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 TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 STATES CANNOT SHIRK RESPONSIBILITY, SAYS MINISTER PRADHAN 30/07/2024 94 122 150 68 Coaching centre deaths: Blame game in House, Home sets up probe panel BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Haj Committee puts on hold its residential UPSC coaching scheme in Mumbai Woman with US passport found chained to tree in Maharashtra PALLAVI SMART MUMBAI, JULY 29 Police personnel stand guard during an anti-encroachment drive by the MCD in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar, Monday. Amit Mehra Accused by BJP MPs of inaction, AAP says L-G’s control of officers key issue The woman was found chained in a jungle in Sindhudurg district. Express MOHAMED THAVER & PAVNEET SINGH CHADHA MUMBAI, PANAJI, JULY 29 A 50-YEAR-OLD woman with an American passport was found with her leg chained to a tree in a jungle in southern Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district.Policebelieveshemayhave been there for nearly 48 hours before a shepherd heard her cries and alerted them. The police have recovered a photocopy of her US passport, and an Aadhaar card that identifies her as Lalita Kayi and carries a Tamil Nadu address. She was admitted to the Institute of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NIKHILA HENRY & ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, JULY 29 THE DEATHS of three civil services aspirants in the flooded basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in the Capital over the weekend triggered a blame game between the Treasury and Opposition benches in Parliament on Monday. The Ministry of Home Affairs, meanwhile, set up a high-level committee to probe the incident. In Rajya Sabha, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar allowed a short duration discussion after Question Hour. While the BJP MPs held the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government responsible, the AAP and the Opposition INDIA bloc targeted the Centre. Dhankhar said the culture of coaching centres has becomeno less than a “gas chamber” and stressedtheneedtoexaminethe huge expenditure incurred on newspaper advertisements by them. “I find that the youth demographicdividendof thecountry has to be nurtured. I further find that coaching has become virtually commerce,” he said. He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres, leading to commercialisation of education. “Coachings have become a flourishing industry with high returns... every time we read a newspaper, front one or two pages are by way of advertisements... Every penny spent on advertisement is coming from CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AAP in dock so INDIA treads with care, seeks to blame Centre MCD slaps staff on the wrist, brings bulldozers; a passing driver is held NIKHILA HENRY & ANONNA DUTT Police: SUV drove through water-logged road, damaged coaching centre gate NEW DELHI, JULY 29 ASTHERajyaSabhaheldadebate Monday over the drowning of three students after their coaching centre in Delhi got flooded, theINDIAblocwalkedatightrope over the role of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP),itsallyandtheruling party in the Capital. It was the Treasury Benches in the House, seeking to pin the AAP, which said that they were ready to have a debate on the issue under Rule 267, which allows for urgent discussions CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SAMAN HUSAIN & NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, JULY 29 FROM ENGINEERS who didn’t respond on time to a department beset with allegations of corruption — two days after three UPSC aspirants drowned in the basement of a coaching centre, glaring lapses by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are coming to light. Meanwhile, Monday also saw five arrests — including the driver of an SUV Tightrope from Moscow to Tokyo: UP Govt tables Bill to Delhi joins Quad on Ukraine war make anti-conversion law more stringent SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JULY 29 THREE WEEKS after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited RussianPresidentVladimirPutin in Moscow, India joined the US, Australia and Japan in the Quad grouping Monday to express its “deepest concern” over the “war raging in Ukraine”, and flagged “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity” — a clear reference to Russian invasion of Ukraine. As External Affairs Minister S JaishankarmetwithUSSecretary of State Antony J Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko KamikawaandAustralia’sPenny Wong in Tokyo, the Quad reaffirmed its “steadfast commitment to a free and open IndoPacific,vowingtoworktowardsa Punishment of up to life imprisonment, provision for any person to file complaint MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, JULY 29 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japan’s Yoko Kamikawa in Tokyo, Monday. Reuters region where no country dominatesothersandeachstateisfree from coercion in all its forms”. This was a veiled reference to China’s aggressive behaviour in the region. After the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting, Jaishankar said: “The overall messaging is that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INCREASING THE maximum punishmentfrom 10 yearsto life imprisonment; widening the ambit to allow any person to file a complaint; making bail more difficult — these are among the key changes proposed in the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024, tabled in the Assembly on Monday. Saying that the existing provisions under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, are “not sufficient”, the government sought to make its anticonversion law more stringent. “Keeping in mind the sensitivity and seriousness of the crime of illegal religious conversion, the dignity and social statusof women,andtheorganised and planned activities of foreign and anti-national elements and organisations in illegal religious conversion and demographic change, it has been felt that the amount of fine and penalty provided in the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Amid talk of ‘last dance’, how Paris cheers Nadal: From chef to ball boys to spectators to officials EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS MIHIR VASAVDA PARIS, JULY 29 INSIDE THE mega kitchen of Paris’s biggest, most famous patisserie, the chef is overcome by bittersweet emotions. The last dance of the man whosebirthdaycakeshe’smade, designed and delivered, for a better part of the last two decades could be near. And Chef Marc Riviere fears it’ll be here. “The thought of it makes me sad,” says Riviere, who was also the pastry chef for the Ambani wedding last month, adding, “very, very sad.” About 6 km away, inside the centre court of Roland-Garros, the sentiment is the same. A Frenchman has a Spanish flag drapedaroundhisshoulders.On it is a request: “Rafa, please don’t retire.” Monday’sbiggestdrawatthe ParisOlympicswasn’tthemedal events at the gymnastics arena or the pool. It was a second- Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic ahead of their second round match in Paris, Monday. PTI (Right) Chef Marc Riviere bakes birthday cakes for Nadal every year. round tennis match. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who have 46 Grand Slams between them, have played each other 60 times — no two players have faced one another more. The result, in a way, was a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 that had crossed the waterloggedroadinfrontof thecoaching centre. According to sources in the MCD, three engineers from its Karol Bagh zone allegedly failed to act on time when the road outsidetheRau’sIASStudyCircle was waterlogged on Saturday evening. On Monday, the corporation terminated the services of junior engineer Vinay Mittal, suspended assistant engineer Vishram Meena, and issued a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FOLLOWING A cut in student intake that led to protests three years ago and an admissions cycledelayedbythepandemic,the Haj Committee of India has “temporarily closed” its residential coaching institute for civil services aspirants in Mumbai. The institute for Muslim students, which was being run at Haj House, has been “empty” since December 2023, and admission tests were not conducted this year, sources associated with the programme told The Indian Express. These tests are typically held every July. When contacted, Leyaqat Ali Aafaqui, an IRS officer who currently serves as the Haj Committee’s CEO, confirmed that admissions for this year have been suspended. “The institute is temporarily closed as weareformulatinganewpolicy. I am working to restart the facility soon,” he said. Aafaqui declined to provide more details regarding the decision. Union Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, under whose ministry the Haj Committee operates, could not be reached for comment. “Normally, the notification for every academic session is released by April. The admissions exam takes place in July, and there is clarity on the selection list by late August. But this year, there has been no update. The institute is no longer mentioned on the HCOI’s website, which used to provide updates for aspirants earlier,” said a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD IRAN WARNS ISRAEL AGAINST LAUNCHING ATTACK ON LEBANON KAMALA HARRIS LOOKS TO MAINTAIN MOMENTUM PAGE 14