DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BY UNNY DHANKHAR BIASED AS CHAIRMAN, SAYS OPP, IT’S FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY Calling him Govt voice, Opp for no-trust against V-P; Chair is disrespected: BJP More about Opp optics, key question is will motion be accepted? Move is symbolic as Opp doesn’t have numbers; YSRCP, BJD, BRS keep distance MANOJ C G THE WORLD ISRAEL POUNDS SYRIAN ARMY BASES, SAYS TROOPS WITHIN BUFFER ZONE U.S. SAYS TERROR TAG DOESN’T BAR TALKS WITH SYRIAN REBEL GROUP PAGE 14 Maharashtra: No mismatch in VVPAT & EVM data, says poll panel EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, DECEMBER 10 WITH THE Opposition Maha VikasAghadi(MVA)allegingdiscrepancies in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Election Commission on Tuesday said no mismatch was found between the votes polled on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the corresponding tally of Voter Verified PaperAuditTrail(VVPAT)slipsin random counting. The State Election Commission said that as per the EC's guidelines, it is mandatory to count VVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly constituency/ Assemblysegment.Accordingly, VVPAT slip count of five randomly selected polling stations from each Assembly constituency was conducted on November 23, it said. “As per that, slip count of 1,440 VVPAT units from 288 Assembly constituencies of Maharashtra State has been tallied with respective control unit data. There is no discrepancy foundbetweenVVPATslipcount and EVM control unit count as perthereportsreceivedfromthe concerned DEOs (district electionofficers).Dueprocedurelaid by ECI has been followed,” it said in a statement. After the BJP-led Mahayuti CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 10 ACCUSING RAJYA Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar of being “explicitly partisan” in conducting the proceedings of the House and acting as an “impassioned spokesperson” of the government's policies at public fora, the Opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday submitted a notice for bringing a resolution for removal of the Vice-President from office, making it the first suchactioninIndia’sparliamentary history. The Opposition move is seen as a symbolic exercise to make a political point since they don’t have the numbers to ensure the passage of the resolution, in either House, in the event of it being accepted. In 2020, the then Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had rejected the Opposition’s no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 10 Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar in RS Tuesday. ANI RELATED REPORTS PAGE 11 TAKING NOTE of newspaper reports on a speech by Allahabad HighCourtjudgeJusticeShekhar Kumar Yadav at an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Supreme Court Tuesday sought details from the High Court. Addressing the event organisedbytheVHP’slegalcellonthe court premises on Sunday, Justice Yadav made strong remarks on Muslim marriage practices and backed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). “You can’t disrespect a woman who has been recognisedasagoddessinourShastras and Vedas. You can’t claim the righttohavefourwives,perform halala,orpracticetripletalaq.You EXPLAINED Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav say, we have the right to say ‘tripletalaq’,andnotgivemaintenance to women.” According to a VHP press release, the judge also spoke in favour of the UCC. “Having different Constitutions for people of differentcommunitiesandreligions in a country is no less than a danger to the nation. When we talk of human uplift, it should rise above religion and should be within the ambit of the Constitution,” the press release quoted him as saying. “If the interests of a woman CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The two buildings are to be built at the site of the old Vice-President’s residence. File DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 10 NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 10 STRATEGY & DIPLOMACY ENGAGINGWITH BANGLADESH PAGE 12 Security personnel keep vigil as people arrive to pay tribute to former Union minister S M Krishna at his residence in Bengaluru on Tuesday. PTI US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump Monday nominated Indian-American Harmeet K Dhillon (54), who had accused India of sending “death squads to target North America Sikhs”, asAssistantAttorneyGeneralfor CivilRights at theDepartmentof IN A first for the Central Vista Redevelopment Project, the Union Government has opened bidding for two Common Central Secretariat (CCS) buildings that will not be designed by Bimal Patel's firm, Ahmedabadbased HCP Design — the architectbehind theproject's masterplan and several key buildings, including the new Parliament. OnNovember28,theCentral Public Works Department (CPWD)invitedtendersforthese twoCCSbuildings(6and7)tobe built at the old Vice-President's House site on Maulana Azad Road and Vigyan Bhawan Annexe. These will form part of the proposed Defence Enclave for officials of the Defence Ministry, DRDO, and the armed services currently spread across Central Vista. The tender’s site plan and drawings are signed by CPWD Chief ArchitectVijayPrakashRao CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IIT researchers take A foreign minister whose record a rare look inside speaks louder than his gaffes the foetal brain — one slice at a time SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 10 S M KRISHNA, the Minister of External Affairs between June 2009 and October 2012, was brought to the job in the second term of the UPA because of his wealth of experience. Krishna, credited with creating worldclassinfrastructurein Bengaluru during his stint as Karnataka S M KRISHNA 1932-2024 Lawyer who said India sending death squads is Trump pick for top post SHUBHAJIT ROY TendersinvitedforCentralSectt6,7;Govt preferscontractortobuild,dodesigndetail CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NC MP seeks signatures of members for impeachment motion against him NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 10 Two new buildings in Central Vista won’t have Patel’s design stamp than set in motion any parliamentary