DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JULY 22, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES BY UNNY Kerala teen who tested positive for Nipah dies SHAJU PHILIP & ANONNA DUTT THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NEW DELHI, JULY 21 A 14-year-old boy from Kerala’s Malappuram, who had tested positive for the Nipah virus, died at the government Medical CollegeHospitalinKozhikodeon Sunday. According to state Health Department officials, he had developed a fever 10 days ago, and on Friday, was put on ventilator support at a private hospital in Kozhikode. On Saturday, after the National Institute of Virology in Puneconfirmedthattheboyhad tested positive for the Nipah virus, he was moved to the Medical College Hospital. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TURNOVER UP FOUR TIMES IN 2 YEARS F&Os surge hurt formation of capital, growth; a major concern: SEBI, RBI SANDEEP SINGH MUMBAI, JULY 21 FINANCIAL MARKET regulators Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are worried that the surging volumes in futures and options have started impinging on capital formation and thus pose a systemic risk to India’s economic growth. “Two years ago, when retail investors flooded the F&O segment,weworriedaboutlossesto them,andrestrictedouractionto educating them, warning them. Indeed, nine out of 10 investors were losing money as we subsequently found out. From a micro concern of retail investor losses, it has grown to be a macro problem in just two years; household savingsarefindingtheirwayinto F&Os,itisthreateningtohurtcapital formation, investment and growth,” said a source close to regulatorydecisionmaking,who did not wish to be named. Futures and options are derivative contracts that derive their value from underlying assets that include stocks, commodities, currencies etc. Based on their expectation of future pricemovement,investorsenter into a contract to buy or sell the asset in ‘lots’ (a lot has multiple units of the asset) by paying a small margin amount. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AT ALL-PARTY MEET, RAJNATH URGES OPP TO AVOID HOUSE DISRUPTIONS Budgetsessionbegins:BJPfaceskanwar rowheat,allies’specialstatusdemands AsOppdemands debateonkey issues,Paswan joinsJDUspecial statuschorus SC to hear plea against kanwar route order today LIZ MATHEW EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JULY 21 AT THE all-party meeting convened by the BJP-led NDA government on the eve of the Budget session of Parliament, the BJP appeared to have got a tasteof thecoalitionpoliticswith its allies as well as erstwhile friendly parties raising various demands and a resurgent Opposition asking the government to adopt “a new approach” in both the Houses. The crucial three-week session starting Monday is taking place against the backdrop of a changed political landscape in thewakeof afracturedverdictin the recent Lok Sabha polls that did not give the BJP a majority, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JULY 21 Union Ministers and Opposition MPs at the all-party meeting in New Delhi, Sunday. Amit Mehra E EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 The task ● ahead WITH KEY ally JD(U) and fence-sitters YSRCP and BJD — who are crucial for government in Rajya Sabha — reiterating their special status demands, the Budget will generate huge political interest. NDA’s floor managers will have to ensure allies are happy and fence-sitters content. Kanwar order: Jayant says not well thought out, Praful calls for its withdrawal ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, JULY 21 TWO DAYS after LJP (Ram Vilas) leader and Union minister Chirag Paswan opposed the police order in Uttar Pradesh asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display names of their owners, another Union minister, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, on Sunday said the police move was unnecessary and the decision was “not taken after a lot of thought”. Kanwar yatrisdon’tcheckreligionof peoplebeforeaccepting“sewa”from them, he said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NITI REVIVES 15TH FINANCE COMMISSION’S PLAN Govt considers `50,000 crore scheme to incentivise states for agricultural reforms HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, JULY 21 ALMOST THREE years after the Uniongovernmentwasforcedto repealitsthreefarmlawsinNovember 2021, the Centre is considering a new scheme with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore to incentivise states to adopt agricultural reforms, The Indian Express has learned. Theproposedscheme—once finalised and approved — will allowstatestoavailcentralfunding toimplementfarmsectorreforms related to agriculture marketing, contractfarmingandlandleasing. It is learnt that the scheme was mooted by NITI Aayog officials in a powerpoint presentation to the Prime Minister's Office soon after the Lok Sabha elections results were announced, giving the NDA a third consecutive term. The presentation, titled “India’s Amrit Kaal: Scheme entails reforms linked to marketing, contract farming and land leasing Mobilising the nation to sustain fast growth”, touched all sectors of the economy. The scheme is among the ideasdiscussedbyofficialsatthe Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’WelfareandNITIAayog as part of their efforts to identify farm sector-related regulatory and institutional reforms under “transformative interventions” being planned to roll out during India’s'AmritKaal',a25-yearperiod from 2022 to 2047. The other ideas include passing of the long-pending Seed Bill, raisingpublicinvestmentinagriculture to 5 per cent of Agriculture GVA (Gross Value Addition). Accordingtosources,theproposalisessentiallyarevivalof the ideamootedbythe15thFinance Commission in its report for the financialyear2020-21.Inthisreport, the Commission suggested performance-based incentives for implementation of agricultural reforms by the states. Under the Finance Commission's proposal, states would havebeeneligibleforfinancialincentives if they enacted and implemented all features of the Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act issued by the Agriculture Ministry in 2017, the Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion & Facilitation)Actof2018,andtheModel Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016preparedbytheNITIAayog. The above reforms were identified for incentivisation by the Commission since it was felt theywerenecessarytoliberalise “agricultural markets, provide for seamless trading, promote competition and catalyse organisedinvestmentfromtheprivate sector for better growth in the agriculture sector”. However,aftertheCentreenactedthethreefarmlawstousher in agricultural reforms in 2020, the 15th Finance Commission broadeneditsrecommendations. “It is pertinent to mention that out of these three policy reforms recommended by us, the Union GovernmenthaspassedtwoActs – (a) The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation)Act2020and(b)The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price AssuranceandFarmServicesAct 2020.Wefeelthatwiththesetwo CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bangladesh SC scales back govt jobs quota that led to protests, killings JULHAS ALAM & SHEIKH SAALIQ DHAKA, NEW DELHI, JULY 21 BANGLADESH'S TOP court on Sunday scaled back a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in a partial victory for student protesters after days of nationwide unrest and deadly clashes between policeanddemonstratorsthathave killed scores of people. Students,frustratedbyshortages of good jobs, have been demanding an end to a quota that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Many things that cause ageing may have evolved as mechanisms to prevent cancer’ VENKI RAMAKRISHNAN BIOLOGIST Police frisk commuters during a curfew in Dhaka, Sunday. AP PAGE 9 THESUPREMECourtwilltakeup for hearing on Monday a plea challenging the orders in BJPruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhandaskingeateriesand stalls on the Kanwar Yatra route todisplaynamesof theirowners. The plea filed by NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights(APCR)hasbeenlistedbefore a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti. Twomorepetitionshavealso beenfiledintheapexcourtchallenging the move in the two states. While the plea by political commentator Apoorvanand and activist Aakar Patel sought the court’s intervention to ask CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK 3 DEAD, 8 INJURED IN KEDARNATH LANDSLIDE PAGE 8 FIRST U.S. PRESIDENT IN 56 YRS TO OPT OUT Biden drops out of White House race, endorses V-P Kamala Harris Move under pressure from Democrats after debate disaster against Trump PETER BAKER WASHINGTON, JULY 21 US PRESIDENT Biden on Sunday abruptly abandoned his campaignforasecondtermunderintense pressure from fellow Democratsandthrewhissupport to Vice President Kamala Harris to lead their party in a dramatic last-minute bid to stop former President Donald J Trump from returning to the White House. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he said in a letter posted on social media. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” Biden then posted a subsequentonlinemessageendorsing Harris. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” he wrote. “And it’s beenthebestdecisionI’vemade. TodayIwanttooffermyfullsupport and endorsement for Kamalatobethenomineeof our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.” The president’s decision upended the race and set the stage for a raucous and unpredictable campaign unlike any in modern ‘It’stimetocometogether andbeatTrump’:Biden times,leavingHarrisjustover100 daystoconsolidatesupportfrom Democrats, establish herself as a crediblenationalleaderandprosecute the case against Trump. Although Democratic conventiondelegatesmustratifythe choice of Harris to take over as standard-bearer next month, Biden’s endorsement meant the nomination was hers to lose and she appeared in a powerful positiontoclaimit.WhileBiden,81, remained president and still planned to finish out his term in January, the transition of the campaign to Harris, 59, amountedtoamomentousgenerationalchangeof leadershipof CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORTS PAGE 11 IN MAHARASHTRA Shah says Sharad Pawar institutionalised corruption Asks party workers to ensure BJP victory in Assembly polls EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PUNE, JULY 21 SOUNDING THE poll bugle for the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah Sunday alleged that NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has “institutionalised corruption” in the country. Addressing the two-day BJP workers’ conclave in Pune Shah said, “If there is the biggest ‘sargana’of corruptioninIndianpolitics, it is Sharad Pawar. There is no confusion in my mind about this. I am saying it openly that Pawar has institutionalised corruption in the country.” In his speech, Shah trained his guns on the MVA leaders including Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and the Congress. Shah dubbed Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray “the head of the Aurangzeb fan club” who was sitting with people who sought pardon for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon. In his first visit to Maharashtra after Lok Sabha polls in which the BJP faced setback in the state, Shah urged the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the BJP conclave in Pune on Sunday. Pavan Khengre workers not to be disappointed and asked them to ensure that party comes back to power in Maharashtra. The BJP which fought the polls under the Mahayuti alliance won just nine of the 28 seats it contested. The Union minister further saidthatwhenevertheBJPcame to power in the state, the Maratha community was given reservation. Healsoclaimedthatthestate had made progress under the Mahayuti rule and during 20142019 when the BJP-led coalition was in power. Shah also slammed the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi saying that he is celebrating his loss. “Astudentwhoalways stood first and got 80 per cent decided to aim for 90 per cent (in the exams)whileanotherstudentwho failed four times in the class decided to aim for 30 per cent instead of his 20 per cent. The results showed that the student who had aimed for 90 per cent got 85 per cent, while the other student got 25 per cent,” he said in an apparent reference to performance of Congress and BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. In his speech, Shah also talked about the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Over 2 yrs after Pune man goes missing, his family see reunion hopes — in an ad PAGE 1 ANCHOR CHANDANHAYGUNDE &ATIKHRASHID PUNE,JULY21 DNYANESHWAR VISHNU Tambe’sfamilyhavenotseenorheard of him since the 63-year-old left his home in Pune’s Shirur taluka inDecember2021.Twodaysago, theirhopesof meetinghimagain wererekindledafter,accordingto them, he appeared in an advertisement on the Instagram account of the ruling Shiv Sena. The‘Mahayuti’governmentin Maharashtra, which, apart from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, comprises the BJP and the NCP (Ajit Pawar), last week launched the “Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana”, which provides a subsidy of up to Rs 30,000 to senior citizens for pilgrimage to prominent religious destinationsinthestateandoutside. With Assembly elections due later this year, the state government and CM Shinde’s party have been aggressively publicising the scheme. Itwasonesuchadvertisement that took Tambe’s son, Bharat, by surprise on Thursday. He says a friend sent him a screenshot of a WhatsAppstatussomeoneonhis contactslisthadposted.“Isawthe screenshotandcouldn'tbelieveit. It was my father in the ad of the Teerth Darshan Yojana,” said Bharat, who runs an eatery in Shikrapur, about 25 kilometres from Varude village, where he lives. Saying his family had grown scepticalofTambe’swell-beingafter he remained untraceable for three years, Bharat urged CM Shinde “to oblige me by finding myfatherandreunitinghimwith us.” “Now we know for sure that he is alive and is well. Our hopes ofareunionarehighnow,”hesaid. Thepolicehavealreadybegun searching for Tambe. Bharat lodged a missing complaint on Saturday night after the cops approached him, said Inspector Deepratan Gaikwad of Shikrapur Dnyaneshwar Tambe and (right) the ad with his photo, according to his family. police station. “The family had never lodged a missing report aboutDnyaneshwarTambeinthe past," Gaikwad said. Deputy Superintendent of PolicePrashantDholesaid,“When we interacted with the family members, they told us that Dnyaneshwar Tambe has left home multiple times in the past andheusedtoreturnhomeonhis own. Last time he left home during the Covid-19 outbreak in December 2021. But the family membersbelievedthathewould return again. So they did not inform the police or lodged any missingreportabouthimbefore.” “(Tambe’s) family members saidthatafterleavinghome,heoften visited places of pilgrimage. They suspect he now went to the wariprocessionwherehisphotographmayhavebeenclicked.We have formed teams to search for him now,” Dhole added. AccordingtoBharat,hisfather hadahabitofleavinghomewithout informing his family but would always return “within a fortnight or sometimes a couple of months”. The last time, however, when Tambe did not come back for several months, Bharat started looking for him, contact- ing friends and relatives, but in vain. After the advertisement, traced to the Shiv Sena’s Instagram handle, Bharat contacted a localjournalistandthenewssoon went viral, even drawing in the Opposition Congress, which criticised the state government. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, in an X post, said it was“acrimetouseaphotograph ofacitizeninthismannerillegally on the advertisement, without seeking their permission”. Slamming the Mahayuti government, he said its schemes as well asadvertisementswere“hollow”. The state government denied it issued the advertisement featuringthemissingman.“Thestate government has not posted this ad on any of its social media accounts.Ithasalsonotbeenissued via the government in any form,” said a statement issued through the Director General of InformationandPublicRelations. TheShivSenahasnowdeleted the post. Party spokesperson Naresh Mhaske said: “As far as I amaware,theadvertisementwas issued by the government. But if it was our social media team that designed the post, we would surelytrytotracethesourceofthe photosothattheelderlymancan be traced.” Meanwhile, the police are also trying to find out the source of Tambe’sphotographintheadvertisement. Ahmedabad