DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2024, LUCKNOW,LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Guarantee Government of india भारत सरकार nts India accounts for 46% of global digital payments Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat cbc 22201/13/0266/2324 Modi Sarkar ki Digital India strengthening the economy Scan for more information At 5.1% in Jan, IN CUSTODY SINCE AUG 2022; HANDED DEATH PENALTY, LATER COMMUTED retail inflation at 3-month low; factory output at 3.8% in Dec NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 12 RETAIL INFLATION slipped to a three-month low of 5.1 per cent inJanuaryprimarilyduetolower food prices after having risen to a four-month high in December, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Monday showed. Separately released data by the NSO showed that the factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), rose to 3.8 per cent in December from 2.4 per cent in the previous month, but was lower than 5.1 per cent in the year-ago period. Theretailinflationrate,based on Consumer Price Index (Combined), slowed in January after having risen for the previous two months. While it marked the 52nd month of retail inflation staying above the 4 per cent mark in the 4+/- 2 per cent band of medium-term inflation target set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the core inflation—non-food,non-fuelsegment — fell to a 50-month low of 3.6 per cent in January. Economists said the continued fall in core inflation indicated that RBI’s monetary policy tightening is having an impact CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD ISRAEL RESCUES TWO HOSTAGES IN GAZA RAID IMRAN’S PARTY SAYS IT WILL SIT IN OPPOSITION PAGE 8 7 have returned, appreciate Emir’s decision to enable release: Govt Families got news once men had boarded flight home, say ‘grateful to PM’ Talks inconclusive, SHUBHAJIT ROY RITIKA CHOPRA & SHAJU PHILIP Barricades being put up at Delhi’s Ghazipur border on Monday. Praveen Khanna FARMPROTEST2.0,EXPLAINED,P13 NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 12 MORE THAN three months after they were sentenced to death, eight former Indian Navy personnel have been released from custody in Qatar and seven have returned to India. This was announced by the Ministryof ExternalAffairsinthe early hours of Monday. Hours later, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said Prime NEW DELHI, KOCHI, FEB 12 Some of the former Indian Navy personnel after their arrival in New Delhi early Monday. PTI Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Qatar on February 14 and meet Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, after com- pleting his visit to the UAE that starts Tuesday. Relieved families hailed the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FAMILY MEMBERS of the eight former Indian Navy personnel, in Qatari custody since August 2022, were informed of their release by the Indian government late Sunday after they had boarded flights to return home. Of the eight, only Commander Purnendu Tiwari, whose CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 1 ANCHOR The road via Doha WHILE THE release of the eight men and the PM’s decision to travel to Doha underline the behind-the-scenes effort, it also charts the course for a new chapter in IndiaQatar relations, more so because Doha is a key player in the Middle East. Four linked to firm that issued illegal halal tags held: UP STF ALOK DESHPANDE MANISH SAHU AMIT SHARMA MEERUT, FEBRUARY 12 MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 12 IN ANOTHER setback to the CongressinMaharashtra,former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan quitthepartyonMondayandresigned as MLA too. Amid speculation that he would join the BJP, Chavan said he had not taken any decision yet. This is the third big exit from the state Congress unit in less than a month. Last month, former Union minister Milind Deora quit the party to join the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Last week, former Congress MLA Baba Siddique joined the NCP led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. AICC in-charge for Maharashtra Congress, Ramesh Chavan after resigning from the Congress, in Mumbai on Monday. Sankhadeep Banerjee Chennithala, has called an urgent meeting of all senior party leaders in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon. The party fears that a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE REPORTS PAGE 8 USINESS AS PATNA, FEBRUARY 12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ● Ashok Chavan latest No one in UP now dares to quit Cong, says no to engineer riots, says call yet on joining BJP Yogi in Muzaffarnagar CHIEF MINISTER Yogi Adityanath on Monday asserted that no one dared to engineer Muzaffarnagar-like riots in Uttar Pradesh since the BJP formed government in the state in 2017. Inaugurating the 'Gram ParikramaYatra'fromShukratal, a place of pilgrimage in Muzaffarnagar district, the CM claimed that their party's double-engine government at the Centre and in the state fulfilled the centuries-old dream of the people of the country by constructing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The CM highlighted that the 'Gram Parikrama Yatra', led by BJP Kisan Morcha, is centered around nine resolutions of wa- LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 12 UPCMYogiAdityanath in Muzaffarnagar onMonday. Express ter conservation, digital payments, cleanliness drives, vocal for local and domestic tourism, organic farming, promoting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Easy win for Nitish as three RJD MLAs, Haldwani: Police station ‘missing’ JD(U) MLAs surface on his side to come up at site, accused told to pay Rs 2.44 crore SANTOSH SINGH B U THREERJDMLAscrossed overto the NDA while five absent JD(U) MLAs turned up with just a few minutes to go for voting, helping Chief Minister NitishKumarwin the trust vote easily on Monday with 129 votes in his favour. There was no vote against, as the Opposition walked out before the voting. The NDA's tally stood at 130, E EXPLAINED AANCHAL MAGAZINE Qatar frees eight former Indian Navy men, PM will go to Doha tomorrow SUAL BY UNNY AVANEESH MISHRA HALDWANI, FEBRUARY 12 UTTARAKHAND CHIEF Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Mondayannouncedthatapolice stationwouldbebuiltatthespot in Nainital’s Haldwani city where the demolition of a mosque and a madrasa, which authorities said were built on governmentland,ledtoviolence Bihar CM Nitish Kumar outside the Assembly in Patna on Monday. ANI Clear message from our govt: CM Dhami in which five people were killed and several injured. Themainaccusedinthecase, AbdulMalik,wasservedanotice CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE THAN two months after an FIR was registered against threecompaniesforallegedlyissuing “illegal halal certificates” for products sold in Uttar Pradesh, the Special Task Force (STF)of theUPPoliceonMonday arrested four persons linked to the one of the three firms Mumbai-based Halal Council of India - named in the FIR. The UP government had transferred the investigation from the Lucknow Police to the STF. The STF identified the arrested persons as Halal Council of India president, Maulana Habib Yusuf Patel, its vice-president Maulana Moidsheer Sapadia, general secretary MohammadTahir Zakir Hussain Chauhan and treasurer Mohammad Anwar. The police claimed to have recovered PAN cards,Aadhaarcards,debitcards, phones and cash from their possession. S Anand, Deputy Inspector General, UP STF, said the arrests were made after the four persons were questioned at its office in Lucknow. All four are residents of Mumbai, police said. According to the police, the accused told them that the firm had provided 'halal certificates' to several companies. Police CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 RELATED REPORT PAGE 9 Punjab farmers to set out for Delhi today Consensus on some issues, others need permanent resolution: Minister Munda KANCHAN VASDEV CHANDIGARH, FEBRUARY 12 TWOYEARSaftertheyforcedthe Centre to repeal three farm laws before ending their year-long protestatDelhi’sborders,Punjab farmer unions announced late Monday night that farmers would set out for the Capital at 10 am Tuesday to press their demands,includingalegalguarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops. The decision to march to Delhi – ‘Dilli Chalo’ – was taken after marathon talks in Chandigarh remained inconclu- sive, the farmer unions said. SamyuktaKisanMorcha(nonpolitical) convenor Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher were amongthosepresentatthemeeting with Union Food and ConsumerAffairsMinisterPiyush Goyal,AgricultureMinisterArjun Munda and officials. Ahead of the talks, police in Haryana and Delhi barricaded roads leading to the Capital and deployed personnel to stop the march. Emerging from the meeting, Dallewal said, “No decision was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RLD confirms: Will join NDA, injustice in INDIA bloc, our pride at stake LALMANI VERMA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 12 ENDING SPECULATION, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief and Rajya Sabha MP Jayant Chaudhary on Monday confirmed that his party would join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Speaking to reporters at the party office here, after paying tribute to his father and party founder Ajit Singh on his birth anniversary, Chaudhary said: “I havespokentoallmypartyMLAs andworkers,andhavetakenthis decision after speaking to them. There has been no big planning behind the decision, it is not likewe had decided it much earlier.” The RLD is a key player in western Uttar Pradesh politics. “We had to