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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

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DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

PrimeMinisterNarendraModiperformingbhoomipujanat thesiteof theRamtemple inAyodhyaonWednesday. PIB

Modi marks the MandirN A R E N D R A MOD I , P R I M E M I N I S T E R O F I N D I A

Rambelongs to everyone;Ram is within everyone

ConsideringCovid,pathofmaryadashownbyRamisevenmoreessential

Ram’s niti is bhaya bin hoye na preet(without fear there is no love)

AVANEESHMISHRA&MAULSHREESETHAYODHYA, LUCKNOW,AUGUST5

WITHa40-kgsilverbrick,asaplingand soil fromacross the nation,PrimeMinister NarendraModilaid the foundation for theRamtemple inAyodhyaWednesdayamidchantingof shlokas, declar-ing that theRam Janmabhoomihad been “liberated” from the“centuries-oldcycleofdestructionandresurrection”.Addressingaselectgathering

afterperforming thebhoomipu-jan for the temple,Modi put hismarkindeliblyonwhathecalledadefiningmomentinthenation’shistory — the culmination of acampaign that powered the riseof theBJPandmarked itsprinci-palpromisetoitselectorate.Drawing a parallel between

theRamtemplemovementandIndia’s struggle for freedom,ModisaidthatjustlikeAugust15,August5,too,willstandasapow-erfulsymbolforthe“sacrificeandcommitment”of generations.“Aaj poora Bharat bhavukh

hai… sadiyon ka intezaar aajsamapt ho raha hai (the entirecountry is emotionally chargedtoday, the wait of centuries isending today),” the PrimeMinistersaid,addingthat“crorescannot believe” what they arewitnessing today.Sharing the dais with UP

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath,RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat andMahant Nritya Gopal Das whoheads the Shri RamJanmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, aTrust constituted by the Centre

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

RAVISHTIWARI&LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

BUILDING the Ram temple inAyodhyawas never a key elec-tionplank in either of Narendra

Modi’s cam-paigns of 2014and 2019 thatdelivered himtwo recordwins. Butwhen he laid

the foundation stone for thetempleWednesday, the cere-

mony,bothinformandcontent,markedhimas theprincipal ar-chitectwhohasdeliveredontheBJP’s core ideologicalproject.

Indeed, many in the SanghParivar, inprivate,attributedtheBJP’s2004defeattothe“ideolog-icalcompromises”madebyAtalBihari Vajpayee in the name ofcoalitionpolitics.In contrast, Modi, on both

Article370andtheRamtemple,has, to the Sangh, underlinedwhat electoral power canachieveand,intheprocess,rein-forcedhispoliticalcredibilitylikenoother leader in theBJP.And this, largely on his own

terms.Significantly, on the temple,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PM’smotherHirabeninGandhinagar.ANI

Aug 15, Aug 5:PM drawsparallel withstruggle forfreedom

‘For us, it’s a closedchapter after SCruling, let us move on’AVANEESHMISHRA&RAKESHSINHAAYODHYA, LUCKNOW,AUGUST5

AYODHYA AND Faizabad havebeen postcards of celebrationthispastweek,theRamdhunre-verberating through lanes andbylanes in the countdown toWednesday'sbhoomipujan.ThatD-Daywentbywithouta

hitch showshowthe two townshave changed in the last threedecades.Agathering inAyodhyawould have led to tensions inFaizabad,butitisnolongerthecase.In the Muslim quarters,

there is silence, a senseof quietresignation and acceptance af-

ter the Supreme Court rulingnine months ago. The chorushere is: let's not dwell on this,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

India to China: Proposalto step back further isuntenable, not acceptable

SUSHANTSINGH&KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

THE FIFTH round of CorpsCommander-levelmilitary talksfailedtobreakthedeadlockinthe14-weekborder crisis in easternLadakh after India rejectedChinesedemandsfor furtherdis-engagementontheLineofActualControl(LAC)as“untenable”,offi-cialsourcestoldTheIndianExpress.Twodaysafterthetalkswere

held, the high-powered ChinaStudyGroup(CSG)reviewedtheChinese proposal Tuesday and

askedtheArmytoconveythattheproposal of “mutual and equal”disengagement at Pangongwas“notacceptable”toIndia.Themessagewasdeliveredby

theArmyonadedicatedmilitaryhotline in Ladakh, sources said.Thenext stepwill bedecidedaf-ter a formal Chinese response isreceived and deliberations areheldwithinthegovernment,theysaid. TheArmy,meanwhile, hadbeenaskedtocontinueprepara-tions for a long haul on the LAC,includingwinterdeploymentfornearly35,000additionaltroops.“Thefocusof thelatestround

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Between their lines, Modi, Bhagwatframe how a promise was delivered

MANOJCGNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

FOR ALL the faultlines that theAyodhya movement engen-dered, today’s ceremony ofPrimeMinister NarendraModilaying the foundation stone ofthe Ram temple prompted theOpposition to frame their re-sponseintermsofnationalunityanddivinity rather than theBJP.Thechoruswasaninvocation

of Ram and underlining of reli-giousco-existenceandplurality.Most illustrativewasastate-

ment by West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee. Astrong critic of the BJP and itsGovernment, more so in theyear before her state elections,hertweetwastelling, inEnglishandBengali:“HinduMuslimSikhIsaai.AapasmeinhainBhaiBhai!Mera Bharat Mahaan, MahaanHamaraHindustan.Ourcountryhas always upheld the age-oldlegacy of unity in diversity, andwemustpreservethistoourlastbreath!”After Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra’sstatementyesterday,for-mer Congress president RahulGandhi today tweeted:“Maryada Purushottam LordRam is the ultimate embodi-mentofsupremehumanvalues.He represents the core of hu-manismembeddeddeep inourhearts.Ramislove,hecanneverappear in hatred. Ram is com-passion, he can never appear incruelty. Ram is justice, he canneverappear in injustice.”Breaking her silence on the

issue, BSP chiefMayawati cred-ited the Supreme Court forpavingthewayforconstructionof theRamtemple inAyodhya.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Opp respondsby invokingRam and unity,avoids BJPreference

NAVEED IQBAL&LIZMATHEWSRINAGAR,NEWDELHI

IN A SUDDEN development,Gireesh ChandraMurmu, whotook oath as the first LieutenantGovernor of Jammu&Kashmiron October 31, 2019, resignedWednesday.Exactlyayearago,onAugust5,2019,theCentrehadab-rogatedthespecialstatusoferst-whilestate,anddecidedtobifur-cateitintotwoUnionTerritories.According toseniorgovern-

ment sources,Murmu submit-ted his resignation to thePresidentof India.ARashtrapatiBhawan spokesperson said hewasnot inapositiontoconfirmit. Before being appointed L-G,Murmu was the ExpenditureSecretary intheUnionMinistryof Finance, andhaddrafted thedevelopment packageannounced by the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inNovember 2015.The sources in the govern-

ment said Murmumay be ap-pointed the Comptroller andAuditor General now. RajivMehrishi, who is the CAG now,is scheduled to complete histerm thisweek. It is not certainwho will replace Murmu butsources did not rule outMehrishi ashis successor.Sources in Srinagar said the

L-G’s office cancelled a sched-uledmeetingwithamediadel-egation fromNewDelhi late af-ternoon. All other meetingsscheduled in the eveningwerealsocancelled.HeleftforJammu

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

One year of Aug 5:J&K L-G exits aftertalk of polls and 4G

L-GchairingtheadministrativecouncilmeetingMonday.Express

CBITOPROBESUSHANTDEATH;SCSEEKSREPORTFROMMUMBAIPAGE7

EXPRESSNETWORK

AUG5:STRICTCURBSINVALLEY,MEETINGCALLEDBYFAROOQSTOPPEDPAGE10

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

INSIDE

MOREREPORTSPAGES5, 13

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,AUGUST6,2020

Between theirlines, Modi,Bhagwat framehow a promisewas deliveredModihadresistedpressurefromasectionintheSanghtobringina law and, instead, had advisedpatienceuntil the court verdict.When it came last Novemberand that, too, as a 5-0 ruling ef-fectivelyinfavourof thetemple,it was the perfect storm heneeded–andwaswaiting for.For a nation, where almost

half of the population has beenbornafter thedemolitionof theBabriMasjid, how effective theRam templewill be as an issuetoday isopen todebate.Gone is themassmobilisa-

tionof thelate ’80sand’90sandHindutva has new layers andsymbolsnow–thenewcitizen-ship law, forexample.This, perhaps, explainswhy

Modi tried to frame the templeas a promise that had been de-livered and as a symbol of “cul-tural liberation,” with a pan-Indian,evenglobal,appeal thana project exclusively for theHindumajority.That’s why he claimed that

“support” extended to the tem-plecamefromallsectionsofso-ciety in the way they had re-spondedtothecallofMahatmaGandhi during the freedomstruggle. And said that socialharmonylayattheheartofLordRam's governance, the RamTemple couldbean instrumenttounite thecountry.“Ramiscarvedinourminds,

he is within us. Whenever wewant todo somework,we lookup toLordRamfor inspiration...There is hardly an aspect of lifeinwhichwecan'tdrawinspira-tion from Lord Ram. There's nonationalsentimentthatdoesnotreflecthisvalues.India'sfaithhasa reflectionof LordRam, India'sideals are a reflection of Him.Ramis in the faithof India,Ramisintheidealsof India.Ramisinthedivinity and thephilosophyof India,”Modi said.Modialsoused theoccasion

to link Ram to a pan-Indianethos. “Ram sab ke hain, Ramsabmeinhain(Ramisforevery-one, in everyone),” he said.While the BJP’s Hindutva poli-tics is criticised for its efforts toconstructmonolithic, uniformcultural norms, the PrimeMinister invoked different lin-guisticversions–Tamil, Telugu,Malayalam, Odia, Kannada,Bengali among others – of theRamayana to underline themanner inwhichRamhasbeenembraced by the plurality ofIndianpeople.The optics of the participa-

tionof theheadofGovernmentin the Bhoomi Pujan, broadcastlive on national TV,marks a di-rect repudiation of theNehruvian ideal of the state –the first PrimeMinisterhadob-jected to the presence ofPresidentRajendraPrasadattheinauguration of the rebuiltSomnath temple believing thatit contradicted the principle ofseparation of state and religioninsecular India.RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

recalled the roles played by L KAdvaniandAshokSinghalinthemovement.Healsoinvokedtheformer sarsanghchalak,Balasaheb Deoras, to underlinethatitwasaprojectundertakenby the RSSwith a long horizoninmind.Deoras, he said, had been

prescient in suggesting that itwouldtake20-30yearstomakethedreamofthetempleareality.HedescribedWednesday'scer-emonyas abeginningof a “glo-rious” India of the future –“param vaibhav sampannBharatkenirmanki shuruat”.Bhagwat next toModi, dur-

ing the ceremony and on thedaiswhenhespoke, clearly sig-

nalled the message to theParivar: that the Sangh and theBJP-led Government at theCentre have worked togetherlike never before – and have,therefore,deliveredontheirkeyideologicalpromise.

‘For us, it’s aclosed chapterafter SC ruling,let us move on’let'smoveon.Basheer Ahmad, a 61-year-

old who works at a unit thatmakeskhadauswhichsitsowellonthefeetofpriestsinAyodhya,said: “Wedo not knowwhat tosay.Wearenotagainst the tem-ple, but surely there could havebeen a mosque and a temple,Because theSupremeCourt hasruled,whatcanwedoexceptre-gret thatwelost themasjid.”Ahmadsaysalothaschanged

since the 1990s. He says he hada shop of musical instrumentswhichwas targeted by kar se-vaks,months before the demo-litionof theBabriMasjid.“When the police came and

we tried to complain, weweretheoneswhoendedupbeingar-rested. The chargewas thatwedeliberatelysetourshopsonfire.It has all changed.Weno longerliveinfear,andthereisnoharass-mentanymore,”hesaid.

Although the All IndiaMuslimPersonalLawBoard,inastatement ahead of the bhoomipujan, did say “theBabriMasjidwas amasjid before, is amasjidtoday and shall Insha Allah re-mainamasjid”,severalcommu-nityrepresentativeswerereluc-tant to speak on the bhoomipujan and reopenwhat one ofthemcalled“aclosedchapter”.“What is there to say? The

Supreme Court decision hasbeen accepted by all. So whydrawMuslims into a new de-bate?Forus,it’saclosedchapteraftertheruling.ThePersonalLawBoard is free tomake any state-ment. Iwillnotcommenton it,”saidacommunityrepresentativewho once played a leading rolein the defence of the BabriMasjid.Anacademician,whodidnot

wish tobenamed in this report,said,“Muslimshaveacceptedthedefeat in the courtroom. In anycase, thishasgone too long, andhas done no good to both thecountryandthecommunity.Wejust wish the new generationdoesn’thavetogothroughwhatwedid.”Another pointed to state-

ments on theRamtemple issuebytheCongressandBSP,andsaid“there should be no going back,it’s timewemoveahead”.Alsonotwillingtobenamed,

he said, “Muslims cannot hopefor any support on this issue

fromanypoliticalpartynow.Thisis a Constitution Bench ruling,wherecanonegonow?It’sbestwemoveon.”The fact that fewwant to go

on record andmost signal thattheywant to turn the page alsounderlines thepoliticalmargin-alisationof thecommunity,saida localcommunity leader."In1992, itbecameaHindu-

Muslim, BJP-vs-the-rest issuebut look at it today. Even theCongress and Samajwadi Partywelcomeit,thetemplehasbeencleared by the Supreme Court.Just a fewmonths agowewereworried over the NRC and theCAA,nowthereisthepandemic.Wewanteducationandjobs forouryoung,let'shopethetemplebringsthattothetown.Wehaveto lookahead."

India to China:Proposal to stepback further isuntenable, notacceptableoftalkswasonthePangonglakeareabuttheChinesesiderefusedto undertake any further disen-gagementunlessIndiansoldiersalso step back by an equal dis-tance. That is untenable as itwouldmeanforsakingourlong-standing historic posts on the

bankandde facto accepting theChineseversionoftheLACinthearea. It was conveyed to theChinese that statusquoante re-mainsouraimandtheirproposalwas not acceptable,” sourcessaid.Sunday's meeting started

around 11 am and lasted forabout10hours inMoldo,on theChinese side. However, unlikethepreviousfourrounds,neithertheArmynortheExternalAffairsMinistryissuedastatementlater.Aseniorofficerinthesecurityes-tablishment said there is a pos-sibilityofdiplomatictalksordis-cussions being held at the levelof Special Representatives tobreakthe logjam.Accordingtosources,thedis-

engagementprocessfollowedsofar -- on PP14, PP15, PP17 andPP17A--wasbasedontheprin-cipleof“mutualandequal”step-pingbackfromfrictionpoints.The Chinese forces, sources

said, had stepped back fromFinger4onthenorthernbankofthe lake towards Finger 5, evenas the Indiansideagreedtostepback by an equal distance to-wardsitspostnearFinger2.“Butanyfurthersteppingbackwouldmean vacating the Indian postsin the area and thatwas unten-able,” sourcessaid.TheChinesesidehasalsonot

steppedback fromtheridgelineon the northern bank, where itcontinues to be deployed at

Finger4,whichisoneoftheeightspurs jutting out. According toIndia, the LAC passes throughFinger8.AndsinceMay,Chineseforceshave come ineightkmtotheeastofFinger8andstrength-ened their deployment in thearea inthepast threeweeks.SourcessaidthatatPP17and

PP17A in theGogra-HotSpringsarea,theChinesesidehadnotfol-lowed the disengagementprocess, leaving soldiers frombothsidesseparatedbyonekilo-metre. Because of the Chinesestance,sourcessaid,thepossibil-ity of further progress at thesetwopointsremainsslim.During Sunday's meeting,

sourcessaid,IndiaalsoraisedtheissueofDepsangplainswhereitspatrols have beenblocked fromaccessing five points —10, 11,11A,12and13.TheChinesesidehasbeenblockingIndiansoldiersat a site called “Y-junction” or“Bottleneck” in the area, 18 kminside the LAC. This, however, isnot linkedtothecurrentcrisis.With heavy deployment on

both sides, Depsang is themoststrategically importantofall thefrictionpointsbecauseof its flatterrain and proximity to thestrategicDSDBOroadandDaulatBeg Oldie airstrip near theKarakoramPass.

One yr of Aug 5:J&K L-G exitsafter talk ofpolls, 4Gfrom Srinagar Wednesdayevening, and is likely to be inNewDelhi onThursday.Justaweekago, theElection

Commission had taken excep-tiontoLGMurmu’srecentcom-ments to themediaon the tim-ing of Assembly elections inJammu&Kashmir. Inastrongly-worded statement, the EC saidalldecisionsontheconductandtiming of elections are its “soleremit”. In an interview to TheIndianExpress,Murmuhadem-phasised that President’s Rulein J&Kcannotbe inplace indef-initely and that “electionswouldnotbevery far.”Sources in Srinagar also

said differences between theLG and Chief Secretary BVRSubrahmanyam had also re-sulted in some administrativeproblems. The LG had startedcallingmeetingsandfiles tohisoffice, andsendingnotes to theChief Secretary for necessaryaction.Sources close to theLGsaid

he had been concerned with“the lack of accountabilityamongcivil servantsandbring-ingpublic servantsunderpres-sure to get work done.” Theysaid that he had also beenpushing bureaucrats to in-crease“public interfaceandhisidea was to have massparticipation in developmen-tal programmes.”Murmu spent the first

sevenmonths of his tenuredi-recting theCentre’seffortsas ittook administrative controlover J&K. He worked fromJammu, and according tosources in J&K, therehavebeendifferences between the ChiefSecretary, who heads the bu-reaucracy intheUT,andtheLG.Murmu moved to Srinagar inJulyamidsta surge inCovid-19cases in theValley.Hewashimself toocriticised

within a section in the bureau-cracyforlackofpublicoutreach,Murmubeganvisitingdistricts,first inNorthKashmirandthenin South Kashmir, beginningmid-July.In a recent interview to The

IndianExpress,Murmuhadsaidthe J&K administration hadbeen making representationsfor restoring 4G internet serv-iceswhich have remained sus-pended for a year. “We havebeen representing this thing(restorationof4G). Itwillnotbeaproblem,”Murmuhadsaid.

FROMPAGEONE

Aug 15, Aug 5: PM draws parallelwith struggle for freedom

Opposition responds by invoking Ramand unity, avoids reference to BJP

for theconstructionandman-agement of the Ram temple,Modi said: “Barson se taat aurtent ke neeche rahe hamareRamlalla ke liye ab ek bhavyamandir ka nirman hoga (Forour Ramlalla, who has livedunder a canopy and tent foryears, a grand temple is goingtobebuilt).”Several generations, he

said,devotedthemselvescom-pletely during the freedomstruggle. “There was not aplace in our country wheresacrifices were not made forfreedom. 15th August is theembodiment of sacrifices oflakhs of people and a deepyearning for independence.”“Similarly, several genera-

tionshavemadeselflesssacri-fices for several centuries forthe construction of the Ramtemple. Todaymarks the cul-minationof thatcenturies-oldpenance, sacrifice and re-solve… on behalf of the 130crore people of the country, Isalute them and bow before

themfortheirsacrificeswhichhave led to the foundation oftheRamtemple,”hesaid.Thanking the Trust for

inviting him to the event, thePrimeMinister said, “Ramkajkinhe binu mohe kahanvishram (how can I restwith-out accomplishing the workassignedbyRam).”ModidrewonRamandthe

Ramayan to not just highlighttheirinfluenceacrossIndiabutalso inother countries -- fromIndonesiatoMalaysia,ChinatoNepalandBangladesh.Underlining that the Ram

templewillbe“amodernsym-bol” of Indian culture and na-tionalism,hesaidthataftertheconstruction of the temple, itwillnotjustbethegrandeurofAyodhya, its economytoowillserve as amagnet for peoplefromacross theworld.“Ram belongs to all and

lives inall. Iamsurethisgrandtemple being constructed inAyodhyawillbeanindicatoroftherichheritageof Indiancul-

ture…weneed to ensure thatthemessageof lordRam,Ramtemple and our tradition ofthousandsofyearsreachestheentireworldtillyearstocome.It is the responsibility of thepresentgenerationand futuregenerationstomaketheworldfamiliar with our knowledge,ourwayof life,”hesaid.Drawingonexamplesfrom

the Ramayan, Modi said justlike every being, froma squir-rel to “vanar” to “kewat” to“vanvasi”, became themediumforthevictoryofRam,the templewill bebuilt by thepeopleof thecountry.HesaidRamandRamayan

belongtoall, andhasbeenfol-lowed and written in Tamil,Telugu, Kannada, Malayalamand Kashmiri. “That is whyRam is the link for unity in di-versityof India,”hesaid.“Thereisnocornerof India

whichdoesn'treflectlordRam.Ramisinthefaithof India,Ramis in the ideals of India, Ram isinIndia'sdivinity,Ramaresides

in India'sphilosophy,”hesaid.“Owing to the situation

caused by the corona pan-demic,thisoccasionofbhoomipujan is being organisedwithstrictdecorum.Thenationhasdisplayed the decorum thatshouldbefitanyworkconcern-inglordRam…wedisplayedasimilar discipline when theSupreme Court pronouncedthe historic decision,” he said,referring to the ruling on theAyodhyatitlesuitswhichwentin favourof theHindus.“Back then,wewitnessed

howtheentirenationacceptedthedecisionpeacefullyandgra-ciously,keepinginmindthesen-sitivitiesofeveryone.Eventoday,we are experiencing a similarpeacefulconduct,”hesaid.Heendedhisspeechbyun-

derlining the significance ofthepathof“maryada”(values)ofRamandsaidtheCovidpan-demicmeans “dogazkidoori,mask zaroori (maintain safedistance of two yards and al-wayswearamask).”

At the same time, she ac-knowledged the political as-pect of the conflict in the run-up to today’s event. "Aseveryone knows, Ayodhya is aholy city of different religions.But, sadly, it had been em-broiled inacontroversyforsev-eral years because of the RamMandir-BabriMasjid land dis-pute.Thedisputewasendedbythe Supreme Court and it hasalso stopped to some extentpolitics around it played bysome parties,"Mayawati saidinaseriesof tweets inHindi."The BSP had been saying

from the beginning that ourpartywillacceptwhateverver-dict the Supreme Court gives.Andthat(theSupremeCourt’sverdict) should now be ac-ceptedbyall.This istheadviceof BSP," sheadded.

Samajwadi Party chiefAkhileshYadavandAAPleaderand Delhi Chief MinisterArvindKejriwalrefrainedfromcommentingpolitically.“JaiMahadevJaiSiya-Ram,

Jai Radhe-Krishna, JaiHanuman,” tweeted Yadav.“Let all be filled with LordShiva's welfare, Sri Ram's 'ab-hayatva' (fearlessness) andSriKrishna's 'unmukt bhav' (un-fettered gesture). I hope thepresentandfuturegenerationswill follow thepath shownbythe maryadapurushottamforthewelfareandpeaceof all.”Kejriwal congratulated the

country for thebhoomipujan.“Maywe continue to receivetheblessingsofLordRam.Withhisblessings,mayourcountryget ridofhunger, illiteracyandpoverty, and Indiabecomethe

most powerful nation in theworld.MayIndiashowthepathto the world in the times tocome. JaiShriRam!JaiBajrangBali,”hetweeted.There were stirrings of

some discomfort in theCongresswithaLokSabhaMPfromKeralawriting a letter toparty chief SoniaGandhi. "Wecan't chase an extreme reli-gious nationalismwith a softprototype," Thrissur MP T NPrathapan wrote. He said"whatultimatelymattersisnotthe failures we face, but it ismatterthatwearenotbowinglow for the temporary suc-cesses."In his letter, Prathapan hit

outatformerMadhyaPradeshChiefMinisterKamalNathandseniorleaderDigvijaySingh.“Istronglybelievethattheassas-

sinationofMahatmaGandhijianddemolitionofBabriMasjidwerethemosttreacherousin-cidents… in independentIndia.Thebasicvaluesthatthiscountrywasbuilt(on)likesec-ularism and pluralism havefaced a devastatingfuture…The Supreme Courtverdict on Ayodhya land dis-putewas ahope that anera ofhate politics would end by it.But unfortunately, it is goingon.Wecannottakeanytypeofstakesinit. Ithinkthatthispar-ticulareventisaSanghParivarsponsored ‘religious political’one. If we are not invited tothis, why would our leadersbeg for that?”heasked.He said the position taken

by Priyanka is “acceptable” as“in a way as she is wishingunity in thenameof temple.”

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Heavydownpour inMumbaionWednesday.GaneshShirsekar

SANJANABHALERAO&LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI, AUGUST5

STRONGWINDS reaching up to100 kmph and heavy rain con-tinued to lashMumbai and theMumbaiMetropolitan Region,uprooting trees, damagingcranesandtearingdownhoard-ingsandawnings.For the second day running,

Mumbai received heavy rain,surpassing the annual seasonalaverage rain of 2,260.4 mm.Withintwomonthsandfivedaysof themonsoon,Mumbaihassofar received2,319.7mmrain.Prime Minister Narendra

Modi onWednesday called upChief Minister UddhavThackeray and assured him allpossible support. “PrimeMinister NarendraModi spoketoMaharashtraCMShriUddhavThackeray regarding the situa-tion prevailing inMumbai andsurroundingareasdue toheavyrainfall,” thePMOtweeted.Mumbaireceivedthisseason’s

most intense showers, recording229.6mmrain inninehoursbe-tween8:30 amand5:30pmonWednesday — highest to berecordedin22yearsforAugust.Breakingits“all-time”record

of the highest 24-hour rain inAugust, the Colaba observatoryrecorded293.8mmrainendingat 8:30 pm on Wednesday —highest in46years.High intensity rainandthun-

der accompaniedbyhigh speedwinds reaching up to 70 kmphandoccasionally gusting to over100 kmph were witnessed insouthMumbai onWednesdayevening. Rain also disruptedtrain services due towaterlog-ging on tracks between CSMTand Masjid railway stations.About 200 passengers werestranded inside two trains nearMasjid Bunder railway stationonWednesday evening. Theywere later rescued.As per the forecast issued at

2 pm onWednesday, heavy toveryheavyrainis“verylikely”inMumbai city and suburbswithpossibility of extremely heavyrainat isolatedplaces.Chief Minister Uddhav

Thackeray reviewed the situa-tion.“Requestingalltoremainin-doors. Mumbai is lashed withhigh velocity winds and ex-tremelyheavy rain asweall canwitness. I request all, especiallyjournaliststryingtocoverthistoremain safe. Stay putwhereveryou are,” Cabinet MinisterAadityaThackeraytweeted.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPATNA,AUGUST5

NINE PEOPLE drowned and atleast five aremissingafter aboatcapsized in Gandak river inKhagariaonWednesdayevening.The incidentoccurredwhen

residents of Sonabarsa andTikarampur villages were re-turningbyboat afterbuyinges-

sentials fromManasimarket. Astrong midstream current re-portedly led to themishap.Mufassil police station in-

chargeRanjeetKumarsaidtheves-selhadover25people."Astheboatwaslosingbalance,severalpeoplejumpedintotheriverandswamtosafety.NDRFandSDRFteamsbe-ganrescueoperationsandsavedsomepeople. So far, ninebodieshavebeenrecovered,"saidKumar.

9 drown, at least 5 missingin Khagaria boat accident

ANANDMOHANJNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

OBSERVINGTHATwarfareis“notconfinedtoaccessionofterritory"but extends to “affecting theeconomies andpolitical stabilityof enemy country” by "incitingcivilunrest",theDelhiHighCourtonWednesday rejected a pleachallengingtheIndianArmy’spol-icybanningpersonnelfromusingcertainsocialmediaplatforms.AbenchofJusticeRahivSahai

Endlawand JusticeAshaMenonheld that theArmy’s policy "hasnotbeenissuedimpulsivelybutisprecededbyprolonged studyofdifferentaspectsanddatacollatedin this regardwithparticular in-stances anddeliberations at thehighest level thereon and hasbeenissuedafterconsideringsim-ilarbansimposedbyothercoun-tries,onarmedpersonnel"."Wemayalsonoticethatwar-

fareandinter-countryrivalriesand

animositiestodayarenotconfinedto accessionof territory andde-structionofinstallationsandinfra-structureof enemycountriesbutalsoextendtoinfluencingandaf-fectingtheeconomiesandpoliticalstabilityofenemycountryinclud-ingbyincitingcivilunrestanddis-turbanceandinfluencingthepolit-ical will of the citizens of theenemycountry.Insuchascenario,ifthegovernment,aftercompleteassessment, has concluded thatpermitting use of certain socialnetworkingwebsitesbyperson-nelofitsdefenceforcesisenablingthe enemy countries to gain anedge,theCourtswouldbeloathtointerfere,"thecourtsaid.The petitioner, Lieutenant

Colonel P KChoudhary, had ap-proachedthecourtseekingitsdi-rection to the respondents—theUnionofIndia,DirectorGeneralofMilitaryIntelligence,andChiefofArmyStaff—towithdrawthepol-icy, saying itwas violative of hisfundamentalrights.

High Court rejects pleaagainst Army’s policybanning social media use

Massive flooding, damageas heavy rain and strongwinds batter Mumbai

New Delhi

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

WITH THE city’s economy reel-ing under the blow of the pan-demic, the Delhi governmenthas started looking for ways toexpand its revenue base byreaching out to economic andpublic financeexperts.OnWednesday,DeputyChief

Minister Manish Sisodia an-nounced that the Dialogue andDevelopment Commission ofDelhi (DDC) has been taskedwithcarryingoutastudywithintwomonths toexpandthestategovernment’s revenuebase.Quoting data from theDelhi

Economic Survey 2019-20,Sisodia said the capital hasamong thehigher per capita in-comes in the country—Rs 3.89lakhatcurrentprices—butranks19th in terms of its tax revenueto GSDP (Gross State DomesticProduct) ratio. Tax toGSDPratiorepresents the size of the state’searnings from taxes, relative tothetotalvalueofgoodsandserv-icesproducedwithin itsbound-aries. In July2019, thecitygotRs

3,500 crore in tax collections. In2018,thecollectionwasRs4,078croreinJuly.Thisyear,aroundRs1,300crorehasbeencollected.“Thepandemichasputahuge

strainongovernmentrevenues...all-out effortsmust bemade to-wards revenueaugmentation sothatthegovernmentisabletoun-dertakenecessaryworksandpro-grammes for thewelfare of peo-ple of Delhi... There is scope forimprovingtaxtoGSDPbyimprov-ingrevenuebase.DDCmaycarryout detailed study on all con-tributingfactorsbyanalysingrel-evanttax-relateddataofGNCTD,andsuggestshort-andlong-termmeasures to improve revenuebase,”Sisodiasaidinastatement.

Anand Vihar busroute sees trial run ofcontactless ticketing

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,AUGUST6,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST5

FOURPANELSsetupbytheDelhigovernment to review clinicalmanagement of patients anddeaths at 11 Covid-dedicatedhospitalshavesuggestedaseriesof measures to bring down themortality rate, in their reportsubmitted to Chief MinisterArvindKejriwal.In a meeting convened by

KejriwalWednesday, the com-mittee gave hospital-wise rec-ommendations on followingstandard operating proceduresto five hospitals — Lok Nayak,Safdarjung,GTB, SirGangaRamand Sri Balaji Action MedicalInstitute —with an aim to im-prove patient care and reducemortality rate.It suggested that Lok Nayak

and Safdarjung use the earlywarning scorecards to ensureprompt detection and shiftingof patients fromwards to criti-cal areas. It also asked the hos-pitals to immediately transferhigh-risk cases to ICU/HDU ifthere is an alarming change ininflammatory markers. TheCentre-runSafdarjungHospitalhas been suggested to increasenumber of ICU beds in casethere is a secondwave.The 1,500-bed GTB hospital

hasbeenaskedtoincreaseuseofconvalescentplasma therapyattheearlystageofthedisease.Thehospital had recently started aplasma bank. “Covid wardsshould be equippedwith high-flow nasal oxygen therapy(HFNO)/ BiPAP machines forearlyintervention.Thereshouldbe early recognition and trans-fer of sick patients to the ICU,”suggested thepanel.

Sir Ganga RamHospital hasbeenadvisedtoensureearlyde-tection of complications in pa-tients on prolonged ventilationto ensure propermanagement.SirBalajiActionMedicalInstituteandJaipurGoldenHospitalhavebeen asked to ramp up use ofhigh flow nasal cannula, to im-provepatientoutcome.The number of deaths in

Delhi has been on a steady de-cline.OnWednesday,thecityre-ported11deaths.

“The CM reiterated onWednesdaythatallstepsshouldbetakentobringdeaths tozero.During the inspection by com-mittees, it was found that thedeathrateinthesehospitalshasdecreased as compared to ear-lier. TheCMispersonallymoni-toringall critical Covidpatients.Due to his direct intervention,immediate steps have beentaken to reduce the rate ofdeaths. On July 16, a checklistwas sent by the Health depart-

ment to hospitals for Covid pa-tient management, which fur-ther helped reduce deaths duetoCovid,” saidastatement fromtheCM’soffice.On July30, theDelhi govern-

menthadsetupfourcommitteesofmedical specialists to inspecthospitals that reported a largepercentageofCovidfatalities,andsuggestwaystoreducemortalityrate.Thecommittees,comprisingfour specialists each—two frominternalmedicine and two fromanaesthesia—were constitutedto examine if standard protocolwasebeingfollowedintreatmentofCovidpatients.The hospitals inspected in-

clude Fortis Escorts HeartInstitute,MaxHospital(Saket),StStephen’s hospital, Sir GangaRam Hospital, Jaipur GoldenHospital,SriBalajiActionMedicalInstitute, RamManohar Lohia,Safdarjung,LokNayakandGTB.ThecityWednesdayreported

1,076 cases, taking the tally to1,40,232.Thedeathtollisat4,044.

PANELSSUBMITREPORTTOKEJRIWAL

Ex-VC accusesDU principal ofplagiarising book

ThepandemichasdealtablowtoDelhi’seconomy

DDC to study waysto boost capital’s tax

Hospitals givenmeasuresto reducemortality rate

LokNayakwasamong5hospitalsgivenrecommendationsbythecommittee. TashiTobgyal

TOTAL CASES

1,40,232Total Vacant

HOSPITAL BEDS 13,561 10,532VENTILATORS 1,216 838

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsAug5 674 972 12 9,295Aug6 1,076 890 11 16,785Total 10,072* 1,26,116 4,044 10,99,882

*Total active cases

CORONAVIRUS IN THECAPITAL

ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

FORMER Vice-Chancellor ofJharkhand’s SidoKanhuMurmuUniversity M Basheer AhmedKhan has lodged a complaintwith the Delhi University Vice-Chancellorallegingplagiarismofhis works by the Dyal Singh(Evening) College PrincipalPawan Sharma. He has said ap-propriate actionmust be takenagainsthim.Sharmahadbeenfoundguilty

of plagiarism by a college-ap-pointed committee, and the re-portwassubmittedtoDUofficialsforaction.However,citingspecialcircumstances due to Covid-19,theuniversity granted Sharmaaone-month extension of histenurewhichhad endedon July26.Sharmamaintainstheallega-tionsagainsthimarefalse.Khan, who is also Former

Dean of the School ofManagement at PondicherryUniversity, inhis lettertoDUV-CYogesh Tyagi on August 3 said,“Nearly 12 years ago, around2008,whenIwasworkingastheHead of the Department ofManagement Studies in thePondicherry University, theDirectorateofDistanceEducation(DDE)of PondicherryUniversityappointedmeas a textbook andteachingmaterialwriterforsub-jecttraininganddevelopmentfortheir DDE Management pro-grams. I carriedout theassignedtask and submittedmymanu-script to the Directorate ofDistance Education of the saiduniversity. The PondicherryUniversity in turn printed andpublished the material withcopyrightreservedtotheauthor.”“ItseemsthatonePrincipalof

acollegeunderDelhiUniversity,Professor Dr Pawan KumarSharma, has come out with abookin2016titled ‘TrainingandDevelopment’ published byGalgotia Publishing Company.Some academics had gonethrough the publication of DrSharma and my work for thePondicherry University. Theyfound several similarities in thecontent of the two books.Suspecting plagiarism and un-ethicalpractices, thoseacadem-ics reported thematter to theChairman of the GoverningBoard of Dyal Singh College(Evening),DU,”headded.Khansaid thecommitteeap-

pointedbytheGB“unanimouslysubmitted a report inwhich it ismentioned that Principal P KSharmahascopiedlinebylineandwordbywordmaterial frommyworkwithoutevenacknowledg-ingmyworkanywhereincludinginreferencesorbibliography”.“Thisistantamounttoplagia-

rismwhichisanoffenceliableforaction under the rules of DU. Itmaynotbedebatedifplagiarismhas takenplace, appropriate ac-tionhastobetakenontheplagia-rist. Therefore, I amnowlodgingthis official complaintwith theUniversityofDelhitocrosscheckthematter and take cognizancein theeventof anyplagiarismorsimilaroffences,”wroteKhan.“Delhi University may take

appropriate necessary actionagainsttheplagiaristbasedontheReport of the Committee ap-pointedbyit.IferventlyhopethattheUniversitywill bepleased torenderjusticetomefortheviola-tion ofmy intellectual propertyright,” he added. While Khancould not be reached for a com-ment, SharmaandTyagi did notrespondtocallsandtexts.

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

DELHI TOOK a step towardsrolling out contactless ticketingsystem on public busesWednesday, with researchersfrom Indraprastha Institute ofInformation Technology (IIIT-Delhi)initiatingatrialrunacross31clusterbusesof oneroute.Oncetheproject is scaledup,

commuterscanpayusingmobileapps by scanning QR codespastedbehindeveryseatandre-ceive e-tickets, whichwill alsohavetheexpectedtimeofarrivalat their destination.While theprojecthasbeenonthecards fora while, the government fast-trackeditinthewakeof thepan-demic,which requires people tosociallydistanceatpublicplaces.“Thiswill ensure social dis-

tancingbetweenpassengersandconductors. Exchange of cash...under the current arrangementoftencreatesdifficulty,”TransportMinisterKailashGahlotsaid.

OnWednesday, the projectwas live-tested on the 473CLroute,which stretches betweenAnandVihar ISBT andBadarpurandseesahighfootfallperday.IIIT-Delhiassociateprofessor

Pravesh Biyani said the teamworking on the project has de-veloped an API (ApplicationProgramming Interface) and amobileappcalled ‘Chartr’.API isaninterfacethatallowssoftwaretoshareinformationoverthein-ternet.Incaseof IIIT-Delhi’ssolu-tion, this will mean apps likePaytm,GooglePaycanaddafea-ture for bus tickets where theycanseetheroutenumber,origin,destination,fareetcusingtheAPIdevelopedbyIIIT,BiyanitoldTheIndianExpress.Hesaidtheyhadapproached

theDelhi governmentwith theproposal inMay: “Wewillmakethe interface available to inter-estedcompanies.OurmobileappcanalsobeusedbytheDelhigov-ernment or they can use theirown‘OneDelhi’app.Wewillex-amineglitchesandbugs, if any.”

Sadia Dehlvi, master storytellerwho chronicled capital, dies at 62SOMYALAKHANINEWDELHI, AUGUST5

OF ALL the roles that 62-year-old Sadia Dehlvi played in herlife, the one shemastered wasthat of a storyteller. From herchildhood memories, she dugout stories of “nihari Sundays”at home, the jinns that inhab-ited Shama Kothi where theDehlvis lived, and the family’scontribution to society in theform of the iconic Urdu andHindi magazines called Shamaand Sushma.OnWednesdaynight,Dehlvi

—author,activistandfoodcon-noisseur—passed away after alongbattlewithcancer.Shehadbeen admitted to the hospitalfor a fewdays, andonAugust 1,her son Arman Ali Dehlviposted a “cancer treatmentfundraiser request” for hismotheronsocialmedia.Aclose

friend of Dehlvi’s said shepassed away at home onWednesdaynight.Activist JohnDayal,whoalso

knew Dehlvi’s father, told TheIndianExpress, “Iwishedheronher birthday in June, she wasfighting cancer so bravely. Herfamily contributed immensely

to the syncretic culture of thecity, and so did she. She popu-larisedMughalcuisinewithherwriting.”CitychroniclerRanaSafvire-

called several meetings withDehlvi at the NizamuddinDargah. Safvi said, “I love herwriting,especiallyherbookTheSufiCourtyard:DargahsofDelhi.I used to often see her at theDargah…With her gone, thedargahswill feel empty.”Apart from The Sufi

Courtyard, Dehlvi also wroteSufism: The Heart of Islam in2009, and Jasmine and Jinns:Memories and Recipes of MyDelhi in 2017. She also scriptedthe hugely popular TV show,Amma and Family, starringZohra Sehgal. Dehlvi foundedAl Kauser, the restaurant inChanakyapuri,withhermotherin 1979.In 2017, she had told The

Indian Express, “Al Kauser was

the first roadsidekebabshopinNewDelhi. It becamequite therage in the ’80s and ’90s. Thekitchenwas in our house.”TheDehlvis,whowereessen-

tially traders,moved toDelhi intheearly-17thCenturyandtookthename“Dehlvi”,whichmeans“theonefromDehli(Delhi),”saidwriterSohailHashmi.“Thefam-ilystartedpublishingShama,oneof the first Urdumagazines onHindicinema,whichalsoservedas a quasi-literary magazine.Then came Sushma, amagazineinHindi. Actor Dilip Kumarwasa patron of themagazines,” hesaid.Dehlvi was also a close

friend of celebrated authorKhushwant Singh, who dedi-catedhisbookNotaNiceMantoKnow to her.Later,Dehlviproducedatel-

evision serial called Not A NiceMan to Know, in which Singhwas the anchor.

Dehlvipassedawayafteralongbattlewithcancer

0-50 Good

ANANDVIHARModerate

0 500

122AQI

Pollutant:CO

SIRIFORTModerate

0 500

SHADIPURModerate

0 500 500

51-100 Satisfactory 101-200 Moderate 201-300 Poor 301-400 VeryPoor 401-500 Severe

DWARKA- SECTOR8Satisfactory

0

70AQIPM:10

104AQIPM:10

103AQIPM:10

New Delhi


THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

12-yr-old in ICU after beingbeaten, sexually assaulted

ANANDMOHANJNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

THE DELHI Police told a Delhicourt that a 22-year-old man,killed by a mob during theNortheast Delhi riots, was firstassaulted after establishing hisMuslimidentity,andafterhefellunconscious,themobsethimonfire to check if he had “actuallyreally died orwas just trying tofeignunconsciousness”.However, when the victim,

Shahbaz,startedmoving,rioters“put wood pieces on him,poured some petrol and burnthimalive”,police told thecourt.These details surrounding

Shahbaz’s death were submit-tedbypolice incourtduringthebail hearing of Rahul Sharma(24), an accused in themurder.Police have so far only found apiece of skull and some pelvicbones, which Shahbaz’s familyclaimbelongtohim.Police toldthecourtonlyaDNAtestcanes-tablish his identity. Rahul’s bailwas dismissed by AdditionalSessions Judge Vinod YadavWednesday.Policehavesofarar-rested fivepersons in thecase.Asper court records, around

7 am on February 25, ShahbazlefthometovisitGTBhospitaltofetchmedicines forhiseyes.Around2.25pm,his brother

MatloobAhmadcalledShahbaz,who told him that he was atKarawal Nagar and trying toreach home through the innerlanes.Matloob tried contactinghis brother again, but the callswent unanswered. On February27,whileMatloobwassearchingforhisbrother,hewas informedby a person that Shahbaz hadbeenburnt todeathbyamob.Police told the court that af-

teridentifyingthatShahbazwasaMuslim, amobassaultedhim.“He tried to escape by jumpingover thewall and running intothe water near the bushes to-wards PTS Wazirabad. He(Sharma) and other rioterschased Shahbaz... The rioterscaught him again and beat himmercilessly. The riotous mobdragged Shahbaz to the main

Pusta Road. Aman and Mohitrobbed Shahbaz's wrist watch.Soon he fell unconscious.Someoneamongtherioterspro-posed that itmustbechecked ifShahbaz had really died orwasjusttryingtofeignunconscious-ness.Someriotersbroughtsomedry bushes and put them onShahbaz's face. Another rioterpoured some petrol on thebushes and someone lit a firewithamatchstick.Shahbazwasstill alive and started moving.The rioters then broke somerehris(carts)parkedontheroad-side, put the wood pieces onShahbaz, poured some morepetrolandburntShahbazalive,”police told thecourt.Police told thecourt they re-

lied on manual identificationanddumpdataanalysistoinves-tigate the case. Police trackeddown the personwho first in-formed Matloob aboutShahbaz’s death. This person,nowaprosecutionwitness,wasquestionedbypoliceandhedis-closedthatAmanandMohit,theco-accused, had revealed they“had killed and burnt the bodyof one Shahbaz,whowasdoingthejobofwelding intheirarea”.Police told the court that

Aman had confessed that onFebruary 25, “he in conspiracywithhisfriendMohithadcausedharm to the life andproperty ofpersons belonging to a particu-lar community to teach them alesson... On that day,...he alongwithhis friendMohit andotherrioters assaulted, robbed andkilled Shahbaz and thereafterburnthimalive...”Rahul’slegalteamdeniedthe

policeallegations.

SOMYALAKHANINEWDELHI, AUGUST5

ATHIShomehangsaphotoofhisfather, late Inspector V K Singh,shakinghandswithformerDelhiCommissionerofPoliceBSBassi,possibly in 2014, and onWednesday, therewas a photoof 28-year-old Gauravwith thecurrent Delhi Commissioner ofPoliceSNShrivastava.“I kept thinking about that

photo of my father when I lefttheDelhiPoliceheadquartersonWednesday. If my father wasalive, he would have been soproud ofme,” said Gaurav,whosecured All India 475th Rank inthecivil servicesexam.InspectorSingh,whowasthe

Additional SHO (Sadar Bazar),passed away due to kidney andheart-relatedailmentsinMarch

2015.Hewas46yearsoldandissurvived by his wife, and theirthreesons.OnWednesday, Shrivastava

met the six members of the“Delhi Police family” whowilljointhecivilservices—VishakhaYadav, daughter of ASI

Rajkumar; Navneet Mann,daughter of Inspector SukhdevSinghMann; ACPs Garima andNatishaMathur;ConstableFirozAlam;andGaurav.Hecongratu-latedthemandspokeabouthow“their successwill inspire DelhiPolice wards to follow in theirfootsteps”. Shrivastava alsoasked thesixabout theirprepa-ration process and their strug-gleson theway.This was Gaurav’s sixth and

final attempt at cracking theexam. “My father hailed fromvillageKhandawali inMeerut…hewalked3kmaday just togetto school. It was a big deal thathe joined the Delhi Police forceas a sub-inspector in 1991. Hewasverystrict anddedicated tohis duty... My role model,” hesaid.Itwasthroughhisfatherthat

Gaurav met IPS officer Sanjay

KumarSainafewyearsago,andwasinspiredtotrythecivilserv-ices exam. “It sounds filmy butmy father always toldme thatweneedtofindworkthatservesthepublic... I have found it now.I was shaking when I sawmyname on that list,” said Gaurav,whose elder brother is a DelhiPoliceconstable.Gaurav said that apart from

congratulating him, the CP alsoasked "me howmymother feltaboutmesecuring therank."Constable Firoz Alam, de-

ployedwith the PCR unit, whosecured654thrank,saidthattheCP “praised my perseveranceandhowIdidn'tgiveupdespitethings not working out in myfavour five times. He said thiswill inspirepeople. Iamtouchedbyhiswordsandsupport.”He said themeeting lasted

15-20minutes.

Policechief SN Shrivastavawiththesixmembersof the‘DelhiPolice family’whowill joincivil services thisyear


A 12-YEAR-OLD girl was hospi-talisedwithseriousinjuries,withpolice suspecting she was al-legedlysexuallyassaultedandat-tackedwithasharpweapon.Theincident took place on TuesdayinanOuterDelhi locality.According to police, around

5.30pm,neighboursspottedthegirl in the balcony of her house,covered in blood and unable tostand. They called the police,who rushed to the spot. Policesaid the girl was alone at homeandwas hit more than five-sixtimesonherheadandfacewithaheavyandsharpobject.Shewas rushed to a nearby

clinic.Seeingthebloodandnatureof injuries onherhead, face, legsandabdomen,doctorsattheclinicsaidsheshouldbetakentoahos-pital.PolicesaidthegirlwasthenrushedtoSanjayGandhiHospital,wheredoctors confirmed sexualassault. The girl underwent pri-marytreatmentandwasreferred

toAIIMSatmidnight.AKoan,DCP(OuterDistrict),

said, “We received a call onTuesdayat5.40pmaboutasex-ualassault.AnFIRhasbeenreg-isteredundersectionsofattempttomurder and the POCSO Act.”On the basis of the doctor’s ex-amination, Section 8 of POCSOAct (sexual assault) was addedtotheFIR.Policesaidrapehasn’tbeen confirmed and they areawaitingmedical reports.Police sources said: “One

womansawthegirlandshoutedfor help... By the time an ambu-lance arrived, she fell uncon-scious.”Meanwhile,herparentswere informed.Policesaid they,alongwith their elderdaughter,were at work and the girl wasaloneathome.

Police suspect the incidenttook place in the afternoon andthe accusedwas known to thevictim.“Wedidn’tfindanysignsthat someone broke in. Footagefrom a CCTV outside alsoshowednosignsof theaccused.Theaccusedmaybeanacquain-tancewhowenttothehouseaf-tereveryone left,” saidpolice.Thegirl liveswithher family

in a one-bedroom apartment.Her father, mother and sisterworkatanearbyfactory.Shealsohelps her family with work. Asenior police officer said, “Oncethegirlisstable,herstatementwillberecorded.Neighboursalsodid-n’tseeanyoneenteringorleavingthe victim’s house at the timeoftheincident.”Sources atAIIMS said thegirl

was in critical condition andputon ventilator support. Doctorsperformedtwosurgeries—oneofthe skull and the other in thelowerabdomen,duetoinjuriestoherprivateparts.“Sheisadmittedin the ICU. A forensic team fromAIIMSwill investigate the caseThursday,”saidaseniordoctor.


A 25-YEAR-OLDman,whowasreturninghomefromworkalongwith his colleague late Tuesdaynight, was stabbed to death al-legedlybythreebike-bornemenduringa robbery inWestDelhi’sTilakNagar.AdditionalDCP(West)Sameer

Sharma said, “A PCR callwas re-ceived at 11.29 pmand two in-juredmenwith stab injuries ontheir legswere foundat thespot,and rushed to DDU hospital.Ranjanwasdeclareddeadonar-rival,while his friendDheeraj isundergoingtreatment.”Inquiryhasrevealedthatthe

assailantsallegedly interceptedthe twomen and robbed theirlaptop, mobile phone andmoney, after a scuffle. A policeofficer said Ranjan andDheerajresisted the robbery and werestabbed on their legs by themen, who snatched their be-longingsandfled.“CCTVfootagehas been found and the state-ment of an eyewitness, who

made the PCR call, has beenrecorded,”saidanofficer.Noar-resthasbeenmadesofar.Acaseunder sections of murder, at-tempt to murder and robberyhas been lodged at Tilak Nagarpolice station.Ranjanissurvivedbyhiswife

and their six-month-old daugh-ter,wholiveinBihar’sSamastipur.His brother-in-law,Hari Kishen,said, “Ranjan andDheeraj livedtogether in Jeevan Park, andworked as salesmen... He hadspoken to a relative at night andsaidhewillbehomesoon.RanjanhadreturnedtoDelhifromhisvil-lageonlyaweekago.”

SouthbodyexecengineerassaultedNewDelhi:An executiveengineerwithSouthMCDwas allegedly hit on theheadwiththebuttofapis-tolandthenbeatenupbya daily wage labourerWednesday at theGulmoharParkoffice.Theaccused allegedly alsofired theweapon on hiswayout.DCP(South)AtulKumar Thakur said,"Accusedhasallegedthathis grievances, includingthose pertaining to grantof uniformhavenotbeenaddressed, despite re-peated requests... He hasbeenarrested."

BJPmarksAyodhyaeventinCapitalNewDelhi:TheBJP’sDelhileadership held severalprogrammes in the city,includingladdoodistribu-tion, bike rallies andbha-jans, at several places inthe national capital tomark the bhoomi pujanceremony at AyodhyaWednesday.

5heldforfiringatshopNewDelhi: Fivemen, twoof whom are lodged inBhondsiJail,werearrestedfor their alleged involve-ment in firing at a sweetshop inHariNagar. PolicesuspectthatthefiringwascarriedoutatthebehestofgangsterKaushal.

2ATMsuprootedNewDelhi:TwoATMshavebeenuprootedinseparateinstancesfromNarelaandRajokri Village by un-knownmenWednesday.Police saidRs18 lakhwasstolen in the first incidentatNarela.ENS

BRIEFLY

Among those who cleared UPSC, 28-yr-old wholost father in 2015: ‘He would have been proud’

SUKRITABARUAH,MALLICAJOSHI&RAHULSABHARWALNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

YoutooktemporarychargeasHealthMinisteratacrucialtime,whenDelhihadbeenstruggling.ThiswasalsoatimeatwhichtheDelhigovernmenthadtocoordinatewiththeCentre.Howwasthatexperience?For me, it was challenging.

ThoughIhadbeenmonitoringalotofCovid-relatedworksuchasfooddistributionandnightshel-ters, I had not been very closelyinvolved with health, becausethat was being looked after bythe CM and (Health Minister)Satyendar Jain. I had a cursoryidea,butIhadnotbeeninvolvedwith thenitty-gritties. I becamethe captain of a shipwhichwassailingat ahigh speed ina crisissituation,andIdidn’tknowwhowas working on what.Fortunately,Satyendarwashan-dlinga lot fromthehospital,butitwas challenging. In educationand the other departments inwhich Iwork, I knowofficers inevery district and understandthestructure.HereIhadnoidea.Evenas a citizenandconsumer,youdon’t keep trackofwho theserviceofficersandsoonare.ButSatyendarwasalwaysavailable,andwheneverwewere havingmeetings, I used tokeephimon

the lineonthephone.

You’vebeenvocalontheNewEducationPolicy.Oneof itsfocusareas iscoursereduction,ofwhichyouhavealsobeenaproponent.Butrecently, topicsweredroppedfortesting innextyear'sBoardexams,andyouwerecriticalof themanner inwhichthiswasdone.Giventhatcoursereductionissusceptible tocontroversy,whatdoyouthinkshouldbethemechanism?I don’t know towhat extent

theeducationpolicywillbeabletoachievethis,butthebasicfun-damental course reductionshouldbe—arewe teaching, orareweteachingstudentshowtolearn.Ourentirefocusineduca-tionpractices is to teach. Tillwedon't rectify that, the demandsof syllabuswill goongrowing.Atishi gaveme a very good

example of this. I had askedherthe key difference between theIndianeducationsystemandherexperience of studying atOxford.Shesaidherewearetoldthis is the syllabus and this iswhatstudentsneedtostudy.Theacademicbestpracticeisthatthesyllabusisindicative. Itmightbevery longbutcertainsamplear-eas are picked up and studentsaretaughthowtostudy,let’ssay,history. Here we teach the syl-labus, there they teachstudentshow to learn. This is somethingwrong with schools here. Thepedagogical approach to teach-ingwillhave tobemodified.

Youalsovoicedreservationsontheencouragementtoprivate ‘philanthropic’parties toenterschoolarena.This is a very wrong line to

take. Iwas expecting thatwhenwe’re learning from theworld,we should also learn that the

world’s biggest economies runthrough a government schoolsystem... Herewe don’t see thatapproach at all. That children ofthecountrywillstudyingovern-mentschoolsandqualityeduca-tionwillbeprovidedbythegov-ernment system is notmentionedevenonce in theed-ucationpolicy.Instead,itismen-tioned that wewill encourageprivate philanthropic schools.Philanthropy is already there inname— all the DPSes, ModernSchools,VasantValley,younameit.Everyschoolisaphilanthropicschool.Sothatisjustawordtheyhave used. But the questionneeds to be asked about howmanyofthesearephilanthropic.Supreme Court has to say thattheseareteachingshops.Itisnotwritten anywhere that govern-ment schoolswill be promoted.That ismissing.

Theargumentsyou’veputforthonNEP—thecriticismandanalysiscomingfromDelhi’seducationminister—onemightexpectoutof thecountry’sprimaryopposition.Yourpartyhasalsobeenspeakingofavacuum,of apoliticalalternative. Is this thevacuumthatyourefer to?Ifwetaketheinstanceofed-

ucation, it is very necessary toworkonitwithseriousness.Youtalking about good things, it isnotgoingtosolvetheproblems...Ifyoudon’tincreasethebudget...how will it work? You needtraining institutes, teachers,moneytoopennewschoolsandcolleges.Where is that politicalcommitmentandwill?

Doyouthinkthat’s lacking intherulingdispensationand

intheprimaryopposition?Yes.

Of latewe’veseenamoreexpansionistoutlookof theAamAadmiParty,withcommentsonRajasthan’spolitics,andtalkof takingthe‘Delhimodel’ tootherstates.Inanurbancentre likeDelhi,your ‘politicsofkaam’hasbroughtyoutopower,butasyoustartmovingoutwards,caste, religion,etcentertheequation.Howdoyoureconcileyourpoliticswiththosedemands?That’s the challenge. It is our

dharma to tell people that peo-ple should vote on school, edu-cation, bijli, jobs and economy.Some parties will talk of caste,somewill talk of religion.Whatprevails depends on us and thewisdomof thepeople.

Caste politics is prevalenteverywhere; in the middle ofthat, we have to find a way forthepoliticswearedoing.

InRajasthan,yourattacksweredirectedmoreat theCongress thantheBJP. Is thatadeliberatestrategy?Becausethat’s thepartyyoubelieve isreplaceable?It's not about being replace-

able. Today the image ofCongress in this country is that‘Wewill vote for themandtheirMLAswill go and broker a dealelsewhere’. Then why shouldpeople vote for the Congress?Why should people who don'tlike BJP's politics vote forCongress? Goa, Manipur,Uttarakhand, Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan —thishappenedinalltheseplaces.People who voted for MLAs inthe name of Congresswere notBJP voters. If theywanted a BJPgovernment, they would havevotedaccordingly.The firmnesswithinCongress isover.

If therearenationalambitions, thepartywillalsoneedtotakedecisivestandsondelicatenational topics,wheresomehavefoundtheAAPtobereticentorreclusive.Howwillyouaddress that?Dependsonthetimeandsit-

uation,that'showpoliticsworks.

Therehasbeenanotherrecentphaseof tiffswiththeL-GinwhichdecisionsbytheDelhigovernmenthavebeenoverturned.You’veairedfrustrationonthis front.I found it unfortunate that

decisions are being takenwith-outconnectingwiththepeople.

Youhaveusedtheword'punishing’ thepeople.

It's unfortunate that theCentremisuses their overridingpowers throughtheL-G.

Whatdoyoumakeof theL-G’sresistancetoyourstandinthematterconcerningpublicprosecutors fortheNortheastDelhiriots?Theywantedaparticular set

of people to be advocates. I toldthemtheDelhigovernmenthasthe right to appoint them. Ispoke to the Commissioner ofPoliceandL-G,andaskedthemiftheyfeelourteamofpublicpros-ecutors lacksexperience. If theyneed peoplewith a lot of expe-rience, there are such people inthe country. Let’s discuss whowe can get. It shouldn't be thatthe police hands over a list theycreated. Itmighthavebeen thatwe would have picked peoplefrom their list aswell. There arealotof independent,reputedad-vocates in the countrywho areknown for their arguments forjustice — let's hire from amongthem. I said let’s sit down onceand discuss. But they didn’tagree.

TheCabinetrecentlypointedoutthat thepoliceprobe islacking,butthefact is thatthiswassaidonlynow,whenyouare inaface-offwiththeL-G,andnotearlierwhensomeissueswiththeprobewerereported.Doyouthinkthestandyou’vetakencouldhavebeenspeltoutearlier?But thematter of advocates

hasonlycomeupnow.Wehavespoken about the performanceof the police earlier aswell, butthisstandofthegovernmentcanonlybetakenwhenthegovern-mentcomes into thescene.

Inthese last fewmonths,wehaveseenthathavingdigitaltools is justasessential in

schoolingasuniforms,booksandstationery,whichareprovidedbythestatetostudentsatsubsidisedratesor for free. Isprovidingaccesstodigital toolsasessentialresourcessomethingthegovernmentneedstodo?Providing devices and inter-

net to 16 lakh children needshuge finances. It is ideal butwedon't have themoneywith thestate inwhich the governmentis.

Speakingof financesandtheeconomicsituation,howdeepinthewelldoyouthinkweareandhowlongtillwecangetout?It's a reallybadsituationand

wedon'tknowwhenwecangetoutof it.OureffortinDelhiisthatpeople should no longer beafraid,whichwill take time.Wearemore than 50% short on ourrevenue and we are analysingthefilingstatusoftaxpayersreg-istered under the GST. Peoplehad sales in January, FebruaryandMarchbutnearly two-thirdof the taxpayers didn't file theirreturns for that period.Yesterday, we decided to sendthenoticestothem,andwe'llseewhat impact thatwillhave.

Whatdoesthefutureofeducationinthenext6-8months looklike inDelhi?I'm just praying that schools

open soon. For now there's noidea. If the situation comes un-der control and we can openschools by early or mid-September, therewill be a par-ticularstrategy.If ittakesanother2-3months,therewillhavetobesomething else. So, nobodyknows. It depends on the peakand the number of cases. I'mworkingonreviewingthesitua-tionwithparentswhohavebeengiving inputsand feedback.

Unfortunate that decisions being taken without connectingwith people: Sisodia on L-G overturning Delhi govt movesDelhi’sDeputyChiefMinisteronhandling theHealthportfolioduringacrisis,AAP’splansoutside thecapital, andwhere theNewEducationPolicy falls short

Sisodiaat theDelhiSecretariatonWednesday.PraveenKhanna

WITH

MANISH SISODIADELHI DEPUTYCHIEFMINISTER

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

53peoplewerekilled intheNortheastDelhi riots

Thevictim,RanjanKumar

Mob set riot victimon fire ‘to check ifhe was really dead’Policesaidneighbours

spottedthegirl inthebalconyofherhouse,coveredinbloodandunabletostand

Man stabbed todeath in robbery bid

New Delhi


AYODHYA, AUGUST 5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,AUGUST5

THEGUESTofhonourattheRamtemple bhoomi pujan inAyodhya on Wednesday, RSSchiefMohanBhagwatcalled itarealisation of the Sangh’s longyearsof struggle.Bhagwat,whosatalongwith

PrimeMinister NarendraModifor the bhoomi pujan prayers,said the RSS had taken a pledgeforthetemplethreedecadesago.“Whenwehadtakenthepledge,our then Sangh chief BalasahebDeoras had told us we wouldhave to work for 20-30 years,andwedid,”Bhagwatsaid.In his speech at the temple

site, the RSS chief also remem-bered the contribution of BJPleader L K Advani, the late VHPleader Ashok Singhal andMahant Ramchandra DasParamhansinthemovementforthetemple,andsaidmanycouldnot come due to the Covid-19pandemic.“Rathyatrakanetritvakarne wale Advaniji apne gharmein baith kar is karyakaram kodekh rahe honge (Advaniji, wholed the Rath Yatra, must bewatching this ceremony fromhome),”Bhagwat said.Claiming that the laying of

the foundation stone signifies aspirit to takeeveryonealong,heurgedpeopletofollowtheidealsof Lord Ram “to regain the pastglory of the country”. He pro-jectedRamasa“universalking”andsaidthatnow,nodifferencesremain — “Ram belongs to allandRamispresent inall”.All the duties and responsi-

bilitiesfortheconstructionofthetemple had been allotted,Bhagwatsaid,addingthat,how-

ever, apart from the temple onthe ground, everyone has towork towards decorating “manki Ayodhya (an Ayodhya in thehearts)".Thecountrythatcarries“the flagof that religion”,which“unites people, works for thewelfare of all, considers every-one as its own”, can provide“peace and happiness to the

world”,Bhagwatsaid.TheRSSchief addedthat the

bhoomi pujan had sent awaveof joythroughoutthecountry—“Sadiyon ki aas poori hone kianand ki lehar hai”. He said thiswillestablishtheself-confidenceneeded to make India self-re-liant.Hehailed“theableleader-ship of the country” inmaking

Indiaaglobal leader.Inhisaddress,UttarPradesh

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathcongratulated PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi and calledWednesday’sceremonytheout-comeof500yearsofstruggle.Heassured the commitment of hisgovernment to development ofAyodhya, alongside the con-structionof theRamtemple.Shri Ram Janmbhoomi

Teerth Kshetra chief MahantNritya Gopal Das said that thetimewas just right for the tem-ple to be built, with bothModiandYogi in thegovernment.Besides Bhagwat, the other

office-bearersof theSanghpres-entattheceremonyincludeditsgeneral secretary SureshBhaiyyaji Joshi,anditsjointgen-eral secretaries Krishna GopalandDattatreyaHosabale.

AVANEESHMISHRAAYODHYA,AUGUST5

ITS STREETS empty, Ayodhyahuddled around TV sets, or satgluedtoitsphones,watching,asthebhoomipujangotunderwayat the Ram temple site onWednesday. Every 10 metresthroughthetown, loudspeakersbroadcast the ceremony live.KaluRamRawal saidhehad

come on his bicycle fromRajasthan tobewitness to "his-tory". His cycle was coveredwith photos of PrimeMinisterNarendraModi,SubhasChandraBoseandSwamiVivekananda.

Sudhanshu Kumar camefromPrayagrajdespiteknowing,hesaid,thatpublicwouldnotbeallowed to the main site.Security personnel manned allthe roads to the town.Sitting near a dustbin was

Nagar Nigam employee 32-year-old Aalim Kumar. He saidhehadbeentaskedwithensur-ing that stray cowsdidnotven-ture onto the road. Monkeysthough, whose numbers are amenace in Ayodhya, seemed tohavea free run.While district DIG Deepak

Kumar had earlier told TheIndianExpressthatthemarketswouldremainopen,mostshops

wereshut,onereasonbeingthewoodenbarricading covered insaffron that lined both sides ofthe road.Ashwini Gupta, who runs a

confectionary shop, decoratedwith images of Hanuman, Ramor Om, now also stocks saffronflags. Watching the ceremonyon a phone connected to aspeaker, with a few customerssittingaround,Guptasaid,“Thisis a day of pride for us and wehave been waiting for it fordecades. I wish my father washere. He died dreaming to seeRamLalla get a place in a grandRamtemple insteadof a tent."The only place in town

where a crowd was gatheredwasatapolicebarricadeontheroad leading to the HanumanGarhi and Ram Lallamakeshifttemple.Several saints raised JaiShriRamslogansat intervalsasPrime Minister NarendraModi's speech blared fromspeakers.PTI reported that in the

evening, diyas were lit inhomes and at various templesacross town as inDiwali, espe-cially on the road leading fromHanuman Garhi to Naya Ghat.Bhajans were sung and fire-crackers burst around ChhotiDevkaali area. As a large num-ber of people headed for Ram

ki Paidhi, an area nearby saw atraffic jam. Crowds could alsobe seen in shops selling reli-gious items that opened in theevening.There were a few who felt

that thewholeeventseemedtocelebrate the Prime MinisterandBJPmore thanLordRamorAyodhya. “People who didnothing for the temple move-ment are now stealing thelimelight," said Swami LalGiri.However, he added, he clungontohope. "Thegoodthingthatcan come out of this is thatAyodhyawill now probably befree of petty politics and talkabout development."

Peoplemakearangolionastreetafter thegroundbreakingceremonyinAyodhyaonWednesday.PremNathPandey

Nodifferences now,Ramofall, present in all: BhagwatTookapledge for temple,workedfor30years, saysRSS chief atAyodhya

PMModipraysbeforethe idolof LordRamaheadof thebhoomipujanforRamTemple.PTI

BHAJANS, DIYAS AT HOMES

TV, phones or loudspeaker, Ayodhya bears witness to ‘history’

ThehelicoptercarryingPrimeMinisterNarendraModiaheadoflandingatSaketDegreeCollegeinAyodhyaWednesday.PremNathPandeyTIME:11:15AM

PrimeMinisterNarendraModivisitsHanumangarhiinAyodhyaonWednesday.PTITIME:11:48AM PrimeMinisterModiandUPCMYogiAdityanath

watertheparijaatsaplingbeforethebhoomipujan.PTITIME:12:15PM

Babri was,will alwaysremain amasjid, saysAIMPLB

ASADREHMANLUCKNOW,AUGUST5

THEBABRIMasjid “was, andwillalwaysbeamasjid”, theAll IndiaMuslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB)hasstated.TheBoardtweetedfromitsof-

ficialhandleonTuesdayevening,“BabriMasjidwasandwillalwaysbeaMasjid.HagiaSophiaisagreatexampleforus.Usurpationoftheland by an unjust, oppressive,shamefulandmajorityappeasingjudgmentcan’t change its status.No need to be heartbroken.Situationsdon’t lastforever.”AIMPLB also issued a state-

ment,which stated that placingidolsinamosquedoesnotchangeits status. “Today, as the founda-tionsofamandirarebeinglaidatthesiteofBabriMasjidinAyodhya,theAIMPLBfeelsitisimportanttoreiterateitshistoricpositionontheissue,namely‘IntheeyesoftheIsl-amicShariah, atwhicheverplaceamasjidisestablished, itremainsamasjidthereforevertilleternity,”accordingtothestatement.Quoting the Board's general

secretary,MaulanaMohammadWaliRahmani,itnoted,“Ithasal-ways beenour position that theBabriMasjidwas never built bydemolishing anymandir or anyHinduplaceofworship.TheSup-remeCourthasalsoaffirmedourpositioninitsjudgment...”“The Supreme Court has

clearlystatedthatnamazwasof-feredinthemasjidtillthenightofDecember 22, 1949 (when idolswere placed inside the centraldome). The SupremeCourt alsoacceptedthatplacingof the idolsinthemasjid...wasanillegalact.Itacceptsinitsjudgmentthatdem-olition of Babri Masjid onDecember6,1992,wasanillegal,unconstitutionalandcriminalact.It is indeed regrettable that afteracceptingallthesefacts, theapexcourt inanextremelyunjustver-dict handed over land of themasjidtopeoplewhohadplacedidols in themosque inacriminalmanner and were party to itscriminal demolition.” Since theSupremeCourt is thehighestco-urtoftheland,“wehavenootheroption but to accept the judg-ment,howeverwewilldefinitelysaythatitwasanunjustandunfairjudgment,”Rahmanistated.AIMPLBmemberMufti Ejaz

Arshadsaid, “Whateverhashap-penedhasbeenagrave injustice.Forus, itwill alwaysbe amasjidandBabriMasjidwillalwaysbeinourhearts.Wehavereadnamaaztherefor500years,soitwon’tsud-denlystopbeingamasjid.Likeourgeneralsecretaryhasusedtheveryapt example of Hagia Sophia (inIstanbul),wherenamazusedtobereadatonepoint.Werestonsuchhopes...” WITHENSDELHI

At Ground Zero, on day of groundbreakingAVANEESHMISHRAAYODHYA,AUGUST5

TOATTENDtheground-breakingceremonyfortheconstructionoftheRamtemple, PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi left Delhi onWednesdaymorning inaspecialIndianAir Force (IAF) plane andlandedinLucknowaround10.30.am.HethenboardedahelicopterwhichlandedatahelipadinSaket

DegreeCollegeinAyodhyaaround11.30am.ThePrimeMinisterfirstwent to the 10th century Han-umanGarhi templewhere thepriest greeted himwith a silvercrown,astoleembossedwiththenameofLordRamandaheadgear.Fromthere,thePrimeMinister

reached the Ram temple sitewhereheprayedtothedeity,RamLalla. A Parijat sapling—consid-ered to be a sacred plant—wasplantedbythePrimeMinisterand

UttarPradeshChiefMinisterYogiAdityanath near the garbh grihahead of the foundation stonelayingceremony.Themaineventofthebhoomi

poojanceremonystartedaround12.30pmwithGaneshvandana.Amidthechantingofmantrasbysevenpriests,themainshilamadeofsilverwasworshippedbyPrimeMinisterModi.Thiswasfollowedbybhoomipujan.Eightothershi-las were worshipped. Also, a

koormshila–astonecarvedintheshape of a turtle — was wor-shipped.Alltheshilaswillbekeptunderthefoundationof theRamtemple.Thereafter,apushpanjaliandapradakshina(circumambu-lation)wasperformedbeforetheceremonyconcluded.Themukhya yajman (main

hosts) for the ceremony wereSalilSinghal,nephewoflateVHPleader Ashok Singhal, and hiswifeMadhu.

The ceremonywas attendedby Uttar Pradesh GovernorAnandibenPatel, ChiefMinisterAdityanath, RSS chief MohanBhagwatandRamJanmabhoomiTeerthKshetraTrustchiefMahantNrityaGopalDas,amongothers.A postal stampworth Rs 5

was released by the PrimeMinisterontheoccasion.Thereafter, he addressed the

audience before leaving for thehelipadaround2.20pm.

RSS chiefMohanBhagwatperformsaartiatSaryuGhatinAyodhyaonWednesdayevening, (right)UttarPradeshChiefMinisterYogiAdityanathgreets seniorBJPleaderUmaBhartiat thegroundbreakingceremonyof theRamtemple inAyodhyaonWednesday.

VRINDAVANCHIEFPRIEST LEADSPUJA

Ayodhya:The mainpriestforthebhoomipu-jan wasPanditGangadhar

Pathak.HailingfromBegu-saraiinBihar,heisknowntohave deep knowledge ofVedicKarma-kaandandischiefpurohitofVrindavan.Pathakledateamofsevenpriests who conductedbhoomi pujan and shilapujanonWednesday.LateVHPleaderAshokSinghal’snephewSalil Singhal andhiswifeMadhuwere theyajmaanoftheevent.ENS

PremNathPandey

PTI

New Delhi


GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

MEDIA BOOSTSENIOR CONGRESS leader and former Unionminister K VThomaswrote toPrimeMinisterNarendraModiwitha sug-gestion. He said the emergence of socialmedia has createdanunexpected level of competition for visual andprintme-dia.While largemedia houses have tomakehigh capital in-vestmentsandemployseveralpersonnel,hesaid, socialme-dia gets huge advertisement revenue bymerely providing aplatformwithoutresponsibilityoraccountabilityandwithoutdirectlycontributingtoIndia’seconomicgrowth.So,Thomassuggestedthatroyaltyortaxbechargedfromsocialmediaforusingnewsandphotos fromthemedia. Thesuggestionmir-rors theAustralian government’smove tomakeGoogle andFacebookpaymediaoutlets fornewscontent.

LARGE REACHPMNARENDRAModi garners an impressive TV viewershipforhisspeechesandpublicevents.So,Doordarshanexpectedalargeviewershipforthefoundationstone-layingceremonyfor the RamTemple inAyodhya, especially as itwas the solechannel allowed. Though it will take aweek to get the TRP,thereachcanbegaugedbythenumberofTVchannelsthatre-layed the feed. Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shankar Vempatitweetedthat the livecoveragebythepublicbroadcasterwascarriedby“around200TVchannelsperinitialestimates”.Ononline viewership, Vempati said “more than15milliondigi-talwatchminutes”wereclockedonYouTubechannelsofDDNewsandDDNational.

LENS ON ATTENDANTSRAILWAYSTOPbrasshas againmoved to end thepractice ofofficerskeepingbungalowpeonsorTelephoneAttendantCumDak Khalasis at their homes. Railway Board is scheduled todiscusstheissue.Messageshavegoneoutseekingdataofsuchpersonnelappointed,purportedlysoughtbyMinisterPiyushGoyal. PMNarendraModihad in2014askedRailways toex-ploreifofficerscouldbegivenanallowanceinlieuofkeepingbungalowpeons.Acommitteewasformedtolookintoit,butit did not recommend abolition of the system. Railway offi-cershavestressedtheneedtokeepthepracticealive,citingthe24x7natureof their jobs.

MANOJCGNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

IF THE Ashok Gehlot govern-ment’s decision towithdrawthesedition charge from three FIRslodgedbytheSpecialOperationsGroup (SOG) of RajasthanPoliceinconnectionwiththeallegedat-tempt to topple his governmentwastoplacateSachinPilotandtherebel CongressMLAs, it has nothadthedesiredeffect, itappears.Thedecisiontodropthesedi-

tionchargeandtransferthecasesto the Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) comes days after GehlotsaidthathewillwelcomebacktherebelMLAsifthepartyleadership“forgivesthem”.Thedevelopment,inthatcon-

text,wasreadasasofteningofpo-sitionbytheGehlotside.SourcesinthePilotcamptold

The Indian Express that the deci-sion is a result of realisation thatthe chargewill not stand legalscrutiny.BhanwarLalSharma,oneof the rebel MLAs, hadmovedRajasthanHighCourt lastmonthseeking quashing of the FIRagainst him, or transfer of theprobetoNIA.“They (state government)

have very conveniently trans-ferredthecasesfromSOGtoACB,”

a leader close toPilot said. “Theyhavemaintained the FIR just tokeep the swordhanging. It tookthe government 24days todropthecharge…itwasdonebecausethereisarealisationthatthesedi-tion charge will not stand (incourt), not out of empathy orwarm-heartedness.”Former state minister and

MLA from Dausa, Murari LalMeena,alsoinPilotcamp,toldTheIndianExpress:“WhenthecaseofissuingnoticestoaformerdeputyCMonseditionchargeswasabouttocomeupforhearinginHC, thegovernmentthoughtitprudenttoavoid the embarrassment andwithdrew the charge after 25days.Thejudgewouldhavetakenthe state government to task forthis preposterous action; there-fore the government has back-trackedinaface-savinggesture.”Askedwhetheranyreconcili-

ationefforts areon, a rebel partyMLA said he got a textmessagefromCongresschiefwhipMaheshJoshiat7pmonWednesday,ask-inghim to attend aCLPmeetingat 8pm. “Theyknow it is impos-sibleforustoattendthemeeting,buttheyaredoingit (holdingthemeetandasking therebels toat-tendit)toshowthatwearenotat-tendingmeetings...and you areaskingaboutreconciliation.”

Dropping of seditioncharges may fail tocut ice with Pilot,rebel Cong MLAs

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,AUGUST5

THE SUPREME Court onWednesdayreserveditsorderona case of criminal contemptagainst advocate PrashantBhushanover twoof his tweets,withhiscounseldenyingthatthetweetsinterferedwiththeadmin-istrationof justice.“The two tweets are not

against the institution. They arenotmaliciousanddonotobstructadministrationof justice,”SeniorAdvocateDushyantDave,appear-ing for Bhushan, told a bench of

Justices ArunMishra, B RGavaiandKrishnaMurari.Thebenchhadon July22 is-

sued notice to Bhushan andTwitter Inc. regarding the twotweets dated June 27 and June29statingthatthey“broughttheadministrationof justice indis-repute”.Onthe July29 tweetonChief

Justice of India SABobde seatedonabike,Davesaid“theseareallstatementsoffacts...andthesearenot statements that scandalisesthecourt”.“Itwas only an anguish that

peoplearewaitingforjusticeandis not contempt,” he said. The

counsel submitted that some-times even legitimate criticism“may be unpalatable”, but thecourt should be broadmindedenoughto ignore it. “Pleasedon’tbe sensitive about these com-ments. It seriously affects funda-mentalrights,”hesaid.On the June 27 tweet, Dave

said,“Thereisnothingwrongwith

criticising the judiciary’s ap-proach...andthat'swhatitdid.”Illustratinghisargument,Dave

saidthecourtdidnottakeupthepetitionregardingallegedspreadofhatredagainsttheNizamuddinMarkaz congregation and peti-tions related toKashmir. “Thesearemattersofanguish,”hesaid.“Your submissionbasically is

we should ignore all of this be-causesuchgeneralstatementscanalways be made,” said JusticeMishra.Dave replied that there are

many issues and itwill bebetternottogointoallthat.Initially, Dave told the bench

that a writ petition filed byBhushan challenging the noticewaslistedbeforeitandrequestedthatthepetitionbesendtosomeotherbench.Thebenchdeclinedtheprayer.The senior counsel then said

the complaint on the basis ofwhichthecourthadinitiatedcon-temptproceedingscouldnothavebeenplacedbefore the court onthe administrative side and thenon the judicial sidewithout thepermission of the attorney gen-eralorsolicitorgeneral.Thecourt toldhimthat ithad

followed the law in listing it forhearing.

WESTBENGALKolkata: LokSabhaMPandWestBengal BJP chief DilipGhosh or-ganised a bhoomi poojan at hishomeinNewTown,Kolkata,andblewconchshellstocelebratetheoccasion, while Chief MinisterMamataBanerjee called for pre-serving brotherhood betweencommunities.Banerjeetweeted:“HinduMuslim Sikh Isaai, AapasmeinhainBhaiBhai!MeraBharatMahaan, Mahaan HamaraHindustan. Our country has al-waysupheldthelegacyofunityindiversity, andwemust preservethistoourlastbreath!”Ghoshsaid:“Weofferedpuja

bymaintaining social distancingnorms.At(some)places,however,thepolicepreventedourworkersfromofferingpujasintemples,in-cluding inKharagpur.With thistactics theTMCcannotstoppeo-plefromworshipingLordRam.”TMC MP Sougata Roy said,

“This occasion of bhoomi pujandefinitelycallsforcelebration,butin the backdrop of the present(Covid-19) crisis, people need tobecautiousandtakeprecautions.”

MAHARASHTRAMumbai:Thereweresporadiccel-ebrationsinthestate,andleadersfrom Shiv Sena, NCP and theCongress—partnersintherulingalliance—wished thepeople onthebhumipujanof Ramtemple.Sena leader and stateministerAadityaThackeraytweeted,“Thisis the day of fulfillment of thedreamof HinduHriday SamratShiv Sena chief BalasahebThackeray. It is averyhappymo-mentforallofus.”AgroupofShivSainiks ledby

Mira Bhayander MunicipalCorporation corporator VikramPratapSinghreachedAyodhyaonTuesday, and tomark thebhumipujan,towhichtheywerenotin-

vited, immersed soil from BalThackeray’s Smriti Sthal inMumbaiintheSarayuatAyodhya.

CHHATTISGARHRaipur:LeadersandworkersofbothrulingCongressandoppositionBJPin Chhattisgarh celebrated thebhoomipujan.NSUIworkersandCongressMLAVikasUpadhyaydis-tributedclaylampsdoortodoortobelitfortheevent.StateNSUIleaderAkashSharmasaid,"Wewantthisdaytoberememberedbymakingitintoacelebration.”

RAJASTHANJaipur:Insomecities,includingthestatecapital,peoplecelebratedbyburstingcrackersinevening.ChiefMinister AshokGehlot

emphasisedthe“needtofocusonestablishinganegalitariansocietybasedonthevaluesespousedbyLordRam.MayLordRam’s tem-plebecomeasymbolofunityand

brotherhood in our country.”Former deputy CMSachin Pilotextendedhis heartfelt greetingstotheentirecountryanditspeo-ple “on the occasion of BhumiPujan and foundation stone lay-ing.... JaiShreeRam!”State Transport Minister

Pratap SinghKhachariyawas or-ganisedprayersathisresidence.

PUNJABChandigarh: Political leadersacross party lines congratulatedpeople,with temples in thestatedecorated and diyas lit in theevening. CMAmarinder Singhtweeted,“Myheartiestcongratu-lations to thepeople of India onthehistoric foundation laying of#RamMandirinAyodhya,whichfulfilsthelongcherisheddesireofeveryIndian...”.

(REPORTINGBYENS)FULLREPORTON

www.indianexpress.com

MANOJCGNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

ASPRIMEMinisterNarendraModilaid the foundation stone for theRamtempleinAyodhya,theCPMWednesday said that the eventprovidedretrospectivelegitimisa-tionforthedestructionoftheBabriMasjid.TheCPI,ontheotherhand,hit out at the PrimeMinister fordrawing a parallel between thefreedomstruggleandRammandirmovement,arguingthatthePM’sremarks andhispresence as thehead of the government at thebhoomi pujan eventmarked a“darkdayfordemocracyandsec-ularisminIndia”.“Thebhoomipujanprovided

retrospective legitimisation forthe destruction of the BabriMasjid. TheSupremeverdict de-scribed this as an ‘egregious vio-

lationof law’ and called forpun-ishment of thosewho commit-tedthisact.Theconstructionhasbegun before any such punish-ment.Thefunctionisanakedex-ploitation of people’s religioussentiments for partisan, politicalpurposes and brazenly violatesthe letter and spirit of the IndianConstitution,”CPMgeneralsecre-tarySitaramYechurysaid.“Thestatetakeoverofthecon-

structionofthetempleinthepres-enceof theGovernorandtheCM

ofUP is anegationof the seculardemocraticcharacteroftheIndianRepublic,”hesaid.Yechury’s CPI counterpart D

Rajasaid“ithasbecomeclearthatitistheRSSwhichiscontrollingthepresent government. ThePrimeMinisterandtheUPChiefMinisterhasinawaygivendefactoofficialstatus to one religion. Thiswillhavefar-reachingimplicationsonourRepublicanditsfuture.”Raja'spartycolleagueandCPI

Rajya SabhaMPBinoy Viswamsaid, “In his speech, the PrimeMinisterhasequatedthepursuitoftheRammandirwiththestrug-gle for India’s independenceandglorifiedactsthatforeverrupturedthesecularfabricofIndia.”Hesaiditwashighlyunfortunatethattheevents in Ayodhyawere turnedinto a “politico-religious specta-cle”withtheBJPusingitasanop-portunitytofurtheritsideology.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAHYDERABAD,AUGUST5

FINDING FAULT with PrimeMinister NarendraModi for at-tending the ‘bhoomi pujan’ ofRamtempleatAyodhyainhisof-ficial capacity,AIMIMpresidentAsaduddin Owaisi onWednesday alleged that he haslaid the foundationnotonlyof atemple,butalsoaHinduRashtra.“The PrimeMinister of India

going over there and attendingthisbhoomipoojan...todayisavic-toryofHindutvaoversecularism.Todayisavictoryofmajoritarian-ismover liberty andequality...Byattending,thePrimeMinisterhasnot only laid the foundationof amandir,butalsothefoundationofaHinduRashtra, ofmaking thiscountry a theological countrywhich goes against the basicstructure of the Constitution,”

Owaisitoldreportershere.Owaisi said he and crores of

Muslims,Hindus,BuddhistsandSikhswereallemotionalbecausetheybelieved in thecoexistenceandequalityof citizenship.Flaying the “shameless si-

lence” of the “so-called secularparties” and their talk of broth-erhood, Owaisi said he wouldlike them to explain how theevent canbe a symbol of broth-erhood. “How can there bebrotherhoodwithout justice?”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGUWAHATI, AUGUST5

TENSIONBROKEout in Assam’sSonitpurdistrict onWednesdayaftermembersoftheBajrangDal,while takingout aprocession tocelebrate the groundbreakingceremony at the Ram temple inAyodhya, scuffled with localMuslimresidents,policesaid.Aseniordistrictofficial,who

did notwant to be named, saidthe scuffle occurred when theBajrangDalmemberstookoutamotorcycleprocessiontoa localtemple. Stones were pelted bybothsides,andatonepoint, fiveMuslim men were forciblylocked up in a room by theBajrang Dal men, before theywererescuedbytheadministra-tionandpolice.According to the official, a

couple of motorcycles and oneTataMagicvehiclewereburntinanareaunderThelamarapolicestation. Some persons receivedinjuries, but none were griev-ouslyhurt,headded.Sonitpur DC Manvendra

Pratap Singh told The IndianExpress, “Some areas underThelamarapolice stationwouldbeplacedundercurfewfortwo-threedays.”Meanwhile, ADGP (Law and

Order)GPSingh toldThe IndianExpress,“Situationundercontrol.Peaceful. Adequate forces havebeendeployed in thearea.”

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,AUGUST5

IN A resolution onWednesday,Congress ally Indian UnionMuslimLeague(IUML)slammedCongressleaderPriyankaGandhiVadra’s statement that thebhoomi pujan ceremony for theRam temple in Ayodhya shouldbe seen as a celebration of na-tional unity, fraternity and cul-tural affinity. However, theMuslimpoliticaloutfit,knownforitsmoderatestandonthematter,said that it does notwant to re-openadebateontheissue.“We express our disagree-

mentonthestatementissuedbyPriyanka Gandhi on the con-

structionofRamtempleandherstatement is very much out ofplace,” it said.Aftertheparty’snationalex-

ecutive committee meeting,senior leader and IUMLMP P KKunhalikuttytoldthemediathattheCongressleader’sstatementwas out of place. “Butwe don’twant tomake further reactionson the issue. IUML had alreadymade its stand clear and wedon’t want to allow to reopen adebateon it,”hesaid. “The issuewould be discussed with theCongress leadership,”hesaid.Kunhalikutty said the IUML

had always maintained that itwillacceptthecourtverdict.“Wedon’t want to go for anotherroundofdebateleadingtocom-munalpolarisation,”hesaid.

Tension inAssam’sSonitpur overBajrang Dalprocession

Modi laid foundation ofHindu Rashtra: Owaisi

Priyanka remarks out ofplace... but don’t want toreopen debate: IUML

SC reserves order on contempt case against Bhushan

Ayodhya echoes in some non-BJP states

‘Victoryofmajoritarianismover libertyandequality’ PTI

PrashantBhushan

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,AUGUST5

ACCUSINGTHECongressofhav-ing always adopted a “soft-Hindutva line”, Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan onWednesdaysaidtherewas littlesurprise in the statement ofCongress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra that the bhoomipujan for Ram temple inAyodhyashouldbeseenasacel-ebrationofnationalunity,frater-nityandcultural affinity.Hesaidworship insideBabri

Masjid was permitted under aCongress government at theCentre; and a Congress govern-ment was at the helm in NewDelhi when shilanyas for thetemplewasallowed.Addressingthemedia,Vijayan

said, “EveryoneknowsthestandadoptedbytheCongress.Theap-proaches of (former PrimeMinisters)RajivGandhiand(PV)NarasimhaRaoarepartofhistory.If theCongress hada clear standonsecularism,thecountrywouldnothave faced thepresent fate. Idon’tfindanythingnewintheap-proach of Rahul Gandhi orPriyankaGandhi.”HesaidtheCongressgovern-

ment had stood inactive whenkar sevaks went to Ayodhya todemolish Babri Masjid. What

later happened is the culmina-tionof thisapproach,hesaid.OntheCPI(M)'s standonthe

bhoomipujanceremonyfortheRamtempleatAyodhya,Vijayansaid the party politburo hadmade its standclear.The CPI(M) has stated that a

trustshouldtakeoverconstruc-tion of the temple as per theSupremeCourt's verdict.Asked for his reaction to the

foundation stone laying cere-mony by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Vijayan saidKerala is now worried aboutovercoming the coronaviruschallenge and would worryabout such things later. “Covid-19 cases in the country hascrossed19lakh.Nowweshouldthinkaboutovercomingthissit-uation. There are people in thecountrywhoare inpovertydueto the pandemic and reliefshould be delivered to them.Kerala government is adoptingactions towards that,”hesaid.

AYODHYA, AUGUST 5

GLIMPSES FROM THE STATES

OutsidetheancestralhomeoffreedomfighterSukhdev,atNaugharainLudhiana.

Celebrationsat theBJP office inChennai. Fireworks lightupthenightsky, in Jodhpur.

WestBengalGovernorJagdeepDhankharandwifeSudeshDhankharattheRajBhavaninKolkata.

SitaramYechury,DRaja

VijayanslammedPriyankaGandhiVadra’s remarks

Legitimisation of Babri destruction...official status to one religion: Left

Pinarayi: India’s fatewould’ve beendifferenthadCong taken clear stand on secularism

NewDelhi:TheSupremeCourtonWednesday issuednotice to theCentre and theNationalHumanRightsCommission (NHRC)onapleaseekingmeasurestopreventcustodialviolence.Abenchof JusticesUULalit

andVineetSaran issuedtheno-tice in the application filed bysenior advocate AbhishekSinghvi. Singhvi has soughtdi-rections “on account of recentreported cases of custodialdeaths and transgressions by

the police”.Hispleasaid thegovernment

must be asked to ratify the1987UNConvention against TortureandincorporateitsprovisionsintoIndianlaw.He also sought directions to

ensure that all police stationsand prisons have CCTV record-ings, and to ask the state to ex-plore the possibility of provid-ing dashboard/personnelcamerasforpoliceofficerswhilemakinganarrest.ENS

SC notice to Centre, NHRC onSinghvi’s custodial violence plea

PTIPTI

Gurmeet Singh

Express

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK 7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,AUGUST6,2020

Government of IndiaMinistry of Home Affairs,

Department of Boarder ManagementAppointment of Member (Planning & Development)

in the Land Ports Authority of IndiaApplications are invited by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs,Department of Border Management to fill up the post of Member (Planning andDevelopment) in the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI).2. Complete information of posts, eligibility criteria, application format and other

details are available on the website at http://mha.nic.in/vacancies,http://Ipai.gov.in, www.ncs.gov.in

3. Last date for receiving applications through proper channel is 21.09.2020.Incomplete applications and applications received after last date shall not beconsidered.

4. Address for sending applications:Mr. Manoj Kumar Jha, Deputy Secretary (BM-II),Room No. 13, 2nd Floor, Major Dhyan Chand / national Stadium,Department of Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs,New Delhi- 110511

davp 19142/11/0001/2021


THESUPREMECourtWednesdaysought a report fromMaharashtraonthestatusof theprobeintoSushantSinghRajput'sdeath, saying "whether there isanycriminalityinthesituationisthemattertobeinvestigated".The probe has now been

handed over to the CBI, theCentre informed theCourt, say-ing it had accepted the Bihargovernment'srecommendationfor the same. On Wednesdayevening,thegovernmentissuedordersannouncingthetakeoverof theBiharPoliceFIRbytheCBI.Sources said the agency waslikely to register an FIR in thematter soon.TheCourtwashearingapeti-

tionfiledbyRajput'sfriendRheaChakraborty seeking transfer ofan FIR filed against her by theBiharPolice toMumbai.The Court also expressed its

displeasure over a Bihar Policeofficer who had come toMumbai, as part of the investi-gation into the FIR, being put inquarantine. The single-judgeBench of JusticeHrishikesh Roysaid,“...averyunfortunatethinghastakenplace.Averygiftedandtalented artist has passed awayunder circumstances that areunusual. Whether there is anycriminalityinthesituationisthematter to be investigated...When something happens to ahigh-profile name in cinema,everyonehas anopinion. But asacourtwehavetoworkaccord-ing towhat the lawsays."Appearing for the Centre,

Solicitor General TusharMehtasaid,“OnefactImustbringtotheCourt's notice, that the state ofBihar has recommended a CBIinquiry.TheCentrehasacceptedthedecision."As Maharashtra counsel R

BasantarguedthattheBiharPolicehadno jurisdiction in thematter,JusticeRoysaidtheCourtwilldealwith the question after hearingfromall theparties, anddirectedthemto file their replies in threedays.“Thefundamentalissuehereisof jurisdiction.Which is the in-vestigatorwhoshouldinvestigateandwhichisthecourtthatshouldsupervise," theCourtsaid.TheCourtwill hear themat-

teragainnextweek.OntheBiharPoliceofficerbe-

ingputinquarantine,JusticeRoytoldtheMaharashtracounsel,“Itdoesn't give rightmessage. Hewastheretodohisjob.Youmustdo everything in a professionalmannerandprotectevidence.”SenioradvocateShyamDivan,

appearingforChakraborty,urgedtheCourttohearhiminthelightoftheCentre'sdecisiontoorderaCBI probe. “Our request is totransfer the investigation of theFIR registered in Patna from thestateofBihar."AddingthatChakrabortywas

apprehensive about the BiharPolicesendingateamtoMumbai,DivansaidRajputhaddiedbysui-cide,andthatmorethan50state-mentshavebeenrecordedbypo-lice and about 56 witnessesexaminedinthisregard.AsMukulRohatgi,appearing

forBihar,welcomedtheCentre’sdecision to transfer the case totheCBI,Maharashtrasaidtheis-suewasfraughtwith"mischief".“There is no cause of action forinvestigation in Patna... The

Mumbai Police has jurisdictionandisinvestigating.Thevictim’sfather has not lodged any FIR inMumbai. He has said theMumbaiPoliceisnotinvestigat-ingproperly...allegations...about(the)investigationarepoliticallymotivated," thestateargued.Advocate Basant added that

asperlaw,theBiharPolicecouldhave fileda 'ZeroFIR', but that itdid not have jurisdiction to reg-ister anFIRor request theCBI totakeover.Senior advocateVikasSingh,

appearing for Rajput’s family,contendedthatevidenceisbeingtamperedwith by theMumbaiPolice, and said quarantining ofanofficerwhowasinvestigatingacasewas"unheardof”andwasmeanttothwarttheBiharprobe.He also noted that the

MumbaiPolice,whichcontinuesto investigate thecaseasanacci-dental death, has not registeredany "cognizable" case. “There isonlyinquest(underSection174oftheCrPC),"Singhsaid, adding in-quest proceedings are supposedtobeconcludedwithin24hours.RajputwasfounddeadonJune14.Heurged theCourt to direct theMumbaiPolicetocooperatewiththeirBiharcounterparts.The Bench noted that the

Bihar Police itself had sought tobring in the CBI. “We expecteverybody tohavea littlehandsoff... IhavereadtheFIR... Iamnotsaying anything right now. Letthere be no precipitation of thematternow,” JusticeRoysaid.

SushantSinghRajputandRheaChakraborty

ED summons Rheaover allegations offinancial irregularities

Sushantdeath:CBI toprobe,SCseeksstatus report fromMaharashtragovt

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,NEWDELHI,AUGUST5

THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate(ED) has summoned actor RheaChakrabortyinconnectionwithaprobeintotheallegationsoffinan-cial irregularities levelled by thelateSushantSinghRajput'sfather.Chakrabortywillnowhaveto

appear before the agency onAugust7.The ED on July 31 had regis-

tered amoney laundering caseagainstChakrabortyandafewofher relatives based on a July 25FIR filed in Patna by Rajput's fa-therKKSingh.IntheFIR, it isallegedthatRs

15 crorewas siphoned off fromRajput's account in one year "tobank accounts of persons notknown or connected to the lateactor".Chakrabortywasalsoac-cused of giving Rajput an over-dose of medicine at her homeand "falsely telling him that theactor was suffering fromdengue".The ED is likely to probe

whether Rajput's wealth hasbeen illegally siphoned off in amanner thatwill attractmoneylaunderingcharges.

TheFIRhasbeen filedunderIPC Sections 306 (abetment ofsuicide), 341 (wrongful re-straint), 342 (wrongful confine-ment), 380 (theft in dwellinghouse), 406 (criminal breach oftrust) and 420 (cheating). Ofthese, the offence of cheatingfallsunderthecategoryofpred-icate offences under thePrevention of MoneyLaunderingAct (PMLA).OnWednesday, the ED also

questionedRajput'shouseman-ager SamuelMiranda, who hadbeenhiredbyChakrabortyaftersheallegedlyfiredRajput'sexist-ingstaff.Miranda ismentioned as an

accused in the FIR filed byRajput's father.Theagencyhadearlierques-

tioned Rajput’s chartered ac-countantSandeepSridharabouttheactor'sfinancialtransactionsover the past few years. It hasalso summoned Chakraborty'sCARiteshShah.Sourcessaidtheagency will be questioning allsuspected to have dealtwith orbenefitedfromRajput'sfinances.The ED is also probing two

companies floated by Rajput,where Chakraborty, her fatherIndrajit and brother Showikweredirectors.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, AUGUST5

IN FEBRUARY, fourmonths be-foreactorSushantSinghRajput’sdeath,hispoliceofficerbrother-in-law O P Singh messaged asenior Mumbai police officerclaiming that the family fearedhislifewas“goingdownhill”andwasatrisk,andthathehad“sur-rendered to a manipulativegroupof people”.Rajput'sfatherKKSinghhad

earliersaidthatthereasonheap-proached Bihar Police with acomplaint against actor RheaChakraborty was thatMumbaiPolice had not acted on com-plaints sent to them as early asFebruary.O P Singh, an IGP-rank

Haryana cadre police officerposted as Commissioner ofPolice,Faridabad,hadspokento

and corresponded with thenDCP Zone IX P S Dahiya overWhatsApp. Screenshots of themessages seen by The IndianExpress includeonewrittentoOPSinghbyoneofRajput'ssisters,aDelhi-basedlawyer,whichtoohehadforwardedtoDahiya.Themessage names two of RheaChakraborty'sassociates,accus-ing themof beingpart of a con-spiracy "to destroy Sushantmonetarily, mentally andphysically”.However, Dahiya said he

could not have taken actionwithoutawrittencomplaint.“IwasalsoaskedtocallRhea

for questioning. However, theywerenotwillingtogiveanywrit-ten complaint. I informed him(Singh) that in the absence of aformal complaint I cannot ille-gally call someone to the policestation,” Dahiya told The IndianExpress.

LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI, AUGUST5

THE BRIHANMUMBAIMunicipal Corporation (BMC)hasdeniedarequestforexemp-tion from home quarantine forBihar IPS officer Vinay Tiwari,whohadcometoMumbai fromPatna to investigate actorSushantSinghRajput’sdeath.Tiwari, thePatnaCitySP,had

been asked by the BMC to ad-here to the 14-day home quar-antine rule that is applicable toall air travellers who enterMumbai.OnWednesday afternoon,

Bihar DGPGupteshwar Pandeytweeted inHindi, “The Patna IGhadwritten a letter to the chief

ofBMCopposingthequarantin-ing of IPS Vinay Tiwari and re-questing that he be released,which has been rejected. TheBMChas sent a reply to the let-ter to Patna Police. Now our SPVinay Tiwari will be locked in-side for14days. ThisdecisionofBMCisunfortunate!”He said: “We are consulting

lawyers to know ifwe can chal-lenge thedecision incourt.”Pandeysaidhehadtriedun-

successfully to speak to hisMumbaicounterpart. “MumbaiPolicehasbeennon-cooperativefromthestart,”headded.TheBMCin its letter toBihar

Police said that Tiwari, while inhome quarantine, can use digi-talplatformstomeetpeopleandconducthiswork.

Tiwari was quarantined byBMCwith his hand stamp indi-catingisolationtillAugust15af-ter he reached Mumbai onAugust2.BiharPolicehadsentarequestforexemptiononAugust3, and BMC, in a letter datedAugust 4 to Sanjay Singh, IGP,CentralRegion,Patna,denied it.OnSunday,DGPPandeyhad

saidthatTiwariwasquarantined'forcefully' by BMC officialswithinhoursofhisarrival inthecity. The BMChad clarified thatTiwari was quarantined for 14days as per the protocol issuedbystategovernmentonMay25.The BMC, however, had not

quarantinedfourBiharPoliceoffi-cerswhocametoMumbaiincon-nectionwiththecaseonJuly27.

--WITHENS,PATNA

Bihar cop denied quarantine exemption


THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate(ED) on Wednesday arrestedthreepeopleinconnectionwiththeKeralagoldsmugglingcase.Thearrestedhavebeeniden-

tified as Swapna Suresh, SarithPSandSandeepNair—allkeyac-cused in thecase. The threehadtill now been in the custody oftheNIA,whichisprobingaterrorangle in thesmuggling racket.SourcessaidtheEDhastaken

their custody through an NIAcourt in Thiruvananthapuram

andwill question themover themovementofmoneybythosein-volved in the racket. Their state-mentswillberecordedunderthePreventionofMoneyLaunderingAct (PMLA), sourcessaid.The ED had earlier filed a

money laundering case in thematteronthebasisoftheFIRfiledbytheNIA.Itwillinvestigateiftheproceeds of crimewere gener-ated by the accused by launder-ing of funds that were earnedthrough the alleged gold smug-glingindiplomaticbaggage.TheNIAhasalreadyarrested

12peopleinconnectionwiththecase.

Tripura doctorsprotestcolleague’ssuspension

156DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Delhi■TamilNadu■Karnataka■AndhraPradesh

7 DAYS EARLIER:

2.23NOW:

2.09

7 DAYS EARLIER:

8.63NOW:

8.88

DETECTED TODAY

52,509RECOVERED TODAY:

51,706

TOTALCASES4,57,9561,39,1562,68,2851,45,8301,76,333

DOUBLINGRATE**31.7699.0230.3615.9210.39

SURGEIN24HOURS7,7606745,0636,2599,747

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*2.27%0.73%2.37%4.52%6.93%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:19,08,254TESTS: 2,14,84,402| DOUBLING RATE: 22.57**

RECOVERED: 12,82,215DEATHS:39,795

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

DataasonAugust4, releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITY RATIO

Deaths as a ratio ofpositive cases (in %);indicator of progressin averting deaths

Positives againstnumber tested

(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease

Becoming sick vsrecovering; more

recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak

POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT

KERALAGOLDSMUGGLINGCASE

ED arrests 3, to recordstatements under PMLA

Bhopal:Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinisterShivraj SinghChouhanwas discharged from a privatehospitalhereonWednesdayaf-terrecoveringfromCovid-19,anofficial said.Doctors have advised

Chouhan,whowasinhospitalfor11days, toquarantinehimself at

homeandmonitorhishealthforaweek, theofficialadded.Chouhan, 61, tested positive

for coronaviruson July25.Inahealthbulletinissuedon

Wednesday, thehospitalwherehewas admitted said Chouhanhad been asymptomatic for thepast10days. PTI

DEBRAJDEBAGARTALA,AUGUST5

THREEDOCTORgroupsinTripura-- the state chapter of IndianMedical Association (IMA), theAgartala GovernmentMedicalCollege(AGMC)TeachersForumand theAll TripuraGovernmentDoctors Association (ATGDA) --stagedaprotestatGovindBallabhPanth (GBP) Hospital onWednesdayaftera fellowdoctorpostedataCovidcarecentrewassuspendedfromduty.InanorderissuedonTuesday

evening, Joint SecretaryDebashishDassaidadisciplinaryproceeding has been contem-plated against Dr UttamBhattacharjee, an AssistantProfessor of the Department ofOphthalmologyofAGMC.However, the government is

yet to issue a reason whyBhattacharjeewassuspended.Dr Damodar Chatterjee of

AGMCand formerGBPmedicalsuperintendentDrRanjit KumarDas said theirprotestdemandedBhattacharjee’ssuspensionbere-voked.ATGDAsecretaryDrRajeshChoudhury said, “We are frus-trated and aggrieved...Wedon’tknowwhyhewassuspendedandfeelthisishighlyunjustified.”Bhattacharjeewasnotavail-

able forcomments,butasourceclose to him said hewas yet toofficially receive his suspensionorderasofWednesdayevening.

4 months before death,Sushant kin told police hislife was ‘going downhill’

Shivraj discharged from hospital

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI, AUGUST5

WithrumoursaboutthedeathofDishaSalian, linking it to Sushant SinghRajput’s suicide, Mumbai Police onWednesday issuedapressreleaseask-ing anyonewith information to assistthepolicewith the investigation.Salian is alleged tohavediedby sui-

cideafterjumpingoffabuildingonJune8afterapartyatherfiancé’sresidenceinMalwani. Sheworked for apublic rela-tions firm andaspart of herwork, hadmetRajputonceandexchangedchatsre-gardingaparticularbrandendorsement.Rajput did not know her well and

theMumbaipolicesaidearliertheyhadfoundout fromhisphones thathehadmessaged“WhoisDishaSalian?”tohis

lawyerafterhearingabouthersuicide.From social media accounts and

news channels to BJP leader NarayanRane,manyhaveclaimedtheyhavein-formationaboutSalian,’sdeath.Policesourcessaid theyputout the

statementafterSalian’sfamilywrotetoan ACP onWednesday seeking actionagainstmedia,socialmediainfluencersandpoliticiansforcausingharassmentto the familyanddefamingSalian.A senior IPS officer said, “Several

newsitemsaresharedonsocialmedia,newspapers,newschannelsabouthav-ingconfidential informationabout thecase.SeveralpeoplehavelinkedittotheSushantSinghRajputcase.Wehavenotfound anything to that effect as yet.Henceit isarequesttoanyonewhohasinformation about any aspect of thecase toapproachuswithevidence.”

Disha Salian’s father writes toMumbai Police, seeks actionagainst those ‘maligning her’

New Delhi

8WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

BRICK AND MILESTONEAugust5 is theculminationofmovements thatpoweredtheBJP's ideaof India,howit takes it forward is thetest

AUGUST5,WHENconstructionof theRamtemplebeganatAyodhya—one year after the abrogation of Article 370 by the BJP-led Centre inKashmir—marksamilestonefortheBJP,andforIndia.FortheBJP, itwillhaveatidyresonance.OnAugust5,itachieveditsgrandcause,whichhadenergised its politics and powered severalmobilisations for decades.

Theissuethatcoalitionpoliticscompelledittoplaceonthe“backburner”intheAtalBihariVajpayee regime has now journeyed to the centre, flamboyant and triumphant, inNarendraModi raj. Of the two large national political projects that reconfigured India’spolitics in the early 1990s—Mandal andMandir— the formermetwith only scatteredandfragmentedsuccesswhiletheBJPhasledthelattertofullandunequivocalfulfilment.Butif theBJPhasreasontocelebrateaconclusion,forIndia,thebeginningof templecon-structionatAyodhyaunderlinesachallenge.Theleadingroleof thePrimeMinister,ChiefMinisterandGovernorataneventostensiblyorganisedbytheRamJanmabhoomiTeerthaKshetraTrustwas foretold.Evenso, its images,of intimaciesbetweenstateandreligion,have implications thatwillneed tobegrappledwith indaysandyears tocome.India’ssecularismhasbeenavariantofthetraditionalwesternnotionofthestrictwall

of separationbetweenchurchandstate. The Indianversionhasdescribed itself,more, asbeingaboutastatethatkeepsequaldistancefromallreligionsbutrespectsthemall.Now,even that increasingly embattled ideaof equi-distancewill need tobequalifiedor rede-fined.Ofcourse,thistaskistheburdenof thenon-BJPparties,shouldtheyhavethestom-ach for it,which, so far, theydon’t. In theBJP’s narrative, on theotherhand, adiscreditedsecularismhasdeservedlyfallen.AtAyodhyaonWednesday,PrimeMinisterModisoughttodrawparallelsbetweenthebhoomipujanonAugust5andAugust15,IndependenceDay.A five-centuries-old strugglehad triumphed in the liberationof an idea thatwill nowbethelink,thePMsaid,between“nar”and“narayan”(manandgod),“lok”and“aastha”(peo-pleandfaith)“vartman”and“ateet”(pastandpresent).TheRamtemple,hesaidwouldbeaninspirationforaself-confidentandself-reliant Indiaontheworldstage.TheBJP’spoliticalopponentsmaynotrise to thechallengeposedbythe far-reaching

changes inpolitical culturewroughtby it—both the first anniversaryof theabrogationofArticle370andthebricklaying for the templeatAyodhyahavebeenmetby thesamesullensilence, ifnotacquiescence.ButastherulingpartyattheCentreofadiversenation,theBJPmustbemindfulof thedangersofmajoritariantriumphalism.EventheSupremeCourt,whichpavedthewayfor thetemplebygiving thedisputedsite to theHinduside,describedthe1992destructionof theBabrimasjidasillegal.Thedemolitioncasecontin-uesincourt.AtAyodhyaonWednesday,therewasnomentionofthedebrisofthemosquethat lies under the proposed temple, or of the exclusions of faith-based politics. Theseneedtobeacknowledgedandaddressed.Onlythencanthe invocationofnationalunity—byvirtually theentirepolitical establishment today—ringsincere.

MASTER OF THE STAGEEbrahimAlkazidefinedmodern Indiantheatre fora

generationof artists

EBRAHIMALKAZI,WHOpassedawayonTuesdayaged94, represented anIndia that tookpride in its syncretic traditionsandsoughtacosmopolitanfuturewithoutabandoningitsbhashapastandpresent.Hewasmanythings— theatre director, painter, curator, archivist — but he was primarily ateacher. Inhisearlyyearsasanartist,hewasinvolvedwiththeProgressive

Artists’ Groups inBombay that includedMFHusain, FNSouza andSHRaza. But itwasin theatre thathe foundhimself.Asdirectorof theNational School of Drama (NSD), hehadaprofound influenceona

generation of theatre practitioners. He introduced a cosmopolitan language and prac-ticeforthestagethataccommodatedSophoclesandKalidasa,StrindbergandDharamvirBharati,BeckettandMohanRakesh,OsborneandKarnad.HisproductionssuchasAndhaYugwerestunning inscaleandmesmerising intheirvisual language—theycontinuetobediscussedasbenchmarksyears afterhequit theatre.He left theNSD in1977, after15years as its director, to establish thegallery, ArtHeritage, as a space for exhibitions, the-atre and discussions. His archive of photographs and other artmaterial reveal a keensenseofhistoryandhas inspirednumerousexhibitions thatprovidean intimate lookatartproduction in theyearsafter Independence.AlkaziwasaquintessentialNehruvianerapublic figurewhosoughttojourneyinthe

widerexpansesofglobalculture.HisparentswerefromtheArabianpeninsula,andwhenmost of his familymigrated to Pakistan after Partition, he chose to remain in India. Heknew his Bharat, of course, which had taught him that art was aboutmaking it new,always.

Rakesh Sinha

Theroad:FromShahBanoandShilanyas tobhoomipujanviaamobile typewriterandVajpayee

MINUTESBEFOREHEenteredthetentforthebhoomi pujan of the temple for Ram inAyodhya,PrimeMinisterNarendraModipros-tratedbeforetheidolofRamLalla.Thatsingleframe, beamed live by public broadcasterDoordarshan,wasnot justanactofdevotionbut a powerfulmessage to the country—ofhispartykeepingitswordonbuildingatem-ple forRamathis janmabhoomi,an ideolog-ical promise delayed by years of coalitiondharmaandcourtroombattles.Inside the tent, the Parivarwaited: RSS

SarsanghchalakMohan Bhagwat; UP ChiefMinisterYogiAdityanath,whosementorandguruMahant Avaidyanathwas one of theleading lights of the templemovement; BJPfirebrandUmaBharti, who played a frontalrole in the finalmonths of the BabriMasjid;Durga Vahini’s Sadhvi Rithambara, whosefiery speechesweremanna fromheaven forkar sevaks staring at the doomedmosque;MahantNrityaGopalDas, head of theVHP-controlledRamJanmabhoomiNyasandnowpresidentoftheShriRamJanmbhoomiTeerthKshetra, the Trust constituted by the Centrefor theconstructionandmanagementof theRamtemple;VHPleaderChampatRaiwhoisnowgeneralsecretaryof theTrust.Incidentally, four of them—UmaBharti,

SadhviRithambara,MahantNrityaGopalDasand Champat Rai — are facing charges in acriminal conspiracycaserelated to thedem-olition of the BabriMasjid onDecember 6,1992.Theyhaveall appearedbefore thespe-cialCBIcourtinLucknow,whichhasbeendi-rectedbytheSupremeCourttocompletethetrialanddeliveraverdictbyAugust31.For theParivar,August5 is therealisation

ofadream,theendofa journeyandthestartofanother. Italsomarksoneyearof theabro-gationofArticle370andthebifurcationofthestate of Jammu&Kashmir into twoUnionTerritories. Article 370 and the Ram templeweretwoideologicalissuesthattheBJP,intheNDA’s earlier avatar under Atal BihariVajpayee, had been forced to place on thebackburnerduetocoalitioncompulsions.In his speech today, Bhagwat recalled

how Balasaheb Deoras — MadhukarDattatreyaDeoras,thethirdSarsanghchalakafterKeshavBaliramHedgewarandMadhavSadashiv Golwalkar — told them that thetemplemovementwillrequire“20-30years

of struggle” and how, in the 30th year, thathasbeen fulfilled.Thatmaybeso.Becausethemovementto

reclaim the disputedAyodhya site began inearnest after the shilanyas in 1989— it hap-penedunder thewatchof theCongressgov-ernmentledbyRajivGandhi.Yetthefirststir-ringswere in 1984when the VHP called adharma sansad and passed a resolution forthe“liberation”ofRamJanmabhoomi.The assassination of Indira Gandhi, the

anti-Sikh riots and the uncertainty inter-ruptedVHPplans. But it didn’t have towaitlong to mobilise Hindus. And the chancecamefromunexpectedquarters—fromthreedecisions, two totally unconnected to thetemplemovement.Fourmonths after the RajivGandhi gov-

ernmentwasswepttopowerinalandslideinDecember1984, theSupremeCourt ruled infavour of Shah Bano, a divorced Muslimwomanwhohadtakenherhusbandtocourtseekingmaintenance. This April 1985 rulingledtoaMuslimbacklashwhosawitasanen-croachmentontheirpersonallaws.TheRajivGandhi government, in itswisdom, decidedtobringinTheMuslimWomen(ProtectionofRightsonDivorce)Act tooverturn the rulingintheShahBanocase.A controversialmove, it generatedmuch

heat across the country, especially amongHinduswhosaidthegovernmenthadsurren-deredtotheMuslimclergy.WhilethegovernmentinDelhireadiedthe

new legislation, KMPandey, a district judgein faraway Faizabad, acting on a petition inFebruary1986, ordered theunlockingof theRam Janmabhoomi-BabriMasjid premises.ButmostsawthisasamovebytheRajivgov-ernment to placate Hindus. And that waswhentheParivarsteppedintostealthethun-derfromtheCongress.AstheVHPandSangh’sfrontorganisationsreturnedtomobilisation,enlistingthesupportofreligiousheadsinandaroundAyodhya,theBJPadoptedaresolutionat itsPalampurconvention in1989toprom-isethetemple.Theshilanyasthatyear,alittledistanceawayfromwherethebhoomipujantookplacetoday,wasaturningpoint.The very next year, L KAdvani set out on

his rathyatra fromSomnath toAyodhya,butitwas ended in Samastipur in Bihar by LaluPrasad. Incidentally, the IAS officer tasked to

arrestAdvaniwasRKSingh,nowaministerintheModigovernment.Following Advani’s arrest, Atal Bihari

Vajpayee announced hewould be going toAyodhya.IrememberboardingthesameflightonanOctobereveningfromDelhitoLucknowwhere prohibitory orders were already inplace.ManyonboardwereraisingJaiShriRamslogans, and Iwalked up to Vajpayee to askwhatheplannedtodoorsayinLucknow.Helooked atmy portable typewriter and said,“don’t waste your time, start typing Atalplacedunder arrest”. That’swhat happenedaftertheplanelanded.From the airport, I made my way to

Ayodhyawhere kar sevaks had gathered inlargenumbersandweretryingtoheadtotheBabriMasjid,butpolicehadcordonedoff theapproach.UPwasthenunderMulayamSinghYadavandhehadgivenclearinstructionsthatnoharmshouldcometotheBabriMasjid.Butthekarsevaksdidstormthedisputedprem-isesontwodays,October30andNovember2,andat least16werekilledinpolicefiring.Reporters like me kept returning to

Ayodhya in themonths that followed. TheVHPwould announce some sort of kar sevaor temple-relatedworkeverynowandthen,but away from thedisputed site. Thiswouldangerthekarsevakswhoonlywantedtoscalethe walls and plant saffron flags atop thedomes. Anyone could tell that the BabriMasjid’sdayswerenumbered.The driver of the rickety Ambassador I

wouldrentformydailyrunsfromtheShaneAvadh hotel in Faizabad to Ayodhyawas aMuslim.ItintriguedmethateachtimeIwouldsay IhavetogotoAyodhya,Afzalwouldturnaroundandask, “Janmasthan?”.Oneday, heexplained. “Everyone here believes it’s theJanmasthan. Idon’tknowthat,butwhoamItodecide.So, I alsocall it Janmasthan.RamisMaryadaPurushottam.Muslims, inanycase,don’tgothere.Maybe,iftheVHPhadn’tcome,and the politicians hadn’t come,wewouldhavelettheHindustakeit.Notnow,notany-more.Chheenkelenapadega(youwillhavetosnatchit fromus).”Afzal didn’t know it, I didn’t know it, but

hewasright.ItwassnatchedonDecember6,1992.Andtoday,officially liberated.

[email protected]

For the Parivar, August 5 isthe realisation of a dream,the end of a journey and thestart of another. It alsomarks one year of theabrogation of Article 370 andthe bifurcation of the state ofJammu & Kashmir into twoUnion Territories. Article370 and the Ram templewere two ideological issuesthat the BJP, in the NDA’searlier avatar under AtalBihari Vajpayee, had beenforced to place on thebackburner due to coalitioncompulsions.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,AUGUST6,2020WORDLYWISE

Newmarkets couldbecreatedbyruralpotentials,whichcouldleadtorise in the

employment.— A P J ABDUL KALAMTHEEDITORIALPAGE

ASSAM TALKSTHESTAGEWASset on thenight of August5 for the formal talks to attempt to a solu-tion to thevexed foreigners' issuewith thegovernmentannouncing itsdecision to re-ciprocate fully theAssamagitationists'ges-ture towards implementing the July 25 ac-cord. The formal talks have been plannedon August 18 at Shillong, the seat of theGovernor, it was officially announced. Theformaltalksaretobeprecededbyaprelim-inary round of discussions between theleaders of AASU and AAGP and ManipurChief Minister Dorendra Singh, who au-thored the accord as PrimeMinister IndiraGandhi's special envoy.

PRICE CONTROLUNIONCIVILSUPPLIESMinisterVCShukla,toldtheRajyaSabhatodaythat thegovern-ment would seriously consider imposingprice controls on certain commodities asdemandedbyamember. Shuklamadethisremarkinresponsetothevariousdemandsand suggestions made by SadashivBagaitkar (MP, Lok Dal) to control the risein prices. Replying to various points raisedbymembers during a discussion on a call-ing-attentionmotionon the currentprice-rise, he said the government would takestringent steps against hoarders and blackmarketeers.Theministersaidhehopedthatvarious steps already taken and proposed

to be taken on the price front would startyielding results in thenext sixmonths.

DISORDER IN HOUSETHEREWAS COMPLETE pandemonium inthe Lok sabha for 40minutes on August 5.It started immediately after thediscussionon the short-notice question on the west-ern Kosi Canal Board was over and endedwiththeharassedSpeakerreadilyacceptinga suggestion from Farooq Abdullah thatthe House be adjourned for lunch. For atleast the first30minutes,nothingcouldbeheard as more than a score of memberswere on their feet, shouting at the top oftheir voice.

AUGUST 6, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

WITH MGNREGA’S HELPIthashelpedmitigate increasedruraldistressduetoCovid.Now, focusongettingpeoplebacktonormalwork

THEMGNREGAHAScreated153.16croreperson-daysofemploymentdur-ingApril-July.Notonly is thiswayhigherthanthe107.24person-days forthecorrespondingfourmonthsof lastfiscal,butalsosignificantcomparedto the267.96croreand265.35croreperson-daysgenerated in thewholeof2018-19and2019-20,respectively.Moreover, it isnecessarytonotethat

April was awashoutmonth.With the focus of administrations then on enforcing thelockdown, the11.93croreperson-daysof employmentwas less thanhalf of thatduringthesamemonthlastyear.Therealramp-uphappenedinMay(50.88croreperson-days)and June (61.44crore, anall-time-high), before falling to28.91crore in July.Inshort,MGNREGAhasdonewhat it isexpectedtodoeveninnormal times:Provide

workinruralareasduringthepeaksummermonthswhentherabicropwouldalreadyhavebeen harvested and kharif plantings are still to gather pace. The current times have, ofcourse,beenfarfromnormal.MGNREGAisintendedprimarilyasanemploymentschemeforunskilledruralmanualworkers.Thistimeround,though,itwassupposedtoalsocatertomigrantlabourersreturningtotheirvillages.Whiletherearereportsofevenengineersand graduates enrolling forwork, it’s clear howwidespread this phenomenon is. Also,MGNREGAguaranteesonly100daysofworktoalladultmembersofaruralhouseholdatwagerates ranging fromas lowasRs190 inChhattisgarh toRs309 inHaryana.Clearly, itcannotsubstituteforwhatthereturningmigrant labourerswereearningasdrivers,elec-tricians,plumbers,masonsandcarpentersorevenasless-skilledsecurityguardsandload-ers in factories. It translates intotemporaryrelief atbest.Overall, theModi government has done the right thing by stepping up allocations

both forMGNREGAandPDSgrains.But in theend,MGNREGAcannotbeanymore thana scheme that provides employment during the agricultural lean season for landlesslabourersandmarginalcultivators.Now,thefocushastobeongettingpeople, includingthemigrant labourers, back tonormalwork.

Rohini Hattangadi

TO SIR, WITH GRATITUDEEbrahimAlkaziwasmeticulousabout thecraftof theatre, andacaringguru

I REACHEDDELHI a few days early for theshootingofGandhi, topreparemyself fortherole by learning to spin the charkha, speakEnglishcorrectlyandtakeelocutionlessons.Asmyfirstshootdaywasapproaching, Iwaseager tomeetmy guru, EbrahimAlkazi andget his blessings. I knew he didn’t like thetouching-feetstuff.IgottoknowfromKusumHaider,myelocution teacherwhohadbeenhisstudentaswell,thathewasgoingtobeinTriveniArtGallery.Ireachedthereandhere-ceivedmewith a radiant smile.When Iwasin front of him, I didn’t knowwhat to say. Ithinkhe readmymindandknewthat Iwasstrugglingwithwords,asalways.Forhalf anhour,wetalked,mostlyhim.WhenIwasleav-ing,hewalkedmetothecarandopenedthedoor like a truegentleman. Experiences liketheseremainwithyouforever.IamwhereIambecauseofhim.Ihadfirst

heardofAlkazifrommyfather,whohadseenhimonstage.WhenIwasapplyingforacen-tral government scholarship to study an artform, I sawthat therewasspacetowrite thenames of the institution and the guruwewanted to studywith. For singing, dancingandfolksongs,youcouldnameaguru.Inthe-atre, what could we say? My father said,“Write NSD in the space for institution and,underguru,writeEbrahimAlkazi.”AlkaziwasheadingtheNationalSchoolofDramaandhewasthereonthe interviewpanel.

As a teacher, he wanted to show us somany things. He used to teach usWesternDrama, fromWilliam Shakespeare to JohnOsborne and TennesseeWilliams. Hewasparticular about classwork and if youdidn’tdoyourwork, hewouldpull youup in frontofthewholeclass.Hemadeusexperienceallkinds of art. Hewas a painter himself. Oncehe took us to a national exhibition of paint-ings andexplained toushowto see apaint-ing.Anothertime,hemadeusstudytheartsandcraftsofMohenjoDaroandHarappaandtheGuptaperiod.Inmy first year, I wasworking on a play

and there was some confusion about thecharacter.ThelibrarianatNSDsaidthatAlkazisahebgoestotheopen-airtheatre,Meghdoot,andsitsthereandworkssoyougotheredur-inglunchandaskhimaboutyourrole.That’swhenIsawAlkazi’smeticulousness.Hewassitting at a small tablewith a script. He hadsharpenedthree-fourpencilsandtherewerefourdifferent colouredpens anda ruler andan eraser. I gatheredmy courage and ap-proached him. He smiled and askedme totake a pencil andmark the script as he in-structed. I tookoutmypencilandsawthat itwas blunt and wouldn’t write. Sir said,“Rohini,yourmindisasbluntasyourpencil...Sharpen it!” This was a lesson for life. Youhavetobealert,observant,absorbent.It was funwatching himdirect a play --

his cheeky comments, howhe directed ac-tors’movementsonstageandhandledcrowdscenes, spectacular sets and space.Weper-formed in the open-air theatre as well asmonumentssuchasPuranaQila.Hehad amixedpersonality as a teacher.

Hecould scoldyouorplayfully tell youyourmistakes. IwasplayingSultanRaziaandhada habit of twitchingmywristwhen I took amovement.Oneday,duringrehearsalinfrontof thewhole school, hemimickedme and IwassoashamedIcorrectedmyself instantly.Ontheotherhand,hewasextremelycaring.I was rehearsing a sword fight with RatanThiyam and something went amiss. Theswordgrazedmyjawlineand,thoughitwas-n’tadeepcut,therewasblood.Weignoreditandwent back to our practice. Alkazi sawwhathadhappened.Heshouted, “Stop”.Hecheckedmy injury, calledapersonandsaid,“Takehertoadoctorandgetheratetanusin-jection.”Sir, I always wanted you to come and

watch at least one ofmy plays after leavingNSD. I wanted you to see your pupil doingwellandwalkingonthepathyoushowedandguidedusto.Itneverhappened.ButIamsure,youwereawareofeverystudentofyoursandwhat they are doing. Thank you for comingintomylife.Thankyouforbeingatrueguru.

Thewriter isanactress

I was rehearsing a swordfight for with Ratan Thiyamand something went amiss.The sword grazed my jawlineand, though it wasn't a deepcut, there was blood. Weignored it and went back toour practice. Alkazi sawwhat had happened. Heshouted, ‘Stop’. He checkedmy injury, called a personand said, ‘Take her to adoctor and get her a tetanusinjection’.

Destination Janmasthan

New Delhi

9THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,AUGUST6,2020 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

There is a danger that the Covid-19 experiment in working from home willtrigger a paradigm shift that will mostly benefit the bottom line ofbusinesses and their senior employees

— THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

I must emphasise that it iscertainly not my case thatthese bogeys — andcountless others — are allfalse or bogus. What can be amore real threat that fascismor totalitarian thought inany democracy striving topreserve its freedoms?COVID-19, likewise, hasproven to be a massiveattested danger in almost allthe world’s nations. Howthen can we possibly includeit in a list of ‘bogeys’? Mypoint here is that the seeds ofbogey-ism are only plantedwhen we start callingCOVID-19, for example, the‘China-virus’, letting it drag awhole people in its wake, orwhen we infantiliseThunberg as an ‘autisticchild’.

For Covid, an empathy primer New equality,enduring changes

AUGUST5marked the first anniversary ofthe abrogation of the special status ofJammuandKashmirandconversionof theerstwhilestateintotwoUnionTerritories—JammuandKashmirandLadakh.Butmorethanallthis, ithasmeanttheconstitutionalmainstreaming of this erstwhile state andanendtotheshameful,discriminatoryandundemocratic policies pursued by an en-trenchedeliteforsevendecades.Inone suddenpolitical strike, executed

with surgical precision a year ago, PrimeMinisterNarendraModiandHomeMinisterAmitShahabrogatedtheprovisions—Article370andArticle35A--thatwentagainstthecorevaluesofourConstitutionandensuredthatfinallyeveryoneinJammuandKashmirsecuredtherightsandprivilegesavailabletocitizensalloverthecountry.Lookingatthechangesbroughtaboutin

the past 12months, it is obvious that theUnion government has pulled out all thestops to ensure that everyone living in thetwoUnionTerritorieswould get a senseoftheegalitarianprinciplesthatarefirmlyem-beddedinIndia’sConstitution.Thesedevel-opmentsextendtoawiderangeofissueslikesocialandpoliticalequality,education,jobs,reservationsandotherrightsenjoyedbytheunderprivilegedintherestof thecountry.It is indeed creditable that the govern-

ment has ensured that all this has beenachievedwithinaspanof12months.Forthefirst time after seven decades, the IndianConstitutionandallthe890Centrallawsarefully applicable to J&K. This hasmeant theapplicationof170moreCentrallawstoJ&K,including progressive laws such as theScheduledCaste and the Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1954, theWhistle Blowers ProtectionAct, 2014, theNationalCommissionforSafaiKaramcharisAct, 1993, the Scheduled Tribes andOtherTraditionalForestDwellers (RecognitionofForests Rights) Act, 2007, the NationalCommission forMinorities Act, and theRight of Children to Free and CompulsoryEducationAct,2009.Thequestionweneedtoask iswhythe

leadershipof theCongress,Leftpartiesandthe state parties did not allow such cruciallawswhichprotecttheDalitsandotherdis-advantaged groups to be implemented inthe erstwhile state for all these years.Another discriminatory legal provision,whichpreventedwomeninJ&Kfromretain-ing their rights if theymarried outside thestate,hasbeenputtoanend.The treatmentmeted out to around

10,000municipal workers (safai karam-charis) in the erstwhile statewas equallyshameful.Theyweredeniedcitizenship,ac-cesstoeducationandjobs.Now,themunic-ipalworkershavebecomelegitimatedomi-cilesintheUnionTerritorywithaccesstoallrightsandprivilegesandtheDalitsandthetribalcommunitieshavegottheirdue,asin

otherstates.Howcouldsuchdiscriminationhappenwithinthegeographyofindepend-ent,democraticIndiaalltheseyears?Whatexplanation do the Nehru-Gandhis, theAbdullahs, theMuftis, the Congress Party,thecommunists and their fellowtravellershaveforthis?Whydidthecommunists,theso-called standard-bearers of theworkingclass,nottakeupthecauseoftheDalitsandsafaikaramcharis inJ&K?Apart from these initiatives, the last 12

months have seen several othermomen-tousdevelopments. The firstof these is therehabilitationof theKashmiriPandits,whowerehoundedoutoftheValley30yearsagobymilitants.TheethniccleansingofnearlyfourlakhKashmirisbelongingtotheHinduminorityremainedablotonIndia’ssecularcredentials. In the year gone by, 4,000 ofthemhavegotjobsintheUTandmanyoth-ers are listed for employment. Also, over20,000 refugees fromWest Pakistan,whoweretreatedasaliens intheirowncountryanddeniedallrights,havebeengivendomi-cilerightsandfinancialassistanceofRs5.50lakhperfamily.The follow-up after the constitution of

the twoUnion Territories has been swift.Simpleruleshavebeenformulatedforissu-ingdomicilecertificates—thiswillcreateamuch-neededlevel-playingfieldforallres-idents. The J&K government has also initi-ated amassive recruitment drive to fill up10,000 vacancies in the local government;anotherdrivetofillup25,000postsisinthepipeline.Alsoontheanvil are revisedrulestoenablethehithertodisadvantagedgroupslike Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and economi-callyweakersectionstogetemployment.Othermeasureswhich have ensured

mainstreaming of the region are the en-forcement of the Right to InformationAct,2005, direct supervision of the CentralVigilanceCommissionwith regard toanti-corruption cases and the setting up of the18th Bench of the Central AdministrativeTribunal(CAT)fortheUTsofJ&KandLadakh.ThedecisiontomakeLadakhaseparate

UnionTerritoryhasbeenhailedbythepeo-ple of the region. It seemed inevitable be-causeof thediscriminationsufferedbytheregion at the hands of the political leader-ship of the erstwhile state. TheUnion gov-ernment has initiated innumerablemeas-ures to put Ladakh on the road todevelopment. This includeswork onmas-siveinfrastructureprojects inboththeUTs.Oneyearago,theCPMdescribedtheab-

rogationas “anattackondemocracy, secu-larismandtheConstitution”.Equallyamus-ing was the statement of the Congressleader, Rahul Gandhi that “the nation ismadebyitspeople,notplotsofland”.Really?If so, are not the Kashmiri Pandits, Dalits,tribal folk,municipalworkers,people?As one sees the fundamental changes

broughtabout in the twoUTs, theyremindusof themonstrous failureof theCongressleadershipwhich lacked the courage andconfidence to correct thesewrongs andhencechosetotoutpusillanimityasanactofgreatstatesmanship.Asaresult,J&Kslippedaway from the liberal, secular and demo-cratictraditionsthatIndiastoodfor.Butthatis nowa thingof thepast. It is nowtime tocelebratethenewbeginning.

Thewriter is formerchairman,PrasarBharati

In timesof greatpsychicvulnerability,whenweyearn forauthoritativevoices to leadusoutof confusion,wealsoneedto listentoour 'outsider' selves

“OTHER-ISM”HASBEENpart of the humansemantic arsenal for ages. Here, I propose anewvariantofthisconceptmoresuitedtoourfast-paced, kill-by-scattershot-meme times— namely, “Bogey-ism”. The idea of “theother”, it goeswithout saying, has causedwars, genocides and recurrent epidemics offear,hateandviolenceforprettymuchallthelongarcofourspeciesmemory.Indeed,manysocio-biologists hold that the cognitiveprocesses of “othering” have been an evolu-tionaryconstantacrosscultures.Itseemsaplausiblehypothesis,then,that

aninvestmentincreatingnarrativesofother-nessenabledsocietiestoformstrong,sustain-ingself-imagesinprehistoryaswellashistory.Certainly, epics everywherewouldhave losttheir stuffing ages ago if they did not haveRavanaasafoiltoRama,SpartanstoscaletheTrojanwalls or the repeated confrontationsbetweenLiyongo,theeponymousheroofthegreatSwahiliepic,andhisvindictivebrother,Mringwari,toreinforcenotionsofagood“self”versus its evil “other”. The survival value ofmythsispreciselytheirabilitytopushother-ness as a limit concept, as the penumbraboundaryofanenlightenedselfhood.Morerecently,whentwoworldwarsbru-

tally broke the spine of the 20th century inhalf,decolonisation,massmigrationsandtheredrawing of national borders followed inshort order. As a result, old insider-outsiderdistinctionsweredumpedandeveryonewassuddenlya“designatedother”,asevidencedinwartime classics such as Albert Camus’L’Etranger or The Outsider. Meanwhile, thephilosopher Emmanuel Levinas articulatedan “ethics of the other” inwhich theOtherepitomisedwhat he called “the primordialphenomenonofgentleness”.Gandhi,MartinLutherKingandNelsonMandelaareuncon-testedmodern exemplars of such a strong-willed philosophyof toleration in the politi-calsphere.I want to argue, however, that wemay

needtoimaginetodayamorenimbleandlessportentous cousin of Levinas’ “primordial”Other, onemore suited to the current com-munication technologies that obviously in-cludetheubiquitous24X7cyclesof“breakingnews”, swathes of socialmedia chatter, full-Monty exposures to the spout-mouths ofopinion gurus, and so forth. Thepsychologi-calimpactofthesehostsofjumping-jackstim-ulations via simulations is still unclear, butthere is littledoubt that theyhavephysicallyaffected the circadian rhythms, the sense oflocation and body space of at least half theworld’s population. It stands to reason, then,thatour long-standingperceptionsof other-nesshavealsobeeninfluencedbythesemass-scaleglobalchangesintheperceivedproxim-ity, themobile intimacies,of the“other”.Hence, just as the Princetonphilosopher

Harry Frankfurt suggested in his 2005 best-seller that “bulls**t”was a particular varietyof theblanket noun “lie” thatmost aptly de-scribed a substantial part of US public dis-course, Iwanttosuggestthat“thebogey”isasub-typeoftheancientandbaggyconceptof“the other” thatworks especiallywell as arhetoricaltoolinvirtual,mediatisedcontexts.AccordingtoFrankfurt,“truth”isnoconstraintonapersonseekingtopersuadeorwoooth-ers throughwords; he can saymore or lessanything he likes if not boundby legal oath.Bullsh****ngisnotlying;rather,itissemanticleverage.Now,howaboutbogey-ismasa“dis-

ruptive”formofother-ism?Bogey-ism, as I see it, has at least the fol-

lowinghalf-a-dozenfeatures:One, itderivesitsemotionalenergyfromtheprimalemotionof fear; two, it requires amythic narrativespace inwhich the teller canquickly locatea“scarecrow”enemy,usuallyconjuredupviaasimple stereotypicword or phrase; three, itinvariably infantilises its narrative hearers;four,andrelatedly,itsattitudinalstanceispro-tectiveand“patriarchal”;five, itthrivesinthepolarised environment of populism; and fi-nally,six,itismostlyimmuneto“truth-hood”but canbedissipated, vanquishedor dimin-ishedbyexposuretotheluminousraysofrea-son,scepticism, ironyandirreverence.Sixsimplesentencesthatillustratethepit-

stopsofabogeymannarrativeare:Thebogey-maniscomingtogetyou.Hewillsnatchfromyouyour freedom,health,well-beingandallyourbirthrightsecurities.Hewilldestroywhoyouare, yourprecious, intrinsic selfhood.Hewill turn you into your dreaded other. But Ihave your back andwill save you from thismonstrous scarecrow. Trust inme, then,mydearlybeloveds.Modern nation states are ideologically

structured and so, it follows, are their scare-crows.Asaconsequence,wearequite famil-iarwithahugearrayof bogeys:Communist,capitalist, terrorist, fascist and anti-nationalbogeys;religiousbigotandgodlessatheistbo-geys,genderedbogeysandaliensci-fibogeys;virus,druggie,populationexplosionanduni-versalcorruptioninthedevelopingworldbo-geys. Individualssuchas, let’ssay,AOC,GretaThunberg, Kangana, Sonia, Mayawati orMamatacanalsobepronetobeingportrayedasscarythreatstoaposited“wayof life”.Atthispointthough,Imustemphasisethat

itiscertainlynotmycasethatthesebogeys—andcountlessothers—areall falseorbogus.

What canbe amore real threat that fascismortotalitarianthoughtinanydemocracystriv-ingtopreserveitsfreedoms?COVID-19, like-wise,hasproventobeamassiveattesteddan-gerinalmostalltheworld’snations.Howthencanwepossiblyincludeitinalistof“bogeys”?Mypointhere is that theseedsof bogey-ismareonlyplantedwhenwestartcallingCOVID-19, for example, the “China-virus”, letting itdragawholepeople in itswake,orwhenweinfantiliseThunbergasan“autisticchild”.Further, itwould benaïve to believe that

it is thehistorically or scientifically observed“reality”of bogeys that concernsmostof thecurrentlegionofpopulistleaders.No,thefactis thatNazism, Stalinism,McCarthyismandwhat have you, are too complex a bunch ofphenomena,tooembeddedintheintricaciesofhistory,toexplainatpainfullengthtothosealready suffering frommind-boggling infor-mation overload. The health hazards posedbya coronavirus similarly require apatient’srespect for expert knowledge accompaniedby the humbling acknowledgement thatmuchaboutsuchvirusesremainsmysteriouseventoexperts.Theseare timesof greatpsychicvulnera-

bilitywhenweyearnforauthoritative“pater-nal”voicestoleadusoutofthedesertsofcon-fusion, todirectour intuitivesensesof panic,loathing and resentment. Populist rhetoricmustthusmakeswiftplayforsourcesof fearnearest to home, be they Mexicans orMuslims,taxmenandthugs;itmustbeabletopullabunchoffavouritescarecrowsoutof itscloset at immediate notice. Tomymind, thebestantidotetoanysuchfear-mongeringtac-ticsistolistentoour“outsider”selveswithin-telligentempathy.Solet’sbogey,shallwe?

Thewriter isprofessor,DepartmentofHumanitiesandSocial Sciences, IITDelhi

Rukmini BhayaNair

PIETY OR POLITICS?THISREFERSTO the article ‘Ram, Iwillnotfind youthere’ (IE, July5).Ramwasapossessorof universal humanvaluesand traits. Unfortunately self-pro-claimedupholdersofhislegacyareus-ing his name for their divisive project.Thecostlyconsecrationof Ram’s birthplace with silverbrickswillonly keephim outof thereachofhisadherents. Itwill divert our attention fromwhat hestood for resolutely.

TarsemSingh,Mahilpur

THIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'In thename of Ram'(IE, August 5). On theauspicious daywhen our honourablePrimeMinisterconductedbhoomipu-jan for the RamMandir at Ayodhya,manyopposition leaders, regionalpo-litical parties and intellectuals weretrying to politicise the matter. Weshould see and respect this day for itsimportancetoourcountryasawhole.Apart frombeingareligiousattraction,the temple will lead to a surge intourism. On this important day wemuststandtogetherascitizensof Indiatowelcomeandcherishing the event.

AyushiSingh,Agra

MILK WOESTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'COVIDand milk', (IE, August 4). There has

been amilk glut both in the domesticand international markets for someyears now, resulting in a steep fall inprices of dairy products nmajor con-sumer markets. The pandemic in-duced economic slowdown and fre-quent lockdowns have disrupted theusualdemandfordairyproducts inthedomestic market. The governmentshould consider procuring skimmedmilk powder from the dairy coopera-tivesanddistribute it among theben-eficiariesofnutritional supportunderAnganwadiandmiddaymeal schemeto compensate for the sudden fall indomestic demand.

SudipKumarDey,Kolkata

LETTER TO THEEDITOR

THEAUSPICIOUSbhoomipujan for the con-structionoftheRamJanmabhoomiTempleatAyodhya is done. The pujanwas donewithproperrituals,withPrimeMinisterNarendraModiperformingthechiefpuja.Thishistoriceventmarkstheendofa35-year-longdispute.The Ram Janmabhoomi movement

started under the leadership of the VishwaHinduParishad(VHP)andtheCongressthenhad an overwhelmingmajority andwas inpowernot justat theCentrebutalso inmostofthestates.RajivGandhiwastheprimemin-ister. His teamhad rejected theproposal forthe construction of the Ram JanmabhoomiTemple. This rejectionwas almost a dreamcome true for the VHP. Capitalising on themoment,theVHPpresentedtheCongressasstandingagainstthedeity,Ram,andthepartywith just twoLokSabhaseatsat the time, astheonestandingwithhim.Theyear2020markspeaceandtranquil-

lity for Ayodhya and the credit for this goesentirely toModi. After taking oath as primeminister,hehadunequivocallyremarkedthatthe construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi

Templewill be donewithin constitutionalboundariesandhehaskepthisword.During the Ram Janmabhoomimove-

ment, therewas fierce opposition to it fromseveralquartersandthissometimesledtovi-olentclashes.But,not this time.Today, thereisnooneagainsttheconstructionofthetem-ple. Congress leader PriyankaGandhi VadrasaidthatRamisineveryoneandRamiswitheveryone. She added that the spirit of thebhoomipujanonAugust5shouldbeanocca-sionfornationalunity,fraternityandculturalcongregation. She also talked about Kabir’s,Tulsidas’s andother great saints’ versions ofRam.Inaway,shehasannouncedthattherewill be no opposition from the Congress intheconstructionofthetemple.Whileshehasnotsaidsoexplicitly,itappearsfromtheflowofherlanguagethatshehaskeptModi’sRaminthesameleagueastheothers.People who saw the inception of Ram

Janmabhoomimovement in 1986 arewellaware of the violence that took place in thenameoftheBabriMasjiddemolitionandtheconstruction of Ram Janmabhoomi temple.

They also know that this could have beenavoided if PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi hadgiven the same response that his daughterhasnow.

The construction of the RamJanmabhoomi temple is being donewithinthescopeoftheIndianConstitution.Thesig-nificant point that cannot bemissed is thatModi has kept the BJP's sister organisationsliketheBajrangDalundercontrol.Extremistleadershavebeenflushedoutof thesystem.It looks likeModihasgivenamessagethat itiswithmutual brotherhood that the nationcanmarchaheadnotwithmutualenmity. Itisclearthathewantstorunagovernmentinthe spirit of Jeremy Bentham's principle ofthe“greatestgoodfor thegreatestnumber”.The construction of the temple com-

menced on August 5, and exactly one yearago, Article 370was abrogated. Thiswas anequally important goal for the RSS. The BJP,from the time of its parent organisation theJanaSangh,hasbeenagainsttheinclusionofArticle 370 in the Constitution. The founderof JanaSangh,SyamaPrasadMookerjeehad

gone to Kashmir for the same purpose andduring that visit, he lost his life. At the JanaSangh’sKanpursessionof1952,aresolutionopposing the special status for Jammu andKashmirwaspassed.Thepuppet leaders inKashmir, fromthe

verystart,atthebehestofPakistan,havebeenopposing and protesting anymove to abro-gateArticle370.Evenafterknowingthatit isa temporary provision, subsequent govern-ments—fearingadisturbanceinKashmirandthecountryasawhole—neverhadthepolit-icalwilltomakeithappen.Modihasmadeitpossible.Hehasalsoshownthepuppetlead-ersofKashmirtheirplace.Themostinterest-ing point to note here is that, during thiswholeexercise,therehasbeenzeroviolenceinthecountry.By putting an end to decades-old prob-

lemsthatcompromisedpeaceandharmonyforyears,Modicomesoutasahighly-skilledpolitician, who commands respect evenamonghisopponents.

Thewriter isapoliticalanalyst

AbrogationofArticle370,settlingofRamMandirdispute,signalsnewbeginning

A long awaited resolutionSheshNarayan Singh

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●● KASHMIR,UNKEPTPROMISES:

FAIZANMUSTAFA

●●LISTENTOTHEYOUNGSTERS:DIVYAMUKAND

www.indianexpress.com

ASurya Prakash

CR Sasikumar

AbrogationofArticles370and35Ahasbroughtpeopleof J&Kinto theambitof egalitarian laws,

createdpossibilitiesof development

New Delhi

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,AUGUST5

A 55-YEAR-OLD Dalit womanandher25-year-oldsonwereal-legedly assaulted at a village inMansa taluka of Gujarat’sGandhinagar,onAugust2and3,whenthesonrefusedtopickupthe carcass of a cow from thehouseof theaccused.Police had initially held the

accused man in a prohibitioncase on August 3, when hewasfound in a drunken state afterhaving allegedly assaulted thevictims. However, SurehsinhChavdagotbailthenextdayandfled the village before policecouldnabhimintheScheduledCaste and Scheduled Tribe(PreventionofAtrocities) case.AccordingtoanFIRlodgedat

Mansa police station, the inci-dentoccurredinRangpurvillageofMansatalukainGandhinagar,when Ranjan Parmar (55) andKuldeep Parmar (25), residentsof Rangpur village, were as-saultedbySureshsinhChavda.An FIR was lodged against

Chavda on August 3 under sec-tions of the Prohibition Act.Another FIRwas lodgedagainsthimonAugust4undersectionsof the SC/ST (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act and IPC sections323forvoluntarilycausinghurt,504 for insult and506 for crim-inal intimidation.Ranjan saidChavda reached

herresidenceinadrunkenstateand started hurling casteistabuses. “He then started to as-saultme,afterwhichmyneigh-bours intervened and savedme,”shesaid.

ANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

THE SUPREME Court onWednesday referred petitionschallenging the Constitutionamendment introducing 10percentquotainjobsandadmissionsforEconomicallyWeakerSections(EWS)toafive-judgebench,say-ing it involves “substantial ques-tionsof law”.“It is the caseof thepetition-

ers, that the very amendmentsruncontrarytotheconstitutionalscheme,andnosegmentofavail-able seats/posts canbe reserved,onlyonthebasisofeconomiccri-terion.Assuch,weareoftheviewthatsuchquestionsdoconstitutesubstantialquestionsof lawtobeconsidered by a Bench of fiveJudges,” ruled a bench of ChiefJustice of India S A Bobde andJusticesRSubhashReddyandBRGavai.“Whether the impugned

Amendment Act violates basicstructure of theConstitution, byapplying the tests of ‘width’ and‘identity’withreferencetoequal-ityprovisionsoftheConstitution,isamatterwhichconstitutessub-stantialquestionoflawwithinthemeaningof theprovisions as re-ferredabove.Further,onthepleaofceilingof50%foraffirmativeac-tion, it is the case of the respon-dent-Unionof India that thoughordinarily50%istherulebutsame

will not prevent to amend theConstitution itself in viewof theexistingspecial circumstances toupliftthemembersofthesocietybelonging to economicallyweakersections.Evensuchques-tionsalsoconstituteassubstantialquestionsof law tobeexaminedby a Bench of five Judges as perArticle145(3)of theConstitutionreadwithOrderXXXVIIIRule1(1)of the Supreme Court of Rules,2013,”thebenchadded.The bench also ordered that

petitionsontheissuependingbe-fore different High Courts betransferred to the five-judgebench.Thepetitions challenged the

constitutional validity of TheConstitution (OneHundred andThirdAmendment)Act, 2019,bywhichaclause(6)wasintroducedinArticles15and16.Article15(6)empowersstates

tomakespecialprovision for ad-vancementofanyEWSotherthanthosementioned in clauses (4)and(5)andtomakeaspecialpro-visionontheiradmissiontoedu-cational institutions—-includingaidedorunaidedprivate ones—other thanminority educationalinstitutions referred to in clause(1)ofArticle30.Thiswillbeinad-ditiontoexistingreservationsandsubject to amaximumof 10percentoftotalseatsineachcategory.Article 16(6) empowers the

state tomake any provision forreservation of appointments or

posts in favourof anyEWSotherthanclassesmentionedinclause(4), in addition to the existingreservationandsubjecttoamax-imumof 10 per cent of posts ineachcategory.The petitioners contended

that the amendments are ultraviresastheyalterthebasicstruc-tureof theConstitution.Theyar-gued that the amendments runcontrarytothedictuminthema-jority judgment in the1992caseIndraSawhney&Ors.V.UnionofIndia, that a backward class can-not be determinedonly and ex-clusivelywith reference to eco-nomiccriterion.Theyalsoarguedthatreservationinunaidedinsti-tutionsviolates the fundamentalrightunderArticle19(1)(g)oftheConstitution.Countering this, the Centre

saidtheamendmentwasnecessi-tatedtobenefitEWSwhoarenotcoveredunder existing schemesofreservation,whichasperstatis-tics, constitute a considerablylarge segment of the country’spopulation.The Centre also contended

that the ratio in the IndiraSawhney ruling that economicbackwardnesscannotbethesolecriterionforidentifyingbackwardclasses cannot be applied in thepresentpetitionsastheSawhneycase dealtwithmemoranda is-sued by the governmentwhilewhat isunderchallengenowisaconstitutionalamendment.


AMIDTHEheightened tensionsbetween India and China, theEducationMinistryWednesdayheld a meeting with theUniversity Grants Commissionand representatives of higher

educationinstitutionstoreviewtheworkofConfucius InstitutesandClassrooms.Seven institutions running

ConfuciusInstitutes,includingOPJindalUniversity,VelloreInstituteof Technology and LovelyProfessionalUniversity,attendedthemeeting. However, no deci-sionwastaken,saidsources.Overtheyears,theConfucius

Institutesacross theworldhavefaced scrutiny and criticism forallegedly spreading Chinesepropaganda. In thewake of re-ports that Indiawasplanning toreview their functioning, theChineseEmbassyTuesdayaskedNewDelhito“avoidpoliticising”

normalcooperation.Agovernmentsourceawareof

themeeting’s proceedings said:“Someofthem(universities)haveshareddetailednotesonactivitiesundertakenbythelocalchapteroftheConfucius Institutes on theircampuses.Othershaveaskedformore time to submitdetails. TheInternationalCooperationCell oftheUGCwillgothroughtheirsub-missions.Theremaybeafollow-upmeeting."Asimilarreviewwillbeunder-

takenofallMoUsandhigher-ed-ucation cooperationagreementssignedbetween Indianuniversi-ties and their counterparts inothercountries, thispersonsaid.

Education Ministry meeting to reviewConfucius Institutes ends with no decision

Dalit woman,son assaulted for‘refusing to pickup cow carcass’

SC refers anti-EWSquotapleas to five-judge bench

BASHAARATMASOOD&NAVEEDIQBALSRINAGAR,AUGUST5

THE J&K administration onWednesday prevented ameet-ingofmainstreampoliticallead-ers convened by former ChiefMinister and NationalConference president FarooqAbdullahathisGupkarRoadres-idence.OnAugust4 lastyear, allmainstreampolitical leaders intheValleymetatthesameplace,resulting in the GupkarDeclaration.While the road leading to

Abdullah’sresidencewasblockedby policewith concertinawireandarmouredvehicles,leadersofmainstream parties invited byAbdullah were not allowed tomoveoutof theirhouses.Even as the government on

Tuesday evening announced

that curfew had been lifted inSrinagar,civilianmovementwasstrictly restricted in thecityandother parts of the Valley; roadswerebarricadedandpolicemensaidtheyhadstrictorderstoim-posecurfew.“One year on, this is Gupkar

Road today -policevehiclesop-positeourgates,concertinawirestrungacrosstheroadatregularintervals &no vehicles allowed.My father had called ameeting

of leadersofmainstreampartiestodeliberateonthecurrentsitu-ation,” former CM andNC vice-president Omar Abdullahtweeted. “Oneyear later theau-thoritiesarestill tooafraid toal-low us tomeetmuch less carryoutanynormalpoliticalactivity.This fear speaks volumes aboutthetruesituationonthegroundinKashmir.”As local BJP leaders hoisted

theTricolourinpartsoftheValleyto celebrate one year of abroga-tionof J&K’sspecialstatus,OmartermeditBJP’s “hypocrisy”.“BJP displaying its hypocrisy.

Theycangather&celebrate.Therest of us can’t evenmeet todis-cusswhat’s happening in J&K,”Omarsaidinanothertweet.The BJP marked the day by

hoisting the national flag at theparty headquarters at Srinagarand other locations in the dis-tricts. InSrinagar,BJPspokesper-

sonAltafThakursaid,“Todaythedream of BJP founder SyamaPrasadMookerjeestandsfulfiledas there is only Ek Pradhan, EkNishanandEkSamvidhaan.”OnTuesdayAbdullahhadin-

vitedpolitical leaders tohis res-idenceto“deliberateonthecur-rent situation”. He had invitedleaders of the PDP, Congress,Peoples Conference and othersmallerparties.The leaders, however,

weren’t allowed to leave theirresidences.“Ourpartypresident(GhulamAhmadMir)was sup-posed to attend themeeting,”Congressvice-presidentGhulamNabi Monga said. “But he wasnotallowedtomoveout.”Rajya Sabha member Mir

Mohammad Fayaz, who wassupposed to represent the PDPin themeeting, said hewas notallowed by the police tomoveout. “Even in the evening, I

wantedtovisitmysister,butwasstopped. They are not allowingmetomoveout,”hesaid.As thePDPobserveda ‘black

day’, party spokespersonSuhailBukhari said their leaders andfunctionaries were detainedaheadof plannedprotests.PDP general secretary

SurinderChoudharyalongwithother workers protested inJammuwhile PDP youth wingprovincialsecretaryArifLaigrooand other party activistsprotested inSrinagar.CPMleaderMYTarigamisaid

hewastoldthathecannotattendthemeeting. “As Iwaspreparingto leave,my security personnelinformedthatIamnotallowedtomove out,” he told The IndianExpress.“Butwewillnotgiveup.”“Locks on gates, lock downs

as celebrations and lies as de-fenceshasbeen thehallmarkoflastyear…,”Tarigami tweeted.

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

A YEAR after special status ofJammu and Kashmir underArticle370wasrevoked,ChinaonWednesdayraisedtheissueofthesituation in J&K at the UnitedNations SecurityCouncil inNewYork. Thisisthethirdtimetheis-suehasbeenraisedsincelastyear— J&Kwas raised in August lastyearandagaininJanuarythisyear,butlikepreviousoccasions,therewasnoresolution.Sourcessaid itwasraisedun-

der “any other business” in themeeting.PakistanForeignminis-ter Shah Mahmood Qureshitweeted, “This 3rdmeeting in ayear by theUNSecurity CouncilservesasastarkrepudiationtotheIndian claim that Jammu andKashmirisan‘internalmatter’.”Earlier in theday, Chinaonce

again called India’smove in J&K“illegalandinvalid”,withIndiare-actingsharply to this, sayingthatBeijing has “no locus standi” onthematter.In Beijing, Chinese Foreign

Ministry spokesperson WangWenbinsaid,inresponsetoques-tions, “China closely follows thesituation in theKashmir region.OurpositionontheKashmirissueis consistent and clear. First, theKashmirissueisadisputeleftoverfromhistory between Pakistanand India,which is an objectivefactestablishedbytheUNCharter,relevant SecurityCouncil resolu-tionsandbilateralagreementsbe-

tweenPakistanandIndia.“Second,anyunilateralchange

to the status quo in theKashmirregionisillegalandinvalid.Third,theKashmir region issue shouldbe properly and peacefully re-solvedthroughdialogueandcon-sultationbetweenthepartiescon-cerned.”In response, Ministry of

External Affairs spokespersonAnuragSrivastavasaid,“Wehavenoted the comments of theChineseMFAspokespersonontheUnion Territory of Jammu andKashmir.TheChinesesidehasnolocus standiwhatsoever on thismatterandisadvisednottocom-ment on the internal affairs ofothernations.”InGeneva,meanwhile,UNhu-

manrightsexpertscalledonIndiaandtheinternationalcommunitytotake“urgentaction”toaddressthe“alarming”humanrightssitu-ation in the region. “If Indiawillnot takeanygenuineand imme-diatestepstoresolvethesituation,meet their obligations to investi-gate historic and recent cases ofhumanrightsviolationsandpre-ventfutureviolations,thenthein-ternational community shouldstepup,”theexpertssaid.These UN experts include

AgnèsCallamard,specialrappor-teuronextrajudicial,summaryorarbitrary executions; AhmedShaheed, special rapporteur onfreedomofreligionorbelief;andClémentNyaletsossi Voule, spe-cial rapporteur on rights to free-domofpeacefulassemblyandofassociation,amongothers.

Tightsecurity inSrinagarWednesday. ShuaibMasoodi

August 5 anniversary: Strict restrictions inValley, meeting called by Farooq stopped

GUJARAT

China raises J&K issueat Security CouncilThird timematter raisedsinceAug2019

New Delhi


THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

USATROPICAL STORMKILLS 6 ONEASTCOASTAt least six people were killed as Tropical Storm Isaias spawned tornadoes anddumped rain Tuesday along the US East Coast after making landfall as a hurricanein North Carolina, where it caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people.

BRITAIN

MeghanwinslegalbattletokeepfriendsanonymousMEGHAN,THEDuchessofSussex,wonacourtbattleonWednesdaytokeepthenamesoffiveofherfriendsprivate for the timebeingas part of her legal actionagainstaBritishtabloid,PAMedia reported.Meghan,wifeofPrinceHarry, issu-ing AssociatedNewspapers over articlesinitsMailonSundaypaperthatincludedpartsofalet-ter shehadsent toheres-tranged father, ThomasMarkle,inAugust2018.Aspartof itsdefence, thepa-perarguesthatithadpub-lished the letter in re-sponse to an article inPeoplemagazine whichwasbasedonanonymousinterviews with five ofMeghan’sfriends.

Meghan, theDuchessof Sussex.Reuters

TOPOFTHEWORLD

BANGLADESH

17deadafterboatcapsizesAPASSENGERboatcarryingabout 50people, includingmadrassa students andteachers, capsized onWednesday in northernBangladesh,killingatleast17people,accordingtoamediareport. The incident hap-penedinNetrokonadistrict’sMadanupazila, theDhakaTribune reported. A total of48 people, includingmadrassa students andteachers,fromMymensingh,boardedtheboatforacruise.So far, 17bodies havebeenrecovered, 30 people havebeenrescuedalive,whileonepassenger remainsmissing,anofficial ofMadanupazilawasquotedby thepaper assaying.

USA

SEALscuttieswithmuseumoverKaepernickvideoTHE COMMANDER of theUSNavySEALssaidtheunitwill suspend its support ofthe National Navy SEALMuseum,anonprofitorgan-isationnot overseenby themilitary after videos sur-facedonlineof dogsattack-ing amanwearing a ColinKaepernick jersey during ademonstration. “Each andeveryoneofusservestopro-tectourfellowAmericans—ALL Americans. Even theperceptionthatourcommit-menttoservingthemenandwomenof thisnation is ap-plied unevenly is destruc-tive,” Rear Admiral CollinGreen,whoheadstheNavalSpecialWarfareCommand,saidinanemailtohisforces.

MARIYAMAGUCHIHIROSHIMA,AUGUST5

THE ATOMIC bomb that ex-plodedoverHiroshima75yearsagodidn’t justkill andmaim.Thesurvivorshavealsolived

for decades with lingeringshame, anger and fear.Many inJapanbelievedradiationsicknessis infectiousorhereditary.Somehid their statusas sur-

vivors.Someharboredthoughtsof revenge in theirhearts. Somewatchedaslovedonesdied,oneby one, because of radiationfrom the bombing, and won-dered—AmInext?Astheygrowold—theiraver-

ageagenowexceeds83—manynowfeelanextremeurgency.Theyaredesperate to rid theworldofnuclearbombsandsharewiththeyoung the first-handhorror theywitnessedonAug.6,1945.Here are some of the stories

of survivors interviewedbyTheAssociatedPress.

KokoKondo, 75KokoKondohadasecretmis-

sionasagirl:Revenge.Shewas determined to find

the person who dropped theatomicbombonHiroshima, thepersonthatcausedthesufferingand the terrible burns she sawonthefacesofgirlsatherfather’schurch — and then square off

andgive themapunch.Shegotherchance in1955.Ten-year-old Kondo ap-

pearedonanAmericanTVshowcalled“ThisisYourLife”thatwasfeaturingherfather,Rev.KiyoshiTanimoto, one of six survivorsprofiled in John Hersey’s book“Hiroshima.”Kondostared inhatredatan-

other guest: Capt. Robert Lewis,co-pilotoftheB-29bomberEnolaGaythatdroppedthebomb.While Kondo, who survived

the bombing as an infant, waswondering if shewould act onher fantasy and punch him, thehostaskedLewishowhefelt af-terdropping thebomb.“Looking down from thou-

sandsof feetoverHiroshima,allI could think of was, ‘God,whathavewedone?’”hesaid.Kondo saw tears well in

Lewis’ eyes, and her hatredmeltedaway.“He was not a monster; he

was just another human being.

... I knew that I should hate thewar, not him,” Kondo told TheAssociated Press. She said shewas grateful shemet Lewis be-causeithelpedthehategoaway.

Lee Jong-Keun, 92Leekepthissecretasanatomic

bombing survivor for nearly 70years,noteventellinghiswife,al-waysfearingpeoplemightnoticetheburnmarksontheface.ButtodayLee,asecond-gen-

eration Korean born in Japan, istrainingyoungpeopletotellsur-vivors’ stories.“Survivorswon’t be here 20

years fromnow, but our storiesmust be,” said Lee, who willmeetPrimeMinisterShinzoAbe

afterThursday’smemorialtode-mand Japandomore tobannu-clearweapons.AtamemorialWednesdayfor

Korean victims, Lee laid flowersand prayed for thosewho per-ished. “I ask younger people toneverforgetusandtounderstandthetragedy,absurdityandcrueltyof the war so that nuclearweaponswillbeeliminatedfromtheworldassoonaspossible.”

KeikoOgura, 84Remembering the atomic

bombingandhowshesurvivedispainful,butKeikoOguraisdeter-mined tokeep tellingher storiesas she organises English guidedtours for foreign visitors at

Hiroshima’sPeaceMemorialPark.OguraestablishedHiroshima

Interpreters forPeace in1984totranslate survivors’ stories, in-cludingherown.“Inthebeginning,itwasreally

painfultorememberthosedays,”shesaidatarecentonlinebriefing.“ButIwantedyoungAmericanstoknow what their country haddone.Ihavenointentiontoblamethem,butjustwantthemtoknowthefacts,andthink.”Itwas 40 years after thewar

beforeshefeltcomfortabletellingherstories.“Whatwesufferedthemostwas a sense of guilt aswekeptwonderingwhywe couldnot save themany peoplewhodiedbeforeoureyes.”AP

IT WAS ON THIS DAY, 75 YEARS AGO, THAT THE US DROPPED AN ATOMIC BOMB ON THE JAPANESE CITY

75 years later, Hiroshima survivors worry that world will forget

ATLEAST135DEAD,MORETHAN5,000WOUNDEDAFTEREXPLOSION

Lebanon confrontsBeirut devastation

AnArmyhelicopter takespart in fire-fightingoperationsat thesceneofTuesday’sexplosion inBeirutonWednesday.AP

BASSEMMROUE&ZEINAKARAMBEIRUT,AUGUST5

RESIDENTSOFBeirut confronteda scene of utter devastation onWednesday,adayafteramassiveexplosionattheportrippledacrosstheLebanesecapital,killingatleast135people,woundingthousandsand leaving entire city blocksfloodedwithglassandrubble.Smokewas still rising from

theport,whereatoweringbuild-ing of siloswas half destroyed,spilling out mounds of grain.Hangars around it were com-pletely toppled. Much of thedowntownareawaslitteredwithdamagedvehiclesanddebris.Investigators began search-

ingthroughthewreckageof theport onWednesday for clues tothe cause of the explosion, andthegovernmentorderedportof-ficials put under house arrestamid speculation that negli-gencewas toblame.The investigation is focusing

onhow2,750 tonnes of ammo-

niumnitrate, a highly explosivechemical used in fertilisers, hadbeenstoredattheportsinceitwasconfiscatedfromashipin2013.Internationalaidflightsbegan

to arrive as Lebanon’s leadersstruggledtodealwiththeshock-ingaftermathofTuesday’sblast.Theexplosionattheportkilled

atleast135peopleandwoundedmorethan5,000,HealthMinisterHamadHassan said. Hospitalswere overwhelmed—one that

wasdamaged in theblast had toevacuateallitspatientstoanearbyfieldfortreatment.Buildingsweredamaged formiles around thecity, and Beirut’s governor saidWednesday that hundreds ofthousandsmightnotbeabletore-turn to their homes for two orthreemonths.

‘No indications of anattack’A senior US Defence

Department official andmem-ber of the US intelligence com-munity said therewereno indi-cations the explosion was theresultofanattackbyeitherana-tion state or proxy forces. Bothofficials told the AP that at themoment,theexplosionseemstohave been caused by improperstorageof explosives.

Warning letterFuelling speculation that

negligencewas toblamefor theaccident, an official letter circu-latingonlineshowedtheheadofthe customs department hadwarned repeatedly over theyears that the huge stockpile ofammonium nitrate stored in ahangar intheportwasadanger,and asked judicial officials for arulingonawayto remove it.The2017letterfromthecus-

tom’s chief to a judge could notbe immediately confirmed, butstate prosecutor GhassanOueidat ordered an immediateinvestigation into all letters re-lated to thematerials stored attheport.AP

JONGAMBRELL&JOSEFFEDERMANAUGUST5

FIREWORKS AND ammoniumnitrate appear to have been thefuelthatignitedamassiveexplo-sion that rocked the Lebanesecapital of Beirut, experts andvideosof theblast suggest.The scale of the damage —

fromtheepicentreof theexplo-sion at the port of Beirut to thewindows blownout kilometresaway— resembles other blastsinvolving the chemical com-pound commonly used as anagricultural fertiliser.Butthecompounditself typ-

ically doesn’t detonate on itsown and requires another igni-tion source. That likely camefrom a fire that engulfed whatinitiallyappearedtobefireworks

thatwerestoredat theport.Online videos of the disas-

ter’s initial moments showsparks and lights inside thesmokerisingfromtheblaze, justprior to themassive blast. Thatlikely indicates that fireworkswere involved, said BoazHayoun, owner of the TamarGroup,anIsraeli firmthatworkscloselywith the Israeli govern-mentonsafetyandcertificationissues involvingexplosives.JeffreyLewis,amissileexpert

at the Middlebury Institute ofInternational Studies inMonterey, California, offered asimilarassessment.“It looks like an accident,”

Lewis told the AP. “First, therewas a fire preceding the explo-sion,which isnotanattack.”He added that “it’s very

common to see fires detonateexplosives.”AP

NEWYORKTIMESAUGUST5

EVEN AS scores of people re-mainedmissingandfamiliesen-gagedindesperatesearchesinthetwo-square-mile blast zonearound Beirut’s port that wasgroundzerofortheexplosion,sto-riesofheroismbegantoemerge.Cheers erupted as rescue

workerspulledayoungmanfromtherubble,hisclothescakedindirtanddustandclingingtohisbody,andcarriedhimonastretchertoawaitingambulance.AtSt.George’shospital,where

at least fournursesdied, adoctordescribedhowonenursescoopedup three infants fromtheneona-tal intensive careunit,where theceilinghadcollapsedandglasshadshattered,tocarrythemtosafety.Many online applauded the

quick thinkingof awomanseen

in a video vacuuming on a bal-cony when the first blast hit.Without hesitation, she threwherself forwardtoshieldayounggirl across the room, swept herintoherarmsandranforsafety.Across thebattered city, resi-

dents, hotels, schools andothersofferedsheltertothoseinneed,co-ordinatingeffortsonsocialmedia.

REUTERSAUGUST5

THEGLOBALdeathtoll fromthecoronavirus surpassed 700,000onWednesday, according to aReuters tally, with the UnitedStates, Brazil, India andMexicoleading therise in fatalities.Latin America surpassed

Europe on Tuesday to becometheregionwiththehighestcoro-navirusdeath tollworldwide.Theregionhasnowrecorded

more than 206,000 deaths, ap-proximately 30 per cent of theglobal total.US President Donald Trump

saidthecoronavirusoutbreak isas under control as it can get inthe United States, wheremorethan 155,000 people have diedamid a patchy response to thepublichealthcrisisthathasfailedtostemarise incases.“Theyaredying, that’s true,”

Trumpsaidinaninterviewwiththe Axios news website. “It iswhatit is.Butthatdoesn’tmeanwe aren’t doing everythingwecan. It’s under control asmuchasyoucancontrolit.Thisisahor-ribleplague.”In Brazil, President Jair

Bolsonaro has minimised thegravityof thepandemicandop-posedlockdownmeasures,evenas he and several of his cabinettestedpositive for thevirus.Even in parts of the world

that had appeared to havecurbed the spread of the virus,countrieshaverecentlyseensin-gle-dayrecordsinnewcases,sig-nalingthebattleisfarfromover.Australia, Japan, HongKong,

Bolivia,Sudan,Ethiopia,Bulgaria,Belgium, Uzbekistan and Israelallrecentlyhadrecordincreasesincases.

ASSOCIATEDPRESSTAIPEI, AUGUST5

THEUS secretary of Health andHumanServices is scheduled tovisit Taiwan in coming days inthe highest-level visit by anAmerican Cabinet official sincethe break in formal diplomaticrelations betweenWashingtonandTaipei in1979.ThevisitbyAlexAzar,andes-

peciallyaplannedmeetingwithTaiwan’s President, will likelycreatenewfrictionbetweentheUS and China, which claimsTaiwanasitsownterritorytobeannexedby force if necessary.In Beijing, foreignministry

spokesmanWangWenbin saidChinahas lodged“solemncom-plaints”over thevisit.“TheTaiwanissueisthemost

importantandsensitive issue inChina-US relations,”Wang saidatadailybriefing.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIACOLOMBO,AUGUST5

SRI LANKANS, wearing facemasks and carrying their ownpens, turned out in large num-bers to vote onWednesday inthetwice-postponedparliamen-tary electionwhich is expectedto be won by the Sri LankaPeople’sParty(SLPP), runbythepowerfulRajapaksa family.According to theChairmanof

theNationalElectionCommission,MahindaDeshapriya,theelection,conductedamidstfearsabouttheCovid-19pandemic,concludedinapeacefulmanner,with a voterturnoutofover70percent.President Gotabaya

Rajapaksa noted that Sri LankahadbecomethefirstSouthAsiannation to hold amajor electionin the timeof thepandemic.

The results will be an-nounced by Thursday evening,Deshapriyasaid.Prime Minister Mahinda

Rajapaksa, who hopes to keephis post after the election, saidhisyoungerbrotherGotabaya’selection as President was en-dorsedby6.9millionvoters last

December and that he washopeful of securing the samesupport.Former PM Ranil

Wickremesinghe, said that onlyhis party, the United NationalParty, was capable of turningaroundtheeconomywhichiscur-rentlyinpoorstate.

Massivedestructionata timeofstrife

THEENORMOUSlossoflifeandpropertycausedbytheexplosioncameatatimewhenLebanonwasalreadyfacingthethreatofeconomiccollapse.Largescalelayoffs,theshuttingdownofbusinesses,surgingin-flationandpowercutsthatlast20hourshadalreadybroughtmiserytotheLebanese.OnMonday,thecountry’sforeign

ministerhadresigned,citingalackofwillforreformwithinthegov-ernment.Allofthishasalsobeenexacerbated

bytheCovid-19pandemic.Theeconomicdownturnhadal-readyputhospitalsindangerofshuttingdown,andnowtheblasthasdestroyedorseverelylimitedthefunctioningofmanyofthem.

Thousandsofhomesdamaged;portofficialsputunderhousearrestamidprobe

Blast likely fuelled byfireworks, ammoniumnitrate, experts suggest

Amid the destruction,stories of heroism

Peoplecollectdonations forvictims.TheArabicplacardreads: “...Even1,000Lebanesepounds(Rs50)makesadifference.”AP

Global Covid-19deaths exceed700,000; LatinAmerica nowworst hit region

AlexAzar,USSecretaryofHealthandHumanServices

US sendinghighest officialto Taiwan sinceties cut in 1979

Sri Lanka election sees high voterturnout despite Covid-19 fears

PrimeMinisterMahindaRajapaksaarrivesatapollingstation in inMedamulana,SriLanka,onWednesday.Reuters

KeikoOgura,84,organises tours forvisitorsofHiroshima.AP

KEVINFREKINGWASHINGTON,AUGUST5

IN AN abrupt reversal, USPresident Donald Trump is en-couraging voters in the criticalswing state of Florida to vote bymailaftermonthsofcriticisingthepractice—andwhilehiscampaignand theGOP challengeNevadaoveritsnewvote-by-maillaw.Democratic requests to vote

bymail have surged in Florida, astatethatTrumpalmostcertainlymustwintosecureasecondterm.Democrats currentlyhave about1.9millionFloridianssigneduptovote bymail this November, al-most 600,000 more than theRepublicans’1.3million.“Florida’s Voting systemhas

been cleaned up (we defeatedDemocratsattemptsatchange),soinFloridaIencouragealltore-quest a Ballot & Vote byMail!”Trumptweeted.Florida GOP officials wel-

comed Trump’s tweet. “Thankyou for the clarification MrPresident! This is very helpful,”said Joe Gruters, the chair ofFlorida’sRepublicanParty.AP

RACE FORTHEWHITE

HOUSE

Trump encouragesmail voting in Floridabut sues in Nevada

Turkey considersquitting treaty ondomestic violence

REUTERSISTANBUL,AUGUST5

PRESIDENT RECEP TayyipErdogan’s AK Party is consider-ingwhethertopullTurkeyoutofaninternationalaccorddesignedtoprotectwomen,partyofficialssaid,alarmingcampaignerswhoseethepactaskeytocombatingrisingdomesticviolence.TheofficialssaidtheAKPisset

todecidebynextweekwhethertowithdraw from the deal, justweeks after the murder of awoman by an ex-boyfriendreignitedarowoverhowtocurbviolenceagainstwomen.Despite signing the Council

of Europeaccord in2011,pledg-ing to prevent, prosecute andeliminatedomesticviolenceandpromote equality, Turkey saw474 femicides last year, doublethenumberseen in2011.

New Delhi

''IMPORTANT''Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it isnotpossible toverifyits contents. The IndianExpress (P) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamageincurredasaresultoftransactions with companies,associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapersor Publications. We thereforerecommend that readersmake necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies orentering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwiseacting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

“Nitin Barthwal R/OA-4/19DayalpurDelhi-110094,dohereby solemnly affirmanddeclare asunder:That theactual sirnameof deponent’sfamily is Barthwal butdeponent father officialy usekumaronhis documents,Sotheofficial nameofmy fatheris Shashi kumar, But ondeponent documents itswronglywrittenwith actualsirnameShashi Barthwal. :ThatShashi Barthwal andShashiKumar is thenameof samepersonwhowasexpiredon 30May2020.” 0040543940-1

II AdityaKumar S/oSh.Panna LalR/o FlatNo.4, LehnaSinghMarket,MalkaGanj, Delhi-110007havechangedmynametoAdityaKumar Singh for allpurposes. 0040543895-3

II Anil GuptaS/oSh.BrijMohanGuptaR/oA-66, LokVihar,PitamPura, Delhi-110034have changed thenameofmyminor daughter fromHarshitaaliasHarshitaGupta toHarshitaGupta for allpurposes. 0040543895-4

II,,VVaassuuddeevv Singhal,S/oSh.BrijeshKumar Singhal,R/o-A-10, Siddhartha-Nagar,Ashram,NewDelhi-110014, thatinmycast-Certificatemy-namehasbeenwrongly-writtenasVasudevKumarSinghal insteadofVasudevSinghalwhichmaybeamendedaccordingly.

0040543959-4

II,,KKrriisshhaannChandraMahakhodS/o-Sh.AnantMahakhodR/O-Qtr.No.295, Sector-3, PushpVihar,NewDelhi-110017,informthatKrishanChandraMahakhodandKishanChandbothnamesare sameperson.

0040543963-1

II,, hitherto knownasAshutosh,S/o-SadanandResidingatH.No.296,ChotpurColony,Ankit Vihar,Chhajarsi,Sector-63,Noida,(UP)-201301,have changedmynameandshall hereafter beknownasAshutoshDubey.

0040543963-3

II,, VijayaKumarNalla R/o FlatNoL001Kaveri ApartmentsPlotNo.4 Sector-6DwarkaNewDelhi-110075have changedmyminor son’s name fromJigneshwarNalla to JishnuNalla for all purposes.

0040543900-1

II,, SumeerBhargavaS/oShri.M.L.BhargavaR/O-Flat.No.59,Jagrati-Appartments, SainikVihar,PitampuraNewDelhi-34,haveChanged thenameofmyminor SonDanishBhargavatoArnavBhargavaaged-17years. 0040543903-1

II,, JAGDISHKUMAR,S/OLATESH.UDHARAMR/O-À-19/20DOUBLE-STORYMALKA-GANJDELHI-110007,have changedmyname to JAGADISHSKUMAR,for all purpose.

0040543959-2

II,, Har Swaroop, 503 SU,AF,Air-Force-StationNewDelhi,havechangemyname,fromHarSwaroop toHarswaroopSinghvide-Affidavit,date-03.08.2020

0040543963-4

II,, GauravKumar s/o-Smt.MadhuriMahto,R/o-RZF-1127,Lohiyamarg,Raj NagerPart-2, Palam-Colony,Delhi.have changedmynametoGauravRaj for,all purposes.

0040543959-5

II,, DEEPAKMAHESHWARIPANPALIYAS/OVINODKUMAR,R/O 2/87 3RDFLOORROOPNAGARDELHI -110007HAVECHANGEDMY NAMETODEEPAKMAHESHWARI.

0070710478-1

II tulsi D/o Late sh. RameshkumarR/o c-324, Sector-1,Avantika, Rohini, Delhideclares thatmynamewaswronglywrittenasNeetu inmybankF.D. (StateBankof India)whereasmycorrect name isTulsi. 0050167277-1

II SomakumarR/OQtr no-511,sector-8, RKPuram, newdelhi,110022,have changedmyname toSomakumarSR for allpurposes. 0040543915-1

II Shailja ShellyW/O, Rajat ShellyR/o 23DDDAMIGFlats ShivamEnclave Jhilmil Delhi 110032have changedmyname toShailjaGoel for all purposes.

0040543886-1

II Raghubir SinghS/O, RajmalRanaR/oP-26, 56ASP, AFStation, Faridabadhavechangedmyname fromRaghubir Singh toRaghubirSinghRanavideaffidavit no 49AA251441dated 31 Jul 20 atFaridabad,Haryana for allpurposes. 0040543897-1

I NaveenKumar S/O,NarenderKumarBansal R/oD5YadavNagar SamaypurDelhi 110042have changedmyname toNaveenBansal for all futurepurposes. 0040543898-1

II,, NO.4373624M,NAIKTemsulembaS/o-Lt. AowatiR/o-NagaUnitedVillage,Dimapur, Nagaland, declarethat name-ofmywife iswronglywritten inmy,servicerecord’s asAkumrenla(DOB-06.04.1986), insteadofNangshikala (DOB-18.10.1985).,Correct nameofmyWife isNangshikala(DOB-18.10.1985) for all,futurePurposes. 0040543930-2

I Navneet s/oRameshwar r/o-vpo- puhthala, district-Sonipathave changedmyname toNavneetMalik. 0040543959-1

IIAbdulHamidKhanS/oAbdulRajakKhanR/o-76A, NPBlock,Pitampura, NorthWestDelhi-110034have changedmynametoRaghvender Tripathi for allpurposes. 0040543895-5

II,, SanjayKumar S/oRamMuratGuptaR/o-C-134, RajuPark,Deoli, Khanpur, Delhi-110062,have changedmynametoSanjayKumarGupta.

0040543930-1

II,, RajeshKumarBatra S/o-LateSh.A.NBatraR/o-A-13/F, DDA-Flats,Munirka,NewDelhi-110067,haveChangedmynametoRajeshBatra,for all,futurepurposes. 0040543963-2

II,, Raj Kumar S/oSureshSinghR/o FlatNo.-401, Tower-C2,CherryCounty, GH-05B, TechZone-4, GreaterNoidaWestG.B.Nagar(U.P.) have changedmyname toRaj KumarChauhan for all futurepurposes. 0040543943-1

II,, Prashant S/o.OmPrakashR/o.B-1/158Rajveer colonyGharoliextensionDelhi-110096havechangedmyname toPrashantSingh for all purposes

0040543899-1

II,,MamtaSaxenaW/oVivekKumarR/o-H.No.1086, Block-GH-5&7, Paschim-Vihar, Delhi-110087.have changedmynametoMamtaBarua.

0040543959-6

II,, Kulwant SinghS/o-GurnamSinghThandi, R/o-Flat.No.604,Tower-3A,OrrisAsterCourt,Sector-85,Gurugram(Haryana)-122004,havechangedmyname toKulwantSinghThandi. 0040543959-3

I ShravyaSharmas/oSh. AnujSharmaR/oM-12,West PatelNagar, NewDelhi-110008havechangedmyname fromSHRVYASHARMAToSHRAVYASHARMA for all futurepurpose

0040543893-1

LLoossttmyoriginal DDADemandLetter, Possession Letter, NOC,all BankChallanandSitePossession Letter issuedbyDDAof Flat no.129-B, FirstFloor, Block-A-5B, A-5-C JanakPuri, Delhi-110058, if anyonefind thanplease contact toUmaRani TutlaniW/oLateSh.JaidevTutlani, ContactNo.9810706165.

0040543959-10

II,, JYOTID/o-Vir vikramadityaR/o.h.no-643 shahbadmohdpurDelhi-61.have lostmyoriginal-certificate class-10th(2006) Rollno-6402225class-12th(2008) Rollno-6674461CBSE-Delhi.

0040543959-9

II RavinderKumarKanojia S/oSh.ShivCharanKanojia R/o 2/B,Blk.A, Shastri Nagar, Delhi-52have lostmyOriginal DemandLetter, Possession Letter, SitePossessionSlip, Site PlanofShopNo.2, G.F.,Block-CP, DDAMarket,MauryaEnclave, PitamPura, Delhi-110034. Findersmaycontact atMobileNo.9871188894.

0040543895-2

II Jyoti BalujaD/oSh.AmardeepMalhotraR/o 6/232, Third Floor,GeetaColony, Delhi-110031have lost RegisteredGPA,Agreement to Sell andPaymentReceipt executedbySh.GurandittaMal on05.04.1978 in favor of Smt. RenuSethi of PropertyNo.6/232,GeetaColony,Delhi-110031.Findersmaycontact at aboveaddress. 0040543895-1

PPEERRSSOONNAALL

LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDD

EEDDUUCCAATTIIOONNAALL

Classifieds PUBLIC NOTICEBe i t known to a l lconcerned that I, R. S.Sahni / Radhey ShyamSahni / Radhey Shyam /R.S. Sawhney / RadheyShyam Sawhney / S/oInder Parkash Sahni /Inder Parkash / InderParkash Sawhney R/o71 / 7 , P r em Naga r,Janakpuri, New Delhi -110058 hereby state –1. that admittedly my fullname with surname is-RadheyShyamSawhney.2. that in some of thedocuments/records I havespelt and written inEnglish my surname“Sawhney” as “Sahni”3.that R. S. Sahni /Radhey Shyam Sahni /Radhey Shyam / R.S.Sawhney / RadheyShyam Sawhney is oneand the same person whohas caused this publicnotice.4.that what is statedabove is my true andcorrect statement. No partof it is false and nothingm a t r i a l h a s b e e nc o n c e a l e d /misrepresented herein.

Sd/-Radhey Shyam SawhneyDated: 1-8-2020

PUBLIC NOTICEThis is to inform to the GeneralPublic that Original AllotmentLetter dated 17th October, 2007bearing No.EMGF/TDF/8780issued in favour of Vikram HariAwasty S/o Vijay Awasty R/oC-4/2, Ground Floor,VasantVihar,New Delhi by Emaar MGF LandLtd. for allotment of ResidentialUnit No. TPD E-F15-1501alongwith Car Parking spacesNos.U-E-24andL-E-25,ThePalmDrive, Village Badshahpur, Sector66, Gurgaon, Haryana has beenlost on 01.08.2020 from VasantVihar, New Delhi.

PUBLIC NOTICEMy client Lt. Col (Dr.)Rahmani Sumbul Khan D/oLihazur Rahman Khanpresently residing at DelhiCantt, Delhi, is livingseparately from herhusband namely DanishChauhan S/o Zafar Ali Khansince March 2013 and haveno relation as husband andwife any further, Since then.My client has two sonsnamely Diyan and Aaban.My client has authorized Lt.Col (Dr.) Kabya Jyoti BorahS/o Late Bangshi Borah aslegal guardian of her bothsons.

Sd/-JITENDAR SINGH

ADVOCATECHAMBER NO. 449,

LAWYERS BLOCK,SAKET COURT COMPLEX,

NEW DELHI-110017.

PUBLIC NOTICEMy client Sh. Ram Kishan S/o LateNathu Singh R/o A-388, Vats ShardaEnclave, Prem Nagar-3rd, KirariSuleman Nagar, Delhi-110086, dohereby disown/debar his son RohitKumar & Daugther-in-law Smt. Chandafrom all movable-immovable propertiesand severe all relations, as they aredisobedient, harassing, aggressive andmisbehaving towards my client.Anybody deals with them, shall do athis/her own cost & risk. My client will notbe responsible for their any dealing/actsin future.

Sd/- Parminder Singh DhanjalAdvocate

9, Pkt-4, Sector-25Rohini, Delhi-110085

PUBLIC NOTICEON THE INSTRUCTIONS OF MYCLIENT MR. NARESH KUMAR son ofSh. Chandu Lal and MRS. MEENADEVI wife of Sh. Naresh Kumar bothresident of 708, Punjabi Basti, GaliNo. 3, Military Road, Anand Parbat,Karol Bagh, New Delhi-110005, this isto inform all that they hasdispossessed their son namely MR.ANIL from all their moveable andimmovable Properties due to his rudebehavior, bad accompany etc. It isfurther to inform that all documents oftheir movable or immovable propertyfound in the favour of them then itshould be treated as NULL and VOIDfrom 24/07/2020. They are notresponsible for any type loan andtransaction etc. by MR. ANIL

Sd/- R.P. GUPTA (ADVOCATE)Office: 4/7, Asaf Ali Road,

New Delhi

PUBLIC NOTICEBe it know to all concerned that myclients (1) DEVENDER KUMAR S/OSHRI RAM LAL AND (2) KIRAN WATIW/O Mr. DEVENDER KUMAR BOTHR/O B-205, AYUR VIGYAN NAGAR,AIIMS CAMPUS NEW DELHI-110049,have severed all relations and disownedtheir son NITIN and his wife RAJNI fromtheir all moveable-immoveable proper-ties due to disobedience and badbehavior. My clients & their other familymembers shall not be responsible andliable for their acts.

Sd/- TUSHAR SINHA (Advocate)En. No.D-192/2011

Ch. No.466, Lawyers Block, SaketCourt Complex Saket,

New Delhi-110017

Ref. No. MBMA/CLLMP/33/CS-14/2020-21/610 Dated Shillong, the 6th August, 2020

MEGHALAYA BASIN MANAGEMENT AGENCY (MBMA)Meghalaya State Housing Financing & Cooperative

Society Ltd. Campus, Upper Nongrim Hills,Shillong- 793003

Expression of InterestMeghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA) invitesExpression of Interest from qualified Consulting Firms for thefollowing assignment:

Hiring of a Consultant (Firm) for Developing EffectiveCommunication Strategy for Indigenous Communities ofMeghalaya.Last date for Submission of the Eol: on or before 3rdSeptember, 2020 by 5:00 PM.

Detailed Eol and draft Terms of Reference is available atwww.cllmp.com and www.mbda.gov.in

The Eol responses must be submitted in a sealed envelope toThe Additional Project Director - Office of Meghalaya BasinDevelopment Authority, Meghalaya Basin ManagementAgency, C/o Meghalaya State Housing Financing &Cooperative Society Ltd., Upper Nongrim Hills, Shillong-793003. Phone: 0364-2522921/2522992. For details pleasevisit http://www.cllmp.com and http://www.mbda.gov.in

CAPTAIN MANDEEP SINGH

CAPTAIN MANDEEP SINGH of 49 Air DefenceRegiment during his tenure with 4 RashtriyaRifles made the Supreme sacrifice on 06August 1999, while battling militants in J&K.This act of valour gave us a hero whocontinues to inspire all the “FORTY NINERS”.

We salute the gallant saldier on this day.

Commanding Officer and all Ranks of49 AIR DEFENCE REGIMENT

SALUTE THE SOLDIER

National Institute ofFashion Technology

(Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India)NIFT Campus, Chheb Kangra, Himachal Pradesh-176001

Phone No.: 01892-260872-5, Fax No. 01892-263872File NIFT-KGR/Project/76/2020 06/08/2020

Expression of InterestExpressions of Interest are invited for engaging of follow-ing services:

DONATION TO NIFT ARE EXEMPTED UNDER SECTION 80G OF INCOME TAX

The eligible organizations/agencies/individual interested in ren-dering their services as per above may submit EoI in sealedenvelope, superscribing the title “EoI for engaging TextileSupplier or Apparel Manufacturer” at National Institute ofFashion Technology, NIFT Campus, Chheb, Kangra, HimachalPradesh 176001 on or before 12/08/2020.Please visit the website i.e. https://www.nift.ac.in/kan-gra/tenders for detailed document and information onExpression of Interest.

Joint Director

Sr.No. Category

1 Textiles Suppliers

2 Apparel manufacturer

Nift-76

BANGALORE URBAN, BANGALORE RURAL AND RAMANAGARADIST CO-OP MILK PRODUCERS SOCIETIES UNION LIMITED

Dr. M.H MARIGOWDA ROAD, BANGALORE-560029. www.bamulnandini.coopKMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(01to14)/2020-21 Date: 03.08.2020Bengaluru Milk Union Ltd., (Bamul) Bengaluru, invites Short term Tender through e-procurementportal from the Interested & Eligible Transport Contractors for the transportation of milk from Chillingcenters, Main Dairy, Hoskote Dairy, Kanakapura Dairy to various dairy plants of outside Karnataka.Sl No Descriptions No’s of Tankers1 Insulated Road Milk Tankers of Capacity 24,000 Kg 25

Tender value is Rs 07 crores.Refer Tender No:1.Solur CC to Parag Dairy Manchar Maharastra - KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(01)/2020-212 . Solur CC to Swaraj Dairy Palton Maharastra - KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(02)/2020-213. Solur CC to Sumedya Milk and food products Kollapur Maharastra- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(03)/2020-214. Dodda Ballapura CC to Parag Dairy Palamaner Andhra Pradesh- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(04)/2020-215. Dodda Ballapura CC to Parag Dairy Manchar Maharastra- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(05)/2020-216. Dodda Ballapura CC to Swaraj Dairy Palton Maharastra- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(06)/2020-217. Dodda Ballapura CC to Farm Gate Dairy Andhra Pradesh- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(07)/2020-218. Dodda Ballapura CC Sumedya Milk and food products Kollapur- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(08)/2020-219. Dodda Ballapura CC to Ongole Dairy Andhra Pradesh- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(09)/2020-2110. Vijayapura CC to Parag Dairy Palamaner - Andhra Pradesh- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(10)/2020-2111. Vijyapura CC to Ongole Dairy Andhra Pradesh- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(11)/2020-2112. Vijyapura CC to Sumedya Milk and food products Kollapur- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(12)/2020-2113. Vijyapura CC to Farm Gate Dairy Andhra Pradesh- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(13)/2020-2114. Hoskote Dairy to Parag Dairy Palamaner - Andhra Pradesh- KMF/BAMUL/MP-1/321(14)/2020-21

Access to E-tender Document 05.08.2020 to 20.08.2020 up to 5.00 PM2 Last date & time for tender clarification 18.08.2020 up to 5.00 PM3 Last date for submission of tender/ quoting 20.08.2020 up to 11.00 AM4 Date & time for opening Technical Tender part-I 21.08.2020 at 11.30 AM5 Date & time for opening Commercial Tender part-II 25.08 .2020 at 11.00 AM6 Place of opening of Technical and Commercial Tender Bangalore Dairy Board Room Bangalore(1) Tenders are advised to note the qualification criteria specified in Section VII to qualify foraward of the contract. (2) The EMD amount is Rs.50,000 for each tanker. (3) The earnestmoney deposit (E.M.D) valid for 45 days beyond the validity of the tender i.e. total for 135 days,Tender processing Fee, modes of e-payment, tender document details and other details arementioned in www.eproc.karnataka.gov.in SD/-

MANAGING DIRECTORTENDER INVITAING AUTHORITY, BAMUL

775599//2200((DD))

HIMACHAL PRADESH HORTICULTUREDEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Dyerton Bizhub, Talland Bypass, Shimla-171001Telephone: 0091-177- 2674935, 2674937, 2674465

E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.hds.hp.gov.in

Ref. No. HPHDP/PCU-148/Recruitment/Vol-IV/2020- Dated:INVITATION FOR APPLICATIONS ALONG WITH RESUMES

Services of Individuals as mentioned in the Table below arerequired on co-terminus basis under the World Bank assisted forHP-Horticulture Development Project (HPHDP) being implement-ed by the HP-Horticulture Development Society, Shimla.

The period of engagement shall be initially for 11 Months and canbe extended depending upon the performance of the individual.Application format and Terms of Reference can be downloadedfrom the website of the Project www.hds.hp.gov.in.Eligible Candidates who wish to apply shall fill online applicationon the prescribed format along with self-attested testimonialscopies of certificates on the above mentioned website on orbefore_20-08-2020 up to 05:00 p.m. Applications received offlineshall not be entertained.

Project Director,HPHDP

Sr.No. Name of the Specialist /Resource Number

1. Procurement Specialist for Project Coordination 1Unit of the HPHDP.

2. Instrumentation Engineer for PIU-HPMC of the 2HPHDP

0292/HP

(Regd. Office.: PSEB Head Office, The Mall, Patiala)CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813;

O/o CE/MM, Room No. 212, 2nd floor, Multi Story Building, PSPCL,Head Office, The Mall, Patiala, Phone No. 091-175-2213047,Fax No. 090-175-2225024, Mob: 96461-19383, 96461-11036,

E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]: www.pspcl.in; e-tendering portal: https://eproc.punjab.gov.in

TENDER ENQUIRY NO: QQ-223/PSPCL/PO-C

Short Description

Start date for down loading ofSpecification//tender documents fromhttps://eproc.punjab.gov.in

Last date for down loading ofSpecification//tender documents fromPSPCL’s website https://eproc.punjab.gov.in

Last date for Bid Submission

Bid Opening date

Procurement of Water Cooler full steel bodycapacity 20/40 ltr & 40/80 ltr and SimpleWater Filters (with UV) capacity 60 & 120LPH conforming to the BIS specificationissue in this respect with latest amend-ments, if any and PSPCL specification QQ-223.

14.08.2020

09.09.2020 upto 11.00 AM

09.09.2020 upto 11.00 AM

14.09.2020 upto 11.30 AM

Note:- It is informed that in case tender process is not completed due to anyreason, no corrigendum will be published in nespapers. Details regarding cor-rigendum may be seen on official PSPCL website www.pspcl.in

Sd/- Chief Purchase Officer/MM,Central Purchase Organisation,

PSPCL, Patiala

For detailed NIT & Tender specification please refer to https://eproc.punjab.gov.in

C250/202060108/Pb

Regd Off.: PSEB Head Office, The Mall, Patiala-147001CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813, Website: www.pspcl.in

e-Tender Enquiry No. 282/P-2/EMP-W 11722 dt 31.07.2020 &ID: 2020_POWER_51454_1

SCOPE OF WORK: Assistance in Breakdown/Preventive mainte-nance and annual overhauling of ATRS, HPBP, STC, APRDS,Generator Instrumentation and Analyzer system of unit 3 to 6 ofGGSSTP, Rupnagar.

EMD: Rs. 51,000.00

Time Period: As per NIT

Date & Time upto which : 08.09.2020 & 11.00 A.M.Tender shall be receivedDate & Time of Opening : 15.09.2020 & 11.30 A.M.of Tender

Tender specification can only be downloaded from websitehttps://eproc.punjab.gov.in/ & no hard copy of the same will beissued by this office.NOTE:1. In case any difficuity regarding uploading of the tender the

prospective bidders are requested to get clarification from thisoffice or M/s e-procurement System Government of Punjab.Contact No. +91-(172)-2970284/63. It is also requested to gettheir Digital Signature well in time so as to submit tendersthrough E-Tendering only.

2. It is informed that in case process is not completed due to anyreason, no corrigendum will be published in Newspapers.Details regarding corrigendum may be seen on website:eproc.punjab.gov.in.

Sd/-Dy. C.E./Monitoring,GGSSTP, Rupnagar.

RTP-34/2020

60113/Pb

UUGGCC--NNEETT and JRF (Sociology)CoachingClasses. Pleasecontact [email protected] 0050167282-1

CLASSIFIEDS&TENDERS12 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,AUGUST6,2020

New Delhi

RAVISHTIWARINEWDELHI, AUGUST5

ONMAY28,1996,PrimeMinisterAtalBihariVajpayee told Lok Sabha that the reason his13-day government had omitted referencestotheRamtemple,Article370,andCommonCivil Code in the President's Address to thejointsittingofParliamentwasthattheBJPdidnot have amajority. “...Yeh hamare iss samaykekaryakrammeinnahinhai...aur isliyenahinhaikihamarepassbahumatnahinhai.Baatsahihai. Koi chhupane ki baat nahin hai. (There isnothing to hide. These issues are not on ouragendabecausewedonothaveamajority.)”Thecountry'sfirstBJP-ledgovernmentfell

that day–butwithin a fortnight, on June11,whileopposingthemotionoftrustmovedbyPrimeMinister HDDeve Gowda, SushmaSwarajsaidVajpayee'sresignationhadsetthestageforestablishmentofRamRajya inIndia.“RamRajyaaursurajyakiniyatihiyahihaiki

who ek bade jhatke ke baadmilta hai... Jis dinmerenetanepradhanmantrikepadsetyagpa-trakighoshnakithi,HindustanmeinusdinRamrajyakibhoomikataiyarhogayithi.(Itisthedes-tinyofRamRajya that it isachievedonlyaftera struggle. But thepreface toRamRajyawaswrittenthedaymyleadergaveuphispost.)”Armedwiththemajority thathadeluded

VajpayeeandLKAdvani,PMNarendraModi'sBJPhasachievedtwoofthethreecomponentsof itsoriginalcoreagenda:thevirtualabroga-tionof Article370onAugust5, 2019and, ex-actlyayearlater,thebeginningoftheconstruc-tionof theRamTempleinAyodhya.August5,2020marksthefinaldemiseof

anoldpoliticalconsensusandthebeginningofanewjourneyforthenation,thecontoursof which have been worked upon by theSangh fordecadesnow.

A fundamental faultlineThepolitical landscape of India has been

shapedbythetusslebetweentwocompetingandmutuallyantagonisticgrandideas:com-positenationalismandculturalnationalism.Initially,thedominantideaofIndiannation-

alismwas theone theCongresschampioned.India'scompositeculture,shapedbyinfluencesfromdifferentculturesoverthecenturies,wasitsleitmotif.

The BJP, its predecessor Jana Sangh, andtheirparenttheRSS,rejectedtheideaofcom-posite nationalism as a ploy by the post-Independencerulingelite tohideoutof sightthe impulses that had resulted in Partition.Indiannationalism, the Sanghargued,was acontinuous stream flowing for thousands ofyears,basedontheHinducultureofSouthAsia.Inthisunderstanding,conceptssuchascom-positecultureappearedasanattempttodenyHinduculturalnationalismitsrightfulplace.

Contradiction in practiceGiven the history of Partition, themod-

ernist-conservativetussleoftenplayedoutinthecontradictionbetweenmodernsecular-ismandthepromotionofsymbolsof“Indianculture” such as cows and temples. Evenwithin the Congress, there were strains –JawaharlalNehruandotherprogressivesdis-approvedof the support that Sardar Patel, KMMunshiandPresidentRajendraPrasadlentto“Hindurevivalism”,whichwasondisplayduring the opening of the rebuilt SomnathTemple.Indeed,Advani'sdecisiontostarthisfirstRathYatra fromSomnath inSeptember1990was imbuedwithpolitical symbolism.Patel’s demise andNehru’s electoral suc-

cessescheckedthistusslewithintheCongress.Outside,theJanaSanghfoughtpoliticalbattlesover cowprotection and the promotion ofHindi. These issues contributed significantlytoitssuccessin1967,thefirstelectionsinwhichtheCongresssufferedsetbacksinstates.Thepopularityof IndiraGandhi reduced

the electoral space for the Jana Sangh; theEmergency, and Indira's introduction of theword‘secularism’ inthePreamble,however,opened newwindows of opportunity. TheJana Sanghmergedwith the Janata Party,VajpayeeandAdvanibecameministersinthecentralgovernment,anditsleadersgotpowerinpost-Emergencygovernments inMadhyaPradesh,RajasthanandHimachalPradesh.

Birth and growth of BJPThegainsfortheerstwhileJanaSanghtrig-

geredaresponseinitsideologicalopponents.The RSS sympathies of the Jana Sangh ele-mentswithin Janatabecameastickingpoint–and their expulsioncontributed to thecol-lapseofthefirstnon-CongressUniongovern-ment. The expelled RSS sympathisers rein-

ventedthemselvesastheBJPinApril1980.TheBJPundertheleadershipofVajpayeeex-

perimentedwithGandhiansocialism,andsuf-feredahumiliatingdefeatintheelectionsafterIndira’sassassination.Itsappetiteforfurtherex-perimentationgone, theparty, guidedby theRSSandVHP,chosetobuild itspoliticsaroundmobilisationfortheRamTemple.Theresponsi-bilityforleadingtheBJPwasassignedtoAdvani.The Shah Bano case and steps taken by

Rajiv Gandhi’s government revived the oldtussle between secular nationalismand cul-

tural nationalism. After pandering to theMuslimorthodoxy,theCongresssoughttoap-peaseHinduconservativesthroughtentativestepsontheRamTemple–andAdvanicalledout this “pseudo-secularism”. The BJP posi-tioned itselfmore aggressively and, in 1989,formallyadoptedtheRamTempleresolution.

A foot in the doorThegainsofthe1989electionssettheBJP

firmly on the path of pursuing its coreagenda.Advani'sRathYatraandthekarseva

inAyodhyastronglypolarisedthepoliticsofNorthIndia,andledtothedemolitionof theBabriMasjid in1992. In1996, theotherpar-ties put aside their disagreements to pulldown Vajpayee's 13-day government. Butthe instability of the United Front gave cul-tural nationalist politics another chance –andVajpayeereturned in1998, and1999.Carryingtheburdenofcoalitionpolitics,

the BJP governments of 1998-2004 had noroomtopushtheculturalnationalismproj-ect.ButtheRSSwasinahurry.Fromtheendof 2001, the VHP began freshmobilisationfor the temple. Vajpayee was caught be-tweenhiscoalitionandRSS.Theburningofthetraincarryingkarsevaks returningfromAyodhyaexplodedintheformoftheGujaratriots of 2002.

Return to power and agendaAfterModi led the BJP back to power in

2014,theBJPgotbusyconsolidatingitsgainsinAssemblies.Thecompulsionsof coalitionthat had held back Vajpayee had disap-peared, but the Ram Temple was in theSupreme Court. Article 370, however, waswithin the government's control. Once theparty returned to powerwith an enhancedmajority in2019, itmovedquickly.Firstcamethecriminalisationoftripleta-

laq, the low hanging fruit on the way to aUniformCivilCode.ThenJammu&Kashmirwas stripped of its special status underArticle 370. Thegovernment lent itsweightto demands that the Supreme Court expe-ditehearingontheBabrititlesuitchallenge.Once the courthadgiven its verdict, theBJPwas able to drop every hesitation in claim-ing the victory of its political-ideologicalagenda.The language and attitude of BJP

spokespersonsnowbetraytheheadyaware-ness of victory. The Bhoomi Pujan by thePrimeMinister in Ayodhya onWednesdaymarksabend in the streamof India’spoliti-calconsciousness,evenasthechampionsofcomposite (secular) nationalism falter intheir opposition. By drawing parallels be-tween August 5 and August 15, the PrimeMinister has placed the idea of liberationfrom cultural subjugation on the samepedestal as the political independence ofIndianearly73yearsago.

13WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DEVYANIONIALNEWDELHI, AUGUST5

FROMTHEchants of “Jai Shri Ram” that fol-lowed in thewakeof BJP leaderLKAdvani’sRathYatrain1990totheevocationof“JaiSiyaRam”byPrimeMinisterNarendraModiafterthe Bhoomi Pujan of the Ram Temple atAyodhyaonAugust5,2020,Indiahastravelleda fairdistance. The “Jai Shri Ram” sloganhadcome to symbolise theRam Janmabhoomimovement;onWednesday,asthemovementculminatedinthefirststepoftemple-building,therewas, perhaps, noneed for abattle cryanymore. Thegentler salutationof “Jai SiyaRam”couldreturntoAyodhya.

Betweenmuscle and grace“RamRam”, “Jai Ram ji ki” and “Jai Siya

Ram”were the salutationsoncecommonlyusedintheHindiheartland,muchas“RadheyRadhey” is the preferredway of greeting inMathuraandneighbouringareas.Inlife,RamandSitahadtopartwaysbutinphotographs,greetings and bhajans, theywere insepara-ble. “Siyapati Ramchandra”, “SiyawarRamchandra”and“Janakinath”werealltermsthatspokeofRamasSita’shusband.The cult of Ram,which appears to have

strengthened in the 12th century after theTurkic invasions, consistently evoked a justandkindking. Itwas in this ideal reign thatGandhilocatedhisRamRajya, incorporatingthesymbolofRaminIndia’sstruggleforfree-domandquest for equality. BeforeGandhi,Ramwas drawn in as an ally in a peasantmovement in 1920 in Awadh led by BabaRamchandra, who travelled through thecountryside reciting verses fromTulsidas’s

Ramayanaandurgingpeopletoreplacethegreeting“salaam”with“Sita-Ram”.In the late 1980s, Sitawas exiled again,

as the Hindutvamovement spread across

India and “Jai Shri Ram” became its chosenbattlecry.ItdecoupledSiyafromRam,strip-pingtheinvocationofgentlenessandgrace,recasting it instead as a singular show ofmuscularassertiveness.Thechangingchantwasfollowedbyashiftinimageaswell.Thedepictionof Ram inposters changed,withmanydoingawaywithSita and showingasolowarriorprince instead.In 1992, as kar sevaksmobilised by the

VHP,BajrangDalandShivSenaamongotherright-winggroupsstormedtheBabriMasjidonDecember 6, bringing it down, “Jai ShriRam”becameashrill cryof triumph.Director Kabir Khan, whose 2015 film

BajrangiBhaijaancapturedtheplayfulspiritofHanumanatatimewhenimagesofRudra(Angry) Hanuman have become popular,saidheusedthesalutation“JaiShriRam”inhis filmas,bythen, ithadbecomethemore

recognisablegreeting.Khan,whobelongstoFarrukhabad inUttarPradesh, saidhegrewuphearing both “Jai Siya Ram” and “Jai ShriRam”. “Wedidn’t reallydissect these thingsback then. Itwas benign and rooted in ourculture.Iused‘JaiShriRam’inmyfilmmerelyas a peaceful salutation but nowdefinitelythechanthasbecomeaggressive,”hesaid.In recentyears, anumberof caseshave

been recorded across the country ofmobsattacking Muslims, and forcing them tochant “Jai Shri Ram”. Last June, a group ofacademics, filmmakers andactivistswroteto the PrimeMinister asking him to inter-vene inputtinga stop“to thenameof Rambeingdefiled inthismanner.”Its political currencywas in show last

June,whenrulingpartymemberschantedthe slogan in the Lok Sabha to heckle theOpposition.

Sita’s perspectiveSita may have gonemissing from the

corridorsof powerandsalutationsbutherstory of grace, resilience and courage liveson inmany folk songs, bhajans and tradi-tionsof thecountry.SamhitaArni,authorofSita’sRamayana

(2011), said, “ThefolkRamayanaspreservea female perspective and a female voice.Women’s folksongspreserveaverydiffer-entRamayana,whichreflectstheirlivedex-perience.Whatemerges is averydifferentSita, onewho is confused, who questionsthings sometimes, who is desperately sadaftersheisbanished,andthatsorrowisverymoving. I thinkwhat happens inmany oftheseversions is thatwhenSitahas todealwith these things, she becomes a figure ofcourage, a figureof integrity.”MaybewecanhearSita’sstorythistime.

The significance of Ayodhya, August 5SIMPLYPUT

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to [email protected] EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,AUGUST6,2020

Fromassertive ‘Jai Shri Ram’, a reason tomove to gentler ‘Jai Siya Ram’

Painting inAyodhyashowsbothLordRamandSita.AP

1858: Puja on premisesAnFIRwasfiledonNovember30byMohdSalimagainstagroupofNihangSikhswhohadconductedritualsinsidetheBabriMasjid.SheetalDubey,thestationhouseofficerofAvadh,wrote inhisreport: “MrNihangSinghFaqirKhalsaresidentofPanjab,organisedHavanandPujaofGuruGobindSinghanderectedasymbolofSriBhagwan,withinthepremisesoftheMasjid.”Thedisputeandriots ledtotheBritishbuildingaseven-foot-highwall toseparate theplacesofworships forHindusandMuslims.

1885:Case for templeRaghubarDas,whoidentifiedhimselfasmahantatthechabutra intheoutercourtyard,filedasuitintheFaizabadcivilcourtagainsttheSecretaryofStateforIndiainCouncilseekingpermissiontobuildamakeshifttemplethere.Thesuitwasdismissed.SubsequentcivilappealstooweredismissedbytheDistrictJudgeofFaizabadandthecourtoftheJudicialCommissioner.Ariotin1934ledtodemolitionofaportionofthestructure,whichtheBritishrebuilt.

1949: Emergence of idolsAbhiramDas,aHindupriest, claimedhehadarecurringdreamofRammakinganappearanceunderthemaindomeof theMasjid. In thenightofDecember22thatyear, idolswerefoundat theplacehehadmentioned.WhilemanyHindusbelievedthat itwasamiracle, thenFaizabadDMKKNayaronthemorningofDecember23informedUPChiefMinisterGovindBallabhPantaboutagroupofHindusenteringthesiteandplacingthe idol.AnFIRwasfiled, thegates tothestructurewere locked,andthecitymagistrateattachedtheproperty.Along legalbattleensued.

1989:Shilanyas by VHPTheVHPpushedthecauseof theRamTemple, sensingthatPMRajivGandhiwasunderpressureduetotheBoforsscandalandother issues.TheVHPannouncedafoundation layingceremony,but theLucknowBenchofAllahabadHighCourtordered statusquobemaintained.As theVHPorganisedkarsevaks for the shilanyas,thegovernmentallowedtheVHPtogoahead.Butascommunal tensionescalated, theCentreandthestategovernmenttriedtogetVHPleaders toagreetoconduct the shilanyasoutsidethedisputedsite.OnNovember9,VHPleadersdugapit to laythe singhdwar

(mainentrance)onthedisputed land,toplacebricksasa foundation.

1990: Advani YatraIn1989, theBJP in itsnationalexecutive inPalampur,HimachalPradesh,decidedtoparticipate intheRamJanmabhoomimovementandformallyadoptedHindutaas itsideology.TheninSeptember1990,LalKrishnaAdvanidecidedto launchayatra toeducatepeopleaboutthemovement.Advani'sToyota-turned-RathYatra fromSomnathtoAyodhyaviacentral IndiamobilisedHindusentimentsandledtotheeventsofDecember1992.

1992: The demolitionKarsevaksclimbedthedomesof theBabriMasjidandpulledthemdown.Thissparkedcommunalviolencethatleftalmost2,000deadacross thecountry, followedbyPresident'sRuleanddismissalof theBJPgovernmentsinUttarPradesh,MadhyaPradesh,RajasthanandHimachalPradesh. It settheBJPonawiderpathtobecomingthecountry’smostprominentpoliticalparty, replacingtheCongress.

2002:Godhra train torchingAnattackonatraincarryingkarsevaksreturningfromAyodhyaonFebruary

27 left59deadinGodhra,Gujarat.Starting fromthefollowingday,Gujaratwasengulfed inoneof theworst riotsof Independent India, inwhichmorethan1,000peopledied,mostlyMuslims.TheriotsandtheAssemblyelectionthatyearwereinstrumental in themakingofNarendraModi–hehadbecomethenewfaceofHindutvapolitics, first inGujarat firstandeventually in India.

2019: The judgmentOnNovember9,a five-judgeSupremeCourtBenchledbythenChief Justiceof IndiaRanjanGogoi ruledtheentiredisputed landshouldbehandedovertoatrust formedbythegovernment,whichwouldmonitorconstructionofaRamTemple.TheSupremeCourtoverruledthe2010HighCourt ruling,whichhadtakenintoconsiderationfindingsof theArchaeologicalSocietyof Indiaandotherevidenceandorderedthat thedisputed landbedivided intothreepartsamongRamLallaVirajman,SunniWaqfBoardandNirmohiAkhara.The2019judgmentlaid thefoundationfor theBhoomiPujanfunctiononWednesday.

EIGHTMILESTONES IN THE JOURNEY TORAMTEMPLEThe events leading to the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony for the RamTemple inAyodhya have shaped one of the longest journeys— legal, cultural, religious and political— in India’s history,

beginning before Independence. LIZMATHEW looks back at some of themilestones in the journey.

(Fromleft)ShilanyasbyVHP,LKAdvani’sRathYatra,demolitionofBabriMasjid, torchedtrain inGodhra,andSupremeCourtonjudgmentday in2019.ExpressArchive

Fordecades, India’spoliticshasbeenshapedbyatusslebetweentwocompetinggrandideas:compositenationalismandculturalnationalism.Thelayingof thefoundationfortheRamTemplemarksthedemiseofanoldpoliticalconsensus,andthebeginningofanewjourney.

PrimeMinisterNarendraModiat theBhoomiPujan inAyodhya.PIB

New Delhi

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ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

NCLT to decide on resolutionplan of RCom, RTL on August 19ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,AUGUST5

THENATIONALCompanyLawTribunal(NCLT)will decide on the resolutionplanofAnilAmbani’sRelianceCommu-nications Ltd (RCom) and RelianceTelecomLtd(RTL)onAugust19.OnMarch6, the resolutionprofes-

sionalofRComanditssubsidiariessub-mitted a resolutionplan approvedby

thecreditorsundertheIBCprocess.Theplan entails realisation of around Rs23,000crore fromsaleofRComassetsandclawbackofmoneypaidtosomeofthe lenders.Thetotaldebtof thecom-panyisaroundRs46,000crore.AspertheresolutionplanofRCom

subsidiariesRITL andRTL, Reliance JiowillgetRITL’s towerandfibreassetsofforRs4,700croreandUVAssetReconst-ructionCoLtdwill get assets of RComandRTL(spectrum)forRs14,000crore.

BRIEFLY‘R&Dpolicyforpharmasector’Hyderabad:Department ofPharmaceuticals SecretaryPDVaghelaWednesdaysaidthe Centrewill soon comeupwith anexclusivepolicyfor research and develop-ment in the sector, notingthat scientistswhoachievebreakthrough innovationsshouldalsoberewarded.

Tenders:DPIITtohireagencyNewDelhi: The DPIIT willrope inaconsultingagencytoscrutinisetendersofgov-ernmentprocuringentitiesfor compliancewithpublicprocurementnorms. PTI

$1bnforJ&JpotentialvaccineBengaluru:TheUnitedStateswillpay Johnson&Johnsonover $1billion for 100mil-lion doses of its potentialCOVIDvaccine. REUTERS

PhaseIIclinicaltrialsbyZydusNewDelhi:ZydusCadilasaidWednesdayphaseIIclinicaltrialsofitsCOVID-19vaccinecandidate, ZyCoV-D, willstartfromAugust6. PTI

UStradedeficitdropsinJuneWashington: TheUS tradedeficit fell 7.5 per cent to$50.7 billion in June overMay,asexportsrosetwiceasfastasimports. AP

PolicyconsenttobeelectronicNewDelhi: Insuranceregul-atory body Irdai onWednesday permitted lifeinsurerstoobtainconsentofprospective policy holderselectronically. PTI

Samsung’s newNote 20 serieslaunched virtuallyEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,AUGUST5

SAMSUNGHASannounceditslat-est flagships, theGalaxyNote20andNote20Ultra, andarangeofother devices including a smart-watch that tracksoxygensatura-tion,BPandECGreadings.Addressing the virtual audi-

ence at this year’s SamsungUnpacked event, TMRoh, presi-dentandheadofMobileCommu-nications Business, SamsungElectronics,saiditisstrange“howeven aswekept saying tech canchangetheworld,weforgothowtheworldcanchangeus.”The Note 20 Ultra has the

largestscreeninaGalaxyNoteyetwith6.9inchesandoffersarefreshrateof120Hzwhichwillendearitto gamers, one of the fastest-growing segments in the post-lockdownworld.TheGalaxyNote20hasa108

MP wide-angle main cameraflankedbya12MPultra-wideand12MPtelephotolens.Thereisjustone 10 MP front camera, butSamsung is promising “cinema-qualityvideorecording”.

HDFC QIP issue:Floor price set at`1,838.94 a shareNewDelhi:MortgagelenderHDFCLtd has set the floor price at Rs1,838.94pershareforitsqualifiedinstitutional placement (QIP) is-sue that openedonWednesday,accordingtoaregulatoryfiling.OnJuly30,theboardofdirec-

tors of HDFChad approved rais-ingfundsbywayofissuanceofeq-uity shares and securedredeemable NCDs simultane-ouslywithwarrants aggregatingup toa cumulative amountof Rs14,000croreonaQIPbasis.At itsAugust5meeting,theHDFCcom-mitteeofdirectorsapprovedanddeclaredtheopeningof theissueWednesday,thefilingsaid. PTI

Sl. No Tender Inviting Authority Specification No. Total1 CE/MM M.17, M.55 2

2 SE/Transmission-II T-2160, T-2161 2For details of works/Procurement/Due date of submission/openingCorrigendum, Due date extension, viewing and downloading of e-tenders,please visit websites: www.tangedco.gov.in www.tantransco.gov.in,www.tenders.tn.gov.in, www.tntenders.gov.in/nicgep/app,

TAMIL NADU TrANSMISSIoN CorPorATIoN LTD.

NoTICE INVITING TENDErS (E-TENDErING ProCESS)

DIPR/2917/TEnDER/2020

TAMIL NADU GENErATIoN AND DISTrIbUTIoN CorPorATIoN LTD.

NOTICE INVITING TENDERSikkim Livestock Processing & Development Corporation Limited (SLP&DC Ltd.) (AGovernment of Sikkim undertaking), Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Servicesinvites e-tender for appointment of a trunkey contractor for establishment of amodern abattoir (multi-species) at Gyaba, Gyalshing, West Sikkim.The Notice Inviting Tender along with details will be available on official website ofthe Government of Sikkim www.sikkimtender.gov.in w.e.f. 10.08.2020.R.O. No.: 47/IPR/Pub/Classi/20-21 Sd/-Date: 04/08/2020 Managing Director (SLP&DC Ltd.)

SIKKIM LIVESTOCK PROCESSING & DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION LIMITED

(GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM UNDERTAKING)KRISHI BHAWAN, TADONG, EAST SIKKIM-737102

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

THE DIRECTORATE General ofForeignTrade(DGFT)isundergo-ingarevamptoaddressissuesre-lated to tradebarriers aswell ashelpbuildcapacitiestoaccelerateexports, said the organisation’schief onWednesday. Thebody isworking inconsultationwith theindustry to augment domesticmanufacturingandboostexportsinseveralelectronicsandhardwa-re items, especially those in thehealthcare andpharmaceuticalsector.Thedevelopmentcomesafter

thegovernment earlier this yearhadtoblockexportsofcrucialde-

vices likeventilatorswhen itwasfoundthat therewasnotenoughdomesticcapacityfortheseprod-uctstoallowtheindustrytomeetforeigncommitments. TheDGFTrecently liftedthebanonexportsaftersufficientcapacityhadbeen

createdandseeingas thecase fa-talityrate inthecountrywaslow,whichmeant lesspeopleneededtobeonventilators.AccordingtoDGFTAmitYadav,

thebodyisinan“overhaul”modeandseveralchangesarebeing in-

troduced to respond to presentchallenges.“Bytheendofthisyear,wehopetocompletetheoverhaulwork andmany changeswill bebroughtabouttoaddressthetradebarriersandtoensureeaseofdo-ing business,” he saidwhile ad-dressinganinteractivewebinaror-ganised by the Electronics andComputer Software ExportPromotionCouncil(ESC).TheDGFT,inconsultationwith

industrybodies,isfocusingoncre-atingmore capacitieswithin thecountry to produce items in theelectronics andhardware sector,includingventilators,which canreduce the country’s import de-pendenceandaugmentexports,asperareleaseonthesession.“Withinoursetup,wearecon-

sultingwith industry andotherswhereweshould focus to createnewcapacities to reduce importand accelerate exports,” Yadavsaid,aspertherelease.Inthecaseofventilators,there

were shortages earlier andnowthefocuswouldbemoreoncreat-ingmanufacturingcapacitiesandexportingthem,statedtherelease.The DGFT also stressed the

need to develop an electroniccomponentsectorinordertobuildstrongbackwardandforwardlink-ages. According tohim, continu-ousconsultationshavebeenheldwiththeindustryandotherstake-holders tounderstand the “painpointsandtoensureforwardandbackwardintegration intheelec-tronicsandhardwaresector”.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

SECURITIES AND ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) ChairmanAjay Tyagi onWednesdaywasgivenan18-monthextension,tillFebruary 2022, according to aPersonnelMinistryorder.This ishissecondextension.It comes at a timewhen the

economyandcapitalmarketsarestaringatuncertaintiesduetothecoronaviruspandemic.The Appointments Comm-

ittee of the Cabinet, headed byPrimeMinister NarendraModi,has approved extension ofTyagi’stermfor18months,with

effectfromSeptember1,2020upto February 28, 2022, the ordersaid.Tyagi, a 1984-batch Indian

Administrative Service (retired)officer of Himachal Pradesh

cadre,tookoverasSebiChairmanonMarch1,2017forthreeyears.Earlierthisyear,hewasgiven

a six-month extension tillAugust.Priortojoiningasthechiefof

themarketsregulator,TyagiwasAdditional Secretary, Depart-mentof EconomicAffairsunderthe Finance Ministry. He wasthen handing the portfolios ofcapitalmarket,investment,infra-structure and currency andcoinagedivisions.Tyagi did his graduation in

Electrical Engineering and postgraduationincomputerscience.He holds a Masters in PublicAdministration from HarvardUniversity. WITHPTI

Thesignageontopof theBSEbuildingwasdamagedduetorainonWednesday inMumbai.PartsofMumbaiandneighbouringThaneandPalghardistrictsofMaharashtrawere lashedbyheavyrain.BSECEOAshishChauhantweetedthat thebourse is tryingtoprevent thesignagefromfallingdown. @ashishchauhanTwitterhandle

FOCUSONBUILDINGCAPACITIESTOACCELERATEEXPORTS

■Thedevelopmentcomesafter thegovernmentearlier thisyearhad toblockexportsof crucialdevices likeventilatorswhen itwas foundthattherewasnotenoughdomestic capacity for theseproducts toallowthe

industry tomeet foreigncommitments.■ It isworking inconsultationwith theindustry toaugmentdomesticmanufacturingandboostexports inseveral electronicsandhardware items

GOVTBLOCKEDEXPORTSOFCRUCIALDEVICESRECENTLY

DGFTin ‘overhaul’modetoaddresstrade issues

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

INANefforttoprepareitsoffi-cersfor5Gcomputingandin-ternet of things (IoT), theDepartment of Telecomm-unicationshasdecidedtoropein Thailand-based intergov-ernmental organisationAsia-PacificTelecommunity(APT).WomenofficersoftheDoT

whohavenotundertakenanyofficial foreignvisit inthepastthreeyearswillbegivenpref-erenceinthetraining,accord-ingtoanofficialmemorandumfromtheDoT.Thetrainingthistimewill,however,beheldon-lineduetointernationaltravelrestrictionsonaccountof theCOVID-19pandemic,DoTsaidinthememorandum.Earlier, in 2017, officers

from DoT had been sent toChinaforaforatrainingcourseon5G communications sys-temand IoT, followingwhichanotherbatchof traineeswassent for a courseon the influ-enceof bigdata andapplica-tion of big data in 2018. Thetraining was necessitatedagainas itwasfelt thattheof-ficers shouldbe refreshedonthetrainingtheyhadreceivedin 2017, after which the 5Gtechnologyhadchangedalot,anofficialoftheDoTsaid.The APT had in July this

yearwrittentotheDoTtosend

nominations for officers byAugust 6andhad invitedap-plications from all depart-ments of the administration,includingtheDoT.Intheonlinetrainingsession thisyear,APTplanstotrainselectedofficersin5Gnetworkanditsperspec-tivedesignapplicationsaswellas artificial intelligence orsmartcomputingtocreatedig-italservices.TheDoTalsoaimstocreate

apool of experts on5Gcom-putingandIoTserviceswhichcan work towards capacitybuildingonnewtechnologicalknowledgeandalsohelpotherdepartmentsasandwhenthenewtechnologyisrolledout.India’s rollout of 5G has

been hit severely due to thepandemic. The governmenthadplannedauctionof 8,300MHz spectrum, including inthe5Gbandin2020.However,with twoof the threeprivatetelcosreelingunderdebt,andthegovernmentunwilling tolower the base price of thespectrum,itisunlikelythattheprivate playerswould opt tospendmoneyon5G.

SECTORWATCHTELECOMMUNICATION

To gear up for 5G,IoT, Telecom Deptto retrain officers;create expert pool

Thetrainingwillbeonlineduetointernational travelrestrictionsonaccountofCOVID-19

TyagitookoverasSebiChairmaninMarch2017. File

Ajay Tyagi gets 18-month extension asSebi chief, to continue till February 2022

REASON:Tohandletheimpactofthepandemic

THEMASSIVEspikeintheshareofexternalsourceoffundingthefiscaldeficitcomesevenasithasbeencontinuingfinancingprimarilythroughdomesticsources—asmuchas96percent

‘Share of external financing of fiscaldeficit jumps 325% in Q1 of FY21’The share of external financing has jumped to 4.5 per centin Q1 FY21 from 1.6 per cent in the same quarter lastfiscal, as per a CARE Ratings report

83%OFTHEBORROWINGTARGET,ASOFJUNE,ALREADYRUNBYTHEGOVERNMENT,ASPER OFFICIALNUMBERSRELEASEDONJULY31

325%JUMP:Theshareofexternalfinancinginthecurrentfinancialyearhasjumpedfrom1.6percentasofQ1ofFY20to4.5percent inQ1ofthecurrentfiscal.This isamassive325percenthigheryear-on-yearduringthefirstquarter

SILVERLINING:However, inanencouragingsign,despitethemassiverevenueshortfallstherehasbeenanincreaseincapexSource:CARERatings/PTI

GOLD`55,390

RUPEE`74.94

OIL$45.13

SILVER`72,654

Note:Gold, silver futuresontheMCX;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Brentcrudeasof0000IST

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

Byju’s acquires WhiteHat Jr for $300 millionPRESSTRUSTOFINDIAMUMBAI,AUGUST5

BYJU'SHASacquiredWhiteHatJr,a startup focused on impartingcodingskillstokids, for$300mil-lion(aboutRs2,240crore).Byju's,whichisvaluedat$8bil-

lion tokidsasperanindependentreport, said coding is fast emerg-ingasakeyskillforthefutureandtheacquisitionwillhelpitexpandofferingsintheUSandIndia.Theneweducationpolicyalso

stresseson teachingcodingskillsfromearlyclasses,itsaidinastate-mentonWednesday.

The 2018-incorporatedWhiteHathas a revenueof $150million. Sourcespegged thedealamountat$300million.Byju'swillmakesignificantin-

vestmentsinWhiteHat'stechnol-ogyplatformandproductinnova-tion,whileexpandingtheteacherbasetocatertodemandfromnew

markets,thestatementsaid.?Karan Bajaj, the target com-

pany's founder,will continue toleadandscalethisbusinessinIndiaandtheUS.Byju's doubled its revenue to

Rs 2,800 crore in FY20 and hasclockedarevenueofRs500croreinJulyalone,asperthestatement.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,AUGUST5

THESERVICES sector registeredfurther rapid reduction inoutputinthewakeoflockdownmeasuresimplemented to curb the coron-aviruspandemicinJuly,asperthelatestIHSMarkitsurveydata.The IHSMarkit IndiaServices

BusinessActivityIndexregistered34.2 in July. Even after risingslightly from33.7 in June, it sig-nalledafurtherrapidreductioninservicesectoroutput,itsaid.Thelatestreadingwasamong

the lowest recorded innearly15yearsofdatacollection,surpassedonlybytheunprecedentedfallsinthepreviousthreemonths.Aread-ingbelow50indicatescontraction.“Further substantial reduc-

tions inbothactivity and inflows

ofnewworkwererecorded,ason-goinglockdownrestrictionsstifleddemandandforcedcompaniestoceaseoperations,”thesurveysaid.Subsequently,firmsmadefurthercutstostaffnumbers,withtherateof jobsheddingthemostmarkedonrecord.Lewis Cooper, economist at

IHSMarkit, said: “Thepandemicand subsequent introductionof“lockdown”measures continuedtoweigh heavily on the IndianservicesectorinJuly.Businessac-tivity and neworders droppedagain,withtheratesofdeclinere-mainingrapidoverall.”Panellists frequentlyreported

temporarycompanyclosuresandweak demand as a result of thepandemic.The12-monthoutlookforout-

putwasnegative for a third suc-cessivemonth.

‘July services sector PMIsignals rapid fall in output’

Global rally in preciousmetals, safe-haven demandpush gold above `55K markENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,AUGUST5

GOLDANDsilverpricesWedne-sdayskyrocketedfurther,withtheyellow metal crossing the Rs55,000per10grammarkon theIndianmarketsfollowingaglobalrally in thepreciousmetals.GoldfutureshitanewhighofRs55,390per10gontheMCX,while silverfuturessurgedtoRs72,654perkg.Inglobalmarkets, goldprices

hadhitanewhighbyrisingabovethe psychological $2,000mark.Analysts saidaweakerdollar, ex-pectationsofmore stimulus andrising coronavirus casesboostedthesafe-havendemandofgold.Goldandsilverhavebeenthe

bestperformingassets so far this

yearwith40per cent and50percent returns, respectively.According to analysts, slowingjewellerydemandismorethanre-placedbyinvestordemandinETFsaswellascoinandbarsales.

Bengaluru/London: Goldrocketed to a new recordhighonWednesdayaftergo-ing past $2,000 for the firsttime,asaweakerdollarandfalling returns onUSbondsdroveinvestorstohoardtheyellowmetal. REUTERS

Gold races tonew record aftercrossing $2K/oz

How SII’s phase III vaccine trials playa vital role in global pandemic fightPRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,AUGUST5

INDIA’S TOPdrug regulator hasapproved Serum Institute ofIndia’s(SII)applicationtoconductlate-stage human trials in thecountry for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccinecandidate.Whilethevaccineisal-readybeingtestedinothercoun-tries,itisimportantforIndiatobe

apart of these globaltrials.

WhyisitimportanttoconductphaseIIIstudies?

Theworldisstilllearninghowthisvirusworks indifferentpop-ulations as it is relatively new.India, for instance, nowplansonrolling out a registry tocollectdatafrompatientsin hospitals across thecountry to understandhow they can improvetreatmentstrategies.Inclinicaltrialsforany

new drug or vaccine, the thirdphase of testing looks for the ef-fectivenessoftheproductinthou-sandsofparticipantstogetanideaofwhether itwillwork ina largeanddiversepopulation. It is alsoimportant tonote that these latestage trials check foranyadverse

reactions in the population thattheproductisintendedfor.

WheredoesSIIcomeintothepicture?SII, theworld’s largest

vaccinemaker,hastied-upwith Swedish-BritishpharmagiantAstraZenecato manufacture theCOVID-19vaccineforlow-

andmiddle-incomecountries.Aspartof thegovernment’sownre-quirements,anynewvaccinethatisexpectedtobemarketedinIndiahas toundergo late stage clinicaltrialsherebeforealaunch.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

‘Govt widensChina app ban tocover more fromXiaomi, Baidu’NewDelhi:Thegovernmenthasbanned some mobile apps ofChinese companies such asXiaomiCorpandBaidu Inc, threesources told Reuters onWednesday, in theCentre’s latestmove to hit Chinese companiesfollowingaborderclashbetweentheneighbours.TheCentre in Juneoutlawed

59Chinese apps for threateningthecountry’s“sovereigntyandin-tegrity”, including ByteDance’svideo-sharing app TikTok,Alibaba’sUCBrowserandXiaomi’sMiCommunityapp.REUTERS

New Delhi


SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VolLXXXVIIINo.231 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05

R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office:The IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301. Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha ** **Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct. Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

15 Front footno-ballsdecidedby thirdumpiresDay 1 of the ongoing England -Pakistan Test was the first time that front foot no-balls weredecided by the TV umpire and not the on-field officials, as per the latest International CricketCouncil ruling. PTI

CROSSWORD4190

ACROSS1 Mouthorganists?(8)

5 Musicianssound likely tobeoutlawed(4)

9 Severelycriticises local taxes(5)

10 Discharge fromthearmy(7)

11 Exhilarating,assomedrinksare (12)

13 Sends for instructions(6)

14 Hecomposeda featureaboutwork(6)

17 StrifeasRedmeetingbreaksup(12)

20 Strainedtodefinedecimalpoint (7)

21 Newbrainchild(5)

22 Let’smakeachange, just incase (4)

23 It couldbesimplecuriosity(8)

DOWN1 Habit toboastabout(4)

2 GavevoicewhenIdamagedatendon(7)

3 Therecordof ourgrowingoldisdepressing (12)

4 Recoverone’spossession?(6)

6 Aftergettingbail somehow, Ifindanexcuse (5)

7 Profoundly improvingaharbour? (8)

8 Ahumble fantobemoved, toodeepforwords(12)

12 Kindly feeling forworthyShakespeare (8)

15 Writers I’veassumedtobeserious (7)

16 Humblecleric takesmetoheart (6)

18 Groundsworthseeing,onehears (5)

19 Workto furrowthebrow(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr.20)TheMoon'srelationshipwithyoursign isastrongsignal thatyouwill

haveto takeverygreatcarewithallpartnershipandmatrimonialmatters.Partnersareunlikely tobe fobbedoffwithexcuses, soyoucouldbeputonthespot -at last.Getyourstoryready.

TAURUS(Apr.21-May21)Youmaywell feelalittlehurtorbetrayed,buttoday's starsurge

youtoput thepastbehindyouandgetonwithpracticalaffairs. There isnopointatallin rakingovermatterswhicharebest leftalone.Also,perhaps it's timetobekindandletsomeoneelseoff thehook.

GEMINI(May22-June21)AlivelyMoonisapleasantpresenceinyourchart.Byreducingyour

generallevelof irritability, itcouldmakeyoumuchmoresympathetictoothers,increasinglyabletocharmpartners,andhencethatmuchmoresuccessful.Withfriendsonyourside,anumberofobstacleswillsoondisappear,asifbymagic.

CANCER(June22-July23)Inastrangeandsomewhatperverseway,youareprobablyenjoying

thisperiod.Mars'smovementthroughintenseregionsofyourchartbringsoutyourlatentconservatism,yourfeelingthatmanythingsarebestleftastheyare.Andmaybethat'snobadthing.

LEO(July24-Aug.23)Takeallduecareandattentionwithfinancialmatters,especiallybecauseif

anyoneisgoingtolosemoneyorbeover-charged,itisyou.Youshouldalsotakeapracticalattitudetosocialarrangements,andignorethefranklyimpossible.

VIRGO(Aug.24-Sept.23)Mercury,yourplanetaryruler, isbeginningtomakeitslivelypresence

felt,andachanceremarkorencountercouldgiveyoutheleveryouneedtoforcenewitemsontotheagendaathomeandatwork.First,youhavetostandbackandgivesomeonesomeextraspacetosortthemselvesout.Youknowitmakessense.

LIBRA(Sept.24-Oct.23)Sensitive planetaryactivity brings outyour confidence. Inparticular, itmakes

you increasingly sure ofyour ideas, and it gives youthe necessary poetic skillto express yourself to goodeffect. That alone has tomake the futureworthwaiting for.

SCORPIO(Oct.24-Nov.22)Personal dynamicsare increasinglycomplex, as you areonly toowell

aware. Other people haveonly been able to put youdown in thepast because youhave allowed them.Now it isdefinitely the right time topaymore attention to yourownneeds and aspirationsand lead a full life.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov.23-Dec.22)TheMoon is boundto get you thinking,andmake yourealise that

physically, financially andemotionally, you needto redefine your centre ofgravity. For now, allyou should do is plan.Action can be left untillater - even if sooner thanyou think.

CAPRICORN(Dec.23- Jan.20)The Sun andMarsare now in arelationshipwhichsignifies a great

deal of intensity on your part.You also seem to be sufferingfromanattack of doubtor a lack of confidence. Thesimple remedy is to get onwithpractical tasks untilyou succeed.

AQUARIUS(Jan.21-Feb.19)Your emotionalsituation is lookingevermore buoyant,but everything

revolves around the choicesyou allowyourself to take.At theheart of all yourfeelings is the question ofcommitment, and theneed todecidewhether to go, or tostay - or to dither.

PISCES(Feb.20-Mar20)Today's lunaralignmentsmaygrant you atemporary reprieve

fromdifficult personalchoices, and youmayfind respite in dealingwith businessmatters, orjust in going out to search forbargains. Onepiece of advicethough - be sure to get valueformoney.

SUDOKU4192

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4191

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Loveprefers____todaylight.-OliverWendellHolmes,Sr.(8)

SOLUTION:PIPIT,NUTTY,BLIGHT,GLOWERAnswer:Lovepreferstwilighttodaylight.-OliverWendellHolmes,Sr.

PPTII BGITHL

NUYTT ELORGW

SolutionsCrossword4189:Across:1Bourgeois,8Corgi,9Tillage,10Creche,11Letsup,12Overcast,15Patience,18Cocoon,20Expect,21Village,22Refer,23Exonerate.Down:2Oxide,3Relish,4Eggspoon,5Scorer,6Grecian,7Direction,11Leapyears,13Election,14Stopoff,16Encore,17Ocular,19Ought.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Nagal into USOpenmain drawTakes thespotmadeavailable,most likely,by thewithdrawalofRafaNadal

Babar assumes controlgliding to a half-centurySANDIPGAUGUST5

THE PRE-SERIES arc-lightswere trained onBabar Azam, and they refused to leave himonthefirstdayof theopeningTestattheOldTrafford.Thegracefulbatsmanscoredamas-terful unbeatenhalf-century, in theprocesstakingthetourists to139/2,beforebad lightdeprivedhimthe fullday'sdazzle.Untilthen,itwashigh-definitionbatting.Therewere severalmomentsworthy of

detailing. But thisone standsout. Just beforetheraininterruption,AzamlostJofraArcher’sbouncer in the fading light. Hewas alreadycommitted to the front foot, ashe’sprone to,andtheballwasscreamingintohisribsathighpace. But Azamheld hiswits, he pirouettedsideways, got just outside the line of the ris-ingballandglided(ratherthanpulled)itpastfine-leg for abracewitha twirl of thewrists.And hemade all these complicatedmove-mentslookgraceful.Hehasthatextra-secondedgetogetoutoftrouble,torectifythoserareblemishesof judgmentinaninstant.Timehealsohadtoshowcaseanarrayof

delightfulstokes,blendingstyleandgrace. Ifa back-foot punch off James Andersonwasnot dreamy enough, he majesticallyclumped Archer beyond backward point,straight-drovehimandStuartBroadbeforesubjectingDomBesstothesortofcontemptsubcontinental batsmen reserve for off-spinners.HegavePakistantheimpetus,be-fore kicking on to completing his half-cen-tury in70deliveries.ThemomentPakistanmadeaboldmove

to bat first, the buzz was around Azam.StridingoutinanangstymomentforPakistan,atthefalloftheirskipperAzharAliforaduck,therewerelotof stakesridingonAzam.Hebegannervously,hejustaboutstaved

offacoupleofviciousin-duckersfromblast-ing his pads. He miscued two other on-drives, he was beaten and squared-up, hishandswere rigid and feet frozen. And thenjust like that he disentangled himself andstampedhisqualityontheEnglandbowlers.IfAzammarvelledwithdazzlingstrokes,

ShanMasood impressedwithmeticulouscraftsmanship.Theforlornfigurehecutdur-ing Pakistan’s previous tour to Englandseemedafadingmemory,ashesubduedhistormentorJamesAndersonwithresounding

assurance.TheEnglandtalismanhadnabbedhimsixtimesinasmanyduels,butthistimearoundtheopenerrepelledhimwithsingle-mindedapplicationandatweakedtechnique.Discernible were changes in his tech-

nique. He has opened up his stance, whichhasexpandedhisoff-sidegameandmadehisbat-flowsmootherandstraighter.Heisstillerat the crease, so that he is not caught on themoveandenableshimtoplaytheballas lateaspossible.Equallyendearingwerehismen-tal gifts, thepoise, judgementanddisciplinerequired to withstand the unforgivingEnglandclimesandtheirpunishingbowlers.The discretion outside off-stumpwas

impeccable,aswastheprecisionofhisfoot-movement. Later, as the shinewore off, hepulled out a clutchof pleasing strokes. LikeadaboffStuartBroad,whereinhejuststoodtall, rode the bounce and sent it past thebackward point. Like a shuffle-flick ofArcher.Hewasabeneficiaryof JosButtler’sfallible glove-work too, as the Englandkeeperspilledacatchandastumpingoff theunfortunateDomBess.ThusendedadaywhereinPakistanrein-

forcedthat theyhavecomeadequatelypre-pared and that they would not be coweddownby England’s battery of bowlers. Andforonce,England’sfour-prongedpaceattackfailed to take charge of the game. Babarthoughtookcontrol.BRIEFSCORES:Pakistan:139/2(BabarAzam69 not out, ShanMasood 46 not out, JofraArcher1/23;ChrisWoakes1/14)vsEnglandonDay1.

IPL franchisesagree on 6-dayquarantine onreaching DubaiSHAMIKCHAKRABARTYKOLKATA,AUGUST5

THE IPL teamswill observea six-dayquaran-tineperioduponreachingDubai,thishasbeendecided in the IPL teamowners’meetingonWednesday.“Wecan’ttakechancesonhealthissuesand teammemberswill observea six-dayquarantineperiod,”anIPLfranchiseofficialtoldTheIndianExpress.AspertheDubaigovernmenthealthproto-

col,aPCRtestneedstobedonewithin96hoursbeforeembarkingandtakeoneafter reachingthere.Onlythosetestedpositivewillbequaran-tinedfor14days.DownloadingtheALHOSNApp,theofficialdigitalplatformforCovid-19testinginUnitedArabEmirates,however, ismandatory.Theteams,though,wanttoplaysafe.AllofthemhavedecidedtoleaveforDubaiafterAugust20andholdtheirrespectivecampsinUAE.Themeeting via conference call alsodis-

cussed issues like bio-security and squadstrength. It is learnt that every franchisewillhave to arrange its ownbio-security,while aBCCI-appointed agencywill supervise thewhole thing. Thispaperunderstands that theBCCIisintalkswithacoupleofagencies.Teamowners,meanwhile,agreedonrestrictingtheirrespectivesquadstrengthto24.Themeetingwasheldagainstthebackdrop

ofVivo’s imminentdepartureas the IPL’s titlesponsor. “TheBCCIhasinformedusorallythatVivoisnotthere,”saidthefranchiseofficial.TheBoardisexpectedtoissueanewRFP(RequestforProposal) topicka replacement sponsor–likelyshort-termforthe2020season.ButevenwithintheIPLgoverningcouncil,there’safeel-ing that thenewsponsorshipamountwouldbe “much less” amid the Covid-forced eco-nomicdistress.Areductionintitlesponsorshiprevenuewill adversely affect bothBCCI andfranchises,especiallythelatter,astheyareun-likelytogetanygatereceipts.Revenuefromthecentralpool isdistributed ina60:40 ratiobe-tweenBCCIandthefranchises.Asked if the team owners decided to

seek compensation from the Board, thefranchise official said: “No decision hasbeen takenon the issue.”

SHAHIDJUDGEMUMBAI, AUGUST5

LATEONTuesdaynight, theUSOpenputouta tweet toannounce the list of playerswhohadmade the cut for this year’s event. Themessagewas lacedwithword-playas theyannounced themen’s singles field, “FromDjokovic toNagal.”In the comments, users assumed a

spelling error. But itwasn’t the case. Itwasnomistake, world no 127 Sumit Nagal hadindeedmade the cut – the last player to doso.The22-year-oldtakesupthemaindrawspot made available, most likely, by thewithdrawal of 19-timeGrandSlamwinneranddefending championRafaelNadal.Nadal hadannounced last night that he

wouldnotbepartof thetournamentduetohealth and safety concerns.It will be Nagal’s second appearance in

the main draw of a Slam since he rosethrough the qualifiers to make the cut atFlushing Meadows last year. His run thenwas cut short in theopening roundagainstthenworldno.3RogerFederer.Andhe’s justhappy tobebackplaying.“Making themain draw of a Slam is al-

ways a good feeling,” he tells The IndianExpress. “This iswhatyouplaytennis for, tobe there in the Slams. So I’mveryhappy I’llget to play.” Theman from Jhajjar, Haryanahas spent the last fewweeks preparing forthepossibility of playing theUSOpen.

Training in GermanyWhen the COVID-19 pandemic sus-

pended the tennis tour inMarch,Nagalde-cided to stay in Peine, Germany, “a 15-sec-ond walk from” where he trains at theSaschaNenselAcademy.Itwasadecisionthatallowedhimtoget

back to training towards the end of May,when the German government allowedprofessionals to resume practice. At thesametime,withexhibitioneventscroppingupalloverEurope,he’sevenmanagedtogetin somematchpractice.“I played an event in Pinneberg

(Germany)andtheninBasel(Switzerland),”he says. “I got toplay somematches,whichis themain goal. It went according to plan.

But otherwise I’ve just been doing a lot oftennis and fitnesswork.”Life isyet to return towhat itused tobe,

butNagalhasmadeadjustmentstohisdailyroutine forwhat is nowbecoming thenewnormal. There is fear still, about travellingandcompetingacrosstheglobe.Butthewillto play, and start earning again, is a greatermotivation than theCoronavirus threat.“I think the fear of the viruswill always

bethere,butyoucan’t stopdoingwhatyoulove for a longperiod,” he says.“It’sbeenfivemonths,andnobodylikesit.

Of course, if yougooutsideyouhavetowearamask.Everyoneisgettingusedtoit.ButI’veonlybeentoaplacetoplaybecauseIknewitissafe.Precautionsweretakenandeveryonehad to follow the rules and regulations. Ifthingsaredonetherightway,thenwhynot?”For Somdev Devvarman, the former

world no. 62 and India no. 1, the youngsterhasmadethemostoutof thecircumstanceheis in.Oneof thebiggestadvantagesNagalhasduringthisperiodis thathe’s inacoun-try where conditions have started to im-prove,andsubsequently, therehasbeenac-cess to courts.“Inmanycountries like India,nothing is

open which is something you can under-stand and nobody is at fault. But there are

countries in Europe which are open andevents have been going on. Samewith theUS,”Devvarmansays.“Thatmeanssomeplayersaregettingto

playmorematchesthanothers.ButSumit isyoung, he’s trying to improveandhe’smo-tivated. He’s got a good group of coacheswho are helping him through this process.Atthispoint, that’s thebestyoucanaskfor.”Once the tour starts later this month,

Nagal will play his first event, since theDavis Cup inMarch, at a Challenger eventin Prague. But he hasn’t set any targets atthemoment.“It’s not easy to set goals when you

haven’t played a single tournament in thelast fivemonths. I think right now I’m justlooking forward toplaying,” he adds.

Where it all startedThen hewill make his way to the US to

play the Slam that has meant so much tohim in his career. It was at the US Open in2014,wherehequalified to compete in theJuniorGrandSlamstreamfor the first time.It was there, five years later, at the ArthurAshe Stadium, where he played his first-ever main drawmatch at a major, againstFederer no less. Andwon his biggest-everpay cheque, $58,000.Itwasamatchwherehisdetermination

andresiliencewonhimadmirersashetooka set off the man with a record 20 GrandSlams. Itwasamatch thatevennow,ayearlater,Devvarmanfeelscangivehimaboost.“He knowswhat it's like to be there, at

that stage, he knows what it's like to playagainstatopplayer,”hesays.“Winningasetwill give him the belief that he can do itagain against bigplayers.”But FlushingMeadows this yearwill be

a far cry fromwhat Nagal experienced lastyear. Fromplaying inapacked23,000-plusarena last year, to playing behind closeddoors this time.But Nagal doesn’t mind it. Nor does he

mindthenumeroushealthprecautionsor-ganisers haveput inplace.“Itmightbetough(tofollowrestrictions)

becauseyou’renotused to it,” he says. “Butif youhavetofollowit toplayaSlam, Idon’tmind it. I’m just very excited to be backthere. I can’twait.”

The22-year-oldwasthe lastplayer tomakethecut. Reuters

BabarAzamscoredafluentunbeaten69beforebadlightstoppedplay. Reuters

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