DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JULY 29, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 UNIVERSITY GRADUATES, PHD STUDENT DIED AT FLOODED COACHING CENTRE 3 with IAS dreams crossed paths in a Delhi basement — one final time INDIA’S FIRST OLYMPIC SHOOTING MEDAL AFTER LONDON 2012 ‘Have no words to express’: Families, friends from UP, Kerala, Telangana struggle to cope VIDHEESHAKUNTAMALLA, MANISH SAHU, SHAJU PHILIP & SREENIVAS JANYALA NEW DELHI, LUCKNOW, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, HYDERABAD, JULY 28 A BIOLOGY graduate from UP who moved to her uncle's home in Delhi to chase her dreams; a JNU research student from Kerala who had quietly signed up for civil services coaching; an IAS aspirant who missed her parents in Telangana so much that she called them every day. On Saturday evening, these three lives, and their stories, crossedpathsinthebasementof the popular Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar — for the last time. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Parents of Tanya Soni, one of the students who died in the flooding at the UPSC coaching centre, wait outside the mortuary at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Sunday. Abhinav Saha Rau’s CEO among two held; police say no nod for library in basement ARNABJIT SUR NEW DELHI, JULY 28 A DAY after the three deaths at Rau’s IAS Study Circle in the Capital, police arrested two persons — Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abhishek Gupta and coaching coordinator Deshpal Singh — on Sunday. Gupta has been named and identified as the “owner” in the FIR, filed under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) among others at theRajinderNagarpolicestation. According to police, neither did the coaching centre have clearancetousethebasementas Manu Bhaker celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol women’s final round in Chateauroux, France. AP Manu Bhaker opens Team India account with shooting bronze 22-year-old India’s first woman shooter to win at Olympics EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS Students protest near the coaching centre. Gajendra Yadav a library, nor did it have a drainage system in the basement. Commercial activity in basements is deemed illegal by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The coaching centre and two others in the area MIHIR VASAVDA CHATEAUROUX, JULY 28 MANU BHAKER never fancied visiting the Eiffel Tower. “I have already visited it before,” she said. She found it “okay”. WhenshereturnstoIndiaafter the Paris Games, Manu will carry a piece of the iconic monument back with her. Like all the medalsattheParisOlympics,her bronze will contain within its centre, fragments of iron kept away during renovations of the famous tower. With a gentle pull of the trigger, the shooter who stormed into the limelight as a 16-year- NEW DELHI, JULY 28 CEREAL GRAINS have overtaken sugarcane as the primary feedstock for the production of ethanol used in blending with petrol. In the current supply year (November 2023-October 2024), sugar mills and distilleries supplied 401 crore litres of ethanol to oil marketing companiestillJune30.Of that,211crore litres or 52.7% was ethanol producedusingmaizeanddamaged foodgrains (mainly broken/ old rice not fit for human consumption), while sugarcane-based feedstocks (molasses and whole juice/ syrup) accounted for the remaining 190 crore litres. This is the first time that the contribution of grains to India’s ethanol production has surpassed 50% — from 27.1% in 2022-23,16.7%in2021-22,13.6% in 2020-21, 9.2% in 2019-20, 5% in 2018-19 and zero in 2017-18. Ethanol is 99.9% pure alcohol that can be blended with petrol. This is unlike the 96% extra neutral alcohol that goes to make A distillery in UP’s Milak Narayanpur. Harish Damodaran potable liquor or the 94% rectifiedspiritusedinpaints,cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other industrial products. The Narendra Modi-led governmenthastargeted20%ethanol blending in petrol by 2025. That ratio for all-India averaged 13% thissupplyyeartillJune,asagainst 12.1%in2022-23,10%in2021-22 and only 1.6% in 2013-14. In2023-24itself,there’sbeen a steady monthly rise: 10.2% in November, 11.2% in December, 12.2% in January, 12.9% in February, 12.8% in March, 12.7% in April, 15.4% in May and 15.9% in June. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A STUDENT'S performance — basedonbothexamsandcontinuingclasswork—inClasses9,10, and 11 should be counted towardstheirfinalmarksattheend of Class 12, according to a report recently submitted to the EducationMinistrybyPARAKH,a unit set up in NCERT last year to standardise assessment school boards across the country. In line with the National E E X P L A I NE D ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND HARISH DAMODARAN Weight Class 9 Class 10 Class 11 Class 12 Formative 70% 50% 40% 30% Summative 30% 50% 60% 70% ■ Formative are classroom assessments through holistic progress cards, projects, group discussions, etc; summative are end-term examinations ■ Each class will have two terms for assessment Weighted marks at the end of higher secondary stage Class 9 15% Class 10 20% Class 11 25% Class 12 40% CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JULY 28 FOUR YEARS after a high-powered committee appointed by theSupremeCourtrejectedconstruction of the Netala bypass road on the Uttarkashi-Gangotri route under the Chardham project, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is going BOXING ■ Nikhat’s comeback win in opening bout TABLE TENNIS ■ Manika-Sreeja advance to round of 32 PAGE 15 ● THE PRINCIPLE behind this is to ensure that a student’s performance doesn’t hinge on the report card on a single examination (Class X or Class XII) but base it on the entirety of secondary school. Looking at formative and summative is also meant to take a ‘holistic’ value of classroom work before the end-term test. Chardham bypass project: After red flag by SC panel, Govt cites ‘landslide sites’ for forest nod NIKHIL GHANEKAR CONTINUEDONPAGE2 INDIA AT OLYMPICS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ethanol used in petrol SECONDARY SCHOOL REFORMS Factor in students’ Class 9-11 