DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 R G KAR RAPE-MURDER CASE AN EXPRESS SERIES PART-1 SC red-flags FIR delay, missing post-mortem paperwork ‘Faulty’ selection, lack of skills: Showpiece Israeli job scheme for Indians begins to unravel Israeli contractors despair, redeploy staff: ‘Some didn’t know how to hold a hammer’; officials here admit ‘scope for improvement’ in screening process RITU SARIN Bench tells state govt to submit form, asks doctors to return to work today NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 India draws Gaza line: Pained by deaths, our top concern SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 EMPATHISING WITH the people inGaza,ExternalAffairsMinister S Jaishankar, who is on visit to Saudi Arabia, on Monday told ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that the current situation in Gaza is the “foremost concern” and that “any response must take into account the principles of humanitarian law” — an oblique reference to Israeli military offensive targeting civilians in the Hamascontrolled Palestinian territory. The statement is significant since India had initially backed Israel for being the victim of terrorist acts by Hamas, and later nuanced its position by talking about the plight of the Palestinians. The latest statement is a clearer articulation of Delhi’s concerns about the civilians in Gaza. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ISRAELI STRIKES IN SYRIA KILL 18 PAGE 10 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 Igal Slovik, CEO of Israel Builders Association, with Indian workers in Israel TOMORROW DISTRESS CALLS FROM BUILDERS & THE WAY OUT cleared a “skill test” in Lucknow but worked as a labourer for eight weeks near Tel Aviv. “Language was a problem...I was sweeping and mopping, carry- ing cement bags and iron rods. I thought: have I come to do labour-grade jobs and die?” he said. He returned last month. A SHOWPIECE bilateral jobs scheme, under which Indians would be taken to Israel to work in the construction sector, after over100,000Palestinianworkers were banned in the wake of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MANOJ CG & JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 AFTER DAYS of hard bargaining and a lot of back and forth, talks between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for a seatsharingagreement for the Haryana Assemblyelections DECISION broke down on 2024 HARYANA Monday, with the Arvind Kejriwalled party releasing its first list of 20 candidates. Sources in the AAP claimed thatan“influentialleader”inthe Congress “sabotaged” the E Differing ● views THE HARYANA Congress, especially the dominant faction of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was against an alliance with the AAP from the beginning. Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, was keen to see the party strike a deal with it to send a message of unity in the INDIA bloc. The high command also wanted to rope in the SP, giving it one or two seats. BY UNNY PAGE 1 ANCHOR Prime Minister Narendra Modi with visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in New Delhi on Monday. Talks between the two leaders focused on boosting strategic ties. Praveen Khanna REPORT,PAGE7 prospects of an alliance despite the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, showing a keen interest in a tieup.Congressleaderssaidthedifferences were more over the choice of seats. Failure to arrive at a seatsharing agreement may impact the possibility of the two major INDIA bloc allies coming together for the Delhi Assembly polls next year, according to leaders in the two parties. Both AAP and Congress were preparing to announce their second andthirdlistssoon,insiderssaid. As the AAP released its first list, the Congress maintained a strategic silence. All India CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Cuts rate for some cancer drugs from 12% to 5% SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 AANCHAL MAGAZINE THE GOODS and Services Tax (GST) Council, in its 54th meeting held Monday, broadly converged on the need to reduce GST on health and life insurance premiums from 18 per cent, but referred the proposal to the Group of Ministers (GoM) for further discussion. The GoM on rate rationalisation, along with ministers from some states that will be part of the panel for this limited purpose, will discuss the issue and submit a report by October, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at a press conference after the GST Council meeting. Amit Mehra Sitharaman said. The Council also decided to cut the GST rate for some cancer drugs — Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab — from 12 per cent to5percent.TheGSTrateforextruded or expanded products, savoury or salted, such as bread, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 LESS THAN a fortnight before PrimeMinisterNarendraModiis expected to travel to the US, Washington on Monday announced a “new partnership” with India to explore semiconductor supply chain opportunities, which will include a “comprehensiveassessment”ofIndia’s existing semiconductor ecosystem, regulatory framework, workforce and infrastructure needs. That will serve as the “basisforpotentialfuturejointinitiatives”tostrengthenandgrowthis critical sector, the US said. This comes days after India signed a semiconductor ecosystem partnership with Singapore during Modi’s visit last week. Modi is expected to travel to the US between September 21 FLAGGING THE absence of a key document (challan) that is sent with the body for post-mortem, the Supreme Court, while hearing the R G Kar Hospital rapeand-murder case on Monday, asked the West Bengal government to produce it at the next hearing. “Tomorrow, if this document is missing, then something is amiss,” the court said, noting that the challan would have details of clothes and articles sent with the body. The court pointed to the delay of “at least 14 hours” in registering the FIR in the junior doctor's rape-murder case. The three-Judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, also asked protesting doctors in the state to returntoworkby5pm,Tuesday, adding that it could not stop the CISF personnel deployed at R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata on Monday. Partha Paul state government from taking disciplinary action if they failed to do so. Referring to the postmortem report, Justice J B Pardiwala told Senior Advocate KapilSibal,whoappearedforthe stategovernment:“See the third column on the top — constable by whom brought. So this constable is supposed to carry this (challan)... It has been struck off. So there is no reference of this CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 meet with former Judges Mamata: Kolkata police chief offered to quit, but DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & DAMINI NATH need him for Durga Puja NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 AS MANY as 30 retired Judges of the Supreme Court and various high courts participated in a meeting organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s ‘vidhi prakoshth’(legalcell)onSunday, whichislearnttohavediscussed the legal dispute over the Varanasi and Mathura temples, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and religious conversions among otherissues.UnionLawMinister Arjun Ram Meghwal was also present at the gathering. GST Council defers call After Singapore, US ties on health insurance, asks up with India to boost GoM to submit report semiconductor sector NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 BUSINESS AS USUAL STRATEGIC TIES AAP releases first list of 20 names Kashi-Mathura dispute, as talks with Cong on alliance fail Waqf Bill on table at VHP EXPLAINED ■ Chote Lal Bind (42), a mason from UP’s Jaunpur, reached Israel in July for construction work after clearing a 15-minute plastering test in Lucknow. He was sacked after 12 days following an “altercation with a Chinese foreman”. He got a job as a cleaner at a cosmetics factory near Jerusalem for Rs 800 an hour. “It’s not what I came for,” he said. ■ Veena Nath Gupta (45), from UP’s Mau, was also selected for construction work in Israel after a “skill test” in Lucknow. He reached the country in April, and was moved to different cities. “I don’t even know where I am now. It’s somewhere near Tel Aviv. I am working as a labourer, mostly carrying loads,” he said. ■ Amresh Madeshiya (44), a carpenter from Siwan in Bihar, and 24 to attend the Quad leaders' summit, the Summit of the Future and a diaspora event. “The US Department of State will partner with the India SemiconductorMission,Ministry ofElectronicsandIT,Government of India,toexploreopportunities to grow and diversify the global semiconductorecosystemunder the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund,createdbytheCHIPSActof 2022,” the US State Department said in a statement on Monday. “This partnership will help create a more resilient, secure and sustainable global semiconductor value chain,” it said. Outliningthebroadcontours of thepartnership,thestatement said: “The initial phase includes a comprehensive assessment of India’s existing semiconductor ecosystem and regulatory CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 “We had invited retired Judgesof theSupremeCourtand high courts. The collective issues before the society — such as the Waqf(Amendment)Bill,handing back of temples, handing over of templesundergovernmentcontrol (to the society), conversions etc — were discussed. The objective was free exchange of views between the Judges and the VHP so that both develop an understandingofeachother,”VHPpresident Alok Kumar said. VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said it was a platform to exchange ideas. “There was discussion on nationalism and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK FIRST MPOX CASE CONFIRMED; CENTRE ISSUES ADVISORY ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 9 WEST BENGAL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Monday thatKolkataPoliceCommissioner Vineet Goyal had offered to resign,butthatshecouldnotaccept his resignation at least until the end of the Durga Puja festivities next month. TheCommissioner’sresignation is one of the demands of the junior doctors protesting after the rape and murder of one of their colleagues at Kolkata’s R G KarMedicalCollegeandHospital. “The Police Commissioner came to me to tender his resignation… How can I accept that before Durga Puja? He knows all CM on Goyal’s resignation offer: ‘After festive season, we can think about this’ the roads of Kolkata and how to control the situation. After the festive season, we can think about this,” Banerjee said at an administrative review meeting atthestatesecretariat,Nabanna. Urgingthestrikingdoctorsto return to work, Banerjee also CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 6 Finance rejects Agri move for higher incentives to push natural farming Proposal for Rs 20,000 per hectare, up from Rs 15,000 HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 9 THE FINANCE Ministry has shot down a proposal from the Agriculture Ministry to provide a one-time incentive of Rs 20,000 per hectare to farmers who adopt natural farming, saying it was much higher than what was earlier approved, The Indian Express has learnt. The Agriculture Ministry under Shivraj Singh Chouhan had circulated a Cabinet note in July last week seeking the Finance Ministry’s approval for the incentives to be provided to farmers under the proposed National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF). However, the Finance Ministry informed the Agriculture Ministry a week later that the proposed rates of incentives were “considerably higher” than the rates approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC). The EFC had approved an incentive of Rs 15,000 per hectare to be provided through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to farmers who adopt natural farming, it is learnt. This was approved in the financial year 2022-23, when Narendra Singh Tomar was the Agriculture Minister. Based on the EFC approval, the Agriculture Ministry had circulated a draft Cabinet note on the NMNF last year. However, after the NDA was voted back to power and Chouhan assumed office in June thisyear,theAgricultureMinistry begandeliberatingonhikingthe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Assam stock market ‘fraudster’ on the run — trading scam dominoes fall SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, SEPTEMBER 9 ON AUGUST 21, 29 year-old Deepankar Barman, who claimed to be the director of a company called DB Stock Broking and promised huge returns on investments to his clients, locked up his Guwahati office and fled, leaving scores of investors in the lurch. Barman is yet to be traced, but his disappearance has led to a series of revelations which rockedthestate,bringingdozens of such ‘trading scamsters’ in Assam to the surface — mostly young men who would claim they had cracked the code to making big returns in the markets, and flash luxury lifestyles on social media. According to Assam Director General of Police G P Singh, 59 people in 28 cases across the state have been arrested in a crackdown against trading frauds, and the state CID has taken charge of the matter. Some are as young as 22, operating from different towns and cities in Assam, while some are local “finfluencers” or financial influencers. Fourteen SITs have also been constituted by the state CID to investigate these cases. Among people who had invested through Barman, alarm bellsstartedringingaroundJulyend, when their “monthly returns” did not come on time. AninvestorfromKolkatasaid he first put his faith — and money — in DB Stock Broking in October last year, and gained confidence through word-ofmouth recommendations by people he knew. “People told me he had proved to be reliable. I especially gained confidence because they had received payments even during the height of the Covid pandemic. He said DeepankarBarman,29, claimedtobethedirectorof a firmcalledDBStockBroking he was investing in stocks, debt, IPOs, etc. He was promising returns as high as 7% monthly, 24% quarterly, 50-54% half yearly and 100% yearly. So I invested with him. After initially receiving the promised returns, I invested some more in March. At the end of July, we were confused because the payment did not come in time. We followed up with him and he told us the issue would be resolved soon and that he had been unable to pay us because of a shortage of employees. We waited and then saw on local media that he had shut down his office and fled,” the investor told The Indian Express. The web unravels Since then, the investors, who have put money ranging from a few thousands to several lakhs, have not received any further information. They first protested in front of his locked office and then his residence in Guwahati’s Jalukbari. On August 22, they received another shock. Barman had told them he was partnered with a stockbroker, Angel One. Responding to news reportsabouthisdisappearance, Angel One issued a statement thatDBStockBrokingwasnotan “authorised person” registered withthem,andthatBarmanwas registered in his individual capacity since 2019, and that the trading volume mapped to him was “miniscule”. Theinvestorsthenwentonto file complaints with the police. While police said the extent of his financial dealings are still under investigation, they have received close to 30 complaints from different people. Even as a lookout circular was issued againsthim,peopleelsewherein the state began to have doubts about the financial dealings that they had entered into. Around 480 km away from Guwahati, suspicions began to swirlaroundBishalPhukan,a22year-old who claimed to be a stock trader and investor, and founder of different ventures including a production company and,mostrecently,apharmaceutical company six months ago. Since 2021, his social media has been splashed with images of anaffluentlifestyle—withfrequent car purchases to international vacations. He had been taking money from different people in and around Dibrugarh promising high returns — as much as 30% — on investments made with their money through his demat account in 60 days. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata