tirupati l tuesday l july 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION S.C. refuses stay on Patna hc order nixing hike in caste-based quota The D Y Chandrachud-led bench, however, agreed to hear 10 petitions of the Bihar govt against the Patna High Court’s adverse verdict No interim relief, final hearing in Sept The SC said it will list the petitions for final hearing in September. “We will list in September. No interim relief [at this stage],” CJI Chandrachud said. The HC had on June 20 set aside Bihar’s amended reservation laws that raised the quotas for Dalits, tribals, and backward classes from 50% to 65% in public employment and educational institutions, saying it violated the Consitituion 50% HC ORDER erroneous, CLAIMS BIHAR GOVT ■ In its plea before the SC, the Bihar government termed the HC order erroneous, claiming it transcended beyond the legitimate scope of judicial review by substituting ‘opinion of State’ with its own opinion ■ The Nitish Kumar-led government’s amendments followed a caste survey, which put OBCs and EBCs at 63% and SC/STs at 21% of Bihar’s population Cap on reservations laid down by THE top COURT in the Indra Sawhney case 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 Chakravyuh rap by Rahul to put the Centre on the mat Uses Mahabharat metaphor to pin down govt, says Budget hasn’t addressed people’s concerns P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi shooting for the stars Sarabjot Singh and Manu Bhaker advanced to the bronze-medal playoff in the mixed 10m air pistol event on Monday. If the duo finishes third, Bhaker will become the first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympic Games | Ap | P11 No third-party mediation in China border dispute: EAM Y E SHI S E LI @ New Delhi INDIA-China relations are not great at the moment and there are ongoing border disputes. However, that doesn’t mean New Delhi is looking for thirdparty mediation, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Tokyo on Monday . “We have a problem, (but) it is for the two of us to talk it over and to find a way,” Jaishankar said while talking to reporters at a press conference in Tokyo on the sidelines of the Quad foreign ministers’ meet. Recalling his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi twice this month, Jaishankar said: “Obviously other , countries in the world would have an interest in the matter, because we are two big countries and the state of our rela- Foreign minister S Jaishankar at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday | PTI oN Ukraine & Russia The external affairs minister said India will be in constant touch with both Ukraine and Russia. Engagements by countries talking to both sides are important to resolve the conflict, he added tionship has an impact on the rest of the world. But we are not looking to other countries to sort out what is really an is- SC nixes ED plea, says order on Soren bail well reasoned SUCHITRA KALYA N M OHA N TY @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with a Jharkhand High Court order granting the state’s Chief Minister Hemant Soren bail in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. While dismissing the Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging the HC’s June 28 order, a bench of justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan termed HC’s order ‘very well reasoned’, adding: “We don’t want to observe anything more... if we observe, you (ED) might be in difficulty .” The SC, however, added that the observations made by the HC while granting bail to Soren should not influence the trial court in the case. During the hearing in the SC, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, claimed the probe agency has evidence to show the CM’s office was directly dealing with the issue concerning the land in question. The bench observed that the HC considered these aspects before granting bail. In Ranchi, Soren welcomed the SC order. He claimed his imprisonment was orchestrated. He lamented the wasted time during his five-month incarceration, stressing that many important issues could have been addressed. sue between us.” Last week, Jaishankar and Wang met in Laotian capital Vientiane, where they took part in the meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). During their meeting, both sides agreed on the need to give strong guidance to complete the disengagement process following the military standoff in eastern Ladakh in May 2020. Earlier this month, on July 4, the two foreign ministers met in the Kazakh capital city of Astana on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, is an informal strategic forum comprising four nations — India, the US, Japan and Australia — to ensure security in Indo-Pacific. Making a strong pitch for caste census and legalised minimum support price (MSP) for crops, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in his fierce speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday argued that the Union Budget had failed to address the needs of poor and the marginalised communities. In an hour-long speech during the discussion on the Union Budget, the Congress leader invoked the Mahabharat to allege that the chakravyuh of six persons had trapped the country, which led to an uproar. “In the 21st century, there is a new chakravyuh and that symbol is worn by the prime minister on his chest. What was done with Abhimanyu is being done with youth, women, farmers and the MSMEs. “This chakravyuh attacked and destroyed small and medium businesses. This was done through demonetisation and tax terrorism. The Budget did nothing to end this tax terrorism,” Rahul said. In his all out attack, Rahul said by removing indexation, the BJP stabbed the middle class in the back and by enhancing long-term capital gains tax, it stabbed the middle class in the front. He claimed the INDIA bloc would pass bills on caste census and legal guarantee for MSP if it captures power. The House witnessed uproar after Rahul displayed a picture of the ‘halwa ceremony’ held ahead of the Budget. “I wanted the budget to take up the caste census. Though the Budget was prepared by a 20member committee, no Dalits, OBCs or Adivasis were in the pic- E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) RP Sisodia on Monday submitted a report to the State government on the fire that erupted at the Madanapalle Sub-Collector’s Office last week.   Stating that three officials — the current Revenue Division Officer of Madanapalle, former RDO, and senior assistant — were suspended for negligence and committing irregularities, Sisodia said, “Without any doubt, the fire incident is a case of arson.” The Chief Secretary said he spent three days at the site of the incident to conduct an in- quiry. He added the angle of electric short circuit has been ruled out. He pointed out that all 1,400 acres of dotted lands were converted into free holding and none of them were with the government, which is not the case in general. Based on preliminary findings, he suspected a conspiracy behind the incident and explained that numerous complaints had been received by officials, who alleged that their signatures had been forged. “When I spoke with employees in Madanapalle, including the director of power safety and , others, it seems that the SubCollector’s office was deliberately set afire. The presence of Muslims biggest beneficiaries among minorities Zoroastrianism 1,127 Jainism 10,457 Buddhism 19,707 49,670 Sikh 1,73,350 Christian Muslims 13,45,820 16,00,131 Total houses sanctioned Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi A Rajya Sabha question seeking to quantify the beneficiaries among the minorities under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) threw up an interesting bunch of data. The government’s written response to the unstarred question last week said Muslims constitute 12.74% of the total pucca houses sanctioned for the minorities under the scheme launched in 2015 across the country The overall figure . for minorities under the scheme stood at 15.15%. In the 21st century, another chakravyuh has been prepared... What was done with Abhimanyu is being done with India, with its youth, women, farmers Rahul Gandhi Heated exchanges There were heated exchanges between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Rahul over the latter’s remarks that youth have been trapped in the Agniveer chakravyuh and that there are no provisions in Budget for pensions for Agniveers ture,” he said, prompting intervention from Speaker Om Birla, who asked him to read the rules of the House, Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju echoed Birla. “Chakravyuh has three forces. First is the idea of monopoly that , two people should be allowed to own everything in India. One element is financial power. Second is the institutions, agencies (CBI, ED, I-T) and the third element is political executive,” Rahul added. Madanapalle fire incident: three officials suspended H o u s i n g s ch e m e houses sanctioned to the minorities under the PMAY-U SCHEME Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha, in New Delhi on Monday | PTI In all, 1.18 crore houses were approved by the government, of which 1.14 crore units have already been grounded for construction. And 85.04 lakh units have already been completed or delivered. Of the 16 lakh houses sanctioned for the minorities, the share of Muslims is 13.45 lakh. Christians came a distant second with 1.73 lakh houses (1.64%). Sikhs have been sanctioned 49,670 houses (0.47%) and Buddhists 19,707 (0.19). Jains and Zoroastrians were at the bottom of the list with 10,457 dwelling units (0.10%) and 1,127 (0.01%), respectively . The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released the data on July 22 in response to a question by Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor of Chandigarh University and nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. The Centre is set to launch PMAY-U 2.0 to address the housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle class families with an investment of `10 lakh crore. “This will include a Central assistance of `2.2 lakh crore in the next five years,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her Budget speech. seven litres of motor oil, mosquito incense sticks, the three officials working till late on the day of the incident strengthens the argument that it was a case of arson,” Sisodia maintained. Echoing the Chief Secretary’s beliefs, Kurnool Range DIG Koya Praveen said, “ large conA spiracy is behind the fire incident reported at the Madanapalle Sub-Collector office in Annamayya district. A thorough probe is underway .” He said they have obtained certain clues from inspecting the burnt revenue records. Stating that senior assistant Gautam Teja is the prime suspect in the case, the DIG said they are taking the help of forensic experts, as directed by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. P4 Official seal, QR code to replace Jagan’s pic on land passbooks E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed officials of the Revenue Department to re-issue pattadar passbooks to landowners with the State emblem, replacing the image of former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy . The new pattadar passbooks will also have a QR code, which when scanned will provide complete details of the owner, land, location, and map. In a post on X, Naidu said, “We are correcting the mistakes of the previous ruler who committed grave abuse of power by putting his image on the pattadar passbooks. Public is of the opinion that no one else’s photo should figure on the property inherited from ancestors. That’s why we will issue new passbooks with the official seal as promised during the election. The arrogant and bigoted tendencies of the past regime do not exist in this public government. Our government has taken the responsibility of protecting the self-respect of the people and their property .” On the issue pertaining to the land re-survey conducted in 7,000 villages under the previous YSRC dispensation, Gram Sabhas will be held, on the directives of the Chief Minister, to find out if the re-survey was conducted properly or not. The Gram Sabhas will decide the future course of action without hurting interests of genuine land owners. Briefing mediapersons on the issues discussed during the review meet, Revenue Minister Anagani Satyaprasad said 80% of the revenue litigations are related to land, and most of them have happened during the past five years. He added, “The CM has directed officials to compile a report on irregularities, particularly pertaining to 22A and P4 lands grabbed by leaders of the previous regime.”  express read Maduro declared Venezuela poll winner Caracas: Nicolas Maduro was declared winner of Venezuela’s presidential election on Sunday, but the opposition and key regional neighbours immediately rejected the official results. The opposition coalition itself claimed victory following predictions by pollsters that Maduro would lose | P9 Nod for acquisition of equipment for Army New Delhi: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Monday approved two significant acquisitions after considering various proposals. The Acceptance of Necessity was given to the procurement of Advanced Land Navigation System for Armoured Fighting Vehicles of the Indian Army | P7 srisailam dam gates lifted  Three of the 12 crest gates at the Srisailam dam were lifted by 10 ft each out of a total of 12 gates on Monday to release 76,056 cusecs of water  The gates were lifted for the first time year. Despite the water level not crossing 880 ft, the officials opened the gates as a precautionary measure  None of the gates of the Srisailam Dam were opened last year due to insufficient water | P3