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CITY EDITION
24 Pages ₹ 12.00

Vol.13 앫 No.254

Printed at » Chennai » Coimbatore » Bengaluru » Hyderabad » Madurai » Noida » Visakhapatnam » Thiruvananthapuram » Kochi » Vijayawada » Mangaluru » Tiruchirapalli » Kolkata » Hubballi » Mohali » Malappuram » Mumbai » Tirupati » Lucknow » Cuttack » Patna

CM J ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU Friday, October 27, 2023
J2 Delhi

CM J ND-NDE
YK
 FRIDAY www.thehindu.com FOLLOW US
October 27, 2023 facebook.com/thehindu
twitter.com/the_hindu
DELHI
instagram.com/the_hindu
CITY EDITION
24 Pages ₹ 12.00

Vol.13 앫 No.254

Printed at » Chennai » Coimbatore » Bengaluru » Hyderabad » Madurai » Noida » Visakhapatnam » Thiruvananthapuram » Kochi » Vijayawada » Mangaluru » Tiruchirapalli » Kolkata » Hubballi » Mohali » Malappuram » Mumbai » Tirupati » Lucknow » Cuttack » Patna

PARLEY
PREPARING BATTLEFIELD

Israeli troops Is India ready

launch ground to host the
raid into Gaza Olympics?
SURROGACY ACT GUNMAN AT LARGE KUMARA EXCELS
It is a huge honour that
SC rules in favour of Mass shooting in U.S.’s Sri Lanka crushes
comes with challenges
using donor gametes Maine kills at least 18 England, stays alive
NEWS » PAGE 16 WORLD » PAGE 17 WORLD » PAGE 17 OPINION » PAGE 11 SPORT » PAGE 19

IN BRIEF
쑽
Complaint against
Mahua: sparks fly
at LS panel meet
NEW DELHI
The Ethics Committee of the
Lok Sabha has summoned
TMC MP Mahua Moitra on
October 31 to defend herself
against cash­for­query charges.
On Thursday, Opposition MPs
initially refused to allow BJP
member Nishikant Dubey, the
complainant, to depose before
the committee. » Page 14
Farm fires down,
but Delhi air likely
to worsen further
NEW DELHI
The Punjab government on
Thursday said the number
of farm fires in the State has
dipped, but it is unlikely to
be a breather for the national
capital as its air quality is likely
to slip into the “very poor”
zone by Saturday. » Page 2
Eight former Navy officers
get death penalty in Qatar
India says it is ‘deeply shocked’, exploring legal options; adds it will take up the matter with Qatari
authorities; the Indian nationals employed in Doha were accused of breaching sensitive secrets
Suhasini Haidar
Kallol Bhattacherjee
NEW DELHI
ight former Indian
E Navy personnel,
who had been em­
ployed by a company in
Doha, were handed the
death penalty by a local
court in Doha on Thursday
in an alleged case of es­
pionage. The Indian go­
vernment expressed shock
at the verdict, and said all
legal options were being
explored.
The eight men — Cap­
tain Navtej Singh Gill, Cap­
tain Saurabh Vashisht,
Commander Purnendu Ti­
wari, Captain Birendra Ku­
mar Verma, Commander
Sugunakar Pakala, Com­
mander Sanjeev Gupta,
Commander Amit Nagpal
and Sailor Ragesh — have
been in the custody of Qa­
tari authorities since Au­
gust 2022. The Court of
First Instance of Qatar
passed the judgment
against them, according to
a statement by India’s Mi­
nistry of External Affairs.
“We are deeply shocked
by the verdict of death pe­
nalty and are awaiting the
detailed judgment. We are
in touch with the family
members and the legal
team, and we are exploring
all legal options. We attach
high importance to this
case, and have been fol­
lowing it closely. We will
continue to extend all con­
sular and legal assistance,”
the MEA statement said,
adding that India would
take up the matter with the
Qatari authorities.
Breaching secrets
The Indian nationals were
employed by Dahra Global
Technologies and Consul­
tant Services in Doha, and
were allegedly accused of
breaching sensitive se­
crets. They were reported­
ly involved in training va­
rious security­related
service providers of the
State of Qatar.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 14
ED searches against
Rajasthan Congress
leaders kick up row
Congress supporters stage a protest against the ED searches on the
premises of party leaders, in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI
The Hindu Bureau
JAIPUR
The Enforcement Directo­
rate’s (ED) searches on the
premises of two Rajasthan
Congress leaders as part of
a money laundering probe,
and a summons issued to
Chief Minister Ashok Geh­
lot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot,
led to a political slugfest in
the poll­bound State on
Thursday. Mr. Gehlot ac­
cused the Union govern­
ment of using the ED like
“swarms of locusts”.
The ED conducted
searches at State Congress
president Govind Singh
Dotasra’s residences in Jai­
pur and Sikar, and MLA
Om Prakash Hudla’s hotel
in Mahuwa of Dausa dis­
trict, where he has been
fielded as the party candi­
date for the upcoming poll.
The raids were part of
the ED’s investigation into
the case of question paper
leak in the senior teacher
grade II competitive exam­
ination of 2022.
CONTINUED ON
» PAGE 14
MORE REPORTS
» PAGE 14
Hatred seeping
into events like
Ramlila, says
Danish Ali
Satvika Mahajan
NEW DELHI
BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali
on Thursday said the lack
of action by the Prime Mi­
nister against BJP leader
Ramesh Bidhuri for his de­
rogatory remarks in Parlia­
ment against him has re­
sulted in hatred trickling
down to an event like a
Ramlila, which otherwise
reflects cultural diversity.
He said this referring to
an alleged hate speech by
former Delhi BJP council­
lor Vinod Tundelkar, who
was caught on tape prais­
ing the BJP MP’s remarks
against the BSP MP during
the staging of a Ramlila in
Delhi’s Tughlaqabad.
Earlier, Mr. Ali had writ­
ten to the Prime Minister
seeking suitable punish­
ment for the BJP MP. He
told The Hindu he is wait­
ing for Delhi Police action
over the Ramlila speech.
“They are sleeping when
such hatred is being spread
at an event like a Ramlila.”

Securing the seas CPI(M), Cong.

oppose NCERT
proposal to
supplant ‘India’
with ‘Bharat’
The Hindu Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The ruling CPI(M) has said

Kerala will reject the Na­
tional Council of Educa­
tional Research and Train­
ing’s (NCERT) proposal to
supplant ‘India’ with ‘Bha­
rat’ in school textbooks.
CPI(M) State secretary
M.V. Govindan told repor­
ters in New Delhi that
schools following the State
syllabus would resist the
NCERT’s move to inject the
Deepening ties: A helicopter prepares to land during the first joint naval exercise by India and the European “science­, fact­ and history­
Union in the Gulf of Guinea this week. Indian Navy’s INS Sumedha, an offshore patrol vessel, was joined by denying Sangh Parivar ren­
ships from three EU member states: ITS Foscari (Italy), FS Ventose (France), and Tornado (Spain). ANI dition of India’s past into
younger generations”.
“Kerala school text­
books will cite the coun­

For outreach events, civil servants try’s name as India as artic­

will be called nodal officers, not
Rath Prabharis, clarifies Centre
Devesh K. Pandey
NEW DELHI
Following a controversy
over the deployment of ci­
vil servants as Rath Prab-
haris during the upcoming
Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra
across the country, the Un­
ion government on Thurs­
day clarified that the use of
such a term was not proper
and that the officials would
instead be addressed as
nodal officers.
The Congress had raised
objections, asking how offi­
cials could be ordered to
do such a pre­poll “politi­
cal propaganda” for the go­
vernment. Through an Oc­
tober 17 letter, all the
departments were earlier
told that Joint Secretaries,
Directors, and Deputy Se­
cretaries would be de­
CM
YK
ployed as Rath Prabharis
to coordinate for the prep­
arations, planning, execu­
tion and monitoring of the
programme.
Launch on November 15
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will launch the yatra
on November 15, on the oc­
casion of Birsa Munda
Jayanti – Janjaati Gaurav Di­
vas by flagging off Informa­
tion, Education and Com­
munication (IEC) vans at
Khunti in Jharkhand. The
vans will be visiting the tri­
bal districts initially and
the remaining districts
from November 22 to Janu­
ary 25.
On Thursday, Informa­
tion and Broadcasting Se­
cretary Apurva Chandra
said the programme would
not be launched in the poll­
bound States till the Elec­
tion Commission’s Model
Code of Conduct was in
place. He said the pro­
gramme’s objective was a
nationwide outreach and
awareness campaign to en­
sure that every eligible per­
son was covered under 20
Central schemes.
Around 2.6 lakh gram
panchayats (rural) and ov­
er 3,700 urban local bodies
encompassing around
14,000 locations (urban)
would be covered during
the campaign, other than
the election­bound States.
People would be ap­
prised of the Central
schemes covering benefits
such as sanitation facilities,
essential financial services,
electricity connections, ac­
cess to LPG cylinders, and
housing for the poor.
ulated in Article I of the
Constitution. They will
dwell on subjects dropped
by the Sangh Parivar­led
Central government, in­
cluding Darwin’s theory of
evolution, the Mughal em­
pire, and the life, times and
assassination of Mahatma
Gandhi,” he said.
On the same page
The Congress also found it­
self on the same side of the
India­Bharat debate in the
State. Congress Working
Committee member K.C.
Venugopal objected to re­
placing ‘India’ with ‘Bha­
rat’ in school textbooks.
“For the Congress, both
names carry equal weight.
But one should not be at
the cost of the other. The
BJP is attempting to distort
India’s history to suit its
political ends,” he said.
The BJP in the State has,
however, encouraged the
use of ‘Bharat’ because it is
“an emphatic rejection of
the country’s colonial
past.” Governor Arif Mo­
hammed Khan also sup­
ported the proposal.
M ND-NDE
Join Telegram
channel

https://t.me/+5
_SSVlHxrWMwZTll
 THE HINDU
2 Friday, October 27, 2023

City Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 Punjab farm fires down by 53%, but
air quality likely to worsen in Capital
Air quality drops to ‘poor’ category for the fourth consecutive day, expected to slip into ‘very poor’ zone by Saturday; Delhi government relaunches
‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign to check air pollution; Lieutenant­Governor had put the drive on hold last year questioning its effectiveness

The Hindu Bureau
DU gets ₹930­cr. loan, to start NEW DELHI
work on east Delhi campus
T
he Punjab govern­
ment on Thursday
Vice­Chancellor Yogesh Singh said Delhi said the number of
University will begin setting up its east Delhi stubble­burning incidents
campus using funds from the loan corpus of in the State from Septem­
₹930 crore approved by the Higher Education ber 15 to October 25 saw a
Financing Agency (HEFA). HEFA is a joint venture 53% fall compared with the
company of Canara Bank and the Ministry of same period a year ago, a
Education which provides financial assistance for likely breather for the na­
the creation of educational infrastructure. PTI tional capital which grap­
ples with poor air quality
ahead of winter.
The air quality in the ci­
Soumya murder: hearing on ty stood in the “poor” cate­
gory for the fourth consec­
sentencing deferred to Nov. 7 utive day and it is likely to
slip into the “very poor”
A court here on Thursday deferred to November zone by Saturday, accord­
7 the hearing on the quantum of sentence for the ing to official data.
five men convicted for killing journalist Soumya Air pollution spikes in
Vishwanathan in 2008. The adjournment came Delhi every winter, mainly
on the grounds that the pre­sentence report and due to meteorological fac­
other documents were yet to be filed. PTI tors and pollution from
stubble burning in neigh­
bouring States.
Earlier this month, Del­
hi Lieutenant­Governor
V.K. Saxena in a letter to
Punjab Chief Minister
Bhagwant Mann had ex­
pressed concern over farm
fires. He had said that of
the five States that affect
Delhi’s air quality, Punjab
remained the only “non­
performing outlier”.
In September, the Pun­
jab government committed
to reduce stubble burning
incidents by at least 50%
this year, according to
the Commission for Air
Quality management
(CAQM) in National Capital
Region and Adjoining
Areas.
A source at the CAQM
said that the commission
had urged that Punjab go­
Environment Minister Gopal Rai (right) greeting motorists during a
drive to curb vehicular pollution on Thursday. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
vernment to reduce the in­
cidents of stubble burning.
A statement by the Pun­
jab Agriculture Minister’s
office on Thursday said the
State recorded 2,704 inci­
dents of stubble burning
from September 15 to Oc­
tober 25 this year, down
from 5,798 incidents in the
corresponding period last
year.
The statement said the
State generates 20 million
tonnes of paddy straw.
“To address this chal­
lenge, the government
adopted a comprehensive
approach, implementing
initiatives across both in­si­
tu (on­field) and ex­situ
(off­field) paddy straw
management, driving be­
havioural change and mon­
itoring the implementation
of initiatives,” it read.
‘Efforts paid off ’
The CAQM too attested the
State’s claim and said Pun­
jab has seen “declining
trend in stubble burning”
in the past three years.
“The reduction of about
53% in the current year in
Punjab, vis­a­vis the corres­
ponding period in 2022, is
a result of collective efforts
of all stakeholders,” a
CAQM spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Envi­
ronment Minister Gopal
Rai relaunched the “Red
Light On, Gaadi Off” cam­
paign to check vehicular
pollution. It aims at encou­
raging motorists to turn off
their vehicles at traffic
lights. Last year, the Lieute­
nant­Governor had put the
drive on hold, questioning
its effectiveness.
“The campaign will be
run on Barakhamba Road
on October 28 and the
Chandgi Ram Akhara inter­
section on October 30. On
November 2, the campaign
will be run in all 70 As­
sembly constituencies. On
November 3, an awareness
campaign regarding it will
be conducted among
schoolchildren through
2,000 eco clubs,” he said.
Earlier, the government
had launched a 15­point
programme to check air
pollution. It had banned
the sale, manufacturing,
storage and bursting of fire­
crackers.

Man shot at
during Dasara
celebrations
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
A 28­year­old man was
shot at during the Dasara
celebrations in central Del­
hi following a dispute bet­
ween two groups, the pol­
ice said on Thursday.
An officer said the vic­
tim, Sunny, has been hos­
pitalised and both he and
the accused, Yogesh, have
a criminal record.
Sunny was dancing dur­
ing the celebrations near
Kali Mata Mandir in Ranjit
Nagar when the music
stopped and a spat ensued
between the two groups.
The police said they have
booked Yogesh.
Examine report on pharma university
recruitment ‘violations’: L­G to officials
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Lieutenant­Governor Vinai
Kumar Saxena has directed
the Directorate of Training
and Technical Education
(DTTE) to examine the re­
port of an inquiry commit­
tee into alleged irregulari­
ties in the recruitment of
teachers at Delhi Pharma­
ceutical Science and Re­
search University (DPSRU),
Raj Niwas sources said on
Thursday.
According to an official,
Mr. Saxena asked Delhi
Chief Secretary Naresh Ku­
mar to direct the DTTE to
recommend specific action
within 30 days against the
L­G Vinai Kumar Saxena is the
chancellor of Delhi
Pharmaceutical Science and
Research University. FILE PHOTO
“gross violation of rules”
by DPSRU officials in the
recruitment process bet­
ween 2017 and 2019.
The alleged irregulari­
ties were flagged by the Vi­
gilance Department while
enquiring into complaints.
It said that many recruit­
ments, including those in
2019, point towards “ille­
gal/corrupt practices/fa­
vouritism”. The depart­
ment added that
verification of educational
qualification and expe­
rience certificates was not
done after these appoint­
ments and no approval
was sought from the com­
petent authority for relaxa­
tion of eligibility criteria.
Notice to V­C
Following Mr. Saxena’s ap­
proval, the department
had on May 10 issued a not­
ice to DPSRU Vice­Chancel­
lor Ramesh K. Goyal over
the recruitment process.
He has since replied to
the notice, along with the
available records, which
have been examined by the
DTTE. An inquiry commit­
tee comprising three offi­
cials was also set up to
probe the matter after the
L­G’s nod.
The DTTE, under the
Delhi government, is man­
dated with providing
trained technical manpow­
er to educational institu­
tions as well as promoting
industry­relevant R&D.
Functional since 2015,
DPSRU is India’s first un­
iversity for pharmaceutical
studies, with the L­G as its
Chancellor.

Man uploads minor’s

private pictures online
to defame family, held
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
A 25­year­old man has been ar­
rested in a cyberstalking case for
allegedly uploading a minor
girl’s private pictures on social
media with obscene audio clips,
the police said on Thursday.
The accused, who was arrest­
ed from Kabir Nagar here on
Wednesday night, told the police
he committed the offence to de­
fame the girl’s family and take re­
venge on the victim’s elder sister
for refusing his marriage propo­
sal, they added.
The victim’s mother lodged a
complaint on May 29 saying a
person used a fake social media
account to upload private pic­
tures of her minor daughter with
obscene audio clips, Deputy
Commissioner of Police (North­
east) Joy Tirkey said.
“We would have arrested him
sooner but he had received pro­
tection from the interim court,”
added Mr. Tirkey.
“The accused was granted le­
gal protection on the grounds of
his legal counsel convincing the
court that he was being unjustly
harassed,” said Mr. Tirkey. “It
was after we presented all our
findings that the court removed
the interim protection and al­
lowed us to arrest him,” he said.
The alleged fake profile of the
accused, among other clues, led
the police to zero in on the sus­
pect who was identified as Fur­
kan, the DCP said.
After his arrest, the accused
confessed to the crime and dis­
closed that despite being already
married and having two chil­
dren, he wanted to marry the el­
der sister of the victim.
When she rejected his propo­
sal, Furkan decided to take re­
venge by defaming her family.

HC junks plea challenging IAS

officer’s posting as CBSE chief
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
A recent plea challenging the ap­
pointment of senior IAS officer
Nidhi Chhibber as the chairper­
son of the Central Board of Se­
condary Education (CBSE) was
rejected after the High Court
said she holds the requisite
qualification.
In an order dated October 11,
the court also said it was not in­
clined to issue a writ of quo war­
ranto in this case. The writ of
quo warranto is issued in cases
CM
YK
where the court finds that the
person holding the public office
does not possess the requisite
qualification, noted Justice
Chandra Dhari Singh.
The decision came on a peti­
tion filed by the Independent
Schools Federation of India (IS­
FI). The ISFI had asserted that
Ms. Chhibber does not fulfil the
requisite terms and conditions
for appointment to the position.
In response, Ms. Chhibber said
she has the requisite qualifica­
tion and filed documents relat­
ing to her qualification.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023 3
Delhi
States

Blast in garbage
kills buffalo, Girl students block road Man held for bestiality, throwing
dog from third­floor balcony
breaks windows
Press Trust of India
to protest against their Press Trust of India rested by the police in bour spotted him and
GURUGRAM

A buffalo was killed and

window panes of several
names being struck off NOIDA

A 28­year­old man, ac­

cused of sexually abusing a
Greater Noida on Thurs­
day, officials said.
The incident took place
at Wednesday midnight
raised an alarm, they said.
“Upon hearing the scream,
the accused threw the dog
on the street. The dog is in­
houses shattered after a female dog and throwing when the accused was with jured,” Vinod Kumar Mis­
blast in a garbage heap in Names of over 20 lakh students removed after Bihar Education Department’s recent drive to her to the ground from his the dog in the balcony in hra, in­charge of the local
the Sector 57 area here on third­floor house, was ar­ Alpha 2 area but a neigh­ Beta 2 police station, said.
Thursday, police said. The improve attendance; over 2.66 lakh of them were to appear for Class 10 and 12 Board exams
source of the blast is not
clear yet, they said.
The police said a herd of Amarnath Tewary students through DBT,
cattle was passing by when PATNA which costs the exchequer
the blast took place at 9 ₹3,000 crore per annum. If
rotesting against the enrolment of even 10%
a.m. in a colony in Sector
57. A buffalo standing near­
by lost its leg following the
blast and later died, police
P the Bihar’s Educa­
tion Department’s
move to strike off names of
of such absentee students
is cancelled, a whopping
₹300 crore could be saved
said. over 20 lakh students from and utilised for other deve­
government schools for re­ lopment and welfare
maining absent, hundreds schemes, the order said.
of girl students in Lakhisa­
Timings
DELHI
rai district blocked traffic ‘Lack of teachers’
for hours on the Patna­Ja­ Opposing the action, CPI
FRIDAY, OCT. 27
RISE 06:29 SET 17:41
mui­Lakhisarai route on Outside the building: ‘Where is the space to accommodate all the (ML) Liberation MLA San­
RISE 16:46 SET 04:36 Thursday. students in any government school?’ FILE PHOTO deep Saurav said, “This is
SATURDAY, OCT. 28
Of the 986 girl students simply a dictatorial deci­
RISE 06:30 SET 17:40 enrolled in the Lakhisarai tion party, slammed the instructions issued by K.K. sion. The department has
RISE 17:21 SET 05:42 school, the names of 127 government’s move to Pathak, Additional Chief no right to play with the ca­
SUNDAY, OCT. 29 students of Class 9 and 357 strike off names. Secretary, Education De­ reers of students.” The CPI
RISE 06:31 SET 17:39 of Class 10 have been “The students are being partment, in September (ML) Liberation is part of
RISE 17:58 SET 06:48 struck off by the principal, victimised by the govern­ asking all District Magis­ the ruling mahagathband-
they said. ment to hide faults in the trates to take drastic mea­ han in Bihar.
State’s education system. sures like expulsion of stu­ “Where is the space for
‘Not enough space’ We demand that they be dents who remain absent 100% attendance in
The protesting students al­ immediately reenrolled,” at a stretch and “tracking” schools? If all students
so said the school building said senior State BJP leader boys and girls studying in start coming to the
does not have enough and Leader of the Opposi­ private schools, or in far­ schools, most will have to
space for them to attend tion in the Assembly Vijay off places like Kota, while sit outside. And, where are
classes and there is a lack Kumar Sinha. remaining enrolled in go­ the teachers for all subjects
of even basic facilities for “If the government vernment schools to avail in each school? It is the res­
them. schools are facing acute benefits of the Direct Bene­ ponsibility of the depart­
“Our names were struck shortage of teachers, stu­ fit Transfer (DBT) scheme ment to provide students
off without giving any in­ dents will have no option for textbooks and un­ with basic minimum facili­
formation to us. How will but to go to coaching insti­ iforms. ties,” a retired government
we appear for the Class 10 tutes,” he added, raking up Over 75,000 govern­ schoolteacher in Patna, Ra­
board examination?” a stu­ a thorny issue. ment schools took action madhin Sharma, told The
dents said. Mr. Sinha, who is a and removed names of Hindu.
Later, the district admi­ former Speaker of the As­ 20.60 lakh students (as on “The government
nistration officials man­ sembly, also criticised the October 19). Of these, over schools in Bihar do not
0 aged to disperse the prot­ Nitish Kumar government 2.66 lakh students were to even have minimum facili­
DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested to verify
and make appropriate enquiries to satisfy esting students after giving and said it has failed to im­ appear for their Class 10 ties for the students. At sev­
themselves about the veracity of an advertise­
ment before responding to any published in an assurance that they prove the educational stan­ and 12 Board examinations eral places, and even in
this newspaper. THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., the
Publisher & Owner of this newspaper, does not would speak to higher dards in government next year. Patna, three or four
vouch for the authenticity of any advertisement
or advertiser or for any of the advertiser’s authorities of the depart­ schools. schools are being run from
products and/or services. In no event can the
Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s, ment on the issue. The State government’s Direct benefit transfers a two­room building,” said
Employees of this newspaper/company be held
responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever Meanwhile, the BJP, drive to improve atten­ The Bihar government pro­ another teacher, prefer­
for any claims and/or damages for advertise­
ments in this newspaper. which is the main Opposi­ dance began with a set of vides incentive to school ring anonymity.

CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
4 Friday, October 27, 2023

States Delhi

In Shirdi, PM questions Maratha stir: ‘supporter’ found dead;

anti­quota lawyer’s cars vandalised
efforts taken by Pawar Shoumojit Banerjee lence while carrying out its

for welfare of farmers PUNE

The agitation for Maratha

reservation boiled over on
agitation. “I am not even
aware of this incident. I am
merely fighting for the
rights of poor Marathas.
Thursday after a 25­year­ They have realised that no
Modi says previously farmers had to rely on middlemen, resulting in delays in payments, his govt. old youth allegedly took one, be it any political par­
his own life in Maharash­ ty or the government,
is committed to empowerment of farmers and MSP is now directly transferred to their accounts tra’s Hingoli district while stands with them in fight­
quota activists vandalised ing for the quota,” he said.
Abhinay Deshpande tra government’s ‘Namo vehicles belonging to a Maratha community
MUMBAI Shetkari Mahasanman Nid­ Mumbai­based lawyer who leader Vinod Patil, conven­
hi Yojana’, farmers would had been opposing reser­ er of the Maratha Kranti
rime Minister Na­ get an extra ₹6,000, mean­ vation for the community. Morcha, said while he con­

P rendra Modi on
Thursday criticised
some leaders and top polit­
ing local small farmers
would get ₹12,000 of Sam­
man Nidhi.
The authorities said
they had retrieved a note
in which the deceased said
Bearing the brunt: A damaged vehicle of advocate Gunaratna
Sadavarte near his residence at Parel, Mumbai, on Thursday. ANI
demned anyone taking the
law into his own hands, Mr.
Sadavarte had been calcu­
ical figures from Maharash­ he was taking the extreme pealed to community latedly hurting the senti­
tra for allegedly engaging New projects step so that Marathas were members to carry out the ments of the community
only in politics under the The development projects quickly granted reserva­ agitation peacefully and with provocative remarks.
guise of “working for the inaugurated by the Prime tion in jobs and education. I am not going to be not resort to any violence. Minister Shambhuraj
welfare” of farmers. Minister include an Ayush A team of the Hingoli pol­ silenced by threats from Speaking to reporters, Desai, who is from CM Ek­
Taking a dig at the Na­ hospital at Ahmednagar Ci­ ice reached the spot and Maratha activists. I want an angry Mr. Sadavarte nath Shinde’s Sena faction,
tionalist Congress Party vil Hospital; electrification sent the deceased person’s said, “I am not going to be said there was a need to
to ask Jarange­Patil,
(NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, of Kurduwadi­Latur Road body to a government hos­ silenced by threats from maintain social harmony
without naming him, Mr. railway section (186 km); pital for post­mortem. ‘Is this your peaceful Maratha activists. I want to in the wake of the stir.
Modi said, “Some people Paying obeisance: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Shri third and fourth railway A number of members agitation?’ ask Jarange­Patil, ‘Is this
in Maharashtra only did Saibaba Samadhi Temple in Shirdi on Thursday. ANI lines connecting Jalgaon to from the community have GUNARATNA SADAVARTE your peaceful agitation?’” Uddhav’s demand
politics in the name of Bhusaval (24.46 km); four­ taken their lives during the Mumbai­based lawyer Claiming that he and his Meanwhile, Shiv Sena
farmers. A senior leader of money for produce direct­ ies, resulting in lengthy de­ laning of Sangli to Borgaon Maratha quota agitation family had been receiving (UBT) chief Uddhav Thack­
Maharashtra served as the ly into their bank accounts. lays in receiving their section of NH­166 (Pack­ despite Manoj Jarange­Pa­ residence in Parel. Accord­ death threats, the lawyer eray demanded Prime Mi­
country’s Agriculture Mi­ payments.” age­I); and additional facili­ til, the most prominent ing to sources, the vandals said, “I will keep fighting nister to meet Mr. Jarange­
nister. I personally respect ‘Social justice’ He asserted that the true ties at the Manmad termi­ face of the agitation, who is chanted pro­reservation for the rights of open cate­ Patil and address the reser­
him, but what has he done Speaking at an event in the meaning of social justice nal of the Indian Oil again on an indefinite hun­ slogans after damaging Mr. gory students till my last vation issue. “I welcome
for farmers?” Mr. Pawar temple town of Shirdi in “is freedom from poverty” Corporation Limited. ger strike, repeatedly urg­ Sadavarte’s property. breath. I will not permit the Prime Minister, but he
was the Union Agriculture Ahmednagar district after and when that happens the He also laid the founda­ ing restraint upon com­ The lawyer, who is a any divisions on the basis should meet Mr. Patil and
Minister in the UPA govern­ inaugurating and laying poor gets ample opportun­ tion stone of the maternal munity members. known opponent of grant­ of caste. Let merit prevail.” resolve the issue of grant­
ment from 2004 to 2014. the foundation stone of va­ ities to grow in life. and child health wing at In the second incident, ing reservation to the Ma­ The police detained ing reservation to the Ma­
The Prime Minister said rious development pro­ The Prime Minister Ahmednagar Civil Hospital three activists from the Ma­ ratha community, lashed three quota activists, who ratha community,” he said.
his government was com­ jects worth ₹7,500 crore, mentioned the PM Kisan and distributed Ayushman ratha Kranti Morcha, an out at Mr. Jarange­Patil and were later released on bail. (Those in distress may
mitted to the empower­ Mr. Modi said, “Under the Samman Nidhi, under cards and Svamitva cards. outfit spearheading the ag­ demanded his immediate Speaking in Jalna, Mr. Ja­ contact Sanjivini, Society
ment of farmers and high­ previous governments which small farmers re­ Mr. Modi also per­ itation, vandalised cars be­ arrest. The latter, however, range­Patil said the Ma­ for Mental Health suicide
lighted the transfer of farmers had to rely on mid­ ceived ₹2,60,000 crore. He formed ‘Jal Pujan’ at the longing to lawyer Gunarat­ disclaimed any knowledge ratha community did not prevention helpline
minimum support price dlemen and intermediar­ said under the Maharash­ Nilwande Dam site. na Sadavarte outside his of the incident and ap­ support any form of vio­ 011­40769002.)

INBRIEF
쑽
Setback for
Bengal BJP
U.P. Cong. chief fails to meet Jana Sena chief Pawan
U.P. court convicts Mukhtar as party MLA Azam Khan in jail, blames Kalyan may campaign
Ansari in Gangster Act case joins TMC for BJP in Telangana
A court in Ghazipur on Thursday held
BJP govt. for preventing visit The Hindu Bureau ship, however, is not ready
gangster­turned­politician Mukhtar Ansari guilty The Hindu Bureau
in a case under the Gangster Act filed by the KOLKATA HYDERABAD to share more than eight
Uttar Pradesh police in 2009. The quantum of The Hindu Bureau seats with the Jana Sena.
punishment will be announced on Friday. The In a setback to the West LUCKNOW The Bharatiya Janata Party However, it is not averse to
police booked Ansari after he was accused of Bengal unit of the Bharati­ (BJP) and matinee idol­ the film star campaigning
hatching a conspiracy to kill one Kapil Dev Singh, ya Janata Party (BJP) ahead Samajwadi Party (SP) lead­ turned­politician Pawan on behalf of the party
who was murdered in 2009. It is the sixth case in of Lok Sabha election, a er Azam Khan, who is Kalyan’s Jana Sena have de­ across Telangana.
the last 15 months in which the former MLA has party legislator represent­ lodged in Sitapur jail, on cided to forge an alliance “ Jana Sena is part of the
been convicted by the courts. In June, a Varanasi ing the Katulpur seat in Thursday allegedly refused and contest the Telangana NDA and we have a tie­up
court had sentenced Ansari to life imprisonment Bankura district joined the to meet Uttar Pradesh Con­ Assembly poll together, in Andhra Pradesh too.
for the murder of Awadhesh Rai, the brother of ruling Trinamool Congress gress chief Ajay Rai, citing even though the actual seat What is wrong if we make
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai. (TMC) on Thursday. the limit on the number of adjustment is yet to be fi­ use of his services here?
Harakali Protiher, who visitors in the jail. nalised as per the deal Everything will be finalised
had won from Katulpur on Mr. Rai and two other made in the presence of in a few days,” a local BJP
a BJP ticket in the 2021 As­ district Congress leaders SP leader Azam Khan being shifted from Rampur jail to Sitapur Union Home Minister Amit leader said.
Shah in New Delhi.
Uttarakhand govt. brings Waqf sembly poll, joined the
TMC in presence of party
had planned to meet the
SP leader. Khan has been
district jail after being sentenced in a forgery case . FILE PHOTO
Telangana BJP chief G. ‘Nothing wrong’
Board properties under RTI national general secretary sentenced to seven years of nual, a prisoner can meet sembly election, the jail vi­ Kishan Reddy, and Rajya
Sabha MP K. Laxman,
“The party does not see
anything amiss in having
Abhishek Banerjee. imprisonment in a birth visitors twice in 15 days de­ sit was criticised by the SP.
The Uttarakhand State Information Commission “This move reflects a re­ certificate forgery case. pending on whether the Party chief Akhilesh Yadav among others, were pre­ an Andhra leader cam­
has ordered the Waqf Board to put all its sounding commitment to “We stand by Azam sa­ prisoner wants to meet alleged that the Congress sent during the talks held paign in Telangana. When
properties across the State under the ambit of serving the people and heb. The government is do­ that person or not. On was involved in framing with Mr. Pawan Kalyan on a party like the CPI(M),
the Right to Information (RTI) Act. There are strengthening the unwa­ ing injustice to him. The Wednesday, Azam Khan's charges on Khan. Thursday. The Jana Sena is which was against bifurca­
around 2,200 Waqf properties in Uttarakhand. vering ideals of Ma, Mati, BJP government prevented son Adeeb Khan met him.” “Everyone should meet said to have sought more tion of Andhra Pradesh,
Under the Waqf Act­1995 (Amended 2013), these and Manush (Mother, us from meeting him, the Azam saheb. Where were than 20 seats in different was wooed first by the BRS
properties are under the control of the Earth, and People). We administration is fabricat­ Akhilesh flays Congress the Congress leaders when parts of the State, includ­ during the Munugode by­
Uttarakhand Waqf Board. There have been wholeheartedly welcome ing claims by saying that he Amid the ongoing tussle Azam saheb was being ing districts of Hyderabad, poll and now by the Con­
persistent complaints about transparency in the him to the Trinamool Con­ refused to meet us,” said between the two key IN­ framed? Even Congress Rangareddy, Nalgonda, gress, we don’t see anyth­
management of Waqf properties. The order to gress family,” the party Mr. Rai outside the jail. DIA bloc partners — the leaders were busy framing Khammam, Mahabubna­ ing wrong in having a
bring State Waqf properties under the RTI was said in a post on the social Earlier, Sitapur Jail Su­ Congress and the SP — over him,” Mr. Yadav told me­ gar and a few others, ac­ tie­up with the Jana Sena
issued by State Information Commissioner media platform X (former­ perintendent Suresh Singh the seat­sharing talks for diapersons. cording to senior leaders. or making its president
Yogesh Bhatt. ly Twitter). said, “As per the jail ma­ the Madhya Pradesh As­ (With inputs from PTI) The local BJP leader­ campaign for us,” he said.

Raj Bhavan, T.N. govt. strike differing notes day after petrol bomb incident
The Hindu Bureau tack and diluting the inci­ Deputy Secretary to the ople were arrested in con­ petrol bombs, one on Sar­
CHENNAI dent as mere vandalism. It Governor and Comptroller nection with the incident, dar Patel Road, and anoth­
alleged that a fair probe T. Sengottaiyan stated in a he said. The DGP also er in front of the main en­
Police on Thursday regis­ was “killed” even before it complaint on Wednesday sought to dismiss claims trance (Gate­1), damaging
tered a first information re­ began. “[The police] suo that the Governor cannot that the accused, Vinodh, the police barricade. No
port (FIR) after a 42­year­ motu diluted the attack as work under a shadow of tried to barge into the offi­ one was injured in the inci­
old man, ‘Karukka’ Vi­ an act of simple vandalism constant threats. cial residence of the Gover­ dent,” Mr. Jiwal said.
nodh, hurled a petrol and, in a hurry, got the ar­ In a release on Wednes­ nor and was prevented
bomb in front of the main rested accused remanded day night, Raj Bhavan had from doing so by security Judicial remand
gate of Tamil Nadu Gover­ in jail at midnight, waking also referred to threats in personnel on Wednesday. The Guindy Police regis­
nor R.N. Ravi’s residence up the magistrate and pre­ the past “intended to ove­ Mr. Jiwal said Vinodh tered a case against the ac­
in Chennai a day earlier. venting a detailed interro­ rawe the Governor and res­ was a habitual offender cused under Sections 436
While City Police Com­ gation which could expose train him from discharging and had 14 criminal cases (mischief by fire), 353 (as­
missioner Sandeep Rai those behind the attack,” his Constitutional duties”. pending against him. sault or criminal force to
Rathore met the Governor the Raj Bhavan said on X. It cited an incident on April deter public servant from
at his residence and securi­ Tamil Nadu Director­General of Police Shankar Jiwal said the suspect ,‘Karukka’ Vinodh (right), was a 18, 2022, in which the Go­ CCTV footage discharge of his duty), and
ty was beefed up with Pre­ Central probe sought habitual offender and had 14 criminal cases pending against him. R. RAVINDRAN vernor was allegedly physi­ In an official release, the 506 (ii) (criminal intimida­
sident Droupadi Murmu Squarely blaming the State cally attacked with sticks DGP said a perusal of CCTV tion) of the Indian Penal
staying there on Thursday government, Union Minis­ of security at Raj Bhavan is a leader who will be rea­ hatred against Mr. Ravi, he and stones while on his footage revealed that Vi­ Code, and relevant provi­
and Friday, the incident ter of State L. Murugan and and pointed out that the in­ dy to protect even his ene­ said, claiming it was the way to attend a function. nodh walked alone from sions of the Explosive Sub­
provided fodder for anoth­ BJP MLA and the party’s cident took place outside mies,” he said. Governor who had started On Thursday, Director­ Teynampet to the Raj Bha­ stances Act, and the Pre­
er round of exchanges bet­ Mahila Morcha chief Va­ it, and the accused had The Minister con­ this by “campaigning like a General of Police (DGP) van with four Molotov vention of Damage to
ween Raj Bhavan and the nathi Srinivasan demand­ been immediately arrest­ demned the incident but political party leader”. Shankar Jiwal said some cocktails. When the police Public Property Act.
DMK­led government. ed a probe by a Central ed. “The DMK government went on to accuse the Go­ Mr. Regupathy suggest­ people had thrown black saw that he was trying to Vinodh was produced
Raj Bhavan, in a social probe agency. would not commit any er­ vernor of “inciting” hatred ed that the incident could flags after the Governor’s hurl the bottles filled with before a magistrate in Sai­
media post, accused the Tamil Nadu Law Minis­ ror in maintaining and pro­ towards the government be a “conspiracy by some­ convoy passed by and petrol, they tried to res­ dapet on Thursday and re­
police of not registering a ter S. Regupathy, however, tecting law and order. and the people of the State. one to bring a bad name to there was CCTV footage to train him. “However, fear­ manded in judicial custody
complaint following the at­ denied that there was lack Chief Minister M.K. Stalin The DMK had never spread the government”. prove it. As many as 73 pe­ ing arrest, he threw two till November 9.
Published by Nirmala Lakshman and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai­600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).
Regd. DL(ND)­11/6110/2006­07­08 RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 ­ 751X
● ●

CM M ND-NDE
YK
Friday, October 27, 2023
THE HINDU
Delhi 5

CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
6 Friday, October 27, 2023

States Delhi

2 children among 13 BRS warns farmers to be wary of Cong.

killed as SUV rams into Telangana Ministers respond after Congress leaders urged the Election Commission to stop the disbursement of financial aid to farmers
under the Rythu Bandhu scheme; TPCC chief demands that the funds earmarked for beneficiaries under schemes be released by Nov. 2
tanker in Karnataka The Hindu Bureau Rythu Bandhu scheme. ner. However, the govern­
HYDERABAD The Minister said the farm­ ment is objecting to this and
The Hindu Bureau ers of Karnataka were now re­ spreading rumours about
BENGALURU fter the Telangana penting for voting for the Con­ Congress,” he said.

Thirteen persons, including two

children, died when their vehicle
rammed a parked tanker on the
outskirts of Chickballapur, near
Bengaluru, on Thursday morning.
The SUV was being used as a
private pick­up vehicle and was
heading towards Bengaluru from
Andhra Pradesh.
The SUV driver failed to notice
the parked tanker and crashed into
it from behind. All the occupants of
the SUV died.
Most of the dead, who were not
related, hailed from Gorantla and
were working in and around Ben­
galuru. A few others also boarded
the vehicle on the way. They had
gone home for Dasara and were re­
turning to the city for work.
According to the police, low vis­
ibility due to dense morning mist in
the area probably led to the acci­
dent. Moreover, the tanker driver
had not switched on the parking
lights, the police said. The police
have arrested the tanker driver, Pa­
lani, booking him under Section
Fatal journey: The vehicle which
crashed into a parked tanker at
Chickballapur in Karnataka on Thursday.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
304A for causing death due to
negligence.
Illegal service
The SUV driver, Narasimhappa, 40,
hailing from Gorantla in Andhra
Pradesh, was illegally running a fer­
ry service in a whiteboard vehicle.
While the vehicle could seat eight
persons, 13 persons were travelling
in it. The police had a Herculean
task identifying the deceased.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah an­
nounced ₹2 lakh compensation to
the family of each of the deceased.
A Congress leaders
went to the Election
Commission of India (EC) urg­
ing it to stop the disbursement
of Rythu Bandhu financial aid
till the election to the Assemb­
ly was over, the Bharat Rash­
tra Samithi (BRS) described
the move as a reflection of the
Congress’s anti­farmer atti­
tude.
BRS working president and
IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao and
Health Minister T. Harish Rao
said Congress once again
proved itself as a villain of the
farmers and mocked that the
party may soon seek to stop
electricity and drinking water
supply as well, citing the Mo­
del Code of Conduct.
Taking to ‘X’ (formerly
Twitter), Mr. Rama Rao said
the farmers will give a fitting
reply to the Congress for try­
ing to stop Rythu Bandhu
scheme benefits, and urged
the people to stand up against
the Congress’s stance on the
gress as it could not fulfil the
promises made before the
election.
At a press conference here
on Thursday, Mr. Harish Rao
said the anti­farmer attitude
of the Congress was once
again in the open and the
farmers were noticing how
the Congress leaders were try­
ing to suppress the schemes
meant for them. He said the
Telangana Pradesh Congress
Committee (TPCC) president
A. Revanth Reddy had already
announced just three hours of
power supply to the agricul­
ture services and their com­
plaint with the EC would de­
prive the farmers of financial
assistance for the Yasangi
season.
He said the BRS had credit­
ed ₹75,000 crore into farm­
ers’ accounts in 11 instal­
ments. Now due to the
Congress’s complaint, farm­
ers may be denied assistance
this season. He said farmers
Tough fight: K.T. Rama Rao, and Revanth Reddy
should think twice before vot­
ing and also reminded how
Karnataka farmers were prot­
esting against the poor power
supply and staging demon­
strations at substations.
‘Deposit money’
Meanwhile, Mr. Revanth Red­
dy has demanded that all the
money to be extended to be­
neficiaries under various wel­
fare schemes, including Rythu
Bandhu, be released by No­
vember 2, 2023. The Telanga­
na Assembly election will be
held on November 30.
Speaking to presspersons
in New Delhi on Thursday, he
said the party had ap­
proached the EC to ensure
that the welfare money was
deposited to beneficiaries be­
fore November as Chief Minis­
ter K. Chandrasekhar Rao
may delay the release of mo­
ney. He saw the possibility of
the State government stop­
ping funds to blame the
Congress.
“We are demanding con­
duct of elections in a fair man­
Mr. Reddy said the EC was
requested to relieve the DGP
Anjani Kumar and Cyberabad
Police Commissioner Stephen
Raveendra from their duties
immediately as their integrity
and fairness were in question.
Similarly, all the retired offic­
ers should also be taken away
from their duties, he said, ac­
cusing them as working as a
‘private army’ of the govern­
ment. He said that the officers
were on election duties on be­
half of the BRS party rather
than the Election Commission
of India.
Questioning the silence of
the CM and the government
on the pillars of the Medigad­
da barrage caving in, he al­
leged that the KCR was trying
to escape from the responsi­
bility by projecting a criminal
angle to it. He demanded that
criminal cases be booked on
the issue of pillars caving in so
that the truth is established in
the entire episode.

ISRO to hold more tests for Shivakumar, brother

Gaganyaan in coming months
Tiki Rajwi
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
After the successful Test Vehi­
cle­D1 (TV­D1) mission on Octob­
er 21, the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) has lined
up more test missions in the
months ahead for the Gaga­
nyaan programme.
Upcoming tests include the
TV­D2 mission, the G­X un­
manned orbital demonstration
flight, the Integrated Air­Drop
Test (IADT) and the Pad Abort
Test, S. Unnikrishnan Nair, Di­
rector, Vikram Sarabhai Space
Centre, told The Hindu.
A crew module with service
module will be used in the G­X
mission. This unmanned mis­
sion, to be launched aboard a
human­rated LVM3, will have
‘Vyommitra’ — the ‘female’ ro­
bot astronaut designed and de­
veloped by the ISRO Inertial Sys­
tems Unit (IISU) — on board. In
this mission, the ISRO will put to
test control systems, a “reduced
version” of the life support sys­
tem for the crew, thermal pro­
ISRO successfully launched the
Gaganyaan’s Flight Test Vehicle Abort
Mission­1 (TV­D1) from Sriharikota.
ANI
tection systems and the para­
chute systems.
Abort capability
Meanwhile, the Test Vehicle de­
velopment programme will con­
tinue parallelly. The TV­D2 will
be the second of four tests
planned for demonstrating in­
flight abort capability under dif­
ferent initial conditions with
respect to the launch vehicle.
Unlike the TV­D1, the TV­D2 will
also have onboard a control sys­
tem for re­orienting the attitude
of the crew module once it
separates.
The test vehicle will be the
same, expendable version
based on the L40 strap­on of the
multi­purpose vehicle Geosyn­
chronous Satellite Launch Vehi­
cle (GSLV) used in the TV­D1
mission.
At the same time, the ISRO is
also examining whether the TV­
D1 crew module, recovered
from the sea after a parachute­
assisted splash­down, can be
reused for future tests.
As the module had come into
contact with salt water, only a
detailed inspection can tell
whether it can be reused and in
what capacity. “We are working
out a plan to reuse it. We need
to open and clean it and see
what can be done. Efforts will
be taken to divert it for the ap­
propriate test programme un­
der Gaganyaan,” Dr. Nair said.
grabbed eight acres,
says Kumaraswamy
The Hindu Bureau
BENGALURU
The war of words between
Karnataka Deputy Chief
Minister D.K. Shivakumar
and JD(S) leader H.D. Kum­
araswamy over renaming
Ramanagara district to
‘Bengaluru South’ further
escalated on Thursday.
Speaking to pressper­
sons here on Thursday, Mr.
Kumaraswamy accused Mr.
Shivakumar of indulging in
“illegal land deals” in the
Bengaluru­Mysuru Infras­
tructure Corridor (BMIC)
Project area in Bengaluru.
He alleged that Mr. Shi­
vakumar and his brother
D.K. Suresh had grabbed a
total of eight acres at Hosa­
kerehalli village in Uttara­
halli hobli, which had been
notified for the BMIC pro­
ject. Later, they entered in­
to an agreement with a
private developer to build
1,400 housing units.
“While Mr. Suresh ap­
plied for land conversion,
the conversion order was
issued in Mr. Shivakumar’s
name,” he said.
Mr. Kumaraswamy also
threatened to go on an in­
definite fast if the name of
Ramanagara district is
changed.
Pointing to another
case, Mr. Kumaraswamy,
without referring to the
brothers, said: “In a land
parcel of about 900 acres
held by DLF at Tavarekere
on Bengaluru’s outskirts,
about 300 acres was
owned by politicians.”
Asked about his earlier
statement that he would
complain to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Home
Minister Amit Shah about
the BMIC land deals, he
said: “They are busy with
elections in five Assem­
blies. There is time.”

Row over TDB’s ban on using temple for martial arts training
The Hindu Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
The Kerala government and
the BJP have locked horns over
a recent circular issued by the
Travancore Devaswom Board
(TDB) banning the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and
other outfits with “extreme
ideology” from using temples
administered by it as a front
for their martial training, polit­
ical messaging, physical drills
and indoctrination of impres­
sionable youth.
The Devaswom Commis­
sioner issued the directive on
October 20. It has provenance
in an earlier Kerala High Court
order relating to the RSS’ use
of the Sarkara temple premis­
es for holding “sakhas”. The
decree would apply to 1,250
temples under the TDB.
On Friday, Devaswom Mi­
nister K. Radhakrishnan said
the mandate did not seek to
preclude any person or organ­
isation from accessing temples
for spiritual purposes.
BJP State president K. Su­
rendran vehemently opposed
the move. He said the order
was a political stunt to allow
the CPI(M) to wrest control of
temple administration. He said
the government’s ban on the
RSS “sakhas” was a joke and
would only empower the or­
ganisation.
The commissioner has or­
dered TDB officials to enforce
the order stringently or face
disciplinary action.

Notice to Cong. leader

against clean chit in
Dasara elephants bid adieu to Mysuru
sexual assault case and head back to their jungle camps
The Hindu Bureau The Hindu Bureau different this year as well.
KOCHI MYSURU A record crowd had gath­
ered on the palace premis­
The Kerala High Court on Thursday issued The 14 elephants that es to watch ‘ambaari aane’
notice to All India Congress Committee shored up Mysuru Dasara (lead elephant in the pro­
(AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal, with their impeccable per­ cession) Abhimanyu carry
MP, on a petition filed against the Thiruva­ formance bid adieu to the the golden howdah with
nanthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate city and left for their res­ the idol of goddess Cha­
Court order accepting a report of the Cen­ pective jungle camps, on mundeshwari.
tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which Thursday. The caparisoned ele­
gave a clean chit to the Congress leader in The elephants were in phants were not only the
a sexual assault case lodged by the prime Mysuru since September 1 cynosure of all eyes during
accused in a solar cheating case. when the Gajapayana, sig­ the procession, but the
Justice C.S. Dias issued notice when the nalling the countdown to loudest cheer were re­
petition filed by the victim came up for Dasara, was flagged off at Dasara elephants were accorded a ceremonial farewell before they served for them in the
hearing. Veeranahosahalli in Naga­ left Mysuru for their respective jungle camps on Thursday. M.A.SRIRAM nearly three­hour­long
According to her, from the materials rahole. The elephants, led procession that marked
produced before the court by the investi­ by Abhimanyu, camped at boo Savari (procession of gone training and were on the Jamboo Savari.
gating agency, there were sufficient evi­ the Mysuru palace elephants), which conclud­ standby in case of any On Thursday, it was
dence to make out a prima facie case grounds. They underwent ed on October 24. exigency. time for the elephants,
against Mr. Venugopal. When a prima fa­ training to familiarise them Though only nine ele­ The Dasara elephants along with their mahouts
cie case had been established, the magis­ with the procession route, phants were part of the tend to be the showstop­ and kaavadis, to pack up
trate had no authority to reject her peti­ a process that entailed a 5­ procession, the remaining pers during their sojourn and leave for their respec­
tion objecting to the CBI’s report. km walk, during the Jam- elephants too had under­ in the city, and it was no tive jungle camps.
CM M ND-NDE
YK
Friday, October 27, 2023
THE HINDU
Delhi 7

EDUCATIONAL PUBLIC NOTICE

GENERAL

EDUCATIONAL
GENERAL

LEGAL NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

CM M ND-NDE
YK

8 Friday, October 27, 2023
From mud to mat
In its 10th season this year, the Pro Kabaddi League has brought the desi, body­contact sport out of north India’s
hinterland to gather glamour, money, and social media adulation, opening up opportunities for young players.
Ashok Kumar finds that the game is now aspirational, with training centres across villages in Haryana
ahul Chaudhari, 30, popularly known
R as Showman, has 1 million followers
on Instagram, more than Olympians
Vijender Singh, Yogeshwar Dutt, and
Bajrang Punia. A kabaddi player, Chaudhari,
from Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor, is a raider, meaning
he plays offensive, storming the ‘den’ of the op­
posing team. He has 1,039 raid points in 150 Pro
Kabaddi League (PKL) matches in his nine­year­
long career, one of just five to have crossed the
1,000 mark.
The former India player, one of those respon­
sible for building the popularity of the game, was
bought for just ₹13 lakh at the auctions earlier this
month for PKL 2023, a long way from Delhi’s Pa­
wan Sehrawat, 27, who was sold to the Telugu Ti­
tans for ₹2.6 crore. He made headlines for being
the most expensive player in the league’s history.
Last year, the Tamil Thalaivas had bought him for
₹2.26 crore. Sehrawat captained the Indian team
that won this year’s Asian Games gold , defeating
Iran, after an hour­long fracas over points.
Three players received bids for over ₹2 crore
for the 10th season, set to take off on December 2
and extending till February 21, across 12 cities. In­
dia is among 36 kabaddi playing na­
tions. Players from Iran, like Moham­
mad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh, also form
a part of the PKL.
Kabaddi, a high­impact, low­in­
vestment game involving 14 people,
seven a side, traditionally played on
mud, has been catapulted into an
entertainment sport that many men
and some women in their late teens,
from rural and semi­urban north In­
dia, aspire to take up professionally.
Spurred on by the money and
fame, Haryana is training its own
youth and those from neighbouring
States for kabaddi’s big league. In both the men’s
and women’s national teams — the latter too won
gold at the Asian Games — half the players are
from Haryana, as are a majority in the PKL.
Open throttle
The PKL website says in its first year of telecast,
viewership hit “522 million, higher than the
Hockey India League, FIFA World Cup, and the
Wimbledon Men’s Final”. In 2016, Broadcast Au­
dience Research Council data found that of the
non­cricket sports (20% of live sports viewer­
ship), PKL registered the highest viewership at
61%. On the PKL YouTube channel, a promo vi­
deo has 11 million views. The game is not yet
played at the Commonwealth or Olympic levels.
However, according to Sehrawat, to keep interest
alive, PKL tweaks rules, such as allowing more
substitutions, raids, larger squads, to make the
sport more “competitive” and “interesting”.
Sehrawat began to be recognised at airports
and public places, with fans asking for auto­
graphs and selfies, but his mother still wanted
him to get a government job. “Now that I am an
assistant manager at the Reserve Bank of India,
CM
YK
THE HINDU
SPOTLIGHT
she is relieved,” he says. He is also pursuing a
I had to
convince
my parents.
master’s in English through correspondence.
Chaudhari, who secured a job as an officer in
the Income Tax Department under the sports
quota, is part of the Jaipur Pink Panthers, a team
owned by actor Abhishek Bachchan, who is
called the #PantherBoss on the team website. On
I told them
the team’s YouTube channel, Bachchan says,
to give me “It’s the fans that pick up the team when they’re
two years. having a tough time.” Sure enough, Chaudhari’s
If I don’t fans continue to comment on his posts online
make it, with hearts and starry­eyed emojis.
I will go The athlete reflects on how the game and lifes­
back to tyles of the stars have changed. “From travelling
in trains in sleeper class to flying everywhere, the
my studies
league has brought a sea change in the lives of
NIKHIL players,” he says, adding that most of them come
YAWATKAR
Trainee, Khokhar from humble backgrounds. “The league made
Kabaddi Academy our dreams come true with huge fan followings.”
He adds that many players now have large hous­
es with fleets of motorcycles and cars, but earlier
they could barely afford a two­wheeler.
Launched in 2014, an initiative of the sports
management company Mashal Sports Private Li­
mited — a venture by industrialist Anand Mahin­
dra, sports commentator Charu Sharma, and
media house Disney Star — the league featured
eight teams. It got the second­highest viewership
among sporting events in India that year. In the
fifth season, four new teams — Gujarat Giants,
Haryana Steelers, Tamil Thalaivas, and U.P.
Yoddhas — were added, making it India’s biggest
league in terms of geographical representation.
Now, says Rambir Singh Khokhar, Drona­
charya awardee and kabaddi coach, there are ka­
baddi training centres scattered across Haryana’s
Budding talent: (Clockwise from top left) Kabaddi players train at the Khokhar Kabaddi Academy in Sonipat, Haryana;
Saurabh Kaurav and Nikhil Yawatkar (third and fourth from left), who are training to be professional players; Pro Kabaddi
League stars Rahul Chaudhari and Pawan Sehrawat. SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP, SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA & SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
6,000 villages. After he retired from the Sports
Authority of India in 2019, Khokhar started an
eponymous academy in Sonipat, spread across
4.5 acres, with indoor and outdoor kabaddi train­
ing centres, and other sports facilities, including
a swimming pool and a running track. The acade­
my has produced six national­level players and
about two dozen State­level players; six students
have made it to PKL, bought for ₹10 lakh­₹15 lakh.
In the past, Khokhar has coached the Patna Pi­
rates and Haryana Steelers. Today, he is the head
coach of Dabang Delhi. “A similar league for
wrestling was tried out in 2015, but that failed to
find favour with spectators. That speaks volumes
about the popularity of kabaddi,” he says.
The hope to achieve
Sonipat, a town less than 50 km from the Nation­
al Capital Region, has big­city aspirations, with
rapid real estate development in what was, until
less than a decade ago, an agrarian area. Here,
Nikhil Yawatkar, 19, is working towards being a
professional kabaddi player. The eldest son of a
shopkeeper from Maharashtra’s Buldhana dis­
trict, Yawatkar watched and participated in the
sport in his village. Then PKL happened. He
would watch matches on his neighbour’s TV.
Inspired by the money and fame, he was sure
he wanted to make a career in the sport. His pa­
rents weren’t. “I had to convince them. I told
them to give me two years. If I don’t make it, I will
go back to my studies,” says Yawatkar, who is on
the open school programme to finish Class XII.
When he looked for good training centres on­
line, he stumbled upon Khokhar Kabaddi Acade­
my. Here for six months now, Yawatkar talks
about fitness and diet changes: he wakes up at 5
a.m., trains for two hours each in the morning
and evening, and eats eggs, almonds, and fruit,
with no junk food. “I am a huge fan of Pardeep
Narwal, a raider in PKL’s U.P. Yoddhas team,” he
says, sitting in a room he shares with five boys, in
the double­storey hostel attached to the facility.
His roommate, Saurabh Kaurav, 18, one of two
children of a small farmer, belongs to a village in
Madhya Pradesh’s capital, Bhopal. He found sup­
port in his older brother, who is himself prepar­
ing for the civil service exams. Kaurav joined the
Khokhar academy 10 days ago. “I will give myself
five years. If I make it big that’s fine, or I will look
for a job,” he says, adding that many of his friends
in the village wanted to join the academy but
were not supported by their parents.
There are other budding players at the acade­
my from different parts of the country such as Ra­
jasthan, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and
Jammu. They had all experienced the game in
their villages. Of the 70­odd boys in the establish­
ment, all in the 15­21 age group, of which 50 live in
the hostel, only half are from Haryana.
Sonu, 34, a coach at the academy, says the
training regimen spans exercises for strength,
speed, agility, and coordination. He took to
coaching two years ago after playing kabaddi for
a decade, reaching the national level. He wishes
Delhi
there had been more opportunities during his
playing days. “Kabaddi, like wrestling, has been
part of Haryana’s culture always, but academies,
both big and small, have mushroomed across vil­
lages in the State only after PKL,” says Sonu,
whose village Bhainswal Kalan is 30 km away,
and is where Olympic medal­winning wrestler
Yogeshwar Dutt comes from.
Sonu says kabaddi scores over boxing and
wrestling because “all you need is a few lines on
the ground and players”. “You don’t need expen­
sive equipment. Players need to spend far less on
diet, compared with wrestlers and boxers.”
One of the players the boys follow is Ashu Ma­
lik, 21, from Khanpur Kalan in Sonipat. Into his
third season at PKL, Malik was bought by Dabang
Delhi for ₹96 lakh. He took up the sport when he
was just 12. “Kabaddi was one game that was
played in the village and at school. This is how I
got into it. Initially my parents insisted that I con­
centrate on my studies, but they supported me
when I moved up the ladder, playing at higher le­
vels,” says Malik. “Now everyone is happy,” he
says, laughing, referring to the money and his ce­
lebrity status. He says it is because of PKL that
250 to 300 boys from Haryana have played over
the years in the league.
Village sport
The popularity of PKL has contributed to the
growth of traditional tournaments in Haryana’s
villages. They draw crowds of several thousands
with the prize money going up to ₹1 lakh, which a
decade ago was in the ₹5,100 to ₹11,000 range.
Today, even the runner­up gets between ₹50,000
and ₹75,000. “Mostly organised by village com­
mittees patronised by politicians and business­
men, these tournaments begin in mid­October
with the onset of winter and continue until late
March,” says Sonu. Sometimes there are two or
three tournaments a day in a village.
The sport has also gained popularity among
women in Haryana. Though women’s teams are
not part of the PKL, kabaddi academies have
come up for them in the State, and they are invit­
ed to local tournaments. Makdoli Kalan in Soni­
pat, known for producing national­level kabaddi
players, is one such village that has held women’s
tournaments for the past five years.
Yashpal Rathi, one of the organisers, who has
grown up watching kabaddi tournaments for
men, says, “One of the women kabaddi players in
the Indian team at the Asian Games, Akshima
Bazzad, belongs to our village.” He says these
matches are a huge attraction. “Around 24 teams
from Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh take
part in the women’s tournament,” he says.
Sunil Dabas, former national kabaddi women’s
team coach and Padma and Dronacharya awar­
dee, says women’s kabaddi had suffered with as­
sociations and clubs being ‘ruled’ by men. “At the
Asian Games, both men and women won the
gold, but the wait for a women’s PKL continues,”
says Dabas, adding that the levels of passion and
dedication of women players are the same.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023 9
Delhi

metroPLUS
“I can’t sell
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Haar Nahin
Manooga, became the leitmotif of
the film. “He is a glorious STEPOUT
example of how a Hindi­speaking
man can excel without being

my soul”
Seasoned filmmaker Vidhu
Vinod Chopra returns to the
turnstiles with 12th Fail,
the real­life story of a boy who
does not let failure cripple his spirit
Against all odds Vidhu Vinod Chopra on the sets of 12th Fail; Vikrant Massey
in a still from the film. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Anuj Kumar
anuj.kumar@thehindu.co.in
omantic idealism is what
Y looked fake.”
honesty. “This story not only
needed to be told, but also had to
be expressed in a pure way to not
look or sound filmy,” says
Chopra, explaining his
why this is the first film that we
have dubbed in all the south
Indian languages. I have never
done that, not even with 3 Idiots.”
Narrating the backstory,
that I read was in Hindi. The
bottom line is that we can’t be
labeled inferior. As Manoj says in
the film, we have climbed the
Everest without oxygen.”
cynical. In fact, we wanted to
shoot in the school where he
studied, but could not do that
because of logistical issues. So,
we opted for a nearby village in
Morena district in Madhya
Pradesh.”
Managing the logistics was
also a concern when he wanted
to shoot in Mukherjee Nagar,
New Delhi’s coaching hub.
쑽
Legacy and longing
“I stuck to my conviction even Gallery Art & Soul, Mumbai presents Colour,
if it meant managing a crowd of Stone, Chintz, Grain and Statue featuring
5,000 people. We created the set Revati Sharma Singh and Raj Shahani, and Act
of a tea stall in the midst of a III featuring works of Vinita Karim, Mahirwan
bustling market. Usually, we do it Mamtani and Jin Sook Shinde. These five
in a studio, but the effort was diasporic Indian artists display their legacy
worth it,” says Chopra, excitedly and tales of longing, and facets of a life away
showing a behind­the­scenes from the tapestry of visuals and memories
video on his iPad. that define their practices today. At the Centre
On casting Vikrant Massey in for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Bikaner House
the lead role, Chopra agrees the 1, from October 29 to November 5.
talented actor is not a saleable
face in the mainstream market.
“But he is the only actor who 쑽
could have done this film. There Desire for life
is a dialogue in the film where a Artist, avid gardener
coaching institute executive tells and amateur botanist
Manoj that big actors might not Jyotsna Dwivedi
consume tobacco, but they still exhibits Dasht E
advertise it. I needed an actor Talab (A Forest or a
who doesn’t sell tobacco. desert of Desires), a
Otherwise, the film would have series of mixed media
works that combine
An ode to civil servants who drawings and
value probity in public life, paintings in charcoal,
Chopra says, we have become so watercolours, acrylic
sceptical that we have forgotten inks, and
that honesty still works. We photography to
know there are more corrupt explore the theme of
officers than honest. The debate time and aging in plants and humans
is that not everybody is corrupt, At The Lalit Kala Akademi from October 28 to
and there is no point in being November 3, from 11am to 7pm.

R defines Vidhu Vinod

Chopra. His latest work,
12th Fail, is a reflection of the
heart that the veteran filmmaker
often wears on his decorated
sleeve. Chopra swears by
Swedish great Ingmar Bergman’s
three commandments on
filmmaking: “Thou shalt be
entertaining, thou shalt obey thy
artistic consciousness at all
times, and thou shalt make each
film as if it is thy last.”
“The second is the most
important for me. I can’t sell my
soul. This film is about our lives;
yours and mine,” says Chopra as
we strike up a conversation on
the moving account of Manoj
Kumar Sharma, a real­life officer
of the Indian Police Service, who
cracked the country’s most
difficult exam, overcoming
unimaginable odds without
letting them dent the pride in his
motivation to helm a film, eight
years after his last directorial
Broken Horses in 2015.
The lack of routine cinematic
frills means there is judicious use
of a background score,
composed just with a sarod, a
flute, and a sitar. “I didn’t want
the filmy dhain dhain to spike up
the emotions,” he chuckles,
adding that the background
score plays only when the scene
almost gets over.
More importantly, it also
means that the story of an
unlikely hero deserved four
years of Chopra’s life.
“It is about what I believe in. I
wanted to tell students across the
country that failure should not
emaciate their spirit. It is possible
to restart whatever the
circumstances are. Hatash nahin
hona hai (you don’t have to
become despondent). That is
Chopra says he got attracted to
the struggles of Manoj Kumar
Sharma, that have been put
between covers by writer Anurag
Pathak. He collaborated with
Pathak and Vikas Divyakirit who
runs a popular institute for civil
services aspirants, particularly
those who come from the Hindi
medium background, to give
shape to the script.
Manoj’s story also echoed
Chopra’s hardships in the
formative years of his life. “I was
introduced to the English
alphabet in the VI standard. By
the VIII class, I could hardly
make simple sentences. When I
went to film school, I didn’t know
how to converse in English.”
Is he not the filmmaker who
gave us Broken Horses and quotes
Bergman? “Yes, I have broken
the barrier but my heart lies in
the Hindi world. All the literature
The father in the film, Chopra
says, is based on his father, who
was an honest insurance agent.
“I am my father’s son. Our
parents give us values. I urge
youngsters not to give up on
those values because of the
system we are in.”
His love for Hindi is also the
reason, he says, as the popular
poem by former Prime Minister
This is the first film that
we have dubbed in all
the south Indian
languages. I have never
done that, not even
with 3 Idiots
VIDHU VINOD CHOPRA
Director
bitter about one’s cherished
values.
He goes on to underline that
he hasn’t sold the film to any
OTT platform yet. “I could lose
out on a few crores, but it is my
money.”
In its storytelling, the film
reminds one of the Munnabhai
series and 3 Idiots. Chopra avers
it is not a conscious effort, but
those projects are also his babies. 쑽
“You can see a reflection of me in Sculpted beauty
all my films. Denge jahan ko wohi, Sculpted Sagas by Sakti Burman is an
jo jahan se payenge (I will give extension of his vast oeuvre characterized by
back to the world, what I receive intricate details and a deep fascination for the
from it).” human and mythological form. His relief
As we part, we ask him about sculptures exhibit a vibrant interplay of
his future plans. Chopra says he distinct cultures accompanied by free
is 71, and once again invokes standing sculptures, the visual tropes of
Bergman to say, “If I die today, I Ganesha, Krishna, Shiva­Parvati among
will die a happy man. But then others. On display at Art Alive Gallery, S­221,
there are two more scripts on the Panchsheel Park till October 31 and online on
drawing board waiting to be www.artalivegallery.com till December 15.
finished...”

A date with the past

further entrenched in his
Shailaja Tripathi memory. It all started to

ighty­eight year­old Life, myths and show up in his paintings in

the same vivid way that it did

E Achutan
Ramachandran Nair,
aka A Ramachandran, is
having an exclusive show of
sculptures, a first in his
six­decade­long artistic
career. The Delhi­based
senior painter and sculptor
explains, “Time was never
correct for that. Earlier,
people didn’t look at
sculptures carefully; they
were fascinated by paintings.
Now they are more
interested in sculptures.”
Some of his iconic
sculptures from the 1970s to
the most recent ones created
in 2023 have been selected
for display at Delhi’s
Shridharani Art Gallery and
Vadehra Art Gallery.
Padma Bhushan awardee
Ramachandran was never
known as a sculptor, though
he had exhibited them. Even
his landmark mural Yayati,
comprising 12 panels
inspired by the Mahabharata
and imagined as the garbha
griha (sanctum sanctorum)
of a temple in Kerala, had 13
sculptures at its centre. It
was with Yayati (1984), that
Ramachandran began doing
sculptures alongside
paintings.
His sculptures which
began as compactly shaped
‘Embroynic forms’ in the
1970s, transformed into long
totem­pole like figures;
rugged, raw forms in bronze
placed on a pedestal.
Explaining the journey, he
says, “When I began doing
sculptures, I was working
within a limited scope. I
wanted to work in a size
that’s easy to handle, easy to
carve, and easy to place in a
narratives
Senior artist A Ramachandran
explains why he took so long to have
his first solo show of sculptures
X
Bronze beauties (Clockwise from top) Bahurupi; Girl with water lilies;
The bronze rooster. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
room. There was a practical
approach to sculptures.”
The artist wanted to
express the mystery
surrounding life. He
elaborates, “The embryo is
like a seed in the
germination process; the
seed opens up, it sprouts
and life starts! So there is a
great mystery of
something happening in
that small space. All this
was going on in my mind
when I was doing the
series of embryonic
forms. All life forms in
this world begin like
that. There is a lot of
disturbance before life is
born.”
While many of his
contemporaries were
looking towards the West
in his sculptures. In Yayati
and Bahuroopi (2006), the
sculptures draw from the
ritualistic atmosphere of the
shrines.
Ramachandran says,
“Many of my elements are
taken from Kerala’s sculptural
traditions. From Yayati
onwards, my whole effort was
to look inward to look into
culture rather than going
towards Europe and America.
All the work since Yayati is
more an enquiry into modern
mind’s perception.”
By then, Nature had also
become a mainstay in his
work. The details from his
lotus pond, albeit in a
nuanced manner, appear to
be cover his elongated
figures. “The images were
inspired by totem pole
structures, or primitive
structures found in different
cultures including Africa. I
in the 80s, the simplified my sculptures
Santiniketan­trained into vertical columns
artist remained first and then modelled
intrigued by Indian out a bare body
culture and traditions. without any
Myths and traditions ornamentation.”
that he had come The show features
across while touring some of his latest
temples in his sculptures, including
native Kerala, a self­portrait and
Udaipur, and Tagore’s figurewith
the idyllic life words and lines from
in rural West his poem covering
Bengal were him.
The show is on at
Shridharani Art
Gallery, Triveni Kala
Sangam and at Vadehra
Art Gallery, Defence
Colony, till October 29
and November 22,
respectively.
This 175­year­old art and antique shop at Connaught Place engages
with museums, artists, royalty and buyers from around the world
Amna Mannan
n the hustle and bustle of
I Connaught Place stands
tall an antique shop where
every corner and item on
display come alive with
captivating stories of the past.
Surajlalji Backliwal founded
The Indian Arts Palace (IAP) in
the mid­1800s at Chandni
Chowk, Delhi. Later, during
the British regime, it was
shifted to Kashmere Gate,
where it remained till the
1950s. In the early 1940s, the
IAP expanded by opening a
second showroom at Oberoi
Maidens in Civil Lines.
However, within a few months,
it was shifted to Connaught
Place.
Tracing the history of the
outlet, Arun Backliwal, the
third­generation owner, says
that in the early 1900s, the IAP
entered into a collaboration
with Hungarian art dealer Imre
Schwaiger. The partnership
thrived as Imre had strong
connections with aristocrats
and overseas buyers, which
helped IAP build an extensive
sourcing network. Together,
they engaged with renowned
jewellers, museums, royalty
and wealthy buyers from
around the world.
Stepping inside the IAP
showroom is like a date with
the past. Portraits of the
Maharaja of Nepal and the
Maharaja of Khetri can be seen
as one enters.
Arun Backliwal’s son Gaurav,
an engineer from IIT Delhi, left
his career in technology to
follow his calling for art and as
a mark of respect for the
family’s legacy. “I have never
looked back with any regret.
Each day starts with delight
and a sense of great
responsibility,” he says.
“Attending an exhibition at
the Indian Habitat Centre, we
chanced upon a picture of our
antique shop, from the 1920s,
clicked by Homai Vyarawalla,
India’s first woman
photojournalist,” says his
brother Vaibhav Backliwal. “It
was a humbling moment.”
X
Feast for eyes
India Arts Palace
at Connaught
Place. THE HINDU
ARCHIVES
James Ivory and Ismail
Merchant of Merchant Ivory
Productions had acknowledged
the wonderful collection of
Indian Arts Palace in a London
newspaper article.
The showroom also has a
large collection of antique
paintings, including pichwais,
Bengal School paintings and
centuries­old miniatures,
including works by latter­day
Indian artists such as Sarada
Ukil, Ramgopal Vijayvargi,
Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy,
Ganendranath Tagore and
many others.
A vintage Jadau gold enamel
necklace set with Burmese
rubies and diamonds sits pretty
inside a glass showcase. Several
other collectibles such as spice
boxes, itra daans, paan daans,
gulab paashes, and Bhuj silver
ware occupy prime space.
“We enjoy preserving the
beautiful works of art of
another bygone era and,
sometimes, sell these works
with a heavy heart,” says
Vaibhav. “We are the keepers of
Indian traditional art.”

CM M ND-NDE
YK

10
Renewed risks
Fresh global turmoil clouds the
economic outlook for rest of 2023­24
O
n October 6, the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) stuck to its 6.5% GDP growth pro­
jection for the year, with risks from geo­
political tensions, economic fragmentation, vola­
tile financial markets and an uneven monsoon,
evenly balanced out by strengthening domestic
demand. There was a belief that a period of
heightened uncertainties was ebbing but as the
central bank Governor signalled last Friday, new
uncertainties have emerged over the fortnight
since. The Israel­Hamas conflict that erupted a
day after the monetary policy review has wi­
dened, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
has flagged worries about implications on global
food, fuel and fertilizer supplies. Given India’s de­
pendence on fuel and fertilizer imports, disrup­
tions or price spikes could hurt the macro­eco­
nomic framework, even if the government
refrains from passing on higher prices to con­
sumers and farmers in the election season. The
RBI chief also pointed to rising U.S. bond yields,
which hit a 16­year high of 5% this week, mixed
data points and signals from central banks
around the world, as the new unknowns — even
as known unknowns such as financial market tur­
moil — have got more pronounced. A glimpse of
this anxiety was visible this week, with the shar­
pest sell­off on Indian bourses since July.
There is no certainty that the RBI would still
uphold its ‘evenly balanced’ outlook towards the
risks to growth. However, the Finance Ministry,
while acknowledging that global uncertainties
have compounded, seems largely sanguine for
now in its outlook for the economy. Its monthly
economic review released on Monday asserts
that growth “remains on track”, inflation is eas­
ing after a “temporary” seasonal surge in July­Au­
gust, consumption demand is strengthening and
investment demand is “also firming up”. On the
“imminent fears” of rising crude oil prices, it not­
ed that July­September quarter prices were still
“way lower” than the $109.5 and $97.9 averages
in the first and second quarter of 2022­23. The
weak foreign trade picture is expected to recover
and industrial job creation prospects are high for
the next two quarters, while higher demand for
housing and vehicle loans reflects bolstered con­
fidence levels in households, it added. India’s ma­
cro fundamentals may well hold up through the
latest global storm, but the government would do
well to drill a little deeper into consumption and
hiring trends. The last quarter has seen a sharp
slump in small car sales, consumer non­durables
producers reporting weak rural demand and IT
firms scaling down growth and hiring hopes.
There is still much to be done to correct an un­
even recovery, which would eventually hamper a
broader investment revival.
Internecine squabbling
The Republicans are a deeply polarised
party after the advent of Trump
A
fter a prolonged spell of costly indecisive­
ness, the U.S. House of Representatives
has finally elected a Speaker, Representa­
tive Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Recent weeks
have seen convulsions rock the House as Republi­
cans struggled to find a consensus candidate to
lead the majority in the Lower Chamber of Con­
gress. After the political debacle of the ouster of
the previous Speaker Kevin McCarthy on October
3, laying bare the deeply factionalised landscape
of the House Republican caucus, several party
notables tried and failed to secure the confidence
of the House majority in their bids for the top
post. Initially, multiple closed­door meetings
failed to produce a consensus candidate. Heavy­
weights including Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Jim
Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana,
were unable to secure the gavel by cornering the
minimum of 217 votes, despite being nominated
to the role. While Mr. Johnson has now emerged
as the Speaker, second in line for the U.S. presi­
dency, after much confabulations and voting, the
politically messy process of his win signals se­
rious deadlock in the party and the Chamber.
In a sense, the intra­party fractures that im­
peded the House Republican caucus from taking
forward funding bills relating to the U.S. federal
government, Israel and Ukraine, reflect the con­
tradictions between the Congressmen who sup­
port and are supported by former President Do­
nald Trump on the one hand, and those who are
not in that category, on the other. Shortly after
Mr. Emmer pulled out of the contest, Mr. Trump
described him on social media as a “Rino”, or
‘Republican in Name Only’, who “never respect­
ed the power of a Trump endorsement or the
breadth and scope of MAGA”, and that it would
be “a tragic mistake” to support him. Trump aco­
lytes in the House took their cue from the 45th
President, it appears, and they are a sizeable co­
hort. Looking beyond the political embarrass­
ment of this rupture, it portends trouble for the
Grand Old Party in the 2024 presidential elec­
tion. It certainly does appear at this time as
though Mr. Trump will win his party’s nomina­
tion by a considerable margin. However, many
“traditional” conservatives do not side with him
on hot button issues, including criminal charges
that he faces, for example for obstructing justice
in seeking to delegitimise the results of the 2020
presidential election. If the House’s Speaker saga
indicates anything, it is that the dissonances
within the Republican Party will sooner or later
be manifested in popular anger among conserva­
tives, and that might be an even greater barrier to
Mr. Trump’s political ambitions than the opposi­
tion he faces from Democrats.
CM
YK
Editorial
The voice of a Gaza under occupation
W
hile the conflict rages in Gaza
amidst allegations and
counter­allegations, and in the
midst of unabashed American
partiality, it is relevant to recall what the senior
leader of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzouk, told The
New Yorker magazine (October 13) about the
political approach: “We rolled down all of the
pathways to get some of our rights — not all of
them. We knocked on the door of reconciliation
and we weren’t allowed in. We knocked on the
door of elections and we were deprived of them.
We knocked on the door of a political document
for the whole world — we said, ‘We want peace,
but give us some of our rights’ — but they didn’t
let us in.” He added, “We tried every path. We
didn’t find one political path to take us out of this
morass and free us from occupation... We spoke
to the Americans, Europeans and all of the
people in order to achieve the Palestinian
people’s rights, without any benefit. Nothing has
been achieved towards the idea of two states,
from 1948 until today. We are a people under
occupation.”
Abu Marzouk added that in earlier conflicts,
the Israelis waged wars outside their borders;
“This is the first time that the Palestinians are
crossing the borders and fighting in their historic
land.” The conflict has shattered the aura of
invincibility.
Tel Aviv’s response
The Israeli response to the Hamas attack has been
to order the evacuation of the northern half of
Gaza, to enforce it by a blockade, by the cutting
off of food, water and electricity as also by the
massing of 3,00,000 troops on Gaza’s border.
The objective presumably is to occupy the
northern zone and expand space for new
settlements. The Palestinians see it as such and
recall the manner in which the state of Israel
came into existence on May 14, 1948 when
6,56,000 Arabs inhabited of the Mandate
Territory of Palestine were made to flee by what
the historian, Paul Johnson, called (History of the
Jews, p.521) as ‘the scientific use of terror to break
the will of liberal rulers’. Palestinians were thus
Manipur needs a platform for ‘samvad’
A
unique feature of India’s intellectual
tradition is that the point of view of the
opponent (purvapaksha) must be taken
seriously — not because one loves the opponent
but because one needs to understand the
opponent better if one has to win an argument.
That is how the tradition of samvad (dialogue)
constitutes a major component of this
long­standing tradition. The opposite is coercion
and violence, which are outcomes of a
monologue possessed by those who ‘own’ the
truth! The latter as a trend can be witnessed all
over the globe, across histories. Today it is found
among conflicting nationalities, religious
communities or ethnicity — whether it is in Israel,
Nuh, or Manipur.
As Gaza bleeds, there is no objective statement
of truth that can explain the large­scale violence
and human tragedy that is engulfing the country.
While some find fault with the initial point of
ignition by Hamas, there are others who are
worried about the quantum of destruction that
the Palestinians have faced. Either we are carried
away by the immediate turn of events, or faced
with the challenge of finding the structural cause
of the entire Israeli­Palestinian crisis. Similar is
the case with Manipur, though the quantum of
violence is far less.
The crisis in the State
The Manipur crisis has been running for over five
months now, and we are nowhere close to the
truth of how and why the violence happened,
and which is still continuing. While many civil
society bodies on either side are carried away by
the violent turn of events, there are others stuck
with propounding their larger narratives and
demolishing the narratives of the opponent. Each
of the warring groups seems to possess
contradicting truths. The challenge is equally
tough for the third party as it seems to get
influenced by one or the other warring groups.
The Editors Guild of India faced stiff resistance
from the Meiteis — the allegation is that the Guild
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Talk peace, ensure peace school textbooks some time
It appears that the comity ago, the ‘suggestion’ by a
of nations and the United National Council of
Nations have completely Educational Research and
and conveniently forgotten Training (NCERT) panel to
the deleterious have ‘only ‘Bharat in
repercussions that followed textbooks’ (Page 1, October
the sudden attack by Russia 26) is not surprising. If
on Ukraine — a war which is concerned parents are not
still dragging on. going to express their views
The world is also having to about textbook revisions
deal with a new issue — loudly and clearly, nothing
Israel closing in on much is going to change.
Palestine, which has Only time will tell when
brought in its trail, these types of textbook
dangerous repercussions. It ‘revisions’ are going to stop.
is the bounden duty on the A. Venkatasubramanian,
part of the UN to try and Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu
usher in peace in both
instances. Perhaps the NCERT panel is
Mani Nataraajan, keen to prove that it is more
Chennai loyal than the king. A pat on
its back might soon come
NCERT panel suggestion its way. The Opposition’s
After the disappearance of criticism hardly matters as
key science topics from the present regime has
THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023
Delhi
made to pay for the genocide of Jews in Europe The response of the United States and some of
which was committed by Germans, not Arabs. its allies to the present crisis raises the question
Nor should the ideological motivation,
particularly of the present Israeli leadership, be
of motivation. Did they know more about the
chink in Israel’s armour? Did they apprehend the
overlooked. It has repeatedly equated the implications of conflict going beyond Gaza and its
Palestinians with the Nazis who should be adverse impact on Israel?
Hamid Ansari eliminated. This is a reiteration of what Vladimir
is the former Vice Jabotinsky, a respected predecessor in right­wing Pertinent questions
President of India, Zionism said in 1923: Zionism ‘is a colonizing The prognosis of Thomas L. Friedman in The New
2007­2017 adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the York Times of October 16, 2023 sheds light on the
question of armed force.’ He predicted that the prospects: “If Israel goes into Gaza now, it will
Palestinian will not leave his land unless blow up the Abraham Accords, further
confronted ‘by a wall of Jewish bayonets so that a destabilize two of America’s most important allies
new race, proud, generous and cruel, shall arise.’ (Egypt and Jordan) and make normalization with
The reality of this perception has been Saudi Arabia impossible — huge strategic
reinforced by decades of connivance by world setbacks. It will also enable Hamas to really fire
powers. Innumerable United Nations Security up the West Bank and get a shepherd’s war going
Council (UNSC) resolutions have remained there between Jewish settlers and Palestinians.
unimplemented. Each reiterated the earlier ones Altogether, it will play directly into Iran’s strategy
and some even indicated new goalposts; each of sucking Israel into imperial overstretch and in
sought to explain away the guilt of the culprits. that way weakening the Jewish democracy from
Resolution 2334 of December 2016, for instance, within.”
outlawed all settlement activity and reiterated the Friedman adds: “While Biden is right to
desirability of implementing the two­state support Israel, he must get clear answers from
solution. Netanyahu now, before it’s too late: Once Israel
A departure from the UNSC route was topples Hamas, who will govern Gaza? If Israel
attempted in September 2020 by the Abraham intends to govern Gaza, will it pay for the
Accords seeking, piously, to ‘end radicalization rebuilding of the infrastructure that it is
and conflict’ while ignoring the causes of both. destroying? And if not, who will? How long does
An expectation of expanding the ambit of both Israel intend to allow the humanitarian crisis to
has not materialised. unfold in southern Gaza? Does Israel plan to build
settlements in Gaza? Does Israel respect Gaza’s
No more invincible borders? Does it have a plan to help rebuild the
Israel’s objectives for the Gaza operation have Palestinian Authority in the West Bank?”
been officially identified with precision: toppling U.S. President Joe Biden was emphatic in his
There may be Hamas and destroying its military capabilities; condemnation of Hamas for the responsibility of
merit in the eliminating the threat of terrorism emanating the hospital attack. Its timing is yet to be
claim from from the Gaza strip; exerting maximum pressure established and Professor Anthony H. Cordesman
Gaza — of a to find a solution to the hostage issue, and of the Center for Strategic and International
knocking on defending the borders of the state and its citizens. Studies is of the opinion that the only way to
every door and These would require going into Gaza. Informed convince those who do not take sides is to
Arab columnists like Abdel Bari Atwan are of the establish some form of international investigation
trying every
opinion that the most recent fighting has that is led by nations or individuals who are
path, for peace, deprived Israel of its two most effective weapons: credible.
rights and its scariness and its deterrent power. Such a Clearly, there may be merit in Abu Marzouk’s
freedom, but to move, he says, would be more far reaching than claim. Hasty resort to partiality may not be the
no avail Ehud Olmert’s foray and Ariel Sharon’s venture. option.
has put out a biased report that favours the Kukis. influenced by the presence of armed militants
Subsequently, the Guild had to seek the Supreme and a false sense of impunity among some
Court of India’s help to neutralise the first people. This truth about ethnic conflict is one
information reports filed by the Manipur Police. among many narratives. There are larger
Since then, the pace of all other fact­finding narratives such as an imagined Kuki nation,
committees seems to have slowed down, with the insurgency across the border, illegal migration,
Bhagat Oinam larger picture of truth still to materialise. and narco­terrorism. It is narco­terrorism that
is Chairperson of the There have been a few truths about some has turned out to be the real threat to the Indian
Special Centre for the specific cases. Police investigation under the state.
Study of North East Unified Command structure has cracked cases
India (SCSNEI) at related to the parading of two Kuki women who Focus on its bonds
Jawaharlal Nehru were stripped, the kidnapping and killing of two Amidst these complex narratives, there is a need
University, New Delhi Meitei students, the arrest of former cadre of the
banned People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of
to arrive at a holistic truth; a truth that preferably
must be agreed by all. There is not only a need for
Manipur, followed by the arrest of a Kuki militant dialogue but also a verification of the facts
following a bomb blast at multi­ethnic Kwakta claimed in these narratives. The search for a
village. Several Manipur­based drug traffickers holistic truth cannot be done without the
have been arrested in Mizoram, Assam, Tripura presence of the contending parties. The
and Delhi, pointing to the spread of illegal narratives of the hardliners are extremely
activities and the large­scale involvement of problematic for these are shaped by the politics
people in the trade. The arrests show that the of exclusion, which allows little room for
civil administration is slowly stirring back to life. dialogue. On the contrary, co­existence, the
matrimonial bonds, and spatial sharing among
The hardliners and their politics the ethnic communities are the realities of life in
However, the crisis is far from over. Most the State. People seem to forget the long existing
worrisome is the politics driven by the hardliners, multicultural life of Manipur while having been
whose narratives are to show the opposite camps dragged into the violent politics of the present.
as being the perpetrators of violence. These Dialogue does not necessarily mean political
narratives often project the protagonists as the agreement. Rather, it is about cross­checking
victim, and that violent acts they resorted to were each other’s claims and counter­claims.
out of self­defence. Thus, violence gets justified in Negotiated truth is possible when the contesting
each of these narratives. Unfortunately, humanity parties recognise amiability in arguments, and
takes a back seat. show an openness to the outcome.
While the State will take its own course to India’s intellectual tradition of samvad is an
identify the truths behind the magnified stories, invitation to an openness with truth. This
The crisis in the the crisis is not altogether about the state­citizen requires enormous moral strength in the
State is far from relationship. Had this been the case, it would practitioners of a dialogue. And the result can be
over with many have been just a law­and­order issue. But the fact peaceful and long lasting. It is an attempt to
is there were instances where armed militants understand the other’s point of view and politics
complex
have inspired members of their affiliated better. It is also about freeing oneself to a
narratives; there community to call themselves as a ‘people’ committed truth, letting it open to scrutiny by the
is a need to vis-à-vis an ‘enemy’ in the other community. The other party. Manipur needs a platform for
arrive at a torching of houses, cold­blooded killings, and the samvad, however small, amidst the violence and
negotiated truth inhuman treatment of women and children are the mistrust.
always given the Opposition Everyone should be in to be straining the concern that an individual
short shrift. affirmation — and this exchequer as the party that can compromise integrity
C.V. Aravind, includes the INDIA bloc — in wins ends up subjecting for personal gain or in
Bengaluru using Bharat hereafter while people to more taxes. service of private interests.
referring to our nation. The R. Sampath, To maintain the faith and
As a Central Board of NCERT’s suggestion should Chennai the trust of our citizens in
Secondary Education be accepted and the democratic process, we
student who used NCERT implemented without Probe ‘cash for query’ must ensure that those who
textbooks, I strongly oppose hesitation. The recent allegations represent us in politics
the proposal to rename K. Nehru Patnaik, involving a woman Member uphold the highest
‘India’ to ‘Bharat’ in Visakhapatnam of Parliament from West standards of ethical
textbooks. A diverse country Bengal raise grave conduct. The allegations
like India, which is A flood of freebies questions. The alleged against the woman MP,
essentially an amalgam of With five State Assembly incident, in which the which are as yet unproven,
various cultures and elections to be held soon, woman MP purportedly deserve a thorough and
languages, cannot have a and thereafter the shared her parliamentary impartial examination.
name that caters to a parliamentary general login ID and password with Aman Chaubey,
specific group or party. election, there is bound to businesspersons, is deeply Seohara, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh
Bharat is a term that is be a freebie flood. troubling.
most often used in the Some mechanisms should The allegations transcend
northern part of the be in place to prevent mere political rivalries and
country. ‘India’ is not just political parties from point toward a potential
the name of our country but unleashing unviable breach of security. They Letters emailed to
an emotion for many. promises. also concern the upholding letters@thehindu.
Sabatini Sathyakumar, Elections in India, called the of parliamentary ethics and co.in must carry the full postal
Bengaluru ‘festival of democracy, seem standards. It is a matter of address.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023 11
Delhi
Opinion

Is India ready to host the Olympic Games?

PARLEY Games success I have hope. The reason is that
people like Manisha and companies like JSW
have transformed Indian sport. Look at Neeraj
Thirteen years is not a long time. Even if you

T
he Prime Minister recently said that
India aspires to host the 2036
Olympic Games. This has been a
Manisha dream for successive governments
Malhotra and sports officials. Hosting the Olympics would
is the Head of not only underscore India’s importance as a
Sports sporting nation, but also enable it to assert its
Excellence and geopolitical power and showcase development.
Scouting with But is India ready to host the Olympics? Manisha
JSW Sports Malhotra and Norris Pritam discus the question
in a conversation moderated by Uthra
Ganesan. Edited excerpts:
What does hosting an Olympics entail? Why
is it a prestige issue for nations to host the
Games?
Norris Manisha Malhotra: The Olympics is the
Pritam pinnacle of sport. It showcases not only your
is a journalist nation to the world, but also soft power.
with over three Essentially, for 16 days, the whole world talks
decades of about your country. It is a huge honour. But the
experience in magnitude of it brings to the forefront not only
covering the good but also the bad. So, hosting the
multi­discipline Olympics becomes a double­edged sword. Even
events
for seasoned countries which have hosted
including six
Olympics multiple Olympics, there are challenges. We saw
what happened when Beijing hosted the 2008
Games... there was a lot of pushback and
negative publicity.
Norris Pritam: The Olympics is also a political
statement. India is a global power and [its
prestige] will go up manifold if it hosts the
Games. Manisha talked about Beijing. But I think
once the Games start, people forget these
things; only the legacy of the Games remains.
What are the non­negotiables in making an
Olympics successful?
NP: The Games are the property of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are
given to the National Olympic Committees
(NOC). The first non­negotiable is a strong NOC,
which talks in unison. You cannot be bidding for
the Games and have three parallel tracks in the
NOC. The government comes later. Of course,
the NOC cannot work without the government,
but the Games are actually given to the NOC,
which is the Indian Olympic Association here.
The second is a legacy. What are we going to
offer to the people in the years to come? The
people’s participation, the social structure, and
whether we can build infrastructure or not —
this is a complete package. It’s not just about
winning or losing. A country may win the bid to
host the Games and yet may not win several gold
medals. But if they host the Games well, it’s
good. So, [this involves] the NOC’s relations with
the IOC, the government, and the Opposition.
Illuminated Olympic rings in in Tokyo in 2020, one year before the Olympics
Games were held in the city. GETTY IMAGES
MM: Cohesion is the first, and I think that’s
where India will struggle. We are united, but we
don’t know how to work with one another well.
The NOC is at the centre of the Olympics and it
has to be governed above board and efficiently.
Hosting the Games involves different cogs in
the wheel — culture, heritage, hospitality,
infrastructure, finance, government, and sports
bodies — which have to work in cohesion. In
Paris (where the Olympics will take place in
2024), the culture departments are working with
the museums. Every local garden has some
Olympics history and event happening. There
are lanes and roads being earmarked just for the
Olympics. There is deep cleaning. Whether this
is because of the bed bugs or whether they are
just trying to get things ready, everybody is
working at a frenetic pace.
I asked a Parisian whether the city is ready to
host the Games. She said, ‘Whether we’re ready
or not, our people are so proud and united
about the Games that we will make it happen.
And even if we are not ready, we will make sure
that the Games are a success.’ That tells a lot
about that society. During the Commonwealth
Games in India (2010), there were many
challenges. Every small challenge was
highlighted and almost blown out of proportion.
Doing this takes away from the joy of hosting the
Games. So, I am not sure if we will be able to
galvanise everyone for an event like this.
Will India be ready to host the Games in
2036? Is 13 years enough time to get
everything in order?
NP: Thirteen years is not a long time. Even if
you want to bid for the Games, you have to start
working from now to make yourself presentable
to bid for the Games. Whether India is ready
right now is not the right question to ask
because, let’s admit it, we are not ready. It also
depends on which city hosts the Games. You
need to have a top­class village for the Games. It
cannot be done on a political level or at the city
level. You have to have specialists — marketing
want to bid for the Games, you have to start
working from now to make yourself
presentable to bid for the Games.
NORRIS PRITAM
specialists, who can think 13 years ahead,
engineers, scientists, roads, bridges, everything.
We have to start from now even if we want to
bid. Fortunately, the IOC has now changed the
rules a bit. Instead of just one city, you can host
the Games in a twin city or in two regions or
even in two countries in the same region.
MM: Even Paris today is not ready. But Paris will
be ready in 2024. Regarding the city, that’s a
huge challenge because of the political
landscape and how India views sports, how each
State views sports. We need to shortlist cities
and hire feasibility consultants who can give
unbiased and unpolitical reports about which
city could host the Games best.
If we just focus on the sporting aspect, the
biggest issue is governance. Indian sport is
governed poorly. Federations are in a disarray,
barring one or two. They don’t know how to
develop their own talent. They keep relying on
basic government funds. They are not proactive.
Then there are larger social issues such as
doping. All this needs to be tackled. I think
India’s biggest rival for 2036 would be Budapest.
If you look at where Budapest is in terms of
sports and hosting a big event and its facilities,
an Ahmedabad or Delhi or Chennai or Mumbai
will not even be in the same stratosphere.
NP: During the Atlanta Games (1996), we were
busy sitting at the main stadium, which was
beautiful, covering the Games. But because of
security concerns, we couldn’t roam around the
stadium. The morning after the closing
ceremony, we decided to go to the stadium and
take some pictures. But half the stadium had
already been dismantled because a baseball
season was starting there. That’s the kind of
thinking you need. Here, after the 1982 Asian
Games, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Delhi)
was shut for years and it became an expensive
junk yard. You cannot say I have got the Games,
now the Games are over, thank you, goodbye. If
you get the bid, what are you going to do with
structures on which you spent $30 billion­$40
billion, five­10 years down the line?
If we focus on India’s rank in the global
sporting order, should India host the Games?
Can India be confident of at least being in the
top 15 nations, medal­wise, by 2036?
NP: Earlier I wasn’t confident but after the Asian
Chopra. Somebody asked me, ‘Where does he
stay?’ I said he is an NRI. I have hope because of
facilities, medical facilities, and the exposure
abroad. If Avinash Sable had been running only
command and services meets, I don’t think he
would have run such gallant races. He is a world
class runner because of these facilities, which
were not given earlier. Indians can do well.
Somebody has to nurture them and provide
support and exposure at the right time.
MM: I don’t mean to be the buzz kill here, but
look at facts: India won three medals in Beijing
(2008), six in London (2012), and seven in Tokyo
(2021). Even if India wins 14 medals in 2036, that
still does not place the country in the top 15. We
need to develop sports in which multiple medals
can be won. Cycling, athletics, swimming,
rowing, kayak­canoeing — these are five sports
where, barring athletics now a little bit, India is
non­existent. So, this is going to be the key. How
quickly are we going to be able to develop these
so that India wins medals? I don’t think you are
going to be able to do that in 13 years. A 20­year
horizon would be more realistic.
And I don’t know why you should even be in
the top 15. In India, one gold medalist gets much
more recognition that even 100 don’t get from
China or the U.S. So, I don’t think the top 15
should be much of a benchmark. But yes, we
would have to be competitive across events. And
at least be in every final there is.
The IOC is big on temporary structures and
reusing stadiums. Given that, and the fact
that Indian authorities are fond of building
huge venues, how do you think India should
develop facilities if it wins the bid?
MM: Temporary movable structures are the way
to go. I don’t think anyone can afford to build big
stadia any more.
NP: In India we are fond of saying ‘world’s
largest’ or ‘Asia’s biggest’ or ‘first time in India.’
We should get over this mentality. We should be
technically superb, that’s it. Temporary
structures can be built, and after the Games,
they can be used for communities. A Sports
Minister once said the Nehru Stadium should be
locked, otherwise the track will get spoiled.
Finally, without anyone running, the track got
spoiled. Maybe, if people had run on it, it would
have had more life. We should have workable
stadiums or venues.
To listen to the full interview
Scan the code or go to the link
www.thehindu.com

NOTEBOOK
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Where there is darkness, there is light
How a marketing blitz can affect
film criticism
Reviews and interviews can often dictate access to stars
Gautam Sunder be overly harsh once it is understood that
the movie is potentially going to tank. Or

I
n August, The Guardian published a
piece by film critic Manuela Lazic
asking, “Who needs film critics
when studios can be sure influencers will
praise their films?” This struck a chord
with film writers across the globe; such
has been the impact of the marketing
strategies that studios have built around
big­budget releases in recent times, espe­
cially after the influx of the streamer.
As Lazic points out, the mega­success
of Barbie is the best example of how this
can pay off. Keeping aside the fact that
the marketing budget of the film was
higher than the cost of production, the
plethora of early positive reviews from in­
fluencers and ‘select’ journalists even be­
fore the film opened ensured that the
Greta Gerwig directorial broke all sorts of
collection records and created the ‘Bar­
benheimer’ phenomenon. This is not to
take away the fact that both Barbie and
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenhemier de­
served the hype, but it was as much a win
for PR as it was for cinema.
It is not very different in India. Critics
are regularly invited to advance screen­
ings before the opening weekend (usual­
ly, the most important days for a film’s
box­office success) and given access to ta­
lent based on how harsh or favourable
their previous reviews were. Exclusive
merchandise and press junket invites are
mostly extended to those who have
played ball with the studio or streamer’s
earlier offerings. The writers are made to
feel like they are royalty while hanging
out with the cast and crew, which natu­
rally leads to glowing takes and fawning
questions. Gone are the days of journal­
ists being able to directly call up stars and
set up interactions; if the marketing team
doesn’t like your critique, you are in dan­
ger of being frozen out of mailing lists.
Indeed, movie marketing is essential
when done the right way. But it is not un­
common these days for some PR profes­
sionals to even call up critics after screen­
ings and request that their opinions not
CM
YK
better still, they gamble on influencers
whose reach can sometimes outstrip that
of mainstream media houses. This is why
many Instagram/YouTube stars are be­
coming “interviewers” nowadays.
So, what can the rest do? Often, a big
part of a film or feature writer’s job de­
pends on access. How many can afford to
risk losing this altogether? Is it surprising
then that many choose to only write so­
mething positive or nothing at all?
Then, there is the problem of film fan­
dom. If a journalist writes a negative opi­
nion about a superstar’s project, they can
get trolled to the point where they are
forced to deactivate their accounts. As
former film critic of The New York Times,
A.O. Scott, said about why he decided to
stop reviewing movies after 20 years,
“I’m not a fan of modern fandom. This
isn’t only because I’ve been swarmed on
Twitter by angry devotees of Marvel and
DC; it’s more that the behaviour of these
social media hordes represents an anti­
democratic, anti­intellectual mind­set
that is harmful to the cause of art and an­
tithetical to the spirit of movies.”
This issue runs deep. As theatres strug­ X
gle to recover in a post­Covid world pop­ A man lights firecrackers on the night of Dussehra, in Srinagar. The festival of Dussehra marks the triumph of good over evil, symbolising the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana.
ulated with streaming platforms, critics NISSAR AHMAD
are made to feel guilty by fans and even
publicists, who ask in the belief that they
are fighting for the greater good of cine­
ma, “Why would you stop people from FROM TH E A RCHI V E S A HUNDRED YEARS AGO OCTOBER 27, 1923
going to the cinema halls where they are
needed more than ever? Your negative re­ FIFTY YEARS AGO OCTOBER 27, 1973 now in the U.N. Cyprus Peace­keeping Force, New Bill being drafted
view could influence this theatre owner has been accepted, he announced.
or production house’s future.” The Security Council yesterday approved a Calcutta, Oct. 26: A Press Communique has
But the hope is that in this age of click­ UN peace force units on way resolution calling for the formation of a new been issued by the Government of Bengal with
bait headlines and viral reels, some jour­ U.N. Emergency Force and specifying that, like reference to the Calcutta Corporation’s inquiry
nalists will resist the PR overdrive, keep to West Asia other such peace­keeping forces, it would not as to whether Government was irrevocably
their criticism fair and engaging, and include men from the United States, the Soviet committed to the construction of a Cantilever
continue to challenge the audiences con­ United Nations, Oct. 26: The first units of a Union or the three permanent members of the Bridge across the Hooghly between Calcutta and
tinually on theirs. And perhaps one day, U.N. military force, ordered to police the West Council. As the Secretary­General, Dr. Kurt Howrah. The Communique recalls that the
playing the long game will pay off. Until Asia ceasefire, flew from Cyprus to Egypt Waldheim, canvassed other U.N. members for Committee of engineers appointed in 1921
then, we always have the movies to keep to­day aboard British jets, a U.N. spokesman the new force, the Council authorised him to unanimously favoured a Cantilever Bridge and
us going. said. get things moving by sending to Cairo 897 men that the Committee subsequently appointed to
A British Government offer of seven planes from the 3,000­man U.N. Peace­keeping Force consider the finance indicated that it would be
gautam.sundar@thehindu.co.in to airlift Austrian, Finnish and Swedish troops, stationed on Cyprus since 1964. financially possible to construct it.
M ND-NDE

12
Text&Context
NEWS IN NUMBERS
Number of mass
killings in United
States this year
36
At least 18 people were killed
and 13 were injured in a mass
shooting in Maine, U.S. It’s
the 36th mass killing in the United States
this year, according to a database
maintained by AP and USA Today. AP
The T.N. experience on caste survey
What have been the challenges associated with caste­based surveys and reservation policies in Tamil Nadu? How do caste­based surveys impact the
debate on reservations in different regions of India? Why did the Supreme Court invalidate the law related to Vanniyar reservations in the State in 2022?
EXPLAINER
T. Ramakrishnan
The story so far:
he Bihar caste­based survey has
T
spurred nationwide calls for a
similar census and discussions
about exceeding the 50%
reservation limit. However, looking at
Tamil Nadu’s past, a caste census alone
may not lead to increased other backward
class (OBC) reservations. The Second
Backward Classes Commission (1982­85)
in Tamil Nadu even recommended a
reduction in reservation percentages. The
First BC panel (1969­70), led by A.N.
Sattanathan, suggested raising BC
reservations, but the idea of a creamy
layer hasn’t gained political backing.
How did the Second BC Commission
come into being?
In January 1980, smarting from a severe
drubbing in the Lok Sabha election, the
then AIADMK regime, headed by M.G.
Ramachandran, announced the hike in
the share of reservation for BCs from 31%
to 50%, taking the total quantum to 68%
that included 18% for Scheduled Castes
(SC) & Scheduled Tribes (ST). (After STs
got one per cent exclusive reservation in
June 1990, the overall tally went up to
69%). Once the decision became a subject
matter of litigation in the Supreme Court,
the State government gave an
undertaking in October 1982 that it would
set up a panel to review the existing
enumeration and classification of BCs.
Two months later, the panel was
constituted with the former Chairman of
the Tamil Nadu Public Services
Commission, J.A. Ambasankar, as the
head. The BC panel submitted its report
to the government in February 1985.
What was the highlight of the
Commission’s work?
The Socio­Educational­cum­Economic
Survey was conducted in two stages
Why are the China­Bhutan
boundary talks significant?
How can Bhutan ensure that its decisions consider both India’s interests and its own sovereignty? What is the
significance of the Doklam plateau in the context of regional geopolitics?
Suhasini Haidar
The story so far:
hina and Bhutan held their 25th
C round of boundary talks in
Beijing and signed a
Cooperation Agreement on the
“Responsibilities and Functions of the
Joint Technical Team ( JTT) on the
Delimitation and Demarcation of the
Bhutan­China Boundary.” This advances
their 3­Step Roadmap initiated in 2021 for
border resolution, building on the
positive momentum since their last talks
in 2016.
Why are the talks this week
significant?
The Boundary talks between Bhutan and
China were held after a gap of seven years
and indicate significant progress has been
made. Bhutan and the Tibetan
Autonomous Region share a contiguous
border to Bhutan’s north and west. Since
CM
YK
Delhi www.thehindu.com Friday, October 27, 2023
● ●
Premature withdrawal
on term deposits limit
raised
1 8,738
cr. The Reserve Bank on Thursday
said banks will have to offer
premature withdrawal facility on all
term deposits of up to ₹1 crore, raising the
limit from ₹15 lakh. The order have come
into force with immediate effect. PTI
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Representative Image. PTI
during 1983­84. In the first stage, a cent
per cent door­to­door enumeration was
conducted for the enumeration and
classification of BCs. This was decided as
the Ambasankar Commission found that
the previous panel ­ one headed by
Sattanathan ­ took into account only the
1921 Census, when 88 communities were
enumerated as against 31 in 1931, and
projected it over 50 years to arrive at the
caste­wise population. Estimating the
total population of the State as
4,99,90,743 , the Second BC panel drew
up a list of 298 communities, classified
under main groups such as BCs, Most
BCs, Denotified Communities (DNCs),
SCs, STs and others. The panel confined
itself essentially to the BCs, without giving
an exhaustive break­up of all the
communities. The Commission had
worked out that the population of the BCs
was 3,35,70,805, accounting for 67.15% of
the State’s overall population. In respect
of SCs, the figure was 92,08,917; STs ­
5,54,918 and others ­ 66,56,103. In March
1989, an exclusive quota ­ 20% ­ was
provided for MBCs and DNCs within the
total share of BCs of 50%. Based on the
Ambasankar panel’s workings, the State
Backward Classes Commission, in May
2012, arrived at the figure of 1,23,17,745 as
the population of the MBCs and DNCs.
1984, Bhutan and China had held 24
rounds of talks to resolve the disputes
until 2016, but the 25th round appeared
to have been held up after the Doklam
Standoff between Indian and Chinese
armies in 2017, and then the COVID­19
pandemic in 2019­2021. However, the two
sides used the pause to hold talks at other
levels in rapid succession, especially after
China threatened to open a new front for
a border dispute to Bhutan’s east. Since
then, the Expert Group of diplomats on
both sides met in 2021 to agree on a 3­step
roadmap, and the first boundary
delimitation technical talks were held in
August 2023. In an interview with The
Hindu this month, Bhutan’s Prime
Minister Dr. Lotay Tshering said that the
two sides were “inching towards”
completing the roadmap even before his
government demits office ahead of
Bhutanese elections in 2024, and FM
Tandi Dorji’s visit to Beijing indicates that
further progress has indeed been made.
0
Vodafone Idea’s net Length of mobile
loss in the second internet ban in
quarter Manipur
30
in crore.
Debt­ridden
telecom operator
Vodafone Idea on Thursday said its Though it was restored on September 23, it
consolidated net loss widened to ₹8,737.9 was curbed again on September 26. It has
crore in the second quarter. PTI been further extended till October 31. PTI
twitter.com/the_hindu
The Commission held a 5 per cent
random sample survey of students in
37,000 schools along with a survey of
students in all 232 colleges and seven
universities. Finally, to ascertain the
representation of BCs in public services, it
arranged a full­scale survey of ‘public
servants’ in each grade as of July 1, 1983.
What were the recommendations of
the Commission?
Even as the panel was in the last leg of its
work, differences erupted between a
majority of members and the Chairman,
Ambasankar. While the latter wanted the
quantum of reservation for BCs to be
brought down to 32% so that the overall
figure did not exceed the 50% ceiling, the
dissenting members had argued that as
the population of BCs was about 67%, the
quantum should be at least 50%.
Another area of difference was the
coverage of reservations. The Chairman
had insisted that all those found eligible
for quota under Article 15(4) (which deals
with special provision for the
advancement of any socially and
educationally backward classes of citizens
or for the SCs and STs) “will not be
automatically entitled” to reservation in
appointments under Article 16 (4) (which
talks of making reservation in jobs for any
What is the 3­Step Roadmap?
The 3­Step roadmap MoU signed by the
Bhutanese Foreign Minister and Chinese
Assistant Foreign Minister in 2021, and
the JTT established to implement the
roadmap by the Expert Group in August
are hoping to draw a line clearly
delineating Bhutanese and Chinese
territory for the first time. Bhutan and
China don’t have diplomatic ties, as
Bhutan has traditionally avoided
diplomatic relations with all the United
Nations Security Council permanent
members. The 3­Step Roadmap involves
first, agreeing to the border “on the
table”; then visiting the sites on the
ground; and then formally
demarcating the boundary.
Why is India watching closely?
For India, given the breakdown in its ties
with China over the standoff at the Line of
Actual Control from 2020, any hint of
closer ties between China and one of its
Average age of China’s
youngest­ever space
crew
38
days Mobile internet was China launched its
banned in the State after youngest­ever crew consisting
violence broke out on May 3. of three astronauts — Tang
Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin —
for its orbiting space station on
Thursday. AP
COMPILED BY THE HINDU DATA TEAM
instagram.com/the_hindu
backward class that is “not adequately THE GIST
represented” in public services). So, he
was for two separate lists of BCs, one
under Article 15(4) and another under 쑽
Article 16(4). But, the members had all The Second BC Commission
favoured only one list. They asserted that was established in Tamil Nadu
“social backwardness and educational in 1982, following a
backwardness are inseparable and
government decision to
intertwined. From seeing certain families increase the BC reservation
in certain Backward Classes occupying from 31% to 50%.
jobs and employment cannot mean
educational advancement of their 쑽
respective communities. Educational The Commission conducted a
benefits contemplated under Article 15(4) survey in two stages in
are the means and the benefits under 1983­84, focusing on
Article 16(4) to get [a] job is the end.” enumeration and classification
Two sets of recommendations, one of BCs.
from the Chairman and another from the 쑽
members, were furnished to the
government, which, however, chose not The Commission’s findings
to disturb the status quo with regard to showed that BCs constituted a
the quantum of reservation ­ 50% for significant portion of the
BCs. The government also did not agree State’s population, leading to a
50% reservation quota for BCs
with the recommendation of deletion of
in Tamil Nadu.
24 communities even though it toed the
line of the panel for the inclusion of 29 쑽
communities.
Differences arose between the
Commission’s Chairman,
How did the 1992 Supreme Court Ambasankar, and other
judgment affect State reservations? members regarding the
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s quantum of BC reservation and
judgment in the Mandal Commission case the inclusion of certain castes.
in 1992, the State was forced to enact a
law to safeguard the 69% quota and have 쑽
it placed under the Ninth Schedule. Despite these differences, the
During 2007­09, the DMK government government chose to maintain
had exclusively provided 3.5% each for the 50% reservation quota for
Muslims and Christians within the quota BCs and included some new
of BCs. Subsequently, the separate quota communities while rejecting
for Christians was withdrawn. In May the exclusion of others.
2009, Arunthathiyars, a constituent of
SCs, were given 3% within the 18% quota
for the SCs. In February 2021, the
AIADMK regime got a bill adopted by the
Assembly for 10.5% reservation for
Vanniyars or Vanniyakula Kshatriyas in
education and employment within the
overall quantum of 20% for the MBCs.
However, the Supreme Court, a year later,
struck down the law on the ground that
the data of the Ambasankar panel were
not contemporaneous.
closest neighbours is a cause for worry. THE GIST
More specifically, New Delhi is watching
the demarcation discussions over
Doklam, as amongst the proposals China 쑽
has placed on the table is an agreement to China and Bhutan held their
“swap” areas in Doklam under Bhutanese 25th round of boundary talks
control with areas in Jakarlung and and signed a Cooperation
Pasamlung which China claims. The Agreement related to the
Doklam trijunction cuts very close to demarcation of the
India’s Siliguri corridor a narrow area that Bhutan­China border.
connects the North Eastern States to the
rest of India and India would not like to 쑽
see China gain access to any area closer to Bhutan­China border dispute
it. Since the Doklam standoff in 2017, primarily concerns the Doklam
China has doubled down on its control of plateau and the
the Doklam plateau, and according to a India­China­Bhutan trijunction,
recent Pentagon report, has continued to as well as the Jakarlung and
build “underground storage facilities [],
new roads [], and new villages in disputed
areas in neighbouring Bhutan,” erasing
many of the strategic gains that New Delhi
had hoped for after China agreed to step
Pasamlung valleys.
쑽
The 3­Step Roadmap initiated
in 2021 aims to clearly
back from the standoff point in 2017. delineate the Bhutanese and
Chinese territories, involving
Finally, India’s worry is over China’s
discussions at the table, on­site
demand for full diplomatic relations with
visits, and formal demarcation.
Bhutan, and opening an Embassy in
Thimphu. Given India’s challenges with
Chinese projects and funding in other
neighbouring countries including
Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the
Maldives, any Chinese presence in a small
country like Bhutan would be
problematic. However, Bhutan’s
leadership has thus far said that all
decisions would consider India’s interests
and that it has always consulted India on
issues of concern.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023 13
Delhi
Text&Context
IN THE LIMELIGHT

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Know your
English
K. Subrahmanian

Sir, Mr. K. K. Chandrasekaran,

Komanthakkal House, Karayamutham,
Valapad, wants to know the meaning of
‘Achilles’ heel’.”
“ ‘Achilles’ heel’ or the ‘heel of Achilles’
means ‘a person’s weak or most
vulnerable point’. Achilles is the hero of
Homer’s Iliad. He was a great warrior and
A fan takes a picture of an image of Taylor Swift as she enters a cinema to watch Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert movie in Mexico City on October 13. REUTERS in the Trojan War, Achilles killed Hector
and he was killed by Paris when the latter

A symphony of senses: the enchanting

struck him in the heel which was his
weakest spot. Gopal’s quick temper is his
Achilles’ heel. Love of flattery is his
Achilles’ heel.”

cinematic world of Taylor Swift “Sir, Mr. C. Subba Rao, P.S. Nagar,
Vijayanagar Colony, Hyderabad, wants to
know the meaning of ‘standing ovation’.”
“ ‘Standing ovation’ is ‘one from an
audience that rises to its feet in its
Concert films offer audiences a unique and immersive experience, often surpassing the live concert experience; the success of The Eras Tour could enthusiasm’. An ovation is an outburst of
be a potential catalyst for a renewed interest in such films as a communal theatre experience prolonged applause. He received a
standing ovation for his superb
performance. When an audience stands
Mini Anthikad Chhibber along whether one is a fan or not. Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin three­nights of concerts at Madison up and applauds someone for a while, it is
The rock concert movie gives the fan a Scorsese (2019), which was more Square Garden in New York City. Billed as called a “standing ovation.”
o Barbenheimer was the big concert experience in a theatre. Some psychedelic ride than a story. a “personal and private tour of Led “Sir, Ms. M. Singh, Patiala, wants to

S ticket of 2023, not some

spandex­suited meta­human
fighting an overblown CGI battle
in the Big Apple. Just as the bean counters
seem to have figured out what draws
audiences to theatres (good luck with
that), comes the mass hysteria of the
screening of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
The film is directed by Sam Wrench,
who has helmed other concert movies
including Billie Eilish: Live at the O2 earlier
this year and Lizzo: Live in Concert (2022).
The film documents Swift’s The Eras Tour,
her sixth concert tour and represents
Swift’s musical journey over 10 acts.
Path­breaking journey
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is
path­breaking in many ways. After failing
to reach an agreement with studios, Swift
directly went to the theatres and signed
an agreement with them.
Her announcement of the movie led to
the studios scrambling to reschedule their
releases. There was an Exorswift (yes it
does not have the ring of Barbenheimer),
which brought the release date of The
Exorcist: Believer forward from its
multi­million­dollar campaign ready date
of Friday the 13th in October.
All the pundits hold the concert movie
as the new gold standard for the
communal theatre going experience, and
it well might be. In India, there have been
limited screenings of Korean boy band
BTS’ concert movies, which generates a
kind of passion that willy­nilly sweeps one
THE DAILY QUIZ
World Polio Day falls on October 24, and awareness communication is still a major
might even say a better­than concert
experience — come on are you going to
say no to a 360­degree view, crisp edits,
tight close ups, intimate behind the
scenes sequences, good, comfortable
seats, air conditioning and clean toilets?
There is an urban legend about the
screening of Woodstock (1970), the
Academy Award winning documentary
about the iconic counter­culture festival,
which counts Thelma Schoonmaker and
Martin Scorsese among its editors.
The story goes that during the morning
screenings (don’t ask) of the documentary
in beloved theatres in Bengaluru and
Hyderabad and probably elsewhere in
India, the air was thick with the smell of
love, peace, music and a certain herbal
something.
Concert film
Mr. Scorsese, whose historical romance,
Killers of the Flower Moon, had its limited
run release cancelled in the wake of the
Swiftian juggernaut, has a long and
distinguished connection with music
documentaries. There is the elegant,
elegiac The Last Waltz (1978) of The Band’s
farewell concert with guest performers
including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil
Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison,
Ringo Starr, and Neil Young.
This was also 2005’s Bob Dylan
documentary No Direction Home, Shine a
Light in 2008, on the Rolling Stones, on
The Beatle, George Harrison: Living in the
Material World (2011) and Rolling Thunder
Going to a rock concert with the
attendant headbanging, air guitaring with
the leads and extreme tee shirts is an
experience that true­blue rockers swear
by. A concert film is the next best thing.
And a film of a concert in the theatres is
an even better option.
None of us will have the joy of watching
angst­ridden Pink build the wall brick by
brick in tune with ‘Goodbye Blue Skies’ or
‘Comfortably Numb’.
It would be fun however to watch
either Alan Parker’s movie version of the
album, Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), with
Bob Geldof playing Pink and those weird
surreal animation sequences of marching
hammers and risqué flowers by Gerald
Scarfe or The Wall – Live in Berlin with
Sinéad O’Connor’s heart breaking
rendition of ‘Mother’ on the big screen in
Surround Sound.
Another concert movie, which will be
gorgeous on the big screen would be Pink
Floyd: Live at Pompeii. The 1972 film by
Adrian Maben, features the painfully
young Roger Waters, David Gilmour,
Richard Wright and Nick Mason
performing psychedelic rock classics
including ‘Echoes’ ‘Careful with That Axe,
Eugene’s ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’, and ‘Set
the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ at the
eerily empty ancient amphitheatre in
Pompeii. The dreamlike shots of a city
frozen in time by the ashes of the
Vesuvius adds to the other­wordly vibe.
There is also 1976’s The Song Remains
the Same, featuring Led Zepplin’s
Zeppelin” the film is directed by Peter
Clifton and Joe Massot. If you can
disregard all that Arthurian Lord of the
Rings costume drama, there is great music
and performances in the film.
Fragile nature of life
From Jimmy Page shredding the double
necked guitar—please ignore the
sparkling, sequinned black bell bottoms
to Robert Plant letting it rip on ‘Immigrant
Song’, blue, puff­sleeved shirt and all. And
if you first heard “From the midnight sun
where the hot springs flow” and that
primordial scream in Thor Ragnarok you
have a singular treat coming.
It was heartbreaking to watch Michael
Jackson’s This Is It (2009) in theatres, as
the King of Pop softly cajoles his team to
“do it with love” in preparation for his big
comeback at the O2 arena.
Listening to Jackson rehearsing ‘Wanna
be Startin’ Somethin’’, with the knowledge
that the tour was not meant to be owing
to his passing less than 20 days before the
concert on June 25, underlines the
fragility and fleeting nature of life.
The massive success of Taylor Swift:
The Eras Tour might signal a renewed
interest in watching concert films as a
communal experience in theatres.
Instead of blankets and beer, let us all
head to the theatres with popcorn and
sweet, sticky drinks for a stadium­level
experience with Ms Swift. The song
remains the same only the way we
consume it changes.
Please send in your answers to
dailyquiz@thehindu.co.in
know the meaning of ‘streets ahead of.”
“It means ‘much better than’, ‘far
superior to’. This is an informal
expression used in British English. He is
streets ahead of others in sound common
sense. She is streets ahead of others in her
concern for others. Do you know what
‘streets apart’ means?”
“No, sir.”
“It means ‘very different’. John and
James are brothers. But they are streets
apart in their temperament.”
“Sir, Mr. S. Praveen Purushotam,
Justice Sundaram Road,
Nageswarapuram, Madras, wants to know
the meaning of the word ‘alacrity’.”
“ ‘Alacrity’ means ‘promptness in
response’, ‘cheerful readiness’. This is a
formal word. He accepted my invitation to
dinner with alacrity. The first ‘a’ is
pronounced like the ‘a’ in ‘India’, the
second ‘a’ is pronounced like the ‘a’ in
‘man’; ‘c’ is pronounced ‘k’; ‘i’ and ‘y’ are
pronounced like the ‘i’ in ‘pin’. Some
pronounce the ‘i’ like the ‘a’ in ‘India’.
This is also acceptable. The stress is on
the second syllable.”
“Sir, Mr. V. C. Thomas Valaparampil,
Theepani, Tiruvalla, wants to know
whether ‘activise’ is used in English”.
“ ‘Activize’ is used in American English.
It means ‘to make active’, ‘activate’.
Efforts are being made to activize the
Grievances Cell. Occasionally British
writers also use the word, but it is spelt
‘activise’. But the word is not recorded in
any British dictionary. You won’t find it
even in the second edition of the
20­volume Oxford English Dictionary
published recently. You will find ‘activize’
in American Dictionaries.” What’s your
good name, sir?
Walter Savage.
Published in The Hindu on October 31,
1989

part of this disease which has not yet been eliminated in the world
Ramya Kannan of the effort in achieving nearly Questions and Answers to the previous day’s daily quiz: 1. Against
world wide immunisation which team and in which year did Bishan Singh Bedi make his Test
X coverage? debut? Ans: West Indies in 1966
QUESTION 1 X 2. For which English county did he play for some seasons taking 434
Before it was christened Poliomyelitis QUESTION 4 wickets at an impressive average of 20.89? Ans: Northamptonshire
or polio, what was the crippling Who holds the patent for the 3. How many wickets did scalp in 67 Tests and who bettered his record?
disease known as? polio vaccine? Ans: 266. Kapil Dev
X X 4. After which Indian teammate did Bedi name his firstborn? Ans: Sunil
QUESTION 2 QUESTION 5 Gavaskar. His son was named Gavasinder
It is true that polio mainly affects In what could arguably be the 5. Bedi once conceded an ODI because of intimidatory bowling by a
children below 5 years. However, it is first celebrity endorsement for pacer from the other team. Ans: Sarfaraz Nawaz and Pakistan
possible for unvaccinated adults to a health cause, in India, top 6. Bedi holds the world record for the most economical bowling figures
contract polio and suffer similar film stars campaigned to create in a 60­over ODI match. Which team was he playing against? Ans:East
debilitating effects. One famous awareness on polio. Two of Africa
example was a US President who them were on top of the trade 7. According to Bedi, what regular household chore was the best
reportedly caught it when he was 39. at that time, and these exercise for the shoulders and fingers to keep them flexible? Ans:
Who are we talking about? campaigns had a huge impact Washing clothes
X on the community, studies X 8. Which English great remarked “My idea of heaven is Ray Lindwall
QUESTION 3 later showed. One of the stars Visual Question: Who is this young girl and bowling from one end, Bishan Bedi from the other”? Ans: Jim Laker For feedback and suggestions for
Jonas Salk’s discovery of the polio was Amitabh Bachhan. Name what particular relevance has this young girl Visual: Name the prestigious award Bedi is being honoured with. Ans: Text & Context, please write to
vaccine is nearly legendary, but do another very prominent actor to polio? The right answer is not the simple C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award letters@thehindu.co.in
you know who developed the oral to be a brand ambassador for statement that she has polio. Yes, she does, Early Birds: Varghese Joseph | Jithin K. John | Gulu Ezekiel with the subject ‘Text & Context’
polio vaccine, which was behind much the polio vaccine? but there’s a greater significance.
CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
14 Friday, October 27, 2023

News Delhi

From Page One Five militants killed near ATR panel assesses
progress of tiger
8 ex­Navy officers get
death penalty in Qatar
LoC in Kupwara: police rewilding project
Encounter with infiltrators started in the Machhal sector, a police spokesperson says; in Jammu,
The company was also involved in producing BSF and Pakistan Rangers exchanged fire in the Arnia sector, injuring one jawan and civilian
high­ tech Italian­origin submarines that are The Hindu Bureau
known for stealth capabilities. COIMBATORE
The first trial in the case was held in March this The Hindu Bureau wara Police for generating
year, followed by another in June. The men were SRINAGAR the actionable input. Tasked by the Chief Wildlife
granted consular access on multiple occasions In Jammu, the Pakistan Warden, a committee on
and the Indian ambassador to Qatar met them as ive militants were Rangers and the Border Se­ Thursday visited the enclo­
recently as October 1. Both sides, however, have
maintained a veil of secrecy over the case in view
of the sensitivities involved.
F killed in a counter­
infiltration opera­
tion near the Line of Con­
curity Force (BSF) ex­
changed fire in the Arnia
sector of the Union Territo­
sure in the core area of the
Anamalai Tiger Reserve
(ATR) to assess the progress
trol (LoC) in north Kash­ ry on Thursday night. Offi­ of the Forest Department’s
High­stakes relationship mir’s Kupwara on cials confirmed injuries to first ever attempt at rewild­ The tiger, which was rescued
Former Indian ambassador to Qatar Deepa Gopa­ Thursday, the police said. at least one BSF jawan and ing a tiger that was rescued from a tea estate near Valparai
lan highlighted the important role that a large A police spokesperson one civilian in shelling and as an abandoned cub in in September 2021, is about 30
number of Indian migrants play in fostering India­ said an encounter with in­ firing. 2021. months old now. SPECIAL
Qatar relations. “This verdict could very adversely filtrators started in the ATR Field Director S. Ra­ ARRANGEMENT
affect relations between the two countries. There Machhal sector, in which ‘Unprovoked attack’ masubramanian; Deputy
are over seven lakh Indians in Qatar and we have five of the terrorists were “Around 9 p.m., unpro­ Director (Pollachi Division) National Tiger Conserva­
close economic ties. The Indian government has killed. voked firing started by Pa­ K. Bhargava Teja; Forest Ve­ tion Authority and the Wil­
been following the case closely without doubt, but “Identification of the kistani Rangers on BSF terinary Officer (ATR) E. Vi­ dlife Institute of India, had
would need to take it up at the highest level to en­ slain are being ascertained. posts in Arnia area, which jayaraghavan; WWF­India’s tasked the committee with
sure their lives are saved,” she said. The search operation is in J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh (right) addressing the media regarding the is befittingly retaliated by Landscape Coordinator assessing whether the tiger
The verdict is the first major crisis to hit the In­ progress,” Additional Di­ counter­infiltration operations near the Line of Control. ANI BSF troops. (Western Ghats Nilgiris was ready to be released in­
dia­Qatar relationship, which has generally re­ rector­General of Police Vi­ The firing is still on,” the Landscape) D. Boominath­ to the wild.
mained steady so far. Prime Minister Narendra jay Kumar said. “There are 16 launching vered from the slain terro­ BSF said. an, among others, visited Various parameters, in­
Modi visited Doha in 2016, followed by his meet­ The Kupwara police had pads located opposite this rists. An official said several the 10,000 sq ft enclosure cluding the animal’s health
ing with the Emir of Qatar on the sidelines of the provided the information division in PoK [Pakistan­ “Five AK Rifles and oth­ villagers near zero line at Manthirimattam in Ma­ and surveillance camera vi­
UN General Assembly in New York in 2019. Exter­ about the presence of occupied Kashmir]. The er war­like stores have shifted to safer areas, as fir­ nambolly forest range. suals of it hunting small
nal Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also visited Qatar infiltrators. number of terrorists is very been recovered. The oper­ ing triggered panic. The tiger, which was res­ herbivores that were re­
in February 2022. According to the MEA, Qatar is low [in Jammu and Kash­ ation has been concluded,” It’s for the second time cued from a tea estate near leased into the enclosure
the largest supplier of LNG to India, which ac­ ‘Infiltration from PoK’ mir]. People believe in the Army said. in October that India has Valparai in September over the past several
counts for over 48% of India’s global LNG imports. Jammu and Kashmir Direc­ peace and development The spokesman said the accused Pakistani Army of 2021, is about 30­months­ months, were assessed.
India also imports ethylene, propylene, ammo­ tor­General of Police Dil­ and are cooperating with Army’s Chinar Corps re­ violating the ceasefire old now. The committee would
nia, urea, and polyethylene from Qatar. bag Singh said infiltration the administration,” Mr. mains resolute in its com­ agreement. The Principal Chief Con­ submit a detailed report to
The verdict drew strong reactions from Opposi­ bids keep happening from Singh said. mitment to keep Kashmir Both India and Pakistan servator of Forests and the Chief Wildlife Warden,
tion political parties as the Congress urged the go­ Pakistan’s side and it is be­ An Army spokesperson terror­free. renewed the pledge to res­ Chief Wildlife Warden, Sri­ after which a decision will
vernment to use its diplomatic leverage with Qa­ ing foiled by the Army, pol­ said a huge cache of arms Mr. Kumar has appre­ pect the 2002 ceasefire nivas R. Reddy, in consulta­ be taken on releasing the
tar to get the officers released at the earliest. ice and other agencies. and ammunition was reco­ ciated the role of the Kup­ agreement in 2020. tion with experts from the animal into the wild.

ED searches in Cong. ‘politicising’ ED ED action in Rajasthan sign Mamata slams

Rajasthan kick up row ‘dirty political
The summons issued to Vaibhav Gehlot in a fo­
search in Rajasthan of BJP’s imminent loss: Pilot game of BJP’
reign exchange violation case asked him to depose
before the ED at its headquarters in New Delhi on
paper leak case: BJP The Hindu Bureau
October 27. This case pertains to a Rajasthan­ The Hindu Bureau leaks under the Gehlot go­ KOLKATA
based hospitality group, whose promoter had ear­ The Hindu Bureau agencies to fight the No­ NEW DELHI vernment, the Congress
lier been Mr. Vaibhav Gehlot’s business partner in NEW DELHI vember 25 Assembly elec­ sent a political signal of try­ West Bengal Chief Minister
a car rental company. The ED reportedly wants to tion in the State. The Congress on Thursday ing to bury the past. The Mamata Banerjee on
record Mr. Vaibhav Gehlot’s statement under the The BJP on Thursday said displayed a united front as Congress Working Com­ Thursday called the Enfor­
Foreign Exchange Management Act. that the Congress govern­ ‘Most corrupt govt.’ the Enforcement Directo­ mittee (CWC) member, cement Directorate action
ment in Rajasthan, led by The BJP fielded Union Mi­ rate issued summons to who had once rebelled in West Bengal and Rajas­
Congress protests Chief Minister Ashok Geh­ nister Gajendra Singh Vaibhav Gehlot, son of Ra­ against his own govern­ than a “dirty political
The raids led to tension in the State capital and lot, was trying to “politi­ Shekhawat to combat the jasthan Chief Minister Ash­ ment, also stuck to a near­ game” of the BJP.
Congress party workers staged massive protests in cise” the Enforcement Di­ Congress’s charge. “Ashok ok Gehlot, in a Foreign Ex­ perfect script. The ED conducted
both Jaipur and Sikar, raising slogans against rectorate’s search against Gehlot is frustrated with change Management Act When reporters asked searches on the premises
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While an armed what it termed “the big action against corruption (FEMA) case and carried Sachin Pilot him about Mr. Gehlot’s of State Minister Jyotipriya
escort of the Central Reserve Police Force accom­ fishes” in the exam paper because his government out searches at the official comment, at a press confe­ Mullick and also issued
panied the ED teams, the State police force was al­ leak case. has broken all limits of cor­ residence of Rajasthan Pilot said the FEMA case rence last week, that the summons to Vaibhav Geh­
so deployed on the roads to keep the situation un­ The ED on Thursday ruption. His own party Congress chief Govind was 12 years old. “When Chief Minister’s position lot, son of Rasjathan Chief
der control. searched the premises of leaders, MLAs, adviser and Singh Dotasra in the paper they feel that they can’t may not leave him in fu­ Minister Ashok Gehlot.
The ED had earlier arrested several people, in­ Rajasthan Congress presi­ Minister have said that this leak matter. win the elections through ture as well, Mr. Pilot re­ Calling the BJP leader­
cluding former Rajasthan Public Service Commis­ dent Govind Singh Dotasra is the most corrupt govern­ Former Deputy Chief the mandate of the people plied, “No one knows what ship to fight its opponents
sion member Babulal Katara, and seized proper­ in Jaipur and Sikar as part ment of the century,” Mr. Minister Sachin Pilot ques­ of the State, then they en­ is there in the womb of the politically, she said, “Ashok
ties and cash worth crores of rupees in the paper of a money­laundering Shekhawat said at a press tioned the timing of the gage these agencies,” he future. We are all working Gehlot is not from my par­
leak case. The accused had allegedly provided the probe into the paper leak conference at the BJP searches and the summons said. in the present. Of course, ty but why are you raiding
question paper to candidates appearing in the ex­ case and summoned Mr. headquarters in New and called them “suspect, On Thursday, the ED we take lesson from the his son’s house before elec­
am for ₹8 lakh to ₹10 lakh each. Gehlot’s son, Vaibhav Geh­ Delhi. politically motivated and a searched Mr. Dotasra’s re­ past.” tions? They want to search
Addressing a hurriedly called press confe­ lot, in a foreign exchange The Union Minister not­ sign of BJP’s imminent loss sidence in connection with “Right now, our collec­ everyone’s house before
rence, the Chief Minister slammed the BJP govern­ violation case. ed that a series of govern­ [in the Assembly the leak of question papers tive effort is to win the Ra­ elections.” Ms. Banerjee
ment at the Centre, accusing it of unleashing ter­ The Congress attacked ment recruitment exam election]”. of recruitment exams in jasthan election with over­ said she would request
ror in the country. “They are misusing the Central the Centre over the ED ac­ paper leaks had taken Addressing a press con­ Rajasthan. whelming majority. Who Prime Minister Narendra
investigating agencies to target Congress leaders tion, accusing Prime Minis­ place in Rajasthan, putting ference at the All India By fielding Mr. Pilot, will get what responsibility Modi to ensure that coop­
because of the fear of BJP’s defeat in the Assembly ter Narendra Modi of tak­ the future of lakhs of youth Congress Committee who has consistently will be decided by the par­ erative federalism is not
polls,” he said. ing the help of Central at risk. (AICC) headquarters, Mr. raised the issue of paper ty in the future,” he added. destroyed.

Land will continue to
be a key domain of
warfare: Army chief
Dinakar Peri
NEW DELHI
One of the key lessons
from the Russia­Ukraine
conflict is that land will
continue to be a key do­
main of warfare, especially
when there are contested
borders as in the case of In­
dia, Army chief General
Manoj Pande said on
Thursday.
On the situation along
the border, General Pande
said it was “stable”.
“I believe the victory
markers have to be defined
in the land domain, and
hence the salience of the
land domain. That is not to
suggest when we look at
enhancing our outcomes,
through the jointness and
integration that we wish to
or must achieve with the
other services and other
stakeholders...it is as im­
portant. But, in my view, in
terms of salience of land,
the land domain is going to
be extremely important es­
pecially in our case,” Gen­
CM
YK
General Manoj Pande
eral Pande said in a fireside
chat with Lieutenant­Gen­
eral Raj Shukla (retd). He
was speaking at the cur­
tain­raiser to the inaugural
‘Chanakya Dialogue’ being
hosted by the Army, along
with the Centre for Land
Warfare Studies, next
week.
Asked about his tenure,
he said the past year had
been challenging yet satis­
fying. “As far as the opera­
tional situation is con­
cerned, it is stable and we
have dealt with internal se­
curity challenges the way
we are supposed to deal
with them”.
Sparks fly at Ethics committee meet INDIA leader to be
to hear complaint against Mahua
Sobhana K. Nair
NEW DELHI
The Ethics Committee of
the Lok Sabha has sum­
moned Trinamool Con­
gress MP Mahua Moitra on
October 31 to defend her­
self against the cash­for­qu­
ery charges levelled
against her by BJP member
Nishikant Dubey.
At the committee’s
meeting on Thursday, the
Opposition MPs initially re­
fused to allow Mr. Dubey,
the complainant, and Jai
Anant Dehadrai, advocate
and Ms. Moitra’s former
partner, to depose.
When Mr. Dehadrai
walked into the meeting,
the Opposition members
vociferously protested,
with BSP MP Danish Ali
pointing to the “different
standards” being applied
by the Ethics Committee
and the Privilege Commit­
tee, which is hearing his
complaint against BJP MP
Ramesh Bidhuri.
In a letter to Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla last
chosen at opportune
Mahua Moitra
week, Mr. Ali said the Privi­
lege Committee had first
summoned defendant Mr.
Bidhuri — who used com­
munal slurs against Mr. Ali
during a Lok Sabha debate
— instead of him, the com­
plainant, while the Ethics
Committee chose to call
the complainant first in­
stead of the defendant.
Thursday’s deadlock
between the Opposition
and BJP MPs was broken
through a vote, with Chair­
man and BJP MP Vinod Ku­
mar Sonkar casting the de­
ciding vote.
Five Opposition MPs
voted against allowing Mr.
Dubey and Mr. Dehadrai
from presenting evidence,
while six ruling party MPs
voted in favour of it.
In the 15­member com­
mittee, four members, in­
cluding Congress MP Pre­
neet Kaur, were absent at
the meeting.
Help from Ministries
“We heard out both Mr.
Dubey and Mr. Dehadrai
who were summoned by
the committee. Consider­
ing the gravity of the alle­
gations, Ms. Moitra has
now been called to present
her defence on October
31,” Mr. Sonkar told press­
persons at the end of the
meeting. He also said that
the committee had sought
assistance from the Minis­
try of Home Affairs and the
Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology.
He refused to divulge the
information the panel has
sought from the two
Ministries.
The Opposition de­
manded that industrialist
time: Lalu Prasad
Darshan Hiranandani, who
submitted an affidavit in­ The Hindu Bureau stressed that a leader for
dicting Ms. Moitra, also be PATNA the Indian National Deve­
summoned before the pa­ lopmental Inclusive Al­
nel. “We were told that Mr. Former Bihar Chief Minis­ liance (INDIA) would be se­
Hiranandani is a UAE citi­ ter Lalu Prasad on Thurs­ lected at the opportune
zen and therefore we will day slammed the BJP say­ hour, while praising Con­
have to consult the legal ex­ ing it was trying to create a gress leader Rahul Gandhi,
perts on whether he can be communal divide, and ad­ as a flag­bearer of social
called for the meeting,” a ded that the party would justice.
senior Opposition leader be wiped out in next year’s The RJD supremo visit­
said. Lok Sabha election. ed the State Congress
As per a complaint filed The RJD chief also al­ headquarters after a gap of
by Mr. Dubey and Mr. De­ leged the BJP is a threat to nearly eight years. He said
hadrai, the Trinamool MP the Constitution. the winds that originate in
had shared her Lok Sabha Speaking of the leader­ Bihar will spread over the
login id and password with ship issue in the Lok Sabha entire country and lead to
industrialist Mr. Hiranan­ election, Mr. Prasad a victory of the new bloc.
dani to enable him to ask
questions on her behalf in
exchange of pecuniary be­
nefits. Mr. Hiranandani, in
the affidavit submitted to
the Ethics Committee,
turned approver.
The Opposition asked a
raft of questions to the
Chairman on why the com­
mittee is in such a hurry.
“What was particularly
problematic is the propa­
ganda from BJP that pre­
ceded the meeting,” anoth­
er member said.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023 15
Delhi

ASSEMBLY POLLS 2023

MIZORAM » MADHYA PRADESH » RAJASTHAN » CHHATTISGARH » TELANGANA

Kamal Nath files
poll papers from
Chhindwara
쑽 the byelection to the
Madhya Pradesh Congress
president and former Chief
Minister Kamal Nath on
Thursday filed his nomination
from the Chhindwara
constituency — his pocket
borough — for the November
17 State Assembly election.
The 76­year­old leader filed
the nomination after offering
prayers at a Ram temple here.
The ruling BJP has fielded
Bunty Sahu against Mr. Nath.
The Congress leader had
defeated Mr. Sahu by a margin
of more than 25,000 votes in
Chhindwara seat in 2019.
Talking to presspersons, Mr.
Nath, who is leading the party
in the State and is its chief
ministerial candidate, said the
people of Madhya Pradesh, in
particular Chhindwara, will
shower their blessings on the
Congress. Mr. Nath has
represented the Chhindwara
Lok Sabha constituency eight
times. PTI
Kamal Nath won the 2019
byelection to the Chhindwara
Assembly seat by a margin of
25,000 votes.
‘Congress, SP
are fighting for
same issues’
쑽 partners in the INDIA bloc.
Congress leader Randeep
Singh Surjewala on Thursday
said that his party and the
Samajwadi Party were, in
principle, fighting together
over issues such as
unemployment, corruption
and inflation, and that their
DNA for the Constitution and
the nation was the same.
Mr. Surjewala’s remarks
came amid a public discord
between the Congress and the
SP over seat­sharing for the
Assembly election in Madhya
Pradesh. Both parties are
“We have been talking to
our INDIA alliance friends from
time to time. Sometimes,
coordination with them [on
issues] gets established and
sometimes it may not,” he said.
It is like a father having four
sons and all of them living in
different houses, he said. “But
their DNA for the Constitution
and the country will remain
same,” he said. PTI
Seeing its
certain defeat
in Rajasthan, BJP made
its last throw of the dice!
The ED has entered the
campaign and started
action against Congress
MALLIKARJUN KHARGE
Congress president
Ram vs Ravan
video lands man
in deep trouble
쑽
Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh
Assembly election, the police They [Cong.]
have registered a
have committed
non­cognisable offence report
the sin of leaking papers
against a man in Indore over a
video purportedly projecting
and destroying the
BJP candidate Kailash dreams of youth in
Vijayvargiya as Ravan and his Rajasthan. The youth are
Congress rival Sanjay Shukla as not getting justice
Lord Ram, an official said on
C.P. JOSHI
Thursday. PTI BJP Rajasthan unit president

Communal cut and thrust roils poll blitz

Chhattisgarh has never seen such divisive rhetoric so far in its electoral history; as Amit Shah and Himanta raised the temperatures by resorting
to such language, especially in the Durg and Rajnandgaon belt, the ruling party has been seeking to defend its turf through welfare promises

IN FOCUS ja seat in Bemetara district. dates for all the 90 seats in

Two days later in Ka­ the State, with nearly a
wardha, Mr. Sarma — cam­ third from OBC
Shubhomoy Sikdar paigning for Vijay Sharma, communities.
RAIPUR another BJP candidate who The Congress has
A long wait: Former civil servant Nisha Bangre joined is an accused in the 2021 dropped 22 of its 71 MLAs,
he term “lynch­ communal clashes over re­ though two of them have

T
the Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. ANI
ing”, the Hamas­Is­ ligious flag hoisting — tar­ sons who will contest from

Out of job and rael war, and a

Mughal emperor have all
become part of the politi­
geted the State’s only Mus­
lim Minister, Mohammad
Akbar, saying, “One Akbar
their fathers’ current seats.
The BJP has also dropped
two sitting MLAs, from a

out of race after cal lexicon of Chhattisgarh

in the run­up to the elec­
tion. With past communal
brings a hundred Akbars.”
He added that it was an ‘Ak­
bar’ fighting on the Gaza
relatively low base of just
13 MLAs and despite inter­
nal criticism about too ma­

a long battle clashes influencing not just

the tone and tenor of the
BJP’s campaign but its se­
lection of candidates as
Mehul Malpani well, observers say the
BHOPAL State is witnessing the
emergence of a Hindu­
former Deputy Collector, Nisha Muslim divide as a poll is­
Strip, noting that Hamas
had shot down children
and the elderly in Israel.
ny old faces in their list.
There have been few in­
stances of rebellion in eith­
The Congress has filed er party till now.
complaints with the Elec­ The main actors in this
tion Commission against electoral theatre are the
the two leaders, and Chief BJP and the Congress, but
Minister Bhupesh Baghel the State does have a smat­

A Bangre, who joined the Congress in

Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, will
not contest the Assembly election but will
sue for the first time in its
electoral history.
As the BJP looks to build
has accused the BJP of pol­
iticising the communal
clashes.
the Congress may cause
some damage to the Con­
Tamradhwaj Sahu the
Chief Minister. The BJP is
a farm loan waiver for the
farmers of the State and
tering of other players
looking to spoil the party
for the leads.
serve the State and the party in other a narrative against the Bhu­ “In the Biranpur [Be­ gress in 18 seats where the attempting a counter to the reiterated his earlier pro­ They include an alliance
capacities, State Congress president Kamal pesh Baghel­led Congress metara] incident, action community is dominant. Congress’s OBC push, as mises to conduct a State­le­ between the Bahujan Sa­
Nath said. government through alle­ was taken against all the This includes areas from the upper caste voters are vel caste survey, buy 20 maj Party and the Gondwa­
He was speaking at a public rally in his gations of polarisation and accused. After that, we also the Durg­Rajnandgaon belt barely 7% to 8% in Chhat­ quintals per acre of rice na Gantantra Party, the
home turf Chhindwara, where he also corruption, the ruling par­ announced compensation that sends key political fi­ tisgarh,” says Mr. Tomar. from farmers, and provide Janta Congress Chhattis­
inducted Ms. Bangre into the party ranks. ty seeks to defend its turf — and passed it in the Cabi­ gures such as Raman Singh Narayan Chandel, a se­ 17.5 lakh houses for the garh( J) or JCCJ, the Hamar
“You will become an example. No problem and its catchphrase of Bha- net. The manner in which and Mr. Baghel to the As­ nior BJP leader and the homeless. One prevailing Raj Party (HRP) founded
that you are not contesting the polls, but I rosa (trust) — through new the BJP has fielded [the vic­ sembly, to the Bilaspur re­ Leader of the Opposition view within the Congress is by former Union Minister
need your services in M.P.,” he said. welfare promises. tim’s father Ishwar Sahu] gion,” he says. in the outgoing Assembly, that the bonus it gives to Arvind Netam, and a rejuv­
Ms. Bangre had quit her Deputy Collector Campaigning for candi­ as a candidate, it means plays down the impor­ paddy cultivators is now enated Aam Aadmi Party.
position in June after the administration dates in the Durg and Raj­ they want to politicise,” Caste calculus tance of these controver­ being “taken as granted”, In the 2018 polls, despite
denied her permission to attend a Buddhist nandgaon belt, Union Mr. Baghel told a TV chan­ Mr. Tomar adds that the Sa­ sial speeches. and the party needed to do an impressive show by the
event and an all­religion prayer for the Home Minister Amit Shah nel on Wednesday. hu­versus­Congress/Mus­ On the candidature of something extra to keep Congress, over 20% of the
inauguration of her home in Amla. and Assam Chief Minister Raipur­based political lims calculus has to be Mr. Sahu and Mr. Sharma, farmers impressed. votes went to “others”.
Her resignation was only accepted by the Himanta Biswa Sarma have commentator Ashok To­ viewed in light of the BJP’s however, he says that there Mr. Chandel from the Asked if too many
Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday delivered speeches with mar says that this is a des­ own efforts to woo the Sa­ are many factors behind BJP, however, says that players will mean a divi­
after a four­month struggle. Having quit communal overtones. perate move by the BJP, as hus, a key Other Backward the selections, including waiving loans will not be sion of the non­BJP, non­
government service, she sought to enter its campaign has lacked Class (OBC) community, by caste. “The party must possible this time around. Congress votes, JCCJ chief
politics and contest the polls from Amla in Communal themes teeth so far and proposals appointing Arun Sao as its have thought it through be­ “The State is under a lot of Amit Jogi says his party has
Betul district. In Rajnandgaon on Octob­ for a caste survey have State president last year. fore fielding them. There debt and the Treasury fielded grassroots­level
The Congress, which had earlier held the er 16, Mr. Shah accused the further wrong­footed the The BJP has fielded nine are many factors involved, does not have enough workers and picked those
seat for her, announced its candidate for Congress government of party. “Though Muslims candidates from the Sahu regional equations, caste funds for even patchwork who have won elections at
Amla late on Monday, the deadline set by the being responsible for the form a miniscule part of community while the Con­ equations and feedback of roads. Where will they the local level as BJP and
Madhya Pradesh High Court for the lynching a youth, who was the State’s population, po­ gress has fielded seven. from ground surveys,” he get the funds from? They Congress candidates. Ana­
government to decide on Ms. Bangre’s killed in a Hindu­Muslim larisation on religious “And then factor in the says. are deceiving the farmers,” lysts say the outfit’s pros­
resignation. On Tuesday, however, the clash in April and whose lines, and also pitting Sa­ Congress alienating some On October 23, Mr. says Mr. Chandel. pects are dim after the
Congress changed its candidates for four father the BJP has fielded hus — a community that of the Sahu voters by not Baghel rolled the dice Both parties have now death of its founder Ajit
other seats in the State. as a candidate from the Sa­ Ishwar hails from — against making [Cabinet Minister] again when he announced announced their candi­ Jogi.
Ms. Bangre accused the BJP government of
“conspiring against her” by issuing the order
accepting her resignation only after the

Assam CM gets EC notice for EC issues notice to

Congress declared its candidate. She,
however, continues to be hopeful that the Congress
party will consider changing its candidate
announces
from Amla. “I have been told that the
Congress’s central leadership will review the
matter. I am going to Amla now and will be
speech targeting Minister third list for Priyanka Gandhi over
ready to file the nomination in case the party
gives me a signal,” she told The Hindu in a
in poll­bound Chhattisgarh Rajasthan poll remarks on Modi
phone conversation.
A source in the State Congress said that Ms. The Hindu Bureau Press Trust of India The move comes
Bangre had not fared well in the party’s The Hindu Bureau JAIPUR NEW DELHI after the BJP filed a
internal surveys and that has now been RAIPUR complaint over her
conveyed to her. “She has become a The Congress on Thursday The Election Commission
comments regarding
prominent face representing women and Assam Chief Minister Hi­ announced its third list, on Thursday issued a
Dalits in the State now. So it’s better for her to manta Biswa Sarma on comprising 19 candidates, show­cause notice to Con­ PM’s temple visit
start working for the party on the ground Thursday was served a not­ for the upcoming Rajas­ gress general secretary Pri­
instead of contesting an election right away,” ice by the Election Com­ than Assembly election. yanka Gandhi Vadra over
the source said. mission for a speech he Ticket was given to one her “envelope” remarks re­ not, the BJP’s complaint
Another senior leader, however, said, had made in the poll­ Minister and 11 MLAs, in­ lated to Prime Minister Na­ read. She then went on to
“Since, she was not a party member until bound Chhattisgarh earlier cluding three Indepen­ rendra Modi’s temple visit. launch a political attack on
now, I don’t think her name was part of any this month. dents who had supported It asked her to respond to the BJP saying that “enve­
survey. We wanted to field her but the BJP In Kawardha, the Assam the Ashok Gehlot govern­ the notice by October 30. lopes” are shown to public
government delayed clearance to her Chief Minister had at­ ment during the political The EC action came a by the party but nothing is
resignation on purpose.” He added, “Now, it’s tacked Mohammad Akbar, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had made the remarks crisis in 2020. The State day after the BJP filed a found in them after the
not right to replace Manoj Malve (Congress Chhattisgarh’s only Muslim during his visit to Chhattisgarh earlier this month. FILE PHOTO will go to the polls on No­ complaint against her. elections. The BJP includ­
candidate from Amla) out of the blue. She Minister, and said the land vember 25. The BJP on Wednesday ed a video of her remarks
will get better opportunities after the of Mata Kaushalya would State to weaken Sanatana [Mr. Baghel] opened any The State’s ruling party accused Ms. Vadra of “in­ in its complaint.
elections.” get impure if Mr. Akbar Dharma. university in five years? In also fielded two MLAs who voking the personal reli­ Reacting to the BJP’s
As the government failed to accept her was not sent off. “...We have to think Assam, medical colleges had won the 2018 Assemb­ gious devotion of Prime complaint, Ms. Vadra on
resignation, submitted in June, Ms. Bangre Calling the speech divi­ about the situation to have been set up in each ly polls on Bahujan Samaj Minister Narendra Modi” Thursday alleged that Mr.
had moved the High Court on August 7 and sive and communal, the which the Bhupesh Baghel district. There has been no Party ticket and later to make false claims during Modi was making “empty
got a ruling in her favour, with the court Congress had filed a com­ government has pushed basic transformation in the joined the Congress along her election campaign in promises”. In a post on her
directing the government to decide on the plaint with the EC against Chhattisgarh. Religious State [Chhattisgarh]. Bagh­ with four of their fellow le­ Rajasthan, and urged the WhatsApp channel she
resignation soon. On August 21, however, the Mr. Sarma. During his conversions are taking el does drama every time,” gislators. The two legisla­ Election Commission to said: “The BJP people got
government initiated departmental Chhattisgarh visit on place. A conspiracy is be­ he added. tors are Wajib Ali, who will take action against her. so angry with one of my
proceedings against her and used them to get Thursday, Mr. Sarma had ing played to convert tri­ He attacked Mr. Baghel contest from Bharaput dis­ Ms. Vadra, the BJP noted statements that they filed a
a stay on the HC’s directions. said that he had raised the bals in every part of the over his latest promise on trict’s Nagar seat, and Lak­ in its submission, told a pu­ case against me.”
In September, Ms. Bangre took out a foot right issue through his State. Sanatana [Dharma] farm loan waiver, asking han Singh Meena, fielded blic meet in Dausa on Oc­ “The work that he does
march from Betul to Bhopal. She was speech and if the EC sent is being attacked,” he said why were the farmers from Karauli. tober 20 that she saw it on also shows that Modiji’s en­
detained in the State capital in October when him a notice, he would res­ in Mahasamund district forced to take loans in the Minister Ramesh Chand television that when an en­ velop is empty. Women’s
her supporters decided to protest at Chief pond to it. where he was addressing a first place. He urged peo­ Meena has been fielded velope of donation made reservation, OBC caste
Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s house, but He alleged on Thursday public meeting in support ple to elect the BJP in from the Sapotra consti­ by Mr. Modi at a temple census, ERCP (Eastern Ra­
was released the next day. Last week, the HC that Chhattisgarh Chief Mi­ of his party candidates. Chhattisgarh so that a dou­ tuency in Karauli. The par­ was opened, it carried only jasthan Canal Project) are
again ruled directing the government to nister Bhupesh Baghel had “We should think about ble­engine government ty has declared candidates ₹21. She added that she saw all empty promises be­
conclude the proceedings and make a opened a “big market of re­ what the Congress has gi­ could work for its for 95 seats in the 200­ the news and was not cause Modiji’s envelope is
decision on her resignation by October 23. ligious conversion” in the ven in five years. Has he development. member Assembly. aware if the claim is true or empty,” she said.
CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
16 Friday, October 27, 2023

News Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 SC allows surrogacy, strikes down Add Tagore’s
name on

rule banning use of donor gametes varsity plaque,

says Mamata
Two­judge Bench comes to the rescue of a woman suffering from the rare medical condition of Mayer Rokitansky The Hindu Bureau
Kuster Hauser syndrome by staying the operation of a law which threatened to wreck her hopes of becoming a mother KOLKATA

The controversy over the

Krishnadas Rajagopal become a mother through surrogacy was “woman­ installation of plaques at
Mehbooba re­elected PDP NEW DELHI gestational surrogacy.
They included “having no
centric”. The decision to
have a surrogate child was
Visva­Bharati University
has turned into a full­
president for fourth time he Supreme Court uterus or missing uterus or entirely based on the wo­ blown political war with

Mehbooba Mufti, former Jammu & Kashmir Chief

Minister, was re­elected president of the Peoples
T has protected the
right of parent­
hood of a woman, suffer­
Democratic Party (PDP) in the party elections in ing from a rare medical
Srinagar on Thursday. Ms. Mufti, 64, was elected condition, by staying the
through a voice vote, in which senior party operation of a law which
leaders participated at the party headquarters at threatened to wreck her
Lal Chowk in Srinagar. She will serve the party as hopes to become a mother
its president for a three­year term. A party official through surrogacy.
said Ms. Mufti’s name was proposed by party The woman has the
vice­president Abdul Rehman Veeri. It is for the Mayer Rokitansky Kuster
fourth time Ms. Mufti has been re­elected Hauser syndrome. Medical
president. “She embodies resilience, a powerful board records showed she
voice, and the epitome of struggle and has “absent ovaries and ab­
determination,” Firdous Tak said. sent uterus, hence she can­
not produce her own eggs/
oocytes”. The couple had
begun the process of gesta­
BJP celebrates ‘Accession Day’ tional surrogacy on De­
cember 7 last year.
in Jammu & Kashmir However, a government
notification on March 14
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday this year amended the law,
celebrated October 26 as ‘Accession Day’ to banning the use of donor
commemorate the arrival of the Army in Jammu gametes. It said “intending
& Kashmir on this day in 1947, followed by couples” must use their
signing of the Instrument of Accession by then own gametes for surroga­
Dogra monarch Maharaja Hari Singh. “The cy. The petition was filed in
Accession Day has existed since 1947. It was some the Supreme Court chal­
local political parties that misguided youth, lenging the amendment as
resulting in bloodshed and filling of graveyards, a violation of a woman’s
all these years. These parties are still yearning for right to parenthood.
violence in Kashmir. However, Narendra Modi on “The amendment
August 5, 2019, ended their propaganda,” BJP which is now coming in the
leader Darakhshan Andrabi said. way of the intending cou­
ple and preventing them
from achieving parent­
hood through surrogacy,
we find, is, prima facie con­
trary to what is intended
under the main provisions
of the Surrogacy Act both
in form as well as in sub­
stance,” a Bench of Justices
B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal
Bhuyan held in a recent
order.
Senior advocate Sanjay
Jain, the petitioner’s la­
wyer, argued that the
amended Paragraph 1(d) of
the Surrogacy (Regulation)
Rules, 2022, by ruling out
the use of donor eggs, had
made it impossible for his
client and her husband to
continue with the process
of surrogacy to achieve pa­
renthood.
He argued that the 2023
amendment contradicted
Sections 2(r) and 4 of the
Surrogacy Act, 2021, which
recognised the situation
when a medical condition
would require a couple to
opt for gestational surroga­
cy in order to become
parents.
Mr. Jain referred to Rule
14(a) of the Surrogacy
Rules which listed the
medical or congenital con­
ditions owing to which a
woman could choose to
abnormal uterus (like hy­
poplastic uterus or intrau­
terine adhesions or thin
endometrium or small un­
icornuate uterus, T­shaped
uterus) or if the uterus is
surgically removed due to
any medical condition
such as gynaecological
cancer”.
‘Woman’s choice’
The lawyer said the Rule
made it clear that the
choice was solely that of
the woman. He said his
client had begun the surro­
gacy process months be­
fore the amendment,
which cannot be imple­
mented retrospectively.
The government,
through Additional Solici­
tor­General Aishwarya
Bhati, countered that the
process of surrogacy can­
not be availed under the
law unless the child was
“genetically related” to the
intending couple. This ex­
empted the use of donor
eggs. In an 11­page order,
the court agreed with Mr.
Jain’s argument that the
law permitting gestational
man’s inability to become a
mother owing to her medi­
cal or congenital condi­
tion. Such a condition in­
cluded the “absence of a
uterus or repeatedly failed
pregnancies, multiple
pregnancies or an illness
which makes it impossible
for her to carry a pregnan­
cy to term or would make
the pregnancy
life­threatening”.
The amendment cannot
contradict Rule 14(a) which
specifically recognises the
absence of a uterus or any
allied condition as a medi­
cal indication necessitating
gestational surrogacy, the
court held.
Addressing the govern­
ment’s contention that the
surrogate child should be
“genetically related” to the
couple, the court said the
child would be related to
the husband. “In this re­
gard, it may be noted that
the expression ‘genetically’
related to the intending
couple has to be read as be­
ing related to the husband
when Rule 14(a) applies,”
the court said.
West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee threaten­
ing protests if the name of
Rabindranath Tagore is not
included in the installation
by Friday.
A controversy had
erupted after Visva­Bharati
had installed plaques com­
memorating UNESCO
“World Heritage Site” to
Santiniketan, bearing the
names of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who is also
the Chancellor of the un­
iversity, and Vice­Chancel­
lor Bidyut Chakrabarty.
“It is only for Rabindra­
nath Tagore that Santinike­
tan got the UNESCO tag.
We were silent because of
the Durga Puja celebra­
tions. If you do not remove
the plaques and put up
new ones with the Nobel
Laureate’s name by 10 a.m.
tomorrow, our people will
launch a demonstration
holding Kobiguru’s photos
to their chests,” the Chief
Minister told presspersons.
The university authori­
ties have called the plaques
temporary and the crisis
unwanted.

Internet ban
in Manipur
extended till
October 31
Press Trust of India
IMPHAL
The Manipur government
has extended the mobile
Internet ban for another
five days till October 31, of­
ficials said on Thursday.
The ban was extended fol­
lowing “apprehensions
that some anti­social ele­
ments might use social me­
dia extensively for trans­
mission of images, hate
speech and videos inciting
the passions of the public
which might have serious
repercussions on the law
and order situation,” a not­
ification said.
The notification by
Commissioner (Home) T.
Ranjit Singh said that the
DGP’s letter dated October
25 had “reported that
there are still reports of in­
cidents of violence like
confrontation of the public
with security forces, at­
tempts to mob elected
members’ residences.”
‘Super rich’ incomes’ share ebbing
amid middle­class mobility: CBDT
The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
India’s tax base has wi­
dened sharply since 2013­
14, with individuals moving
up the income ladder and
the proportion of super­
rich taxpayers’ incomes
declining, the Central
Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT) said on Thursday,
days after the Congress cit­
ed income tax data to show
widening income inequali­
ty in the country.
The overall number of
income tax (I­T) returns
filed by individuals has ri­
sen from 3.36 crore to 6.37
crore through assessment
years 2013­14 to 2021­22,
while there is also an in­
crease in number of re­
turns filed by individual
taxpayers across various
ranges of gross total in­
come, the CBDT said in a
statement.
“In the range of gross to­
tal income up to ₹5 lakh,
the number of returns filed
by individual taxpayers has
increased from 2.62 crore
in AY 2013­14 to 3.47 crore
in AY 2021­22, registering
an increase of 32%. This
range of income includes
individuals having income
below taxable limit who
may not be filing returns,”
the board pointed out.
For higher income rang­
es of ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh,
and ₹10 lakh to ₹25 lakh,
the number of individual
returns filed surged 295%
and 291% over the period,
respectively. “This indi­
cates that individual tax­
payers are showing a posi­
tive trend of migration to
higher range of gross total
income,” the CBDT said.
Digging deeper into the
data reveals that the pro­
portionate contribution of
gross total income of top
1% individual taxpayers vis­
à­vis all individual tax­
payers has decreased from
15.9% to 14.6%, the board
said, while the share of the
bottom 25% taxpayers in­
creased from 8.3% to 8.4%
over the same period.
“The proportion of gross
total income of middle 74%
group of individual tax­
payers increased from
75.8% to 77% in the above
period,” the statement
said, adding that the aver­
age gross total income for
individual taxpayers in­
creased from about ₹4.5
lakh to about ₹7 lakh over
the nine­year period, re­
presenting an increase of
56%.
“The increase in average
gross total income for top
1% individual taxpayers is
42% while that for bottom
25% individual taxpayers is
58%,” it added.
The data indicates “ro­
bust growth in the gross to­
tal income of individuals
across different income
groups subsequent to AY
2013­14”, the board said,
adding this was reflected in
the increase in net direct
tax collections from ₹6.38
lakh crore in 2013­14 to
₹16.61 lakh crore in 2022­
23.
India’s green hydrogen move
may worsen pollution if steps
are not in place, says study
Jacob Koshy
NEW DELHI
India’s plans to produce
so­called ‘green hydrogen’
— where the gas is pro­
duced without resulting in
fossil fuel emissions — may
end up worsening pollu­
tion if proper checks and
balances are not in place,
according to a study by en­
vironmental and energy
think­tank, Climate Risk
Horizons (CRH).
The National Green Hy­
drogen Mission, piloted by
the Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy
(MNRE), expects to manu­
facture five million tonnes
by 2030. This would re­
quire the installation of re­
newable energy capacity
worth 125 GW and the use
of 250,000 gigawatt­hour
units of power, equivalent
to about 13% of India’s pre­
sent electricity generation.
As of August 2023, In­
dia’s total renewable ener­
gy (RE) capacity stood at
131 GW. The 2030 green hy­
drogen plan thus envisages
adding an equivalent RE
capacity by 2030. This is
over and above the 500
GW of RE capacity that In­
dia has committed to in­
stall by 2030 as part of the
Paris Agreement. To put
that in perspective, India
installed only 15 GW of new
solar and wind capacity in
2023, against the 45 GW
per year needed to reach
the 2030 target.
Using coal-based power
The MNRE has defined
green hydrogen as hydro­
gen produced in a way that
emits no more than two kg
of carbon dioxide per kg of
such hydrogen. Currently,
producing one kg of ‘grey
hydrogen’, as it is known,
ends up emitting nine kg of
carbon dioxide. “While a
detailed methodology is
awaited, the definition as it
stands leaves a lot to inter­
pretation,” said CRH’s chief
executive Ashish Fer­
nandes, in the report re­
leased on Thursday.
The main concern is
that if electrolysers were
run 24x7, they would be
expected to operate even
at night when no solar
power is available.
“Where will the electric­
ity come from? If it comes
from India’s coal­powered
grid in general, it will in
fact increase carbon emis­
sions, since about 70% of
the electricity on the grid
is coal­generated — more in
non­daylight hours when
solar generation is nil,” the
report notes. “The vast ma­
jority of projects have not
disclosed their source of
electricity. It is also not
clear if those few projects
that have committed...to
meet 100% of their require­
ment from these sources.”

To solve this puzzle online,

SCAN TO PLAY
SUDOKU
14005 get across to our crossword site. 쑽
@ https://qrgo.page.link/jjpTn
(set by Avtaar)

13 Dope obtained from discharged airmen fleeing European city

(5)
15 Singular, Byzantine beer mugs in swamps (9) FAITH
17 Not like I fight amidst evening out with partner! (9) 쑽
19 After rejecting outliers, certifies statistical assessment (1­4)
22 Implement vacuous scheme to protect quarters (5)
23 Doctor induced to cut (9)
Saranagati, the easiest way
25 Model remains outside parking area (7) Yama comes in the guise of a poor man to meet king Yudh­
26 Doctor linked to a charge involving model who has been ishthira. Yama refuses the food offered by Yudhishthira,
recruited recently (7) for the sins of a king’s subjects come to the ruler, elaborat­
27 Case of rector getting involved in petition by don is bizarre (7)
ed Velukkudi Krishnan in a discourse.
28 Developing new source of aromatic perfume (7)
Eating food served by a king will result in transference
Down
1 Airmen from India turned up to divide portion for dessert (7)
of some of those sins to the one who eats the food. Yudh­
2 Article by Avtaar and partner in Kindle (7) ishthira wonders what he is going to do about the sin
3 Spice displayed on the counter by warehouses in Africa (5) which will come to him, if the visitor leaves without ac­
4 Torrid days ­ drinking cola leads to indigestion (9) cepting his (Yudhishthira’s) hospitality. Yama assures him
5 Stupid sort taking the wrong turn (5) that such a sin will not touch a Vishnu bhakta like Yudhish­
6 Picture is on now (9) thira. A person with such devotion never seeks the fruits
7 From Athens, a letter and phone about son's job in a hospital (7) of any daana, for he does not see anything as his property.
8 Quotes from merchant, agent and accountant, perhaps? (7) He sees everything that he has as coming from the Lord,
Solution to previous puzzle Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku
14 This is offered after a handshake by top seed after work­out and he submits the benefits of daana at Krishna’s feet. The
with beginner in England (5,4) benefits of a punya take one to svarga. But a true devotee
16 Fancy bed linen with diamonds seamlessly integrated (7,2)
Across seeks moksha, not svarga. And so, he will not seek the be­
17 Leaves voids (7)
1 Notice hundred thousand from India breaking into Pennsylvania nefits of any act of generosity.
18 Sparta's principal caravan race (7)
Avenue (7) 20 First line in "Introduction to Effective Training and There are circuitous paths to reach the Lord, like upasa­
5 Ring inlaid in my filigree headgear (7) Communication" (7) na, for instance. But the easiest way to reach Him is sara­
9 Regiment is hoarding stray, withered fruit (7) 21 Touching line from explosive, overpowering novel "Agnes' son nagati or total surrender at His feet. Yama, after revealing
10 Cravin' for drug? (7) goes missing" (7) who he is, says that since Yudhishthira is an amsa of Yama,
11 Oriental wearing a cape wins fight, getting appreciation (9) 23 Puppet­stringing amateur odd­job man (2­3) the deity of dharma, he cannot do wrong. Although Yudh­
12 Upper class elements of the literati (5) 24 Bears hiding egg under college mess (5) ishthira has not done any aradhana to Yama, the latter
says he is pleased with Yudhishthira’s aradhana.
CM M ND-NDE
YK
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
4 ALL1
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
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THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12903
■ ACROSS
1 Improperly insist on
demonstrations (3­3)
4 Last name/Surname is used for
ID (8)
10 Denied daughter’s new visa’s
due (9)
11 Play doctor and a mom (5)
12 Glorify old bunch? That’s
retrograde (5)
13 Once again took over
vandalized depot after study
(9)
14 Scales rail to obtain a quiet
room perhaps (7)
16 Spare doctor again (4)
19 Road’s birds (4)
21 Some men toil to carry a
trophy (7)
24 Insurance company’s
directions to recognize some
specic permit holders (9)
25 Snake coils around man’s tea
(5)
26 Greek character takes help of
Indian poet (5)
27 Expert gets to unknown
information officer from the
You will never run out of intellectual challenges @ east regarding early life (9)
https://crossword.thehindu.com
28 Wanted suspended reed to be
redesigned (8)
29 Donkey’s rate (6)
CM
YK
THE HINDU
TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2020
(set by Sunnet)
■ DOWN
1 Fiddle duly ends and from out
of nowhere... (8)
2 Metro to try pushing ahead
with experimental container
(4,4)
3 New number by Dizzy Love (5)
5 Engineer admires a weapon (7)
6 Cable tuner’s weight (9)
7 Indian caves in a month to the
volunteer army (6)
8 He nally secures antelopes
(6)
9 Quantity we hand in to get a
keyboard (6)
15 Hazardous undertaking
manufacturing urea around
Germany’s empty (9)
17 Place a ruler on East­North­
East to cross North perhaps
(8)
18 Love stories of eternal city
with a church in two corners
(8)
20 Stiff on the French tower (7)
21 It brings good luck to men on
racetrack (6)
22 Quail’s Florida measure (6)
23 Energy of irradiated cation (6)
25 Works and schedules (5)
A
 THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023 17
Delhi
World
KABUL ARBIL BRATISLAVA TBILISI
Afghan girls’ education activist 10 PKK fighters killed as Turkiye Slovakia announces halt of aid to Armenia PM hopes for Azerbaijan
released from detention: family renews strikes on northern Iraq Ukraine, pointing to crack in unity peace deal ‘in coming months’

AFP REUTERS REUTERS AFP

X X X X
An Afghan activist who campaigned for girls’ access to education Ten fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed, Slovakia’s new populist Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday he
was released from detention on Thursday, more than seven months Iraqi Kurdish authorities said on Thursday, as Turkiye said it Thursday that his government was stopping military aid to Ukraine, hoped to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming
after he was arrested by Taliban authorities, his family said. launched renewed air strikes on northern Iraq. Turkiye’s Defence in the first Western reversal of the kind. Slovak political scientist months, after Baku recaptured Nagorno­Karabakh from
Matiullah Wesa, the founder of the non­profit organisation PenPath, Ministry confirmed conducting air strikes on targets in five areas of Branislav Kovacik said that Ukraine “will not miss the volume [of ethnic­Armenian separatists in September. The peace treaty would
“has been released”, his brother Attaullah Wesa said. AFP northern Iraq, saying “many terrorists were neutralised”. AFP aid]” but added that “any loss in unity has symbolic meaning”. AFP be on the mutual recognition of the Soviet­era borders, he said. AFP

Israeli troops carry out Israeli strike

kills family
ground incursion into Gaza of Al Jazeera
journalist
Death toll in Gaza, which sees devastating Israeli bombing, soars past 7,000, according to the Agence France­Presse
Palestinian officials; during the raid, ‘soldiers killed Hamas fighters and destroyed infrastructure’ DOHA
The family of an Al Jazeera
Associated Press Israel’s war Cabinet, said journalist have been killed
RAFAH any possible ground offen­ in an Israeli strike on Gaza,
sive would be only “one the Qatar­based network
Palestinians will die rather
than leave home: envoy
Kallol Bhattacherjee “We thank India for
NEW DELHI sending humanitarian as­
sistance. We are deeply
Palestinians will choose thankful for the gesture.
death over becoming refu­ But there are thousands of
gees in other countries tonnes of goods waiting in
despite the threat of Israeli Egypt but till now only 100
bombing, said Palestinian trucks have been able to

I
sraeli troops and tanks
launched an hours­
long ground raid into
northern Gaza overnight
into Thursday, the military
said, striking several mili­
tant targets in order to
“prepare the battlefield”
before a widely expected
ground invasion after more
than two weeks of devas­
tating airstrikes.
The raid came after the
UN warned that it’s on the
verge of running out of fuel
in the Gaza Strip, forcing it
to sharply curtail relief ef­
forts in the territory, which
has also been under a com­
plete siege since Hamas’
bloody rampage across
southern Israel ignited the
war earlier this month.
The rising death toll in
Gaza, which soared past
7,000 on Thursday, ac­
cording to Palestinian offi­
cials, is unprecedented in
the decades­long Israeli­
Palestinian conflict. Even
Deadly strike: Smoke billowing over the northern Strip after the
overnight raid by the Israeli Army into Hamas­controlled Gaza. AFP
greater loss of life could
come if Israel launches an
expected ground offensive
aimed at crushing Hamas,
which has ruled Gaza since
2007 and survived four
previous wars with Israel.
750 killed in 24 hours
The Health Ministry in Ha­
mas­ruled Gaza said Wed­
nesday that more than 750
people were killed over the
past 24 hours, higher than
the 704 killed the previous
day. Israel has vowed to
crush Hamas’ capacity to
govern Gaza or threaten it
again, while also saying it
doesn’t want to reoccupy
the territory from which it
withdrew soldiers and set­
tlers in 2005. That could
prove a daunting chal­
lenge, since Hamas is
deeply rooted in Palesti­
nian society, with political
and charity organisations
as well as a formidable
armed wing.
Benny Gantz, a retired
general and a member of
stage in a long­term pro­
cess that includes security,
political and social aspects
that will take years.”
“The campaign will
soon ramp up with greater
force,” he added.
During the overnight
raid, soldiers killed fighters
and destroyed militant in­
frastructure and anti­tank
missile launching posi­
tions, the military said. It
said that no Israelis were
wounded. There was no
immediate confirmation of
any Palestinian casualties.
Israeli Rear Adm. Daniel
Hagari, a military spokes­
man, said the limited in­
cursion was “part of our
preparations for the next
stages of the war.”
Israel also said it had al­
so carried out around 250
airstrikes across Gaza in
the last 24 hours, targeting
tunnel shafts, rocket
launchers and other mili­
tant infrastructure.
said on Wednesday.
It said the wife and two
children of its Arabic­lan­
guage channel’s Gaza cor­
respondent Wael Al­Dah­
douh were killed in a strike
on the Nuseirat refugee
camp in the Gaza Strip.
“The indiscriminate as­
sault by the Israeli occupa­
tion forces resulted in the
tragic loss of his wife, son
and daughter, while the
rest of his family is buried
under the rubble,” it said.
Al Jazeera said the family
was staying in a temporary
home after evacuating Ga­
za City following Israel’s
warning.
Pak. sets up deportation centres to hold migrants
Associated Press
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan is setting up de­
portation centres for mi­
grants who are in the coun­
Ambassador to India Ad­
nan Abu Al Haija here on
Thursday. Speaking to The
Hindu, Mr. Al Haija said the
Israeli Defence Forces have
not achieved any military
objective by carrying out
bombing raids over the Ga­
za Strip as no major leader
of Hamas has been harmed
in these attacks and urged
India to call for an imme­
diate ceasefire.
“Whatever may be the
condition, we will not re­
peat the mistakes of 1967
and 1948 when Palesti­
nians left home under Is­
raeli attack. We will die if
they carry out massacres
staying in the country
without authorisation from
next Wednesday will be ar­
rested and sent to one of
centres.
The move is the latest
Adnan Abu Al­Haija.
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
but will not leave home
this time. The remarks of
the Jordanian King have al­
ready made it clear that the
solution will not come by
the removal of our popula­
tion from home,” said Am­
bassador Al Haija.
India has maintained a
careful position during the
latest round of fighting that
erupted on October 7 with
the attack on Israel by
Hamas.
Jan Achakzai, a spokes­
person for the government
in southwestern Pakistan’s
Baluchistan province, said
three deportation centres
were being set up there.
enter Gaza as there is a
shortage of fuel as that has
to be supplied for the gen­
erators of hospitals,” said
Mr Al Haija. The envoy said
he has been in contact with
the Indian interlocutors
and has briefed them
about the humanitarian
crisis in Gaza Strip and the
West Bank.
He said the West has
been silent despite wit­
nessing the destruction
that Gaza has been subject­
ed to over the last 20 days
arguing that the West has
lost moral authority to talk
about killings be it in Uk­
raine or elsewhere.
Bugti, says the deadline
will not be extended.
Mr. Bugti said during a
news conference on Thurs­
day that no migrants living
in Pakistan without author­

The (same) road ahead for try illegally, including an

estimated 1.7 million Af­
ghans, officials said on
development in a Pakistani
government crackdown to
expel foreigners without
One will be in Quetta, the
provincial capital.
Pakistan’s caretaker In­
ization illegally would be
mistreated after their ar­
rests. “They will not be

Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan

Thursday. Anyone found registration or documents. terior Minister, Sarfraz manhandled,” he said.

thened, the reality is that

A shooter points a gun in
Sparetime Recreation in
Lewiston, Maine. AP
Shooter kills
at least 18 in
Maine; search
on for killer
Associated Press
LEWISTON
A man shot and killed at
least 18 people and injured
13 at a restaurant and a
bowling alley in Lewiston,
Maine, and then fled into
the night, sparking a mas­
sive search by hundreds of
officers while frightened
residents in multiple com­
munities stayed locked in
their homes on Thursday
under a shelter­in­place
advisory.
A police bulletin identi­
fied Robert Card, 40, as a
person of interest in the at­
tack that sent panicked
bowlers scrambling behind
pins. Card was described
as a firearms instructor be­
lieved to be in the Army
Reserve and assigned to a
training facility in Saco,
Maine.
The document, circulat­
ed to law enforcement offi­
cials, said Card had been
committed to a mental
health facility, and had re­
ported “hearing voices and
threats to shoot up” the
military base.
CM
YK
NEWS ANALYSIS
Amit Baruah
Three names have haunted
Nawaz Sharif in his politi­
cal career — Abdul Waheed
Kakar, Pervez Musharraf
and Qamar Javed Bajwa.
All three former Army
chiefs in Pakistan sent Mr.
Sharif packing as Prime Mi­
nister on three different oc­
casions, using three differ­
ing routes.
And, now, after remain­
ing in “medical exile” since
2019, he is back in Pakistan
in what will be his fourth
attempt to take power. This
time he has a new Chief of
the Army Staff to tango
with — Asim Munir.
Mr. Sharif’s VIP­style ar­
rival and instant bail from
the courts in a host of cases
goes to show that the Army
establishment, after ensur­
ing the ouster of Imran
Khan as Prime Minister
earlier this year, believes
that the PML­N leader is
the horse to back in the
forthcoming elections.
After landing in Pakistan
on October 21, and ad­
dressing a well­attended
rally at the Minar­e­Pakis­
tan, Mr. Sharif’s political
fortunes will be closely
watched. For better or
worse, he is the crowd
puller for the PML­N.
As a country, Pakistan is
ravaged by rampant infla­
tion, an ever­weakening
rupee, rocketing fuel and
gas prices, commitments
to the International Mone­
tary Fund (IMF) and an ab­
Nawaz Sharif
solute inability to expand
the tax base in the country.
It’s likely that one of the
“conditions” imposed by
Mr. Sharif to return to Pa­
kistan is that his political
rival Imran Khan be jailed
and prosecuted. After all, it
was Mr. Khan, who, in ca­
hoots with then Army chief
Qamar Javed Bajwa and the
Supreme Court, that en­
sured the conviction and
disqualification of Mr. Sha­
rif in 2017. It was a subdued
Mr. Sharif who addressed
his supporters at the Mi­
nar­i­Pakistan, stating up
front that he would not be
seeking revenge against
those who plotted his ous­
ter in 2017. In the past,
speaking from London, he
fired a salvo at Gen. Bajwa
and then ISI chief Faiz Ha­
mid, seeking action against
them for their role in his
ouster.
Powerful establishment
In Pakistan, civilian PMs
have had a long history of
being consumed by the
Generals they appointed as
Army chiefs. Though con­
stitutionally the civilian
set­up has been streng­
the permanent establish­
ment of Pakistan can use
the courts or even Parlia­
ment to send a PM home.
Perhaps the longest
(and publicly happiest
marriage) was the recent
one between Gen. Bajwa
and Imran Khan till it end­
ed in a bitter divorce and
loss of office for Mr. Khan.
They publicly differed on
the choice of an ISI chief,
known to be the second
most powerful office in Pa­
kistan.
Mr. Khan then went on
to launch a most fierce pu­
blic tirade not just against
the Army chief but the Ar­
my as an institution — an
attack that the khaki­clad
could not stomach from
the ‘laadla‘ (darling) they
had themselves spawned.
In 1998, Gen. Jehangir
Karamat chose to resign as
Army chief after publicly,
but politely, pointing to the
many dangers that Pakis­
tan faced. Mr. Sharif could
not stomach the criticism
and Gen. Karamat chose to
quit office. His successor
Pervez Musharraf would
oust Mr. Sharif in a coup
the following year.
This context is impor­
tant as Mr. Sharif is not
known for his restraint
when it comes to dealing
with other institutions. If
he is to have a fourth
chance at becoming Prime
Minister, then Mr. Sharif
will have to learn to live
within the confines of a
rocky marriage with Gen.
Asim Munir, the most po­
werful man in the country.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
18 Friday, October 27, 2023

Business Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 Sensex sinks 1.4% to 4­month low on MARKETS
쑽
MARKET WATCH

geopolitical, U.S. bond yield worries THURSDAY

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 63,148 dddddddddddddddddddd ­1.41
US Dollardddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 83.25 dddddddddddddddddddd ­0.09
Gold dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 62,000 dddddddddddddddddddddd 0.48
% CHANGE

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 88.86 dddddddddddddddddddddd 0.87

Benchmark slumps 900.91 points to 63,148.15, the lowest close since June 26, led by automobile, finance and consumer
companies; analysts flag possibility of further correction, recommend investors move to ‘quality’ and large­cap stocks NIFTY 50
PRICE CHANGE
Adani Enter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2203.20. . . . . . . . ­53.80
Lalatendu Mishra dra led losses, declining remain encouraging. Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 770.35. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25
Apollo Hosp. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4760.30. . . . . . . . ­99.60
MUMBAI 4.06%, followed by Bajaj “Our near­term advice Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2960.30. . . . . . ­100.50

Ola Electric raises ₹3,200 cr. Finance (3.54%) and Asian to investors is not to pan­ Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 972.05. . . . . . . . . . 16.60
Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 5259.35. . . . . . . . ­87.95

T
he benchmark S&P
for expansion of EV business BSE Sensex ex­
tended losses to a
Ola Electric on Thursday said it has raised ₹3,200 sixth session on Thursday,
crore from Temasek­led investors and State Bank sliding 1.4% to its lowest
of India. The company announced the successful close in four months as in­
closure of the funding round from Temasek­led vestors turn skittish amid
investors and State Bank of India. The funds mounting geopolitical ten­
raised would be utilised towards the expansion of sions over the possibility of
Ola’s EV business and setting up India’s first the Israel­Hamas conflict
lithium­ion cell manufacturing facility at widening across the oil­
Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, the company said in a rich West Asian region,
statement here. PTI and the rising U.S. bond
yields that could signal
more capital outflows from
emerging markets.
The 30­stock index
slumped 900.91 points to
63,148.15, the lowest close
since June 26, led by auto,
finance and consumer
stocks. Mahindra & Mahin­
Paints (3.36%).
The NSE Nifty­50 index
too shed 264.90 points, or
1.39%, to 18,857.25.
“The market correction
has been led by... global ge­
opolitical tensions and ris­
ing bond yields in the U.S.
markets,” said Naveen Kul­
karni, Chief Investment Of­
ficer, Axis Securities PMS.
“These challenges have a
long­term impact on equi­
ties, but domestic factors
ic... stocks that are overva­
lued and lack quality
should be sold, while qual­
ity businesses can be ac­
cumulated at these levels.
Focus on large caps and
quality to navigate the cur­
rent volatility,” Mr. Kulkar­
ni said.
Underscoring the vola­
tility, the India VIX volatili­
ty index rose 3.69% to
11.73, its highest level in
more than three weeks.
Bajaj Finserv . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1560.00. . . . . . . . ­51.45
Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 7421.80. . . . . . ­272.65
Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 905.50. . . . . . . . ­17.10
BPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 335.00. . . . . . . . . . ­4.95
Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 4507.80. . . . . . . . ­25.95
Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1150.85. . . . . . . . . . ­6.60
Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 305.25. . . . . . . . . . ­5.05
Divis Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3406.40. . . . . . . . ­37.05
Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 5421.95. . . . . . . . ­91.90
Eicher Motors . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3326.80. . . . . . . . ­57.60
Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1849.55. . . . . . . . ­27.90
HCL Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1231.80. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.80
HDFC Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1463.40. . . . . . . . ­33.10
HDFC Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 605.85. . . . . . . . ­10.60
Hero MotoCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3111.95. . . . . . . . ­28.90
Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 456.65. . . . . . . . . . ­4.55
Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2476.40. . . . . . . . . . ­0.90
ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 908.65. . . . . . . . . . ­7.45
IndusInd Bank. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1414.65. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.95
Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1359.45. . . . . . . . ­10.60
ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 434.35. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.65
JSW Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 728.70. . . . . . . . ­19.60

Mamaearth parent Honasa’s Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1694.85. . . . . . . . ­33.20

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2864.60. . . . . . . . ­51.50

₹1,701­cr. IPO to open on Oct. 31 U.S.’s new visa rule ECB breaks Sunak calls for global LTIMindtree Ltd. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 5170.50. . . . . . . . ­33.55
M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1506.10. . . . . . . . ­63.00

record streak
Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 10424.15. . . . . . ­164.70
NestleIndia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 23545.60. . . . . . ­717.10
Skin and haircare products brand Mamaearth’s
parent Honasa Consumer Ltd. has announced a
₹1,701­crore IPO in the price band of ₹308 to ₹324
could boost local of rate hikes stand on AI safety NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 231.65. . . . . . . . . . ­0.40
ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 180.90. . . . . . . . . . ­3.45
PowerGrid Corp . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 198.95. . . . . . . . . . ­0.55

hiring, says Nasscom

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2226.50. . . . . . . . ­31.45
per share with a face value of ₹10 each. The offer SBI Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1305.60. . . . . . . . . . ­8.55
State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 547.00. . . . . . . . . . ­9.20
will open on October 31 and close on November Reuters Sriram Lakshman Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1103.70. . . . . . . . ­16.60
2. Bids can be made for a minimum of 46 equity ATHENS LONDON TataConsumerPro­
shares and in multiples of 46 shares thereafter. duct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 880.35. . . . . . . . . . ­9.65
Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 626.55. . . . . . . . ­11.30
The IPO comprises fresh issue aggregating up to The Hindu Bureau Improvements Affecting The European Central Projecting Britain as a glo­ Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 119.90. . . . . . . . . . ­1.45
₹365 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to BENGALURU Other Non­immigrant Bank broke the longest bal leader in Artificial Intel­ TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3336.75. . . . . . . . ­53.35
Tech Mahindra . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 1115.45. . . . . . . . ­26.70
4,12,48,162 equity shares by selling shareholders. Workers” on October 23. streak of interest rate hikes ligence (AI), Prime Minis­ Titan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 3100.80. . . . . . . . ­87.05
The United States’ pro­ Nasscom said it would sub­ in its 25­year history on ter Rishi Sunak called for a UltraTech Cement . . . .. . . . . . . 8205.30. . . . . . . . ­51.05
UPL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 561.05. . . . . . . . ­19.10
posed rule to “modernise mit its comments after tho­ Thursday, saying the latest joint global statement on Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 378.25. . . . . . . . . . ­3.60
H1­B requirements” could roughly assessing industry data continued to point to AI safety.
HPCL, Chevron tie up to unveil align with new visa norms
to boost STEM (Science,
requirements within the
60­day comment period.
inflation slowly coming
down to its 2% target.
His speech coincided
with the release of papers
Rishi Sunak

Caltex brand lubricants in India Technology, Engineering Nasscom said sections The ECB left the rate it on the risks of AI produced chemical and biological EXCHANGE RATES
and Mathematics) hiring of the new rule align with pays on deposits at a re­ by the U.K.’s intelligence weapons — and an “unlike­ Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) within the country, the In­ the Trump administra­ cord high of 4%, reaffirm­ agencies ahead of an inter­ ly but extreme” scenario in p.m. on October 26

and Chevron Brands International, a subsidiary dian tech industry’s apex tion’s unsuccessful at­ ing that current borrowing national ‘AI Safety Summit’ which human beings could CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

of Chevron Corp., have entered into a long­term body Nasscom warned on tempts to limit the H­1B costs may just be enough in Bletchley Park next ‘completely’ lose control US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 83.03. . . . . . . . . . 83.35
Euro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 87.55. . . . . . . . . . 87.90
agreement for licensing, production, Thursday. programme, but it also to tame inflation if kept week. over AI. British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 100.36. . . . . . . . 100.76
distribution, and marketing of Chevron’s The U.S. Department of welcomed several changes there “sufficiently long”. Speaking at the Royal However, Mr. Sunak said Japanese Yen (100) . . . . . . .. . . . . 55.25. . . . . . . . . . 55.47
Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 11.34. . . . . . . . . . 11.39
lubricant products under the Caltex brand, Homeland Security pro­ that reaffirm the Biden ad­ Caught out by a surprise Society on Thursday, Mr. he did not want to be alar­ Swiss Franc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 92.42. . . . . . . . . . 92.78
including Chevron’s proprietary Havoline and posed “Rule Modernizing ministration’s recognition rise in prices, the ECB has Sunak outlined some of the mist and was quick to add Singapore Dollar . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 60.55. . . . . . . . . . 60.79
Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 60.16. . . . . . . . . . 60.42
Delo branded lubricant products in India. HPCL’s H­1B Requirements, Pro­ of the substantial gap in spent over a year raising reports’ findings, including that the U.K. was not “in a Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 17.34. . . . . . . . . . 17.42
facility at Silvassa will manufacture the premium viding Flexibility in the F­1 supply and demand for borrowing costs and dis­ the possibility that AI rush to regulate” the Australian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 52.39. . . . . . . . . . 52.60
range of Caltex lubricants. Program, and Programme skilled workers. continuing stimulus. could be used to build technology. Source:Indian Bank

Sundaram Indian Bank Q2 net Canara Bank

Home Q2 net
grows 18% to
₹59.3 crore
Press Trust of India
CHENNAI
Sundaram Home Finance
has reported a 18% in­
crease in its net profit for
the second quarter ending
September 30 at ₹59.3
crore, the company said.
For the half­year ended
September 30, net profit
grew 20% to ₹116.75 crore.
Disbursements during
the quarter grew to
₹1,213.87 crore from
₹940.56 crore. For the six­
month period, total disbur­
sements rose to ₹2,307.38
crore (₹1,736.25 crore).
“The strong growth of
33% in disbursements in
the first half has been dri­
ven by our continued ex­
pansion in Tier II and III
towns,” said MD Lakshmin­
arayanan Duraiswamy.
surges 62% on NII
The Hindu Bureau
CHENNAI
State­owned Indian Bank
reported a 62% jump in the
second­quarter standalone
net profit to ₹1,988 crore,
driven by an increase in
net interest income (NII),
other income and im­
provement in asset quality.
“Quarter after quarter,
our profitability, net inter­
est income and other in­
come have been growing,”
MD and CEO Shanti Lal
Jain told the media.
NII rose 23% to ₹5,741
crore, while fee based in­
come grew by 11% to ₹805
crore year­on­year. Ad­
vances increased 12% to
₹4,92,288 crore while de­
posits grew 9% to
₹6,40,803 crore, according
to the lender.
“We have guided for a
10­12% credit growth in
Shanti Lal Jain
FY24,” said Mr. Jain. “We
hope to continue the good
performance.”
Bad­debt recovery grew
6% while the fresh slippag­
es stood at ₹1,976 crore.
The recovery was more
than ₹2,200 crore, he said.
Gross non­performing
assets (NPA) decreased by
233 basis points year­on­
year to 4.97% while net
NPAs reduced by 90 basis
points to 0.60%.
Q2 net jumps
43%, NPAs
decline
The Hindu Bureau
BENGALURU
Canara Bank on Thursday
reported a 43% year­on­
year jump in Q2 net profit
to ₹3,606 crore. Net inter­
est income (NII) rose 19%
YoY to ₹8,903 crore, from
₹7,433 crore a year earlier.
Operating profit im­
proved 10.3% to ₹7,616
crore as against ₹6,905
crore in the year earlier.
Gross NPAs declined to
₹43,956 crore as against
₹52,485 crore last year.
Gross NPA ratio slid to
4.76% as against 6.37%,
while net NPA ratio slipped
to 1.41% as against 2.19% in
the year earlier. Net NPAs
declined to ₹12,554 crore in
Q2 compared with ₹17,286
crore in the year­earlier
quarter, the bank said.

PNB Q2 net surges over India to produce its

fourfold to ₹1,756 crore own “reference fuels”
The Hindu Bureau Jagriti Chandra
MUMBAI NEW DELHI

Punjab National Bank Petroleum Minister Har­

(PNB) reported second­
quarter standalone net
profit surged by more than
fourfold to ₹1,756 crore y­
o­y on better asset quality
and reduction in non­per­
forming assets (NPA).
Operating profit grew
11.67% to ₹6,216 crore.
There was a 20% increase
in net interest income (NII)
to ₹9,923 crore.
The public­sector len­
der said global net interest
margin (NIM) improved by
11 basis points (bps) to
3.11%. Gross NPA ratio rose
by 352 bps to 6.96% and
net NPA ratio by 233 bps to
1.47%. Provision coverage
CM
YK
ratio improved by 795 bps
to 91.91%.
Global business in­
creased by 11.26% to
₹22,51,631 crore. Global de­
posits grew by 9.75% to
₹13,09,910 crore and global
advances grew by 13.43%
YoY to ₹9,41,721 crore.
The bank’s retail­loan
portfolio grew 16.5% to
₹1,47,247 crore.
deep Singh Puri on Thurs­
day baled out the first bar­
rel of reference gasoline
and diesel fuels. These are
specialised fuels used by
auto­manufacturers for
testing and calibration.
“Reference fuels pro­
duced by IndianOil’s Para­
dip & Panipat Refineries,
utilizing the talent availa­
ble at IndianOil’s Research
& Development Centre, is a
dynamic achievement and
it stamps our indigenous
technical prowess,” said
Mr. Puri said at an event.
Specification for reference
fuels are more stringent
than commercial petrol
Hardeep Singh Puri
and diesel and India’s de­
mand is currently being
met with imports from the
U.S. and Europe.
India’s demand for Ga­
soline Reference Fuel is
around 120 kilolitre and its
diesel counterpart is 15 ki­
lolitre annually as per esti­
mates from Society of In­
dian Automobile
Manufacturers.
M ND-NDE

Friday, October 27, 2023
Delhi
OVER IN A JIFFY
England­Sri Lanka game the
shortest of the 2023 World Cup
X X
The England­Sri Lanka match is the shortest completed game of the
2023 edition. After choosing to bat, Jos Buttler’s men were bowled
out in 33.2 overs before Kusal Mendis’ side cruised to the target in
25.4 overs. The previous shortest game was the Australia versus
Netherlands match (71 overs) in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka piles on England’s misery,
leaves its title defence in tatters
Samarawickrama and Nissanka add 137 runs to guide the side home after Willey’s double strike; Stokes’ innings the silver lining with the bat for
the Englishmen while the returning Mathews proves to be the golden arm for the Islanders as he picks up two wickets and also effects a run out
Pumped up: Kumara is ecstatic after dismissing England skipper Jos Buttler. K. MURALI KUMAR
ODI WORLD CUP
N. Sudarshan
BENGALURU
or a little under
F three hours that the
England innings
lasted against Sri Lanka, it
seemed like the fans at the
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
were forced to read a bad
novel in a single sitting.
None of the batters
bothered to engage the au­
dience. There was no at­
tempt to build a narrative
and no clarity of thought.
It felt like going through an­
tique, clunky prose.
It was no surprise that
Jos Buttler’s men crashed
to a eight­wicket loss on
Thursday in what was a
Kohli bowls to Rohit in the nets
as India trains for England game
K.C. Vijaya Kumar
LUCKNOW
The Men in Blue, clad in
their orange training jer­
seys, hit the ground run­
ning here on Thursday. As
twilight merged into the
night at the Ekana Stadi­
um, frogs got busy croak­
ing and a swarm of insects
flew around the floo­
dlights. Meanwhile, Rohit
Sharma’s men limbered up
with a spot of fielding
drills.
Catches, both high and
close­in, were practised
and coach Rahul Dravid at­
tempted to clear the ropes
while keeping the fielders
in the deep, interested. Al­
most the full squad, with
the exception of Mo­
hammed Shami and Ishan
Kishan, were present for
the optional nets at the ve­
nue, which will host Sun­
day’s World Cup game
against a beleaguered
England.
The sprawling sports
CM
YK
K. MURALI KUMAR
must­win World Cup
match. England’s title de­
fence now lies in tatters,
with near­zero possibility
of it making the semifinals.
For Sri Lanka, the win
will feel like oxygen. Chas­
ing 157, it was reduced to
23 for two as England tried
to make a contest out of it.
But Pathum Nissanka (77
n.o., 83b, 7x4, 2x6) and Sa­
deera Samarawickrama (65
n.o., 54b, 7x4, 1x6) put on
137 fine runs to carry Sri
Lanka to its second win of
the tournament and fifth
straight victory over En­
gland in World Cups.
Samarawickrama
played a tone­setting text­
book cover drive off the
first ball he faced. The 28­
year­old then hoisted Adil
Rashid, reverse­swept
K.L. Rahul. SANDEEP SAXENA
campus with an indoor sta­
dium and tennis courts be­
sides the cricket ground,
was milling with activity.
Indian players hitched a
ride in cabs for the short
drive to the nearby B
ground and it was time for
batting and bowling stints.
Interestingly, the tail had a
long hit with players rang­
ing from Jasprit Bumrah to
Kuldeep Yadav testing
their willows. Bumrah at­
tempted some sweeps and
grinned while Kuldeep
NOT GOING RIGHT
England reaches a new low in
25 matches at Chinnaswamy
England recorded the lowest­ever ODI score (156) at the M.
Chinnaswamy Stadium across 25 matches since 1982. The Englishmen
succumbed to a third­consecutive defeat in the ODI World Cup for the
first time since 1996. Buttler’s men became the first defending
champion to lose four of their first five games in a World Cup edition.
Moeen Ali before bringing
up his half­century off 44
balls.
Nissanka punched,
whipped, cut and drove his
way through the English
bowling. His fifty came via
a sublime drive off Mark
Wood. It was he who drew
the curtains on an abysmal
evening for England by hit­
ting Rashid for a splendid
six over long­on.
Earlier in the afternoon,
after choosing to bat, the
English openers were test­
ed during a tricky early
phase. Dilshan Madushan­
ka found swing and Jonny
Bairstow and Dawid Malan
played and missed. Bair­
stow could have been out
leg­before first ball, but
Lanka chose not to review.
But the duo stabilised,
cheekily requested a pho­
tographer to click his bat­
ting pictures.
At the other end of the
spectrum, Virat Kohli bow­
led a bit, especially to Ro­
hit. All the batters had a
long stint in the three nets
split into pace, spin and
throw­downs. Ravindra Ja­
deja flexed some muscle,
attempting sixes and the
straight­drilled four. From
Bumrah to R. Ashwin, all
the bowlers turned their
arm over.
It was evident that the
think­tank was trying to
bolster its batting and bow­
ling flanks especially after
Hardik Pandya’s left­ankle
injury meant that the
squad’s all­round balance
had suffered a rough
patch. Rohit also had a
long conversation with Mo­
hammed Siraj. The fine­
tuning of skill­sets will res­
ume on Friday evening as
India seeks to extend its
unblemished record so far
in this World Cup.
THE HINDU
Sport
K. MURALI KUMAR
pierced the off­side for a
few delectable boundaries
and put on 45 runs. The re­
turning Angelo Mathews,
however, proved Lanka’s
man with a golden arm. He
forced Malan to nick one
behind off the third ball af­
ter being introduced,
helped run out Joe Root
and prised out Moeen.
Buttler’s wretched run
continued as his vigil was
cut short by a spectacular
catch behind the stumps
by Kusal Mendis off Lahiru
Kumara (three for 35).
The skipper also execut­
ed a smart run­out when
he collected the ball down
the leg­side and ran out
Rashid who had backed up
too far at the non­striker’s
end. Ben Stokes played a
lone hand (43, 73b, 6x4),
India got its first part right, second act begins
K.C. Vijaya Kumar
LUCKNOW
A few days in the lap of the
Himalayas must have done
a world of good for the
Men in Blue. The break af­
ter Sunday’s triumphant
World Cup contest against
New Zealand at Dharam­
shala’s HPCA Stadium
helped the players un­
wind. Some like K.L. Rahul
dipped their feet in cold
mountain streams.
It was all pastoral and
nice, and there was a touch
of Ruskin Bond in the air
with the slow life being em­
braced. But now it is time
to get sweaty and inflate
the laundry bills with team
apparel put through the
wringer in practice ses­
sions in the days leading
up to Sunday’s clash at the
Ekana Stadium here
against England.
Hardik being missed
With a cloud of uncertain­
ty lingering around Hardik
Pandya’s bruised left an­
kle, India could step in
with a playing eleven simi­
FIVE ON THE TROT
Sri Lanka continues winning streak
against England in World Cups
X X
Sri Lanka scored its fifth consecutive win over England in the ODI
World Cup to make it 6­6 in 12 meetings. In 2007, the Lankans won
by two runs at North Sound while in 2011, they won by 10 wickets in
Colombo. The success continued in 2015 when they registered a
nine­wicket win in Wellington. In 2019, it was a 20­run win at Leeds.
SCOREBOARD
쑽 eight­wicket loss to Sri Lan­
ENGLAND
Jonny Bairstow c Dhananjaya b
Rajitha 30 (31b, 3x4), Dawid Malan
c Mendis b Mathews 28 (25b, 6x4),
Joe Root run out 3 (10b), Ben
Stokes c sub (Hemantha) b
Kumara 43 (73b, 6x4), Jos Buttler
c Mendis b Kumara 8 (6b, 1x4),
Liam Livingstone lbw b Kumara 1
(6b), Moeen Ali c Perera b
Mathews 15 (15b, 1x4), Chris
Woakes c Samarawickrama b
Rajitha 0 (4b), David Willey (not
out) 14 (17b, 1x4, 1x6), Adil Rashid
run out 2 (7b), Mark Wood st.
Mendis b Theekshana 5 (6b, 1x4);
Extras (lb­3, w­4): 7; Total (in 33.2
overs): 156.
FALL OF WICKETS
1­45 (Malan, 6.3 overs), 2­57 (Root,
9.4), 3­68 (Bairstow, 13.2), 4­77
(Buttler, 14.5), 5­85 (Livingstone,
16.6), 6­122 (Moeen, 24.4), 7­123
(Woakes, 25.5), 8­137 (Stokes,
30.1), 9­147 (Rashid, 31.5).
SRI LANKA BOWLING
Madushanka 5­0­37­0, Rajitha
7­0­36­2, Theekshana 8.2­1­21­1,
Mathews 5­1­14­2, Kumara
and was also helped along
as Samarawickrama failed
to hold on to a tough
chance at backward­point
Let’s do it: India will look to Kohli and Bumrah to continue their
form as the tournament progresses. SANDEEP SAXENA
lar to the one that turned
out against the Black Caps.
That Hardik’s absence
needed to be filled with
two candidates — a pure
batter in Suryakumar Ya­
dav and an original bowler
in Mohammed Shami — re­
veals how much balance
the all­rounder lends to the
K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
7­0­35­3, Dhananjaya 1­0­10­0.
SRI LANKA
Pathum Nissanka (not out) 77
(83b, 7x4, 2x6), Kusal Perera c
Stokes b Willey 4 (5b, 1x4), Kusal
Mendis c Buttler b Willey 11 (12b,
2x4), Sadeera Samarawickrama
(not out) 65 (54b, 7x4, 1x6); Extras
(w­3): 3; Total (for two wkts. in
25.4 overs): 160.
FALL OF WICKETS
1­9 (Perera, 1.5), 2­23 (Mendis,
5.2).
ENGLAND BOWLING
Woakes 6­0­30­0, Willey 5­0­30­2,
Adil Rashid 4.4­0­39­0, Wood
4­0­23­0, Livingstone 3­0­17­0,
Moeen 3­0­21­0.
Toss: England; PoM: Kumara.
Sri Lanka won by eight wickets
with 146 deliveries to spare.
when he was on 12. But an
act of resurrection proved
beyond even his mighty
blade.
squad. Shardul Thakur’s
omission was collateral
damage in the wake of Har­
dik’s exit as the team had
no luxury to field the Mum­
baikar, known for effecting
breakthroughs and equally
notorious for leaking runs,
a flaw he masks with handy
blows while batting.
UNWELCOME RETURN
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan booed by
home fans on World Cup break
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was jeered by fans on
Thursday as he left Dhaka’s Sher­e­Bangla National Stadium after a
training session on a break from the Cricket World Cup. Shakib, who
has scored 56 runs in the four innings, had returned home to work
with his mentor Nazmul Abedeen to settle some batting issues.
I have confidence
and belief in myself
as a leader: Buttler
N. Sudarshan
BENGALURU
England’s disappointing
ka may have left its World
Cup hopes hanging by a
thread, but skipper Jos But­
tler stressed that he was
still the right man to take
the team forward.
“I think you’re always
questioning [your posi­
tion] as captain,” Buttler
said on Thursday. “How to
get the best out of
players... how to get the
team moving in the right
direction. I certainly have a
lot of confidence and belief
in myself as a leader, and
first and foremost as a
player. But if you’re asking
if I should still be captain­
ing the team, that’s a ques­
tion for the guys above
me.”
Dreadful numbers
The 33­year­old, however,
conceded that his dreadful
numbers with the bat (95
runs from five World Cup
games) have contributed
to his team’s shoddy
display.
“If there was one golden
egg that we were missing,
then you’d hope to see
that. But there is no secret.
There’s no one else who
can score your own runs or
take your wickets.
“That comes from the
start, from the captain at
the front. I’ve been a long
way short of my best. As a
leader, you want to lead
through your own perfor­
mance and I’ve not been
able to do that.”
Sri Lanka’s Maheesh
Theekshana stated that En­
gland had underestimated
the Lankans.
If the surface here pro­
mises warmth to the slow
men, then R. Ashwin could
be a contender. That Kul­
deep Yadav had a diffident
start against New Zealand
before pulling back a few
may also weigh on the
team management’s mind.
Low ebb
England is at a low ebb but
does have batters, who
love a good biff, and Ash­
win, with his spells against
Chris Gayle and company
in the IPL over the years,
could be a good counter­
point. As for the other
spinner Ravindra Jadeja,
his spot is set in stone.
Bowling tight, fielding like
a dream and chipping in
valuable runs, Jadeja is a
massive asset.
Besides the selection
migraines that Hardik’s ex­
pected absence stirs up, In­
dia needs to be wary about
the law of averages.
Remaining undefeated
in five games and hoping to
extend this winning mo­
mentum, Rohit Sharma’s
men have varied oppo­
19
PTI
Nissanka­Samarawickrama...
dazzling duo. K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
“Because we had also
lost three games and we
only won against Nether­
lands, I think they under­
estimated us,” the tweaker
said. “We backed our
strengths and went with a
simple plan. That’s why we
won the game.”
Theekshana credited his
bowlers for their disci­
pline. It was, in fact, the
third successive game in
which England had not
batted the full quota of
overs.
Experience, discipline
“In the initial four or five
overs, we conceded a few
runs due to our inability to
find the right length,” he
said. “However, Angelo
[Mathews] utilised his ex­
perience to adjust the
length. Then Lahiru [Kum­
ara] maintained discipline.
“The pitch was a little
different [to the earlier
ones in Bengaluru]. There
was some turn and a little
pace and bounce. [But] it is
not that accumulating runs
was tough, as we managed
to score 150 odd with just
two wickets down.”
nents glaring at them on
the road ahead. England,
Sri Lanka, South Africa
and finally the Nether­
lands, all nurse their fanta­
sies about embarrassing
the host.
Even during India’s
scorching championship
run in the 2011 edition,
South Africa offered the
banana peel at Nagpur des­
pite Sachin Tendulkar’s
brilliance and England
held India to a tie at Benga­
luru. Extended league
phases work both ways.
Squads can shed kinetic
energy and lapse into a fa­
tal hibernation, or teams,
like what Australia is doing
now, could gain a second
wind.
India got its first part
right and now the second
act shimmers into view
with Lucknow, Mumbai,
Kolkata and Bengaluru be­
ing the venues.
Rohit’s men have to am­
plify their efforts and also
offer fodder for those
warm behind­the­scenes
videos from a happy dress­
ing room.
M ND-NDE

20
Pakistan in a must-win situation
against an in-form South Africa
The campaign of Babar’s men, which began with two victories, has nosedived after the defeat against India at Ahmedabad a fortnight ago; Hasan
to miss game owing to illness; Proteas’ marauding batters have made a mockery of the opposition bowlers by posting four totals above 300
Contrasting moods: South Africa, which is on a roll, will get a boost if Ngidi returns while Pakistan captain Babar has quite a few things to fix. R. RAGU
ODI WORLD CUP
S. Dipak Ragav
CHENNAI
ver since going
E down to India a fort­
night ago, Pakistan’s
campaign has nosedived
and its hopes of reaching
the last four now rest on a
wing and a prayer.
Ahead of the side’s
World Cup match against
South Africa at the M.A.
Chidambaram Stadium on
Friday, the contrast bet­
ween the two teams
We always bounce back, hopefully
we will do it again: Shadab Khan
Lalith Kalidas
CHENNAI
Pakistan leg­spinner Sha­
dab Khan was admirably
honest towards the end of
an exhaustive pre­match
press conference at the M.
A. Chidambaram Stadium
about the road ahead for
his side in the World Cup.
“We are not performing
in all the departments,
which is why the team is at
this stage. Our poor form is
understood in batting and
bowling.
“If you drop catches or
give easy boundaries in
such batting­friendly con­
ditions, there is no pres­
sure on the batter and
eventually costs us,” the
25­year­old said, ahead of
the team’s clash against
South Africa here.
An hour before its op­
tional training session, the
Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB) issued a release to
clear the air regarding any
National Games: fencer Bhavani Devi dominates
ANI
PANAJI
Olympian fencer Bhavani
Devi, representing Tamil
Nadu, continued her domi­
nation in the National cir­
cuit, winning gold in the
women's sabre individual
fencing competition on
Thursday in the 37th Na­
tional Games being held
here. Bhavani beat S. Sow­
miya of Kerala 15­5 in the fi­
nal to win back­to­back
gold medals.
Shiksha Ballouria of Hi­
machal Pradesh and Jag­
meet Kaur of Punjab won
bronze medals.
Babu Gaonkar gave the
hosts its first gold medal of
the games after winning
CM
YK
couldn’t have been more
stark.
With three consecutive
defeats, Pakistan may need
to win at least three of its
remaining fixtures, if not
all four. The team has to
quickly fix many gaping
holes from a misfiring pace
attack, ineffective spinners
and poor fielding. In a
further blow, pacer Hasan
Ali is set to miss the crucial
game owing to illness.
The only positive has
been its batting unit with
Mohammad Rizwan, Ab­
dullah Shafique and skip­
per Babar Azam being the
All is well: Shadab dismissed reports of rifts in the team which is on a three­match losing streak. R. RAGU
rifts within the team and a
peek into Babar Azam’s
captaincy future.
Shadab also defied the
emerging reports of unrest
in the side and affirmed
that the team has been on
the same page despite its
three­match losing streak.
the men's laser run event
in Modern Pentathlon at
Ponda.
Important results:
Weightlifting: Women: 59kg:
Popy Hazarika (Assam); Davinder
Kaur (Punjab); M. Deepanayomi
(Andhra Pradesh). Men: 67kg:
Lalhunthara (Mizoram); Subhash
Lahre (SSCB); Bengia Tani
(Arunachal Pradesh).
Gymnastics: Artistic
Gymnastics: Men: Yogeshwar
Singh (Haryana); Sidharth Verma
(Uttar Pradesh); Gaurav Kumar
(SSCB).
Women: Pranati Nayak (Odisha);
Pranati Das (West Bengal);
Shraddha Talekar (Maharashtra).
Modern Pentathlon: Laser
Run: Men: Babu Gaonkar (Goa);
Ajay (Haryana); Ravi (Haryana).
Women: Ujjala (Haryana);
Yoginee Umakant Salunke
team’s consistent perform­
ers. Even in the last game
against Afghanistan, the
batters posted 282 — usual­
ly a good score at Chepauk
— though the skipper felt
the team was about 20
runs short.
Bat with freedom
A way forward for the
former champion will be to
bat with freedom, out­bat
the opposition, and put
pressure on South Africa.
Meanwhile, the Proteas
come into the game in red­
hot form powered by its
marauding batters, who
“We always bounce
back, and hopefully, we
will do it again. I don’t
think the fight(ing spirit) of
the team is missing.
“When you don’t per­
form, when you don’t win,
everyone has their opi­
nion. They can talk and
Bhavani being declared
the winner. PTI
(Maharashtra); Neha Yadav
(Madhya Pradesh). Team: Men:
Haryana; Madhya Pradesh;
Maharashtra. Women: Madhya
Pradesh; Maharashtra; Goa.
Mixed Relay: Anju and Ravi
(Haryana); Seeta Gosavi and Babu
THE HINDU
Sport
have made a mockery of
the opposition’s bowlers,
posting four totals above
300, including the highest
of the tournament — 428
against Sri Lanka.
Opener Quinton de
Kock has set things up for
South Africa, giving a stea­
dy start with three hun­
dreds to his name, while
Heinrich Klaasen has pro­
vided the final flourish
with a masterclass in
power­hitting.
A possible area of con­
cern, though, will be that
the team’s wins have come
while successfully defend­
criticise. But our focus is to
just try and win the game
for Pakistan, that’s it,” he
added.
Pakistan needs to win its
remaining fixtures and
hope other results go its
way for a shot at the semifi­
nals.
Gaonkar (Goa); Yoginee Salunke
and Sahaji Sargar (Maharashtra).
Fencing: Women's sabre: C.A.
Bhavani Devi (Tamil Nadu); S.
Sowmiya (Kerala); Jagmeet Kaur
(Punjab; Shiksha Ballouria
(Himachal Pradesh). Men's foil:
Arjun (SSCB); Bibish Kathiresan
(SSCB); Dev (Haryana); Konsam
Denny Singh (Manipur).
Rugby 7s: Women:
Quarterfinals: Odisha bt
Karnataka 64­0; Bihar bt Delhi
53­0.
Group Stages: Women: Pool A:
Odisha bt Kerala 25­0; Bihar bt
Goa 30­0. Pool B: Maharashtra bt
West Bengal 15­0; Delhi bt
Karnataka 17­15.
Men: Pool A: Haryana bt Odisha
17­10, Kerala bt Goa 22­10. Pool
B: Maharashtra bt West Bengal
24­19, Bihar bt Punjab 26­5.
Basketball 3x3: Women: Pool
A: Chattisgarh bt Goa 22­04,
ing totals, and in the one
game it was chasing, it
stumbled against The
Netherlands.
There could also be a
few changes with skipper
Temba Bavuma having re­
covered from an illness
and pacer Lungi Ngidi like­
ly to return.
Left­arm wrist spinner
Tabraiz Shamsi is also in
contention in place of a
fast bowler. With four vic­
tories in the bag, South
Africa will look to continue
its winning form against a
misfiring Pakistan and inch
closer to a semifinal berth.
Dutch skipper Edwards hopeful of
keeping the group together for long time
P.K. Ajith Kumar
NEW DELHI
It was a crushing defeat for
the Netherlands on Wed­
nesday, as it was blown
away by a storm called
Glenn Maxwell. But, the
Dutchmen are determined
to put the 309­run loss to
Australia behind them and
to bring back their energy
and self­belief that helped
them stun South Africa.
In Scott Edwards, who
scored a 69­ball 78 not out
in that game, they have a
captain who isn’t too excit­
ed about a great win or too
dispirited at a disappoint­
ing loss. The wicket­keep­
er batter has been leading
this side admirably.
The Tonga­born, Aus­
tralia­raised skipper has
high ambitions about the
Netherlands. “We have a
lot of youngsters in the
team,” Edwards told The
Hindu. “We have a young
group, which we hopefully
could keep this group to­
Telangana bt Chattisgarh 22­04,
Telangana bt Goa 21­03, Kerala bt
Goa 21­07, Telangana bt Kerala
21­15. Pool B: Delhi bt Tamil
Nadu 14­12.
Men: Pool A: Rajasthan bt Tamil
Nadu 21­10, Delhi bt Tamil Nadu
18­11, Delhi bt Goa 21­13,
Rajasthan bt Goa 21­18. Pool B:
Punjab bt Kerala 18­12, Madhya
Pradesh bt Telangana 21­13.
Netball: Fast 5: Men: Pool A:
Haryana bt Rajasthan 36­28, Goa
bt Rajasthan 40­28, Haryana bt
Uttar Pradesh 32­21. Pool B:
Kerala bt Karnataka 27­26, Delhi
bt Punjab 24­23.
Women: Pool A: Himachal
Pradesh bt Goa 24­15, Haryana bt
Kerala 26­14, Haryana bt
Himachal Pradesh 29­26, Kerala
bt Goa 26­24. Pool B: Punjab bt
Chandigarh 20­13, Telangana bt
Delhi 26­16, Telangana bt Punjab
21­17, Delhi bt Chandigarh 26­18.
Turning it around: Edwards credits coach Ryan Cook for his
development as a cricketer. AFP
gether for a long time, and
to continue working with
coach Ryan Cook. When I
took over as the captain, I
was sort of just trying to
get my feet and just play
good cricket as a unit.
From there, Ryan and I
started coming up with
Bavuma urges team
not to be complacent
against ‘mercurial’
Pakistan side
Expect the unexpected: Bavuma knows he can rely on de Kock
in a difficult situation while chasing. R. RAGU
Lavanya L
CHENNAI
Ahead of its World Cup
league stage clash against
Pakistan, South Africa is
wary of getting complacent
around a team seeking to
set its fortunes right.
“Pakistan are a danger­
ous team. We know that
they haven’t played close
to their best, but tomorrow
could be that and we want
to make sure we are ready
for that,” SA skipper Tem­
ba Bavuma said.
The 33­year­old empha­
sised on the utility of Ta­
braiz Shamsi’s left­arm
wrist spin against Pakistan,
which has shown a weak­
ness to spin.
South Africa is yet to
win batting second but Ba­
vuma is unfazed about the
prospect of doing so in
Chennai.
“I watched the Afghanis­
tan game with Pakistan
and it seemed to get a lot
some plans and goals for
the team.”
Those goals include
playing bilateral series
against stronger teams.
“We are hoping that our
performances will give us
the opportunity to have bi­
lateral series against
Friday, October 27, 2023
Delhi
better batting under lights.
I think we know somewh­
ere along the line in the
tournament we’ll have to
bat second.
“And I think the conver­
sations that we’ve had as
batters is to find ways as to
how we can still follow that
same process that we fol­
low when we’re batting
first,” he said.
While the Proteas are
cruising in the top half of
the table, Pakistan will
need a win to infuse some
optimism into their World
Cup campaign and Bavu­
ma is aware of what a mo­
tivator fear can be for a
cricket team.
“I saw a comment that
described Pakistan as mer­
curial. I had to Google the
word, but it spoke about
how a team can be good
one day and not so good
the other day. So, we want
to make sure that when
they’re good, we are so
good as well,” he said.
teams,” he said. “The
more and more we play
against top nations in the
world, the better and bet­
ter we are going to get.”
Edwards, who has a
Dutch passport because of
his grandmother, feels he
has developed as a cricke­
ter after beginning to play
for the Netherlands. “In
Dutch cricket, you sort of
get thrown into the deep
end a little bit,” he said.
“You go from playing club
cricket straight to playing
international cricket
against the best teams in
the world.”
But by pushing behind
the West Indies, Zimbabwe
and Ireland, all Test­play­
ing nations at the World
Cup Qualifier, and beating
South Africa in the T20
and ODI World Cups, Ed­
wards and his men have
proved that a country
where only about 5,000
people play cricket de­
serves more opportuni­
ties.
M ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
Friday, October 27, 2023 21
Delhi
Sport

Sheetal-Rakesh duo, Khilari, and Indians will be hoping to

Sidhartha add more golden sheen reset their performance
HOCKEY
With 18 medals, including three silver, on Thursday, India takes its overall tally to a record 82 medals; Simran,
Uthra Ganesan
Bhagyashri and Monu take second place in various track and field events; para badminton stars claim six bronze RANCHI

Sachin Sarjerao Khilari Less than a month ago, the

ASIAN PARA GAMES
Press Trust of India
HANGZHOU
ndian athletes added
won the first gold of the Indian women’s hockey
day in men’s F46 shot put team ended a disappoint­
with a Games record throw ing third at the Asian
of 16.03m. Games, getting a medal but
Eight medals were won forcing a reset of the team’s
by track and field athletes plans over its Paris Olym­

I 18 medals, including
three gold, on Thurs­
day as the nation notched
up the highest number of
medals ever in the Asian
Para Games with a tally of
82 that includes 18 gold
and 23 silver medals.
India has now gone past
the earlier best of 72 me­
dals achieved in the 2018
edition in Indonesia. Its
position in the overall tally,
however, dropped two
places to eight, as not too
many gold medals were
won on Thursday.
South Korea and Indo­
nesia moved ahead of In­
dia in the medals tally led
by China (156 gold, 128 sil­
ver, 108 bronze).
Target of 100
With two more days left in
the Games, the country is
on course of achieving its
target of 100 medals in this
edition of the Games.
on Thursday.
Overall, athletics has
contributed 45 medals, in­
cluding 14 gold.
Para shooter Sidhartha
Babu bagged a gold in R6
mixed 50m rifle prone SH1
event as he shot an Asian
Para Games score of 247.7.
In archery, the com­
pound mixed team of
Sheetal Devi and Rakesh
Kumar triumphed after de­
feating their Chinese coun­
terparts Lin Yueshan and
Ai Xinliang 151­149 in the
final.
Other medallists:
Athletics: Silver: Simran
(women’s T12 100m), Bhagyashri
Madhavrao Jadhav (women’s F34
shot put), Monu Ghangas (men’s
F11 discus).
Bronze: Rohit Kumar (men’s F46
shot put), Narayan Thakur (men’s
T35 100m), Shreyansh Trivedi
(men’s T37 100m), Muthuraja
(men’s F55 shot put).
Archery: Bronze: Adil Mohamed
Sidhartha (R6 mixed 50m rifle
prone SH1).
Nazir Ansari & Naveen Dalal
(men’s doubles W1 event).
Badminton: Bronze: Sukant
Indukant Kadam (men’s singles
SL4), Sivan Nithya Sumathy
(women’s singles SH6), Manisha
Ramadass (women’s singles
SU5), Mandeep Kaur & Manisha
Ramadass (women’s doubles
SL3­SU5), Krishna Nagar &
Sivarajan Solaimalai (men’s
doubles SH6), Pramod Bhagat &
Sukant Indukant Kadam (men’s
doubles SL3­SL4).
Chess: Bronze: Bhaveshkumar
Rathi Himanshi (women’s
individual standard VI­B1).
pics ambitions and qualifi­
cation.
On Friday, the players
will be hoping to reset
their performance as well
when they take on Thai­
land on the opening day of
the Asian Champions Tro­
phy here, going back to the
drawing board for the
tough road ahead.
Despite being the high­
est ranked side in the com­
petition, India was disman­
tled by host and eventual
champion China in the
semifinals at Hangzhou,
losing 4­0 before managing
a bronze medal and podi­
um finish. But it appeared
a confused and erratic
side.
Momentum
At the Asian Champions
Trophy, at least three of
the six participating teams
Golden Moment: Sheetal and Rakesh took the honours in — Japan and Korea being
compound open mixed team archery event. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT the other two — will be
Important event: India’s show may give captain Savita and coach
Schopman enough pointers to be ready for Olympic Qualifiers. ANI
keen to get back some mo­
mentum before the Olym­
pic Qualifiers in January.
Winning the title will be
huge for the side, which
rarely gets to play in front
of home crowd, but more
importantly it might give
coach Janneke Schopman
and captain Savita enough
pointers to be ready for the
Qualifiers in two months’
time.
India has retained the
Asiad squad barring two —
experienced Sushila Chanu
is injured and youngster
Vashnavi Phalke is in re­
serves — making way for
Jyoti and Baljeet Kaur.
With the City hosting
the Olympic Qualifiers, it
will be an advantage for
the Indian team to get a
feel of the newly­laid turf at
the Marang Gomke Jaipal
Singh Munda Stadium.
Everything will count
With some big names in
world hockey including
Germany and Britain yet to
qualify, every little bit will
count.
Friday’s games:
Japan vs Malaysia (4 p.m.).
China vs Korea (6.15 p.m.).
India vs Thailand (8.30 p.m.).

