DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES 13 ARRESTS IN BIHAR, 5 IN GUJARAT OVER NEET Gujarat govt announces recruitment of 7,500 teachers amid protests AsNEETreachesShah table,NETcancelled, hitting9lakhstudents EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE GANDHINAGAR, JUNE 19 THE STATE government on Wednesday announced the recruitment of 7,500 posts for secondary and higher secondary teachers in state-run and grantin-aid schools of Gujarat. Senior minister and spokesperson of thegovernmentRushikeshPatel made the announcement after the decision was taken in a meeting of the state cabinet on Wednesday. The decision has been taken amid aggressive protests in Gandhinagar for the past two days by candidates who have cleared Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) and Teacher Aptitude Test (TAT)forthepostsof government teachers. “Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has taken the decision to conducttherecruitmentof 7,500 government teachers in the state. The decision has been taken after holding consultations with officials concerned, and the education minister. The recruitment will be completed in the next three months,” Rushikesh Patel said. AsperRushikeshPatel,3,500 postsof teacherswillbefilledup for Class IX and X. Of these, 500 will be in government schools and3,000ingrant-in-aidschools. Atotalof 4,000postswillbefilled up for Class XI and XI – 750 in governmentschoolsand3,250in grant-in-aid schools. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GUJARAT `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Government suspects malpractice in test for PhD, teaching job aspirants ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 NEW NALANDA PMNarendraModiattheruinsof theancientuniversityatNalandainBihar Wednesday. InauguratingthenewNalanda Universitycampus,hesaiditshouldbethecentreof India’sidentitywith‘perennialflowof knowledge’. PTI REPORTS,PAGES6,18 Sonia-Nehru effect: PM museum won’t accept pvt papers with secrecy terms DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 WITH CONGRESS leader Sonia Gandhi reclaiming boxes of papers from Jawaharlal Nehru’s private collection in 2008 (donatedbytheGandhifamily),and alsobarringaccesstoseveralsets of these papers, the Prime Ministers Museum & Library (PMML) has now decided that it will not permit future donors of private papers of eminent per- Sonia took away boxes of Nehru papers in 2008 sonalities to impose indefinite conditions on the declassifica- tion of such material. Goingforward,thePMMLwill permit a five-year embargo before accepting any new set of papersfromdonorsfromthedateof receipt, which at the most can go up to 10 years in some cases, The Indian Express has learnt. The PMML has also decided to go ahead and open up, on its own, sets of private collections lying in its custody for several decades, pertaining to first Lok Sabha Speaker G D Mavalankar, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK PELOSI MEETS THE DALAI LAMA, TAKES SWIPE AT CHINA CAR RUNS OVER MAN IN CHENNAI, MP’S DAUGHTER HELD P10 THE MINISTRY of Education (MoE) announced late Wednesday night the cancellation of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), just a day after over 9 lakh candidates appeared for it across 317 cities, following inputs from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs that “the integrity of the examination may have been compromised”. With this decision, UGC-NET — key to finding an entry-level teaching job in Indian universities and also for admissions to PhD programmes — becomes the first centrally-conducted public examination to be scrapped after the Centre introducedanewanti-paperleaklaw. TheMoEalsoannouncedthat the investigation into the inputs of theexambeingcompromised is being handed over to the CBI, and information about the reexam will be shared separately. Passed in Parliament in February 2024, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, which provides for three to five years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 10 EXPRESS NETWORK Congress calls for nationwide protests over irregularities in NEET tomorrow BIHAR DY CM CLAIMS NEET ACCUSED IS LINKED TO TEJASHWI AIDE, RJD HITS BACK RITIKA CHOPRA lakh for those “resorting to unfairmeansandoffences”,would, in all likelihood, be applicable to this exam, said sources. Theministry'sdecisioncame as a surprise to senior officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA),whichconductsUGC-NET on behalf of the UGC and is alreadyunderfireforallegedirregularities in the conduct of the NEET undergraduate exam, the single-window test for admissionstoallMBBSprogrammesin the country. Infact,Tuesdayevening,UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar tweeted that the NTA had “successfully conducted UGC-NET June 2024”. Kumar did not respond to calls Wednesday night. According to the ministry statement, theadverseinputson UGC-NETwerereceivedfromthe National Cybercrime Threat AnalyticsUnitoftheIndianCyber CrimeCoordinationCentreunder ASTHEOppositionandtheCentre face off over NEET-UG with the Congress calling for nationwide protests on June 21, the issue reached the highest levels of the government with Union Home Minister Amit Shah calling a meetingwithEducationMinister DharmendraPradhanandHealth Minister J P Nadda on Thursday. In themeeting,attendedalso by a representative from the Prime Minister’s Office, Shah heard out the positions of stakeholders, including the National Testing Agency, over the allegations of irregularities and a paperleak,asourcetoldTheIndian Express. The meeting at Shah’s residencelastedoveranhour,during which he was briefed on all FIRs registeredrelatedtotheNEET-UG exam, particularly in Bihar. Bihar has set up a special investigation team (SIT) of its economic offences unit (EOU) to probe the paper leakallegations. PAGE 12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IIT-B fines students up to ‘Sheltered militants, acted as Finance says no to Health Rs 1.2 L for ‘derogatory’ guide’: First arrest in Reasi attack request for $10-million play on Ram and Sita ARUN SHARMA fund to meet G20 pledge PALLAVI SMART WHO-MANAGED GLOBAL DIGITAL INITIATIVE OREVA FORMS COMPENSATION TRUST, HC SEEKS ACTION TAKEN REPORT FROM GOVT HC READY TO WATCH MAHARAJ PAGE 3 Promising ‘unwavering support’, India pledged seed fund for digital health HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY THE GLOBAL Initiative on Digital Health(GIDH)waslaunchedasa “key deliverable” of India’s G20 Presidency during the Health Ministers’ meeting in Gujarat on August 19 last year in the run-up to the September 9-10 summit in New Delhi. It became part of the New Delhi declaration and India promised to make a $10million contribution to it as a seed fund. The GIDH kicked off formally on February 20, 2024 with then Health Minister MansukhMandaviyajoiningthe virtual launch event. But India is What is GDIH IT’S A WHO-managed network of agencies and its objectives include: assess and prioritise needs for sustainable digital health transformation; match digital health resources and unfunded priorities. yet to make its contribution of $10 million. Reason: the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, JUNE 19 THE INDIAN Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has levied a fine of Rs 1.2 lakh — almost equal to a semester’s fee — ona studentwhoparticipated in a play titled “Raahovan” during the institute’s Performing Arts Festival held in March this year. The play, loosely based on the Ramayana, sparked protests from a section of students who alleged it was disrespectful to Hinduism and derogatory towards Ram and Sita. At least seven other students were penalised, but the nature of disciplinary action and quantum of fine, could not be ascertained. When asked by The Indian Express about the action taken by the institute, the IIT Bombay spokesperson refused to comment. Ranked highest among Indian institutions in the global QS rankings in 2025, IIT Bombay issued the ‘penalty’ notice on June 4 to the student. Prior to that, a disciplinary committee meeting was convened on May 8 to address complaints regardingtheplay.Thestudentinquestion participated in the meeting, andbasedon“deliberations”,the committeerecommendedpunitive measures. The notice said the Rs 1.20 lakh fine was due on July 20, 2024, at the office of the Dean of Student Affairs, and that the student was barred from receiving any recognition from the institute’s gymkhana awards. Any breach of this penalty would result in further sanctions, it said. ThenoticewasputoutonsocialmediaplatformXby‘IITBfor CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JAMMU, JUNE 19 THEJAMMUandKashmirpolice have arrested a “prime militant associate” in connection with the June 9 Reasi terror attack, in which a bus carrying pilgrims wastargeted,killingninepeople. This is the first arrest in the case. “A major breakthrough has been achieved in the case... pertainingtotheterroristattackona pilgrim bus which was coming from Shiv Khori on June 9. One terror associate, namely Hakam Din, 45, of Rajouri district has been arrested by J&K Police at Reasi. This person was involved inharbouringtheterroristsmultipletimes,alongwithproviding foodandshelter.Thesaidperson also acted as a guide and helped them reach the spot of the incident. The arrested person is a prime militant associate who helpedtheterroristsinexecution of the attack. Further interroga- Security forces during an encounter with militants in Hadipora area of Baramulla on Wednesday. PTI tionandinvestigationof thecase isgoingon,”saidSeniorSuperintendentof PoliceMohitaSharma. Police have so far found that three militants were involved in the attack. According to Sharma, Din told the police that the militants visited him thrice and each time,heprovidedthemfoodand shelter at his residence. A day before the Reasi attack, militants did the planning at his home, and Din allegedly took them to the spot on June 9, the SSP said, adding that nearly 150 people have been detained as part of the police investigation CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As lions make it their second home, deer translocation to Barda sanctuary begins PAGE 1 ANCHOR GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, JUNE 19 IN A significant move that is expected to boost the long-term conservation of Asiatic lions, the Forest Department in Gujarat hasstartedtranslocatingspotted deer(cheetal)and sambarsfrom Gir Forest to the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS), which is around 100 kilometres away. The focus is on augmenting the population of prey for Asiatic lions in the wildlife sanctuary. “This initiative will boost the populationof spotteddeerinthe second home of Asiatic lions in Gujarat, which will help in the long-termconservationof Asiatic lionsandotherlargepredatorsat theBardaWildlifeSanctuary,”an official release from the Forest Department said. Forest officials Wednesday said they captured 23 spotted deer from Gir by using Boma technique this month, loaded them on special vehicles and transported them to the BWS in Porbandar. The Boma technique involves luring animals into an enclosure by chasing them through a funnel-like fencing. The translocation move comes over a year after a male Asiatic lion made its way to the wildlife sanctuary from Gir in January2023,whichmarkedthe return of Asiatic lions to Barda sanctuary after the big cats vanished from the forest 143 years ago. The Forest Department had established an Asiatic lion gene pool centre in the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary around a decade ago andthecentretodayhasafewlions in captive condition. After the first male Asiatic lion settled down in Barda last year, forest officers said, five otherlionshaveshiftedtheirterritoryfromGirinJunagadhtothe Spotted deers inside an enclosure during the process of capturing them in an identified location in Gir forest. Photo courtesy: Gujarat forest department Barda sanctuary. Gujarat is said to have the world’s second highest population of wild lions. Gir forest and other protected areas in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region are the only places where the wild populationof Asiaticlionsissurviving. Apart from Asia, Africa is the other continent which has free-ranging wild lions. Amid the conservation efforts of the Gujarat Forest Department and the support of local communities, lions have been dispersing from the Gir Forest since early 1990s and recapturingtheiroldterritories,including Barda, a hilly forest. “Bardaisaverygoodpotential habitatforlions. Asispractice,efforts are made to augment the population of herbivores in protected areas which are home to largecarnivores.Sixlionshavesettled in Barda sanctuary. But it has a population of just 190 spotted deer.So,withanobjectiveof augmentingpopulationofherbivores in Barda, we, as directed by the ChiefWildlifeWardenofGujarat, have launched the initiative of translocating some spotted deer from Gir to Barda,” Aradhana Sahu, chief conservator of forests (CCF) of Junagadh wildlife circle, told The Indian Express. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad