DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES Farm,servicesslowdownpushGDP growthratetofive-quarterlowof6.7% PAGES 8 & 7 8.2 8.1 8.6 7.8 6.7 FY24-Q4 FY25-Q1 4.3 FY24-Q3 5.5 FY24-Q2 INDIA’S REAL Gross Domestic Product(GDP)growthslippedto a five-quarter low of 6.7 per cent in April-June 2024-25 due to slower growth in agriculture, government spending and services, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday showed. 12.8 FY24-Q1 JAISHANKAR: ERA OF UNINTERRUPTED DIALOGUE WITH PAKISTAN IS OVER BENGAL GOVERNOR MEETS SHAH AS BJP CALLS FOR ACTION NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30 The quarterly GDP growth rate for Q1, which fell below the 7-per-centmarkforthefirsttime in a year, came in much lower than the projection of 7.1 per centbytheReserveBankof India (RBI).Itwasmuchlowerthan8.2 per cent in the year-ago quarter, and sequentially too, it was lower than 7.8 per cent growth seen in the previous quarter (January-March 2024). Manufacturing and con- 6.2 FY23-Q4 GOVT & POLITICS AANCHAL MAGAZINE REAL GDP GROWTH RATES (%) FY23-Q3 Elections brought down govt capital spending and investment, says CEA FY23-Q2 BY UNNY APRIL-JUNE RATE BELOW RBI’S ESTIMATE OF 7.1% FY23-Q1 BUSINESS AS USUAL `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Source: NSO, MoSPI struction sectors, however, firmed up with growth rates of 7 per cent and 10.5 per cent, re- spectively, in April-June as against 5 per cent and 8.6 per cent in the year-ago period. Public spending powered down, especially during the election phase, with government final consumption expenditure contracting by 0.2 per cent in AprilJune. There was positive sign on the consumption front with Private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) -- theproxy for consumptiondemand--picking up pace to record a seven-quarter high growth of 7.4 per cent in Q1 as against 5.5 per cent in the year-ago period. Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said the FARRUKHABAD, AUGUST 30 THE TWO youths arrested on charges of abetment to suicide days after two teenage Dalit girls were found hanging from a tree in a Farrukhabad village are tailors, who run a shop on the outskirts of the village and they and the girls had exchanged numbers initially for stitching of their clothes. Even after the filing of an FIR and the arrests, mystery continues to surround the death of the girls – aged 15 and 18 – as both their families say that they are satisfied with the arrests but are still not ready to accept the postmortem report findings, which concluded that the girls died by suicide. One of the youths hails from the same village as the two girls and the other is from a village just a few kilometres away. Even as the families of the two girls have demanded a CBI probe in the case, the families of the two youths have also raised a similar demand, claiming that the two “might have made the mistake of speaking to girls, but could never force anyone to die by suicide or kill them.” “We were made to talk to the arrested youths. Girls of the village used to interact with them to get their clothes stitched but we never suspected anything untoward,” the father of one of the girls told The Indian Express on Friday. He added, “While the police are doing their work, we cannot accept the findings of the post-mortem report. Both the girls were murdered and if the case is not solved soon, we demand a CBI investigation.” The mother of the elder girl claimed that the police told them that during interrogation, thetwoyouths admitted to having “briefly ”met the girls on the (August 26) night they went missing but have claimed that they soon parted ways. “If the youths did not have any bad intention, why did they leave the girls midway, rather than ensuring that they reached home? Call detail records show that they had been talking (to the girls) for long. We want justice and will never accept this suicide theory”. Thefatherof the15-year-girl, said,“Whatwewanttohighlight is that there has to be a culprit CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GOVT & POLITICS PM FLAGS OFF PORT PROJECT, SAYS SORRY FOR SHIVAJI STATUE COLLAPSE PAGE 7 NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30 NEARLY40yearsafterthreemen were killed by a mob which torched the Pul Bangash Gurdwara in Delhi during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, now 80, is set to face trial for charges includinghatespeechandmurder. On Friday, Judge Rakesh Syal of the Rouse Avenue court orderedframingof chargesagainst Tytler under Indian Penal Code sections murder (302); abetment (109); rioting (147); promoting enmity between groups (153A) and being a part of unlawful assembly (143). After initially filing a closure report, giving a clean chit to HISTORIC DOUBLE India’s Avani Lekhara during