process. Unlikely to yield any result given that the Opposition does not have the numbers, if the motion is taken up in the House, and the ● opposition’sgrievancesare debated, it will be hard for Dhankhar to preside over those Uproar over Judge’s speech targeting minorities, SC seeks details from HC EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PROPOSED DEFENCE ENCLAVE E THE NOTICE given by Opposition INDIA bloc MPs Tuesday to move a no-confidence motion against Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar seems more to make a symbolic statement EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Dhillon to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Justice. In November last year, referringtoaFinancialTimesreporton theassassinationplotagainstpro- Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Dhillon had tweeted, “Like I said, India has sentdeathsquadstotargetNorth American Sikhs outspoken on civilandhumanrightsconditions in Punjab, both to Canada and nowtheUS.Willourgovernment do anything about it, or just pander endlessly over artificial DEI nonsense? Lives are at risk!” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Chief Minister, passed away on Tuesday at 92. Krishna who was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour last year, died of age-related ailments in Bengaluru around 2.45 am. Born on May 1, 1932, Krishna’spoliticaljourneybegan in the early 1960s when he won the Maddur Assembly seat as an Independentcandidateandlater CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GUJARAT 27-YEAR-OLD MAN STABBED TO DEATH DURING ROW OVER PARKING ISSUE IN SURAT: POLICE PAGE 3 ‘VOICES OF FORMER STUDENTS ALSO NEED TO BE HEARD’: ALUMNUS WRITES TO PANEL PROBING IIMA SUICIDE PAGE 4 ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 10 ON DECEMBER 10, researchers at IIT Madras unveiled a cuttingedge tool — a detailed 3D map of five developing foetal brains from the second trimester of pregnancy. This map — the most detailedhigh-resolution3Drepresentation of the foetal brain so far — provides cellular-level information between weeks 14 and 24, when the human brain undergoes rapid growth in size and complexity. CalledDHARINI,the brainatlas, developed by the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras, is the largest of its kind and is the only one that has capturedthedevelopingbrainat such an early stage. The IIT researchers used advanced technology to visualise 5,000 brain slices and mapped more than HOW BRAIN ATLAS WAS CREATED ■ IIT Madras researchers used brains of five stillborns in second trimester ■ The brains were frozen and thinly sliced using complex robotic instrumentation ■ These slices were then stained, microscopically imaged in detail ■ The digitised images were put together to create a 3D map — offering rare insight into inside of a foetal brain 500 brain regions — a vital freeto-access information that is CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 36 yrs after it changed teaching of law, NLSIU opens doors to liberal arts PAGE 1 ANCHOR SANATH K PRASAD BENGALURU, DECEMBER 10 THIRTY-SIX YEARS ago, the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru adopted a game-changing legal education programme in the formof afive-yearBA.LLBcourse which transformed legal education in India. However, with the launchof a three-yearBA (Hons) programme from 2025, the institution is now diversifying its academic portfolio with non-legal programmes. Whiletheseinitiativesaimto transformNLSIUintoamultidisciplinary university, they have raised eyebrows over whether the institution is overstretching its reach and drifting away from its founding principle of being a pioneering legal institution. Since its inception in 1988, the NLSIU has adopted the fiveyear integrated BA.LLB programme conceptualised by N R MadhavaMenon,whoisconsidered the father of modern legal education in the country. The programme’s interdisciplinary approach, combining law with humanities and social sciences, has been a benchmark for legal education, inspiring other law schools across India. However, with an evolving higher education landscape and increasingcompetitionfromprivate universities, the NLSIU is now seeking to redefine itself as a multidisciplinary university as part of its expansion plans. In fact, the Karnataka government has agreed to provide additional seven acres of land in the Jnanabharati campus of Bangalore University to NLSIU for a period of 30 years on lease rent basis at Rs 50,000 per acre per annum. Currently, NLSIU is The National Law School of India University in Bengaluru functioning in a 23-acre campus inside the BU campus. The NLS BA is designed to include a common core series of foundational courses jointly offered to all first-year students across the BA and BA.LLB programmes; option of selecting a major-minor track or a double major track in the disciplines of History, Sociology and Anthropology, Politics, Economics; learning a selection of Indianlanguages;andpractice courses in areas such as AI and Machine Learning, Filmmaking, Business Consulting, User Experience Research, Digital Journalism, Creative Writing, Entrepreneurship, Policy Advocacy and Analysis. NLSIU Vice-Chancellor Sudhir Krishnaswamy said that while the institution made attempts to modify and reshape the curriculum over the years, the changes have not been comprehensive. “The BA programme in India has traditionally been seen as a generalist degree. Unfortunately, this has often led to weaker academic and graduate outcomes in someuniversities.Whilethereare somenotablesuccesses–suchas strong honours programmes at Centraluniversitiesandafewprivate universities offering innova- tive, specialised BA programmes –theoverallmodelhasstruggled,” Krishnaswamy said. “AtNLS,weaimtoreposition theBAasahighlyaspirationaldegree, accessible through a public institution. We are not replicating existing models like those of Delhi University or private universities. Instead we are designing a programme that is responsive to contemporary needs and skill sets and professionally oriented with the demands of the 21st century,” he said. Dr Mohan Gopal, former Director of the National Judicial Academy,saidthattransforming CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad