condition on 13.03.2024 ���������� with future interest 7.5% per annum (simple) cost, expenses and interest
from 23/03/2016 till the date of realization, along with costs, is due/recoverable from
for recovery of an amount of Rs.2,46,60,833.37 (Rupees Two Crore Forty Six Lakh Sixty Thousand Eight you in terms of the DRC, details of which are given in the Annexure(DRC). Details
Hundred Thirty Three and Paisa Thirty Seven Only) as on 13.02.2024, with future interest, costs and expenses ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
etc. thereon due to The South Indian Bank Limited, Branch Kancheepuram Branch (Secured Creditor), from the Debtors.
above mentioned Borrower(s) and guarantor(s). 2. You are hereby called upon to deposit the above sum within 15 days of the receipt
���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Name of Property Owner Mrs.M.Dhanalakshmi as per the extant rules.
�������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Description of property All that part and parcel of land admeasuring 9156 Sq.Ft comprised in Old 4. Therefore the Tribunal ordered for paper publication of Demand Notice in one
S.No.155/1A, New S.No.155/1A54, in No.54, Sevilimedu Village, Kancheepuram Taluk, Kancheepuram District issue of English & Tamil Edition, for service to be completed by way of substituted
together with all other appurtenant rights and improvements thereon in the name of Mrs.M.Dhanalakshmi ��������� ���� ����� ����� ��� �������� ��� ����� ��� ����������� ��� ������ ���� for your
appearance.
more fully described in the Settlement Deed dated 17.06.2011 registered as Document No.4035/2011 of SRO Given under my hand and seal of this Tribunal on this 29th day of JANUARY 2024
Kancheepuram Jt 2 and Registration District of Kancheepuram and bounded with the following Boundaries : Sd/- (RAMESH MANNAR)
North : JJ Nagar Layout, South : Muthu’s Plot, East : Vacant Plot, West : K Munusamy’s Plot. ���������������

Reserve Price Rs.1,17,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore Seventeen Lakhs Only)

Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) Rs.11,70,000/- (Rupees Eleven Lakhs Seventy Thousand Only)
Bid Increment amount Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only)
Date and time of E-auction 13.03.2024 from 11.30 AM to 12.30 PM (with 5 minute unlimited auto
extensions till sale is concluded)
THE ONLY
Encumbrances known to the Bank Nil Encumbrances from 01.01.2019 to 29.12.2022 CONSTANT
For detailed terms and conditions of the sale, please refer to the link provided in web portal of The South Indian
Bank Ltd, (Secured Creditor) website i.e. www.southindianbank.com. Details also available at www.matexnet.com
IN THE
& https://assets.matexauctions.com TECHNOLOGY
For any further clarification with regards to inspection of property, terms and conditions of the e-auction or submission
of bids, kindly contact Authorised Officer or Mr.Balagopal A K,- Mobile No:6379303822 & Mr.Arunkumar R. INDUSTRY IS
Mobile No:9894647220 or The South Indian Bank Ltd., Branch Kancheepuram during working hours.
Date : 14.02.2024 AUTHORISED OFFICER
CHANGE
Place : Chennai THE SOUTH INDIAN BANK LTD. MARC BENIOFF
07 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024
� � THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

08 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024
� �
T
HE strategy, described strikingly
as a “free incoming policy” by a
INDIAN EXPRESS IS NOT AN political commentator, was a two-
INDUSTRY. IT IS A MISSION. edged sword to begin with. In the
— Ramnath Goenka 1990s, when the BJP took a sig-
nificant leap towards acquiring a
pole position in national politics,
the party’s brass realised that just hawking
LANDMARK VERDICT
its three core issues—“liberating” Ram’s
birthplace, abrogating Article 370 and legis-
lating a common civil code—was not enough
LEVELS PLAYING FIELD to supplant the Congress, which still had a
strong pan Indian presence. A notable facet
FOR ELECTORAL FUNDS of the BJP’s ambitious but astutely-crafted
blueprint was to work hard at snagging big
T
leaguers from other parties, especially the
HE Supreme Court on Thursday levelled the playing field Congress, although it still had not coined
the slogan of offering a ‘Congress-mukt
by striking down a six-year-old electoral bonds scheme that
Bharat’ (India rid of the Congress).
made political funding more opaque than it already was. Any Congressperson signalling a desire to
The court found that the law had tilted the balance in fa- switch was a prey: Rangarajan Kumaraman-
vour of the party in power, as it gave it the means to access galam, K C Pant, Sunil Shastri, V C Shukla,
information on donors, though the scheme’s USP was anonymi- Buddha Priya Maurya, who was P V Nar-
sation. The right to information scored a momentous victory in asimha Rao’s Dalit mascot from Uttar
a long while as a five-member Constitution bench unanimously Pradesh, were some of the incomers. If Mau-
rya supposedly added to the BJP’s endeavour
held the controversial law unconstitutional. The bench ruled to transcend its image as a ‘Brahmin-Bania’
that its stated cloak of anonymity violated the principles of free outfit, the induction of Kumaramangalam,
and fair elections. While the law was sold as a scheme to suck Pant, Shastri and Shukla lent celebrity to a
out black money from the system and address criminalisation party with a less-than-celebrated leadership
of politics, the court said it did not clear the proportionality test line-up—barring Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K
of the least restriction on fundamental rights. It said the least Advani and Vijaya Raje Scindia—enhanced
by their lineage as scions of political leg-
restrictive method was to facilitate contributions below `20,000
ends. The presence of the sons of Mohan
through other electronic means. As for bigger contributions, it Kumaramangalam, Gobind Vallabh Pant,
pointed to the electoral trust route. In its landmark verdict, the Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ravi Shankar
court directed the State Bank of India, the issuing bank, to share Shukla blunted the perception of being an
with the Election Commission of India full data on who contrib- “outcast” that for decades shadowed the BJP
uted what to which party so far, and the latter to publish it on its and its precursor, the Jana Sangh.
The outflow from the Congress and other
website. A humongous 57 percent of the electoral bonds issued
parties went on incessantly, and often indis-
so far have been pocketed by the BJP; the Congress got 10 percent criminately, until there came a moment of
and the crumbs went to other smaller parties. truth before the 2004 elections, when the BJP
The court observed that political contributions enhance ac- was confident PM Vajpayee would get an-
cess to legislators and could influence policy-making. The pos- other term. Dharam Pal Yadav, a UP politi-
sibility of a quid pro quo because of the close nexus between cian and habitual party-hopper, was ushered
in with fanfare despite his criminal anteced-
money and politics is quite real, it pointed out. It also struck ents to target the Yadav votes then with the
down amendments to the income tax law that lifted the cap on Samajwadi Party. Yadav had got his political
political funding by corporates from the earlier 7.5 percent of mentor Mahendra Bhatti murdered in 1992.
the previous three years’ average net profit. In 2004, his son Vikas and nephew Vishal
The ruling takes the country back to the situation before were given life sentences for killing Nitish
Katara, a young business executive who was
January 2018, when electoral bonds were notified. At that point,
dating Yadav’s daughter Bharti. The BJP,
an overwhelming majority of political funds came through un- touted as a “party with a difference”, was
regulated voluntary contributions, long form for black money. hard put to explain Yadav’s induction and
After 2017-18, an estimated 47 percent of the contributions came discarded him under public pressure.
through electoral bonds or regulated money. This is the first Such free arrivals were dismissed as “ab-
significant victory for the beleaguered INDIA bloc that other- errations” in the BJP’s breathless onward
journey. Alliances and incomers were em-
wise appears to be disintegrating faster than a meteor. Since it bedded as a vital aspect of its blueprint that
came in the courtroom and not through agitation on the streets, continues despite the party’s record of get-
the opposition’s ability to exploit it remains suspect.
CHECKS NEEDED TO AVOID
ANOTHER KALESHWARAM MEAGRE FUNDS, RED TAPE
HOBBLE INDIAN SCIENCE
O
NE of the costliest lift irrigation projects in the world,
Kaleshwaram was touted as the previous Bharat Rash-
T
tra Samithi government’s crowning achievement in
HE remarkable global growth of
Telangana. Any debate on its viability or design was science during the 20th century
dismissed with disdain by the then chief minister was accomplished primarily by
K Chandrasekhar Rao. Things came to a head when three piers the gradual scaling up of govern-
of the Medigadda barrage, the water source of the mammoth ment funding. Some countries
project, sank by a few metres. The auditor general’s report have stayed the course into this
tabled in the state assembly on Thursday finally laid bare the century. But in India, direct fund-
ing for basic research has remained at a low
gigantic mess that Kaleshwaram is.
of 0.6-0.8 percent of GDP over the last dec-
The cost of the Kaleshwaram project is likely to exceed ade, much lower than that of other BRICS
`1,47,427 crore, up from the initial projection of `81,911 crore. nations. India’s total expenditure on R&D
The auditor general found the project—which consists of three has, in fact, fallen from 0.82 percent to 0.64
barrages, 17 reservoirs, several pump houses and canals— percent of the GDP between 2005 and 2023.
Over the last few years, there has been a
unviable for many reasons, prominent being the cost-benefit
steady drop in fund allocation to the agen-
ratio of just 0.52 paise. The energy cost to operate the project cies such as the Indian Council of Agricul-
is estimated to be at least around `7,000 crore a year and debt- tural Research, the Council of Scientific
servicing for the next 14 years is about the same as the project and Industrial Research, the Department of
cost. If the project’s objective, which is to irrigate over 18 lakh Science and Technology, Department of
Biotechnology, the Ministry of Earth Sci-
acres, were met, one could argue that the expenditure was jus-
ences and Indian Council of Medical Re-
tified. Regrettably, it does not seem to be the case. If one goes search. This trend of under-funding is re-
by the audit report, there are many mistakes in the project’s flected in the low proportion of qualified
execution. The state government did not have a proper funding researchers available in India—255 re-
pattern and relied heavily on off-budget borrowings. Now the searchers per million people in 2017, in con-
situation is such that water cannot be stored beyond a low level trast to 8,342 per million in Israel, 7,597 in
Sweden and 7,498 in South Korea.
to avoid further structural damage. Any which way you look Over the past decade, the number of
at it, the project is all but a white elephant. universities jumped from 752 to 1,016.
If a party in power could push through a project like Ka- More Indian Institutes of Technology and
leshwaram in haste, is there an institutional mechanism to Indian Institutes of Science Education
stop it? The intentions could be good; but if the outcome be- and Research were set up. This increase in
the number of institutes does not corre-
comes a liability for generations to come, we must debate and
late with the science budget. This mis-
put checks and balances in place. Telangana has the unenvi- match is more acute now with only seven
able task of salvaging the project. The government has de- out of 100 project proposals, on an average,
cided to form an expert panel comprising members from the getting funded. Even for the approved
projects, the budget gets sharply pared by
National Dam Safety Authority to conduct a comprehensive
study in order to decide the future course of action. It should the finance bureaucracy.
Even when you have secured a grant on
also ask the Centre and the financial institutions concerned paper, the funding may not arrive for
to restructure the loans. And the man whose brainchild it is,
