BENGALURU MASTER & APPRENTICE PREMIERE IN PARIS FINALE Rafael Nadal will become the oldest man to win the title if he defeats Casper Ruud in French Open final  SUNDAY  JUNE 5, 2022  `12.00  PAGES 26  LATE CITY EDITION THE NADAL TOUCH 14TH AND THE FIRST SWIATEK-DREAM: THE FRENCH KISS The two haven’t faced each other in a competitive match. Ruud has trained at Rafael Nadal academy in Mallorca. And Nadal has personally helped to foster Ruud’s clay court talents | Live from 6:30pm Nadal will be playing his 14th Roland Garros final and 30th overall at the Grand Slams, while his protege would be playing his first major final. Nadal was 19 when he won first French title ■ ■ ■ Iga Swiatek wins her second French Open title by dominating teenager Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in the final on Saturday She equalled Venus Williams’ record for the longest winning run of 35 by a woman in the 21st century Her 2nd Slam triumph was her 6th successive title this year | P13 $2.35 mn PRIZE MONEY FOR THE WINNER, WHILE GAUF WILL GET $1.17 MILLION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI VHP-Bajrang Dal bid to do puja at mosque K’taka police stop activists who claim the Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna was built over a Hanuman temple Outfits ignore Bhagwat’s call? Police prevent VHP and Bajrang Dal activists from performing puja near the west gate of Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna on Saturday | UDAYASHANKAR S 2 CASES OF NOSE-BLEED FEVER A 55-year-old woman has died from the deadly nose-bleed fever in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district. So far, two cases have been reported in India—both in Bhavnagar. The disease has killed at least 18 in Iraq | P9 W I T H T H I S I SSU E LARGER12 PAGESLIFE THAN PLUS JAB-O-METER June 3 9,94,843 doses TAKE June 4 10,28,295 doses YOUR SHOT TOTAL: 194,07,80,539 NATIONWIDE JUNE 3 JUNE 4 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths KARNATAKA JUNE 3 JUNE 4 4,041 3,962 Fresh cases 2,363 2,697 Recoveries 10 26 Deaths 259 234 0 222 191 0 K S H I VA KU M A R @ S r i ra n ga p a t n a IN THE backdrop of claims that a Shivling was found at Gyanvapi Mosque, hundreds of VHP and Bajrang Dal activists from across Mandya district in Karnataka laid siege to the fort town of Srirangapatna, around 125 km from Bengaluru, on Saturday demanding that they be , allowed to offer pujas at the Mula Anjaneyaswamy temple, which they claimed is situated near the west gate of Jamia Masjid. The protest in Tipu Sultan’s capital also came when a controversy is raging over secular credentials of the Muslim ruler. The protesters said that the 18th century ruler razed a Hanuman temple situated at the spot and built Jamia Masjid. On Saturday, the activists were stopped from heading towards the masjid as Deputy C o m m i s s i o n e r A s h w at h i clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The police beefed up security and barricaded all the roads leading to the mosque, which is being maintained by the Archeological Survey of India. The protesting activists claimed that two of their workers managed to break through the security cordon and chant Hanuman Chalisa at the temple inside Jamia Masjid. The Bajrang Dal had given a call for Srirangapatana Chalo and when they were stopped, they blocked the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru and Mysuru-Pandavapura highways, demanding that they be allowed to proceed towards the mosque. Mandya Superintendent of Police P Yatish warned the protesters that anyone violating the prohibitory orders and trying to enter the historic town would be arrested. Later, the protesters were moved to a nearby town Kirangur, clearing the traffic on the highways. CONTINUED ON: P4 Crisis-hit state agriculture department working with only 44 per cent staffers A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Bengaluru WITH the onset of monsoon in Karnataka, farmers might be rejoicing as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted good rain for this year. But what may come as a shock to many is the serious crisis being faced by the State Agriculture Department. The department is facing an acute staff shortage with less than 50 per cent employees working. This has negatively impacted the functioning of the department and the affected parties are mostly the beneficiaries and far mers who haven’t received benefits. The sanctioned staff strength of the department from different cadres is 9,007 posts, of THE SHORTFALL CADRE SANCTIONED Group A 652 WORKING 519 Group B 4,091 1,781 Group C 2,752 1,238 Group D 1,512 482 TOTAL 9,007 4,020 which only 4,020 posts have been filled. This means there are only 44 per cent of staffers working in the department. Of them, Group B and Group C play important roles and most of the vacant posts are from these two cadres. In Group B cadre, of the 4,091 sanctioned posts, only 1,781 are filled. The State government’s Hindu outfits’ campaign to claim the Srirangapatna Jamia Masjid comes amid the call by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to refrain from such actions. Speaking at an event last Thursday, Bhagwat had questioned the need to “look for a Shivalinga in every mosque”, referring to the Gyanvapi controversy. “One shouldn’t raise a new issue every day. Why escalate fights? What happens in mosques is also a form of prayer... We are not opposed to any form of worship,” he had said move to recruit 300 people is hardly making a difference as it is way less than the actual required strength. In Karnataka, there are close to 750 Raitha Samparka Kendras (RSK), with at least one each at Hobli level. Each RSK should have an assistant agriculture officer and agriculture assistant who are crucial in reaching out to the end beneficiary in villages. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in his maiden budget speech had announced allotment of `33,700 crore for agriculture and allied sectors with an aim to increase incomes of far mers. He had also announced Raitha Shakti scheme by allotting Rs 500 crore to encourage the use of farm maCONTINUED ON: P5 chinery . I reject the Opposition’s demand for removing RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar’s lesson from the textbooks. There is nothing wrong in retaining it Basavaraj Bommai, Chief Minister S H I L PA P @ Bengaluru A DAY after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said his government was open to re-revising textbooks, Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh has clarified that they would neither stop printing of revised textbooks nor re-print them. He assured there would be no delays in textbooks distribution, and that school education would not be affected because of any re-revision. Minister Nagesh told The New Indian Express on Saturday that following the Friday evening discussions with the Chief Minister post submis- (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. A DAY after the Delhi Commission The Advertising Standards Counfor Women flagged advertisement cil of India (ASCI), a self-regulatory videos of perfume brand body of advertisement proTWO MINORS ‘Shot’ for promoting rape fessionals, said it “was poARRESTED OVER culture, the Centre on Saturtentially in serious violaGANGRAPE OF day directed Twitter and tion” of its code. T’GANA TEEN YouTube to take them down While the videos have Hyderabad police on at once. drawn criticism from many Saturday “It has come to the notice quarters for encouraging apprehended two of the ministry that an inapviolence against women, minors, including propriate and derogatory adthe strongest reaction was the son of a vertisement of a deodorant from the Delhi CommisTelangana Wakf is circulating on social mesion for Women. “Fuming Board official, in dia. So, it has asked Twitter at cringe worthy ads of the connection with the and YouTube to immediately perfume ‘Shot’. They show gangrape of a pull it down,” said an official toxic masculinity in its 17-year-old girl of the Ministry of Informaworst form and clearly proinside a car after a tion and Broadcasting. mote gangrape culture! pub party | P5 In letters to Twitter and The company owners must YouTube, the ministry said be held accountable. Have the videos were “detrimental to the issued notice to Delhi Police and portrayal of women in the interest of written letter to I&B Minister seekdecency and morality” and in viola- ing FIR and strong action,” its chairtion of the Information Technology person Swati Maliwal tweeted. E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi 12 workers killed, 21 injured in factory blast in Uttar Pradesh Hapur: At least 12 workers died and 21 were injured when a boiler exploded at a factory in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district on Saturday afternoon, officials said. It took three hours for fire tenders to douse the blaze. “The factory was given the licence to manufacture electronic items. Now, it is a matter of probe what exactly was going on there,” District Magistrate of Hapur Medha Roopam said. Roofs of other factories nearby were damaged due to the impact of the blast. BJP candidate list for June 23 by-elections released New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday announced its candidates for the June 23 bypoll to two parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh and seven assembly constituencies in four states. The party will field Bhojpuri singer Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ in Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency and Ghanshyam Lodhi in Rampur Lok Sabha seat. Manik Saha, who was recently appointed as Tripura CM, will contest from the state’s Town Bordowali assembly constituency | P9 Save frogs to save yourself from diseases EVER wondered what role amphibians play in human lives? They keep the insect population under control, which in turn ensures that human beings do not contract diseases, especially the ones that originate from agricultural produce. But this World Environment Day, experts have a word of caution. The population of frogs is on the decline and sadly there is not much data available to show the immediate direct impact. Zoologists, herpetologists, taxonomists, experts and researchers from Karnataka and Maharashtra Frogs feed on insects that live on agricultural crops. So, if insects are killed by the use of harsh chemicals which is having an impact on the gender of frogs, an urgent need arises to see the impact on human beings. Frog hormonal system is 99 per cent similar to humans Dr Samadhan Krushna Phuge, Savitribai Phule Pune University sion of the report on textbooks revision, they decided not to reprint the textbooks. As only the content on 12th century social reformer Basavanna in class 9 social science textbooks is being considered for re-revision, the textbooks will not be reprinted. When they revise the content, only a separate small booklet of that revised content on Basavanna will be printed and distributed to schools along with the textbooks, Nagesh said. As of Friday night, 79.70 per cent of the textbooks were printed and 66.98 per cent were distributed to the schools. According to sources in the Govt orders ‘rape culture’ perfume ad be taken down EXPRESS READ have undertaken a study to assess the impact of climate change on amphibians. Over the last two to three years, the erratic change in monsoon pattern has brought to light the negative effects on the breeding and reproduction cycles of frogs. Noted frog expert K V Gururaja says that due to cyclones like Tauktae, Asani and other premonsoon showers, the egg-laying cycle of frogs advances, leading to B C Nagesh, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Minister rules out re-print of textbooks WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru The state government will neither stop printing of revised textbooks nor re-print them. We will ensure that there will be no delays in textbook distribution and that school education will not be affected change in the croaking cycle of the amphibian. Moreover, when sunny days increase during monsoon period, the eggs dry up fast. These changes have been observed among Common Toads and Malabar Tree Toad so far. Prof Narahari Gramapurohit, Department of Zoology Pune Uni, versity, told The New Indian Express, “Unlike in other countries, there is little or no study available in India on the impact of climate change on frogs. Change in rainy season affects breeding among frogs as toads need water base. For the regular monsoon period (JuneSeptember), frogs get ready for reproduction from April.” P2 education department, the printing and distribution process is scheduled to be completed within a fortnight. Reprinting them with the latest rerevision would mean stopping the ongoing printing and affecting the schools. As the Rohith Chakratirtha-headed Textbooks Revision Committee has been dissolved, Nagesh iterated that no new committee would be constituted to oversee the re-revision of content on Basavanna. Instead, the state government plans to consult a few experts, he said, although refraining from divulging the names of CONTINUED ON: P4 the experts. DOWRY’S CRUEL FACE A 33-year-old woman from Chandra Layout in Bengaluru was allegedly pushed into Cauvery river near Mekedatu falls at Sangama by her husband as she could not meet his dowry demands. Only the lower part of the victim’s body has been found from the waters which are said to be infested with crocodiles. The victim’s brother has filed a complaint | P3 HARVESTING RAINWATER, DROP BY DROP P2