friday National interest: Germany primed for big Euro kick-off 14 june, 2024 The three-time champions look to shake off their listless recent tournament performances as the doors open for 2024 edition of Euros. A look 24 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard us Supreme Court Number of teams in the 2024 event. The final is set for July 14 allows access to abortion pill The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously preserved access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the US last year A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 France, Portugal start as favourites Thanks to their depth, France, 2018 World Cup champions and 2022 runners-up, begin as favourites. The side is stacked with world-class performers, including Kylian Mbappe. Portugal, which is having a Golden Generation of sorts, rivals France in terms of squad depth. Can Cristiano Ronaldo, fresh of an underwhelming season in Saudi, win a second Euro?. P11 NEET grace marks axed, retest offered Those who take the fresh exam on June 23 will lose their pre-compensatory score, govt tells the Supreme Court S uchitra K a lyan M o hant y @ New Delhi Ajit Doval PK Mishra Doval retained as NSA, Mishra PM’s principal secretary 2 advisors in PMO RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi Spymaster Ajit Doval was reappointed National Security Advisor (NSA) for a third consecutive term and so was bureaucrat PK Mishra as the principal secretary to the prime minister with effect from June 10, the government said on Thursday . Their terms will be co-terminus with that of PM Narendra Modi or until further orders, whichever is earlier, a government statement said. Both will continue to hold the rank of cabinet minister in the table of precedence. They accompany Modi whenever he goes abroad, like he did on Thursday for the G7 summit in Italy . The appointments indicate the PM’s trust in these top officers. After retirement as Intelligence Bureau director in 2005, Doval founded the Vivekananda International Foundation, a public policy think-tank. He worked with the IB for more than 33 years in different roles and in areas like the Northeast, J&K, and Punjab. Modi picked him as the country’s fifth NSA in 2014. During his first tenure, Doval is believed to have played a Former IAS officers of Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh cadres — Amit Khare and Tarun Kapoor — have been made as advisors in the PMO for two years. Khare, a 1985-batch retired IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, was in October 2021 appointed as adviser to Modi for two years. His tenure was extended last year. Kapoor, a 1987-batch retired IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, was named the adviser in May 2022 for a two-year term. pivotal role in strikes on terror launch pads in PoK. As for Mishra, he served as additional principal secretary in the PMO in Modi’s first term as PM. In September 2019, he was elevated as principal secretary to the PM. Mishra is a 1972-batch retired IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. Mishra also served between 2001 and 2004 as principal secretary to Modi when he was Gujarat CM. He worked as the secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture between December 1, 2006 and August 31, 2008. After his retirement, Mishra was appointed the chair man of the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission for a five-year term. g7 summit begins with deal on Russian collateral Modi on Thursday left for Italy to attend the meet, which gave Ukraine a show of support, amid changing politics of Europre | P9 The Centre on Thursday cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 students who took the NEET-UG entrance exam for medical courses following a national uproar and gave them the option of taking a retest on June 23. Those who take the retest will lose their pre-grace marks; those who don’t will get to retain their score minus the compensatory marks. The decision came after a four-member panel examined the controversy and suggested remedial measures to allay the fears of the students, the government told the Supreme Court. The committee was of the view that the award of grace marks on grounds of loss of time while taking the test resulted in a skewed situation as it had to be limited to the questions that remained un-attempted. The National Testing Agency (NTA) No concrete evidence of rigging: Pradhan “No concrete evidence of any kind of rigging, corruption or paper leak has been found so far in NEET. The kind of politics being done on this issue is only an attempt to spread confusion and it affects the mental peace of the students,” education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said had earlier granted compensatory marks to students in six centres who had complained of loss of time. It created a furore amid allegations of paper leaks and other malpractices in some places. A vacation bench comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta termed the NTA’s decision fairly reasonable