DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2024, PUNE, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 13/09/2024 90 118 145 `6.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PROTESTS OVER RAPE-AND-MURDER OF JUNIOR DOCTOR IapologisetopeopleofBengal, readytoquitforthem:Mamata Junior doctors refuse to join talks: Livestream it, if SC can, why can't state govt 72 RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA NSA AJIT DOVAL MEETS CHINA’S WANG YI Jaishankar: 75% of disengagement problems with China sorted out KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 12 CPI(M) gen secy spanned politics — a leading face of anti-Cong front to key Opposition coalition-builder SITARAM YECHURY 1952 - 2024 MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 THE DIVIDE between pragmatism versus dogmatism, realonmanyoccasions,imaginedandsometimesexaggerated,perhapscapturesthelast two decades of the CPI(M)’s journey.AndSitaramYechury, the affable, soft-spoken and popular Communist leader who passed away Thursday afterbriefhospitalisation,representedonevitalpoleinthat battle. He was 72. He is survived by his wife Seema Chishti, editor of The Wire; his daughter Akhila and son Daanish. A Marxist theoretician, Yechurywasabelieverwhen it came to the Communist ideologybutshowedtherare willingnesstotestthelimitations of its hard boundaries for the imperatives of democractic — and practical — politics. Yechury’s political life, however,cannotbelimitedto the last two decades. Neither can he be framed only as a pragmatic Communist. The CPI(M) general secretary CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Supreme Court stays limit on dhol-tasha-zanj troupe members EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 THE SUPREME Court Thursday stayedtheAugust30directionof the National Green Tribunal (NGT) limiting the number of members of each dhol-tashazanj troupe to 30 during Ganpati immersion processions in Pune. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachudpassedtheinterim order while issuing a notice on an appeal filed against the direction of the NGT’s Western Zone bench. “Till the next day of listing, there shall be a stay of operative direction 4 in the impugned order,” said the bench, also comprisingJusticesJBPardiwalaand Manoj Misra. After dictating the order, the CJI orally remarked: “Let them do their dhol-tasha-zanj. It’s the CONTINUEDONPAGE2 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 CM Mamata Banerjee said she waited to hold talks for ‘over two hours’ on Thursday. PTI Governor slams CM: Lady Macbeth of Bengal, I will socially boycott her SWEETY KUMARI State govt failed in its duty, says Governor Bose KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 12 STATING THAT the state government has “failed in its duty” and not understood “the sentiments of the people and society”, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose said Thursday that he would “socially boycott” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who he even called “Lady Macbeth of Bengal”. He also said “many 3 HELD FOR ATTACK ON ARMY OFFICERS things are rotten in the State of Bengal”. In a statement, Bose said he was committed to the people protestingtheincidentatRGKar Hospital in Kolkata where a jun- ior doctor was raped and murdered on August 9. “Thereisviolenceinthestate, violence at home, violence on campus, violence in hospital, violence in the city… The silent majority is part of democracy, not silence to the majority. Remember, silence is violence… In solidarity with Bengal’s society, I will socially boycott the Chief Minister. I will not be sharing any public platform with the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC QUASHES NGT ORDER ‘Shoot accused or shoot Supreme Court allows garbage processing plant me’: Rape victim in shock, no statement yet to continue at Baner ANAND MOHAN J INDORE, SEPTEMBER 12 GANPATI IDOL IMMERSIONS External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visits the replica of the East Gate of Sanchi Stupa in Berlin. PTI THE MEN who allegedly assaultedtwoyoungArmyofficers and raped one of their two women friends near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh in the early hours of Wednesday would roam the area on motorcycles looking for people they could rob, officers investigating the case have told The Indian Express. The men had also threatened to kill the victims if theydidnotpaythemRs10lakh, investigators said. Police said they are facing a conundrum as the woman who was allegedly raped has refused to record her statement. The FIR has been filed based on a complaint by one of the Army officers, who stated, “They misbehaved with the woman, and I suspect something wrong was done to her.” “Sheonlykeepstellingusone thing – shoot the accused or shoot me. We understand she is in shock. We are trying our best to arrest the men who did this,” said a senior officer who tried multiple times to convince the woman to record her statement. Indore Rural Superintendent of Police Hitika Vasal told The Indian Express, "She is not comfortable registering her statement. We will wait until she recovers. We have arrested three persons – Anil, Pawan and Ritesh. Ritesh was acquitted in a murder case in 2019. The remaining three accused will be arrested soon.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Closing plant won’t be in larger public interest: SC AJAY JADHAV PUNE, SEPTEMBER 12 IN AN order that will likely bring an end to citizens opposing a garbageprocessingplantintheir vicinity, the Supreme Court Thursday quashed a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order to close a plant in Baner on the Pashan-Sus road and shift it to a new location while directing the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to take necessary steps so that residents living close to the plant do not suffer due to foul odour and that suggestions made by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) are strictly complied by. In an order on an appeal of the PMC's against the NGT order, the bench of Justices B R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Vishwanath quashed the October 27, 2020 order of NGT directing the civic body to close and shift the waste processing plant. "WedirectthePMCtoensure that all the suggestions made by NEERI should be strictly complied with. We further direct the installation of the portable compactors with hook mechanisms by December 31 so as to ensure that the rejected waste does not touch the ground," it saidadding that the PMC was further CONTINUEDONPAGE2 TWO WEEKS after Indian and Chinese diplomats signalled some progressin negotiations to resolve the military standoff betweenIndianandChinesetroops along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, External AffairsMinisterSJaishankar said Thursday that about 75 per cent of the “disengagement problems” with China have been sorted out but the bigger issue has been the increasing CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D The Communist, pragmatist — and a Comrade to all THE OVER a month-long standoff between junior doctors and the West Bengal government worsened on Thursday as the protesters refused to join talks, following which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that they wanted her “chair” not justice as she offered to resign “for the sake of the people”. “Ora chair chaite esheche, justice na. Ami manusher sharthe padatyag korte raji achi. Ami mukkhomantritto chaina (They are here for the chair, not justice. For the sake of the people, I am ready to resign. I don't want the chief ministership),” Banerjee said at a press conference. “I apologise to the people of Bengal who expected that the issue would be resolved today,” she said. Banerjee made the remarks after a delegation of protesting junior doctors reached Nabanna (state secretariat) but refused to join talks, insisting on their demand for live-streaming of proceedings, even as the CM waited inside for “over two hours”. “We haveno problemin livestreaming,butthematterissubjudice... We said all discussions will be documented and recorded. We kept three video cameras also. If the Supreme Court gives permission, we will share the recording with them also. When a case is sub-judice, ● Series of meetings JAISHANKAR’S REMARKS came the day NSA Doval was meeting China’s Wang Yi. Civil Aviation Minister Naidu also discussed early resumption of direct flights with his Chinese counterpart. PM Modi and President Xi are likely to meet at the BRICS Summit next month. Naidu: Discussed early resumption of direct flights with the Chinese SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 RESUMPTION OF direct passenger flights between India and Chinawasdiscussedinameeting betweenCivilAviationMinisterK Rammohan Naidu and Song Zhiyong,AdministratoroftheCivil AviationAdministrationofChina. This was disclosed by Naidu Thursday morning in a post on X which was deleted later. “As the Chairman for the 2nd Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation, I have been utilising the platform to engage in sideline meetings with foreign delegations. This morning,alongsideSecretaryShri Vumlunmang Vualnam and other senior officials from my ministry, I had courtesy meeting with Chinese delegation led by Mr Song Zhiyong to exchange viewsregardingfurtherstrengthening civil aviation cooperation betweenthetwocountries,especially promoting early resumption of scheduled passenger flightsbetweenus,”Naidusaidin the post. A query emailed to the GOVT & POLITICS DOVAL IN RUSSIA, PUTIN PROPOSES BILATERAL WITH PM DURINGBRICS PAGE 8 spokesperson of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on why the social media post was deleted did not elicit a response. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the second Asia PacificMinisterialConferenceon CivilAviationof theInternational Civil Aviation Organization Agency (ICAO) being held in New Delhi. In the post deleted later, Naidu had not elaborated on the discussions with the Chinese delegation. Speaking with reporters shortly after the meeting with CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A herd from Nilgiris takes over NY, throws spotlight on a jumbo problem PAGE 1 ANCHOR DIPANITA NATH PUNE, SEPTEMBER 12 AT THE elegant Meatpacking district of New York, where shopfronts have names such as Rolex, Gucci and Hermes, a different kind of display is attracting the crowds — a herd of 100 wild elephants that has made its way from Gudalur in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri hills to the US. In the parade are kind-eyed matriarchs, playful calves, bulls with outstretched trunks and grand tuskers. These elephants are made of Lantana, one of the 10 worst invasive plant species in the world, that is making food scarce for these giants in forests and driving them out. The statues of the pachyderms make up The Great Elephant Migration, a public art installation that has been to Kochi, London and Bengaluru before trumpeting into New York, where it is one of the biggest such works on display. The installation, which highlightstheimportanceof humanwildlife coexistence and the need to protect Asian elephants, is the brainchild of a UK-based conservation group, Elephant Family USA. The statues have been conceptualised by Gudalur-based The Real Elephant Collective (TREC) and sculpted from boiled Lantana by 200 tribal artisans from the Nilgiris, who make up the Coexistence Collective. “The scene in New York is hard to describe. It is amazing to see hundreds and hundreds of people, all so moved by the elephants. People who live nearby keep comingbackandvolunteeringto look after the elephants,” says Tarsh Thekaekara, a researcher and conservationist who works The Great Elephant Migration, a public art installation, in New York. Mark Warner on human-animal inclusive models of nature conservation. Tarsh, who co-founded TREC with Subhash Gautham, Subhra Nayar, and Tariq Thekaekara, says, “The logistics of travelling withtheelephantsisnotdifficult. The challenging part is to push the message of coexistence. Traditional conservation assumes that we need to protect onlythepocketsof forestsandignoretherest.Thatisnotworking. Animalsarecomingoutofforests everywhere in the world.” And who would know about human-animal conflict better than the tribals? Gudalur lies in themiddleof theWesternGhats, located between Karnataka, TamilNaduandKerala,andclose to four forest reserves, Mudumalai,Wayanad,Bandipur and Mukurthi. Locals here have grown up seeing elephants and leopards around their houses, but fatal elephant attacks have risen over the past few years. Ramesh Madan, who is in his 30s and belongs to the Betta Kurumbatribe,says,“WhenIwas achild,anelephantortwowould come (to our houses) in the jackfruit season. I have never known so many elephants to come near our houses, as has been happeninginthelastfewyears.Whenwe gointotheforesttocollectthings, I can see that Lantana has taken over large parts. It is the reason whyelephantsarecomingoutof the forest.” Aweedthatsportsclustersof small,colourfulflowers,Lantana camara was brought to India by the British as an ornamental plant in the 1800s. According to a study in the Journal of Applied Ecology in October 2023, Lantana has penetrated over 5,74,186 sq km of India, including 50 per cent of the country’s natural areas. In a takeover by Lantana, which is fast-growing and toxic, a forest gets completely matted, not allowing for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2