DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Should not call any disputed structure a mosque, says UP CM Adityanath EARLIER, MOST SENIOR EC WAS DEFAULT CHOICE TO SUCCEED CEC 98 126 155 72 THE EDITORIAL PAGE MY FRIEND MANMOHAN By JAGDISH BHAGWATI PAGE 14 THE WORLD HUSH MONEY CASE: TRUMP SPARED JAIL, FINE PAGE 18 Inafirst,selectionprocessfornextChief ElectionCommissionercastswidernet As per new law, panel of five to be sent to committee of PM, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Minister DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10 TRADITIONALLY, the successor to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) has been the next senior most Election Commissioner.Forthefirsttime, as per the Chief Election Commissioner And Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service And Term of Office) Act, 2023, the net can be cast wider. Current CEC Rajiv Kumar demitsofficeonFebruary18.The Election Commission comprises the CEC and two election commissioners — Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu at present. GyaneshKumarcouldstillbe in contention but according to Sections 6 and 7 of the Act, the Ministry of Law will set up a Search Committee chaired by the Law Minister to prepare a panel of five names for the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee, comprising the Prime Minister, E EXPLAINED 11/01/2025 CEC Rajiv Kumar with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. File a Cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, can select from this Break from ● tradition? WHEN THE Election Commission is under scrutiny, the new law gives the Government the space to break from tradition. With the Leader of Opposition on the panel, a debate over who is next is not ruled out. panelorconsider“anyotherperson” from outside. Section 6 of the Act specifies thisprocessfortheappointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. Even as Gyanesh Kumar remains a potential candidate for the top post, the Act gives the selection committee the option of consideringnamesfromoutside the Election Commission. This comes against the backdrop of the EC facing the heat CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PM: World trusts us, for peace... I tell Russia & Ukraine, Israel & Palestine VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10 Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the podcast. PTI dent Xi, during a courtesy call, said to me he wished to come to India,traveltoGujarat,Vadnagar in particular. I said he was most welcome. He said we share a special connection.” ModiquotedXiastellinghim that the Chinese scholar Hiuen Tsang, when he travelled to India, stayed for long in his village Vadnagar and in Xi’s village when he returned to China. For the first time in several years, he spoke of the Godhra train burning incident and the criticism that followed the Gujarat riots in 2002. Responding to a question on howhedealtwithanxiety,herecalled the 2002 incidents. “On February24,2002,Ifirstbecame MLA. On February 27, I went to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ECONOMY PAGE 17 THE LAST year, 2024, has become the first year to breach the 1.5 degree Celsius warming mark, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Friday. Average annual global temperature in 2024, based on data from six different datasets, A Vande Bharat Express train, designed to operate in J&K’s winter conditions, at the Shakurbasti depot in New Delhi on Friday. The 272-km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project will connect the Valley to the rail network. Praveen Khanna Amid Lt Governor-Omar rift, J&K remains without Advocate General ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, JANUARY 10 FOR OVER two months now, Jammu and Kashmir has been without an Advocate General, with the impasse between the LieutenantGovernor’sofficeand OmarAbdullah-ledgovernment that is reportedly holding up the appointment showing no signs of a resolution. Hearingapetitionagainstthe new J&K reservation policy last month, the Jammu and Kashmir J&K L-G Manoj Sinha with CM Omar Abdullah. File and Ladakh High Court had expressedconcernoverthematter, and issued a notice to the Union Territory. was 1.55 degree Celsius higher than pre-industrial times (average of 1850-1900 period), it said. One of these datasets, from Copernicus Climate Change Service run by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, found the warmingtobe1.6degreeCelsius higherthanpre-industriallevels. 2024 now overtakes 2023 as the warmest year ever recorded. As per norm, following the swearing-in of the National Conference-led government on October 18 last year, the existing AdvocateGeneral,DCRaina,had submitted his resignation. He wasappointedtothepostbyformer L-G Girish Chandra Murmu on November 1, 2019, a day after J&Kofficiallyceasedtobeastate. However, when Raina called on Omar Abdullah after his resignation, the Chief Minister asked him to continue in office. Since there was no official ALOK SINGH NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10 INSIDE THE Delhi Police’s old security unit at Central Delhi’s Vinay Marg is a graveyard of sorts for vehicles used by the forceovertheyears.Inthecrowd of rusted cars are Delhi Police’s last two Ambassadors which, after years of lying idle, are set to be auctioned, The Indian Express has learnt. CM Yogi Adityanath in Prayagraj on Friday. ANI waali ibaadat Khuda ko bhi manzoor nahi hoti hai. Islam me upasana ke liye structure ki zaroorat nahi hai, jab ki yeh Sanatan Dharma me hai,” he said. (“Any disputed structure should not be called a mosque. The day we stop calling it a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The two vehicles were deployedinthesecurityunitbefore they were damaged in separate accidents at Mandir Marg and DelhiCantonmentinearly2000. Oneof theaccidentshadclaimed the life of a Delhi Police officer. Due to court hearings and legal procedures, the auction of both vehicles was delayed, a police source said, adding, “They are now ready for auction after receiving necessary permission from the respective courts — Patiala and Saket.” Besides being in bad shape duetotheaccidents,thetwocars have long surpassed their oper- PAGE 13 Jai Jawan asbeinglocatedinacornerof the Hari Mandir. Hindus and Muslims have beenlockedinadisputeoverthe mosque, with the former claiming that the Mughal-era mosque was built after destroying a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JAI JAWAN JAI KISAN ” Jai Kisan BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 2023wasrecordedtobe1.45degree Celsius warmer than preindustrial times. WMO said each of the six datasets it had used had put 2024 as the warmest year ever, but not all of them recorded the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi nd pays homage to the 2 Prime Minister of India Bharat Ratna CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED PAGE 11 Condemned vehicles at Delhi Police yard. Alok Singh EXPRESS NETWORK FAMILY OF FIVE KILLED IN MEERUT The Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, UP. File CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Long after the ignition turned off, Delhi Police’s last two Ambassadors are set to be auctioned PAGE 1 ANCHOR THERE WILL be no worship or holy bath at the well near the ShahiJamaMasjidinSambhalin Uttar Pradesh. OnFriday,theSupremeCourt stayed the execution of a “notice”, purportedly issued by Sambhal municipal authorities, regarding the well. It sought a status report in two weeks even as the UP government contended that the well was situated on government land. This, after the mosque management committee said that the notice, a public poster which bore the name of the Sambhal Nagar Palika, referred to the well ON TRACK FOR J&K 2024 was hottest year ever, breached 1.5 degree Celsius warming threshold NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10 KUMBH AMID A series of templemosque disputes, with several suits pending before various courts, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday that any disputed structure should not be called a mosque. “Kisi bhi vivadit dhaanche ko masjid nahi bolna chahiye. Hum jis din masjid bolna bandh kar denge, uss din log jaana bhi bandh kar denge. Waise bhi yeh Islam ke sidhhanto ke khilaaf hai ki kisi ki bhi aastha ko thais pahuncha kar wahan masjid-numa dhaancha khada kar diya ho, aise sthaan par kisi prakaar ki hone NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10 AMITABH SINHA The LUCKNOW , JANUARY 10 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE ” ” BIG PICTURE BHUPENDRA PANDEY SC orders status quo in row over well at Sambhal mosque, calls for report in 2 weeks ‘My tagline is nation first... willing to leave old things and accept new ones’ UNDERLINING THAT “the world trusts us because there is no duplicity in us”, Prime Minister NarendraModisaidFridaywhile “we are not neutral… I will cooperateineveryeffort”forpeace, be it between “Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine”. In a conversation with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamat, Modi said India’s standing in the world had increased because of its actions. “The world trusts us because there is no duplicity in us. What we say is clear. We repeatedly said we are not neutral. I am in favour of peace, and I will cooperate in every effort for it. I tell this to Russia and Ukraine, Israel andPalestine.Ourcredibilityhas increased because of this. The world thinks that India says what it believes.” “InAbuDhabi,whenIwanted a temple for Hindus, I got it from the Crown Prince in a moment. What a happy moment this was for crores of Hindus,” he said. He recalled how Chinese President Xi Jinping once told him that they shared a “special connection”. He said when he became Prime Minister in 2014, “Presi- Those who claim Kumbh area as Waqf land will face denting, painting: CM ational tenure of six-and-a-half years. The lifespan of a petrol- or diesel-run four-wheeler in the Delhi Police is either 1.5 lakh kilometres or six-and-a-half years, whichever comes first, a police officer said. One of the cars was bought for Rs 1.53 lakh in 1994, and the other for Rs 3.20 lakh in 1999. After they became defunct, the vehicles were stationed at Mandir Marg and Delhi Cantonment police stations, before being brought to the security wing during court hearings. Manufactured by Hindustan CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri (October 02, 1904 - January 11, 1966) on his 59th Punyatithi "The basic idea of governance, as I see it, is to hold the society together so that it can develop and march towards certain goals" Lal Bahadur Shastri ^^esjh le> ls ç'kklu dk ewy fopkj ;g gS fd lekt dks ,dtqV j[kk tk;s rkfd og fodkl dj lds vkSj vius y{;ksa dh rjQ c<+ lds** yky cgknqj 'kkL=h LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, DELHI Plot No. 11/7, Sector - 11, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075 Phone : 011-25307700 | Email : director@Lbsim.ac.in www.Lbsim.ac.in