DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES UNDER FIRE FOR ‘OVERREACH’ NEW HINDENBURG REPORT Facingcriticism, Govtwithdraws newdraftof broadcastBill As Opp seeks JPC probe, BJP hits back: Fictitious report, bid to destabilise markets Concerned person, regulator have made their statements, nothing further to be added by Govt: Finance Ministry LIZ MATHEW & VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 Draft expands remit to include social media accounts, content creators SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 THE MINISTRY of Information and Broadcasting is learnt to have withdrawn the new draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024, which triggered a controversy and criticism over fears that the government was trying to exert greater control over online content. The draftBillhadraisedseveralquestions on the freedom of speech and expression, and the government’s powers to regulate it. Last month,the ministry had shared the new draft Bill with a handful of stakeholders and invited their comments. Atleastthreesources,including a senior government official and two industry executives, confirmed to The Indian Express that the ministry has now asked the stakeholders to return the draft Bill. The stakeholders re- The key criticism THE NEW draft Bill faced criticism for including independent online news creators within its ambit — seen as government overreach. The ministry is now expected to rework and fine-tune the definition of who can be called a broadcaster. ceived acall from the ministry to return their copies of the draft Bill, said sources. The ministry is expected to go back to the drawing board and work on a new proposal, said sources. Theministrydidnotrespond torequestsforacommentonthe issue. But, in a statement posted on X at night, the ministry CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Protesters marched to R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Monday. Partha Paul Doctor’s rape-murder: Protests on, CM sets deadline for police PROTESTS SPREAD ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, AUGUST 12 DOCTORS’ PROTESTS over the rape and murder of a junior doctoratastate-runmedicalcollege in Kolkata intensified on Mondayeveningaftertheprincipal of the medical college, who had resigned earlier in the day, wasimmediatelydeputedtoanother institution in the city. Earlier in the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeesaidthatif the statepolice are unable to solve the case by Sunday, it would be handed over to the CBI. A 31-year-old junior doctor RESIDENT DOCTORS in Delhi Monday joined the strike, affecting services at several hospitals. AIIMS Delhi saw a 20% reduction in registrations in its OPD. IN SEVERAL other cities, resident doctors held candlelight vigils. In Maharashtra, resident doctors announced an indefinite strike from Tuesday. REPORTS,PAGE12 wasfounddeadinaseminarhall at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Friday, sending shockwaves through the state and prompting a protestbydoctorsatseveralhospitals.Policehavearrestedacivic volunteer,SanjayRoy,inconnection with the case. The Chief Minister on Monday met the family of the doctor, and later told reporters: “We are trying our best to solve the case. I don’t know how this type of incident can happen at a hospital.Policearegivingutmost importance to the investigation. If therearemoreaccused,andall are not arrested by Sunday, we CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 After five years, retail 5 dead, 200 incidents: Fear grips inflation falls below 4% Hindus, leaders meet Yunus today — to 3.54% in July ATTACKS MAINLY IN BANGLADESH RURAL, BORDER AREAS Police in hiding, their absence gives attackers a free run AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 EXPRESS INDHAKA SHUBHAJIT ROY DHAKA, AUGUST 12 ON AUGUST 5, Gopal Rajbongshi, who runs Manda Pharmacy in Dhaka, was at home when he saw visuals of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaving the country.Heroundeduphisstaff atthe store,toldthemtoshutshopand head home. By 4.30 pm, a group of people vandalised his pharmacy: they broke open the shutters, Graffiti by students on a Dhaka wall. It reads: ‘Dhormo jar jar, Bangladesh sobar (Bangladesh is for all faiths).’ Shubhajit Roy looted the medicines, the computer system, and cash of about Rs 27,000 (in local currency). “My shop had medicines and equipment worth about Rs 21.5 lakh, they took away everything,”hetoldThe IndianExpress. He was terrified as he heard the mob was “looking for me,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rajkot fire chief caught ‘taking bribe’ weeks after assuming charge, arrested GOPAL KATESHIYA AND BRENDAN DABHI RAJKOT, AUGUST 12 NEWLY APPOINTEDRajkotchief fire officer (CFO) Anil Maru, who had assumed charge on June 29, was allegedly caught redhanded taking Rs1.8 lakh bribe at his office in the headquarters of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation(RMC)Monday,said a statement from Gujarat’s Anti- Anil Maru is the second fire officer in ACB net after TRP blaze Corruption Bureau (ACB). Maru was arrested weeks after former CFO Ilesh Kher was held in connection with the TRP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 P12 AFTER REMAINING above the 4 per cent mark for nearly five years, retail inflation slipped to a 59-month low of 3.54 per cent in July mainly due to a high base effect, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed Monday. The last time retail inflation rate was below the 4 per cent mark — a key level in the 4+/- 2 per cent band of medium-term inflation target set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — was in September 2019. Food inflation rate also slipped to a 13-month low of 5.42 per cent in July, from 9.36 per cent in June. Food inflation has hovered between 8-9 per cent during the last eight months as prices of vegetables, cereals and pulses have stayed consistently elevated. On a month-on-month basis, however, the Consumer Price Index (combined), on which retail inflation is based, gained momentum across the categories of food, clothing, housing and the overall index value. According to analysts, retail inflation is expected to breach the 4 per cent mark in August 2024, stoked by food inflation. Data released separately showed the country’s factory output for June, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), eased to a fivemonth low of 4.2 per cent, mainly due to a slower growth in manufacturing output. The lower inflation rate has CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 COUNTERING ALLEGATIONS by US-based Hindenburg Research regarding SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and Adani Group, the BJP Monday rejected the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe. At a press conference held at the BJP headquarters, senior party leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the Congress demand INTERVIEW ‘HE INDIRECTLY THREATENS OFFICERS’: SISODIA BLAMES L-G FOR DELHI’S WOES MANISH SISODIA FORMER DELHI DEPUTY CM PAGE 14 for a JPC probe, accusing the Oppositionpartyof “seekingforeign help to discredit (and) destabilise ourfinancial markets and to create chaos in the country... by spreading anarchy on a fictitious report”. “AnyTom,DickandHarrysittinginaforeigncountrywillseek to destabiliseIndiaandthey (the Congress)willsay‘JPC’.Theywill belittle India’s investors. They will belittle India’s stock market. That is their game. The JPC demand is a sham,” Prasad said. In its first official reaction to the Hindenburg allegations, the Union Ministry of Finance said it hadnothingtoaddafterthe SEBI and Buch had issued their statements. Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth told reporters: “The SEBI has given a statement. The concerned personhas given a statement. I have nothing further to add.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 From Vinod Adani to SEBI chief SEBI Probing Chairperson of Investors in Adani stocks Emerging India Focus Fund EM Resurgent Fund Declared beneficial owner Trident Trust company (Mauritius) Administered by MADHABI PURI BUCH & DHAVAL BUCH VINOD ADANI SET UP IN 2010 Assent Trade and Investment Pvt Ltd Subscribes to in Aug 2013 By May 2012 moved $100 mn Global Opportunities Fund Invested in 2015 Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund Operated by IIFL Capital Pte Ltd Sub-fund IPE Plus Fund 1 Fund Buch couple invested in part of structure under Sebi probe JAY MAZOOMDAR & SANDEEP SINGH NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, AUG 12 MAURITIUS-BASED IPE Plus Fund 1, which is at the centre of the controversy surrounding SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch, not only had investments by Vinod Adani, elder brother of industrialist Gautam Adani, but was also part of the investment structure used by two of the 13 overseas funds being probed by the market regulator for opaque fund flows into Adani Group companies since 2016-17. Information from multiple sources, including corporate records accessed by The Indian Express, the consortium of OrganizedCrimeandCorruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and additional information made available by US-based HindenburgResearch,showthat the investments by Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband in 2015, are clearly linked to the fund which had significant investments by Vinod Adani. A scrutiny of the web of funds and investments also reveals that the parent fund (Global Opportunities Fund) of the sub-fund (Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund) where Buchinvested,wasadministered by Trident Trust Company CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 To match Paris 2024, Los Angeles faces Mission Impossible EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS THE EXPRESS GOVT & POLITICS WILL LAUNCH STIR IF JPC PROBE DEMAND NOT MET: CONGRESS MIHIR VASAVDA PARIS, AUGUST 12 TOM CRUISE abseils from the roof, sprints towards the stage, picks up the Olympic flag from Simone Biles and zooms out of the Stade de France on a motorcycle.AHollywoodending that few saw coming. And that marked the beginning of a mission impossible for the organis- Actor Tom Cruise performs during the closing ceremony of the Olympics at the Stade de France late Sunday night. Reuters ers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics—togooneuponParis. There might have been no warm bienvenue from the grumpy,anxiousParisianswhen the Games came to their doorstep. But when the time cametobidaurevoir,theyfound it hard to let go of this magical fortnight. “We saw ourselves as a people of diehard moaners. Instead, we found ourselves a nation of wild supporters,” Tony Estanguet, an Olympic championandtheorganisingcommittee head, said during Sunday’s closing ceremony. BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 On World Wolf Day, Gujarat to get its second rewilding facility for wolves PAGE 1 ANCHOR GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, AUGUST 12 BUOYED BY the reasonable ‘success’of rewildingfiveIndiangrey wolves at a soft-release facility in Banaskantha district, the Gujarat forest department is all set to undertake another similar exercise — this time to check the population of wild boars and bluebullsthatprovedetrimental to the crops in Surendranagar. On Tuesday, on the occasion of World Wolf Day, another six zoo-bred wolves will be soft-released in Wild Ass Sanctuary of Surendranagar. According to officers, in the absence of any wild predators, blue bull and wild boar populations have soared in revenue areas of the state, posing threat to standing crops of farmers. Sandeep Kumar, incharge chief conservatorof forests(CCF) of Gandhinagar wildlife circle, willformallyinauguratethesoftrelease facility at Thala Vidi near Dhrangadhra in Surendranagar byreleasingsixzoo-bredwolves into enclosures of the facility. “We have decided to release six Near the soft-release centre for wolves in Thala Vidi. Express wolves, including four females and two males into the soft-release facility at Thala Vidi with an aim to rewild them and train them for a life in the wild. These six wolves have been bred at Sakkar Baug Zoo as part of conservation breeding programme for this species and are thus captive-bred,”NityanandSrivastava, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden of Gujarat, told The Indian Express. Thala Vidi is on the border of the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK), which in turn, is the world’s only natural habitat of Indian wild asses (equus hemionus khur). While Thala Vidi will be the second facility for training and preparing zoo-bred wolves for life in the wild, this is the third similar attempt by the forest department.Thefirstsimilarfacility was inaugurated at Nada Bet, an islandontheIndo-PakistaninternationalborderintheGreatRann of Kutch in Banaskantha. The soft-releasefacilitythatincludes a two-hectare enclosure and a four-hectareenclosure,shedsfor quarantining animals and a monitoring-cum-administrative block,wasconstructedatthecost of Rs 50 lakh, Kumar said. “Our project in Banaskantha has been a success. Wolves re- leased in that facility have adapted to a wild-like life and have successfully bred. They can be released in the wild after following due procedures,” Srivastavasaid,adding,“Theconservation breeding of wolves programme in Sakkar Baug has been a huge success". Initssecondattempt,theforest department had released a fewwolvesinexistingenclosures in Ambardi Safari Park in Amreli district as well as Gir Interpretation Zone or Devaliya SafariParkinGirforestnearSasan in Junagadh district also. “While wolves released in Ambardi did attempt breeding and a female delivered a pup also but the pup didn’t survive. Therefore, the attemptremainedunsuccessful.In Devaliya, the wolves have not managed to come together as a pack and no breeding attempt has been recorded. But breeding has remained successful in Nada Bet,” said Srivastava. He said the soft-release facilityinDhrangadhrawillactasanother gateway to the wild for wolves bred in captivity and will help augment population of these predators in the wild and eventually act as biocontrol agents on population of wild herbivores likebluebulls(nilgai) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad