DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA root out corruption Scan for more information COUNCIL OF MINISTERS MEETS LAST TIME BEFORE ELECTION 128 158 70 cbc 22201/13/0325/2324 Means Guarantee to Over ₹ 32 lakh crore transferred directly to beneficiaries’ accounts through DBT Hamara Sankalp 100 `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Viksit Bharat REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES Government of india ● Confident of return, Govt readies 100-day action plan after polls PM Modi chairs day-long meeting, will tour five states over next three days BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Justice Gangopadhyay of Calcutta HC says quitting to join politics, slams TMC BJP, Cong say he is welcome; TMC calls him political party worker SWEETY MISHRA & APURVA VISHWANATH KOLKATA, NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 HARIKISHAN SHARMA & LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 MEETING IN New Delhi for the last time before the announcement of the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, the Union Council of Ministers, confident ‘India will outgrow the rest of the world if it continues on the path of inclusion’ JOHN CHAMBERS CHAIRMAN, US-INDIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FORUM PAGE 14 BENGALURU BLAST Looking to join dots, probe agencies speak to accused in 2022 cases JOHNSON T A BENGALURU, MARCH 3 A BUNCH of cases lodged in Karnataka in 2022 involving a group of 10 youths, aged between20and26years,hascome back into focus in the backdrop of theMarch1lunch-hourbomb blast at the popular Rameshwaram Cafe in Whitefield area of Bengaluru which left nine persons injured. Investigators from multiple agencies are trying to establish the identity of a young man caught on CCTV footage at the restaurantwearingacap,glasses and a mask — who is being treated as a suspect — by talking to the 10 youths arrested in the 2022 cases. Police sources said the probe agencies have spoken that the ruling alliance would be voted to power for a third consecutive term, discussed Sunday a 100-day action plan to be implemented by the new government after the polls. The day-long meeting of the Union Council of Ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saw presenta- tions by Secretaries on a vision documentforViksitBharat2047 anda detailedactionplanfor the next five years. In these presentations, the PrimeMinister’s visionfor Viksit Bharat was outlined, sources said, underlining that these included zero poverty, skill to every youth, and 100 per cent saturation of welfare schemes. Modi was quoted as having toldtheofficerstocontinuetheir work on government projects and schemes and not treat the election period as a vacation when the political leadership will be busy with the electoral process. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TO CONNECT WITH YOUTH On Cong manifesto table: Germany-style apprenticeship, paper leak compensation MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 HAVING DECIDED to frame unemployment as one of its major talking points against the BJP government during the Lok Sabha poll campaign, the Congress is set to come up with some “out of the box” promises in its manifesto to ease joblessness and soften the blow of repeated exam paper leaks, hoping they would strike a chord with the youth. The Congress think tank is said to be looking at the much- praised apprenticeshipmodelof Germany and tailoring it for Indian conditions. The German dual education model (vocational education and training system) allows smooth education-to-work transitions with young people getting on-the-job time at a companywhilestudyingata vocational school. The model, Congress leaders believe, offers the youth an attractive way to enter the job market. The challenge is to tailor the model to suit Indian conditions since the private sector as CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE FARMERS TO TAKE BUSES, TRAINS TO DELHI ON MARCH 6: PROTEST LEADERS NAVY MAN FROM J&K MISSING PAGES 5 & 11 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in Kolkata on Sunday. PTI In a divided Bar, judge’s move raises questions on independence of judiciary APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 Under fire from TMC for ‘vulgar’ songs, BJP’s Asansol pick opts out SANTANU CHOWDHURY INDIA bloc leaders at the rally in Patna on Sunday. PTI Lalu to Tejashwi, Rahul to Akhilesh: Opposition targets PM at Patna rally INDIA bloc leaders raise BJP’s ‘divisive politics’ and Nitish Kumar’s flip-flop SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, MARCH 3 THE INDIA bloc Sunday held its first joint rally since Nitish Kumar’s exit as top leaders, includingCongress’sRahulGandhi, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav and RJD’s Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, converged in the Bihar capital to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “divisive politics” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Alltheleaderstouchedonthe key talking points upon which theyarebuildingtheirpartycampaigns. Rahul spoke about the Congress’s opposition to the Agniveerscheme,the“love-hate” binary, and representation for marginalised communities. Tejashwi, whose 11-day statewideyatraculminatedinthe rallySunday,playeduphispartin the state’s scheme for 10 lakh jobs. His father Lalu, in signature style, launched barbs at Modi. “Ye Modi kya hai? Modi koi cheezhai?NarendraModiparivarvaadparboltahaiaurkitnenetaon CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KOLKATA, MARCH 3 A DAY after the BJP announced his name as its candidate from Asansol for the Lok Sabha polls, Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh Sunday said he will not contest from the constituency in West Bengal. Although he did not give a reason, Singh's candidaturehaddrawncriticismfrom TMC leaders, who claimedsome of his songs had vulgar refer- didate against Congress’s Zakir Hussain. Barely six weeks before his retirement, former SC judge BaharulIslamresignedin 1983 to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Barpeta, Assam, as a Congress candidate. ● Yet, Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay’sannouncement of his resignation and that he E A SITTING judge of a Constitutional court resigning to join politics is not new. Former Chief Justice of India Koka Subba Rao in 1967 had resigned three months before his retirement to contest Presidential elections as the Opposition can- EXPLAINED Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the meeting of the Council of Ministers in New Delhi on Sunday. ANI IN AN UNPRECEDENTED move, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a sittingjudgeof theCalcuttaHigh Court, said Sunday that he will resign Tuesday as a judge and join politics. Thejudge,whoisduetoretire in August, has been at the centre ofcontroversyforhisfrequentremarks against some of his own colleagues,therulingTMCandits leader Abhishek Banerjee. “I will enter the field of politics. I am not telling you today which party I will start with. I wanttofirstfinishthelittlework that is still left in court. Tomorrow, I will wrap that up. I will verbally inform the Chief Justice. And the day-after morning, I will send my resignation to the President,” Justice Gangopadhyay said in an interview with Bengali TV news channel ABP Ananda. His announcement came a Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh ences to Bengali women. AstheBJPcameunderattack, Singh in a post on X said: “I express my heartfelt gratitude to the top leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD SHEHBAZ BECOMES PAK PM, VOWS TO BUILD, IMPROVE TIES WITH NEIGHBOURS ISRAEL BOYCOTTS GAZA TRUCE TALKS, SEEKS CLARITY ON HOSTAGES PAGE 16 After student death that rocked Kerala, college remains on edge SHAJU PHILIP KALPETTA (WAYANAD), MAR 3 POSTERS OF Che Guevara and images of Old Monk rum bottles adorn the walls on the first floor of themen’shostelattheCollege of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Pookode, in Kerala’s Wayanad district. Itwasintheinnercourtyardof J S Sidharthan, 20, was assaulted by SFI members this hostel that members of the Students'FederationofIndia(SFI) allegedlyhelda“trial”of20-yearold J S Sidharthan, a second-year student,duringwhichhewasalso allegedly tortured. On February 18, Sidharthan was found hanging in the hostel. The suspected suicide has rocked the state and created a political firestorm. Since the death, the campus CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mumbai civic hospital helps poor couples with free fertility treatment PAGE 1 ANCHOR RUPSA CHAKRABORTY MUMBAI, MARCH 3 AS SHE was being wheeled inside a room at a Sion hospital in Mumbai over two months ago, the woman, 34, felt anxious. Realising that the fertility procedure was her last shot at motherhood after years of failing to conceive, she went ahead with the treatment. Eleven weeks and hundreds of prayers later, the parenthood dream of the couple from Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, came true. Parenthood is set to become a reality for more underprivilegedcouplesstrugglingwithinfertility, thanks to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run hospital’s pioneering OPD. The Fertility OPD, which was launchedbythecivicbody atthe Sion hospital in October 2023, is authorised to offer free assisted reproductivetechnologies (ART) level-1 fertility treatments. Clutching her husband’s hand, the teary-eyed expectant mother told The Indian Express, “I am a domestic help and my husband is an auto-rickshaw driver. We knew we could never afford fertility treatments at private hospitals, where one round of IntrauterineInsemination(IUI or insemination of concentrated spermintotheuterus)costsover Rs 10,000 excluding doctors’ fee and medicines.” Doctors say that despite hesitancy among underprivileged couplesinapproachingthemfor fertility issues, the OPD has received a positive response. It has treated 133 infertile couples and 18 of them have conceived successfully in nearly four months since its launch. Accordingtodoctors,another Dr Mohan Joshi, dean of Sion hospital; (right) Dr Archana Bhosale (middle in front row) with her unit. Special Arrangement woman from Dharavi suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS),ahormonaldisorderthat causes enlarged ovaries, irregu- lar menstrual cycles and fertility issues. Talking about her fertility struggles, the woman said, “Our luck changed when we discov- ered that the Sion hospital offered IUI free of cost.” The cost of IUI at private hospitals varies between Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000, depending on the woman’s age, menstrual cycle, medication and location. Given thatthisprocedurehasasuccess rate of 15 to 20 per cent, multiplecyclesmayberequired,making the overall treatment cost run into a few lakhs. Like the Dharavi couples, a couple from Sion Koliwada who are daily-wage labourers also struggled with infertility for nearly a decade due to the husband’s low sperm count. This woman, 32, who also under- went IUI at the Fertility OPD, is now 10 weeks pregnant. Expressing her joy, she remarked, “We were waiting for this day for years. The clinic made it possible for us.” OnwhytheFertilityOPDwas opened,DrMohanJoshi,thedean of the Sion hospital, said, “We haveobservedthatwomenfrom rural Maharashtra and slums havebeenstrugglingtoconceive. Following numerous queries on fertility treatments, we decided to initiate the OPD to provide treatment, which exceeds Rs1 lakh,forfreetoeconomicallydisadvantagedcouplesinMumbai.” The OPD proposal was initi- ated by Dr Sudhakar Shinde, the AdditionalCommissionerofBMC. Doctorssayfertilityissuesare not confined to just rich couples. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has indicated a worrisome decline in Maharashtra’sTotalFertilityRate (TFR), which measures average children per woman — the TFR has dropped from 1.9 in NFHS-4 to 1.7 in NFHS-5, below the national average of TFR of 2. Phase two of NFHS-5 by the Union Health Ministry shows a nationwide TFR decrease from 2.2 to 2.0, with a TFR of 1.6 in urban areas and 2.1 in rural areas. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2