DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES SINCE 1932 MALDIVES PRESIDENT ON STATE VISIT MuizzumeetsPMtoday, saysIndiaawareoffiscal situation,willeaseburden BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Parties to experts, no clarity on nominated MIRACLE RESCUE MLAs in J&K The stranded mountaineers are picked up by a chopper from Chaukhamba massif in Uttarakhand on Sunday. Confident of new impetus to ties, says Jaishankar SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6 PTI REPORT,P6 NAVEED IQBAL SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 6 WITH exit polls indicating that nopartyorcoalitionmayendup withasimplemajorityinJammu and Kashmir, the confusion regarding the five members to be nominated to the Assembly by theLieutenantGovernorhasparties worried. As more Opposition leaders came forward to say that Lt Governor Manoj Sinha should not be making the nominations without the “aid and advice” of theCouncilof Ministersthatisto besworninsoon,theBJPhassaid heisclearlynotrequiredtoasper the J&K Reorganisation Act. Several legal experts The Indian Express spoke to also differed over what the changes implied. The addition of the five nominatedmembers,whoaretohave the same powers and voting rights as other MLAs, would take thetotalJ&KHousestrengthto95, and the majority mark to 48. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 For Rose Valley investors, a faint ray of hope as refund begins: ‘Couldn’t believe it’ RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, HOOGHLY, OCTOBER 6 SITTING ON a bed with sheets of papersspreadoutinfrontof him, 52-year-old Asim Kumar Baruri recounts how he lost his life savingsinPonzischemesandthathe even contemplated suicide. On Friday, howeverm he received an SMS that gave him cause for hope. The message said his bank account was credited with `10,000 — a part of the amountheinvestedwiththeRose ValleyGroup,whichallegedlyran oneofthebiggestfinancialfrauds inthehistoryof WestBengal,until it went bust in 2013. Asim Kumar Baruri, one of the Rose Valley investors who got part of their deposit back; (right) Susmita Banerjee, who lost husband Amit, a depositor and agent, in 2023. Ravik Bhattacharya Asim, from Pandua in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, is among 7,346 Rose Valley depositors who got part of their money back on Friday in the first phase of the long-awaited resti- Woman civic volunteer in Kolkata Police alleges molestation by S-I, FIR registered EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, OCTOBER 6 AWOMANcivicpolicevolunteer attached to a police station in Kolkata has accused a local subinspector of molesting and sex- `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `17 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM uallyharassingherinsidethepolice station. She also alleged that when she complained, the Duty Officer refused to accept it In a letter to Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar VermaandstateHomeSecretary Nandini Chakraborty, the woman civic volunteer wrote: “...on 04.10.24, I was performing my duty from 21:00 hrs. While I was on duty, the said (S-I) officer called me through his guard at his restroom, which is situated on the third floor of the... police tution process initiated by the Rose Valley Asset Disposal Committee. The committee was constituted in 2015 by a Calcutta High Courtorderforthepurposeof re- funding investors, and was headed by Justice Dilip Kumar Seth. The first phase of the process saw 7,346 depositors receiving refunds of `10,200 each. AccordingtotheEnforcement Directorate, 31,352 claims by depositors have been processed so far,outofatotal28.10lakhclaims. Companies under the Rose Valley Group are estimated to havedefraudedinvestorsof over `17,000 crore — the highest amount among the several chit funds that went bust one after the other in West Bengal starting with the Saradha Group in January 2013. In 2014, the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AHEAD OF his bilateral meeting Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maldives PresidentMohamedMuizzuhas flagged the need for financial aid to his country, saying Delhi is “fullycognisant”of theislandnation’s fiscal situation and will always be ready to “ease the burden” as one of Male’s biggest development partners. Ties between the two countrieshavebeenunderstrainever since Muizzu rode to power last Novemberonan‘IndiaOut’election plank. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu and his wife Sajidha Mohamed arrive in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI Muizzu reached New Delhi Sunday on his first bilateral State visit — he was here four months ago to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the third Modi government. He was received at the airport by Minister of State (External Affairs) Kirti Vardhan Singh.Duringhisfive-dayvisit— from October 6 to 10 — he will also travel to Agra, Mumbai and Bengaluru. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on President Muizzu and, in a post on X, said “appreciate his commitment to enhance” the relationship between India and Maldives. He said he was confident that the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 More Indians travelling abroad but arrivals yet to hit pre-Covid levels SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6 THEPOST-PANDEMICsurgeininternational travel is a global phenomenonandthestoryisnottoo different when it comes to Indians travelling overseas, with outbound numbers exceeding pre-Covid levels. But what con- tinuestobeacauseofconcernfor the country’s tourism industry is thatforeigntouristarrivals(FTAs) are yet to catch up with pre-pandemic levels. In the first half of 2024, 47.78 lakhforeigntouristsvisitedIndia, 9.1percenthigherthanthesame period the year before, but still 9.8 per cent lower than the corresponding months of 2019 — the last full year before the pandemic struck, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism. In contrast, Indian nationals’ departures from the country in the six months ended June 2024 rose 12.3 per cent over the corresponding period of 2019 to 1.50 crore. On a year-on-year basis, the departures were higher CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE SOUTH 24 PARGANAS GIRL KILLED: HC PULLS UP POLICE MAMATA BACKS POLICE: DON’T GET DISTRACTED BY WHAT OTHERS SAY PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 20 yrs after N-deal, New Jersey firm’s proposal for small reactor opens a door ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6 NEARLY TWO decades after India and the US concluded a civil nuclear deal, the first real sliver of hope to belatedly leverage the commercial potential of this landmark pact comes from an unlikely contender: Holtec International, based in Camden, New Jersey. UnlikeWestinghouseElectric Co. and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy,thetwoUSnuclearindustry flag bearers that were seen as early frontrunners for entry into India’scivilnuclearsector,Holtec is a smaller, privately-held company that is now billed as one of the world’s largest exporter of capital nuclear components. Holtec’s pitch is for fostering apublic-privateinitiativecentred EXPLAINED CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E ● Benefits of SMRs WITH A capacity of 30MWe to 300 MWe per unit, SMRs are important for nuclear energy to remain a commercially competitive option. Advantages of SMRs include lower capital investment, greater efficiency, siting flexibility and clean energy transition. Kolkata