performance now coming more final Class 12 report card: Govt from maize, damaged forboards’ views sought; report to look at classwork too proposal State Holisticvs onereport foodgrains than sugar COMBINED EVALUATION card NEW DELHI, JULY 28 old prodigy ended India’s decade-plus waitforan Olympic podium finish in shooting. She won India’s first medal of the Paris Games, in the 10 m air pistol event. She also shot herself into the history books as the country'sfirstwomanshooterto win an Olympic Games medal. Manu’s instinctive reaction on the firing point was to purse her lips — she had missed out on ahead with the contentious alignment and has sought forest clearance from an environment ministry panel citing “active landslide sites” on the old route, The Indian Express has learnt. The 8.7-km bypass alignment, proposed between Hina and Tekhla on NH-34 in Uttarkashi district, was rejected bythecommitteeinitsJuly2020 report to the Supreme Court on groundsof adverseenvironmental and social impacts. “This bypass is recommended to be dropped because the geological infirmities on the existing alignment can be rectified and the local villagers, districtadministrationandtheMLA are not in favour,” the committee had said in its recommendation to the Supreme Court. Thegeological infirmitiesthe committee referred to in its reportwerelandslide zones onthe existing NH-34, which it said could be treated. The bypass road will involve diversion of 17.5 hectares of forest land and axing of 2,751 trees and acquisition of 5.4 hectares from Siror village. The 900-kmChardham project is underway to widen and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mata Prasad Pandey in Lucknow on Sunday. Express SP’s Brahmin face Mata Prasad Pandey to replace Akhilesh as LoP in UP Kamal Akhtar is party’s chief whip, Kurmi leader RK Verma his deputy MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, JULY 28 SAMAJWADI PARTY president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday appointed the party’s veteran Brahmin face and seven-time MLA Mata Prasad Pandey, 81, as the Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Also, Akhilesh appointed Kanth MLA and minority community leader Kamal Akhtar as the party's chief whip and RK Verma, a Kurmi face from Pratapgarhdistrict,astheparty's deputy whip in the Assembly. The move came a day before the start of the monsoon session of the state Assembly. The LoP’s post had fallen vacant since Akhilesh had relinquished his Assembly membershipaftersecuringawinfromthe Kannauj constituency in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state is likely totablesupplementarydemands for grants during the Assembly's five-day monsoon session. Pandey, the seven-time MLA from the Itwa constituency in Siddharthnagar district in eastern UP, remained the Assembly speaker twice during the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2 Karnataka villages unite in grief after a landslide, Kerala family keeps hope alive PAGE 1 ANCHOR SANATH PRASAD SHIRUR, JULY 28 AT TWO Karnataka villages located on either side of the river Gangavali, nestled in the picturesque Western Ghats, familiar sights of a bustling riverside tea shop and people going about their daily chores suddenly changed to scenes of death and destruction earlier this month, whenalandslidewreakedhavoc and took several lives. The landslide hit Shirur villageinUttaraKannadadistricton themorningof July16,andswept away everything in its path, including a teashop, trucks, and people. On the other side of the river,inUluvarevillage,residents said the river water rose like a “tsunami wave” after the landslide, destroyed several houses, fishingequipment,andledtothe death of a 52-year-old woman. In total, eight bodies have been recovered since the landslide and three people remain missing. The ongoing search operationhasbeenmassive,involving the National Disaster ResponseForce,theStateDisaster Response Force, the Army, and theNavy.Ithascontinuedforthe nearly two weeks that have passed since the disaster. The tea shop that was washed away was owned by Lakshman Naik, a father of two. The shop, located near the Gangavali river on National Highway 66 in Shirur, had been a regular stop for truck drivers Arjun and Saravana — from Kerala’s Kozhikkode and Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal respectively. On July 16, when the landslidehit,Naik(42),hiswifeShanti (36), and their children Avantika (6) and Roshan (11) were in the tea shop. So were patrons Arjun Searchoperationscontinuein Shirurvillagetwoweeksafter thelandslidehitonJuly 16. Jithendra M (30) and Saravana (39), who had stoppedforcupsof tea.Thelandslide swept the teashop away and took all those inside with it. The bodies of Naik and his family, and of Saravana, were found duringthesearchoperation.The quest to find Arjun continues, whilehistruckwaslocateddeep beneath the river. The landslide also swept away Saravana’s LPG tanker and everything else in its path, leaving tonnes of debris on land and in the river. There was also a trail of destructioninUluvare,ontheother sideof the river.While some residentssayitwastheexplosionof Saravana’s LPG tanker that triggered the river water to come down in the form of a massive wave, others say it was the force of the debris washed into the river by the landslide. Eighthousesweredestroyed, and a week later, the body of a 52-year-oldwomanfromthevillage,whowassweptawaywhile she was cooking, was found. The eight bodies found were identified as Lakshman Naik, Roshan Naik, Avantika Naik, Shanthi Naik, Sanni Hanumathagouda, Saravana, Lokesh, and Murugan. Arjun, Jaganath Naik, and an unidentified person remain missing. Arjun, from Kozhikode, has been the backbone of his family since his father died when he was in class 10, his uncle Abhilash Chathamangalam said. Arjun later discontinued his studies and took up work as a painter,andthenasacleaner,beforeeventuallybecomingatruck driver. “He took the onus of his entire family on himself. Through his hard work, he managed to help his elder sister become a bank manager, his younger sister to pursue nursing, and his younger brother with his school education,” said Abhliash. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow