DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES WORST AIR QUALITY SINCE 2019, TOP COURT SAYS DON’T LIFT CURBS UNTIL ORDERS Delhi breathes poison SOPHIYA MATHEW NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 18 DELHI'S AIR, already at toxic levels, turned worse on Monday, turning the city into a gas chamber. The Air Quality Index (AQI) deteriorated from 441 on Sunday to 494, its worst-ever — on a par with the city’s most polluted day recorded in 2019. Since 2015, when the Central Pollution Control Board started maintaining air quality data, the AQI has deteriorated to this level only once before, on November 2, 2019. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED AQIat494,citybracesfortoughdaysas weatherconditionsstayunfavourable E Why air quality is ● dipping A COMBINATION of meteorological factors, high emission load from Delhi’s own sources as well as stubble-burning has led to a drastic AQI increase. With temperatures dipping but winds remaining calm, pollutant concentration has only gone up over the past three days. SC for GRAP-4 curbs even if AQI below 450, flags delay in action NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 18 POINTING TO a delay in implementing strict measures despite theworseningairqualityinDelhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), the Supreme Court Monday directed that curbs under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to deal with the situation will remaininforceuntilfurtherorders. “We make it clear that until further orders are passed by this CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IMPHAL, SILCHAR, NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 18 The Monday morning gloom in Delhi. Praveen Khanna FAREED ZAKARIA AT ADDA WORLD Foreign policy expert, author and CNN news host Fareed Zakaria in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor, at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Monday. Sankhadeep Banerjee WEST BENGAL 2 MORE HELD FOR VIOLENCE IN MURSHIDABAD, INTERNET BAN PARTIALLY LIFTED FROM JOBS TO HOMESTAYS, CM PUSHES FOR DEVELOPMENT IN TRIBAL AREAS PAGE 3 PREMANKUR BISWAS MA ASGUPTA ● KOLKATA, NOVEMBER 18 UMA DASGUPTA, the sprightly Durga of Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali,passedawayinKolkata onMonday.The84-year-oldwas battling cancer for many years. Even though Pather Panchali was her first and last film, Uma will always be remembered for one of the most iconic moments of world cinema. Ray’s pathbreaking 1955 film opens with Apu (Subir Banerjee) and Durga (Dasgupta), seeing a train for the first time. For film scholars, it symbolisedmanythings,theadventof modernityforone,butfor Banerjee, the actor who played thewide-eyedApu,itmeantonly one thing: the Bangla word “khunshuti’ (playful fighting)”. “I MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 18 PAGE 1 ANCHOR HOURS AFTER the Centre ordered an additional 70 companies of paramilitary forces to Manipur in the wake of a new wave of killings and protests there, the state’s ruling alliance MLAs, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, passed a resolution Monday, urging the Centre to “review the imposition of AFSPA” in six police stations areas of the valley. The MLAs demanded “mass operationsagainstKukimilitants responsible for” the November 11 abduction and killing of six Meitei women and children from Jiribam, and to declare theman“unlawfulorganisation” within seven days. The resolution stated that if these were “not implemented within the specified period, the NDAlegislatorswilldecidethefuture course of action in consultationwiththepeopleof thestate”. It also stated that legal action would be taken against people who had vandalised the homes of legislators during the protests. The Centre had reimposed the Disturbed Areas status under the Armed Forces (Special CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Manipur minister Govindas Konthoujam’s residence, which was set on fire, in Bishnupur district, Monday. PTI Centre, state have failed to ensure safety, resolve sincerely: RSS & ABVP DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 18 WITH THE situation in Manipur deteriorating, the state unit of the RSS Monday urged the Centreandthestategovernment to “sincerely” resolve the ongoing ethnic conflict at the earliest. The Sangh student wing ABVP went a step further, saying “the state and Central governments have failed to ensure safety and normalcy in Manipur”. It also said that authorities be held accountable for their failure to protect lives. The Manipur Prant of the RSS, in a statement to the press, said, “It is unfortunate that 19 months of violence in Manipur starting from May 3, 2023 has CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Uma Dasgupta, Durga of Pather Panchali, dies Sangma: No effective step possible in Manipur without change of guard U D 1940-2024 Uma Dasgupta as Durga in Satyajit Ray’s 1955 classic Pather Panchali. She was 14 then. Express Archive Bishnoi’s brother Anmol held in US; FBI and India teams hold talks ANMOL BISHNOI, 25, younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was detained in California by the US Immigration Department last week. The Indian Express has learnt thatofficialsoftheFBI’sNewDelhi officemetIndiansecurityofficials anddiscussedthepossibilityofhis deportation/extradition. Sources said the US Biren, MLAs to Centre: Go after Kuki militants, review AFSPA order JIMMY LEIVON, SUKRITA BARUAH & MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL BY UNNY PAGE 10 MORECENTRALFORCESONWAYTOMANIPUR CM-led meeting warns: If demands not met, NDA MLAs and people will decide future course of action ANANTHAKRISHNAN G BUSINESS AS USUAL BIDEN ALLOWS UKRAINE TO USE US MISSILES TO STRIKE INSIDE RUSSIA SHIPMENT FROM PAK ARRIVES IN DHAKA, POINTS TO SHIFT IN RELATIONSHIP `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `17 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Anmol Bishnoi fled to the US on May 15, 2022 Immigration Department found that one of Anmol’s travel documents was forged. “AnmolfledtotheUSonMay 15, 2022 after making a fake passport in the name of one Bhanu. But he was exposed after theUSImmigrationDepartment found that one of the reference letters of a company, attached to his travel documents, was forged,” a source said. Following his detention last Thursday, three FBI officials Fridaymetseniorofficialsof multiple Indian agencies, headed by a senior official of the CBI, to discussAnmol’scasestatus,asource CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 rememberallthroughtheshoot, we were teasing each other, throwing twigs at each other, poking each other. Didi was 14, I was9.Wewerelikerealsiblings,” says Banerjee. Seventy years later, Banerjee has lost his Didi. Dasgupta, Ray’s first heroine, is survived by her daughter.“InPatherPanchali,she died leaving me alone. In real life too, I have lost my Didi today,” says Banerjee. He remembers her as someone with a lot of patience. “She wassokindtome.Itwasherfirst film too, but I would depend on herforguidance.Iremember,for the rain sequence which eventually leads to her death in the film, we were made to sit all day under a berry tree. We were waiting for the rain to arrive. LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 18 THE SECOND largest ally of the BJP-led Manipur government, National People’s Party (NPP), Sunday withdrew support to it, citing its failure to “restore normalcy” in the state and expressing “deep concern”. NPP leader and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma speaks to The IndianExpressonthereasonsbehindwithdrawingsupporttothe N Biren Singh government and the way forward. Excerpts: Why has the NPP accused the THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW CONRAD SANGMA NPP LEADER & MEGHALAYA CM BJP government of failure in Manipur? The Manipur issue is a complicated issue and, because of historical reasons, things there have always been complicated. Obviously,thingsthathappened in the past have complicated it further. In this violence and law andordersituationlastingabout a year-and-a-half, multiple factors have led to the current situation.Certainactionsandcertain non-actions have aggravated it… of course, you cannot have thecorrectsolutionatthatpoint. It’s very easy to look back and say, ‘You should have done this’. Some efforts were there, but somehow things kept slipping. Nowwehavereachedapoint where things are really out of control. We continue to see law CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As campaign ends, Rahul targets PM, BJP: ‘Real poll issue Adani, Dharavi’ Thestategoestothepolls on Wednesday. MUMBAI, NOV 18 Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the CONGRESS LEADER Lok Sabha, drew a link Rahul Gandhi on between the BJP's alDECISION leged proximity to inMonday targeted Prime 2024 MinisterNarendraModi dustrialist Gautam MAHARASHTRA over his “ek hain toh safe Adani and the projects hain (together, we are allottedtohiscompany, safe)” poll slogan as the includingtheDharaviredevelopMaharashtra Assembly election mentprojectinMumbai.Hitting campaigndrewtoaclosewithpo- back,therulingpartysaidAdani’s litical parties making a last- growth began when minute push to convince voters. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DECISION 2024 ALOK DESHPANDE ● Nagpur South West seat contest: No cakewalk but ‘aayega toh Deva bhau hi’ ● Jharkhand: Poll promises flash in pan, it is always dark in ‘coal capital’ Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. Ganesh Shirsekar PAGES 5 ‘Ragging’ death: Village to medical college, 18-yr-old’s dream cut short RITU SHARMA JESADA (SURENDRANAGAR), NOVEMBER 18 AN INCONSOLABLE mother and a sister who had to be rushed to a hospital due to low blood pressure — similar heartbreaking scenes were witnessed at the Methaniya house on Monday morninginJesada,oneof thelast villages along the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. An eerie silence gripped the house as relatives gathered to mourn the death of 18-year-old Anil Methaniya, a first-year student at Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) Medical College at Dharpur in Patan. Anil had joinedthecollegeonOctober14, barely a month before his death. Thestudent—whohadscored 550 in NEET without taking any coaching classes — died after he was allegedly ragged by his seniors in his hostel on the interveningnightofNovember16-17.Anil reportedlyfellunconsciouslateon November 16, after he was made to stand for nearly four hours. Besidesbeingbookedforcul- pablehomicidenotamountingto murder, 15 of Anil’s seniors have been suspended by the medical college following a report by its anti-ragging committee. Inspector P J Solanki of Balisana police station told The IndianExpress,“All15second-year students have been arrested.” BackattheMethaniyahouse, the family says Anil was the only student from Jesada, a small village with an estimated population of 5,000 in Dhrangadhra taluka of Surendranagar, who had cracked the tough all-India pre-medical entrance exam. At the home of Anil Methaniya in Gujarat’s Jesada village on Monday. Ritu Sharma The youngest among three siblings, Anil was the only son of Natwarbhai, 56, a farmer, and Gitaben, 53, a home-maker. Anil’selderSheetal,whogotmarriedin2019,completedhergraduation in science and education, while Nidhi is a physiotherapist. “Anil was very excited about Nidhi’s February wedding. He hadpromisedtohelpwithallthe preparations,” says Sheetal, 28. After he finished his primary educationfromaprivateschoolin Dhrangadhra,20kmfromJesada, Anil’s father shifted him to the Vivekananda Science Academy Sadhana Vidyalaya in Halvad, nearly 50 km from the village. In Class 9 and 10, Anil lived with his sister Sheetal and brother-in-law Hirenbhai in Dhrangadhra. “He stayed with us for nearly two years. In all that time, he never asked for anything. However, we knew that he was fondoftravellingandlovedpizza. His last trip was to Shimla — the schooltookhimthereinClass11,” says Hirenbhai. While in Class 10, Anil had made up his mind that he wanted to become a doctor, says Gautam Methaniya, 23, his cousin who is an IT professional based in Ahmedabad. “He was a brilliant student. He did not take any coaching classes but he still managed to crack NEET. He scored 550 in NEET and 90.57 percentile in GUJCET (Gujarat Common Entrance Test),” says Gautam. Anil’s father says his hardworking son had just one dream — “to make his family proud”. Natwarbhai says, “If fulfilling his dreamwouldhaverequiredmeto sell my land, I would have done it in a heartbeat. He was absolutely CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata