DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2024, PUNE, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `6.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ‘SAFE HOUSES, URBAN DENS’ IAS PROBATIONER KICKS UP CONTROVERSY Citing ‘Naxalism in urban areas’, Maharashtra Govt tables Bill 21 pending challans of Rs 27,000 against Audi used by Khedkar, notice issued for beacon: Police EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PUNE, JULY 11 PUNE CITY Traffic Police on Thursday issued a notice to IAS probationer Dr Pooja Khedkar forunauthoriseduseof abeacon and Maharashtra government signonaprivatelyownedluxury car which she was found to be using. Police said the Audi car, which is registered in the name of a private engineering company, has 21 unpaid challans withtotalcompoundingcharges of Rs 27,000. Khedkar was transferred fromPunetoWashimearlierthis week following complaints about her conduct during her probationtenureatthePunedistrictcollectorate.Thetransferor- INSIDE Jail term even if not a member of ‘unlawful organisation’ but ‘aids’ it WHO IS POOJA KHEDKAR? ISSUE REACHES CENTRE; PANEL TO PROBE COMPLAINTS ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, JULY 11 PAGE 4 VIZHINJAM WELCOMES FIRST MOTHERSHIP ders from the state government came after she was caught in a The Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) in Thiruvananthapuram, India’s first deepwater trans-shipment port, received its first mothership, MV San Fernando, on Thursday. The 300-metre-long Marshall Islands-flagged ship berthed at VISL after arriving from Xiamen in China. PTI REPORT,PAGE12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UGC-NET row: JNU Budget focus likely on jobs, rural may go back to own economy and manufacturing entrance exam for PhD PM’S MEETING WITH ECONOMISTS 12/07/2024 92 120 148 78 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY In midnight visit, J&K cops detain HC Bar Association’s chairman Nazir Ahmad Ronga booked under PSA, says family BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, JULY 11 THE JAMMU and Kashmir police havedetainedthechairmanofthe J&K High Court Bar Association Nazir Ahmad Ronga following a midnight visit to his home in Srinagar,hissonsaidonThursday. The family claims they were informed in the morning that advocate Ronga has been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Ronga’s son Umair Ronga, also an advocate at the Srinagar High Court, first posted online, “My father, advocate N A Ronga, hasjustbeenarrestedinadeeply disturbing turn of events. At 1.10 am,acontingentof J&KPolicearrived at our home without any CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AANCHAL MAGAZINE VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA A RENEWED THRUST on jobs, alongside a concerted push to manufacturing and rural businesses, were the key issues flagged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with economists on Thursday. With less than a fortnight for the presentation of the Union Budget 2024-25 on July 23, the Prime Minister is learnt to have also touched upon the complexities of Centre-state relations, particularly with the Centre funding many programmes or schemes, and states not assum- JAWAHARLAL NEHRU University (JNU) has started discussionsongoingbacktotheold systemof conductingitsownentrance examination for PhD admissions. This move comes in the wake of the recent cancellation of the University Grants Commission-NationalEligibility Test(UGC-NET)adayafteritwas held,followingquestionsoverits integrity. Confirming this, JNU Vice NEW DELHI, JULY 11 NEW DELHI, JULY 11 PM Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at a meeting with economists in Delhi. ANI ing full accountability over implementingtheseontheground. The meeting was held in the NITI Aayog office with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Principal Secretary P K Mishra also present. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Three acres ‘gifted’ to Karnataka CM’s wife under scanner, his poll affidavits show mismatch JOHNSON T A BENGALURU, JULY 11 ASSET AFFIDAVITS filed by Karnataka Chief Minister M Siddaramaiah across the past threeassemblypollscontainseveral inconsistencies in submissionsregardingtheownershipof a3.16-acreparcelof “agricultural land”inMysorethatwas“gifted” to his wife 14 years ago, according to an analysis of official LAND IN FOCUS 2010: Siddaramaiah’s wife gets 3.16 acres in village on Mysore outskirts as gift from brother 2013: No mention of this land in Siddaramaiah’s poll affidavit 2024: Opp says land exchange illegal; Siddaramaiah says ready to return plots, ‘give Rs 62 crore compensation’ CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2018: Ownership listed in poll affidavit, land valued at Rs 25 lakh 2023: Poll affidavit shows plots allotted by govt inside Mysore in exchange for the village land now valued at Rs 8.33 crore After three shocks, 16.45 lakh jobs lost in informal sector over 7 yrs AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, JULY 11 THE NUMBER OF workers employed in the informal sector in 2022-23 has dropped by 16.45 lakh or about 1.5 per cent to 10.96 crore compared to 11.13 crore in 2015-16, according to the latest Annual Survey of Unincorporated Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2021-22 and 202223 released by the Ministry of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UNINCORPORATED ENTERPRISES SURVEY 2022-23 Number of entities 2015-16 Number Number Number of workers of entities of workers Uttar Pradesh 89.94 lakh 1.57 crore 89.99 lakh 1.65 crore West Bengal 88.68 lakh 1.36 crore 78.31 lakh 1.05 crore Maharashtra 60.97 lakh 1.16 crore 47.79 lakh Tamil Nadu 42.29 lakh 0.85 crore 49.48 lakh 0.97 crore 0.91 crore Bihar 37.01 lakh 0.59 crore 34.46 lakh 0.53 crore All-India 6.50 crore 10.96 crore 6.34 crore 11.13 crore Trafficked with postpartum psychosis, Bangla woman now a support worker PAGE 1 ANCHOR SAGAR RAJPUT MUMBAI, JULY 11 IN DECEMBER 2022, a Government Railway Police (GRP) team found a young woman in a long-distance train at Borivali. Bedraggled and undernourished, the woman wore The 22-year-old now wants to put her past behind and return home to her five-year-old daughter. Express an oversized green kurti and bore signs of a mental illness. The woman, a Bangladeshi national, had allegedly been illegally trafficked into India three years earlier. The team contacted Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation, a centre for the mentally-ill destitute in Karjat near Mumbai, which diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis — a rare but severe mental CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Chancellor Santishree D Pandit said: “We have begun the process and are taking the opinion of all stakeholders.” The UGC-NET is a crucial examination for entry-level teaching jobs and PhD admissions in universities. Sources told The Indian Express that Pandit initiated the move on July 3 and it may take up to eight weeks to reach a decision. A source said: “JNU is not abandoning UGC-NET. Rather, it is considering holding its own PhD entrance exams, as many CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 STATING THAT the “menace of Naxalism”is“increasinginurban areas... through Naxal frontal organisations”, the Maharashtra government on Thursday tabled the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024, which proposesjailtermevenif apersonis “not... a member of an unlawful organisation”, but “contributes/ receives/solicitsanycontribution oraid”or“harbours”itsmember, as well as for those who “promote or assist in promoting a meeting” of such groups. TheBillgrantsthestatetheauthority to declare an organisation as “unlawful” — a decision which can be reviewed by an advisory board set up by the state government. Citing “safe houses and urban dens of the Maoist network” inMaharashtra,itsayssuchgroups seek to “propagate their ideology ofarmedrebellionagainsttheconstitutionalmandate”. The Bill defines an “unlawful activity”asonewhichconstitutes a danger or menace to public order, peace and tranquility; interferes with maintenance of public order, “administration of law oritsestablishedinstitutionsand personnel”; designed to show criminal force to any public ser- The key provisions 3-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 3 lakh fine for member of an ‘unlawful organisation’. 2-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 2 lakh fine even if not a member, but “contributes/ receives/ solicits any contribution or aid” or “harbours” a member. 3-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 3 lakh fine if a person “manages/ assists in management” such an organisation or “promotes/ assists in promoting” its meeting or any member. 7-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 5 lakh fine if a person commits/ abets/ attempts/ plans to commit “any unlawful activity” of such an organisation. vant;indulginginorpropagating acts of violence, vandalism, use offirearms,explosivesordisruptingcommunicationsbyrail,road, air or water; “encouraging or preachingdisobediencetoestablished law and its institutions”; collecting money or goods to carry out unlawful activities. 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