BHUBANESWAR  SATURDAY  APRIL 19, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  JEYPORE EDITION BHAGAVAD GITA, NATYASHASTRA PART OF UNESCO’S WORLD REGISTER PROUD MOMENT FOR EVERY INDIAN, SAYS PM Entries on scientific revolution, women’s contribution to history and major milestones from 72 countries and four international organisations are included in the register. The development comes on World Heritage Day on April 18. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, on Friday described the inscriptions as “a proud moment for every Indian across the world”. Manuscripts of Bhagavad Gita and Natyashastra are among 74 documentary collections added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register ‘CENTRAL TEXT OF THE INDIAN TRADITION’ ■ ■ The Natyashastra of Bharat Muni is “an epitome of the Natyaveda, a body of knowledge of performing art containing 36,000 verses known as the Gandharvaveda”, the UNESCO said in its citation Bhagavad Gita is a central text in the continuous, cumulative ancient intellectual Indian tradition, UNESCO’s citation read 570 TOTAL NUMBER OF INSCRIBED COLLECTIONS OF UNESCO AS OF NOW 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 Oppn lights into N-missile V-P rant against judiciary Never seen any RS chairperson make such political comments: Sibal P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi A day after Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar used strong words against the judiciary, several leaders from across the Opposition spectrum lit into him on Thursday, asserting such interventions are part of a broader, dangerous strategy to erode judicial independence, weaken federalism and centralise executive power. Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal hit out at the V-P for questioning the Supreme Court that set a timeline for the President to take decisions. Sibal said the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman remain equidistant between the Opposition and the ruling party, adding he had never seen any Rajya Sabha Chairman make “political statements” of this nature. “Independence of the judiciary is fundamental to democracy. What is being done is unconstitutional,” he added. The Constitution — not the government — gave Article 142 powers to the Supreme Court. “I respect him a lot but you You said Article 142 is nuclear missile material. How can you say this? — Kapil Sibal, president, Supreme Court Bar Association The Vice President Mr Jagdeep Dhankar’s observations on this SC verdict is unethical! — Tiruchy Siva, DMK deputy general secretary The statement made by Dhankhar on SC judges borders on contempt — Kalyan Banerjee, TMC said Article 142 is nuclear missile material, how can you say this?” Sibal said. Echoing the view, Constitutional expert P D T Achary told this paper that the SC rightly used Article 142 and did not override any core Constitutional provision. “Article 142 empowers the highest judicial forum in this country to do complete justice in a particular case. Granting complete justice is the aim of the judiciary and the Constitution has entrusted the SC with this job,” he said. Dhankhar had described Article 142, which grants plenary powers to the Supreme Court, as a “nuclear missile against democratic forces available to the judiciary 24x7”. Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said the ruling is “timely, accurate, courageous, and a correction to the notion that those holding high of fice are above checks and balances... In our democracy, only the Constitution of India is supreme and most elevated. No office — be it that of the President, PM or governor — is above the fetters of Constitutional propriety,” he said. DMK deputy general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Tiruchi Siva said, “The recent Supreme Court verdict on the role of Governors and President invoking Article 142 undoubtedly has established that no individual in the name of being a constitutional authority can sit over bills passed by a legislature indefinitely.” TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee accusing the V-P of “repeated disre gard” for the judiciary. Modi speaks to Musk on tech ties amid trade talks J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a phone conversation with Tesla and SpaceX CEO and a key advisor of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, discussing opportunities for collaboration in technology and innovation. The phone call comes amid ongoing trade negotiations and ahead of the upcoming visit of US Vice President J D Vance to India from April 21, as Musk-led ventures Tesla and Starlink also look to expand their presence in the Indian market. Taking to X, Modi said: “Spoke to Elon Musk and talked about various issues, including the topics we covered during our meeting in Washington DC earlier this year. We discussed the immense potential for collaboration in the areas of technology and innovation. India remains committed to advancing our partnerships with the US in these domains.” In February, Modi had met Musk at DC during an official visit. Their discussions at the time covered key sectors including space, electric mobility, and technological innovation. Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal had on Wednesday met senior Starlink executives to explore the company’s interest in launching satellite-based internet services in India. Starlink is currently awaiting regulatory approvals, including clarity on India’s upcoming spectrum policy and a pending security clearance. Despite these hurdles, the company remains keen to offer high-speed satellite internet across the country, especially in remote and underserved areas. Tesla is also making moves to enter the Indian market. KHALISTANI RADICAL WANTED FOR TERROR ATTACKS HELD IN US DON blinks Tit-for-tat China levy over? “I don’t want to go higher. At a certain point... people don’t buy,” Trump said White House suggests broader US-Europe summit during Trump’s visit. Meloni is bridge between US-EU White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett says Trump and his team are studying whether to firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh GANGSTER-TURNED-TERRORIST Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia, wanted in connection with multiple terror attacks across Punjab and who is alleged to have collaborated with Pakistan’s Deep State and Khalistani group BKI, has been arrested in the US, officials said Friday . Passia alias Jora, who had illegally entered the US, was arrested by the FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations in Sacramento, the US federal law enforcement agency said. Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav said the arrest is a “major milestone in the success of war against terror”, adding the matter has been Delhi High Court invokes Draupadi, says woman is not husband’s property S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court has dropped an adultery case filed by a man against another person who was allegedly in a relationship with his wife. The court said women cannot be treated as “property of their husbands”. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna referred to Draupadi from Mahabharat, and ruled, “She had no say in the matter, and what followed was a terrible war that caused the deaths of many The court said even though Draupadi’s tale is well.” known, the society took a long time to understand that treating women as a chattel is wrong. It was only when the Supreme Court, in the Joseph Shine case in 2018, struck down Section 497 of the IPC (adultery) that the society reflected on this misogynistic view. The case was filed by a man who claimed his wife was having an affair with the petitioner. He claimed that the two had gone to Lucknow, stayed in a hotel room together pretending to be a married couple, and had sexual relations. When he confronted his wife, she told him to leave if he had a problem. Justice Krishna said that as per an old ruling, once a law is declared unconstitutional, it applies to all ongoing cases. The court said sharing a hotel room does not prove that two people had sex. “Just staying in the same room isn’t enough to assume anything happened,” the judge said, discharging the man from the case and setting aside the complaint. Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia had illegally entered the US | PTI taken up with the Central government and efforts are on to extradite Passia. Yadav said between 2023 and 2025, Passia played a “central role in orchestrating targeted kill- ings, grenade attacks on police establishments, and extortion across Punjab and various other states”. In the last seven months, 16 grenade attacks took place in Punjab, mostly targeting police posts, religious places and residences of public figures including BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia. Passia’s name has cropped up during investigations into at least 14 such attacks. It is reliably learnt that Pasia is the key operative of the Khalistani militant outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) which has ties with Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. Since 2023, Passia is associated with Khalistani militant Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda and they have been involved in setting up terror modules in Punjab, sources said. Two killed in lightning strike as nor’westers hit several dists, Twin City An uprooted tree lies on NH-16 near Nayapalli in capital city on Friday morning | DEBADATTA MALLICK while working in a prawn gheri. There, however, hasn’t been any official confirAT least two persons were killed while mation of these deaths from the governanother sustained serious injuries as ment so far. lightning and thunderstorm wreaked Early in the day, a nor’wester accompahavoc in different parts of the nied by lightning and heavy state on Friday. A nor’wester rain ripped through the Bhualso swept through twin city baneswar-Cuttack region. A Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, up13-year-old boy Sohan Digal susThe capital city rooting trees and throwing life tained serious injuries during received around out of gear in multiple the Kalbaisakhi storm. 26.2 mm rainfall in localities. Sources said Sohan fell on to the morning. The As per reports, Jaga Barik, a an iron grill while retrieving wind speeds reached middle-aged farmer died while clothes from his rooftop in IRC up to 60 kmph in his father Babula Barik susVillage. Fire station personnel parts of the city. tained grave injuries in lightnearby responded quickly and Thundershower ning strike in their field at Padrushed him to AIIMS Bhuactivities are mapur village within Balanga baneswar. The boy has been adlikely to continue till April 21 police limits of Puri district on mitted to pediatrics surgery Friday morning. ICU after successful surgery. Manorama Mohanty, In Balasore, one Krushna director, Bbsr met centre His condition is stable now, Chandra Ghadai (41) from JagAIIMS officials said. annathpur village under RemuResidents of the New AG Colna police limits succumbed to lightning ony in Laxmi Sagar area of the capital strike in his field in the afternoon, taking city had a narrow escape after a large tree the toll in the state to three in the last 24 fell in the storm. Trees were also uproothours. On Thursday afternoon, a youth ed in Old Town, Chintamaniswar, Nayafrom Mahapada village in Balasore had palli and Gajapati Nagar causing a road CONTINUED ON P5 also died after being struck by lightning blockade for hours. E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar