FREE PRESS FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms - VOL. 12 NO. 219 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | JANUARY 19, 2023 | PAGES 16 WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE SPORTS INDIA SEEK BIG WIN AGAINST WALES TO QUALIFY FOR QUARTER-FINALS TOP WRESTLERS PROTEST AGAINST WFI AT JANTAR MANTAR News Brief 5 MLAs quit house in Meghalaya Meghalaya Public Health Engineering Minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar and four other sitting MLAs of different parties, including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, resigned from the Assembly on Wednesday, hours before the Election Commission announced the election schedule for three northeastern states. Tongkhar, who is a legislator of Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP), Trinamool Congress MLA Shitlang Pale, suspended Congress MLAs Mayralborn Syiem and Process T. Sawkmie and Independent MLA Lambor Malngiang, submitted their resignation letter to Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh. NTAGI to discuss Covovax in CoWIN The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) is likely to meet soon to discuss inclusion of Covid vaccine Covovax on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults to boost uptake of booster doses, said official sources. According to official sources, the Serum Institute of India has also written a letter to the Union Health Ministry seeking the inclusion of its Covid vaccine Covovax on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults to boost uptake of booster doses. Shikharji not to be tourism hub The Centre and the Jharkhand government have decided that the Jain site of Sammed Shikharji will remain a place of pilgrimage and not be converted into a tourism hub, National Commission for Minorities chairperson Iqbal Singh Lalpura said Wednesday. He said the Commission held a hearing on the matter on Tuesday where the Jharkhand government assured that it would issue an official order soon. Pipalkoti to be 'Mini Joshimath' The Uttarakhand government has decided to shift 130 of the 850 families in Joshimath affected by land subsidence to Pipalkoti village for their permanent rehabilitation. The Chamoli district administration has approved the allotment of two hectares of land for the permanent settlement of the families in Pipalkoti, after a land survey investigation was conducted by the GSI, an official said. SEQUEL IN THE OFFING? Pg-16 ‘Brij Bhushan was sexually harassingalive tomorrow, says crying Vinesh Phogat female wrestlers’ I DON'T KNOW if I will be FOR 24X7 UPDATES AGENCIES New Delhi Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday levelled serious allegations against Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, saying that he sexually hathe female rassed wrestlers. The Asian Games and Games Commonwealth gold medallist broke down in tears while speaking to the reporters as more than 30 wrestlers, including Olympic medalists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, were staging a protest, here at Jantar Mantar. Vinesh said she was subject to mental harassment by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, adding she had contemplated suicide. "Adhyaksh (WFI President) and a few coaches in the national camp have sexually exploited female wrestlers," she said. "No one takes responsibility for injuries. They talk of banning wrestlers from nationals. The WFI President called me khota sikka (useless). I wanted to commit suicide. "I've openly said it today, I don't know if I will be alive tomorrow. We have requested many times to move the camp away from 'PLAYERS ARE BEING HARASSED’ Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik along with Vinesh Phogat and other top Indian grapplers on Wednesday sat on a protest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Bajrang Punia took to Twitter to share his concern. "Sportspersons work hard to win medals for the country, but the Federation has done nothing but let us down. Players are being harassed by imposing arbitrary laws," he wrote Will hang myself if charges are proven: WFI chief WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharanbrushed aside the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by top Indian grapplers, saying, "I will hang myself if the allegations against me are proven." "When I came to know that wrestlers protesting, I didn't know what the allegations were all about," Sharan told reporters. "This is a conspiracy against me, and a big industrialist has a hand in it. When Vinesh had lost, it was me who motivated her," he said. DCW sends notice to Sports Ministry The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has issued notice to the Sports Ministry and the police to investigate the matter of sexual allegations made against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and coaches by Olympian wrestlers."The DCW has taken suo-moto cognizance on media reports of allegations of sexual harassment made against the WFI president and some wrestling coaches. This is a very serious matter," reads the notice. VD may get extension till assembly elections Lucknow. Why does it happen only there? Because it's easy for him to prey on the women wrestlers." Vinesh said she faced death threats for complain- PARTY HEADS in poll-bound states won't be changed OUR STAFF REPORTER Bhopal There are possibilities that the central leadership extend the BJP state president VD Sharma's tenure. At a twoday executive meeting of the party in Delhi, it was decided that the presidents of the poll-bound states would not be changed. The tenure of the party's national president JP Nadda has been extended till June next year. Along with the extension of Nadda's term, the party leadership decided that the heads of China stares at 36K Covid deaths a day in holidays this month HONG KONG: China may see a staggering 36,000 deaths a day during Lunar New Year holidays, data analytics company Airfinity has forecast. The Lunar New Year festival began on January 7 and the holidays are set to begin on January 21. Airfinity has now added 11,000 more deaths a day to its December 29, 2022, estimates. "We now expect to see one larger and more prolonged wave with infections reaching a higher peak," according to Dr Matt , Linley Airfinity's Analytics director. the states, where the polls will be held before the general elections, will be not changed. Sharma is completing three years in office next month. Ergo, Sharma is likely to get an extension for a year. According to sources in the party, the central leadership has given an indication of his extension by asking him to prepare the organisation for the assembly elections. The party leadership does not want to make fresh appointments in the party before the elections. Just before the assembly elections in 2018, state party president Nandkumar Singh Chouhan was removed. The party lost the election. So, the party leadership decided to continue the existing presidents of the election-bound states. Some more central leaders will be deployed in the state for the assembly elections. According to sources, a central minister may be sent to the state as election in-charge. Besides, the state leaders working at the national level may be given the responsibility for the state election. About the extension of Sharma's tenure, sources said that the central leadership would take the decision. CENTRE TO SC JUSTIFYING BAN ON SIMI 'Has links with LeT, JeM, ISIS & Al Qaeda NEW DELHI: On justifying the eighth successive ban on the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the Centre told the Supreme Court that some members/activists of SIMI are working under the umbrella of frontal organisation or having links with a number of other terrorist groups like the Al Qaeda, LeT, JeM, ISIS, IM, and added any organisation that has the objective of es- tablishing Islamic rule in India cannot be permitted to exist. The Ministry of Home Affairs, in an affidavit, said SIMI is against Indian nationalism and has the aim to replace it with the international Islamic order. "Their stated objectives are contrary to the laws of our country Es. pecially their object of establishing Islamic rule in India can, under no circumstances, be permitted to subsist. CONTD. ON P6 ing against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. CONTD. ON P6 Ukraine minister among 18 dead in chopper crash near Kindergarten Calcutta High Court's Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Wednesday questioned the silence of Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, having their roots in West Bengal, on the issue of multi-crore teacher's recruitment scam. In a discussion with senior advocate and CPI-M Rajya Sabha member, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya at his court, Justice Gangopadhyay asked about the observation of the two renowned economists on the scam. "Both of them often make statements and give observations on many issues. My inquisitiveness is what is their observation on the teachers' scam. This was a scam of such a huge magnitude. What do the Nobel laureates have to say? Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay "Amartya Sen has formed Pratichi Trust and is working in the sphere. Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is also there. I really want to know what they are saying on this issue and what are the observations of the two great educationists in the matter," said Justice Gangopadhyay, who had been in the national limelight for the last one year because of his judgments and observations in the teachers' recruitment scam. Last week, Sen observed that Chief Minister Mama- Tripura to go to polls on Feb 16, Nagaland and Meghalaya on Feb 27 NEW DELHI The Election Commission on Wednesday announced polling schedules for the Assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that polling will be held in Tripura on February 16 and in Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27 and the counting of votes is scheduled for March 2. All the three states have 60-member Assemblies. Along with the announcement of the election sched- ule, the model code of conduct for political parties and candidates will also come into force from . Wednesday In Tripura, the last date for filing nominations has been kept on January 30. In Nagaland and Meghalaya, the last date for filing nominations is February 7. The CEC informed that women voters participation in these states have been more than men in the past polls. "Women participants have been more than men in the previous elections in all three statesait is a happy trend to report," he said, adding that participation of women voters and their numbers on the electoral rolls are higher than men. CONTD. ON P6 The three main figures in Ukraine's interior ministry have been killed in a helicopter crash beside a nursery in an eastern suburb of the capital Kiev. Interior Minister Denys died 42, Monastyrsky, alongside his first deputy minister and state secretary, BBC reported. Nine people were killed when the helicopter came down in Brovary and another nine died on the ground, including three children. Monastyrsky is the highest profile Ukrainian casualty since the war began, BBC reported. The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said the minister had been en route to a war "hot spot" when his helicopter went down. There is no indication the crash was anything other than an accident, although witnesses said Russia's war was to blame for the disaster. "It was very foggy and there was no electricity, and when there's no electricity there are no lights on the buildings," local resident Volodymyr told the BBC. The 42-yearold interior minister was a prominent member of President Volodymy Zelensky's cabinet. ta Banerjee's qualities to achieve the chair of the Prime Minister are unquestionable. However, he, at the same time, expressed doubts on how far she will be able to unite the opposition against the BJP. Banerjee, on the other hand, was a member of the Covid-19 related standing committee constituted by the West Bengal Chief Minister during the pandemic period. `3 QUALITY AT VALUE WEATHER 22.60c. 8.60c Sunrise : 07.09 Sunset : 06.05 ANNUAL STATUS OF EDUCATION REPORT RELEASED MP 2nd worst in country; merely 56% primary children attend schools PANDEMIC INDUCED learning gap affects reading, arithmetic skills OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Only 56.8% of the children enrolled in primary and upper-primary schools in the rural areas of Madhya attend their Pradesh schools regularly, says the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Wednesday . In this respect, Madhya Pradesh is the second worst state in the country after Bihar, where 54.6% children show up in schools. Uttar Pradesh is slightly better in this respect, with 56.2% children attending schools. In contrast, 88.6% children attend schools in Tamil Nadu. The report also shows that Madhya Pradesh is among the only three states in the country where enrollment of children of the age group 6-14 years in private schools has increased after the Covid-19 pandemic. It is generally believed that the pandemic triggered movement of children from private to government schools as the income of the parents fell due to growth in unemployment and closure GILL HITS DOUBLE TON AS INDIA WINS CLIFFHANGER Girls still discriminated against The ASER report shows that girls are still discriminated against as far as enrollment in schools is concerned with the gap between boys and girls not attending schools growing in higher classes. In the age group 7-10 years, 1.8% boys and 1.9% girls did not go to school. In age 11-14, the percentage of out-ofschool boys was 2.8% and girls was 3.8%. The gap widened further in the age group 15-16 years, with 12.6% and 17% girls not attending schools. of industries. The trend, however, was different in Madhya Pradesh with the percentage of children in private schools growing from 26.1% in 2018 to 27.4% in 2022. Another interesting fact is that the learning gap induced by the prolonged closure of schools during the pandemic has led to a larger number of children in the state opting for private paid tuitions. CONTD. ON P6 Indigo plane door opened by mistake… he said sorry’: Scindia defends Tejasvi Surya NEW DELHI KYIV Teachers' scam: Calcutta HC judge questions silence of two Nobel laureates KOLKATA RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 Shubman Gill celebrates double century during the first ODI cricket match between India and New Zealand, at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. India made 349/8 in 50 overs. Kiwis scored 337/10 in 49.2 overs A day after it was reported that BJP MP Tejasvi Surya had opened the emergency exit door of an Indigo flight before takeoff in December, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the incident happened by “mistake” and that Surya had “apologised” for the same. “The person concerned, Tejasvi Surya himself reported to the crew and the pilot following which all the protocols were followed and only then was the aircraft allowed to take off,” Scindia was quoted as saying. Scindia said that after the incident the plane took off only after mandatory checks. “Full protocol was followed as DGCA has investigated. Only after all checks the aircraft took off,” he added. While the incident took place on December 10 at the Chennai airport, IndiGo released a statement on Tuesday following some media reports. Biden forgets how to pronounce Kamala Harris' name! Online sources like Wikipedia not completely dependable: SC NEW YORK: US President Joe Biden seemed to have forgotten the pronunciation of Vice President Kamala Harris' name during a White House event, referring to her as "Cam-a-la", the New York Post reported. According to Biden's Indian-origin second-in-command, her name, which means 'lotus flower', is pronounced as 'comma-la' -like the punctuation mark. However, during a speech on Tuesday at a White House celebration for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors, Biden said: "As 'CAM-a-la' said, we're all closely monitoring the storms, the floods, the landslides all across California." Biden -- the oldest-ever president at 80 -- is set to launch a 2024 re-election campaign, even as detractors question his 'mental demic veracity and can promote misleading information as has been noted by this court on previous occasions also," the bench said on Tuesday . The apex court said courts and adjudicating authorities should endeavour to persuade counsels to rely on more reliable and authentic sources. The observations came in a judgment in a case regarding the correct classification of imported 'All in One Integrated Desktop Computer' under the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. The top court noted that adjudicating authorities, especially the Commissioner of Customs (Appeal) had extensively referred to online sources such as Wikipedia to support their conclusions. NEW DELHI Online sources such as Wikipedia are based on a crowd sourced and user generated editing model that is not completely dependable and can promote misleading information, the Supreme Court has said. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath said it acknowledged the utility of the platforms that provide free access to knowledge across the globe but also cautioned against using such sources for legal dispute resolution. "We say so for the reason that these sources, despite being a treasure trove of knowledge, are based on a crowd sourced and user generated editing model that is not completely dependable in terms of aca-