DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 GROUND REPORTS SOUGHT BY JUNE 25 116 144 179 74 Met office downgrades June rainfall forecast to ‘below normal’ ANJALI MARAR BENGALURU, JUNE 18 Constitution, quota impact, Govt’s role: Questions in BJP’s UP poll post mortem Review to cover all Lok Sabha seats in state barring Varanasi and Lucknow LALMANI VERMA NEW DELHI, JUNE 18 HOW WELL-CONNECTED were candidates with the public? What was the impact of the Constitution and reservation issues on the campaign? Did deci- Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan felicitates Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Tuesday. UP Governor Anandiben Patel, CM Yogi Adityanath were also present. PTI THEINDIAMeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) Tuesday downgradeditsJunerainfallprediction forthecountryto“belownormal”. “The average June rainfall for the country as a whole is most likely to be below normal, that is less than 92 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) which is 166.9 mm,” the IMD said in its monthly rainfall update. Normally, the Met department issues the monthly rainfall prediction at the start of every month.Seenasadeparturefrom norm, the IMD Tuesday retracted its original rainfall forecastwithin20daysof therelease of the second stage Long Range Forecast on May 27. Last month, the IMD had said thecountrywouldreceivenormal CLIMATE GOODSTART,THEN ADRYSPELL PAGE 13 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE CHANDIGARH, JUNE 18 EXTRADITION FROM PRAGUE Footage released by Czech police shows Pannun plot accused Nikhil Gupta being extradited from Prague to the US Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to charges in a New York court. PTI Wary after LS poll defeat, Maharashtra govt stalls Nagpur-Goa highway project ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, JUNE 18 DAYSAFTERtheLokSabhadefeat inseatsalongtheproposedroute and amid protests from farmers, the Maharashtra government is said to have put on hold work on the 802-km greenfield highway project connecting Nagpur to GoauntiltheAssemblyelections laterthisyear.Theprojectisestimated to cost the state exchequer Rs 80,000 crore. “We have received reports that farmers and individuals affected by the projectare protesting in every district... It has been conveyed to the administration tonotacquirelandforatleastthe BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Farmers stage a demonstration against the Shaktipeeth Highway project in Kolhapur on Tuesday. PTI next 3-4 months. After the Assembly elections (in October), thenewgovernmentwilldecide on the fate of this project,” a senior government functionary related to the project told The Indian Express. The project was first announcedinSeptember2022.The bids for appointing a consultant for the feasibility study was floated in October 2022 and the bid was awarded in early 2023. The Budget for 2023-24 approved funding for the project. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which was asked to execute the project, had conducted a feasibility study and issued a notification of section 15(2) regarding land acquisition for the expressway. The e-way proposes to connectPavnarinWardhadistrictin Nagpur division to Patradevi in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 11 HOUSES DEMOLISHED IN MADHYA PRADESH Bulldozers came after police: ‘Homes where beef was found demolished’ ANAND MOHAN J MANDLA (MP), JUNE 18 ELEVEN DEMOLISHED homes, and 16 that are yet untouched, paint a picture of contrast at a neighbourhood in Bhainswahi village, in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district. Thehomeswererazedbyau- thorities on June 15 after police, in an operation targeting cattle smuggling, said they had found beef inside fridges, animal hides in sacks, and bones in pickup trucks there. While authorities maintain the 11 structures were built on government land, 16 homes in the same neighbourhood — which authorities acknowledge are also illegal but where beef was not recovered — are still standing. “We demolished the homes where beef was found and left the others alone for now. Which homes to demolish is not part of our protocol. It is decided by the revenue department. We were taking action against cattle smugglers. Leather companies CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Fringes to Olympics via French Open door: How journeyman Balaji got his lucky break PAGE 1 ANCHOR NAMIT KUMAR NEW DELHI, JUNE 18 EARLIER THIS month, Sriram Balaji, the World No. 62 and the third-highest-rankedIndiandoublestennisplayer,arrivedinParis uncertain if he was playing the FrenchOpenatall.Typicallyfickle Parisian weather meant there wereenoughwithdrawalsbysingles players in the doubles cate- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E Why the state ● matters UNDER ITS rule since 2017, UP with 80 seats in Lok Sabha was to take the BJP past the halfway mark. The poor showing there contributed to the party losing majority in the House. Defeats in Ayodhya (Faizabad) and Amethi have added to the BJP upset in the state. 10,000 cops transferred as Mann cracks down on Punjab drug mafia CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED sions of the government, the Centre and/or the state, play a role in a loss? These questions form part of a checklist prepared by the BJP to try and ascertain reasons for its debacle in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls. The party’s below-par performanceinthestatesawitstally of seats fall from 62 in 2019 to 33 this time while its vote share declined from 49.98% to 41.37%. The party will explore reasons why it lost so many constituencies and, except for Varanasi and Lucknow, also look E X P L A I NE D 19/06/2024 Sriram Balaji will partner Rohan Bopanna in Paris. Express goryforBalaji,alongsideMexican partner Miguel Reyes-Varela, to make it into the main draw. He would leave the French capital with three solid Grand Slammatchesunderhisbelt—his best-ever finish at a Major — and more importantly, ensuring his returntickettoParisnextmonth. Balaji has been picked by World No. 4 Rohan Bopanna to partner him in the men’s doubles category for the upcoming Paris Olympics, ousting the higher-ranked Yuki Bhambri to make it to his first Games. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN AN unprecedented move to crack down on the drug menace in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced Tuesday that at least 10,000 police personnel, from the rank of constable onward, have been transferred. He said more transfers are on the cards. Speaking to reporters after chairing a meeting attended among others by DGP Gaurav Yadav, Commissionersand SSPs, Mann said the transfers were made after he realised that drug peddlershadanexuswithpolice. He said several complaints hadgoneunheededand,insome cases, the accused had been let off evenbeforethecomplainants could return to their villages. “There is a nexus at the munshi level. The SHOs are accused of sitting in the same police station for 10-20 years. That is why I ordered en masse transfers. If a police officer is found to have some nexus, he will be immediately dismissed from service. In thenextsevendays,hisproperty will be confiscated and he will CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ROW OVER CONDUCT OF EXAMINATIONS Under fire on NEET, NTA to Govt: Patna, Godhra results show no unusual spike In Bihar & Gujarat, most under scanner got below 500 — not good for govt seat DEEKSHA TERI NEW DELHI, JUNE 18 UNDER FIRE over its conduct of the NEET examinations, the National TestingAgency(NTA)is learnt to have conveyed to the Education Ministry that examineesfromPatnaandGodhra,under scrutiny for benefitting from alleged irregularities, do not appeartohavehadanyunusualadvantage as per an analysis of their marks. Of the 13 candidates from Patna, who are under the Bihar Police scanner in their investigation into allegations of a paper leak, eight have scored less than 500 marks out of 720, The Indian Express haslearnt.Almost98%of thestudentswhoappearedfrom two exam centres in Godhra, which are being probed for manipulation of OMR sheets, have also scored less than 500 marks. To get a seat in a government medical college under the allIndia quota, a score of 650-plus of 720 is considered the norm. This analysis is part of the NTA’s note on the allegations regardingtheconductof NEET-UG this year, which the agency submittedtotheMinistrythisweek. The Union government, it is learned, will factor this in while preparingitsresponsebeforethe Supreme Court which will hear a batch of petitions on the conductof themedicalentrancetest on July 8. Sources said of the 13 Patna candidates,fourarefromgeneral category, eight from OBC category and one candidate’s details providedbytheBiharPolicedoes not match with NTA’s record. Of the 12 (five women and seven men), only four have got more than 500 marks and obtained more than 90 percentile in their results. Further, the bestperforming student of this lot CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK SIKKIM LANDSLIDES: 200 EVACUATED, 1,000 STRANDED BALASORE UNDER CURFEW AFTER CLASH PAGES 11, 12