months. The investigator would have little
KCR, has some explaining to do. time to spend the money before the financial
year ends. It has become a new normal that
researchers receive their sanctioned project
Q U I C K TA K E money in the later part of the year. When
most are unable to spend the money in a few
INNOVATE MORE TO HARM LESS quick months, the rest goes back to the ex-
chequer on March 31 because it was depos-
I
T’S David versus Goliath on Delhi’s borders again. But this ited in a ‘zero balance’ account, a norm in-
troduced in April 2022.
time, both David and Goliath are turning the clash into a battle Adding to this cumbersome procedure, a
between technologies old and new. When the marching farmers newly-imposed obligation requires princi-
started muffling tear gas canisters with wet jute bags, the gov- pal investigators to submit quarterly re-
ernment forces deployed drones to pop the cans overhead. Then ports on ‘targets’. The bureaucracy seems
the farmers, many of them ex-servicemen, started flying kites oblivious that research is not an engineer-
to ensnare the drones. Hearing that the farmers might bring ing project where time management tech-
niques can be easily applied. Creative re-
horses to gallop over the dug-in barricades, the police have
search is a means of producing new
stocked up on lubricants to splash on the ground. Whichever knowledge through trial and error. Scien-
way this battle of wits unfolds, we hope the innovations will tists preoccupied with chasing grants and
reduce harm on both sides, not aggravate it. writing quarterly reports would have little
THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
Chairman of the Board: Manoj Kumar Sonthalia Editor: Santwana Bhattacharya
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The BJP’s policy of welcoming all comers has yielded a
bounty of allies. This is causing a problem of plenty in
states where the allies don’t see eye to eye
MAKING SPACE
FOR STRANGE
BEDFELLOWS
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
ting majority mandates in states as well as
the Centre. As for the big guns in the Con-
gress and other parties, can they be faulted
for aspiring to get elected and be gifted with
a ministry and, if that’s not tenable, secure
a Rajya Sabha or state council berth? Espe-
cially if the leader belongs to a failing party
like the Congress. The recent arrival of
Ashok Chavan, former Maharashtra chief
minister, and Milind Deora, former Con-
gress MP from Mumbai and a close associ-
ate of Rahul Gandhi, in the Shiv Sena tes-
tify to the NDA’s near-hegemonic status in
a landscape muddled by a skewed playing
field. What does the BJP’s open-house poli-
cy signify? Obviously, it wants to sweep
away the detritus left by the opposition, par-
C P RAJENDRAN
time for careful contemplation of complex
problems. The individual researcher’s free-
dom to procure equipment with the required
specifications has also been curtailed with
the insistence on buying through the gov-
ernment e-marketplace. It enforces a com-
promise on equipment quality. Even to buy
a spare part for a lab equipment, most of
which is made outside India, a tender must
now be floated for domestic manufacturers
first. If any Indian manufacturer responds
within 20 days, the scientist is bound to go
with it regardless of the quality. If no one
turns up, you can inform a government
EXPRESS
India’s funds for basic research
have been dipping as a share
of GDP. New norms for project
payments and equipment
purchase make matters worse.
A new cumbersome bureaucracy
is replacing the old one
agency of your need to import; the agency
typically takes about two months to respond.
A scientist in her most important phase of
the research would find such delays ex-
tremely demotivating and might even end
up with a costly failure.
The crippling procedures have also
made the disbursal of fellowships difficult.
Funds for postdocs and PhD scholars re-
main elusive for months or years. The in-
ability to pay for manpower and supplies
that are continuously needed for carrying
out investigations affects research. Earlier,
the faculty would rely on institutional
backup funds to tide over funding delays.
Now, research grants are kept with a bank.
Many departments complain about the
low turnover of PhD scholars as funding
Politics is the art of the
possible, the attainable—
the art of the next best
Columnist and political commentator
SOURAV ROY
ticularly in states with a high yield of seats
such as Maharashtra, Bihar and West Ben-
gal and even UP, where the BJP’s pre-emi-
nence is unchallenged so far.
Plenitude brings its own problems, which
expose BJP’s soft underbelly in a promising
scenario. In Maharashtra, the BJP gerry-
mandered the legislative numbers to dis-
place a coalition headed by the Sena and
install its own by splitting the Sena and the
Nationalist Congress Party. Its machina-
tions have erupted in a serious caste imbal-
ance, flowing from the demand for OBC
reservation from the Marathas, a powerful
intermediate caste.
While the BJP consolidated its OBC
votes, it had failed to nurture a Maratha
Adjunct professor at the National Institute
of Advanced Research, Bengaluru
hurdles demotivate students.
The Union government approved a new
funding mechanism called the Anusandhan
National Research Foundation (ANRF), sub-
suming the Science and Engineering Re-
search Board. The ANRF Act was brought
into force on February 5, with a DST secre-
tary appointed interim CEO. Its functioning
will be governed by an executive council
chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser
to the government. The National Education
Policy of 2020, on the other hand, mentioned
the National Research Foundation (NRF)
would be independent of the government.
Initially modeled after the National Science
Foundation, an independent US federal gov-
ernment agency, it is not clear how the
ANRF in its current form will be different
from its previous bureaucratic avatar.
Out of the `50,000 crore set aside for NRF
for 2023-28, about ` 36,000 crore was expect-
ed to come from the private sector. The gov-
ernment funding was envisaged to be
around `2,800 crore a year. Earlier this
week, the finance minister allocated `2,000
crore for the ANRF for 2024-25—an amount
hardly sufficient even to maintain the
present level of support.
The funding model being developed by
the Centre encourages a greater role for the
private sector and a gradual scaling down
of public funding. Science institutes are
now encouraged to develop research cen-
tres registered as Section 8 companies,
wherein private companies or shareholders
can invest money. The move to prioritise
translational research over basic research
is further strengthened in the interim budg-
et for 2024-25. It has earmarked `1 lakh crore
for research and innovation among the
youth by providing “long-term financing or
refinancing with extended tenors and low
or nil interest rates”.
Lessening the role of public funding and
increasing marketisation could ruin curios-
ity-driven science. Private funding, includ-
ing government-mandated corporate social
responsibility funds, will skew the scientific
process as donors have the freedom to de-
cide whom and what they will fund. It’s per-
plexing why our scientists and the science
academies are silent on the increasing im-
pediments to doing basic research in India.
(Views are personal)
Otto von
Bismarck
leader. Chief minister Eknath Sambhaji
Shinde, from the breakaway but dominant
Sena faction, fitted the bill and was assidu-
ously courted by the BJP. But the low-key
Shinde outplayed the BJP by promising to
give the Marathas a share in the reserva-
tion pie. The move angered the OBCs and
the BJP, which is in a quandary. Endorsing
Maratha reservation could cost the party
its core OBC votes, which might migrate to
the Sena headed by Uddhav Thackeray, now
a part of the opposition coalition. Confront-
ing Shinde would checkmate the BJP’s pro-
Maratha strategy.
In Bihar, the BJP counts five partners in
the NDA, each with a distinct social base
that notionally constitutes a winning for-
mula of upper and backward castes, eco-
nomically backward class and Dalits: Nit-
ish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Upendra
Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party,
Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam
Morcha, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti
Party (Ram Vilas) and his uncle Pashupati-
nath Paras’s Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Par-
ty. In the wings waits Mukesh Sahni’s Vi-
kassheel Insaan Party, representing the
Mallah caste of fisherfolk and boatmen.
The BJP’s task is cut out in Bihar, which
has 40 seats. In 2019, only the JD(U) and Pas-
wan’s undivided LJP were part of the NDA.
The BJP and Nitish’s party took 17 seats
each, leaving six for the LJP. The NDA swept
the elections, winning 30 seats.
Would the winning streak replicate in a
layout that has four new entities (and pos-
sibly a fifth) of which the LJP factions are
at loggerheads? As Paswan’s legatee, his
scion Chirag—courted by the BJP after his
successful public rallies—is demanding the
six seats his father got five years ago. As the
undisputed leader of the NDA, the BJP
would claim its past quota of seats, which
means the JD(U) will have to scale down its
expectation. In UP, from winning the race
with just two allies in 2019—Apna Dal
(Sonelal) and NISHAD Party—the es-
tranged Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party is
back in the NDA. The BJP acquired Choud-
hary Jayant Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal. On
paper, each partner stands for distinct and
fairly compatible identity groups that
should shore up the BJP’s prospects.
In the joust for seats, the devil lies in the
detail. Small and geographically confined
as these parties might be—the SBSP in east-
ern UP, Apna Dal and NISHAD in Awadh
and the east, and RLD in the western Jat
belt—they are aware of their utility to the
BJP and might not give in as easily as Big
Brother expects. (Views are personal)
(ramaseshan.radhika@gmail.com)
Electoral bonds
The Supreme Court’s decision to declare
electoral bond as unconstitutional is welcome.
However, this could give rise to funding of
election by black money which was why
electoral bonds were introduced. The Supreme
Court should have suggested alternatives
while scrapping the electoral bonds. The
top court could also have investigated if
there were any quid pro quo between
donors and parties.
O P Swaminathan, Bengaluru
Disease burden
Ref: Profile India’s disease predisposition for
effective healthcare (Feb 15). Countries all
over the world are facing challenges posed
by the growing burden of non-communicable
diseases, which are the leading causes of
mortality. These diseases can be prevented to
a large extent through proactive measures.
Ishita Ghosh, email
Fiscal prudence
Ref: Karnataka needs to plug revenue leaks
(Feb 15). The Congress government wasted no
time in fulfilling populist election promises
after coming to power last year. But now it is
facing a shortage of funds. The governments
of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala must
take a cue from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh,
and provide good governance while adhering
to fiscal discipline.
Venkat Desikan, Chennai
Prison laws
Ref: Solutions for progressive prison system
in India (Feb 15). Though various bodies have
studied the problems faced by prisoners in
India and laws have been made to protect
their rights, there has been no progress.
Unfortunately, a large number of undertrail
inmates is left to languish in India’s prisons.
Haribandhu Panigrahi, Tarbha
Temple tolerance
Ref: 1st UAE temple symbol of harmony,
says Modi (Feb 15). The UAE has conveyed a
message of global unity with the inauguration
of the first Hindu temple. The UAE government
has supported the construction of this temple.
The hard right in India must learn a lesson
from the UAE and adopt a more tolerant
approach towards all religious groups.
Arbaz Nadwi, email
Why hurry?
Ref: Kejri gets 6th ED summons in excise
case (Feb 15). The case is now with a Delhi
court, which asked the Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17. The
Enforcement Directorate could have waited for
the outcome of Kejriwal’s appearance in court
and related instructions, if any, from the court
before issuing a sixth summons to him.
N A Joseph, Ettumanoor

09 CHENNAI
Legal eagles say the top court order will lead to more transparent political funding system
All those political parties who are
trying to politicise it are doing it
primarily on the grounds that they
have no answer or alternative to
Modiji’s leadership
Nalin Kohli, BJP spokesperson
Will bring in transparency,
28,030
enrich democracy: Experts
S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @
New Delhi
LEGAL experts, educators, and
activists have hailed Thurs-
day’s Supreme Court verdict on
the electoral bonds scheme as a
significant step towards trans-
parency in political funding.
Lawyer Prashant Bhush-
an described the ruling
as historic, emphasiz-
ing its long-term im-
pact on electoral de-
mocracy. He highlighted
that the judgment rein-
forces citizens’ fundamen-
tal right to information regard-
ing political party funding.
Former Delhi High Court
judge RS Sodhi echoed this sen-
timent, calling the verdict a
landmark decision that will en-
hance transparency in the dem-
ocratic process. Similarly, re-
tired Patna High Court judge
BJP names 8th candidate, voting
inevitable for 10 RS seats in UP
N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow
THE Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) on Thursday introduced
its eighth candidate for the Ra-
jya Sabha elections in Uttar
Pradesh, leading to a necessary
vote for 10 seats. The addition
of Sanjay Seth, a local indus-
trialist, on the final day for
nomination submissions has
intensified the competition.
Now, the election features 11
candidates: eight from the BJP
and three from the Samajwadi
Party (SP), setting the stage for
voting on February 27, with re-
sults announced the same day.
Sanjay Seth, who left the SP
for the BJP in 2019, was nomi-
nated in the presence of nota-
ble BJP leaders, including Dep-
uty Chief Minister Keshav
Maurya. This move ends the
possibility of an uncontested
election that was anticipated
until Wednesday, as the BJP
had seven candidates and the
SP three.
The election operates on pro-
portional representation and a
single transferable vote system,
requiring a candidate to secure
37 first preference votes from
Centre sets up panel to SC stays trial court proceedings after ED summons Mahua on
check pesky calls menace CBI petition on Bengal poll violence February 19 in FEMA case
J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi
THE Centre has formed a com-
mittee to address pesky calls,
which amount to violating the
privacy and rights of users.
Constituted by the Depart-
ment of Consumer Affairs
(DoCA), the committee com-
prises members of different
regulatory authorities, tele-
marketing companies and
cellular industry to draft
the guidelines.
In a meeting con-
vened by DoCA secre-
tary Rohit Kumar
Singh on Tuesday, it
was observed that most
of such calls are from the
financial services sector, fol-
lowed by real estate.
It was also pointed out that
spam callers are now switching
to internet calls, especially us-
ing WhatsApp to lure custom-
ers into ponzi schemes and
crypto investments, or offer job
opportunities.
“It was observed that these
calls not only violate the pri-
FRIDAY 16 02 2024
� �
We opposed electoral bonds from
the very beginning and never
accepted funding through electoral
bonds. We are ideologically against
corporate influence in elections
D Raja, CPI general secretary
Anajana Prakash emphasized
the positive impact of the judg-
ment on democracy, noting its
importance in restoring public
faith in the system.
Anjali Bhardwaj, a promi-
nent Right to Information ac-
tivist, praised the relentless ef-
forts of organisations like
the Association of Dem-
ocratic Refor ms in
challenging the elec-
toral bonds. She be-
lieves the verdict will
curb quid pro quo ar-
rangements facilitated
by anonymous corporate
funding, thereby benefitting
the society as a whole.
Prof Jagdeep Chhokar from
the Association of Democratic
Reforms welcomed the ruling
for its potential to bring great-
er transparency to political
funding. Likewise, lawyer
Shadan Farasat expressed
the 399 active members of the
403-seat assembly to win. The
BJP, with 252 members, leads
the assembly, followed by the
SP with 108, and the Congress
with two. Other groups include
the BJP’s allies: Apna Dal
(Sonelal) with 13 MLAs, the
NISHAD Party with 6, the RLD
with 9, and the SBSP with 6,
bringing the NDA’s total to 286.
If two members from Raja
Bhaiyya’s Jansatta Dal Lok-
tantrik support the BJP, the
NDA will have 288 members.
The lone BSP MLA’s position is
still unknown. After securing
enough votes for 7 candidates,
the ruling alliance needs 8 more
votes to ensure Sanjay Seth’s
vacy of users but also the rights
of the consumers,” Singh said.
The meeting was attended by
representatives from Depart-
ment of Telecom, Telecom Reg-
ulatory Authority of India,
Cellular Operators Association
of India, BSNL, Vodafone, Air-
tel and Reliance.
The government had already
advised commercial entities to
get 140 number series pre-
fixed to their phone
number so that a con-
sumer can identify the
caller. “It gives sub-
scribers more control
on what kind of calls or
texts they want to re-
ceive. Various unregistered
telemarketers do not follow
these provisions. It was empha-
sised in the meeting that all the
telemarketers should ensure
strict compliance to these ena-
bling provisions,” said Singh.
Efforts have already been
made by the DoT and TRAI to
address the issue related to
spam messages and pesky calls
from registered telemarketers.
POSTS
OF THE
DAY
We hope the Modi government will
stop resorting to such mischievous
ideas in future and listens to the SC
so that democracy, transparency
and level-playing field persist
Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress president
hope that the decision would
lead to a more transparent po-
litical funding system, as the
Supreme Court invalidated
key amendments associated
with the scheme.
Legal expert Kapil Sibal
criticised the electoral bonds
scheme as a means to benefit
political parties rather than
serve electoral purposes. He
hailed the Supreme Court’s
ruling as historic and indica-
tive of the scheme’s underly-
ing flaws.
Senior Supreme Court law-
yer Dushyant Dave emphasized
the broader significance of the
judgment in rectifying uncon-
stitutional amendments made
through the finance bill.
Dave stressed the need to
undo these amendments, as-
serting that the Supreme
Court’s verdict has effectively
nullified them.
w i n , w i t h 2 9 vo t e s s t i l l
available.
Including allies, the Nation-
al Democratic Alliance (NDA)
commands 286 seats, potential-
ly reaching 288 with additional
support, leaving the BJP need-
ing more votes to secure Seth’s
victory.
The situation is complex due
to internal divisions within the
RLD and SBSP, where some
members are aligned with the
SP. The SP needs just three
more votes to ensure its candi-
dates’ success, but potential
support from the Congress and
dissatisfaction within its ranks
complicate its prospects. The
dynamics suggest a tightly con-
tested election, with outcomes
dependent on party loyalties
and strategic alliances
If the RLD and SBSP MLAs,
who are part of the SP’s quota,
choose to support SP candi-
dates, BJP’s Sanjay Seth will
not win. But if everyone re-
mains loyal to their original
parties, the BJP will need to
find 8 more votes. The SP has
108 MLAs and needs just 3 more
votes to successfully elect its
three candidates.
S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi
THE Supreme Court on
Wednesday stayed the proceed-
ings of trial courts in West Ben-
gal in connection with the inci-
dents of alleged violence in the
aftermath of the 2021 state as-
sembly polls.
After the results of the As-
sembly elections in West Ben-
gal in May 2021, several persons
who had to flee their houses
due to the violence approached
the High Court, claiming that
they were not being allowed to
return home by the ruling All
India Trinamool Congress.
The top court was hearing a
transfer petition filed by the
Central Bureau of Investiga-
tion (CBI), which sought that
the cases be heard anywhere
outside West Bengal.
The CBI alleged that witness-
es and counsel were being
threatened. The agency said
this is obstructing the course of
justice amidst inaction by state
authorities despite complaints.
Amit Malviya @amitmalviya Govind Singh Dotasra @GovindDotasra Jawhar Sircar @jawharsircar
What is Mamata Banerjee so scared of? We know the drubbing Do not fall for long names, having a couple of “Sri” in When Indian black money goes abroad (mysteri-
she got in Nandigram still rankles her. But this unabashed names doesn’t guarantee you a real guruji. Some people ously) and comes back to India (more mysteri-
defence of Shahjahan Sheikh is like wallowing in a swamp. are experts in the art of lying and the art of polishing. ously) as investment— he stops investigations!
BJP and Oppn engage in war of words over the verdict
Cong, Left praise judgment, say their stand vindicated
PREETHA NAIR & Narendra Modi’s corrupt poli- Kharge. Reacting to the devel- ruling party by anonymous
PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi cies”, senior Congress leader opment, the Communist Party corporate donors has been com-
Rahul Gandhi said that the BJP of India (CPI) demanded that pletely scrapped.
THE Supreme Court’s verdict had made electoral bonds a me- details of funding through elec- The CPM is one of the peti-
on Thursday striking down the dium for taking bribes and toral bonds be made public to tioners who have approached
electoral bonds scheme as “un- commission. “expose the crony capitalist the apex court against the
constitutional”, gave ammuni- “…The right of the people to nexus of the BJP.” scheme. CPM general secretary
tion to the Opposition parties know has been placed above all Lauding the verdict, the polit Sitaram Yechury welcomed the
which launched scathing at- clever legal arguments mar- bureau of the CPI-Marxist decision, saying that he is glad
tacks on the government for its shalled to defend the illegal (CPM) said that by this judg- that this unanimous verdict
“corrupt policies”. Electoral Bonds Scheme,” said ment, the “unscrupulous” h a s u p h e l d h i s p a r t y ’s
Terming it “another proof of party president Mallikarjun scheme designed to finance the contention.
TRACKING NUMBERS
`6,566.13 cr BJP: Cong politicising verdict,
no match to PM’s leadership
electoral bonds worth `16,518.11 received by BJP via EBs
crore were sold from March 2018 from 2018-23
to January 2024
Maximum electoral bonds of `1,123.32 cr R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi Taking a dig
`15,631 crore
received by Congress via
EBs from 2018-23 Former law
THE BJP on Thursday criticised the Opposition for minister Ravi
were purchased in the denomination of `1 cr politicising the Supreme Court’s judgment on elec- Shankar Prasad
toral bonds. The party said electoral bonds were in- said parties
54.8%
HOW MUCH POLITICAL troduced to enhance transparency in poll funding.
PARTIES RECEIVED known for
Despite the Supreme Court striking down the elec- corruption should
VIA EBS IN 2022-23 toral bonds scheme, the BJP defended it, stating that not level
`1,300 crore BJP of the total EBs declared the intention behind it was to bring transparency to
by political parties from accusations
poll funding. Former Law Minister Ravi Shankar against the BJP,
`171 crore Congress 2017-23 were received
Prasad expressed the party’s respect for the which prioritises
by the BJP Supreme Court’s verdict, adding that they would pro-
`325 crore TMC electoral norms
vide a detailed response after thoroughly reviewing and transparency.
`529 crore BRS the judgment.
`185 crore DMK Prasad also took a dig at the Congress, suggesting
that parties known for corruption and bribery should
`152 crore BJD Fighting graft
refrain from levelling accusations against the BJP,
`34 crore TDP which prioritises electoral norms and transparency. BJP spokesperson
BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli echoed Prasad’s senti- Nalin Kohli said
(Source: Association for
Democratic Reforms) ments, criticising the opposition parties for politicis- opposition parties
ing the issue and lacking alternatives to Prime Min- are trying to
KEY ISSUES THE COURT LOOKED INTO: ister Modi’s leadership. salvage a failing
1. Whether non-disclosure of information on voluntary contributions to political The BJP urged the Opposition not to politicise the alliance. He said
parties as per the scheme and the amendments to Section 29C of Representation of matter, emphasizing India’s economic progress under electoral bonds
the People Act, Section 183(3) of the Companies Act, Section 13A(b) of the Income Modi’s leadership. Kohli accused opposition parties were part of the
Tax Act are violative of the Right to Information under Article 19(1)(a) of trying to salvage a failing alliance and highlighted efforts to curb
2. If unlimited corporate funding to political parties as envisaged by the amend- the government’s efforts to curb black money in elec- black money in
ment to Sec 182(1) of Companies Act violates principles of free & fair elections tion funding through electoral bonds. election funding.
Sonia seeks
support from
11K delegates to join 2-day
Rae Bareli voters
N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow
BJP nat’l meet on poll plans
R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi including timely national con-
HINTING that someone from In poll mode ventions, executive meetings,
the Gandhi family may contest AS part of its meticulously Following its national convention, and other programmes at state
from its stronghold of Rae planned strategy to secure over the BJP has unveiled a nationwide and district levels.
Bareli in the upcoming Lok 370 seats in the upcoming Lok plan aimed at securing the Providing further details,
Sabha elections, former Con- Sabha elections, the ruling targeted 370 LS seats. From Prasad mentioned that Nadda
gress chief and present MP Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) February 25 to March 5, the party will deliver the opening speech
from the constituency, Sonia has slated a two-day national intends to directly engage with on February 17, a tradition pre-
Gandhi, has written an open convention, to be held on Feb- over 6 crore beneficiary families ceding general elections for the
letter informing the voters that ruary 17-18, with over 11,000 across the country. This initiative Lok Sabha. He emphasized the
she would not contest the up- delegates, including national involves deploying 25 lakh party significant electoral support
coming polls due to failing a n d s t a t e - r a n ke d o f f i c e - workers to visit households garnered by the BJP in previ-
health and age-related issues. bearers. benefitting from various ous conventions and the inspi-
In an emotional message sent The convention will kick off government schemes and affixing rational impact of Prime Min-
out on Thursday, Gandhi ex- with an inaugural address by stickers outlining developmental ister Modi’s addresses on party
tended gratitude for their sup- party national president JP guarantees. members.
port to her and her family since Nadda on February 17 and con- Looking ahead to the LS
her father-in-law Firoz Gandhi clude on February 18 with a polls, Prasad affirmed that the
won the seat during the first central address by Prime Min- and the NDA’s target to exceed convention’s culmination with
Lok Sabha polls in the country. ister Narendra Modi at Bharat 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Modi’s address would reinforce
“I take pride in claiming that Mandapam. Sabha elections. the party’s organisational agen-
whatever I am today, it is be- The primary objective Prasad highlighted das. He reiterated Modi’s target
cause of your unconditional of the national conven- that the convention of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats
support and I have always done tion is to deliberate on would host around and outlined plans for broader
my best to honour your trust. comprehensive agen- 11,500 delegates, in- discussions on the agenda of
Now on account of failing das for the Lok Sabha cluding party officials, ‘Viksit Bharat,’ with an accom-
health and age issues, I will not polls and present a clear cur rent and for mer panying exhibition showcasing
contest the next Lok Sabha roadmap for electoral suc- MPs, MLAs, and elected government achievements.
election,” she said. cess to the thousands of dele- mayors, with a focus on organi- Furthermore, Prasad dis-
She exuded confidence that gates. Former law minister sational agendas. closed that two resolutions
the people of Rae Bareli would Ravi Shankar Prasad, speaking He also took a dig at opposi- would be passed during the
take care of her and her family to the media at the party’s cen- tion parties, asserting that the convention after detailed dis-
as always in difficult times de- tral office, emphasized the BJP stands out for its demo- cussions on the upcoming Lok
spite her physical absence. BJP’s ambition to win 370 seats cratic organisational efforts, Sabha elections.
U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi
ALSO IN TOP COURT THE Enforcement Directorate
has summoned Trinamool Con-
Pleas against UAPA NGT order on Dhasan gress (TMC) leader and former
provisions withdrawn sand mining set aside Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra
Individuals and groups who had Taking serious note of the for questioning in a case of
challenged the constitutional massive sand mining being FEMA contravention, while an-
validity of the provisions of the carried out in Dhasan river in other TMC leader Deepak
Unlawful Activities Jhansi of Uttar Pradesh, the Adhikari was asked to appear
(Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the Supreme Court has set aside before the agency in a separate
Supreme Court withdrew their the National Green Tribunal case, official sources said
pleas on Thursday, saying they order, and asked the tribunal to Thursday. Moitra is being probed by the
have decided to move hear the matter again. The While the 49-year-old Moitra CBI too and it is conducting a
appropriate forums. A top court said the tribunal has been asked to depose on preliminary inquiry into the al-
bench of Justices Bela M ought to have gone into February 19 at ED’s Delhi of- legations against her on the ref-
Trivedi and Pankaj the allegations of breach fice, Adhikari is expected to ap- erence from the Lokpal.
Mithal allowed as many of the terms and pear before it on February 21. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey
as eight petitions to conditions made in the According to TMC state gen- had accused Moitra of asking
be withdrawn. application before it. eral secretary Kunal Ghosh, questions in the Lok Sabha to
“The ED summoned Dev soon target the Adani Group, and
after he announced that he will Prime Minister Narendra Modi
contest the Ghatal seat. This at the behest of businessman
The bench sought responses in the prayer clause on page 58 would not have happened had Darshan Hiranandani in ex-
of the state government and onwards of the instant petition he given in to pressure and con- change for gifts.
parties in the original cases. shall remain stayed,” the court tested for BJP.” He had also accused Moitra
The Director General of Police, said. Similarly, the state gov- For Moitra, sources said that of compromising national se-
West Bengal, is asked to ensure ernment had filed a plea alleg- her statement will be recorded curity for monetary gains. In
compliance with the order. ing that the CBI has been pro- under the provisions of the December, Moitra was expelled
“Meanwhile, further pro- ceeding with probe without a Foreign Exchange Manage- from Lok Sabha. Moitra has de-
ceedings of the trial referred to statutory nod from the state. ment Act once she deposes. nied any wrongdoing.

10 CHENNAI
‘Punjab could have stopped farmers’ Speaker on Maha
Khattar says Punjab has some ‘understanding’ with farmers who are ‘marching like an Army’
H A R P R E E T BA J WA @ Chandigarh
FACING criticism from the
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led
Punjab government over bar-
ricading the borders and using
teargas and water cannons to
prevent their farmers from en-
tering the State, Haryana Chief
Minister Manohar Lal Khattar
on Thursday alleged that Pun-
jab has some sort of “under-
standing” with the farmers as
it did not stop them from march-
ing to the national capital the
way they did.
“The Punjab government
could have stopped farmers. If
they did not stop, then there
must be some understanding
there, and ‘Delhi wale’ say they
are with the farmers’ move-
ment,” Khattar said, in an ap-
parent reference to AAP.
The chief minister further
said that he has objections not
over farmers trying to reach
Delhi but on their method
adopted as they were “march-
ing like an Army.”
“Everyone has a right to go to
Delhi. They can go there (Del-
hi) by using public transport
like trains or buses or in per-
sonal vehicles. The tractor is
for agricultural use but not for
public transport. They (farm-
ers) are marching with tractor-
trolleys, JCBs (heavy duty ma-
chines), trucks and carrying
ration for a year just like an
Army. This method is objec-
tionable as it questions the mo-
Jolt to INDIA alliance
as Farooq decides to go
it alone in LS elections
FAYA Z WA N I @ Srinagar
IN what could be termed as a
jolt for INDIA Alliance, Nation-
al Conference president and
three-time former J&K Chief
Minister Farooq Abdullah on
Thursday hinted at the party
going alone in the parliamen-
tary polls by asserting that his
party would contest the Lok
Sabha elections on its own.
“As far as seat sharing for LS
polls is concerned, I want
to make it clear that NC
will contest the polls
on its own. There is no
doubt about it,” Ab-
dullah told reporters
in Srinagar today.
There are five Lok Sab-
ha seats in J&K after the bi-
furcation of erstwhile J&K
state into two Union Territo-
ries – Jammu and Kashmir
(with legislature) and Ladakh
(without legislature) by centre
on August 5, 2019.
Out of the five parliamentary
seats, NC had won three seats
(in Valley) and BJP two (both
seats from Jammu) in the 2019
general elections.
Abdullah said he was hopeful
Champai to expand cabinet
today, many new faces likely
M U K E S H R A N JA N @ Ranchi
JHARKHAND CM Champai
Soren is all set to expand his
Cabinet on Friday, which will
also have several new faces, in-
cluding JMM chief Shibu
Soren’s younger son Basant
Soren, who is likely to take oath
as the new deputy CM.
Sources claimed that two
deputy Chief Ministers, one
from the JMM and the other
from Congress quota, will like-
ly take oath at the Raj Bhawan.
Champai Soren (JMM) had tak-
en the oath with two ministers
-- Alamgir Alam of the Con-
gress and the lone RJD MLA
Satyanand Bhokta. In his cabi-
net, 12 ministers, including the
Chief Minister himself, could
be accommodated.
According to JMM sources,
the party is likely to continue
with most of the ministerial
positions occupied by the legis-
lators in the previous govern-
ment with a possibility of one
or two changes. Congress, on
the other hand, is heading to-
wards significant changes, and
at least three out of four minis-
FRIDAY 16 02 2024
� �
Farmer leader Jhanda Singh Jethuke addresses fellow protestors during the ‘rail
roko’ protest, in Bathinda, Punjab on Thursday | PTI
Problem with the method: Haryana CM
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that he has
objections not over farmers trying to reach Delhi but on their method
adopted as they were “marching like an Army. They (farmers) are
marching with tractor-trolleys, JCBs (heavy duty machines), trucks and
carrying ration for a year just like an Army.”
tive,” the chief minister said.
Pointing guns at AAP with-
out taking the name, Khattar
said the Delhi government
(AAP) has stated that they sup-
port the farmers’ movement.
“Supporting the demands of
farmers is one thing but lend-
ing support to their movement
is another...it does not send the
right message,” Khattar said.
After talks with the Centre
failed over the demand includ-
ing Minimum Support Price
(MSP) on all crops, farm loan
waiver, pensions to farmers
that the parliamentary polls
and Assembly polls in Jammu
and Kashmir would be held
simultaneously.
Abdullah’s hard talk of going
it alone in LS polls is seen as a
major setback to India bloc par-
ties especially PDP and Con-
gress, who were hopeful of
unitedly contesting all the five
parliamentary seats in J&K.
Of the five seats, PDP wanted
to contest from Anantnag-Ra-
jouri LS seat while leaving
two Valley seats and two
Jammu seats for NC and
Congress respectively.
Congress was eyeing
the Anantnag-Rajouri
LS seat alongwith one
seat in Jammu region
while NC is not ready to leave
any of the three seats won by it
in 2019 polls.
Former J&K CM and NC vice
president Omar Abdullah said,
“We have been very clear for
the last few months that in six
LS seats of erstwhile J&K state
including Ladakh, three seats
won by NC in last elections are
with India Alliance. Therefore
the seats to be discussed are the
seats held by BJP.”
Cong heading for change
Congress is heading towards
significant changes, and at least
three out of four ministerial
berths are likely to be filled up
with new faces. The list of
probable candidates has already
been sent to the high command
terial berths are likely to be
filled up with new faces.
The list of probable candi-
dates has already been sent to
the party’s high command, who
will make the final decision.
In the previous government,
Alamgir Alam, Dr Rameshwar
Oraon, Banna Gupta and Badal
were ministers from the Con-
gress quota. Still, sources
claimed that barring Alam, the
other three will be replaced
with new faces.
According to Congress insid-
ers, ex- ministers Banna Gupta,
Rameshwar Oraon, and Badal
Patralekh are likely to be re-
placed by new and young faces
like Anup Singh and Dipika
Pandey Singh, who also have a
good rapport with senior Con-
gress leaders.
Manipur has been suspended after he was allegedly seen
with armed men in a video grab on social media recently,
and dropping the cases regis-
tered during the 2021 protest,
hundreds of farmers left Pun-
jab to lay a siege over Delhi till
their demands are not met.
However, they failed to cross
the border with Haryana as the
latter had put in place multi-
layer security.
Since then farmers have been
camping at the Shambhu and
Khanauri border points.
The farmer leaders have said
they will not make any fresh at-
tempt to move towards the na-
tional capital till the meeting
TMC MP quits,
says unhappy
with leadership
P R A N A B M O N DA L @ Kolkata
ACTOR and Trinamool Con-
gress MP Mimi Chakraborty
on Thursday announced her
resignation from the post hint-
ing her unhappiness over the
party leadership in her constit-
uency. Though she had submit-
ted her resignation to TMC su-
premo Mamata Banerjee on
Tuesday, the MP from south
Kolkata’s Jadavpur met the CM
on Thursday.
“I had submitted my resigna-
tion to her on February 13. I
have understood in all these
years that politics is not my cup
of tea,” said Mimi after meet-
ing Mamata. Asked if the local
leadership was hampering her
decision making role, she said,
“I would not deny it.” However,
Mimi’s move would not count
as formal as the resignation
should go to the LS Speaker.
Believe it or not! ‘Dead’ woman from
C’garh comes alive in Bihar after 18 hrs India-China border in U’khand
R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna
An elderly woman, who was de-
clared dead by doctors of a
Chhattisgarh hospital, came
back to life soon after her
body entered the limits of her
native state—Bihar.
The woman, Ramwati Devi,
71, is undergoing treatment in
intensive care unit (UCI) of Be-
gisarai district sadar hospital
in Bihar and doctors attending
to her said that she was recov-
ering fast. The incident hap-
pened on February 11 when she
complained of uneasiness and
was admitted to a private
hospital in Korva dis-
trict of Chhattisgarh.
She died in the hos-
pital during treatment
the next day.
Her two sons—Ghan-
shyam Sah and Murari
Sah—then decided to perform
the last rites at their native vil-
lage Neema Chandpura in Bi-
har’s Begusarai district. They
hired a private vehicle to bring
the body to their native
village.
Nearly 18 hours of their jour-
COP SUSPENDED
A head constable of Churachandpur district police in
police said.
with Union ministers is held,
asserting that the next course
of action will be decided on the
basis of the Centre’s
proposals.
“They should sit and talk.
Matters can be resolved through
mutual discussion. Everyone
has the right to express their
views in a democratic manner,’’
Khattar added.
Asked about the Punjab gov-
ernment objecting to the use of
a drone for tear gas shelling in
its territory, Khattar said that
Punjab has not faced an agita-
tion of this kind before, unlike
Haryana. He was referring to
the farmers’ agitation in 2021
when farmers camped at the
Tikri and Singhu borders for a
year to protest against the now-
repealed farm laws.
The way they camped at the
two border points for a year
caused hardships to many peo-
ple, Khattar said, adding “Even
today, there are several videos
of people appealing that they
(farmers) should be stopped as
their businesses will suffer.”
Highlighting the farmer-relat-
ed schemes in Haryana, Khat-
tar said, “Punjab farmers to see
what the Haryana government
is doing for its farmers and
half of their problems would
be resolved if their govern-
ment, too, took those steps.”
“Our farmers are satisfied.
They should get these things
implemented by Punjab gov-
ernment,” he said
Amid pressure, Didi breaks silence,
blames RSS for Sandeshkhali unrest
P R A N A B M O N DA L @ Kolkata
WEST Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee on Thursday
held BJP’s ideological parent
RSS responsible for the unrest
in strife-hit Sandeshkhali and
alleged “there were other
plans” during Saraswati Puja.
“RSS has a base in Sand-
eshkhali, where riots took place
seven-eight years ago also. It is
one of the vulnerable riot spots.
We handled the situation
strongly during Saraswati Puja
or else there were other plans,”
she said in the Bengal
Assembly.
“I have never supported vio-
lence. State Women’s Commis-
sion and administrative offi-
cials had been dispatched to the
area and some arrests made.
Our women police teams are
present there. A women police
team is visiting and addressing
grievances,” the CM added.
BJP’s high-command sent a
six-member fact-finding team
which will visit Sandeshkhali
on Friday. The team landed at
Kolkata on Thursday evening.
Sandeshkhali has been on
the edge since three officers of
the Enforcement Directorate
(ED) were bashed up and left
bleeding when they went to
BSNL says will bring signal to
‘Jerk in vehicle may have worked as CPR’
Dr Krishna Kumar, who is attending to Ramwati, said on Thursday that
she was responding to the line of treatment and her condition had
improved. Dr Kumar said that she was put on a ventilator immediately
after being admitted to the hospital. He said the patient was being
brought by road, the jerk of the vehicle might have worked as
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a lifesaving technique that is used in
many emergencies, due to which regained consciousness.
ney, the sons noticed some ac-
tivities in the body of their
mother. Initially they could not
believe their eyes, but the ac-
tivities became more evident
when they reached Auranga-
bad in Bihar.
They parked the vehicle
by the road and observed
the activities in the
dead body for some
time. They were taken
aback when they found
she was alive. They
rushed to Begusarai sadar
hospital where she was admit-
ted to ICU.
Dr Krishna Kumar, who is at-
tending to Ramwati, said on
Thursday that she was respond-
ing to the line of treatment and
her condition had improved.
Dr Kumar said that she was
2
KILLED
ruling: Ajit Pawar
faction real NCP
E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Mumbai
IN a significant declaration on
Thursday, Maharashtra Assem-
bly Speaker Rahul Narwekar
endorsed the faction of the Na-
tionalist Congress Party (NCP)
led by Deputy Chief Minister
Ajit Pawar as the legitimate
representation of the party.
Narwekar emphasised that the
constitutional anti-defection
laws are not meant to suppress
the expression of in-
ternal disagreements
in political parties.
During the proceed-
ings, Narwekar dis-
missed disqualifica-
tion petitions against
legislators from both
the Ajit Pawar faction
and the faction led by
his uncle, Sharad Pa-
war, highlighting that Ajit Pa-
war’s faction, with a command-
ing legislative majority of 41
out of 53 party MLAs, had
rightfully aligned with the Shiv
Sena-BJP government in Ma-
harashtra in July 2023. This
move, according to Narwekar,
cemented the Ajit group’s sta-
tus as the genuine political en-
tity within the NCP.
This ruling aligns with a re-
cent decision by the Election
Commission that recognised
search the house of local TMC
leader Shahjahan Sheikh in a
foodgrain scam case on Janu-
ary 5. After the TMC leader
and his men missing since the
attack, the women of the area
mustered courage to protest
against the sexual abuse on
them allegedly by the ruling
party’s satraps.
Accusing the law enforcers
of being hand in glove with
“rowdy elements” in Sand-
eshkhali, where the local wom-
en have been protesting, Gover-
nor C V Ananda Bose submitted
a report to the Ministry of
Home Af f airs (MHA) on
Wednesday mentioning the lo-
cals’ demand of constituting a
Special Task Force (STF) to
put on a ventilator immediately
after being admitted to the hos-
pital. He said the patient was
being brought by road, the jerk
of the vehicle might have
worked as Cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) due to
w h i c h r e g a i n e d
consciousness.
CPR is a lifesaving technique
that is used in many emergen-
cies in which someone’s breath-
ing of heartbeat has stopped.
When contacted, Ghanshyam
said, “My mother has gone to
meet us in Chhattisgarh where
we live. She has some sort of
breathing problem for long but
it became severe once she
reached Chhattisgarh. We got
her admitted to a hospital in
Korva where doctors declared
her dead during treatment.”
INDIA
Ahmedabad
Bhopal
Jaipur
Amritsar
Chennai
AS CAR FALLS INTO Kolkata
GORGE IN JOSHIMATH Srinagar
the Ajit-led faction as the true
NCP, a decision that faced criti-
cism from the Sharad Pawar
faction, with accusations of the
Speaker’s ruling being a mere
replication of a prior judgment
concerning rival Shiv Sena fac-
tions. NCP MP Supriya Sule,
daughter of Sharad Pawar, con-
demned what she perceived as
a concerted effort to undermine
major Maharashtra-based po-
litical parties.
Narwekar, in his
verdict, underscored
that questioning or
opposing Sharad Pa-
war’s leadership did
not equate to defection
but represented valid
internal critique. He
criticised the misuse
of the Constitution’s
tenth schedule, aimed
at disqualification for defec-
tion, to quell dissent among
party members.
Supriya Sule expressed scep-
ticism about the Speaker’s im-
partiality, suggesting that an
underlying influence dictated
the outcome, reflective of
broader issues of governance
bypassing established legal and
constitutional frameworks. Su-
nil Tatkare, the Maharashtra
NCP president, welcomed the
Speaker’s decision.
Report submitted
Governor C V Ananda Bose
submitted a report to the Ministry
of Home Affairs (MHA) on
Wednesday mentioning the
locals’ demand of constituting a
Special Task Force (STF) to probe
into the alleged nexus. He
accused the law enforcers of
being hand in glove with “rowdy
elements” in Sandeshkhali, where
the local women have been
protesting after the ED incident in
the area.
probe into the alleged nexus.
Bose termed the situation in
Sandeshkhali “highly repre-
hensive” and mentioned about
the locals’ allegation that goon-
da elements, disguised as po-
licemen are trespassing into
victims’ houses in the night.
“I have taken stock of the
matter through direct interac-
tion with the victims and by
making extensive field visits to
Sandeshkhali island. The situ-
ation there is highly reprehen-
sible,” the report read. s“The
shattering assault on the hon-
our of women by a small gang
who display symptoms of anti-
social personality disorder
does not bring credit in a demo-
cratic regime,” it added.
N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun
MOBILE phones will soon be
ringing at the India-China in-
ternational border during the
upcoming Chardham Yatra sea-
son. Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (BSNL) is setting up
mobile towers that will allow
residents of Nelong and Ja-
dung villages to communicate
with their families within
the state and across the
country from the comfort of
their homes.
According to the information
received, “BSNL officials have
reported that approximately 70
per cent of the tower installa-
tion work in Nelong has been
finished, with the first phase
underway in Jadung”.
As per the officials of Depart-
ment of Telecommunications,
mobile tower signals will reach
the Janaktal track. The central
government is actively imple-
menting the Vibrant Plan to re-
juvenate Nelong and Jadung
villages, a strategically signifi-
cant initiative.
Mobile signals will soon be
accessible in Ulana village in
the Dhontari area, as well as in
Max Min Max Min
33 21 Mumbai 34 25
23 09 Panaji 34 22
26 13 Patna 25 16
23 09 Lucknow 24 11
30 24 Port Blair 31 26
28 18 Imphal 25 10
10 02 Chandigarh 22 11
LUCKNOW
DIARY
NAMITA BAJPAI
Our correspondent in Uttar Pradesh
namita.bajpai@
newindianexpress.com
Rahul, PM Modi to be in
UP to sound poll bugle
Uttar Pradesh is already into the poll
mode with all the top notch political
leaders frequenting the politically
most crucial state of Hindi heartland.
The week is set for political
razzmatazz with both Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi expected to sound the
poll bugle in the state on Monday,
February 19. Moreover, SP chief
Akhilesh Yadav, left in lurch by one of
its most loyal allies RLD recently, is
also expected to join the Congress
party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ to
make up for political losses on
February 19 or 20. While PM Modi
will lay foundation stone of projects,
Gandhi would be in Amethi.
Akhilesh Yadav tries
hand at soft Hindutva
Already under fire from various
sections of majority community over
refusing invites for Pran Pratishthha
and darshan of Ram Lalla,
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh
Yadav is out to placate the sanatanis
in UP by resorting to soft Hindutva
when he, accompanied by MP wife
Dimple and other senior leaders,
performed puja of a “Shaligram
shila” brought from Nepal from
which a “shivling” will be carved and
installed in a temple at Etawah –
being built by the SP. High on optics,
the puja, at the SP headquarters in
Lucknow, was performed in full
media glare.
Dissent in air for
Samajwadi Party
Emerging from the shock of
desertion by RLD, the Samajwadi
Party is in for more dissenting voices
of other allies who had come
together under its umbrella during
2022 Assembly polls. While party
MLC Swami Prasad Maurya quit the
post of party’s general secretary
alleging discrimination and
demeaning attitude of party leaders,
Apna Dal (K) leader Pallavi Patel,
who had contested on SP symbol
and snatched Sirathu Assembly
segment from BJP leader Keshav
Maurya, has said that she would not
vote in favour of SP candidates.
Patel’s decision is due to the failure
of SP leadership in having PDA
imprint in RS poll ticket distribution.
the most isolated villages of
Jaudaun and Silla within the
Bhatwari development block in
the next two to three months.
“Despite being situated 10 to
12 km away from the main road,
these villages currently lack
basic facilities such as roads
and communication services.
Efforts are underway to install
towers to ensure mobile con-
nectivity in all these villages”,
the official told.
Speaking to this newspaper,
Uttrakhand Tourism minister
Satpal Maharaj said, “Nelong
and Jadung villages are located
at an altitude of 11,400 feet
above sea level. These villages
have historical significance as
they served as trading centers
between Tibet and India,” said
Minister Maharaj.
 2
Beijing 9 -3 SNY Los Angeles 19 11 SNY
Colombo 32 23 TDS Melbourne 25 12 SNY
Dhaka 29 15 SNY Moscow -6 -7 SN
GLOBAL Dubai 30 18 SNY New York 6 0 SNY
WEATHER Houston 19 13 LR Singapore 32 25 TDS
South African soldiers have been killed in a mortar strike LR: Light Rain WI: Windy HR: Heavy Rain SN: Snow Istanbul 9 6 LR Toronto 1 -4 SNY
in the DR Congo, the army said on Thursday TDS: Thundershower LC: Light Cloud SNY: Sunny London 14 7 SNY Washington 9 2 SNY

