BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l september 26, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 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. 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. Be happy, people’s issues being resolved: CM E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar AIADMK general secretary EPS at party headquarters on Monday | p jawahar AIADMK makes break-up official, exits BJP-led NDA CHIEF Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday rejected the ‘ministers versus officers’ issue raised by the Opposition as a non-issue, stating that the chief minister’s grievance cell is always handled by the CMO and the ministers are not required to attend it. Making a statement in the Assembly in this regard, Naveen said once the petitions are received, they are sent to the departments concerned. “Where is the issue of ministers versus officers in this?” he questioned. Naveen said, ministers have played a major role as head of the departments in resolving the petitions. It is teamwork at the highest level and is professionally done in a democratic set up. He said by going to the doorsteps of people, the chief minister’s grievance cell saves them from spending on travel, stay and wage loss. “The aim is to resolve people’s grievances in the best possible manner,” he added. The chief minister also dismissed the allegation of excess expendi- ture incurred in the use of helicopter by the CMO to reach out to the people as misleading. Stating that in the last three and half years the government spent about `40 crore on chopper, he informed that an average of `1 to `1.5 crore is the expenditure every month. He said the expenditure was also of the same range in the last six months when chopper was used intensively t o re a ch o u t t o people. Taking a strong For my government, people come first, resolving people’s issues is a top priority and I will continue to do so in the best possible manner  Naveen Patnaik, chief minister T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai 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. S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi Auspicious beginning Union 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 Manipur Wushu player assures medal, recalls sleepless nights, father’s sacrifice 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 Imp h a l , M a n i p u r ’s c ap i t a l . 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 anxiousness to go home from the camp, her father sold a piece of land to P11 fund her travel.  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- says Cong rusted iron, will fade away soon | P8 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- THE Supreme Court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to appoint a senior IPS officer to monitor the probe into the Muzaffarnagar incident where a Muslim student was slapped by his classmates, on the instruction of the class teacher, as a punishment for poor performance. Terming the incident as serious, a bench of Justices A S Oka and Pankaj Mithal remarked that the UP government prima facie failed to comply with the provisions of the Right to Education Act and the Uttar Pradesh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules. “If allegations made by the victim’s parents are correct, this is the worst kind of physical punishment imparted by the teacher… There can’t be any quality education if a student is sought to be penalised only on the ground that he belongs to a particular community There is . a prima facie failure on part of the state to comply with RTE Act & rules framed there under,” the bench said in its order. The court also directed the UP government to provide counsel- ‘Ensure Professional Counselling’ The SC took exception to the fact that counselling of the victim was done by the district welfare officer, saying this should have been done by a professional counsellor and that too for all the students involved ling to the victim as well as the other students involved in the incident. The SC’s order came on a plea by Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi, who sought an independent, timebound probe and registration of FIR. In his plea, Gandhi alleged the child’s family is under pressure to strike a compromise with the offender. He told the court that the police charged the teacher only under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act, and Sections 323 and 504 of the IPC that deal with cruelty to child and intentionally causing hurt, and not Section 153A of the IPC for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, caste and language. Canada’s 2nd India travel advisory out Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi another glass ceiling broken Shruti Kakkar @ New Delhi Modi Senior IPS officer must probe UP slapgate: SC Dravidian major cites constant criticism of TN BJP, says will form own alliance for LS polls Munusamy told reporters after the meeting chaired by general THE uneasy relationship be- secretary Edappadi K Palantween the AIADMK and BJP, iswami in Chennai. which had endured for four Munusamy said the resoluyears due to various political tion adopted by the meeting compulsions, came to an end on said that for the past year the Monday with the Dravidian BJP’s state leadership, with ulmajor unambiguously calling terior motives, has been critiit quits. The AIADMK also an- cising the AIADMK’s ideals nounced that it had exand leaders, including ited the BJP-led NationCN Annadurai, and J al Democratic Alliance Jayalalithaa. Besides, (NDA) and would form the BJP’s state leaderits own alliance to face ship belittled the AIADThe decision was taken in the 2024 Lok Sabha MK’s historic state-level deference to elections. conference held on Authe views of The AIADMK’s decigust 20 and has been sion, just seven months more than two criticising the party’s crore AIADMK before the parliamentageneral secretary . cadre who were ry polls, is seen as a set- outraged by the In Coimbatore, BJP back for the BJP at the state president K Ancriticisms of national level as it was namalai said his party’s BJP’s state one of the few key allies national leadership leadership of the saffron party . would respond to the deKP Munusamy, “The decision to leave velopment. “I will talk AIADMK leader the NDA was taken about this later,” he unanimously and in said. BJP state general deference to the views and feel- secretary Raama Sreenivasan ings of more than two crore AI- described the AIADMK’s move ADMK cadre who were out- as unfortunate. “But the BJP r a g e d by t h e c o n t i n u e d will form its own alliance and criticisms of the BJP’s state face the Lok Sabha elections as leadership. The AIADMK will we did in 2014,” he added. face the Lok Sabha elections by An AIADMK veteran told forming an alliance with like- TNIE, “The general secretary minded parties” the party’s has made a shrewd move deputy general secretary KP though it is a belated one.”  view of the BJP and Congress members’ protest to the CMO visits to resolve grievances, Naveen said such Opposition is anti-people and people will give them a befitting reply for such attitude. He said the Opposition members should be happy that so many grievances in their areas have also been resolved. Targeting the Opposition, the chief minister said they should not be unhappy for political reasons as people and people’s representatives are happy. “For my government, people come first, resolving people’s issues is a top priority and I will continue to do so in the best possible manner,” he Continued on P5 stated.  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.