DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Government of India CBC 22201/13/0126/2324 Better healthcare facilities for everyone Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat 1.6 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs providing healthcare facilities close to home HPV IMMUNISATION PROJECT Govtsettoroll outvaccine drivetofight cervical cancer Campaign to target girls in 9-14 yrs age group, in 3 phases over 3 years NEW DELHI, JANUARY 11 PM TO LAUNCH ATAL SETU, INDIA’S LONGEST SEA BRIDGE, TODAY 22 km Rs 21,200cr 16 min 100 km/hr 2-carriageway, 6-lane bridge comprises 16.5-km sea link, 5.5-km land viaducts construction began in 2018 Cost of project; Average travel time from one end to other, against current 61minutes Speed limit for light motor vehicles such as cars and taxis Amit Chakravarty EXPLAINED ACROSS THE SEA IN 20 MINUTES REPORT, PAGE 6 Manipur: Day after 4 Handed whitelist of loan apps to Govt, go missing, father, son says RBI Gov; others set to face action among 3 found killed SOUMYARENDRA BARIK SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, JANUARY 11 THE BODIES of three people — including a father and son — were recovered in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Thursday, a day after four people from the Meitei community went missing from their village in the area. A fourth person, Dara Singh (55), was still missing as of Thursday evening and security forces and police were conduct- BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY ing search operations to locate him. The bodies of the three deceased—IbomchaSingh(51),his son Anand Singh (20), and their neighbour Romen Singh (38) — havebeenshiftedtotheRegional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal. Apolicestatementsaidsecurity forces were making efforts to search for the person still missing and to flush out armed miscreants from the area. All four men were residents CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RBI collected list of loan apps from its regulated entities: Das NEW DELHI, JANUARY 11 RESERVE BANK of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the central bank has shared a whitelist of lending apps with the Centre. The Union IT Ministry is expected to soon take action against illegal loan apps that are not on the list, The Indian Express has learnt. In a two-part investigation published on November 20-21, The Indian Express had reported howdubiousloanappsadvertise onInstagramandFacebook,and, The Indian Express report on November 20, 2023 BENGALURU, JANUARY 11 For SC, ST women, limit is 4 children SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, JANUARY 11 HEARING BEGINS IN GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST ISRAEL AT THE HAGUE RUSSIAN MISSILES HIT KHARKIV AS UKRAINE FOCUSES ON DEFENCE PAGE 12 PAGE 1 ANCHOR CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Karnataka: Interfaith couple assaulted Assam sets 3-child in hotel room, woman alleges gangrape cap for new rural scheme beneficiaries KIRAN PARASHAR THE WORLD despitewhateverfilterstheplatforms claim to use, many such apps, including those redflagged bythegovernment,continuetooffertheirservices.Ithad also reported that the RBI initially did not have a whitelist of registered loan apps, or even a negative list which is updated. Speaking at the Mint BFSI Summit and Awards on Thursday, Das said the RBI had collected a list of loan apps from its regulated entities — banks and NBFCs — and given it to the Ministry of Electronics and IT. “But, the problem is with illegal lending apps. We have already shared a list with the government. Whenever we come across any further problem, we give it to the government and there is active engagement between the RBI and concerned ministries of the government and law enforcement agencies. Coordination meetings are held A NEW financial support scheme for rural women entrepreneurs by the Assam government comes with a few conditions — including a cap on the number of children they have. While women from general and OBC categories cannot have more than three children if they wish to avail of the scheme, the limit is four children for women from Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs). Announcing the Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyaan (MMUA) on Thursday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta All state govt schemes will be tied to such norms: CM Biswa Sarma said that gradually, all beneficiary schemes by the state government would be tied tosuch“populationnorms”.This isinlinewithhisannouncement in 2021 that the state government would have a two-child policyforavailingbenefitsunder specific state-funded schemes. For the MMUA scheme, though,thenormshavebeenrelaxedfornow.TheMoran,Motok CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FIVE PERSONS have been arrested in Karnataka’s Haveri district for allegedly barging into a hotel room and assaulting a Muslim woman and Hindu man who had checked in together on Sunday. Based on the woman's allegations, police have also invoked charges of gangrape against the accused. Theaccusedarenotaffiliated to any outfit, police said, though investigatorsareprobingif some of them have been involved in similar cases in the past. The men also recorded videos of the assault, which quickly spread online, grabbing the police’s attention. Haveri Superintendent of Police Anshu Kumar confirmed that IPC Section 376D (gangrape) had been invoked against the accused,inadditiontoothercharges. “We have taken five persons into CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 After backlash, Tamil film removed from Netflix; FIR against actor, OTT platform EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, BHOPAL, JANUARY 11 TAMIL FILM Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food has been removed from Netflix amid complaints that it hurt religious sentiments. Ever since it started stream- ing on Netflix on December 29, the film has faced protests and police complaints, with allegationsthatitcontainedcontroversial remarks about Lord Ram, and also promoted “love jihad”. The film is about a Brahmin woman named Annapoorani, portrayed by Nayanthara, who comes from a conservative fam- ily and aims to become India’s topchef.Herfriend,Farhan(portrayed by Jai), helps her navigate the challenges she faces, including cooking and eating meat. Police in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur registered an FIR against Nayanthara and others involved with the film based on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN A significant step that can reduce the incidence of cervical cancer — the second most common cancer in women in India — the government is set to roll out a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign for girls in the 9-14 years age group. The immunisation drive, planned in three phases over three years, is likely to start from the second quarter of this year, The Indian Express has learnt. According to sources, the campaign will begin once the government has a stock of 6.5-7 crore doses of the vaccine needed for the first phase. Besides cervical cancer, the vaccine also offers protection against the HPV strains that cause cancer of the anus, vagina E EXPLAINED ANONNA DUTT One-fifth ofglobal ● burden INDIA ACCOUNTS for about a fifth of the world's cervical cancer cases. With about 1.25 lakh new cases and 75,000 deaths each year, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in India, after breast cancer. About 83 per cent of invasive cervical cancer cases are attributed to HPV 16 or 18 in India. and oropharynx. Additionally, it also protects against the HPV strains that are responsible for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Zero tolerance on rights violations: Army Chief on J&K civilian deaths AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, JANUARY 11 IN HIS first public comments on the deaths of three civilians who were allegedly tortured in custody,inPoonchdistrictof Jammu and Kashmir, Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Thursday said there would be “zero tolerance” for human rights violations. “My guidance to soldiers is unambiguous in respect for humanrightsandzerotolerancefor anyactiononthataccount.There are laid-down guidelines on what to do and what not to do in thoseareas,andforsoldierstobe abletoactinaprofessionalmanner in what they are doing,” he said in his annual address to the General Manoj Pande in New Delhi, Thursday. Renuka Puri media ahead of Army Day on January 15. After a militant attack on an ArmyconvoyonDecember21in which four soldiers were killed, thesecurityforceshadpickedup at least nine civilians for questioning from Topa Pir village in Poonch. Of these, three men — Safeer Ahmed, Shabir Ahmed CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INDIA’S CLEANEST URBAN BODY AREAS 1.INDORE;SURAT( 1) 3.NAVIMUMBAI 4.GVMCVISAKHAPATNAM 5.BHOPAL( 1) 6.VIJAYAWADA( 1) 7.NDMC( 2) 8.TIRUPATI( 1) 9.GREATER HYDERABAD( 10.PUNE( 17) 10) REPORT, PAGE 7 At 79, doctor goes back to classroom, enrols for PhD at IIT -Kanpur ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, JANUARY 11 DRSAROJChooramaniGopalisa woman of many firsts. The first womanpost-graduatestudentof general surgery in her Agra college;thefirstIndianwomanwith a superspeciality in paediatric surgery; the first woman ViceChancellor of Lucknow's King George’s Medical University. At 79, she isn’t done yet. Dr Gopal is now back in the classroom,havingenrolledforaPhDat IIT-Kanpur on January 10. Her research, which she will now pursue at IIT-Kanpur’s Biological Sciences and Bioengineering Department, will focus on how stem cells from a person’s bone marrow or abdominal lining can help in the regeneration of damaged spinal nerves, helping patientswithspinalinjuriesorvertebraldamagegetbackontheirfeet. During her long and illustrious career, Dr Gopal has developed new techniques in paediatric surgery and devised low-cost innovations to make treatments accessible to the poor—amongthem,anewstent for hydrocephalus (buildup of fluid in the brain) and a humidifier for babies. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri as well as the country’shighestrecognitionfor physicians,theDrBCRoyAward. It was her years as a postgraduate student at Agra's Sarojini Naidu Medical College that triggered Dr Gopal's interestinregenerativemedicine.She said,“Irememberthisbabyborn with a condition called meningomyelocele — a condi- Dr Saroj Chooramani Gopal (right) with her PhD supervisor, Prof Ashok Kumar. File tion where the spinal cord of the baby is damaged at the time of birth. It was clear to us that the baby would not be able to walk or control bowel movements. When I asked my senior what we could do for the child, he said there was absolutely nothing that could be done. I was determined then to find a way out for children like that.” While the case sparked her curiosity in cutting-edge global research in regenerative medicine, she continued her medical training. In 1973, she completed Jaipur her super-specialisation in paediatricsurgeryfromAIIMSDelhi. “I became the first person to completeanMCh(superspecialisation) in paediatric surgery. The course was simultaneously started at AIIMS New Delhi, PGI Chandigarh, KEM Mumbai, and Egmore Institute Chennai for one candidate each. While I completed my MCh in three years, the others took an extra year,” she said. After her MCh, she joined BanarasHinduUniversity'sFaculty of Medicine as a lecturer (equiva- lenttoassistantprofessor)andretired as Medical Superintendent andDeanin2008. During her early years at BHU, she proposed to carry out research on the use of stem cells for the regeneration of spinal nerves in children born with congenital defects. “But they rejected my proposal. It was only after I was appointed V-C at KGMU that I was able to get my project approved,” she said. At KGMU, in 2014-15, Dr Gopal was able to demonstrate CONTINUED ON PAGE 2