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 THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 13 ARRESTS IN BIHAR, 5 IN GUJARAT OVER NEET 20/06/2024 AsNEETreachesShah table,NETcancelled, hitting9lakhstudents 116 144 179 74 Government suspects malpractice in test for PhD, teaching job aspirants ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 ‘Muslims don’t vote for me either’: Giriraj backs JD(U) MP Strategy to weaken Sanatan: Singh SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JUNE 19 A DAY after JD(U)’s Sitamarhi MP Devesh Chandra Thakur said he wouldnotdoanyworkforYadavs and Muslims since they did not vote for him in the Lok Sabha polls, Union Minister and BJP’s Begusarai MP Giriraj Singh backedThakurandsaidMuslims don’t vote for him either. He also said that the collective decision by Muslims not to vote for a particular party is aimed at “weakening Sanatan”. “Thakurhasspokenabouthis heart’s emotions (dil ki bhavna). Heispainedbecauseathishome – he was an MLC for many years –therewaschand,crossandOm (referring to religious symbols). Hewouldworkforeveryone.His heart broke,” said Singh, the Uniontextilesminister,Tuesday. “Iseethistoo–mujhebhiMusalman nahin vote deta (Muslims CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW NALANDA Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ruins of the ancient university at Nalanda in Bihar Wednesday. Inaugurating the new Nalanda University campus, he said it should be the centre of India’s identity with ‘perennial flow of knowledge’. PTI PAGES10,11 Sonia-Nehru effect: PM museum won’t accept pvt papers with secrecy terms DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 WITH CONGRESS leader Sonia Gandhi reclaiming boxes of papers from Jawaharlal Nehru’s private collection in 2008 (donatedbytheGandhifamily),and alsobarringaccesstoseveralsets of these papers, the Prime Ministers Museum & Library (PMML) has now decided that it will not permit future donors of private papers of eminent per- BY UNNY sonalities to impose indefinite conditions on the declassifica- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE DALAI LAMA’S LEGACY WILL LIVE FOREVER: PELOSI ASSAM FLOOD SITUATION WORSENS PAGES 10, 7 BIHAR DY CM CLAIMS NEET ACCUSED IS LINKED TO TEJASHWI AIDE, RJD HITS BACK RITIKA CHOPRA lakh for those “resorting to unfairmeansandoffences”,would, in all likelihood, be applicable to this exam, said sources. Theministry'sdecisioncame as a surprise to senior officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA),whichconductsUGC-NET on behalf of the UGC and is alreadyunderfireforallegedirregularities in the conduct of the NEET undergraduate exam, the single-window test for admissionstoallMBBSprogrammesin the country. Infact,Tuesdayevening,UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar tweeted that the NTA had “successfully conducted UGC-NET June 2024”. Kumar did not respond to calls Wednesday night. According to the ministry statement,theadverseinputson UGC-NETwerereceivedfromthe National Cybercrime Threat AnalyticsUnitof theIndianCyber Crime Coordination Centre ASTHEOppositionandtheCentre face off over NEET-UG with the Congress calling for nationwide protests on June 21, the issue reached the highest levels of the government with Union Home Minister Amit Shah calling a meetingwithEducationMinister DharmendraPradhanandHealth Minister J P Nadda on Thursday. In the meeting, attended also by a representative from the Prime Minister’s Office, Shah heard out the positions of stakeholders, including the National Testing Agency, over the allegations of irregularities and a paper leak, a source told The Indian Express. The meeting at Shah’s residencelastedoveranhour,during which he was briefed on all FIRs registeredrelatedtotheNEET-UG exam, particularly in Bihar. Bihar has set up a special investigation team (SIT) of its economic offences unit (EOU) to probethe paper leakallegations. PAGE 7 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Sheltered militants and acted as IIT Bombay fines Finance says no to Health students up to Rs 1.2 L guide’: First arrest in Reasi attack request for $10-million fund to meet G20 pledge over ‘derogatory’ play Promising ‘unwavering support’, India on Lord Ram, Sita WHO-MANAGED GLOBAL DIGITAL INITIATIVE ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, JUNE 19 pledged seed fund for digital health HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, JUNE 19 BUSINESS AS USUAL Sonia took away boxes of Nehru papers in 2008 tion of such material. Goingforward,thePMMLwill permit a five-year embargo before accepting any new set of papersfromdonorsfromthedateof receipt, which at the most can go up to 10 years in some cases, The Indian Express has learnt. The PMML has also decided to go ahead and open up, on its own, sets of private collections lying in its custody for several decades, pertaining to first Lok Sabha Speaker G D Mavalankar, EXPRESS NETWORK THE MINISTRY of Education (MoE) announced late Wednesday night the cancellation of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), just a day after over 9 lakh candidates appeared for it across 317 cities, following inputs from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs that “the integrity of the examination may have been compromised”. With this decision, UGC-NET — key to finding an entry-level teaching job in Indian universities and also for admissions to PhD programmes — becomes the first centrally-conducted public examination to be scrapped after the Centre introducedanewanti-paperleaklaw. TheMoEalsoannouncedthat the investigation into the inputs of theexambeingcompromised is being handed over to the CBI, and information about the reexam will be shared separately. Passed in Parliament in February 2024, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, which provides for three to five years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 10 EXPRESS NETWORK Congress calls for nationwide protests over irregularities in NEET tomorrow THE GLOBAL Initiative on Digital Health(GIDH)waslaunchedasa “key deliverable” of India’s G20 Presidency during the Health Ministers’ meeting in Gujarat on August 19 last year in the run-up to the September 9-10 summit in New Delhi. It became part of the New Delhi declaration and India promised to make a $10million contribution to it as a seed fund. The GIDH kicked off formally on February 20, 2024 with then Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya joining the virtual launch event. But What is GDIH IT’S A WHO-managed network of agencies and its objectives include: assess and prioritise needs for sustainable digital health transformation; match digital health resources and unfunded priorities. India is yet to make its contribution of $10 million. Reason: the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PALLAVI SMART MUMBAI, JUNE 19 THE INDIAN Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has levied a fine of Rs 1.2 lakh — almost equal to a semester’s fee — ona studentwhoparticipated in a play titled “Raahovan” during the institute’s Performing Arts Festival held in March this year. The play, loosely based on the Ramayana, sparked protests from a section of students who alleged it was disrespectful to Hinduism and derogatory towards Ram and Sita. At least seven other students were penalised, but the nature of disciplinary action and quantum of fine, could not be ascer- tained. When asked by The Indian Express about the action taken by the institute, the IIT Bombay spokesperson refused to comment. Ranked highest among Indian institutions in the global QS rankings in 2025, IIT Bombay issued the ‘penalty’ notice on June 4 to the student. Prior to that, a disciplinary committee meeting was convened on May 8 to address complaints regardingtheplay.Thestudentinquestion participated in the meeting, andbasedon“deliberations”,the committeerecommendedpunitive measures. The notice said the Rs 1.20 lakh fine was due on July 20, 2024, at the office of the Dean of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THEJAMMUandKashmir police have arrested a “prime militant associate” in connection with the June 9 Reasi terror attack, in which a bus carrying pilgrims wastargeted,killingninepeople. This is the first arrest in the case. “A major breakthrough has been achieved in the case... pertainingtotheterroristattackona pilgrim bus which was coming from Shiv Khori on June 9. One terror associate, namely Hakam Din, 45, of Rajouri district has been arrested by J&K Police at Reasi. This person was involved inharbouringtheterroristsmultipletimes,alongwithproviding foodandshelter.Thesaidperson also acted as a guide and helped them reach the spot of the incident. The arrested person is a prime militant associate who helpedtheterroristsinexecution of the attack. Further interroga- Security forces during an encounter with militants in Hadipora area of Baramulla on Wednesday. PTI tionandinvestigationof thecase isgoingon,”saidSeniorSuperintendentof PoliceMohitaSharma. Police have so far found that three militants were involved in the attack. According to Sharma, Din told the police that the militants visited him thrice and each time,heprovidedthemfoodand shelter at his residence. A day before the Reasi attack, militants did the planning at his home, and Din allegedly took themtothespotonJune9,theSSP said, adding that nearly 150 people were detained as part of the police investigation into the case. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Family awaits closure as man and his excavator lie buried under 60 feet PAGE 1 ANCHOR SAGAR RAJPUT MUMBAI, JUNE 19 FORTHElast19days,Balchandra Yadav, 62, and his family of nine have been camping under a bridge in Maharashtra’s Palghar, hoping to see his son Rakesh Yadav – even if for the last time. Metres away, Rakesh, 35, and his excavator lie buried under 60 feet of mud and rubble. On May 29, Rakesh was working in a trench, excavating a tunnel shaft for a water supply project, when one of the four concrete walls supporting the trench collapsed, burying him and his eight-tonne excavator. Since then, a team of the National Disaster Relief Force, firemen from the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation and personnel of the Indian Army’s Pune-based 269 Engineer Regiment have been working to locate Rakesh. “As soon as we were informed about the accident, we packed everything and left our home in Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh),” says Balchandra, sitting on piles of concrete slabs near the accident spot with his (From left) Rakesh Yadav’s wife Sushila and her three children wait at the site; his father Balchandra; excavator operator Rakesh Yadav. Narendra Vaskar wife, daughter-in-law Sushila and her three children, besides other family members. Behind them stands an excavator, much like the one Rakesh operated for the last 15 years. Assumingitwouldbea short trip, the family packed a few pairs of clothes each before boarding a train from Azamgarh station on May 30. “For the first eight days, we stayed under the bridge, after which we were provided three rooms in a nearby hotel,” says Rakesh’sbrother-in-lawSantosh. Sushilasays,“Everymorning, we wake up and come here in the hope of seeing him. But at night, we return, hoping we will find him tomorrow.” She says that on May 29, Rakesh had called the family an hour before the accident. “He asked about me and our three children. It was the kind of call he made everyday, how would we have known it would be his last?” says Sushila. BalchandrasaysRakesh,who studied up to Class 12, couldn’t find a job in Azamgarh, so 15 years ago, he landed in Mumbai, where he learned to operate a JCB excavator. Rakesh had been working at thesiteontheMumbai-Ahmedabad highway, in Palghar’s Navghar area, where a tunnel water pipeline was being laid undertheMumbaiMetropolitan RegionDevelopmentAuthority’s (MMRDA) Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme. The project, subcontracted to Larsen & Toubro, is aimed at supplying water to approximately 16 lakh residentsof theMira-Bhayander municipal corporation and 27 other nearby villages. On May 29, Rakesh and his excavator were lowered into a 60-foot-deepshaftneartheVasai CONTINUED ON PAGE 2