DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BY UNNY BONE OF CONTENTION: CHINA TRADE SURPLUS OF $1 TRILLION CLSAgoes‘overweight’onIndia,reverses callonChinaafterTrumpreturntopower Valuation in India is now a ‘little more palatable’ after sharp FII outflow: Agency HITESH VYAS, GEORGE MATHEW & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA BIG PICTURE THE NEW SUGAR BARONS `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & `17 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, NOV 15 INJUSToveraweeksinceDonald Trump won the US Presidency, HongKong-basedbrokeragefirm CLSAraiseditsIndiaallocationto a 20 per cent overweight, while cuttingexposuretoChina.Thisis seenasatacticalreversalfromits early October update when it went ‘overweight’ on China fol- lowing Beijing’s first stimulus on September 24. China’s second tranche of a $1.4 trillion package cameonNovember8andyetanother likely in January 2025. Turning‘overweight’inIndia suggests a brokerage house allocatinghigherresourcestoIndian equity compared to the weight India has in a benchmark index, say MSCI. The reversal is also attributed toanescalationofatradewarbetween US and China with Trump proposing up to 60 per cent tariff on Chinese imports into the US duringhisPresidentialcampaign andanunderwhelmingstimulus package by Beijing. Trump’svictoryhasmadethe brokeragereverseitsOctobercall, withChinanowan‘equalweight’, and India turning ‘overweight’. This incidentally comes when Indiahasrecordedsteadynetforeigninvestorsellingof acumulative $14.2 billion since early October(almostfullyunwinding the$16.6billionof netpurchases from June through September). While highlighting that valuationsinIndiacontinuetobe“expensive”, CLSA underlined that India appears as among the least exposed of regional markets to Trump’s adverse trade policy. Indiangovernmentofficialsareof theviewthatTrumpasPresident would not be as detrimental on India’s export basket as those of othercountries,especiallyChina. In a note titled “Pouncing Tiger, prevaricating Dragon”, CLSA said that misfortune can CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL JOURNALISM OF COURAGE E ● Why bet on India THE PROSPECTS of an escalating trade war between the US and China, with Trump proposing to impose up to 60 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, and a lower than expected stimulus by Beijing has prompted the global brokerage firm to bet on India now. PAGE 10 Shinde: Will continue schemes for the poor, but won’t compete in handing out cash PCB itinerary unacceptable, Jay Shah told ICC; tour now only in host cities DEVENDRA PANDEY & SANDEEP DWIVEDI P7 VALLABH OZARKAR & SANDEEP SINGH MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 15 MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 15 COUNTINGONthesuccessof the Ladki Bahin Yojana and other welfare schemes to return the Mahayutitopower,Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde saidFridaythatwhilehisgovern- EKNATH SHINDE ment rolled out with the MAHARASHTRA CHIEF MINISTER schemes to help the poor and needy which he will continue to do, he will not get into any com“See, the government cannot petitiononwelfareschemes,and be run by only distributing that the government money. We will not get cannot be run by only into any competition on distributing money. this.Buthelpingthepoor “Humchaadardekh and bringing them into kar pair failane wale themainstreamisthejob hain… we only say of the government and it what can be done is our DECISION out oftask to bring them within limits,” Shinde poverty and we 2024 told The Indian Express will continue to do that,” MAHARASHTRA in an interview as the he said. state braces for the Assembly With BJP leaders raising elections on November 20. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW RECORDS TUMBLE AT JO’BURG Sanju Samson (109 off 56 balls) and Tilak Varma (120 off 47) recorded the first 200-plus partnership for India in T20Is against South Africa in Johannesburg on Friday. India posted 283/1, their second highest total in T20Is. India’s 23 sixes were also the most by a team in a T20I involving Full Member sides. AP PAGE17 RECENT TREND IN APEX COURT In verdicts with dissent, SC judges refer to Two in terror module and rebut each other — via their opinions were beneficiaries of From flagging criticism of Krishna Iyer to no ‘meeting of minds’ on AMU PM-Kisan, planned to gather funds: Police 11 FROM JHARKHAND ARRESTED APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 15 MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 15 OVER TWO months after it arrested 11 people and claimed to have busted an “Al-Qaeda-inspired terror module”, the Delhi Police has informed a city court that the “accused persons plannedtoaccumulatefundsfor jihad through PM-Kisan” scheme or the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. A probe conducted by the Special Cell of Delhi Police claimed that two of the arrested persons were beneficiaries of PM-Kisan and had given money for purchase of arms for terror activities. Itislearntthatpolicearelook- Pak drops PoK from Champions Trophy tour after Indian board files protest ingforthepersonswhoallegedly filled the form for the scheme at the behest of the accused. According to police, the arrests were made on August 22 based on inputs received by Central agencies that a highly radicalised Jharkhand-based groupandsympathisersinDelhi were planning a terror attack. “After their arrest, they were questioned by Delhi Police and the Central agencies. Later, they were sent to judicial custody in Tihar Jail. But on coming across fresh evidence, police obtained six-day custody of eight accused earlierthisweek,”anofficersaid. In an order issued November 12, Additional Sessions Judge Dr Hardeep Kaur at the Patiala House Courts said, “An CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN THE landmark ruling delivered by the Supreme Court on November 5 that not all private property can be considered community resource, a dissent- ing opinion and a concurrent opinion deeply contested a sentence in the majority verdict authored by former Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. In her opinion, Justice B V Nagarathna flagged a comment from the majority verdict: “The Krishna Iyer doctrine does a dis- service to the broad and flexible spirit of the Constitution.” In at least seven instances, Justice Nagarathna took exception to “branding the judges of this Court of the yesteryears as doing a disservice to the Constitution”.JusticeSudhanshu Dhulia,too,whowroteadissent, Over 1,900 affected by Bengal tablet fund fraud; more arrests likely: Police SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, NOVEMBER 15 THE WEST Bengal Police have registered 93 FIRs and arrested 11 people in connection with an alleged tablet fund diversion fraud in which money meant for tablets for school students was fraudulently transferred by hacking into the state education department’sportal,officerssaid on Friday. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said her administration is “strong, rough and tough” and would not toleratesuch“scams”,addingthatthe TMC government has formed a special team to probe the issue. Till date, at least 1,911 students–intendedbeneficiariesof the state government's Taruner Swapna scheme – from across the state have alleged that they have not received money (Rs 10,000)forbuyingtablets,police added. The West Bengal Police on Friday formed a Joint Investigation Monitoring Team comprising at least two ADGs andotherseniorofficerstoprobe the matter. The Taruner Swapna scheme is an initiative under which the government transfers Rs 10,000 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 criticised the use of the phrase “Krishna Iyer doctrine” calling it “harsh, and could have been avoided.” While the sentence in question does not find mention in JusticeChandrachud’sfinalopinion, presumably removed after CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD LANKA PRESIDENT’S LEFT COALITION WINS 2/3RD MAJORITY ROBERT F KENNEDY JR IS TRUMP PICK FOR HEALTH SECRETARY PAGE 14 THE PAKISTAN Cricket Board (PCB) is learnt to have agreed to restrictthetouroftheChampions Trophy to the three host cities of Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi after the Board of Control for CricketinIndia(BCCI)filedanobjection with the International CricketCouncil(ICC)overthePCB move to include Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the tour itinerary. On Thursday, the PCB, in a post on X, said: “Get ready, Pakistan! The ICC Champions Trophy2025trophytourkicksoff in Islamabad on 16 November, also visiting scenic travel destinations like Skardu, Murree, Hunza and Muzaffarabad. Catch a glimpse of the trophy which Sarfaraz Ahmed lifted in 2017 at TheOval,from16-24November.” Followingthis,BCCIsecretary Trophy tour will kick off on November 16: PCB Jay Shah lodged a protest with the ICC. “PCBisalreadyindiscussions with the ICC on how to proceed with the trophy tour to ensure theChampionsTrophyiscontinuedtobepromotedinPakistan,” a PCB source told The Indian Express. “The ICC Champions CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bodies of woman & two kids found in Manipur river, officials say likely from missing family SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, NOVEMBER 15 THE BODIES of a woman and two children, believed to be three among six missing since MondayfromManipur’sJiribam, were found floating on the Jiri river Friday evening. The bodies have been taken to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem, Assam Police confirmed. According to sources, after the discoveryof thebodies,anemergency meeting of the Manipur CabinetwasconvenedinImphal Friday night. Six from the same family — threewomenandthreechildren including a baby — had been missingfromJiribam’sBorobekra after violence in the area. The Meiteifamilyhadbeenlivingina relief camp set up at the Borobekrapolicestationafterviolence gripped the area in June. According to security officials, family members are yet to identify the bodies but the descriptions match three of those missing. Accordingtoanofficial,there was an input that the bodies were seen floating on the river, following which Assam Rifles personnel retrieved them from Jirimukh, where the Jiri river meets the Barak river. The six missing were a woman, her two daughters and three grandchildren. They were identified as Yurembam Rani Devi(60),TelemThoibiDevi(31), Laishram Heitonbi Devi (25), Thanajambi Devi (8), Chingkheinganba Singh (2) and Langamba Singh (8 months). CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Grief, anger in Gujarat village after ‘unnecessary angioplasty’ claims 2 lives PAGE 1 ANCHOR BRENDAN DABHI BORISANA (MEHSANA), NOV 15 ATBORISANAvillageinGujarat’s Mehsana, the grief is palpable. The village, 35 kilometres from Ahmedabad,isslowlycomingto terms with the loss of two residents — Mahesh Girdhar Barot (52) and Nagar Moti Senma (75) — allegedly to unnecessary angioplasty surgeries done without their consent. Both were beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY. Since then, Dr Prashant Vazirani, a visiting cardiologist who allegedly conducted the procedures following a health camp set up by Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, has been arrested. Four directors of the hospital have also been named in three FIRs. At the village, some homes are still waiting for their loved ones, who too underwent such procedures but survived, to return from follow-up treatment. According to Barot’s family, the 52-year-old man was so fit that he would cycle 10 kilometres to work every day. His nephew Sunny shows a video of Barot dancing to a Ramdhun being played at the local temple, just a week before his death. Mahesh, his family says, was the youngest of six siblings — and the first to die. Jairam, his elder brother, claimed he had no comorbidities,anditwasthesingle biggest mistake of his life to let Mahesh climb into a bus arranged by the hospital to take residents to the health camp. Before the day ended, Mahesh, a bachelorandtheprimarybreadwinner of his family, which included two widowed sisters and their children, was dead, “with the ventilator still pumping be- Banner of the Khyati Hospital medical camp still hanging at the Mahadev temple in Borisana village. Brendan Dabhi side him”, his family said. It was on Sunday that the hospital conducted a free health camp in the nondescript village, where even the signboard is washed out and illegible. Held at the Mahadev temple premises, it was attended by more than 80 residents,mostlyfarmlabourers or workers in plastic factories. The next day, a bus from the hospital picked up 19 villagers, who consented for a more comprehensive check-up, and brought them to Ahmedabad. According to the FIR filed by the state government, the hospital allegedly conducted angiographies on all of them, then angio- plasties on seven. The FIR states that these procedures were unnecessaryandwithoutinformed consent,andthehospitaldidnot provide adequate postoperative care, leading to the death of the two men. Outside Nagar Senma’s home, his elder son Bharat sits with head shaved, next to a garlanded photograph of his father. Thefamilyissopoorthatevenas the period of mourning continues, the other son, Praveen, has gone back to work on a farm. Bacchu Govaji Barot, a 77year-old who also underwent the procedure and now has a stentinhisartery,toldThe Indian Express that “the hospital officials took our thumb impressions on a letterhead after they had already started the operation”.“Afterwards,theyputusin a ward where nobody came to even look at us,” he claimed. He claimed that before his death, Senma “started vomiting and convulsing”, and while “the staff came and tried to revive him,hewasdeadnotlongafter”. “I also saw Mahesh... I called my daughter from the hospital and told her to call his brother Jairam. But by the time Jairam reached, Mahesh was dead,” he said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata