DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA NEW HINDENBURG REPORT Facing heat for ‘overreach’, Govt withdraws draft broadcast Bill 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 Draft expanded remit to include social media accounts, content creators THE MINISTRY of Information and Broadcasting is learnt to have withdrawn the new draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024, which triggered a controversy and criticism over fears that the government was trying to exert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 receiveda callfromtheministry to Thekey 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. 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. The ministry did not respond to requests for a comment on the issue. But, in a statement posted onXatnight,theministryreferred to an earlier draft Bill placed in public domain in November last CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 A protest march towards RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, Monday. Partha Paul Doctor’s rape-murder: Mamata sets deadline, protests intensify 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 thestatepolice are unable to solve the case by Sunday, it would be handed over to the CBI. A 31-year-old junior doctor PROTESTS SPREAD RESIDENT DOCTORS in Delhi Monday joined the strike against the rapemurder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata. AIIMS OPD saw a 20% drop in registrations. IN SEVERAL other cities, resident doctors held candlelight vigils. In Maharashtra, resident doctors announced an indefinite strike from Tuesday. 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. TheChiefMinisteronMonday 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. Police are giving utmost importancetotheinvestigation.If there are more accused, and all are not arrested by Sunday, we will hand CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Retail inflation dips to 5 dead, 200 incidents: Fear grips 5-yr low of 3.54% in July, Hindus, leaders meet Yunus today food inflation to 5.42% 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, EXPRESS NETWORK 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,”hetoldTheIndianExpress. He was terrified as he heard the mob was “looking for me,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 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 PAGE 3 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 INSIDE OPP: NATIONWIDE PROTESTSIF JPC PROBENOT ORDERED PAGE 5 for a JPC probe, accusing the opposition party of “seeking foreign help to discredit (and) destabiliseourfinancial markets and to create chaos in the country... by spreading anarchy on a fictitious report”. “AnyTom,DickandHarrysittinginaforeigncountrywillseek todestabiliseIndiaandthey (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 hadnothingtoaddaftertheSEBI and Buch had issued their statements. Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth told reporters: “The SEBI has given a statement. The concerned person has given a statement. I have nothing further to add.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 From Vinod Adani to SEBI chief Chairperson of SEBI Probing 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 in which Buchs invested is 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, Los Angeles faces Mission Impossible ‘He indirectly threatens EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS BITTI MOHANTY, CONVICTED IN 2006 ALWAR RAPE CASE, DIES IN ODISHA MONSOON FURY: DEATH TOLL RISES TO 22 IN RAJASTHAN `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 NEW PROPOSAL LIKELY NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES SOUMYARENDRA BARIK ● 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. A Hollywood ending 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, anxious Parisians when the Games came to their doorstep. But when the time came to bid au revoir, they found 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,anOlympicchampion and the organising committee head, said during Sunday’s closing ceremony. BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY officers’: Sisodia blames L-G for Delhi’s woes JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 THE LIEUTENANT Governor’s “dictatorship” is to blame for issues plaguing the national capital, from water scarcity in summer to waterlogging in monsoon, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Monday. In an interview to The Indian Express, days after he was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW MANISH SISODIA FORMER DELHI DEPUTY CM Kept in boxes, 12 lakh Partition-era settlement claims to be digitised PAGE 1 ANCHOR DIVYA A NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 ON THE face of it, “26, Mansingh Road,JaisalmerHouse”isjustanotherLutyens'Delhiaddress.But for lakhs of refugees of Partition who fled across the border from Pakistanin1947,thiswas'Lahore Shed'.Brokenandhomeless,they queued up at the bungalow that housed the Settlement Commission, where they submitted their claims for land and compensation, hoping to start their lives afresh in a new land. For decades, the records of these claims — 12 lakh files held together bystories and struggles of countlessfamilies—remained forgotten, gathering dust at Lahore Shed. In recent years, however, these records have beentransferredbytheMinistry of Home Affairs to the Ministry of Culture, where a painstaking processof conservationanddigitisation is on. Now, all these files are indexed and accessible, ready to serve the descendants of those who once fought for their rightful compensation. While the index of claimants The erstwhile Lahore Shed and (right) the settlement records. Divya A is complete, the records are being preserved and will be made available online in the coming years, officials told The Indian Express. Until then, those who may want to access these documents can send a request to the National Archives of India (NAI). Ranjan Mishra, Assistant Director of Archives, who has been entrusted with organising the records and indexing them, said more than a lakh such Partition-era claims are still underlitigation,whilelakhsofother familiesseektheserecordstosettle land and family disputes. Everymonth,hesaid,theygetrequests from four to five descen- Jaipur dants of the original claimants, who approach the Archives through the MHA or the courts. “Therearestillsomecaseswhere claims were awarded but the compensationisstillawaited,”he said, adding that most of these requests come from district courts in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, through the MHA. Mishra said the indexing will help those looking for records. “So now, if someone asks for a record pertainingto theirfamily, we can search and revert if the records indeed exist among the 12 lakh files housed in Lahore Shed,” he said. To these people and others, including researchers and historians, the conservation efforts of the Archives will help open a door to the past, allowing them to uncover family histories, resolvelegaldisputes,andconnect with a chapter of history that shaped modern India. For almost a decade after the eventsofAugust14,1947,theroad outsideLahoreShedissaidtohave beenteemingwithrefugeefamilies, who camped with food and water as they waited to submit theirclaims.Infact,thesettlement ofsomeoftheseclaimsgavebirth to several refugee colonies in Delhi,includingthenow-thriving CONTINUED ON PAGE 2