Vol. 65 No. 319 | FRIDAY | MAY 13, 2022 | 17 Pages | INFLATION AT 8-YEAR HIGH TATA SONS APPOINTS CAMPBELL WILSON AS NEW CEO AND MD OF AIR INDIA Retail inflation soared to an eight-year high of 7.79 per cent in April mainly due to stubbornly high food prices, thus remaining above the RBI's upper tolerance level for the fourth month in a row. Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.95 per cent in March this year and 4.23 per cent in April 2021. Inflation in the food basket rose to 8.38 per cent in April from 7.68 per cent in the preceding month and 1.96 per cent in the year-ago month. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE I CRYPTO WINTER t seems the crypto currency bubble has burst. The world's second largest crypto currency, Ethereum, has plummeted in value by 20 per cent over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin has shed a third of its value since January while Luna has dropped 98%. This is a bad hammering for investors who bought during the Covid years. This, in turn, is fuelling fears that it is the harbinger of a wider stock market crash. On Thursday, Sensex tumbled 1,158 points; public sector banks were the worst hit. Soon, one planning authority for city In the run-up to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation elections, Tourism and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray said on Thursday, the government has initiated the process of setting up a single planning authority for Mumbai. The proposed authority will be headed by the empowered mayor of the city and it will be in place within a year. Speaking at an interna- tional conference, ‘Climate crisis 2.0: Mobilizing Finance for Coastal Cities’, Aaditya Thackeray said that instead of appointing a CEO for the city, the government is thinking of giving more power to the mayor for the effective implementation of the plan. He noted that a single planning agency for the city will provide ease of administration for the state government and ease of living for citizens. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE STALLING SEDITION LAW: BALL IS IN GOVT’S COURT JAYESHBHAI JORDAAR HOLDS UP A MIRROR TO SOME OF THE ILLS THAT ARE IN OUR SOCIETY: RANVEER NO OPENING OF TAJ ROOMS RASHMI SHARMA / Lucknow The daily recital of National Anthem by teachers and students, before the commencement of classes, has been made mandatory at Madrasas in Uttar Pradesh. The state government on Thursday issued an order making the singing of anthem a must practice with immediate effect. The order would be applicable to all government-aided and unaided The National Anmadrasas in the state.  them would be sung before the morning prayers in the Islamic seminaries. According to Minority Welfare Minister Danish Azad Ansari, this would inculcate social values among the students. He also said that the Yogi government is working on a project to upgrade Muslim religious schools under which students would be taught maths, science and computers along with scriptures from the holy book. It may be mentioned that soon after the formation of the new government, ONLINE REPORT / Lucknow Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had made an announcement making singing of National Anthem mandatory in all madrasas. However, the orders in this regard were not issued due to intervening holidays on account of Ramzan. The teachings in the seminaries commenced on Thursday and the orders, . too, were delivered the same day Reacting sharply to the diktat, the spokesperson of Darul Uloom Firangi Mahal, Maulana Sufian, said there is no harm in singing the anthem. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Gyanvapi mosque survey on RASHMI SHARMA Lucknow Rejecting the plea to change the advocate who is heading the commission appointed for survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, the court has BETWEEN SANJAY JOG Mumbai EDIT National Anthem must for UP madrasas THE LINES OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, Konkan, E-paper asked the former to resume his work and submit a report on May 17. Earlier, the management committee of the mosque had moved a local Varanasi court seeking to change the advocate commissioner, ac- EARLY MONSOON: The Southwest Monsoon is likely to advance into South Andaman Sea and adjoining Southeast Bay of Bengal around May 15, almost four days prior to its expected date, the India Meteorology Department announced on Kerala, too, may witness monThursday.  soon arrive four days early on May 26. LANKAN PM CLOSE TO INDIA: Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a lawyer-turned politician cusing him of acting in a partisan manner. (The mosque is adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.) The court, after hearing the writ, decided that the advocate CONTD. ON NATION PAGE the The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed the petition seeking to open 22 locked rooms inside the Taj Mahal, thereby putting at rest the attempt to rake up the "alleged history" of the monument. When the matter was taken up by a Bench of Justices DK Upadhyay and Subhash Vidyarthi, the petitioner urged the court to allow opening of the rooms of the monument in light of "freedom of information". The Bench, however, took exception to the plea, stating, ‘‘Tomorrow you'll come and ask us to open the chambers of Hon'ble judges? Please, don't make a mockery of the PIL system." The court also pulled up the petitioner who claims to be the BJP media in charge in Ayodhya district. Singh had filed a Public Interest Litigation in the high court seeking directives to constitute a fact-finding committee to “look for important historical evidence” like idols and inscriptions that are believed to be hidden inside the Taj Mahal on the orders of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. During the hearing, the Bench told the petitioner that such debates were welcome in informal settings, CONTD. ON NATION PAGE who has been in Parliament for 45 years, is believed to be close to India. More important, he is widely accepted in political circles as a man who could manage the economy with far-sighted policies. TRAVEL BAN ON RAJAPAKSA: A Sri Lankan court on Thursday banned former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and 15 others, including his son, MPs and senior police officers from leaving the country; they are being blamed for instigating Monday's violence that killed nine people and injured over 300. a PANDIT KILLED: Terrorists killed  man in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir in what appeared to be yet another instance of a targeted attack. Rahul Bhat, a at was Kashmiri Pandit,  fired upon  the Tehsildar's office in the Chadoora village. He was critically injured and shifted to a local hospital where he succumbed to injuries. 310c. 290c. Sunrise: 06:05 am Sunset : 07:05 pm Pushed into a spiral of misfortune, Nanded contractor and his wife try to set themselves ablaze outside Mantralaya Daughter gone, Rs 1.56 cr lost, life at dead end SHERINE RAJ / Mumbai A road contractor’s quest for dues owed to him by the public works department has proven to be a life-breaking ordeal for him and his wife, pushing them into a spiral of misfortune and tragedy – the couple has lost their young daughter and almost lost their grandchild in the process. They have been on a dharna at Azad Maidan for the past seven months but to no avail. Bereft and having lost all hope, the couple from Nanded, attempted immolation by pouring kerosene and setting themselves ablaze outside Mantralaya in south Mumbai on Thursday afternoon. However, policemen on the spot detained Raju Hulgude and his wife, Prayagabai Hulgude and took them to Marine Drive police station, where they were counselled. Hulgude, a contractor from Nanded, had allegedly not received payment from the public works department for road construction work carried out by him, despite repeated requests, he said. Hulgude said that he had worked on an 8.5kmlong road from Palam Road to Dhanora Kale in Nanded district, incurring a cost of Rs 1.70 crore. But he has only received Rs 14 lakh of this amount. When he sought to be paid the remainder of his dues, he and his wife were beaten, he said. He approached Public Works Minister Ashok Chavan for help but when even this failed to work, he and his wife were pushed to take the ultimate step. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE