chennai l Monday l June 17, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION T20 World Cup 2024: The who, why and when of Super 8s With the group stages coming to an end on Monday, a look at the teams that have progressed, what lies ahead and more... How are the groupings made? Who will face India and when? While the top two teams from each group advanced, their seedings in Super 8s will be based on initial grouping. For example, Afghanistan will remain C1 even if they finish below West Indies in Group C as the former will be replacing New Zealand in the original grouping made by the global cricketing body before the tournament | p11 ■ ■ India, who will be A1, are up against Australia (B2), Afghanistan (C1) and either of Bangladesh/Netherlands (D2). They will begin their Super 8s journey against Afghanistan on Thursday The other Super 8s group will feature England, both the tournament hosts — West Indies, United States — and South Africa Three matches were abandoned due to rain during group stages so far 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 Shah seeks Kashmir-like zero-terror plan in Jammu Says Centre committed to rooting out terrorism from the region M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi UNION Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asked security agencies to replicate their success in tackling terrorism in the Kashmir Valley in the Jammu division as well. Noting that the fight against terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is in its decisive phase, Shah directed security agencies to implement ‘area domination’ and ‘zero-terror plans’ in Jammu like they did in Kashmir. Chairing a high-level meeting to review the prevailing security situation in Jammu & Kashmir in the wake of recent terror attacks, Shah directed the security agencies to work on a mission mode and ensure quick response in a coordinated manner, officials said. Reiterating the Centre’s ‘zero-tolerance policy’ against terrorism, Shah said the government will root out terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir. The gover nment’s efforts have yielded great results in Kashmir with significant reduction in terror-related incidents and improvement in the law and order situation, which is “reflected in the record inflow of tourists in the Valley”, he added. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Israel pauses fighting during daytime along key aid route Agencies Amid warnings about dire shortages of food and other essentials in the Gaza Strip, Israel on Sunday announced it will pause fighting during daytime along a route in the southern part of the Strip to facilitate aid deliveries. “A local, tactical pause of military activity for humanitarian purposes will take place from 8.00 am (0500 GMT) until 7.00 pm (1600 GMT) every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Salah al-Din road and then northwards,” a statement by the Israeli military said. Overland access restrictions and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt since Israeli forces seized it in early May have made it tough to get essential supplies to those in need. The “tactical pause,” which applies to about 12 kilometers of road in the Rafah area, falls far short of a complete cease-fire that has been sought by the international community, including Israel’s principal ally the United States, , AP News reported. The United Nations welcomed the Israeli decision. “We hope this leads to further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues preventing a meaningful humanitarian response in Gaza,” UN aid agency OCHA’s spokesman Jens Laerke said in an email to AFP.  P9 Palestinian children collect food aid in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip | AFP Home Minister Amit Shah during a high-level meeting to review security situation in Jammu & Kashmir and preparedness for Amarnath Yatra, in New Delhi on Sunday | PTI Manoj Sinha, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Army Chiefdesignate Lt General Upendra Dwivedi, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka, CRPF Director General Anish Dayal Singh, BSF Director General Nitin Agarwal, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police R R Swain and other top security officials attended the meeting, which was held in the wake of terror attacks in Reasi, Kathua and Doda districts. The attacks came within a span of four days last week, killing nine pilgrims and a CRPF jawan, and leaving several others injured. Later on Sunday, Shah chaired another meeting to review the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, which is scheduled to begin on June 29. During the deliberation, the minister was given a thorough briefing on the measures taken to ensure a safe and peaceful Yatra, officials said. During his interaction with the law enforcement and security agencies, the Union home minister appreciated them for the successful conduct of the Lok Sabha elections in the Union territory, which witnessed record voter turnout compared with past elections. On Thursday Prime Minister , Narendra Modi had reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and directed the “deployment of the full spectrum” of “counter-terror capabilities” in the region.  