eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Different Strokes KOLKATA, LATECITY JANUARY28,2024 With 108 exhibitors, India Art Fair opens in Delhi on February 1 12+4PAGES,`7.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Discussions with India counterpart fruitful: Thomas India working with us closely to resolve this: Outgoing Canada NSA on Nijjar killing AMENDMENT TO CASTE CERTIFICATION RULES SOON Shinde govt relents on Maratha quota, decides to expand Kunbi OBC status BJP-Sena hopes to placate Maratha community in election year OBCs fear shrinking of quota pie, ready to take battle to street, court SHUBHAJIT ROY ALOK DESHPANDE FOUR MONTHS after a diplomatic firestorm erupted over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of a potential Indian link to the killing of Canada-based Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a top Canadian official has, for the first time,saidthatIndiais“cooperating” with Canada and Delhi is working closely with Ottawa to resolve the issue. Canada’s National Security Advisor Jody Thomas, who retired Friday after more than 35 years in public service, told Canadian news channel CTV: “I wouldn’t describe them (the IN WHAT has defused the tension for now over reservation for the Maratha community in Maharashtra, the state government late Friday night decided to issue a gazette notification with a draft of rules that aims to ease and expand the scope for offering Kunbi OBC (Other Backward Class) certification to Marathas. This will entitle them to apply for government jobs and educational institutions as OBCs, who are entitled 27 per cent reservation in the state. Activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who started his march in Jalna on January 20 and reached Navi ALOK DESHPANDE, SHUBHANGI KHAPRE & OMKAR GOKHALE NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, JANUARY 27 MUMBAI, JANUARY 27 Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde offers juice to activist Manoj Jarange Patil to break his fast in Navi Mumbai. Narendra Vaskar Mumbai on Friday, called off the protest Saturday after discussions with senior state government officials and ministers. He requested those who marched with him from Jalna and joined him en route to leave and reach their villages peacefully and celebrate. The state has proposed to amend the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category CONTINUEDONPAGE2 All eyes on Patna today with Nitish set to break up, stake claim with BJP SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JANUARY 27 IN what will be his second volte faceinlessthan18months,Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar is set to snap ties with ally RJD amid indications he will quit Sunday and stake claim to form a government with the BJP. According to PTI, a source close to Nitish was quoted as saying that the Chief Minister is likely to address a meeting of his party MLAs “around 10 am NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 AS NITISH Kumar’s JD(U) preparestoleavetheINDIAblocand re-join the BJP-led NDA and the Congress tries to placate CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Judge vs judge: Top court stays all proceedings before Calcutta High Court ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 THE SUPREME Court Saturday stayed all further proceedings before the Calcutta High Court in connection with a matter related to a probe into alleged irregularities in MBBS admissions in West Bengal, and two sets of orders that led to a judge accusing a fellow judge of “acting clearly for some political party in this State”. On Thursday, a single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court had directed that a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe ordered into the alleged irregularities will continue, despite an order of a division bench to the contrary. In the written order, he had also levelled accusations against a fellow judge, Justice Soumen Sen. OnSaturday,issuingnoticeto the CBI, the petitioner on whose plea Justice Gangopadhyay directed the CBI probe, and the stateof WestBengal,afive-judge Supreme Court bench, in a specialsitting,stayedallfurtherproceedings before the single judge bench and the division bench, and directed an interim stay of the single-judge order. “Issue notice to the original petitioner before the High Court in repetition and the state of West Bengal… Pending further orders there shall be a stay of all proceedings before the High Court of Calcutta in writ petitions… The implementation of the direction issued by the single judge on January 24 and 25 shall in consequence remainstayed,” the bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising JusticesSanjivKhanna,BRGavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose said in its order. The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the issue after the controversy CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 75 Years of Love & Affection Sunday before going to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation.” And the new government, with the BJP's support, was expected by the evening. “Offices, including the Governor's secretariat, have been ordered to remain open Sunday,” said the source. A rattled RJD had a meeting of its MLAs Sunday and leader GRAND SLAM AT 43 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RohanBopanna,43,becametheoldestmantowinaGrand SlamintheOpenEraafterheandMatthewEbdenclinchedthe AustralianOpenmen’sdoublestitle,Saturday.Heisalsosetto bedoublesworldNo.1whenrankingsareout. Reuters PAGE12 LAND-FOR-JOBS: RABRI, DAUGHTERS SUMMONED PAGE 7 Akhilesh pulls a surprise, announces 11 seats for Congress which wanted more LALMANI VERMA & MANOJ C G EVEN AS the Maratha community awaits finalisationof rulesonMaratha reservation, the communities under Other Backward Class (OBC) fear a shrinking of their 27 per cent reservation pie, and are ready to take the battle to the street and the courts. While the proposed formulation does not tinker with the 50 per cent limit set by the Supreme Court, it allows Marathas to claim reservation under the 27 per cent set aside for OBCs. So there will be more claimants not just for government jobs and educational institutions reserved for OBCs, but alsoforOBC-reservedseatsinlocal civic bodies. Kunbis are farmers, and most of them in Vidarbha and northern Maharashtra have Kunbi certificates and OBC status. But many from the Maratha community in Marathwada and western Maharashtra do not have Kunbi certificates, and hence not entitled to OBC reservation. While Marathas are estimated to account for 32 per cent of the state’s population as per the Narayan Rane committee appointed by the Congress-NCP government in 2013, there are FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Saturday sprang a surprise unilaterally announcing 11 seats for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. Caught off guard, the Congress said seat-sharing talks with the SP are still on. The Congress, sources said, was hoping to get 15-16 seats in UP and Yadav’s announcement is seen as a bid to force the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INDIA BLOC NOT IMPLODING: CONG PAGE 6 Eat Healthy Stay Healthy WEST BENGAL AS RAHUL RESUMES YATRA TODAY, KHARGE URGES CM TO ENSURE ITS ‘SAFETY’ PAGE 3 For India’s dream to host 2036 Olympics, Ahmedabad has a Rs 6,000-crore plan PAGE 1 ANCHOR THE PROPOSED SPORTS ENCLAVE AHMEDABAD JANUARY 27 ■ A sports enclave with an aquatics centre, basketball and tennis courts, and a football arena. ■ A “vibrant”publicspacealong the Sabarmati for hosting cultural events and temporary stalls, and an amphitheatre. ■ Aproposedmasterplanmade by the international consultant that led the consortium to build venues for the 2012 Olympics in London. GUJARAT IS leaving no stone un- 5 6 1.10lakh* 2 Aquatics centre 2 3 Football stadium 4 Tennis centre 1 7 RITU SHARMA 1 Narendra Modi stadium 5 Ring of Unity 12,000 4 3 15,000 6 53,000 5,000 Arenas 1 18,000 7 Arenas 2 and 3 *seating capacity Source: Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority turned before India throws its hat into the ring in the hopes of winning the bid to host the 2036 Olympics. The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV),setupinJuly2023toover- 6,000+10,000 see the planning and execution of Olympic-standard CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TOLL FREE : 1800 8918701 www.mukharochak.com FOLLOW US Kolkata