DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Colonial Era Criminal Laws Repealed 100 Days of Modi 3.0 Government of India Focus on 'Justice' instead of 'Punishment' in 3 New Laws Paving the Path to Viksit Bharat cbc 22201/13/0023/2425 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES TOP CHINESE OFFICIAL MEETS INDIAN ENVOY ChinaconfirmsLACtalksprogress:Able % toreducedifferences,someconsensus 7.90 FOR 444 DAYS FD 1800 419 8300 (Toll Free) Two sides agreed to reach mutually-acceptable resolution at early date, says Beijing military Follow us @PSBIndOfficial EXPLAINED FOREIGN POLICY BIDENAND INDIA-USTIES PAGE 12 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 26 THE CHINESE Defence Ministry said Thursday that China and India have been able to “reduce differences” and build “some consensus” on disengaging troops from friction points to end the standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. It said they agreed to maintaindialoguetoreachares- olution acceptable to both sides at an “early date”. TheChineseForeignMinistry said Li Jinsong, Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, metwithPradeepKumarRawat, India’s Ambassador to China. The Chinese Defence Ministry’s statement and the meeting with the Indian envoy came on the day The Indian Express reported that India and China had made “significant External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi progress” in narrowing their gap on pending issues along LAC in easternLadakh.Thisincludedexploringthecontoursof apossible solution that factors in their respectivepre-April2020positions while agreeing to address existing issues in Arunachal Pradesh. Sourcessaidthismightimply thatIndiantroops,whoseaccess tocertainpatrollingpointsalong the LAC in eastern Ladakh were blockedeitherbyChinesetroops or due to the implementation of the buffer zones created in the backdrop of disengagement at specific friction points, might be close to accessing them again. In Beijing, Zhang Xiaogang, spokespersonforthe Ministryof National Defence, told a media briefing thatundertheguidance of their two leaders, China and India have maintained communication with each other throughdiplomaticandmilitary channels including between the two Foreign Ministers and CONTINUEDONPAGE2 HIMACHAL GOVT SAYS NO DECISION YET Eatery to display owner ID: Minister leaves Cong red-faced, summoned 98 of 749 HC judges have assets in public eye — Kerala tops with 37 of 39 judges, Delhi has 11 of 39 MANOJ C G & SAURABH PARASHAR NEW DELHI, SHIMLA, SEPTEMBER 26 THE HIMACHAL Pradesh government has distanced itself from the statement by its Public Works Department and Urban Development Minister Vikramaditya Singh that a decision had been taken that every eatery and food stall in the state mustdisplaytheowner’sIDcard. Vikramaditya’sstatementon Wednesday came as a surprise as the Himachal Congress governmentseemedtobefollowing the lead of the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, which had issued similar orders a day earlier. OnThursday,aspokesperson of the Himachal government said that a committee had been BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY JUDGES’ ASSETS SHEET FROM 7 HIGH COURTS High Court CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu; Vikramaditya Singh CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 31 File not uploaded No mention 12 10 No mention Chhattisgarh 17 2 No mention Karnataka 50 2 No mention Kerala 39 37 No mention Madras 62 5 No mention Note: Total number of Judges includes Chief Justices of respective High Courts as well as Additional Judges. Source: Websites of all 25 High Courts and Department of Justice, as on Sept 18, 2024 SUPREME COMMANDER AT SIACHEN SHYAMLAL YADAV President Droupadi Murmu with soldiers during a visit to the Siachen Base Camp on Thursday. PTI NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 26 OF THE 749 judges currently shown as posted in the 25 High Courtsacrossthecountry,theassetsof only98areavailableinthe public domain through declarations posted on the official websites of these institutions — just 13 per cent of the total number, according to official data re- viewed by The Indian Express. Of these, three High Courts constituteover80percentof the assetdeclarations(seechart):the Kerala High Court tops with the details of 37 out of 39 judges available on its website; the Punjab and Haryana High Court has uploaded the information of 31 of 55 judges; and the Delhi High Court has posted details of 11 of 39 judges. SC rejects Gujarat govt plea for Labourer dies, eight review of Bilkis order, remarks injured in massive blaze at textile unit First time since 2019, Erdogan skips Kashmir mention in UN speech SURAT THE SUPREME Court on Thursday dismissed the Gujarat government’s plea seeking review of its January 8 judgment that cancelled the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. The bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said, “Having carefully gone through the Review Petitions, EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE SURAT, SEPTEMBER 26 PAGE 4 11 55 Himachal Pradesh formed to frame a policy on street vendors, and was yet to take a decision. “So far, the state government has not made any decision regarding the mandatory display of nameplates or any other form of identification by vendors at their stalls,” the statement said. Sources said this followed a message by an upset Congress central leadership to Chief 39 Punjab & Haryana NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 26 25 PILGRIMS RESCUED IN BHAVNAGAR Total Judges Assets in For others what at present public domain website states Delhi ANANTHAKRISHNAN G GUJARAT Assets of only 13% of HC judges in public domain, most from three courts: Data ALABOURERdiedandeightpeoplewereinjuredinamassivefire that broke out at a textile unit in Surat on Thursday. The factory owner was among those who suffered injuries. Gujarat Education Minister Praful Panseriya and Surat city Mayor Daxesh Mavani met those who were injured later in the day at SMIMER Hospital where they were admitted, and assured them proper treatment. Police have registered an offenceof accidentaldeathfollowingthedeathof thelabourer,and have started a probe. The fire broke out at a temporary shed of Fire broke out at the factory on Thursday morning. Hanif Malek the textile unit on the rooftop of a three-storey building CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Remission to Bilkis Bano case convicts was cancelled the order under challenge and the papers annexed therewith, we are satisfied that there is no error apparent on the face of the record or any merit in the Review Petitions, warranting reconsideration of the order im- pugned. The Review Petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. Pendingapplication(s),if any, shall stand disposed of.” The state government had sought a review stating that some of the comments in the January 8 judgment were “not only highly unwarranted and against the record of the case” but “caused serious prejudice to the State”. The review petition termed as “extreme observation” the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IIMA student, 24, found dead at hostel room, suicide suspected BRENDANDABHI,RITU SHARMA AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 26 IN A case of suspected suicide, the body of a 24-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) was found in his hostel room on Thursday evening, said officials. Officials said that Akshith Hemant Bhukya (24), a second yar MBA student, was found dead by other students. Bhukya, a native of Warangal CONTINUEDONPAGE2 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 26 FOR THE first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not mentioned the issue of Kashmir in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. This comes at a time when Turkey is making a bid to be a part of the BRICS grouping. “We maintain our will to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan develop our relations with BRICS, which brings together emerging economies,” he said during the course of his CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Buried in Bengal hospital waste: Mismatched data, grey market PAGE 1 ANCHOR JAY MAZOOMDAAR KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 26 BEHIND THE corruption allegations surrounding the disposal of bio-medical waste from gov- ernment hospitals in West Bengal — a key strand being probed by the CBI in the R G Kar Hospital case — is a booming grey market, with unauthorised commercial reuse, according to an investigation by The Indian Express. Experts estimate that on an average,ahospitalgenerates100 g of plastic waste every day per bed — from surgical gloves to saline bottles, IV tubes, syringes etc. Once used, discarded, sterilised and shredded, this fetches Rs 5 at Rs 50/kg from a recycler and when sold illegally and repackaged, each item finds its way back to the market with a total price tag of Rs 75-100 – almost a 20-fold spike. Discrepancies in state gov- ernment data point to glaring gaps in the way waste is treated. Consider these: ■ In 2014, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) records, 47% of bio-medicalwastegeneratedbyhospitals went untreated in West Bengal. Barely two years later, despite the number of beds remaining about the same at 1 lakh, the waste generated, curiously, fell by as much as 36 per cent. And the share of untreated waste fell to zero. ■ In the nine years between 2014 and 2023, there has been a 63% increase in the number of hospital beds (private and government)inthestate–from1.03 lakh to 1.68 lakh. In that period, the quantity of bio-medical wastehasincreasedbybarely2%. ■Whilethenationalaverage of bio-medical waste per hospital bed per day increased from 277 gm in 2014 to 286 gm in 2022, it fell from 409 gm to 256 gm in West Bengal. ■ In the year 2017, records show, the quantity of bio-medical wastetreated(29.89 tonnes) exceededthequantitygenerated that year, 29.77 tonnes. Asked about the discrepancies in data and the mismatch between the number of hospital beds and the quantity of waste generated, West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) chairman Kalyan Rudra referred to the authority's official website “for necessary details” and declined to com- ment further. Butthosenumbersdidnotgo unnoticed. The CAG's Audit Report (General & Social Sector) for 2017-18: “WBPCB (West Bengal Pollution Control Board) was intentionally understating and manipulating the BMW (bio-medical waste) generation figure to make it appear that all CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Ahmedabad