DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY JOURNALISM OF COURAGE `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 EXTREMELY SAD AND HEARTBREAKING, SAYS CM ADITYANATH 10newbornsdieinblazeatgovernment hospitalinJhansi,probepanelformed Fire is suspected to have originated in NICU inner unit, possibly caused by a short circuit MANISH SAHU LUCKNOW, NOVEMBER 15 BIG PICTURE THE NEW SUGAR BARONS PAGE 11 TENNEWBORNSdiedafterafire broke out in the neonatal intensivecareunit(NICU)of state-run Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi on Friday night. According to officials, several firebrigadevehicleswererushed to the spot, and dozens of children were rescued, but several newborns did not make it. Babies rescued from the hospital on Friday. Express The fire also led to a stampede-like situation at the hospital, officials said. Visualsfromoutsidethehospital showed anguished parents breaking down. “Mera bacha mara hai(mychild is dead),”said a man, hyperventilating, as two women wailed behind him. Visuals also showed charred equipment in the ward where the newborns were ostensibly kept. Several people could be seen climbing out of windows that had blackened borders be- cause of the thick smoke. Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar told mediapersons that staff at the NICU told officials that the fire broke out between 10.30 and 10.45 pm. The NICU has two sections — the outer unit for babies in a stable condition and the inner unit for those in a critical condition. Thefireissuspectedtohaveoriginated in the inner unit, possibly caused by a short circuit. “Almost all the babies in the outer unit are safe. However, 10 babieswhowereintheinnerunit losttheirlives.Manyotherswere rescued, and rescue operations are still underway,” the DM said. Headdedthattheinjuredbabies are being treated. Atwo-memberinquirycommittee, comprising the Commissioner and the DIG, has been formed to probe the incident and submit a report to the Chief Minister. In a post online, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 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 P6 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 “See, the government cannot do, he will not get into any competitiononwelfareschemes,and be run by only distributing money. We will not get that the government into any competition on cannot be run by only this.Buthelpingthepoor distributing money. and bringing them into “Humchaadardekh themainstreamisthejob kar pair failane wale of the government and it hain… we only say is our what can be done DECISION out oftask to bring them poverty and we within limits,” Shinde 2024 will continue to do that,” told The Indian Express MAHARASHTRA he said. in an interview as the With BJP leaders raising state braces for the Assembly CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 elections on November 20. THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW CLSA goes ‘overweight’ on India, reverses call on China after Trump return 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 following 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 toanescalationof atradewarbetween US and China with Trump E E X P L A I NE D HITESH VYAS, GEORGE MATHEW & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA Whybet ● 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. 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’. Thisincidentallycomeswhen CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pak drops PoK from Champions Trophy tour after Indian board files protest 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 and rebut each other — via their opinions From flagging criticism of Krishna Iyer to no ‘meeting of minds’ on AMU APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 15 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, whowrotea dissent, Data on tourist footfall Chinese, hidden agenda, says Goa minister PAVNEET SINGH CHADHA PANAJI, NOVEMBER 15 DAYSAFTERhisdepartmentfiled apolicecomplaintagainstanentrepreneur,whosepostcriticalof Goahadunleashedaflurryof social media responses, the state’s TourismMinisterRohanKhaunte has told The Indian Express that a “hidden agenda” and “ulterior Khaunte: Plan to create false propaganda against state motives” may have been at play to malign the image of the state. During an interview, when asked about social media posts about “negative experiences” of tourists, Khaunte said, “Goa has always been a preferred tourist destination but every year we have somebody, some influencer, who looks at it in a different way. Last year, some people triedtodefameGoabutitdidnot work. We have placed figures(of tourist footfalls) in the Assembly and maybe even in Parliament. 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 12 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 theChampionsTrophyiscontinuedto bepromoted in Pakistan,” 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,isslowly comingto 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, mostly farmlabourers 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,and the hospital did not 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,hewasdeadnot long after”. “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 Lucknow