CM M ND-NDE
YK
 THE HINDU
22 Friday, October 27, 2023

Sport Delhi

INBRIEF
쑽 Mbappe-inspired PSG outclasses Milan
The French giant goes back to the top; Haaland hits a brace as Man City registers a facile win; Barcelona gets the better of Shakhtar

place on head­to­head. upset were extinguished

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Nmecha gave Borussia the when Haaland broke his
deserved lead at the stroke five­game goal drought in
Agence France­Presse of half­time. the competition with a pe­
PARIS Manchester City made it nalty in the 67th minute.
three from three to top After a Julian Alvarez
Group G, with Manuel
Injured Sindhu concedes ylian Mbappe goal was disallowed, the

match; Satwik­Chirag exit K helped Paris Saint­

Germain move top
of Champions League
P.V. Sindhu was leading by a game when she Group F with a 3­0 victory
conceded her French Open second round match over AC Milan on Wednes­
against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong due to a
day, while Erling Haaland
knee injury at Rennes on Thursday. Later, was back on the scoresheet
third­seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag as Manchester City won 3­1
Shetty were stunned by Indonesia’s Mohammad away to Young Boys.
Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 23­25, 21­19, 19­21 in Barcelona saw out a win
the round of 16. at home 2­1 against Shak­
htar Donetsk, thanks to
first­half strikes from Fer­
ran Torres and Fermin Lo­
Aditi in tied 10th place at pez, making it three from
three for the Group H lead­
Maybank Championship er.
India’s Aditi Ashok spoiled a superb looking Deadlock broken
round with a double bogey on the closing hole In Paris, the deadlock was
but still shot 5­under 67 to be placed tied 10th broken just after the half­
after the first round of the Maybank hour mark when Mbappe
Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur received the ball from War­
on Thursday. From tied­second at one point she ren Zaire­Emery, unba­
was tied­10th. lanced Fikayo Tomori and
First salvo: PSG’s talismanic striker Mbappe broke the deadlock against AC Milan. AP
then wrong­footed compa­
triot Mike Maignan with a
smart, low finish.
Ousmane Dembele
thought he had doubled
the host’s advantage on 50
minutes only for a VAR
check to disallow it for a
foul in the build­up.
Kolo Muani, the third
member of PSG’s French
front three, then did dou­
ble the lead three minutes
later with a close­range
tap­in shot before Lee
struck.
Newcastle came back to
earth with a home defeat
by Borussia Dortmund,
which saw the Germans
move above it into second
Akanji’s goal and a Haaland
brace seeing off Young
Boys in Switzerland.
Man City endured a
frustrating first period on a
plastic pitch in Bern, with
Young Boys goalkeeper An­
thony Racioppi producing
several fine saves.
Immediately after half­
time a stunning save from
the Swiss ‘keeper saw the
ball rebound off the cross­
bar and fall straight to
Akanji.
Early reverse
The host stunned the
Champions League holder
on 52 minutes when Mes­
chack Elia broke clear of
the defence and lobbed a
finish over the advancing
Ederson.
However, hopes of an
Norwegian striker pro­
duced a fine finish to
round off a 3­1 win.
The results:
Group E: Feyenoord 3 (Gimenez
31, 74, Zerrouki 45+2) bt Lazio 1
(Pedro 83­pen); Celtic 2
(Furuhashi 4, Palma 28) drew
with Atletico Madrid 2
(Griezmann 25, Morata 53).
Group F: Newcastle 0 lost to
Borussia Dortmund 1 (Nmecha
45); Paris Saint­Germain 3
(Mbappe 32, Kolo Muani 53, Lee
89) bt AC Milan 0.
Group G: Young Boys 1 (Elia 52)
lost to Manchester City 3 (Akanji
48, Haaland 67­pen, 86); RB
Leipzig 3 (Raum 12, Simons 59,
Olmo 84) bt Red Star Belgrade 1
(Stamenic 70).
Group H: Barcelona 2 (Torres 28,
Lopez 36) bt Shakhtar Donetsk 1
(Sudakov 62); Antwerp 1 (Yussuf
37) lost to Porto 4 (Evanilson 46,
69, 84, Eustaquio 54).

Newcastle’s Tonali banned Harmehar clinches China claims HCL international Bhambri­Cash
for 10 months for betting cross­country combine
Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali was banned
junior men’s skeet gold gold medal
from October 31 makes the
for 10 months by the Italian football federation
sia, Thailand, Kenya, Ban­
on Thursday for betting on teams he played for —
ruling him out of the rest of the Premier League tol Grand Prix event, India M.R. Praveen Chandran
BRIDGE gladesh, Sri Lanka, and quarterfinals
ASIAN SHOOTING host India.
season as well as competing for Italy at next won the men’s silver THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Sports Bureau “This championship is
year’s European Championship. through Ravinder Singh, TENNIS
NEW DELHI not just a competition, it is
Sports Bureau and junior silver through China pipped Japan at the
Kamaljeet. finish to win cross­country a celebration of the bound­ Sports Bureau
쑽 Harmehar Singh Lally won relay gold in the 28th Asian Some of the best players in less power of the human
The results: mind. It is a platform that
SMAT matches on Friday the junior men’s skeet Mountain Bike champion­ the world like Zia Mah­ Yuki Bhambri and Julian
Group­A: At Jaipur: Mizoram vs Mumbai; Haryana vs gold, beating compatriot Skeet: Junior men: 1. Harmehar ships on Thursday. mood (USA), Boye Broge­ elevates the sport, placing Cash beat Anirudh Chan­
Hyderabad; Chhattisgarh vs J&K; Baroda vs Meghalaya (D/N) Lally 52 (117); 2. Bhavtegh Gill 50 it on the global map”, said
Bhavtegh Singh Gill 52­50 The Chinese team com­ land (Norway), Mikael drasekar and Vijay Sundar
Group­B: At Mumbai: Himachal Pradesh vs Sikkim; Assam (113); 3. Wu Yunxuan (Chn) 42 Kiran Nadar, an interna­
in the 15th Asian shooting (115); 4. Abhay Sekhon 34 (114); prising Wang Zili, Badan Rimstedt (Sweden) and the Prashanth 6­4, 6­2 in the
vs Kerala; Bihar vs Services; Chandigarh vs Odisha (D/N) tionally acclaimed player
championship in Chang­ 8. Ritu Raj Bundela 112. Shiqu, Chen Keyu, Ma oldest Indian medallist in pre­quarterfinals of the
Group­C: At Ranchi: Arunachal Pradesh vs Punjab; Goa vs who has been instrumen­
Saurashtra; Gujarat vs Manipur; Andhra vs. Railways (D/N)
won, Korea, on Thursday. Team: 1. India 342; 2. Kazakhstan Caixia, Lyu Xianjing came the recent Asian Games in €118,000 Challenger tennis
Harmehar in partner­ first in 1:03.24.10s, while Hangzhou, 65­year­old Jag­ tal in the development of tournament in Brest,
Group­D: At Mohali: Puducherry vs Uttarakhand; 330; 3. Korea 301.
ship with Bhavtegh and Ri­ Japan timed 1:03.43.17s to gy Shivdasani, will be in ac­ the game, especially France, on Thursday.
Maharashtra vs Rajasthan; Jharkhand vs Vidarbha (D/N) Junior women: 1. Diana
Group­E: At Dehradun: Nagaland vs Tamil Nadu; Madhya tu Raj Bundela helped the finish ahead of Kazakhstan tion in the 20th HCL inter­ through the HCL cham­
Ssabekova (Kaz) 49 (108); 2. Raiza
Pradesh vs Uttar Pradesh; Karnataka vs Tripura (D/N) team win gold. Dhillon 47 (116); 3. Jiang Chaoyu (1:05.55.15s). India finished national bridge pionship, over the years.. Other results:
(Chn) 39 (112); 6. Muffaddal seventh in the nine team championship to be staged The championship will $80,000 ITF women, Tyler,
Sabekova wins Deesawala 11 (110); 7. Sanjana event. at the Leela Ambience here have four main events. The USA: First round: Martha
In junior women’s skeet, Sood 106. Team: 1. India 332; 2. “We rested our main from October 31 to Novem­ Team of Four gold, the Matoula (Gre) bt Sahaja
LIVE TELECAST Kazakhstan 311; 3. Korea 270. Yamalapalli 3­6, 6­3, 6­4. Doubles
qualification topper Raiza riders for this race. It was ber 6. The championship Team of Four silver, along
쑽 50m free pistol: Men: 1. Choe (pre­quarterfinals): Chieh­Yu
Dhillon (116) was beaten to in fact our second­string will offer a total prize purse with Open Pairs and IMP
Badminton: French Open, Sports 18­1 & Jio Cinema App, 1.30 Boram (Kor) 558; 2. Ravinder Hsu (Tpe) & Sahaja Yamalapalli bt
the gold 49­47 by Diana Sa­ team. It was a tight race but of ₹2.6 crore. Pairs events. To mark the Lia Karatancheva (Bul) & Maria
p.m. onwards Singh 556; 3. Lim Hojin 555; 8.
bekova of Kazakhstan. Rai­ I think our familiarity with About 800 players in 20 years of the champion­ Kononova 1­6, 6­3, [10­6].
Men’s Cricket World Cup: Star Sports 1 & Hotstar, 2 p.m. Amanpreet Singh 546; 11. Aniket
za won the team gold in the Khidsse 534; 12. Ram Babu 530;
the terrain and track 140 teams are expected to ship, there will be a ProAm $15,000 ITF women, Monastir,
ISL: Sports 18­1 & Jio Cinema App, 8 p.m. company of Muffaddal helped us to win and I am compete from USA, Nor­ event on the last day, with
Women: 1. Lee Junseop (Kor) Tunisia: Singles
Bundesliga: Sony Sports Ten 2 & LIV, 12 a.m. (Saturday) Zahra Deesawala and San­ happy with the team’s per­ way, Sweden, Poland, Bul­ amateurs participating in
545; 2. Kamaljeet 543; 3. Kim (pre­quarterfinals): Amelia
LaLiga: Sports 18­1& Jio Cinema App, 12.30 a.m. (Saturday) jana Ssood. Hyunsu (Kor) 542; 5. Suresh formance,” said Chinese garia, Italy, Australia, New combination with profes­ Waligora (Bel) bt Jennifer
Premier League: SS Select 1 & Hotstar, 12.30 a.m. (Saturday) In the 50­metre free pis­ Sankhla 538; 8. Ankait Tomar 521. coach Yi Jian. Zealand,, Israel, Indone­ sionals. Luikham 7­5, 6­2.

NEW DELHI ROUND-UP

쑽

Oxford School prevails Montfort School 34 bt Fr. Agnel

Aadil and Soham scored
47 points between them to
help host Oxford School
to a 67­41 victory over
Bluebells School in the
senior boys section of the
34th Hansraj Prabhakar
basketball tournament at
the school courts in
E­Block, Vikaspuri, on
Thursday.
The results:
Boys, senior: Oxford School 67
(Aadil 24, Soham 23) bt Bluebells
School 41 (Shasta 13, Yugansh
12); Montfort School 69 (Bhaskar
31, Shubham 13) bt Ball Bharati
School 50 (Vaibhav 14, Ranveer
14); Shiv Nadar School, Noida 60
(Nikhil 24, Arhamar 12) bt Ball
Bharati 41 (Daksh Rana 15,
Sankalp 12).
U­15: Oxford School 63
(Chaitanya Chaudhary 18,
Nishant 16) bt Indira Ideal 17;
School 14; Bluebells School 39
(Akshay Sharma 21) bt Modern
School, Barakhamba Road 36
(Lavya Saini 11).
Girls, u­16: Ball Bharati 40 bt
Modern School, Barakhamba
Road 26; Shiv Nadar School 18 bt
Fr. Agnel School 12.
Perry scores seven
Matthew Perry scored
seven goals as Achievers
Red defeated Delta
Foundation 9­6 in a league
match of the Bhopal
Pataudi Cup polo
tournament at the Army
Equestrian Centre, Delhi
Cantonment, on
Thursday.
The results (league):
Achievers Red 9 (Matthew Perry
7, Shamsheer Ali 2) bt Delta
Foundation 6 (Angad Kalaan 3,
Naveen Singh 2, Salim Azmi).

Soham and Riana

clinch under­15 titles
UTT
Sports Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Eighth seeded Soham Muk­
herjee of West Bengal con­
tinued his impressive run
to beat teammate and
arch­rival Rupam Sadar
11­6, 8­11, 13­11, 11­5 to win
the boys under­15 title in
the UTT National­ranking
table tennis tournament at
the Jimmy George indoor
CM
YK
stadium here on Thursday.
Riana Bhoota (Maha­
rashtra) outsmarted top
seed and favourite Avisha
Karmakar (Delhi) 9­11, 11­6,
11­9, 11­2 to win the girls tit­
le.
Semifinal results:
Boys: Soham bt Aditya Das (WB)
11­8, 11­8, 8­11, 11­7; Rupam bt
Rajdip Sen (NCOE) 11­2, 11­8,
11­7.
Girls: Avisha bt Ahona Ray (WB)
9­11, 11­4, 11­5, 11­9; Riana bt
Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) 12­10,
7­11, 12­10, 11­5.
M ND-NDE

Friday, October 27, 2023
Delhi
When I get on the run, I know
I’m difficult to bowl to: Maxwell
I was literally hitting them flat through the gap or picking my spots pretty clearly where I wanted to go and it was only the back end
where I tried to just pump everything, reveals the Australian after smashing the fastest hundred in World Cup history
Big show: Maxwell was in such a destructive mood that the white ball kept travelling to the fence or disappearing into the stands quite often. R.V. MOORTHY
P.K. Ajith Kumar
NEW DELHI
ven as he unleashed those
E extraordinary shots, one after
another, at the Arun Jaitley
Stadium on Wednesday, Glenn
Maxwell was keeping tabs on the balls he
had been facing.
After slamming the fastest World Cup
hundred, against the Netherlands, the
Australian superstar said he was aware of
the records. “I’m very aware of balls
faced,” he said after his stunning
onslaught, for which all he got was the
last 10 overs. “I love the fastest fifty,
fastest hundred records.”
He feels those records are cool.
“Sometimes to the detriment of myself, I
have always probably pushed the
boundaries a bit too much,” he said. “I
think against Afghanistan in 2015, I was 88
off (38) and I was like I am getting into the
next two balls I hit one straight to cover
and butchered it. I think I got my fastest
hundred in the next game.”
It is not just the bowlers that know he
is one of the most difficult batters to bowl
to. “When I get on the run, I know I’m
difficult to bowl to,” Maxwell said. “It’s
just about getting past the first ball. I have
been in those positions before I could
GAME TIME
Quiz yourself on trivia and facts across various
sports and games from around the world
V.V. Ramanan
X QUESTION 4
QUESTION 1
In what way is the England­India third
Test played at Birmingham between
July 13 and 17 unique as far as the
visitors’ bowling attack is concerned?
X QUESTION 5
QUESTION 2
Apart from Manchester United, which
two clubs were crowned the Premier
League champions in the last decade
of the 20th Century?
X Earlier this year, who became the first
QUESTION 3
Which event is considered the world’s
largest annual women’s international
team sports competition in terms of
CM
YK
make fast hundreds.”
He, however, said he hadn’t been
feeling well. “I was sitting in the changing
room and I didn’t really want to bat,
which is a bit different than last game
where I was way too eager to get out
there,” he said. “I was a little bit more
chilled when I got out there. I didn’t have
many high hopes, I think. But yeah, I’ve
been pretty cooked the last couple of
days. It coincided with the sleepless night
the previous night with the family.”
He may not have imagined that he
the number of nations that compete?
X which are the other two field events in
Who was the first athlete to win gold
medals in the same event in four
consecutive Summer Olympics? And
name the event.
X
The Johan Cruyff Arena is the home
ground of which famous European
football club?
X
QUESTION 6
Indian across the men’s and women’s
game to take 100 T20I wickets?
X the famous ‘Thrilla in Manila’ bout in
QUESTION 7
THE HINDU
Sport
would make sleep difficult, after the
match, for the Netherlands bowlers, who
were slaughtered mercilessly by him. He
had begun slowly, relatively speaking, that
is. It took him 27 balls for his first fifty, but
the second came off just 13.
“It’s a bit weird that I had to calm
myself down for the first 20 odd balls and
rebuild,” Maxwell said. “I think the
circumstances of, I suppose, the timing of
the wickets probably changed the way I
would have gone about it if it was just me
and David Warner at the back end. I felt
like I was just super selective. Even with
the boundaries I was hitting, until I got to
about 50 or 60, I was literally hitting them
flat through the gap or picking my spots
pretty clearly where I wanted to go and it
was only the back end where I tried to
just pump everything.”
He said he wasn’t worried about what
people had been saying about his ODI
form. “I think I’ve made runs in India
during the IPL pretty regularly over the
last couple of years, so I’m not too
worried about people saying that I haven’t
made runs in ODI cricket because it
doesn’t really matter, especially given my
role in one­day cricket,” he said. “It’s so
similar to T20, so I just draw on those
experiences, knowing that if I do get it
right on the day, hopefully my team will
Apart from shot put and long jump,
heptathlon?
X
QUESTION 8
What is the duration of a 3x3 basketball
game and in which two ways can a
team win a game?
X
QUESTION 9
Apart from India and Pakistan, which is
the only other nation to win the men’s
Asian Champions Trophy in hockey?
X
QUESTION 10
Who did Muhammad Ali defeat to win X 10 minutes or if a team reaches
Question 11: Identify this champion who was the first woman chess player to be honoured with
the Asian capital in 1975? the Arjuna Award. THE HINDU ARCHIVES
It’s just about getting past the first ball.
I have been in those positions before
I could make fast hundreds
be winning. Having had a bit of success
this year in India during the IPL, I’ve
come to India during this World Cup full
of confidence and even started well in the
practice games with a good 70 against
Pakistan.”
Maxwell wasn’t too keen about the
light show. “Well, I had something like
that light show similar happen at Perth
during a Big Bash game and I just felt like
it gave me shocking headaches and it
takes me a while for my eyes to readjust
and I just think it’s the dumbest idea for
cricketers,” he said.
“When you’ve got this thing coming at
you quickly and your eyes take so long to
adjust and I think we just lost a wicket
and the Perth Stadium lights went nuts
and I was at the other end and it took me
ages to get my eyes to go again and I felt
like I had a headache. So I just try to cover
up as much as I possibly can and ignore it.
But it’s a horrible idea. It is great for the
fans, horrible for the players.”
I
Eric Simons. ANI
Bavuma leans
on Simons to
ace Chepauk
challenge
S. Dipak Ragav
Even as England is going through a
harrowing World Cup campaign, South
Africa has found great success by taking a
page out of the defending champion’s
playbook of playing an aggressive brand
of cricket. The Proteas batters have
thrown caution to the wind and
out­batted the opposition by amassing
humongous totals.
While it has been breathtaking to
watch South Africa, the team’s high scores
have come on batting­friendly pitches at
Delhi, Lucknow and in the last two
encounters at Mumbai.
On Friday, the Proteas will face a first
big challenge to their batting philosophy
when they take on Pakistan at the M.A.
Chidambaram Stadium, where the pitch is
on the slower side and the venue is not
known for high totals.
However, skipper Temba Bavuma said
the team will look to back its strengths
and continue to do what has worked for it
so far despite the conditions.
“What we have done well is that there
is that process within our batting of
assessing the conditions, looking at what
we need from a skill and options point of
view to be successful, and that’s what
we’ve done well,” said Bavuma.
“So, I think the process in itself, batting
here in Chennai, will not change. We will
assess the wicket and, come up with
options for how we can succeed. And if
the opportunity is there for us to score
350, we will do so. If not, we will make
sure we play what’s happening in front of
us as best as possible,” he added.
Fortunately for South Africa, they can
rely on someone with local knowledge of
the conditions in its bowling coach, Eric
Simons, who did the same job for India
when it won the World Cup in 2011 and
has been a bowling consultant with
Chennai Super Kings since 2018.
“Definitely, from a bowling point of
view, there are a lot of nuggets of gold that
are coming from Eric, his experience of
obviously having coached in this part of
the world. Like I said, we haven’t seen the
wicket, but he’ll probably be the person
who will be leading that conversation
there. But yeah, he’s been invaluable
from that point of view,” said Bavuma on
the value Simons brings to the table.
“I think also from the intangibles, the
pressure and expectation from that point
of view, if you ask a lot of the guys, he’s
almost played a grandpa role within the
team, finding ways to almost regulate our
emotions. So, it’s been refreshing from
that point of view,” added the South
African skipper.
THE ANSWERS
1.The only Test where the famed
‘spin quartet’ played, 2.
Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal, 3.
Billie Jean Cup (formerly fed
Cup), 4. Al Oerter (USA) in discus,
5. AFC Ajax, 6. Deepti Sharma, 7.
High jump and javelin, 8. 10
minutes and the winner is
determined by most points after
21 points, 9. South Korea, 10. Joe
Frazier III, 11. Rohini Khadilkar
S ND-NDE
 THE HINDU
II Friday, October 27, 2023

SCIENCE
Delhi

What does the abortion verdict

mean for reproductive justice?
A Bench of the Supreme Court said recognition of a woman’s autonomy cannot eclipse the ‘rights of the unborn child’

Saumya Kalia For the law, a pregnant woman

is a unique subject. The foetus is
he Supreme Court this intimately associated with the

T month rejected a
woman’s plea for
abortion. The woman —
26 weeks pregnant, married, with
two children, and dealing with
body of the woman, in a way that
is different from all other
situations that the law regulates.
Any form of recognition of the
foetus will, therefore, most likely
postpartum psychosis — requested grievously invade women’s legally Osteoporosis has a huge impact on quality of life and needs to be on the radar of
termination because she was recognised rights. When we medical practitioners for early diagnosis. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
“physically, emotionally, mentally, Women’s autonomy is caught up in a debate about rights of the foetus. GETTY IMAGES contemplate the legal (as opposed
financially and medically unable to ethical, moral or religious)
to carry, deliver or raise a child.”
Denying her request, the
three­judge Bench headed by the
as less weighty.
This pitting exercise indicates
why it is so important to be clear
status of the foetus, a strong case
can be made that the impact on
women has to be a consideration.
Unmasking the Indian
Chief Justice of India said the
Court’s recognition of a woman’s
on what the foetal interest
involved is. Is it life? Is it a form of
In practice, when women come
before courts, a discourse on
On the other hand, even if
some legally relevant status is osteoporosis care crisis
autonomy cannot eclipse the potential life (which would, foetal rights has emerged granted to foetuses, it need not
“rights of the unborn child”. arguably, be less weighty)? signal the end of liberal abortion
Gauri Pillai, an Assistant Irrespective of what the foetus is laws. Empirical evidence suggests Christianez Ratna Kiruba Only a small percentage
Professor at the National Law (which is not a legal that restrictive abortion laws do of people in India receive
School of India University, determination), what status should third­trimester abortions in not protect foetuses; they push Nazma is a 55­year­old housewife care for their osteoporosis -
explains the Court’s verdict— one it be granted within the law? And limited circumstances, this women toward unsafe abortions. who began to feel “bone pain” all
year after a landmark ruling how should this legal status, if appears to have been driven by a If foetal protection is the aim, over her body, some years ago.
a condition characterised
expanded the scope of abortion granted, be protected — through need to protect women’s health better alternatives exist: “First, it was mild. But after a by weakening of bones
rights in India. restricting abortions or other rather than protect the foetus. At comprehensive sex education, while, I felt it constantly”, she
Edited excerpts: means? the time of passing the 1971 law, access to contraception, reducing says. “I went to many doctors. We
The Supreme Court in 2022’s The Court earlier held that only two members of the violence against women, and got a few normal X­rays, so they look for it. Osteoporosis isn’t a
X v NCT acknowledged continuing with an unwanted Legislative Assembly protested providing childcare support, gave me painkillers. But I did not secondary diagnosis a doctor can
women’s ‘right to choose’. pregnancy adversely impacts against abortion (calling it which reduce rate of abortions. get better. One doctor even keep at the back of their mind.
How does the present verdict mental health and can be “murder” and a “crime against The pregnant woman’s rights prescribed an antidepressant, One must actively look for and
interpret this right? grounds for abortion. What humanity”). The others endorsed were seen as extending only as far thinking it was all in my head. rule it out in patients with vague
There is no doubt that the was its present stance? it and affirmed that “there is no as they did not harm a viable After two or three years of this bone pains.”
verdict dilutes women’s right to This is another unfortunate violation of the right to life in any foetus. The Court reasoned that it treatment, I consulted a doctor “Even in patients who have had
choose, as understood by example of seemingly expansive manner.” was following the conditions who said my bones were probably fractures and have undergone
previous Supreme Court decisions constitutional principles reduced However, in 2009, the Indian [under the MTP Act] and seemed becoming weaker as my periods surgery, it is not routine for
including the landmark X v NCT. to rhetoric in practice. In X v NCT, Supreme Court, citing the U.S. to suggest that its hands were tied. had stopped long ago. It was the doctors here to go back to see why
On the one hand, rights are rarely the Supreme Court did not decision in Roe, suggested that the However, this not entirely true. first time I had heard such a thing. the patient’s bone was fragile
absolute and are typically subject confine “mental health” to state has a ‘compelling interest’ to The Court possesses power to do She suggested a scan to check my enough to break. That is truly
to limitations. On the other, in the medical diagnosis. Rather, the protect the foetus which is a form ‘complete justice’. It has bone strength. The reports unfortunate,” says Dr Alfia.
context of abortion, Indian courts Court said it must be understood of “potential life.” The state can, previously read abortion law showed osteoporosis. The doctor Also of interest is that most of
have not explicitly articulated based on the petitioner’s “self and then, impose ‘reasonable liberally even when the text did said that alongside causing me the Indian population does not
what these limitations are. experiences”. In the present case, restrictions’ on abortion. The not explicitly authorise it. The pain, osteoporosis would also have access to DEXA or the bone
At the level of constitutional the petitioner pleaded for an Court did not, however, mention Court choosing not to do so was, increase the chances of fractures.” mineral density scan ­ the gold
principle, they have tended to see abortion because she was viability; yet, some loose version then, less about law and more Ms. Nazma’s is not an standard test for osteoporosis.
the right as vesting solely with suffering from post­partum of viability seems to exist. In 2016, about concern for the foetus. exception. The unpleasant reality “When I wanted a DEXA for my
women. X v NCT declared that ‘it psychosis — lack of sleep, the Punjab and Haryana High The CJI asked why the woman is that only a small percentage mother, I called many hospitals
is the woman alone who has the hallucinations, suicide attempts — Court claimed that once the took 26 weeks to decide. Do of people in India receive care for and centres,” said Mohammad
right over her body’ and is the after her previous pregnancy. She pregnancy is viable, the ‘potential laws account for challenges their osteoporosis ­ a condition Aslam Ali. “Only two or three
‘ultimate decision­maker’ on submitted prescriptions as child’ becomes a part of the such as healthcare gaps and characterised by weakening of centres have the scan facility in
abortion. However, in practice, evidence of her medical determination. The Calcutta High stigma, and link the right to bones. Guwahati ­ all private. And
when individual women come condition, stressing that Court in 2019 said that at an abortion with equality? We have all seen people begin Guwahati is a state capital. I can
before courts, a discourse on postpartum psychosis was more advanced stage of pregnancy, ‘the Typically, abortion cases are to stoop as they grow older. That only imagine what it’s like in other
foetal rights has begun to emerge. severe than postpartum right to life of the foetus seen as involving the right to is because of osteoporosis. The areas”, he says. A study found that
Women, it seems, are not depression. outweighs the [mother’s] mental privacy. However, abortions are weakening of the bone not only in India, there are only 0.26 DEXA
“ultimate decision­makers.” While the Court eventually trauma’ . There is no explicit also necessary to guarantee causes long­term pain but also machines per million of the
This leads to incoherence in decided that the mental health articulation of this standard or a women equality. Denying changes in posture and increases population.
jurisprudence: the constitutional ground for abortion did not defence of it, despite it being abortions perpetuates women’s chances of fractures and nerve “If you look at guidelines for
right to abortion does not appear extend beyond 24 weeks of highly critiqued; it has simply disadvantage: In pushing some injury if the bone affected is the treatment, they say, perform a
to accommodate the limitations gestation, it questioned the been slipped into the law. women to seek abortions with spine. All of these problems DEXA for diagnosis and start
the Court authorises in practice. It validity of the petitioner’s What are the rights of a foetus unsafe providers, their lives are negatively impact the quality of medication. The guidelines also
also risks reducing the Court’s argument... suggesting that the under Indian law? threatened. For those who are life and increase disability and ask us to repeat the DEXA yearly
proclamations on women’s rights prescriptions might have been The rights of a foetus are forced to carry an unwanted financial burden on the family, to see if treatment is working. This
to rhetoric. doctored to ‘bolster the case’. unclear — there has been no pregnancy, there is a risk to their and yet osteoporosis is not focus on a scan which is available
India has taken pride in its What is the rationale of the upfront articulation of it. Whether physical and mental health. receiving the attention it deserves to barely 10% of the population is
‘progressive’ abortion laws that ‘viability’ theory, as argued by the foetus possesses rights, or [Women denied abortions report a in medical practice. unreasonable,” adds Dr Alfia.
respect women’s autonomy. the Union Government? simply “interests” (as SC termed it higher risk of complications like Though there are no large­scale “There is a need for conversations
The Court refused to hear The theory is: When the foetus in 2009) is also ambiguous. A 2016 eclampsia and postpartum studies on osteoporosis in India, in the medical circle about how to
arguments on autonomy in this reaches a point of viability — Bombay High Court decision haemorrhage , research shows.] projected data shows that at least diagnose and effectively treat
case. Why is that? where it can exist outside the relied on international human Being denied abortions has a 46 million women in India osteoporosis in resource­limited
The Court seems to be pitting womb of the woman (with rights law to hold that the foetus socio­economic impact on currently live with set­ups.”
some form of foetal right to life medical support) — the right to does not have rights till birth. In women. It also entrenches post­menopausal osteoporosis, “In resource­limited settings, I
against women’s right to abortion should be curtailed. essence, the state of law is stereotypical assumptions about which is only one type of used the Singh index to diagnose
autonomy. In a battle between Viability was most famously jumbled, and requires urgent women’s role as mothers, leading osteoporosis. If you include osteoporosis”, says Suranjan
‘life’ and ‘autonomy,’ it is not endorsed by the U.S. Supreme deliberation, especially if foetal to abortion stigma and provider women who had surgeries to Bhattacharjee, a retired professor
surprising that autonomy was Court in Roe v Wade in 1973; in interests (or, rights) are being used bias. remove their uterus, people who of Physical Medicine and
seen to be on a ‘different footing’ 1992, this was replaced with a to restrict abortion rights. The Court has repeatedly held used steroid medication for a long Rehabilitation who worked in a
and lost out. This reasoning could different test , and in 2022, the Has the law tried to engage that perpetuating the time and, men who developed mission hospital in Bissamcuttack,
also create hierarchies: certain Court rejected the viability with the question of when ‘life disadvantage of a historically osteoporosis because of old age, Odisha, serving a poor locality.
forms of autonomy (say, asking for standard completely. comes into being’ before? disadvantaged group is what the number may be over double. “The Singh index is a score that
abortion in rape cases) will be In India, the viability of the Whether the foetus should, at inequality looks like. Under this A 2019 study also revealed that requires only an X­ray of the
seen as more weighty when foetus has historically had no all, be a relevant factor in abortion definition, the denial of abortion India was the highest contributor patient’s pelvis to diagnose
balanced against life, and other purchase in restricting abortion. regulation is a question that has is an obvious equality issue. to osteoporosis fracture­related osteoporosis. I didn’t have the
forms (like the current petitioner) While India’s 1971 law allows not been answered in India. (saumya.k@thehindu.co.in) deaths/disabilities worldwide. facilities to check vitamin D levels
“There are enormous gaps in in blood, so I also started them on
knowledge about osteoporosis, calcium and vitamin D
even among doctors,” says Alfia supplements without the blood
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB Kaki, a doctor in Guwahati. tests,” he adds.
“Nobody with long­term pain is Dr. Suranjan’s experience
BIG SHOT going to make an appointment suggests that, in the realm of
with an endocrinologist (which is osteoporosis care, India’s
where all the knowledge about infrastructure limitations can be
bone conditions is concentrated, overcome by acquiring proper
as of date). They will either come knowledge and engaging in
to a general practitioner or, if it meaningful discussions within our
worsens, to an orthopaedic. And context.
in India, doctors in this capacity This osteoporosis day’s (20th
are ill­equipped to handle October) the theme was ‘Build
osteoporosis.” better bones’. To do so, we must
Dr Alfia’s claim is supported by realise that our nation is grappling
a study conducted among 222 with this silent epidemic. Millions
medical practitioners at both suffer in silence as their pain goes
graduate and postgraduate levels unnoticed and their quality of life
in south India to test their is compromised. To bridge the
knowledge about osteoporosis. osteoporosis care gap in India we
The study revealed that the mean must promote awareness and aim
score of doctors was 22.5% with for early intervention. It’s time to
every single doctor scoring less empower healthcare providers
than 50%. everywhere with context­specific
“Considering that Indian knowledge to diagnose, treat, and
women have many micronutrient prevent this debilitating
deficiencies and do not set aside condition, ensuring a healthier
time for exercise, there needs to and pain­free future for all.
be a high index of suspicion for (christianezdennis@gmail.com)
osteoporosis in every patient,”
says Manisha Deka, a consultant
physician working in Central
Railway Hospital, Guwahati. For feedback and suggestions
X “Every other older female patient for ‘Science’, please write to
Oleksandr, a 37­year­old Ukrainian double amputee soldier, during a training session at an Adonis rehabilitation centre in Kyiv, Ukraine. Oleksandr lost his legs in the spring of I see has osteoporosis. And science@thehindu.co.in
2023, while he was asleep in his trench when it came under Russian tank fire around Krasnohorivka region. The toll of the war has surged, with new rehabilitation centres because I understand how widely with the subject ‘Daily page’
opening across the country. GETTY IMAGES prevalent it is, I make it a point to
CM S ND-NDE
YK