eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Bon Bibi’s Fables KOLKATA,LATECITY FEBRUARY25,2024 The forest goddess of the Sunderbans has solutions to avert climate disaster 12+4PAGES,`7.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM INSIDE UTTAR PRADESH CANCELS POLICE RECRUITMENT EXAM AFTER PROTESTS SANDESHKHALI: PROTESTS SPREAD TO 2 MORE VILLAGES PAGES 3, 5 BJPSLAMSTMCGOVT HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE SURVEY 2022-23 In 11 years, rural consumption spend rises more sharply than urban; share on food falls AveragemonthlyruralspendRs3,773; averagemonthlyurbanspendRs6,459 AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 24 THE DIFFERENCE in average monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) between rural and urban households has narrowed to 71.2 per cent in 2022-23 compared with 83.9 per cent in 2011-12, according to the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey(HCES)2022-23released Saturday by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). Thissuggestsruralconsumption spending has risen more thanurbanconsumptionspend- ALL-INDIA TREND IN LEVEL OF CONSUMPTION Average Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE) 1999-00 2011-12 Rural ` 486 ` 1,430 ` 3,773 Urban ` 855 ` 2,630 ` 6,459 *Difference as % 75.9 83.9 71.2 *of Rural MPCE ingduringthe11yearperiod.The survey report does reveal that AIIMS opening by PM today; Cong and AAP seal LS pact in Delhi, Bengal pollution board claims ‘no Gujarat, Haryana, Goa, Chandigarh Cong gives up Bharuch, Patel’s daughter apologises to cadre green nod’ yet EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 rural average monthly consumption spending per person CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Violence rocks Imphal, 1 dead in blast at university EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE IMPHAL, FEBRUARY 24 A BLAST and a series of arson incidents, in which a school was among several buildings torched, took place in different parts of Imphal on Friday night. One person was killed and another was injured in the blast at KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 24 A DAY before All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) Kalyani is to be inaugurated virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with four other AIIMS in the country, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) Saturday claimed that the facility is yet to get environmental clearance. The BJP, however, claimed that TMC government in West Bengal is “creating roadblocks for political purposes.” “A project bigger than 20,000 sq m requires environment clearance (EC) as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)," WBPCB chairman Kalyan Rudra said duringapressconferenceat 2022-23 increased to Rs 3,773 per month in 2022-23 from Rs 1,430 per person in 2011-12, a jump of 164 per cent. This is higher than the 146 per cent increase in urban average monthly consumption expenditure per person to Rs 6,459 in 2022-23 compared with Rs 2,630 per person in 2011-12. While the Household Consumption Expenditure surveys are held in a gap of five Dhanamanjuri (DM) University. Accordingtosources,miscreants set off a grenade inside the All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU) office complex located inDMUniversityinImphalWest district. The incident took place at around 9 pm. In the blast, AMSU member Oinam Kenedy (24), from CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT URGES COOPERATIVES TO DIVERSIFY PM launches ‘world’s largest agri storage plan’; Rs 1.25 lakh cr outlay over 5 years Will enable farmers to store and sell at right time, avail loans from banks VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 24 AT A TIME when farmers in Punjab are demanding a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price for 23 crops and trying to march towards Delhi, Prime MinisterNarendraModiSaturday announced a plan to set up the “world’slargestgrainstorageplan in the cooperative sector”. Inaugurating a pilot project being undertaken in 11 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in 11 states under the largest grain storage plan, Modi said farmers incurred losses due to lack of storage infrastructure. “Earlier governments never focused on storage of agricultural CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA E Co-ops, the new ● engine THE GOVERNMENT seems to be increasingly emphasising the role of cooperatives in agricultural marketing and storage. This is reflected in the creation of a fullfledged Ministry of Cooperation under Amit Shah and routing of nonbasmati rice and sugar exports on government account through the newly-registered National Cooperative Exports Ltd. PAGE2 AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi and Sandeep Pathak with Congress leaders Mukul Wasnik, Deepak Babaria and Arvinder Singh Lovely in Delhi on Saturday. Praveen Khanna JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 24 INDIA BLOC partners Congress and AAP announced Saturday a seat-sharing agreement in Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Goa and Chandigarh for the Lok Sabha polls. The two parties sealed the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HOW MANY SEATS THEY CONTESTED: 2019 vs 2024 DELHI: 7 SEATS GUJARAT: 26 SEATS 2019 Cong: 7 AAP: 7 2019 Cong: 26 2024 Cong: 3 AAP: 4 2024 Cong: 24 AAP: 2 AAP: 0 HARYANA: 10 SEATS GOA: 2 SEATS 2019 Cong: 10 AAP: 3 2019 Cong: 2 AAP: 2 2024 Cong: 9 AAP: 1 2024 Cong: 2 AAP: 0 CHANDIGARH: 1 2019: Cong:1 AAP: 1 2024:Cong:1AAP:0 ‘Can Opp politics address Govt clipped powers of aspirations expressed by IIM Board, rejected Niti Modi with national pride?’ advice against doing so Politicsof hopehastoaddressspiritual sourcesthatmovepeople:Sandel NitisaidBoardmustbeabletoorderprobe, GovtputBoardunderVisitor(President) UDBHAV SETH RITIKA CHOPRA A POLITICS of hope can’t just be about “technocratic” things and the economy, but has to address the“deepestculturalandspiritual sources that move people,” that fueltheirangerandresentments but also their aspirations, said Michael Sandel, one of the world’s foremost political philosophers,speakingatExpress Adda Friday. “For the most part, mainstream,liberal,elitetechnocratic WHEN THE Union Government amended the law last August to erode the autonomy of the 20 Indian Institutes of Management, by giving primacy to itself over the IIM Board, not only did it go against its own stand, it also rejected feedback from Niti Aayog that had advised against doing so, The Indian Express has learnt. Early last year, when the Education Ministry was finalis- NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 24 NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 24 politics,” Sandel said, “over the last four or five decades has had CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ing amendments to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Act, the NITI Aayog, in a note to the Education Ministry in March 2023, cautioned against stripping the IIM Boards of all consequential powers, including a crucial one — the ability to initiate inquiries against the institute. NITI Aayog, the apex public policy think tank of the Union government, urged the Education Ministry in its comments to retain Section 17 of the Act. This section empowers the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 On India trip, Spanish hockey legend lives a special feeling: ‘It is my daughter’s home’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR MIHIR VASAVDA ROURKELA, FEBRUARY 24 SHE LIVED in an orphanage for four years after she was found abandoned at a railway station in Delhi, aged just two. Now 12, Saumya Escarré García-Solera is livingahappylifewithheradoptive parents in Spain, even harbouring a dream to play hockey. Why not? For, it was a Saumya Escarré plays hockey in Alicante, Spain; (right) with her parents, Juan and Gracia, and sister Martina. Juan Escarré Spanish hockey legend who scripted this turnaround in the young Indian child’s life. Juan Escarré, 54, who competedforSpaininthreeSummer Olympics, besides the Champions Trophy as well as the EuropeanNationsCup,callshimself a South Asian hockey tragic. Itwasin1996thathefirstvisited India as a player and “it felt like a pilgrimage”.Thenin2005,when hereturnedwithhiswife,he“fell in love with the country”. This time, however, here as theSpanishmen’shockeyteam’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata