● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 SEVENTH TIME REPO RATE UNCHANGED AT 6.5% 06/04/2024 143 171 214 60 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY RBI holds repo rate, says it’s waiting for inflation ‘elephant’ to walk away Bank retains FY25 projections for real GDP at 7%, inflation at 4.5%; projects an inflation dip in Q2 below 4% HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, APRIL 5 THE SIX-MEMBER Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Friday kept the repo rate — the rateatwhichRBIlendsmoneyto banks to meet their short-term funding needs — unchanged for MAHARASHTRA SC GRANTS BAIL TO SHOMA SEN IN ELGAR PARISHAD CASE P5 Congress govt in Telangana shuns BRS stand, wants to join PMAY-G A Revanth Reddy took over as the CM in Dec 2023 HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, APRIL 5 FOR THE first time, CongressruledTelangana hasshown willingness to implement the Pradhan Mantri Awas YojanaGramin (PMAY-G) from the financial year 2024-25. The state hassoughtapprovalfor1.57lakh housestobebuiltundertheNDA government's flagship rural housing scheme. The Telangana government hasexpresseditswillingnessina letter the state’s Principal Secretary of Department of Transport, Roads & Buildings sent to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Rural Development on March 16. The stance of the current Telangana government led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is contrary to that of the previous BRS government that never implemented the PMAY-G ever since its nation-wide rollout on April1,2016.Itwastheonlystate that did not join the scheme. In 2016-17,theCentrehadallocatedRs190croretoTelangana government with a target of 76,000 houses. However, the state government didnot implement the scheme. According to sources, the state governmentat that time did not want to follow the Centre’s guidelines. In its March 16 letter, the state government has informed CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 the seventh consecutive time at 6.5 per cent. It also indicated the possibility of retail inflation coming below the crucial level of four per cent in the second quarter (JulySeptember) of FY 2025 raising expectations of a rate cut this fiscal. The RBI last cut the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 per centin RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das with his deputies at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai, Friday. Pradip Das CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC stays order that 50% women quota in Central jobs, easing bail law: Cong in manifesto struck down UP Silences telling: On madrasa law: HC CAA, OPS, AFSPA misconstrued Act MANOJ C G Issues raised in appeals against order merit closer reflection: CJI-led bench ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, APRIL 5 THE SUPREME Court Friday stayed the Allahabad High Court order which had declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, “unconstitutional”onthegroundthatitviolated “the principle of secularism” and fundamental rights provided under Article 14 of the Constitution. Issuing notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a clutch of appeals against the March 22 High Court order, a three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala andManojMisra said, “We are of the view that the issuesraised inthe petitions merit closer reflection.” Staying the High Court order, thebenchsaidit“wouldimpinge on the future course of education of nearly 17 lakh students who are pursuing education in these institutions”. Fixing it for final hearing in the second week of July, the bench said“pendingthe hearing and final disposal of the petitions, the judgement and order of the High Court dated March 22 shall remain stayed”. The bench, which perused the provisions of the Act, said they “abundantly make it clear that the object and purpose of thestatutoryboardwhichisconstituted under the Act is regulatory in nature”. It said “the finding of the High Court that the very establishment of the board would amount to breach of the principles of secularism appears to conflate the concept of madrasa education with the regulatory CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, APRIL 5 FACING AN uphill electoral battle, the Congress Friday released its poll manifesto, announcing a bunch of promises to woo marginalised castes, such as raising the 50% cap on reservation for SC, ST and OBCs and reservation in private educational institutions, outlining steps to create jobs with the hope of striking a chord with the youth, and offeringcashdolestowomenbesides pledging to reserve 50% of central government jobs for them. Apartfromthepollpromises, the manifesto also reflected the party's calculated silences and nuancingoncertainpositionson which it had been vocal in the past. There was no mention of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which it had opposed vociferously, as also restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), which was its key poll plank in recent state elections. The party also refrained from advocating return to paper ballots. TheCongresshadcomeinfor It’s a do-or-die battle for democracy, defending the core of India: Stalin P7 ARUN JANARDHANAN CHENNAI, APRIL 5 AS TAMIL Nadu gears up to vote for the Lok Sabha elections in a fortnight,aspartof thefirstphase on April 19, Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is leading the INDIA blocinthestate,says:“Itfeelslike we are in the midst of a second struggleforIndependence.It'sall about defending the core of India: democracy, secularism and our pluralistic society, not to mentiontheprincipleof federalism... from what I would frankly call fascist forces.” In an interview with The IndianExpressathisChennaires- THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW M K STALIN CHIEF MINISTER, TAMIL NADU idence, the DMK chief said that if the BJP's main weapon is projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “a larger-than-life” persona, the Opposition has on its side “a strong team”. “Leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, (Arvind) Kejriwal, Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and Tejashwi Yadav, they are all initwithus.Weareunitedinthis fight, recognising the gravity of the moment... In the coming elections, a dynamic young leader like Rahul Gandhi is set to dismantle that cultivated image of ModiandthebroaderRSSnarrative,” Stalin said, calling it “a do-or-die battle for Indian democracy itself”. Referring to The Indian Express report on cases against Opposition leaders getting stalled or delayed after they moved to the BJP, Stalin said: CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pin code MH-1718 – in Antarctica, post office with Indian address PAGE 1 ANCHOR PAVNEET SINGH CHADHA PANAJI, APRIL 5 IN 1984, shortly after India’s first foray to Antarctica, its first post office on the icy continent was set up at Dakshi Gangotri — the nation’sfirstscientificbasethere. Within the first year, as many as 10,000lettersandmailhadbeen posted and ‘cancelled’ at the historic post office. And so began what officials describe as a “unique experiment”forIndia’spostalfraternity. Dakshin Gangotri submerged in ice in 1988-89 and was subse- May 2020 when the Covid pandemic raged across the country affecting the entire economy, leadingtoslowdownindemand, production cuts and job losses. Since then, the RBI has hiked the repo rate by 250 points to 6.50 per cent in order to tackle high inflation levelafter theepidemic subsided. Thecentralbankretainedthe FY25 projections for real GDP (gross domestic growth) at 7 per cent and consumer price-based inflation(CPI)at4.5percent.The RBI’s real GDP growth estimate Cancelled post from the Maitri North Goa research base quently decommissioned. On January 26, 1990, a post office branchwassetupatIndia’sMaitri research station on Antarctica. Since then, for more than 35 years, letters and postcards in blank envelopes are sent — mostly by philatelists, collectors and hobbyists — to the Maitri post office for ‘cancellation’. The impression, ‘Maitri North Goa’, from the Antarctic research base is a famed “collector’s item”. Almostfourdecadeslater,letters meant for Antarctica will now have a new PIN code, MH1718, with the Department of Postsopeningasecondbranchof thepostofficeonBharatiresearch station in Antarctica. The code currentlyassignedis“experimental”, which is the norm when a new branch begins, officials said. India’s two research bases on Antarctica — Maitri and Bharati — are located 3,000 km apart. Notably, both branches are part CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. Anil SHarma criticism from the BJP in 2019 when its manifesto promised to repeal the colonial-era sedition law and “review” the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and Disturbed Areas Act which empower and provide immunity to security forces in areas hit by insurgency and militancy. The party played safe and skirted both the issues this time. Incidentally, the Congress was critical of the BJP government when it passed three laws to replace the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act and made a claim that the sedition law has been repealed. “The removal of the lawonseditionwasameresymbolic gesture as it is replaced by a Clause 150 BNS which is much more tyrannical and colonial in its essence,” Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had written in his dissent note to the Parliamentary standing committee which went through the three Bills. The party’s promise in its manifesto that it will “enact a law on bail that will incorporate the principle that ‘bail is therule, jail is the exception’ in all criminal laws”, too, is significant since CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MAHARASHTRA COMMISSION REPORT Marathas are out of mainstream, drop in govt services, girl child marriage rising: Panel 2024commissionreportfindingsform partof stateaffidavitinBombayHC OMKAR GOKHALE MUMBAI, APRIL 5 UNDERLINING THE inadequate representation of the Marathas in all public service sectors and how the community has been “completely out of the mainstream”, the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC), led by retired Justice Sunil B Shukre, has found an “alarming” rise in the girl child marriage rate within the community, up from 0.32 per cent to 13.7 per cent in the last six years. It has also found that 43.76 per cent of Maratha women are involved in manual labour for a livelihood, and that representation of Marathas in government services has declined from 14.63 per cent in 2018 to 9 per cent in 2024. The contents of the MSBCC report form part of an affidavit filed by the State General Administration Department (GAD), through its Secretary Sumant N Bhange, in response to a clutch of petitions challenging the 10 per cent reservation granted to Marathas under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) category in jobs and education. The challenge to the SEBC Act, 2024, which was based on the recommendations of the Shukre Commission, is likely to be heard April 10 by the Bombay High Court. In2018, thepreviousMSBCC, headed by retired Justice M G Gaikwad, had found that the girl child marriage rate was 0.32 per E E X P L A I NE D DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA What panel ● found ■ Decreasing representation in govt services ■ Increase in BPL households, landlessness ■ Living conditions worsening ■ Caste-related inferiority, occupational stigma ■ Rising superstitious practices ■ Increase in farmer suicide, girl child marriage cent. In the 2024 survey report, this rate was 13.7 per cent. The 2024 report has also pointed out that the girl child marriage rate among the Marathas was higher than that in the open category (7.07 per cent). The male child marriage report among Marathas stands at 11. 69 per cent while it is 14.79 per cent in the open category. The Gaikwad Commission’s 2018 2018 was based on a survey of 43,629 families, from two villages of each of 355 talukas with more than 50 per cent Maratha population. TheShukreCommissionsurveyed 1,58,20,264 families across the state on a “massive scale” and found that Marathas constituted 28 per cent of the state’s population. The 2024 report also revealed that 43.76 per cent of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD ISRAEL CLEARS EREZ REOPENING, USE OF ASHDOD PORT FOR AID INTO GAZA PAGE 16