take this decision in a short period of time, considering the situation. Our intentions are good... we want to do goodforourpeopleandcountry. We are overwhelmed that the BharatRatnahasbeenconferred (on Chaudhary Charan Singh),” said Chaudhary, who is the grandson of Charan Singh. RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary On February 9, respondingto Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of the Bharat Ratna for Charan Singh, Chaudhary had posted on 'X': “Dil jeet liya”. Asked then if he was joining hands with the BJP, hehadsaid,“Dekhiyekoikasarrehti hai? Aaj mai kis muh se inkaar karoon aapke iss sawal ko?” (Is there anything left? With which face can I deny this question today?). Confirming his party's decision to join the NDA, RLD national spokesperson Mohammad Islam told The Indian Express on Monday: “This is final. A formal announcement will be made in a couple of days because our MLAs too have to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 It’s sunny side up when solar physicists unites to bust myths ANJALI MARAR BENGALURU, FEBRUARY 12 WHILE RELOCATING from Finland’s University of Helsinki to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for her second post-doctoral studies in January 2023, solar physicist Anshu Kumari, 32, felt the absence of a support group within the scientific community when she needed help with a software. The challenges she faced sowed the seeds of the Indian Network for Dynamical and Unified Solar (INDUS) Physicists in her mind. Starting with a humble WhatsApp group, team INDUS launched a website on August 15 last year. Their online presence has only grown since then. The voluntary initiative is led by Indian researchers pursuing PhD, postdoctoral studies and young scientists working in the field of solar and heliosphericstudies who share common areas of research interests. The “open” nature of this space seeks to encourage young researchers to discuss their scientific requirements, look for guidance from domain experts or even request a senior fellow toholdtheirhandduringtheinitialdaysof their research.“There are occasions when budding re- searchers are not comfortable speaking to their guides about, say, a house, a source for specific scientific data or local logistics support.INDUSisaforumwhere they can open up within their community and seek help on any issue. Above all, it is a network of Indian solar physicists from around the world,” said Kumari. The solar physicist steers at least six active working groups of INDUS that handle distinct roles, starting from website and graphics designing, newsletter and website content creation, scouting for regular updates fromthefieldtoupdatingthejob database, networking, coordi- Around 50 INDUS members met recently at the 42nd meet of the Astronomical Society of India in Bengaluru. INDUS nating mentorship activities, organising online seminars and routinghelpwheneverrequired. INDUS currently has 215 mem- bers spread across 21 countries and three continents. As researchers of the Sun who are inspired by the star itself, INDUS is alive round the clock, with its members operating from five different time zones. Team membersconstantlyupdateand monitor the website content for the community. Though they havemostlybeeninteractingonline for the past six months, around 50 team members met recently for the first time at the 42nd meet of the Astronomical Society of India in Bengaluru. To smoothen the path for young researchers, the forum also provides mentorship to budding solar physicists. During herpost-graduationdays,Ketaki Deshpande, now a third-year PhD student at KU Leuven, a research university in Belgium, worked closely with Kumari, who also taught two other undergraduate students online for 1.5 years and even introduced them to solar physics. Her heart fills with pride to see the growing number of womensolarphysicistssinceshe entered the field a decade ago. “When I started my integrated M.Tech-PhD programme at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in 2013, I was the only woman researcher in the four institutes working at the Gauribidanur RadioObservatory in Bengaluru. But now, within a decade, nearly 60 per cent of INDUS members are women solar physicists. A welcome trend indeed,” said Kumari, who is currently a postdoctoralprogrammefellowwho works with scientist Nat Gopalswamy at NASA’s Solar Physics Laboratory, GFSC. Once a mentor-mentee pair is registered at INDUS, the team holds virtual discussions on research topics and ways to get research started, among others. Since not all researchers are experienced in public speaking or presenting their works as oral or posterpresentationsatseminars orconferences, INDUS organises hour-long monthly seminars. “These monthly seminars allow researchers to gain the experienceof facinganaudience,albeit CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow