Vol. 65 No. 311 | WEDNESDAY | MAY 4, 2022 | 14 Pages | Raj booked but will not be gagged EXPORTS UP 24% TO $38 BN IN APR; TRADE DEFICIT WIDENS TO $20 BN After Karauli, it is Jodhpur MANISH GODHA JAIPUR Exactly one month after the Karauli violence, communal clashes erupted in Jodhpur on Monday late at night and on Tuesday morning with incidents of stone-pelting and vandalising of vehicles being reported. More than a dozen people, including five policemen, were injured. Looking at the situation, the administration imposed curfew in 10 pockets and suspended internet services. It all started on Monday night in the Jalori Gate area after an argument between two communities over putting up of an Islamic flag at Balmukand Bissa circle. The argument soon escalated into a violent clash, following which police arrived at the spot and had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd. Additional Director General of Police Hawa Singh Ghumaria said there was a dispute over removal of a flag which the local Muslim community puts up every year on the occasion of Eid. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE SOMENDRA SHARMA MUMBAI A criminal offence has been registered against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, for his alleged inflammatory speech at a rally in Aurangabad on Sunday The police have also . booked the organisers of the rally, officials said. Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Rajnish Seth said that the Aurangabad police commissioner would take appropriate legal action against Raj Thackeray for his speech, wherein he had called for re- PRIYANKA NAVALKAR  MUMBAI In the backdrop of the row ignited by MNS chief Raj Thackeray over the indiscriminate use of loudspeakers for ‘azaan’, over 803 of the 1,144 mosques in Mumbai have obtained police permission to use loudspeakers. Even as the permissions were granted, it was directed that no speakers will be deployed in silent zones and the RELEASED BY CONGRESS AND BJP, RESPECTIVELY At a time the nation is grappling with myriad problems like unemployment and rising prices, the BJP’s national social media department head Amit Malviya latched onto a video of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi enjoying himself in a nightclub in Nepal, with a caustic tweet saying that the indulgence has come ‘‘at a time when the party is exploding." “Rahul Gandhi was at a nightclub when Mumbai is under siege. He is at a nightclub at a time when his party is exploding. He is consistent,” PUBLIC HEALTH OR PRIVATE CHOICE? PLAYING TO THE GALLERY – Raj Thackeray in the balcony at his residence moval of loudspeakers atop mosques. “The Aurangabad Commissioner of Police has studied the speech and is competent to take the required action; also, whatever legal action is required to be taken, will be taken today itself.” According to the police, Raj Thackeray and others have been booked under Sections 116, 117 and 153 of the Indian Penal Code for “wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot” and for “abetting the commission of an offence by the public or by more than ten persons”. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE NOTICE SERVED: The Shivaji Park police on Tuesday evening served a notice on Raj Thackeray under section 149 of the CrPC. The notice says that if any law and order situation develops, then the person who has been served notice will be held responsible and is liable to face legal action mosques will adhere to the Supreme Court and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) guidelines.  A senior official of the Mumbai Police said that while the police had given permission to 803 mosques for installation of loudspeakers, the remaining applications were being vetted and processed with due diligence. "We have made it mandatory for them to follow all noise pollution norms, including Supreme Court and MPCB guidelines. The time given to them to use loudspeakers is between 6am and 10pm," added the official.  The Mumbai Police has already initiated a crackdown on noise pollution in the city and asked builders to stop work at night time; but this practice of seeking permission for use of loudspeakers, even for the call of prayer, is a nascent development. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Malviya tweeted. Congress general secretary and chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala hit back, saying Rahul was in a friendly country to attend the marriage function of a journalist friend and that is not a crime. Also, he has not gone there uninvited, it was pointed out. The matter may have petered out but the Congress spokes-person couldn’t refrain from making a needless comparison. In a statement, Surjewala said: "Rahul Gandhi has not gone as an uninvited guest, as PM Modi had done when he went to Pakistan to celebrate the birthday of the then Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif.’’ CONTD. ON NATION PAGE FPJ NEWS SERVICE COPENHAGEN Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has asked PM Modi to use his influence over Russia to end the war with Ukraine. The suggestion came when Modi appealed for an immediate ceasefire and return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the crisis. “My message is very clear that Putin has got to stop this war and end the killings. I, of course, hope that India will US apex court likely to overturn legal abortion ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The US Supreme Court could be poised to overturn a landmark judgement that legalized abortion nationwide. A draft legal opinion, which was leaked, reveals a majority of the court's nine judges are in agreement on the issue which would be enough to force a change in the law - though their decision is not final until the ruling is officially published. The leaked opinion was released by ‘Politico.’ A decision to overrule the Roe versus Wade verdict would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge ramifications for this year's elections. But it's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter — opinions often change in ways big and small in the drafting process. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the draft opinion states. It was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, CONTD. ON NATION PAGE FPJ NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI Naval Group, a French defence company , has announced that it will not be able to join the P-75 India (P-75I) project under which six conventional submarines were to be built in India for the Indian Navy . The Naval Group said that the decision was taken as it is unable to match the de- mand for an air-independent propulsion system. This technology allows a conventional submarine to stay submerged in water for extended periods of time at faster speeds. Curiously the announcement was made , only one day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to France, where he will meet newly re-elected French President Emmanuel Macron. The Naval Group was one of five international entities shortlisted for the Rs 43,000-crore project. It is the largest project under a new strategic partnership model in which an international Original Equipment Manufacturer joins with an Indian company to build submarines in India and exchange knowledge. In June last year, the Defence Ministry had cleared the P-75I CONTD. ON NATION PAGE project and, Currently the bright yellow-coloured play, things are busy grounding the rest of the competition, having caught the imagination of young India. According to the joint general secretary of the Toy Association of India, Rajiv Batra, manufacturers are churning out various kinds of toy bulldozers on a large scale, to meet the huge demand. “Earlier, the demand was for jeeps, cars, tractors, police vans, ambulances and trucks, but for the past few months, the demand for bulldozers has been rising,” claims Batra. He said that currently toy , bulldozers priced anywhere from Rs100 to Rs 3,000 are being manufactured in droves, ranging from simple, manual versions to remotecontrolled ones and they come in small, medium and large sizes. In the coming days, demand is expected to increase. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE ‘Bal’ Bharat wants toy bulldozers LAST WORD Gifting ‘bulldozers’, albeit the toy version, to near and dear ones for birthdays and weddings, is the latest fad in India. So, it is little surprise that a whopping 20 per cent of the total toy sales in India are now powered by these toy demolishers. The Rs 15,000-crore Indian toy market for plastic toys and construction sets models makes up 0.5 per cent of the global market share. With imports from China declining in the last three years, domestic toy demand is forecast to grow at 10-15 per cent, as against the global average of 5 per cent. influence Russia also in this discussion," Frederiksen said. Modi arrived in the Danish capital on the second leg of his ‘three-day three-nation’ Eu, rope tour. During the delegation level talks, India and Denmark reviewed progress in the Green Strategic Partnership with a focus on green hydrogen, renewable energy and wastewater management. Modi said India’s infra- BETWEEN THE LINES ONLY ONE CASE OF XE VARIANT O nly one confirmed case of the XE Covid variant has been detected in India, according to the latest bulletin of the Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium. However, the location of this variant was not identified in the bulletin released on Tuesday. "As compared to the previous week, 12 states have shown an increase in cases, while 19 states have shown a decline," said the bulletin said. It said that suspected recombinant sequences are under further analysis. TRAINS : NOISE BAR AFTER 10 PM T he Railway Ministry has issued new rules to ensure there is no noise in passenger coaches after 10 PM; it has accordingly prohibited people from talking at a high pitch or listening to loud music, thereby disturbing the sleep of others. The new rules also require passengers to switch off the lights after 10 PM. The railway staff has been asked to take action against those violating these rules. The ministry issued these guidelines in view of complaints that people sit in groups and talk loudly or sing bhjans during night journey. COW SLAUGHTER: 2 TRIBALS KILLED T wo tribal men were beaten to death on suspicion of cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district. Another was left injured by the attackers, who numbered 20, the police said. The group went to the home of the tribals and accused them of killing a cow, the police said. They allegedly beat the two men brutally. Both died while they were being taken to hospital. 350c. 260c. Sunrise: 06:09 am Sunset : 07:02 pm ‘Chant Chalisa to silence the loudspeaker’ SANJAY JOG MUMBAI Hours after the Aurangabad police registered an FIR, a defiant Raj Thackeray, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, in a three-page Twitter appeal to his ‘Hindu brothers, sisters and mothers’ in Marathi and English, asked them to play Hanuman Chalisa in every place where the call for ‘Azaan’ was issued on loudspeakers, starting today (May 4).   “That’s when they will realise the hindrance of these loudspeakers,” he said. At the same time, he also appealed to Hindus not to cause inconvenience to those masjids which had stopped using loudspeakers.  He also ‘wholeheartedly’ welcomed the decision by masjids that had made an effort to stop using loudspeakers, keeping in mind the misuse and disturbance caused by these. Thackeray also appealed to the police force “to show that the country is governed by law and order”. “They should maintain and follow the law. Unauthorised masjids, loudspeakers and prayers being held in the middle of the roads, need to be addressed duly by law,” he added. “I appeal to the CM of Maharashtra to heed what Shiv Sena chief and Hinduhriday Samrat Shri Balasaheb Thackeray had stated years ago: All loudspeakers need to be silenced. Are you going to listen to this? CONTD. ON NATION PAGE PM calls for immediate ceasefire in Ukraine French back out of Indian submarine project DHARMESH THAKKAR MUMBAI IT WAS FRUSTRATING TO SEE A FILM LIKE FAN NOT WORK AT THE BOX OFFICE: WALUSCHA DE SOUSA EDIT 803 mosques get nod, but with riders PEHCHAAN KAUN! OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, Konkan, E-paper structure sector and ‘green’ industries had a lot of investment opportunities for Danish companies and pension funds. He pitched India as the go-to destination for investment saying, those who don't invest in India will certainly miss out. "These days the term FOMO or 'fear of missing out' is gaining traction on social media. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Rs 15k cr gold, jewellery sales post pandemic DHARMESH THAKKAR MUMBAI Akshay Tritiya, Eid, Basava Jayanti and Parashuram Jayanti made for a terrific Tuesday for traders. Across India, the bullion market reported big business, with Rs 15,000 crore in sales, witnessed after two years of the Covid pandemic slump. Pankaj Arora, national president of the All India Jewellers and Goldsmith Federation, the apex organization of jewellery trade in the country, claimed jewellers and gold shops did roaring business at a time when prices of both precious metals are at an all-time high - Rs 53,000 per 10 grams of gold and Rs 66,600 per kg of silver – from Rs 32,700 and Rs 38,350 in 2019 respectively. “For two consecutive years, business on Akshaya Tritiya in the lockdown dropped to its nadir, breaking the back of the jewellery business in the country but this year, bullion trade has recovered from corona, with a lot of enthusiasm seen amongst Indians in gold markets across the country,” Arora said. Akshaya Tritiya is considered a very auspicious day in India and buying gold and silver on this day brings prosperity in home and business, so this is a very big business day for bullion traders. According to Hindu mythology, on this day, Lord Shiva is believed to have blessed Kubera to be the god of treasure and Lakshmi to be the goddess of wealth. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) national president, B C Bhartia, informed that in the first quarter of 2021, 39.3 tonnes of gold were imported in the form of gold bars and coins, whereas in the first quarter of 2022, CONTD. ON NATION PAGE