DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES Government of india Scan for more information Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee e Hamara Sankalp CBC 22201/13/0205/2324 THE WORLD ISRAEL SEES DAILY LOSSES IN GAZA; U.S., U.K. BOMB HOUTHIS AGAIN CHINA ASSURES PAK SUPPORT TO DEFEND SOVEREIGNTY AFTER IRAN’S AIRSTRIKES PAGE 10 After meeting top Union govt officials, Bengal govt hopeful of early release of pending funds ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, JANUARY 23 NEARLY A month after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the pending Central funds to the state under various centrally-sponsored schemes, six senior officials of the West Bengal government met Union government officers in New Delhi on Tuesday. After the meeting, senior officials of the West Bengal governmenttoldTheIndianExpress that they were hopeful of a resolution and early release of the funds to the state. For over a year, the TMC government in West Bengal has accused the BJP government at the Centreof withholdingthestate’s share of funds under various schemes, including MGNREGA (ruraljobguaranteescheme)and PM Awas Yojana (PMAY). Last week,stategovernmentofficials said the Centre has been withholding Rs 7,000 crore funds under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for allegedly not adhering to “branding standards” that include the display of the logo and a photograph of the Prime Minister at ration shops. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WEST BENGAL Viksit Bharat CM takes stock; system being put in place to have a holding area for crowd, says DGP BJP BID TO BLUNT JD(U)-RJD SOCIAL JUSTICE PITCH Bharat Ratna for ex-Bihar CM, ‘Jan Nayak’ Karpoori Thakur MAULSHREE SETH PATNA, NEW DELHI, JAN 23 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AYODHYA, JANUARY 23 A crowd at the main gateway leading to the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday. Vishal Srivastav also at the temple and could be seen trying to ensure a smooth flow of pilgrims. At 4.40 pm, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached the temple town. He first did an aerial survey of the crowd from a helicopter and then reached the temple to take stock. “Exercise restraint and cooperate, Ram Lalla will give darshan to everyone,” the CM said in an appeal to pilgrims. He also called senior police and administrative officers and held a review of crowd management efforts on the premises. The administration, on the instructions of the CM, will increase barricading, officials said. Later, Director General of Police Vijay Kumar said, “A system is being put in place to have CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Behind the move SANTOSH SINGH & VIKAS PATHAK SOCIALIST ICON and Bihar’s former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur has been awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced Tuesday. The BJP-led Centre’s decision to confer the country’s highest civilianhonouronThakurcomes at a time when Bihar is Karpoori Thakur. Archive OUR GOVT WALKED ON HIS PATH BY NARENDRA MODI PAGE 6 BY EVOKING former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur just months before the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has sought to counter the Opposition's caste census pitch, and made a direct appeal to the non-Yadav OBC politics that Nitish Kumar has come to represent. Two days after communal clash, 15 shops demolished in Mumbai suburb ZEESHAN SHAIKH, VIJAY KUMAR YADAV & SIVA GANESH MUMBAI, JANUARY 23 TWO DAYS after a clash broke out between members of two communitiesinMiraBhayander, a city in Maharashtra’s Thane district, the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation used bulldozers Tuesday afternoon to After the demolitions at Mira Road in Thane district on Tuesday. Sankhadeep Banerjee demolish about 15 structures in the Muslim-dominated Haidary Chowk area in Mira Road. Thepolicepickedup15more persons Tuesday, in addition to 13 who were held the previous day. Of these 13, nine were arrested; four were minors. On Sunday night, a group passing by in vehicles with saffron flags and chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, was stopped by some CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Army deploys more troops, steps up surveillance in Rajouri-Poonch AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, JANUARY 23 THE ARMY has significantly ramped up its troop strength in the Rajouri-Poonch sector and heightened surveillance of the area in the wake of multiple attacks on its personnel in the last three years, officials told The Indian Express. The latest measures — after threemajorattacksonIndiansecurity forces in the region last Security forces patrol an area in Poonch. File year — stall the earlier plan to reduce the strength of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) battalions from six to four companies. RR is the counter-terrorism force deployed in J&K. According to sources, over three brigades of additional troops are being inducted in the sector from various reserve and strike corps formations. A brigade comprises approximately 3,500 personnel. The additional deployment CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rahul, others booked over scuffle after police stop yatra in Assam GUWAHATI, JANUARY 23 PAGE 3 1 lakh 25 thousand PM Kisan Samriddhi Kendras developed as one stop shop; Farmers are getting modern facilities and information close to home Five lakh visitors and counting: On Day 1, rush for ‘first darshan’ SUKRITA BARUAH CM TARGETS CENTRE FOR NOT PROBING NETAJI’S DEATH WILL SKIP IF TMC JOINS RAHUL YATRA: CPM’S MOHD SALIM Prosperity of farmers DAY AFTER CONSECRATION, RAM TEMPLE OPENS TO PUBLIC AYODHYAWOKE up on Tuesday morning to a sea of people at the gates of the Ram temple, with queues beginning to form as earlyas3am.Thelargerthananticipated crowd prompted the administration to hold urgent meetings and the Chief Minister to personally pay a visit. By evening, around 5 lakh peoplehadpaidobeisancetothe Ram idol, a day after the consecration ceremony. Around 8,000 security personnel have been deployed to manage the rush. On Day 1, PrincipalSecretary(Home)Sanjay PrasadandDirectorGeneral(Law andOrder)PrashantKumarwere `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 AN FIR was registered against RahulGandhiandotherCongress leadersonTuesdayafterascuffle brokeoutbetweenpeopletaking partintheBharatJodoNyayYatra andAssamPolicewhentheyatra tried to enter Guwahati city. Several people were injured, including Congress’s Assam chief Bhupen Borah. “With reference to wanton acts of violence, provocation, Rahul Gandhi in Guwahati on Tuesday. PTI damage to public property and assaultonpolicepersonneltoday byCongressmembers,anFIRhas been registered against Rahul Gandhi,KCVenugopal,Kanhaiya Kumar and other individuals,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa SarmasaidinapostonX.TheFIR was filed under several IPC sections, including those dealing withcriminalconspiracy,unlawful assembly, and rioting. Sarma had earlier said that he instructed police to register a case against Rahul Gandhi for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 9 chemo rounds and 5 yrs later, boy fights back cancer, meets his hero — Salman PAGE 1 ANCHOR RUPSA CHAKRABORTY MUMBAI, JANUARY 23 ASHElayinbedatMumbai’sTata Memorial Centre in 2018, weak afteraroundof chemotherapyto treatatumourthathadrendered himvisuallyimpaired,Jaganbeer, 4, refused to believe that actor Salman Khan was sitting next to him,onhishospitalbed.Untilhe ran his little fingers first over the actor's chiselled face and then, Khan's bracelet. Jaganbeer, 9, with Salman Khan at the actor’s bungalow in Bandra, Mumbai, in December last year. Tata Hospital During their 30-minute meeting, Salman made Jaganbeerapromise:theywould meet again if he fought cancer like a champion. Five years later, both Salman and Jaganbeer kept their word. Inaheartwarmingreunionat the actor’s Bandra house in Decemberlastyear,Jaganbeer,9, laid his eyes on Salman for the first time after he was declared cancer-free following nine rounds of chemotherapy and four of radiation. His mother Sukhbir Kaur, 42, said Jaganbeer was a little over three years old when he lost his CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata