SAMBALPUR  WEDNESDAY  APRIL 23, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION MAHARASHTRA ROLLS BACK ITS DIKTAT ON HINDI AS 3RD LANGUAGE Maharashtra has stayed its order to make Hindi mandatory as a third language for Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools DECISION COMES AFTER STIFF OPPOSITION The decision taken last week met with stiff resistance from different quarters, including some opposition parties, and comes days after the Maharashtra government’s language consultation committee urged CM Devendra Fadnavis to revoke the decision. School Education Minister Dada Bhuse said the Centre did not pressure them to “impose” Hindi ■ 3 LEARNING HINDI WILL BE MADE VOLUNTARY ■ A senior minister of Maharashtra government said a new order will be issued making it voluntary to learn Hindi in these classes Rahul Rekhawar, Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), said efforts will be taken to ensure students do not feel any pressure of learning a third language LANGUAGE FORMULA IS PART OF THE NEW CURRICULUM UNDER NEP 43604/8 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 ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR Lidder river PAHALGAM Tourists enjoying a balmy afternoon at Baisaran meadow, a non-motorable spot about 5-10 km from Pahalgam Terrorists in combat uniform emerge from the dense forest around the site, ask tourists about their identity Terrorists open fire selectively on Hindus; 28 killed, including two foreigners and a couple of locals 28 MASSACRED IN J&K F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar IN one of the biggest attacks on tourists coinciding with the visit of US Vice President J D Vance to India, terrorists on Tuesday massacred 28 people, most of them tourists, in J&K’s Pahalgam area and injuring many others. Among the victims were two foreigners from UAE and Nepal and a couple of locals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned home after the business part of his trip was over. Official sources said twothree terrorists emerged from the dense forest around the Baisaran meadow, a scenic but non-motorable spot about 5-10 km from Pahalgam around 2.30 pm. They were heavily armed and in combat EXPRESS READ Summer vacation in schools, colleges to start today Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday announced early summer vacations for all government and private schools and colleges from Wednesday in view of the intense heatwave situation in the state. The decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi where he prioritised safeguarding children’s health during scorching heat in the summer. Summer vacation in schools usually start from the first week of May | P2 3.5K% levy plan US wants to slap up to a whopping 3,500% tariff on solar panels from Southeast Asia to address dumping IMF says economic outlooks for US and world have worsened significantly due to trade war V-P J D Vance urges India to drop non-tariff barriers, give greater access to its markets, buy more US energy and military products | P8 uniform. The terrorists separated the Hindu tourists from the rest after checking their identity and fired on them indiscriminately sources said. , Waseem Khan, a security guard, said he heard the firing but initially thought it was due to firecrackers. “The firing continued for 10 minutes. As there were cries, we rushed to the spot and saw bodies lying on the ground. Some of them were dead and some injured,” he said. Baisaran, which is known as mini Switzerland for its lush green meadows, can be reached only through foot or on horses. “You cannot go to the area in the vehicles because there is no motorable road,” he said. In a viral video, a woman tourist, whose husband was shot at by militants, said, “We were enjoying belpuri and my husband was sitting by my side, when an individual came and shot at him. He thought he is not a Muslim and fired. “Please save my husband,” she pleaded. One of the victims was Manjunath Rao, a businessman from Shivamogga district of Karnataka. The victims included Prasant Kumar Satpathy from Odisha, Manish Ranjan from Hyderabad and another from Kochi. A tourist from Maw Nagar, Gujarat, said he was travelling on horse back when the terrorists fired. “I was hit in the right arm,” he said. He is under treatment in Anantnag. The Resistance Front, a shadow group of Lashkar-eToiba, claimed responsibility for the attack. Baisaran Valley Amarnath Yatra Base Camp Prasant Satpathy ‘PRASANT WANTED TO SHOW HIS FAMILY HEAVEN’ H E M A N T K U M A R R O U T @ Bhubaneswar FOR 43-year-old Prasant Kumar Satpathy the visit to Kashmir was not just a vacation, it was a long-nurtured dream. But that dream of a joyful experience amidst the nature’s bounty ended in unthinkable tragedy as he fell to terrorists’ bullets in the Baisaran valley of Pahalgam in South Kashmir on Tuesday . Prasant, a native of Saragaon panchayat in Balasore district was among 27 tourists killed in the gruesome terrorist attack. He was with his wife and nine-year-old son when terrorists opened fire. Caught in the sudden violence, he was shot and died on the spot. His family survived, but their world has been shattered. “We were just landing from a ropeway after a joyride when I heard gunshots. I initially presumed it was firecrackers. But all of a sudden one bullet hit my husband’s head and he fell down. Before I could think of anything, he had died,” wife Priyadarshini said over the phone to a CONTINUED ON P5 relative. PM MODI CUTS SHORT VISIT, RETURNS New Delhi: Prime Minister Narenda Modi will depart for India from Saudi Arabia tonight, cutting short his visit in view of the terrorist attack in Kashmir. Earlier in the day, he reached out to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, directing him to take immediate charge of the situation. Following his instructions, Shah held a highlevel meeting with senior officials through video conferencing soon after the attack and landed in Srinagar by 9 pm. Condemning the incident in the strongest terms, Modi said those responsible would face the full force of the law. Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, senior Army officials, and the Director Generals of the CRPF and J&K Police joined the emergency video conference called by Shah. According to sources, the Cabinet Committee on Security will meet to assess the situation on Wednesday. PM’s Saudi trip to 3 kidnap and gang-rape minor girl in Sundargarh’s Talsara bolster strategic, trade partnership E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Rourkela J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a two-day visit aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations, with a special focus on defence and energy cooperation. The visit, at the invitation of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, comes as both countries seek to deepen collaboration in key sectors critical to regional stability and economic growth and At least six agreements are expected to be signed during the visit, underscoring the expanding scope of bilateral engagement. Modi said India deeply values its long and historic ties with Saudi Arabia that have acquired strategic depth and momentum in recent years. “Together, we have developed a mutually beneficial and substantive partnership including in the domains of defence, trade, investment, energy and people to people ties. We have shared interest and commitment to promote regional peace, prosperity se, curity and stability,” Modi said. This marks Modi’s third visit to Saudi Arabia in the last decade and his first to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks at fighter jets of Royal Saudi Air Force escorting his aircraft as it arrives in Jeddah on Tuesday | PTI historic coastal city of Jeddah, the first here by an Indian Prime Minister in last 40 years. In an interview with Arab News, Modi described Saudi Arabia as “one of India’s most valued partners – a maritime neighbour, a trusted friend and a strategic ally .” Referring to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he added, “He is my brother,” reflecting the personal rapport between the two. The focus of the visit is the second meeting of the IndiaSaudi Strategic Partnership Council, co-chaired by Modi and the Crown Prince. “Our partnership has limitless potential,” Modi said. In 2023–2024, bilateral trade between the two natiosn reached nearly $43 billion, making Saudi Arabia India’s fifth-largest trading partner. IN a shocking incident, a minor girl was kidnapped and gang-raped by three persons - one of them reportedly a juvenile - in a forest under Talsara police limits, about 130 km from Rourkela, in the intervening n i g h t o f M o n d ay a n d Tuesday . The three suspects were detained in the morning and allegedly confessed to the crime, police said. The victim, about 15, was returning home from a neighbouring village along with her two friends when she was kidnapped in an SUV by the accused and subjected to the sexual assault. After committing the crime, the three dropped off the victim at a secluded location and fled. Police did not reveal the crime location but said the 15-year-old was kidnapped from a village road. Sundargarh SP Pratyush Diwaker said Talsara police received verbal information in the morning, swung into action and rounded up the suspects immediately . As per preliminary report, the three girls were walking back home from a function at a nearby village late in the night when they noticed a four-wheeler tailing them. Diwaker said, the girls were scared and tried to hide when they saw two youths familiar to them on a motorbike. They asked for help and all five tried to ride away on the twowheeler but the miscreants, driving a Bolero, intercepted them. The bike-borne youths and two girls managed to escape but the victim was caught hold of by the miscreants who bundled her into the four-wheeler. Subsequently she was , assaulted at a nearby forest CONTINUED ON P5 location. UPSC RESULTS Odisha’s Ritika gets 48th rank, 16 others qualify for the services DIANA SAHU AND AGENCIES @ BHUBANESWAR ODISHA’s Ritika Rath has secured place among the top-50 candidates who cleared the Civil Services Examination-2024, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The results were announced by the commission on Tuesday . Shakti Dubey of Uttar Pradesh topped the exams while Harshita Goyal of Gujarat and Dongre Archit Parag of Maharashtra secured second and third ranks respectively . Dubey holds a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from the University of Allahabad while Goyal passed BCom from MS University of Baroda and Parag is a graduate in electrical and electronics engineering from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Tamil Nadu. The 24-year-old Odisha topper Ritika got 48th rank in what was Ritika Rath her third attempt at the exams. “In 2022, I decided to appear for the exam for the first time just to know if it was doable. I didn’t qualify then. My second attempt was in 2023, when I had gone to the interview level but could not clear it. Thereafter, I decided to quit my job and focus entirely on preparation for IAS,” said Bhubaneswarbased Rath who chose philosophy as per optional subject for the examination. Daughter of former state principal conservator of forests Sishir Kumar Ratho and Dr Sujata Rath, Ritika is an alumnus of Sai International School and IIMIndore. Ritika did not have a fixed preparation schedule. “I had fixed an everyday agenda, to cover a particular number of chapters or mock tests and that helped,” she said. Harsita Agarwal of Cuttack, also a student of Sai International School, scored 163 rank. Like Ritika, this was also her third attempt at the examination. In her first attempt in 2022, she had cleared the examination and got into Indian Railway Management Service CONTINUED ON P5 (IRMS). ‘INDEFENSIBLE’ Delhi HC tears into Ramdev on ‘Sharbat jihad’ SHEKHAR SINGH @New Delhi CAN HOLD VIEWS IN HEAD, NOT EXPRESS THEM: JUDGE “He (Ramdev) can hold these opinions in his head, need not express them,” ruled Justice Amit Bansal of the Delhi High Court, before listing the matter for further hearing on May 1 YOGA guru and Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev on Tuesday was ordered by the Delhi High Court to take down videos in which he made communal remarks targeting food company Hamdard and its popular drink ‘Rooh Afza’. The move follows a civil lawsuit filed by Hamdard National Foundation (India) after Ramdev accused the company of funding reli- gious institutions and used the term ‘sharbat jihad’ to describe their product. Justice Amit Bansal of the Delhi High Court said the Patanjali founder’s comments in the videos were “indefensible” and “shocked the conscience of the court.” Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Hamdard, submitted, “This is a case which goes beyond disparagement. This is a case of creating communal divide, akin to hate speech. It will not have protection from law of defamation,” Rohatgi submitted. The video, posted on April 3, contained explicit references to Rooh Afza, with Ramdev alleging that buying the drink funded religious extremism. Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, appearing for Ramdev, said the videos are being taken down Justice Bansal directed Ramdev to file an affidavit that he would refrain from posting divisive content on social media in future.