DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 After 3 shocks, 16.45 L jobs lost in informal sector over 7 years ‘SAFE HOUSES, URBAN DENS’ Citing ‘Naxalism in urban areas’, Maharashtra Govt tables Bill 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 Bihar 37.01 lakh 0.59 crore 34.46 lakh 0.53 crore All-India 6.50 crore 10.96 crore 6.34 crore 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 Statistics and Programme 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 arrest warrant, merely stating, ‘It’s an order from above (uper se orderhai)’.Weareleftinastateof shockandprofounddistress.We can only hope this is not another instance of the PSA being CONTINUEDONPAGE2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 0.91 crore Jail term even if not a member of ‘unlawful organisation’ but ‘aids’ it 11.13 crore Implementation (MoSPI). Thedataavailableforthefirst time since 2015-16, provides an understanding of the impact of the three major exogenous shocks viz., demonetisation in November 2016, rollout of the Goods and Service Tax in July 2017, and the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, on the growthof unincorporatedenterprises and the employment in these enterprises. The ASUSE for 2021-22 and CONTINUEDONPAGE2 ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, JULY 11 VIZHINJAM WELCOMES FIRST MOTHERSHIP 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,PAGE10 UGC-NET row: JNU Budget focus likely on jobs, rural may go back to own entrance exam for PhD economy and manufacturing PM’S MEETING WITH ECONOMISTS 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 assuming full accountability over implementingtheseontheground. The meeting was held in the NITI Aayog office with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Principal Secretary P K JAWAHARLAL NEHRU University (JNU) has started discussionsongoingbacktotheold systemof conductingitsownentrance examination for PhD admissions. This move comes in the wake of the recent cancella- NEW DELHI, JULY 11 NEW DELHI, JULY 11 tion of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test(UGC-NET)adayafteritwas held,followingquestionsoverits integrity. Confirming this, JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree D Pandit said: “We have begun the process and are taking the opinion of all stakeholders.” 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 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. criminal force to any public servant;indulginginorpropagating acts of violence, vandalism, use of firearms,explosivesordisruptingcommunicationsbyrail,road, air or water; “encouraging or preachingdisobediencetoestablished law and its institutions”; collecting money or goods to carry out unlawful activities. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PM Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at a meeting with economists in Delhi. ANI Mishra also present. About20economistsandexperts including Arvind Virmani, Surjit Bhalla, Amita Batra, Prachi Mishra, S Mahendra Dev and Ashok Gulati spoke for five min- utes each. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery and NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam also participated. “Thekeyagendawasthegoal CONTINUEDONPAGE2 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 documents by The Indian Express. This land parcel, which was giftedtotheChief Minister’swife B M Parvati Siddaramaiah in 2010byherbrother,isalsoatthe centre of a political storm in the state with the BJP calling for protestsinMysore,thehomedistrict of Siddaramaiah, on July 12. 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’ The BJP and JD(S) have questioned the land’s subsequent transfer in 2021 to the state underacontroversial“50:50”alternate site scheme in exchange for 14 housing plots developed by the Mysore Urban Development 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 Authority (MUDA). Siddaramaiah has dismissed the Opposition's allegations, pointing out that the land exchange took place when the BJP was in power, and that his CONTINUEDONPAGE2 After elopement and boycott, an uneasy truce prevails in two Haryana villages PAGE 1 ANCHOR AISWARYA RAJ NARNAUL, JULY 11 FOR NEARLY a month, all eyes were on the road connecting Dholera and Bighopur, two villages that are 2 km apart in Haryana’s Narnaul. Since June 12, all Bighopur residents spotted on the way to the bank, the post office or the bus stand — common for both villages — were turned away “for the sake Residents of Bighopur village in Haryana were not allowed to enter Dholera village for nearly a month. Praveen Khanna of maintaining peace”. For nearly a month after a woman from Dholera village fell in love and eloped with a man from Bighopur, her village instituted a boycott of their neighbours, upset over their “unacceptable” marriage. In several parts of Haryana, marriages betweenresidentsof neighbouring villages are “banned” by diktat. The boycott was finally lifted on July 9 after the newlyweds were turned away and the man was publicly disowned by his family. With that, the two sides managed to forge a tentative CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Ahmedabad