DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 IN THE WAKE OF HINDENBURG RESEARCH’S ALLEGATIONS R G KAR JUNIOR DOCTOR’S RAPE-MURDER HousecommitteeincludesSEBIreview initsagenda,likelytosummonBuch Public Accounts Committee notifies agenda amid Opp calls for probe LIZ MATHEW Haryana BJP faces revolt: 2 ministers step down, senior leaders quit VARINDER BHATIA CHANDIGARH, SEPTEMBER 5 ADAYafterthe BJP released the first list of 67 candidates for the Haryana DECISION Assemblyelections, the state 2024 HARYANA unit on Thursday facedrevoltfromatleastsixleaders. Two ministers in the Nayab Singh Saini government stepped down from their posts; leaders, including former MLA Savitri Jindal,raisedthebannerof rebellion; and MLA Laxman Napa joinedtheCongressinNewDelhi. As the discontentment in the party bubbled up, Chief Minister Saini reached out to at least one of themandsaidthepartywould talk to all these leaders. The BJP leaders who have rebelled are state Energy Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and Ministerof StateforSocialJustice Bishamber Singh Balmiki who have resigned from the government; BJP OBC Morcha state president Karan Dev Kamboj, a former minister, who, like Napa, has quit the party; and former state ministers Kavita Jain and Savitri Jindal. While Jain has given the party a two-day CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RIFT IN HARYANA CONG OVER TIE-UP NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 5 THE PUBLIC Accounts Committee (PAC), the parliamentary watchdog for government spending, has decided to include in its agenda for the year a review of the performance of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) whose chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch is at the centre of a political firestorm following allegations levelled against her by US-based Hindenburg Research. Sources said the parliamentary panel, which has notified its agenda, is likely to summon the current SEBI chief during the review process. ThePAC,headedbyCongress senior leader K C Venugopal, took the unusual step to include a suo motu subject – performance review of regulatory bodies established by Act of SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch Parliament – at its last meeting onAugust29.Theagendaforthe year was notified earlier this week. Thiscomesamidthegrowing Opposition chorus for a parliamentaryprobeintoHindenburg Research’s allegation that Buch and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had “stake in obscure offshore entities used in Adani money siphoning scandal”. Inresponsetotheallegations made by Hindenburg, a joint statement by Buch and her husband said that “the investment in the fund referred to in the Hindenburg report was made in 2015 when they were both CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India, China, Brazil in Putin list of potential mediators on Ukraine SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 5 DAYS AFTER Prime Minister NarendraModispoketohimand “exchanged perspectives on the Russia-Ukraineconflict”and“insights from the visit to Ukraine”, RussianPresidentVladimirPutin said Thursday that China, India andBrazilcouldactasmediators in potential peace talks. Russian state-owned TASS newsagencyquotedPutinsaying, “Werespectourfriendsandpartnerswho,Ibelieve,sincerelyseek to resolve all issues surrounding Employees protest at the SEBI premises in Mumbai on Thursday. Express Day after SEBI denies ‘toxic’ work culture, its officers protest again ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 5 A DAY after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a clarification denying allegations of “toxic” work culture alleged by a section of its employees, the regulator’s officers staged yet another protest outside its headquarters Thursday. A day earlier, the SEBI, in a press release, had said that “external elements” were misguiding its junior officers “on House Rent Allowances (HRA)” related issues and that these officers were the ones protesting. It also saidthatclaimsof unprofessional work culture were misplaced. This clarification followed a report in The Economic Times CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP’ The huddle next month RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin’s remark on potential mediators comes ahead of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, next month where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping are expected to be among the leaders present. ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 5 AFTER UPROAR over re-introductionof regressivelanguagein the forensic medicine module for undergraduate medical students, the apex medical education regulator has withdrawn its new curriculum in its entirety. “Theaboveguidelineswillbe PAGE 1 ANCHOR revised and uploaded in due course,” an official notification states. This is significant considering the new MBBS session is likely to begin in October. The Indian Express had reported that the revised forensic medicine curriculum brought back “sodomy and lesbianism” under the category of unnatural sexual offences. It also re-introduced topics such as importance of hymen, definition of virginity anddefloration,anditslegitimacy and medico-legal importance. All these were done away with in 2022 by the National Medical Commission to make thecurriculumLGBTQI+friendly based on the recommendation of an expert committee constituted under the directions of the Madras High Court. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FULL COVERAGE SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 5 THE FATHER of the 31-year-old junior doctor, who was raped andmurderedatRGKarMedical College and Hospital last month, claimed on Wednesday night that he and his family were coercedintocrematingherbodyin a hurry against their wishes. He said they wanted to keep herbodyforfurtherrites,butfelt compelled to “succumb to immensepressure”.Heallegedthat their house was surrounded by approximately 300-400 police personnel after they returned from Tala police station. “We couldn’t say anything WHY NO NEW ARREST IN PAST 23 DAYS... WHY NO PROBE UPDATE, TMC TO CBI PAGE 3 then,”hesaid,duringWednesday night’s protest at R G Kar. The father also accused the deputy commissioner (north) of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Bengal going from wrong to wrong: Governor KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 5 PM Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Singapore PM Lawrence Wong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore Thursday. Reuters CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 called lesbianism a sexual offence At the ‘Reclaim the Night’ protest in Kolkata on Wednesday night. Partha Paul Anti-rape Bill on its table for assent, Raj Bhavan says govt didn’t send ‘technical report’ India, Singapore ink MoUs on NMC withdraws curriculum that semi-conductors, digital tech PAGE 7 Family coerced into hurried cremation, cops offered money, says victim’s father SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 5 INDIA AND Singapore on Thursday elevated their bilateral tiestoa“comprehensivestrategic partnership” and signed four MoUs, including on cooperation in semi-conductors, as Prime MinisterNarendraModiheldtalks withhisnewly-electedSingapore counterpart Lawrence Wong. Modi and Wong also expressedconvergenceof viewson various regional and interna- tional issues, including regional securitydynamics.Bothsidesreiterated their desire and determination to work together to maintainpeace,stability,growth and prosperity in the region and beyond,thejointstatementsaid. On the South China Sea, where China’s aggressive posturehasraisedtensions,thejoint statementsaid:“Underliningthe link between prosperity and security,theleadersreaffirmedthe importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability,safetyandfreedomof nav- igation in and overflight above the South China Sea, while pursuing the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982UnitedNationsConvention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), without resorting to the threat or use of force”. “Both sides also called on all parties to resolve disputes through peaceful means without threat or use of force and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of actions that could TWO DAYS after West Bengal Assembly passed a Bill for stringentpunishmentinrapecasesin thewakeof therapeandmurder of a junior doctor at a state-run hospital, sources in the Raj Bhavan on Thursday said the Bill — Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws andAmendment)Bill—wassent forGovernor’sassentwithoutthe “technical report”. “As per the rule, the state government is duty bound to send the technical report to the Governor before a decision is taken on giving assent to the Bill...Thisisnotthefirsttimethat the TMC government has withheld the technical reports and then blamed the Raj Bhavan for keeping the Bills pending,” a Raj Bhavan official said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD HASINA MUST STAY SILENT IN INDIA TILL DHAKA SEEKS HER EXTRADITION: YUNUS U.S. RACES TO PRESENT NEW GAZA TRUCE DEAL PAGE 12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Swachh Bharat helped avert 60,000 infant deaths annually: Study DAMINI NATH & ANJALI MARAR NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, SEPTEMBER 5 ACCESS TO toilets and better sanitation services under the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission may have averted around 60,000 to 70,000 infant deaths annually between 2014 and 2020, a study published in the journal Nature has found. LaunchedonOctober2,2014, over 11 crore household toilets were built under Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen as of 2020, and over six lakh villages were declared Open Defecation Free, according to government data. Under Swachh Bharat MissionUrban, over 63 lakh individual household toilets and 6.36 lakh community public toilets have been built. The report, ‘Toilet construction under the Swachh Bharat Mission and infant mortality in India’, by Suman Chakrabarti, Soyra Gune, Tim A. Bruckner, Julie Strominger and Parvati Singh, published on September 2, took into account the infant mortality rate (IMR, or the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1,000 live births) and the under-five mor- tality rate (U5MR) in 35 states and 640 districts between 2011 and 2020. While the study noted an overall decline in infant mortality during 2003-2020, it said the fall was particularly noteworthy from2015onwards.Forinstance, the study said, in 2003, the average toilet coverage in a district was below 40 per cent and by 2020,thiswentuptoover60per cent. Establishing an inverse relation between access to toilets and infant mortality, the study statedthatevendistrictswith30 per cent toilet coverage had managed to reduce the infant mortality rate by a substantial DECREASE IN INFANT MORTALITY RATE Kerala 50% Telangana 38.23% Bihar 35.71% Andhra Pradesh 35.13% J&K 34.61% Delhi 33.33% Karnataka 32.14% Tamil Nadu 31.57% * Between 2015 and 2020; Children under one year of age; Source: Sample Registration System Bulletins, Office of RGI Report in Nature says access to toilets, better sanitation correspond to reduced infant mortality. File number. In absolute numbers, it amounted to averting 60,00070,000 deaths annually across the country. “Toilet access and child mortality have a historically robust inverse association in India. Toilets constructed increased dramaticallyacrossIndiafollowing the implementation of SBM (Swachh Bharat Mission) in 2014… Based on our regression estimates, the provision of toilets at-scale may have contributed to averting approximately 60,000–70,000 infant deathsannually,”thereportsaid. Sharing the findings of the study on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Happy to seeresearchhighlightingtheimpact of efforts like the Swachh Bharat Mission. Access to proper toilets plays a crucial role in reducing infant and child mortality. Clean, safe sanitation has become a game-changer for public health. And, I am glad India has taken the lead in this.” One of the the authors of the study, Suman Chakrabarti, an Associate Research Fellow for Nutrition, Diets and Health Unit at the International Food Policy Research Institute, told The IndianExpress,“Deathsfrompreventable infectious diseases CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata