DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat BY UNNY ₹ 2 lakh 80 thousand crore given to 11.8 crore farmers till now JANUARY 30 CHANDIGARH MAYORAL POLLS SC quashes Mayor election results, declares Cong-AAP candidate winner AAP-Cong gets post of Mayor, but BJP numbers will keep the chair shaky Kejriwal thanks Supreme Court, says the verdict is first win for INDIA bloc ANANTHAKRISHNAN G Swami Prasad Maurya resigns from SP, may float own party Assured income of ₹ 6,000 given to en farmers under PM Kisan every year NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 20 THE SUPREME Court Tuesday quashed and set aside the result of the January 30 mayoral polls for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporationinwhichthepresiding officer had named BJP’s ManojSonkarasthewinner,and insteaddeclaredKuldeepKumar, the AAP-Congress coalition candidate,asthevalidlyelectedcandidate. It also issued a show cause notice to Anil Masih, the presiding officer, on why steps should not be initiated against him under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud perused the ballot papers and said that the eightballotsonwhichMasihhad made a marking, and were later counted as invalid, were duly cast in favour of Kuldeep Kumar. Kumar had approached the Supreme Court against the outcome of the election. Terming the verdict as a win CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HINA ROHTAKI CHANDIGARH, FEBRUARY 20 Notice to Anil Masih, poll Returning Officer, to show cause why action should not be taken against him. ANI WHILE THE Aam Aadmi Party and Congress won a moral and legal victory Tuesday, wresting the post of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Mayor, they face a long road ahead. By the time the Supreme MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 20 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORTS PAGE 4 PAK STALEMATE CONTINUES AS PARTIES FAIL TO REACH CONSENSUS US VETOES UN RESOLUTION DEMANDING GAZA CEASEFIRE PAGE 12 PAGE 1 ANCHOR RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 20 J&K’s first electric train during its flagging off ceremony at Srinagar railway station on Tuesday. PTI J&K gets its first electric train, PM says UT progressing on development track ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, FEBRUARY 20 PM Narendra Modi with J&K L-G Manoj Sinha and Union minister Jitendra Singh. PTI LAUNCHING THE Union Territory’s first electric train Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government removed Article 370 because it was the biggest hurdle in the making of a new Jammu and Kashmir which is “now making progress towards balanced development”. Addressing a large public rally at the M A Stadium, Modi said, “Look at the power of 370. Because (Article) 370 is gone, I have asked people of the country to give 370 seats to BJP (in the Lok Sabha elections) and over 400 seats to the NDA.” The Prime Minister, who laid foundation stones and inaugurated multiple projects worth over Rs 32,000 crore including CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Smiles are back: Officials promise land plot to hockey star Jyoti to build house THE WORLD CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Indian team flies to London to seal FTA before poll code kicks in Swami Prasad Maurya addresses a press meet in Lucknow on Tuesday. PTI NEARLY A week after resigning from the post of Samajwadi Party general secretary alleging “discrimination” and accusing party chief Akhilesh Yadav of ignoring the Pichda, Dalit and Alpasankhyak (PDA) people, Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday quit the party. Maurya, 70, who also resigned as a Member of the Legislative Council, alleged that Akhilesh Yadav’s “secularism” has been exposed as he had defied “samajwadi (socialist) ideology” by conducting a puja at a party office, “putting even the BJP to shame”. While Maurya said that he would reveal his future plan at a public meeting in Delhi on Thursday, sources said he could float his outfit, like he had done in 2016 after leaving the BSP. In his resignation letter addressed to Akhilesh Yadav, Maurya wrote: “I got the Court held the January 30 election that instated a BJP Mayor as invalid, the BJP had managed to win three AAP councillors to its side. This means that in the general house of the civic body, the BJP now has 17 councillors, the same as the AAP-Congress com● bine(whosenumbersare down from 20 to 17). The BJP can additionally count on its E EXPLAINED cbc 22201/13/0269/2324 Government of India BUSINESS AS USUAL `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 MIHIR VASAVDA ROURKELA, FEBRUARY 20 THE SMILES do not leave the faces of India's hockey striker Jyoti Chhetri, her parents and brother. Along with joy, there's an overwhelmingsense of relief. On the day The Indian Express reportedthatJyoti,whowaspart of the national team participating in the FIH League here, has beenfightingtoavertdemolition The Indian Express report published on Tuesday of her house in Panposh, Rourkela, local government officials Tuesday visited the family andassuredthemof help.Taking a sympathetic view of the situation, the officials have promised them a plot of land where they can build a new house. Separately, the Odisha governmentannouncedacashprize of Rs 12.5 lakh for Jyoti and other players from the state who won laurelsat the recently concluded CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AN INDIAN delegation headed by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal left for London Tuesday in a final effort to seal the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) before the dates for the 2024 general elections are announced. This comes four days after the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) reviewed the progress of the India-UK FTA talks being negotiated for the last two years. Thevisitiscrucialasdatesfor the general elections are expected to be announced in less than a month, triggering the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which will restrict the Union government’s ability to announce the deal. Efforts to close the deal this monthalsoassumessignificance because the UK is also headed to elections by the end of the year. Hectic parleys have been going on — a UK delegation visited India in January. “The signing of the India-UK FTA is still possible and the Commerce Secretary and other negotiators are headed for the UK. If substantial conclusion of the FTA is done, it can be announced and there are unlikely to be any amendments as the NDA government is expected to come back to power again,” a government official said. Earlier, The Indian Express, quoting a UK official, had reported that the deal can be signed in the next three weeks and that India needs to open up more as it is a high tariff country and the UK already is very open. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TOTAL QUOTA IN STATE NOW 72% Maharashtra clears 10% Maratha quota, Shinde says it will survive the test of law Many states have gone beyond 50% limit, won’t affect quota of others: CM Celebrations break out after the Assembly passed the quota Bill for Marathas. Deepak Joshi ALOK DESHPANDE & VALLABH OZARKAR MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 20 THE MAHARASHTRA Assembly Tuesday unanimously passed a Bill granting 10 per cent reservation in education and jobs to the Maratha community. Chief MinisterEknathShinde presentedtheMaharashtraState Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Bill 2024, drafted on the basis of a Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission report that identifiedtheMarathasassocially and educationally backward. Theprinciple of creamy layer will be applicable and reservation under this Act will be available only to those in the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes who are not in the creamy layer category. The report submitted to the government last week by commission chairman Justice (retired) Sunil Shukre said “exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations exist” andthiswarrantsgrantingreservationtoMarathacommunityin excess of 50 per cent. In the Assembly, Shinde said thereare22statesthathaveover CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Punjab farmers march today, Govt calls for peace, more talks Tractors of farmers at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border in Patiala district on Tuesday. PTI KANCHAN VASDEV & JAGPREET SINGH CHANDIGARH, FEBRUARY 20 HARYANA AND Delhi braced for the march Wednesday by Punjab farmers seeking a minimum support price (MSP) guarantee. As farmer tractor trolley numbers swelled at the PunjabHaryana border points despite the High Court pointing out that tractor trolleys are not allowed onhighways,theHaryanapolice urged their Punjab counterparts to seize heavy earthmoving ma- chinery at the inter-state border and stop women, children and journalists at least a kilometre from the border. Sarvan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and one of the farm leaders who participated in talks with Union Ministers, demanded that the Prime Minister call a special session of Parliament to bring an MSP guarantee legislation. “The Centre can also announcethewaiverof debts.They can take the figure from the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sweet touch: As children fight cancer, 21 parents share food recipes RUPSA CHAKRABORTY MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 20 THREE-YEAR-OLDShreyanGhosh hasaserioussweettooth,butthe Bangladesh-basedboy’ssugarintake is restricted due to his ongoing battle with blood cancer in Chennai. Thanks to his ingenious motherDurgaraniGhosh,19,bitter gourd currently takes care of all his sweet cravings. Durgaranisuccessfullytransformed the universally disliked gourd into a sweet treat by com- bining Bangladeshi and South Indianrecipes.AtChennai-based Apollo Hospital for her son’s treatment, she says, “Since Shreyan enjoys sweets, I coated bitter gourd with jaggery. He eats it without complaints. The recipe takes care of both his sugar cravings and nutrition.” To ease challenges faced by caregivers whose children are sufferingfromcancer,21parents like Durgarani were brought together by an NGO from across India to share as many tasty but simpleandnutritiousvegetarian recipes, including raw mango parathas and black gram laddus, thattheirimmunocompromised children enjoy eating. All recipes in the 38-page book, titled Happy Healthy Meals and curated by NGO St Jude India ChildCare Centres, are packed with vitamins and antioxidants to help boost a child’s immunity for better illness resistance and quicker recovery from infections. The book can be downloaded free of cost from the NGO’s website. Each recipeinthe book starts Durgarani Ghosh (left) and Supriya Shinde were among the contributors to the book Happy Healthy Meals with photos of a child and a parent, along with the story of how or why the dish was created. “This book showcases the remarkable creativity of parents navigatingthestressof caringfor achildwithcancer.Theserecipes are both delicious and nutritious,” says Dr Arpita Bhattacharyya, a senior consultant in the Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology at Kolkata-based Tata Medical Center. Like Durgarani, Solapur resident Supriya Shinde, 34, trans- formed yet another commonly disliked food — dalia (porridge) — into a sweet and delicious halwa for her daughter Dnyaneshwari Shinde, 8, who is undergoing treatment for cancer at Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Hospital. “The dalia, jaggery and dry fruitsmakethisrecipeextremely nutritious for mydaughter,”says Supriya. On why it’s important for cancer patients to eat homemade food during treatment, Dr Shripad Banavali, director, Academics, Tata Memorial Centre, said, “Avoiding outside food — with its unknown ingredients and potential contaminants — helps minimise the risk of infections and supports a child’s delicate immune system. Additionally, limiting sugar intake is vital since cancer cells often rely on glucose for their growth.” Childrenundergoingchemotherapyandradiotherapyaspart of their cancer treatment often suffer from loss of appetite, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow