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 SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY IN KARGIL Falsehood being spread, Agnipath meant to keep force young, ready: PM BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Smoke in the colours of the French flag billows in Paris during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Friday. AP PAGES 21, 22 The world parties on the Seine as the Games begin, Paris puts behind a scare THE CITY EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS KEM DEAN’S BUNGALOW TO MAKE WAY FOR DOCS’ HIGH-RISE RAIN SUBSIDES BUT YELLOW ALERT TO STAY IN MUMBAI FOR WEEKEND PAGES 3 & 5 MIHIR VASAVDA PARIS, JULY 26 AFTER THE arson attacks, bomb threats, the locked down city centre and bouts of anxiety came plumes of blue, white and red smoke with a splash of water — the ‘water curtains’ — on Pont d’Austerlitz. And in that instant, shortly after 7.30 pm local time, the whole of Paris heaved a col- Security and passengers at Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean station after threats against the high-speed TGV network. Reuters lective sigh of relief. What followed was a party never seen before on the Seine. There was Lady Gaga singing in French, little children taking the Olympic flame from Zinedine Zidane on a broken down metro (and then re-emerging on the parade along the river) and cabaret along with a celebration of love, music and sport — all in constant, heavy rain. This was a rare evening when even the French didn’t mind a laugh at their own expense, playing on the stereotypes and, like the creators had promised, “not being like everyone else”. The first Olympics opening ceremony to be held outside a stadium began with a montage reminding just that — people running with the flame into an CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Chomsky’s criticism of PUNE PORSCHE CRASH CASE PM in a PhD proposal: 900-page preliminary chargesheet SAU notice to student, names 7, including minor’s parents Lankan scholar resigns EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PUNE, JULY 26 VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA NEW DELHI, JULY 26 A DOCTORAL research proposal on Kashmir’s ethnography and politics, which cites American linguist Noam Chomsky’s criticism of the NDA government, has led to a show-cause notice being issued to a PhD scholar and a disciplinary inquiry against his supervisor at the South Asian University (SAU) in New Delhi, The Indian Express has learned. Incidentally, after the disciplinary inquiry was initiated against the supervisor, Sasanka Perera, who teaches sociology and is a founding member of the Sociology department at SAU, resigned from the university. Meanwhile, the PhD scholar has tendered an apology to the university administration for hurting sentiments. Perera declined to comment on the disciplinary inquiry and his subsequent resignation. A The SAU in New Delhi. File cultural anthropologist, he holds a Master’s and PhD degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has been the Chairman of the Department of Sociology (2011-2014), the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2011-2018), and the Vice President of SAU (2016-2019). Prior to that, he was with the Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, for 20 years. Perera was also the Founding Chairman of the Colombo Institute for the Advanced Study of Society and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD HARRIS PUSHES NETANYAHU TO REACH A TRUCE DEAL IN GAZA PAGE 18 PAGE 1 ANCHOR THE PUNE city police on Friday filed a preliminary chargesheet of about 900 pages that names seven accused, including the parents of a minor boy, in the Porsche car accident case. Two IT engineers Aneesh Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta, both 24 and from Madhya Pradesh, were killed after a speeding Porsche car driven by a 17year-old boy, allegedly in an inebriated state, hit their motorcycle at Pune’s Kalyani Nagar junction around 2.30 am on May 19. The same day, an FIR was lodged against the minor car The Porsche car driven by a minor that hit a motorcycle, killing two in Pune. File driver at the Yerwada police station under sections 304, 304 (a), 337, 338, 427, 279 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 184, 119/177 of the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA). During further investigation, police arrested seven persons in the case, including parents of the minor boy, Dr Ajay Taware, Dr Shrihari Harnol, Atul Ghatkamble, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad. Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray confirmed that a chargesheet against the seven accused was filed on Friday before a special court in Pune. A senior police officer said this is the preliminary chargesheet, which comprises statements of about 50 witnesses, forensic lab reports, documentary evidence, crash impact assessment report and other investigation papers. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Banks to give home loans even to non-salaried on digital footprints HITESH VYAS, AANCHAL MAGAZINE & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, JULY 26 AFTER A NEW credit assessment model for MSMEs announced in the Budget, the Finance Ministry is now developing a similar product to provide home loans based on the digital footprints of an individual, said Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi. The move would be beneficial for individuals applying for home loans whose creditworthiness is not easy to determine. In Budget 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that public sector banks (PSBs) will build their in-house capability to assess MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) for credit, instead of relying on external assessment. Under the new model, banks will do credit assessment ofan MSME based on its digital footprints and not on their balance sheets. “Similarly, we are also developing a product for the housing sector. Banks have already worked on the model. As of now, home loans from banks are available only to those who are salaried or are a tax returnee. For those who don’t have it (required documents), banks can lend to them (under the new model) seeing their digital footprints,” Joshi told The Indian Express in an interview. Under the new model, which is likely to be developed within a quarter, banks will consider consumption or spending patterns CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Kargil War Memorial in Drass on Friday. PTI Pays tribute at war memorial in Drass, says forces more effective, self-reliant now Pak trying to keep itself relevant through terror and proxy wars: Modi NAVEED IQBAL NAVEED IQBAL SRINAGAR, JULY 26 SRINAGAR, JULY 26 IN HIS strongest defence of the Agnipath scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said its “aim is to keep the force young and to keep them ready for war at all times”, but “some people” have turned it into a “matter of politics”. The scheme — under which around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers are supposed to be recruited annually, and most will leave the service in four years — has been frequently criticised by the Opposition. In fact, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, Opposition leaders led by Congress’s Rahul Gandhi had tried to tap into what they felt was anger over the scheme. The Congress maintains the scheme is “against the interest of youth of the country”. Speaking at the Kargil War Memorial at Drass after paying tribute to the soldiers on the 25th anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas, Modi underscored that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MAHARASHTRA AHEAD OF ASSEMBLY POLLS, AJIT PAWAR WALKS A TIGHTROPE IN MAHAYUTI PAGE 8 PAKISTAN “HAS not learnt from its history despite its failures” and is trying to “keep itself relevant through terrorism and proxy wars”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday at an event to mark the 25th anniversary of India’s victory in the Kargil War. Amid rise in strikes THE PM’S remarks on Pakistan’s proxy war come in the wake of a spate of terror attacks in J&K, targeting both civilians and security forces, especially in the Jammu region. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Banned Jamaat wants to contest J&K polls, in talks BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, JULY 26 THREE-AND-A-HALF DECADES after it spearheaded militancy in the Valley, the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir has decided to return to electoral politics. Jamaat leaders said they are waiting for the Centre to lift the ban on the outfit, in place under the UAPA since February 2019. Sources said several rounds of talks have happened with the government. If it contests the Assembly elections, likely to happen by September-end, it would be the first big major policy change by the Jamaat since 1998, when it had dissociated itself from militancy. This had eventually led to a split in the organisation, with hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mamata to attend NITI meeting today, says did not hear from INDIA MANOJ C G BIG PICTURE PAGE 15 KOTA MULTIPLIED The recent NEET results underlined the dominance of the coaching industry — from Sikar in Rajasthan to Kottayam in Kerala NEW DELHI, JULY 26 ON THE eve of NITI Aayog’s Governing Council meeting, which is being boycotted by several Opposition leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Friday that there was no “coordination” among parties of the INDIA bloc on boycotting the meeting, but asserted that she would be the Opposition’s voice at the meeting. She also said that the government’s apex think tank was “powerless”, and pitched for the Planning Commission’s revival. In New Delhi to attend the meeting — the first after the Lok Sabha elections and formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata before leaving for Delhi, Friday. PTI third government — Banerjee said she learnt about the decision of some INDIA bloc CMs to boycott the meeting from the media. “There is no need to come to attend this meeting. First, they asked us to send our speeches CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘I believe bowlers are the smart people... make very good captains’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, JULY 26 JASPRIT BUMRAH is universally acknowledged as one of the smartest fast bowlers around, but if one asks the Indian pace spearhead, it’s not just with the ball that his mind is at its sharpest. Bumrah believes that bowlers can make excellent captains, and it is unfair that so few of them get leadership assignments. “I believe bowlers are the smart people, because they have to get the batsmen out. They are always fighting the odds, because the grounds are smaller, the bats are better,” Bumrah said at Express Adda held in Ahmedabad Thursday. “It’s a hard job, and I take a lot ofpride in doing that job. It takes a lot of guts, puts a lot of strain on your body. Bowlers find new ways of succeeding, fighting the odds makes you a lot braver. I think leadership requires you to be brave.” Bumrah was in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and Sandeep Dwivedi, National Sports Editor, The Indian Express. He has led India in a solitary Test match, and two T20Is, but is not short of confidence about his capability in this regard. “My favourite captain is me. I’m the greatest captain,” the 30-yearold said. Bumrah comes across as an admirer of Australia Test and one-day captain Pat Cummins, and puts his achievement forward as argument for pacers’ suitability for leadership. “We have seen Pat Cummins doing really well. He is a big example... a fast bowler who takes a lot of responsibility, who takes a lot of pride, won the World Cup, won the WTC (World Test Championship),” he said. “When I was a child, I had seen Wasim Akram, Waqar Jasprit Bumrah at Express Adda in Ahmedabad. Bhupendra Rana Younis captaining. Kapil Dev won us a World Cup, Imran Khan has won a World Cup for Pakistan. So, bowlers are the smart ones. It’s just that sometimes, physically it puts a strain on them,” he said. “Most important thing in cricket is captaincy, how you bowl and how you set fields. Bowlers make very good captains. They understand the sport and understand what they have to do.” In a decade-long career in which he has emerged as arguably India’s greatest-ever pace bowler across formats, Bumrah has played under various captains with different leadership styles and has imbibed qualities from all of them. “Rohit (Sharma) is one of the few captains who has empathy towards bowlers, despite being a batsman. He understands players’ emotions. He knows what a player is going through. Rohit is not rigid, he is open to feedback,” he said. “M S (Dhoni) gave me a lot of security quickly. He has a lot of faith in his instinct, and doesn’t believe in a lot of planning.” “Virat (Kohli) is energydriven, passionate, wears his heart on his sleeve. He pushed us in terms of fitness, changed the narrative that way,” Bumrah elaborated. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2