visakhapatnam l wednesday l november 06, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Pawar, 83, hints at retirement from parliamentary politics The NCP (SP) chief on Tuesday said that he was contemplating whether to seek another Rajya Sabha term after his current tenure ends in 2026 ‘one Has to stop, step aside at some point’ Will continue to work for the people Speaking at a campaign rally for grand-nephew Yugendra Pawar at Supa in Maharashtra’s Baramati assembly constituency, Sharad Pawar said that he has to stop at some point for the new leadership to take over. The veteran leader, who has won 14 elections in his political career, entered the Maharashtra assembly in 1967 and became the chief minister in 1978 ■ ■ The decision not to seek Parliamentary position does not mean a complete retirement from the social sphere, Pawar clarified | P10 “I will not be in power, but will continue to work for the people, work for the drought-affected regions, marginalised segments of society,” he said, adding that he will now focus on installing a new leadership SEVEN times Pawar won the Lok Sabha polls; he entered Rajya Sabha in 2014 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 US votes to elect its 47th President Age n c i e s Republican vice presidential nominee J D Vance and his wife Usha Vance arrive to vote at the St Anthony of Padua Maronite Catholic Church on Tuesday | AP/PTI response to pk Police won’t buckle under political pressure: DGP P h a n i n d r a Pa pa s a n i @ Vijayawada Responding to Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s remarks on law and order in the State, and Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha, Director General of Police (DGP) Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao asserted that the police won’t buckle under political pressure. Pawan on Monday had raised concerns over the law and order situation in the State and said if he was the State Home Minister, “things would be different”. The remarks were seen as direct criticism of Anitha, who is holding the department currently . Emphasising the importance of law and order for the State’s development, he had asked the DGP senior police officials, and , district collectors not to ignore their responsibility He advised . them not to shield anyone based on caste or connections, affirming that he does not endorse such biases. Acknowledging that there were certain lapses under the previous YSRC regime as police could not perform their duties efficiently DGP Rao main, tained that the department is addressing the problem from the roots in order to ensure that similar issues don’t recur in the future. The DGP and the Home Minister, along with other officials, attended the passing out parade of probationary DSPs at the Anantapur police training centre on Tuesday. On the occasion, they presented awards to probationary DSPs for their outstanding performance in firing, training modules, indoor and outdoor sports. Speaking to mediapersons, the DGP asserted that top priority was being given to safety of women, children and other vulnerable sections of the society Recalling the incident of at. tack on TDP office in Mangalagiri under the YSRC regime, he opined that police failed to investigate the case properly due P4 to various reasons.  MILLIONS of Americans on Tuesday headed towards polling stations across the United States to elect the 47th President between Republican leader Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in an election billed as one of the most consequential contests for the White House in decades. Voting across the country began at 6 am local time. New Hampshire was the first state where polling started. According to US media reports, the early hours of voting were smooth with scattered reports of extreme weather, ballot printing errors, and technical problems causing delays. The early votes included record numbers in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states that could decide the winner. Over 82 million voters across the US had already voted before the main election day. These votes were sent in either by mail or by visiting the polling station in person. According to an Associated Press report, Republican voters were casting early ballots at a higher rate than in recent previous elections. Both Harris and Trump are fighting for every vote, especially in the seven key battleground states of Arizona, Ne- Results could take several days Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign chief Jen O’Malley Dillon said results may take several days, as vote tallies will come in at different times across states, and close results could delay a final call. “We may not know the results of this election for several days,” she said vada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. The race remained stubbornly deadlocked for weeks, with some of the election forecasters giving 60-year-old Vice President Harris an edge over former President Trump, 78, in some of the key battleground states like Pennsylvania. After casting his vote in Florida, Trump said said if he lost the elections, he would be the first one to acknowledge it if it’s a “fair election”. This is the first presidential vote since Trump lost to Joe BiP9 den four years ago. Right to take over pvt property not total: SC Not all pvt property can be taken over for common good: 7:2 verdict S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Postulating rigiD economic theory The Supreme Court in a 7:2 ruling on Tuesday held that states were not empowered under the Constitution to take over all privately-owned resources for distribution to serve the “common good”. A nine-judge bench of headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, however, said states can stake claim over private properties in certain cases. With this, the court settled the Property Owners Association vs State of Maharashtra case, which is one of the oldest pending before the court. While Justice B V Nagarathna partially concurred with the majority, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia wrote a dissenting verdict. The question before the court was whether “material resources of the community” in Article 39(b) could include privately owned property . The case also involved chal- “In Bhim Singhji, Justice Krishna Iyer cited Karl Marx to observe that taking over large conglomerations of land is necessary to make Article 39 a ‘constitutional reality’... (It) amounts to endorsing a particular economic ideology for our economy,” the CJI said lenges to Chapter VIII-A of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976 introduced in 1986. The chapter allowed the Mumbai Building Repair and Reconstruction Board to acquire certain “cessed properties” for restoration with the consent of 70% of the residents. The majority verdict authored by the CJI criticised the opinion of Justice Krishna Iyer in a 1978 case, where the latter ruled that all privately owned resources can be acquired by the state for distribution under Article 39(b). “The doctrinal error in the Krishna Iyer approach was, postulating a rigid economic theory, which advocates for greater state control over private resources, as the exclusive basis for constitutional governance,” the verdict said. However, Justice Nagarathna found the observations against Justice Krishna Iyer harsh and unwarranted. The bench said the vision of the framers of the Constitution to establish economic democracy and trust the wisdom of the elected governments was the “backbone of the high growth rate of India’s economy... To scuttle the constitutional vision by imposing a single economic dogma which views the acquisition of private property by the state as the ultimate goal would undermine the values and principles of our Constitutional framework,” the verdict said. SC upholds U.P. Board of Madarsa Edu act, nullifies HC order Wrong call The court said the HC had ended up throwing the baby out with the bathwater by striking down the entire law on the ground that conferment of higher edu degrees were not constitutional S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act 2004, and set aside the Allahabad High Court’s order declaring the Act unconstitutional. “We have upheld the constitutional validity except for a small extent. , The HC erred in holding that the statute is bound to be struck down if it violates secularism,” a threejudge bench led by the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said. The court, however, held that the Madarsa Act, to the extent it regulates higher education, including the degrees of Fazil and Kamil (bachelor and postgraduate level degrees given by madrasas), is in conflict with the UGC Act and hence unconstitutional. The court said a statute could be declared ultra vires only on two grounds — being beyond the legislative competence or violating fundamental rights or any other Constitutional provision. As for regulations relating to the quality of the education, the state is empowered to enforce them. The Act does not directly interfere with the day-today administration, the bench pointed out. Govt to sell 2.5% in HZL to raise `5K cr MONIKA YADAV @ New Delhi THE Centre on Tuesday announced its plan to divest up to 2.5% of its stake in Hindustan Zinc through an offer for sale (OFS) set to commence on November 6. The floor price for this offering has been set at `505 per share. The government is likely to raise `5,000 crore through the OFS. The government plans to sell approximately 5.28 crore shares amounting to 1.25% of the equity, with an option to add another 1.25% of equity The offer . will be available for non-retail investors starting November 6. These investors will have the opportunity to express their interest in carrying forward any unallocated bids to the following day November 7. , Retail investors will have the opportunity to submit their bids on November 7. According to OFS regulations, only retail investors and employees will be permitted to place their bids on Thursday Non-retail investors . who place their bids on Wednesday and opt to carry forward any unallocated bids to the following day will also have the option to revise their bids. Hindustan Zinc, a subsidiary of Vedanta, is a major producer of zinc, lead, and silver. Based in Udaipur, the company operates various mines and smelters, focusing on mining practices, resource conservation, and maintaining its position in metal production. The government holds 29.5% in the company . naidu to roll out health initiative today The State govt will launch a programme to combat cancer & heart diseases with a focus on cancer screening and a response system for heart attacks | P3 PK accuses Jagan of usurping land from Dalit ryots Naidu sets March 2028 deadline for Polavaram B a n d h a v i A n n a m @ Guntur Deputy Chief Minister (Environment, Forest, Science and Technology, and Rural Water Resources) Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday inspected the lands of Saraswati Power and Industries at Machavaram in Palnadu district, owned by YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his family . Accusing the former Chief Minister of usurping land from Dalit farmers, the actor-politician quipped, “Jagan and his family first looted public land and now they are fighting for the same as if it is their asset.” Addressing a gathering after inspecting the land with Gurazala MLA Yarapathineni Srinivasa Rao, Palnadu District Collector Arun Babu and others, Pawan alleged that a total of 1,184 acres of land, including Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan inspected the lands of Saraswati Power & Industries, owned by YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy & his family in Machavaram | Express 710.06 acres in Vemavaram, 273 acres of Chennayapalem, 93.79 acres in Pinnelli, and 107.36 acres in Tangeda, was taken from local farmers on the promise of providing compensation and employment to youth. “Of the total land, 1,043.75 acres were patta lands, while 75 acres were dotted lands, and 27 acres were assigned lands which Jagan usurped from Dalit farmers. This is a classic example of class war,” he alleged. Pointing out that though the land was taken to establish a power plant, the Deputy CM said a plan was later formulated to establish a cement factory as the land has rich limestone reserves. Noting that the YS family owns 86% shares in the company he claimed, “These lands , were taken on lease for 30 years when YS Rajasekhara Reddy was Chief Minister. When Jagan became Chief Minister, the lease was extended by another 50 years. Taking advantage of his post, Jagan allotted 196 crore litres of Krishna water, which could be utilised for cultivation in over 700 acres of land. However, neither of the plants have been established.” Stating that complaints were received regarding 400 acres of land belonging to the forest department being converted as revenue land, Pawan directed the Collector to initiate an indepth probe into the issue.  P4 S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday reviewed the status of the Polavaram Irrigation Project and emphasised the need for maintaining quality in addition to completing it on time. During the review meeting with Water Resources Minister Nimmala Rama Naidu, senior officials, engineers and contractors, Naidu discussed the action plan to complete the irrigation project by March 2028. He directed officials to ensure that there are no deviations in established guidelines while executing the project. The focus of the meeting was on the permissions needed for the project at various stages, technical and financial difficulties in completing the project on time. Officials briefed Naidu on the works taken up in the last four months after the TDP-led NDA government took charge. They said a favourable atmosphere had been created for building the diaphragm wall after undertaking dewatering P4 works.  hard talk Yechury gone, CPM moves towards Karat line to keep off Congress on core issues ANI L S @ T’Puram Withdrawing from the line proffered by former CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury , the Left party’s current leadership feels it should distance itself from the Congress on core issues such as neo-liberal policies and stance against communal politics. The draft of the Political Review report, presented before the three-day central committee meet that concluded on Monday, is also highly critical of the CPI for promoting the INDIA bloc at the cost of the Left parties. The draft says the INDIA bloc can continue as an Opposition platform but the CPM should protect its electoral interests in its traditional strongholds such as Kerala and West Bengal, adding that the party must work out its tactics and adopt a statespecific approach. Post-Yechury, the CPM has been taking a guarded approach towards furthering any ties with the Congress. The draft leans more towards the Kerala CPM-backed Prakash Karat line that insists on keeping the Congress at bay With Karat be. ing the Politburo coordinator, the draft has chosen to toe a more hardline approach. “The INDIA bloc, as a loose platform that seeks to gather secular Opposition parties, mainly for uniting and pooling anti-BJP votes, should continue. Its main focus of work will be Parliament and periodical elections,” says the report, add- ing that the CPM cannot be part of any broad alliance with the Congress especially in Kerala and West Bengal. The draft report also flags the dangers of the INDIA bloc occupying the Left’s political space. “We should counter any tendency to substitute the independent role and activities of the Party with the INDIA bloc. We must also be clear about the class character of the main party in the INDIA bloc - the Congress,” says the draft. According to the draft, any blurring of the CPM’s distinctive policies and identity will be detrimental to its growth in the country. It also notes that the BJP has made headway in Kerala, at the CPM’s expense.