11 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024

� �

Hezbollah commander among 10 dead in Israeli strike on Lebanon

Ali al-Debs was already wounded in an Israeli drone strike on Feb 8; cross-border violence toll raises to 259 in Lebanon
Efforts to secure a ceasefire
entered third day
Humanitarian groups said they
have run out of words to
describe the horrors unfolding
in Gaza, stressing that states
and especially Israel could not
“offload” responsibility for the
ISRAEL-GAZA: DAY 130 carnage onto aid workers
The US military said it seized an
Iranian weapon shipment in
January that had been destined
for Yemen’s Huthi rebels who
Tel Aviv WEST BANK have been attacking vessels in
JORDAN
BEIRUT
A Hezbollah commander, two
other fighters and seven civil-
ians were killed in an Israeli
strike in south Lebanon’s Na-
batiyeh, a security source said
on Thursday, raising the toll
from a raid a day earlier.
The deaths brought to 10 the
total number of civilians killed
in Israeli strikes on Wednesday,
the highest such toll since
cross-border hostilities began
in October, further raising fears A picture taken from southern Israel on the border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli

the Red Sea. of a broader conflict between soldiers holding up a national flag as they move along the border | PICS: AFP Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis arrive in Rafah with their belongings in a damaged
Israel and militant group car as battles raged in the sourthern Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas
Jerusalem
72 JOURNOS KILLED Hezbollah. ing’s first floor were also killed his two daughters, his sister
GA Z A
RAFAH STRIP The Hezbollah commander, in Wednesday’s strike. and his grandson. His wife and
Seventy-two journalists have Ali al-Debs, had already been The Israeli army said on niece were also killed. Israel sends troops into ‘besieged’ Gaza hospital
been killed in the Israel-Hamas wounded in an Israeli drone Wednesday a soldier was killed The cross-border violence
ISR A EL GAZA STRIP: Israel sent troops into a hospital in war-torn Gaza on
war so far. They were among strike in the southern Lebanon in unclaimed rocket fire from has killed at least 259 people on Thursday where it said hostages may have been held, as medics
the 99 journalists killed in 2023 city of Nabatiyeh on February Lebanon and that its jets car- the Lebanese side, including in- warned the key medical facility was operating in "near impossible"
GAZA TOLL SO FAR across the globe, making the 8, the security source said. Two ried out strikes on Lebanon. clduing Hezbollah fighters and conditions. The raid came after days of intense fighting between
last 12 months the deadliest for

28,663
other Hezbollah fighters who The official National News 40 civilians. On the Israeli side, troops and Hamas militants around the Nasser Hospital in Khan
the media in almost a decade, were on the ground floor with Agency had previously identi- 10 soldiers and six civilians Younis — one of the largest medical sites in southern Gaza, and one
the Committee to Protect Debs and “seven civilians from fied five of the dead civilians in have been killed, said the Israe- of the few hospitals that are still operational in the territory. AFP
Journalists said. the same family” on the build- Nabatiyeh as Hussein Barjawi, li army. AFP

Macron & Zelenskyy to sign security deal in Paris Imran’s PTI nominates party
PARIS

UKRAINIAN President Volody-

myr Zelenskyy will travel to
Berlin and Paris on Friday for
talks with German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz and to sign a secu-
rity agreement with Emmanuel
Macron, Kyiv said.
Zelenskyy is travelling to
Germany and France as Mos-
cow’s invasion of Ukraine en-
ters a third year. Kyiv’s troops
face an increasingly difficult
situation on the eastern front-
lines because of ammunition
shortages and fresh Russian
attacks.
The French presidency said
Macron and Zelenskyy planned
to sign a security agreement at
the Elysee Palace on Friday, but
Ukrainian Prez Volodymyr Zelenskyy
with his French counterpart Emmanuel
Macron at Elysee palace in Paris | FILE PIC
did not provide any details.
“This agreement follows
commitments made within the
G7 format on the sidelines of
the NATO summit in Vilnius in
July 2023,” Macron’s office said
on Thursday.
At the time, NATO leaders
did not set a timetable for
Ukraine to join the bloc, but the
G7 countries pledged to provide
Ukraine with long-term secu-
rity support.
Berlin did not release any de-
tails, but Germany is also nego-
tiating a security agreement
with Kyiv. The UK and Ukraine
signed a bilateral security
agreement in January, and
Kyiv is in talks with other
countries.
Such security deals may in-
clude the provision of modern
military equipment and the
training of Ukrainian soldiers.
Zelenskyy’s office also said the
Ukrainian leader would ad-
dress the Munich Security Con-
ference on Saturday, where he
will also hold talks with US
Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Zelenskyy was also set to
hold meetings with the leaders
secretary gen as PM candidate
of the Czech Republic, Den-
mark, and the Netherlands. ISLAMABAD of the Pakistan Muslim and in a separate post in Urdu.
Since Russia’s invasion of League-N (PML-N) from “Our first priority as a group
Ukraine in 2022, France has THE prime ministerial candi- H a r i p u r i n K hy b e r P a - will be to have Prime Minister
been one of Kyiv’s top support- date nominated by jailed former khtunkhwa province. Imran Khan sahib, Vice Chair-
ers. Macron said in January prime minister Imran Khan’s “I am truly humbled man Makhdoom Shah
that he planned to visit Ukraine party on Thursday declared to have been nominat- Mahmood Qureishi sa-
in February, but his team did that his first priority would be ed for contesting the hib, President Chaudhry
not provide further details. to get Khan and other party position of Prime Min- Pervez Ellahi sahib and
Macron has pushed France’s leaders out of jail. ister by Prime Minis- all our women and men
defence industry to switch to Umar Ayub Khan, 54, who is ter Imran Khan sahib. political prisoners re-
“war economy” mode and ramp the party secretary general, is I will try my utmost to leased from Jail immedi-
up production. the grandson of former mili- come up to the expecta- ately,” he added.
In January, the French presi- tary dictator Ayub Khan. tions of Prime Minis- Due to the fractured
dent called on European coun- He had joined Pakistan Te- ter Imran Khan sahib, PTI mandate with none of the par-
tries to prepare to back Ukraine hreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) before the members and the people of Pa- ties getting a clear majority, Pa-
in case Washington decided to 2018 general elections after los- kistan,” he posted on his offi- kistan is yet to get a new gov-
pull the plug on aid. AFP ing the 2013 polls as a candidate cial X handle, both in English ernment. PTI

Greek parliament to vote on GOVERNMENT OF ODISHA

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER, P.H. DIVISION, BALANGIR.
Government of Odisha
Office of the Chief Construction Engineer

legalising same-sex marriage

ATHENS
GREECE’S parliament is
to vote on Thursday to le-
galise same-sex civil mar-
riage in a first for an Or-
thodox Christian country
and despite opposition
from the influential Greek
Church.
As lawmakers debated
the bill for a second day,
opinion polls suggest that
most Greeks support the
proposed reform by a nar-
row margin. The issue has
failed to trigger deep divi-
sions in a country more
worried about the high cost
of living.
The landmark bill draft-
ed by Prime Minister Kyri-
akos Mitsotakis centre-
right government is backed
by four left-wing parties, in-
cluding the main opposi-
tion Syriza.
That would secure it a
comfortable majority in the
300-seat parliament. Sever-
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks during a debate in
parliament on same-sex marriage in Athens, Greece | AP
al majority and left-wing
lawmakers are expected to
abstain or vote against the
reform — but not enough to
kill the bill. Three small
far-right parties and the
Soviet-inspired Communist
Party have rejected the
draft law. Supporters and
opponents of the bill have
announced plans to hold
separate gatherings out-
side parliament.
“People who have been
invisible will finally be
made visible around us.
Email. ID -eephbgr@yahoo.co.in, Ph. No - (06652 - 234647) Rural Works Circle, Angul
NATIONAL COMPETITIVE BIDDING THROUGH e-Procurement
E-Mail - sencrwangul@yahoo.co.in, Ph: 06764 - 236404
C- Invitation for Bid (IFB) Dtd.09.02.2024 O- Short Tender Call Notice for Building work in Odisha
Sl. Name of Work Bid Identifi- Esti- Class of Pe- Availability of Bid No. 464 // Bid Identification No. Building Online AGL- 46/2023-24 Dt. 9.2.2024 //
No. cation No. mated Contrac- riod of Document for Online 1. Name of the work : Building work
Cost (Rs. tor Com- Bidding 2. Total No. of work : 1 No.
in Lakh) pletion 3. Estimated cost : Rs.105.51 Lakh Approx.
Supply of lSI Marked DI K7 and K 9 pipes SE PH BGR 4. Class of Contractor : ‘B’, ‘A’ Class
5. Period of completion : 12(Twelve) Calendar Months
in connection with the work Augmenta- 13/2023-24 Manu-
1.
tion of water supply system along with Dt.
303.78
facturer
1 Month 14.02.2024 28.02.2024 6. Other details :
ancillary work for Binika Town. 09.02.2024
Procurement Officer Bid Identifica- Available of Tender on- Last Date & Time Date & time of opening of
Name & Adress of Officer Inviting Bid: The Superintending Engineer, Office Of The Superintending tion No. line for bidding of seeking tender tender
Engineer, Public Health Division, Balangir, At-Tulasinagar, PO/Dist-Balangir, Pin-767001, Odisha, From To clarification Technical Bid Financial Bid
Phone:-06652-234647, E-mail:-eephbgr@yahoo.co.in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Chief Construction Building 17.02.24 at 23.02.24 up 22.02.24 up to 23.02.24 at Will be
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Engineer, Rural Works Online AGl- 10.00 A.M to 4.30 P.M 1.00 P.M 5.00 P.M intimated
regularly visit the above website to keep themselves updates. Circle, Angul 46/2023-24 separately
Sd/- Superintending Engineer (1) For detailed Notice inviting Tenders, Please visit to the website www.tendersorissa.gov.in
OIPR- 13005/11/0017/2324 P.H. Division, Balangir OIPR-25180/11/0068/2324 Sd/- Chief Construction Engineer, Rural Works Circle, Angul
And with them, many chil-
dren (will) finally find their
rightful place,” Prime Min-
ister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
told lawmakers ahead of
the vote. “Both parents of
same-sex couples do not yet
have the same legal oppor-
tunities to provide their
children with what they
need,” he added. “To be
able to pick them up from
school, to be able to travel,
to go to the doctor, or take
them to the hospital. ... That
is what we are fixing.” AP

Cillian’s Small Things Like �����������

These to open Berlinale PUBLIC NOTICE

CHANGE OF NAME
BERLIN I, M.H. MAGESH,
son of Thiru. C.R. Hariharan,
The Berlin’s International Film Festival will open on born on 6th August 1978,
Thursday with the world premiere Oscar nominee Cillian (native district : Chennai),
Murphy’s latest movie Small Things Like These, a drama residing at Old No. 3,
about Ireland’s notorious laundries used as prison camps New No. 141,
for “fallen” young women.
Krishna Homes,
The movie, based on the bestselling novel by Claire
Foundry Road, Thoraipakkam,
Keegan and co-starring Michelle Fairley (Game of
Thrones) and Emily Watson (Chernobyl), is one of 20 pic- Chennai-600 097,
tures vying for the festival’s Golden Bear top prize. shall henceforth be known as
Kenyan-Mexican actor Lupita Nyong’o is serving as the M.H. MAHESH
first black jury president at the event known as the Berli- M.H. Magesh
Chennai, 25th October 2017
nale, which is now in its 74th year.
With the plight of Iran’s women, the Gaza war and the CHANGE OF NAME
resurgent far right expected to touch off debate and pos-
I, K. EASWARI alias
siblly protests during the event, Nyong’o said she was look-
ing forward to a challenging festival. EASWARIPRAKASH
“I think what we’re here to do is to see how artists are Wife of Thiru. D. Prakasam,
responding to the world we are living in right now,” she born on 15th November 1978,
told reporters. “I’m curious to see what they’re making of (District of Birth : Chennai),
it.” The 11-day cinema showcase has the strongest political residing at No. 3A,
bent of Europe’s big three festivals and serves as a key Ananda Nikethan, 1319,
launchpad for films from around the world. 18th Main Road, Anna Nagar,
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Roxborough said the Chennai-600 040,
Berlinale’s outgoing director duo, Mariette Rissenbeek shall henceforth be known as
and Carlo Chatrian, had been dealt a “difficult hand” with EASWARIPRAKASAM
the pandemic casting a long shadow. AFP K. Easwari alias Easwariprakash
Chennai, 22nd September 2023

