Vol. 34 No. 15 | SUNDAY | AUGUST 14, 2022 | 19 Pages | ` 5 What does freedom mean? THE FP BULLETIN US FLAGGED SALE OF RUSSIAN FUEL: RBI DY GOVERNOR T he US has expressed concern to India it was being used to export fuel made from Russian crude, through high-seas transfers to hide its origin, to New York in violation of sanctions, a top Indian central banker said on Saturday. The US Treasury Department told India an Indian ship picked up oil from a Russian tanker on the high seas and brought it to a port in Gujarat on the west coast, where it was refined and shipped on, said Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Michael Patra. ARMY DRIVERS GET BACK JOBS T he Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the Armed Forces Ex-officers Multi Services Cooperative Society, upholding the decision of the Bombay High Court and the Pune Industrial Court, that its retrenchment of 55 drivers in 2007 working with it since 1998 was illegal and they ought to be reinstated with the back wages. NO NEW SENA BHAVAN: SHINDE A fter all, there will be no new Sena Bhavan to be built by the Eknath Shinde camp. After the FPJ page 1 on the announcement a day ago, the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena slammed the rebels. Later, CM Eknath Shinde clarified that there are no such plans. MUMBAI Reg. No. MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 46955/1988 M.p.c.s. office Mumbai-400001 EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper I-DAY BOOST FOR THANE CREEK Seven people from varied age groups share their definition of freedom and why it shouldn’t be taken for granted Freedom to exaggerate… …is what we need to be able to express our ideas effectively Why Gandhi refused to celebrate I-Day Wetland, site of flamingo sanctuary, gets Ramsar status FPJ BUREAUX NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Ahead of the 75th anniversary of Independence, the Union environment and forest ministry on Saturday declared Thane creek in Maharashtra and 10 other wetlands across India as Ramsar sites. With this, the number of Ramsar sites in the country has gone up to 75, the highest in the world. Together they cover an area of 13,26,677 hectares. A Ramsar site is a wetland of international importance. The aim of the designation is “to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which the for important are conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits”. Apart from the Thane creek spread over 6,521.08 hectares, Yashwant Sagar in Madhya Pradesh and Hygam and Shallbugh Wetland Conservation Reserve in Jammu & Kashmir are among the 11 sites designated Ramsar for protection, conservation and wise use of resources. Four of the latest sites are in Tamil Nadu which now has the maximum number of Ramsar , sites— 14 — in the country followed by 10 in Uttar Pradesh and three each in Maharashtra and Odisha. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said, “PM Narendra Modi ji’s love and care for environment is helping India scale newer heights in conservation. Elated to inform that 11 more Indian wetlands got Ramsar recognition. This takes our tally to 75 sites." Yashwant Sagar is a birding area in Indore district and a source . of water for Indore city It comes under the jurisdiction of the Indore Municipal Corporation. Due 1982 Year India signed Ramsar Convention of 1971 2453 Number of Ramsar sites worldwide 244 MAHARASHTRA’S RAMSAR SITES Nandur Madhmeshwar Nashik Area: ha Listed Jan 2020 800.96 Lonar lake Buldhana Area: ha Listed: Nov 2020 427 to its vast shallow reed beds, its wetland is a haven for a large number of winter migratory birds. The Hygam wetlands in the Jhelum river basin in Baramulla district serve as an abode for many local and migratory birds. Thane creek Thane, Mumbai suburban Area: ha Listed: August 2022 6521.08 Due to a high rate of silting, it has lost its wetland character to a large extent. Another reserve in Jammu & Kashmir, Shallbugh, falls in Srinagar district. URBAN JUNGLE GETS ANOTHER SANCTUARY, MUMBAI Number of Ramsar mangrove forests 75 Number of Ramsar sites in India 49 Number of Ramsar mangroves in India 8 firms make a beeline NO POINTED QUESTIONS: SC for monkeypox vax SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES FPJ BUREAU NEW DELHI The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has reportedly received 31 bids from pharmaceutical firms for developing vaccines and test kits for the monkeypox virus in India. As per the ICMR’s July 27 document, further research with the monkeypox isolates, and related manufacture of vaccine and kits, will be in a publicprivate partnership mode. While eight firms have shown interest in developing the vaccine, the others have shown willingness to develop the detection kits. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE FPJ BUREAU NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Friday held that all sexual harassment cases should be held in camera and no inappropriate pointed questions should be asked to the sexual assault victims. In a series of directions to trial courts across the country, the apex court also barred seeking the sexual history of the aggrieved women. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Jamshed B Pardiwala regretted that the legal proceedings in such cases tend to be more onerous for complainants already suffering trauma and societal shame. It said the trial courts have an important responsibility of handling such cases appropriately and sensitively. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE IN-CAMERA TRIAL No pointed questions to victims No digging for victim’s sexual history Screen between victim and accused Or the accused should leave the room when victim testifies Judges should be respectful to the advocates of the victim Crossexamination should end in one sitting Gandhi never accepted the legitimacy of Partition Caste scrutiny: Clean chit to Wankhede State panel says ex-NCB zonal director not Muslim by birth, belongs to Mahar-37 SC URVI MAHAJANI MUMBAI The Maharashtra government’s District Caste Certificate Verification Committee (DCCVC) has given a clean chit to former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal Sameer officer Wankhede in the alleged fake caste certificate case. In a detailed order , passed on Friday the DCCVC upheld Wankhede’s certificate, which said that he belongs to the Mahar-37 scheduled caste. The three member committee also said that he is “not a Muslim by birth”. The caste scrutiny committee was chaired by Anita Meshram Wankhede and had Salima Tadvi as member and Sunita Mate as member secre. tary Wankhede shot to notori- ety in October 2021 after aractor Bollywood resting Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan in an alleged drug bust case on Cordelia cruise. After several controversial turns, the case was handed over to a special investigation team (SIT), comprising NCB officers from Delhi, which dropped later Aryan’s name from the case. Wankhede, from the 2008-batch of Indian Revenue Service (IRS), was subsequently transferred out of the NCB. A complaint about the officer hiding his caste was lodged by former state cabinet minister Nawab Malik and others. The plaint was filed with the DCCVC, alleging that his father, Dnyandev, had converted to Islam. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE DGCA’s bird’s eye view to avert hits FPJ BUREAU / NEW DELHI In the wake of recent bird hit incidents at airports, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has finally issued a set of directives for operators to check such incidents. As per its guidelines, aerodrome operators are required to deploy a wide range of methods and tech- niques to minimise the collision between wildlife and aircraft. These include carrying out routine patrols in random patterns, informing pilots whenever there is any wildlife activity, regular surveillance to spot hazardous wildlife, and to record and monitor wildlife/ bird movement data. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE