DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY President turns down mercy plea of Red Fort attack convict on death row SC had dismissed Arif’s review plea in 2022 DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 PRESIDENT DROUPADI Murmu has turned down the mercy petition of Mohammed Arif alias Ashfaq, a Pakistani national and amemberof theLashkar-e-Taiba who was sentenced to death in the December 2000 Red Fort attack in which three Army personnel were killed. According to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the mercy petition of Arif, received on May 15, was turned down on May 27. Thisis the second mercy plea rejectedbyPresidentMurmuaftersheassumedofficeonJuly25, 2022. In April 2023, the President rejected the mercy plea of Vasant Sampat Dupare, convicted of raping and killing a `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PRIME MINISTER CONDOLES DEATHS, SAYS EMBASSY MONITORING Around 40 Indian workers among 49 killed in Kuwait building blaze FEEDBACK FROM INTERNAL SURVEY On Armed Forces table: Let double the Agniveers stay back, train them longer Carpenters to delivery boys: Lateral absorption of graduates as technical personnel being discussed Indians are in demand, living AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA conditions poor NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 Over50injuredin fireincident;MoS settoleavefor Gulf nationto overseeassistance SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 DIVYA A AT LEAST 49 people, around 40 of them Indians, died early Wednesday morning after a fire brokeoutinanapartmentbuilding where they were staying near Kuwait City. Theincidenttookplaceinthe Mangaf area, south of Kuwait City, which is heavily populated with migrant workers. Around 200 workers were living in the six-storey building where the fire incident took place, according to local media reports. Kuwait Times quoted Major General Eid Al-Owaihan, head of the interior ministry’s General DepartmentofCriminalEvidence, as saying, “Unfortunately, we receivedareportofafireat...exactly 6:00 am (0300 GMT) in the Mangaf area.” “Asforthedeathsinthebuilding behind me, the number has exceeded35sofar,”hesaid,standing at the site. Kuwait’s interior ministry later updated the toll to 49, and Indian officials said around 40 are Indians. The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir JaiswalsaidMinisterof StateKirti VardhanSinghwillbeleavingfor CARPENTERS,MASONS,domestic workers, fabricators, drivers and even food delivery riders and courier delivery boys — to a very large extent, Kuwait depends on the Indian workforce. With a million-strong diaspora and the largest expatriate community in Kuwait, Indians constitute 21 per cent of Kuwait’stotalpopulationand30 per cent of its total workforce. According to the latest statistics released by the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) of Kuwait, the population ofKuwaitwas4.859million(1.546 millioncitizensand3.3millionexpatriates) as of December 2023. Of this, labourers and workers comprised61percentofthetotal population(almostthreemillion) and 75 per cent of the country’s totalexpatpopulation.TheIndian community remains the largest expatriate community in Kuwait and has already crossed the one million mark. Often living in harsh conditions — cramped rooms in semiconstructed buildings or in labour camps like the one in NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 India’s Ambassador to Kuwait Adarsh Swaika visits one of the injured Indian workers in a hospital in Mangaf Wednesday. (Below) The six-storey builing where the fire broke out. PTI ‘He was to get his daughter admitted to college’: Many livelihoods snuffed out SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 12 A MECHANIC who became a supervisor, an electrician who learntaccountancy—thosewho perished in the Kuwait fire had worked their way up to a better life, so they could sustain their families back home in Kerala. Among them was 48-year- Shameer Umarudheen from Kollam worked as a driver old Vadakkottuvilayil Lukose, a supervisor with NBTC group, which has K G Abraham, a businessman from Kerala, as its THE ARMED Forces are discussing possible tweaks to the Agnipathschemeformilitaryrecruitment including changes in the retention percentage of Agniveers from the current 25 per cent and increase in their training period. Thisfollowsfeedbackfromthe threeservices—asurveywasconducted recently — that flagged certain issues with the scheme, The Indian Express has learnt. These changes, however, are not yet formal recommendations to the government. These are proposals that are still being discussed by the Armed Forces. One of the changes to the scheme being discussed within theArmyisincreasingtheretentionpercentagefromthecurrent 25 per cent to 60-70 per cent for Currently, only 25% are retained after 4 years. File regular troops and nearly 75 per cent for technical and specialist soldiers,includingSpecialForces. The feedback collated by the Armyhasindicatedlackof cohesivenessandcamaraderieamong the Agniveers and a tendency to compete, and not collaborate, to get absorbed, leading to lack of trust between the Agniveers. “This is not a desirable quality in the Armed Forces and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SPORT T20 WORLD CUP: INDIA IN SUPER 8 AFTER 7-WICKET WIN OVER USA PAGE 21 In first year of pass-fail policy in Delhi schools, Why Bihar, Andhra are Modi attends return of partner in Andhra, 20 per cent of Class 8 unlikely to get special his own party’s debut in adjoining Odisha students held back CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 status, package instead NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 INTERNAL DISCUSSIONS within thegovernmentsuggestthatthe demandforspecialcategorystatus by the BJP’s two key allies, TDP and JD(U) for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, will be hard to meet since there are several states which may need a higher percentage of grants given their socio-economic and fiscal health. One of the biggest benefits for states classified as a special category earlier was that 90 per cent of funds under centrally sponsored schemes was contributedbytheCentre,withonly 10 per cent being the state con- E E X P L A I NE D AANCHAL MAGAZINE More funds, projects ● likely IF NOT special category status, the BJP-led government may be willing to allocate extra funds to states for specific projects. For example, it may extend more loans to build Andhra’s capital or even plan central projects in Amaravati. tribution. For all other states, the split was 60:40 with the Centre contributing just 60 per cent. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Majhi sworn in CM of first BJP govt in Odisha Naidu takes oath as CM fourth time with team of 24 SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, JUNE 12 SUJIT BISOYI TELUGU DESAM Party president NChandrababuNaiduwassworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth term Wednesday at a ceremony at GannavaramnearVijayawadathat was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leadersof NDAallyBJP. Naidu, who won the recent Assembly election from his hometurf Kuppamfortheeighth consecutive time, took oath at 11.27 am. This was the second ODISHA’S FIRST BJP Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi took oath of office Wednesday along with two Deputy Chief Ministers, eight Cabinet ministers and five Ministers of State with independent charge at a grand swearing-in ceremony at Janata Maidan here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, half a dozen Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 12 PM Narendra Modi greets N Chandrababu Naidu after the latter was sworn-in as Andhra Pradesh CM Wednesday. PTI time he took oath of office after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. His previous two tenures were before the bifurcation. Apart from the Prime Minister,theeventwasattended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president and Union Minister J P Nadda, along with CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 NEARLY 20 per cent of Class 8 students of Delhi government schools have been held back this yearafterfailingtocleartheirexams held last month. This is the first set of detentions since the Delhi government announced lastyearthatitwasscrappingthe no-detention policy, and bringing back the pass-fail system in Classes 5 and 8. In response to a request filed Delhi has scrapped its no-fail policy. File under the Right to Information Act, the Delhi government's DirectorateofEducation(DoE)has said that 46,662 of the 2.34 lakh CONTINUED ON PAGE 2