DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE Modi Sarkar ki Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Guarantee Active participation of women in nation’s development REPLY TO RS DEBATE ON PRESIDENT ADDRESS BUSINESS AS USUAL PM sharpens attack: Cong dividing country on north-south lines BY UNNY If state takes one step, Centre will take two; need competitive and cooperative federalism: Modi WEST BENGAL TWIN BLASTS ROCK PAK, POLLS TODAY VIKAS PATHAK An injured person being brought to a hospital after two explosions near poll candidates’ offices killed 30 and wounded dozens in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Wednesday, a day ahead of voting in the general elections. AP PAGE14 ON THE day Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Cabinet colleagues protested in NewDelhiagainsttheallegedinjustice in devolution of taxes to the southern states, Prime MinisterNarendraModiaccused the Congress of trying to divide thecountryonnorth-southlines. Replying to the debate in Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, Modi said, “The Congress that in its greed for power throttled (democracy), the Congress that dismissed elected governments,theCongressthatimprisoned democracy, which tried to shut down newspapers, and which tried to break the country with various narratives, is trying to divide the north and south.” “The nation is not just land for us but an inspirational unit. When the foot is pricked by a thorn, the hand reaches out to extract it. It does not say it does not care about the foot… If one Yogi raises Kashi, Mathura: After HC stays Ayodhya, Nandi, Krishna can’t wait single bench SANDESHKHALI MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 7 HAMAS PROPOSES 135-DAY GAZA TRUCE WITH COMPLETE ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL NIKKI HALEY LOSES TO 'NONE OF THESE’ OPTION IN NEVADA GOP PRIMARY PAGE 14 IN HIS first remarks on the start of puja in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque complex within hours of it being allowed by the Varanasi district court on January 31, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said Wednesday that after watching the (January 22) celebrations in Ayodhya, “Nandi Baba did not wait” and “got the barricading removed at night”. We asked for only three places: CM in the House on Wednesday. PTI He said now even Lord Krishna is not ready to wait – alluding to the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah mosque dispute in Mathura – and referred to the claims at Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura when he said “we asked for only three places”. Speaking during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the UP Assembly, the Chief Minister said that such has been the impact of “vote bank politics” that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION IN COLLABORATION WITH FORBIDDEN STORIES Accused in murder of Maharashtra journalist linked to 34 land deals at contested project site Shashikant Warishe, 48, was writing against RRPCL, a Central refinery project in Ratnagiri; accused was paid by project company for ‘transport services’ VALLABH OZARKAR Warishe flagged concerns related to environment RATNAGIRI, MUMBAI, FEB 7 TODAY MARKS one full year since journalist Shashikant Warishe,48,waskilled,allegedly for opposing a Central refinery project in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district and flagging environmental conc erns. The prime accused, Pandharinath Amberkar,isinjailfacingcharges includingthatof murderanddestroying evidence. He is alleged to have rammed Warishe’s scooter with his SUV and run him over. Not only did Amberkar threaten Warishe with death, as the chargesheet filed by the RatnagiriPolicestates,heandhis network of family members were involved in a slew of land PAGE 1 ANCHOR NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 7 Shashikant Warishe’s mother Shevanti and son Yash in Ratnagiri. Vallabh Ozarkar transactions in and around villages where the project is proposed, an investigation by The Indian Express in collaboration with Paris-based consortium Forbidden Stories, has revealed. Theprojectisbeingexecuted by Ratnagiri Refinery Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), a company set up in 2017, and jointly owned by state-owned Indian Oil Corporation, BPCL Ltd and HPCL Ltd. Initially, the projectwasproposedinNanarvillage in Ratnagiri district, but followingoppositionbylocalsandenvironment activists, the Maharashtragovernmentwrote totheCentreonJanuary12,2022, that it would identify 13,000 acres for acquisition in Barsu village in Rajapur city, for the project. But work stalled after large CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 order of joint CBI-Police SIT to probe attack on ED EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 7 THE CALCUTTA High Court on Wednesday stayed a single bench order for forming a joint special investigation team (SIT) comprising CBI and WestBengal Police officers to investigate the January5attackonEnforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district last month. TheDivisionBench,presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam, ordered the stay on an ED's appeal that only the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) should be probing the incident and officersof WestBengalPoliceshould not be a part of SIT since leaders of the TMC government in the state are accused in the case. A team of ED officials was attacked by a mob during a search at the premises of TMC leader ShajahanSheikhatSandeshkhali on January 5 in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in ration distribution in the state. While Sheikh is absconding, the ED had earlier arrested TMC minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in connection with the alleged ration scam. Following the attack, the single bench of Justice Jay Sengupta of the Calcutta High Court on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORT PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PM Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. PTI Cong counters: Heap of lies, Govt betrayed people EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 7 HOURS AFTER Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the Parliamentgrandstagetolaunch another scathing criticism of the Congress, the main Opposition party hit back, accusing him of spreading lies and resorting to “cursing” it to hide his governance failures. In his speeches in Lok Sabha Monday and Rajya Sabha Wednesday, Modi singled out the Congress, dipping into history and framing the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as a battle between the BJP and the Congress, their governance EXPLAINED THE WORLD Government of India India has 15% women pilots which is highest in the world Viksit Bharat VERIFICATION DRIVE TO IDENTIFY MNREGA FAKE CARDHOLDERS MADHYAMIK: 32 DISQUALIFIED FOR CARRYING PHONES TO EXAM HALLS PAGE 3 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 cbc 22201/13/0256/2324 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES E Promise of ● Modi 3.0 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi’s speech was made with the coming elections in mind. Weaving a confident narrative of hope for “Modi 3.0” — a third term in power — he focussed his attack on the Congress. models and records. Hittingback,seniorCongress leader Rahul Gandhi said the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Karnataka protests, FM hits back: Cong with separatists, false claims DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 7 COUNTERING THE protest held by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,hisCabinetmembers, Congress MPs and MLAs in the capital on Wednesday against the Centre's “injustice” in devolution of taxes, Finance MinisterNirmalaSitharamanaccused the Congress of “standing with separatists” and spreading a “false narrative”. “TheclaimsbytheKarnataka governmentof discriminationin sharingcentraltaxesarepatently wrong and mischievous. All this comes from the mentality of separatism. The Deputy Chief Minister’s brother made a statement (to that effect),” she said. Last week, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's brother and MP, D K Suresh, had Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi Wednesday. Tashi Tobgyal said people of South India may havetodemandaseparatecountry if “the injustice of not providing the rightful share of taxes (to the southern states) continued”. “The Congress is standing with separatists. It is standing with the people who want to break the country into pieces. Two-three years ago, you saw Rahul Gandhi in JNU... he then stoodwiththetukde-tukdegang. Even in Tamil Nadu, they CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 4 years into Soviet-style chess academy, Anand’s students shine bright AMIT KAMATH MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 7 BACK IN December 2020, when India’s first Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand started his chess academy, he had a modest dream: someone had "to carry the torch forward". Three years later, the torch is shining bright, with a queue of contenders ready to take on the mantle. Three students from the online WestBridge Anand Chess Academy's (WACA) first batch — D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and his sister R Vaishali — have qualified for the upcoming Candidates tournament, a prestigious event to figure out the challenger to the reigning world champion. Other promising prodigies at Anand's academy are Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi, Raunak Sadhwani and Leon Luke Mendonca. While Arjun is no longer categorised as a junior player, Nihal, Raunak and Leon are — along with Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh — amongtheTop10rankedjuniors in the world. “The idea for the chess academy was to have a programme by which Indian youngsters carry the torch forward. I am very happy that the first group we picked are all doing so well now. It’s pretty much what I expected, but I will admit to being slightlysurprisedbyhowquickly theyhavedoneit.Ithinkwehave done extremely well there,” Anand tells The Indian Express. Anandisnottheonlymentor at hand: he has assembled a quartet of Grandmasters to help out with the online classes. Poland's Grzegorz Gajewski helps the youngsters with opening theories, GM Sandipan Chandasharpensmid-gameprep, Russian GM Artur Yusupov polishesendgamesandBorisGelfand hosts mentoring sessions. While Anand with Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa. File Yusupov holds four classes a month, the others usually have about two classes each month. At times, Anand requests Gelfand to hold an extra class — maybe even a dedicated session — right before players go in for an important tournament. In chess, getting a training session with top Grandmasters can be prohibitively expensive, which is where WACA fills the gap. Gelfand,whileexplaininghis role at WACA with the prodigies, had told The Indian Express last year: "I show them some games and try to explain how I would take a decision in that situation. I explain my thinking process and analyse games of some of theplayerstoseewhatwasgood and what went wrong at recent tournaments. This helps them understand how they can adjust their game." The genesis of WACA lay in a questionAnandwasaskedbyhis good friend Sandeep Singhal in 2019: what he would do for Indian chess whenever he gave up playing himself. Anand didn’t have an answer then. Butafewmonthslater,hereturnedtoSinghalwithaconcrete plan:achessacademymodelled on the lines of the legendary Botvinnik School of Chess and the Samford Fellowship. Thus, WACA came into being in December 2020 with Anand looking at the chess mentoring aspect and WestBridge Capital, of which Singhal is the cofounder, coming on board as the financial partner. It was at the Botvinnik Chess School in the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1960s — spearheaded by world champion Mikhail Botvinnik — that Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik learnttheintricaciesof thesport. Anand has influenced many a prodigy’s decisions with what he calls ‘tailormade solutions’: from Gukesh hiring Polish GM CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata