DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 BUDGET TODAY; SURVEY PEGS FY25 GROWTH AT AT 6.5-7% Economic Survey signal: Keep food prices out of retail inflation while deciding interest rates Survey says core inflation around 3%, but rate cut by RBI delayed ‘Overconfidence of investors in markets is a serious concern’ AANCHAL MAGAZINE GEORGE MATHEW NOTING THAT THE anticipated monetary policy easing by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been delayed, the Economic Survey for 2023-24 has made a caseforchangingtheinflationtargeting framework of the central bank by excluding food prices. “Despitethecoreinflationrate being around 3 per cent, the RBI, with one eye on the withdrawal of accommodation, and another on the US Fed, has kept interest rates unchanged for quite some time, and the anticipated easing has been delayed,” it said. Headline retail inflation has remainedover5percentforeight monthsinthelastoneyear.Ithas largely been high food prices, especiallyof vegetables,pulsesand cereals,whichhaskepttheheadline retail inflation sticky; food items contribute 46 per cent to theconsumerpriceindexbasket. However, retail core inflation — the non-food and non-fuel segment—moderatedtoafour-year low of 4.3 per cent in FY24. In fact, this is onereason why RBI hasn’t been able to cut interestrates.Eventhoughactionson policy rate do not influence food prices, the worry that high food inflation may become THEECONOMICSurvey2023-24 has cautioned against the possibility of overconfidence leading to speculation and the expectation of even greater returns in thestock market. This is “serious concern” as it might not align with the real market conditions andthesignificantincreaseinretail investors in the market calls for careful consideration, the survey has warned. If equity market claims on therealeconomyareexcessively high, it is a harbinger of market instabilityratherthanmarketresilience, the survey further warned, referring to the high market capitalisation to GDP ratio of 124 per cent. The warning has come at a time when “the market capitalisation of the Indian stock market has seen a remarkable surge over the years” and the number of retail investors and fund flow to the market increased in the last one year. Indian stock market was among the best-performing markets, with India’s Nifty 50 indexascending by 26.8 per cent during FY24, as against (-)8.2 per cent during FY23. The Sensex has already crossed the 80,000 level. NEW DELHI, JULY 22 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, JULY 22 Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with MoS Pankaj Chaudhary and the Budget team in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Low rates, jobs WITH JOBS and growth taking centrestage, reviving consumer demand to kickstart private investment has become an imperative for the NDA government. Lower interest rates is a key policy instrument to get corporates to invest. SURVEY WISDOM ■ Government should loosen regulatory grip ■ Private sector salaries not commensurate with its profits ■ Obesity, screen time, unhealthy food a ‘lethal mix’ that can undermine economic potential ■ Risking economic welfare in developing world for meeting THE EDITORIAL PAGE Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran climate targets “flawed” ■ AI casts a “huge pall of uncertainty” for workers across skill segments SPELLINGIT OUT Economic Survey is forthright in its assessments. Issues raised and prescriptions given need to translate into policy PAGE 8 FULL COVERAGE PAGES 13, 14 & 16 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC issues interim stay on Kanwar Yatra order: ‘Must not be forced to name owners or staff’ May need to ‘display kind of food’, says Bench; notices sent to UP, Uttarakhand ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, JULY 22 THESUPREMECourtonMonday ordered an interim stay on the directivesissuedbypoliceinBJPruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand asking owners of eateries along the route of the Kanwar Yatra to display the names of their owners. Hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the move, the SC, in its ex-parte interim order, said the eateries, however, “may be required to display the kind of food they are serving”. Last week, police in Uttar PradeshandUttarakhandhadissued directives to eateries, including roadside carts, falling on theKanwarYatraroutetodisplay the names of their owners and staff. The Opposition, as well as someBJPallies,hadcriticisedthe move, saying it would impact communal harmony. Issuingnoticestothestatesof Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other states along the Kanwar Yatra route, a Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti said: “Until the returnable date... we deem it appropriate to pass CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Row over Centre’s RSS order: Offices, staff being politicised, alleges Opposition LALMANI VERMA NEW DELHI, JULY 22 A POLITICAL row has erupted over a Central government notification removing the RSS as a politicalorganisation,therebyallowing government officials to participate in the Sangh’s activities. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi onMonday,alleginghe“wantsto politicisegovernmentofficesand employees on ideological basis”. The BJP and the RSS welcomed the government's decision, with the Sangh calling it appropriate. TheDepartmentofPersonnel andTraining(DoPT),whichdeals EXPLAINED GOVT SERVANTS AND RSS ACTIVITIES: WHAT RULES SAY P 14 withissuesrelatedtoCentralgovernment personnel, issued the order on government officials’ participation in RSS activities on July9,statingthatinstructionsissuedonthematterin1966,1970, and 1980 “have been reviewed and it has been decided to remove the mention of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)” from the “impugned Official Memorandums.TheDoPT,which CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 At centre of case: Retired govt employee from Indore ANAND MOHAN J BHOPAL, JULY 22 A DAY after the Centre issued a notification removing the RSS as a political organisation with which government officialscannot be associated, an affidavit was filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court by the Union of India apprising it about the order. At the centre of the case is Purushottam Gupta, a retired central government officer from Indore, who in September 2023 NEET-UG leak likely on exam-eve, but no proof to show it was widespread: SC ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, JULY 22 THESUPREMECourtonMonday said the initial statements of some of the accused arrested in the NEET-UG case indicated that a “leak” may have occurred on the night of May 4, on the eve of the exam, but no evidence had been placed beforeit sofar toes- IN PARLIAMENT RAHUL LEADS OPP’S NEET CHARGE; GOVT HAS NOTING TO HIDE, SAYS MINISTER P 12 tablish that the breach was widespread, so as to warrant cancellation of the exam. knocked on the court’s doors, saying rules that barred him from joining the RSS were “an impediment for him to gratify hisdesiresat the duskof hislife”. In his petition, Gupta said that following his retirement, he “intends to join the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSanghasanactive member in the remaining years of his life”. He said he “intends to be integrally involved in the social, cultural and religious activities undertakenbytheRSS.However, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY TheSCalsodirectedthedirector of the Indian Institute of Technology,Delhi,tosetupacommitteeofthreeexperts“toformulateanopiniononthecorrectoption”toamultiplechoicequestion in the exam, for which marks were awarded for two options. TheSCsoughtareportonthecorrect answer by Tuesday noon. “All first statements seem to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Agro to auto, IAS trainee and her family at centre of 8 firms linked to relatives, friends PAGE 1 ANCHOR JAY MAZOOMDAAR, PARTHASARATHI BISWAS & SUSHANT KULKARNI NEW DELHI, PUNE, JULY 22 PROBATIONARY IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who is facing a UPSC probe for allegedly “faking her identity” to flout appearance normsforthecivilservicesexams amid allegations of misusing caste and disability quotas, and her family are at the centre of a webof eightcompanieslinkedto their relatives and others known to them, an investigation by The Indian Express has found. Records show that five of these companies are run from commercial addresses in Pune linkedtoKhedkar’sparents,Dilip and Manorama, who are facing separateprobesforallegedviolations of law. In all, seven of the eight companies were formed under the umbrella of Diligence Group — the eighth is Puja Automobiles, a firm in which Manorama is a partner along Puja Khedkar is accused of ‘faking her identity’ with her husband’s brother-inlaw (see chart). The Diligence companies includeThermoveritaEngineering, which owns the two luxury cars that have featured in controversies surrounding Puja and her father. Records show that its shareholders include Lata Bangar,whoisthesisterof Puja’s father Dilip, and her husband MahadevBangar.Thecompany’s address is a commercial plot owned by Manorama in Pune’s Talawade — this address was also used by Puja to obtain the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad