DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Modi Sarkar ki Government of India Guarantee Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat TOTAL QUOTA IN STATE NOW 72% Assured income of ₹ 6,000 given to en farmers under PM Kisan every year ₹ 2 lakh 80 thousand crore given to 11.8 crore farmers till now Maharashtraclears10%Marathaquota, Shindesaysitwillsurvivethetestoflaw 112 140 Many states have gone beyond 50% limit, says CM Shinde 174 78 this is unlike 2 previous bids to provide quota ALOK DESHPANDE & VALLABH OZARKAR MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 20 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY THE MAHARASHTRA Assembly Tuesday unanimously passed a Bill granting 10 per cent reservation in education and jobs to the Maratha community. Chief MinisterEknathShinde presentedtheMaharashtraState Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Bill 2024, drafted on the basis of a Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission report that identifiedtheMarathasassocially and educationally backward. The principle of creamy layer OMKAR GOKHALE MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 20 Community members celebrate in Mumbai. Deepak Joshi willbeapplicableandreservation under this Act will be available CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FULL COVERAGE PAGE 4 NOW THAT the Maharashtra Assembly has unanimously passed a Bill to set aside 10% reservation for the Marathas under socially and educationally backward categories in jobs and education, the question on everyone's minds is, will it clear judicial scrutiny. RAVI DUTTA MISHRA PUNE, FEBRUARY 20 EXPRESS NETWORK NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 20 J&K’s first electric train during its flagging off ceremony at Srinagar railway station on Tuesday. PTI J&K gets its first electric train, PM says UT progressing on development track ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, FEBRUARY 20 PM Narendra Modi with J&K L-G Manoj Sinha and Union minister Jitendra Singh. PTI LAUNCHING THE Union Territory’s first electric train Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government removed Article 370 because it was the biggest hurdle in the making of a new Jammu and Kashmir which is “now making progress towards balanced development”. Addressing a large public rally at the M A Stadium, Modi said, “Look at the power of 370. Because (Article) 370 is gone, I ROURKELA, FEBRUARY 20 PAGE 7 have asked people of the country to give 370 seats to BJP (in the Lok Sabha elections) and over 400 seats to the NDA.” The Prime Minister, who laid foundation stones and inaugurated multiple projects worth over Rs 32,000 crore including CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Smiles are back: Officials promise land plot to hockey star Jyoti to build house MIHIR VASAVDA SONIA, NADDA, CHAVAN AND DEORA AMONG 41 ELECTED UNOPPOSED AS RAJYA SABHA MPS SWAMI PRASAD MAURYA QUITS SP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Indian team flies to London to seal FTA before poll code kicks in SUSHANT KULKARNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TheBillwasformulatedbased onareportof theJustice(retired) Sunil B Shukre-led Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission(MSBCC).However, at least two previous legislation extending quota to Marathashavefailedlegal challenge, which was the point on which the ● Oppositiontriedtopinthe Eknath Shinde-led government on Tuesday. E In biggest haul in Pune, police seize 1,700 kg mephedrone worth Rs 3k cr IN THE biggest-ever drug bust by PuneCitypolice,theCrimeBranch has seized around 1,700 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 3,000 croreinseveralraidsconductedat achemicalmanufacturingfactory in Daund taluka, two godowns in Pune’s Vishrantwadi and some shops in South Extension in New Delhi. The investigation has unearthed a sophisticated production line for the synthetic stimulant, operating from a chemical factory guised as a pharmaceutical unit at an industrial cluster in Kurkumbh in Daund. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar confirmed that total seizure till late on Tuesday night was around 1,700 kg with an approximate value of Rs 3,000 crore. Two more persons were arrested on Tuesday taking the total number of arrests in the case THE SMILES do not leave the faces of India's hockey striker Jyoti Chhetri, her parents and brother. Along with joy, there's an overwhelmingsense of relief. On the day The Indian Express reportedthatJyoti,whowaspart of the national team participating in the FIH League here, has beenfightingtoavertdemolition The Indian Express report published on Tuesday JANUARY 30 CHANDIGARH MAYORAL POLLS SC quashes Mayor election results, declares Cong-AAP Third time lucky? Why candidate winner EXPLAINED cbc 22201/13/0269/2324 REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES PAGE 1 ANCHOR ● of her house in Panposh, Rourkela, local government officials Tuesday visited the family andassuredthemof help.Taking a sympathetic view of the situation, the officials have promised them a plot of land where they can build a new house. Separately, the Odisha governmentannouncedacashprize of Rs 12.5 lakh for Jyoti and other players from the state who won laurelsat the recentlyconcluded CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AN INDIAN delegation headed by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal left for London Tuesday in a final effort to seal the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) before the dates for the 2024 general elections are announced. This comes four days after the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) reviewed the progress of the India-UK FTA talks being negotiated for the last two years. Thevisitiscrucialasdatesfor the general elections are expected to be announced in less than a month, triggering the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which will restrict the Union government’s ability to announce the deal. Efforts to close the deal this monthalsoassumessignificance because the UK is also headed to elections by the end of the year. Hectic parleys have been going on — a UK delegation visited India in January. “The signing of the India-UK FTA is still possible and the Commerce Secretary and other negotiators are headed for the UK. If substantial conclusion of the FTA is done, it can be announced and there are unlikely to be any amendments as the NDA government is expected to come back to power again,” a government official said. Earlier, The Indian Express, quoting a UK official, had reported that the deal can be signed in the next three weeks and that India needs to open up more as it is a high tariff country and the UK already is very open. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kejriwal thanks Supreme Court, says the verdict is first win for INDIA bloc ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 20 THE SUPREME Court Tuesday quashed and set aside the result of the January 30 mayoral polls for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporationinwhichthepresiding officer had named BJP’s ManojSonkarasthewinner,and insteaddeclaredKuldeepKumar, the AAP-Congress coalition candidate,asthevalidlyelectedcandidate. It also issued a show cause notice to Anil Masih, the presiding officer, on why steps should not be initiated against him under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud perused the ballot papers and said that the eightballotsonwhichMasihhad made a marking, and were later counted as invalid, were duly cast in favour of Kuldeep Kumar. Kumar had approached the Supreme Court against the outcome of the election. Terming the verdict as a win for the INDIA bloc, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “We thank the Supreme Court Notice to Anil Masih, poll Returning Officer, to show cause why action should not be taken against him. ANI for the verdict at a time in this country which is seeing dictatorship… This is the first win for the INDIA Alliance. Thanks to the verdict, we have snatched victory from their (the BJP's) jaws. This an answer for all those people who feel that the BJP cannot be defeated. It can be defeated using strategy, with planning and with hard work,” Kejriwal said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Punjab farmers march today, Govt calls for peace, more talks Tractors of farmers at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border in Patiala district on Tuesday. PTI KANCHAN VASDEV & JAGPREET SINGH CHANDIGARH, FEBRUARY 20 HARYANA AND Delhi braced for the march Wednesday by Punjab farmers seeking a minimum support price (MSP) guarantee. As farmer tractor trolley numbers swelled at the PunjabHaryana border points despite the High Court pointing out that tractor trolleys are not allowed onhighways,theHaryanapolice urged their Punjab counterparts to seize heavy earthmoving ma- chinery at the inter-state border and stop women, children and journalists at least a kilometre from the border. Sarvan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and one of the farm leaders who participated in talks with Union Ministers, demanded that the Prime Minister call a special session of Parliament to bring an MSP guarantee legislation. “The Centre can also announcethewaiverof debts.They can take the figure from the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sweet touch: As children fight cancer, 21 parents share food recipes RUPSA CHAKRABORTY MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 20 THREE-YEAR-OLDShreyanGhosh hasaserioussweettooth,butthe Bangladesh-basedboy’ssugarintake is restricted due to his ongoing battle with blood cancer in Chennai. Thanks to his ingenious motherDurgaraniGhosh,19,bitter gourd currently takes care of all his sweet cravings. Durgaranisuccessfullytransformed the universally disliked gourd into a sweet treat by com- bining Bangladeshi and South Indianrecipes.AtChennai-based Apollo Hospital for her son’s treatment, she says, “Since Shreyan enjoys sweets, I coated bitter gourd with jaggery. He eats it without complaints. The recipe takes care of both his sugar cravings and nutrition.” To ease challenges faced by caregivers whose children are sufferingfromcancer,21parents like Durgarani were brought together by an NGO from across India to share as many tasty but simpleandnutritiousvegetarian recipes, including raw mango parathas and black gram laddus, thattheirimmunocompromised children enjoy eating. All recipes in the 38-page book, titled Happy Healthy Meals and curated by NGO St Jude India ChildCare Centres, are packed with vitamins and antioxidants to help boost a child’s immunity for better illness resistance and quicker recovery from infections. The book can be downloaded free of cost from the NGO’s website. Each recipe in the book starts Durgarani Ghosh (left) and Supriya Shinde were among the contributors to the book Happy Healthy Meals with photos of a child and a parent, along with the story of how or why the dish was created. “This book showcases the remarkable creativity of parents navigatingthestressof caringfor achildwithcancer.Theserecipes are both delicious and nutritious,” says Dr Arpita Bhattacharyya, a senior consultant in the Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology at Kolkata-based Tata Medical Center. Like Durgarani, Solapur resident Supriya Shinde, 34, trans- formed yet another commonly disliked food — dalia (porridge) — into a sweet and delicious halwa for her daughter Dnyaneshwari Shinde, 8, who is undergoing treatment for cancer at Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Hospital. “The dalia, jaggery and dry fruitsmakethisrecipeextremely nutritious for mydaughter,”says Supriya. On why it’s important for cancer patients to eat homemade food during treatment, Dr Shripad Banavali, director, Academics, Tata Memorial Centre, said, “Avoiding outside food — with its unknown ingredients and potential contaminants — helps minimise the risk of infections and supports a child’s delicate immune system. Additionally, limiting sugar intake is vital since cancer cells often rely on glucose for their growth.” Childrenundergoingchemotherapyandradiotherapyaspart of their cancer treatment often suffer from loss of appetite, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2