the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) final at Paris Paralympics on Friday. She became the first Indian to claim gold medals in successive Paralympic Games. India’s Mona Agarwal won the bronze in the event. ANI PAGE19 Why should those who convert from ST get benefit of reservation, asks Minister DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30 ECHOING THE sentiment of the SanghParivarontheissue,Union Ministerof StateforHousingand Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu has questioned why members of Scheduled Tribes (ST) who convert to another religion should continue to get the benefit of reservation. In an interview to The Indian Express,Sahu,afirst-timeBJPMP from Bilaspur, said only those who belong to a particular community should enjoy the benefitsmeantforthatcommunityas envisaged in the Constitution. An RSS-associated tribals’ group, the Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM), has been campaigning for de-listing of converted tribals for years, and the activities picked up pace in Chhattisgarh ahead of the Assembly elections last year. While the JSM has actively campaignedforde-listingandan P8 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW TOKHAN SAHU UNION MINISTER OF STATE, HOUSING & URBAN AFFAIRS RSS affiliate, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, has been working among tribal groups, opposing missionaries,fordecades,theBJP is yet to make its stand clear on the issue. Asked whether he agreed with the campaigns for de-listingconvertedtribalsinhishome stateandif theyshouldgetreservation or not, Sahu said: “The Hindu religion never talks of anyone’s religious conversion. We are believers of Sanatan CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VISTARA WILL operationally mergewiththeTatagroup’sflagship airline Air India on November 12, drawing curtains on the decade-old airline brand that made a mark for its product and service quality as India’s foremostfull-servicecarrier.The wheels for the merger were set in motion in 2022 after the Tata group acquired Air India from PAGE 1 ANCHOR Airline: Bookings will stop progressively from Sept 3 the government. “Starting03September2024, customerswill,progressively,no longer be able to make bookings with Vistara for travel on or after 12 November 2024. All Vistara aircraft thereafter will be operated by Air India and bookings for the routes operated by these aircraft will be redirected to Air India’s website. Vistara will continue to take bookings and operate flights as usual till 11 November 2024,” Vistara said in a statement Friday. “As the merger process moves ahead, regular updates CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Flagging ‘political changes’ in Dhaka, Jaishankar cautions: ‘Can be disruptive’ SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30 FOR THE first time since the ouster of Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikhHasinaonAugust 5, India said Friday that the “development projects” there have beenimpactedduetothelawand order situation in the country. Also Friday, External Affairs MinisterSJaishankar,inremarks on the Bangladesh developments,underlined“wealsohave to recognise that there are political changes, and they can be disruptive”. Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said “bilateral projects CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30 Charges being pressed in mob attack on Delhi gurdwara that killed 3 men Amit Mehra Last Vistara flight November 11 as India says its development projects merger with AI clears final hurdle in Bangladesh have been impacted SUKALP SHARMA Cong’s Tytler to face murder trial, 40 years after anti-Sikh riots CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In UP’s Farrukhabad, distraught kin maintain girls didn’t die by suicide MAULSHREE SETH FRAMING OF CHARGES ORDERED Security concerns ● Dhaka SINCE SHEIKH Hasina’s ouster, Indian diplomatic staff have been dealing with security concerns — the Indian cultural centre there was vandalised and non-essential staff and families flown home. Delhi’s Pul Bangash Gurdwara on Friday; (left) Jagdish Tytler Tytler,theCBIwasdirectedtoreopen the investigation against him in 2007. On two other occasions, in 2009 and 2014, the CBI closedthecaseagainstTytlerbut the court refused to accept the report. In April 2023, the agency saidithadfreshevidenceagainst Tytler — a corroboration of his voice sample with a particular speech he made 39 years ago. SeniorAdvocateH SPhoolka, appearing for complainant Lakhwinder Kaur, wife of Badal CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Certification for my film Emergency has been stopped, censors got threats: Kangana EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, CHANDIGARH, AUGUST 30 ACTOR AND Mandi Lok Sabha MP Kangana Ranaut Friday said that the clearance for her film, Emergency, has been “stopped” becauseof “threats”tomembers of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Until late Friday, there was no response from the CBFC to the claim. Thefilmwasslatedforrelease in theatres on September 6. Posting a video on her X handle, Kangana said, “There are rumoursdoingtheroundsthatour film, Emergency, has been granted Censor certificate. This is not true. In fact, our film had been cleared but certification has been stopped because many threats were coming in. Death threats. The Censor Board members are getting threats. We are under pressure not to show the assassination of Indira Gandhi, not to show Bhindranwale, not to show the Punjab riots. I don’t know what will be left to show then… This is unbelievable for me and I am very sorry for the state of things in this country.” This comes a day after Kangana,facingheatfromwithin theBJPoverhercommentsabout the 2020-21 farmers’ protests, Kangana as Indira Gandhi In the film Emergency met party president and Union Health Minister J P Nadda at his residenceinDelhi.Sourcesinthe party said the meeting lasted nearing30minutes,andshewas toldtobecarefulaboutwhatshe says in public while promoting her upcoming film. The film’s trailer, released a few weeks ago, showed Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, leader of the separatist Khalistan movement, promising to bring votes for Indira’s political party in lieu of aseparateSikhstate.TheDelhi unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal had sent a legal notice to the CBFC,askingittostoptherelease of the film, citing concerns over CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Year after violence, why NIT Manipur has no Kuki student on campus AJOY SINHA KARPURAM NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30 OVER A year since sectarian clashes tore through Manipur, thecampusof thestate’spremier engineeringcollege,theNational Institute of Technology, is without a single Kuki-Zo student. On May 17 this year, the Supreme Court facilitated the transfer of 38 Kuki students to other NITs across the country. The court’s order states that “the displaced students who seek to avail of classes at any other NIT would be permitted to do so after taking their individual pref- erences, subject to administrative exigencies.” While the verdict meant that the Kuki students who fled during the violence would never be back on the campus of their home NIT, Registrar Kumukcham Tomba Singh confirmed that there have been no Kukis among the new admissions this year and the last. “We have had two fresh batches since last year’s violence, but no Kuki student has joined us,” said Singh, adding that the college takes in 216 students every year, of whom around 50 per cent are from outside the state. AccordingtotheNITwebsite, the institute currently has 819 students in its UG and PG courses — 421 from within the state, 397 from other states and one from abroad. Until the Supreme Court confirmed the Kuki students’ transfer, they attended classes online while the rest of their batchmates returnedtothecampuswhenitreopened in August last year. On May 3 last year, longstanding tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur spiralled into violence, which claimed at least 226 lives over the past year. While the hill districts of the states are largely GOVT & POLITICS LS POLL SETBACKS REFLECTION ON MY POPULARITY, NOT THE BJP’S: BIREN P 4 The institute currently has 421 students from within the state and 397 from other states, according to its website Kuki-dominated, the Valley, including capital Imphal where the NIT is based, has a substan- tial Meitei population. On May 3, as violence raged in Imphal, with Kuki homes as the target of violence, the Kuki students on campus fled, some to the homes of government officials nearby and the others to the camp set up by the Manipur Police’s 1st Battalion Manipur Rifles(1stMR)roughly6kilometres away. Oneof theKukistudentswho reached the Ist MR camp on May 3,said,“NearlyallusKukisfledthe campus that night… When we reachedthecamp,wehadhoped to go home or get back to college thefollowingday,buttherewere already thousands of people at the camp and our hopes were shattered.” Following the SupremeCourtorder,hehasbeen transferred to NIT Delhi. The students The Indian Express spoke to said that as the violencespread,thecampuswas shut and the exams which were disrupted, were held online. But the campus was to reopeninAugustandKukistudents knew they didn’t stand a chance of returning to Imphal. The students then approached student bodiesandleaders,especiallythe Kuki Students Organisation (KSO), seeking to be transferred to NITs outside the state. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow