DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 RAIN CONTINUES IN GUJARAT Toll 35 as rain claims 25 more lives; 17,800 evacuated, Army called in Flood-like situation in many areas, PM holds talks with CM WILL BRING LAW ON DEATH FOR RAPE: MAMATA Enough is enough, says President as she raises Kolkata, women safety Counter mindset that sees women as lesser human beings: Murmu RITU SHARMA AHMEDABAD, AUGUST 28 RAIN-RELATED incidents claimed25morelivesinGujarat, taking the death toll to 35 in three days since Monday, while around17,800peoplewereevacuated from flood-affected areas asheavyshowerslashedpartsof the state for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday. As relief and rescue operationsarebeingcarriedoutbythe National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to take stock of the situation and to ensure Centre's support in the crisis. On Wednesday, districts in the Saurashtra region such as Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Porbandar received between 50 mm and 200 mm of rain in 12-hour period ending 6 pm. Bhanvad taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka received 185 mm rainfall during this period – the highest in the state. ‘Nation bound to be outraged and so am I’ VIJAY JOSHI NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 Army personnel rescue stranded people from a flooded Vadodara locality on Wednesday. PTI While rain took a pause in Vadodara city, flooding in Vishwamitri river left several low-lyingareasstillunderwater. People stranded in their houses and rooftops were rescued and relocated to safer places by teams of the NDRF, SDRF and three columns of the Army deployed for the purpose. Along with NDRF and SDRF, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard were carrying out rescue and relief operations in affected areas, with around 17,800 people relocatedandanother2,000rescued so far, officials said. According to thestategovernment,sofar,over 41,000 people have been shifted and more than 3,000 rescued this monsoon. MOREREPORTS,PAGE4 According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) in Gandhinagar, while 15 people died on Tuesday, four deaths were reported on Wednesday. The district CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Dhami overrules Minister, Chief Secy to post ousted Corbett chief as head of Rajaji reserve JAY MAZOOMDAAR NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 IGNORING A request from his Forest Minister and Chief Secretary to reconsider the appointment, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has handed charge of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve to an officer who was removed two years ago as headof theCorbettTigerReserve after the High Court took note of illegal tree felling and construction there. Records show that Dhami conveyedhisdecisiontoappoint Chief Conservatorof Forest(CCF) Rahul, an Indian Forest Service officer who uses only his first name, as director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve on August 8 through a handwritten file noting. On August 9, the officer, who had been holding a non-field posting at the Monitoring, Evaluation, IT & Modernization divisionoftheForestdepartment, was officially given charge of the new post, the records show. Partof theShivaliktigerland- Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami scape, Corbett and Rajaji are the only two such reserves in Uttarakhand. Dhami did not respond to an email from The Indian Express seeking comment. When contacted, Rahul said he would not comment on his “own posting”. A senior official of the state ForestdepartmentsaidRahuldid notfigureintheCBIFIRinthecase ofillegaltreefellingandconstructionatCorbett.“Hefaceddepartmentalactionbutithasbeenover two years now,” the official said. Since he was removed from Corbett, Rahul held non-field postings in Dehradun. Records show the first step to get him back in charge of a tiger reserve took place on July 18 when the Forest Minister, with approval fromtheChief Minister,modified aproposedtransferlistof 12IFoS officers,includingthethendirector of the Rajaji reserve. One of theadditionsinthemodifiedlist was Rahul’s new appointment. However, the file was resubmittedwithinaweekafteranote wasroutedthroughthePrincipal Secretary, Chief Secretary and Forest Minister. It sought reconsiderationof theappointment“in view of the ongoing disciplinary proceedings against Rahul, the CBIprobeandtheassociatedcase in the Supreme Court regarding illegal felling and construction WHAT’S COMMON between a two-wheelerdealershipinDelhi, a saree depot based in Kolhapur and a 25-bed hospital in Bharuch? The companies behind each of these entities are part of a market boom that has seen small and medium enterprises making a beeline for the bourses — and retail investors lining up to lap up their shares. At a time when the mainboard IPO market is quite active, market experts view the listing of SMEs on the NSE and BSE as a E E X P L A I NE D MUMBAI, AUGUST 28 Why it is raising ● red flags OF 108 SME IPOs that hit the market till date since April 1 and raised Rs 3,903 crore, 99 listed at a premium. Market regulator SEBI has raised red flags that post listing, some listed SMEs project an unrealistic picture, create a positive sentiment, and luring investors to buy their stocks in the process. spillover of investor frenzy. But with some of these primary market offerings getting oversubscribed by up to 900 times, they are also raising regulatory concerns. The key worry, according to them: These offerings are from relatively smaller entities in a small market, and hence may be open to manipulation at the IPO and trading levels. Moreover, these small IPOs are not directly regulated by SEBIbut by the NSE and the BSE. Market regulator SEBI on Wednesday said that, post listing, some of the SME companies and/or their promoters have CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 THE SUPREME Court reiterated Wednesday that the legal principle “bail is the rule and jail is the exception” will applyevenin cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. Granting bail to Prem Prakash,namedasanaccusedby theEnforcementDirectorateina PMLA case in Jharkhand, the bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan referred to the SupremeCourt’srulingintheJuly 27,2022rulinginVijayMadanlal Choudhary and Ors. Vs Union of IndiaandOrs,upholdingthecon- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 If fire starts in Bengal, will spread to Assam, Bihar, Odisha: Mamata CMsof BJP-ruledstatescriticiseremark RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, AUGUST 28 WEST BENGAL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s warning — that the fire BJP wants to start in her state will not spare Assam, Bihar, Manipur or Odisha — on Wednesday drew sharp reactions from her counterparts in several states. Her comments come at a time when West Bengal is gripped by protests -- by doctors as well as the Opposition BJP — against the rape and murder of a 10 YEARS OF SCHEME PM: Jan Dhan has led to over 53 crore bank accounts, women being empowered CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 From Delhi bike dealer to Kolhapur SC underlines: Bail is rule, saree depot, small IPOs lift mood in jail exception even in PMLA the market — and raise eyebrows cases, Article 21 higher right GEORGE MATHEW & HITESH VYAS DECLARING THAT “enough is enough”, President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said it is time for India to wake up to the “perversion” of crimes against womenandcounterthemindset thatseeswomenas“lesspowerful, less capable, less intelligent”. “Thosewhosharesuchviews then go further and see the female as an object… We owe it to our daughters to remove the hurdles from their path of winning the freedom from fear,” Murmu said in an exclusive signed article for PTI. Referring to the August 9 rape and murder of a junior doctor in a Kolkata hospital, a “dismayed and horrified” President said what is even more depressing is that it is part of a series of crimes against women. Murmusaidnocivilisedsociety can allow daughters and sisterstobesubjectedtosuchatrocities. “The nation is bound to be outraged,andsoamI,”shewrote. The hard-hitting and BJP supporters hit the streets of Kolkata to enforce a bandh on Wednesday. Partha Paul MOREREPORTS,PAGE11 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs the 44th Pragati meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 stitutional validity of PMLA, and the powers of the ED under it. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 DESCRIBINGTHEPradhanMantri Jan Dhan Yojana as “more than just a policy”, one that ensures “each and every citizen, irrespective of one’s economic background” has access to formal banking,PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi criticised the Congress Wednesday, saying its government in the past nationalised banksinthenameofthepoorbut they never got access to banking. INSIDE CABINET CLEARS RLY PROJECTS, AUCTION OF FM CHANNELS GOVT TO SET UP 12 NEW INDUSTRIAL CITIES IN 10 STATES PAGES 10 & 16 InapostonsocialmediaplatformLinkedIn,Modisaid,“Today CONTINUEDONPAGE2 junior doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. Addressing a foundation day event of the TMC’s Chhatra Parishad (student wing) in Kolkata, Mamata said: “Some people are thinking this is Bangladesh. I love Bangladesh, their culture and food are the same as ours. But Bangladesh is a separate country and India is a separatecountry.Modibabu,you wantthatfiretospreadinBengal. Thenyoushouldunderstandthat if a fire starts in Bengal, Assam will not be spared, Bihar will not be spared, it will not stop at CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 After uproar, Kerala police file rape case against actor Siddique SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUGUST 28 THE KERALA police have registered a rape case against prominent Malayalam actor, Siddique, following a complaint by a young actor. The complainant had earlier this week raised the allegation through the media, following which Siddique was forced to step down as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), an outfit of actors. Thewoman,onceanaspirant in the Malayalam industry, had come forward after the release of the Hema Committee report, whichhasexposedrampantsexualabuseandflagrantgenderinjustice in the film industry. Since the report came to light, several CONTINUEDONPAGE2 THE IDEAS PAGE WHO FAILEDTHE AAMAADMI BY SAURABH BHARDWAJ PAGE 9 Our polity lacks reform capability to spur 9-11% growth: Ruchir Sharma PAGE 1 ANCHOR ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU MUMBAI, AUGUST 28 INDIACANCLOCKaGDPgrowth rate of 6-7 per cent but its polity lacks the capability to carry out reforms that can spur growth in the range of 9-11 per cent, said Ruchir Sharma, global investor, fund manager and author of best-selling books. At the Express Adda, organised by The Indian Express in Mumbai on Tuesday, Sharma said, “I think that we can grow at 6 (per cent), or maybe 7 per cent withsomehelpof foreigncapital but the kind of growth rates that Chinadid…9percent,10percent and 11 per cent, I don’t think our polity…andtheconsensusinthis country is there. We still don’t give our people enough economic freedom. We still have a mindset of the fact that we need to protect… Government still playsaprettyinterventionistrole in this country,” Sharma said. HewasrespondingtoaquestiononwhencanIndiawitnessa situation where its currency is strengthening, interest rates are lower and growth is accelerating, similar to what Japan experienced from 1970 to 1995, and China in 2000. “For30to40years,Chinawas theworld’sbiggestsuccessstory. It didn’t happen naturally. The kindofreformsthatChinacarried out in those years is something ourpolity...Idon’tthinkitiscapableof carryingout,”Sharmasaid. He explained that China, whichbeganasaverycontrolled communist state in the 1970s, gave its people a lot of economic freedom over time. Until the 1980s, Chinese people couldn’t even own their property but then all the reforms began one by one. In the 1990s, China fired nearly 100 million people from its public sector enterprises and there was no welfare state. “…The kind of reforms that China and other Eastern European, East Asian countries carried out by really downsizing Ruchir Sharma, Chairman of Rockefeller International, and Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Breakout Capital, at the Express Adda event in Mumbai on Tuesday. Narendra Vaskar thepublicsector,Idon’tthinkwe (India) have the capacity or consensustodothat.Privatisationin this(India)countryisdeadonarrivalformost thingsas we know. It only happens by malign neglect, which is that something is allowed to privatise on its own because the private sector takes on greater share… that’s what happened with the banking sector,” Sharma said. He said most countries first give their people economic freedom and when they reach a certain per capita income they start togivemorepoliticalfreedom.“In India’scase,wedidtheopposite… gave the people lots of political freedom, we never gave our peopleeconomicfreedom,whichbe- gan to change from the early 80s or90sorso.That’sthebigchange wehaveseensincethe1990s,and now we see that India has also progressed a lot as it has given its people economic freedom. But it is interesting that India still ranks relativelylowontheindexofeconomic freedom compared to so many countries,” Sharma said. When asked which industry orsectorinIndiaisinurgentneed of government intervention, he said, “The less intervention, the better. I don’t think I want more government anywhere because every time the best growth happens when the ministry has not even been formed… happened with tech, right?” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad