thiruvananthapuram l tuesday l September 26, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION ASIAN GAMEs: Shooting stars and golden girls World record for shooting team The men’s 10m air rifle team kept the hosts at bay with a world record score to win the team gold. Their combined 1893.7 eclipsed the record held by China (1893.3). In fact, all three finished in the top eight in the qualifying but Divyansh didn’t advance as only the top two from each NOC could feature in the final. In the final, Aishwary won bronze The men’s 10m air rifle team and the women’s cricket side won India the first gold medals in Hangzhou. A look at Monday’s haul Gold for women’s cricket side ■ Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, back after serving a two match suspension, marshalled the bowling troops well to beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final. Opting to bat first on a tricky surface, they made 116 before restricting the Islanders to 97. For India, Titas Sadhu excelled with the ball, picking 3/6 in her four overs | P11 FIVE Rowers finish on a high with five medals 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 Law panel’s ‘one poll’ report to suggest 2029 rollout P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Laying the groundwork for the Centre’s ‘One Nation, One Poll’ proposal, the 22nd Law Commission will submit its final report on the feasibility of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, according to top sources in the law ministry. The commission headed by Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi has been working on the final re- port since February this year. The first meeting of a highlevel committee on simultaneous polls headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind was held last Saturday . The Justice Awasthiled panel held extensive consultations with political parties, bureaucrats, academicians and experts. “I won’t say that there was consensus among parties on the idea,” an official said, adding that the government may send the Law Commission’s report to the Kovind-led committee for their perusal. Speaking to this newspaper, the official said the law panel would recommend synchronised elections in the next five years so that the simultaneous poll rollout will start in 2029. To synchronise press clusive the elections, the process has to begin from this year, the official said. He also dismissed the possibility of holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies in 2024. The commission has drawn most of its recommendations from the draft report of the pre- vious Law Commission led by Justice B S Chauhan, submitted in 2018, said the source. “We have taken many recommendations of the Justice Chauhan committee report into consideration. On the same lines as the previous law commission’s report, we have recommended synchronisation of elections in the next five years,” he said. The suggestions of the previous Law Commission included advancing or postponing elec- tion timings in certain states, such that polls to all state assemblies and the Lok Sabha may be held together. If assembly elections are due before Lok Sabha elections, it said that the term of these assemblies may be extended to synchronise it with the Lok Sabha elections, by amending the Constitution. “We have also made proposals on similar lines. It is up to the government to take the final call,” the official said. Trained to hate khaki, 13 dogs attack drug bust team E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @Kottayam AIADMK general secretary EPS at party headquarters in Chennai on Monday | p jawahar AIADMK makes break-up official, exits BJP-led NDA Dravidian major cites constant criticism of TN BJP, says will form own alliance for LS polls the meeting chaired by general secretary Edappadi K PalanTHE uneasy relationship be- iswami in Chennai. tween the AIADMK and BJP, Munusamy said the resoluwhich had endured for four tion adopted by the meeting years due to various political said that for the past year the compulsions, came to an end on BJP’s state leadership, with ulMonday with the Dravidian terior motives, has been critimajor unambiguously calling cising the AIADMK’s ideals it quits. The AIADMK also an- and leaders, including CN Announced that it had exited the nadurai, and J Jayalalithaa. BJP-led National DemoBesides, the BJP’s state cratic Alliance (NDA) leadership belittled the and would form its own AIADMK’s historic alliance to face the 2024 state-level conference The decision was held on August 20 and Lok Sabha elections. taken in The AIADMK’s decihas been criticising the sion, just seven months deference to the p a r t y ’ s g e n e r a l views of more before the parliamentasecretary . than two crore ry polls, is seen as a setIn Coimbatore, BJP AIADMK cadre back for the BJP at the state president K Anwho were national level as it was outraged by the namalai said his party’s one of the few key allies national leadership criticisms of BJP’s state of the saffron party . would respond to the deleadership “The decision to leave velopment. “I will talk the NDA was taken KP Munusamy, about this later,” he unanimously and in AIADMK leader said. BJP state general deference to the views secretary Raama and feelings of more Sreenivasan described than two crore AIADMK cadre the AIADMK’s move as unforwho were outraged by the con- tunate. “But the BJP will form tinued criticisms of the BJP’s its own alliance and face the state leadership. The AIADMK Lok Sabha elections as we did will face the Lok Sabha elec- in 2014,” he added. tions by forming an alliance An AIADMK veteran told with like-minded parties” the TNIE, “The general secretary party’s deputy coordinator KP has made a shrewd move Munusamy told reporters after though it is a belated one.” T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai It was supposed to be a routine raid. However, the police team that went to a dog trainer’s house at Kumaranalloor near Kottayam on suspicion of drug trade was in for a rude shock when the suspect, Robin George, let loose 13 dogs on them and escaped. It later emerged that the dogs were trained by Robin to specifically attack anyone in khaki. However, none of the personnel were injured in the attack by dogs. Though Robin slipped from the net, police seized 17.3kg of ganja from the house. The incident unfolded around midnight on Sunday when the joint team of the Gandhinagar police and anti-narcotics cell, acting on a tip-off, carried out a flash raid at Robin’s house. The team had secured a court order for raiding the rented house where Robin was running a dog training centre and daycare for canines. On seeing the police approaching the house, Robin let loose the dogs and fled. “There were 13 dogs in the house. He used the dogs to guard his illegal activities by training them to attack anyone wearing khaki. It was an extremely risky raid as we Robin George, suspected drug dealer, training one of his dogs | Instagram didn’t expect an attack by dogs. However, our team members are safe,” said K 18 pages, including 4 pages of thiruvananthapuram Express F i r o z M i r z a @ Chennai THE biggest Indian headlines on Day Two were at the shooting range and the cricket ground. The most poignant story, though, was at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre, a venue hosting Wushu. Even as Naorem Roshibina Devi was a picture of calm, she held stories. Of a dad’s sacrifice. Of many sleepless nights worrying about the safety of her parents. And the anguish of not been able to visit family in Ma- nipur. After being assured of a medal in the 60 kg (sanda) category Roshibina recalled some , of those to this daily . After selection trials in June, she tried to go home but could not. All she managed was Imphal, Manipur’s capital. Kwasiphai Mayai Leikai, a nondescript village in Bishnupur, seemed a distant place due to the tension that had been afflicting the state since May this year. She recollected how her father Naorem Damu Singh had to come to Imphal to meet her. Days later, she learnt that her father had to sell land to fund her travel. Though Roshibina was physically present in the national camp in Srinagar, her thoughts were elsewhere. She said she used to cry a lot thinking about her family members and their safety when Manipur was in turmoil. The 23-year-old wanted to travel back to see her family Sensing the daughter’s anx. iousness to go home from the camp, her father sold a piece of P11 land to fund her travel.  Auspicious beginning Defence Minister Rajnath Singh draws an Om as part of the puja ceremony to induct the first C-295 MW transport aircraft into the Indian Air Force at Hindon Air Force station on Monday | Parveen negi SC hears arguments from deaf lawyer for the first time FOR the first time, a deaf lawyer argued her case before the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, paving the way for more physically-challenged lawyers to defend their cases. Sarah Sunny on Friday argued her case with the help of an Indian sign language interpreter. Senior advocate Sanchita Ain made a plea to Chief Justice Chandrachud to let Sa- rah argue her case with an interpreter. He immediately gave his assent. This historic moment would not have taken place as the control room responsible for managing virtual hearings hesitated to accommodate Sarah and her interpreter. With the CJI’s approval, the control room accommodated Sarah, who is based in Banga- Docking of first ship at Vizhinjam rescheduled T’Puram: The arrival of the first ship carrying large cranes at Vizhinjam International Seaport will face delays due to adverse weather conditions during its journey, said Ports Minister Ahamed Devarkovil. Consequently, the government has decided to reschedule the public reception from October 4 to October 15. P2 Five die as school bus hits autorickshaw Kasaragod: Five persons, including three siblings, died when the autorickshaw in which they were travelling collided with a school bus at Pallathadukka near Badiadka on Monday. P4 lore, and her interpreter, Saurav Roychowdhury too appear, ing virtually . As Sarah’s turn came, her interpreter stepped forward and acted as a bridge between her and the world. In the process, he received praise from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who said the speed at which the interpreter is interpreting in sign language is amazing. Sarah’s determination has broken down more barriers. The CJI, when he took his oath of office in November last year, had said, “My work, not words, will speak.” In line with his commitment, he established the “SC Committee on Accessibility,” chaired by Justice S R Bhat. This committee’s mission is to conduct comprehensive accessibility audits of Supreme Court premises and its opera- household has a migrant M S V i d ya n a n d a n @ T’Puram Mar thoma church The future of Christianity in Kerala would be bleak if overseas migration of members of the community continues at the current pace, according to a study by the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. “Out of 100 Mar Thoma households, 59 have migrant members,” says the study published as a book titled ‘Migration of Marthomites and ministry to the Mar T homa diaspora’ recently . Second or third generations of those migrating to other countries become foreign citizens and prefer not to return to their native land or maintain ties with Kerala, says the book. Quoting eminent demographer K C Zachariah, the book reveals that Marthomites migrated the most among all communities in Kerala. The book discusses several aspects of migration from the community’s point of view, including new trends and ways to boost pastoral service to the diaspora. Christian Churches that once encouraged migration as a way for economic prosperity are Total parishes 1,238 Overseas parishes 137 Parishes outside Kerala, within India 335 Preferred countries of young Marthomites Europe: UK, Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France Nordic: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland Eastern Europe, Mediterranean: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Malta, Cyprus, Greece now regretting the massive exodus, it says. “Christian communities, including Marthomites, are dwindling in numbers. If the trend continues, the future of the Christian community and the Church in Kerala can potentially become bleak as it would have fewer young people and more aged and unemployed people as its members in local congregations,” it ● More on P4 says.  Canada’s 2nd India travel advisory out Yes h i S e l i @ New Delhi another glass ceiling broken Shruti Kakkar @ New Delhi express read Assured of medal, Manipur Wushu player Study findings recalls sleepless nights, father’s sacrifice Every second Mar Thoma unfortunate, we will form own pacts: TN BJP Senior BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu reacted to the AIADMK’s decision with caution, although certain younger functionaries made sharp comments on social media. BJP state general secretary Raama Sreenivasan told TNIE that though the AIADMK’s decision was unfortunate, the BJP would form its own alliance by joining hands with like-minded parties and face the 2024 Lok Sabha elections like it did in 2014. Karthik, district police chief. Karthik said Robin got training in handling dogs from a dog expert who had retired from the Border Security Force. However, when Robin asked the expert to train his dogs to attack khakiworn persons, the BSF man refused to do so. Later, Robin started his dog training centre and daycare for dogs. Karthik said the dogs in the house will be handed over to its original owners after identifying them. A special team under the leadership of the DySP has been constituted to probe the case. Efforts are on to find out Robin’s accomplices. If simultaneous elections cannot be conducted, all elections falling due in a calendar year should be conducted together, the panel had suggested. It would require at least five Constitutional amendments. The official further said, “The previous commission gave suggestions for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. We have considered its suggestions on hung House and no-confidence motion, etc,” he said. tions. It involves reaching out to persons with disabilities who visit the Supreme Court, soliciting their feedback, and assessing the nature and extent of the challenges they face. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to ensure that justice is accessible to all and to gain a deep understanding of the hardships faced by differentlyabled individuals in their interactions with the Supreme Court of India. CANADA on Monday updated its travel advisory for its citizens in India asking them to stay vigilant and exercise caution in the wake of the recent developments and the “negative sentiment” towards Canada. This is its second advisory within a week. It sought to flag the threat of terrorist attacks across the country “Avoid non-essential travel to Assam and . Manipur due to risk of terrorism and insurgency and avoid all travel to Jammu and Kashmir due to unpredictability, civil unrest, kidnapping,” it said. The advisory added that Canadian citizens currently in India should avoid all travel to areas within 10 km of the border with Pakistan—which includes the states of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan—due to the presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance. “The level of tension between India and Pakistan may change suddenly You could experi. ence difficulties when travelling between the two countries,” it said. The advisory noted that the security situation along the border with Pakistan, especially along the Line of Control, remains volatile.