NEW DELHI 21 JULY 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24 facebook/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in Kolkata Chromosomes PLUS: 12 PAGES The Island That César Built MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES Beauty and the Best Anand Neelakantan Ravi Shankar Utkarsh Amitabh Neha Sinha CANDLELIT CARE Anuja Chandramouli Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Geetha Ravichandran Tabling Craft with a Contemporary Flair Slay the Season in Baggy Blues SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS ‘For Me, Script is King’ The Path to Excellence NEET-UG centre & city-wise results out; 3 more in CBI net E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi FIRE AT MID SEA Smoke billows after a fire broke out on a merchant vessel off the Goa coast. The fire was put out after more than 24 hours. One crew member is still missing and the remaining 20 have been accounted for. The Indian Coast Guard carried out fire-fighting operations on the Maersk Frankfurt vessel, which was carrying 1,154 containers, including hazardous materials such as benzene and sodium cyanate | PTI Saxena claims CM not taking enough calories in Tihar Jail E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E @ New Delhi AMID allegations that jailed CM Arvind Kejriwal’s health is deteriorating in custody, L-G VK Saxena on Saturday alleged that it could be due to “willful low-calorie intake” despite home-cooked food being provided to him. In a letter to chief secretary Naresh Kumar, the L-G cited a report by the superintendent (prison) about the health status of Kejriwal, saying the diet chart indicated that between June 6 and July 13, the CM did not fully consume the prescribed diet for all three meals of the day . “The report suggests loss of weight (which came down from 63.5 kg to 61.5 kg after his surrender on June 2). Prima facie, it appears to be due to less calorie intake,” the letter read. The L-G office in a statement said that Saxena had suggested the prison authorities advise the CM to adhere to the prescribed dosage of medicine and insulin, apart from the specified diet. Kejriwal, lodged in Tihar since April 1 after being arrested by ED on charges of corruption and money laundering related to the excise policy case, has Type-II diabetes. Responding to Saxena, AAP called the letter “a joke” and asked why someone would play with one’s own health. AAP has accused the BJP of “conspiring” to cause permanent damage to Kejriwal’s health. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva hit back at AAP, saying the report of the Tihar jail superintendent has “exposed” Kejriwal’s “conspiracy” to gain “sympathy”. Shoot-at-sight fiat out in Bangladesh Entire country under curfew with army patrolling cities A G E N C I E S @ Dhaka POLICE imposed a strict curfew with shoot-at-sight orders across Bangladesh as military forces patrolled parts of the capital on Saturday after scores were killed and hundreds injured in clashes over reservation of government jobs. The curfew began at midnight and was relaxed from noon to 2 pm for people to run essential errands, and is expected to last until 10 am on Sunday. The demonstrations started weeks ago to protest a quota system that reserves up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. Violence erupted on Tuesday , with the Daily Prothom Alo newspaper reporting the death of at least 103 people. Friday was the deadliest day so far with Somoy TV reported 43 killed, while an Associated Press reporter saw 23 bodies at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. Local media also reported that some 800 inmates fled from a prison in Narsingdi, a district north of Dhaka, after protesters stormed the facility and set it on fire on Friday . Hundreds of thousands of people had battled police across the capital on Friday, police spokesman Faruk Hossain said. “At least 150 police officers were admitted to hospital. Another 150 were given first aid treatment,” he said, adding two officers were beaten to death. “The protesters torched many police booths... Many gover nment of fices were torched and vandalised.” The army has been deployed nationwide to control the law and order situation — Shahdat Hossain, armed forces spokesman LEARNING from its recent election debacle, the CPM in Kerala is set to take a more liberal stance on matters of faith and beliefs. Marking a major shift from its position, the party plans to offer support and legitimacy to lakhs of its members who are believers. The leadership is learnt to be preparing to take an inclusive approach by welcoming the faithful, especially Hindus, into its fold. The two-day party state committee, which begins on Sunday , will discuss these issues in detail as part of an organisational Data from a retest