P8 If TDP puts up Speaker candidate, INDIA bloc to back it, says Sanjay Raut consensus candidate will be decided. Our leaders will take a SHIV Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay call,” said Rao. However, the Raut on Sunday said the INDIA TDP leader was noncommittal bloc will support the Telugu whether the party demanded Desam Party if it fields its can- the Speaker’s post. “Whether didate for the Lok Sabha Speak- we claimed the post or not, I er. Election to the post of the LS can’t say he said, adding that ,” Speaker is slated for June 26. his party will support the deciTalking to reporters, Raut sions taken by the NDA claimed the T DP government. wants to field its canThe TDP’s position Rijiju meets didate. “If that hapis at odds with the Kharge pens, INDIA bloc JD(U), which pledged Parliamentary partners will discuss to support the candiAffairs Minister the issue and try to date nominated by Kiren Rijiju met ensure that all the INthe BJP. Speaking to Congress chief DIA alliance partners this paper, JD(U) extend support to the Mallikarjun Kharge leader K C Tyagi said on Sunday, in what that by convention, TDP he said. ,” was termed a Raut alleged if the the ruling party has BJP gets the Speak- courtesy call. The the right to nominate first Parliament er’s post, it will break the Speaker because the TDP, JD(U), and session will begin its number is also the on June 24 during highest. “The statethe outfits of Chirag Paswan and Jayant which new MPs will ment by INDIA bloc take oath and Chaudhary “We have . leaders is intended to Speaker elected the experience that create confusion BJP betrays the peoamong the NDA partple who support it,” Raut said. ners,” said Tyagi. TDP spokesperson K RamNDA allies are set to meet on mohan Rao told this newspaper June 23 to decide their candithat the NDA partners will sit date. N Chandrababu Naidu’s together and decide the candi- TDP with 16 seats and Nitish date, adding that there are no Kumar’s JD(U) with 12 are crucracks in the alliance and it is cial to the governmentt, as the stable. “All the partners of the BJP failed to secure the seats to NDA will have a meeting and a form government on its own. Why teach riots? NCERT’s spin on lesson cuts Express news service @ New Delhi Amid furore over the omission of references to Gujarat riots and Babri masjid demolition in the Class 12 syllabus, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) director Dinesh Prasad Saklani sought to justify it saying such topics won’t benefit students. Such content can create ‘violent and depressed citizens’, he said in an interview to PTI. “Should we teach our students in a manner that they become offensive, create hatred in society or become victim of ha- tred? Is that education’s purpose? Should we teach about riots to such young children,” he said, adding that hatred and violence should not be the focus of school textbooks. The comments come at a time when new textbooks have hit the market with several deletions and changes. The revised Class 12 political science textbook does not mention the Babri masjid but refers to it as a “three-domed structure”. It has pruned the Ayodhya section from four to two pages and deleted details from the earlier version. It instead focuses on the Supreme Court judgement Dinesh Prasad Saklani, director of NCERT | PTI that paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple at the site where the disputed structure once stood before it was torn down by Hindu activists in December 1992. The changes in textbooks have triggered a controversy Centre has taken note of NEET lapses, guilty to face serious action: Pradhan E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar AMID nationwide outrage over the NEET-UG fiasco, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said the Centre has taken note of two incidents of lapses in the test and those found guilty will face serious action. Pradhan also said that the Centre is mulling necessary reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous agency under the Education Ministry, tasked with conducting the nationwide medical entrance exam. “Two incidents of lapses pertaining to NEET has come to fore. Initial information was that some students were upset for getting less time in the exam and awarded grace marks. However, the government rejected it Dharmendra Pradhan and on the recommendations of the Supreme Court, ordered a retest of 1,563 candidates in six centres,” he said. He also said some irregularities have come to light at two places. “I assure students and parents that the government has taken serious note of it. All these matters will be taken to their logical conclusion and accountability will be fixed on those found guilty for the laps- es,” he said. “No matter how senior official of NTA someone is, if lapses are found they will face strict action,” he added. The Union Minister said the NTA also needs a lot of improvement. “The NTA is an autonomous organisation. However, it needs reforms and the government has taken this into consideration,” he said while reassuring the students that the guilty will not be spared and will get the harshest punishment. Notably, allocation of grace marks and allegations of question-paper leak in the NEET-UG exam has muddied the testing system that selects students for the medical colleges. After the Supreme Court’s observation, the NTA has revoked grace marks awarded to the 1,563 students and has announced a retest on June 23. P r eetha Na i r @ New Delhi Festival designs A girl getting henna applied on her hands on the eve of Bakrid, in Kozhikode