DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2024, AHMEDABAD, CITY, 12 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY DISENGAGEMENT AT TWO FRICTION POINTS ALONG LAC PatrollingresumesinLadakh’sDemchok, willcommencesooninDepsangPlains E SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1 WISHES ITS READERS HAPPY DIWALI THERE WILL BE NO EDITION FROM SATURDAY (NOVEMBER 2) TILL TUESDAY (NOVEMBER 5) MOVING SWIFTLY after completingtheprocessof disengagement at the friction points of Demchok and Depsang Plains along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, Indian troops have resumed patrolling in the Demchok area. Indian Army sources con- firmed that “coordinated patrolling” began Friday in the Demchok area and would soon commenceintheDepsangPlains. This is in line with the agreement between India and China, announced on October 21, two days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia to repair bilateral ties. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED In line with agreement between two sides, patrols are being coordinated TheIndianEXPRESS `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Chinese soldiers watch as Union Minister Kiren Rijiju visits Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. PTI ● First step taken THE DISENGAGEMENT and restoration of patrolling rights in Demchok and Depsang Plains mark the first step in what is likely to be a long three-step process – disengagement, de-escalation and de-induction of troops massed at the LAC. 10 of its herd dead, lone tusker guards a mass burial in Bandhavgarh reserve ANAND MOHAN J BHOPAL, NOVEMBER 1 Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with his deputy D K Shivakumar at an event in Bengaluru on Friday. PTI Karnataka free bus travel: Shivakumar remarks on ‘relook’ prompt Kharge snub EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU, NOVEMBER 1 CONGRESS PRESIDENT Mallikarjun Kharge has pulled up the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar over sending a “wrong message” ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections by allegedly suggesting that its flagship scheme of free bus travel by women,oneof thefivepollguarantees rolled out in Karnataka last year, might be revised. Even as Shivakumar denied making the comments, the BJP targeted the Congress on Friday saying guarantees must be introduced instatesbasedon“financialprudence”. At a Congress meeting in Bengaluru on Thursday, Kharge said, “Looking at your five guarantees I have announced five in Maharashtra, you (Shivakumar) have said we will dump one of the guarantee schemes. You do not read the newspapers and I am talking about what has been reported. By saying you will revise the scheme you have CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE FUNERAL was interrupted by the powerful trumpet of a lone elephant, flapping its ears, stomping its feet, and charging at wildlife officials who were burying its family. Days after 10 elephants died, ostensibly after eating large amounts of kodo millets, the 20year-oldlonesurvivingmalefrom the herd of 13 elephants is struggling to reconcile with the loss. At the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, where the deaths took place, a JCB machine poured sand and salt into an open pit, while wildlife officers placed flowers inside the grave, bidding farewell to the gentle giants. Adjacenttotheburialpitsisa makeshift post-mortem facility, whereveterinarianscanhearthe lone elephant’s sorrowful mourn. A veterinarian, exhaustedfromconductingautopsies of the dead tuskers for the pasttwodays,chokedwithemotion: “Everyone is heartbroken. We could not conduct the postmortems properly as the elephant would charge at us, thinking it can still save its family. We had to chase it away with JCB machines.” Pushpendra Nath Dwivedi, a former wildlife warden who has worked closely with the elephants since they arrived in NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1 THE EXPLOSION that took place outside the CRPF School in Delhi’s Rohini on October 20 may have been caused by burningcigarettebutts—thrownbya man walking his dog — coming in contact with industrial waste in a garbage dump, according to investigators. Based on circumstantial evidence, Delhi Police and other central intelligence agencies probing the blast have not found any “terror angle” yet, it is learnt. At 7.47 am on October 20, a loud explosion took place near the CRPF School in Prashant Site of the explosion outside CRPF School in Delhi’s Rohini Vihar area of Rohini’s Sector 14, prompting police and a bomb squad to rush to the spot, along with the fire brigade. The explosion, initially believed to have been caused by a crude bomb, damaged the school wall and shattered the windows of a car parked nearby. Forensics experts after visiting thespothadhintedthattracesof potassium chlorate, hydrogen peroxide and some electrical wires were found at the site. “Forensicexpertsandtechnical experts of National Security Guard are being consulted by Delhi Police to ascertain the exactidentityof allthetraces/powdersrecoveredfromthespot,but they are yet to submit their report. As of now, the detonator hasn’t been found,” a senior police officer said. After scanning footage of a CCTV camera installed near the spot, the investigators zeroed in on around 10 people who were questioned. “Among the 10 suspects, a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Machines for India delayed, German firm flags bottleneck at Chinese customs Herrenknecht says ‘extraordinary circumstances’ in customs clearance SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1 GERMAN MECHANISED tunnelling major Herrenknecht, which was at the centre of a recent conversation between Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, has said it has been facing “extraordinary circumstances” with Chinese customs clearances in delivery of tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to India from China. This, the company said, is hampering its efforts to deliver theTBMstoitsIndiancustomers. “For several months now, we have been observing extraordinary circumstances in the customsclearanceprocessesformachinestobedeliveredfromChina to India. These are hindering us from fulfilling our delivery obligationsasexpectedand,insome cases, entirely,” a spokesperson for Herrenknecht said in a statementinresponsetoqueriesfrom The Indian Express. Recently, in a video of an interaction between Goyal and HabeckduringaMetrotrainride inDelhi,theCommerceMinister was heard telling Habeck that IndiawastogetsomeTBMsfrom Herrenknechtthatthecompany was making in China, but China wasnotallowingthesaleof those machines to India. Habeck, who is also Germany’s economic affairsminister,wasinDelhiaspart of a high-level delegation led by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. An independent familyowned company, Herrenknecht isseenasaglobalmajorinmechanised tunnelling and manufacturing of TBMs. These large machines are used to excavate tunnels for infrastructure projects. The company has been involvedwithanumberof projects in India, where it operates CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Violence on Hindus, other minorities in Bangladesh barbaric, total chaos: Trump In Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, the 20-year-old lone surviving male tusker from the herd of 13 is struggling to reconcile with the loss. Express Bandhavgarh in 2018, has been supervising villagers to set up guard posts, and advising them to burn chilli smoke to chase away the lone elephant. "Elephants came to this area in2018…calfs,mothersandlone bulls, everyone called Bandhavgarh their home. They were a close knit family and are mourning the loss. The bull keeps returning to the pits where the elephants are buried, hoping to see its family one last time. It should leave for food in some time," he said. The other survivors are a 10year-old female elephant and a two-year-old calf. They are being closely tracked by the wildlife department, which has nowbegundestroyingkodomillets and promised to compensate the farmers. According to experts, elephants roamed freely across Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh centuries ago, when they would be captured by the Mughal army for use in battle. According to the Ministry of Environment,ForestandClimate Change, "a small population of elephants migrated from Jharkhand and Odisha into what was then Madhya Pradesh" due tohabitatdestructionbymining, logging and industrialisation. This explains why elephants in this corridor had to undertake long-distance migrations BRENDAN DABHI AHMEDABAD, NOVEMBER 1 ESTABLISHMENT OF Legal Aid Clinics in all jails, prevention of unnecessary arrests, steps to improve mental health of the inmates, proper counselling in Juvenile Justice Homes, and assistance in remission and rehabilitation of inmates: these were some of the SOPs issued by the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA) in its report on prison reforms published recently. This report is the first-of-itskind in India and hopes to permanently institutionalise prison reforms in the country, a GSLSA official said. Vadodara Central Prison is at 142% capacity. Express According to a report published on October 24, while the prisons in Gujarat are 119 % over their capacity, the Godhra subjail tops the overcrowding list, lodging 191% inmates. This is the same jail from where 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case were re- Donald Trump at a Tucker Carlson Live Tour show in Glendale, Arizona. AP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Man walking dog threw cigarette Legal aid clinics to mental health butt, triggered explosion: Probe assistance: Gujarat SOPs for jails MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL TUNNEL BORING MACHINES leasedprematurelyonremission in August 2022, following recommendation from the Jail Advisory Committee (JAC). The Supreme court later cancelled the remission and the convicts serving life terms are back in jail. Some of the observations in the report refer to “young inmates” accused under the POCSO Act who “get negative vibes” when placed in barracks with hardened criminals. About remission, the report notes, “The inmates whose plea for remission is not being forwarded in time, and even when forwardedisnotdecidedintime, may also have to languish in the jail for a very long time.” The report says, “Despite the LALIT K JHA WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 1 US REPUBLICAN presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump in his Diwali greetings on Thursday strongly “condemned the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities in Bangladesh”, which he said remains in a “total state of chaos.” “It would have never happened on my watch. Kamala and Joe have ignored Hindus across the world and in America. They have been a disaster from Israel to Ukraine to our own Southern Border,butwewillMakeAmerica Strong Again and bring back PeacethroughStrength,”hesaid. “We will also protect Hindu Americans against the anti-religion agenda of the radical left. We will fight for your freedom. Under my administration, we will also strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi,” Trump said. Hindu American groups applauded Trump for promising to protect the human rights of Hindus across the world. Utsav Sanduja, founder and chairman of Hindus for America CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD DAY AFTER U.S. TRUCE PUSH, ISRAEL STRIKES LEBANON, GAZA STRIP PAGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 He wrote his obit: There’s a world outside... what if I am not there? Scholar-economist Bibek Debroy, who headed the PM’s economic council, passed away Friday. A columnist for The Indian Express, he sent this piece on October 28 AFTER MORE than a month in thecardiaccarecentre(CCU)and aprivateroominAIIMS,Iamdischarged. My wife, Suparna, has performed a modern-day Savitri-Satyavan, aided by the skillsof thedoctors.Astimegoes, a month is fleeting. But being virtuallywipedoff thefaceof the earth is not. I manage to get the daily limericks going from the hospital. So people don’t necessarilynotice.Myfrequentco-au- thor,AdityaSinha,keepssomeof the columns going. More people don’t notice. For me, the external world is restricted to a thin sliver of a window (in the room). I can see a pipe in the building outside. A monkey religiously clambers up every morning. It is restricted to counting the IV drops as they pass through the cannula. Drip, drip. It is restricted to requesting Harish to bring the urinal or commode. Sometimes, the bed gets soiled. Just a lump of flesh stretchedout,strippedof normal norms of shame and modesty. Sometimes, in a wheelchair or a hospital trolley, I am carted from one building to another, passing through the melee, through the sun shining, through the birds chirping on the green trees. There is a world outside that exists. What if I am not there? What indeed? BIBEK DEBROY 1955 - 2024 ‘Dr Bibek Debroy Ji was a towering scholar, well-versed in diverse domains like economics, history, culture, politics, spirituality... Beyond his contributions to public policy, he enjoyed working on our ancient texts, making them accessible to the youth’ PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI RELATED REPORT PAGE 8 “A new book has arrived. Would you like to read it?” asks Suparna.Thebookhappenstobe “100 places to see after you die,” by Ken Jennings. We smile at each other. How singularly inappropriate! I don’t feel like reading, even when I can. I don’t feel like watching TV, even when I can. The same boring news, the same boring high-decibel debates. It all seems so transient and puerile. But so am I, transient and puerile, a dot that might have been wiped off. In that event, what would have happened? A few condolences, perhaps even from important people. “Irreparable loss.” Perhaps a posthumous Padma Bhushan or Padma Vibhushan. A few obituaries. What will they mention? Trade work of 1980s, law reform of 1990-s, State work of 2000-s, railway reforms of 2015, even resignation from Rajiv Gandhi Institute in 2005? Who remembers? Nothing seminal about such work. Had a role in the rat race, was temporarily read and passed into oblivion, buried in journal archives. Perhaps the Purana Project, left incomplete. Manmatha Nath Dutt was reborn, to finish the Purana work. I will be reborn. But I hope not for this. Irreparable loss at the age of 70, when life’s productivity is as good as over? In another ten years, what social value will I bring? Can it be measured, quantified, imputed for? I give upthethought,toocomplicated. There are lives my life has touched, improved, even bruised. If theygettoknow,they may remember, with fondness CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad