dharmapuri l tuesday l july 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l 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 e e 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 SC nixes ED plea, says order on Soren bail well reasoned S U C HITRA KALYAN M OHANTY @ 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. R S IVAKU M AR @ Chennai Saying that officers responsible for the firing on ‘unarmed’ anti-Sterlite protesters in Thoothukudi in 2018, in which 13 people died, must be made to feel the pinch, the Madras High Court on Monday ordered a probe by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). The directorate must hold a ‘fair and transparent’ investigation into the assets of 21 officers and submit a report in three months, the HC said. A division bench of Justices SS Sundar and N Senthilkumar passed the interim orders granting time to the DVAC while hearing a petition filed by Henri Tiphagne, executive director of People’s Watch, seeking or- File photo ders to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to reopen the inquiry into the firing incident. The bench also asked the department secretaries concerned and the DGP to offer “cooperation” to the director of the DVAC to hold “fair, transparent and independent” inquiry into the assets acquired by the police and revenue department officials named in the Justice Centre delays SSA funds as TN yet to decide on starting ‘PM SHRI’ schools `2,151 crore union government component (60%) and `1,434 crore state component (40%). According to officials, the state government has disbursed its share but the fund from the centre is awaited. SSA funds are used for a range of components, including financial support for teachers, quality enhancement interventions, improving school access and student retention, inclusive education, Right to Education entitlements and teacher education, among others. P5 houses sanctioned to the minorities under the PMAY-U SCHEME 16,00,131 Total houses sanctioned Christian The Tamil Nadu school education department is yet to receive the first installment of ` 500 crore from the union government under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for the financial year 2024-25 as the tug-of-war between the centre and the state over establishing “PM SHRI” schools continues. A total `2,151 crore has been sanctioned for the whole year by the 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. Aruna Jagadeesan Commission report and their family members two years before and two years after the firing. Saying that it does not have ‘any particular interest’ in the case, the bench said it is concerned about “preventing recurrence” of such incidents as the protesters were ‘chased’ by police when they were running to save their lives. “The people were targeted. We are unable to digest that these kind of things could happen. The police will go to any extent. We haven’t heard of this,” the bench noted. Criticising the attitude of compensating the loss of lives with money and then closing the case, the judges asked, “Then what is the justice there (for the victims)?”  P5 EX P RE S S NEW S S ERVI C E @ Chennai For the first time in Tamil Nadu, zero maternal death has been recorded in a Health Unit District (HUD) in one year. From April 2023 to March 2024, of the 7,991 deliveries recorded in the Virudhunagar HUD, no maternal death was recorded, officials said. About 30 to 40 primary health centres (PHCs) are clubbed together to form HUDs across the state. The HUDs are different from revenue districts. Virudhunagar, which is one of the 45 HUDs of Tamil Nadu, had recorded 8,483 live births and six maternal deaths in 2022-23, sources said. As per the Health Management Information System (HMIS) data, the overall maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in TN has also fallen to 45.5 from 52.3 per one lakh live births in 2023-24 compared to 2022-2023. Better coordination between PHCs and secondary and tertiary care hospitals is one of the key reasons for achieving this feat, sources said. Virudhunagar HUD comprises 22 primary health centres. In Virudhunagar revenue district there are two HUDs — Virudhunagar and Sivakasi. Sivakasi HUD recorded two maternal deaths until February 2024. Dr Pitchaikali, district mentor of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, credited the success to the joint efforts of health department officials and collector. There was a good referral system between PHCs and hospitals, she said. Virudhunagar Collector in 2022 started a WhatsApp group where all private and government doctors would share updates on deliveries. If any complications were reported, the patient concerned will immediately be shifted to the tertiary care hospital, she said. First step was identification of all low-risk and highrisk pregnant women. High-risk women will then be referred to the nearest Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) centres for delivery. Better infrastructure in CEmONC centres also helped, Dr Pitchaikali said.  P5 e x pr e s s r e a d ‘Murders due to enmity, govt not responsible’ Chennai: Rejecting the opposition’s allegations regarding the law and order in the state, Law Minister S Regupathy on Monday asserted that the recent murders that took place in some parts of the state were due to previous enmity and the government cannot be held responsible for such cases| P4 Mettur gets filled, water flowing to sea: Siddu Bengaluru: Reiterating demand for Mekedatu dam, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said surplus water that flows to TN flows into sea as Mettur dam also gets filled. “In 2022-23, 665 tmcft of water has flown to TN. More water may flow this year too as over 83 tmcft has already flown to TN,” he said | P5 Muslims biggest beneficiaries among minorities 13,45,820 @ Chennai centre and any delay in the release of the first tranche, which usually reaches the state by June, may affect the various schemes being implemented under the scheme, officials said. Chief Minister M K Stalin had earlier alleged that the withholding of SSA funds is an attempt to ‘paralyse’ the state’s education department. In January 2024, the project approval board of the union education ministry sanctioned `3,585 crore for SSA for TN for 2024-25. This includes In the 21st century, another chakravyuh has been prepared... What was done with Abhimanyu is being done with India, with its youth, women, farmers In a first, TN health district records zero maternal mortality H o u s i n g s ch e m e Muslims Su bas h i n i V i jaya ku m a r Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha, in New Delhi on Monday | PTI Sterlite case: HC gives DVAC 90 days to probe officers’ assets Zoroastrianism 1,127 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- Jainism 10,457 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 Buddhism 19,707 oN Ukraine & Russia 49,670 Foreign minister S Jaishankar at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday | PTI Sikh 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- 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. 1,73,350 YE S HI S ELI @ New Delhi 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- 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 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.