DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES Dhami overrules Minister, Chief Secy to post ousted Corbett chief as head of Rajaji reserve JAY MAZOOMDAAR NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 IGNORING A request from his Forest Minister and Chief Secretary to reconsider the appointment, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has handed charge of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve to an officer who was removed two years ago as headof theCorbettTigerReserve after the High Court took note of illegal tree felling and construction there. Records show that Dhami conveyedhisdecisiontoappoint Chief Conservatorof Forest(CCF) Rahul, an Indian Forest Service officer who uses only his first name, as director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve on August 8 through a handwritten file noting. On August 9, the officer, who had been holding a non-field posting at the Monitoring, Evaluation, IT & Modernization divisionoftheForestdepartment, was officially given charge of the new post, the records show. Partof theShivaliktigerland- `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami scape, Corbett and Rajaji are the only two such reserves in Uttarakhand. Dhami did not respond to an email from The Indian Express seeking comment. When contacted, Rahul said he would not comment on his “own posting”. A senior official of the state ForestdepartmentsaidRahuldid notfigureintheCBIFIRinthecase ofillegaltreefellingandconstructionatCorbett.“Hefaceddepartmentalactionbutithasbeenover two years now,” the official said. Since he was removed from Corbett, Rahul held non-field postings in Dehradun. Records show the first step to get him back in charge of a tiger reserve took place on July 18 when the Forest Minister, with approval fromtheChief Minister,modified aproposedtransferlistof 12IFoS officers,includingthethendirector of the Rajaji reserve. One of theadditionsinthemodifiedlist was Rahul’s new appointment. However, the file was resubmittedwithinaweekafteranote wasroutedthroughthePrincipal Secretary, Chief Secretary and Forest Minister. It sought reconsiderationoftheappointment“in view of the ongoing disciplinary proceedings against Rahul, the CBIprobeandtheassociatedcase in the Supreme Court regarding illegal felling and construction CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WILL BRING LAW ON DEATH FOR RAPE: MAMATA Enough is enough, says President as she raises Kolkata, women safety Counter mindset that sees women as lesser human beings: Murmu 10 YEARS OF SCHEME ‘Nation bound to be outraged and so am I’ PM: Jan Dhan has led to over 53 crore bank accounts, women being empowered VIJAY JOSHI NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 ‘Cong nationalised banks in name of poor, never got them banking access’ GUJARAT REELS, TOLL 35 Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs the 44th Pragati meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 DESCRIBINGTHEPradhanMantri Jan Dhan Yojana as “more than just a policy”, one that ensures “each and every citizen, irrespective of one’s economic background” has access to formal banking,PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi criticised the Congress Wednesday, saying its government in the past nationalised banksinthenameofthepoorbut they never got access to banking. InapostonsocialmediaplatformLinkedIn,Modisaid,“Today marks a decade since the PradhanMantriJanDhanYojana waslaunched.Forme,thisinitiative was more than just a policy INSIDE Army personnel rescue stranded people from a flooded locality in Vadodara on Wednesday. Rain-related incidents claimed 25 lives in Gujarat, taking the toll to 35 in the past three days. Heavy showers continued to lash parts of the state for the fourth consecutive day. PTI PAGE5 UTTAR PRADESH DIGITAL MEDIA POLICY CABINET CLEARS RLY PROJECTS, AUCTION OF FM CHANNELS GOVT TO SET UP 12 NEW INDUSTRIAL CITIES IN 10 STATES PAGES 7 & 13 — it was an endeavour to build an India where each and every citizen, irrespective of one’s economicbackground,hasaccessto the formal banking apparatus.” He said when he assumed officein2014,thesituationwasvery different. “It was almost 65 years CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Up to Rs 8 lakh for online push of UP schemes, action if content negative MAULSHREE SETH New policy details unveiled by Adityanath government LUCKNOW, AUGUST 28 THE UTTAR Pradesh Digital Media Policy 2024, unveiled Wednesday by the state government in an official order, allows it to pay up to Rs 8 lakh per month to an empanelled influencer to publicise its schemes. The policy, which defines influencers and content creators under three categories based on subscribers and followers, makes it clear that payment will be made “solely on the basis of the views”. It also empowers the Information Director to initiate action and stop payment if “any such content, video tweet, post, reel is anti-national, anti-social, indecentorhurtsthesentiments of varioussectionsof thesociety”. The officer can also take action if “the content is based on wrong facts or presents government schemes in a wrong manner or with wrong intention”. With the Opposition calling it an attempt to control content on social media, Shishir Singh, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GEORGE MATHEW & HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, AUGUST 28 WHAT’S COMMON between a two-wheelerdealershipinDelhi, a saree depot based in Kolhapur and a 25-bed hospital in Bharuch? The companies behind each of these entities are part of a market boom that has seen small and medium enterprises making a beeline for the bourses — and retail investors lining up to lap up their shares. At a time when the mainboard IPO market is quite active, market experts view the listing of SMEs on the NSE and BSE as a EXPLAINED From Delhi bike dealer to Kolhapur After uproar, Kerala saree depot, small IPOs lift mood in police file rape case the market — and raise eyebrows against actor Siddique E Why it is raising ● red flags OF 108 SME IPOs that hit the market till date since April 1 and raised Rs 3,903 crore, 99 listed at a premium. Market regulator SEBI has raised red flags that post listing, some listed SMEs project an unrealistic picture, create a positive sentiment, and luring investors to buy their stocks in the process. spillover of investor frenzy. But with some of these primary market offerings getting oversubscribed by up to 900 times, they are also raising regulatory concerns. The key worry, according to them: These offerings are from relatively smaller entities in a small market, and hence may be open to manipulation at the IPO and trading levels. Moreover, these small IPOs are not directly regulated by SEBI but by the NSE and the BSE. Market regulator SEBI on Wednesday said that, post listing, some of the SME companies and/or their promoters have CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUGUST 28 THE KERALA police have registered a rape case against prominent Malayalam actor, Siddique, following a complaint by a young actor. The complainant had earlier this week raised the allegation through the media, following which Siddique was forced to step down as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), an outfit of actors. Thewoman,onceanaspirant in the Malayalam industry, had Siddique has resigned as AMMA general secy come forward after the release of the Hema Committee report, whichhasexposedrampantsexualabuseandflagrantgenderinjustice in the film industry. Since the report came to light, several actors have come forward to raise allegations against their industry colleagues. The state police on Wednesday said the FIR was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DECLARING THAT “enough is enough”, President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said it is time for India to wake up to the “perversion” of crimes against womenandcounterthemindset thatseeswomenas“lesspowerful, less capable, less intelligent”. “Thosewhosharesuchviews then go further and see the female as an object… We owe it to our daughters to remove the hurdles from their path of winning the freedom from fear,” Murmu said in an exclusive signed article for PTI. Referring to the August 9 rape and murder of a junior doctor in a Kolkata hospital, a “dismayed and horrified” President said what is even more depressing is that it is part of a series of crimes against women. Murmusaidnocivilisedsociety can allow daughters and sisterstobesubjectedtosuchatrocities. “The nation is bound to be outraged,andsoamI,”shewrote. The hard-hitting and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BJP supporters hit the streets of Kolkata to enforce a bandh on Wednesday. Partha Paul FULLCOVERAGE,PAGE3 If fire starts in Bengal, will spread to Assam, Bihar, Odisha: Mamata CMsof BJP-ruledstatescriticiseremark RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, AUGUST 28 CM Mamata Banerjee and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee at a rally in Kolkata. Partha Paul SC underlines: Bail is the rule, jail exception even in PMLA cases, Article 21 higher right ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 THE SUPREME Court reiterated Wednesday that the legal principle “bail is the rule and jail is theexception”willapplyevenin cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. Granting bail to Prem Prakash,namedasanaccusedby theEnforcementDirectorateina PMLA case in Jharkhand, the bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan referred to the SupremeCourt’srulingintheJuly 27,2022rulinginVijayMadanlal Choudhary and Ors. Vs Union of IndiaandOrs,upholdingtheconstitutional validity of PMLA, and the powers of the ED under it. Writingforthebench,Justice Viswanathan said in the Madanlal Choudhary judgment, theCourthad“categoricallyheld thatwhileSection45of PMLArestricts the right of the accused to WEST BENGAL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s warning — that the fire BJP wants to start in her state will not spare Assam, Bihar, Manipur or Odisha — on Wednesday drew sharp reactions from her counterparts in several states. Her comments come at a time when West Bengal is gripped by protests -- by doctors as well as the Opposition BJP — CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bench vs Bench over felling of trees in Delhi, so CJI will hear matter today EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY grant of bail, it could not be said thattheconditionsprovidedunder Section 45 impose absolute restraint on the grant of bail”. He said “these observations are significant and if read in the contextof therecentpronouncement of this Court dated 09.08.2024” granting bail to former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 A THREE-JUDGE Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud will take up the tree-felling case against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Thursday. The bench includes Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. On July 24, a bench led by Justice B R Gavai had taken exception to another bench led by Justice A S Oka hearing the matter, pointing out that it had already issued a contempt notice to the DDA on the issue. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE IDEAS PAGE WHO FAILED THE AAM AADMI BY SAURABH BHARDWAJ PAGE 11 Our polity lacks reform capability to spur 9-11% growth: Ruchir Sharma PAGE 1 ANCHOR ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU MUMBAI, AUGUST 28 INDIACANCLOCKaGDPgrowth rate of 6-7 per cent but its polity lacks the capability to carry out reforms that can spur growth in the range of 9-11 per cent, said Ruchir Sharma, global investor, fund manager and author of best-selling books. At the Express Adda, organised by The Indian Express in Mumbai on Tuesday, Sharma said, “I think that we can grow at 6 (per cent), or maybe 7 per cent withsomehelpof foreigncapital but the kind of growth rates that Chinadid…9percent,10percent and 11 per cent, I don’t think our polity…andtheconsensusinthis country is there. We still don’t give our people enough economic freedom. We still have a mindset of the fact that we need to protect… Government still playsaprettyinterventionistrole in this country,” Sharma said. HewasrespondingtoaquestiononwhencanIndiawitnessa situation where its currency is strengthening, interest rates are lower and growth is accelerating, similar to what Japan experienced from 1970 to 1995, and China in 2000. “For30to40years,Chinawas theworld’sbiggestsuccessstory. It didn’t happen naturally. The kindofreformsthatChinacarried out in those years is something ourpolity...Idon’tthinkitiscapableof carryingout,”Sharmasaid. He explained that China, whichbeganasaverycontrolled communist state in the 1970s, gave its people a lot of economic freedom over time. Until the 1980s, Chinese people couldn’t even own their property but then all the reforms began one by one. In the 1990s, China fired nearly 100 million people from its public sector enterprises and there was no welfare state. “…The kind of reforms that China and other Eastern European, East Asian countries carried out by really downsizing Ruchir Sharma, Chairman of Rockefeller International, and Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Breakout Capital, at the Express Adda event in Mumbai on Tuesday. Narendra Vaskar thepublicsector,Idon’tthinkwe (India) have the capacity or consensustodothat.Privatisationin this(India)countryisdeadonarrivalformostthingsasweknow. It only happens by malign neglect, which is that something is allowed to privatise on its own because the private sector takes on greater share… that’s what happened with the banking sector,” Sharma said. He said most countries first give their people economic freedom and when they reach a certain per capita income they start togivemorepoliticalfreedom.“In India’scase,wedidtheopposite… gave the people lots of political freedom, we never gave our peopleeconomicfreedom,whichbe- gan to change from the early 80s or90sorso.That’sthebigchange wehaveseensincethe1990s,and now we see that India has also progressed a lot as it has given its people economic freedom. But it is interesting that India still ranks relativelylowontheindexofeconomic freedom compared to so many countries,” Sharma said. When asked which industry orsectorinIndiaisinurgentneed of government intervention, he said, “The less intervention, the better. I don’t think I want more government anywhere because every time the best growth happens when the ministry has not even been formed… happened with tech, right?” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata