NEW DELHI 23 JUNE 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24 facebook/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in THE OTHER SIDE OF NEPAL GETTING A SUNNY OUTLOOK PLUS: 12 PAGES In the Footsteps of an Adventurer MAGAZINE The Shape of Simplicity EXCLUSIVE VOICES Anand Neelakantan Utkarsh Amitabh Ravi Shankar Anu Aggarwal NEET& UNCLEAN Debashis Chatterjee Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Geetha Ravichandran Embrace the Dot Conciliatory tone at GST meet Govt does not intend to send notices to businesses left, right and centre, says Sitharaman D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi PRESS INTAKE Communal clashes in Jodhpur | P8 IN her first GST Council meeting after assuming the role of finance minister in the new government, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in a conciliatory mood as she reiterated that the Central government does not intend to send GST notices to businesses left, right and centre. “I want to reassure assessees that our intent is to make the GST assessees’ life easier. We are working towards less and less compliances,” she said at the fag end of the press briefing called to announce the decisions made in the 53rd GST Council. To buttress her point, she underlined that the Central GST department has sent notices to only 1,14,939 assessees, or 1.96% of the total 58.63 lakh active assesses till 31 December 2023. “Our intention is to make it Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chairs the GST Council meet on Saturday | PTI easier and simpler, less cumbersome,” she added. The same conciliatory tone was reflected in the GST Council decisions as it decided in favour of taxpayers in many ongoing thorny issues, including introducing the sunset clause for anti-profiteering provisions, exemption of GST on corporate guarantees, and reducing the amount of pre-deposit for filing of appeals under GST. The Council also decided to exclude Extra Neutral Alcohol used for manufacture of alcoholic liquor for human consumption under the ambit of GST. Some of the decisions would directly impact the common BELIEVE IT OR NOT! Water cannon used to quell water stir L-G says not a single litre of water added to supply in 10 yrs A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi THE BJP’s stridency on Saturday over the water shortage plaguing the capital city struck all the three levels of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic. The police came charging in to disperse BJP workers gathered before a Delhi Jal Board office. The police used water cannons at a time when Water Minister Atishi has been on an indefinite hunger strike to draw attention to the crisislike situation in the city . On the other hand, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena held the AAP government responsible for the prevailing crisis in the city The “shrill discourse” . of the Delhi ministers over the last few weeks has been distressing and questionable, Saxena said in his statement. “Political leaders of Delhi have turned a crisis into an opportunity for blaming the neighbouring states with the sole aim of gaining political mileage,” he said. The police’s action has started a discussion over social media where netizens highlighted the hidden irony and condemned the act. “Delhi is suffering from a water crisis, yet the police are using water cannons on protesters,” a user wrote on X. Another user wrote: “People are protesting and police are using water cannons !!” The protest was led by former BJP MP from South Delhi Ramesh Bhiduri outside the water agency’s regional office in Okhla. Hundreds of party workers raised slogans against the AAP government over water scarcity. However, they faced water cannons after they refused to move away despite A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi Water cannons being used on BJP protestors before DJB office on Saturday | EXPRESS Blame game amid crisis AAP, BJP spat widens The police used water cannons— wasting gallons of water—on protesting BJP cadres at a DJB office in Okhla at a time when Delhi is struggling to get water. The city govt’s inability to get extra supply has forced the ruling AAP on the back foot, forcing it to blame Haryana for stopping the release of 100 million gallons per day of water to Delhi. Left to defend her AAP government in the face of people’s complaints and anger about inadequate water supply and BJP protests, Water Minister Atishi has been on hunger strike. Her protest on Saturday brought more of the political slugfest to the surface with some people, allegedly BJP activists, trying to disrupt her protest. P3 warnings by the police. Addressing the protesters, Bidhuri alleged that the DJB, which had profits of `600 crore, is now facing losses of Rs 60,000 crore due to corruption. He later handed over a memorandum to a DJB engineer over the supply shortage in the Tughlaqabad assembly constituency . A few days ago, Bidhuri was also found allegedly involved in a similar protest carried outside a DJB office in Chhatarpur. The incident witnessed vandalism for which AAP blamed Bidhuri. Meanwhile, Atishi accused the BJP government in Haryana of stopping the release of 100 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Delhi. EXPRESS READ A day after Atishi sat on an indefinite strike over the water crisis, L-G VK Saxena on Saturday came down heavily on the AAP government for trying to gain political mileage. Saxena accused the AAP government for the water scarcity and said that not even a litre of water treatment capacity has been added since Kejriwal took charge from Sheila Dikshit. Referring to Delhi’s inability to get water from Haryana, the L-G sought to blame the city government for the fiasco. “This polemical exercise has ended up compounding the problems of Delhi people and antagonising the neighbouring states grappling with water scarcity he said. ,” Citing a Delhi Economic Survey report, the L-G said the supply and distribution network of pipelines are old and leaking and that they need urgent attention. “It is saddening to see that the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has a single-minded obsession for sound bites. Accusations and abuse are hurled at individuals, other governments and institutions as a matter of routine,” he said. “In times of adversity, goodwill matters—be it in interpersonal or institutional relations. This is the reason that Delhi finds itself isolated even in times of dire need,” he said. man. The Council decided to exempt some services provided by the Railways, such as sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms/waiting rooms, cloak room services and battery-operated car services. To benefit students living in hostel accommodations outside the premises of educational institutes, the Council decided to exempt accommodation services from GST where the monthly rent per person is up to `20,000. Such benefits would be available subject to the condition that the accommodation is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. To deal with fake invoicing, the Council decided to roll out nationwide Aadhaar-based authentication of registered taxpayers in a phased manner. It also decided to implement a uniform rate of 12% on all milk cans. EGYPT STRIPS LICENCES OF 16 TOUR FIRMS Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouly on Saturday ordered 16 tourism firms stripped of their licences for illegally facilitating pilgrims’ travel to Mecca, the cabinet said | P9 ‘It is a Film for the Big Screen’ SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Why Do We Create Problems? States raise issue of borrowing limit in pre-budget meeting D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi OPPOSITION-ruled states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala have again raised the issue of borrowing limits imposed by the Centre depriving them of necessary funds leading to liquidity crunch. In a pre-budget consultation with the Centre here, Kerala finance minister K N Balgopalan requested that a special package of at least `24,000 crore be announced in the Union budget 2024-25 to tide over the current liquidity stress the state is facing due to borrowing limits imposed by the Centre. Tamil Nadu finance minister Thangam Thenarasu pointed out that because of the Centre’s diktat the state lost `8,500 crore of borrowing space over the last four years. In the meeting, most state finance ministers stressed the need for more funds for improvement of infrastructure in their respective states. Kerala’s finance minister highlighted the urgent need for a special capital investment of `5,000 crore for the state for fulfilling its part in the development of the Vizhinjam International Mother Port and the Port region. He also sought another `5,000 crore for financ- Demand to upgrade rail infrastructure TN’s FM said the state faced step-motherly treatment from the Centre on railway projects. Similar concerns were raised by the Kerala FM. He said that there is an urgent need to upgrade the railway infrastructure and introduce a high-speed railway corridor ing certain other infrastructure projects such as the ‘Tunnel Road link bet we e n C a l i c u t a n d Wayanad’. Odisha deputy chief minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo sought dedicated budget allocations and resources for large-scale infrastructure projects, such as industrial parks and corridors, electricity grids and railway infrastructure. Chhattisgarh finance minister O P Choudhary urged financial assistance for development of the state capital region — Nava Raipur — as an industrial hub. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the media that on the issue of devolution of taxes, most finance ministers agreed to raise the issue at the finance commission. NTA head rolls; NEET-PG on hold CBI PROBE ORDERED In a late night development, the education ministry said that a probe into the alleged irregularities has been handed over to the CBI. The move comes a day after the June edition of the Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and UGC-NET was postponed. | P7 Congress activists protest over the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG results, in Kolkata on Saturday | PTI RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi BELEAGUERED National Testing Agency (NTA) chief Subodh Kumar Singh was on Saturday sacked, days after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called out the agency for systemic failure in conducting major competitive exams like NEET-UG and UGC-NET, affecting 35 lakh students. Singh was replaced by for mer home secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, a retired IAS officer of the 1985 batch. Kharola was considered a tough task master during his tenure in service. The Appointment Committee of Cabinet, while approving Kharola’s appointment as the new NTA director general, placed Singh in waiting for posting in the department of personnel, public grievance and pension till further orders. Parallelly, the Union Health Ministry decided to postpone t h e N E E T- P G e n t r a n c e examination, scheduled to be held on Sunday as a “precautionary measure”. The health ministry said it has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of NEETPG entrance exam conducted by NTA for medical students. “It has accordingly been decided, as a precautionary measure to postpone the NEET-PG entrance examination, scheduled to be held tomorrow — 23rd June, 2024,” a statement issued by the ministry said. To clean up the mess, sources said concer ned departments, including intelligence agencies, have been directed to trace the origin of question paper leaks immediately. The Ministry of Education announced the constitution of a high-level panel of seven experts, led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to review its perfor mance and suggest course corrections. P7 SPORTING LIFE Finding neverland: Sports help refugees build bridges, integrate into society somah Ali Zada, during an interaction with this newspaper THIRTY-SIX athletes with as highlighted the beauty of many tales training in 12 disci- sport and its role in helping plines, hosted by 15 countries athletes integrate into society . representing more than 120 Her words were at times million displaced people Jo h n L e n n o n e s q u e : across the world. All uni‘there is no country or fied through sport. The Sunday religion too...’ International Olympic “I am so lucky to be Special Committee’s (IOC) Refuchef the mission of a gee Olympic Team is not team that’s from differjust a team, it’s an amalgaent cultures, speaks differmation of myriad emotions, ent languages,” she said. “I sufstories of resilience and hope. fered a lot of discrimination The sentiments echoed by because of my nation and of the team’s chef de mission, Ma- my ethnicity We are from dif... I N D R A N E E L D A S @ Chennai India rolls out red carpet for Hasina A new consulate in Bangladesh’s Rangpur, modernisation of the country’s armed forces, conservation of the Teesta river and e-visas for medical patients—these are among the sops India has offered to Bangladesh on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s official visit to New Delhi. Hasina came to India at the invitation of PM Modi. P7 ferent countries. The Olympic Games is the moment they will realise their dream.” Masomah, who was forced to flee Afghanistan for pursuing her passion, cycling, because of the Taliban government’s hostilities towards women playing sport, said the only thing that kept each of them sane while waiting for endless paperwork was sport. “When we arrive in a new country we have to wait , for paperwork and it’s a long process. During this period, we cannot do anything. We cannot learn the language. We don’t have access to education so we wait. Sport is the only possibility that helps refugees to just pass the time and wait. Most refugees in this period try to play a sport, also to remain healthy, mentally and physically .” Masomah felt despite athletes not representing a country, refugees have the right to compete at the Olympic Games. “They have a lot of talent. They just need a chance. I know that I suffered a lot of discrimination because of my nation and of my ethnicity... We are from different countries. The Olympic Games is the moment they will realise their dream Masomah Ali Zada it’s really difficult to be a refugee, but still, we have to keep going. We have a right to leave and dream and thanks to the Olympic team that allows refugees to be part of international competition like Olympics.” She said how despite getting teased and stoned while cycling in Afghanistan and even while in France as a refugee she continued to dream. Finally in To, kyo Olympics she realised it when she represented the refugee team. Living a dream amidst the spirit of inclusion and inspiration.
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