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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR  FRIDAY  SEPTEMBER 13, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION US entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis on Thursday became the first non-astronauts to perform spacewalk | P9 EXIT, STAGE LEFT: A COMRADE TO ALL No talks for 2nd straight day, Didi offers to resign Live telecast sticking point known trajectory as a Communist frontman, starting from his days as a student leader during a definitive era SANTWANA at Jawaharlal Nehru University and BHATTACHARYA analyse whether that promise was EDITOR filled out or not in terms of building the Left movement in India. Only few realise what a talent India has been mop of frizzy hair that deprived of—in universalist terms. placed him in a permanent A political life that was oath-bound Seventies, a boyish face that to the Communist Party of India seemed to be built for laugh- (Marxist) meant that its puritanical ter, eyes that were always aloofness in New Delhi always applied smiling (though of late to him—and always kept him out of touched by sadness), a man- government. In fact, strangely for a ner that was the very politician, the quesdefinition of amiation never seemed to ble, speech that was even arise. The loss erudite but easy per, was perhaps India’s suasive rather than as much as the Left’s. offensive, smooth but Judge by what he always guided by managed at the highconviction. est levels, even as a Of all the talk of faceless, behind-therevo l u t i o n t h at scenes interlocutor. swirled around, he The Manmohan must have been the Singh government’s g e n t l e s t a p o s t l e. final nuclear deal Which is why everywith the US—with one, even the fiercest conditions favouraantagonists, will reble to India—was a call Sitaram Yechury , document that bore SITARAM YECHURY the person, as much the stamp of an ex1 2 AU G U ST 1 9 5 2 as what he stood for. haustive, point-byWith fondness and not point, clause-by1 2 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 24 a trace of rancour. clause, process of That’s what places critique and emendahim in a rare category among politi- tion conducted by Yechury’s team. cians—he was one of those who could Imagine a deal with capitalist Amerconverse with anyone, everyone, as a ica being rewritten by a Communist. friend. Ideology defined him, but did Ironic that his party finally withdrew not exhaust his inventory An endan- support to the UPA on that very deal. . gered tribe these days, it has lost one Around those same days, his mediaof its best, and not at the best of times. tion was accepted, and bore fruit, One would have to say Comrade within Nepal’s polity and vis-a-vis its Yechury at 72, is gone too soon. , India relations, at a particularly dark Most appraisals of his career will time in its history . CONTINUED ON: P7 read Yechury in terms of his wellMANDAR PARDIKAR A E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kolkata ATTEMPTING to change the optics following widespread protests by people from all walks of life against the horrific rape-murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital here on August 9, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday dramatically offered to quit. “I do not care for my chair and am ready to resign for the sake of the people. I, too, want justice,” Mamata said at the state secretariat soon after the proposed talks between her government and the protesting junior doctors failed as the medics re- Both sides refuse to yield fused to enter the venue following rejection of their demand to telecast it live for transparancy. The junior doctors, too, expressed disappointment with the talks falling through and said they would continue their agitation. They added that they were open for talks. Earlier in the day, senior doctors of state-run hospitals warned that they would join the protests if any action is taken against their junior colleagues protesting against the rape-murder. The junior doctors said that they were disappointed at the CM talking about her chair since they never wanted her resignation. Didn’t ask her to quit, say doctors We have tolerated a lot of canards for the last 33 days. I thought the doctors would engage in talks for the sake of the patients and on humanitarian grounds Mamata Banerjee Mamata said the meeting couldn’t be live-streamed since the matter is sub-judice. “What the Supreme Court can, we can’t,” she said, hinting at external political forces influencing a section of the doctors. “I did my best, but I apologise to the people for failing to bring them to the negotiating table. There are instructions from outside, asking some of the junior doctors not to sit for negotiations,” she said. Earlier in the day, chief secretary Manoj Pant sent an email inviting the junior doctors, holding sit-in outside the state health department headquarters at Salt Lake since Tuesday, for the meeting with the CM at 5 pm. Though the email had mentioned a 15-member delegation, the government later blinked and allowed 30 doctors as desired by the protesting medics. The doctors reached the secretariat around 5.25 pm, but stayed put outside the venue for over two hours. “We made recording arrangements. There should be mutual trust,” Pant said. Cabinet okays 10% quota for Agniveers, MAJHI transfer of GPL equity to Adani Ports MAKES AERIAL SURVEY, SEEKS REPORT IN 7 DAYS E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar THE state cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal for providing 10 per cent reservation for Agniveers in direct recruitment to Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts in uniformed services. The rules framed for recruitment of Agniveers stipulate three years relaxation in the upper age limit in all Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts. They will also be exempted from physical proficiency test. The services include police, forest, excise, fire or any other as decided by the government from time to time. The Agniveers after completion of their tenure in Armed Forces will be recruited in Group ‘C’ posts as havildar, constable, forest guard, excise constable, fireman, fireman driver, leading fireman and helper fireman, etc., while the Group ‘D’ posts include jamadaar, office peon, daftari, etc. Chief secretary Manoj Ahuja told mediapersons that there will be 10 per cent horizontal reservation for Agniveers in all Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts in direct recruitment to the uniformed services. Such reservation will be over and above the reservation applicable for ex-servicemen provided they fulfil the minimum qualifications prescribed for the posts in the relevant recruitment rules as on the date of award of Agniveer certificate, he said. The cabinet also gave its nod to transfer of shares to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) for expansion and development of Gopalpur port and amendment of Odisha Civil Service (Rehabilitation Assistance) Rules, 2020. Ninety-five per cent of equity shares of the Gopalpur Ports Limited (GPL) will be transferred to APSEZ from Shapoorji Pallonji Port Maintenance Private Limited (SPPMPL) and Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL). The GPL is now a consortium of SPPMPL and OSL. The revised concession agreement between directorate of Ports and Inland Water Transport, Commerce and Transport department and Gopalpur Ports Limited (GPL) was CONTINUED ON P5 also approved. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi who conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected Malkangiri district on Thursday has directed collector Asish Iswar Patil to submit the damage assessment report within seven days | P4