NEW DELHI 09 JUNE 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24 facebook/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in THOSE KING CONG YEARS PLUS: 12 PAGES EYECREAM OR NOT? In the Forests of the Night The Revenge of the Mother GALLE WITH THE WIND MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES Anand Neelakantan Shampa Dhar-Kamath Ravi Shankar Prabhu Chawla S Vaidhyasubramaniam Sutanu Guru Sunaina Anand Nanditha Krishna Beyond Scrubs and Scalpels ‘It is an Odd Love Story’ SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Relationships: Life’s Sacred Offering Army mulls raising tenure of Agniveers M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi RESERVATIONS OF PARTIES, INCLUDING THOSE IN NDA FOLLOWING recommendations from senior Army officers, discussions are on within the force to raise the minimum service tenure of Agniveers from four years to seven-eight years and retain 60-70% of them permanently. The recommendations were sent around three months back for the ongoing review of the Agniveer scheme. The analysis of the feedback collected from all formations and senior officers is aimed at ensuring that the Agniveer induction does not lead to functional issues Have patience for 2 more days to know about CM, says Samal B I J O Y P R A D H A N @ Bhubaneswar AS the question lingers over who will be the new chief minister of Odisha, state BJP chief Manmohan Samal on Saturday added to the suspense by not divulging anything on the composition of the first saffron party government.On his return from Delhi, Samal asked mediapersons to wait for two more days to get a clear picture. Samal who had gone to Delhi along with former Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra to attend the meeting of newly-elected MP of National Democratic Alliance on Friday, however, said that the first BJP chief minister of Odisha will take oath on June 10 as announced earlier. “The oath-taking ceremony of the CM of BJP government will be held on Monday evening at Janata Maidan. The exact time of the ceremony has not been finalised. Since Narendra Modi will join the ceremony, we will let you know about the time and other details as and when we are informed by our central party,” Samal said. On the CM face and the number of ministers to take oath, Samal said, “The BJP parliamentary board will take a decision on it. You have to wait till the decision is taken and a formal announcement is made.” Samal refused to comment on him being a front-runner for the top post. “I am not in the race for CM and I don’t feel the need to comment. I am a small worker of the party and contributed my might in a very small way. The entire credit for this stupendous success goes to lakhs of booth-level workers, the untiring campaign by PM Modi and his cabinet colleagues and CMs of our states. Above all, the people of the state who were actually fighting this election made this possible.” He said there had been discussions on the state in his meetings with Amit Shah and JP Nadda during his two-day stay in Delhi. Even as Mishra said the newly-elected BJP MLAs may meet on Sunday to elect their leader in the Assembly , Samal said no decision has been taken yet about the legislature party meeting. Several parties, including those in the NDA, have raised their reservations against the scheme. Public representatives have raised socio-cultural concerns saying released Agniveers trained to handle arms and explosives “may be amenable to exploitation” due to dissatisfaction with a decline in “operational efficiency”. A source confirmed that recommendations included “increasing the retention percentage, raising the induction age for those in technical grades to 23 years, sanctioning ex-gratia for a disability developed during training, exit management under a professional agency and a subsistence allowance to a family of Agniveer killed in action.” The entire exercise has aimed to bring down the pension bill and maintain a youthful profile of the force. The feedback includes the lack of on-the-job training, seen as “leading to inexperience and inadequate expertise,” said a source. “Adversaries on northern (China) and western (Pakistan) sectors are increasing their synergies and jointness. So, the time is right to make amendments in the scheme,” said an Army officer. Sources pointed out that the experience issue can be resolved with a little tweak. The Agniveer’s four-year fixed service, instead of leading to cohesion to perform as a unit, is seen as leading to competition to prove one’s employability as a permanent soldier. The previous training period was for 11 months instead of six. The service period for the soldiers is counted from the day they start their training. Heavyweights of BJP may stay in the new ministry EXPRESS READ Panel formed to look into NEET-UG results With row over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG results intensifying, the National Testing Authority (NTA) on Saturday said that the education ministry has set up a four-member committee to review the grace marks awarded to over 15,000 candidates in six centres. The announcement came amid calls for a re-exam from students, who have alleged that the grace marks awarded to make up for the loss of time at six centres have led to inflation of marks, leading to 67 candidates securing top rank | P7 Induction in phases, speculation over berths for allies as Team Modi to take oath today coming assembly elections there,” said a senior leader from the South. AMID continuing speculation Though the allies are expecton ministerial berths of the ed to get proportional represenNDA allies a day before Prime tation in the ministry specula, Minister Narendra Modi takes tions continued on the slots for his oath of office, what the TDP and the JD(U). appeared certain was The JD(U) is learnt to the continuation of have submitted the over a dozen BJP heavnames of Rajiv Ranjan yweights in the outgoSingh alias Lallan ing government with Singh, Sanjay K Jha the same portfolios. and Ramnath Thakur, They include Amit Chirag in? son of late Karpoori Shah, Rajnath Singh, Thakur for their minisChirag Nitin Gadkari, Piyush terial quota. Paswan’s LJP Goyal, Dharamendra As for the TDP, the Pradhan, Nityanand (RV) may get BJP is learnt to have ofone cabinet Rai, Jyotiraditya Scinfered one Cabinet berth and one MoS dia, S Jaishankar, Ashand a minister of state wini Vaishnaw and Dr post. Chirag is (MoS) position to the almost sure to TDP in the first phase Jitendra Singh. get a berth. He of induction. Those poBesides, former Madis pushing for hya Pradesh chief minsitions are expected to his late dad’s ister Shivraj Singh be taken by Srikakuportfolio — Chauhan, Andhra BJP lam MP K Ram Mohan consumer president Daggubati Naidu and Guntur MP affairs, food Purandeswari and parPemmasani Chanand public ty spokesperson Rajiv drasekhar, respectively . distribution Pratap Rudy are exThe regional party will pected to be inducted. reportedly get one or Sources also claimed that two more ministerial berths Modi wants to induct Suresh when the Union Cabinet is subGopi, who won the Thrissur sequently expanded. seat in Kerala. “His induction While BJP is said to have ofmerits attention because the fered civil aviation to TDP, PM wants to give representa- sources said Naidu sought rution of Kerala in view of the ral or urban development. P7 RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others | PTI CONGRESS ASKS RAHUL TO BE LEADER OF OPPN IN LS P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Saturday passed a resolution requesting former party chief Rahul Gandhi to take up the post of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha. Sources said several leaders pitched for Rahul as the right person to lead the party in Parliament. “Rahul Gandhi said he would take a decision very soon,” said AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal. The Congress party did not have the requisite seats to claim the post of LoP in 2014 and 2019. To claim the post, a party should have at least 10 percent of the membership of the Lok Sabha. While the Congress had 52 seats in 2019, in 2014, it had only 44 seats. However, the party Sonia CPP head Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge proposed Sonia Gandhi’s name, which was seconded by Gaurav Gogoi, K Sudhakaran and Tariq Anwar. The Congress parliamentary party comprises the party’s Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha MPs P7 registered a spectacular show by raising its tally to 100 seats in 2024. The LoP post requires the MP to regularly interact with the Prime Minister and he/she will be a member of crucial committees including Joint Parliamentary Committees. The LoP will also be a member of the committees that chooses the Central Vigilance Commission, the Central Infor- mation Commission, the CBI, and the NHRC, among others. The CWC also adopted a resolution lauding the role of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the impressive show of the party in the Lok Sabha elections. “Rahul Gandhi’s campaign was single-minded, sharp and pointed, and more than any other individual it was he who made the protection of our republic’s Constitution the central issue in the 2024 elections,” the resolution stated. It added that the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra set the tone for the campaigns. The CWC also took note of the party’s poor performance in some states, calling for urgent steps to address the shortcomings. Modi concerned over attack on Danish PM PM-designate Narendra Modi on Saturday condemned the attack on Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, who suffered a minor whiplash after a man assaulted her in central Copenhagen. The man who reportedly assaulted the Danish PM will appear in a pre-trial custody hearing on Saturday, authorities said. Police confirmed “there has been an incident” with Frederiksen on Friday and that a 39-year-old man was arrested. They didn’t provide further details and it wasn’t clear if Frederiksen was hurt | P9 SWEARING-IN Sanitation workers, rat-hole miners among special guests RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi WHEN Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi and his council of ministers on Sunday will be sworn in on Sunday evening, it won’t be just foreign dignitaries and other VVIPs who will be in attendance. Among the special invitees to the grand event are sanitation workers, rat-hole miners who rescued 41 trapped workers from inside the Silkyara tunnel last year, labourers who worked on the Central Vista project, women loco pilots of Vande Bharat trains, and around 400 transgenders. According to BJP sources, the latter have been included in the list of invitees as per Modi’s suggestion, keeping in with his desire to showcase inclusivity and progress for every Indian. Hectic preparations were going on in the Rashtrapti Bha- van premises to be host the big event on Sunday 7.15 pm. The ceremony which will see Modi , taking oath to lead the National Democratic Alliance government for the third consecutive term, is expected to be witnessed by as many as 8,000 guests from various walks of life. A senior BJP leader told this paper that people from J&K, where Assembly polls will be held later this year, have also been invited, exhibiting the national unity from Kashmir to Kanayakumari. “A good number of celebrities, sportspersons, top industrialists, opposition leaders, women activists, intellectuals, economists, and policy-makers have been invited as special guests,” the leader adde. Heads of state of several neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives will be attending the swearing- in ceremony slated to take place at 7:15 PM on Sunday . While BJP sources said invitations for opposition leaders have been sent, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said none of the Congress leaders have received any communication to attend the event, adding that only international leaders have been invited so far. Meanwhile, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said neither she nor anybody from her party would attend the event even if invited. Shah puts Fadnavis resignation on hold The BJP top leadership has put Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis resignation on hold and asked him to continue his work. “I met Amit Shah in Delhi who asked me to continue, and I will do that. We have a strategy. I have already started work (for the assembly elections),” said Fadnavis. Sources said Shah has told Fadnavis that the decision over his resignation will be taken after Modi’s swearingin. Fadnavis warned his allies not to criticize each other over the loss of Lok Sabha seats in the state | P8 RAMOJI RAO 3 killed, 6 injured as fire breaks out in Narela food factory MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E @ New Delhi PIONEER PASSES AWAY The Padma Vibhushan awardee is credited with revolutionising news, entertainment industries with Eenadu newspaper, ETV group channels. He was hospitalised in Hyderabad on June 5 | P4 AT least three workers were killed and six, including two teenagers, critically injured after a massive fire broke out at a food processing unit in Narela on Saturday . According to officials, the fire broke out at the factory of Shayam Kripa Foods Pvt Ltd — which processes dry moong dal. Police said they got a call at around 3.35 am and rushed to the spot. Emergency services, including fire tenders, were pressed into services. Nine people were rescued and rushed to Satyawadi Raja Harish Chandra Hospital in Narela. Three of them were declared brought dead. Preliminary probe revealed that gas leak in one of the pipe lines caused the fire to spread leading to overheating of the compressor and resulting in a blast at the factory . DCP (Outer North) Ravi Kumar Singh said, “A total of nine men were rescued from the factory. Three of them were declared brought dead the doctors while the injured were shifted to Safdarjung Hospital.” Police said the owners of the factory have been identified as Ankit Gupta and Vinay Gupta, both residents of Rohini. A case is being registered against them under appropriate sections and an investigation is being taken up.
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