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 ■ ■ chennai l Friday l October 04, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION Chennai Metro Phase-II gets Union Cabinet nod C S h i v a k u m a r @ Chennai In a fresh lease of life to the Chennai Metro Rail Phase-II project, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gave its approval for the `63,246-crore project under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The 118.9-km phase-II project comprises three cor ridors and 128 stations. The financial constraints faced by Tamil Nadu in implementing the mammoth project without the union government’s participation were consistently highlighted by TNIE through multiple reports. The cabinet approval comes just six days after Chief Minister M K Stalin visited New Delhi, held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and presented him a three-point charter of demands, including 50:50 equity infusion by the centre for the project. The CM, in his 45-minute-long meeting, had explained the fiscal difficulties in funding the project entirely and the impact the debt could have on Tamil Nadu’s Fiscal Respon- sibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act stipulations. Reacting to the centre’s approval, the CM thanked the PM for accepting his request. “The long-pending demand of the people of Tamil Nadu has been addressed. Now we are confident of completing the project at the earliest,” the CM said. During the meeting with the PM in New Delhi, Stalin had pointed out that the state had instructed CMRL to reduce the pace of works and take a `1,000 crore budget cut last year. “The commissioning dates of various stages of the project have been delayed by almost a year, pushing the final completion date from December 2027 to December 2028. This will result in time and cost overruns,” he had said. The CM had sought early approval for a 50:50 equity sharing between the Union and state governments as was done for phase-I of the project. When TNIE contacted Chennai Metro Rail Managing Director M A Siddique, he heaved a sigh of relief and expressed happiness and vowed to catch up on the lost time in implementing the project. Chief Minister M K Stalin on September 27 presented a memorandum containing three key demands to PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi | PTI Other cabinet decisions Govt approves rationalisation of various agri schemes into two umbrella programmes — PM Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Krishonnati Yojana — with over `1 lakh crore outlay to promote sustainable agriculture and ensure food security Cabinet approves proposal to grant classical language status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali. The decision came ahead of assembly polls in Maharashtra. “Marathi is India’s pride,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X Payment of productivity linked bonus of 78 days for `2,028.57 crore to 11,72,240 railway employees cleared. It’s an annual payment before the Durga Puja/ Dussehra holidays. The maximum payable per eligible railway employee is `17,951 SC outlaws caste Don’t criminalise marital rape: Govt discrimination in jails across India S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Quashes jail manual rules of 10 states, says caste-based work allocation in prisons illegal read down discriminatory laws and file compliance reports before it. IN a landmark verdict, the SuThe verdict came on a plea preme Court on Thursday held filed by Sukanya Shantha, a nathat there should not be any tive of Kalyan in Maharashtra, caste discrimination in prisons alleging that prison manuals of across the country and all some states encourage castepresent provisions in jail man- based discrimination. ual perpetuating such discrimiThe order dealt with certain nation must go. The apex court discriminatory provisions of also registered a suo motu case jail manuals of 10 states—Uttar to monitor the issue. Pradesh, West Bengal, A three-judge bench Madhya Pradesh, AndNo caste led by the Chief Justice hra Pradesh, Odisha, details to D Y Chandrachud di- be entered Kerala, Karnataka, Marected all states and The CJI-led bench harashtra, and HimachUnion territories to real Pradesh—and set also ordered vise their prison manuthem aside. the deletion of als to end caste-based The court held that caste details of allotment of work. assigning cleaning and prisoners from “Distribution of manu- prison registrars. sweeping tasks to inal work among prisonmates belonging to the “Caste column ers on the basis of their marginalised sections in convict or undertrial caste hierarchy is disand allowing the higher criminatory and un- registrars shall be castes to do cooking is a constitutional,” said deleted,” it said in clear violation of Artiits order the bench, also comcle 15(1). prising Justices J B “Such indirect uses Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. of phrases which target so It also ordered the Centre to called lower castes cannot be make necessary changes ac- used within our constitutional cording to the judgment to ad- framework. Prison manuals dress caste-based discrimina- are only reaffirming such distion in the Model Prison crimination,” the CJI said. Manual, 2016 and the Model Observing that right to live Prisons and Correctional Serv- with dignity extends even to ices Act, 2023. the incarcerated, the bench The apex court gave the Cen- said: “Criminal laws of the cotre and states three months to lonial era continue to impact amend their prison manuals to the postcolonial world.” S UCHITRA K ALYAN M OHANTY @ New Delhi sea of humanity Scores of devotees thronged Kulasekarapattinam Mutharamman Temple to witness hoisting of the festival flag in Thoothukudi district on Thursday | V KARTHIKALAGU The Centre on Thursday strongly opposed the demand to criminalise marital rape, arguing in its affidavit in the Supreme Court that punitive measures are already in place to deal with it. “Parliament has provided different remedies, including criminal law provisions, to protect consent within marriage. Sections 354, 354A, 354B, 498A IPC, and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, ensure serious penal consequences for such violations,” the affidavit said. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is hearing a batch of pleas on the matter. In its af- fidavit, the Centre said that the issue is primarily “social rather than legal”. “Criminalizing marital rape would have significant implications for society. The jurisdiction to criminalize such acts (marital rape) does not lie with the Supreme Court but rather with the legislature,” the Centre said in its affidavit. It added that the present question is essentially a social issue on which Parliament has taken a position after weighing all shades of opinions. Parliament, it added, decided to retain Exception 2 to Section 375 of IPC in 2013 while amending the said section in 2013. Striking it down on the grounds of constitutional validity Internship scheme rolled out on pilot basis, 111 cos on board M ONI K A YA D A V @ New Delhi THE government on Thursday launched the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme on a pilot basis. The scheme is open to those in the 21-24 years age group who meet specific educational and employment criteria. Existing reservation norms will apply Eligible candidates can apply . through the online portal www.pminternship. mca.gov.in. The portal will open on October 12 and 1,25,000 interns are expected to be enrolled in the top 500 companies this year. Sources said 111 firms are already on board for the programme and more are likely to join in. As of Thursday 1,077 of, fers have been made by three In case a partner company is companies—Mahindra & Mahi- unable to ndra, Max Life Insurance, and provide such Alembic Pharma. internships in its The interns will be paid `4,500 own company, it per month via direct benefit may tie up with transfer, while the companies other entities in will contribute `500 from their its group. But corporate social responsibility programme shall funds. There is also a one-time be under its supervision grant of `6,000, which takes the total annual payout to `66,000 Sources per intern. The scheme also provides insurance coverage. The PM’s internship scheme is part of a broader initiative that aims to offer skill training to one crore youth over the next five years, with a total budget allocation of `2 lakh crore. By October 26, a list of shortlisted candidates will be provided to companies, which will finalise their selections by November 27. The first intership batch will commence on December 2. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will bear the cost of the pilot project, estimated at `800 crore for this financial year. SC takes over Isha case, stays HC order S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi In a major relief to the Isha Yoga Centre run by spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev in Coimbatore, the Supreme Court on Thursday restrained the Tamil Nadu police from taking any further action against the centre as per the directions of the Madras High Court. Transferring to itself a habeas corpus petition of a man alleging that his two daughters were held captive inside the premises of the yoga centre, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed the Tamil Nadu police to not take any further action. “You can’t let in the Army or the police into an establishment like this,” the bench observed during the hearing. “The case shall be transferred to the Supreme Court from the Madras High Court. Let the original petitioner appear on virtual platform or through his counsel. The status report of the police shall be submitted to the Supreme Court,” the top court said in its order. Earlier in the morning, former Attorney General (A-G) Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Isha Foundation, told the apex court that a police team of about 150 officers entered the ashram for investigation following the HC’s direction. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the central government, also supported the Isha Foundation’s petition and said the high court should have been more circumspect. P5 Can’t allow entry of cops During the hearing, the three-judge bench observed, “You can’t let in the Army or the police into an establishment like this.” Earlier, former A-G Mukul Rohatgi said that a police team of about 150 officers entered the ashram will have a far-reaching effect on the institution of marriage, it argued. “It may severely impact the conjugal relationship and may lead to serious disturbances in the institution of marriage. In the fast-growing and ever-changing social and family structure, misuse of the amended provisions can also not be ruled out, as it would be difficult and challenging for a person to prove whether consent was there or not,” the Centre said. “In an institution of marriage, there exists a continuing expectation, by either of the spouse, to have reasonable sexual access from the other... these obligations, expectations and c o n s i d e r a t i o n s, which are com- pletely absent in the case of a stranger who seeks sexual congress, or even from any other intimate relationship, constitutes as a sufficient basis for the Legislature to distinguish qualitatively between an incident of non-consensual sex within the marital sphere and without it,” the Centre said. The relationship of marriage creates an intelligible differentia, which has a rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved, the government claimed, adding the provisions in law are not manifestly arbitrary A two-judge . bench of the Delhi High Court had on May 12, 2022 delivered a split verdict on the matter. While Justice Rajiv Shakdher was in favour of criminalising marital rape, Justice C Hari Shankar disagreed. I congratulate the people of Chennai and Tamil Nadu on the Cabinet’s approval of the Chennai Metro Rail Project Phase-II. This will help in easing traffic, improving sustainability and economic growth Prime Minister Narendra Modi The long-pending demand of the people of Tamil Nadu has been addressed. Now we are confident of completing the project at the earliest Chief Minister M K Stalin express read 5K-page chargesheet filed in Armstrong case Chennai: The Greater Chennai Police on Thursday filed a 5,000page chargesheet in the murder case of former BSP chief K Armstrong. History-sheeter P Nagendran is named the prime accused. The chargesheet lists 200 witnesses and 29 other people as accused. It also has 750 pages of documentary evidence, according to a police source | P4 Heavy rainfall warning issued for 17 TN districts Chennai: Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai has issued heavy rain warning for isolated places across 17 TN districts on Friday. On Saturday, heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over ghat areas of Coimbatore district, Dindigul, Theni, Nilgiris Erode, Salem, Cuddalore, Ariyalur Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, and eight more districts | P2