eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE THE ARTIST AT HOME & EVERYWHERE AHMEDABAD,LATECITY JUNE23,2024 KG Subramanyan’s influences were as diverse as his oeuvre 14+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA PRAJWAL BROTHER SURAJ REVANNA BOOKED IN SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE INDIA BLOC MPs TO PULL OUT OF PANEL ASSISTING PRO TEM SPEAKER MAHTAB PAGES 8, 9 GUJARAT RAJKOT FIRE CHIEF, DEPUTY ARRESTED IN TRP GAME ZONE BLAZECASE PAGE4 CBI TO PROBE ‘IRREGULARITIES’ IN CONDUCTING NEET-UG NTAchiefmovedout,Govtsetsuppanel underISROex-chieftoplanexamreforms Latest: NEET-PG on June 23 put on hold, affecting 2 lakh students Bihar probe puts on record to Centre: clear suggestion of NEET-UG paper leak ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND, RITIKA CHOPRA & ANONNA DUTT SANTOSH SINGH NEW DELHI, JUNE 22 HOURS AFTER it announced an expert committee to recommend a roadmap for examination reforms and review the structure and functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA), the UniongovernmentSaturday removedSubodhKumarSinghas NTA chief and put him on “compulsorywait”intheDepartment of Personnel and Training. This decision came even as anotherexamination—NEETPG scheduled on June 23 — was put Mahant loses security after heated exchange with Ayodhya DM over BJP poll defeat BHUPENDRA PANDEY & LALMANI VERMA LUCKNOW, NEW DELHI, JUNE 22 A POLICE security gunner provided to Mahant Raju Das, head priest of the revered Hanuman Garhi temple in Ayodhya, was withdrawnafterhehadaheated exchange Friday night with the District MagistrateovertheBJP’s electoral defeat in the temple town parliamentary constituency of Faizabad. Mahant Das showed up at a review meeting called by UP cabinet ministers Surya Pratap Shahi and Jaiveer Singh and blamed the district administration’s recent actions for the BJP’s defeat in Faizabad. This led to an exchange of words with District PATNA, JUNE 22 Hanuman Garhi’s head priest Mahant Raju Das Magistrate Nitish Kumar. On Saturday, Mahant Das said he told people at the meeting that party workers alone should not be held responsible forthedefeatof theBJP–itstwoterm MP Lallu Singh lost to SP’s Awadhesh Prasad – because the district administration was equally at fault. AccordingtotheMahant,the district administration served noticestothepeopleof Ayodhya, directing them to vacate properties (for redevelopment works), CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NTA chief Subodh Kumar Singh removed from post. PTI onhold,affectingapproximately 2 lakh candidates. And the Education Ministry, in a late-night announcement, stated that the CBI, which is CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN ITS report submitted to the Centre on Saturday, the Bihar government’s Economic OffencesUnit(EOU)hassaidthat its probe “clearly suggests a paper leak” in the NEET-UG examination, The Indian Express has learnt. The Centre had sought a report from the EOU, which took over the probe following the arrest of 13 people, including four examinees, soon after the exam onMay5.TheEOUteamisledby additionaldirectorgeneralof po- A NEET protest in Guwahati on Saturday. ANI lice N H Khan. "Our report to the education department broadly mentions three points – clear suggestion of a paper leak based on evidence so far, probable involve- ment of an inter-state gang, and suspected role of Bihar's notorious ‘solvers gang’,” sources told The Indian Express. This is in line with what The Indian Express had reported earlier. “We have been working on some contacts we have received inthecourseof ourinvestigation, which is very much suggestive of a paper leak,” Khan had told The Indian Express. The six-page EOU report to the Centre says that the seizure of burnt remains of the purported question paper’s photocopy, interrogation and confessionalstatementsof theaccused, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MODI, HASINA FLAG ‘FUTURISTIC VISION’ Delhi, Dhaka set new ball rolling on economy, trade, strategic ties Talkstobeginoneconomicpartnership; agreementon medicale-visa,expertteamonTeesta,rangeof partnerships SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JUNE 22 INDIA AND Bangladesh pledged Saturdaytostart negotiationson a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA); decided to launch a medical evisa facility for Bangladesh citizens; agreed to send a technical team to discuss Teesta river water-sharing and announced the opening of an Assistant High Commission in Rangpur. Thesewerepartofasweeping set of collaborations that New Delhi and Dhaka signed on, in as many as 10 documents, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visitingPrimeMinisterofBangladesh Sheikh Hasina held talks at HyderabadHouseSaturday. Fourkeyimperativesseemto E E X P L A I NE D INSIDE WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Diplomacy fordomestic ● push BANGLADESHPMSheikh Hasina,inpowersince2008 andoncehailedforhersuccessinthenation’seconomicandsocialtransformation,faceschallengesin thepost-pandemiceconomicrecovery.HerNew Delhioutreachoneconomic cooperationispartof her strategytoleveragethebilateralrelationshiptoaddressthesechallenges.With Beijing’sshadowinthe background,NewDelhitoo iswalkingtheextramile. PM Narendra Modi with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi on Saturday. Praveen Khanna shape New Delhi’s renewed strategic engagement with Dhaka in Modi’s third term: CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Faster immigration at Delhi Gujarat orders ‘immediate premature retirement’ of Airport for Indians, OCIs SSNNL superintendent engineer, cites ‘public interest’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 22 INDIAN NATIONALS and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) can now experience a faster immigration process at the Delhi airport and, in due course, at other major airports in India with the implementation of a biometrics-based system. Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday inaugurated the ‘Fast Track Immigration – Trusted Traveller Programme’ (FTI-TTP)systematTerminal3of the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The facility will be extended to the airports at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Ahmedabad, apart from 13 CONTINUEDONPAGE2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE VADODARA, RAJKOT, JUNE 22 THE GUJARAT government on Friday ordered the immediate prematureretirementof aClass1 officer of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL), superintending engi- neer J J Pandya, stating that "his behaviourandreputationissuch that continuing his services is a danger to public service and damaging to public interest". Pandya, who was hired as an executive engineer through the Gujarat Public Service Commission(GPSC)in1997,was serving as a superintendent en- gineer(civil)inGandhinagar,and was facing seven charges, causing "huge financial losses to the government", as per a government statement. In a statement issued on Saturday, the government said the inquiry against Pandya had found“completelackof sincerity andintegrity”towardshisduties. “Moreover, there are also allegations of grave negligence againstPandya.Ina previousdepartmental inquiry against Pandya on seven charges, it has also come to light that the government suffered big financial losses due to Pandya. Considering the departmental CONTINUEDONPAGE2 FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT Under TDP govt in Andhra, cable TV operators take four channels off the air YSRCPflagsfreedomof pressinletterto TRAI,ministerLokeshsaysnosuchorder SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, JUNE 22 AT LEAST four Telugu news channels — TV9, Sakshi TV, NTV and 10TV — have been taken off the air by some cable TV operators in Andhra Pradesh since Friday night. Sakshi TV was launched by Indira Television Ltd, promoted by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy family. This is the second time since the N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP government returned to power that these four channels have gone off the air. The first time, they were taken off air for a day on June 6. The state government, however, said that no instructions have been given to cable TV operators. In a letter to the telecom regulator TRAI that is copied to the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, I&B Secretary and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister,YSRCPleaderandRajya SabhamemberSNiranjanReddy said, the Andhra Pradesh Cable TDP chief and Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu TV Operators’ Association has “under the pressure and directions” of the newly-formed TDP sought “to permanently block TV9, NTV, 10TV and Sakshi TV”. Termingthisasadirectassaulton the principles of democracy, the June 11 letter said: “Such interferencecausesachillingeffecton the freedom of the press...” An executive from one of the four channels, who did not wish to be named, said, “Since Friday night, all four TV channels have gone blank. The cable TV operators say they have been told to take them off air but they will not tell who gave the orders.’’ When contacted, Andhra Pradesh IT Minister N Lokesh Naidu, however, told The Indian Express: “Neither TDP nor any NDA leaders in the state have CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GST relief: From rents in hostel outside campus to platform tickets, railway station waiting rooms Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chairs the 53rd GST Council meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 22 THE GOODS and Services Tax (GST) Council Saturday announced relief on several products and services used by the middleclass.Inits53rdmeeting, thecouncilexemptedrentsupto `20,000 a month paid for accommodation outside college campus and on services such as platform tickets, waiting room and cloakroom facilities in railway stations. The council said the GST exemption on hostel accommodation is meant for students or working class and can be availed only if the stay is up to 90 days, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told mediapersons on Saturday. Earlier, the rent on hostels outside campuses attracted 12 per cent GST. In its first meeting after the NDA government commenced itsthirdterm,thecouncilalsoreducedtheGSTon cartonstoprovide relief to apple farmers in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A murder of crows: How Kenya plans to get rid of invasive Indian species PAGE 1 ANCHOR ALIND CHAUHAN NEW DELHI, JUNE 22 THEY ARE the bad boys of the Kenyanskies:swoopingdownto steal food from tourists’ plates, pushing out local bird species from their habitats and raiding crops. After decades of trying to controlitspopulationof crows— also known as the Indian house crows—theKenyangovernment has declared war on them. It plans to eliminate one million house crows by December 31. In a post on X on June 7, the Kenya Wildlife Service said, “House crows are invasive alien birds that have been a nuisance to the public for decades... These birdsalsoposeamajorinconvenience to the hotel industry along the coast. Today, the Kenya WildlifeServiceledaconsortium of stakeholdersindevelopingan actionplantoeliminateonemillion house crows from Kenya’s coast by 31st December 2024.” Theplan:poisonthebirdsusing starlicide, an avicide that the Kenyan government will import from New Zealand. Dr Colin Jackson, ornithologist, conservationist and CEO of A Rocha Kenya, a conservation organisation that has been involved in the culling of crows, told The Indian Express that they would require around 5-10 kilograms of the poison, at $6,000 per kg, to kill one million house crowsinthecountry.Thepoison, he said, will be mixed with offcuts of meat supplied by the hotel industry and offered to the house crows. The proliferation of the Indian house crow (Corvus splendens) has severely im- The Kenyan government plans to poison one million house crows by December 31. Express pacted local ecosystems and communities in East African countries, including Kenya. A species that’s native to India, house crows often attack indigenous birds, kill them and feedontheireggs. Crowsusually work as a team — for instance, if one attacks a bird and chases it away from its nest, the other swoops in to steal the eggs. Experts say this aggressive behaviour of the crows has forced severalnativebirdstoleavetheir natural habitat. In Kenya, birds such as scaly babblers, pied crows, sunbirds, weaver birds, and waxbills have been dis- placed by house crows. It is not just native birds; crowsareknowntotormentand kill newborn or sick calves and goats and eat a range of small reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and insects. Local communities have suffered too — crows damage fruit trees such as mango and guava, and raid crops, including wheat, maize, millet, rice, and sunflowers, leading to losses for local farmers. Even thehospitalityindustry has been hit. “Crows land up on lawns and in hotels looking for food. Hotels with air condition- ers — an ideal spot for nesting — artificialwaterbodiesandswimming pools have a lot of crows. They dirty the area and their cawing disturbs tourists,” said K S Gopi Sundar, co-chair of the IUCN Stork, Ibis and Spoonbill Specialist Group. Therearemultipleaccountsof howaspeciesthat’snativetoIndia and the subcontinent, besides otherpartsofAsiaandtheMiddle East, began to be spotted in East Africa sometime in the 1890s. According to one account, they were brought from India to the island of Zanzibar (then a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad