DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JULY 8, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES Temporary house in Germany, special horse feed: How Olympic cell paved road to Paris YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW COUNTING MEDALS Medal projections by 5 key sports federations for the Paris Olympics Boxing 3 Badminton 2-3 Athletics 2 Archery 1 Weightlifting 1 E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, JULY 7 IN LESS than three weeks, when India's athletes touch down in Paris for the Olympic Games, they will be travelling from different corners of the world — Japan to Germany, US to Turkey. For the Indian sports ecosystem, these journeys may well be thesignoffonthreeyearsofpreparations for the mega world event — on a scale never seen before, documentsaccessedbyTheIndian ExpressundertheRTIActshow. They range from living quartersinGermanyforabadminton entourage to special feed for horses in the equestrian event, according to the minutes of meetings held almost every Source: Mission Olympic Cell. Assessments of other major sports like hockey, wrestling and shooting were not provided. P V Sindhu with the members of her entourage in Germany's Saarbrucken city. Instagram Thursday afternoon over the past three years by India's Mission Olympic Cell (MOC). Consider this: ■ A team of 12 specialists helping badminton ace P V Sindhu in her quest for a third Olympic medal at a boot camp intheGermanindustrialtownof Saarbrucken. ■ A table of the same make thatwillbeusedattheOlympics imported from China for table tennis star Manika Batra to get usedtoitspace,spinandbounce. ■ Special horse feed for equestrian prospect Anush Agarwalla’s dark chestnut gelding along with equipment, including saddle pads, boots and blankets. ■ iPad and high-speed cam- eras for weightlifter Mirabai Chanu. The MOC includes former athletes, Indian and foreign coaches, high-performance directorsandofficialsfromthefederationsandgovernment.Andits meetingsaresignificantbecause even though such preparation is normal for major sporting nationsliketheUSAandChina,they ISSUED BY CONTROLLER GENERAL OF PATENTS NEW DELHI, JULY 7 THEMINISTRYof Commerceand Industry has withdrawn 259 showcausenoticesissuedbythe officeof theControllerGeneralof Patents,DesignsandTrademarks (CGPDTM)topatentofficers,saying the notices were “not in line of established procedure”. On January 3 this year, the All India Patent Officers’ Welfare Association had approached the ministry against the “unlawful show cause notices”. It sent another representation on April 1, saying the notices amounted to interference in the discharge of their statu- tory duties, intimidation and harassment by the CGPDTM. While the ministry “expresseddispleasureanddirected the CGPDTM not to initiate proposal for transfer of Group A officers until further orders”, it did not take any decision on the show cause notices. The Association then approached the Central AdministrativeTribunal(CAT).On May 27, the CAT principal bench askedtheministrytoconsiderthe Association's complaint alleging “illegitimate show cause notices and intimidation of officers”. In an office memorandum issued on June 26, the ministry withdrewtheshowcausenotices. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 showthatIndiansporthasfinally caught up with global standards — at least in scale. Overall,officialssay,`72crore was spent under the Target OlympicPodiumScheme(TOPS) during the three-year Olympic cycle from Tokyo in Covid-hit 2021 to Paris — almost double that of Rio 2016. And, according to the RTI documents, the MOC approved 403 proposals from about 100 Paris hopefuls under TOPS, while rejecting 50, between May 2023 and May 2024. The approved proposals covered a range of equipment, facilities and customised training plans: shoes to sunglasses, highendsportswatchestohigh-speed cameras, traditional equipment tocutting-edgetechnologies,and clothes, food and supplements. Officials acknowledge that expenditureisn'tproportionalto the final medal count. Yet, if the projections made by federations of five sports central to India’s hopes come true (see box), the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL Commerce scraps 259 show cause notices to patent officers: ‘Not in line with procedure’ ANANTHAKRISHNAN G `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 BY UNNY NORTH BENGAL HIT BY RAIN, LANDSLIDES PAGE 3 GUNFIGHTS IN J&K’S KULGAM Day after, toll up: 2 soldiers, 6 militants Para commando Pradeep Nain was 27 Soliders pay homage on Sunday to Pradeep Nain and Prabhakar Janjal who died in the Kulgam encounters. PTI Big milestone, indicates flow of human intelligence, says DGP BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, JULY 7 WHILE TWO soldiers, including a Para commando, were confirmed killed in separate encounters which broke out in Chinigam and Modergam villages, both in Kulgam district of South Kashmir, on Saturday evening, the militant toll rose to six on Sunday. The soldiers who were killed have been identified as Para commando Pradeep Nain, 27, fromJinddistrictof Haryana,and Prabhakar Janjal, 26, from Akola district in Maharashtra. “From the confirmation of bodies, we have reports that six terrorists have been killed,” Director General of Police (DGP) R R Swain told reporters. “This is a big milestone, a substantial progress. These successes have a lotof meaninginthesecurityen- vironment”. “This is an indication that the security architecture and involvement of people is leading totheflowof humanintelligence andthisfight(againstterror)will be taken to its logical conclusion,” he said. On Saturday, a joint team of JammuandKashmirPolice,Army and paramilitary forces had cordoned off Modergam village followingintelligenceinputsonthe presence of militants in the area. As the team zeroed in on them, themilitantshidingthereopened indiscriminate fire, prompting the forces to retaliate, security sources said. The Para commando, Pradeep Nain, was killed in the initial exchange of fire. The gunfight resumed Sunday morning. After a brief exchange of fire, the bodies of two militants were recovered from the encounter site. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Were expecting him home for child’s birth, says family of dead soldier EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE CHANDIGARH, JULY 7 PRADEEP NAIN, 27, was supposed to go back home for the birth of his first child. On Saturday, the Para commando from Haryana’s Jind district was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district. His pregnant wife Manisha was admitted to a hospital on Sunday, her condition deteriorating after receiving the news, family members said. Pradeep’s body was expected to reach the village on Monday morning. Hailing from Jind’s Jajanwal village, Pradeep joined the Army in 2015 and was inducted in the Jat regiment. He subsequently became a Para commando. Balwan Singh, Pradeep’s father, recalled how his son made multiple attempts to get into the Army. “He tried twice earlier but couldnotmakeit.Hedidnotgive upandeventuallygotselectedin the third attempt. He not only brought honour to us, his village CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PRESIDENT AT PURI President Droupadi Murmu and Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi at the Rath Yatra in Puri on Sunday. A devotee died of suffocation while pulling a chariot at the yatra. ANI REPORT,P9 HOW T20 PRIZE MONEY WILL BE SPLIT `5 cr each for players & Dravid; selectors, staff to get share too `125 CRORE: WHO WILL GET WHAT DEVENDRA PANDEY MUMBAI, JULY 7 ‘Caste census must happen... This time, Opposition said the same thing that Kanshi Ram used to say 40 years ago’ CHANDRASHEKHAR AAZAD PRESIDENT, AZAD SAMAJ PARTY (KANSHI RAM) PAGE 12 INSIDE DELHI POLICE BOOKS MAHUA MOITRA OVER SOCIAL MEDIA POST ON NCW CHIEF, PAGE 5 OFTHE`125croreannouncedby the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the T20 World Cup-winningteam,`5croreeach will go to the 15 players, includingthreewhodidn'tgettoplaya game, and head coach Rahul Dravid;`2.5croreeachtotherest of thecorecoachinggroup—battingcoachVikramRathour,fielding coach T Dilip, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey; and `1 crore each to the five members of the senior selection committee, including chairman Ajit Agarkar, The Indian Express has learnt. The rest of the backroom staff will also be rewarded. The three physiotherapists, three throwdown specialists, two masseurs `5 crore each: 15-member World Cup team and head coach Rahul Dravid `2.5 cr each: Batting coach Vikram Rathour, fielding coach T Dilip, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey `2 crore each: 3 physiotherapists, 3 throwdown specialists, 2 masseurs, 1 strength and conditioning coach `1 crore each: 5 selectors and 4 reserve players The team’s video analyst, BCCI staff members at the World Cup, including media officers, and the team’s logistics manager will also receive prize money andthestrengthandconditioning coachwillreceive`2croreeach. The four reserve players — batsmen Rinku Singh and ShubmanGill,fastbowlersAvesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed — will also be richer by Rs 1 crore. OpenerYashasviJaiswal,wicketkeeper Sanju Samson and legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal were in the squad but didn't play a game. They will get Rs 5 crore each. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 1 ANCHOR INDIANS HEAD TO NEW DESTINATIONS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 61,385 1,80,467 36,214 46,701 21,793 12,554 4,254 SOCIAL MEDIA platforms like Instagram and YouTube are brimming with posts from Indians travelling to Silk Road countries such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia, and Southeast Asia’s latest tourism hotspot, Vietnam. Before the pandemic, these destinations largely attracted ■ SecondhalfofFY23 ■ SecondhalfofFY24 ■ Increase 28,039 NEW DELHI, JULY 7 3,293 SUKALP SHARMA 86,666 International passenger traffic data for scheduled direct flights Azerbaijan Georgia Uzbekistan Vietnam Kazakhstan 751.5% 195.1% 114.3% 108.2% 69.5% Source: DGCA EXPLAINED Central Asia, Vietnam new buzzing destinations on Indian tourist map E ● Price point BESIDES SIMPLE visa rules and easy connectivity, these countries have an added allure: they cost nearly as much or only moderately higher than a holiday at a popular domestic destination. And Indian airlines are taking notice of the demand, increasing routes as well as frequency. Kolkata