on Sunday | E Gokul with critics accusing NCERT of promoting saffronisation of the school curriculum. Rejecting such notions, Saklani said: “If something has become irrelevant ... it will have to be changed. Why shouldn’t it be changed? I don’t see any saffronisation here. We teach history so students know about facts, not for making it a battleground.” Claiming that the NCERT’s curriculum is based on facts and evidence, Saklani said, “If we are telling about iron pillar in Mehrauli and saying Indians were way ahead of any metallurigical scientist, are we saying wrong?” Malaysia to Pondy Bazaar: Gold smuggling gang busted S i d d ha r th P r a b haka r @ Chennai IN a significant breakthrough, the seizure of `50 lakh in Indian currency from four separate Malaysian nationals at the Chennai international airport led Customs officials to bust a gold smuggling gang operating from the south-east Asian country . A detailed investigation by Customs found the alleged involvement of a gold trader in T Nagar and a smuggler based out of Malaysia, who hired the four. Sources said the case details will be handed over to the Income Tax department for further probe. Around two weeks ago, Customs officials found, during regular screening in the airport’s departure hall, that four Tamilspeaking Malaysian men had concealed around `50 lakh in Indian currency notes in their baggage. While one man had around `7.5 lakh, another had `10 lakh, the third `15 lakh and the leader of the group had `17.5 lakh. All four of the men were around 35 years in age. The cash had not been declared by the passengers, a violation under the regulations of the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) Act. While the officials initially believed it to be a routine case of currency smuggling, sources said interrogation with the ring leader revealed it was a goldsmuggling operation. The alleged ring-leader, a Malaysian gold and silver trader, admitted to Customs that he had smuggled around 250gm of gold into India and given it to a trader in Pondy Bazaar in T Nagar, sources said.  P5 express read Transfer of patta for land sans subdivisions now instant in TN Will Canada invite Modi for next G7 summit? Trudeau keeps mum India refrains from signing Ukraine summit communique Chennai: The automatic transfer of patta ownership for properties that do not involve the creation of subdivisions is now instantaneous. The online patta can be downloaded within a few minutes from https://eservices.tn.gov.in | P4 Apulia: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dodged a question on whether he would invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to next year’s G7 summit to be held in Canada, saying, “I will have more to say about next year’s G7 when we assume the G7 Presidency” New Delhi: India did not sign a joint communique at Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland on Sunday. The Ministry of External Afairs said India will engage with all stakeholders to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the conflict | P9 Tribal leaders thwart bid to traffic 4 girls, hand over trio to Gudalur cops S Se n th i l K uma r @ Nilgiris A bid by a group of three Keralities to lure four tribal girls in Gudalur into child labour was thwarted when community leaders, finding their activities suspicious, intercepted the trio and handed them over to the Gudalur police on Saturday Po. lice on Sunday arrested the two women and a man on charges of attempting to traffic four tribal children from the Srima- durai Panchayat. The arrested have been identified as T Mubharish Lal, (33) Y Sunira Kuruniyan, a broker, and I Byrusa (37), a relative of Lal. All three are natives of Malapuram district in Kerala but Sunira was residing in Srimadurai panchayat. According to sources, the trio arrived in the village on Saturday in a car and started canvassing parents in the area to allow them to hire their chil- dren for household labour in Kerala. A tribal girl had reportedly worked at Lal’s house for three months and recently turned to the village. “Mubharish Lal arrived in the village with a plan to take back the girl who had worked at his place earlier. Along with the two women, he also visited other houses to find more girls to do similar work. They were approaching the parents and children. They tried to convince the tribals to send four of their children with him by claiming they would provide a monthly salary of `5,000 for each child,” They were approaching the parents and children and trying to convince the tribals to send four children with them Police official from The Nilgiris said a police officer. However, a few village leaders grew suspicious and picked a quarrel with the trio. They refused to send the children with them and instead handed over the Keralites at the Gudalur police station. During their investigation, police said they learned that the tribal girl who had worked at Mubharish Lal’s house earlier had left the job as he paid only `3,000 instead of the `5,000 he had promised. A case was registered against the trio under Section 370 of the IPC and Section 3 read with Section 14 of the Child Labour Act. They were remanded in judicial custody Based on the in. formation from Gudalur police, the Nilgiris District Child Protection Officer S Shobana found the four girls had discontinued their studies after completing class seven at the Kungru Moola Government School.  P5