eye MCS/204/2020-22RNINO.MAHENG2002/21899 THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Shining on the Inside MUMBAI,LATECITY OCTOBER27,2024 Deep-cleaning, mithai, new clothes: Diwali is about joy, renewal and rejuvenation 14+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Israel attacks Iran, strikes military targets ■ Israelcarriedoutawaveof airstrikesonIranSaturday, targetedsurface-to-airmissile sitesaswellasfacilitiesthatit saidwereusedtomakethe missilesIranfiredatIsrael. ■ Iran reported ‘limited damage’, saying its military bases in three provinces, including Tehran, were hit and four soldiers killed. It said it had the right to self-defence. ■ Expressing deep concern over the ‘evolving escalation’ in West Asia, India urged all sides to exercise restraint and return to the path of diplomacy. REPORTS,PAGE10 In Tehran after explosions were heard following the Israeli airstrikes. Reuters AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION - PART 2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT ‘ENGAGED IN RELEVANT WORK’ Beijing confirms troop disengagement: ‘Going smoothly at the moment’ Foreign Ministers, NSAs to take process forward: Jaishankar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE A note of caution SHORTLY AFTER sources in the Indian Army confirmed that the disengagement process began Tuesday in the Depsang Plains and Demchok, China, too, affirmed this saying that “Chinese andIndianfrontiertroopsareengaged in relevant work, which is goingsmoothlyatthemoment”. The Army’s confirmation cameFriday,fourdaysafterIndia CHINA’S AFFIRMATION underlines the commitment to the process post the Modi-Xi bilateral at Kazan. However, by flagging the current breakthrough as being focused on only the “first part”, Jaishankar has underlined the long haul. NEW DELHI, PUNE, OCT 26 announced that an agreement on patrolling had been reached between the two sides. “In accordance with the resolutions that China and India reached recently on issues concerning the border area, the Chinese and Indian frontier troops are engaged in relevant work, which is going smoothly atthemoment,"ChineseForeign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing in Beijing Friday. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 One law, many verdicts: Some got relief for ‘pain and suffering’, others did not Climate change to AI: CJI calls After Balasore train accident, Railway Claims Tribunals faced additional challenge: Dodgy claims in the name of the dead WHAT RAILWAY CLAIMS TRIBUNAL (RCT) AWARDED TOTAL EX GRATIA BY RAILWAYS DEATHS INJURIES `10 lakh `22.04 cr `94,471 (average of 183 cases) MORE RELIEF FROM RCT BENCHES CASES DEATHS Kolkata 553 127 Bhubaneswar 202 44 Ranchi 33 INJURIES (average of 416 cases) AVG PAYOUT (INJURIES) AVG PAYOUT (DEATHS) 426 `53,670 `8 lakh 158 `1.06 lakh `8 lakh 16 17 `25,312 `8 lakh Patna 28 6 22 `31,333* `8 lakh Chennai 24 0 24 `28,750 - Bhopal 1 0 1 `1.6 lakh - Source: RCT case records. Note: 22 cases pending in Patna DHEERAJ MISHRA, SOUMYARENDRA BARIK, AGGAM WALIA & AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 26 ■ WEST BENGAL resident BiswajitMondalreceivedexgratia payment of Rs 50,000 from the Railways after suffering injuries in his lower back in the devastating train accident last year at Balasore in which 297 others were killed and over 800 injured. He approached the RailwayClaimsTribunal(RCT)in Bhubaneswarseekingadditional relief of Rs 8 lakh for the injuries, YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION and “painandsuffering”. He was awarded Rs 50,000 for the injuries,buthisclaimfor“pain and suffering” was rejected. ■ Tamil Nadu resident K S Sundaramwasawardedanadditional Rs 25,000 by the Chennai RCT for injuries sustained in the accident, above the Railway ex gratia of Rs 50,000 — and Rs 5,000for“painandsuffering”.“It is considered reasonable to award Rs 25,000 for the injuries sustained and Rs 5,000 for the painandsufferingundergoneby him,” stated the tribunal order dated September 29, 2023. These are two of the several cases in which varying amounts were awarded as additional compensation by different RCTs for similar injuries or trauma in one of the worst train accidents in the country's history. Reason: The health conditions listed by the applicants were not covered by the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 12-year run ends as India lose Test series at home to New Zealand 27/10/2024 102 130 SANDIP G PUNE, OCTOBER 26 161 75 FIVE BJP FACES CROSS OVER TO SHINDE SENA, AJITLED NCP TO LAND TICKETS P4 Railways: No one contested our ex gratia relief, RCT award separate UNDER THE cloudless skies of Pune, an empire creaked and crumbled. India conceded their first Test series at home in 12 years,endingastreakof 18victories and signalling the symbolic end of a glorious era. Theimpregnablebastionhad repelled several great captains likeAustralia'sPatCumminsand England's Ben Stokes, but not New Zealand's Tom Latham, just a fortnight into his captaincy. He is now the first captain from his country to win a series in India. Hecan'tbefaultedforfeelinglike his compatriot Edmund Hillary, the first man to scale Mount Everest. In his team's hour of glory, Latham,truetotheethosof New Zealand sports, didn't forget his fellow summit conquerors. “Very proud to be up here. It is a team effort. This game was a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 26 THE MINISTRY of Railways has said that no one affected by the Balasore train accident last year had contested the relief granted to them by the national transporter and asserted that any compensation provided by Railway Claims Tribunals (RCT) “is over and above the ex-gratia relief given by the Railways”. Responding to a report published Saturday in The Indian Express titled “Lives derailed, most Balasore train disaster victimscontestRailwayrelief —and gethigherawardinTribunal”,the Railways said,“RCT is a claimtribunal,andisnotanappellatetribunal. The claim amount is over and above the ex-gratia relief givenbyRailways.Inmanycases, one can have a claim under RCT and Balasore is not a standalone case. No one contested the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DGGI unearths Rs 8,000-crore GST scam EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PUNE, OCTOBER 26 PROBING INTO a fake Pune basedcompanyregisteredinthe name of an auto rickshaw driver, officialsof theDirectorateof GST Intelligence (DGGI) have unearthed a major fake GST firm scam to the tune of Rs 5,000 crores to Rs 8,000 crores. Rushi Prakash (39), an officer atDGGI,PuneZonalUnit,lodged the FIR in this case at the Koregaon Park police station in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘We have been saying this’: Police confirm ragpicker killed over meat that wasn’t beef PAGE 1 ANCHOR AISWARYA RAJ GURGAON, OCTOBER 26 FIVE DAYS ago, when Sujauddin Sardarcalledthepoliceforanupdateonthedeathcertificateofhis brother-in-law Sabir Malik, he was told something the family hadbeenmaintainingeversince the 22-year-old’s murder on August27—thatMalikhadbeen Ten people have been arrested so far. ANI file lynchedbycowvigilantesonfake allegations of cooking beef. “They confirmed what we have been repeating to the police and government,” he told The Indian Express. Nearly two months after Malik, a migrant worker from West Bengal who worked as a ragpicker in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri, was killed over the suspicionthathehadcookedandconsumed beef at his jhuggi, the police said on Friday that a lab report showed the meat was not CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 for broader ambit for federalism OMKAR GOKHALE MUMBAI, OCTOBER 26 CALLING FOR a more expansive definition of federalism, Chief Justice of India DYChandrachud on Saturday said 2024 that if the federalisminthepastyearswasabout adjustingpoliticalrealities,inthe years to come, it should also be ´FiÀ°Fb°F CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CJI D Y Chandrachud delivers the inaugural Loksatta lecture in Mumbai Saturday. Amit Chakravarty RELATEDREPORT,PAGE7 With names for 236 seats declared, MVA allies focus on strongholds ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, OCTOBER 26 EVEN AS talks continue within the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA)tofinalisethecandidates on around 20 contentious seats, the 236 seats for which names have been declared by the three parties as of Saturday show that despite hiccups, the alliance has focused on each party’s strength and has allocated seats to each other accordingly. Ananalysis of candidates announced till now shows that the Shiv Sena (UBT), DECISION which has declared candi2024 dates for 85 MAHARASHTRA seats, has given 40 candidates, the highest, for Konkan and Mumbai Metropolitan Region(MMR).Thesecondhighest, 13 candidates, are for Marathwada while 11 candidatesareforNorthMaharashtra. It has given nine and seven candidates for Vidarbha and western Maharashtra, respectively. The Congress, which has announced a list of 84 candidates, has declared the highest 34 candidatesforVidarbha,17(Konkan + MMR), 15 (Western Maharashtra), 14 (Marathwada) and 11 in North Maharashtra. The Nationalist Congress Party (SP), out of 67 of its candidates, has given 29 for Western CONTINUED ON PAGE 2