● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Everyone’s Government of India Dreams to be realized Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Tap water connections to 14 crore houses NIA TEAM JOINS POLICE IN INVESTIGATING INCIDENT Lunch-hour blast at Bengaluru restaurant leaves nine injured 104 132 163 72 Deeply shocked: India on killing of over 100 Gazans during aid delivery CCTV shows man left bag; IT employee among injured, in ICU with 40% burns JOHNSON T A, KIRAN PARASHAR & SANATH K PRASAD BENGALURU, MARCH 1 ASUSPECTEDimprovisedexplosive device (IED) went off at a popularrestaurantinBengaluru's WhitefieldareaFridayafternoon, injuring nine persons — mostly customers having lunch. A man caught on CCTV camera with his face partially concealed with a mask and cap is being treated as a suspect, police sources told The Indian Express. Theblastoccurredinthedining area of Rameshwaram Cafe, PAGE 1 ANCHOR a popular chain of vegetarian restaurants, when employees from nearby IT companies were having lunch. Karnataka DGP Alok Mohan, who visited the blast site, said: “It would be premature to speculate on the cause of the blast without a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory.” Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah, however,indicatedtheblastwas caused by an IED. “I have spoken to the Home Minister and senior police officers. What they told mewasthatanunknownperson carried a bag to the restaurant. He bought a token and had food. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Man wearing cap, mask a suspect; IED like one used in Mangaluru, 2022 JOHNSON T A BENGALURU, MARCH 1 A MAN wearing a cap, glasses and a mask, captured by CCTV cameras at Rameshwaram Cafe aroundanhourbeforeablastoccurredat12.56pmonFriday,has emerged as a key suspect. Police sources said efforts were being made to identify the man, who had partially concealed his face. The suspect entered the restaurant and had a snack be- fore leaving. A tiffin box bag kept inside a larger bag that was left near the hand-wash area of the restaurant contained the IED that caused the blast, the police sources said. Nine persons suffered injuries in the blast which was marked by aloudsound,fireand smoke but was restricted to the areawherethebagwasplaced.A 45-year-old woman suffered nearly 40 per cent injuries and is in ICU while others suffered CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Questions silence of INDIA bloc, says BJP pressure led to arrests MOUNTINGAscathingattackon the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi saidFridaythatpeopleacrossthe country were “sad” and “enraged”overtheatrocitiesagainst the women of Sandeshkhali by local TMC leaders. Accusing the TMC government of making “all sorts of attempts to protect” its accused leaders, Modi,addressinga public meeting at Arambagh in Hooghlydistrict,alsoquestioned the silence of the Opposition INDIA bloc over the Sandeshkhali incidents and asked people to give a befitting reply to the TMC with their votes — “Har chot ka jawabvotesedenahai”(forevery wound, reply with your vote). The Prime Minister targeted Banerjee and her government a day after the arrest of TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh, accused of sexual abuse and land-grabbinginSandeshkhali— a small island in the Sunderban delta — along with his aides. Sheikh had been on the run for55daysafterhissupportersattacked Enforcement Directorate officers who had gone to search his house in Sandeshkhali on January 5 as part of their probe into the ration distribution case. Modi said, “The entire country is watching the current situation in Bengal and the conduct CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 after November 1, 2005. Friday’s announcement will be optional for those already under the NPS. Thiswillbeaonetimeoption and employees have to opt within the next six months if they want to remain under the old NPS or the revised one. In February, the state government had issued an order awarding OPS to 26,000 government employeeswhowerechosenbefore November 2005. Currently, the government has 13.45 lakh employees, of which 8.27 lakh come under the NPS. The state government spends upto Rs 52,689 crore annually under the OPS, while its expenditure under the NPS for the same time period is Rs 7,686 crore. Its total annual expenditure on salary is Rs 1.27 lakh crore. In Maharashtra NPS was implemented from April1, 2015. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY GRASIM CONSOLIDATES GAIN How curbs on a key input for textiles helped one industry, and hurt several small players AGGAM WALIA NEW DELHI, MARCH 1 INSIDE GYANVAPI: SC TO HEAR MOSQUE PANEL PLEA PAGE 10 IN LESS than a year since India enforced a strict quality control order (QCO) in April on viscose staple fibre (VSF), a key raw materialinthetextilessupplychain, its imports dropped 65 per cent, helped Aditya Birla Groupowned Grasim Industries consolidate its market share to 95 per cent from 90 per cent, and has started hurting the operationsof small andmedium sized spinning mills since it restricted access to cheaper raw material imports. AQCOisanon-tarifftradebarrier that bars manufacturers, importers, and distributors from storing or selling a product without a licence from BIS that certi- E E X P L A I NE D INAbidtowinoverstategovernmentemployeesdemandingthe old pension scheme’s (OPS) reinstatement, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on the Budget Session’s last day on Friday, announced the revised National Pension Scheme (NPS) in the Maharashtra Assembly, where market linked risks in the NPS will be borne by the government. As per the new scheme, employees will have the option to get pension of 50 per cent based on their last drawn salary and Dearness Allowance (DA). In addition, employees can get a familypension of 60percentof their pension and DA. This will be applicable to state government employees who joined service RELATEDREPORT,PAGE7 A videograb of the explosion at Rameswaram Cafe in Bengaluru, Friday. PTI Shinde announces revised NPS for state govt employees MUMBAI, MARCH 1 PM attacks Mamata: Shielded Sandeshkhali accused... for every wound, reply with vote ARAMBAGH (WB), MARCH 1 NEW DELHI, MARCH 1 ALOK DESHPANDE Viksit Bharat SANTANU CHOWDHURY SHUBHAJIT ROY A DAY after more than 100 people were killed and over 700 injured when Israeli troops fired on Palestinians trying to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza, India said Friday “deeply shocked at the loss of lives”. Thisisasignificantstatement from New Delhi, especially at a time when Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza as part of its response to the Hamas attack onOctober7lastyear,hasdrawn criticismfrommanyintheinternational community. The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, said, “We are deeply shocked at the loss of lives in northern Gaza yesterday during delivery of humanitarian assistance.” “Suchlossof civilianlivesand thelargerhumanitariansituation in Gaza continues to be a cause for extreme concern,” it said. “We reiterate our call for safe and timely delivery of humanitarian aid and assistance,” the MEA said. It did not condemn or name Israel. cbc 22201/13/0321/2324 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Need for tariff ● re-balance BARRIERS TO imports — tariff or non-tariff — more often than not end up making domestic industry uncompetitive. In the case of viscose, it is also hurting small textile players including spinning mills who earlier had access to this raw material via cheaper imports, and could export yarn and fabric. fiesspecificqualitystandardsbeing met. Grasim Industries, the largestVSFproducer,hadabout18 months before the QCO, lobbied theMinistryofTextilescomplaining of substandard imports from Indonesia and China. Since the QCO was imposed, midstream VSF buyers like small- and medium-sized spinningmillshaverepeatedlyraised concerns with the textiles ministry that such orders have held them back from cheaper VSF, which otherwise, helped them competitively export spun yarn andfabric.ForMSMEmills,these challenges come at a time when the textiles industry is reeling from a prolonged period of economic distress due to weak global demand. They also allege that Grasim isdelayingtheproductionof certain specialty VSF variants unavailableinthedomesticmarket and engaging in unfair trade CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, Friday. PTI Why Sandeshkhali row forced usually defiant TMC into a corner RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA SANDESHKHALI, MARCH 1 UNRESTTHATspreadfromanislandtothemainland,allegations of tribals’ land being taken away, a fear of alienating the women votebank,andarelentlessopposition are among factors that forced the Trinamool Congress government’s hand and led to the arrest of its leader Sheikh Shahjahan, leaders from the party and the opposition say. The final push, though, came from the Calcutta High Court which,onWednesday,ruledthat central agencies can arrest Shahjahan.Soonafter,theBengal Police picked up the TMC strongman who had been absconding for55 dayssincehisfollowersassaulted an Enforcement Direct- orate team. This is a departure from previous cases, wherein central agenciesmadeanarrestoncethe High Court transferred the case into their hands. Take the example of: ■ Anubarata Mondal, TMC strongmanandBirbhumdistrict president.Mondalfacedcasesof intimidation and murder dating back to 2013, but was not questioned by the police. It was on August 11, 2022 that the CBI arrestedhimincases pertainingto alleged cattle smuggling and money laundering. Later, the ED tookhimintocustodyandhewas sent to Tihar jail. ■ParthaChatterjee,formereducation minister and industries minister. He was allegedly involved in the primary teachers recruitmentinschools.Whilehe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 257 ST students converted to other religions, availed reservation for admission to ITIs in Maharashtra: Report Minister tables interim report of three-member panel in Assembly PALLAVI SMART MUMBAI, MARCH 1 AT LEAST 257 Scheduled Tribe (ST) students, who had converted to other religions, availed reservation benefit available to STsandarestudyinginIndustrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across the state, according to the interim report submitted by a three-member committee set up by the Maharashtra government in December 2023. The committeewassetuptofindout the total number of ST students whoconvertedtootherreligions but availed reservation benefit to take admission in ITIs. Tabling the report in the Assembly, Maharashtra Skill Development Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha said the government will scrutinise all 257 studentsandthendecideif theiradmissions are valid. According to the report, 37 of the 257 students are Muslim, four are Buddhist, three Christian and one Sikh. The report states that 190 belong to other faith (as ticked in their admission forms) and religious faith of 22 was not known (they did not mention any detail with regards to religion). Stating that this is a serious concern, the committee in its report said, “The committee will pay visit to all these 257 cases, CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Adopted son, murder for insurance: Gujarat wants UK couple extradited GOPAL KATESHIYA MALIA (JUNAGADH), MARCH 1 AS SOON as she cut the local journalist’s call,AlpaKardani,37, switched on the TV. A UK court had sentenced Indian-origin couple, Arti Dhir, 59, and her husbandKavaljitsinhRaijada,35, to33yearseachinjailonJanuary 30, 2024, for exporting drugs to Australia. With this news, Alpa, a resident of Malia village in Gujarat’s Junagadh district, hoped she too would get justice one day. A conspiracy allegedly hatched by the couple had cut short the lives of Alpa’s husband Harsukh Kardani, 47, and her youngerbrotherGopalSejani,11, in February 2017. All efforts so far to extradite the couple to India for the murder trial have failed. In April 2009, Alpa’s father, a landless labourer, died, leaving her responsible for her five younger siblings, including a nearly 3-year-old Gopal, besides her infant son Raju, husband Harsukh and his parents. However, the 10 bighas her in-laws owned just about sustained the family. Around 2014, the family got an offer through a relative:anNRIcouplewaslookingtoadoptachild.Ithelpedthat Kavaljitsinh’s father Mahendrasinh, from nearby Keshod, was known to the relative. Alpa recalls, “During our meeting in Keshod, Arti spoke to us through an interpreter. She Arti Dhir, 59, and Kavaljitsinh Raijada, 35, were sentenced for 33 years each by a UK court in a drug smuggling case on January 30. (Source: nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk) promised to take good care of Gopal. That’s why we agreed to the adoption.” Mahendrasinh’s statement tothepolicesaysKavaljitsinhleft for London in 2008 to do his MBA and that he married Arti, then 52, a Nairobi-born British citizen with roots in Punjab, around 2012-13. Mahendrasinh’sstatement,a part of the chargesheet filed in a Junagadh court, says the couple visited Keshod thrice after the wedding. He told the police that his son had told him about Arti’s desire to adopt a child. Around 2014, Mahendrasinh, then the manager at a cooperative bank’s Maliabranch,learntaboutAlpa’s sibling situation. Harsukh too frequented his bank branch for work. Things moved fast after that. A sessions court declared Alpa and Harsukh as Gopal’s legal guardians, following which they got a private adoption deed registeredonJuly23,2015.Thedocument mentions Arti as “Aarti Loknath Dhir”, but nothing on hermaritalstatus.ThoughGopal wasnowofficiallyArti’sadopted son,hestayedwithAlpasincehis travel papers were not ready. In February 2017, before he could even set foot in the UK, Gopal was killed. What went wrong? The chargesheetsaysthe NRI couplehadalwaysplannedtoinsure their adopted child and kill him to claim the payout. Nitish Mund, 27, Arti’s paying guest in London, was also roped in to be CONTINUED ON PAGE 2