and refused to stall the counselling for NEET-UG, scheduled to commence from July 6. They, however, said all the admissions will be subject to the outcome of the petitions that sought cancellation of the exam held on May 5 on the grounds of question paper leak and other malpractices. The bench also said it cannot expand the scope of the Centre’s decision to those students who had not approached the court yet. Advocate Kanu Agrawal, appearing for the Centre, said the retest results will be out on June 30, so those candidates too can appear for counselling. When the NEET-UG result was declared on June 4, as many as 67 students had a perfect score of 720. Thursday’s decision brought down that number to 61. The court ordered the NTA to file its reply by July 8 on the allegations of malpractices adopted by some students who took the NEET-UG exam. Around 24 lakh candidates took the exam. Its result was expected on June 14 but was announced on June 4. P7 Queues, fisticuffs — thirst gets worse as politics peaks in parched capital A shish S rivastava & S uchitra K a lyan M o hant y @ New Delhi What price water in several parts of Delhi? Ask people: At least `200, plus some yelling and, at times, fisticuffs. The worst hit are central, east and southern parts of the city, including Anand Parbat, Baljeet Nagar, Geeta colony Jagatpuri, , s l u m s i n C h a n a k yap u r i , Ambedkar Basti, Bijwasan, Kusumpur Pahadi, Khanpur, Sangam Vihar and Devli. That’s the routine as politics peaks in the full-blown summer season—from the ruling AAP government, the L-G and the BJP with the Congress ready to enter the fray . On the legal side, the worse came: the Himachal Pradesh government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it did not have a surplus of 136 cusecs to the parched city . Upon hearing this, a t wo - j u d g e va c at i o n bench of the top court, led by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Prasanna B Varale, directed the Delhi government to approach the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) for getting the supply The board . will meet on Friday to decide the matter “at the earliest.” People stand in queue after a DJB tanker arrives in East Delhi Thursday | Parveen Negi The Himachal government was plain in its response: “We don’t have surplus water to spare for Delhi.” It contradicted its earlier submission that it would provide additional water to Delhi. The SC has asked the city gover nment to submit an application to the UYRB by 5 pm on Thursday, seeking supply of water to the national capital on humanitarian grounds. The AAP government, while complying with the SC order, said that it was unable to take action against the water mafia due to the jurisdiction issues. The govt, however, said that it was making all efforts to control water leakages. In the hearing on Thursday, the apex court also expressed its inability to adjudicate the issue on an interim measure, as it said that it did not have the technical expertise to decide on it immediately . “The sharing of Yamuna water between states is a complex and sensitive issue. The issue should be left to be considered by a body constituted with the agreement of various parties in the memorandum of understanding dated 1994,” the bench said. P3 what is Delhi govt stand in SC A two-judge vacation bench of the top court has directed the Delhi government to approach the Upper Yamuna River Board to get the supply. The AAP govt, while complying with the SC order, said that it was unable to take action against the water tanker mafia due to jurisdiction issues. Majhi govt keeps 1st promise, opens `33L fine on 5 NIT-Calicut 4 doors of Jagannath temple in Puri students for campus protest R aj K umar M o hant y & D iana S ahu @ Puri/Bhubaneswar A four-year-long demand of Lord Jagannath’s devotees for allowing them entry through all four gates of the Jagannath temple at Puri was finally fulfilled on Thursday within hours , of the Mohan Majhi government taking oath in Odisha. After ‘Mangala Alati’—the first ritual of the temple—the four gates of the shrine were opened in the presence of the CM, deputy CMs KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, Cabinet ministers, MLAs and Puri MP Sambit Patra. After offering prayers in the sanctum sanctorum, Vimala and Mahalaxmi temples, they paid their respects at the Mukti Mandapa—the high seat of religious scholars in the shrine. No special provisions were put in place by the district administration or police for the Express N ews S ervice @ Kozhikode visit of the CM and his ministers who arrived in Puri on Wednesday night after the first cabinet meeting in Bhu baneswar. The cabinet also cleared a proposal for creating a fund of `500 crore in the next budget for the temple. Opening of the four gates of Srimandir is the first election promise that the new government has fulfilled. The issue had figured prominently in the BJP’s poll manifesto and was raked up by party leaders dur- ing their campaigns. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the state government, then led by the BJD, had decided to close all the doors for devotees except the Lions Gate. With only one gate open for the entry of devotees, it often led to overcrowding outside the temple, and poor crowd management worsened things further. For devotees, who had a hassle-free darshan on opening of all the gates, it was a movement of joy and celebration. authorities of National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-Calicut) have levied a huge fine of `33 lakh on five students who led a protest against imposition of night curfew on the campus. A showcause notice was issued on Thursday to the students in order to claim the loss suffered by the institute due to the loss of working days. The penalty, amounting to `6,61,155 per student, was imposed on Vaishakh Premkumar and Ben Thomas of the Department of Electronics, Kailash Nath of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Irshad Ibrahim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Adarsh of the Department of Material Science and Engineering. The protest, which took place on March 22, resulted in disruptions on the campus. The protesters stopped staff from entering the campus, and a working day was lost, NIT-Calicut officials said. The authorities have given the students a seven-day window to respond to the penalty notice, emphasising that the fines were intended to compensate for the perceived losses incurred due to the protest. “We will seek legal advice before responding to the showcause notice issued by the registrar,” Kailash Nath told this newspaper. The authorities said in the notice that they have considered the CCTV footage, photographs, media telecasts and report from the security staff and identified the students who led the protest, locked the main entrance and restrained the employees including teaching, non-teaching and ad hoc staff of the institute from entering into the campus. Return to hostel by midnight The protest was sparked by a circular issued on March 20 by Dean Rajanikant G K, which introduced curfew norms on the campus. The circular stated students were required to return to their hostels by midnight, and the campus canteen was to be closed at 11pm instead of the 24-hr service provided earlier. Students shout slogans against the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG entrance exam, in Kolkata on Thursday | PTI Non-bailable arrest warrant out against BSY in POCSO case E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru A POCSO trial court in Bengaluru on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. Judge N M Ramesh passed the order after hearing an application filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing a POCSO case registered against the veteran BJP leader. In its plea, the CID stated that Yediyurappa, 81, did not appear before it despite summons. Special public prosecutor Ashok Naik said the accused is influential and is trying to cover up the case. He alleged that the accused attempted to destroy evidence by offering `2 lakh to the complainant. Police booked Yediyurappa under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and Section 354A of the IPC based on a complaint filed on March 14 by the mother of a 17-year-old girl. The complaint alleged Yediyurappa sexually assaulted the minor on February 2 at his residence. The complainant, 54, was a cancer patient and she died at a private hospital last month. Earlier this week, the complainant’s son moved court alleging lack of progress in the case. Yediyurappa has denied the charge and filed a plea in the Karnataka High Court seeking the quashing of the case against him. He has also sought anticipatory bail. The HC is likely to take up both petitions on Friday . Express read 4 forest workers die in U’khand fire Four forest workers were killed and four others injured by a fire at Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttarakhand’s Almora district, officials said on Thursday. Eight forest workers had been sent around 3.45 pm to extinguish the fire that had broken out at the wildlife sanctuary. As soon as the team got down from their vehicle, the fire escalated due to strong winds and four of them were charred to death. P8 Major fire at Chandni Chowk shop A major fire broke out in Chandni Chowk area on Thursday and spread to several shops, gutting goods worth crores of rupees. There were no reports of any casualty. DFS chief Atul Garg said that they received a call at 5 pm, after which 14 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. But as the fire spread, 26 more vehicles were pressed into service. The main building where the fire started has collapsed. P4 Hijab row: Kolkata teacher quits job The teacher of a private law college in Kolkata, who was allegedly asked not to attend classes wearing a hijab but later told a headscarf can be allowed, on Thursday said that she is not joining for work. The teacher, Sanjida Qadar, sent an email to the management of LJD Law College, Tollygunje, conveying her decision. In response, the college management said that it “honours” her decision.