DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 3 Opp-ruled states say no to PM-SHRI, Centre stops school programme funds ADDRESS TO NATION Delhi, Punjab cite similar scheme in their states, Bengal objects to name NEW DELHI, LUDHIANA, KOLKATA, JULY 15 Donald Trump arrives in Milwaukee for the Republican convention on Sunday. Reuters MOREREPORTS,PAGE12 DayafterTrump shooting,Biden says‘lowerthe temperature’ THE EDUCATION Ministry has stopped funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the flagship school education programme, to Delhi, Punjab andWestBengalbecauseof their reluctance to participate in the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme, The Indian Express has learnt. Thescheme,withabudgetof over Rs 27,000 crore for the next five years — the Centre is supposed to shoulder 60% of the financial burden and the states 40% — aims to upgrade at least 14,500 government schools into “exemplar”institutionstoshowcase the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. States have to confirm their participation by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Education Ministry. Five states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal—areyettosigntheMoU. While Tamil Nadu and Kerala have indicated their willingness, Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal haverefused,ostensiblyprompt- BY UNNY NEW DELHI, JULY 15 WASHINGTON, JULY 15 OLI TAKES OATH AS NEPAL PM The President’s six-minute speech — delivered from behind the Resolute Desk, which has been used by almost every President since Rutherford B Hayes in 1880 — came just a day before Trump was set to attend his party’s nominating convention in Milwaukee. Republicans said the convention would proceed as planned, andTrumpflewtoMilwaukeeon CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli (right) with outgoing Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal after taking oath of office at the Presidential residence in Kathmandu, Monday. AP P12 THE WORLD SC: WILL CONSIDER LISTING PLEA ON SURVEY Existing structure made from parts of temples: ASI to HC on Bhojshala PAK TO BAN IMRAN’S PARTY FOR BEING ‘ANTI-STATE’ PAGE 12 NEW DELHI, JULY 15 Clockwise from top left: Viswanathan Anand, wife Aruna, Arjun Erigaisi THE ARCHEOLOGICAL Survey of India (ASI) on Monday submitted its survey report on the disputed Bhojshala temple-Kamal Maula mosque complex in Dhar district to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, stating that a scientificinvestigationrevealsthe“existing structure was made from the parts of earlier temples”. The court had in March last year ordered the ASI to conduct thesurvey,observingthatthenature and character of the structure needs to be “demystified and freed from the shackles of confusion”. On Monday, the Supreme Court said it will considerlistingforhearingapetition challengingtheMadhyaPradesh HCorderdirectingtheASItoconductthe“scientificinvestigation”. Hindus regard the ASI-protected complex as a temple dedicated to Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati), while Muslims consider it the site of the Kamal THE ELECTION Commission’s protocol for the Supreme Courtmandated verification of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls is likely to include a mock poll, permitting candidates to cast up to 1,400 votes on the machines selected for the process, The Indian Express has learnt. The election watchdog has received eight applications for verification of EVMs used in the 18th Lok Sabha elections and three for the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, whichwereheldsimultaneously. These applications were received pursuant to the Supreme Court order in April, when, for thefirsttime,theCourtgavecandidates who stood second and third the right to seek verification of the burnt memory/ microcontrollers of 5 per cent of E ● What the SCsaid THE SUPREME Court, in April, allowed candidates who were placed second and third to seek verification of the “burnt memory/ microcontroller in 5% of EVMs... per assembly constituency/ assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency”. EVMs per Assembly segment or constituency. On June 1, the EC released an administrative Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which says candidates who want to apply for verification must do so within seven days of theresultsanddepositRs40,000 per EVM. The technical SOP — which CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ORDER TO POLICE BHOPAL, JULY 15 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK DAYS AFTER ASSAULT CLAIM, ODISHA RAJ BHAVAN STAFFER TRANSFERRED INSULT TO SANATAN DHARMA: CONG AMID DELHI’S KEDARNATH TEMPLE ROW P6 & 10 ANAND MOHAN J Viswanathan Anand, wife Aruna, Arjun Erigaisi at Adda today WITH INDIA’SD Gukesh preparingtotakeonreigningchampion Ding Liren of China in the World Chess Championship title clash in Singapore in NovemberDecember, there's no one better than a five-time world champion to decode what that moment means for India. Over four decades, as Post-poll EVM check: EC looks at mock poll with up to 1,400 votes RITIKA CHOPRA MICHAEL D SHEAR US President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office. NYT CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL No place for this kind of violence, any violence... no exceptions: US President US PRESIDENT Joe Biden said in aprime-timeOvalOfficeaddress on Sunday that the nation needed to “lower the temperature in our politics”, saying that he deplored the attempted assassination of former President Donald J Trump and feared for the direction of the country’s politics. “We cannot, we must not, go down this road in America,” he said,usingthebackdropoftheoffice for only the third time in his presidency. “There is no place in Americaforthiskindof violence, for any violence, ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalised.” “The power to change America,” he said, “should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin.” ing the Centre to stop their SSA funds, it is learnt. The three states have not received the third and fourth installments of SSA funds for the last financial year's OctoberDecember and January-March quarters, nor the first installment for the current financial year's April-June quarter. This haspromptedthemtosendseveral letters and reminders to the EXPLAINED ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND, DIVYA GOYAL GOPAL & ATRI MITRA Assam: If CAA covers person, don’t refer case to foreigners’ tribunals SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, JULY 15 The structure in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. ANI Maula mosque. Under an arrangement made in 2003, HindusperformpujaatthecomplexonTuesdayswhileMuslims offer namaz on Fridays. Onthestructure'snatureand age,theASIreportstatesthatthe "retrievedarchitecturalremains, sculptural fragments, large slabs of inscriptionswithliterarytexts, Nagakarnika inscriptions on pillars, etc suggest that a large structure associated with liter- aryandeducationalactivitiesexisted at the site”. “Basedonscientificinvestigationsandarchaeologicalremains recovered during the investigations, this pre-existing structure canbedatedtotheParamaraperiod,” the report states. According to the ASI, the mihrab (a niche in the wall of a mosque) in the western colonnade "is a new construction and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE ASSAM government has instructedthestate’sborderpolice not to directly refer citizenship cases of “Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian” people, who entered India before the end of 2014, to foreigners’ tribunals. Instead, the border police have been told to encourage themtoapplyforcitizenshipunder the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The CAA, which had incited protests in several parts of the country including Assam’s BrahmaputraValleybutwaswelcomed in the state’s primarily Bengali-speaking Barak Valley, wasfinallysetinmotionwiththe notificationof rulesforitsimplementation in March this year. The CAA enables the fasttracking of the citizenship process for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christans from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India before December 31, 2014. However, Assam, which shares a long border with Bangladeshandwherethequestion of “illegal immigration” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 With Yamal, Williams and Euro win, Spain crosses a race barrier PAGE 1 ANCHOR SANDIP G NEW DELHI, JULY 15 AN ICONIC football photograph was born on Sunday, after Nico Williams opened scoring for Spain, from a low Lamine Yamal cross, in the European Championship final against EnglandinBerlin.Williamsisbeside the corner flag, flashing a broad grin. Yamal is clinging to his shoulder, his joyous face obscured by the spiked Rasta locks of Williams.Itwasadeeplysymbolic moment in Spanish football history, that the two brightest stars of their fourth Euro triumph, beating England 2-1, were immigrants of African descent, that the national team has started to reflect all of its nation. In the past, Spain had the occasional black player, such as midfielders Donato, Marcos Senna and striker Catanha, but theywereBraziliansgrantedcitizenshipaftermovingtoSpainto play professionally. Racism, though, was rampant in Spanish football. Last year, Williams was subjected to monkey chants in a game against Atletico Madrid. A furiousWilliamsretorted:“There are fools in all places. So it’s not a big deal, we have to keep workingsothatthischangesbitbybit, asintheendwearehavinganinternal and external fight against this. It is what it is.” The bitter reality is that Spain had not integrated immigrants into the game, unlike England, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Yamal’sfatherMounirYamalwas fined€600forthrowingeggsata Vox campaign tent in May 2023. In this light, the rise and fanfare of Yamal and Williams is more relevant, a symbol of Spanish cutting its racist under- Spain’s Nico Williams celebrates with Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo after scoring the first goal. Reuters tones. Theirs is a staple but poignant tale of immigration, oneof physicaltortureandmentalanguish,of humantrafficking and hope. To escape the abject poverty in Ghana, Williams’s parents fled the country. But they fell into the trap of human traffickerswhopromisedtoferry them to the UK and left them stranded in the middle of the Sahara, without food, water and shelter, robbing their valuables. Shattered, they kept walking aimlessly through the burning sands, even as his mother Maria was pregnant with their eldest son, Inaki, also a footballer who turns up for Ghana. After days, Jaipur theyranintopoliceintheSpanish enclave of Melilla, in the north of Africa. A kind police officer told them about the formalities to seek political asylum with the help of a lawyer. “He advised us toburnourpassportsandtellthe courtthatwewerefromLiberia,” his mother once told Spanish news outlet, AS. She narrated the storytotheirchildrenlater,when they pestered her about blister scars on their father’s feet. The lawyer introduced them to a Catholic priest Inaki Mardones. The priest found themstatehousinginBilbaoand took Sarah to a hospital. In gratitude, Felix and Maria named their first son after him. But raising the children was not easy. FelixmovedtoChelseaintheUK, where he worked as a dishwasher in a hotel and as a security guard on match days at Chelsea FC. Maria juggled up to three jobs a day. Football was a distraction for theWilliamsbrothersfromtheir gruelling livelihood realities. They just happened to be exceptional at that. Nico would dedicate everything to his parents. “They risked their lives so that we, my brother and I, have a better future. I will forever appreciate what my father and my CONTINUED ON PAGE 2