NEW DELHI 12 JANUARY 2025 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PARENTAL GUIDANCE PLUS: 12 PAGES ALL THAT JAZZ MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES COLOUR-CODING AT Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Ajai Sahni Balaji Vittal EACH STEP Britain’s Rape Jihad The Tale of an Unsung Queen Shampa Dhar-Kamath Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Anuradha Goyal Of the Conflict Within SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS THE WINTER WEDDING WALTZ Living in the Moment NTA exams may 20 arrested for Kerala minor’s horrific rape go UPSC way for better security J A I S O N W I L S O N @ Pathanamthitta A day after the shocking revelation that more than 60 people had raped a minor over five years, the police arrested 20 people, including a juvenile. Police have registered six cases, including under the POCSO Act, with more likely to follow. Based on the survivor’s statement, the police had on Friday arrested five persons. On Saturday, they arrested 15 more, including a 17-year-old boy. A special investigation team, headed by Pathanamthitta Deputy Superintendent of Police S Nandakumar, is ques- Would involve DM, SP to make the process of conducting entrance tests fully secure K A V I TA B A J E L I - D AT T @ New Delhi Maha shift as Uddhav’s Sena to go it alone in civic body polls EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi IN a seismic shift that threatens to upend Maharashtra’s political landscape, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has announced its decision to contest the upcoming local body elections on its own. The decision was conveyed on Saturday by senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, who said that the move to go solo has the backing of party chief Uddhav Thackeray and is meant to preserve the party’s organisational growth and provide more opportunities for its workers. “We are confident in our strength and will fight the elections on our own ... whatever happens, will happen,” he said. The development raises questions about the future of the MVA coalition, particularly in light of the recent drubbing in the Maharashtra assembly elections, which saw the MVA suffer a humiliating defeat. The Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged just 9.96% of the vote share, a drop from the 16.72% it got in the Lok Sabha elections six months earlier. The Congress has welcomed Shiv Sena (UBT)’s decision, with leaders citing the challenges of transferring votes between parties. A senior Maharashtra Congress leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged difficulties in securing votes from Shiv Sena (UBT) supporters, adding that the party now sees an opportunity for growth and expansion. THE government is mulling to conduct all entrance exams to higher education institutions (HEIs) using the UPSC model to ensure strict security and avoid any future allegations of cheating and mismanagement, highly placed sources said. The Union education ministry is considering this approach so as to involve all state and district administrations during the entrance exams, which will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). “Now, the government is thinking of conducting all entrance exams to HEIs using the UPSC model. The UPSC model means the district administration and the state government are involved in the entrance exam process,” the source told this paper. UPSC exam centres are heavily secured by district administrations, with the collector and superintendent of police involved in the entire process. The government is looking at applying the same rigour for conducting various entrance exams, which include CUETUG, CUET-PG, JEE-MAINS, and NEET-UG. NEET-UG was mired in controversy following allegations of cheating and mismanagement last year. The source said the entire state administration is involved in the UPSC exams. “This will help make the entire exam procedure much more secure as the state administration will be NCW SEEKS STATUS REPORT IN THREE DAYS New Delhi:The National Commission for Women has taken cognizance of the case and has directed the state police to submit a report within three days. The survivor is currently receiving counseling and support at a shelter home, police said. tioning the accused. The girl, who belongs to a scheduled caste community, had revealed her ordeal to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) members who subsequently informed the police. According to the survivor’s account, the sexual abuse began when she was 13, with Subin, the son of her father’s friend, luring her into a cycle of sexu- al exploitation that would continue for years. When the girl turned 16, Subin took her to a secluded rubber plantation and sexually assaulted her. He also recorded videos of the act on his phone. This was followed by regular sexual abuse, police said. Subin’s actions were enabled by a network of accomplices, who shared explicit visuals and EXPRESS READ Why big reforms ‘BAHANE NAHI BADLAV CHAHIYE…’ SpaDex satellites only 230m apart in orbit A series of reforms are being undertaken so as to make NTA a globally-recognised exam body. “NTA handles one crore students. This is huge as compared to any other country. It will increase,” the source said part of the process. The government’s thinking is to conduct all exams related to admission in such a fashion. Also, the state administration will feel part of the exam system.” The plan to adopt the UPSC model was discussed following the recommendation of the committee led by former ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan. The committee was set up to suggest exam reforms, better security protocols, and their operation by the education ministry following the NEETUG fiasco. Last month, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had announced that NTA will focus solely on conducting entrance exams for admission to higher education institutions. The idea was to make the system “error-free”. 5 WOMEN AMONG 29 NAMES, INCLUDING Harish Khurana Kapil Mishra 2 FROM Karnail Singh SHAKUR BASTI MOTI NAGAR KARAWAL NAGAR RESERVED SEATS Surya Prakash Khatri: TIMARPUR Shyam Sharma: HARI NAGAR The two Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) satellites that the ISRO aims to unite in orbit are currently separated by a distance of 230 m, with their health status deemed ‘normal’, the space agency said on Saturday. | P5 Rhino horns worth `3 cr seized by cops, 4 nabbed Delhi Police’s Crime Branch held four people for allegedly being involved in the possession and illegal trade of two rare rhinoceros horns, valued at `3 crore in the international market, an official said on Saturday. | P3 Fasting farmer leader’s health deteriorates As the fast-unto-death protest by farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal entered the 47th day on Saturday, his health has worsened, with low blood pressure, fluctuating vitals and the threat of a cardiac arrest | P8 KANNAUJ STATION ROOF COLLAPSE Rescue operation underway at Kannauj railway station after an under-construction building there collapsed injuring 23 labourers. Six have been rescued with three sustaining critical injuries. The incident happened around 2.30 pm on Saturday when the shutter collapsed during casting of the roof. Officials said around 35 people were working at the site | PTI | P8 videos of the girl. The perpetrators used the girl’s father’s mobile phone to communicate with her without his knowledge. Police have identified 40 individuals as potential perpetrators and are working to bring them to book. Earlier, the complaint of the survivor was directly forwarded by the State Child Welfare Committee to the Pathanamthitta SP. It was during the CWC members’ home visit that the information of the sexual abuse came to light. District SP V G Vinod Kumar said legal action against the perpetrators will continue. DELHI DANGAL Former CM’s son, ex-AAP minister on BJP’s 2nd list ANUP VERMA & RAJESH KUMAR T H A K U R @ New Delhi THE BJP on Saturday released its second list of 29 candidates for the February 5 Assembly polls. While Kapil Mishra, a former AAP leader, has been named from Karawal Nagar, Harish Khurana, son of former CM Madan Lal Khurana, has been fielded from the Moti Nagar constituency. The list figured five women, including two from reserved seats. Mishra joined BJP in 2019 and courted controversy for his remarks against anti-CAA protests. BJP leader Karnail Singh has been pitted against AAP’s former minister Satyendar Jain from Shakur Basti. The party has fielded Raj Karan Khatri from Narela, Surya Prakash Khatri from Timarpur, Gajendra Daral from Mundka, Bajrang Shukla from Kirari, Karan Singh Kar ma from Sultanpur Majra, and Tilak Ram Gupta from Trinagar. Priyanka Gautam, who had recently joined BJP from AAP, has been fielded from Kondli (SC) seat. The list also includes Neelam K Pahalwaan from Najafgarh. Kailash Gahlot had contested as AAP candidate from this seat, but af- ter joining BJP he was declared candidate from Bijwasan. Besides, the party has also given ticket to Manoj Kumar Jindal from Sadar Bazar, Satish Jain from Chandni Chowk, Deepti Indora from Matia Mahal, Urmila Kailash Gangwal from Madipur, Shyam Sharma from Hari Nagar, Shweta Saini from Tilak Nagar, etc. To finalise the names of candidates of 41 of the 70 seats, the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) had met on Friday evening. The CEC had reportedly stressed the selection of non-controversial candidates to a great extent, giving equal consideration to women belonging to OBCs and other sections. PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah were part of the CEC that went through the recommendations of the Delhi BJP Core Committee. On January 4, the party issued the first list of 29 candidates, which included Parvesh Verma from New Delhi, and former MP Ramesh Bidhuri from Kalkaji against Atishi. With the second list, the BJP has so far named candidates for 58 seats for the elections to the 70-member Delhi AsP3 sembly . The song, ‘Delhi Mein BJP Sarkar Chahiye’, launched during PM Modi’s ‘Parivartan Rally’ last week in Rohini ‘JAI BAPU, JAI BHIM, JAI SAMVIDHAN’ Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hit the campaign trail on January 13 with a public meeting in Seelampur SMALLER PLAYERS PLAN TO SPOIL GAMEPLAN OF BIG 3 Fringe players, such as BSP and AIMIM, are strategising to eat away the votes of the three main contenders — AAP, BJP and Congress; While BSP is planing to contest all 70 seats, AIMIM at least 12 BJP, AAP spar over CAG report on liquor policy R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi IN the run-up to the Assembly polls, the BJP has intensified its attack on AAP over the findings of the CAG report, which says the Delhi government has allegedly ensured a loss of `2,026 crore to the state exchequer by tweaking excise policy . “AAPda model of loot in full display, and that too on something like liquor. Just a matter of a few weeks before they are voted out and punished for their misdeeds,” BJP chief JP Nadda wrote on ‘X’. Former Union minister Anurag Thakur, at a briefing at the party headquarters, questioned why the AAP had failed to table the CAG report in the Assembly and alleged that Arvind Kejriwal is the “kingpin” of the liquor scam. “The CAG has come out with a report on the Delhi liquor scam involving the AAP government, highlighting 10 key findings, which reveal that Delhi has suffered a loss of `2,026 crore. Kejriwal will have to explain who profited from the money Thakur said. ,” The AAP, however, accused the BJP of circulating a “fabricated” report. AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said, “This so-called report has not been seen by the CM, L-G, or the Speaker, nor is it available on the CAG website.” SPORTS CONNECT Fan, fandom & Harish: Cricketing bridge between India-Australia G O M E S H S @ Sydney IN terms of support, the Melbourne Cricket Ground almost looks like any other ground in India. There is a sea of blue in every corner and the din was as loud as one could hear back home. There have been times, especially during practice, when the Indian crowd outnumbered those from the home side Australia. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is slowly turning out to be one of the most popular bilateral series in cricket. The MCG witnessed history when 373,691 fans poured in for the Boxing Day Tests throughout the five days of absorbing cricket. It incidentally recorded the highest attendance for any Test played in recent times. With the growing Indian population, there has been a shift in the administrative set-up too. Harish Rao, who has roots, including cricketing ones in Chennai, became the first Indian-Australian to be appointed on the board of Cricket Victoria in its close to 150-year history The Indian di. aspora has become a pivotal part of Australian cricket and it is increasing every series. It all started in 2022 when India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match was played in front of a capacity crowd of 90,293. India won and Australia realised the growing popularity among the Indian fans. The same year India and Australia signed the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement. Realising the significance of the Indian diaspora, Cricket Victoria contacted Harish, an Indian Australian Business leader, who founded the Australia India Chamber of Commerce, and was a past board member of Melbourne crowd during the Boxing Day match the Australia-India Institute before coming back to his cricketing roots. “There’s been a huge momentum in the Australia-India rela- tionship over the last few years, especially after the signing of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement in 2022. That has filtered through to many different aspects of relationships and certainly sport,” Harish explains. While Harish is on an exciting journey himself, it has also helped him connect to the sport which has been a big part of his family His great grandfather B . S Ramulu Naidu captained “Presidency Hindus” versus “Presidency Europeans” in the Madras Presidency match at the now M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai in 1908-09. Harish’s grandfather, B S Badradi played first-class cricket for Madras alongside M J Gopalan, C P Johnstone, and A P11 G Ram Singh. THICK FOG ENVELOPS CITY; FLIGHT OPS AND ROAD TRAFFIC HIT A thick layer of fog covered Delhi on Saturday, delaying 220 flights due to low runway visibility. Parts of the city saw light rain in the evening while the minimum temperature was recorded at 7.7°C | P3