DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 8 THE SRI Lankan High Commissioner, who had written to the South Asian University (SAU) over action against a PhD supervisor from Sri Lanka, said Thursday that at the time, she was not aware that the action was linked to a PhD scholar citing linguist Noam Chomsky’s criticismof theNDAgovernment in his interview. On July 27, The Indian Express had first reported that SAU had issued notices to a research scholar and his PhD supervisor, Lankan sociologist Sasanka Perera, demanding an explanationregardingtheirconduct.The PhD student’s doctoral research proposal, on Kashmir’s ethnography and politics, had cited American linguist Noam Chomsky’s criticism of the NDA government. On April 23, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Kshenuka Senewiratne, in a meeting with SAU president K K Aggarwal, expressed her “concerns” regarding“anintendedinquiry”against Perera. She also wrote a letter to Aggarwal on May 12. In response to The Indian Express report on her letter (August 4), the High Commissioner has said that it gave a "false impression that even with the criticism of the NDA government by Mr Chomsky being included in the research proposal, concern was flagged by me on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GREETS INTERIM GOVT CHIEF Team India celebrates and cheers goalkeeper P R Sreejesh after winning the men’s hockey bronze medal match against Spain (2-1) in Colombes, France, on Thursday. This was Sreejesh’s last match for India. PTI Harmanpreet strikes twice, Sreejesh holds the fort as India clinch bronze EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS MIHIR VASAVDA PARIS, AUGUST 8 HARRY POTTER had his wand. Craig Fulton has Harmanpreet Singh. Beforepenaltycorners,India’s coachwouldwhispersomething in the ear of his captain, who wouldthensprinttothetopofthe Spanish ‘D’. From there, he’d wield his stick in a semi-circular motion to find a hole in the defence and slot the ball into the goal -- twice in three minutes. Harmanpreet’s twin strikes, which made him the Paris Olympics’ highest scorer with 10 goals, helped India script a confidentcomebacktobeatSpain2-1 and record their second-straight podium finish at the Olympics. The bronze -- won after be- NEW DELHI, AUGUST 8 NEW DRUGS for weight loss, Alzheimer’s, or cancer that have beenapprovedbytopregulatory authoritiesabroadbutareawaiting approval in India will no longer be required to undergo Haryana. He never gave up and made a promise to himself: his first flight would be when he travels to play for India. Domestically, his teammates would fly to different cities; Sumitspentnightsonatrain.His maiden flight came in 2014. Since then, his career has only soared. Not too far from him, Raj Kumar Pal wandered aimlessly. A newcomer in the team, the midfielder — who lost his father at a young age and was given shelter by a hockey enthusiast who started an academy in Karampur, a nondescript village in Uttar Pradesh with little hockey history — did not know how to react after winning the medal. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ensure safety of Hindus, all other minorities: PM to Bangla’s Yunus Jaishankar, UK’s Lammy holds talks as ousted Sheikh Hasina waits in Delhi SPORT I DON’T HAVE ANY MORE STRENGTH: VINESH RETIRES P 16 Allies also wary, Govt Can’t ignore food inflation pressures: decides to send Waqf RBI Governor differs from Survey idea Bill to House panel KEY REPO RATE LEFT UNCHANGED HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, AUGUST 8 IN THE Economic Survey for 2023-24, its author Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran made a case for excluding food prices from headline inflation, since food prices were keeping the CPI-based (ConsumerPriceIndex)inflation high and delaying a cut in inter- RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in Mumbai Thursday. PTI Decks cleared for faster access to new drugs approved globally ANONNA DUTT ing made to work very hard under a harsh Parisian sun by a resilient Spanish side that defended tight and kept coming at them–wascelebratedwithwild scenes on the pitch. Defender Sumit, who blocked everything that came down the left flank, leapt in the air and punched the air. As a young hockey player, the 27year-old dreamt of sitting on an airplane. But he supplemented his family's income by washing utensils at a dhaba in Murthal, clinical trials in the country. Pharma companies can now obtain regulatory clearance to sell theirproductsinIndiaif theycan demonstrate that their new drugs offer a "significant therapeutic advance over the current standard of care," and have been approved by regulators in any of six countries or regions. These are United States, UnitedKingdom,Japan,Australia, Canada,andtheEuropeanUnion —allknownfortheirrigorousregulatory approval process. This significant order passed by the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) on Wednesday has waived clinical trials for new CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 est rates by the Reserve Bank of India. But RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das differed Thursday and said food inflation pressures cannot be ignored given the high share of food in the consumption basket. Without mentioning the Survey proposal — or the CEA's remark that monetary policy cannotmanagesupply-sidefood shocks — Das said, “First and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED Lanka envoy says not aware of Chomsky issue when she wrote to SAU ● Fast-track process AT PRESENT, a company must conduct a clinical trial in India even if the drug has been approved globally. The new rules ease access and will benefit patients with rare diseases or cancers with specific genetic markers. Attack on Constitution, violation of federal structure: Opp criticises Bill LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, AUGUST 8 WITH THE Opposition vehemently opposing The Waqf (Amendment)Billanditsownallies wary about the widespread changes proposed by it, the governmentThursdaysentthelegislation to a Joint Committee of Parliament. Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s introduction of the Bill was met with noisy protests, with Opposition MPs calling it “an attack on the IndianConstitution,thereligious freedom it guarantees and a violation of the federal structure”. The joint committee will be constituted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and include members from both the Houses of Parliament and across parties. Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju in Lok Sabha. PTI Rijiju said he was ready to hold consultations with the stakeholders within the panel once it was formed. The Opposition's main grouse against the Modi government has been its refusal to send legislation to panels for consideration,andinsteadpushing them through. Presenting the Bill, Rijiju CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin administers oath to Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka. Reuters SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, AUGUST 8 AS NOBEL laureate Professor MuhammadYunuswasswornin as the head of the interim government in Bangladesh Thursday, Prime Minister NarendraModiextendedhisbest wishes to Yunus and urged him toensure“thesafetyandprotection of Hindus and all other minority communities” who have comeunderattackfollowingthe ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5. This direct reference to the safety of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh underlines Delhi’s expectations from the new players in Dhaka. InapostonX,Modisaid,“My best wishes to Professor Muhammad Yunus on the assumptionof hisnewresponsibilities.Wehopeforanearlyreturn to normalcy, ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities.” “Indiaremainscommittedto working with Bangladesh to fulfil the shared aspirations of both our peoples for peace, security and development,” he said. Yunus,84,returnedtoDhaka Thursday afternoon and was received at the airport by Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman. Yunus called for an end to attacks, saying his task is to restore law and order. Earlier in the day, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs,said, “Regarding attacks and minorities’ situation, this particular issue was also addressed by External Affairs Minister (S Jaishankar) in his suo motu statement (in Parliament). We are also monitoring the situation… with regard to the status of minorities. There are also reports that various initiatives CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The reformer-politician who tried to change the face of the Left RAVIK BHATTACHARYA KOLKATA, AUGUST 8 THE FACE of “reformist” Left, the Chief Minister who hoped to haulWestBengalintotheindustrialisationagewith“theworld’s cheapest car”, the writer-politician who failed to take own party along, and the leader who ultimately fell to one almost completely unlike him, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passed away on Thursday at his residence in Kolkata after a long illness. He was 80. It was an end that was as far away from the beginning as it gets. For, it was in a burst of glory that Bhattacharjee hit the national limelight in 2000, picked asthesuccessortothelegendary Jyoti Basu, who was at the time India’s longest-serving CM. The ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front won the 2001 Assembly seatsthatfollowed(winning199 out of 294 Assembly seats), and increased its tally further under Bhattacharjee in the 2006 elections (to 235). During his tenure, Bhattacharjee launched an industrialisation drive, including huge investments in IT and ITES (information technology enabled services) sectors, a plan to build the country’s largest integrated steel plant in Salboni, a chemical hub in Nayachar, an SEZ in Nandigram and the Nano plant in Singur. The latter two, however, wouldproveBhattacharjee’sundoing, as the acquisition of land in Singur, Hooghly district, for Tata Motors to build Nano in 2006, and for the SEZ in Nandigram in 2007, ran into huge protests from farmers. These eventually took the shape of an anti-government movement led primarily by BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARJEE 1944 - 2024 Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. The fiery, scrappypoliticianwhohadbeen fighting the CPI(M) singlehandedly in the state seized her momenttostrikeattheLeft,bythen in power for 34 years in Bengal and facing huge anti-incumbency. The death of 14 protesters in police firing on March 14, 2007, followed by the decision of the Tatas a year later to move the Nano plant to Gujarat, proved the death knells for the Bhattarcharjee government. In the circumstances, the SEZ in Nandigramalsofailedtotakeoff. Jaipur In the 2011 Assembly elections, the TMC ended the Left reign, and Mamata became the CM. Bhattacharjee lost from his own seat, Jadavpur, to the TMC’s Manish Gupta. An easy scapegoat for the Left’sdefeat–thoughtheCPI(M) has struggled to make a comeback even 13 years later – Bhattacharjee spoke about why he pushed for industrialisation in a TV interview to ABP Ananda in 2013. “Paschim banglay jodi koi karkhana na hoy, chele meyera ajj jara college e porche, engineering college porche… tader bhobisyat ta ki? Sudhu CPM Trinamoolerbyaparnoi.(If there arenoindustriesinBengal,those girls and boys who are studying in colleges now, studying in engineering colleges… what will happen to their future? This is not an issue of the CPM or Trinamool).” Bhattacharjee also spoke about the Nandigram deaths, and while pointing out that police had few options, regretted whathadhappened.“Whataresponsible government needed to do was done there. Any government would dothat.Therule CONTINUED ON PAGE 2