cmyk cmyk

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA

COIMBATORE I TUESDAY I 30 JANUARY 2024
deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle Vol. 14 No. 33 Established 1938 | 20 PAGES| `4.00

WEATHER
Max: 31 C O
Compete with yourselves, State explains IN TOP COURT

PM Modi advises students Jan. 22 events

Min: 20OC
Rainfall: Nill

ASTROGUIDE
Sobakrithu: Thai 16
Tithi: Panchami ■ Tells parents not to use marks as visiting cards New Delhi, Jan. 29: Out out of which 252 were
Star: Uthiram SHASHI BHUSHAN | DC ch off, pressure is gone. of the 288 permissions allowed,” the advocate
Rahukalam: NEW DELHI, JAN. 29 They should believe that sought to hold special said.
3 pm to 4.30 pm
Yamagandam: Advising parents not to
pressure keeps on build-
ing, and one has to prepare
prayers at temples in
Tamil Nadu on the day of
The top court's bench
asked Tiwari to file an
STALIN HAD A
9 am to 10.30 am
PRAYERS
treat their child’s report
card as their own visiting
card, Prime Minister Nare
oneself,” Mr Modi said.
The PM also highlighted
the role of teachers in mit-
the Ram temple consecra-
tion ceremony, 252 were
granted, the state govern-
affidavit giving details of
the permissions granted
and rejected within 15
SURPRISE IN
Fajar: 5.55 am
Zuhar: 1.00 am
ndra Modi on Monday
said it is crucial to instil
igating the impact of
added pressure from exter-
ment told the Supreme
Court on Monday.
days as well as on what
issues are pending before
THE SKIES
resili ence in children to nal factors upon the stu- The 'Pran Pratishtha' the two benches of the DC CORRESPONDENT
Asar: 4.00 pm help them cope with pres- dents. ceremony of the new idol Madras High Court. It list- CHENNAI, JAN 29
Maghrib: 6.14 pm sures and asserted that Mr Modi urged the stu- of Ram Lalla at the temple ed the matter for further
both parents and teachers dents, families and teach- in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodh- hearing after 15 days. Chief Minister M K Stalin,
Isha: 7.45 pm should collectively ers to collectively address ya was held on January Senior advocate Dama who reached Madrid on
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with students
Ban on SIMI extended address challenges faced
by students. during the ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha 2024’, in New Delhi,
the issue of external stress
while evolving the process
22. The occasion was cele-
brated across the country
Seshadri Naidu, appear-
ing for petitioner and
Monday to meet represen-
tatives of Spain’s industry
Monday. — PTI
for 5 years Interacting with stu-
dents, teachers and par- Modi gave key takeaways ing a healthy lifestyle.
rather than implementing
a systematic theory. He
with temples organising
special prayers and reli-
Tamil Nadu-resident
Vinoj, submitted that he
and trade bodies and also
honchos of industrial hous-
New Delhi: The Centre on ents during the seventh to children on how to deal “It is crucial to instil also suggested that the gious activities. would like to file a rejoin- es, had a surprise in the
Monday extended the ban on edition of “Pariksha Pe with exam stress and peer resilience in our children families of students should A bench of justices San- der affidavit. skies when he met tennis
terrorist group Students Islamic Charcha” held here at pressure and shared and help them cope with discuss different ways that jiv Khanna and Dipankar Justice Khanna said, legend Novak Djokovic on
Movement of India (SIMI) for Bharat Mandapam, Mr career tips and maintain- pressures. We cannot swit- work for each of them.■ P4 Datta was told by senior “Mr Naidu, it is not the flight and even had a
five years for its involvement in advocate Amit Anand required. Don't push fur- photograph taken with
fomenting terrorism and dis- Tiwari, appearing for the ther. It was a one-day him.
turbing peace and communal
harmony in the country.In a
post on 'X', Union Home
Minister Amit Shah said that
bolstering Prime Minister
ED lens on Lalu, Hooda, Soren
AMRESH SRIVASTAVA and senior Congress scam case in Patna . The Hooda over alleged irregu-
Tamil Nadu government,
that 36 permissions were
denied due to apprehen-
sions over law and order.
“The issue of denial of
event. The order that was
passed has played its
role.”
On Jan. 22, the top court
had asked authorities in
Besides uploading the
photograph of him with the
tennis player on X, Stalin
announced his arrival,
which marked his maiden
Narendra Modi's vision of zero WITH AGENCY INPUTS leader Bhupinder Singh agency also visited the res- larities in land acquisition permissions is already Tamil Nadu to act in visit to Europe as Chief
tolerance against terrorism, NEW DELHI, JAN 29 Hooda in a money laun- idence of Jharkhand chief at Manesar during 2004-07 pending before the accordance with the law Minister. He was received
SIMI has been declared an dering case related to a minister Hemant Soren with the alleged con- Madurai and the Madras and not based on any oral by the employees of the
'Unlawful Association' for a fur- In overdrive against the land deal while the agency here in connection with a nivance of senior govern- benches of the high court, instructions on “banning” Indian embassy in Madrid
ther period of five years under Opposition, the also questioned former separate case related to a ment functionaries and and therefore, this matter special prayers and live with the Indian ambas-
the Unlawful Activities Enforcement Directorate Bihar chief minister Lalu land fraud in the state. bureaucrats for over six be disposed of,” Tiwari telecast of the Ram temple sador to Spain, Dinesh K
Prevention Act (UAPA). on Monday grilled former Yadav in a PMLA case In the morning, the cen- hours. Earlier on January submitted. “We had consecration ceremony in Patnaik welcoming him
Haryana chief minister linked to the land-for-jobs tral agency quizzed Mr 17. ■ P4 received 288 applications, temples in the state. ■ P4 with bouquets. ■ P4
 CITY
DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024 | COIMBATORE
SHORT TAKES
HC nixes PIL to
name jallikattu
arena after
Pandya king
M. ARULOLI I DC
MADURAI, JAN. 29
A public interest litigation
(PIL) seeking direction to the
Tamil Nadu government to
name the newly-built jallikattu
arena at Keelakkarai near
Alanganallur in Madurai dis-
trict after the ancient Pandya
king Nedunchezhliyan was
dismissed by the Madurai
bench of the Madras high
court. Some cultural outfits
including the Tamilar Katchi
and Tamil Desiya Periyakkam
in Madurai had been making
this demand.
The PIL was filed by advocate
Theeran Thirumurugan, gen-
eral secretary of Tamilar
Katchi, on January 22. When
the petition came before the
court for hearing on Monday,
government pleader P.Tilak
Kumar argued that as the jal-
likattu arena had already been
officially named after former
chief minister M.
Karunanidhi and the jallikattu
was held, the PIL was not
maintainable. After hearing
the arguments, a division
bench comprising Justice
Krishnakumar and Justice
Vijayakumar dismissed the
PIL stating that the court
could not interfere in the
power of the state administra-
tion in naming a stadium.
NIB police seize
methaqualone
worth `23 cr
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
The Narcotics Intelligence
Bureau CID of the city has
seized 93 kilograms
methaqualone worth ` 23.25
crore and arrested two persons
in connection with the seizure.
of
Based on secret information,
the CID team arrested a man
Neelamegan (50) belonging to
Thiruvottiyur and seized 25
kilograms of methaqualone.
After further investigation,
the team also arrested
Samsudeen (33) and seized 68
kilograms of the dangerous
drug. The international value
of the contraband will be
multi-fold, a press release from
the DGP office here said.
Besides, 97 kilograms of a
white amorphous powder was
seized and the nature of the
powder would be known after
laboratory tests. The Narcotics
Intelligence Bureau are carry-
ing out further investigations
to unearth the entire network
of the drug peddling.
12K banned tobacco
packets
seized from
Kotagiri shop
B. RAVICHANDRAN I DC
OOTY, JAN.29
In a massive haul, the Nilgiris
police have seized over 12,000
packets of banned tobacco
products from a shop in
Kotagiri near here.
A district police office
release said its special branch
received information about
clandestine sale of banned
tobacco products in Kotagiri
market area. Following this, a
police team led by special sub-
inspector Vijayakumar raided
a particular shop and seized
over 12,000 packets including
over 8,000 pan masala packets
and 3,000 hans packets. The
seized banned tobacco prod-
ucts are worth around Rs 2.37
lakh. The police nabbed one
Jayasimman for stocking
banned tobacco products.
Vice-President
visits Nataraja temple
in Chidambaram
Chennai, Jan 29: Vice
President Jagdeep Dhankar on
Monday offered prayers at two
temples in Tamil Nadu, includ-
ing the famous Thillai
Natarajar shrine in
Chidambaram.
Chidambaram is located in
Cuddalore district.
"Blessed to have darshan and
offered prayers for the well-
being of all countrymen at
Thillai Nataraj Temple,
Chidambaram. May Lord
Nataraj continue to bless
Bharat with peace, prosperity
and happiness," a post on his
official 'X' handle said.
—PTI
South-bound buses from Madhavaram
for commuters in North Chennai
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
Transport minister S.S.
Sivasankar on Monday
said 80 per cent of the
buses belonging to the
Kumbakonam and
Villupuram transport cor-
porations would be shifted
to Kilambakkam mofussil
bus terminus and
20 per cent of them would
be operated from the
Madhavaram bus
terminus from January
30.
The Chennai Metropo
litan Development
Authority (CMDA)
released the schedule of
the Villupuram and
Kumbakonam transport
corporations to be operat-
ed from Madhavaram.
People living in Kolathur,
Tondiarpet, Red Hills,
Ambattur, Avadi,
Villivakkam, Perambur,
T h i r u v o t t i y u r,
Madhavaram, Ennore,
Vyasarpadi and
Washermenpet can easily
reach the Madhavaram
bus terminus which is
connected to the outer
ring road.
The buses will go
through the outer ring
road and reach the
Kilambakkam bus termi-
nus to pick up passengers.
The travel from
Madhavaram to
Kilambakkam in mofussil
buses will be quicker than
the MTC buses travelling
through the city.
Sivasankar, in a state-
ment here, said the buses
belonging to the
Villupuram transport cor-
Students of Asan Memorial College take part in safety awareness camp near CoP
office at Vepery organised by Vepery traffic police and Nehru Yuva Kendra.
Flight services to Hong Kong
and Mauritius to be resumed
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
The flight services from
Chennai to Hong Kong
and Mauritius which were
suspended due to Covid-19
pandemic will resume
after four years. The
Cathay Pacific Airlines
services to Hong Kong will
be started from the first
week of February and the
Air Mauritius will com-
mence operations from
Gold, money in woman
civic chief’s bank locker
N RAVIKUMAR &
P.A. JEBARAJ | DC
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
The.
Vigilance
Directorate
and
of
Anti-
Corruption (DVAC) wing
conducted searches in the
bank lockers of
Kundrathur municipality
commissioner Kumari
arrested on charges of tak-
ing bribes. They found Rs
33 lakh of unaccounted
money and 17 sovereigns
of gold jewels in the
searches in the three bank
lockers. Kundrathur
Municipal Commissioner
and two other staff of the
municipality were arrest-
ed for taking bribes to pro-
vide approval for a house
construction plan.
Searches were carried out
in the bank lockers belong-
ing to her and her hus-
band Yugamannan after
obtaining search warrants
from the Chief Judicial
Magistrate, Chenglepet.
Strict measures against
illegal omni bus ticket sales
OP ARULN | DC
CHENNAI | JAN 29 |
In response to numerous
complaints regarding the
unauthorized sale of omni
bus tickets at inflated
prices, Ansul Mishra,
member secretary of the
Chennai Metropolitan De
velopment Corporation,
issued a stern warning
against such illegal activi-
ties at Kalaignar
Centenary Bus Terminus
in Kilambakkam.
As of January 24, 2024,
the Kalaignar Centenary
Bus Terminus is fully
operational for south-
bound omni buses, with 77
poration will be allowed to
reach Tambaram during
the return journey to
Chennai. This will help
the passengers to use the
Tambaram railway station
to travel to their places.
All the State Express
Transport Corporation
(SETC) buses and the
omni buses are already
shifted to the
Kilambakkam terminus.
Explaining the mofussil
bus operations from
January 30, the minister
said 80 per cent of the
buses belonging to the
Kumbakonam and
Villupuram transport cor-
porations going to Salem,
April.
Many flight services
were suspended during
the Covid-19 pandemic
and they are being
resumed one after the
other. The number of
domestic and internation-
al services too are being
increased. A total of 400
services are being operat-
ed from Chennai airport
every day. Before the pan-
demic days, a total
of 501 services were oper-
Munusamy, belonging to
Perungudi, a retired police
inspector, wanted to con-
struct a house on his
vacant land
Kundrathur. He submitted
at
a house construction plan
to the municipality for
approval. But, he asked to
pay Rs. 36,000 for approval
of the construction plan.
After bargaining, the
amount was reduced to Rs.
24,000.Munusamy lodged a
complaint with the
Kanchipuram Directorate
of Vigilance and Anti-
Corruption. Following
their instruction, he gave
the money coated with a
chemical to an office assis-
tant at the Municipality.
When he received the
bribe, the DVAC police
who were hiding caught
him and arrested him on
January 11. They also
arrested the woman
municipal commissioner
Kumari (55) and another
staff member.
buses accommodated
across five dedicated plat-
forms. Additional provi-
sions include an idle
parking bay capable of
housing 250 omni buses,
ensuring seamless
operations and
convenience for passen-
gers.
Despite the facilities in
place, passengers have
reported instances of
unauthorized brokers
charging extra fees for
Omni Bus tickets, a clear
violation of established
rules. Acting on these
complaints, Ansul Mishra
directed an inspection
team, led by Chief Admi
80% of ordinary
mofussil buses via
Chengalpet to
operate from
Kilambakkam from
today
Villupuram, Kallakurichi,
K u m b a k o n a m ,
Puducherry, Polur, Ti
ruchi, Thiruvannamalai,
Vriddhachalam,
Cuddalore and Panrutti
through the Chennai-
Tiruchi national highway
would be operated from
Kilambakkam.
As people living in parts
of North Chennai are
complaining that
—N.Sampath
ated.
The Cathay Pacific
Airlines will resume the
flight services to Hong
Kong and operate the
flights for three days every
week. Air Mauritius will
operate the flights every
day.
The Hong Kong flights
are considered very
important for business-
men and it also provides
connectivity to Japan. The
resumption of the servic-
CUSTODIAL TORTURE
Provide copy of probe
committee report to victim: HC
M.ARULOLI./DC
Madurai, Jan 29: The
Madurai bench of the
Madras High Court
directed the state govern-
ment to provide a copy of
the report of the high-
level inquiry committee
in the Ambasamudram
police custodial torture
case to the torture victim
. T.Arun Kumar(27), a vic-
tim of the custodial tor-
ture case, in which the
then Ambasamudram
Assistant superintendent
of police, Balveer Singh
and 12 of his subordinate
officers were accused,
filed a petition in the
Madurai bench of the
Madras High Court seek-
ing copy of the report of
senior IAS officer,
P.Amudha headed high
level inquiry into the cus-
todial torture case. The
petitioner in his petition
adding the police led by
then ASP of
Ambasamudram, Balveer
Singh pulled out his teeth
nistrative Officer/District
Revenue Officer J.
Parthiaban, RTO
Tambaram Yuvaraj, and
police officials, to investi-
gate the issue.
During the inspection on
January 27, illegal ticket
bookings were confiscated
from unauthorized bro-
kers, who were subse-
quently warned and
released. In response to
these findings, a meeting
was convened with Omni
Bus Owners Association
representatives, who
emphasized that omni bus
tickets should only be
booked through author-
ized online platforms or
Kilambakkam is too far
from their places,
20 percent of the buses
belonging to the
Kumbakonam and
Villupuram transport cor-
porations going through
the Chennai-Tiruchy
national highway would
begin from the
Madhavaram bus termi-
nus, he said. These buses
going to Salem,
Villupuram, Kallakurichi,
K u m b a k o n a m ,
Puducherry, Polur, Ti
ruchi, Thiruvannamalai,
Vriddhachalam,
Cuddalore and Panrutti
will be operated through
the outer ring road and
Senthil Balaji wants to defer trial to
stall proceedings, ED tells court
Chennai, Jan 29: The ED
on Monday submitted
before a sessions court
here on Monday that
arrested Tamil Nadu min-
ister V Senthil Balaji had
sought deferring of the
trial in a money launder-
ing case "to stall further
proceedings."
Balaji had last week filed
the petition before the
court of the Principal
Sessions Judge (PSJ), sub-
mitting that the Special
Court for trial of criminal
offences against
MP/MLAs had not even
taken cognizance of the
alleged predicate/sched-
uled offence till date.
The ED on Monday said
es are welcomed by the
industrialists.
The services to
Mauritius are welcomed
among the students and
tourists. The country has
many medical colleges
and other educational
institutions for higher
studies and this could be
utilised by the students of
southern States. At pres-
ent, they need to go to
Mumbai or Dubai to go to
Mauritius.
and tortured him in the
name of inquiry in an
attempt murder charge
falsely foisted against
him too sought the Cctv
recordings at
Ambasamudram police
the
station, where he w
as tortured by the
police.
Appearing for the Tamil
Nadu government the
additional advocate gen-
eral for the state, Veera
Kathiravan argued that
the report of the Amudha
headed high level inquiry
committee was already
submitted before the trial
court and requested
extension of time to sub-
mit the report on the
CCTV footages recovered
from Ambasamudram
police station.
On hearing both sides,
Justice G.Ilangovan
directed the state govern-
ment to provide a copy of
the report of the high
level inquiry committee
to the petitioner.
special counters, not
through brokers at the bus
stands.
Subsequently, a clear
warning has been issued,
emphasizing the impend-
ing criminal and strict
actions that will be taken
against any brokers found
illegally selling Omni Bus
tickets at an extra cost at
Kalaignar Centenary Bus
Terminus. Passengers are
being informed through
loudspeakers at the bus
terminal to stay vigilant
and only obtain tickets
through authorized
channels to avoid falling
victim to such illegal
practices.
reach the Kilambakkam
bus terminus.
All the south-bound
buses going through the
Chennai-Tiruchy national
highway will touch the
Kilambakkam terminus
while the buses going
through the East Coast
road will continue their
operations from
Koyambedu bus terminus.
Besides, the buses going to
Bengaluru, Hosur and
Vellore too would
continue their operations
from Koyambedu
till the construction of the
K u t h a m b a k k a m
bus terminus is
completed.
that "at this stage, to stall
the further proceedings
and to delay the framing of
charge and commence-
ment of trial, the
Petitioner/accused has
filed the present peti-
tion..."
"It is submitted that by
seeking the above prayer,
the petitioner has sought
"deferment of trial" alone
and NOT the framing of
charge. The relief "defer-
ment of the trial" does not
fall under the scope of sec-
tion 309 Cr.P.C."
"This petition has no rel-
evance at this stage and
the petitioner cannot use
this as a tool to stall the
framing charge by this
Prize winning TN police float
on R-Day displayed to students
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN. 29:
The decorated float vehi-
cle of Tamil Nadu police
which won the second
prize in the Republic Day
parade in Chennai was
displayed to school stu-
dents at the police muse-
um on Monday.
About 250 students from
St. Bedes academy school
at Santhome, Don Bosco
School at Egmore and Ra
jalakshmi Matriculation
School at Pattinapakkam
Students of Arumbakkam DG Vaishnav College and Shree Maheshwari Sabha, organ-
ise special puja and bhajans at DG Vaishnav college to mark Ayodhya Ram temple
consecration.
A Bharatanatyam recital by Ranjitha Vivin at Narada
Gana Sabha in the city on Monday.
VANDALUR ZOO GETS 10 HANUMAN
LANGURS FROM KANPUR
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN. 29:
The Arignar Anna
Zoological Park in
Vandalur has received
four new species including
10 Hanuman Langurs, five
mottled wood owls, a pair
of Himalayan griffon vul-
tures and a pair of
Egyptian vultures. The
animals will be on display
after the completion of the
prescribed isolation peri-
od for quarantine.
The species were
received from the Kanpur
Zoological Park as per the
animal exchange proposal
in August between the two
Hon'ble Court. It is
humbly submitted that the
admissibility and main-
tainability of this petition
can be taken up when the
trial commences The
above reason is legally
unsustainable and the
pendency of the trial of
the predicate offence has
no bearing on the trial of
the case under PMLA. The
only exception is the final
result in the predicate
offence," the agency con-
tended.
The case was adjourned
to January 31. Meanwhile,
the court extended Balaji's
remand till January 31.
Balaji was arrested in
June 2023 by the ED in
visited the police
museum at Egmore and
witnessed the police
float.
G. Dharmarajan, Joint
Commissioner of Police
(East Zone) and
Deshmukh Sekar Sanjay,
Deputy Commissioner of
Police (Triplicane)
explained about the
Integrated Vehicle
Monitoring System
(IVMS), Parundhu app,
Nivaranam app and
Bandham scheme devel-
oped for senior
pg 2
—DC
parks. Staff from the
Kanpur zoo including the
forest range officers, a vet-
erinary assistant and a
veterinary assistant sur-
geon accompanied the ani-
mals. The health of ani-
mals were checked
after arrival and the ani-
mals are kept in
temporary cells in isola-
tion for quarantine.
In exchange, the
Vandalur zoo provided a
pair of reticulated
pythons, two pairs of
mouse deers, three
ostriches, a pair of green
iguanas and a male
grey wolf to the Kanpur
zoo.
connection with a money
laundering case linked to
cash-for-jobs scam when
he was the Transport
Minister during an
earlier AIADMK
regime.
Soon after his arrest, he
underwent a bypass sur-
gery at a private hospital.
Later, the ED took him
into custody for interroga-
tion and following that he
was remanded in judicial
custody. His remand was
periodically extended by
the court.
The ED had on August 12
filed a charge-sheet, run-
ning to 3,000 pages against
B a l a j i .
—PTI
citizens which are part of
the float. They also
explained the VEERA
(Vehicle for Extraction in
Emergency Rescue and
Accidents) and the 50th
anniversary of women
police in
Tamil Nadu which were
also displayed in the float.
The students were taken
around the police
museum and briefed
about the police uniforms,
weapons, duties,
specialities, achievements
and public safety.
—DC
 STATE
DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024 | COIMBATORE
OTHER STORY
V.R. Subbulaxmi, took charge
as new district collector of
Vellore on Monday. —DC
TASMAC
ANNOUNCES RISE IN
LIQUOR PRICES
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN 29
Liquor and beer prices across
the board would go up from
February 1, Thursday, with the
cheapest variety of spirits sold
in 180 ml bottles and beer in
650 ml bottles costing Rs 10
more and higher end varieties
of liquor costing Rs 20 more. A
statement from TASMAC on
Monday said that prices of all
types of liquor sold in 375 ml,
750 ml and 1000 ml bottles and
beer coming in 325 ml and 500
ml bottles would go up accord-
ingly.
BJP LEADER HELD
FOR DEROGATORY
REMARKS
DC CORRESPONDENT
TIRUCHY, JAN. 29
Police here on Monday arrest-
ed BJP media wing state secre-
tary Pugazh alias Machendran
for allegedly making derogato-
ry remarks against Islamic
activists and late politician
Palanibava on social media.
The Woraiyur police regis-
tered cases against him under
three sections, including insti-
gating religious unrest, and
remanded him in judicial cus-
tody.
Some BJP volunteers led by
party district president
Rajasekaran staged a demon-
stration at Woraiyur, con-
demning the police action and
demanding Pugazh's release.
60 ACTIVISTS
DETAINED FOR
PROTESTING
AGAINST GUV
R. VALAYAPATHY I DC
PUDUKKOTTAI, JAN. 29
Police took into custody around 60
volunteers, including 14 women,
of the CPI(M), CPI, MDMK, VCK
and the Congress led by
Gandarvakottai CPI(M) MLA M.
Chinnadurai for staging a black
flag demonstration against
Governor R.N. Ravi for his alleged
remarks against Mahatma
Gandhi and propagating RSS ide-
ology, at Kattiyavayal near
Sittanavasal in Pudukkottai on
Monday. They were kept in a pri-
vate hall and were freed after the
governor left for Chennai, late this
evening. The governor visited the
Sittanavasal cave, popularly
known as Arivar Kovil. After
spending an hour there, he left for
Tiruchy to catch the Chennai
flight.
VP hails younger generation as ‘architects EPS FACES MASSIVE
of Bharat and real stakeholders’
Puducherry, Jan 29: Vice
President Jagdeep Dhankhar
called the youth of the country as
'architects of Bharat' and urged
them to believe in the nation and
have a non-compromise attitude
towards corruption. Addressing
students at Pondicherry Central
University at an interactive ses-
sion on 'Viksit Bharat@2047' on
Sunday, the Vice President said,
"you are architects of Bharat.
This is not a mere statement. You
are architects of Bharat because
you are real stakeholders. You
will have a non-compromise atti-
tude towards corruption and you
will have to believe in your
nation because others are believ-
ing in the nation."
Pointing out that there was an
ecosystem in place in the country
now, where every young mind
has opportunities to exploit his
or her potential, unleash talent
and energy, realise dreams and
aspirations, Dhankhar said,
"now autocracy and corruption
have gone and meritocracy pre-
vails.
We have bid goodbye to
favouritism, patronage, nepotism
and corruption."
The Vice President also under-
scored the need for transparency
and accountability in gover-
nance, which is the theme now.
"Now you know what you want.
Governor suffers from
media mania: Minister
■Poor Tamil Nadu villagers unable to
avail PM Awas Yojana: Governor Ravi
G. BABU JAYAKUMAR
& D. SEKAR | DC
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
Governor R. N. Ravi was
seemingly suffering from
‘Media Mania,’ a disease
that was prompting him to
see his name in media
reports every day, State Law
Minister S Regupathy said,
referring to Ravi’s latest
message on X, in which he
had accused the State
administration of ineffi-
ciency and corruption and
mocked at the memorial for
Keezhvenmani massacre
victims in Nagapattinam
district.
Challenging Ravi to give
up his Governor’s post and
enter politics for his own
and State’s benefit, Regup-
athy, in a statement on
Monday, said that a compe-
tition was going on between
the Governors of Kerala
(Arif Mohammed Khan),
Telangana (Tamilisai
Soundararajan) and Tamil
Nadu as to who would grab
news headlines the most.
He wondered what was
wrong with the memorial
constructed by the CPM in
remembrance of the 44
Dalit workers who were
killed by their employer’s
men at the Keezhvenmani
village in Nagapattinam
district in 1968, which Ravi
had criticized in his mes-
sage by a carrying a photo-
graph of it,
The Governor, in the X
message, had said ‘A hum-
ongous high cost concrete
structure in Keezhvenmani
village as a memorial to
commemorate the mas-
sacre of 44 poor labourers
in the midst of thatched
Candidate selection a daunting
task for AIADMK in Nilgiris
B. RAVICHANDRAN I DC
OOTY, JAN.29
As the election mood has
begun to set in, with the Lok
Sabha polls announcement
likely in a few weeks, the
AIADMK leadership in the
Nilgiris is facing a daunting
task to find a suitable candi-
date for
Nilgiris(reserved)
the
con-
stituency and to take on the
formidable DMK and the
BJP, which may go solo this
time.
The Nilgiris, which became
a reserved (SC) constituency
in 2009, comprises three
assembly segments from the
Nilgiris district and one each
from neighbouring
Coimbatore, Erode and
Tirupur districts.
The AIADMK contested and
won its debut polls in
Nilgiris Lok Sabha con-
stituency in 1977. Thereafter,
it allotted this seat to its
alliance partners, to the
Janata Party in 1980 polls, to
the Congress in 1984, 1989,
1991, 1996 and 1999, to the
BJP in 1998 and 2004 and to
the MDMK in the 2009 polls.
The AIADMK contested here
in 2014, without any alliance,
and won with a handsome
margin.
However, the AIADMK
which contested in 2019 in
DEFEAT IN LS
POLLS: OPS
You want merit alone to be
rewarded. When you got all this,
it is legitimate for us to dream big
keeping in view our civilization
ethos of more than 5000 years."
He said, "we have demonstrated
to the world what India is capable
of, be it Russia-Ukraine war,
Israel-Hamas conflict, or dealing
with Middle East or European
Union or America, India has its
own voice, independent voice."
Calling on students to make
'Viksit Bharat' in 2047' their mis-
sion and passion, the Vice
President said no one can be
higher stakeholder in the govern-
ment than young minds. "Your
are more involved with gover-
nance than anyone else."
Noting that one great benefit
that has emerged in the last few
years is equality before law, the
Vice President said there was a
time when some people thought
they were above the law and that
no one could reach
them.
"all are equal before the law and
no one will be spared now if they
violate the law... It is equality
before law that is the nectar of
democracy and that is the
essence of democracy. We cannot
visualize democracy without
there being equality before law
and equal opportunities.
—PTI
shacks of the poor all
around by a political party
that claims to champion the
proletariat is not only ironi-
cal but a mocking insult to
the martyrs and the poor.’
Ravi who visited Nagapp-
attinam district in the Cau-
very delta region of the
state on January 28, alleged
in a post on X: "It is tragic
that the deserving poor vil-
lagers of Nagapattinam dis-
trict are not able to get the
benefit of PM Awas Yojana
due to administrative apa-
thy and alleged corrup-
tion."
Ravi said: "Visited Keezh-
venmani village in Nagapa-
ttinam district and met
Thiru G. Palanivel, the only
survivor of 1968 massacre.
Also visited Nambyar
Nagar inhabited by fisher-
men and Jeeva Nagar by
Scheduled Castes. Shocked
to see the abject poverty all
along the villages. One won-
ders how long these unfor-
tunate brothers and sisters
have to wait for social and
economic justice."
Wondering if Ravi wanted
the huts around the memo-
rial in Keezhvenmani to be
removed, Regupathy urged
him to make a visit to
Ayodhya, where a temple
had been built at a cost of
`1000 crore, and check on
the conditions in the temple
town.
The minister also recalled
the erection of a ‘green
screen’ to block the view of
the poor living conditions of
people in Gujarat during
the visit of a foreign digni-
tary and said that Ravi,
without discharging the
duties assigned to him, was
indulging in everything
the BJP alliance lost the seat
badly. While R.
Prabhu(Congress) contested
here in the AIADMK
alliance in five elections,
Master Mathan(BJP) con-
tested in the AIADMK
alliance in two elections.
The data shows that the
AIADMK showed a renewed
interest to contest the
Nilgiris constituency only
from 2014. While local man
Dr. Gopalakrishnan won on
the AIADMK ticket in 2014,
M. Thiyagarajan, hailing
from Avinashi who contested
here on AIADMK ticket in
2019, lost badly to the DMK’s
A. Raja.
As the AIADMK has now
snapped its ties with the
BJP, the party local leader-
ship has been entrusted with
the task of finding a suitable
candidate with a winnable
edge to take on the DMK and
the BJP. The sources in the
AIADMK here noted that the
local party leaders have
formed a search committee
to find such a candidate.
Some seniors in the party
opined that the AIADMK
leadership should resolve its
differences with the BJP to
re-stitch the alliance as going
it alone will prove to be a dis-
aster for the AIADMK which
has no PM face in its side to
garner votes.
DC CORRESPONDENT
MANNARGUDI, JAN. 29
AIADMK rebel leader O.
Panneerselvam has said the
AIADMK led by former chief
minister Edappadi
K.Palaniswami will face a
massive defeat in the ensu-
ing Lok Sabha elections and
called upon his followers to
unite under one banner to
retrieve the party's two
leaves symbol.
Addressing the party work-
ers' rights retrieval commit-
tee advisory meeting at
Mannargudi on Monday, he
pointed out that AIADMK
founder late MGR had
declared that the party's gen-
eral secretary can only be
elected directly by the work-
ers. This system has been
violated by Palaniswami, he
accused. As per MGR's direc-
tion, a person who wanted to
contest for the post of gener-
al secretary should be pro-
posed by 10 district secre-
taries, but Palaniswami who
had betrayed people for those
who gave top posts, is now
attempting to betray party
workers too, he added.
pg 3
Laws will be amended to develop Three lakh mangrove
real estate industry in TN: Minister saplings set to be planted along
OP ARULN | DC
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
Housing and urban develop-
highlighted Tamil Nadu's
Ponneri coast to dent storms
economic prowess, showcas-
ing a dynamic structure led
by the tertiary sector at 53 N RAVIKUMAR I DC
ment minister
Muthusamy has assured that
S. percent, followed by the sec-
ondary sector at 34 percent,
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
the state government will and the primary sector at 13 The state forest department with the support of
amend various legislations
for the development of the
percent.
The construction sector,
the Union government is planning to plant
three lakh mangrove saplings along the Ponneri
else and also had the habit real estate industry in Tamil valued at $32 billion in FY 23, coast in Thiruvallur district to prevent entry of
of retracting his own state- Nadu. Inaugurating South is projected to reach $208 bil- seawater into the coastal villages and foil soil
ments. India’s two-day real estate lion by FY 47, providing a erosion. The area had many mangrove planta-
In that context he referred significant opportunity for
conclave – STATECON, tions which were destroyed for industrial devel-
to the Governor going back organised by CREDAI Tamil real estate stakeholders. The opment and construction of houses.
on his earlier averment that Nadu, in Chennai on report also outlined the Growing mangrove plants in ordinary red soil
Tamil Nadu should be Monday, he said the govern- growth potential in the man- or sand is a difficult task since it grows on alka-
called as ‘Tamizhagam’ ment is also looking into ufacturing sector, constitut- line soil near the sea coast. But, a model project
after he was asked as to who
bestowed on his the right to
building height approvals
and FSI and an announce-
ing 19 percent of the state's
economy, which is expected
along the Buckingham canal in two villages,
Kattupalli and Puzhudhivakkam near Minjur,
change the name of a State
that had been in use for
ment in this regard will be
made at the earliest.
to expand to $374 billion by
FY 48.
was successful. The model project was carried
out under the MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for
decades and his recent
retraction of the statement
Expressing interest in the
industry's perspective on
Key advisory measures in
the report include targeted
Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes)
announced in 2023-24.
denigrating Mahatma self-certification for easing retail policies, leveraging So far, 50,000 saplings were planted along the
Gandhi by claiming that the building approval textile strengths, and strate- Buckingham canal and another three lakh
India won independence process, he asked whether gic promotion of tourism. saplings will be planted along the Ponneri coast
because of Netaji Subhash the industry would take The ministers encouraged in an area of 500 acres. Since mangrove forests
Chandra Bose. responsibility for deviations, stakeholders to engage in grow in excess water, the forest department is
On the Governor’s charge, contingent upon favourable further discussions to capi- bringing water in tractors to water them. Small
‘It is tragic that the deserv- responses. talise on the outlined poten- wells are formed to save rain water which will
ing poor villagers of Nag- Hindu religious and chari- tial, creating a roadmap for be used for the project. Men have been employed
apattinam district are not table endowments and sustained development in to water the saplings every day to prevent dry-
able to get the benefit of PM CMDA minister P.K. Sekar Tamil Nadu's real estate sec- ing up. Besides protecting the coast, mangrove
Awas Yojana due to admin- Babu said the request for sin- tor. forests play a major role in reducing carbon
istrative apathy and alleged gle window clearance is on R. Ilankovan, president, emissions and thwarting global warming.
corruption,’ Regupathy the cards. Between 2021-2023, CREDAI Tamil Nadu, The MISHTI programme aims at developing
said it was not becoming of 605 approvals were granted appealed to the ministers at mangrove associated ecotourism initiatives and
a Governor to criticize the for non-high rise buildings, the conference to regulate, livelihood generation in coastal states.
government in the media compared to 426 earlier. Also, reduce, and limit the num- Currently, there is approximately 5,000 square
when he could had sought layout approvals have grown ber of approvals so that the kilometers of area under mangroves and
any clarification directly. from 197 to 305 and reclassifi- industry can grow quicker through the MISHTI scheme an additional area
Questioning the basis on cation has increased by 300 and achieve the targeted of 540 square kilometers is planned in 9 States
which Ravi made the percent based on plan numbers, particularly DTCP and 4 Union Territories. In Tamil Nadu about 39
charge of corruption, the approvals, he said. approvals. Also, DTCP square kilometers are marked for developing
Minister reminded him Sekar Babu emphasised should give a revised master mangrove forests.
that he was no anonymous
person to speak or write
collaboration for sustained
progress, stating, "the com-
plan as the current ones are
outdated.
During the 2004 tsunami, it was found that
mangrove forests reduced the impact and ener-
whatever came to his mind
and asked him if had ever
mitment of 60 days to
process and approve will be
''The
investors'
recent
meeting
global
has
gy of the waves. The areas covered by the man-
grove forests in Villupuram were not affected
done anything good for the
welfare of the State or its
truly possible only when we
get all the papers and docu-
proven to be a remarkable
success, resulting in the
much while the coastal areas in neighbouring
Cuddalore and Chenglepet were severely hit.
people. ments that are asked for signing of Rs. 6.36 lakh crore During cyclones, storms and tsunami, man-
As one who made fre- from your side on time. So, to worth of memorandums of grove forests reduce the height and energy of
quent visits to Delhi for per- make things work, we need understanding (MoUs). This wind and waves passing through them. The
sonal reasons, had Ravi to work closely." development marks a signifi- sand sediments are protected from erosion.
ever bothered to speak to A comprehensive report cant stride for Tamil Nadu as Mangroves also reduce winds across the surface
the Union Government on jointly prepared by Frank it sets ambitious goals to of the water which prevents propagation or re-
behalf of the State and its Knight and CREDAI Tamil transform into a one-trillion- formation of waves. Mangroves are a complex
people, he asked and point- Nadu was released at the dollar economy,” said structure with dense aerial roots and low
ed out his penchant to not conference. The ministers W.S. Habib, chairman – branches. It has different species of different
pass the Bills adopted by and other CREDAI members STATECON 2024 in his wel- age and size and is considered to be bio-shield
the State Assembly. received copies. The report come address. during disasters.
SC recalls 2023 decision on
relocation of liquor shop
away from temple,
mosque, edu institutions
New Delhi, Jan 29: The Supreme Court on
Monday recalled its 2023 decision ordering
relocation of a liquor shop in Puducherry
to an area beyond 500 metres from a temple,
mosque or an educational institution, say-
ing that local municipal laws will also
apply to deal with wine shops.Earlier, the
top court in 2016 had come out with a sig-
nificant verdict in a case titled State of
Tamil Nadu Vs K Balu holding that no
liquor shops will be permitted within 500
metres of national and state highways to
prohibit drunken driving and road
mishaps.
Muruga devotees go on padayatra with Kavadi from Edappadi in Salem district to Palani via Later, the decision was modified and
Erode. —Zakeer Hussain liquor vends were permitted at a distance
of 220 metres from national and state high-
ways if the area is a municipal area with a
minimum population of 20,000.
Puducherry Tamilisai dismisses Cong's corruption It was also held that besides the apex
court judgement, the state government will
gets new allegations in Pondy laptop scheme be free to frame a policy on setting up of
liquor shops keeping in mind the local
municipal laws and regulations.
Chief Secretary Puducherry, Jan 29: Lt
Governor Tamilisai Soun-
dents.
She expressed frustration
However, a Supreme Court bench on
March 20, 2023 ordered relocation of a
dararajan on Monday brush- at any accusations of cor- liquor shop beyond 500 metres in
Puducherry, Jan 29: Sharat ed aside the allegations of rupt practices, asserting Puducherry while relying on the 2016
Chauhan has been appointed corruption made by the that she did not enter poli- judgement.
as the new Chief Secretary opposition Congress regard- tics to accumulate wealth, It did not notice the subsequent modifica-
of Puducherry on Monday. ing the implementation of and urging critics to provide tions made by the apex court in the judge-
According to an order of the laptop scheme for school evidence for their claims. ment.
the Union Home Ministry, children, calling them "mea- "I have already earned A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y
Chauhan, a 1994 batch IAS ningless".Senior Congress enough in my career as a Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala
officer of the AGMUT (Arun- leader V Narayanasamy had doctor. Hence, no one should and Manoj Misra on Monday took note of
achal Pradesh, Goa, Mizora- recently claimed at a press make meaningless and the submissions of Attorney General R
m and other Union Territo- conference recently that cor- empty allegations against Venkataramani, appearing for the Union
ries) cadre, has been trans- rupt practices were involved me. One should show proof Territory (UT) of Puducherry, that the
ferred from Arunachal Pra- in procuring the laptops, to establish any allegation," order was passed erroneously and needed
desh to the union territory.
The incumbent Rajeev Ver-
alleging that a large sum of
money was obtained as com-
she said, dismissing the
Congress's accusations as
to be recalled.
Recalling the order, the top court restored
ma (a 1992 batch IAS officer
of the AGMUT cadre) has
mission from the supplier.
Responding to media ques-
"shallow and meaningless".
She also assured the media
the cases related to relocation of the liquor
shop in the UT on the records of the
been transferred and posted
as advisor to the Chandigarh
tions on the sidelines of an
event in Kamban Kalai Ara-
persons that she would en-
quire into the alleged insult
Madras High Court for fresh adjudication.
The bench also noted that the facts in the
administrator. Verma had ngam here, Soundararajan to the journalists covering present case pertained to municipal laws
been Puducherry's Chief stated that the laptop the Vice President's interac- and overlooked the subsequent clarifica-
Secretary since April last scheme was devised and tion with students on tion issued by the court with regard to the
year. —PTI implemented to aid stu- Sunday. —PTI Tamil nadu case. —PTI
Fill vacancies in Ariyalur
cement factory: AITUC
DC CORRESPONDENT
ARIYALUR, JAN. 29
The Ariyalur district AITUC unit has
appealed to the Tamil Nadu government
to fill up the vacancies in the state-owned
cement factory at Ariyalur. A resolution
to this effect was adopted at the district
AITUC meeting here on Sunday under
the leadership of district vice-president
T. Dhansingh.
In a release on Monday, he appealed to
the government to give fixed payment for
contract sanitary workers and self-help
group employees working in the Ariyalur
and Jayankondam municipalities and
Udayarpalayam and Varadharajan Pettai
town panchayats, immediately. The meet-
ing also requested the government to dis-
burse Pongal bonus to the village sanita-
tion workers and pumpset operators .
The meeting decided to join the Members of TN Assembly’s Estimate Committee inspected several places in the district on Monday.
statewide stir on February 16 against the Recommendations will be made to convert the newly built Government General hospital in Katpadi into a
anti-labour attitude of the government. three-storey building, according to committee chairman Anbazhagan. —K. Senthil Nathan
 NATION
DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024 | COIMBATORE
pg 4

■ INS Sumitra successfully rescues all 17 crew along with boat

SHORT TAKES
SC dismiss Andhra
plea over Naidu bail
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Monday dismissed
the Andhra Pradesh govern-
ment’s plea challenging the
anticipatory bail granted to
former CM N. Chandrababu
Naidu in the Amaravati Inner
Ring Road “scam” case. A
bench of Justices Sanjiv
Khanna and Dipankar Datta
dismissed the state’s appeal
challenging the high court’s
January 10 order giving relief
to Mr Naidu, contending that
an appeal, arising from the
same FIR involving other
accused, had already been
dismissed by the top court in
November, 2022. The bench
said in view of the 2022
order, it is not inclined to
entertain the state's appeal.
Senior advocate Siddharth
Luthra, representing Mr
Naidu, said this court had on
November 7, 2022 dismissed
the state government’s
appeal against the relief
granted to a co-accused in
the case. Justice Khanna said,
“Why should we not follow
this order (November 7,
2022)? Same allegation,
same FIR, same set of facts.”
SC transfers to self pleas on
Navy rescues hijacked Iranian WB caste certificate ‘scam’
fishing ship off Somalia coast
PAWAN BALI
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
Indian Navy on Monday
rescued Iranian flagged
fishing vessel (FV) which
was hijacked by Somali
Pirates at 700 nautical
miles west of Kochi in the
Arabian Sea.
Indian Navy warship
INS Sumitra, on anti-pira-
cy operations along the
east coast of Somalia and
the Gulf of Aden,
responded to a distress
message regarding hijack-
ing of an Iranian flagged
fishing vessel Iman. The
FV had been boarded by
pirates and the crew taken
as hostages.
“INS Sumitra intercept-
ed the vessel, acted in
accordance with the estab-
lished standard operating
procedures (SOPs) to
coerce the pirates for safe
release of crew along with
anti-piracy and Maritime
Security Operations in the
Indian Ocean Region sym-
bolise Indian Navy’s
resolve towards safety of
all vessels and seafarers at
sea,” said Indian Navy.
In the past one month
Indian Navy has been see-
ing a lot of action in the
high seas due to Houthis
attack on merchant ves-
sels in the Red Sea area
and activation of Somali
pirates. Indian Navy has
been helping merchant
A glimpse during Indian Navy Ship INS Sumitra’s anti- vessels hit by Houthis
piracy operation along the east coast of Somalia and drones and missiles and
Gulf of Aden. — PTI coming to rescue of ves-
sels hijacked by Somali
the boat and ensured suc- the pirates on board it, pirates.
cessful release of all 17 said sources. Indian Navy on January
crew members along with The fishing vessel was 5 had thwarted an
the boat,” said Indian subsequently sanitised by attempted hijacking of
Navy. Indian Navy’s personnel Liberian-flagged vessel
The ALH Dhruv chop- and released for onward MV Lila Norfolk in the
pers on board the warship transit. North Arabian Sea and
had encircled the hijacked “Mission deployed rescued all its crew mem-
vessel to issue warnings to Indian Naval ships on bers.
Move after spat between HC benches over CBI probe
RAKESH K. SINGH
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
Following a public spat
between two benches of
the Calcutta high court
over reference to a CBI
probe related to an alleged
scam in issuing caste cer-
tificates to candidates
aspiring for reserved cate-
gory seats in medical
admissions in West
Bengal, the Supreme
Court on Monday trans-
ferred to itself all the
pleas related to the
issue.
A five-judge bench of the
apex court, headed by
Chief Justice of India D.Y.
Chandrachud, also
advised senior lawyers
appearing in the matter to
desist from casting asper-
sions on either of the two
benches of the high court
that were involved in a
spat.
Soon after the hearing
◗ SENIOR ADVOCATE
Kapil Sibal, appearing
for the state govern-
ment, said 10 FIRs
have been registered
in the matter so far
and several caste
certificates cancelled
commenced, CJI
Chandrachud said the
judges of the bench had a
conversation before
arriving in the court-
room.
“We will transfer the
proceedings in the writ
petition and the letter
patent appeal (LPA) to the
Supreme Court. We will
list it after a while and
deal with it,” the bench
said.
Besides the CJI, the
bench also comprised
Justices Sanjiv Khanna,
B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant
and Aniruddha Bose.
Letter patent appeal
(LPA) refers to a petition-
er moving against a deci-
sion of a single judge to a
different bench of the
same court.
Senior advocate Kapil
Sibal, appearing for the
state government, said 10
FIRs have been registered
in the matter so far and
several caste certificates
cancelled.
“We will have an affi-
davit by the state govern-
ment on the extent of the
FIRs,” the bench told Mr
Sibal.
“The proceedings in writ
petitions filed under
Article 226 of the
Constitution and the let-
ter patent appeal (LPA)
are transferred from the
Calcutta high court. All
parties are directed to
complete the pleadings in
three weeks,” the bench
said in its order. The plea
will be listed after three
weeks, the CJI said.

6 of family killed in Can’t do JEE, AI pilot unions raise Husband kills

T’gana road mishap
Hyderabad: Six members of a
family, including two children,
died in a road accident in
Nalgonda district of
Telangana, police said on
Monday. The mishap occurred
when the family members
were returning to their village
in the district in a car late
Sunday night after a visit to
temples in neighbouring
Andhra Pradesh. Tragedy
struck them on the highway at
Miryalguda minutes before
they were to reach their desti-
nation, police said. The driver
of the car tried to avoid hit-
ting a dog but ended up land-
ing on the other side of the
highway at Miryalguda after
crossing the median, they
said. The car was hit by a lorry
coming in the opposite direc-
tion. While five people died on
the spot, a woman succumbed
to injuries while undergoing
treatment in a hospital, police
I’m a loser:
Kota girl to
kin, ends life
Kota, Jan. 29: An 18-
year-old student prepar-
ing for JEE allegedly
hanged herself at her
home in this coaching
hub on Monday, leaving
behind a suicide note
saying sorry to her par-
ents and calling herself
a “loser”. “Mummy, papa
I can't do JEE. So I sui-
cide,” the note scrawled
in English said, accord-
ing to police. She was to
give the JEE test in a day
or two.
“I am loser. I am worst
daughter. Sorry mummy
papa. Yahi last option
he,” the note found in
Niharika Singh's room
issue of duty timings
‘Airline approach to compromise safety’ a/c nominee
Mumbai, Jan. 29: Air
India pilots' groupings
have alleged that the air-
line management is
“intimidating and coerc-
ing” some of their mem-
bers to extend flight duty
timings beyond the pre-
scribed limits. The Indian
Commercial Pilots
Association (ICPA) and
Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG)
have written to Air India
managing director and
chief executive officer
Campbell Wilson flagging
the issues.
Armed forces bandsmen perform during the Beating Retreat ceremony at Maulana In their joint letter,
Azad Stadium in Jammu on Monday. — PTI dated January 28, the
unions also claimed the
■ Visitor visa appointment time wait down by 75% airline's approach to
extend the Flight Duty
SDM for not
making him
India.
It has come to the notice
that some pilots are facing
intimidation and coercion
to extend their FDTL
beyond the prescribed lim-
its, including threats of
jeopardising their career
progression, the letter
said. The unions also
termed the situation as a
matter of “grave concern”.
There was no immediate
comment from Air India
on the letter. The unions’
allegations also assume
significance against the
backdrop of aviation regu-
lator DGCA, earlier this
month, coming out with
revised FDTL norms for
pilots that provide for
RABINDRA NATH
CHOUDHURY
BHOPAL, JAN. 29
An unemployed hus-
band killed his bureau-
crat wife, posted in
Dindori district in
Madhya Pradesh, for
refusing to make him
the nominee in her serv-
ice, insurance and bank
records, the police said
on Monday.
Evidence gathered by
the police at the crime
spot has indicated Nisha
Napit (51), who served as
the sub-divisional mag-
istrate (SDM)
Shahpura, was smoth-
in

said, adding that the lorry
driver was nabbed. — PTI
added. This was the sec- Time Limitation (FDTL) increased weekly rest ered with a pillow by her
ond suspected suicide in
Kota in less than a week.
The suicide was
Record 1.4m US visas to Indians for pilots amounts to
“compromising”
safety of
with
the pilots
period, extension in night
hours by an hour and just
two night landings as
husband
Sharma (45).
Manish

“The accused killed his

STATE EXPLAINS reported on a day Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
held his annual interac-
JAN. 22 EVENTS tion
preparing
with
for
students
their
school board exams, ask-
FROM PG 1 ing them and their par-
ents not to let competi-
It was hearing the plea filed tion get to them.
by Vinoj seeking quashing of Niharika lived at her
an “oral order” on January 20
banning live telecast of the
ceremony at Ayodhya in tem-
family home in Shiv
Vihar Colony in the
city's Borekheda police
ples across Tamil Nadu. The station area and was to
court had said that no one is take her JEE test on
bound to abide by oral orders. January 30 or 31, circle
The Supreme Court had officer DSP Dharmveer
taken on record the statement Singh said. The suicide
of Tamil Nadu's counsel that note suggested she was
there are no restrictions on under the stress of stud-
“puja archana” in temples or ies and found herself
live telecast of consecration unable to tackle the
ceremony. exam, the officer said.
The top court bench had The student was the eld-
asked the authorities to put on est of three sisters. Her
record the reasons and main- father is a security guard
tain the data of applications at a private bank in Kota,
allowed for “puja archana” he said. The family hails
and live telecast of the conse- from Akawdakhurd vil-
cration ceremony as well as lage in Jhalawar district
those disallowed. and has been staying in
the city for the last three
in 2023; 60% rise in applications
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The United States issued a
“record-smashing” 1.4
million visas to Indians in
2023, bringing down visi-
tor visa appointment wait
times by 75 per cent, the
US embassy said in a
statement on Monday,
adding that “Indians now
represent one out of every
10 US visa applicants
around the world”.
Also in 2023, the US con-
sular team in India issued
over 1.4 lakh student
visas, which is “more
than in any other country
in the world setting a
record for the third year
in a row”, the statement
added. There was a 60 per
cent increase in visa
applications from Indians
compared to 2022.
Process improvements
◗ AS A result of these
surging numbers, Indian
students have become
the largest group of
international graduate
students in the United
States and make up
more than a quarter of
the over one million for-
eign students studying
in the United States
and investments in staffing
have brought down
appointment wait times for
visitor visas from an aver-
age of 1,000 days to only 250
days around the country
while wait times are mini-
mal in all other categories,
it said.
“Taken individually,
Mumbai, New Delhi,
Hyderabad and Chennai
now stand as the top four
student visa processing
posts in the world. As a
result of these surging
numbers, Indian students
have become the largest
group of international
graduate students in the
United States and make
up more than a quarter of
the over one million for-
eign students studying in
the United States,” the
embassy said.
Visitor visas (B1/B2)
have rebounded to repre-
sent the second highest
number of applications in
the US mission’s history –
over 700,000.
“The US embassy and
consulates met this
demand through a three-
month staffing surge in
Mumbai early in the year,
by increased permanent
staff levels, and through
the employment of inno-
vative technical solu-
tions,” it said.
besides violating estab-
lished regulations.
ICPA represents the nar-
row body pilots while IPG
has members from the
wide body fleet of Air
SC extends deadline for Maha
Speaker on Sharad camp plea
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The Supreme Court on
Monday extended the
deadline for Maharashtra
Assembly Speaker Rahul
Narwekar to decide on
the plea of the Sharad
Pawar faction seeking
disqualification of
Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP) MLAs
belonging to the bloc led
by deputy chief minister
Ajit Pawar till February
15.
On October 30, the top
court had directed the
against six earlier.
Stating that pilots are
“committed” to upholding
highest standards of safe-
ty and compliance within
organisation. — PTI
Speaker to decide
the petition of Jayant
Patil of the Sharad Pawar
faction of the Nation
alist Congress Party
(NCP) seeking disqualifi-
cation of the nine
MLAs of the Ajit Pawar
group by January 31,
2024.
The Supreme Court had
then also directed the
Speaker to decide the
cross-petitions filed by
the rival factions of the
Shiv Sena seeking dis-
qualification of each
other’s MLAs by
December 31.
wife on Sunday. He then
sat near the body for
around six hours. Later,
he took the body to the
local community health
centre,” Dindori district
superintendent of police
Akhil Patel told
reporters.
According to the
police, doctors noticed
blood stains in the nose
and mouth of the
deceased and immedi-
ately alerted the police,
leading to the arrest of
the accused.
The police said the
accused sought to por-
tray it as a normal
death, saying that his
wife was suffering from
kidney ailment, but
finally broke down
under intense interroga-
tion. The accused had
washed the blood-
stained clothes of the
deceased and the pillow
in the washing machine
to destroy evidence, the
police said.

Compete with yourselves, ED lens on Lalu, Hooda, Soren STALIN HAD A

SURPRISE IN
PM Modi advises students FROM PG 1

He appeared before the

FROM PG 1
In a reply to a question on
how he keeps a positive mind-
set amid the challenges of his
job, the PM said that it is in
his nature to “challenge
every challenge” and not wait
passively for the challenge to
pass.
“Challenges will keep com-
ing, and you must challenge
those challenges. This gives
me an opportunity to learn
all the time. Dealing with new
situations enriches me. My
biggest confidence is that I
have 140 crore countrymen
with me. If there are 100 mil-
lion challenges, there are bil-
lions of solutions. Failures
must not cause disappoint-
ment. Every mistake is a new
learning,” he said during his
two-hour-long interaction
with students, teachers and
parents.
Highlighting the impor-
tance of competition, he
emphasised that competition
should be healthy. The PM
pointed out that often the
seeds of unhealthy competi-
tion are planted in the family
situations leading to perverse
competition among the sib-
lings.
He said that doing well in
exams is not a zero-sum game
and competition is with one-
self as good performance by a
friend does not restrict the
field to do well. Asking par-
ents not to compare their
children with other children,
he pointed out that parents
should not make the achieve-
ment of their children their
visiting card.
The Prime Minister asked
students to rejoice in the suc-
cess of their friends and said,
“Friendship is not a transac-
tional emotion.”
The PM mentioned the need
to recharge mobile phones to
illustrate the need to take
care of physical health.
He asked students to main-
tain a balanced lifestyle and
avoid excess of everything. “A
healthy body is critical for a
healthy mind. Being healthy
requires some routines,
spending time in sunlight
and getting regular and com-
plete sleep,” he said and
pointed out that habits like
screen time are eating into
the required sleep which is
considered very important by
modern health science.
Just like mobile phones,
human bodies need recharg-
ing to function properly, he
said.
The PM suggested parents
to set certain rules and regu-
lations like creating “no gadg-
et zones in house” and “no
gadgets during dinner” and
sharing the passcodes of all
mobile phones in their homes
with every member to estab-
lish transparency.
He said that technology
should not be considered a
burden but it is mandatory to
learn how to use it to one's
advantage.
“Parents should formulate a
set of rules and regulations
in the family like no electron-
ic gadgets during dinner and
creating no gadget zones in
the house. In today's world,
one cannot run away from
technology. It should not be
considered a burden but it is
mandatory to learn its effec-
tive usage,” he said.
The Prime Minister sug-
gested students educate
their parents about technol-
ogy being a resource for
education and also recom-
mended sharing phone pass-
codes within the family.
“This would prevent a lot of
evils.”
The PM also advised stu-
dents to monitor screen time
through apps.
Giving an example of the
poverty issue, the PM said
that when the poor them-
selves decide to remove
poverty, it will go away. “It is
my responsibility to give
them tools for dreaming such
as a pucca house, toilet, edu-
cation, Ayushman, and piped
water.
ED sleuths and recorded
his statement in this case.
A day after Rashtriya
Janata Dal, the largest
constituents in
Mahagathbandhan,
unseated from power in
Bihar, the RJD supremo
Lalu Prasad Yadav was
questioned by the ED at
Patna office today for
more than nine hours in
the land-for-jobs case. The
75-year-old leader reached
the central agency's office
at around 11 am and was
relieved around 8.30 PM.
Rajya Sabha MP and his
daughter Misha Bharti
who is also a co-accused in
the case accompanied the
leader to the office and a
Assam tense after Union min says CAA within a week
MANOJ ANAND AND
RAJIB CHOWDHURI
KOLKATA/GUWAHATI, JAN.
29
Widespread protests
erupted in Assam after
Union minister Shantanu
Thakur in West Bengal
said that the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act (CAA)
will be implemented
nationwide within the
next seven days.
"Within the next week,
large number of RJD
workers also gathered out-
side the office of the cen-
tral agency. They protest-
ed outside the office,
shouting slogans against
the central government.
On January 19, the cen-
tral agency had issued a
fresh summons to Lalu
Yadav and his son
Tejashwi Yadav and the
notice was physically
handed over by the ED at
Lalu Yadav's wife and for-
mer Bihar Chief Minister
Rabri Devi’s residence in
Patna. The summons
asked both the RJD lead-
ers to appear before it on
January 29 and 30.Mr
Tejashwi Yadav is likely to
appear before the agency
on January 30 at Patna
office, source in the
CAA will be implemented
not only in West Bengal
but also across the coun-
try," Mr Thakur said at a
public meeting in
Kakdwip in South 24
Parganas district.
Ruling Trinamul Cong
ress and West Bengal chief
minister Mamata Baner
jee dismissed the claim as
a "poll rhetoric", while vo
wing to prevent CAA impl
ementation in the state.
Ms Banerjee accused the
agency said.
Responding to the sum-
mons, Ms Bharti said that
this was not a new thing.
“This greeting card is
being sent to those who
are not coming with them.
Whenever any agency
calls our family, we go
there and cooperate with
them and answer their
questions,” she said.
“Whenever any agency
calls our family members
for questioning, we go
there, cooperate with
them and answer all their
queries. Because of his
health condition, it is diffi-
cult for him (Lalu Prasad)
to move on his own.
Someone has to accompa-
ny him whenever he goes
somewhere,” Ms Bharti
further said.
BJP of playing the CAA
card again to woo the vot-
ers in the upcoming Lok
Sabha election. The TMC
supremo advised locals in
Cooch Behar, particularly
Rajbanshis, to ensure that
their names are on the vot-
ers' list to "protect them-
selves" from the Citizen
ship (Amendment) Act or
CAA.
The Asom Jatiyatabadi
Yuva Chhatra Parishad
(AJYCP) organized a sit-in
“Everyone knows about
the health condition of my
father,he can't even walk
without support. Despite
that, ED officials did not
allow any assistant to
enter their office and
accompany him. It's inhu-
man behaviour by ED offi-
cials...shame on you (ED
officials) and your boss
(top ED officials),”
Another daughter of Lalu
yadav Rohini Acharya
wrote on X in Hindi.
“This is not an ED sum-
mon, but a BJP summon...
This will go on till 2024.
Till then please do not call
it ED summons... Why
should we be scared?,”
RJD MP Manoj Jha said.
Back in Delhi, in the
early morning on January
29, an ED team on Monday
protest in Guwahati,
threatening to escalate the
agitation if it is enforced
in the state.
“The CAA is simply an
anti-Assam act and it has
to go away. If CAA is im
plemented fully, the As
samese language will die,”
the youth organisation
said. Asserting that the
Assamese identity and
Assamese community will
cease to exist if CAA is
implemented, the AJYCP
THE SKIES
FROM PG 1
Stalin said that in the
meeting with the indus-
try leaders he would
explain the opportuni-
ties available in Tamil
Nadu in his bid to draw
investments to the State.
Before taking off for
Spain, the Chief
Minister said his earlier
tours to the United Arab
Emirates, Japan and
Singapore had helped
attract investments
worth Rs 7,442 crore,
opening up job opportu-
nities for more than
17,000 people in the
State.
leaders said that they have
been demanding that
instead of implementing
CAA, the government sho
uld introduce Inner Line
Permit (ILP) in Assam to
protect the existence of
indigenous people.
There were massive
protests in some parts of
the country after the CAA
was passed by Parliament
in December 2019 and
received the President's
assent subsequently.
 NATION
DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024 | COIMBATORE
SHORT
India logs 112 new
TAKES
coronavirus cases
New Delhi: India saw a single
day rise of 112 cases of
Covid-19, while the number
of active cases of the infec-
tion was recorded at 1,460,
the health ministry said on
Monday. No deaths have
been reported in the span of
the last 24 hours. Meanwhile,
the Indian SARS-CoV-2
Genomics Consortium
(Insacog) on Monday said
that total 2,083 cases of
Covid-19 sub-variant JN.1
and its lineages have been
detected in the country so
far. There are 814 SARS-CoV-
2 sequences of JN.1 across 18
states and UTs while its sub-
lineage JN.1.1 has been
detected in 943 cases,
according to the data com-
piled by the Insacog. Insacog
said that JN.1.11 has been
detected in 244 cases while
the rest of the cases were
detected in the sub-lineages
of JN.1. The number of peo-
ple who have recuperated
stands at over 4.4 crores
with a national recovery rate
of 98.81 per cent.
Delhi’s civil defence
workers up in arms
New Delhi: Scores of civil
defence volunteers protest-
ed on Monday at the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) head-
quarters over termination of
their services by the city
government last year and
demanded their reinstate-
ment. Delhi lieutenant-gov-
ernor V.K. Saxena had in
October last year approved
a proposal of chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal to terminate
the services of all civil
defence volunteers with
effect from November 1,
2023. “We have gathered to
protest against our termina-
tion. Since last year, we have
been protesting but to no
avail. We want that we
should be reinstated,” said a
protesting defence volun-
teer. Another agitating vol-
unteer said that reinstate-
ment must be done within
three days.
Man dies after car
crashes into railing
New Delhi: A man died after
he allegedly lost control over
his vehicle and hit an iron rail-
ing on the roadside in north-
west Delhi, police said on
Monday. According to police,
the deceased was identified as
Ranjan Verma, and the inci-
dent took place at 12.11 am.
Police said that they had
received a PCR call at the
Bharat Nagar police station
regarding an accident at
Satyawati Flyover. “A team
was dispatched to the spot
and found a Toyota Innova car
in a damaged condition.
Verma was immediately
rushed to a nearby hospital,
where he was declared
brought dead,” a senior police
officer said. The officer further
said that on enquiry, it was
revealed that Verma lost his
control of the vehicle and col-
lided with the iron railing at
the central verge of the
Satyawati flyover and sus-
tained injuries on his chest.
L-G: TIPS GIVEN
BY MODI USEFUL
FOR EVERYONE
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
Delhi lieutenant-governor
V.K. Saxena on Monday said
that the tips given by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi dur-
ing the “Pariksha Pe Charcha
2024” are useful not only for
the students, but also for
teachers, parents and every
common man. Mr Saxena,
along with students, their
parents and teachers, saw
the live telecast of “Pariksha
Pe Charcha 2024” at Navyug
School in Sarojini Nagar. The
event was organised by the
NDMC. Mr Modi on Monday
said it is crucial to instil
resilience in children to help
them cope with pressures
and asserted that parents
and teachers should collec-
tively address challenges
faced by students. Mr
Saxena expressed hope that
the tips given by the PM will
be kept in mind by every
student and it will be very
useful for them during
exams. He also said that the
tips given by the PM are use-
ful not only for the students,
but also for teachers, par-
ents and every common
man. The Lt Governor said
that learning is not only lim-
ited within the corridors of
school and colleges but
every incident of life gives
us a lesson. “We are very
grateful for the time in which
our PM interacted with the
students,” said Delhi L-G.
Boy, 14, forced to lick shoes, No one injured, 50 four-wheelers destroyed
perform sex act by ‘friends’ 250 vehicles gutted in
3 apprehended for recording obscene video, sharing it on Instagram fire at Wazirabad yard
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
In a shocking incident, a
14-year-old boy was made
to lick shoes and was
forced to perform “unnat-
ural sex” by three of his
friends, who also recorded
the act and put its video on
social media in South
Delhi’s Hauz Khas area.
The incident came to the
fore on Sunday night
when another boy sent the
video to the mother of the
boy and she approached
the local police, the police
said on Monday.
The video, also posted on
Instagram, showed the
boy being made to crouch
AQI to hit severe mark,
Centre holds off curbs
City records 6.8°C temp, 2 notches below normal
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The Centre on Monday
refrained from imple-
menting stricter meas-
ures to curb pollution in
Delhi-NCR, even though
air quality in the region is
predicted to turn “severe”
on January 30.
The air quality index
(AQI) in Delhi stood at 356
at 4.00 pm on Monday. It is
likely to deteriorate to the
“severe” category (AQI
above 400) on Tuesday,
according to the India
meteorological depart-
ment (IMD).
Delhi’s maximum tem-
perature, meanwhile, rose
to 22.6 degree Celsius on
Monday while the night
Kejriwal: Nitish did Youth stabbed to death in
not do right thing fight over girl in Gurgaon
by dumping INDIA
BHASKAR HARI SHARMA
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
A day after chief minister
Nitish Kumar’s latest
volte-face in Bihar, his
Delhi counterpart Arvind
Kejriwal on Monday
termed his conduct not
good democracy as by
exiting the Opposition
INDIA bloc he did not do
the right thing.
“I feel that he should not
have left. Such conduct is
not good for democracy.
What my understanding
is that this (his exit) will
cause losses for NDA in
Bihar, instead of benefit-
ting them. INDIA bloc
will benefit,” he said.
Further, in reference to
the Chandigarh civic body
polls, Mr Kejriwal said
that Tuesday might bring
a message of the first vic-
tory for the INDIA bloc as
the AAP-Congress alliance
could win the polls.
Last week, the Punjab
and Haryana high court
directed that the
Chandigarh mayoral
polls be held on January
30, quashing the adminis-
tration’s “unreasonable,
unjustified, and arbi-
trary” decision to post-
pone the election.
While allowing a peti-
tion challenging the order
of the Chandigarh deputy
commissioner — who is
the authority for holding
the mayoral polls—post-
poning the election from
January 18 to February 6,
■ India’s rich heritage, towering accomplishments celebrated
Bands regale audience at Beating Retreat
New Delhi, Jan. 29:
From massed band’s
“Shankhnaad” to Navy’s
lilting “Mission
Chandrayaan”, melliflu-
ous tunes reverberated
across the Raisina Hills in
the heart of Delhi as
India’s rich heritage and
towering accomplish-
ments were celebrated
during the Beating Retreat
ceremony on Monday. The
grand event hosted at the
Vijay Chowk marks the
culmination of the
Republic Day
celebrations.
President and Supreme
at knifepoint, while his
“friends” first made him
lick their shoes and then
forced him to perform an
“unnatural act,” the
police said.
Responding to a PCR call
on Sunday night, the
“local police rushed to the
spot where the caller said
some boys had committed
an unnatural act with her
14-year-old son and sent
the video clip to her on her
mobile phone,” an
officer said.
They took the boy for a
medical exam and then to
counselling.
The officer said that
according to the victim, he
was on his way home on
◗ IF THE AQI breaches
the 400-mark, authorities
are required to invoke
stricter curbs under
Stage III of the Centre’s
graded response action
plan to curb air pollution
temperature was recorded
two notches below normal
at 6.8 degree Celsius.
Humidity levels oscillated
between 61 per cent and
100 per cent.
The weather office has
forecast mainly clear
skies during the day on
Tuesday before becoming
overcast towards the
evening. It has also pre-
dicted shallow to moder-
ate fog in the morning.
This is the third time
Arvind Kejriwal
CM: No power bills
for Delhiites who
install solar panel
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
Chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal on Monday
unveiled the Delhi Solar
Policy 2024 and said
domestic consumers will
get zero amount electrici-
ty bills and the tariff for
commercial and industri-
al consumers will be
halved on the installation
of rooftop solar panels.
The Delhi Assembly
LoP Ramvir Singh
Bidhuri said, Kejriwal’s
announcement has noth-
ing new in it, instead he
should have announced
at least 50 per cent sub-
sidy on cost of solar to
Delhiites who are willing
to install it.
the court also observed
that the grounds on
which the polls were
deferred were “totally
absurd and frivolous.”
President Droupadi Murmu arrives for the Beating
Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on
Monday.
Commander of the Armed
Forces Droupadi Murmu,
vice-president Jagdeep
◗ A CASE under
Sections 377 (unnatural
sex) and 506 of the IPC
and Section 12 of the
Pocso Act has been
registered at Hauz
Khas police station
Saturday at around 6.30
pm after playing at
Central Park in Hauz
Khas when three of his
friends, aged between 12
and 14 years, forced him to
go with them to an
isolated place.
“One of the accused
pointed a vegetable knife
and put his private part in
his mouth. The trio also
captured that act on their
since January 24 that the
Central government has
decided against employ-
ing disruptive measures
to control air pollution.
If the AQI breaches the
400-mark, authorities in
Delhi-NCR are required to
invoke stricter curbs
under Stage III of the
Centre’s graded response
action plan (Grap) to con-
trol air pollution.
The Commission for Air
Quality Management
(CAQM) sub-committee
for the operationalisation
of GRAP convened an
emergency meeting on
Monday and took stock of
the air quality situation,
projected AQI and meteo-
rological forecasts, a state-
ment said.
Gurgaon, Jan. 29: A 21-
year-old youth was
stabbed to death in a sub-
way on the Delhi-Jaipur
Highway during a clash
between two groups of
friends over a love affair,
police said on Monday.
According to police, the
victim, Aakash, was a
native of Begusarai in
Bihar and lived in a rent-
ed accommodation in
Naharpur Rupa village
with his cousin.
According to a com-
plaint filed by Suraj, his
cousin was stabbed in the
subway on Sunday by one
Krishna, a school friend
of Aakash.
Aakash was part of a
group which had gone to
Mother, son suffocate
to death due to smoke
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
A 23-year-year-old
woman and her two-
year-old son died while
three of the other fam-
ily members are
undergoing treatment
due to suffocation
caused by an “angithi”
(coal stove) in their
house in south Delhi,
an official said on
Monday. ‘
The deceased were
identified as Anjali,
and her son Sambhu,
residents of Asola.
According to police,
on Sunday (January
28) at 4:16 p.m. infor-
— G.N. JHA
Dhankhar, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, defence
minister Rajnath Singh
mobile phone,” another
officer said. The accused
also threatened him with
dire consequences if he
told anyone about the act,
the officer said.
Out of fear, the boy hid
his ordeal from his
parents.
On the basis of the boy’s
statement, a case under
Sections 377 (unnatural
sex) and 506 (criminal
intimidation) of the IPC
and Section 12 of the
Pocso Act has been
registered at Hauz Khas
police station.
The three accused have
been apprehended and are
being questioned, the
police said.
Amid ruckus in
MCD House, nod
to 16 proposals
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
Amid the ruckus over
formation of a Standing
Committee in the civic
body, the Municipal
Corporation of Delhi
(MCD) on Monday
passed 16 proposals out
of total 25 proposals put
foreward in the meeting.
Of total proposals, 7
proposals were post-
poned and one proposal
was rejected and one
was referred back. The
proposals related to
repairment of school,
opening of kiosk at
Dhalao Ghar have been
passed and now compa-
nies and societies will be
able to open their kiosks
at Dhalo ghars. The
budget session of the
corporation will start
with detailed discussion
from Tuesday.
the subway to sort out a
row over a love affair
with Krishna, who came
there with his own
around 10-youth-strong
party and launched an
attack, police said, quot-
ing the complainant.
“I reached there after
some time and saw
Aakash’s friends trying to
run away. Krishna and his
friends started pelting us
with stones, some of
which hit us.
“In the meantime, two of
Krishna’s friends caught
my brother and Krishna
stabbed him with a sharp
knife many times and
fled,” Suraj said in his
complaint, according to
police. — PTI
mation was received at
Maidangarhi police
station from
Safdarjung Hospital
that one Anjali and
master Sambhu were
brought dead.
“Upon enquiry, it is
found that the family of
Dinesh consisting of
wife Anjali, son
Divansh (6), daughter
Devanshi (4) and son
Sambhu were living in
rented accommodation
in Asola for the last two
years. Dinesh works as
a gardener in a farm-
house in Asola, where-
as Anjali is a house-
wife,” said a senior
police official.
and other Union
ministers attended the
event. President Murmu
arrived at the
venue in the traditional
“buggy”.
The splendid ceremony
began with the massed
band’s “Shankhnaad” set-
ting the tone for the event
as the sound of captivat-
ing and foot-tapping
Indian tunes played by
military and paramilitary
bands filled the air over
the majestic Raisina Hill
with the grand
Rashtrapati Bhavan as its
centrepiece. — PTI
pg 5
■
DC
CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
At least 250 vehicles
parked at the Delhi
police’s “malkhana”
(yard) in Wazirabad
were gutted in a fire
that broke out in the
early hours on
Monday, Delhi Fire
Services (DFS) offi-
cials said.
The yard is used to
park the vehicles
seized by the police.
The fire broke out at
4.00 am and five fire
tenders were
pressed into service.
The blaze was
brought under con-
trol at 6.00 am, a The charred remains of vehicles after a fire broke out at
D F S the Wazirabad Delhi police “malkhana” (yard) in New Delhi
official said.
No one was injured
on Monday. — PTI
in the incident but
a
50
b o u
four-wheelers
and nearly 200 two-
wheelers were com-
t
pletely gutted, a
Delhi police officer
said.
Earlier, the DFS
official had said that
about 200 four-
wheelers and 250
two-wheelers were
gutted in the blaze.
The Delhi police
officer said that the
number of vehicles
charred in the blaze
was counted after
the cooling opera-
tion was completed.
The “malkhana” is
spread over 500
square yards and is
used to park thou-
sands of seized vehi-
cles. The ground is
surrounded by bush-
es and shrubbery.
A police officer
said it is suspected
that someone start-
ed a small fire to
beat the cold and it
spread to the yard.
A team from the
Forensic Science
Laboratory (FSL)
was called in to
ascertain the exact
cause of the blaze,
he added.
A case under
Section 435 (mis-
chief by fire) of the
Indian Penal Code
(IPC) against
unidentified per-
sons has been regis-
tered at Sonia Vihar
police station, the
police said.
Another police
officer said a similar
incident had taken
place last year when
several vehicles
were gutted in a fire.
The cause of the fire
could not be estab-
lished at that time.
 EDIT
DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024 | COIMBATORE
pg 6

Subhani

30 JANUARY 2024

PM, CJI words inspiring;

quick action must follow
A
ddressing the 1.4 billion citizens of the nation as much as the
Supreme Court, whose 75th anniversary celebrations programme
he was attending, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought into
public discourse a much-needed and brilliant idea — “the ease of
justice” — and termed it as a right of each citizen, and the judiciary, with
the Supreme Court at the top, as the medium of delivery.
Linking the ease of justice as a right and its delivery as a precursor to the
development of India, or the making of “Viksit Bharat”, the PM urged the
judiciary to work on building its capacity, move from older laws to a newer
context, and become more responsible to all its stakeholders.
By calling for a strong and vibrant judicial system, which works with a
modern outlook and work ethos, befitting the times we live in, and trying
to deliver to the expectations and requirements of stakeholders, Prime
Minister Modi has made a major contribution to the public discourse on
this subject: India can’t be a developed nation or achieve its larger goals
unless the judiciary reforms, largely from within.
India’s Supreme Court, founded on January 28, 1950, can indeed look
back at its history on its diamond jubilee celebrations day with pride. It
has shown it could largely withstand the test of time, and a few bleak
moments aside, has lived up to expectations. But it is not perfect, like per-
haps no institution can be expected to be.
Mr Modi highlighted this aspect when he said the Supreme Court has
strengthened our democracy, and linked the future of India with the polit-
India & France: Strategic LETTERS
ALL IS NOT WELL
IN OPPN ALLIANCE
ical thinking of the day, the policies it makes, which would be foundations
for tomorrow’s great India. Since it is the laws and policies made today
that would define the country’s future and tryst ahead with destiny, it is
imperative that the judiciary stands up to fulfil its mandate.
Mr Modi also stressed on the need for modernisation, a more commodi-
ous complex, and a need to enable technology to drive better quality and
relations to Vision 2047 France remains a Lauding it in the joint
Keen political observers
are no way surprised by
the turn and twist of politi-
speed of delivering justice. He also stressed on the e-court mission. reliable and tested statement sounds anachro- cal events taking place in
Addressing the gathering, which included Mr Modi as chief guest, nistic. It is also proposed to
Supreme Court judges, the Chief Justices of high courts, retired SC judges
partner, much like facilitate French language
INDI alliance in general and
Russia. It also pro- Bihar in particular. Mr. KC
and other dignitaries, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud acknowl-
edged the seriousness of the concerns and took up the issues head-on, K.C. Singh vides a counterweight
teaching, target sending to
France 30,000 Indian stu- Thyagi of JD (u) is particu-
when he said the judiciary needs to “begin difficult conversations” to to over-reliance on dents annually and a
remain relevant. Young Professional larly annoyed with the
the United States.
Calling the issue of huge case backlogs, the culture of adjournments and Scheme introduced to haste with which Congress
long vacations as vestigial appendages that “need to go”, the CJI said: “We accelerate the movement of
had announced

P
must emerge from adjournment culture to a culture of professionalism.” r e s i d e n t
Calling the culture and habit of making lengthy oral arguments as a rea- E m m a n u e l
son for repeat delays in justice outcomes, which made it difficult for judges Macron of France
to dispose of cases within a reasonable time, the CJI stressed on the need was the chief
for reforms. He also rightly urged all stakeholders in the judicial system to guest at this
consider newer ideas and approaches and experiment with such options as year’s Republic Day cele-
“flexitime” for courts to dispose of cases quickly. brations. Amidst the public
He also acknowledged that if there were 65,915 pending cases in the excitement it was forgotten
Supreme Court alone, “we have to have a radical change in approach to that he was in fact stand-
decision-making. In our desire to ensure justice in each case, should we ing-in for US President Joe
risk the court becoming dysfunctional?” Biden, who was first invit-
The PM and the CJI have touched the core of the issue at heart and are ed but later sent his
close to the aspirations of the people. Now, action must follow. regrets. It is the sixth time
for a French chief guest,
starting with Jacques
Stop the war in Gaza first Chirac in 1976, who attend-
ed as Prime Minister of
France. It happened during
T
he deaths of three American soldiers from a drone strike by Iran-backed India’s 1975-77 Emergency,
rebels in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border and injuries to at least when many Western lead-
34 others represent the first US military casualties since hostilities ers would have avoided
began between Hamas and Israel on October 7. There have been hundreds of coming. He attended a sec-
missiles and drone-strikes against American military installations in Iraq and ond time as President in
Syria but, before this, not in Jordan where the US has over 3,000 troops. 1998, months before India’s
The fear is the US is too far committed to security in the region as to leave its nuclear tests.
soldiers vulnerable to attacks as every rebel group in the area is thirsting for
revenge for the war in Gaza. The US has responded with a warning that it will
Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi was both a
hold the killers to account at a time and in a manner of their choosing. Francophile and admired
The risk of escalation has become extremely high now of a war spilling way the French predisposition
beyond the narrow confines of the Gaza Strip. What the rebel action involving towards strategic autono-
the US directly does is to increase the chances of a global war that is being my. India also rested its for-
freely spoken of now in certain circles and has even triggered action in some eign policy on the same
nations like the US, which is preparing to place nuclear warheads in bases in principle. Thus, India felt
the UK. comfortable building a
There is, however, a lesser possibility of the US dragging Iran directly into strategic relationship with
the conflict, though the matter has been raised in the House with a Republican France on the three pillars
lawmaker calling for strikes on Iran whose actions in backing rebel militias in of cooperation — defence,
the hotbed of activity in the Middle East has added liberally to the horrifying space and nuclear. Unlike
stench of war. the United States, the
There is only one way to stop all these strikes, from Iraq and Syria and into French did not bring ideo-
the waters that help global trade move goods and that is to initiate a ceasefire logical factors into play in
in Gaza and spare the Palestinians from relentless bombing and displacement conducting business with
by Israeli defence forces. That would be the starting point for pursuing the India in these core areas.
much spoken of two-State solution. Underscoring this
Whatever is happening now in the restive region following the October 7 French laissez faire
Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli response is tied to the Gaza war. approach to foreign policy
However thorny the path forward, there must be some way to rein in Israeli
bombing and troops on the ground in Gaza and bring about the ceasefire the
was the nonchalant reac-
tion of the French to India’s
US is also chasing now with a two-month cessation of hostilities in exchange
for hostages in the air.
nuclear tests in May 1998,
when the US and its allies
went berserk threatening
India and imposing sanc-
DECCAN CHRONICLE
tions. The stopover visit to
KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAR France by Prime Minister
Editor Printer & Publisher Atal Behari Vajpayee in
R. MOHAN 1998, when relations with
Resident Editor
DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at: the US were just normalis-
Chennai: SP 3 Developed Plot, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai 600032. Phones: (044) 22254750, ing, reflected France’s
222547451 pragmatic diplomacy. That
Coimbatore: No. 2/22 Sengalipalayam Road, N.G.G.O. Colony Post, Kurudampalayam Village, is why France has been a
Coimbatore-641022. Phone: (0422) 2231255, 2231256
Hyderabad: 36, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad 500 003. Phone: (040) 27803930-4. Fax: (040) natural partner of India in
27805256. strategic fields for more
Visakhapatnam: Survey No. 1/3A Beach Road, Near Kailasagiri Ropeway, Sector-9 MVP Colony, than half a century.
Visakhapatnam - 530 017. Phones: (0891) 2552333/2552334, Fax (0891) 2755285 The Emmanuel Macron
Vijayawada: No. C 3 & 4, Patamata, Industrial Estate, Auto Nagar, Vijayawada (A.P.). Phones: (0866)
2555284/ 2555287, Fax (0866) 2555234 visit, despite the short
Rajahmundry: Vemagiri, Dhawleswaram Rd, Rajahmundry 533125. Phones: (0883) 2417208, 2417618 notice, is in keeping with
Anantapur: Thapovan Colony, Bangalore Bye-Pass Road, Anantapur 515004. Phones: (08554) 276903, the past warm relations
Fax: 08554-276904 and absence of irritants.
Nellore: Survey No. 527/2, Burranpur Village, Venkatachalam (M), Chemudugunta Panchayat, Nellore.
Phone: (0861) 2348581/ 82, Telefax (0861) 2348580 The French keep relations
Karimnagar: H .No. 1-21-12/1, Cheralabhutkur Road, Mugudhumpur Village, Karim Nagar - 505186 with Pakistan calibrated to
Phone : 9121181123 not annoy India. The
January 26 joint statement
details the themes in play
in India-France relations.
It recalls the Horizon 2047
Roadmap showcased dur-
ing Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s visit to
France just over six
months ago, as chief guest
at their Bastille Day cele-
brations on July 14, 2023. It
provides an “ambitious
and broad-ranging course
for bilateral relationship”.
However, some facts need
recalling. A French mili-
tary marching contingent
participated in this year’s
Republic Day parade. A
similar participation
occurred when President
Francois Hollande was the
chief guest in 2016.
Similarly, the Indian
armed forces marched in
Paris not only when Prime
Minister Modi was the
chief guest at last year’s
Bastille Day but also when
Dr Manmohan Singh was
similarly honoured. Thus,
the French extension of
special courtesies to Indian
Prime Ministers is part of a
long tradition.
The two countries’ bilat-
eral relations have always
tilted in favour of defence
and space. Among
European nations, includ-
ing the United Kingdom, it
stands rather low at the
fifth spot amongst India’s
trading partners. It is also
only the 11th largest for-
eign investor in India with
aggregate foreign direct
investment of $10.49 bil-
lion. But France excels at
cooperating in strategic
fields.
The joint statement cov-
ers a plethora of issues. It
reflects the expanded
Indian economic and
strategic profile globally.
In line with the Narendra
Modi government’s pen-
chant for catchy slogans,
three new pillars are pre-
sented for bilateral engage-
ment — “Partnership for
Peace and Prosperity;
Partnership for Planet;
Partnership for People”.
These are general state-
ments of intent more in the
region of philosophy than
diplomacy.
But concrete ideas are
also available in the joint
statement. The Annual
Defence Dialogue is
recalled as the mechanism
for enhancing the “co-
design, co-development, co-
production” of defence
products. Based on the
“atma nirbhar” principle,
of self-reliance, Indian pro-
duction capabilities are to
be enhanced using foreign
collaboration. The aim is to
make India a base for
exports to friendly nations.
An example is the
Hindustan Aeronautics
and Safran agreement to
develop, certify, produce,
sell and support helicopter
engines. An existing joint
venture produces Scorpene
submarines, but no new
deals were announced.
However, Airbus Helic-
opters and the Tatas agreed
to establish a production
line of helicopters for civil-
ian use. The year 2026 was
declared as the “India-
France Year of
Innovation”.
The joint statement pre-
scribes that bilateral part-
nership must produce
resilient and prosperous
economies, ensure securi-
ty, address global chal-
lenges, reinvigorate multi-
lateralism and attain a sta-
ble international order.
This sounds like utopian
overreach as even the
United Nations has failed
to achieve these objectives.
Two issues in the state-
ment demonstrate this. On
the Gaza conflict, besides
condemning the terrorist
attack on Israel, it is
demanded that interna-
tional humanitarian law be
observed, humanitarian
assistance provided and a
“political process” initiat-
ed for a “two-state solu-
tion”. Neither nation fig-
ures in the latest ceasefire
talks proposed by the US.
Similarly, the India-
Middle East-Europe
Corridor (IMEC) agree-
ment, announced during
the G-20 summit in New
Delhi last September, is
reiterated. However, while
Israel’s existential warfare
with Hamas in Gaza con-
tinues, talk of a corridor
via the UAE and Saudi
Arabia is fairly premature.
professionals. Mutual
diplomatic presence will be
increased by new con-
sulates in Marseille and
Hyderabad. The Indo-
Pacific is favoured for clos-
er cooperation. France
retains territorial posses-
sions like Reunion Island
in the Indian Ocean, and
New Caledonia and French
Polynesia in the Pacific.
France also has a trilateral
dialogue framework with
the UAE and India. Thus,
France broadens India’s
network of plurilateral
ties.
France provided India
access to high technology
when India still faced tech-
nology-denial regimes pre-
1998. As Indo-US relations
have improved, India’s
options for acquiring high
technology weapons and
platforms have widened.
But France remains a reli-
able and tested partner,
much like Russia. It also
provides a counterweight
to over-reliance on the
United States. Ironically as
President Macron wit-
nessed India’s Republic
Day celebrations and
parade, 70,000 French farm-
ers were protesting across
France. Over 40,000 trac-
tors choked France’s main
arteries. European agricul-
tural policy changed in
2023, pushing for a green,
carbon-neutral European
economy. In particular, the
obligation to leave four per
cent of land fallow to
ensure biodiversity riled
farmers.
France has an Indian
diaspora of over one lakh.
Increased and facilitated
student and professional
egress from India is desir-
able. But the rising xeno-
phobic right-wing parties
can be spoilers in France or
elsewhere in Europe. The
challenges of climate
change, regional conflicts,
financial crises and the
global power shift provide
new opportunities for
India-France engagement.
They can equally create
hurdles.
The writer is a former sec-
retary in the external
affairs ministry. He tweets
at @ambkcsingh.
Mallikharjuna Kharge as the
PM face of the alliance
without any consensus
being arrived at on this
issue. The cold reception
that RaGa's journey in
Assam and Manipur gave
no enthusiasm and hope to
the Alliance already in dol-
drums and bickerings on
key issues like Hindi as
National language and
RamMandir consecration.
S.Nagarajan Iyer
Coimbatore
NITISH KUMAR
Nitish Kumar has yet again proved
that he is power hungry by ditching
the alliance in Bihar and in turn, the
INDIA Bloc. The people of Bihar
who have been witnessing the multi-
ple somersaults Nitish has been
making to achieve his selfish ends
must teach him and his party. The
consistently inconsistent Nitish has
amply demonstrated the fact that he
is unfit to be called a political leader,
as a leader is expected to be endowed
with at least basic etiquette and val-
ues.
Tharcius S.Fernando
Chennai
VIJAY’S POLITICAL
PLUNGE
This refers to your report that the
Tamil Nadu film star Vijay is in line
to take the political plunge soon.
This popular star has been express-
ing for long his desire to launch a
viable political party. He has taken
the right decision at the right time to
launch it. Like the legend Kamala
Hassan, he too may find it difficult to
make any impact among the voters
without an alliance. It would be
interesting to see which alliance he
would join.
Capt. N. Viswanathan
Coimbatore
Mail your letters to
chennaidesk@deccanmail.com

O
n the third page of its constitution, the
BJP lays out its membership conditions:
“Any Indian citizen of 18 years or above
who accepts Articles II, III and IV of the
constitution shall, on making a written declara-
tion… become a member” of the BJP. What are
Aakar Patel these things that are important enough to make a
written declaration?
Article II of the BJP constitution concludes thus:
“the party shall bear true faith and allegiance to
the Constitution of India as by law established and
to the principles of socialism, secularism and
democracy”. Article IV says the party commits
mary of the argument Upadhyaya presents:
*The cause of the problems facing Bharat is a
neglect of national identity. The nation is like an
individual and becomes ill if its natural instincts
are disregarded or suppressed. Seventeen years
after Independence, India was undecided about
the direction it would take towards development.
Independence is meaningful only it is the instru-
ment to express culture.
*The focus in India was on episodic problems:
economic, social and political. This was because
India adopted a Western way of looking at eco-
nomic, social and political doctrines along with
ple. If out of 450 million Indians, all except one
voted for something, it would still be wrong if it
was against dharma. The people have no right to
act against dharma. The words “secularism” and
“dharmnirpeksh” (the Hindi phrase for secular-
ism meaning “that which is not dependent on
dharma”) in the Constitution are wrong and bad
because dharma is a necessary condition for the
State. That which is not based on dharma is unac-
ceptable, and therefore secularism was fatally
flawed. National unity is India’s dharma; so diver-
sity was problematic. For this reason, India’s
Constitution needs to be changed from federal to
beginning to accept this truth. One of them,
William McDougall, said that a group had a mind
and a psychology, its own methods of thinking and
action just as an individual did. Societies have an
inborn nature that’s not based on its history.
Events don’t affect it. This group nature is like the
soul in individuals, also unaffected by history.
This group mentality is like mob mentality but
developed over a longer period. The nation needs
both an ideal and a motherland and only then is it
a nation. The State exists to protect this nation,
which has an ideal and a motherland.
This was the message of the four lectures. It is

‘Integral Humanism’ itself to the “Gandhian approach to socio-econom-

ic issues leading to establishment of egalitarian
society free from exploitation”. It adds that the
Western science. Westernisation was synony-
mous with progress for Indians. However, the
West was unable to reconcile nationalism, democ-
racy and socialism. These were essentially
unitary, with no legislative powers for the states,
only for the Centre. Conflict between individuals
and institutions of society is a sign of decadence
and perversion. The West was wrong to see the
not easy to figure out what the meaning of it all is.
What, for instance, is the difference between mind
and intelligence? What is a soul? How are these
three things separate from a body? What does the
“party stands for decentralisation of economic
as basic philosophy and political power”.
Where do these matters figure in the way the
party actually conducts itself? This will be inter-
Western ideals and they were all in conflict with
one another. These ideologies were not universal
and not free from the limitations of the people and
adversarial relationship between the individual
and the State as the reason for progress. The indi-
vidual was made up of body, mind, intelligence
sentence that “personality, soul and character are
all distinct from one another” really mean? And
what is the role of a political party and of govern-

of BJP: What does it esting to see, but that’s for another time. Article
III, the subject of this column, is a single line
which reads “Integral Humanism shall be the
basic philosophy of the party”.
cultures which gave birth to these isms. Ayurveda
said that we need to find local cures to local dis-
eases. Could Bharatiya culture provide a solution
for the world?
and soul. A human being is born with a soul.
Personality, soul and character are different from
one another. The person’s soul is unaffected by
personal history. Similarly, national culture is
ment in any of this? The national soul, “chiti”, and
group mind are not scientific phenomena and the
works of William McDougall are not science (he
thought, like Upadhyaya did, that the mind influ-

mean to the Sanghis? Integral Humanism is the subject of four lec-

tures in Mumbai given by Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
between April 22 and 25, 1965. Upadhyaya held a
BA degree and was a journalist at the RSS’ in-
house Panchjanya. He was about 50 when he deliv-
ered these lectures and became president of the
Jan Sangh (the BJP’s precursor) a couple of years
after he delivered them. The following is a sum-
*Dharma is given foremost place in Bharatiya
culture. Dharma is the natural law that is eternal
and universally applicable. Dharma is ethics
teaching us not to lie, not to fight. When nature is
directed according to the principles of dharma,
there is culture and civilisation.
*Dharma is higher than the executive, legisla-
tive and judiciary. It is also higher than the peo-
continuously modified by history. Culture
includes all things held as good and commendable,
but they do not affect “chiti”, the national soul.
India’s national soul is fundamental and central.
Chiti determines the direction of cultural advance.
It filters out what is to be excluded from culture.
*Societies are animate and a society has a body,
mind, intellect and soul. Some Westerners were
enced evolution). One wonders how many BJP
members who sign written declarations saying
they accept Integral Humanism as their “basic
philosophy” actually understand what it is that
they have accepted.
The writer is the chair of Amnesty International
India. Twitter: @aakar__patel
 NATION
DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024 | COIMBATORE
SHORT TAKES
Hydro project: CBI
raids in J&K, Delhi
New Delhi: The CBI on
Monday said that it has con-
ducted searches at eight
locations in Delhi and
Jammu in connection with
the alleged corruption in
awarding of civil works
worth `2,200 crores of the
Kiru Hydro Electric Power
Project at Kishtwar in
Jammu and Kashmir. The
searches were conducted
recently at the premises of
Rajiv Dahiya, Surender
Kumar Gupta, Saurabh
Gupta, Arun Kumar and
Reshi Kumar Sharma, offi-
cials said. They are suspect-
ed to have converted bribe
money into white through
money laundering, officials
added. Satya Pal Malik, who
was the governor of Jammu
and Kashmir between
August 23, 2018, and
October 30, 2019, had
claimed that he was offered
a `300-crore bribe for clear-
ing two files, including one
pertaining to the project.
Major bureaucratic
rejig by CM Yadav
Bhopal: In a major reshuffle
in the top-level bureaucracy
in Madhya Pradesh, 18 senior
IAS officers were transferred
late on Sunday. Prominent
among the bureaucrats who
were transferred included
additional chief secretary
Manu Srivastav and senior
IAS officers Sanjay Kumar
Shukla, Manish Rastogi and
Niroj Kumar Vashist. Mr
Rastogi and Mr Vashist were
in the secretariat of previous
chief minister Shivraj Singh
Chouhan. While Mr Srivastav
has been transferred and
posted as ACS energy
department, Mr Shukla has
been transferred and posted
as principal secretary to the
governor. Mr Rastogi has
been transferred and posted
as principal secretary, jail
department. Mr Vashist has
been transferred and posted
as director, liberated
nomadic and
semi-nomadic tribes.
India-Saudi military
drill begins in Raj
New Delhi: The inaugural
edition of India-Saudi Arabia
joint military exercise “Sada
Tanseeq”, which seeks to
develop interoperability,
bonhomie and camaraderie
between troops from both
the sides, began in Rajasthan
on Monday, officials said.
The exercise is scheduled to
be conducted till February
10. “The Saudi Arabian con-
tingent comprising 45 per-
sonnel is being represented
by Royal Saudi Land Forces.
The Indian Army contingent
also comprising 45 person-
nel is being represented by a
battalion from the Brigade
of the Guards (Mechanised
Infantry),” the defence min-
istry said in a statement. The
aim of the exercise is to train
troops of both sides for joint
operations in semi-desert
terrain under Chapter VII of
the United Nations
Charter, it said. — PTI
HANUMAN FLAG
ROW INTENSIFIES
IN K’TAKA DIST
Mandya, Karnataka: Security
was beefed up here on
Monday, a day after breaking
out of a row over the
removal of a saffron
Hanuman flag from
Keragodu village with pro-
testers demanding its
restoration, and the incident
sparking a political con-
frontation between the rul-
ing Congress government
and the Opposition BJP-
JD(S). Chief minister
Siddaramaiah accused the
Opposition BJP and JD(S) of
trying to instigate the peo-
ple over the issue, with an
eye on the coming Lok
Sabha elections. Police on
Sunday had resorted to mild
lathi charge to disperse the
crowd at Keragodu village,
and subsequently hoisted
the tricolour on the 108-ft
tall flagpost replacing the
“Hanuman dhwaja”, in the
presence of administration.
On Monday, the protestors
marched from Keragodu to
the deputy commissioner’s
office in the district head-
quarters of Mandya, covering
a distance of about 14 km,
holding saffron flags amid
chants of “Jai Sri Ram”. They
also raised slogans against
the ruling Congress govern-
ment. Meanwhile, BJP lead-
ers C.T. Ravi and Preetham
Gowda and JD(S) leaders
Suresh Gowda and K.
Annadani joined the
demonstrators. — PTI
■ Nadda, Javadekar, Manmohan Singh, Jaya Bachchan among retiring members
Elections for 56 RS seats Feb. 27: EC
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The Election Commission
has got the ball rolling for
the biennial elections to
fill 56 seats across 15 states
in the Rajya Sabha. The
polls to fill these seats will
be held on February 27.
The states from where
members are retiring are
Andhra Pradesh (3), Bihar
(6), Chhattisgarh (1),
Gujarat (4), Haryana (1),
Himachal Pradesh (1),
Karnataka (4), Madhya
Pradesh (5), Maharashtra
(6), Telangana (3), Uttar
Pradesh (10), Uttarakhand
(1), West Bengal (5),
Ahead of Budget, Centre
convenes all-party meet
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The government has con-
vened an all-party meet-
ing on Tuesday ahead of
the Budget Session of
Parliament, beginning
from January 31. Ahead
of the coming Lok Sabha
elections, the incumbent
government will place an
interim budget before
Parliament.
It is a customary prac-
tice ahead of every parlia-
mentary session, as lead-
ers of different parties
highlight the issues they
Another rift? RLD, ■ Cong chief sounds poll bugle in Odisha, says will trounce Modi & Naveen
Cong seek more No more polls if Modi wins LS polls: Kharge
seats for LS in UP
Lucknow, Jan. 29: The
Congress and the
Rashtriya Lok Dal on
Monday appeared unsat-
isfied with the 18 seats
offered to the two INDIA
bloc allies in Uttar
Pradesh by the
Samajwadi Party in seat-
sharing arrangements for
the Lok Sabha polls.
The SP has offered 11
seats to the Congress and
seven seats to the RLD for
the upcoming parliamen-
tary elections.
The Congress has
demanded that it should
be given at least 22 seats it
had won in 2009, while the
RLD wants eight seats in
the politically sensitive
state, which has 80 Lok
Sabha constituencies.
“Positive talks are going
on regarding seat shar-
ing. We want that the
party should contest on
more than 22 seats, which
it had won in the 2009 Lok
Sabha elections in the
state. The party’s central
leadership is in talks with
the Samajwadi Party
about this,” UP Congress
chief Ajay Rai told PTI on
Monday.
Expressing disagree-
ment over the seats
NIA attaches Waited 8 months to finalise
property of seat as Cong sat idle: TMC
2019 Punjab
blast accused
AMRESH SRIVASTAVA
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
Continuing its crack-
down on the terror
ecosystem in Punjab,
National Investigation
Agency on Monday
attached the property of
key accused in 2019 blast
case, that occurred at
village Pandori Golan in
Tarn Taran district.
The agency move came
after the special NIA
court at SAS Nagar in
Mohali ordered the
attachment of the
immovable property of
Gurjant Singh — a key
accused in a 2019 blast
case — under section 33
(1) of the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention)
Act 1967.
Singh is already
chargesheeted in this
case, the agency said.
This case, which was
taken over by the
Central anti-terror
probe agency on
September 23, 2019, is
based on the original
FIR by the Tarn Taran
Police.
The case is related to
the terror activities of a
terrorist gang headed by
one Bikramjit Singh
Panjwar.
Odisha (3) and Rajasthan
(3).
While 50 members retire
on April 2, six will do so on
April 3. Out of these 56
retiring members, promi-
nent names are BJP presi-
dent J.P. Nadda, Union
ministers Dharmendra
Pradhan, Ashwani Vaish-
nav, Mansukh Mandaviya
and Bhupender Yadav, and
MoS V. Muraleedharan
and Rajeev
Chandrashekar.
Terms of senior BJP
leaders like Prakash
Javadekar, Sushil Kumar
Modi, BJP media con-
venor Anil Baluni, Shiv
Sena (UBT) MP Anil
want to raise in the
House, and the govern-
ment offers them a
glimpse into its agenda
and seeks their coopera-
tion.
It will be a short session
this time, between
January 31 and February
9, with finance minister
Nirmala Sitharaman set
to table an “interim
Budget” ahead of the Lok
Sabha polls. The new gov-
ernment will present the
“full-fledged Budget”.
The session will begin
with President Droupadi
Murmu’s address.
◗ SP SPOKESPERSON
Rajendra Chaudhary,
when asked that
Congress is demanding
more than 22 seats,
said, “The number of
seats given by the SP
will remain the same”
offered to it by the SP, a
senior RLD leader said
the party wants one more
seat.
“We want to contest
from the Deoria Lok
Sabha seat. Our state unit
chief Ramashish Rai had
contested from there in
2004 on a Congress ticket,
and had given a tough
fight to his political oppo-
nents... The political
equation is in favour of
Rai, and he can throw sur-
prising results,” the RLD
leader told PTI.
As per RLD leaders, the
SP has offered them the
seats of Baghpat,
Muzaffarnagar, Mathura,
Kairana, Hathras, Bijnor
and Amroha.
Meanwhile, SP’s chief
spokesperson Rajendra
Chaudhary said, “The
number of seats given by
the SP will remain the
same.” — PTI
Diamond Harbour
(West Bengal), Jan. 29:
Senior Trinamul
Congress (TMC) leader
Abhishek Banerjee on
Monday attributed the
differences in the
Opposition bloc INDIA in
West Bengal to Congress
party’s failure to finalise
seat-sharing arrange-
ments.
Mr Banerjee highlight-
ed that despite repeated
reminders over the last
eight months, the
Congress remained inac-
tive in sealing the seat-
sharing agreement.
The TMC national gen-
eral secretary slammed
Radio alerts help C’garh forest-dwellers avoid jumbos
RABINDRA NATH
CHOUDHURY
RAIPUR, JAN. 29
A five-minute bulletin on
wild elephants, broadcast
every afternoon by four
Akashwani centres in
Chhattisgarh, has turned
out to be a key tool for the
forest dwellers in Central
Chhattisgarh to escape
from the marauding
pachyderms.
Aired simultaneously
through four Akashwani
centres, Ambikapur,
Bilaspur, Raigarh and
◗ SOURCES DISCLOSED
that the BJP Central
leadership has decided
to field many of its Rajya
Sabha members, includ-
ing those whose term is
coming to an end
Desai, former Prime
Minister Manmohan
Singh, Congress
spokesperson Abhishek
Manu Singhvi, RJD
spokesperson Manoj Jha
and Samajwadi Party MP
Jaya Bhachchan are also
ending now.
Terms of four nominated
members, all belonging to
the BJP — Sonal
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath feeds a cow at a cowshed in Gorakhpur
on Monday.
AKSHAYA KUMAR SAHOO
BHUBANESWAR, JAN. 29
Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge on
Monday urged people not
to vote for the BJP and
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, while saying that he
apprehends the democra-
cy will cease to exist in
India if the saffron party
returned to power at the
Centre after the 2024 Lok
Sabha polls.
Training his guns on
Bihar chief minister
Nitish Kumar, who desert-
ed the INDIA bloc on
Sunday, Mr Kharge said
‘Aaya Kumar, gaya Kumar’: Cong slams Nitish
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The Congress on Monday
took a swipe at Bihar chief
Minister Nitish Kumar
with another “aaya
Kumar, gaya Kumar” jibe
at him, a day after the
JD(U) leader’s latest volte-
face in Bihar. “After taking
oath, Nitish Kumar ji for-
got his ‘muffler’ (scarf) in
Raj Bhawan. When he
came back halfway to pick
up, the governor was
shocked that this time not
even 15 minutes had
passed,” Congress general
West Bengal Congress
president Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury for playing
into the hands of the saf-
fron camp and repeatedly
attacking the TMC gov-
ernment in West Bengal,
despite being an ally at
the national level.
“According to alliance
norms, the first thing you
do is seal the seat-shar-
ing. We had waited for
eight months to seal the
seat-sharing issue. But
the Congress was sitting
idle and nothing moved
forward,” he said.
Mr Banerjee slammed
Mr Chowdhury for
“demanding President’s
Raipur, the radio pro-
gramme titled “Hamar
Haathi, Hamar Goth” (our
elephants, our communi-
ty) has virtually become a
protective tool for the peo-
ple, living close to the jun-
gles in the region, against
the marauding tuskers.
Sponsored by
Chhattisgarh forest
department, the short bul-
letin, first of its kind radio
programme in the country,
throws light on the loca-
tions of the elephant
herds and their move-
ments in the regions, thus
Mansingh, Ram Shakal,
Mahesh Jethmalani and
Rakesh Sinha — are also
ending.
Sources disclosed that
the BJP central leadership
has decided to field many
of its Rajya Sabha mem-
bers, including those
whose term is coming to
an end. Mr Nadda repre-
sents Himachal Pradesh,
his home state where cur-
rently the Congress is in
power. Speculation is rife
that many Union minis-
ters, including those
whose term is ending in
the Upper House, will be
fielded in the upcoming
general election. Mr
the alliance would not be
weakened because of one
leader’s exit. “The parties
in the INDIA bloc are unit-
ed and will trounce Modi
and Naveen,” he added.
Formally launching his
party’s poll campaign for
Odisha in Bhubaneswar,
the Congress chief said,
“Don’t vote for the BJP
and Narendra Modi. It
could be the last election.
India will witness one
party rule with Modi at
the helm of affairs. The
BJP is terrorising leaders
of other political parties
as a result of which they
are quitting their parent
secretary Jairam Ramesh
said in a post on Twitter.
In another post in Hindi
on ‘X’, he said: “Girgit ko
bhi karni padi naye rang
ki khoj, ye shoorveer
badalte hain itne rang roz
(even chameleon had to
look for a new colour as
these “warriors” change
many colours everyday).”
Later, speaking with
reporters in Uttar
Dinajpur in West Bengal
during the Bharat Jodo
Nyay Yatra, Mr Ramesh
said, “What can I say? I
said yesterday ‘aaya
Kumar, gaya Kumar’.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit in Cooch Behar district
on Monday.
◗ The bulletin, first of its
kind radio programme in
the country, throws light
on the locations of the
elephant herds and their
movements in the
regions, thus sounding
alert to the local people
sounding alert to the
locals not to cross the
paths of the wild animals.
“The bulletin is broad-
cast at 5 pm everyday
‘without fail’. This is the
time when the forest
dwellers and other vil-
Pradhan has already
announced that he will be
contesting the Lok Sabha
polls. Sources said some of
the Rajya Sabha members,
including Union minis-
ters, will be fielded on key
parliamentary seats, con-
sidered as the stronghold
of the Opposition parties
leaders.
The Congress will have a
tough time replacing its
current members, as it has
lost power in the states of
Rajasthan and
Chattisgarh. Though it
will easily be able to wrest
seats in Telangana,
Karnataka and Himachal
Pradesh.
— PTI
Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge
addresses the supporters
during a public meeting
in Bhubaneswar on
Monday. — PTI
organisations. Whosoever
dares to defy their diktat,
Nitish Kumar gives a
tough competition to a
chameleon.”
Mr Ramesh’s swipe was
wordplay on the expres-
sion “aaya Ram gaya
Ram”, which was used
widely in politics in the
1990s referring to the fre-
quent floor-crossing and
switching of parties. He
said Mr Kumar keeps
resigning repeatedly and
keeps changing his “politi-
cal colour”.
On Sunday Congress
President Mallikarjun
Kharge said he knew it
would happen, adding,
lagers or government offi-
cials posted in remote
areas set out for their
homes from their work.
The time also coincides
with the movements of
elephant herds, raising
prospects of a human-
pachyderm conflict”,
Amalendu Mishra, the
programme presenter, told
this newspaper on
Monday.
The forest dwellers learn
about the movements of
the wild elephants in their
respective areas from the
bulletin and change their
CM: U’khand to get
UCC soon, panel to
submit draft Feb. 2
‘To be tabled in Assembly Feb. 5’
PRITHVIRAJ SINGH
DEHRADUN, JAN. 24
Uttarakhand will soon
become country’s first
state to implement
Uniform Civil Code (UCC)
early February, as experts
panel will submit its draft
on February 2, which is
likely to be tabled in the
Assembly on February 5.
Chief minister Pushkar
Singh Dhami on Monday
informed that experts
panel, constituted by his
government to prepare
UCC draft, has completed
its report and will submit
it on February 2. He stat-
ed that the draft would be
first tabled before the
state Cabinet and then in
the Assembly for enact-
ment at the earliest.
“We had made our reso-
lution to implement UCC
in Uttarakhand. Our reso-
lution of the implementa-
tion of UCC was prom-
ised to the voters during
the state Assembly polls
in 2022. People of
Uttarakhand voted us to
power to keep our prom-
ise, following which a
committee was formed in
the leadership of Justice
Ranjana Prasad Desai.
Now, the committee has
completed its task. They
have informed us to hand
they are being punished.
Will democracy survive
under
stances?”
such circum-
Stating that Indians
must come forward to pro-
tect the Constitution, the
Mr Kharge said if the BJP
retained power, Mr Modi
will ensure the Russian
system of election that
allows President Vladimir
Putin to continue to
remain in power.
“It is the responsibility
of the people of India now
to save democracy. If you
want to save democracy,
you can do it. If you want
to be slaves, it depends on
“There are many people in
the country like ‘Aaya
Ram-Gaya Ram’. Earlier
he and we were fighting
together. When I talked to
Lalu Ji and Tejashwi, they
also said that Nitish is
going. If he wanted to stay,
he would have stayed but
he wants to go. That’s why
we already knew this, but
to keep the INDIA alliance
intact, if we say some-
thing wrong, the wrong
message will be sent. This
information was already
given to us by Lalu Prasad
Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav.
Today that came true.”
— PTI
routes to avoid attack from
the wild elephants, he
added.
The locals get access to
the bulletin either
through their transistor
sets or FM radios in their
cell phones. The bulletin is
also accessed through a
news App installed in
Android phones.
It is seen that the vil-
lagers viral the bulletin in
their WhatsApp groups to
help their fellow villagers
know about the movement
of wild elephants in their
areas, Mr Mishra said.
pg 7
Pushkar Singh Dhami
out the draft on February
2. Our government will
assess the draft and table
it before the Cabinet. This
will be followed by put-
ting the draft in the
enactment process,” said
the CM in his ‘X’ post. Mr
Dhami claimed that
Uttarakhand will be first
state in the country to
implement UCC.
The Dhami government
has already
February 5 for the
notified
Assembly’s Winter
Session; albeit the CM
has not specified the date
for tabling the UCC draft
in the Assembly, but offi-
cials in the CMO and state
home department have
stated that a one-day
Assembly session has
been called for the same.
“UCC draft will be table
in the Assembly in all
probability on February
5,” said a home depart-
ment official.
your wish,” he observed.
The veteran Congress
leader also reiterated his
earlier assertion that the
BJP was a “poison” and
anybody consuming its
ideology would surely die.
Stating that Rahul
Gandhi was busy in bind-
ing the country with the
principle of unity, Mr
Kharge said the BJP was
dividing the country.
He accused the Prime
Minister of running his
hegemony by using agen-
cies like the Enforcement
Directorate (ED) and the
Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI).
SC says stay
on survey of
Shahi Idgah
will continue
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The Supreme Court on
Monday ordered contin-
uance of the interim
stay on the operation of
the Allahabad high
court order for a court-
monitored survey of the
Shahi Idgah mosque
complex adjoining the
Krishna Janmabhoomi
temple in Mathura.
A bench of Justices
Sanjiv Khanna and
Dipankar Datta posted
the plea filed by the
Committee
Management
of
Trust
Shahi Masjid Idgah for
further hearing in the
first half of April.
“Interim orders wher-
ever granted shall con-
tinue. Re-list in the first
half of April, 2024,” the
bench said in its order
and directed the parties
to complete the plead-
ings by then.
The top court said all
petitions pending before
it on the issue will be
taken up for hearing
together in April.
On January 16, the top
court stayed the opera-
tion of the December 14,
2023 order of the
Allahabad high court,
which allowed a court-
monitored survey of the
Shahi Idgah Mosque
complex.
It had also stayed the
order of the high court
by which it sought to
appoint a court commis-
sioner to oversee the
survey of the mosque
premises, which the
Hindu side claims hold
signs suggesting that it
was once a temple.
The apex court, howev-
er, made it clear that the
proceedings before the
high court in the dis-
pute, including the
maintainability of the
suit under Order 7 Rule
11 of the Civil Procedure
Code (CPC), will
continue.
 WORLD
DECCAN CHRONICLE | COIMBATORE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024
pg 8

SHORT

BRITAIN TO BAN
TAKES
DISPOSABLE VAPES,
CURBS ON SMOKING
London, Jan. 29: The British
government says it will ban the
sale of disposable vapes and
limit their cornucopia of
flavours in an effort to prevent
children becoming addicted to
nicotine. It also plans to stick to
a contentious proposal to ban
today’s young people from ever
buying cigarettes.
Officials say the number of
youth vaping has tripled in the
past three years.
WORLD’S MOST
INDEBTED FIRM TO
BE LIQUIDATED
Hong Kong, Jan. 29: A Hong
Kong court ordered China
Evergrande, the world’s most
heavily indebted real estate
developer, to undergo liquida-
tion following a failed effort to
restructure $300 billion owed to
banks and bondholders that
fuelled fears about China’s ris-
ing debt burden. Judge Linda
Chan said it was appropriate
for the court to order
Evergrande to wind up its busi-
ness given a lack of progress
on the part of the company put-
ting forward a viable restruc-
turing proposal as well as
Evergrande’s insolvency.
Three soldiers killed in Jordan, Maldives Oppn
Biden promises swift response impeach Muizzu
Iran says nothing to do with attack, denies support to responsible militants
Washington, Jan. 29:
The White House on
Monday vowed a “very
consequential response”
to a drone attack on a base
in Jordan that killed three
American troops, with
President Joe Biden blam-
ing Iran-backed militants.
The casualties — the
first US military deaths in
an attack in the region
since the Israel-Hamas
war began — raised fears
of an escalating conflict,
as fighting rages in Gaza.
Washington’s response
will be “very consequen-
tial,” National Security
Council spokesman John
Kirby said.
“But we don’t seek a war
with Iran. We're not look-
ing for a wider conflict in
the Middle East,” he
added.
Iran said it had nothing
to do with the attack and
denied US accusations
that it supported militant
groups responsible for the
Sunday strike on the
remote frontier base in
Jordan’s northeast, near
the borders with Iraq and
Syria.
CYCLE OF VIOLENCE
Armed supporters of Yemen's Houthi rebels hold up a sign
that reads in Arabic: “Boycott US and Israeli merchandise”
during a rally in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas move-
ment's armed resistance, in Sanaa on Monday.
● The Iraqi government on
Monday condemned the
attack that killed three U.S.
service members in Jordan,
describing it as part of an
escalation which threatens
regional stability and
urging an end to "the cycle
of violence".
plans motion to
— AFP
● Two people were killed and
several wounded on Monday
in what Iranian and Syrian
media said was an Israeli
attack on the outskirts of the
Syrian capital, with Iran's
ambassador to Damascus
denying reports the location
was an Iranian military post.
Male, Jan 29: The main
DETAILS OF TOWER 22 opposition MDP, which
holds a majority in the
LOCATION Maldivian Parliament, is
● Tower 22 holds a strategically important planning to submit a
location in Jordan, at the most northeastern motion to impeach Presi-
point where the country's borders meet Syria dent Mohamed Muizzu
even as three members of
and Iraq. his cabinet were denied
approval during a parlia-
PURPOSE mentary vote on Monday,
● Little is publicly known about the base. But it according to media
includes logistics support and there are 350 US
Army and Air Force troops at the base. It is
reports here.
The development comes Mohamed Muizzu
unclear what type of weapons are kept at the
base and air defenses used.
a day after clashes broke
out in Parliament on
Sunday between pro-gov-
ernment MPs and opposi-
PARL. REJECTS
tion lawmakers over dif-
ferences over the
THREE CABINET
approval of four mem-
bers of the pro-China
President’s cabinet.
HOPEFULS
Muizzu, 45, defeated Male, Jan. 29: The
India-friendly incumbent Maldives’ Parliament on
Ibrahim Mohamed Solih Monday approved only
in the presidential runoff one of the four members
held in September last of pro-China President
year. Mohamed Muizzu’s
The MDP, in partner- Cabinet against whom the
ship with the Democrats, main opposition MDP has
have gathered enough sig- issued a three-line red
A file photograph of Tower 22, which is operated natures for an impeach- whip.
by US troops as part of an international coalition ment motion. However, While Parliament voted
against the Islamic State. — AFP they have yet to submit it, to deny approval to hous-
Sun.com reported, quot- ing minister Ali Haidar
ing a lawmaker. Ahmed, Islamic minister

CATHERINE LEAVES
While Washington is still has rejected the accusa- The decision to submit Mohamed Shaheem Ali

HOSPITAL AFTER
ABDOMEN SURGERY
London, Jan 29: Britain’s
Catherine, Princess of Wales,
has left hospital after undergo-
ing abdominal surgery, her
Kensington Palace office said
on Monday, adding that she was
making “good progress” at
home.
The 42-year-old princess,
whose husband is Prince
William, heir to the British
throne, was treated at a private
London hospital nearly two
weeks ago.
She has now returned home
to Windsor, west of London, to
continue her recovery.
Previously, officials had said
she would need several months'
recuperation.
gathering the facts, “we
know it was carried out by
radical Iran-backed mili-
tant groups operating in
Syria and Iraq,” Biden
said on Sunday, pledging
to hold “all those responsi-
ble to account at a time
and in a manner of our
choosing.” Kirby would
not speculate on the
options being considered
by the president, includ-
ing whether targets inside
Iran were on the table.
He said Washington
wants to “make it clear”
that the attack — part of a
series of other increasing-
ly dangerous assaults by
Iran-backed militants in
the region in recent weeks
was unacceptable.”
British foreign secretary
David Cameron joined
Biden Sunday in blaming
“Iran-aligned” militants
tions as “baseless,” adding
Sunday Tehran “is not
involved in the decisions
of the resistance groups.”
There has so far been no
claim of responsibility for
the strike, although on
Sunday the Islamic
Resistance in Iraq claimed
to have launched three
drone attacks at bases in
Syria, including near the
Jordanian border.
The group — a loose
alliance of Iran-linked
armed groups that oppose
US support for Israel in
the Gaza conflict and
wants them out of Iraq —
has claimed dozens of
attacks on US and anti-
jihadist coalition forces in
Iraq. A spokesman for
Hamas said the Jordan
attack was a message that
the fighting in Gaza “risks
a regional explosion.”
US rejects Houthi claims
of attack in Gulf of Aden
Jerusalem, Jan. 29:
Yemen’s Houthi rebels
said they attacked a US
Navy mobile base at sea
Monday without offering
evidence, something
immediately rejected by
an American defense offi-
cial.
Houthi military
spokesperson Brig. Gen.
Yahya Saree claimed the
group fired a missile at the
USS Lewis B. Puller in the
Gulf of Aden. The Puller,
which serves as a floating
landing base, had been
earlier stationed in the
Arabian Sea as part of
Gulf of Aden.
Houthi attacks will con-
tinue until the aggression
is stopped, and the siege is
lifted on the people of
Palestine in the Gaza
Strip, Saree said in the
statement.
A US defense official,
speaking on condition,
said there had been no
reported attack on the
Puller. However, the
Houthis have previously
launched missiles that did
not reach their intended
target, instead crashing
onto the land or sea.
The Puller served as a
missile and cruise missile
components believed to be
bound for Yemen.
Two SEALs went miss-
ing in the operation and
are presumed to have died.
Since November, the
rebels have repeatedly tar-
geted ships in the Red Sea
over Israels offensive in
Gaza against Hamas.
But they have frequently
targeted vessels with tenu-
ous or no clear links to
Israel, imperiling ship-
ping in a key route for
global trade between Asia,
the Mideast and Europe.
The Houthis hit a com-
an impeachment motion
was taken unanimously
in the parliamentary
group meeting of the
MDP held on Monday, The
Edition.mv reported.
The Constitution, along
with the Parliament’s
standing orders, dictates
that the president can be
impeached with 56 votes.
The Parliament had
recently amended its
standing orders to make
it easier to submit an
impeachment motion.
The Maldivian Parlia-
ment has a total of 80
members. The Maldivian
Democratic Party (MDP)
has 45, followed by its ally
The Democrats (DEM)
with 13 members. Of the
ruling coalition of PPM-
PNC, the Progressive
Party of the Maldives has
2 while the People’s
Saeed and attorney gener-
al Ahmed
Economic
Usham,
Minister
Mohamed Saeed narrow-
ly survived the same fate.
President Muizzu, 45,
had made a formal
request for the approval
of his cabinet on
November 20, two days
after the new administra-
tion took office. — PTI
Speaker Mohamed Aslam
and Deputy Speaker
Ahmed Saleem both from
MDP. Earlier in the day,
Parliament voted to deny
approval to Housing
Minister Ali Haidar
Ahmed, Islamic Minister
Mohamed Shaheem Ali
Saeed, and Attorney
General Ahmed Usham,
while Economic Minister
Mohamed Saeed narrow-

MONACO ROYALS
and called on Tehran to The US central command American efforts to cur- mobile base for the US mercial vessel with a mis- National Congress has 13 ly survived the same fate
“de-escalate the region.” said the attack had hit the tail Houthi attacks on Navy SEALs who conduct- sile on Friday, sparking a members. There are three himself.

ROCKED BY NEW
Iran’s foreign ministry remote Tower 22 logistics commercial shipping ed a Jan. 11 operation seiz- fire that burned for independents while the After the Maldivian
spokesman Nasser Kanani support base. — AFP through the Red Sea and ing Iranian-made ballistic hours. — AP Jumhooree Party and the Democratic Party (MDP)
Maldives Development and The Democrats’ par-
ASSETS CLAIM Alliance (MDA) have two liamentary group decided
FARMERS PROTEST each. The gathering of to withhold parliamen-
Nice, Jan 29: Claims by a for-
mer close confidant
Monaco’s royal family that part
of its fortune is placed in tax
of
War should end for any signatures for an impea-
chment motion against
the President comes a day
after the PPM-PNC coali-
tary approval for four
members of President
Muizzu’s cabinet, the pro-
government MPs obstru-
havens have rocked the affluent
city state, in the latest scandal
facing the palace under Prince
Albert II.
hostage release: Hamas tion, submitted no-confi-
dence motions against
cted the parliamentary
sitting. — PTI

The new controversy erupted

after French newspaper Le
Monde last week published the
allegations, which it said were
based on detailed notes the
palace’s wealth manager made
while working for the family.
Claude Palmero was for more
than two decades in charge of
managing the palace’s assets,
first for Rainier III, then Prince
Albert .
Doha, Jan. 29: Hamas
said on Monday that
releasing hostages it is
holding would require a
6 KILLED IN SYRIA IN ISRAELI FIRE
Iran sees foreign
Protesting farmers block streets in central
guaranteed end to the
Israeli offensive in Gaza
and withdrawal of all
invasion forces, reiterat-
Pro-Iran
fighters were
among six
hand in tensions
ing its position after Israel Islamabad, Jan. 29: In third countries and they
Hamburg, on Monday. — AFP dead in an
held a meeting with an apparent reference to never favour any good
Qatari and Egyptian Israeli strike Taliban-led Afghanistan, action in line with the
GERMAN RYOTS FARMERS BLOCK mediators.
“The success of the
Monday on the
Sayyida
Iranian Foreign Minister
Hossein Amir Abdoll-
benefits of the Iranian
and Pakistani govern-

INDIAN TO FOREGO BLOCK ACCESS MOTORWAYS Paris meeting is depend-

$150 M IN DARK
WEB DRUGS CASE
Washington, Jan. 29: A 40-
year-old Indian national extra-
dited from the UK has pleaded
guilty to operating a global
dark web enterprise to sell
“deadly and dangerous drugs
to communities across
America” and agreed to forfeit
approximately $150 million in
cryptocurrency.
According to court docu-
ments, Banmeet Singh from
Haldwani in Uttarakhand cre-
ated vendor marketing sites on
dark web marketplaces to sell
controlled substances, includ-
ing fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy,
Xanax, Ketamine, and
Tramadol, the US Department
of Justice said in a press
release.
TO KEY PORTS AROUND PARIS
Berlin, Jan
Hundreds of farmers
29:
on Monday used trac-
tors to block access to
key ports in Germany,
intensifying their prot-
ests against the govern-
ment’s plans to cut agri-
culture subsidies.
Around 100 tractors
were parked on strate-
gic routes leading to
Hamburg’s port area,
disrupting access to
Germany’s biggest such
facility and one of the
busiest in Europe for
international container
shipping. Other smaller
ports along Germany’s
north were also hit by
blockades. — AFP
Paris, Jan 29: French
farmers choked off
major motorways
around Paris on
Monday, threatening to
blockade the capital in
an intensifying standoff
with the government
over working condi-
tions.
In recent weeks there
has been a slew of
protests in France, a
major agricultural pro-
ducer, by farmers angry
about incomes, red tape
and environmental
policies they say under-
mine their ability to
compete with other
countries.
— AFP
ent on the Occupation
(Israel) agreeing to end
the comprehensive
aggression on Gaza
Strip,” senior Hamas offi-
cial Sami Abu Zuhri said.
It was not immediately
clear if, with this condi-
tion met, Hamas would
free all or some of the 132
hostages Israel says
remain in Gaza.
Hamas had previously
said a full release would
require that Israel free all
of the thousands of
Palestinians held on secu-
rity grounds in its pris-
ons. A Palestinian official,
close to mediation talks,
who requested anonymity,
said that for Hamas to
sign a follow-up deal to the
November truce in which
it released dozens of
hostages, it wants Israel to
agree to end the offensive
Zeinab district
south of the
Israeli police prevent activists from
blocking trucks carrying humanitar-
Syrian capital
Damascus, a
ian aid into the Gaza Strip at the
Kerem Shalom border crossing
war monitor
said.
between Israel and Gaza, in south-
ern Israel on Monday. — AP
Israeli forces
“ISRAELI STRIKES targeted a base
killed five peo-
belonging to Hezbollah and Iran's
ple in separate
Revolutionary Guards, killing six
incidents
people” including pro-Iran fight-
across the
ers, said Rami Abdel Rahman,
occupied West
director of the Syrian Observatory
Bank, the
for Human Rights, adding it
Palestinian
was unclear whether civil-
health ministry
ians were among the dead.
said Monday.
and withdraw from Gaza - United States, the official
though implementation said. Those countries sent
would not necessarily be top delegates to discuss
immediate. the Gaza hostages crisis
The agreement would with senior Israeli intelli-
have to be endorsed by gence figures on Sunday.
Qatar, Egypt and the — Reuters
ahian on Monday said
there was no doubt that
militants located in the
border areas of Pakistan
and Iran were led and
supported by third coun-
tries, days after the two
neighbours conducted tit-
for-tat military strikes at
alleged terrorist bases in
both countries.
Abdollahian arrived in
Pakistan late Sunday
night to de-escalate the
tension between the two
nations following the mil-
itary strikes conducted
earlier this month.
In a joint press confer-
ence along with Pakistan
Foreign Minister Jalil
Abbas Jilani, Abdol-
lahian said: There is no
doubt that the terrorists
located in the common
border regions and areas
of Iran and Pakistan are
led and supported by
ments and nations.”
He, however, did not
name any country.
Our historical bilateral
relations and connections
testify that we are a single
nation located in two dif-
ferent geographical posi-
tions. Both Iran and
Pakistan respect each
other’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity. We
are here, so in a loud
voice we will tell all ter-
rorists that Iran and
Pakistan will not provide
them with any opportuni-
ty to endanger our com-
mon security.”
On his part, Jilani said
Pakistan and Iran have
agreed to establish a high-
level constructive mecha-
nism at the level of for-
eign ministers. Both the
nations have agreed to
cooperate to fight terror-
ism. — PTI

INDIAN STUDENT
HAMMERED TO
DEATH IN U.S.
New York, Jan. 29: A 25-year-
old Indian student who recent-
ly earned an MBA degree in
the US was hammered to death
by a homeless drug addict
whom he had been helping for
the past couple of days in
Georgia state’s Lithonia city.
The horrifying incident was
caught on camera when
assailant Julian Faulkner mer-
cilessly struck Vivek Saini
nearly 50 times on the head
with a hammer.
Saini, a part-time clerk at a
store that sheltered Faulkner,
had shown kindness to the
accused for almost two days
and provided him with chips, a
coke, and even a jacket.
DIGITAL | REGULATION
AI firms to submit safety reports to US govt
Washington, Jan. 29:
The Biden administration
will start implementing a
new requirement for the
developers of major artifi-
cial intelligence systems
to disclose their safety test
results to the government.
The White House AI
council is scheduled to
meet Monday to review
progress made on the exec-
utive order that President
Joe Biden signed three
months ago to manage the
fast-evolving technology.
Chief among the 90-day
goals from the order was a
WH plans congressional legislation, working with other nations on rules
mandate under
Defense Production Act
the
that AI companies share
vital information with the
Commerce Department,
including safety tests.
Ben Buchanan, the
White House special advis-
er on AI, said in an inter-
view that the government
wants “to know AI sys-
tems are safe before
they’re released to the
public the president has
been very clear that com-
panies need to meet that
bar”.
The software companies
are committed to a set of
categories for the safety
tests, but companies do
not yet have to comply
with a common standard
on the tests.
The government’s Nati-
onal Institute of Stand-
ards and Technology will
develop a uniform frame-
work for assessing safety,
as part of the order Biden
signed in October.
AI has emerged as a lead-
ing economic and national
security consideration for
the federal government,
given the investments and
uncertainties caused by
the launch of new AI tools
such as ChatGPT that can
generate text, images and
sounds.
The Biden administra-
tion also is looking at con-
gressional legislation and
working with other coun-
tries and the European
Union on rules for manag-
ing the technology.
The Commerce Depart-
ment has developed a draft
rule on US cloud compa-
nies that provide servers
to foreign AI developers.
— AP
IN THE TECHVERSE...
Italy’s data pro-
tection authority
has told OpenAI
that its artificial
intelligence chat-
bot application
ChatGPT breaches data pro-
tection rules as it presses
ahead with an investigation
that was started last year.
Last year it banned ChatGPT
over alleged breaches of EU
privacy rules.
In South Carolina, the
US, opted for a pilot
programme that
allows authorities in
Lee Correctional
Institution (prison) to
shut down contraband
cellphones.
Contraband phones
are identified through
a unique identification
number and then
submitted to carriers
to have them disabled
JAPAN’S MOON
LANDER COMES
BACK TO LIFE
Tokyo, Jan 29: Japan’s
Moon lander has come
back to life, the space
agency said on Monday,
enabling the craft to pro-
ceed with its mission of
probing the moon surf-
ace despite a rocky start.
The surprise announ-
cement was a boost to
Japan’s space pro-
gramme, nine days after
the Smart Lander for
Investigating Moon
touched down at a
wonky angle that left its
solar panels facing the
wrong way. — AFP
 SPECIAL
DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024 | COIMBATORE
OTHERSTORIES
Bharat brand
pulses available at
subsidised prices
Chennai: ‘Bharat’ brand puls-
es and rice are being sold to
consumers at subsidised
prices by the National
Cooperative Consumers'
Federation of India Limited
(NCCF), a unit of Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution,
Government of India.
AASSAAN Global Trade has
been appointed as the autho-
rised distributor of Bharat
Dal and currently, 50 mobile
vans are selling chana dal
directly to customers at main
locations in towns and vil-
lages in each district. The
number of mobile outlets will
be increased to 100 and new
items such as atta, rice, and
moong dal will be added soon.
The NCCF initiative aims to
stabilise prices, curb food
inflation, and augment domes-
tic availability, in line with the
vision of Prime Minister Mr.
Narendra Modi. To make
pulses available to consumers
at affordable prices, the cen-
tral government is maintain-
ing a buffer stock of five
major pulses - chana, tur,
urad, moong and masur under
the Price Stabilisation Fund
(PSF).
The chana dal, under this
arrangement, is also made
available to state governments
for supplies under their wel-
fare schemes, police, jails, and
also for distribution through
the retail outlets of state gov-
ernment-controlled coopera-
tives and corporations.
Toppers in IIT JEE,
and NEET (UG)
honoured
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI
Toppers in various
Olympiads, IIT JEE, and
NEET (UG) were felicitated at
the annual SOPAN, organised
by Allen Career Institute in
Chennai, with Dr. V Mohan,
Chairman of Dr. Mohan’s
Diabetes Specialities Center,
presenting the awards.
Among others A.D. Mohan
Raj, former Additional
Deputy Commissioner, K
Shankar,
Commissioner, Avadi,
Police
V
Nanda Kumar, Commissioner
of Income Tax, Department of
Revenue, and Mahesh Yadav,
Zonal Head Allen South India,
attended the ceremony.
Allen Career Institute, on its
journey since 2019, celebrated
academic prowess by award-
ing puja-performed pure
Silver medals to super achiev-
ers and acknowledging out-
standing performance in
internal examinations.
A total of 624 students from
classes 6 to 12 were felicitated,
with special recognition given
to Super Achievers in various
Olympiads, IIT JEE, and
NEET (UG) 2023. The SOPAN
edition awarded Cash
Rewards, Mementos, and
Silver medals to these accom-
plished students. Notably,
thirty-one students excelling
in Olympiads received Cash
Rewards totalling Rs. 2,70,600,
while fourteen IIT-JEE 2023
Super achievers were hon-
oured with cash rewards
amounting to Rs. 5,12,500.
Abinayaa Suresh
plays 8 songs
blindfolded
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI
Abinayaa Suresh, a student
from Agathiya's Chennai
Silamba Koodam, has etched
her name in the books of
world records by achieving
the task of playing eight songs
on the keyboard while blind-
folded and simultaneously
wielding the silambam in an
astonishing time of 41.29 sec-
onds.
The achievement has earned
Abinayaa Suresh a place in
the Winner's Book of World
Record, which issued a certifi-
cate recognising this ground-
breaking accomplishment.
The display of skill and preci-
sion has officially been
recorded as a new world
record, showcasing
Abinayaa's dedication.
The feat, an intricate blend
of musical prowess and mar-
tial arts finesse, not only cap-
tivated onlookers but also
highlighted the convergence
of diverse disciplines. Deepa
Muthukuma, Silambam and
Dhrona Third Eye Yoga
Instructor, expressed her
admiration for Abinayaa's
abilities.
DYING THIEF WILL
LIKELY AVOID PRISON
Minneapolis (US): A
dying thief who confessed
to stealing a pair of ruby
slippers that Judy Garland
wore in “The Wizard of
Oz” because he wanted to
pull off “one last score” is
expected to stay out of
prison after he's sentenced
Monday.
Terry Jon Martin, 76,
stole the slippers in 2005
from the Judy Garland
Museum in the late actor’s
hometown of Grand
Rapids, Minnesota. He
gave into temptation after
an old mob associate told
him the shoes had to be
adorned with real jewels
to justify their $1 million
insured value, his attor-
ney revealed in a memo to
the federal court ahead of
his sentencing in Duluth.
The FBI recovered the
shoes in 2018 when some-
one else tried to claim a
reward. Martin wasn’t
charged with stealing
them until last year. He
pleaded guilty in Oct. to
theft of a major artwork,
admitting to using a ham-
mer to smash the glass of
the museum door and dis-
play case to take the slip-
pers. But his motivation
remained mostly a mys-
tery until defence attorney
Dane DeKrey revealed it
this month.
Martin, who lives near
Grand Rapids, said at the
October hearing that he
hoped to remove what he
thought were real rubies
from the shoes and sell
them. But a person who
deals in stolen goods,
known as a fence,
informed him the rubies
were glass, Martin said. So
he got rid of the slippers.
DeKrey wrote in his
‘BAS YUN HI’ BRINGS OUT BEST OF RAMNATH’S POEMS
DC CORRESPONDENT
Chennai: Ramnath’s
memoris in verse, titled
‘Bas Yun Hi’, is a collec-
tion of poems in Urdu, a
language he is fluent in
from his days in Kolkata.
His highly regarded
poems, brought out artis-
tically in a book of poetry
wiith illustrations by
Subhash Bhokre, was
released by danseuse
Leela Samson, in Chennai
on Sunday.
Brought up on a dose of
Carnatic music before
training to be an account-
ant, Ramnath began writ-
ing poems in Urdu as a
part of his life journey.
Riveting Test theatre throws up two dramatic results
R. Mohan
Namma Chenai diary
F
or sheer sporting the-
atre, the two Test
matches that threw
up stunning upsets on
Sunday will not be
matched in a long time.
They should have served
to awaken many more peo-
ple to Test cricket's
charms, its oscillating
pendulum of fortunes on a
stage that can throw up
the biggest surprises.
The two top-ranked Test
nations Australia and
India had rude shocks
waiting for them as the
underdogs winning the
day could hardly have
been spotted at the start of
play on Sunday. But the
way two raw Test bowlers,
one of them a debutant
spinner, blew away the
opposition with seven-
wicket hauls, made the
drama of Test cricket even
more riveting.
Sport gets more alluring
if the unfancied upset the
applecart of the
favourites. That is one rea-
A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the film Wizard of Oz. -
memo that Martin's
unidentified former mob
associate persuaded him
to steal the slippers as
“one last score,” even
though Martin had
seemed to have "finally put
his demons to rest” after
finishing his last prison
term nearly 10 years ago.
“At first, Terry declined
the invitation to partici-
pate in the heist. But old
habits die hard, and the
thought of a ‘final score’
kept him up at night,”
DeKrey wrote. “After
much contemplation,
Terry had a criminal
relapse and decided to par-
ticipate in the theft.”
Both sides are recom-
mending that Chief US
District Judge Patrick
Schiltz sentence Martin to
time served because he is
The reading of his
poems was the highlight
of a pleasant function at
the Amethyst attended by
his family and wide circle
of friends.
Ramnath thanked his
wife, the renowned
Carnatic singer Bombay
Jayashri for her support,
much as he thanked all
those close to him who
made him undertake the
project of publishing his
first book of poems.
“These poems are soul
stirring, evocative and
relatable all at once,”
reads an introduction to
his work. while also
revealing love is the motif
of all his poems.
son why T-20 cricket is so
popular because the least
fancied teams have a
chance to beat the best on
a given day. That might not
happen so often in the Test
arena, but then one of the
glories of cricket is the
uncertainties it fosters.
The story of Shamar
Joseph is nothing short of
a fairytale, of a day wages
worker from a remote
riverside village in
Guyana coming to the cen-
tre of the 'Gabba, for ages
an Australian fortress
until India breached it
three years ago. Not only
is the wiry Joseph with the
effortless action off which
he still bowls at 150 kph a
fast bowler to be taken as
seriously as any from the
pantheon of quicks in the
old West Indian pace bowl-
ing battery, but also he is
quite the warrior-type.
Having barely recovered
from a nearly broken toe
from a blistering yorker,
Joseph laughed his way to
housebound in hospice
care and is expected to die
within six months. He
requires constant oxygen
therapy for chronic
obstructive pulmonary
disorder and was in a
wheelchair when he plead-
ed guilty.
Federal sentencing
guidelines would normal-
ly recommend a sentence
of about 4.5 to 6 years,
though someone with
Martin's criminal history
could get an even longer
term. But his health “is
simply too fragile,” prose-
cutors wrote in a court fil-
ing. Another prosecution
filing said both sides
agreed he should be
ordered to pay $23,500 in
restitution to the museum,
even though he apparently
does not have the money.
Dutch unveil time capsule
buried under kings’ statue
The Hague: A 99-year-old
time capsule discovered
hidden under a statue of
King William II during
renovations was opened
on Monday, revealing his-
torical documents and
books about the Dutch
battles against Napoleon.
Workers renovating the
Binnenhof parliament
building in The Hague
were astonished to uncov-
er a metal time capsule
concealed between two
walls holding up the
king's plinth.
Wearing white gloves,
mayor Jan van Zanen cer-
emonially opened the cap-
sule to a packed room of
journalists, to reveal its
contents - letters, docu-
ments and the books.
"It was a very nice
impression of those days.
There was a poem for the
king and a poem to the
city and to the country. It
has brought 99 years ago
back to 2024," Van Zanen
said.
The discovery stunned
the winning post with his
scarcely believable seven-
wicket haul.
It appeared as if it was
an equally good time for a
Pope as well as a Sinner in
the world of sport, but it
was this batter Pope's res-
olute ways at staying posi-
tive in the batting crease
that tilted the scales. This
is not the first big match-
turning innings by a visit-
ing batsman in India, but
it is probably the first
—AP
According to DeKrey,
Martin had no idea about
the cultural significance
of the ruby slippers and
had never seen “The
Wizard of Oz.” Instead,
DeKrey said, the “old
Terry” with a lifelong his-
tory involving burglary
and receiving stolen prop-
erty beat out the “new
Terry” who had become “a
contributing member of
society” after his 1996
release from prison.
After the fence told
Martin the rubies were
fake, DeKrey wrote, he
gave the slippers to his old
mob associate and told
him he never wanted to
see them again. The attor-
ney said Martin never
heard from the man again.
Martin has refused to
identify anyone else who
historians who had no
idea the time capsule
existed, said city art histo-
rian Sophie Olie. "It was a
very big surprise. It was
built in between two walls
in a specially made cham-
ber. It was carefully
opened. It was sawn
open," she said.
The books are a three-
volume account in French
of William II's battles
against Napoleon, includ-
ing the 1815 Battle of
Waterloo, by F. de Bas, a
famous military historian
of the time.
The city is already mak-
'Bazball' innings in the
new era of cricket that
Team England began with
their refreshingly differ-
ent approach to Tests.
Graham Gooch was the
first sweeping success in
India when he practised
the stroke for two days in
the nets and unleashed it
on Team India in the
World Cup semi-final and
downed the hot favourite
in Mumbai in 1987. Pope
can claim to be the first
was involved in the theft,
and nobody else has ever
been charged in the case.
The FBI never disclosed
exactly how it tracked
down the slippers. The
bureau said a man
approached the insurer in
2017 and claimed he could
help recover them but
demanded more than the
$200,000 reward being
offered. The slippers were
recovered during an FBI
sting in Minneapolis the
next year. Federal prosecu-
tors have put the slippers'
market value at about $3.5
million. In the classic 1939
musical, Garland’s charac-
ter, Dorothy, had to click
the heels of her ruby slip-
pers three times and
repeat, “There’s no place
like home,” to return to
Kansas from Oz. She wore
several pairs during film-
ing, but only four authen-
tic pairs are known to
remain.
Hollywood memorabilia
collector Michael Shaw
had loaned one pair to the
museum when Martin
stole them. The other
three are held by the
Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences,
the Smithsonian Museum
of American History and
a private collector.
Garland was born
Frances Gumm in 1922.
She lived in Grand Rapids,
about 200 320 kms north of
Minneapolis, until she
was 4, when her family
moved to Los Angeles. She
died in 1969. The Judy
Garland Museum, located
in the house where she
lived, says it has the
world’s largest collection
of Garland and Wizard of
Oz memorabilia. —AP
ing plans to continue the
tradition by laying down
its own time capsule when
the statue is replaced in
2028, said the mayor. "The
idea now is to ask the peo-
ple of The Hague to advise
us on what to put in the
box for those who will
open it 100 years from
now," he said.
He will bow to the will of
the people but said his
own preference would be
to stuff the box with "text
and some images of nowa-
days, some text about the
renovation, and a coin, a
euro for instance". —AFP
ever 'reverse-sweeping'
success on Indian soil,
playing the traditional as
well as the reverse styles
and scooping the ball as
well and scoring at a clip
to unbalance an Indian
spin attack that lost a Test
for the first time in
Hyderabad.
This is only the fourth
home defeat since 2013
when England were the
last team to beat India in a
home series. It should be a
Britain's King Charles III was in hospital to receive
treatment for an enlarged prostate. Here he is seen
leaving The London Clinic in central London on Monday
evening London time.
Circus animals
rescued after
truck catches fire
Marion (US): A truck
hauling zebras and
camels for a series of
weekend circus perform-
ances caught fire early
Saturday on a northeast-
ern Indiana highway,
prompting a police rescue
of the animals, which
roamed along the freeway,
some munching on grass.
The tractor-trailer
caught fire about 2 am
along Interstate 69 in
Grant County and a state
trooper, a Grant County
Sheriff's deputy and a
third person rescued the
five zebras, four camels
and a miniature horse by
leading them off the
smoked-filled trailer, said
Sgt. Steven Glass with
Indiana State Police.
Both officers were treat-
ed at a hospital for smoke
inhalation and later
released, but none of the
animals was injured, he
said. The truck driver, a
57-year-old Sarasota,
Florida, man, was not
injured. All northbound
lanes of I-69 were closed
until about 6:30 am once
the area was cleaned up
and the animals were
taken away by another
truck.
The Grant County
Sheriff's Office posted
photos and videos on
Facebook of camels
walking on the highway
and later standing along
its shoulder and its medi-
an with zebras and law
enforcement officers. The
posting included the mes-
sage, “No harm to our
furry friends.”
One video shows some
wake-up call for lax Team
India batters who
appeared listless in the
chase of a gettable fourth
innings target.
But this is not the time to
speak of those who lost or
why they lost. It is a time
to toast the winners and of
the likes of Joseph and
Hartley who spun these
great sporting tales on the
same day, turning the Test
table on its head and infus-
ing a fresh wave of energy
pg 9
—AP
of the zebras munching
on grass in a surreal
scene several miles east of
the city of Marion, locat-
ed about 97 kms northeast
of Indianapolis. “It’s not
something we see every
day,” said Deputy Brent
Ressett with the Grant
County Sheriff ’s Office.
The truck was bringing
the animals from Florida
to Fort Wayne for four
weekend circus perform-
ances in the northeastern
Indiana city benefitting
the Mizpah Shrine
Circus, said Steve Trump,
its circus director.
He said the performanc-
es are annual fundraisers
for the Mizpah Shrine
Circus to help pay for the
upkeep of the Shrine
Center in Fort Wayne to
"allow us to use our other
fundraisers for what
we're known best for, tak-
ing care of kids.”
Trump said the truck's
crew stopped the vehicle
along the highway to
check a problem with the
vehicle and discovered a
fire that quickly spread,
threatening the animals
in its trailer until they
were rescued.
The fire destroyed the
truck and a second truck
was sent from Fort Wayne
to pick up the animals
from the highway and
bring them to Fort
Wayne's Memorial
Coliseum to await their
roles in the weekend's
family-friendly circus
performances, he said. “I
was thrilled that things
worked out that way,”
Trump said. – AP
in lovers of the long for-
mat of the game that is not
only a test of technique
and temperament but also
a great training ground for
the talented to play the
well.
Imagine a team 190 runs
behind in India on a spin-
friendly pitch and facing a
certain innings defeat
turning the match around
to win. That shows the
height of performance of
which the touring
Englishmen can be proud.
If the 'Gabba was a great
win for Team India in 2021,
Hyderabad was the
Team England equivalent
of the grandest achieve-
ment.
There were said to be
tears in Brian Lara's eyes
when he saw the West
Indies win in Brisbane,
victory after 27 years
Down Under. That is how
emotional the weekend of
Test cricket was as it pro-
vided the great denoue-
ment in two different set-
tings thousands of kms
away, from the heart of the
Deccan to the Gold Coast.
What a day for the winners
and what a day for Test
cricket itself.
(R. Mohan is Resident
Editor of Chennai and
Tamil Nadu editions of
Deccan Chronicle)
 COIMBATORE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024
quick India a $5-trn economy
BITES in 3 years: FinMin report
INDICATORS % MADHUSUDAN SAHOO
Sensex 71,941.57 1.76
Nifty 50 21,737.60 1.80
S&P 500* 4,894.59 0.074
Dollar (`) 83.14 -0.01
Pound Sterling (`) 105.62 0.05
Euro (`) 90.00 0.62
Gold (10gm)* (`) 62,199▲235 0.38
Brent crude ($/bbl)* 82.62 -1.11
IN 10-Yr bond yield 7.171 0.00
US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 4.105 -0.055
* As of 8:30 PM IST
Jindal launches
new fabrication
division
Jindal Aluminium has launched
a new fabrication division. The
new unit powered by in-house
developed tools, aims to tackle
the challenges associated with
engineered aluminium fabrica-
tion, the company said. “Laun-
ching the fabrication unit
marks a significant step in our
journey to offer value-added
service to our customers,”
Jindal Aluminium vice chair-
man and managing director
Pragun Khaitan said.
Rolls-Royce, Azad
ink pact for aero
components
British aircraft engine manufac-
turer Rolls-Royce has signed an
agreement with the Azad
Engineering for making com-
plex defence aero-engine com-
ponents in India. “Through this
strategic partnership,
Hyderabad-based Azad
Engineering will join the global
supply chain for complex cate-
gory components for Rolls-
Royce’s technologically
advanced aero engines,”
the company said.
Startup India,
MSI to set up
pavilion in expo
Global exhibitor Messe
Stuttgart India (MSI) on
Monday announced its partner-
ship with Startup India and will
set up a separate pavilion for
new ventures in its exhibition
for logistics players next
month. Under the partnership
with Startup India, a LogiMAT
India Startup Pavilion will be
a focal point for start-ups
looking to make their mark
in the logistics arena, the
company said.
Tata Power arm
commissions
solar project
Tata Power Renewable Energy
Ltd (TPREL) has commissioned
a 1,000-kilowatt bifacial solar
energy project in West Bengal.
The project is expected to gen-
erate around 1.5 million units of
energy annually. “The bifacial
technology, capturing sunlight
from both sides of the solar
panels, represents a significant
leap forward in enhanced clean
energy generation,” said
Deepesh Nanda, managing
director and CEO, TPREL.
Will be 3rd largest economy from current 5th position
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
The Indian economy is
expected to become the
third largest in the world
having a size of $5-trillion
in the next 3 years as the
financial year 2023-24
marks the third succes-
sive year of over 7 per cent
GDP growth. Besides, the
country’s economy will
touch $7-trillion by 2030 on
the back of continued
reforms, the government
said on Monday.
“India is expected to
become the third-largest
economy in the world,
with a GDP of $5-trillion
and to touch $7-trillion by
2030,” the finance min-
istry said in its review
report.
Finance Minister Nirm-
ala Sitharaman will pres-
ent the budget on Feb. 1,
factoring in the growth
projections. “The robust-
Auto components biz to reach $14 billion
MICHAEL GONSALVES
PUNE, JAN. 29
The Indian automotive
component industry is
expected to touch $14 bn
(`1.16 lakh cr) by 2028, and
the aftermarket segment
has a $35 billion (`2.91
lakh cr) opportunity, the
automotive component
manufacturers associa-
tion of India (ACMA) said.
As per the Global
Automotive Aftermarket
Research report, the size
of the Indian automotive
aftermarket stood at $10
Red Sea crisis not a
worry for India: Puri
MADHUSUDAN SAHOO
NEW DELHI, JAN. 29
With the ongoing crisis in
the Red Sea that possibly
affects the trade in several
countries in the world, the
government on Monday
said that India is con-
cerned about the issue,
but not worried about it.
However, the government
is in constant discussion
on this, petroleum minis-
ter Hardeep Singh Puri
said, while speaking at the
curtain-raising event of
2nd edition of India
Energy Week (IEW).
Puri also said that he is
confident that this situa-
tion has not reached a
point where India starts
worrying about it.
“I think 30 percent of
our imports and about 50
per cent of our exports go
Samsung has plans to
make laptops in Noida
Gurugram, Jan. 29:
Korean electronics major
Samsung plans to start
manufacturing laptops at
its Noida factory in India
this year, a company offi-
cial said on Monday.
Terming India as its
important manufacturing
base, Samsung Electro-
nics president and head of
Mobile eXperience (MX)
Business TM Roh said
that the preparation for
the laptop manufacturing
is in progress in India.
“We will start manufac-
turing laptops this year at
the Noida factory. Prepar-
ations are already under-
way,” said the official,
who is on an India visit.
Roh said India is an
important manufacturing
base for the company, and
it has received support at
various levels from the
state and central govern-
ments.
The company will con-
tinue to cooperate with
the government to
strengthen manufactur-
ing in India, he added.
The company has recent-
ly launched its flagship
Galaxy S24 series smart-
phone with a key focus on
ness seen in domestic
demand, namely, private
consumption and invest-
ment, traces its origin to
the reforms and measures
implemented by the gov-
ernment over the last ten
years,” the review said.
Ten years ago, India was
the 10th largest economy
in the world, with a GDP
of $1.9-trillion at current
market prices. “This 10-
year journey is marked by
several reforms, both sub-
stantive and incremental,
billion in 2023.
The growth of aftermar-
ket in India is being fuell-
ed by a steady increase in
the vehicle parc, number
of vehicles running on the
road, which currently
stands at 340 million and
is expected to grow at a
CAGR of over 8 per cent
for the next five years.
“The Indian domestic
aftermarket, valued at $10
billion in 2023, is poised to
surge almost 1.4 times
over the next five years on
the back of growing vehi-
cle demand and promising
through the other route.
What will happen is that if
the tension continues, you
will find other routes, so
freight charges will go up,
etc,” Puri said.
Meanwhile, the minister
said that the second edi-
tion of IEW, being organ-
ised in Goa from Feb. 6-9,
is expected to witness 17
energy ministers from dif-
ferent countries, over
35,000 attendees, and more
than 900 exhibitors, he
added.
“India presents a picture
of confidence of positive
growth of solutions in
many areas. The IEW rep-
resents an opportunity to
showcase these develop-
ments on the energy front
and provide the platform
for development and gro-
wth in the energy sector,”
said Puri.
artificial intelligence
capability in the device.
Samsung has announced
that it will also manufac-
ture Galaxy S24 at its
Noida factory.
“Noida is a very impor-
tant production base for
Samsung. It is the second-
largest base for Samsung.
There may be some
changes at the plant to
optimise it as per the glob-
al demand, but what
remains unchanged is the
fact that it is an important
base for us,” Roh said.
The Noida plant has
started making feature
phones, smartphones,
wearable, and tablets, and
now the company will
start manufacturing lap-
tops this year.
— PTI
● THE STRENGTH of
the domestic
demand has driven
the economy to a 7
per cent plus growth
rate in the last three
years. In FY25, real
GDP growth will
likely be closer to
the 7 per cent.
which have significantly
contributed to the coun-
try’s, said the ministry’s
economic review.
The Nirmala
Sitharaman-headed min-
istry stressed that the
reforms will be more pur-
poseful and fruitful with
full participation of state
governments.
As far as the govern-
ment’s reforms are con-
cerned, the review further
said that participation of
states would be fuller
● TWO-WHEELER and
passenger vehicle
parcs are projected to
show robust growth
from 257 to 365 mn
units and from around
47 to over 72 mn units
respectively by 2028.
capabilities of the Indian
aftermarket players,”
Shradha Suri Marwah,
presidentm ACMA and
managing director at
Subros said.
Besides, key ten interna-
tional markets offer expo-
BYJU’S PLANS TO
RAISE $200 MN
VIA RIGHTS ISSUE
SANGEETHA G
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
Ed-tech start-up Byju’s
plans to raise $200 million
through a rights issue to
its existing shareholders.
The board of Think and
Learn, the parent compa-
ny of the ed-tech major
Byju's, on Monday appr-
oved raising $200 million
through a rights issue to
its existing shareholders.
The issue will happen at
a post-money valuation of
$225 million, which is 99
per cent lower than a pre-
vious funding round,
which happened at a valu-
ation of $22 billion.
“The proposed rights
issuance by TLPL aims to
fund the ongoing capital
expenditure and support
general corporate purpos-
es," the company said in a
statement.
“The funds raised will
be exclusively utilised to
clear immediate liabili-
ties and meet operational
requirements, while mai-
ntaining rights of our val-
ued shareholders,” Byju
Raveendran, founder of
Byju’s said.
NEW | FRONTIERS
Investors: MS will be valuable than Apple
Redmond, Jan.
Microsoft’s early lead in
29:
artificial intelligence (AI)
has the software heavy-
weight’s stock market
value poised to pull deci-
sively ahead of Apple’s
over the next five years,
institutional investors
agreed ahead of the tech
titans’ quarterly results
this week.
Microsoft’s shares have
surged recently sending
its stock market value
above $3 trn and dethron-
ing Apple as the world’s
most valuable company.
The Redmond-based soft-
ware maker’s market capi-
when reforms encompass
changes in governance at
the district, block, and vil-
lage levels, making them
citizen-friendly and small
business-friendly and in
areas such as health, edu-
cation, land and labour, in
which states have a big
role to play.
“The strength of the
domestic demand has
driven the economy to a 7
per cent plus growth rate
in the last three years. In
FY25, real GDP growth
will likely be closer to 7
per cent,” said the report.
chief economic adviser
V Anantha Nageswaran
said the Union govern-
ment has built infrastruc-
ture at a historically
unprecedented rate, and it
has taken the overall pub-
lic sector capital invest-
ment from `5.6 lakh crore
in FY15 to `18.6 lakh crore
in FY24, as per the budget
estimates.
rt opportunities of over
$35 bn, she pointed out.
The report said the two-
wheeler and passenger
vehicle parcs are project-
ed to show robust growth
from 257 to 365 mn units
and from around 47 to
over 72 mn units respec-
tively by 2028.
The commercial vehicle
parc is expected to grow
from 13 mn units to 19 mil-
lion units in 2028. The
tractor parc is expected to
grow from 14 mn units to
19 mn units during 2023-28
period, the report said.
AMCs launch 212 schemes,
mobilise `63,854 cr in 2023
New Delhi, Jan. 29:
Asset management comp-
anies launched 212 new
fund offerings (NFOs)
mobilising `63,854 crore
in 2023, marginally higher
from previous year, on the
back of significant uptre-
nds in broader markets.
In comparison, asset
management companies
(AMCs) garnered `62,187
cr through 228 NFOs in
2022. Further, they collect-
ed `99,704 cr in 2021 and
`53,703 cre in 2020, accord-
ing to data compiled by
Morningstar India.
“The trend towards the
financialisation of assets
in India is unmistakable.
Aligned with changing
consumption behaviours
and a need for a higher
standard of living, inve-
stors recognise the impor-
tance of long-term invest-
Govt to improve PLI scheme for telecom parts
New Delhi, Jan. 29:
Noting that small, innova-
tive companies are build-
ing some “excellent” prod-
ucts, Telecom Secretary
Neeraj Mittal on Monday
said the government is
“looking to improve” the
Production-Linked
Incentive (PLI) scheme
and sought the views and
inputs from Micro, Small
and Medium Enterprises
Recent successes in generative AI give Microsoft advantage
talisation was a few bil-
lion dollars above Apple’s.
Share prices and valua-
tions could shift this week
as Microsoft reports its
quarterly results on
Tuesday, followed by
Global cues, FPIs
ENGINEERING
EXPORTS FROM
buying equities
INDIA GROW 10%
TO TOUCH $10 BN
SANGEETHA G
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
drive market up
Improved exports of
RAVI RANJAN PRASAD
MUMBAI, JAN. 29
iron and steel along
with higher demand Ahead of the interim
from China and Russia Union Budget, Sensex and
helped engineering exp- Nifty-50 rallied more than
orts clock 10 per cent 1.75 per cent. Also sup-
growth in December. ported by positive global
After a dip in Nov., cues from the Asian mar-
engineering exports ket, the Sensex gained
grew 10.19 per cent to 1240.90 points or 1.76 per
$10.04 bn in Dec. against cent to close at 71,941.57
the year-ago month. For while Nifty-50 closed at
the first time in fiscal 21,737.60 up 385 points or
2023-24, engineering 1.8 per cent.
exports crossed $10 bn. Market got a big boost
It also rose 4.91 per from foreign portfolio
cent year-on-year to investors (FPIs) turning
$25.98 bn in Oct.-Dec. net buyers on Monday by
quarter. In the corre- `110.01 cr after a big sell
sponding quarter of off seen so far in January
2022-23, engineering and short covering by
goods worth $24.76 bn
had been exported.
domestic institutions
ahead of Budget, as they
In Dec., 19 out of 34
engineering panels saw
positive year-on-year
were net buyers of equi-
ties worth `3,221.34 cr.
Index heavyweight Reli-
growth. With a 24 per ance Industries closed 6.86
cent growth iron and per cent up at `2,896.15 on
steel exports touched BSE, its market cap tou-
$984.9 mn in December. ched a new high of over
With shipments worth `19.59 lakh cr. The broad-
$268.6 mn, copper and er market also rallied in
products clocked 47 per tandem expecting positive
cent growth, while lead announceme-nts in the
and products recorded Budget, the BSE mid-cap
69 per cent growth with index gained 1.68 per cent
$80.2 million. while BSE small-cap
Among top exporting index gained 1.03 per cent.
destinations, engineer- BSE’s market capitalisa-
ing exports to China tion soared above the $4.5
grew by 12 per cent to trillion mark as it stood at
$261.6 mn in Dec. 2023. a new all time high of
Shipments to Russia over `377.20 lakh crore at
recorded 88 per cent
year-on-year growth in
market close.
Expecting an industry
the same period. On a friendly Budget and ahead
cumulative basis, engi- of third quarter earnings
neering exports to Russ- some blue chip stocks ral-
ia grew 130 per cent to
$1.03 bn in April-Dec.
lied led by Larsen &
Toubro (3.25 per cent),
period of 2023-24. Expo- Tata Motors (3.62 per
rts to EU, West Asia and cent), Adani Enterprises
North Africa countries (5.86 per cent), NTPC (3.11
also increased. per cent), Adani Ports
(4.36 per cent).
2024 may not be prudent.
Valuations across various
market capitalisations
look elevated, advocating
a cautious approach to
equities in short term”.
As per the FYERS
report, the Jan.-March
period of 2023 saw the
highest number of NFOs
ing. The Covid-19 pandem- at 57. However, the peak
ic underscored the neces- fund mobilisation occur-
sity for financial planning red in the July-Sept. peri-
and creation of liquid od, totalling `22,049 cr.
assets to address emergen-
cies and pave the way for
Additionally, 29 thematic
funds raised an aggregate
wealth-building,” FYERS of `17,946 cr in 2023.
Research said. Overall, the mutual fund
It further said that industry saw a net inflow
“despite indices exhibit-
ing strength, propelled by
of `2.74 lakh cr in 2023 as
compared to an inflow of
robust economic activity, over `71,000 cr in the pre-
steady GST collections, ceding year. The inflow
and confidence in govern- could be on the back of
ment reforms and poli- sustained investors’ inter-
cies, anticipating a simi- est in equity funds and
lar outperformance in index funds. — PTI
(MSMEs) for the new, bet- telecom component
ter scheme.
The telecom compo-
nent ecosystem must
develop in India, he
ecosystem in India,”
Mittal said speaking
at the international
business expo -
said observing “it Bharat Telecom
is not good enough 2024.
to bring sub-sys- The startup
tems and assemble ecosystem will be a
them here and bring driver and enabler of
efficiencies in the low- employment, technology
value addition part”. and manufacturing, going
“We also need to build a forward, he said.
● THE RACE between
Still, the race between
Apple and Microsoft could
Apple and Microsoft turn into a race for second
could turn into a race place, some said, citing
for second place, huge recent gains by
some said, citing Nvidia, whose chips have
powered the AI revolu-
huge recent gains by tion.
Nvidia, whose chips Microsoft made early
have powered the
investments in ChatGPT-
AI revolution. maker OpenAI and is
incorporating generative
AI technology across its
Apple on Thursday. business. AI is likely to
In the long term, though, benefit Microsoft’s cloud-
all the investors consulted computing offerings as it
said Microsoft’s recent competes with Amazon
successes in generative AI and Alphabet in that bur-
give it a powerful advan- geoning market. In its
tage over Apple. applications business,
pg 10
● THE BROADER mar-
ket also rallied in tan-
dem expecting positive
announcements in the
Budget, the BSE mid-
cap index gained 1.68
per cent while BSE
small-cap index gained
1.03 per cent.
HDFC Bank gained 1.42
per cent after LIC got RBI
nod to raise stake in the
company to 9.99 per cent.
Market is likely to see
some volatility ahead due
to the US Fed meeting out-
come on January 31 night
and interim Budget on
Feb.1. Volatility index
NSE's India VIX rose a
hefty 13.09 per cent on
Monday to 15.68 indicat-
ing market volatility pre
and post Budget and US
Fed meet outcome.
“Indian equity markets
rose sharply on the back
of great expectations from
the upcoming budget and
strong cue from other
Asian markets. We believe
that the volatility will con-
tinue in the coming days
as the results season unfo-
lds. The market will also
be keenly looking at the
upcoming US Fed meet to
see any change in Fed’s
stance towards inflation
expectations and rate cut
cues,” said Manish Jain,
head - Fund Management,
Centrum.
CITROEN BRINGS
C3 AIRCROSS AUTO
IN 3 VARIANTS
MICHAEL GONSALVES
PUNE, JAN. 29
French car maker
Citroen has launched the
C3 Aircross Automatic
with prices starting from
`12.85 lakh at Chennai
showroom.
The SUV comes in three
variants – Plus, Max and
Max 5+2-seater, the top
end pegged at `13.85 lakh.
“The launch of C3
Aircross Automatic is a
pivotal moment in our
India venture, being the
first automatic transmis-
sion on our C-Cubed plat-
form,” said Aditya Jairaj,
managing director and
chief executive officer at
Stellantis India.
The new car features an
Aisin-sourced 6-speed
automatic transmission
that has a manual gear
selector mode.
“How the small MSMEs
who are doing and making
excellent products also are
able to compete with big
companies in orders
which are not only placed
by public sector units, but
also private telecom play-
ers,” he said.
MSMEs must be able to
compete in tenders of pri-
vate sector rollouts, he
said. — PTI
Outlook now offers users
AI help composing emails.
“Microsoft has more
levers to pull in the forms
of Azure cloud, gaming,
enterprise software, and
of course, AI is the most
compelling,” said King
Lip, chief strategist at
Baker Avenue Wealth
Management.
“Apple is most reliant on
the iPhone, which is a
mature market, and the
company has yet to detail
how it will compete in the
AI arms race.”
Apple investors will
want to hear more AI
plans. — Reuters
 GAMES
DECCAN CHRONICLE | COIMBATORE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024
pg 11

DOUBLE WHAMMY
SHORT TAKES DAVIS CUP | IN PAKISTAN

Boxer Mandeep
wins title in USA
New Delhi: Indian boxer
Mandeep Jangra won the US-
based National Boxing
Association’s intercontinental
super featherweight title after
defeating American Gerardo
Esquivel at Toppenish City,
Washington. Undefeated in his
professional career so far the
30-year-old, who trains under
former Olympic silver-medallist
Roy Jones Jr, dropped down
from his previous 75kg weight
class to compete for this title
on Friday.
“This victory is not just mine
but of every person who has
supported me throughout the
journey. My coaches, family,
fans etc. stood with me. I dedi-
cate this title to my country. I
will try to continue achieving
similar respect and titles for the
country in the future also,”
Jangra said.
Before the win against
Esquivel, Jangra, who made his
professional boxing debut in
2021, registered knockout wins
in four out of his six fights.
Jangra had a decent run in the
amateur circuit as welll and won
a Commonwealth Games silver
medal in the 2014 Glasgow edi-
tion. — PTI
Saurashtra player
found with liquor
New Delhi: The Saurashtra
Cricket Association (SCA) on
Monday decided to launch a
disciplinary probe after liquor
bottles were recovered from its
U-23 cricketers while they were
heading back to Rajkot from
Chandigarh. As per SCA
sources, the incident occurred
on January 25 following
Saurashtra’s win over hosts
Chandigarh in the CK Nayudu
Trohy.
A sizeable amount of liquor was
detected in the cargo area of
the plane, which the cricketers
were to board. The liquor was
subsequently seized by authori-
ties at the Chandigarh Airport.
“There has been an alleged inci-
dent at Chandigarh that was
brought to notice of Saurashtra
Cricket Association,” said the
SCA in a statement.
“The alleged incident is unfor-
tunate and intolerable.
Ethics/Disciplinary Committee
& Apex Council of Saurashtra
Cricket Association to make in-
depth examine of the incident
and shall take proper discipli-
nary action,” it added.
As Gujarat is a dry state, one is
not allowed to carry alcohol
into the state. — PTI
Injured Rahul, Jadeja out of 2nd Test; Sarfaraz in squad
Hyderabad, Jan. 29:
India all-rounder
Ravindra Jadeja and bat-
ter K. L. Rahul were on
Monday ruled out of the
second Test against
England, dealing a body
blow to the hosts after a
shock loss in the series
opener here. Jadeja sus-
tained a hamstring
injury while going for a
quick single on Sunday
while Rahul complained
of pain in his right
quadriceps.
Worryingly, Rahul had
also injured his right
thigh while fielding in
the IPL in May last year
and that required a sur-
gery, keeping him out of
the game for four
months.
“Mr Ravindra Jadeja
and Mr KL Rahul have
been ruled out of the
second IDFC First Bank
Test against England in
Vizag, starting February
02, 2024,” the BCCI said
in a media release.
“The BCCI Medical
Team is monitoring the
progress of the duo,” it
added.
The selection commit-
tee has added Mumbai
batter Sarfaraz Khan,
left-arm spinner
Sourabh Kumar and all-
rounder Washington
Sundar to the squad for
the second Test.
It is a maiden national
call up for Sarfaraz after
scoring truck load of
runs in domestic cricket
and more recently in the
India ‘A’ series against
England Lions.
With Virat Kohli
already unavailable for
the first two Tests due to
personal reasons, the
injuries to Jadeja and
Rahul have made mat-
ters worse for India, who
find themselves under
pressure after losing
only their fourth Test at
home since 2013.
Both Rahul and Jadeja
had made significant
contributions in the first
Test before England
staged a remarkable
comeback to win the
game by 28 runs and go
1-0 up in the five-match
series. Jadeja snapped
up five wickets and
BUMRAH FINED
FOR BREACHING
CONDUCT CODE
Dubai, Jan. 29: India
pacer Jasprit Bumrah
has been reprimanded
and handed a demerit
point for deliberately
stepping in England
player Ollie Pope’s way
as he went for a run
which led to “inappro-
priate physical contact”
during the first Test at
Hyderabad. Bumrah’s
offence is a Level 1
offence under the ICC
code of conduct.
In addition to the repri-
mand, one demerit point
has also been added to
Bumrah’s disciplinary
record as it was his first
offence in a 24-month
period. “The incident
occurred in the 81st over
of England’s second
innings, when Bumrah,
after completing his fol-
low through, deliberate-
ly stepped in Ollie Pope’s
way as the batter went
for a run, leading to
inappropriate physical
contact,” the ICC said in
a release.
Bumrah was found to
have breached Article
2.12 of the ICC Code of
Conduct for Players and
Player Support
Personnel during an
international match.
Bumrah accepted the
sanction proposed by
match referee Richie
Richardson and there
was no need for a formal
hearing. — PTI
BEATEN INDIA
SLIP TO 5TH IN
WTC RANKINGS
Dubai, Jan. 29: India
have dropped to fifth
behind Bangladesh in
the World Test
India’s Ravindra Jadeja (left) and K. L. Rahul during the first Test against England in Championship stand-
ings after their shock 28-
Hyderabad on Friday. — AP
run defeat to England in
the first Test in
India’s Yuki Bhambri (left) with teammates at the
Islamabad Sports Complex ahead of the Davis Cup tie
against Pakistan in Islamabad on Monday.
Top class security
for Indian team
Islamabad, Jan. 29: A
bomb disposal squad will
sanitise the Islamabad
Sports Complex every
morning, and two escort
vehicles will shadow the
Indian Davis Cup team
during its travel as part of
multi-layer security
arrangement, which is
usually accorded to the
Head of State, to ensure
the visiting tennis play-
ers’ safety and security.
The Indian tennis team
has travelled to Pakistan
for the first time in 60
years, and naturally, the
Pakistan Tennis
Federation (PTF) does not
want to compromise on
the security aspect.
Mostly, the Indian play-
ers will be restricted to
the venue and the hotel
and it could well prove to
be a bit stifling, though
safe. The PTF is following
the security plan that has
been approved by the
International Tennis
Federation (ITF).
“Since an Indian team
has come to Pakistan
after 60 years, we are tak-
ing extra precaution.
There are four to five lay-
ers of security around the
Indian team. I, as event
security manager, is with
them during travel,” Col
— PTI
● The Indian tennis
team has travelled to
play in Pakistan for the
first time in 60 years
and the Pakistan
Tennis Federation does
not want to
compromise on the
security aspect.
Gul Rehman, who is the
secretary general of PTF,
said.
The Indian contingent,
that has five players, two
physios and two AITA
officials, arrived in
Islamabad on Sunday
night.
“Escort vans are with
the team during travel
time, and they enter the
hotel from the VVIP
entry, which is reserved
for Head of State. Bomb
disposal squads sanitised
the venue in the morning,
and no one will be
allowed to enter the
venue. It will be a drill
that will be followed
throughout the tie,” he
said.
“It’s an honour not just
for the PTF but also for
Pakistan to host the
Indian team. We believe
in sports diplomacy,”
Rehman said. — PTI

Hyderabad loss wake-up

made 87 in the first Hyderabad.
innings while Rahul India were briefly on
Runners Sable and scored 86.
Jadeja’s all-round abil-
top after drawing the
two-Test series South
Parul to train in US ities are invaluable to

call for Indians: Hussain

New Delhi: The Sports Ministry
on Monday approved Asian
Games medallists long distance
runners Avinash Sable and Parul
Choudhary’s request for train-
ing in Colorado, USA. The gov-
ernment also cleared training
stints for wrestlers Anshu Malik
and Sarita Mor in Japan and
USA respectively.
While national record holders
Sable and Choudhary will train
at high altitude centre at
Colorado Springs under coach
Scott Simmons, Mor will head
to United States
Olympic/Paralympic Training
Center (USOPTC), which is a
training base of several top
grapplers, including a few
Olympic medallists.
World championship silver
medallist grappler Anshu will
head to Kanagawa to train at
Yokohama’s Nippon Sports
Science University (NSSU)
which is known for producing
many of Japan’s top wrestlers.
Up and coming table tennis
player Payas Jain will also be
heading to Osaka, Japan to
train under coach Qiu Jian on
the ministry’s expense. — PTI
the team. Off-spinner
Sundar could replace
Jadeja in the playing
eleven. Though Sarfaraz
has got a well-deserved
call-up, the chances of
Rajat Patidar, who was
already part of the 15,
making his debut in
Vizag are higher.
“Avesh Khan will con-
tinue to travel with his
Ranji Trophy team,
Madhya Pradesh and
will join the Test squad
if required,” the
released added. — PTI
● It is a maiden
national call up for
Sarfaraz Kahan after
scoring loads of runs
in domestic cricket
and more recently in
the India ‘A’ series
against England Lions.
Aryan, Karan star as UP
London, Jan. 29: The
Hyderabad Test loss
should serve as wake-up
call for India that
England’s ‘Bazball’ strate-
gy is effective on slow
tracks as well, according
to former captain Nasser
Hussain. Since embracing
Bazball, England are yet
to lose a Test series.
“India will probably rue
their first innings. They
got 436 but actually they
could have got a lot more
if not for some sloppy dis-
missals. They will come
back. They are a very fine
side and history tells you
it will be tough for
England here,” Hussain
wrote in his column for
‘Sky Sports’.
“But it is a wake-up call
for India as England have
shown Bazball can work
in these conditions,” he
said, referring to
England’s ultra-aggres-
sive approach under head
coach Brendon
McCullum.
Chasing 231 for victory,
the Indian batters failed to
put up a fight in the fourth
innings.
“It shows they (England)
have great self-belief.
They have great belief in
the way they are playing
the game and do things
their own way. They don’t
worry about outside
noise, that other people
would have selected other
cricketers, that people
thought they should have
had warm-up matches.
“What I like about them
is their stubbornness. If
you doubt them, they’ll
double down on it and go
even more stubborn. I
think that is a good thing
because if you’re con-
stantly listening to all the
noise, all that’s written
and said, you flicker from
one theory to another,”
Hussain wrote in his col-
umn.
England vice-captian
Pope embodied ‘Bazball’
as he swept, reverse-swept
and reverse-scooped deliv-
eries with the formidable
India spin trio of
Ravichandran Ashwin,
Ravindra Jadeja and Axar
Patel looking clueless in
the second innings.
— PTI
U-19 WORLD CUP | SUPER SIX
INDIA LOOK TO CONTINUE
Africa before being over-
taken by Australia fol-
lowing their victory
over Pakistan. Rohit
Sharma’s men have suf-
fered in terms of accu-
mulated percentage
points, going down from
54.16 after the South
Africa series to 43.33
currently.
The rare defeat at
home took Rohit
Sharma’s side down to
fifth spot in the latest
WTC rankings headed Sonam Maskar poses with her silver medal in Cairo.
by Australia with 55 per-
centage points. India
currently have 43.33 per-
centage points in their
SONAM SHOOTS SILVER
kitty.
Australia’s sensational
eight-run defeat to the
ON WORLD CUP DEBUT
West Indies in Brisbane Cairo, Jan. 29: Debutant Sonam Maskar bagged a
on Sunday did not have silver medal for India in the women’s 10m air rifle
much impact on them as event of the International Shooting Sport
they continued to lead Federation (ISSF) World Cup here. Competing in
the WTC rankings. her maiden World Cup, Sonam shot 252.1 in the
— PTI eight-woman final, finishing 0.9 behind Germany’s
Anna Janssen at the Egypt International Olympic
City Shooting range late on Sunday. Poland’s Aneta
Stankiewicz took home the bronze.
Earlier, Divyansh Singh Panwar had struck gold
in the men’s event with a world record score in the
final.

hold nerves to pip Mum

India is now firmly on the top of the season-open-
ing World Cup stage with two gold and three silver
Hockey men maul medals in their kitty after three days of competi-

Jamaica, in Last 8 Mumbai, Jan. 29: The

Muscat: Maninder Singh struck
four goals as India mauled
Jamaica 13-0 in their third and
final pool match to enter the
quarterfinals of the FIH
Hockey5s men’s World Cup
here on Monday. Maninder
scored twice in the second
minute and once each in the
28th and 29th minutes, all field
goals.
Manjeet (5th, 24th), Raheel
Mohammed (16th, 27th) and
Mandeep Mor (23rd, 27th)
struck a brace each while Uttam
Singh (5th), Rajbhar Pawan
(9th) and Gurjot Singh (14th)
were the other scorers.
India initiated the onslaught
right from the start, with
Maninder scoring two quick
goals through precision shots.
The early momentum continued
as Uttam and Manjeet also con-
tributed with one goal each,
propelling India to a command-
ing 4-0 lead within the first six
minutes of the game. Despite
establishing a substantial lead,
India maintained relentless
pressure on Jamaica’s defence
with persistent attacks. — PTI
efforts of Aryan Juyal (76)
and Karan Sharma (67)
stood out as Uttar Pradesh
held nerves to beat 41-
times champions and
hosts Mumbai by two
wickets in a Ranji Trophy
match on Monday. On the
final day, Mumbai were
bowled out for 320 after
resuming at 303/8 in their
second innings. Juyal and
Karan laid the foundation
of a tricky chase of 195
with a 104-run stand for
the third wicket after UP
were jolted twice early on.
Despite regular strikes
from Mumbai, Karan
stood tall with a 173-ball 67
not out (7x4s, 2x6s) to take
his side over the line and
help UP earn six points.
The visitors Uttar
Pradesh finished at 195/8
in almost 70 overs with
right-arm off-spinner
Tanush Kotian (5/58) lead-
ing the fightback for
Mumbai with the ball.
In another game,
Andhra crushed hosts
MOMENTUM AGAINST NZ tion. Two Indians, Sonam and Nancy had made the
final after shooting scores of 632.7 and 633.1 to finish
the 60-shot qualification round in fifth and fourth
BRIEF SCORES Bloemfontein (South Asian rivals in the first spots respectively. — PTI
Africa), Jan. 29: Off to game, the ‘Boys in Blue’
■ In Mumbai: Mumbai 198 & 320 (Shivam Dube 117, Shams Mulani the best possible start fired on all cylinders in
63; Aaqib Khan 4/63) lost to Uttar Pradesh 324 & 195/8 in 69.5 with three wins on the the following two games.
overs (Aryan Juyal 76, Karan Sharma 67*; Tanush Kotian 5/58).
■ In Raipur: Andhra 431 & 150/2d bt Chhattisgarh 262 & 193 in
59.4 overs (Eknath Kerkar 76, Amandeep Khare 67; Prasanth
Kumar 3/21).
trot, defending champi-
ons India will look to keep
the juggernaut rolling
The best thing about the
Indian team is that at
least one or two batters
Gukesh finishes joint
■ In Patna: Kerala 227 & 220/4 (Sachin Baby 109*; Ashutosh
Aman 2/26) d/w with Bihar 377.
■ In Mohali: Delhi 147 & 264/9 decl. (Himmat Singh 194, Lakshy
when they take on New
Zealand in their super six
stage match of the U-19
had raised hands and
taken responsibility to
score runs.
Mursheer Khan, the
second at Tata chess
Thareja 43) bt Uttarakhand 239 & 165 in 79.3 overs (Akhil Rawat World Cup here on Wijk Aan Zee (The Iran and then prove supe-
63; Himanshu Chauhan 5/39, Hrithik Shokeen 3/81). Tuesday. younger brother of prolif- Netherlands) Jan. 29: rior in three tie-break
■ In Ranchi: Vidarbha 204 & 374/9 (Dhruv Shorey 113, Atharva Having qualified for the ic Mumbai batter Grandmaster D. Gukesh games against last year’s
Taide 138; Shahbaz Nadeem 6/69) bt Jharkhand 120 (Supriyo super six stage as Group Sarfaraz, has been the endured a heartbreak in winner Anish Giri to
Chakraborty 31; Umesh Yadav 4/43, Aditya Thakare 3/28).
■ In Delhi: Services 536/7 decl. (Shubham Rohilla 153, Lovekesh A leaders, India will also team’s most consistent the final tie-breaker qualify for the final.
Bansal 161, Arjun Sharma 101 not out; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja have the advantage of performer with the bat. against Wei Yi of China Once there, the Indian
3/146) d/w Saurashtra 462 (Kevin Jivrajani 52, Vishvaraj Jadeja playing at the Mangaung Mursheer is the third and had to be content raised visions of winning
88, Arpit Vasavada 72; Arjun Sharma 4/105, Varun Choudhary Oval on Tuesday — the highest run getter in the with a joint second place the tournament but Wei
3/78). same venue that they tournament after the finish at the Tata Steel Yi was simply better in
■ In Rohtak: Haryana 195 & 211/6 decl. (Nishant Sindhu 70, Ashok have played all their three group stage. Skipper Masters chess tourna- the return game after
Menaria 59; Pradeep Dadhe 5/60) d/w Maharashtra 194 & 96/2 matches so far. Uday Saharan has played ment here. Indian drawing the first.
(Ankit Bawne 50 not out; Harshal Patel 2/35). impactful innings and
New Zealand, on the Grandmaster Leon Luke If Gukesh was a heart-
other hand, move here will look to continue in Mendonca, however, won break, Mendonca
Chhattisgarh at the Eknath Kerkar hitting a from East London and the same vein. In the the challengers section, remained pretty much in
Shaheed Veer Narayan resolute 199-ball 76 at the will have to adapt quickly bowling department, left- defeating compatriot the shadows throughout
Singh International top and skipper to the conditions. arm pacer Naman Tiwari Divya Deshmukh in the the event in the company
Stadium in Raipur by 126 Amandeep Khare record- India notched up easy has excelled with the ball. 13th and final round. of big stalwarts.
runs in what turned out to ing his second fifty of the wins against Bangladesh, After going wicketless It was a full day of hard Mendonca defeated
be a one-sided contest. game with a quickfire 67 Ireland and USA. While against Bangladesh, he work for Gukesh as he Divya in another compli-
Chasing 320 to win, the off 55 balls with seven the record five-time has grabbed four wickets had to win the 13th round cated game that could
hosts were bowled out for fours and two sixes. champions struggled a bit each in the following two game with black against have swung either ways.
a mere 193 despite opener — PTI with the bat against their games. — PTI Parham Maghsoodloo of — PTI
 GAMES
DECCAN CHRONICLE | COIMBATORE | TUESDAY | 30 JANUARY 2024
pg 12
SHORT TAKES S.S. RAJAN T20 TROPHY
Dazzling Duren
powers Pistons Thiruvallur in
past Thunder
Los Angeles: Jalen Duren
scored 22 points and grabbed
21 rebounds to lead the lowly
Detroit Pistons to a 120-104
quarterfinals
DC CORRESPONDENT 65 n.o).
NBA victory over Oklahoma CHENNAI, JAN. 29 At Salem:
City on Sunday, snapping the Thiruvannamalai 122 for 7
Thunder's five-game winning Ram Arvinth (56) and M. in 20 overs (R Vignesh
streak. The Pistons posted Udaya Kumar (4/26) 3/24) lost to Vellore 125
just their sixth win of the sea- helped Thiruvallur beat for 6 in 19.3 overs (K
son despite the absence of Tiruchirapalli in the pre- Rajkumar 44). Krishnagiri
leading scorer Cade quarterfinal of the TNCA 51 in 15.2 overs (S
Cunningham, who was a late inter-district T20 tourna- Muthumaran 4/14) lost to
scratch to manage knee trou- ment for the S.S. Rajan Theni 55/2 in 8.2 overs (U
ble. It looked like more disap- Trophy on Monday. Richee Donald 30 n.o).
pointment for Detroit -- who BRIEF SCORES Ariyalur 104/8 in 20 overs
matched a league record for (Pre-QF): At (M A Atheeq ur Rahman
futility with 28 straight Tiruchirappalli: Tirunelveli 3/15) lost to Ranipet
defeats this season -- when 77 in 19.5 overs (AVR 105/4 in 16.1 overs (S
the Thunder jumped to a 10- Rathnam 3/12) lost to Risheek Kumar 27 n.o, MA
point lead early in the first Thanjavur 78 for 4 in 14 Atheeq Ur Rahman 52).
quarter. But the Pistons were overs (R.K.Jayan 3/ 17). Thiruvallur 139 for 8 in 20
up by nine at halftime and Coimbatore 152 for 5 in overs (Ram Arvinth 56)
never trailed in the second 20 overs (N Mohammed beat Tiruchirapalli 129 for
half. Duren's career-high in Ashik 59, J Kousik 45 9 in 20 overs (P.Naveen
rebounds included nine of the n.o.) lost to Dindigul 153 39, F.Edwin Richard 46,
Pistons' 15 offensive boards. for 2 in 19 overs (K M.Udaya Kumar 4/26,
"It's cool," Duren said of his Kaleeswaran 62, K Aashiq R.Divakar 3/35).
first career 20-20 game, but
he was more pleased to put MA Hasinashrin, who won a bronze medal, competes in the 76kg category of the Khelo India Youth Games in Chennai on Monday.

MAKING A SPLASH
up a win after the Pistons lost
four of their previous five TNCA INTER-DISTRICT TOURNEY
games. That included a dou-
ble-digit loss to the woeful
Washington Wizards on
Saturday in Cunningham's
first game back from an
eight-game injury absence. "It
was big-time," Duren said of
beating the Thunder, who had
31 points from newly named
All-Star Shai Gilgeous-
Alexander in a defeat that
dropped them to 32-14 -- tied
Swimmer Deeksha wins her third medal at KIYG
with the Minnesota DC CORRESPONDENT bronze with a time of Nandini had to settle for
Timberwolves atop the CHENNAI, JAN. 29 31.23s. the silver when the gold
Western Conference. Haryana bagged three of was up for grabs. But she
"Especially after yesterday -- Haryana’s Sanjana six gold medals on offer let Sayali dominate from
we didn't come out nothing improved on her own from the wrestling arena the fourth game, and
like we wanted to yesterday, National Youth records in at the Rajarathinam stadi- Nandini never recovered
we were really flat. Today the Snatch, Clean and Jerk um to increase their lead after that.
main focus was keeping that and overall to clinch the over third placed Tamil Nandini Saha of West
energy.” girls 76kg weightlifting Nadu, who could not add Bengal finally broke the
gold while Maharashtra’s to their gold medal count domination of the
Sayali Wani came back on Monday. Maharashtra girls in the
Recovering from the brink to win the
girls singles table tennis Sayali wins TT gold
singles. Saha would clash
with Sayali Wani in the
Rashid to miss gold in the Khelo India
Youth Games 2023 on
Sayali Wani
Maharashtra proved far
from gold medal battle in the
evening. Before that, two
R. Abarna and S. Vaishnavi.

Sri Lanka Test Monday.

Sanjana began with
superior to her West
Bengal rival, Nandini
girls from the western
state fell by the wayside.

Abarna slams
breaking her previous Saha, to hoist the singles Risha went 0-4 down to
Kabul: Ace spinner Rashid snatch record of 86kg trophy. Nandini in the first semifi-
Khan will miss Afghanistan's twice, successfully lifting Though she trailed 0-3 in nal, and Sayali Wani beat
first-ever Test against Sri 87kg and 90kg in her sec- the final, Sayali breached Pritha Vartikar 4-0 in the
Lanka next month, selectors ond and third attempts her opponent’s defence at second match.

announced Monday, as he and then successfully exe-
continues to recover from a cuted 113kg and 116kg lifts
back surgery. The 25-year- in Clean and Jerk as she
old is Afghanistan's highest lifted 31kgs more than
Test wicket-taker -- with 34 Maharashtra’s Grishma
in five matches -- and has Thorat, who won the silver
been an integral part of the with a total lift of 167kg.
team in all formats of the Uttar Pradesh lifter Parv
game. Selectors said Rashid Chaudhary also improved
was being cautiously moni- on the clean and jerk
tored. "Rashid Khan contin- national youth record in
ues to recover from the back the boys’ 96kg weight cate-
surgery and is set to miss gory with a lift of 160kg on
the one-off Test against Sri his way to gold. He lifted a
Lanka," the Afghanistan total of 280 kg with
Cricket Board (ACB) said in Andhra Pradesh’s
a statement. The Test will be Arunesh Babu (258kg) and
played in Colombo from Haryana’s Aditya (249kg)
February 2-6. Another leg- taking the silver and
spinning bowling all-round- bronze respectively.
er, Qais Ahmad, has been Maharashtra extended
included in the squad as their lead at the top of the
Rashid's replacement.
Hashmatullah Shahidi will
lead the squad, which also FOOTBALL
has Noor Ali Zadran and
Naveed Zadran. Afghanistan
Boys (SF): Meghalaya bt
Jharkhand 5-3; Punjab bt
will also play three one-day Odisha 1-0.
internationals and as many KHO KHO
Twenty20s on the tour, for Girls (SF): Odisha bt Delhi
which squads will be 27-18; Maharashtra bt Gujarat
announced later. Since being 27-16. Boys: Maharashtra bt
granted Test status in 2018, Karnataka 29-23; Delhi bt
Afghanistan has played Gujarat 43-28
seven Tests, winning three SHOOTING
and losing the other four. Girls: Skeet: Gold – Devyani
Rathore (Raj) 46+2; Silver –
Yashasvi Rathore (Raj) 46;
Arteta slams Bronze – Venkat Lakku (Tel).
Boys: Skeet: Gold – Gurfateh
TN swimmer Deeksha Sivakumar who won a bronze in
the 50m backstroke event.
table with their swimmers
also contributing four
more gold medals on
Monday.
With two days of compe-
tition left, Maharashtra sit
pretty on the top of the
table with 44 gold, 39 silver
and 44 bronze.
Maharashtra’s Rishab
Das bagged three gold
medals at the SDAT
Aquatic Stadium clinch-
ing the top spot in boys
50m backstroke and 100m
KHELO INDIA RESULTS
Bronze – Raghvi Ramanujan
(Mah) 5:23.80s. 50m back-
stroke: Gold – Rujuta
Rajadnya (Mah) 31.04s; Silver
– Aarushi Agarwal (Kar)
31.18s; Bronze – Deeksha
Sivakumar (TN) 31.23s. 100m
freestyle: Gold – Rujula S
(Kar) 59.27s; Silver – Alefiya
Saleh Dhansura (Mah)
59.98s; Bronze – Jahbani
Kashyap (Asm) 1:00.13s.
Boys: 400m freestyle: Gold –
— E.K. Sanjay
freestyle and then teaming
up with Shlok Khopade,
Salil Bhagwat and Ronak
Sawant to win the 4x100
medley relay.
Rujuta Rajadnya of
Maharashtra added the
50m backstroke gold to her
50m freestyle triumph
with a timing of 31.04s.
Karnataka’s Aarushi
Agarwal took the silver
with a time of 31.18s and
Deeksha Sivakumar of
Tamil Nadu took the
Gold – Rishabh Das (Mah)
26.49s; Silver – Akash Mani
(Kar) 26.57s; Bronze – Nithik
Nathela (TN) 27.02s. 100m
freestyle: Gold – Rishabh Das
(Mah) 52.06s; Silver –
Tirthank Pegu (Asm) 53.53s;
Bronze – Lucky Ali Khan
(Raj) 53.61s. 4x100m medley:
Gold – Maharashtra 3:56.99s;
Silver – Karnataka 3:59.34s;
Bronze – Tamil Nadu 4:02.87
TABLE TENNIS
the right time to inch her
way up and posed a real
threat to Nandini. But
Nandini, trying to steady
the rocking boat, could not
do much against Sayali's
calculated attack after lev-
elling the score 3-3 before
going all out from the fifth
game. Sayali won 4-3.
Sayali was 3-6 down in
the decider. But eight
points on the trot, helped
by Nandini's unforced
errors, remarkably has-
tened her win. The win
also ensured two gold
medals for the
Maharashtra girl, who
combined with Pritha
Vartikar to win the girls'
doubles.
Kotecha/Risha Mirchandani
(Mah) 3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
Bronze medal match:
Syndrela Das/Subhankrita
Dutta (WB) bt Suhani
Saini/Prithoki Chakraborti
(Har) 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7)
WEIGHTLIFTING
Girls: 71kg: Gold – Chelsi (Del)
184kg; Silver – Manju (Har)
181; Bronze – J Devisri (AP)
174. 76kg: Gold – Sanjana
(Har) 206kg; Silver – Grishma
It was an easy affair for
the West Bengal girl. The
tall Risha failed to use his
height advantage against
Nandini. The start was
inauspicious, and Risha
could not cope with the
constant pressure applied
by Nandini. Only in the
third game did Risha come
close to challenging her
authority, but the Nandini
brushed it aside to romp
home winners.
If Sayali had a good out-
ing at the KIYG here,
Pritha had the poorest.
After her recent national
performances, the Pune
girl started as the
favourite for the singles
crown.
WRESTLING
Girls: 49kg: Gold – Naina
(Har); Silver – Kanak (Del);
Bronze – Ritika (Har),
Nandini Verma (MP). 69kg:
Gold – Tanu Sharma (Har);
Silver – Manisha (Har);
Bronze – Palak Yadav (Raj),
Trupti Bhavar (Mah). Boys:
71kg GR: Gold – Sahil (Chd);
Silver – Sohamraj More
(Mah); Bronze – Sunil Kumar
(Del), Mahesh Rathor (MP).
80kg GR: Gold – Abhay
(Har); Silver – Anuj Dahiya
(Har); Bronze – Sunny Baisla
double century
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
R. Abarna slammed a
double century and S.
Vaishnavi scored an
unbeaten ton as Salem
drubbed Thoothukudi by
374 in the TNCA inter-dis-
trict tournament for
women in Thoothukudi
on Monday. Salem,
Chengalpattu and
Thiruvallur have entered.
the quarterfinals.
BRIEF SCORES
At Krishnagiri:
Thiruvarur 106 for 9 in
30 overs (C. Devapriya
47 n.o, U. Chaturya 3/17)
lost to Krishnagiri 107 for
3 in 19 overs (K. Hashini
58 n.o.). Dindigul 88 in
26.5 overs (S.Abinaya
26) lost to Chengalpattu
89 for 1 in 16.1 overs (S.
Meenakshi 40 n.o).
At Tiruchirapalli:
Thanjavur 130 for 1 in 30
overs (G. Vardhini 62 n.o,
T. Vengateswari 32 n.o)
lost to Sivagangai 131 for
6 in 23 overs (R.
Abhinaya 52, A.
Sengammal Aachi Devi
3/23). Tirunelveli 122 for
7 in 30 overs (C. Sheeba
45, G. Sibicksha 5/18)
beat Tiruchirapalli 100
for 5 in 30 overs (R.
Keerthana Shree 35).
At Thoothukudi:
Namakkal 114 for 7 in 30
overs (Renuka 36) lost
to Coimbatore 117 for 4
in 21.3 overs. Salem 395
for 1 in 30 overs (R.
Abarna 229, S. Vaishnavi
109 n.o) beat
Thoothukudi 21 in 10.1
overs (Sonakshi Agarwal
3/6).
At Thiruvallur: Karur 65
in 25.3 overs (S.
Nandhana 3/19, D
Swagata 4/9) lost to
Thiruvallur 66 for 2 in 13
overs (R Dhivya 2/20).
Madurai 85 in 29.2 overs
(T Alagurani 27, R
Ragavi 3 for 19, V
Kowsalya 4/13) lost to
Ranipet 86 for no loss in
13.4 overs (S Rinaaz 48
n.o, R Ragavi 28 n.o).

Barca talk as Singh Sandhu (Pun) 54+4;

‘fake news’
London: Mikel Arteta has
slammed reports he was
ready to quit Arsenal to
become Barcelona manager
as "fake news". Reports in
Spain on Sunday claimed
Arteta had told colleagues
he was going to leave the
Emirates Stadium to return
to Barcelona at the end of
this season. Current Barca
boss Xavi announced on
Saturday he would step
down in the summer after a
string of disappointing
results, leading to Arteta
being installed as one of the
favourites to replace him.
Having come through the
fabled academy at
Barcelona, Arteta has a
long-standing connection to
the Camp Nou. But the 41-
year-old on Monday insisted
he is keen to stay put as he
aims to lead Arsenal to their
first Premier League title
since 2004.
Regd. No. TNENG/2010/35692
Printed & Published by K. Sudhakar on
behalf of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited
and Printed at Deccan Chronicle Press
situated at No 2/22, Sengalipalayam Road,
N.G.G.O Colony Post,
Kurudampalayam Village,
Coimbatore - 641 022. RNI
Registration No: TNENG/2010/35692
Ph No : 2231252,253,255,257 & 358
Editor: KAUSHIK MITTER
Silver – Zoravar Singh Bedi
(Pun) 54+3; Bronze –
Harazeez Singh Atwal (Pun)
42.
SWIMMING
Girls: 400m medley: Gold –
Thanya Shadakshari (Kar)
5:10.24s; Silver – Shreenithi
Natesan (TN) 5:11.23s;
Pranav, Ranjan bowl SRIHER to big win
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JAN. 29
R.K. Pranav Sabapathy
and A. Ranjan bagged five
wickets as SRIHER beat
Jerusalem CE by eight
wickets on the opening
day of the YNOT Studios-
TNCA inter-college invita-
tion cricket tournament
on Monday.
Brief scores: Jerusalem
CE 20 in 11.3 overs (R. K.
Pranav Sabapathy five for
11, A. Ranjan five for 9)
lost to SRIHER 21 for 2 in
3.3 overs. Tagore EC 76 in
22 overs (Yogeshwaran
34, Arjun Thapa three for
13) lost to MCC 77 for no
loss in 9.2 overs (M. S.
Rajeev 31 n.o., M. V.
Ponnarasu 33 n.o.). DB
Jain 64 in 17.4 overs (M
Mohamed Suhail three
for 15) lost to Anna
University 66 for 3 in 15.1
overs. Patrician College
Yug Chelani (Raj) 4:05.23s;
Silver – G Sampath Kumar
Yadav (AP) 4:06.58s; Silver –
Ronak Sawant (Mah) 4:06.72.
100m butterfly: Gold –
Jananjoy Jyoti Hazarika
(Asm) 55.56s; Silver – Salil
Bhagwat (Mah) 56.85s;
Bronze – Heer Pitroda (Guj)
57.09s. 50m backstroke:
A. Aravinth
90 for 7 in 30 overs (S.
Akash Kumar 35 n.o) lost
to Jeppiaar University 92
for 2 in 9.5 overs (Pranav
Kumar 38). The New
College 157 in 29.5 overs
(Jai Kishore Nath 50, S.L.
Sathish four for 9, Syed
Athif Riswan three for 21)
beat Sindhi College 133 in
27.3 overs (M Umapathi
32, Muthu Krishna 33,
Hari Krishnan 27, M
Karthikeyan three for 25).
Girls: Singles: Gold medal
match: Sayali Wani (Mah) bt
Nandini Saha (WB) 8-11, 8-11,
6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-0, 11-6.
Bronze medal match: Pritha
Vartikar (Mah) bt Risha
Mirchandani (Mah) 11-8, 11-7,
11-9. Doubles: Gold medal
match: Pritha Vartikar/Sayali
Wani (Mah) bt Tanesha
A. Ranjan
Quaide Milleth 35 in 13.4
overs (B Sivaramakrishan
three for 5, G Vignesh
three for 9) lost to
Gurunanak College 36 for
1 in 4.4 overs. MIT 58 in
22.3 overs (Abdul Riyaz
five for 9) lost to Vels
University 59 for 6 in 16.5
overs. AM Jain 130 in 29
overs (S. Sanjay Aravind
27, S. Manchanda Singh
52, S. MohanaKumar
three for 21) lost to SSN
Thorat (Mah) 167kg; Bronze –
MA Hasinashrin (TN) 166.
Boys: 96kg: Gold – Parv
Chaudhary (UP) 280kg; Silver
– Arunesh Babu (AP) 258kg;
Bronze – Aditya (Har) 249kg.
102kg: Gold – Ch Vamsi (AP)
280kg; Silver – Ankur Tiwari
(Mah) 279kg; Bronze – Kapil
Sonowal (Asm).
Abdul Riyaz
134 for 2 in 21.4 overs (M.
Mithul Raj 35, Nithish Raj
26, Rahul Ayyappan
Harish 35 n.o., S. Mohana
Kumar 30 n.o).
Presidency College 104
in 25.2 overs (P Perumal
23, Kailas Moorthy three
for 26) lost to MGR
University 105 for 1 in
22.2 overs (S.S. Srinath
55 n.o). Saveetha IMTS
120 in 25.5 overs (S
Koushik 39, S Rahul
(UP), Akarsh Mishra (Utr).
51kg FS: Gold – Sohum
Kumbhar (Mah); Silver – Anuj
Yadav (UP); Bronze –
Abhishek (Har), Chirag
Dahiya (Del). 65kg FS: Gold
– Sagar (Del), Silver – Tanishq
Kadam (Mah); Bronze –
Harsh (UP), Mohit Kumar
(Del).
R.K. Pranav
Kanna 35, N Karthikeyan
four for 28) beat Sir
Theagaraya College 70 in
22.2 overs (A. Aravinth
five for 12, R Rajasekar
three for 20). DG
Vaishnav College 150 in
30 overs (S.R. Thiru
Narayanan 36, S.
Taarakesh three for 25)
lost to Loyola ICAM ET
152 for 6 in 27 overs (K.
Veeraviswa 33, S. Rohan
31).
TAMIL NADU DIGEST
Grandmaster R. Vaishali is felicitated by the
management of MOP Vaishnav College on Monday.
Confident start by Railways
Railways were 140 for one in 36 overs in response
to Tamil Nadu's 360 on day two of the C.K. Nayudu
U-23 tournament in Dindigul on Monday.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 360 in 138 overs (A.
Badrinath 78, R.S. Mokit Hariharan 31, C. Andre
Siddarth 72, Manav Parakh 54, P. Vidyuth 75 not
out, Purnank Tyagi six for 89, Ruthvik Naik three
for 59) vs Railways 140 for one in 36 overs
(Atharv Karulkar 66 batting, Ansh Yadav 60, V.P.
Diran one for 32).
Deepesh to lead Chengalpattu
D. Deepesh will lead Chengalpattu in the semifi-
nal of the TNCA inter-district U-16 tournament to
be held from Tuesday.
Squad: D. Deepesh (C), Adithiya V, Akshay
Barath, Aneek Kumar Samal, Appurva Kumar
Sahoo N, B. Sandeep, Farhaan K, Joekrish T,
Keerthivasan S, Laiq Aariz AZ, Muhammad
Shahid S, Prajeesh V, Ruthreshvaran M,
Srishanth S, Koushik Ram, A. Rahul, Aneesh V
Tadkod. Coach: S. Vignesh. Manager: A.
Chelliah.