MONDAY 03 MARCH, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard LONDON, PARIS, KYIV TO WORK ON CEASEFIRE PLAN FOR UKRAINE WAR ISRAEL The three countries will present the new ceasefire plan to the United States, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday SUSPENDS AID DELIVERY TO GAZA €200 bn LIKELY TO BE RELEASED BY EU TO FUND UKRAINE’S EFFORTS STARMER STRESSES RESTORING PEACE TALKS Israel stopped entry of all goods into the Gaza Strip and warned of ‘additional consequences’ if Hamas doesn’t accept a new proposal for a fragile ceasefire. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 PAGE 9 The European leaders are in London to discuss ending the war. The meeting has been overshadowed by the extraordinary scolding of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy by Donald Trump, who lambasted him on Friday. Starmer said he is currently focused on being a bridge to restore peace talks, rather than “ramp up the rhetoric” | P9 Spl court orders FIR against Buch No rift among Cong Registration leaders in Kerala, for women POLL PROMISE Anti-Corruption Bureau told to book ex-Sebi chief, 5 others for alleged stock market fraud S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I & B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai A day after Madhabi Puri Buch demitted office as the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), a special court here directed registration of an FIR against her and five others in connection with alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations. The order was passed by special judge Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar on Saturday on a petition filed by Thane-based jour nalist Sapan Shrivastava. Seeking a court-monitored investigation, the petitioner alleged large-scale financial fraud, corruption, and regulatory violations in the listing of a company . The court said prime-facie it shows there have been violations and there are documents to support the same; therefore, HARYANA CONG Slain woman’s kin refuse to cremate body The complaint There is prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion, requiring a fair and impartial probe Special judge S E Bangar Officials allegedly permitted listing of a firm that failed to meet regulatory norms, leading to market manipulation and loss for investors Court to monitor Court sees cognisable offence, to monitor the investigation & has sought status report within 30 days the Anti Corruption Bureau should file an FIR against the accused, it ordered. Apart from Buch, the officials against whom the court has ordered registration of the FIR are three whole-time members of Sebi--Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G, and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney -- BSE chief executive Sundararaman U’KHAND AVALANCHE TOLL RISES TO 8, RESCUE ACT OVER N A R E N D R A S E T H I @Dehradun H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh A day after the body of Congress worker Himani Narwal was found stuffed in a suitcase in Rohtak, her family on Sunday refused to cremate her until the killer is arrested. Himani’s mother Savita believes that her daughter’s growing popularity in the Congress may have led to her murder. “The election and the party took my daughter’s life. She was close to the Hooda family, which made some people jealous. I will not perform her last rites until she gets justice. After the elections, she was disillusioned with the party and wanted to take up a job.’’ Her younger brother Jatin said, “She had been an active member of the Congress for several years and also participated in Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi. She was pursuing her LLB from a local college and was living alone at Vijay Nagar locality in Rohtak city .’’ Jatin, who lives with his mother in Delhi, further stated that his elder brother Kuldeep was also murdered in Rohtak in 2011 and later their father also died. Meanwhile, the Haryana police has formed an SIT, led by Sampla DSP Rajnish Kumar to probe the case. The DSP said that the police has recovered Himani’s cell phone and are currently scanning CCTV footage from the area” he added. Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda has demanded a highlevel probe and harshest punishment to the culprits. Ramamurthy and former BSE chairman Pramod Agarwal. Responding to the court order, Sebi said it will challenge the order. In a statement issued on Sunday the markets regula, tor said it was not given a chance to represent itself and that none of the officials named in the petition was in their current positions when the alleged misdeeds happened. Terming the complaint ‘frivolous’, Sebi alleged that the petitioner is known for filing such petitions in the past. “The applicant is known to be a frivolous and habitual litigant, with previous applications being dismissed by the Court, with imposition of costs in some cases,” it said. Echoing similar views, the BSE said: “The application is frivolous and vexatious in nature,” adding that the court has not issued any notice or granted any opportunity to place the facts on record. In a late-evening statement, the BSE said the company in question is Cals Refineries, listed in 1994, and the officials named in the application were not in their respective positions at the time of listing and were not connected with the company at all. “BSE is initiating necessary and appropriate legal steps in this regard,” it added. Rescuers on the job in Chamoli district on Sunday | EXPRESS Dhami condoles deaths Dehradun: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed grief at the death of eight workers in the avalanche in Chamoli district. THE bodies of the last four trapped labourers were pulled out from the site of the avalanche-hit Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Chamoli on Sunday, taking the death toll to eight as authorities ended the nearly 60hour rescue operation. Army doctors said 46 workers who were rescued on Saturday have been brought to the military hospital in Jyotirmath. Two of them have been refer red to AIIMS, Rishikesh. Three of the workers are in critical condition. The body of the last missing worker has also been retrieved, said Army PRO Lt Col Manish Shrivastava. The avalanche hit the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath on Friday burying , the 54 workers inside eight UNBEATEN containers and a shed. Earlier, it was believed that the total number of trapped labourers was 55 but one of them was on unauthorised leave and had reached home safely . More than 200 personnel from the disaster management authority, ITBP, BRO, NDRF, SDRF, IAF, district administration, health department and fire brigade were engaged in the rescue operation. Located three kilometres from Badrinath, Mana is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres. Among the deceased are four from Uttar Pradesh: Jitendra Singh, Manjeet Yadav, Alok Yadav, and Ashok Paswan; two from Himachal Pradesh: Mahender Pal and Ramesh Chand; and two from Uttarakhand: Anil Kumar and Arvind Kumar Singh. says Rahul Gandhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi CONGRESS leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday sought to dispel the notion there is a rift among the party’s leaders in Kerala following its MP Shashi Tharoor’s recent remarks praising the achievements of CPM-led government in the state, saying they stand united. His comment came in the wake of a meeting between the Congress’ central leadership and the party’s leaders from Kerala at Indira Bhawan on Friday to discuss the strategy and the way forward ahead of next year’s assembly polls. Followng Tharoor’s remarks, the Congress brass had issued a warning that strong action will be taken against those making comments that go against the party’s interests. Posting a picture of the Kerala leaders’ interaction with the media after the meeting on Facebook, Rahul wrote: “They stand as one, united by the light of purpose ahead.” His post was accompanied by the hashtag “Team Kerala’. The three-hour meeting at the Congress’s Indira Bhawan headquarters here on Friday had discipline, unity and the REGISTRATION for the women’s monthly scheme, which will provide `2,500 under the ‘Mahila Samridhi Yojana,’ will begin on March 8, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said on Sunday . Tiwari asked the women to register themselves for the scheme, following which a list of beneficiaries would be prepared. He added that the entire process would be completed in one and a half months. During the assembly elections campaign, the BJP had promised to implement the scheme before March 8 if they formed the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated this commitment to the women in his rallies. The opposition had criticised the Rekha Gupta-led government for not announcing the scheme’s implementation in its first cabinet meeting, which took place on the day of the oath ceremony . Earlier on Sunday, the AAP leaders alleged that the BJP was betraying public trust by failing to implement the scheme in its first cabinet meeting and instead using the assembly session to target Arvind Kejriwal. Calling out Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, AAP has demanded a clear answer: Will the money be deposited, or will this, too, be another ‘jumla’? Raising concerns over the BJP government’s delay in implementing its election promise, AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar reminded everyone that during the Delhi Assembly elections, PM assured women that if the BJP formed the government, they would receive `2,500 every month as part of Modi’s Guarantee. Wh e n a s ke d ab o u t t h e scheme, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that the information on the scheme would emerge soon. “The BJP government is eager to serve every section of society. Let March 8 come, things will become clearer,” he added. IMARCH IND ON ND MEN IN BLUE BEAT NEW ZEALAND BY 44 RUNS TO FINISH ON TOP OF GROUP A ON SUNDAY. A LOOK... ECI allays concern over duplicate voter numbers PROTEAS FACE BLACK CAPS TEST With the loss against India, New Zealand finished second in Group A. They will be flying to Pakistan, along with South Africa who topped the Group B, where the two teams play the second semifinal in Lahore on Wednesday. INDIA VS AUSTRALIA, DUBAI, TUESDAY SOUTH AFRICA VS NEW ZEALAND, LAHORE, WEDNESDAY CITYSCAPE DELHI GOVT’S 100-DAY ACTION PLAN Ayushman Bharat scheme’s rollout has been prioritised to aid one lakh beneficiaries. There’s a renewed push to clean the Yamuna, with advanced machinery.| P4 APPROXIMATELY 46% of over 51 lakh eligible voters exercised their franchise in the civic elections held in Haryana on Sunday . Polling was conducted to elect the mayors and members of all wards of seven Municipal Corporations: Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal and Yamunanagar, and 21 municipalities. Bypoll was also for mayoral posts in Ambala and Sonepat. A total of 51,06,134 voters were eligible to cast their votes in these elections. However, voter turnout for the bypoll in Ambala and Sonipat Municipal Corporation was low. So was the case with Faridabad and Gurugram. Faridabad recorded a turnout of 40%, while Gur ug ram clocked 41%. Besides, Farukh Nagar was at 77% and Sohana 36%. Manesar — 65%, whereas only 29% voters turned out in Sonepat. Rohtak registered 53%, Ambala — 32%, with Ambala Sadar — 52.3% and Barara — 67.3%. In Kar nal and Assandh districts, only 33.2% of voters par ticipated, with 46.2% in Karnal, 72.7% in Indri, 67.4% in Nilokheri, and 76.4% in Taraori. The Taoru area in Nuh district recorded 78%, Jakhal Mandi in Fatehabad --85.2%. Narnaund in Hisar district — 82.7%, while Hisar clocked 52.4%. In Jind district, Safidon saw 81.5%turnout, and Julana — 70.9%. Haryana State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh strengthening of the state organisation as its running theme. Sources said at the meeting, Gandhi asked leaders to be very careful and not to do or say anything that does not toe the party line. In the meeting, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge laid stress on discipline, ensuring unity and filling up vacant posts to strengthen the party’s Kerala unit. American private aerospace firm Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA after touching down on the moon Sunday | P9 Over 46% turnout recorded in Haryana civic polls H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh Days after his praise of the growth of Kerala’s startup ecosystem, Shashi Tharoor has taken a U-turn, saying the growth of startups should not remain “confined to paper” alone OVER THE MOON SEMIFINAL LINE-UP Varun Chakravarthy(L) celebrates a wicket on Sunday | AP THAROOR U-TURN ON KERALA STORY PVT FIRM MAKES LUNAR LANDING IN 1ST ATTEMPT VA VAR VAR VARUN TAKES FIFER TAKES FIF TAKES FIF AK F In what was his n what wa wa first game of s m first game o the tournament tournament, Va rn nt tournament, Varun Chakravarthy took Chakravarthy Chakravarthy t akravar h r va five icke fo five wickets fo ickets ket ke five wickets for 42 runs and in the runs and runs and in process helped India proces he pe process helped I oce defend the targe of target def nd defend defend he targ e ta g 250. On the slowish 250. 250. On the slow th slo l Dubai surface, the spi spinner Duba surface, Dubai surface, the spi from TN rattled thje New fr from TN rattled t e rattle th Zealand middle-order to Zealan m ddle-ord Zealand middle-orde a e-o d ensure India remain unbeaten. ensu nd ensure India em ensure India remain unbea ur ma unbea nb aid scheme from March 8 said elections to various Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Municipalities were peaceful. The counting of votes will held on March 12 and results declared on the same day . Singh said that 39 candidates were contesting for the post of mayor in nine municipal corporations and 27 were in the fray for the president’s post in five municipal councils. A total of 151 candidates are contesting the post of president in 23 municipal committees.| P3 M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi THE Election Commission of India (ECI) has moved to calm concerns over duplicate voter ID numbers, clarifying that identical EPIC numbers don’t indicate fake voters. The issue came to light after several social media posts flagged the issue and claimed that electors in different states were being assigned similar EPIC numbers. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also raised similar concerns. In its response, ECI said while some electors may share the same elector photo identity card (EPIC) number, their demographic details, assembly constituency and polling booth , information differ, and that they can only cast their votes at their designated polling stations in their respective constituencies. The duplicate EPIC numbers were caused by a decentralized and manual mechanism used before the electoral roll database was shifted to the ERONET platform. “This resulted in certain State/UT CEO offices using the same EPIC alphanumeric series and leaving a scope for the possibility of duplicate EPIC numbers being allotted to electors in different constituencies in different states,” ECI said. To address this, the commission has said it will assign unique EPIC numbers to registered electors, ensuring that any cases of duplicate EPIC numbers are rectified. The ERONET 2.0 platform will be updated to facilitate this process, it said. EXPRESS READ 5 women suffer delirium after cesarean section Judge assault case: Three CPI(M) leaders surrender Five women, all aged between 20-25 years, went into a state of delirium after undergoing a C-section (cesarean delivery) at the Sanjay Gandhi Medical College hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district. Three CPI(M) leaders surrendered before a court in South Tripura district in a case of assault on a judge during a shutdown in 2015. Police took suo motu cognisance of the incident and registered a case at the Belonia police station.