MMR in India declining (MMR value per lakh live births) 130 2014-16 chennai l wednesday l september 20, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION India’S maternal mortality rate down IN LAST 10 YEARS, SAYS W.H.O. India joins six other countries that have seen a drop in maternal mortality in the last 10 years, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday 122 2015-17 113 2016-18 103 2017-19 Global MMR 211 2017 More lives saved during live births UNDER-5 mortality rate too declines The maternal mortality rate (MMR) in India has declined significantly, the WHO said at a regional meeting in Colombo (see graphic). But it is still some distance away from the target of under-70 per lakh live births by 2030 set by the UN in 2015. Bangladesh, Bhutan, DPR Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the other countries that have seen a drop in MMRs ■ ■ Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra, TN, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Karnataka have achieved the UN target on maternal mortality India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal are on track to reduce under-5 mortality. For India, the under-5 mortality rate was 32 per 1,000 live births in 2020 as against 35 per 1,000 live birth in 2019 | P7 40% reduction in newborn mortality recorded in southeast asia region 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 33% reservation in Parliamant & state assemblies; 2029 first window for its implementation Women’s quota bill tabled, to sail in LS today Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi The Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam will strengthen our democracy. We are committed to making this bill into a law Narendra Modi, Prime Minister The bill says it will be implemented only after census and delimitation. So doors are closed till 2029 Mallikarjun Kharge, Cong president Unfortunately census was not held in 2021. Had it been done, quota rollout could have happened immediately Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister Marking a new beginning on the first day of the new Parliament House, the Narendra Modi government on Tuesday tabled the long pending Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha to block 33% seats for women in Parliament and legislative assemblies. However, according to Constitutional experts, the bill is unlikely to be implemented before 2029 as it can be done only after the completion of delimitation exercise based on the first Census after the Bill becomes law. The discussion on the bill in Lok Sabha on Wednesday is likely to see heated exchanges as it is learnt that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi will lead the debate from the Opposition camp. If the bill comes into force, the number of women MPs in Lok Sabha will go up to 181 from the current 82. It also proposes one-third quota for women within the seats reserved for SC/STs. As per the bill introduced by Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, the quota rollout can happen only after the delimitation or redrawing of constituencies based on data from the first Census after the legislation is notified. Speaking to this newspaper, Constitutional expert P D T Achary said it is unlikely that the bill will be implemented before 2029. “The seats will be reserved after the completion of the delimitation exercise based on the first Census after the bill is passed. All the existing constituencies have to be redrawn by the delimitation commission. Then they have to identify the constituencies to be reserved for women. This is going to be a longdrawn process,” says Achary Though the decadal . Census was to be carried out in 2021, it was postponed because of Covid-19. The government is yet to announce a fresh date for the exercise. Achary points out that the constituencies will be redrawn only after the next Census, which is likely after 2026. According to the Constitution (84th Amendment) Act, there is a freeze on readjustment of constituencies till the first Census after 2026. “After the 2024 elections, the new Lok Sabha will be in office and it cannot be tampered with till its term expires in 2029. So the delimitation will be completed only after 2029,” he said. Achary points out that the bill needs to be ratified by not less than 50% of the state assemblies. Before that, the bill needs to be passed by special majority (a majority of the total number in the House plus a majority of two-thirds of the House present and voting) in both Houses, he says. P7 India, Canada lock horns over terror, expel diplomats Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks towards the new Parliament building, in New Delhi on Tuesday | PTI Steeplechase before the actual rollout For women’s reservation to come into effect, 3 factors have to be satisfied The bill has to be passed by Parliament and notified The national head count or census after the bill is passed would be the starting point C A delimitation exercise, which means redrawing of constituencies, will follow after the census to carve out more seats. Quota rollout would be on the based on the delimitation outcome. Delimitation can begin only after 2026 A B Since it is a Constitution amendment bill, it needs to be passed by both Houses with special majority Majority of the total members of each House Two-thirds majority of members present and voting * It will also have to be approved by at least 50% of state assemblies to become a law Akhilesh, Mayawati demand reservation for SC, ST & OBCs nAMITA BA J PAI @ Lucknow Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati Mayawati wants more quota in bill “If a separate quota is not assured to the SC, ST and OBC women, it will be difficult for them to get a chance on general category seats because casteist parties do not want to see them grow,” said Mayawati UP satraps — the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Tuesday extended their support to the Women’s Reservation Bill, but with riders. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav stuck to his stance of carving out a quota for women from the backward classes, Scheduled Castes and minorities within the 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Significantly, he demanded that the right to reserve seats must rest with the political parties and not with the Election Commission. Akhilesh went on to add that the bill must balance gender and social justice. For her part, BSP president Mayawati extended her support to the bill, hoping it would be passed this time around after discussion. She said her party would have been happier had the quota been hiked to 50%. While the bill provides for one-third quota for women within the seats for reserved for SC/STs, Mayawati said whatever the quantum of quota, that for women from the SC, ST and OBCs should be worked out separately She also sought a transpar. ent and time-bound implementation of the legislation. THE frayed India-Canada ties sank to a new low on Tuesday with both countries expelling one diplomat of each other. The high-voltage drama unfolded with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaking in the House of Commons in the morning about “credible allegations that India was involved in the killing of slain Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar”, a charge rejected by India as ‘absurd’. Parallelly, Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly announced the expulsion of Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai, prompting a tit-for-tat action from India as it asked Canadian diplomat Olivier Sylvestere to leave the country . In a strongly worded statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said. “Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity The inaction . of the Canadian government on this matter has been a longstanding and continuing concern,” it added. The diplomatic face-off between India and Canada over the Khalistani issue has been brewing for the past few years. Recently when Trudeau was in , Delhi to attend the G20 Sum- The Madras High Court has ordered a Crime Branch-CID (CB-CID) probe into a recent police encounter in Guduvancherry in which two people were shot dead by cops. Justice N Anand Venkatesh passed the order on Tuesday after Rani, mother of Chotta Vinoth, one of the victims, alleged that police were used as ‘contract killers’ by a rival gang to eliminate her son. Citing the judgments of the Supreme Court on encounter deaths, the judge ordered the e x p r e ss r e a d Ex-minister’s PA gets 3-yr jail in wealth case Chennai: The Madras HC on Tuesday sentenced Venkatakrishnan, PA to Indira Kumari during her stint as minister for social welfare from 1991-96, to three years jail in a disproportionate assets case | P2 Shawarma death: TN eateries to be checked Chennai: Health minister Ma Subramanian has told officials to check all restaurants across TN following the death of a girl in Namakkal due to food poisoning after eating shawarma | P4 She said police had created a fake story saying that Vinoth dashed his car against police jeep during a vehicle check and was shot after he attacked police personnel. “I was shocked when I was told that a gang had used the police as ‘contract killers,” Rani said. A bare reading of the FIR would show that the entire episode was stage-managed and any investigation by police themselves would not bring out the truth, she said.  Three people, including two 14-year-old boys, drowned in Salem and Erode on Monday during Vinayakar idol immersions. The deceased were identified as S Santhosh (14) and S Nandakumar (14) of Thottilpatti in Mettur in Salem district and P Shankar Narayanan (21) of Pothiya Mooppanur near Anthiyur in Erode district. The 14-year-old boys were studying Class 9 in a government school. As part of the Vinayakar Chathurthi festival, more than 2,000 idols were placed across Salem. Santhosh and Nandakumar, along with a few friends, Four tiger cubs, all 45 days old, have died of suspected starvation over the last three days in the Nilgiris forest division. The cubs died after their mother abandoned them in a forest area, officials said. At least 10 tigers, including an eight-year-old male which died of suspected poisoning at Emerald village a week ago, have died due to various reasons in the district in the past 34 days. On Tuesday morning, after two carcasses of the cubs were recovered, forest department officials rescued a cub alive at Chinna Coonoor area located on the boundary of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and Nilgiris forest division and started providing treatment to save its life. But the animal died without responding to treatment on Tuesday evening. The first tiger cub carcass was found on September 17 (Sunday). “Based on farmers’ statements, we were waiting for the mother tiger to return to her cubs from September 14 as we suspected that she may have gone inside forest in search of prey. We had deployed a team of forest staff along with tiger trackers to track the tiger. Cam- Fire services personnel searching for the body of Shankar Narayanan (inset) in Bhavani river | Express offered worship to a small idol at Thottilpatti village. “On Monday evening, they tried to immerse the idol in a pond near the village, but fell into the water and drowned. Two other boys standing nearby raised alarm after which villagers rushed to the spot and recov- ered the dead bodies after a short search,” police sources said. Karumalaikoodal police have sent the bodies to Mettur GH for postmortem. A case has been registered. “District administration had not allowed idol immersion in that water P5 body police said.  ,” 10 tigers found dead in Nilgiris in 34 days At least 10 tigers, including an eight-year-old male which died of suspected poisoning at Emerald village a week ago, have died due to various reasons in Nilgiris district in the past 34 days Veterinarians offer treatment to a tiger cub on Tuesday. The cub later died | Express era traps were also set up to monitor the mother and the cubs. Our team had also spotted the carcass of a sambar mit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had strongly raised concerns about the Khalistani extremism in Canada. Trudeau responded that Canada would not encourage violence but would continue to support freedom of expression. Amid tensions, talks for an India-Canada free trade agreement (FTA) have been put on hold. Experts say the diplomatic strain is likely to continue. LeT commander Uzair killed in J&K encounter F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar 4 tiger cubs starve to death as mom rejects them in Nilgiris S S e n t h i l K u m a r @ Nilgiris Hours after the diplomatic row broke out, Trudeau said he did not seek to “provoke” India but urged New Delhi to take the killing of Nijjar with ‘utmost seriousness’. “We want to work with India to lay everything clear and to ensure there are proper processes,” he said US President Joe Biden in his UNGA address appealed to the global body to stop Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, cautioning other countries not to appease Moscow | P9 E X P RESS N E W S SER V ICE @ Salem probe to be carried out by an officer not below the rank of a deputy superintendent of police (DSP). Vinoth and his associate Ramesh were killed in the police firing on August 1, 2023, at Karanaipuducherry, Arung al Road, near Guduvancherry . Rani said the two were picked up by police from a hotel at Siruseri and taken to a desolate place where inspector Murugesan and sub-inspector Sivagurunathan shot them dead. DoN’t want to provoke: Trudeau Biden call to UN on Ukraine war Not police encounter, it’s contract Idol immersion: Three drown in TN killing, says mom; HC orders probe EX PRESS N EWS SERVICE @ Chennai Canadian PM Justin Trudeau speaks in the House of Commons in Ottawa | pti deer that may have been killed by the tiger. But the mother did not return,” an official said. Staffers from Nilgiris and Gu- dalur forest divisions and MTR were deployed to trace the mother tiger named ‘MDT234’ but it could not be found. Of the 10 tigers found dead in a month, six were cubs and three were male tigers. One female tiger had died at Naduvattam P5 range due to infighting. Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Uzair Khan was one of the two terrorists killed in the fierce gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district that lasted seven days, in which two Army officers and a police officer also lost their lives. Briefing reporters here on Tuesday, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said Uzair’s body has been recovered while that of another militant is lying in the forest area. Sources said Uzair’s charred body was recovered from the forest area on Sunday, following which forensic experts conducted DNA testing and also collected DNA samples from the slain militant’s family members. Uzair was a wanted terrorist carrying a bounty of `10 lakh on his head. The security forces had used drones, quadcopters and helicopters, and fired hundreds of rockets, mortar shells, under barrel grenades, and ammunition aimed at the possible militant hideouts in the forest area. ADGP Vijay Kumar said the gunfight is over but the search operation will continue.