chennai l monday l july 4, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION Chess Olympiad’S BIGGEST MOVE WITH REcord ENTRIES With the registration coming to close on Sunday, the event will see the highest number of teams in its history hosts get opening, fields third team The open category has seen a record-breaking 187 teams, the highest-ever for any Chess Olympiad. In order to even out the number, as per norm, FIDE approved a third team from the host country. India A will start as third seed in open section, while B team will be seeded 11th. In women’s section, 162 teams have registered and India A team is top seeds 187 Bakre, ganguly & Co in the fray too ■ Tejas Bakre will be leading the third team that will include ■ Grandmasters Surya Shekhar Ganguly (pic), Karthikeyan Murali, SP Sethuraman, Abhijeet Gupta and Abhimanyu Purani Russia and Belarus are banned from participation, while last edition winners China have opted out | P11 number of teams registered in the open category 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 TN scraps 5% quota for ex-CAPF personnel in State police service T HI N AKARA N RA JA M A N I @ Tenkasi Even as the country is witnessing a groundswell of anger over the new Agniveer recruitment policy for Indian defence forces, Tamil Nadu government has decided to scrap the 5% reservation being offered for the past several years to former Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel belonging to the BSF, CISF, ITBP and SSB in recruitment for constable and sub-inspector posts under the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB). A recent recruitment notification and information brochure issued by the TNUSRB for 3,552 posts said that 5% reservation is only for ex-army personnel and not CAPF personnel. Chairperson of TNUSRB Crew on leave, most Indigo flights delayed E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ New Delhi On Saturday majority of IndiGo flights were delayed because crew, including pilots, went on leave. Though officials have not confirmed, there are indications and reports that suggested this was linked to a recruitment drive conducted by Air India. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, however, has taken notice of the delays and has sought a report from the airline. “We have noted the development and sought a report from the airline,” DGCA told this newspaper. If sources are the believed, less than 45 per cent of the flights operated by IndiGo were on time on Saturday due to shortage of crew. The country’s largest airlines was inundated with inquires and complaints on Twitter not just about delays but also about passengers not being offered refreshments during the waiting-period. Indigo abstained from commenting. Seema Agarwal said Tamil Nadu government has so far been offering reservation to retired paramilitary forces personnel by mistake. “Now we go strictly by the State government’s order. Military and paramilitary forces are not the same. The 5% reservation is only for ex-army personnel. The government has communicated this in the recruitment notification,” Agarwal said. Quota a mistake, says TNUSRB A recent recruitment notification and information brochure issued by the TNUSRB for 3,552 posts said 5% quota is only for ex-army personnel and not CAPF personnel. S Vijay Kumar, a former BSF personnel, said, “The Ministry of Home Affairs through an office memorandum in 2012 advised States to extend the reservation benefits given to ex-servicemen to retired personnel of paramilitary forces or CAPF. Even before that MHA memorandum, the TNUSRB was offering the 5% quota to both the groups. TNUSRB in a reply to my RTI application in 2011 had also said that 5% reservation is for both. This sudden cancellation of reservation has come as a shock to paramilitary forces personnel who had resigned their jobs to enter Tamil Nadu police service.” Kumar said he quit BSF last year after 21 years of service with the intention of joining Tamil Nadu police under the 5% quota.  @ New Delhi Supreme Court judge Justice J B Pardiwala on Sunday warned against personal attacks on judges, saying they were creating a dangerous situation, at an event. Observing that personalised opinion on social media was harming judicial institutions, he said it needs to be regulated. “Personal attacks on judges for their judgments leads to a dangerous scenario... Judges have to think about what the media has to say instead of what the law has to really say. This harms the rule of law,” the judge said. He noted that social media is primarily being used to express “personalised opinions” against judges, rather than a “constructive critical appraisal” of their judgments. “This is what is harm- Says BJP’s goal is to take the country away from politics of appeasement to fulfilment Continued on: P5 SC judge sees need to rein in social media E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e Reach out to marginalised among the minorities, Modi urges party ing the judicial institution and lowering its dignity This . is where digital and social media have to be regulated throughout the country to preserve the rule of law under our Constitution.” The judge pointed out that Constitutional courts were okay with criticism but the problem is with the “half truth” is being pursued on social media. “A trial is supposed to be carried out by the courts. Trials by digital media are undue interference for the judiciary. This crosses the Laxman Rekha and is all the more problematic when only half truth is pursued. Constitutional courts have always graciously accepted informed dissent and constructive criticism,” the judge said. Pardiwala, as part of the two-judge bench, had pulled up BJP’s Nupur Sharma for her hate speech. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the BJP’s National Executive meeting in Hyderabad | PTI Our thinking is democratic, that is why when we built the PM Museum, we gave place to all prime minister - Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Jab-o-meter Take your shot July 2 8,84,921 doses July 3 1,68,793 doses Total doses 1,97,86,51,621 NATIONWIDE july 2 july 3 Fresh cases 17,092 16,103 Recoveries 14,684 13,929 Deaths 29 31 tamil nadu july 2 july 3 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 2,533 1,372 0 2,672 1,487 0 Shinde govt clears 1st marriage certificate Speaker poll test, not a must to solemnise trust vote today vaos told to end practice wedding in TN temples E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ Chennai The State revenue department has ordered an immediate end to the practice of Village Administrative Officers (VAO) issuing ‘first marriage certificates (FMC)’. Instead, people have been asked to obtain an unmarried certificate (UC) for availing of marriage-related services at temples and re gistration department offices by submitting a notary affidavit along with selfdeclaration. The unmarried certificate will be issued by the respective tahsildars with a digital signature. The ‘first marriage certificate’, which has never been an official revenue document, has been issued by VAOs for decades for conducting marriages at temples administered by the HR&CE and others. Each temple has a different format for the certificate. “We could not ascertain from when and where this practice of issuing FMC started. There are no standing orders for VAOs to issue such a certificate,” said a revenue official. Three years ago, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court declared that VAO’s are not empowered to issue the certificate. “Recently it came to our knowledge that many VAOs still issue FMC for various reasons. It’s reiterated that VAOs should refrain from doing this,” said a revenue department directive issued to district collectors last week. An advisory was also sent to HR&CE temples by the revenue department not to insist on FMC. HR&CE sources said after a few cases of marriages involving minor children due to elopement reported from a few temples in Chennai and a few other places in the 1990s, a section of officials started demanding FMC issued by VAOs for select marriages. “Later it becomes a norm for all marriages conducted at temples including those with parents’ consent,” sources said.  Continued on: P5 S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday won the first round of his fight against the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena in the Assembly when his government managed to get the , ruling coalition’s candidate elected as Speaker. The government is scheduled to take its confidence vote on Monday . BJP’s candidate Rahul Narvekar won by 57 votes against the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s joint candidate Rajan Salvi. Narvekar was supported by the Shinde group. He got 167 votes against Salvi’s 107. SP and MIM members abstained. Besides, seven NCP MLAs were absent, including Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh, who are in jail. Also, two members each from the BJP and the Congress failed to show up. Thackeray’s Sena asked acting speaker Narhari Zirwal to take on record that 39 Sena MLAs in the Shinde camp cross-voted against the party whip. Parallelly the Shinde camp put on record that 16 , Sena MLAs crossed-voted. Deepak Kesarkar, spokesperson of the Shinde camp, said its chief whip Bharat Gogawale had asked to all Sena MLAs to vote the Narvekar. Constitutional experts said since both camps have complained against cross-voting, the Speaker will hear the matter and give his verdict. “Only after that they can approach a court against the Speaker’s decision, if necessary .” R a je s h K u m a r T h a k u r @ Hyderabad Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sought to expand the BJP’s catchment area by advising the party to increase its outreach among the non-Hindu marginalised sections of the society like the Pasmandas among , the Muslims, for their equitable development. He made the point at the BJP’s National Executive meeting during a presentation by the unit in UP, where the party recently wrested the Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats that have a big Muslim population, hitherto held by the Samajwadi Party . Coming as it did after a recent hate speech by a party functionary led to riots across the nation, the advice was also perhaps meant to serve as a course correction. With the party gearing up to face polls in minority dominated states like J&K and Telangana, the message was to make the party more inclusive. He also called for taking out a Sneh Yatra (fraternity trip) to enhance affection and coordination in society by reaching out to all sections of society. He had made a similar suggestion at a meeting of party office-bearers last year. In his concluding address, Modi said the party’s goal was to take India from tushtikaran (appeasement) to triptikaran (fulfilment), adding that would lead to the goal of sabka vikas (development of all). Taking a dig at the Opposition, he said the country is now fed up of dynastic parties and the politics of appeasement. “Now it difficult for such dynastic political parties to survive longer as the people want politics of performance,” former Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoting the PM as saying. Modi also asked the party to learn from the failings of parties that are in terminal decline instead of mocking them, apparently alluding to the Congress. In his riposte at parties questioning the BJP’s democratic credentials, Modi asked them to look inward at the status of democracy within their own parties, saying they don’t even hold regular organisational polls. In contrast, Modi said the BJP was democratic. “That’s why the NDA built the Statue of Unity in Patel’s memory though he was a Congress leader,” he said. He called for “P2 to G2” (pro-people to good governance) approach in the party’s political and governance model.  P5, 7 Calls Hyd Bhagyanagar At a time when acrimony between the ruling TRS in Telangana and the BJP is peaking, the PM referred to Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar, and said Sardar Patel had laid the foundation of Ek Bharat (United India) by integrating the smaller regions into India. “Now, it is our (the BJP) historical obligation to build a Shreshtra Bharat BJP era Claiming that the next 30-40 years will be the BJP’s era, Amit Shah in his speech said the party will end family rule in both Telangana and West Bengal