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 THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 SURVEY OF EDUCATION 2023 Mostruralkids 14-18can’tdo Class3math, 25%can’tread 76 104 127 76 BUSINESS AS USUAL Almost 9 in 10 are in school, but 56.7% teens could not do simple division BY UNNY A REPORT CARD FROM THE CLASSROOM THE PREVIEW % of children who can do everyday calculations Time Weights The Ram temple in Ayodhya Wednesday ahead of the consecration ceremony on January 22. The new idol of Ram Lalla was brought to the premises and will be placed in the sanctum sanctorum on Thursday. The existing idol was also taken to the premises and returned to the makeshift temple. Vishal Srivastav THE WORLD Not far from Ram temple, 21 young men train hard as they compete to become its priests MAULSHREE SETH AYODHYA, JANUARY 17 PAKISTAN WARNS OF CONSEQUENCES AFTER IRAN ATTACK PAGE 12 EXPRESS NETWORK SHOULD WIN ALL BOOTHS, THEN WE CAN WIN KERALA, SAYS MODI PAGE 6 IN A hall 700 metres from the Ramtempleunderconstruction, awayfromthenoiseof thestreets of Ayodhya, 21 youths, all under the age of 30, are training hard – and competing – to become Archaks, priests of the temple of the Lord at his janmabhoomi. These young Archaks, who have been chosen after a rigorous selection process that involved sifting through some 2,700 applications from differ- ent parts of the country, get up before dawn breaks – between 3.30 am and 4 am – and prepare for the day’s training, chanting mantras for hours, learning the intricacies of worshipping Ram as per traditions of the Ramanandi sect of the Vaishnavs. In the bitter cold, the 21 young men sleep on a chatai spread on the floor of a big hall with some blankets and quilts for cover. It’s a strict schedule, one that sees them being trained in pronunciation of mantras, knowl- RAM MANDIR AYODHYA THE INAUGURATION 4 DAYS TO GO edge of shastra, character building, yoga asanas. “We get up around 4 am to prepare food for these students as they have to be ready for their training. They begin their day with yoga and exercises, after which the training starts around 7 am and continues until noon. After a break, the classes start again,” said a staff member, workingfortheseArchaks,asthe studentstookasmallnapduring the break. According to the staff member, many of these trainees are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FULL COVERAGE PAGE 7 HC orders SIT of CBI, Bengal Police to probe attack on ED officials Heartbreaking, will keep it going, says think tank head Yamini Aiyar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, JANUARY 17 RITU SARIN NEW DELHI, JANUARY 17 A WEEK after the Centre for Policy Research received a final order cancelling its licence under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), its president Yamini Aiyar has said its funding had been “choked”, its staff strengthwasnow“skeletal’’ and programming is down to a bare “minimum”. The CPR, established in 1973 andoneof thecountry’spremier public policy think tanks, has seen its fortunes reversed since September 2022 when it was subjected to a survey by the Income Tax (IT) Department. Sincethen,CPR,whichworks with several state Governments and Central Ministries, has had its income tax exemption status cancelled and its FCRA licence (throughwhichitreceives75%of its funding) first suspended and on January 10, finally revoked. The cancellation of the IT exemption has been currently stayed by the Delhi High Court and Aiyar said the organisation was “examining all options and recourses”forthelossof itsFCRA licence too. Speaking to The Indian Express,Aiyardescribedhersituation, asthe currenthead of CPR, as “beleaguered but confident” and said that in comparison to March 2023, the think tank’s staff strength was down from 150 people to just 20. “There is little funding and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DOMESTIC EQUITIES indices, SensexandNifty,plungedover2 per cent Wednesday — sharpest since June 2022 — dragged by HDFC Bank, which witnessed heavysellingafteritsthird-quarter results disappointed investors, and global cues. A comment from a senior US FederalReserveofficialthatinter- The correction comes after a sharp rally over the past few days. Besides the HDFC Bank-led selling pressure in banking stocks, the statement by a Fed official indicating that it could delay rate cuts spooked markets. estratecutsneedtobecalibrated, and not rushed, weighed on investors’ sentiments as it dampened hopes of early rate cuts by the American central bank. The BSE’s 30-share Sensex plunged 1,628.01 points, or 2.23 per cent to settle at 71,500.76. The NSE’s Nifty 50 fell 460.35 points, or 2.09 per cent to close at 21,571.95. HDFC Bank contributed to around 60 per cent fall in the Sensex and 30 per cent CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Scribble on suicide note turns out tree census code, helps solve murder case MOHAMED THAVER MUMBAI, JANUARY 17 “L01-501”—NaviMumbaiPolice racked their brains over for several weeks over the code before realisingthatitwasatreecensus number, using which on Tuesday they tracked the body of a 19-year-old girl who was Vaibhav Burungale and Vaishnavi Babar murdered on December 12. According to police, the girl, Vaishnavi Babar, was allegedly murdered by 24-year-old Vaibhav Burungale, with whom she was in a relationship earlier. The code was scribbled across the suicide note of Burungale who allegedly strangulated her with a zip tag and later died by CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 50.5 65.8 87.5 45.7 Female 41.1 45.4 82.1 33.3 42.0 All youth 45.4 54.8 84.6 39.0 48.4 KOLKATA, JANUARY 17 THE CALCUTTA High Court Wednesday ordered the formation of a special investigation team(SIT) comprising officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and West Bengal Police to probe the attack onEnforcementDirectorate(ED) officials in Sandeshkhali earlier this month. On January 5, ED officers and central forces were attacked by a mob when they went to the house of Shahjahan Sheikh, a TMC Zila Parishad member from Ajunjipara, in connection with the agency’s investigation into alleged irregularities in West Bengal’s public distribution system (PDS). A single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta said the High Court will monitor the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 55.9 % of children at different arithmetic levels on the ASER test Arithmetic level Male Female All Division 45.0 41.8 43.3 Subtraction 20.2 21.6 21.0 Number recognition* 34.8 36.6 35.8 *(11-99 or below) NEW DELHI, JANUARY 17 Market falls sharpest in 19 months FCRA licence scrapped, on Fed signals, HDFC Bank results CPR says its funding After a sharp rally choked, staff ‘skeletal’ ‘STAFF DOWN FROM 150 TO 20’ Male R RADHIKA TEMPLE IS ‘FLOOD, QUAKE RESISTANT’ ‘1st KAR SEVAK’: ADM WHO BLOCKED CM Length Length Unitary (easy) (hard) method MORE THAN half of 14- to 18year-old children in rural India cannotsolveasimplethree-digit division problem that's usually taught in Class 3-4 and struggle with everyday skills, including determining time and doing basic calculations, shows the latest edition of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Wednesday. The findings point to a huge skill deficit among adolescents, many of them only a few years away from entering the job market. The 2023 report reveals that children in India continue to struggle with basic reading and arithmetic skills well into their teenage years, even after reaching Class 10 and higher secondary levels of education (Classes 11 and 12). Overall, of those aged 14-18, a quarter (26.5%) could not read a Class 2-level textbook in their CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORTS PAGES 4, 10, 11 BMC khichdi scam: ED arrests Suraj Chavan, close aide of Aaditya VIJAY KUMAR YADAV MUMBAI, JANUARY 17 THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate (ED) on Wednesday night arrested Yuva Sena leader Suraj Chavan, a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, in theBrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC)khichdiscam involving irregularities worth around Rs 6.7 crore. According to ED sources, Chavan was suspected to have been involved in financial irregularities worth Rs 1 crore linked to distribution of “khichdi” to migrant workers during the Covid19pandemic.Theproceedsof the crimeisallegedlylinkedtoChavan. Since he failed to explain this and didnotcooperateintheprobe,he Suraj Chavan was placed under arrest, agency sourcestoldTheIndianExpress. Chavan would be produced in the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday. ED’s money laundering case against Chavan, and others are based on an FIR filed in September 2023 by the EconomicOffencesWing(EOW) of the Mumbai Police. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 At debris of their demolished homes, Delhi schoolchildren pick up the pieces PAGE 1 ANCHOR ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND & TASHI TOBGYAL NEW DELHI, JANUARY 17 ON TUESDAY afternoon after school, class 5 student Arfan fished out a black plastic cricket bat from underneath the debris of homes that were demolished nearly two months back. Still wearing the green jacket-grey trousers uniform of Delhi Public School (DPS) Mathura Road, he swung it around, trying to hit some of the broken bricks and tiles. The partly broken bat, said Arfan, possibly belongs to a neighbour whose demolished home is near the rubble of his own residence. Both houses were among nearly 300 structures next to DPS Mathura Road thatwerepulleddowninan“encroachment” removal exercise ordered by the Land and Development Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on November 21. The demolition followed a Delhi High Court order, which heldthattheslumclusterdidnot exist before January 1, 2006, and was,therefore,notprotectedunder existing rules. The Central Public Works Department and Municipal Corporation of Delhi were ordered toprovidethemachinery for the exercise. The demolition was part of other similar drives across Delhi, including in Trilokpuri, Khajoori Khas, Narela, Aya Nagar, Green Park and Sadar Bazar. Among the things lost in the rubble were some of his term Afran and Nancy read a textbook amid the remains of their demolished homes on Mathura Road. Tashi Tobgyal books, said Arfan, whose father is a car mechanic. “A friend in school helps me out now.” On that Tuesday afternoon, Arfan was among several children playing on the precarious pile of rubble, all of them in dusty school uniforms. In addition to DPS Mathura Road, these childrenattendSarvodayaKanya Vidyalaya (SKV) Pandara Road, SKV Jangpura and Satyawati Sood Arya Girls Senior Secondary School. The adults, meanwhile, were tryingtodigoutbelongingsfrom under the debris, or simply sit- ting around with neighbours and family members. “On the way back from school, we come and sit here till it gets colder in the evening, and then leave. They play here for some time, and because of the demolished material they are tearingtheiruniformordestroying their shoes,” said Mumtaz Abbasi,30,whosedaughter,Ziya, studies in class7 atDPSMathura Road. Land and Development Officer, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Suvashish Das, said: “A demolition/eviction drive... was done with the approval of the competent authority, in pursuance of contempt cases and orders passed by the Delhi High Court.” He said the Delhi High Court had directed the L&DO on August23,2023, toimmediately remove the unauthorised construction and encroachment at the government land in question. He said the court, in its orderonOctober19,2023,referred to the order of a Division Bench onFebruary2,2019thatdirected the government to remove the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2