chennai l thURsday l february 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION maN who made India fall in love with the Radio takes final bow 21 DecEMBER 1932 - 20 FebRUARY 2024 Ameen sayani’s Last rites to be held today His last rites will be held today. He is still remembered for his greeting at the start his programme: “Namaste behno aur bhaiyo, main aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon.” He anchored the show every Wednesday from 1952 to 1988. In 1999, he moved to AIR’s Vividh Bharati and continued there till 1994. Besides the show, he did voice over and compering on radio Ameen Sayani, the famous host of Binaca Geetmala in Radio Ceylon for 42 years, died of heart attack in Mumbai on Tuesday. He was 91 He had a special bond with listeners ■ ■ Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, his “golden voice on the airwaves had a charm and warmth that endeared him to people across generations... he nurtured a very special bond with his listeners.” Sayani was born on December 21, 1932. He was neither a singer nor an orator but a presenter who rose to dizzy heights of popularity 19,000 jingles for which Ameen Sayani lent his voice during his 42 years in Radio 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 1 killed, 25 injured in farmer-police clash, Delhi march put off 12 Haryana police personnel hurt; farmers to decide future course of action on Friday TN plans CM-led SC/ST welfare panel to ensure funding as per population S K U M ARE S AN @ Chennai The state government has decided to set up a new council under the chief minister to ensure adequate allocation and effective spending of funds for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population in Tamil Nadu. Minister for Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, Kayalvizhi Selvaraj, on Wednesday introduced the Tamil Nadu Development Action Plan for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2024, to fulfill the DMK’s promise, made in the budget last year, of a separate legislation to ensure adequate funding for SC, ST welfare. “The new law will put in place an institutional mechanism for preparation, approval, implementation and monitoring of development action plan for SCs and STs, and to earmark funds for their development in proportion to their population,” the bill said. According to a press release issued by the National Coalition on SCP/TSP Legislation-TN on Tuesday, the state had failed to utilise `5,318 crore allocated under the SC and ST sub-plans in the last six TN conductor & driver evict Dalit woman from bus for carrying ‘beef’ Protesters run for cover as a tear gas canister fired by Haryana police explodes near the Shambhu border point between Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday | PTI Cong seeks FIR against Haryana home minister Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said he has written to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to register a case against Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij and the Ambala SP, holding them responsible for the death of the young farmer at the Khanauri border Distressed UP farmer attempts self-immolation A farmer tried to set himself on fire near a dharna site in Muzaffarnagar in UP on Wednesday. The fire was doused in time by others. City Magistrate Vikash Kashyap said the farmer, Brijpal, had a loan-related issue, which would be addressed soon. The farmer is out of danger HAR P REET BA J WA @ Chandigarh Agitating Punjab farmers on Wednesday put on hold their Dilli Chalo march for two days after a 21-year-old protester was killed and 25 others were injured in clashes with Haryana police personnel at Khanauri on the PunjabHaryana border. Haryana police said 12 of their officials were also injured when the protesters attacked them with sticks and stones. Dr H S Rekhi, the medical superintendent of Rajindra Hospital at Patiala, said three persons were brought to the hospital. One of them was brought dead, with an injury on his head. The post-mortem report is awaited. The other two are stable, Rekhi said. The farmers had resumed their agitation in the morning at Khanauri and Shambhu after a two-day lull, after four rounds of talks with the Centre remained inconclusive. The police fired rubber bullets and dropped tear gas shells on the protesting farmers at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders when they tried to breach the barricades. The protesters were seen holding iron shields, distributing salt, and wearing gas masks to protect themselves from assault. The situation at both the protest sites remained tense after the death of the farmer. Fourteen farmers suffered injuries at the Khanauri border while nine were hurt in clashes at the Shambhu point. All of them had minor injuries. Meanwhile, the Centre offered to hold the fifth round of talks in an attempt to break the deadlock. The farmer leaders are yet to respond. Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said they will take a call on Friday Bharatiya Kisan Union . leader Rakesh Tikait said the protest will continue. In its reply to the Union home ministry’s letter flagging large gatherings along the Punjab-Haryana border, the Punjab government on Wednesday said at least 160 people from the state have been injured due to firing of tear gas shells and rubber bullets by Haryana police. E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Dharmapuri THE Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation has suspended a bus driver and a conductor for forcing a 59-year-old Dalit woman to get off the bus mid-way at an unsafe location for allegedly carrying beef. The incident happened on Tuesday on a Harur-Krishnagiri bus around noon. The passenger, Panchalai, is a resident of Navalai village in Morappur block of Dharmapuri district. According to sources, the bus crew acted on their own, and nobody had objected to the passenger or her luggage. The bus crew knew what she was carrying and they didn’t check her belongings before asking her to deboard the bus, sources said. “On Tuesday Panchalai was travelling to Nava, lai on the Krishnagiri-bound bus. During the journey the conductor abruptly stopped the bus , around 12.20pm and forced the woman to get off. It is suspected that the driver knew that the Scheduled Caste woman would buy beef from Harur, transport it in a vessel to her native Navalai village, and sell it for livelihood there. “The woman tried to plead with the driver and the conductor to at least drop her off at the next bus stand, but they rejected her pleas and dropped her near Morappur in an unsafe area and left,” local sources said. The matter came to light after a group of people from Morappur demanded an explanation from the driver and the conductor over their conduct.  Continued on p5 express read SC hints at reopening of Sterlite soon New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it may not be able to direct the resumption of operation at the Thoothukudi Sterlite plant today but it would ensure that terms would be put forth by an expert panel to restart functioning of the plant soon with environment safeguards | P5 First woman curator to oversee WPL Chennai: India’s first woman curator Jacintha Kalyan will oversee the picthes used during the Women’s Premier League at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The Bengaluru-based curator said it would be challenging with back-to-back matches 11 matches across four pitches Fali Nariman End of an era in India’s legal history helped shape modern India, including the Kesavanand Bharati case in which the Supreme Court One of India’s foremost constitutional experts, laid down the basic structure doctrine. Fali S Nariman, passed away in Delhi in the Ethics was at the heart of his most consequenearly hours of Wednesday He was 95. . tial decisions. He resigned as additional solicitor Born in Rangoon, now Yangon, on Janu- general as soon as Emergency was declared in ary 10, 1929, his family fled to India during 1975. As a senior Supreme Court advocate, he the Japanese invasion when dedicated the next few decades in he was 12. Nariman was one strengthening various facets of law, Chiseled mind of the last legal luminaries including establishing judicial rewho honed their skills in the Very few lawyers like view of constitutional amendments, chambers of Jamshedji BeNariman have enriched the collegium system, and minority hramji Kanga in Mumbai, alumthe Court with their rights in educational institutions. He ni that included Soli Sorabjee and skills and their moral admitted later that he wasn’t right in Nani Palkhivala. stature, writes senior appearing for Union Carbide in the The departure of the Bhishma advocate Kapil Sibal Bhopal gas leak case. pitamah of jurists signalled the | Edit page In the assets case against former end of an era. While Prime MinisTamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalater Narendra Modi in his tribute lithaa, he represented her in 2014 and said Nariman was among the most out- got her bail. In the inter-state Cauvery water disstanding legal minds, Chief Justice of pute case, he represented Karnataka. India D Y Chandrachud remembered Nariman was prolific as an author, writing him as a g reat giant of an more than a dozen books and penning numerous intellectual. columns, including for this newspaper. He is surNariman was part of several vived by his son, former SC justice Rohinton Narlandmark verdicts that iman, daughter-in-law and daughter. S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi 10 january 1929 - 21 FebRUARY 2024 years (2016-2022). The Tamil Nadu State Council for the Development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the proposed new body to be headed by CM, will have five MLAs and MPs belonging to SC/ST communities as members. Chief Secretary, secretaries of finance, planning, environment, and Adi Dravidar welfare departments, and a representative working for SC/ST welfare will also be part of the new council.  P5 Bill to end dumping of waste in waterbodies | p4 SP, Cong clinch deal for seats in UP, MP Priyanka brokers truce Priyanka brokered the truce between the two allies by first discussing the issue with brother Rahul, followed by a phone call to Akhilesh. She convinced Congress to drop the demand for Moradabad n a m i ta b a jpa i @ Lucknow AFTER seven years, UP Ke Ladke (boys of UP), a 2017 slogan, are together again as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress clinched their seat-sharing deal in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday for the Lok Sabha elections. Of the total 80 seats in UP , the SP allotted 17 to the Congress. While the SP could accommodate a few other small allies, the Nagina seat may be spared for Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at a press conference in Moradabad | PTI The deal went beyond UP as the Congress let Akhilesh’s party contest from Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. In UP the Congress was al, loted its pocketboroughs of Raebareli and Amethi besides Varanasi. The other seats included Kanpur (Nagar), Fatehpur Sikri, Bansgaon, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Amroha, Jhansi, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki and Deoria. The Congress first pitched for 25 seats, scaled it down to 21 before settling for 17. Congress leaders said Akhilesh may now join Rahul’s yatra as per his convenience.