centre at Hardayal Public School in Haryana shows significant score drops, indicating stricter controls. The highest score in the retest was 682, compared to multiple perfect scores earlier. Only 13 candidates of the centre in Haryana’s Jhajjar managed to score more than 600 marks. As many as 67 students in the country had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the testing agency’s history. PRESSINTAKE BJP ‘white paper’ on J’khand demography soon: Shah | P8 Amid UP BJP rumblings, Yogi likely to meet Modi in Delhi | P7 Gogoi: Oppn won’t let NDA govt bulldoze Budget session | P7 BSF men die due to heat during ‘Harami Nallah’ patrol | P8 68% dip in PUC registration since centres go on strike | P4 Tennis Weightlifting FUNDING TOPS core group: 3 FUNDING TOPS core group: 2 Development group: 6 Shooting Swimming Table Tennis FUNDING TOPS core group: 25 Development group: 20 FUNDING TOPS core group: 1 Development group: 1 FUNDING TOPS core group: 5 Development group: 10 Wrestling Rowing Sailing IN 16 SPORTS DISCIPLINES INDIA HAVE QUALIFIED TO PARTICIPATE AT THE PARIS OLYMPICS EXODUS CONTINUES, OVER 950 STUDENTS CROSS OVER TO INDIA E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Guwahati THE exodus of Indian, Nepalese and Bhutanese students from strife-torn Bangladesh continues with over 950 students entering India through the Meghalaya and Tripura borders so far. “In the past three days, a total of 856 people from India, Nepal and Bhutan, mostly students, have crossed over to the country from Bangladesh through Dawki, an India-Bangladesh border town in the West Jaintia Hills district,” a senior home department official said. Besides, around 100 students returned to India through two integrated checkposts in Tripura. Thomas Gamaliyen, a security officer at the Dawki Land Port, told this newspaper the Meghalaya government provided a bus to drop the students at the Inter State Bus Terminus at Mawpat on the outskirts of Shillong but not many availed the service which is available once a day “They . are coming to Dawki in groups on Bangladeshi taxis and buses. Immediately thereafter, they hire cars to go to Shillong or Guwahati. We help them in hiring the vehicles,” Gamaliyen said. the CPM failed to read the writing on the wall. The leadership has now understood that to defend against the right-wing onslaught, it will need to drastically shift its position,” he said. The rethink is based on the fact that the society is still feudal and since a people’s revolution has not happened, there is no scope for dialectical materialism. “Faith is the most important factor affecting society a state secretar,” iat member said. “ vast majorA ity of people are believers. The CPM often failed to address these sections,” he said. Palakkad plenum Many party insiders felt it was the position taken at the Palakkad plenum — which directed members to keep a distance from rituals and templerelated activities — that alienated the believers J3.89 cr J37.80 cr FUNDING TOPS core group: 3 FUNDING TOPS core group: 10 Development group: 15 Archery J39.18 cr FUNDING TOPS core group: 5 Development group: 10 J1.67 cr J3.90 cr J60.42 cr Look who wants to ease stance on faith and political course correction. “The CPM has decided to introspect on its declared position on faith and believers,” a critical insider in the party said. “The party faced a similar setback in 2019, over the issue of permitting women to enter the Sabarimala temple. Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad also delivered a body blow. The leadership, from then state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to district leaders, visited households, particularly Hindu homes, and admitted their failings. However, after the 2021 state election, DROP IN HIGHEST SCORE Oly Prep: Ministry Spends `470 Crore COURSE CORRECTION K S S R E E J I T H @ T’Puram THE National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday released the the centre and city-wise results for NEET-UG following a Supreme Court order to do so. Data from a retest centre at Hardayal Public School in Haryana showed significant score drops, indicating stricter controls in the re-exam process. The highest score in the retest was 682, compared to multiple perfect scores previously Only . 13 candidates of the centre in Haryana’s Jhajjar managed to score more than 600 marks. As many as 67 students across the country had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history with six from the centre , in Haryana figuring in the list. It raised suspicions about irregularities at the centre. The servers of the result site crashed on Saturday afternoon due to heavy traffic but recovered later. A few complaints were received from students and parents about missing exam results at centres where they had appeared for the exam. On June 30, the NTA announced the results of a re-exam for some candidates. The reexam was ordered by the Supreme Court due to allegations of irregularities. Contro- versies arose with claims of paper leaks and delays at six centres, leading to the SC mandating a retest for 1,563 candidates and cancelling the grace marks initially awarded. The SC also instructed the NTA to publish the results while masking candidate identities to investigate the fairness of the scores, particularly from centres with reported issues. The court will continue to hear petitions related to the alleged malpractices on July 22. Meanwhile, the CBI on Saturday made three more arrests in the case, including two MBBS students from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur college and a BTech (Electrical) from National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur , in Jharkhand, officials said. Second-year MBBS student Kumar Mangalam Bishnoi and first-year student Deepender Sharma were present in Hazaribagh on May 5, the date of the NEET UG exam, and were allegedly acting as “solvers” for the paper stolen by Pankaj Kumar, an engineer, who was arrested earlier, the officials said. Sashikant Paswan alias Sashi alias Pasu, a BTech (Electrical) pass-out from NIT, Jamshedpur was acting in tandem with Kumar and Rockey, who was also arrested earlier. Athletics Badminton FUNDING TOPS core group: 23 Development group: 13 FUNDING TOPS core group: 10 Development group: 15 J96.08 cr J72.03 cr Boxing J60.93 cr FUNDING TOPS core group: 9 Development group: 20 Equestrian J95L FUNDING TOPS core group: 2 Wife launches 5 ‘Kejriwal guarantees’ for Haryana H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh CALLING her husband Arvind Kejriwal as “Haryana ka laal”, Sunita Kejriwal on Saturday told people to ensure that the BJP doesn’t get a single seat in the assembly elections. She launched five “Kejriwal’s guarantees”—free electricity, medical treatment, education, `1,000 per month to each woman and jobs for youth - for Haryana where Assembly elections are due in October this year. Addressing a town hall at Indradhanush Auditorium in Panchkula, Sunita Kejriwal hit out at PM Narendra Modi, accusing him of putting the Delhi Chief Minister behind bars since he was “jealous of his good works”. On “Kejriwal’s guarantees”, she said, “Like in Delhi and Punjab, there will be mohalla clinics in cities and villages. The condition of government hospitals will be improved and there will be free and good treatment for everyone. Each woman will get Rs 1,000 per month. It will soon be implemented in Delhi and Punjab. The condition of government schools will also be improved.” Sunita Kejriwal added that the AAP would give jobs to each unemployed youth. “Nobody could have imagined that Kejriwal would one day gover n the country’s capital. It is no less than a miracle. He was born on August 16, 1968. It was Krishna Janmashtami. It is not a coincidence. I feel that god wants to get something done through him,” she said. “Arvind started with zero and floated his own party and became CM. Is it not surprising,” she asked. AAP has said it will contest all 90 Assembly seats in the state, asserting that people want change and are looking at it with great hope. Golf J1.74 cr FUNDING TOPS core group: 4 Development group: 2 Hockey J41.30 cr FUNDING TOPS core group: 33 J27 cr J12.92 cr J3.78 cr FUNDING TOPS core group: 2 Judo J6.33 cr FUNDING TOPS core group: 9 Elite athletes in TOPS core group; rest in development Divorce case: HC warns Dubai woman to appear or get ‘red corner notice’ S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court has issued a warning to a woman living in Dubai directing her to personally appear before the court in response to a petition filed by her husband. The court emphasised that the failure to comply could lead to impounding or revocation of her passport and issuance of a ‘red corner notice’ against her. Presiding over the case, Justice Dharmesh Sharma on July 19 scheduled the next hearing of the matter for July 25. The petition filed by the husband alleges contempt of court by his wife, who is accused of deliberately disobeying court orders related to their divorce settlement. The HC order stemmed from disputes over custody arrangements for their child, which were part of their mutual divorce decree. As per the terms, the wife was obligated to facilitate the husband’s involvement in their child’s life, including allowing unsupervised custody for specified periods and ensuring regular communication between the husband and child. The court directed the CBI or any other agency to explore the possibility for issuing a ‘red corner notice’ against her if she failed to respond to the court order.
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