Vol. 66 No. 74 | TUESDAY | JULY 26, 2022 | 19 Pages | BETWEEN THE LINES LS SUSPENSION FOR 4 CONG MPS I n a crackdown on the continuous pandemonium since monsoon session of Parliament began on July 18, four Congress MPs – Manickam Tagore, T N Prathapan, Jothimani and Ramya Haridas – were selectively named by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi in the Lok Sabha and suspended for the rest of the monsoon session scheduled till August 12. Speaker Om Birla had warned earlier in the day while adjourning the House that he is now left with “no alternative but for action” and those bringing placards inside the House will not be allowed to take part in the proceedings. “This is a temple of democracy, it is the responsibility of the members to maintain the dignity of the House,” the Speaker said, before adjourning the Lok Sabha till 3 pm on Monday. He added: “If you [Opposition] want to hold a discussion, then I am ready for it. If MPs want to show placards, then they can do so outside after 3 pm. The people of the country want the House to run.” –See Nation BOXING CHAMPION CRIES HARASSMENT O lympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain, on Monday, alleged that her preparations for the Commonwealth Games are being hampered because of “continuous harassment” her coaches are facing from the authorities. The Indian boxing squad reached the Games Village in Birmingham on Sunday night after a training stint in Ireland but Lovlina’s personal coach Sandhya Gurung could not enter the Village as she does not have accreditation. Expressing anger in a twitter post, she said, “…The coaches who helped me win an Olympic medal are always being sidelined which has severely impacted my training schedule… I had to plead with folded hands to get my coaches included in the contingent. I am feeling mentally harassed because of this ordeal.” RANE BUNGALOW: HC RESTRAINS BMC T he Bombay High Court, on Monday, while restraining the BMC from taking any coercive action against the alleged unauthorised portion of Union Minister Narayan Rane’s Aadish Bungalow in suburban Juhu, directed the minister to not carry out further construction. The court directed the BMC to file an affidavit explaining the legal grounds under which it can consider Rane’s second application for regularisation of portions of his bungalow. This is the second round of pleas by Kalkaa Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Rane and his family, seeking regularisation. WELCOME MADAM PRESIDENT APRIL-JUNE DIRECT TAX COLLECTION RISES 41% ON YEAR TO RS 3.5 L CR EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper EDIT MEDIA MUST CARRY OUT SOME SOUL-SEARCHING SHAH RUKH KHAN HELD MY HAND THROUGHOUT THE MAKING OF DARLINGS : ALIA BHATT Amid much fanfare, Droupadi Murmu, 64, assumed the office of the President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday She was administered the . oath of office by Chief Justice of India NV Ramanna. In her address to the nation after being sworn in, Murmu stated that she is the first President to be born in independent India and was honoured to take charge at a time when the country is completing 75 years of Independence. The first tribal and second woman to hold the country’s highest constitutional office, she said her elevation to the post is not only her own achievement but that of every poor of the country and is a reflection of the confidence of crores of Indians. “Johar! Namaskar! I humbly greet all my fellow citizens from this sacred Parliament, a symbol of the hopes, aspirations and rights of all the citizens of India. Your affection, trust and support will be my greatest strength in discharging my functions and responsibilities,” she said. President Murmu said, “I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the MPs and all the members of the Legislative AssemSatisfying to me that the people who were devoid of development for years – the poor, Dalits, backward, the tribals – can see me as their reflection. SANJAY JOG MUMBAI The Uddhav Thackeray faction has moved the Supreme Court against the proceedings of the Election Commission (EC) on the plea of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led camp for recognition as the real Shiv Sena and their claim over the party symbol, the bow and arrow. The development deserves importance, especially when the EC has asked the rival factions to submit documents supporting their claims on the symbol by August 8. The Uddhav Thackeray fac- President Droupadi Murmu inspects a guard of honour after her swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. bly for being elected to the highest constitutional post of India. Your vote is an expression of the faith of crores of citizens of the country she ,” JOHAR! NAMASKAR! Reaching the post of President is not my personal achievement, it is the achievement of every poor in India. I have got the opportunity to rise from serving as a ward councillor to becoming the President of India. This is the greatness of India, the mother of democracy. Death threat to VicKat: Out of work actor held AISHWARYA IYER MUMBAI The Santacruz police on Monday arrested a struggling actor for allegedly stalking and harassing actor Katrina Kaif and issuing a death threat to her actor-husband Vicky Kaushal. The accused, Manvinder Singh, who calls himself a die-hard fan of Kaif, was allegedly upset because she married Kaushal, the police said. The investigations were initiated into the matter after Kaushal registered a complaint on Sunday He stated . that Singh had been sending him messages on Instagram as well as calling him and threatening to kill him, while at the same time stalking his wife. “He kept messaging Kaif, asking her to marry him as well as to give him acting opportunities as he is a struggling actor himself. The messages had been coming for the last two months, and turned into death threats recently ,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity . After receiving the complaint, the police analysed the social media account that Singh had been using, and found that he had posted several pictures in which he had morphed Kaushal’s face with his own. Based on the details of his Instagram account, the police identified him and traced him to a hotel in Santacruz, from where he was arrested. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX) Manjunath Singe confirmed the arrest and said that Singh has been booked for criminal intimidation and stalking under the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. Sources at the police station said that Singh is currently unemployed, staying in hotels or lodges with money borrowed from his parents and trying to make a mark in the Hindi film industry The police . have seized his cell phone, and have also retrieved the morphed photos from his account. “We are still finding out how he got Kaushal’s number. As he, too, is connected to the film industry he may have ob, tained it from his contacts,” the officer added. vanced precast technology, the project is part of CIDCO’s mass housing scheme under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY). The corporation claimed the achievement will help fulfil the PMAY motto of ‘Housing for All’ in the fastest way . Even as CIDCO’s public relations network is checking if such a feat has been accomplished elsewhere in the country officials said that prefabri, cated technology was used in China for erecting jumbo Covid centres within six days of the infection’s outbreak in 2020. While prefabricated construction requires engineering wood and gypsum and can be disassembled, precast construction technology is a system of casting concrete in a reusable mould or form, which is treated in a controlled environment and conveyed to the construction site. According to CIDCO officials, the agency had set a target of ‘Mission 96’, of completing the construction in a short time. Accordingly, contractor M/s Larsen & Toubro used precast technology for rapid construction. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Sunrise: 06:12 am Sunset : 07:18 pm Uddhav-led Shiv Sena aims for party symbol Droupadi Murmu takes the oath of office as the 15th President of India, the first to be born in Independent India FPJ BUREAU NEW DELHI 310c. 250c. CBI nabs 4 in `100 cr RS seat scam SOMENDRA SHARMA MUMBAI The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) Delhi unit has detected a multi-state racket of imposters for allegedly attempting to cheat people to the tune of Rs 100 crore by making false promises of Rajya Sabha seats and Governorship. The agency registered a case against five for allegedly operating the racket and arrested four of them, including two from Maharashtra. Searches were conducted at seven locations, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, which led to recovery of incriminating material, including WhatsApp conversations and other evidence, agency officials said on Monday . Those arrested by the CBI’s anti-corruption branch, which is the investigating unit in the case, included Kamlakar Premkumar Bandgar from Latur, Mumbai resident Ravindra Vithal Naik, Delhi resident Mahendra Pal Arora and Ghaziabad resident Abhishek Boora. One of their accomplices, Delhi resident Mohammad Aijaz Khan, is also wanted in the case. The arrested accused were produced before a court in Delhi on July 22-23 and are out on bail at present. They have been booked on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating by personation, besides other charges. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE said, adding, “Reaching the post of President is not my personal achievement, it is the achievement of every poor in India. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Today I feel proud to lead such a progressive India. Today, I assure all fellow citizens, especially the youth of India and the women of India. that their interests will be paramount for me while working in this position. tion has claimed that the EC cannot determine the real Shiv Sena till a decision on disqualification of rebel MLAs is made. It said in its petition, “If the EC is allowed to go ahead with the proceedings initiated by it on July 22, it would not only precipitate issues of great Constitutional import A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Monday sentenced a man to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a minor at knifepoint before robbing her home, while he was out on bail in another robbery case. pending before this court, it would also cause irreparable injury to the applicant as any proceedings before the EC relying upon the petition of persons whose status as legislators is itself in question before this court will not be just and proper.” CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Centre to dissect MONKEYPOX ALERT Aaditya’s projects IN STATE SANJAY JOG MUMBAI In a setback to former state environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray, the Centre has decided to audit his works related to the environment department and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) undertaken during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Authoritative sources told the Free Press Journal that the Central audit has been initiated in the MPCB’s offices in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Chandrapur, Amaravati, Aurangabad, Nashik, Thane and Raigad. Some of the important decisions taken by the MCPB included prohibition/ discouragement to use single use plastic and promotion of alternatives within and outside the office premises, implementation of a newly developed laboratory information management system, emergency permission for operations of medical oxygen manufacturing plants, guidelines for operations of stone quarries and granting permission for disposal of fly ash generated by coal-based power generation plants. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE The incident took place in September 2018. The mother of the child had stated in her complaint that she had gone grocery shopping, leaving her 11-year-old daughter at home as she was watching TV She . said her sister called her on the phone and informed her that the child’s hands have been tied up by someone and the home has been robbed. Later, her daughter revealed that the man had poured oil over her body and sexually assaulted her at knifepoint. The child said the man forcibly entered and latched the door. She raised an alarm and he had removed her top and stuffed it into her mouth. He then showed her a knife and sexually assaulted her. He had then fled with cash and ornaments worth Rs 54,000. 10-yr jail for robbery, rape of child BHAVNA UCHIL MUMBAI With civic polls around the corner, Thackeray faction quivers, moves SC against rebel camp’s bid to stake claim over bow and arrow SANJAY JOG MUMBAI The Maharashtra public health department on Monday sounded the monkeypox alert, asking the district administration to step up monitoring and surveillance, especially a day after Delhi reported its first case and India’s fourth. The state public health additional chief secretary Pradesh Vyas has asked district collectors, municipal commissioners and CEOs of zilla parishads to strengthen and operationalise requisite public health actions for preparedness and response against the infection. Orientation and regular reorientation of all key stakeholders will be undertaken following detection of a case, testing and clinical management. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Red flag over clones of banned apps CAIT says banned Chinese apps resurfacing with same infra, tech and servers STAFF REPORTER MUMBAI The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT ) has complained of re-entry of banned Chinese apps in India under masked identities, raising serious security concerns related to data mining and harvesting of Indian users by hostile entities. In a formal complaint to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and IT Minister Ashwani Vaishnav, the traders’ representative has sought urgent legal action. India had banned and restricted several apps like Tik Tok, Shareit, AppLock, PlayIt, Inshot, and Camscanner, and had raised serious concerns of collecting data in a surreptitious manner that compromised personal information of users, further posing a severe threat to national security As . per the CAIT complaint, many apps have resurfaced in a new avatar. CAIT general secretary Praveen Khandelwal said, “A few months after the ban on some Chinese Apps, clone apps started appearing on play store, which shows clear signs of being masked clones of the originally banned apps. The modus-operandi is to relaunch them with similar looking names and icons.” He said that it’s relatively easy to launch apps on app stores; all one needs is to create developer accounts with different names. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE `6K CR LOAN FOR BULLET TRAIN JICA extends Official Development Assistance SANJAY JOG MUMBAI The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), on Monday, signed a loan agreement with the Government of India to provide an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of 100,000 million Japanese Yen (nearly Rs 6,000 crore) as Tranche 3 for MumbaiAhmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR). The objective of the project is to develop a high-frequency mass transportation system by constructing the High-Speed Rail between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, using Japan’s Shinkansen technology (also known as the Bullet train). The loan agreement was signed between Additional Secretary (Department of Economic Affairs) Rajat Kumar Mishra and senior representative, JICA India, Watanabe Jun. JICA has been supporting the MAHSR project by providing ODA loans. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE AGENCIES YANGON acies for brutal and inhumane terror acts”. The outlet said that the four were charged under the counter terrorism laws, but did not say how or when they were executed. The executions were first announced by the military in June after they were handed the death sentence in January following closed-door trials, the BBC said. The sister of Ko Jimmy a , veteran of a Burmese prodemocracy movement known for their activism against the country’s military junta in the 1988 student uprisings, told the BBC that the families are yet A first for MMR: 12-storey tower in 96 days Myanmar military executes 4 LAST WORD AMIT SRIVASTAVA NAVI MUMBAI Even as cities mourn depletion of green cover, a milestone in concretisation has been scored by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) by erecting a 12-storeyed residential tower with 96 tenements in 96 days. Located in the Ulwe node, adjoining the Bamandongri railway station, Navi Mumbai, it’s the first fast-tracked building in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Built using the renowned ad- The ruling military administration in Myanmar has executed four activists in what is believed to be the first capital punishment since 1988, a media report said on Monday . Citing the state news outlet, Global News Light of Myanmar, the BBC report said that Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker, writer-activist Ko Jimmy Hla Myo , Aung and Aung Thura Zaw were executed as they “gave directives, made arrangements and committed conspir- to receive the bodies. He was arrested in October last year after being accused of hiding weapons and ammunition. Meanwhile, Phyo was a close ally of former de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently in solitary confinement after she was arrested in the wake of the military coup in February 2021 that overthrew her elected NLD government. The 41-year-old former hip-hop artist was often slammed by the junta for his anti-military lyrics. He was arrested in November 2021 for alleged anti-terror offences, said the BBC.