NEW DELHI 07 JULY 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24 facebook/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in Fiddler on the Roof PLUS: 12 PAGES Heeding the Call of Shiva MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES Small is the New Big INJECTING GLOW Starmer ready for FTA that works for both Modi speaks to his new British counterpart, invites him to make an early visit to India Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi DECISION TIME FM to present full yr budget on July 23 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi FINANCE minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the government’s first full year budget of Modi’s third term on July 23 in Lok Sabha. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted on Saturday that the budget session of House will be held between July 22 and August 12. Expectation about the budget are running high as President Droupadi Murmu in a joint address to Parliament said that it will be marked by many historic step, adding the budget will highlight major social and economic decisions. Only an interim budget was presented in February due to the Lok Sabha polls. The first session of Parliament after the formation of 18th Lok Sabha was stormy with the Opposition, armed with more numbers in the Lower House, clashed with the government over a range of issues including NEET-UG examination paper leak. NDA’s key ally Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu met Modi on Thursday and sought the Centre’s handholding to pull the state out of the financial black hole it was pushed into by the previous government. Other important ally Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also wants special status for his state. The finance minister has been taking inputs from industry leaders for the last few days for the budget. The buzz in political circles is that the budget may focus on the rural population. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Soft line on Kashmir On Kashmir, Starmer has said his party was committed to eliminating any extremist views that could strain UK-India relations. He also promised a stricter handling of anti-Hindu hate crimes in the UK. While visiting Swaminarayan Mandir in Kingsbury, he had said there was absolutely no place for Hinduphobia in Britain PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke with his new British counterpart Keir Starmer, invited him to visit India, and suggested the early conclusion of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that has been under negotiation for over two years. “Pleased to speak with Keir Starmer. Congratulated him on being elected as the PM of UK. We remain committed to deepening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and robust India-UK economic ties for progress and prosperity of our peoples and global good,” Modi said in a post on X. He also suggested that Starmer schedule an early visit to India. Downing Street said Starmer returned the compliment by congratulated Modi on his third consecutive term as PM. “Discussing the importance of the living bridge between the UK and India and the 2030 roadmap, the two leaders agreed that there was a wide range of areas across defence and security, critical and emerging technology and climate change for the two nations to deepen their cooperation,” the Downing Street spokesperson said. As for the FTA, Starmer said he stood ready to conclude a deal that “worked for both sides. The leaders hoped to meet at the earliest opportunity the spokesperson said. Both sides have ,” been working towards clinching the FTA since January 2022, when Boris Johnson was PM. “Appreciating the positive contributions of the Indian community in the social, economic and political development of the UK, the two sides agreed to continue to promote close people to people ties,” the Ministry of External Affairs said. The Labour’s manifesto had said: “We will seek a new strategic partnership with India, including an FTA, as well as deepening cooperation in areas like security education, tech, nology and climate change.” New British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said he wants to ‘finish the job’ on the FTA and plans to visit India within the first month of being elected. Anand Neelakantan Ravi Shankar S Vaidhyasubramaniam Preeti Shenoy DineshSingh Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Shyam Bhatia NEET-UG counselling by third week, says ministry EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi JULY 6 was a contentious date in all NEET-UG case hearings before vacation benches because that was when the National Testing Agency had told the Supreme Court it intended to start counselling for admission to undergraduate medical courses across the country . The court had rejected all petitions demanding a stay on counselling till the case on the alleged malpractices in NEETUG is disposed of. Even requests for a two-day stay till July 8, when a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud will begin hearing a batch of petitions demanding scrapping of the exam, were turned down. July 6 came and went but the counselling didn’t start. Turns out that its schedule hasn’t even been notified yet by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). The counselling schedule for NEET-UG and PG is announced by MCC, under the Directorate General of Health Services, on its website after the completion of the exam process and the finalisation of the seat matrix by the National Medical Commission (NMC). In 2021, 2022 and 2023, the counselling for UG seats commenced on 19/1/2022, 11/10/2022 and 20/7/2023 respectively, the ministry said in a statement. For this year, NMC communicated its schedule for finalisation of the seat matrix for UG and PG seats in the last week of June, indicating it will finalise the UG seat matrix by the third week of July and PG seat matrix by mid-August. The MCC will accordingly notify the counselling schedule. BUILDING COLLAPSE A six-storey building collapsed in Surat on Saturday afternoon, killing one and leaving 3-4 trapped under the rubble. A woman was rescued. Search and rescue operation are on in the building which was constructed in 2016-17 | PTI Willy Wonkas on a Roll Who Should Worship God SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Notions of a Nation Main accused gives up, Bhole Baba expresses grief over UP stampede not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable WHILE Devprakash Madhukar, homicide), 126 (2) (wrongful rethe main accused of Hathras straint), 223 (disobedience to stampede, surrendered to the order duly promulgated by the Delhi Police late on Friday public servant) and 238 (causnight and was taken into cus- ing disappearance of evidence). tody by the UP Police, the self- However, Bhole Baba was not styled godman Bhole Baba alias named in the FIR. Narayan Sakar Hari alias Suraj Dev Prakash Madhukar, the Pal, expressed grief over the mukhya sevadar of Bhole Baba, tragedy at an event at his Sat- is the only accused named in sang Sabha in Hathras. the FIR. Hathras SP Four days after the Nipun Agarwal said stampede, the preacher Madhukar was arrest on Saturday told a news from Delhi and brought agency he hoped strict to Hathras to be preaction would be taken sented in court. against the culprits. In a recorded mesSpeaking from his sage, Madhukar’s lawM a i n p u r i A s h r a m , Devprakash yer A P Singh said that Bhole Baba urged the Madhukar his client had surrenbereaved families to dered in Delhi, where have faith in the judiciary. “I he was under treatment. am deeply saddened. May God “Today we have made Devpra, give us the strength to bear this kash Madhukar, who has been pain. Please keep faith in the called the main organiser in the government and the adminis- FIR in the Hathras case, to surtration. I have faith that anyone render after calling the police, who created the chaos would the SIT and the STF in Delhi not be spared,” he said. since he was undergoing treatAn FIR was lodged in the ment here,” Singh said. “We matter on July 2 under the had promised we would not apBharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sec- ply for anticipatory bail since tions 105 (culpable homicide we did no wrong,” he claimed. N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow HC mandates 7th panel pay to teachers, warns pvt schools of govt takeover S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court has issued an order to multiple schools, including GD Goenka Public School, St Margaret Senior Secondary School and DAV Public School, in the national capital to start paying salaries as per the 7th Pay Commission to the teachers. A bench of justices Suresh Kumar Kair and Girish Kathpalia also said that if the schools are unable to comply, the court will be compelled to direct the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) to take steps to take over the schools. The bench has listed the matter for hearing on August 21. “Parties are directed to file their written submissions at least a week before the next hearing,” the high court order read. The court noted that on May 13, counsel for the schools submitted that they were not in a position to deposit even 25 per cent of the arrears from January 1, 2016, to the petitioners. The bench said the case of the schools before the education department and before the single judge is that the Directorate of Education had not ap- proved the fee hike which they sought in a representation placed before it. “Even if it is allowed, it will certainly be not more than four times of the present fee. Therefore, if the schools are unable to deposit even 25% of the amount, it means the schools are in a bad condition and they do not have the funds to run the school, therefore, schools shall should take instructions as to how and in what manner they are able to start paying salary as per the 7th Pay Commission to the teachers,” the order read. According to 66 petit i o n e r s, i n cl u d i n g teachers, who were represented by lawyer Ashok Ag arwal, the schools were legally obligated to implement the 6th and 7th pay commission provisions starting from 2006 and 2016, respectively . Teachers stated that, while they are currently receiving salaries according to the 6th Pay Commission, they have not been given the same rates for pay, allowances, and other benefits, including DA, as their counterparts in Delhi government schools. They submitted that they are confir med employees. 2 Hyd bikers returning from Badrinath buried alive in boulder crash N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun THE unabated heavy rains in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand triggered landslides killing five people, including two bikers from Hyderabad who were returning from Badrinath Dham on Saturday . The tragedy struck when a huge boulder suddenly fell from the hill along the road near Badrinath National Highway, which hit the bikers, killing them instantly . District Disaster Management Officer Nand Kishore Joshi said the SDRF team received information about the boulder collapse near Chhatwa- pipal. “An SDRF team led by sub-inspector Manmohan Singh reached the spot and found the two youths buried under the boulder along with their vehicles,” said Joshi. The victims were going towards Rishikesh after visiting Badrinath Dham. The SDRF team removed the boulder and took out the bodies and handed them to the district police,” said Joshi. The deceased were identified as Nirmal Shahi (36) and Satyanarayan (50). In an another accident took place at Tilwada area of Rudraprayag. A load-carrier fourwheeler plunged into a deep gorge, killing two persons. Ac- cording to additional sub-inspector Harish Bangari of the SDRF team, three injured people have been hospitalised. In another incident, a woman was swept away in a swollen river in the Banbasa area of Tanakpur on Friday night. The victim, identified as Shanti Devi (52), a resident of Thelagaun, Banbasa. She was crossing the river when she lost her balance and fell into the river. A search was launched by the SDRF team, but it was suspended due to darkness. The search operation resumed on Saturday and the team recovered the , woman’s body which was hand, ed to the district police. Bridge collapses in Ranikhet E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Dehradun Rescuers recovering the bodies of the bikers on Badrinath highway | EXPRESS Leadership in Business A bridge collapsed on the Ramnagar-Ranikhet road in the Kumoum region of Uttarakhand, disrupting connectivity between the two towns, leaving scores of vehicles stranded on both sides. The bridge over the Panyali stream, located near Mohan, succumbed to the fury of the swollen watercourse on Saturday, following incessant rains in the hills over the past few days. The relentless downpour has caused rivers and streams to overflow, weakening the foundation of the Panyali bridge, which developed cracks and tilted precariously before collapsing. The administration has halted vehicular movement on both sides of the bridge, leading to lengthy queues of stranded vehicles. Authorities are working to set up alternative routes to facilitate the movement of people. Meanwhile, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami directed officials to remain on alert, instructing them to stock food, medicine, and relief materials in hilly districts. 2 more arrested, says Hathras SP N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow THE Hathras police on Saturday arrested two more persons from Sikandra Rau in connection with the stampede. Superintendent of Police Nipun Agarwal identified them as Ram Prakash Shakya and Sanju Yadav. Agarwal said the preliminary interrogation of the main accused Devprakash Madhukar revealed that he had been working as a junior engineer in on contract since 2010. “He has been associated with the self-styled godman for the last many years and had been organising Satsang Sabhas and collecting funds for Bhole Baba,” the SP said. He added that Devprakash was not only the chief organiser of the Satsang Sabhas but also the main fund raiser. “It was Madhukar who had taken the permission to organise the Satsang Sabha in Phulrai village on July 2,” said the SP . EXPRESS READ 4 terrorists, jawan killed in encounters Four militants and a soldier were killed in ongoing twin encounters between militants and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday. A police officer said acting on specific information about the presence of militants, a joint contingent of police, CRPF and army launched a search operation in Modergam village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district in the afternoon. P8 Bihar rivers in spate, Assam battles floods Water level in different rivers in Bihar started rising at many places and the flood situation in Assam remained critical with 24.5 lakh people in 30 districts affected as torrential rain battered eastern parts India. Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to take stock of the flood situation and said the NDRF and SDRF were working on a war footing to rescue the people. P8 Pezeshkian elected Iran President Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election on Saturday, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign. P9 India tests indigenous light tank ‘Zorawar’ India has carried out initial trials of an indigenous light tank named ‘Zorawar’ being developed primarily to enhance the Army’s overall combat capabilities along the LAC, sources said on Saturday. The Defence Research and Development Organisation and L&T Defence are developing the air-transportable 25-tonne tank that has been designed for rapid deployment largely along the frontier with China, they said.
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