DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 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. Thisisthesecondmercyplea rejectedbyPresidentMurmuaftersheassumedofficeonJuly25, 2022. In April last year, the President rejected the mercy plea of Vasant Sampat Dupare, convicted of raping and killing a four-year-old in Nagpur. In Arif’s case, the Supreme `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PRIME MINISTER CONDOLES DEATHS, SAYS EMBASSY MONITORING Around 40 Indian workers among 49 killed in Kuwait building blaze 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 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 Kuwait on the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to FEEDBACK FROM INTERNAL SURVEY DIVYA A 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 Shameer Umarudheen from Kollam worked as a driver 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-yearold Vadakkottuvilayil Lukose, a supervisor with NBTC group, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 which has K G Abraham, a businessmanfromKerala,asitsmanaging director. Lukose hailed from Adichanalloor panchayat in Kollam, and had been in Kuwait CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 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 of Kuwait was 4.859 million (1.546 million citizens and 3.3 million expatriates) as of December 2023. Of this, labourers and workers comprised 61 per cent of the total population (almostthreemillion)and75per cent of the country’s total expat population. The Indian 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 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 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 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 contribution. For all other states, the split was 60:40 with the Centre contributing just 60 per cent. Further, Normal Central Assistance from the Union government for special category states comprised 90 per cent grants and 10 per cent loan; for other states, it was 30 per cent grants, and 70 per cent loans. The Central government fears that opening such a window for Andhra Pradesh and E EXPLAINED NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 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. Bihar will trigger similar demandsbyotherstates,especially those which are stressed for resources, and are backward. The sources said, support for the two states held by the allies, could be in the form of special packages, like funds for building acapitalcityAmaravatiinAndhra PradeshormoreCentralprojects for the city, the sources said. “The Planning Commission ceased to exist and the Finance Commission did away with the conceptofspecialcategorystatus. Even then the special treatment CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MAMATA BANERJEE ANNOUNCES RS 2,900-CR AID FOR OVER 1 CR FARMERS PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AANCHAL MAGAZINE compete, and not collaborate, to get absorbed, leading to lack of trust between the Agniveers. “Thisisnotadesirablequality intheArmedForcesandincreasing the retention percentage is aimed at addressing it,” an official said, adding that discussions are also underway to retain at least 50 per cent of Agniveers in the other services. The aim, the official said, is to increase bonding and willingness to carry each other along than compete. “The larger interest of the organisation is to have soldiers with good camaraderie and regimental spirit to fight together,” the official said. WEST BENGAL CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Why Bihar, Andhra are unlikely to get special status, may get package instead Currently, only 25% are retained after 4 years. File Four-yr-old Bengal child with bird flu discharged after 5-month treatment, 2nd case in India: WHO ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 PM Narendra Modi greets N Chandrababu Naidu after the latter was sworn-in as the CM of Andhra Pradesh in Vijayawada, Wednesday. (Right) Odisha’s CM-designate Mohan Charan Majhi meets former CM Naveen Patnaik, in Bhubaneswar. PTI Modi attends return of partner in Andhra, his own party’s debut in adjoining Odisha Chandrababu takes oath as Andhra CM for fourth time with team of 24 SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, JUNE 12 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 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 Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Bandi Sanjay Kumar and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Majhi takes oath as CM, BJP forms its first govt in Odisha SUJIT BISOYI BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 12 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 at least nine BJP-ruled states joined the event. Outgoing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also attended the ceremony. “It’s a historic day in Odisha! With the blessings of my sisters and brothers of Odisha, @BJP4Odisha is forming its firstevergovernmentinthestate.Iattendedtheswearing-inceremony inBhubaneswar.Congratulations CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A SECOND human case of bird flu subtype H9N2 was detected in India earlier this year — the first having been reported in 2019 — according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A 4-year-old child from West Bengal first reported symptoms inJanuarythisyear,hadtobeadmitted to intensive care unit for treatment twice, and was discharged finally in May. “The case was detected in January.And,noonehasbeeninfected since then,” said a Union Health Ministry official. Concern arises with bird flu only when it starts transmitting from human-to-human. In this case, the child was likely exposed to the virus from poultry at home and in the surrounding areas, the official said. According to the WHO report released recently, the child was first taken to a paediatrician with fever and abdominal pain. The child later sufferedseizuresandwasadmitted to the ICU of a local hospital following persisting respiratory distress, high fever and abdominal cramps, and was discharged after treatment in February end. Thechildwasagainadmitted to a government hospital on March 3 due to severe respiratory distress. A swab sample collected was sent to the National Institute of Virology, and the viruswassub-typedtobeH9N2. The patient was finally discharged from the hospital with oxygen support on May 1. In its risk assessment of the case, the WHO said it expects to see sporadic cases of bird flu in humans in India with the infection circulating in the poultry. “Most human cases of infection with H9N2 viruses are exposed through contact with infected poultry or contaminated environments… Given the continued detection of the virus in poultry populations, sporadic human cases can be expected.” Human infection with H9N2 tends to be mild, but there have been some cases where hospitalisation was required like the one in West Bengal. So far, two deaths due to H9N2 have been reported from across the world. There has been an increased focus on bird flu this year after three persons from the United States were infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1). The problem — it was in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In first year of pass-fail policy in Delhi, 20% Class 8 students held back PAGE 1 ANCHOR 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 bring- ing back the pass-fail system in Classes 5 and 8. In response to a request filed under the Right to Information Act, the Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) has said that 46,662 of the 2.34 lakh students who appeared for theirClass8examhavebeendetained. In Class 5, the first level at which students can be detained under the now amended RighttoEducationAct,262of the 28,126 students (around 0.93%) who appeared for their exams were held back. Under Section 16 of the orig- YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION inal RTE Act passed in 2009, schools were prohibited from detaining or expelling any student up to Class 8 — a policy that many blamed for poor learning levels and high failure rates in Class 9, the first level at which children could be detained for failing to clear their exams. In Delhi has scrapped its no-fail policy. File 2019, following demands from at least 18 state governments, Parliamentamendedthelaw,allowing state governments to take a call on whether schools can hold back a child in Class 5 or Class 8 if she fails in the re-examination. In 2019, the Delhi government constituted a committee to take a decision on the no-detentionpolicy.Withthecommittee ruling in favour of scrapping thepolicy,theDelhigovernment brought back the pass/fail system in its schools at two levels – in Class 5 and 8 — starting from the 2023-24 academic session. The Department of Education's RTI response shows that the failure rates are much higher in Class 9 and 11. In Class 9, around 36 per cent students had to be held back after failing to clear their exams even after a remedialorcompartmentexam. In Class 11, the failure rate – after the compartment exam – stood at24%.Lastyear,beforethecompartment exams were held, around 39% of students had failed in Class 9. Around 30% of Class 11 students failed before the compartment exams. For this year, the RTI response did not disclose failure rates before the compartment exams. The Delhi government did notrespondtoquestionssenton the failure rates since the scrapping of the no-detention policy. A member of the Delhi government committee who was notinfavourof scrappingthenodetention policy said, “The passfail system expects children, including those coming from poor and disadvantaged sections, to take responsibility for their learning at the age of 10 or CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata