DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 TAKES SUO MOTU COGNIZANCE, DAYS AFTER HC SENDS CASE TO CBI 19/08/2024 81 109 133 64 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY EXPRESS NETWORK COAST GUARD DIRECTOR GENERAL RAKESH PAL DIES OF CARDIAC ARREST IN CHENNAI PAGE 6 EXPLAINED POLICY LATERALENTRYIN BUREAUCRACY P11 SC steps in, lists Kolkata rape-murder, ‘related issues’ for hearing tomorrow Matter listed before 3-judge bench presided by CJI D Y Chandrachud ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, AUGUST 18 DAYS AFTER the Calcutta High Court, expressing displeasure over the handling of the case relating to the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at the R G Kar Medical College in Kolkata, transferred the probe to the CBI, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the August 9 incident. A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud will hear the matter Tuesday. The bench also comprises Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. Thesupplementarycauselist of the Supreme Court for August 20shows“inre:allegedrapeand murderincidentof atraineedoctor in R.G.Kar Medical College andHospital,Kolkataandrelated issues” listed for hearing before the bench, indicating that the court may also look into the acts of vandalismbyamobatthehospital on the night of August 14. On August 13, the High Court division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice 70PADMAAWARDEE DOCTORSWRITETOPM 70PADMAawardee doctorswrotetoPM NarendraModiSunday, askinghimtopersonally intervenetoaddressthe “alarmingsituation” amidsttheprotestby doctorsacrossthecountry. Theyalsosoughtaspecial lawforprotectionof healthcareworkers. P7 INSIDE JMM crisis: Champai says was humiliated, Cracks in TMC: Its MP asks CBI to weighing options; question top cop, gets police notice Hemant targets BJP Supporters of rivalfootball clubsEastBengaland MohunBaganataprotest inKolkata. Partha Paul DURAND CUP MATCH CANCELLED OVER SECURITY ISSUES GIRL RAPED ON BUS IN DEHRADUN, FIVE RAVIK BHATTACHARYA ARRESTED PAGE 7 KOLKATA, AUGUST 18 Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, while expressing displeasure over the handling of the case and observing that “there appears to be no CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 REFLECTING THE unease and an apparent divide within the ruling TMC in West Bengal over the handling of the case of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and TMC MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy Hospital, party seniorleaderand Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy urged the CBI Sunday to conduct custodial interrogation of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and the college’s former principal SandipGhosh.Withinhours,the Kolkata police issued a notice to Roy, asking him to appear at the police headquarters in Lalbazar. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NCP tells Fadnavis to Judiciary to police, institutions have to be clarify stand after BJP rebuilt: Student leader now in interim govt men wave black flags Govts come and go, India needs to maintain ties with our people: Nahid Islam THE WORLD at Ajit Pawar convoy EXPRESS PUNE, AUGUST 18 SHUBHAJIT ROY DHAKA, AUGUST 18 Women tie rakhis to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Junnar, Pune, on Sunday. ANI Devendra Fadnavis not put up in the meeting hall?” she said. The Junnar Assembly constituency is represented by NCP MLA Atul Benke. The BJP camp has alleged that Pawar is trying to promote Benke. “The NCP is trying to promote another ‘Pappu’intheformof AtulBenke in Junnar,” she said. Buchake also criticised Pawar’s conduct as the district CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD BLINKEN IN ISRAEL TO PUSH GAZA CEASEFIRE DEAL PAK: EX-ISI CHIEF WAS PART OF IMRAN’S PLOT PAGE 12 UNDERLINING THAT rebuilding the country is a “big responsibility”andrebuildingtrustintheinstitutions is also a “difficult responsibility”, student leader NahidIslam,whoistheinformation and communications tech advisorintheinterimBangladesh government, has said they are workingonaplanfor“holisticreform” of national institutions — judiciary, police, civilian bureaucracy among others. Thisisthestrongestsignalyet Shubhajit Roy Islam: ‘Bangabandhu statues had become symbols of fascism’ from the Army-backed interim government on revisiting the institutionspackedwithloyalistsof SheikhHasinawhoselongruleas PrimeMinistercametoanendon August 5 when she fled to India. In an interview to The Indian Express,26-year-oldNahidIslam, who spearheaded the quota reforms movement that led to Hasina’s ouster, said, “We haven’t been able to celebrate the victory and the downfall of the Hasina government. It’s abig responsibility for us now.” Islam,who studiedsociology at Dhaka University, is one of the most articulate student leaders. Following Hasina’s departure, it was Islam who announced that NobellaureateProf Muhammad Yunus would head the interim government. He said during Hasina’s rule, institutional structures in the country had been “destroyed” due to “injustice and loot”. “So, we have to reform them, andhavetorebuildtrustinthose institutions… This is a difficult responsibility for us, and we are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Despite red flags, ministry reimposed solar module list of domestic players YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION AGGAM WALIA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 18 DESPITE CONCERNS flagged at the highest levels in the governmentovermarketconcentration inIndia’ssolarPVmoduleindustry and its potential to inflate E E X P L A I NE D A GROUP of BJP workers led by party’sJunnarchiefAshaBuchake wavedblackflagsatDeputyChief Minister Ajit Pawar’s convoy as his Jan Sanman Yatra reached there Sunday. Reacting to the incident, the Nationalist Congress Party demanded Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to clarify as to whether he approved of the behaviour of his BJP workers. Asha Buchake claimed that the NCP is trying to promote its candidate in the Junnar seat for the upcoming Assembly polls. “They are trying to strangle us... Therefore we have adopted an aggressive stand,” she told reportersevenastheBJPprotesters raisedslogansagainstAjitPawar. A government meeting was organised on tourism development in Junnar on Sunday. “However, the BJP was not even invited for the meeting. If we are part of Mahayuti, then why are picturesof Chief MinisterEknath ShindeandDeputyChiefMinister SCHOOLS, COLLEGES REOPEN AFTER A MONTH PAGE 12 INDHAKA MANOJ MORE Rising cost ● difference DOMESTIC solar modules are now 90% more expensive than imports, with prices reaching 18 cents per watt in June compared to 9.1 cents for imported modules. This gap has widened since FY22, when domestic prices were 6% higher than imports. household electricity tariffs, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy reimposed its mandate requiringsolarprojectstosource modules exclusively from a government-approvedlistofdomesticmanufacturersstartingApril1. Prior to the reimposition of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) order, former Union Minister of Power andNew and RenewableEnergy R K Singh and the central public sector enterprise SJVN Ltd had explicitly flagged concerns arounddomesticmanufacturers CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 His senior leader in Delhi, CM: ‘Money such a thing that it doesn’t take long’ ABHISHEK ANGAD RANCHI, AUGUST 18 THE JMM-LED ruling alliance in Jharkhand was grappling with a crisis Sunday after JMM senior leaderandformerChief Minister Champai Soren, who reached Delhi amid speculation that he wasreadytocrossovertotheBJP, saidhehadbeen“humiliated”by the JMM and was now left with three options — to retire, start a new party, or join another party. His remarks drew a sharp response from Chief Minister Hemant Soren who accused the BJP of “poaching MLAs” and “dividing society”. The PTI news agency quoted him saying in a Godda function that “money is such a thing that it doesn't take long for politicians to move here and there”. HemantSoren,whoreturned to the post in July after being granted bailin an allegedmoney launderingcase(ChampaiSoren had to step down as CM), claimedthattheBJPhadbrought people from Gujarat, Assam and Maharashtra to “spread poison among the tribals, Dalits, backward classes and minorities and make them fight with each other”, the PTI reported. He was quoted saying: “Forget aboutso- NEW DELHI, AUGUST 18 RLD LEADER AND UNION MINISTER PAGE 10 ciety,thesepeopleworktobreak families and parties. They poach MLAs.” Champai Soren, in a post on X, claimed that on July 3, he was told that all his scheduled programmes were cancelled Inastatement,hesaidhehad no one in the party to go to with his problems as the JMM’s central executive meeting had not been held for years. “I am counted among the seniormembersinthisparty,the restarejuniors,andthesupremo (Shibu Soren), who is senior to me, is no longer active in politics due to health, then what option did I have? If he had been active, perhaps the situation would have been different,” he said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AI stewardess assaulted by intruder in hotel room near Heathrow EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE ‘Data-centric decision-making is a must but caste data is tricky to capture’ JAYANT CHAUDHARY Former Jharkhand CM Champai Soren at the Delhi airport on Sunday. PTI AN AIR India air hostess staying inahotelnearLondonHeathrow airport was assaulted by an intruder who entered her room late at night, according to sources. The incident took place earlier this week. The air hostess, who sustained injuries, was rescued by those in adjacent rooms and hotel staff who responded to her cries for help, and the intruder was nabbed. The airline confirmed the incident, but did not elaborate on thenatureof assaultandinjuries sustained by the air hostess. The matter is being investigated by London police and Air India is working with it to “pursue the mattertothefullestextentof the law”, the airline said. “Air India accords foremost priority to the safety, security and well-being of our crew and staff members. We are deeply anguished by an unlawful incident of intrusion at a hotel, operated by a major international chain, that affected one of our crew members,” an Air India spokesperson said. “We are providing all possible support to our colleague and their broader team, including CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A derelict school still running — just to keep 7 kids from dropping out PAGE 1 ANCHOR AISWARYA RAJ GURUGRAM, AUGUST 18 BEHIND THE iron gate lies a derelict building overrun by knee-high vegetation. Without even a board to announce its name, the only signs of life at Gurugram's Government Primary School Gopalpur Khera are its seven students who troop pastitsfadedtricolourgateseach day, besides their sole teacher. Despitenotfulfillingthemin- imum enrollment criteria of 20 students,thisprimaryschool,locatedaround 1km fromDwarka Expressway, has not been shut and continues to be a lifeline for its little learners. Past the unkempt front yard with brown plastic chairs, seepagestains marthe roof andwalls of the school. Barring one, its three other classrooms are locked. A peek inside the only open classroom reveals a sad state of affairs: there’s broken furniture, some kitchen utensils, a lawn mower, a carrom board, trunks and a chunky television. Theschool’sonlytwotoiletsfor studentsarefilthyandthekitchen partially damaged. The midday meal is cooked and served by an agencyhiredbytheHaryanagovernment.LocatedundertheGarhi Harsaru cluster in the Municipal Corporation of Manesar area, the GopalpurKheraschoolwasestablishedin1985.Localssayitfellinto astateof neglectoverthelast few yearsafterthetransferofoneofits twoteachers. Sitting cross-legged on a dusty red-black mat in the verandah, his back towards the blackboard with triple-digit Maths problems scrawled all over,Divesh,11,astudentof Class 5,isreadinghisEnglishtextbook. Children of migrant labourers The verandah of the Govt Primary School in Gurugram’s Gopalpur Khera functions as a ‘classroom’. Aiswarya Raj from BiharandUttar Pradesh, all seven students are forced to study in the school’s verandah duetothelackof anactivepower connection. Despite moving to Gurugram and this school from Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj just a year ago with his migrant parents, Divesh is the only student who wears a uniform, can multiply and divide three-digit numbers, and also read sentences in English. Sitting next to him, besides his five other schoolmates, is a shy six-yearold staring at his textbook. With the school’s lone tutor — Lalita Chawla, a guest teacher who joined in July on a 45-day contract — on leave, substitute teacher Anil Kumar from the nearestprimaryschool,around2 km away, is covering for her. Using one hand to swat the flies or brush off the ants swarming the “classroom”, the children sit withtheirbooksintheother.The teacher sits away from them, making himself available when the need arises. Divesh tells The Indian Express, “Earlier, two classrooms were open and we would sit there. There were more children in school then. Now, since there is no power, we can’t sit inside.” Though the student register for the current academic year is missing,onefromlastyearshows that over 25 children studied in the school till March 2024. In 2011, the Haryana government had said it would undertake a rationalisation exercise at primary and upper primary schools before each academic yeartodecideonappropriateaction—mergeorcloseschoolsdepending on enrollment. An Education Department official told The Indian Express that government schools are required to have at least two teachers even if the strength is just 25 children. Accordingtoanannualreporton CONTINUED ON PAGE 2