DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES JOURNALISM OF COURAGE GROUND REPORTS SOUGHT BY JUNE 25 Met office downgrades June rainfall forecast to ‘below normal’ BENGALURU, JUNE 18 THE INDIA Meteorological Department (IMD) Tuesday downgradeditsJunerainfallpredictionforthecountryto“below normal”. “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. Lastmonth,theIMDhadsaid the country would receive normalrainfallinJune,whichwould be 92-108 per cent of the LPA. “Below normal rainfall is likely over Central, Northwest and some areas of Northeast India in June,” the updated forecast stated. Being the monsoon onset month,Junecontributestoabout 15 per cent of the country's seasonalrainfall.Normally,thesouthwest monsoon covers the entire countryaroundJuly15.However, it is the rainfall during July and August, each contributing 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 CLIMATE GOOD START, THEN A DRY SPELL PAGE 10 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. Gita lessons in morning assembly mandatory for 600+ Ahmedabad schools RITU SHARMA AHMEDABAD, JUNE 18 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 EXPLAINED ANJALI MARAR `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 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 MONTHS AFTER a resolution to make Bhagavad Gita a part of the curriculum in government schools was introduced in the Gujarat Assembly, more than 600 schools in Ahmedabad are set to take the first steps in imparting lessons from the Hindu scripture, which is a part of epic Mahabharata. Video lessons – basedonshlokasfromGita–will beamandatorypartofthemorning assembly at these schools from this week, said officials. Gujarat Education Minister Praful Pansheriya Tuesday launched a project titled ‘Vidyarthi Jeevan Pathdarshak Banshe ShreemadBhagwadGita’ (Srimad Bhagavad Gita will become a guide to student life) at an event inAhmedabad.Thelaunchof the project comes after Pansheriya – earlier this year on February 7 – had presented a resolution in the Assembly during the Budget Session to make Bhagavad Gita a partofcurriculumingovernment schoolsfromclassesVItoXIIfrom June. The resolution was passed withoutopposition.Thenewacademic session at schools commenced on June 13. 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 NationalTestingAgency(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 11 HOUSES DEMOLISHED IN MANDLA DISTRICT VILLAGE IN MADHYA PRADESH Bulldozers came the day after police: ‘We demolished homes where beef was found’ 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. Thehomeswererazedbyauthorities 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 neighbour- BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY ‘No one wants to help because they fear their homes may be next’: Sultana Qureshi (above) with her family. Anand Mohan J hood — 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 inJabalpurwhichboughtanimal hidesandlocaltribalpeoplewho boughtcowmeatfromthisgang willbeinvestigated.TheNSAwill be invoked against five accused who are repeat offenders,” said Inder Baldev, SHO of Nainpur CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Wary after LS defeat, BJP-Sena 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 project are protesting in every district... It has been conveyed to the administration tonotacquirelandforatleastthe 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 announced in September 2022. The bids for appointing a consultant for the feasibility study 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- 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 Ahmedabad