WEDNESDAY HC JUDGE DEPOSES BEFORE SC COLLEGIUM TO PRESENT HIS CASE 18 DECEMBER, 2024 Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav met the Collegium members on Tuesday to explain why he made controversial statements at a recent VHP event epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard FROM DEC 10 WHEN THE SCHCSOUGHT RESPONSEREMARKS ALLAHABAD ON THE JUDGE’S X.com/TheMornStandard SC PANEL TO CONSIDER EXPLANATION GIVEN CHINA GRAFT-TAINTED LEADER EXECUTED China on Tuesday executed Li Jianping, who was convicted in the largest-ever corruption case in the country totalling over $421 million PAGE 9 Hike NREGA wages, don’t make Aadhaar payment must: House panel P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi FLAGGING concern over the low wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a Parliamentary Panel has recommended raising the wages of the workers. In a report submitted to Parliament on Tuesday the panel , said that since 2008, it found the amount inadequate and not in consonance with the rising cost of living. “Taking up work under MGNREGA is a sort of last resort for many of the poor rural masses who do not have any other option of livelihood or job option to utilise but wages of such nominal nature sometime with delayed payment only discourage them and propel them to migrate and seek work in areas giving better remuneration,” said the panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka. It said it has urged the Department of Rural Development to increase MGNREGS wages by linking them to an index commensurate with national inflation, adding that it is ‘intrigued’ by the unrevised base rate to fix rates. The government notifies the wage rate using Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour and by keeping the wage rates thus obtained on 1st April, 2019 or `100, whichever is more as the base for indexation for the states. The committee urged the government to explore the feasibility of revising the base year and base rate to bring relief to the poor rural masses who rely on MGNREGS for their livelihood. The panel also recommended that the rural development ministry’s Aadhaar-based payment bridge system (ABPS) for making payments should not be made mandatory. It noted that APBS has been made mandatory since January 1, 2024. “It is too early to make it mandatory as the problems relating to Aadhaar seeding have not been resolved,” it said. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 ONE NATION, ONE ELECTION 269 198 MEMBERS IN FAVOUR VOTES AGAINST THE BILL A video grab of proceedings of the Lok Sabha during the introduction of two bills on the ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal, in New Delhi on Tuesday | PTI ‘One poll’ bill introduced in LS Draws fierce protest from Oppn; govt ready to send it to a joint parliamentary committee P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi AMID fierce protests from the Opposition INDIA bloc, the government introduced two contentious bills on the ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday through a division of votes, with 269 ayes and 198 nays. While the Opposition termed it anti-federal and against the basic structure of the Constitution, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal defended the bill on simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies across the country . Union home minister Amit Shah and Meghwal said that the government is willing to refer the bills to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for further deliberations (JPC). “When the One Nation, One Election bill YSR CONGRESS ON BOARD, BJD MUM The YSRCP, which has four LS members, declared its support for the bill. The BJD is yet to reveal its cards — it drew a blank in the LS polls this year, but has seven members in RS. Kovind panel had said 32 parties were in favour of joint polls while 15 were against it was taken up in the Cabinet for approval, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it should be sent to a JPC for detailed discussion. If the law minister is willing to send the bill to the JPC, the discussion on its introduction can end,” Shah said in the House. As the government failed to secure two-thirds majority in the introduction stage, the Opposition wondered if the ruling NDA had the requisite numbers to push them through to amend the Constitution. Speaker Om Birla allowed a division of votes after Opposition members insisted on it. Taking potshots at the government, Congress MP Manickam Tagore wrote on X, “Two-thirds majority (i.e., 307) was needed out of the total 461 votes... but the government secured only (269), while the Opposition got 198. The ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal failed to gain two-thirds support.” The brief discussion on the bill saw uproar as a united Opposition, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party Trina, mool Congress and several other parties demanded its withdrawal. Leading the discussion from the Opposition side, Congress MP Manish Tewari said the bills are an absolute assault on the basic structure of the Constitution and are beyond the legislative competence of the House. “ONOE bill gives illegal powers to Election Commission to advise the President,” said Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi. Opposing the bill, DMK member T R Baalu said, “As my leader M K Stalin said, it is antifederal. Electors have the right to elect the government for five years. This right cannot be curtailed with simultaneous elections.” TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee said, “The proposed bill hits the basic structure of the Constitution, so it is ultra vires.” However, NDA allies TDP and Shiv Sena (Shinde) offered their unwavering support. P7 CBSE files complaint against 2 ‘fake’ schools I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi THE Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has filed a police complaint against two city schools for allegedly submitting forged land documents to obtain affiliation, an official from the board announced on Tuesday The schools . under investigation are Manava Bhawna Public School in Burari and Sat Saheb Public School in Uttam Nagar. Sources said the board sent the documents for verification which revealed that land certificates were not issued by authorities concerned. It then filed a police complaint with Preet Vihar Police Station. “The board conducts a strict scrutiny of essential documents submitted by schools. To establish the genuineness, the documents are also verified by the issuing authority,” CBSE Secretary Himanshu Gupta said. “The board sent the documents for verification by the issuing authorities, which found that the concerned authorities have not issued the certificates but the schools have submitted fake papers,” he added. Sat Saheb Public School in Uttam Nagar has 2,000 students and 90 staff, while Manava Bhawna Public School has 2,165 students and 43 teachers. Despite repeated attempts, there was no response from the school authorities till filing of this report. At the event on December 8, Justice Yadav said the Uniform Civil Code’s aim was to promote social harmony, gender equality, and secularism. He also allegedly made some communal remarks against Muslims. The SC Collegium asked him to put fourth his version on the remarks to satisfy the principles of natural justice, before any action is considered against him JUSTICE YADAV GETS UP CM YOGI’S BACKING ■ ■ While the judge’s speech was panned for its communal undertones, it received the backing of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who said targeting the judge for merely expressing his opinion was wrong Justice Yadav made the controversial remarks while addressing a provincial convention of the legal cell of VHP | P7 Congress treated Constitution as its fiefdom: Shah R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi UNION home minister and the BJP’s principal strategist Amit Shah on Tuesday tore into the Congress, terming it an anti-reservation party that recklessly amended the Constitution of India to pander to its appeasement politics during its long stint in government. Replying to the discussion on the ‘Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’ in the Rajya Sabha, Shah accused the grand old party of treating the country’s Constitution as its private property and amending it frequently to appease its Muslim vote bank. “In 1953, the Kaka Kalelkar Commission was formed to provide reservations to the OBC, but its report was nowhere to be found. Had the recommendations of the Commission been accepted, the Mandal Commission would not have been formed,” Shah said. He further said that the Mandal recommendations came out in 1980, but they could be implemented only after the grand old party was voted out of power in 1990. Describing the Indian Constitution rooted with India’s culture and every aspects of natural justice and social ethos, Shah said the Constitution strengthened the roots of democracy and the transfer of power happens without shedding even a drop of blood. “The Constitution is not a tool for misleading or creating confusion in rallies; it is a symbol of belief and faith that must be respected,” he said. Targeting the Gandhi family Shah cited sev, eral amendments which he said were done during the Congress rule to appease one community so that the party controlled by the family can retain power. On the other hand, the amendments done during the BJP rule were aimed at providing justice, welfare, and empowerment to the people, Shah claimed. “Even before the first elections in the country Jawaharlal Nehru effected the first Consti, tutional amendment to curtail the freedom of expression. The Congress considered the Constitution as ‘private fiefdom’ of one family and deceived Parliament,” he said, adding that the Constitution is a symbol of belief and faith that must be respected. P7 They (NehruGandhi family) considered not just the party as their private property, but also treated the Constitution as their ‘private fiefdom’ Amit Shah JIBE AT RAHUL Taking potshots at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said: “The 54-year-old leader who calls himself ‘yuva’, roams around with Constitution” 77 VS 22 CHANGES Shah said the Congress amended the Constitution 77 times during its 55-year rule, while the BJP made 22 changes in 16 years EXPRESS READ Will halt mining if dues not cleared, says JMM MARXIST & MONKS Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake visited Bodh Gaya in Bihar’s Gaya district and prayed at the Mahabodhi Temple on Tuesday. | PTI After the Centre’s reply in the Lok Sabha that it does not owe anything to Jharkhand, the JMM on Tuesday threatened to stop all mining activities, if the dues are not cleared. The JMM warned coal firms to clear their stand within 15 days or none of the mines will be allowed to operate in Jharkhand. Capital records low of 5.9°C, dense fog likely The national capital on Tuesday recorded a minimum temperature of 5.9°C, 2.2°C below normal, while the maximum temperature settled at 24.4°C, two notches above normal, with the weather department forecasting dense fog going ahead. Meanwhile, the AQI remained at severe category. | P3 RECRUITMENT EXAMS OUT NTA to manage higher edu entrance tests alone in restructuring scrub RUSSIAN GENERAL HEADING N-ARMS WING DEAD Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed on Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow | P9 K A V I TA B A J E L I - D AT T @ New Delhi IN a significant shift from its role, the National Testing Agency (NTA) will now focus solely on conducting entrance exams for admissions to higher education institutions. It means the agency will no longer oversee recruitment exams. Making the announcement, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday that the idea is to conduct error-free exams for which accountability will be fixed. He also said that the government is considering moving to com- puter-adaptive tests and techdriven entrance exams soon. As the agency will be restructured next year, new posts are being created. “We have started the process of restructuring the NTA by creating new posts and appointing new officers. This will bring fresh energy,” the minister said. The re-structuring of NTA, which conducts 10 major exams in India taken by an estimated 50 lakh candidates, is part of its reforms based on the recommendation of a high-level panel set-up earlier this year following alleged leaks and malprac- DIGI-EXAM SYSTEM Representational photo tice in the National Eligibilitycum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) medical entrance exam as well as a series of cancellations of other exams due to suspected leaks and other glitches. A major proposal was the introduction of a DIGI-EXAM system to ensure that only the candidate writing the exam takes the test. “Multi-stage authentication of the candidate’s identity is envisaged which makes use of Aadhaar and biometrics and AI-based data analytics,” it said On NEET-UG exams, Pradhan said they are in talks with Union health minister J P Nadda on whether to hold it as a computer-based test (CBT) or pen-paper format. “Two meet- ings have been held with the health minister. We will announce the modalities as early as possible,” he said. As part of restructuring, he said 10 additional NTA posts have been created. “There will be many changes in the functioning to ensure there is zeroerror testing. We want NTA to be a specialist body We have al. ready started recruitment.” It’s in line with the panel’s proposal to set up 10 specific verticals, headed at the director level. The verticals will be related to tech, products and operations, test security and surveillance. Pradhan also said the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG) will continue to be conducted once a year. Among its major recommendations, the committee observed that the NTA outstretched itself to accommodate diverse requests from many test indenting agencies for handling end-to-end operations of tests. “The NTA should primarily conduct entrance examinations. Enhancing its scope for other examinations may be considered after the capacity of the NTA is augmented,” the panel said in its report.