FREE PRESS FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms - VOL. 12 NO. 240 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 9, 2023 | PAGES 18 WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE NATION DELHI EXCISE CASES: ED, CBI ARREST TWO ED NOT VOTERS UNITED OPPN FOR 24X7 UPDATES MEET THE NEWLYWEDS! Pg-18 PM TEARS INTO OPPN, TERMS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HIM AS BASELESS TRUST OF PEOPLE my protective shield, Opposition's abuses will have no impact, says Modi NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in Lok Sabha a day after Congress's Rahul Gandhi's attack on his government, lashed out at the 10 years of UPA rule, saying it had "bled the country dry". Replying to the motion of thanks to the President's address in parliament, he said, "2004 to 2014 was the decade of scams and violence and the UPA's trademark was to turn every opportunity into crisis". And while the Congress might feel the way to go is to "abuse Modi", the 140 crore people of the country were his "shield". The Prime Minister accused the opposition of being so "immersed in despair" that they can't see the progress the country is making. "And why wouldn't it be so? Because in the decade between 2004 and 2014..." he said, launching into one of his sharpest attacks on the Congress. CONTD. ON P6 PM protecting Adani: RaGa Entire ecosystem was jubilant Yesterday, after some people's remarks in Lok Sabha, I was watching. The entire 'ecosystem' was excited. Supporters were jubilant. Some people were very happy, saying, 'yeh hui na baat (this is how it should be). Some were so happy with the speech, they didn't even come today. He must have slept well last night. And that's why he couldn't wake up this morning Opportunity turned into problem by UPA Between 2004 and 2014, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) turned every opportunity into a problem. When the world was making advancements in technology, they were stuck in the 2G scam. In 2010 Commonwealth Games, an opportunity presented itself to show India's progress to the world, but even that turned into a scam. Celebrate Cow Hug Day on Feb 14 No coal shortage in country: Centre There is no shortage of coal in the country, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday. In the current financial year up to January 2023, the country produced 698.24 mn tonnes of coal as against 602.49mn tonnes produced during the same period last year, with a growth of about 16%, Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said. K'taka Cong chief gets ED summons Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar said on Wednesday that he was asked by the ED to appear before it on February 24 while his daughter, Ishwarya, has been served a notice by the CBI. He chided that the ED and the CBI were meant for the opposition parties. Transcouple blessed with baby A transgender couple in Kerala, which recently announced pregnancy, was blessed with a baby at a state-run hospital on Wednesday, considered to be the first such case in the country. Mauni baba dig When LoP Mallikarjun Kharge took a dig at PM and called him "Mauni Baba" questioning his silence on the Adani issue, Rajya Sabha Speaker Jagdeep Dhankhar said that such a remark "does not suit his stature" Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore a sleeveless jacket made of material recycled from plastic bottles to Parliament on Wednesday.The prime minister was seen wearing a light blue "sadri" jacket as he sat in the Rajya Sabha in the morning. Officials said the jacket was made of material recycled from plastic bottles. The jacket was presented to Modi by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) during the India Energy Week in Bengaluru on Monday, when he unveiled the uniforms under the company's "Unbottled" initiative. News Brief The Animal Welfare Board of India has issued a notice appealing to people to celebrate "Cow Hug Day" on February 14 to spread "positive energy" and encourage "collective happiness", officials said on Wednesday. Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14 every year. I am not satisfied, but it reveals the truth. There was no talk of an inquiry. If he is not a friend, then he should have agreed to an inquiry. There was no probe into shell companies in defence sector and benami money is changing hands, but the prime minister did not say anything on that.It is clear that the prime minister is protecting him PM MODI WEARS JACKET MADE OF MATERIAL RECYCLED FROM PLASTIC BOTTLES TURKEY QUAKE TOLL OVER 11,000 NDRF personnel during a search and rescue operation to look for people in rubble of destroyed building in quake-hit Turkey in Gaziantep on Wednesday ‘1 Indian missing, 10 stuck in remote areas, but safe’ T en Indians are stuck in remote parts of earthquake-hit Turkey but they are safe while one citizen is missing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday. Secretary (West) in the MEA Sanjay Verma said the Indians in Turkey are relatively safe. He said the government is in touch with the family members of the Indian who is missing in Turkey India has already sent relief ma. terials to Turkey in four military transport aircraft. The death toll in Turkey and Syria due to the 7.3-magnitude earthquake has gone past 11,000. THIRD NDRF TEAM: India is rushing a fresh team of National Disaster Response Force along with other necessary equipment to Turkey. "The team consisting of 51 rescuers and a specially trained Dog squad will depart to Turkey on reaching National Capital," the NDRF DG said. The specially trained Labrador breed dog squad, which is an expert in sniffing and other key skills during rescue operations in disaster-hit regions. 4 UP women flee with lovers after receiving PM Awas Yojana money, husbands in shock ONLINE REPORT In an odd turn of events, four married women ran away from their homes in Uttar Pradesh with their lovers after they received the money under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), leaving their husbands behind. PMAY is a flagship scheme of the central government, which aims to address the urban housing shortage among the poor - those who belong to economically weaker section (EWS), and lower and middle income groups. Under the scheme, the government transfers cash money to the accounts of beneficiaries so that they can own a house. The Centre has made it mandatory under PMAY for the female head of the family to be the owner or co-owner of the house. The four women, beneficiaries of the scheme, made use of this provision and as soon EXTREMELY EXCESSIVE as a grant of ? 50,000 landed in their accounts, they left their husbands. The husbands, however, now face two distinct problems as a result of this incident - they received a warning from the District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) since the construction hasn't begun, and are also worried that they will receive a notice of recovery because they haven't received any money from the installment. The befuddled husbands have no idea what to do now, which is why they have asked the project officer of DUDA not to send the next installment into the bank accounts. The first installment was sent to the accounts of these four women beneficiaries of Nagar Panchayat Belhara, Banki, Zaidpur and Siddhaur of the district, but they escaped with their lovers and the money . CONTD. ON P6 Delhi HC directs removal of sexually explicit video involving judicial officer NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed online platforms to take down a "sexually explicit" video of a judicial officer and a woman, if it has not been already removed pursuant to its earlier directions. Justice Yashwant Varma closed the proceeding on a lawsuit filed by one of the aggrieved parties against the video's circulation on social media, and said the platforms will examine and take appropriate steps, if the plaintiff later points out the existence of the offending content. The court had earlier directed that the identity of the aggrieved party be remained concealed. The lawsuit had sought a permanent injunction restraining publication and telecast of the "purported video dated March 9, 2022" that surfaced online on November 29 that year. On November 30 last year, the court had restrained sharing and posting of the video, and called for taking down the content from various online platforms. CONTD. ON P6 SC quashes Rs 2 cr compensation for haircut gone wrong NEW DELHI The Supreme Court has set aside a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) order awarding Rs 2 crore compensation to a woman for a bad haircut and hair treatment at a fivestar hotel in Delhi, terming it "extremely excessive and disproportionate". A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath said: "The NCDRC discussed regarding the importance of hair in a woman's life and also that it could be an asset for building a career in modelling and advertising indus- RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 try but then quantification of compensation has to be based upon material evidence and not on the mere asking." "What could be quantified was compensation under the head of pain, suffering and trauma. However, an amount of Rs 2 crore would be extremely excessive and disproportionate." The bench stressed that the NCDRC fell in error by awarding compensation to the tune of Rs 2 crore without there being any material to substantiate and support the same or which could have helped the NCDRC to quantify the compensation. "We are left with no option but to set aside the order of NCDRC awarding Rs.2 crores as compensation for loss of income, mental breakdown and trauma and pain and suffering". CONTD. ON P6 `3 QUALITY AT VALUE WEATHER 27.00c. 13.50c Sunrise : 07.03 Sunset : 06.19 SIT formed to inquire into staff nurse paper leak SEARCH for ringleader Ramesh and Manda Thete Lokayukta registers of the gang continues FIR against ex-IAS officer Thete, wife OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in The Special police establishment (SPE) of Lokayukta in Bhopal have registered a corruption case against a retired IAS officer Ramesh Thete and his wife, official sources said on Wednesday. Twenty-two cases have been pending against Thete since 2018, as they need government's approval for prosecution. Thete was posted as commissioner of Jabalpur Municipal Corporation. Afterwards, he was posted as a director of employment and training in Jabalpur in 2000-2002. Then, he and his wife Manda Thete borrowed Rs 68 lakh from different banks. They returned the amount in 2012-13. In 2013, the Lokayukta registered a preliminary case against the officer and his wife. During the investigation, it came to light that the financial transactions made by the officer were disproportionate to his known sources of income. The police registered the case under sections 13 (1) B and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, IPC against 120-B of Ramesh and his wife Manda Thete. CONTD. ON P6 The staff nurse paper leak case came to light on Tuesday. The incident rattled the state, putting a question mark over the recruitment system. The Gwalior police, which busted the gang of fraudsters who were involved in leaking each question paper for Rs 3 lakh, set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident, sources said on Wednesday . Eight members of the gang have already fallen into the police dragnet. The National Health Mission (NHM) has conducted the examination through the Strategic Alliance Management Services Private Ltd. Nonetheless, when the scam was exposed, the NHM scrapped the examination. Superintendent of police in Gwalior, Amit Sanghi, told Free Press that a 15member SIT, led by additional superintendent of police, Rajesh Dandotia and two deputy superintendents of police has been set up. The team has been divided into two groups, Dandotia said, adding that one RBI GOVERNOR ON ADANI ROW One client will not affect Indian banking system CHENNAI An individual client -Adani Group -- will not bring down the Indian banking system as the country's banking sector is resilient and strong, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said. Queried about the Indian bank's exposure to the Adani Group and the comments of credit rating agencies, Das said the Indian banking system is strong and an individual client will not affect it. Das said the banks lend money based on fundamentals of the project and not based on the market capitalisation of the company . He also said the credit appraisal methods of Indian banks have improved. According to him, two years back, the RBI rationalised the large exposure norms for banks and the norms are being complied. CONTD. ON P6 has left for Sonipat in Haryana and the other for Prayagraj in UP to gather evidence, he said. The cops have begun to sift through the documents that they had laid their hands on during the raid of the hotel where the gang members were lodged. The SP further said a letter had been written to the agency in New Delhi to get the details of all the aspirants. The police wanted to take the statements of the students, but none of them came forward for it. The police have also extracted the call details record (CDR) of the accused and will soon call the people, whose names figure in the CDR. CONTD. ON P6 Jamia asst prof suspended after student alleges sexual harassment AGENCIES New Delhi Islamia Millia Jamia (JMI) has suspended an assistant professor for allegedly sexually harassing a female student, a senior university official said on Wednesday. The university has asked the professor to not leave the campus without prior approval of the competent authority till the inquiry is completed, according to a notification issued on Tuesday by registrar Nazim Husain Jafri. CONTD. ON P6