12 CHENNAI
India Inc may use cash,
trusts for political funding
Trusts better than Electoral Bonds in curbing use of black money: SC
D I PA K M O N DA L @ New Delhi
WITH the Supreme Court
scrapping the Electoral Bond
scheme, focus now shifts to the
alternative mode of election
funding by India Inc. Experts
say election funding would go
back to the pre-2017 era when
political donations were made
either in cash or through the
Electoral Trust Scheme 2013.
Even the Supreme Court in
its judgement says Electoral
Trusts are better than Electoral
Bonds in curbing use of black
money or protecting the donors
from ‘political consequences’.
The Electoral Trust scheme
was launched in 2013 by the
Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT). An Electoral Trust is
formed only for collecting po-
litical contributions from do-
nors. More than one individual
or company can contribute to
electoral trust, which can then
donate to more than one party.
However, the information about
individuals or companies con-
tributed to which political par-
ties is not disclosed.
Under the scheme, the politi-
cal party receiving the dona-
Vedanta promoter sells Jan exports hit 3-month high at $36.92 bn, up 3.12%
stake worth `1,737 cr amid
GQG investment rumours
E N S E CO N O M I C B U R E AU @ New Delhi
AMID speculations that US-
based boutique investment
firm GQG Partners is in talks
to buy a $1 billion stake in debt-
laden Vedanta, Finsider Inter-
national Co, a promoter com-
pany of Vedanta, sold a 1.76%
stake for nearly `1,737.2 crore
via an open market transac-
tion on Thursday.
However, it was not immedi-
ately known to whom the
shares were sold.
Earlier exchanged data
showed that about 3% equity
of the mining company worth
`2,600 crore changed hands on
Thursday.
Finsider, which held a 4.4%
stake in the mining company,
sold 6.55 crore shares at `265.14
apiece, BSE data showed. This
is a 5.2% discount to Vedanta
Ltd’s closing price on Wednes-
day. The stock closed 4.2% low-
er at `267.95 on Thursday.
UK-based Vedanta Resourc-
es held a 63.72% stake in
Vedanta Ltd through its six
subsidiaries as of December
31, 2023, showed BSE data.
The stake sale by Vedanta
comes at a time when the Anil
Agarwal-led company is tak-
ing big measures to trim down
its debt which has ballooned to
alar ming levels in recent
years. At the end of December
quarter, Vedanta’s consolidat-
ed net debt stood at `62,493
crore ($7.5 billion). The pro-
Dixon Tech to ramp up smartphone
mfg, plans `400 crore capex in FY25
E N S E CO N O M I C B U R E AU @ Chennai
NOIDA-based contract elec-
tronics manufacturer Dixon
technologies India Limited
plans to ramp up its capacity on
the back of strong order book
from the existing customers
and new pipeline orders from
major global brands.
The company has
bagged smartphone
contracts from two ma-
jor brands. T hese
brands are among the
‘largest in the world’
and the production is ex-
pected to commence in the next
five months. “Agreements with
both the customers are in the
final stages of closure, and we
expect very decent volumes
from these two new custom-
Agreements with both the customers are in the final stages
of closure, and we expect very decent volumes from these
two new customers
Atul Lall, managing director, Dixon technologies India Limited
FRIDAY
tion must issue a receipt. Other
details like the party’s PAN,
registration number and name
and designation of the person
signing the receipt should also
be made available to the donor.
Under the Electoral Trust
Scheme, voters/parties would
know the name of the donors
(who make donations over
`20,000) but not the parties they
donated to. While in the case of
Electoral Bonds, the names of
those donating through elec-
toral bonds are not required to
be revealed, no matter how
large the sum is.
Bharti-backed Prudent Elec-
toral Trust is the biggest Elec-
toral Trust and has made 88%
of the total donations made in
the past 10 years. In the 10 year
to 2022-23, donations to the tune
of `2,560 crore were made
through Electoral Trusts, while
over `9,000 crore in political do-
nations were made through
electoral bonds from 2017-18 to
After the launch of Electoral Bonds, even loss-making
companies making political donations. This may also change
after the SC verdict — Virag Gupta, Supreme Court lawyer
moter of the come has been
servicing its debt through refi-
nancing and dividends receipts
from the highly profitable In-
dian subsidiary. Chairman
Anil Agarwal had also an-
nounced plans was to split the
company into six entities.
GQG, led by Rajiv Jain, was
the first strategic investor in
Adani group in the aftermath
of Hindenburg Research.
Despite Vedanta’s efforts
and Agarwal’s assurance that
the company would meet its
debt obligations, S&P Global
Ratings had recently down-
graded the rating of Vedanta
Resources’ long-term issuer
credit rating and long-term is-
sue ratings on the company’s
bonds due January 2024, Au-
gust 2024, and March 2025 to
‘CC’ from ‘CCC’. S&P Global
also expressed concerns about
the “likelihood of a conven-
tional default”.
ers,” said Atul Lall, managing
director of the company, in a
recent earnings call. He said
the company produced 11 mil-
lion smartphones until the end
of December 2023.
It’s currently building a ca-
pacity of 30 million smart-
phones across three of its four
plants in Noida. Addition-
ally, the company is
building an 860,000 sq.ft.
factory in Noida, which
would take nearly 2.5
years to complete. . The
company is also increas-
ing the volume for manu-
facturing Xiaomi and Motorola,
including for export markets
for the latter. Lall asserted that
Dixon would be the largest
phone manufacturer in the
country and the mobile seg-
16 02 2024
� �
2021-22. According to Supreme
Court Lawyer Virag Gupta, the
political donation scene would
go back to the pre-2017 regime,
but with some changes.
“After the launch of Electoral
Bonds, the government had re-
moved the cap that barred com-
panies from donating more than
7.5% of their average net profit
to a political party. This led to
even loss-making companies
making political donations.
This may also change after the
SC verdict,” says Virag Gupta.
Former chairman of IBBI,
ex-member CCI and Sebi, MS
Sahoo, says that political par-
ties could also get registered as
social enterprises, and raise
money by making public issues
of zero principal zero coupon
bonds, which could be listed on
social stock exchanges. How-
ever, he says political parties
would be subjected to regula-
tory discipline associated with
listing of securities.
M O N I K A YA DAV @ New Delhi
THE country’s exports hit a
three-month high at $36.92 bil-
lion, a 3.12% rise, in January,
with the trade deficit narrow-
ing to a nine-month low of
$17.49 billion, the commerce
ministry data showed.
Following two consecutive
months of negative growth, im-
ports rose by nearly 3% to $54.41
billion in January. “Despite the
India, UK free trade agreement talks BSNL delays 4G launch
in advanced stage: Commerce secretary to December 2024; union
M O N I K A YA DAV @ New Delhi
NEGOTIATIONS between In-
dia and the United Kingdom for
the proposed free trade agree-
ment are at an advanced stage,
Commerce Secretary Sunil
Barthwal said Thursday add-
ing that the deliberations are
taking time as India wants to
protect its interest.
“India should commercially
gain out of it and we should be
able to safeguard the interest
of our farmers, production
linked incentive scheme goods.
So, we are there to see the
deal is a fair deal,”
Barhtwal said briefing
the media. Barthwal re-
fused to put a timeline
for the conclusion of
trade talks between
both the countries.
Notably, the 14th
round of talks
between India
ment would be the largest con-
tributor to the growth. “Out-
sourcing opportunities in
mobile out of 150-odd million
mobile smartphones sold in In-
dia is almost 85 million to 90
million. And we feel that in a
couple of years, we should at
least be at 35%, 40% of that
market. So it’s going to be a very
large revenue contributor.”
Dixon Technologies posted an
operating profit of `104 crore,
215% growth year-on-year with
an operating profit margin of
3.2%, and its mobile segment
revenue grew 14% in the quar-
ter. The capex of the manufac-
turer stood around `440 crore in
the current fiscal and plans to
spend about `400 crore in the
next year. It got selected under
the production linked incentive
(PLI 2.0) on the domestic hybrid
category and has committed a
capex of `250 crore. It plans to
begin the production of note-
books, laptops under new con-
tracts in August, September.
Market
Watch
POLL FUNDING
IN FOCUS
1 Electoral Trust scheme was
launched in 2013 by the Central
Board of Direct Taxes for collecting
political contributions from donors.
Focus turns to it as SC termed
Electoral Bonds unconstitutional
2 More than one individual or
company can contribute to
electoral trust, which can then
donate to more than one party for
electoral funding
3
Experts say election funding
would go back to the pre-2017
era when political donations were
made either in cash or through the
Electoral Trust Scheme 2013
4
Under the Electoral Trust
Scheme, voters/parties would
know the name of the donors (who
make donations over `20,000) but
not the parties they donated to. In
the case of Electoral Bonds, names
of donator are not required to
be revealed
Red Sea crisis, recession in
economies of advanced coun-
tries, and falling commodity
prices, India has recorded posi-
tive growth in merchandise ex-
ports in January,” Commerce
secretary Sunil Barthwal said
while briefing the media.
Barthwal expressed initial
concerns about potential export
declines stemming from the
Red Sea crisis. However, he
mentioned that export growth
proposes to use Vi network
and UK began started on Janu-
ary 10 this year. Meanwhile,
commerce ministry officials
said the seventh round of talks
on India- European Union FTA
would take place next week in
Delhi from February 19 to 23.
In addition, with regard to
India-Pacific Economic Frame-
work for Prosperity (IPEF),
Rajesh Agrawal, Additional Sec-
retary in the commerce minis-
try mentioned that the process
of reviewing and refining the
text related to clean and fair
economy agreements is cur-
rently in progress.
The supply chain resil-
ience pact is set to be en-
forced starting February
24 this year.
Besides this, India and
Peru are also in talks for a
trade agreement and
the next round of
negotiations is ex-
pected to take
HCLTech makes 3-day week
work from office compulsory for
employees starting February 19
E N S E CO N O M I C B U R E AU @ Bengaluru
AFTER TCS, Wipro and Infosys,
now HCLTech has made work
from the office compulsory for
all its employees starting Febru-
ary 19. Though the company has
been asking its employees to
work thrice a week from the of-
fice, in a recent email, it told
employees that those who
do not follow the direc-
tive will face discipli-
nary action.
“All DFS (Digital
Foundation Services)
employees, irrespective
of their band (E0 and above),
will be required to work from
their designated HCLTech of-
fices for a minimum of three
days a week,” Vikas Sharma,
global head-people function
DFS , HCLTech said in an email
to employees on Wednesday.
An employee of HCLTech re-
questing anonymity said report-
ing managers have been asked
to ensure that employees man-
227.55
MARKET
Sensex 72,050.38
70.70 Nifty 21,910.75 H100
Card network asked
to stop unauthorised
payments by users
E N S E CO N O M I C B U R E AU @ New Delhi
WITHOUT specifying the name,
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
on Thursday asked a card net-
work to keep arrangements
without legal sanction under
abeyance. The central bank
clarified it has not placed any
restriction on normal usage of
business credit cards.
It said a card network had an
arrangement that enables busi-
nesses to make card payments
through certain intermediaries,
to entities that do not accept
card payments. The intermedi-
ary accepts card payments from
corporates for their commercial
payments and then remits the
funds via IMPS/RTGS/NEFT to
non-card accepting recipients.
“On closer scrutiny, it was
observed that this arrangement
qualified as a payment system.
Under the provisions of Pay-
ment and Settlement Systems
(PSS) Act, 2007, such payment
system requires authorisation
under Section 4 of PSS Act,
which has not been obtained in
the instant case. The activity
was, therefore, without legal
sanction,” the RBI said.
was sustained, partly due to col-
laborative efforts led by the
commerce department and oth-
er ministries to assist exporters
in maneuvering through the
challenging circumstances.
Crude oil imports saw a 4.33%
rise to nearly $16.56 billion,
whereas gold imports surged by
about 174% to reach $1.9 billion
in January. In addition, from
April to January this financial
year, exports decreased by 4.89%
7th round of talks on
India-EU FTA next week
Commerce ministry officials said
the seventh round of talks on
India- European Union FTA would
take place next week in Delhi
from February 19 to 23. In
addition, with regard to India-
Pacific Economic Framework for
Prosperity (IPEF), Rajesh Agrawal,
Additional Secretary in the
commerce ministry mentioned
that the process of reviewing and
refining the text related to clean
and fair economy agreements is
currently in progress
place from April. “The sixth
round of India -Peru negotia-
tions for a Trade Agreement
was held from February 12 to
14, 2024, in Lima, Peru, to con-
tinue the work that started in
2017 when the negotiation proc-
ess was formally announced,”
commerce ministry said.
datorily work from office thrice
a week as many employees were
not following earlier directives.
HCLTech in the third quarter
posted a 6.2% y-o-y increase in
consolidated net profit at Rs
4,350 crore. Its revenue for the
quarter stood at Rs 28,446 crore,
up 6.5% y-o-y. The company
won 18 large deals- six in
services and 12 in soft-
ware- in the third quar-
ter. Its new deal win
during the quarter
stood at $1,927 million.
All IT firms are mak-
ing sure their employees
work from office three days a
week. Last week, Tata Consul-
tancy Services asked its em-
ployees working from home to
return to office by March end.
It has reportedly said this is the
final communication and all
employees should work from
the office. In October last year,
TCS made it mandatory for its
employees to WFO for all five
days in a week.
H90
GOLD
24 carat (10 gm) H62,220 H500
SILVER
Per kg H74,500
FOREX
Dollar 83.07
22 carat (10 gm) H57,050 H5 10 gm H745 Euro 89.26
newindianexpress com
Axis Bank made
undue gains, says
plea filed in HC
E N S E CO N O M I C B U R E AU @ New Delhi
FORMER Member of Parlia-
ment and BJP leader Dr Subra-
manian Swamy has filed a writ
petition in the Delhi High Court
alleging Axis Bank committing
a scam of `5,100 crore by mak-
ing undue gains by way of
transactions in shares of Max
Life Insurance.
It said the payment mecha- Swamy in his petition has al-
nism raised other concerns too. leged Max Life and Max Finan-
The intermediary pooled a large cial Services allowed the bank
amount of funds into an ac- and its group companies (Axis
count, which is not a designated Securities and Axis Capital) to
account under PSS Act. make undue profits/gains from
Earlier, it was reported that sale/purchase of equity shares
the RBI asked Visa and Master- in a non-transparent manner in
card to stop card-based com- violation of the Insurance Reg-
mercial payments made by ulatory and Development Au-
small and large businesses due thority of India (IRDAI) rules.
to concerns over KYC compli- As per the petition, Axis
ance. Agencies reported that Bank bought 12.002% stake in
Visa has acknowledged they Maxlife at `31.51/`32.12 per
have received a communication share at a consideration of 736
from the RBI in what appears to crore, which is evidently below
be an industry-wide request for the fair market value. As per
information on the role of busi- the petition, Axis Bank using
ness payment solution provid- its dual relationship as share-
ers (BPSPs) in commercial and holder and corporate agent of
business payments. Ankit Ra- Max Life gained substantially
tan, CEO & co-founder at Signzy, from the transactions.
said such regulatory hurdles The petition was listed on
can be avoided by adhering to Thursday before the Bench of
the regulator’s rules and guide- Acting Chief Justice Manmo-
lines through innovative KYC han and Justice Manmeet Pri-
solutions. tam Singh Arora. Senior Advo-
cate Rajshekhar Rao appeared
on behalf of Dr Swamy.
In an exchange filing, Axis
Bank said a public interest writ
petition has been filed by Dr
Swamy against Union of India,
to $351.92 billion, while imports Axis Bank, Axis Securities,
also declined by 6.71% to $561.12 Axis Capital and others before
billion on a cumulative basis. the HC in connection with the
In January, core exports rose sale/purchase of shares of Max
by 2.5% to $26.12 billion, while Life Insurance.
non-petroleum and non-gems “Axis Bank has obtained all
and jewellery imports fell by necessary regulatory approv-
5.18% to $33.72 billion. Services als in connection with these
exports also saw 17% growth, transactions. We will also take
with a rise to $32.8 billion in required steps to defend Axis
January, whereas services Bank against any unfounded
imports grew 8.3% to allegations,” the bank said in
$16.05 billion. the regulatory filing.
R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi The union suggested utilis-
ing the Vodafone Idea Limited
AS the state-owned telecom network because the govern-
service provider Bharat San- ment is the largest stakeholder
char Nigam Limited (BSNL) in the company. Currently, the
continues to delay its 4G Government of India holds a
launch, the company’s employ- 33.1% stake in Vodafone Idea
ees union (BSNLEU) has urged Limited (Vi) after the accrued
the government to temporarily interest towards the AGR ar-
utilise the network of rears of Vi was con-
Vodafone Idea Limited verted into equity in
(VIL) to provide 4G February 2023. UK’s
services to its Vodafone Plc and In-
customers. dia’s Aditya Birla
In a letter to telecom Group jointly own
minister Ashwini 50.4% of India’s third-
Vaishnaw, dated Febru- largest telecom
ary 13, 2024, the union operator.
said both Reliance Jio 4G LAUNCH Subsequently, the
and Bhar ti Air tel, BSNLEU requested
Jio and Airtel,
armed with 5G technol- that the government,
have started
ogy, have started poach- by utilising its status
poaching BSNL’s
ing BSNL’s customers. as the largest share-
customers. Delay
Therefore, the delay in holder in Vi, ensure
in BSNL’s 4G
BSNL’s 4G launch is se- that BSNL is allowed
launch is
riously affecting the to immediately pro-
affecting the
company’s financial vide 4G service to its
company’s
revival. customers by utilis-
financial revival,
“The ground reality ing the 4G network
says employees’
is that both Jio and of Vi.
union
Airtel, armed with the “This will only be
state-of-the-art 5G tech- a temporary meas-
nology, have started poaching ure, till BSNL’s 4G network is
BSNL’s customers. In this back- commissioned by TCS. …This
drop, the delay in BSNL’s 4G timely intervention, to be made
launching is seriously affecting by the Government of India,
the company’s financial reviv- will go in a big way to stop the
al, as envisaged under the re- massive exodus of BSNL’s cus-
vival packages offered by the tomers and also to ensure the
Government of India,” reads early revival of BSNL,” reads
the letter. the letter.
EXPRESS READ
Vibhor Steel Tubes IPO Coal India signs PPA
booked 300 times with Haryana
NEW DELHI: The initial share sale NEW DELHI: Coal India Limited
of steel pipes manufacturer (CIL), India’s largest coal
Vibhor Steel Tubes Ltd subscribed producer, signed a memorandum
nearly 300 times on the final day of understanding with Haryana
on Thursday, driven by Power Purchase Centre (HPPC)
overwhelming participation from on Thursday to supply 800 MW
institutional investors. The of power to it. The HPPC will
portion for non-institutional purchase 800 MW of power from
investors got subscribed by 721.34 Mahanadi Basin Power Ltd, a
times, while the quota for retail wholly owned subsidiary of
individual investors (RIIs) Mahanadi Coalfields Limited. CIL
received 188.17 times subscription. said the purpose is to formalise
The category for qualified and define the basic framework
institutional buyers (QIBs) of discussions for the power
attracted bids 178.73 times. ENS purchase agreement. ENS
 Rafael Nadal was forced to shelve his plans to return to action at next week’s
Nadal puts on hold next Qatar Open, admitting he is “not ready to compete”. The 37-year-old missed
most of last year with a hip injury sustained at the Australian Open before
week’s return plans making his comeback at last month’s Brisbane International. However, a small
muscle tear then forced him to pull out of this season’s first Grand Slam.

13 CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024

� � newindianexpress com

After a disastrous start, duo slams tons to power hosts to 326/5 at stumps on first day of third Test vs England Focus on strength
Two to tango: & conditioning as
Neeraj aims for Oly
Rohit, Jadeja
G O M E S H S @ Rajkot
I N D R A N E E L D A S @ Chennai

NESTLED in the Southern Hem-

World No 1 in javelin.
With the importance of the
season, Neeraj is working with
isphere, Potchefstroom with its one more person besides the
RAJAT Patidar is taking a long walk back. He had just tried to excellent training facilities, is coach and the physio — strength
play Tom Hartley off the backfoot but was caught in an awkward turning out to be an ideal venue and conditioning coach Spencer
position, with the ball taking a leading edge onto the hands of the for players to train when winter Mackay from the United King-
short cover fielder. Much like everyone else watching, captain and sweeps across the Northern dom. Mackay, who is the head of
non-striker Rohit Sharma, too, was bewildered. Everyone, includ- Hemisphere. Even for Neeraj strength and conditioning at In-
ing him, was waiting for the replay to find out if the ball had Chopra, who prefers to start his spire Institute of Sport, had
bounced extra or done a bit too much. training abroad after a well-de- worked with Neeraj earlier when
It hadn’t. From the replays, it seemed like Patidar was caught Rohit Sharma served post-season break in he had the elbow surgery in 2019.
in two minds whether or not to play on the front foot and went for around late November or early That’s when coach Klaus also
a half-hearted cut but stopped midway. It seemed like one of those December. started to train him more
times when the batter had a brain fade. Except, it came with a cost
Ravindra Jadeja The javelin Olympic and world regularly.
and disappointment. More so for Rohit than many. He had watched champ is primed for another Neeraj started his season at

Memorable debut for Sarfaraz in

Yashasvi Jaiswal hang his bat outside to nick Mark Wood. Shub- year of excellence culminating Doha DL last year but it remains
man Gill had also missed out against the same pacer. As Patidar with the big-ticket event at the to be seen if he would begin at
took the long walk back, India’s scorecard read 33/3 within the Paris Olympics in July-August. the same event this year too. Ac-
first hour after opting to bat first on good surface. He has to defend his Olympic ti- cording to his team, his training

front of teary-eyed father and wife

Understandably, instead of the two debutants — Sarfaraz Khan tle and with great earnestness, is going well and he is in
and Dhruv Jurel — Ravindra Jadeja, the home lad who has played he has got his fitness sorted good shape. In fact, re-
all his domestic cricket at this venue, walked in at No. 5. The pres- and has slowly started to cently the Sports
sure was on the two most experienced batters in the top seven. throw, lightly though. Authority of India
Rohit, in particular, was under the pump because he hadn’t G O M E S H S @ Rajkot The entire cricketing frater- is the case with fairytales and He has been training at (SAI), which has
crossed the 40-run mark in eight innings. However, he was no- nity was anxious to see how he dreams, it comes to an abrupt the South African cen- funded the 85-day
where near looking settled. In the very next over, Wood, who had SARFARAZ Khan and Dhruv would fare on his debut, and the end at times. On Thursday, Sar- tre since December training through
been running in with intent, rushing the Indian top-order with Jurel had just been handed 26-year-old did not disappoint. faraz, too, had first-hand experi- and will gradually in- Target Olympic
his pace and line, delivered a mean bouncer that hit Rohit on the their India Test caps. The two After waiting for four hours, ence of it as he got run out in a crease his light Podium Scheme
helmet grill. A few balls later, Rohit debutants for the third Test watching Rohit Sharma and mix-up when Jadeja was on 99. throwing sessions. (TOPS), posted a
tried to take on Hartely, but the ball against England in Rajkot were Ravindra Jadeja bat, he walked Although a disappointed Sar- Consistency has video of Neeraj
SCOREBOARD took an outside edge on its way to Joe understandably emotional pos- in the 64th with the scoreboard faraz had to take a long walk been one of Neeraj’s going through his
Root at the slips. As luck would have ing for a picture together. Sar- reading 237/4. He was welcomed back, it did not take long for greatest compan- training ritual
India 1st innings: Y Jaiswal
c Root b Wood 10, R Sharma
it, Root dropped him. Then he sur- faraz, meanwhile, couldn’t wait to Test cricket with a short- him to come to terms with it. He ions along with his where the empha-
c Stokes b Wood 131, S Gill c vived a DRS decision against James to finish the picture. pitched delivery from Mark had 62 runs next to his name in coach Klaus Bar- sis again was on
Foakes b Wood 0, R Patidar Anderson. Once he was told it was done, Wood. After a few balls of nerv- his first innings for India — a tonietz and physio Ishaan Mar- strength and conditioning.
c Duckett b Hartley 5, R That perhaps was the wake-up call Sarfaraz turned around and ousness and constant commu- dream he and his father mani- wah. Ever since his Olympic As of now, the plan is to enter
Jadeja batting 110, Sarfaraz Rohit needed. That’s when he started ran toward his father, Naushad nication with Jadeja, Sarfaraz fested, invested, and worked gold in 2021, he has hardly fal- into a few competitions before
run out 62, K Yadav batting playing with purpose. He defended Khan, and wife Romana Zahoor was in his zone. It started with hard for. tered. Despite injury, the 26-year- the Olympics. He is looking to
1; Extras (1b, 3lb, 2nb, 1w): and defended with conviction against who were watching a life-long To understand what the expe- old had had an exceptional sea- stay injury-free so that he re-
7; Total (in 86 overs) 326 Hartley and took on the spinner only dream unfold in front of them. rience meant to him, all one son last year. The Tokyo Games mains in the best shape possible
for 5; FoW: 1-22, 2-24, 3-33, when there was a bad delivery. Against Naushad teared up embracing needs to do is watch and listen champion had to pull out of the ahead of Paris. Neeraj will fin-
4-237, 5-314; Bowling: J
Anderson, too, Rohit was happy to de- his 26-year-old son, and so did to Sarfaraz. He walked into the FBK Games after the Doha Dia- ish his three-month training in
Anderson 19-5-51-0, Mark
fend. He knew Jadeja was at the other Zahoor. Sarfaraz handed his press conference room with his mond League last year and made South Africa in February and by
Wood 17-2-69-3, T Hartley
23-3-81-1, J Root 13-1-68-0,
end, who was comfortable at rotating Test cap to Naushad as the India cap on, and kept it next to a comeback at Lausanne DL in March he is set to move base to
R Ahmed 14-0-53-0. strike, and all he had to do was pick proud father kissed the cap and him, swelling with pride. To say late June where he won the Turkey. Even earlier, he had been
the right balls to play his shots. his emotional son. All three that the moment was his fa- event. Then at the Budapest training at Gloria Sports Arena
To put things into context, there was were living a moment they had ther’s as much as Sarfaraz’s World Athletics Championships in Antalya. From Turkey, he
a phase where between overs 24.4 and 30.2, Rohit did not add a run been waiting for years now. would not be an understate- in August, he reigned supreme would most likely shift base to
to his name. Jadeja was ticking the scoreboard along with a nudge From the time he broke ment. As a coach, Naushad has and ended the season with the somewhere close to Paris for his
here and a cut there. Out of nowhere, Rohit would launch Hartley Sachin Tendulkar’s record in made Sarfaraz an India crick- Asian Games gold in Hangzhou. final preparation. But the venue
into the sightscreen to the joy of a sizeable crowd watching from Harris Shield, he had been eter and his other son Musheer The 90m mark may have eluded has not been decided as yet.
the stands of the Niranjan Shah Stadium and then go back to anointed as the next big thing. was a top batter for the India him last year, but he is still the Full story: newindianexpress.com
defending on the front foot. Once he went into the 90s, Rohit was And yet, the journey to this mo- India’s Sarfaraz Khan embraces his U19 team in the recent World
happy to defend and nudge until the tea break. When the moment ment hasn’t been easy. Despite father Naushad Khan on Thursday | PTI Cup. Which is why, when Sar-
came — Rehan Ahmed gave room and width — he cut the spinner working several hours every faraz says, “It was the proudest EXPRESS READ
and trudged for a two, getting to his eleventh Test century and single day with Naushad, who a late cut of Rehan Ahmed, and moment of my life,” you know
becoming the oldest Indian captain to do so. It was not an inning was also his coach, and piling then a few slog sweeps off Joe he is not exaggerating. “I was Indian men lose 2-3 to China in BATC
of dominance as it is often the case with Rohit at home, but the on runs everywhere he went, Root before he stepped out to six years old when he (Naush- SHAH ALAM (MALAYSIA): The Indian men’s team suffered a 2-3 loss to
one of grit. His modest bat rise celebration summed it up. including for Mumbai in the launch Tom Hartley into the ad) started my cricket. It was China in the Badminton Asia Team Championships group tie here on
What helped Rohit was having someone like Jadeja at the other Ranji Trophy, the wait to move sight screen. From thereon, my dream to play for the Indian Thursday. Star shuttlers HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen won their singles
end. Jadeja, on the eve of the match, had said that it is a hard pitch up the ranks kept getting long- there was just no stopping him team in front of him. He was matches but China fought back with wins in the two doubles contests
and one can expect a lot of runs on the first two days. He knew er. He had two 900-plus Ranji as he raced to a 48-ball 50, rais- not ready to come but some peo- to make it 2-2. National champion Chirag Sen then lost 15-21, 16-21 to
what was expected of him. Unless it was a full toss or overpitched seasons and followed it up with ing his bat aloft in the direction ple insisted that he goes there, Wang Zheng Xing in the fifth match as India conceded the tie.
or a short delivery there to hit, Jadeja had no intention of taking another stellar one last year, of the dressing room. obviously, he had to come over
any undue risk. He was tested by both Wood and Anderson but but the frustrating wait contin- When he was batting in the since he worked so hard only
survived and kept the scoreboard moving as much as he could. It ued. Eventually, when KL Ra- middle, it seemed like he was in for this day. He was very emo- Vivekananda College claim top prize
was the kind of innings that one would just watch him stay put hul was ruled out of the Visa- a hurry. That he just wanted to tional as I took the cap in front
at the crease and before you knew he would have 40 next to his khapatnam, the Mumbaikar bat, bat, and bat, score as many of him and so was my wife. I felt CHENNAI: AB Dhiyash unbeaten 82 paved the way for Vivekananda
name. Then the fifty came along, after which he opened up a little, earned his maiden India call- runs, as soon as realistically as if some pressure was off my College to beat Guru Nanak College by seven wickets in the final of the
and played a few more shots, taking on the bouncers from Wood. up. In Rajkot, the dream Sar- possible. In the context of the shoulders given the hard work TNCA inter-collegiate cricket tournament played at the MA
With Sarfaraz taking to Test cricket like fish to water — he faraz and his father had mani- game, it seemed like India he had put in on me, I did not Chidambaram stadium here. TJ Srinivasaraj, TNCA treasurer, distributed
smashed a fifty of just 48 balls — Jadeja had all the time in the fested came true — Test cap No. would finish Day One with a waste it,” he added. the trophies, special awards in the presence of S Sashikanth, Founder &
world to get his own hundred. Full story: newindianexpress.com 311, Sarfaraz Khan. score closer to 400. However, as Full story: newindianexpress.com Film Producer, YNOT Studios, the sponsor of this tournament. ENS

Ahmedabad, Bengaluru Nagal passes

make bright start in PVL
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Chennai
DEFENDING champions
Ahmedabad Defenders began
their Prime Volleyball League
campaign with a comprehen-
sive 15-10, 15-11, 15-12 win over
hosts Chennai Blitz at the Ja-
waharlal Nehru Indoor Stadi-
um here on Thursday. In anoth-
er match, Bengaluru Torpedoes
beat Kolkata Thunderbolts 16-
14, 14-16, 15-13, 15-10.
Thrilling win for Haryana
Shafali Verma’s 50 and Gulshan
Ali’s 45 not out paved the way
for Haryana to defeat Bengal by
two wickets in the semifinals
of the BCCI-Women U-23 one-
dayers here.
Brief scores: Semifinals: Uttarakhand 197 in
47.1 ovs (Raghvi Bist 91, Kanchan Parihar 49;
Archana Devi 3/47) lost to Uttar Pradesh
198/7 in 50 ovs (Nishi Kashyap 44, Sonali
Singh 73 n.o, Gaytri Arya 3/20); Bengal
ISL
201/8 in 50 ovs (Sasthi Mondal 36,
Dhara Gujjar 68, Hrishita Basu 27;
Amandeep Kaur 3/33) lost to Haryana
202/8 in 47.2 ovs (Shafali Verma 50, So-
nia Mendhiya 27, Gulshan Ali 45 n.o; Piyali
Ghosh 5/31).
Singams logo unveiled
The Indian Street Premier
League (ISPL) franchise Chen-
nai Singams unveiled their
logo for the highly-anticipated
inaugural edition of the league.
Rajdipkumar Gupta, Sandip-
kumar Gupta — promoters of
Route Mobile Ltd, and actor
Suriya Sivakumar are the co-
Action from the PVL match between
Ahmedabad & Chennai | D SAMPATHKUMAR
owners of Chennai Singams.
The logo with a roaring lion de-
picts the great strength and val-
our of Chennai. ISPL is sched-
uled to kick off from March 6 to
March 15 in Mumbai.
Ajay in lead
Ajay Santhosh Parvatha
Reddy is in sole lead with
three points after drawing
the game against IM Shyaam-
nikhil at the end of the fourth
round In the 18thTamil Nadu
IM Norm Closed Circuit chess
tour nament organised by
Tamil Nadu State Chess
Association, Coimbatore Dis-
trict Chess Association and Dr
Mahalingam College of Engi-
neering & Technology, Pollachi
at Bharat Ratna C Subramani-
am Hall, in MCET Campus,
Pollachi.
stern challenge
to enter last 8
A G E N C I E S @ Bengaluru
SUMIT Nagal was put through
his sternest test yet by Coleman
Wong but the second-seeded In-
dian had enough grunt in him
to fight past the Hong Kong
man to enter the quarterfinals
of the Bengaluru Open here.
Nagal won 6-2, 7-5.
But the begin-
ning belied the
struggles await-
ed Nagal in the
later stages of
the match.
Nagal contin-
ued the pattern
of earning an early break when
he went up 2-0 in the opening
set. But it was not all smooth
sailing as the 26-year-old had to
battle past from 0-30 down in
the very next game to hold his
serve. Nagal got another break
in the eighth game to bag the
first set 6-2.
Bayern blues, PSG on top
IMMOBILE SPOT ON
Italy forward Immobile slotted home the
decisive goal from the penalty spot in the
69th minute in Rome to pile pressure on
Bayern. The spot-kick was won by Gustav
Isaksen who was clattered by Dayot
Upamecano with a rash tackle which earned
the France defender a red card and left
Bayern a man down for the final 20 minutes.
24 Lazio have a chance of making their first
quarterfinal in Europe’s top competition in 24 years.
Oz show might as India’s late strategy goes in vain
S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N
@ Bhubaneswar
THERE is a certain mystique
when an immovable object takes
on an unstoppable force, espe-
cially in a team sport where
goals are the primary currency.
These matches essentially be-
come a game of cat and mouse.
One side wants control; another
puts verticality at the top of the
wish-list. In hockey, two of the
best men’s sides currently have
embraced these opposite ideolo-
gies. In the one corner, you have
Australia. High on energy, fast,
physical and utterly vertical. On
the other side, you have Bel-
gium. Methodical, recycling
possession and patient.
Historically, India have veered
towards the former. Chaos, for a
long time, has been their friend.
Graham Reid so thrillingly
channelised the madness to re-
turn with a bronze from the To-
kyo Games. These days, under
new management, they crave
calmness. Their coach, Craig
Bayern are in danger of early exit in the Champions League after losing 0-1 in
their first leg, Round of 16 clash against Lazio. A look at Wednesday’s matches...
BAYERN IN CRISIS
Bayern are a club in a
slump and a toothless
display in the Italian
capital in which they
didn’t have a single shot
on target will do nothing
to help embattled coach
Thomas Tuchel.
31
would their new ideology hold
up against Australia, a team
that had scored 43 times in their
last nine meetings against In-
dia? The South African coach
had definitely made the team
sturdier but this was going to be
a big test. It was also India’s first
match against the Olympic sil-
ver-medallists since Reid was
Action from the match between India shown the door a year ago.
and Australia | DEBADATTA MALLICK If the 60 minutes is anything
to go by, India’s desire to become
Fulton, wastes little time in re- an immovable object will re-
minding the team about defen- main a work-in-progress for the
sive patterns, the importance of time being. When the hooter cut
keeping the ball and building through the evening air, Aus-
play from the back. tralia had scored six, with three
It’s why their Pro League en- of those coming in a crazy six-
counter against Australia at the minute phase of play in the
Kalinga Stadium on Thursday fourth quarter. They were lead-
was filled with potential, prom- ing 4-3 with eight minutes left.
ise and lots of intrigue (that So, they tried to retain their
both teams are on the same shape, keep the ball and see out
group at the Olympics in Paris the match. Against most teams,
added a tiny bit of needle). this strategy may have worked.
Would India — whose own jour- Against an Australian side full
ney towards wanting to be an of veterans, it’s asking for trou-
‘immovable object’ is a work in ble. So, it proved to be as they
progress — hold fort? How scored three unanswered field
MBAPPE LIFTS PSG
In the other match in Paris, PSG took a
big step towards reaching the
quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over
Real Sociedad. Kylian Mbappe
broke the deadlock from close
range just before the hour
mark. Bradley Barcola doubled
the lead in the 70th minute.
Mbappe has scored 31 goals this season
in all competitions (four in the CL).
Wednesday’s results (Last 16, first legs): In Rome: Lazio (ITA) 1-0
Bayern Munich (GER); In Paris: PSG (FRA) 2-0 Real Sociedad (ESP).
goals (including one when the
goalkeeper was sacrificed for an
additional outfielder) to run out
6-4 winners. After the game, cap-
tain Harmanpreet Singh ruined
a lack of defensive stability for
the scoreline. Coach Fulton ech-
oed similar sentiments. “You
can’t concede six goals in a game,
as simple as that,” he said. Or
concede two within the opening
150 seconds. Before India got
hold of the ball to string a couple
of passes, they were trailing 0-2
courtesy Blake Govers.
After waving the Australian
players like they were an ambu-
lance carrying a very sick pa-
tient, the hosts got into the game
thanks to aerial balls that by-
passed the Australian press. For
the first goal, Hardik Singh,
very much the heartbeat for this
side when things go well, put in
a floated ball that was controlled
inside the ‘D’ by Sumit. Astray
tackle by Ky Willott resulted in
a penalty corner that was netted
by Harmanpreet Singh. 2-1.
Full story: newindianexpress.com
 Samsung
14
Galaxy S24 Ultra
CHENNAI FRIDAY 16 02 2024
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HOW TO
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai

Powerful
A
T least once, all of us
would have received

phone,
messages from our
friends and relatives

DETECT
warning about fake so-
cial media accounts

AI-driven,
created in their names
and the scammers seeking
money pretending to be people

& ESCAPE
but pricey
you know. We may have also
noted with shock how these im-
personators are stealing identi-
ties and creating Facebook,
Messenger or Instagram ac-
counts. Many of us are well R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi

IDENTITY THEFT S
aware of such frauds and know
how to steer clear of them, but AMSUNG launched its flagship Galaxy S24 smart-
not everyone is capable of es- phone series in January 2024 with a starting price of
caping deception. `1,29,999 for the 12GB/256GB variant. This time, the
As we live in the digital age, South Korean tech giant has incorporated many AI
there is always the threat of features including text and call translations. It is sup-
our personal information fall- plemented with a beautiful design made with a tita-

PLEASE SEND `500, IT’S URGENT!

ing into the wrong hands. Re- nium body, along with impressive display and camera fea-
ports by cybersecurity organi- tures. But is it worth buying? Let’s delve into the details:
zations show an increase in
incidents of identity theft in
DESIGN AND DISPLAY
the country. How do we deal In terms of design, Samsung has made changes by includ-
Go to the browser privacy settings and disable third- Even with precautions,
Some of important precautionary
measures you can take are

with this?
Identity theft
Cyber criminals use others’
passwords of bank and social
accounts, credit card details,
health data, Aadhaar card, PAN
card, driving licence and other
such personal information for
a variety of illegal activities.
Attackers may use this data for
stealing money, ordering goods
online, buying a SIM card in
your name and thereby escap-
ing from a criminal activity.
Using your sensitive infor-
mation such as health data can
allow criminals to claim your
health insurance or bad actors
to exploit the data. Children’s
personal information could
also be stolen.
Thieves may either directly
use the victim’s personal iden-
tifiable information or sell that
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Bengaluru
How can you be safe? party web crawlers that track you across websites; try using
privacy-centric browsers, and use ad-blocking extensions
The good old trick of not clicking on
unknown or suspicious links received Download apps only from official gateways like
through mail, SMS or WhatsApp; PlayStore or App Store or from trustable sources
ignore malicious pop-ups. Limit the ‘permissions’ for apps; allow only necessary
data for the app to function; avoid suspicious or
malicious apps
on the dark web. It leads to fi-
nancial loss, action from police Read the user terms before logging into a new
or reputation damage. website; check what kind of data they collect
Personal identifiable infor- Many social media apps have privacy features buried
mation is critical and has im- deep inside the settings, tap them
plications for threats in the fu-
ture, says Ritesh Chopra, Use two-factor authentication for important financial
accounts. Already, banks and financial services provide
director of sales in India re-
gion at Norton, a cybersecurity OTP and other authentications. Ensure you turn on
these even when it is optional
firm. He added that the threat
landscape has changed dramat- Use secure networks. If you want additional security, try
ically in recent years and a sim- using VPN; Try using cybersecurity applications for mobile.
ple antivirus is not enough.
Don’t share children’s or senior citizens’ identifiable
“We need have a combination
of awareness, VPN, safe brows- information
ing and technological offer- Don’t fall for too-good-to-be-true offers online. These
ings,” he said. are always scams masquerading as offers
ployees have now become es-
sential for enterprises and 51%
ing a titanium frame, similar to Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro mod-
sometimes it is els. This alteration has made the phone lighter and strong-
possible to fall prey to
er. Having used the S23 Ultra previously, we found the S24
identity thefts. Here
are some red flags Ultra to be less slippery in the hands with a robust build.
In terms of appearance, the S24 Ultra looks identical to its
Message/ mails/ predecessor. The IP68 certification and Corning Gorilla
calls about your credit/
Armor protection add durability to this phone.
debit card transaction
Now, let’s move on to the display segment. The phone
which you didn’t make
comes with a 6.8-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED display
When you stop boasting a 120Hz refresh rate and support for HDR10+. Its
receiving mails in your peak brightness reaches up to 2,600 nits, which means it
inbox or rejection of can be used even in bright sunlight without issues. This
loan applications feature truly impressed me. With these specifications, the
phone produces accurate colours and enhances users’
viewing experiences.
In case you are a
victim to identity AI FEATURES
theft, you can file a
The S24 Ultra comes with many AI features that make the
complaint at
phone even better. These include live translation during
cybercrime.gov.in
calls, Interpreter mode for translating text between lan-
or call the
guages in person, Circle to Search feature for easy searches
helpline no.
by ‘circling’ objects, Chat Assist to improve written mes-
1930 sage tone, Generative Edit for removing objects from pho-
tos, and Note Assist to summarise and translate notes.
PERFORMANCE
Given its price range, one would expect top-tier features
and hardware from a phone. And Samsung has not disap-
confidently adopt. pointed in this segment. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is
“Without the use of govern- powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and

M
say employees at their organi- ance tools, AI can expose com- Adreno 740 GPU. This means the phone can handle any task
any Indian companies sation are excited to work with panies to data privacy issues, without glitches, whether it’s heavy graphic gaming, daily
have started tapping new AI and automation tools. legal complications, and ethi- tasks, or launching multiple apps and switching between
artificial intelligence “The increase in AI adoption cal dilemmas–cases of which pages. We have not experienced any heating issues with the
(AI) to perform tasks and investments by Indian en- we have already seen plaguing phone during intensive usage.
that include customer terprises is a good indicator many across the world.”
self-service answers that they are already experi- Enterprises also face many
CAMERA AND BATTERY
and actions. Compared to other encing the benefits from AI. challenges for AI adoption and In the camera segment, Samsung hasn’t changed much
countries, many Indian compa- However, there is still a signifi- that includes hiring employees from its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. With-
nies have actively deployed AI. cant opportunity to accelerate with the right skill sets and out delving into more specifications, we can attest that it

impact on Indian workforce

A new research commissioned
by IBM has found that early
adopters are leading the way
with 74% of those Indian enter-
prises already working with
AI, having accelerated their in-
vestments in AI in the past 24
months in areas like R&D and
workforce reskilling.
Interestingly, among sur-
veyed organisations in India,
AI is already having an impact
on the workforce as companies
make use of AI to address la-
bour or skill shortages. About
63% say they are making use of
as many businesses are hesi-
tant to move beyond experi-
mentation and deploy AI at
scale,” said Sandip Patel, man-
AI to do things like reduce aging director, IBM India &
manual or repetitive tasks with South Asia.
automation tools and 56% use Data and AI governance tools
AI to improve recruiting and are going to be critical for
human resources. building AI models responsibly
Training or re-skilling em- that enterprises can trust and
ethical concerns, inhibiting
businesses from adopting AI
technologies into their
operations.
The survey reveals that IT
professionals are largely in
agreement that consumers are
more likely to choose services
from companies with transpar-
ent and ethical AI practices.
produces excellent shots with full details, sharpness, and
clarity in all lighting conditions.
OUR TAKE
Overall, we found the phone excelling in all segments, in-
cluding camera performance, battery life, design, display,
and AI features. However, the price is a bit high. So, you
may go for it if you can afford it. We would, however, advise
against upgrading S23 Ultra to S24 Ultra as nothing much
has changed in the upgraded version.
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