DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JULY 22, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 AT ALL-PARTY MEET, RAJNATH URGES OPP TO AVOID HOUSE DISRUPTIONS 22/07/2024 108 136 168 Budgetsessionbegins:BJPfaceskanwar rowheat,allies’specialstatusdemands BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY AsOppdemands debateonkey issues,Paswan joinsJDUspecial statuschorus SC to hear plea against kanwar route order today LIZ MATHEW 78 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JULY 21 Kerala teen who tested positive for Nipah dies SHAJU PHILIP & ANONNA DUTT THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NEW DELHI, JULY 21 A 14-year-old boy from Kerala’s Malappuram, who had tested positive for the Nipah virus, died at the government Medical CollegeHospitalinKozhikodeon Sunday. According to state Health Department officials, he had developed a fever 10 days ago, and on Friday, was put on ventilator support at a private hospital in Kozhikode. On Saturday, after the National Institute of Virology in Puneconfirmedthattheboyhad tested positive for the Nipah virus, he was moved to the Medical College Hospital. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E The task ● ahead WITH KEY ally JD(U) and fence-sitters YSRCP and BJD — who are crucial for government in Rajya Sabha — reiterating their special status demands, the Budget will generate huge political interest. NDA’s floor managers will have to ensure allies are happy and fence-sitters content. eateries and carts on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners and employees, ostensiblyclarifyingtheirreligion. They asked the Centre to intervene, calling the order “divisive”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kanwar order: Jayant says not well thought out, Praful calls for its withdrawal ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, JULY 21 TWO DAYS after LJP (Ram Vilas) leader and Union minister Chirag Paswan opposed the police order in Uttar Pradesh asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display names of their owners, another Union minister, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, on Sunday said the police move was unnecessary and the decision was “not taken after a lot of thought”. Kanwar yatrisdon’tcheckreligionof peoplebeforeaccepting“sewa”from them, he said. This came even as another BJP ally -- Ajit Pawar's NCP-joinedthechorusagainstthepolice order and said it should be withdrawn. Speaking to reporters after the all-party meeting, Chaudhary, who is the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education, said the decision to issue the order “was taken in a hurry and the government is now sticking to it”. Asked about the order, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, JULY 21 BIOLOGIST PAGE 10 FINANCIAL MARKET regulators Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are worried that the surging volumes in futures and options have started impinging on capital formation and thus pose a systemic risk to India’s economic growth. “Two years ago, when retail investors flooded the F&O segment, we worried about losses to them, and restricted our action to educating them, warning them. Indeed, nine out of 10 in- vestorswerelosingmoneyaswe subsequently found out. From a micro concern of retail investor losses,ithasgrowntobeamacro problem in just two years; household savings are finding their way into F&Os, it is threatening to hurt capital formation, investment and growth,” said a source close to regulatory decision making, who did not wish to be named. Futures and options are derivative contracts that derive their value from underlying assets that include stocks, commodities, currencies etc. Based on their expectation of future CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Police frisk commuters during a curfew in Dhaka, Sunday. AP WASHINGTON, JULY 21 PRESIDENT BIDEN on Sunday abruptly abandoned his campaignforasecondtermunderintense pressure from fellow Democratsandthrewhissupport to Vice President Kamala Harris to lead their party in a dramatic last-minute bid to stop former President Donald J Trump from returning to the White House. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he said in a letter posted on social media. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” Biden then posted a subsequentonlinemessageendorsing Harris. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” he wrote. “And it’s beenthebestdecisionI’vemade. TodayIwanttooffermyfullsupport and endorsement for Kamalatobethenomineeof our ‘It’stimetocometogether andbeatTrump’:Biden party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.” The president’s decision upended the race and set the stage for a raucous and unpredictable campaign unlike any in modern times,leavingHarrisjustover100 daystoconsolidatesupportfrom Democrats, establish herself as a crediblenationalleaderandprosecute the case against Trump. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORTS, WORLD PAGE 14 People wade through knee-deep water during heavy rain in Navi Mumbai’s Sanpada Sector-9 on Sunday. Amit Chakravarty REPORT,PAGE3 NEW DELHI, JULY 21 DHAKA, NEW DELHI, JULY 21 PETER BAKER RAIN BATTERS MUMBAI AGAIN CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JULHAS ALAM & SHEIKH SAALIQ Move under pressure from Democrats after debate disaster against Trump Tells BJP workers to ensure victory for BJP in Maharashtra Assembly polls HARIKISHAN SHARMA BANGLADESH'S TOP court on Sunday scaled back a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in a partial victory for student protesters after days of nationwide unrest and deadly clashes between policeanddemonstratorsthathave killed scores of people. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Biden drops out of White House race, endorses V-P Kamala Harris Sharad Pawar institutionalised corruption, says Amit Shah in Pune Govt considers `50k cr scheme to incentivise Bangladesh SC scales back govt jobs states for agri reforms quota that led to protests, killings VENKI RAMAKRISHNAN THESUPREMECourtwilltakeup for hearing on Monday a plea challenging the orders in BJPruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhandaskingeateriesand stalls on the Kanwar Yatra route todisplaynamesof theirowners. The plea filed by NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights(APCR)hasbeenlistedbefore a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti. Twomorepetitionshavealso beenfiledin theapexcourt challenging the move in the two states. While the plea by political commentator Apoorvanand and activist Aakar Patel sought the court’s intervention to ask the states to withdraw the orders, the petition filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra accused the Uttar Pradesh government of “targeting Muslim-owned businesses”. Intheirpetition,Apoorvanand and Patel said the “impugned F&Os surge hurt capital formation, growth; a major concern: SEBI, RBI SANDEEP SINGH ‘Many things that cause ageing may have evolved as mechanisms to prevent cancer’ Union Ministers and Opposition MPs at the all-party meeting in New Delhi, Sunday. Amit Mehra E X P L A I NE D AT THE all-party meeting convened by the BJP-led NDA government on the eve of the Budget session of Parliament, the BJP appeared to have got a tasteof thecoalitionpoliticswith its allies as well as erstwhile friendly parties raising various demands and a resurgent Opposition asking the government to adopt “a newapproach” in both the Houses. The crucial three-week session starting Monday is taking place against the backdrop of a changed political landscape in the wake of a fractured verdict intherecentLokSabhapollsthat did not give the BJP a majority, forcing it to lean on its NDA allies, especially N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and Nitish Kumar-led JD(U). At the all-party meeting on Sunday, the Opposition leaders were united in raising their concerns over the directive from ADG, Meerut Zone, asking the NEW DELHI, JULY 21 FIRST U.S. PRESIDENT IN 56 YRS TO OPT OUT ALMOST THREE years after the Uniongovernmentwasforcedto repealitsthreefarmlawsinNovember 2021, the Centre is considering a new scheme with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore to incentivise states to adopt agricultural reforms, The Indian Express has learned. Theproposedscheme—once finalised and approved — will allowstatestoavailcentralfunding toimplementfarmsectorreforms related to agriculture marketing, contractfarmingandlandleasing. It is learnt that the scheme was mooted by NITI Aayog officials in a powerpoint presentation to the Prime Minister's Office soon after the Lok Sabha elections results were announced, giving the NDA a third consecutive term. The presentation, titled “India’s Amrit Kaal: Mobilising the nation to sustain fast growth”, touched all sectors of the economy. The scheme is among the ideasdiscussedbyofficialsatthe Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’WelfareandNITIAayog CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mumbai diamond merchant dies by suicide in sea near Gateway SAGAR RAJPUT MUMBAI, JULY 21 INTHEsecondincidentinaweek, a65-year-olddiamondmerchant from South Mumbai allegedly died by suicide by jumping into the Arabian sea near Hotel Taj Mahal Palace in Colaba early Sunday, with police saying that he had incurred huge losses. On July 17, Ghatkopar-based businessman Bhavesh Nagin Seth, 58, jumped off the BandraWorli Sea Link, leaving behind a note mentioning financial problems as the reason. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the BJP conclave in Pune on Sunday. Pavan Khengre EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PUNE, JULY 21 SOUNDING THE poll bugle for the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah Sunday alleged that NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has “institutionalised corruption” in the country. Addressing the two-day BJP workers’ conclave in Pune Shah said, “If there is the biggest “sargana” of corruption in Indian politics, it is Sharad Pawar. There is no confusion in my mind about this. I am saying it openly that Pawar has institutionalised corruption in the country.” In his speech, Shah trained his guns on Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, and the Congress. Shah dubbed Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray “the head of the Aurangzeb fan club” who was sitting with people who sought pardon for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon. In his first visit to MaharashtraaftertheLokSabha elections in which the BJP faced setback in the state, Shah urged the workers not to be disappointed and asked them to ensure that party comes back to power in Maharashtra. The BJP which fought the polls under the Mahayuti alliance won just nine of the 28 seats it contested. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Over 2 yrs after Pune man goes missing, his family see reunion hopes — in an ad PAGE 1 ANCHOR CHANDAN HAYGUNDE & ATIKH RASHID PUNE, JULY 21 DNYANESHWAR VISHNU Tambe’s family have not seen or heardofhimsincethe63-year-old left his home in Pune’s Shirur taluka in December 2021. Two days ago, their hopes of meeting him again were rekindled after, accordingtothem,heappearedin an advertisement on the Instagram account of the ruling Shiv Sena. The ‘Mahayuti’ government in Maharashtra, which, apart from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, comprises the BJP and the NCP (Ajit Pawar), last week launched the “Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana”, which provides a subsidy of up to Rs 30,000 to senior citizensforpilgrimagetoprominentreligiousdestinationsinthe stateandoutside.WithAssembly elections due later this year, the state government and CM Shinde’spartyhavebeenaggressively publicising the scheme. It was one such advertisement that took Tambe’s son, Dnyaneshwar Tambe and (right) the ad with his photo, according to his family. Bharat, by surprise on Thursday. He says a friend sent him a screenshotof aWhatsAppstatus someone on his contacts list had posted.“Isawthescreenshotand couldn't believe it. It was my father in the ad of the Teerth Darshan Yojana,” said Bharat, who runs an eatery in Shikrapur, about25kilometresfromVarude village, where he lives. Saying his family had grown sceptical of Tambe’s well-being after he remained untraceable for three years, Bharat urged CM Shinde “to oblige me by finding my father and reuniting him withus.”“Nowweknowforsure that he is alive and is well. Our hopes of a reunion are high now,” he said. The police have already begun searching for Tambe. Bharat lodged a missing complaint on Saturday nightafter thecopsapproached him, said Inspector DeepratanGaikwadof Shikrapur police station. “The family had never lodged a missing report about Dnyaneshwar Tambe in the past," Gaikwad said. Deputy Superintendent of Police Prashant Dhole said, “When we interacted with the family members, they told us that Dnyaneshwar Tambe has left home multiple times in the past and he used to return home on his own. Last time he left home during the Covid-19 outbreakin December 2021.Butthe family members believed that he would return again. So they did not inform the police or lodged anymissingreport about him before.” “(Tambe’s) family members said that after leaving home, he often visited places of pilgrimage. They suspect he now went to the wari procession where his photograph may have been clicked. We have formed teams to search for him now,” Dhole added. According to Bharat, his father had a habit of leaving home withoutinforminghisfamilybut would always return “within a fortnight or sometimes a couple of months”. The last time, however, when Tambe did not come back for several months, Bharat started looking for him, contacting friends and relatives, but in vain. After the advertisement, traced to the Shiv Sena’s Instagram handle, Bharat contacted a local journalist and the news soon went viral, even drawing in the Opposition Congress, which criticised the state government. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, in an X post, said it was“acrimetouseaphotograph of a citizen in this manner illegally on the advertisement, without seeking their permission”. Slamming the Mahayuti government,hesaiditsschemes as well as advertisements were “hollow”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2