Vol. 66 No. 313 | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2023 | 22 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper RAJVEER DEOL DEBUTS WITH DONO Grandfather Dharmendra wishes him on his acting debut, says I am so happy EDIT CALL FOR GENOCIDE OR OVERREACTION? RBI ALLOWS PRESANCTIONED CREDIT LINES THROUGH UPI Earlier, only the deposited amount could be transacted through the UPI System BJP DAMAGE-CONTROL THE FPJ Fadnavis apologises for lathi-charge; Shinde sets up committee for registration of Marathas as ‘Kunbi’, to facilitate reservation under the OBC quota FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI I WILL REPEAT AGAIN & AGAIN Even as Maratha agitators stood their ground, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced the formation of a committee on Monday for the registration of , Marathas as ‘Kunbi’, to facilitate reservation for them under the OBC quota and sought a month’s time to come up with an amicable solution on the issue, one that could withstand legal scrutiny . After a long meeting of the cabinet subcommittee on Maratha reservation, Shinde, along with his deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, addressed a press conference, wherein Fadnavis apologised for the lathicharge at the site of the protests in Jalna district, while Pawar dared the opposition to prove that the orders for the lathicharge came from Mumbai or leave politics. CM Shinde also appealed to Manoj Jarange, who is on a hunger strike, to end his fast and assured an impartial probe in the incident of lathi charge. “The state government regrets the lathicharge on Maratha While the BJP and its affiliated outfits stepped up their attack on Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his call to eradicate Sanatan Dharma, with an Uttar Pradesh-based sant announcing a Rs10 crore bounty for his head, the latter on Monday remained firm in his stand. Udhayanidhi said he would speak against Sanatan Dharma again and again, if there were attempts to intimidate him into stop speaking thus. The DMK politician, who is the son of Chief Minister M K Stalin, told journalists in Thoothukudi, that there was no need for him to resign from the Cabinet as he had not said anything wrong about Sanatan Dharma. “Since Sanatan Dharma advocated the evil practice of sati and treated women like slaves, the Dravidian movement opposed it and liberated women from these nauseating practices and superstitious beliefs,” he contended. The minister made it clear that he had not spoken anything against Hinduism and Hindus. CONTD. ON NATION THE DAY AFTER DIVIDED HOUSE T hese may be his personal views... I am not in agreement with Mr Stalin – Kamal Nath, ex-CM, Madhya Pradesh E very political outfit has the freedom to (express) its views and the Congress respects everybody's beliefs – KC Venugopal GOOD AS DISEASE A ny religion that does not promote equality, or does not ensure you have dignity of being human, is not religion, according to me. Any religion that does not give equal rights... is as good as disease... – Priyank Kharge, Mallikarjun Kharge’s son  DIDI IS WARY I respect the people of Tamil Nadu and South India. But my humble request to them is to respect all, as every religion has separate sentiments – Mamata Banerjee S anatan Dharm  stands for eternal truth - way to live life, conscience & being. Sanatanis have long withstood attacks by invaders to end their identity, yet they have not just survived but thrived. Country's bedrock, linked to  sanatan dharm, has been of inclusiveness of all faiths and identities. Anyone making derogatory comments is ignorant of what it stands for – Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader WHAT MAHATMA GANDHI SAID Sanatan Dharma is as wide as an ocean cise this issue,” Shinde said. “Recent incidents show that several politicians want to politicise matters under the pretext of the Maratha community and protest. I urge them to keep the state peaceful, that is our duty ,” Shinde said. He said that the government had constituted a taskforce and senior advocate Harish Salve was a part of it. “Our government is working on the issue extensively . What happened in Jalna is unfortunate,” he added. CONTD. ON NATION Xi trying to avoid Air hostess, 24, found with neck slit Biden, not Modi AISHWARYA IYER / MUMBAI N CHITHRA / CHENNAI quota protesters in Jalna district,” Fadnavis said, as he opened the press conference. He also informed that the decision had been taken at the local level and the political leadership had no role in it. Shinde, in turn, slammed the opposition for demanding his resignation over the issue of lathicharge. “The opposition has no moral right to demand resignation. They didn’t act when they were in power. The government is doing all it can to provide Maratha reservation. Please do not politi- Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has never missed a G-20 event since he assumed office, will skip the meet in New Delhi. No reason assigned A 24-year-old air hostess, identified as Rupal Ogrey a resi, dent of Chhattisgarh, was found dead in her apartment in Powai, late on Sunday her ,  neck having been slit. Fourteen hours of investigation later, police arrested a 40-yearold man, who confessed to her killing. Police suspect the motive could have been sexual assault or theft, but either possibility is yet to be con- Allegedly killed by 40-year-old cleaner in her flat because she YELLED at him firmed. Rupal had moved to Mumbai in April, for employment, and was living with her sister and sister’s boyfriend. Eight days before the murder, her sister and her partner had left for their hometown for personal work. She last spoke to her parents and sister on Sunday morning, around 10am, on a video call. But from 11am to 9pm, she did not respond to any calls or texts and the family grew worried, her sister told police. Rupal’s parents called up her close friends in Mumbai, who lived nearby to check on , her. When a couple of friends opened the door to Rupal’s apartment at 11pm, CONTD. ON NATION  `8L for bereaved parents 13 years on, HC quashes ‘perverse’ Railway tribunal order in a case of youth who died after falling from a crowded local train SHANKAR RAJ WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has never skipped the annual G-20 event since he assumed office in 2012, has decided to miss the meet in New Delhi; and that too for no apparent reason. It is unusual for the Foreign Ministry in Beijing not to specify any reason for President Xi's absence from a high-profile conclave. Of course, Premier of the State Council Li Qiang will be present in New Delhi on September 9 and 10, but other countries’ leaders will be sceptical about Li’s ability to make any commitment on any decisions taken at the summit. Journalists in India have been quick to jump to the conclusion that Xi is not coming because of the simmering tensions between the two countries at the LAC and the recent controversy over Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh. However, western analysts seem to believe that it may be because of Xi’s reluctance to meet US President Joe Biden in New Delhi, owing to Beijing’s continued support to Russia on Ukraine. CONTD. ON NATION KAMAL MISHRA & URVI MAHAJANI / MUMBAI Observing that an order of the Railways Claims Tribunal was “not only perverse but also in total ignorance of the settled legal position”, the Bombay high court quashed it and directed the Union of India to pay Rs 8 lakh as compensation to the parents of a youth who was fatally injured after falling from a crowded local train in 2010.   On August 31, Justice Prithviraj Chavan quashed the April 21, 2014 order passed by the tribunal observing: “… judgment [of tribunal] is not only perverse but also in total ignorance of the settled legal FALL I CASUALTIES n 2022, 700 passengers lost their lives  while 1,026 were injured  after falling off moving trains, on the suburban sections of MMR, including the Harbour, Central and Western lines. position… as well as the facts and evidence on record.”  Alpesh Dhotre died after falling from a crowded train between Naigaon and Vasai Road Railway Stations on January 26, 2010. He was travelling with a cousin from Protests cost MSRTC dear SC asks MP to swear loyalty to Constitution ONLINE REPORT / NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday asked Lok Sabha MP Akbar Lone, a petitioner who has challenged the abrogation of Article 370, to swear his allegiance to the Constitution of India. Further, he was asked to state that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Union of India. A Constitution Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI)  Chandrachud  DY and Justices  Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai  and  Surya Kant passed the direction while hearing the challenge to the abrogation of Article 370. "Furnish an affidavit from Mr Lone that he swears allegiance to the Constitution of India and that J&K is an integral part of the Union of India,"  the court said. It passed the direction after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Court that Lone had said 'Pakistan Zindabad' in an assembly . The SG demanded that Lone state that he strongly opposes terrorism and secessionism. He has made speeches supporting terrorism and secessionism, the SG pointed out. Attorney General R Venkataramani also echoed the SG's sentiments. "He  (Lone)  wants his fundamental rights to be enforced and then takes a contrary viewpoint," the AG said. CONTD. ON NATION Bhayandar to Vasai, in a crowded compartment and fell off the train and was fatally injured. The station master had prepared an accident memo following a report from an unknown person. Witness statements were recorded and an autopsy revealed the cause of death as ‘haemodynamic shock to polytrauma (severe blunt trauma with injuries to multiple organ systems)’. His parents, Arun, 53, and Aruna, 48, had sought compensation from the tribunal, which had rejected it, saying they had failed to prove that it was an ‘untoward incident’ as per the Railways Act and that they were ‘dependent’ on their son. CONTD. ON NATION KAMAL MISHRA / MUMBAI M(A)RRY-GO-ROUND: Good life surely begins at 68. And marriage possibly comes better in the third round. One wonders whether Harish Salve, one of the country's top lawyers and former Solicitor General of India, subscribes to either adage. Nonetheless, he was the talking point among the chattering classes as news trickled in of his third marriage at a private ceremony in London. Harish exchanged vows with Trina in the presence of close friends Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita, Sunil Mittal, LN Mittal, SP Lohia, and Gopi Hinduja – all wellknown industrialists. The ‘star’ of the gathering, of course, was former IPL chairman Lalit Modi who was with his girlfriend and model Ujjwala Raut. Looking his debonair self, Lalit mingled with the gentry, which seemed oblivious of his past as an ‘economic fugitive.’ The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation has been forced to close 46 out of the 250 bus depots that it operates amidst the widespread protests over Maratha quota, leading to service disruptions and financial losses. The impact of the agitation has been most acutely felt in Ahmednagar, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Parbhani, Hingoli, Jalna, Nanded and Dharashiv districts, where bus services have come to a standstill. During the protests 20 MSRTC buses were set ablaze while 19 suffered various degrees of damage. CONTD. ON NATION MAY BE SEPARATED FROM PARENTS DUE TO MASSIVE BACKLOG When techies from India and others meet in swanky cities in the US, the first talking point is on their Green Card status, followed by visa updates. There is a reason. Reports indicate that over one lakh Indian children in the US may get separated from their parents due to a massive backlog in the process of granting Green Cards. According to the latest figures, 10.7 lakh Indians are in the queue for employmentbased Green Cards – a dream that they have been chasing for years. A Green Card offers legal permanent residency in the United State. The US has imposed a 7 per cent cap for every country for issuing Green Cards. Added to this is a stockpile of pending cases. A back of the envelope calculation would indicate that the backlog with the cap in place would take more than 135 years to be completed at the current numbers. Kids who move to the US from other countries fall under H-4 visa, a non-immigrant visa for the spouses and children of H-1B visa holders. H1B visas are tem- SEE PAGE 6-7 MANIPUR’S CM PUTS EDITORS’ GUILD IN DOCK ‘STOKING FRENZY’ OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI In an yet another brazen attack on freedom of press, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday said that his government has filed an FIR against the president and three members of the Editors Guild of India (EGI), and accused them of trying to provoke clashes in the state. Leading from the front, the Manipur Chief Minister told a press conference in Imphal that at a time when many people have been killed and left homeless, the EGI published a “totally one-sided” report without understanding the complexity of the crisis. Sources said that the state government took the action after extensive consultation with top policy makers at the Centre. It is seen by political observers as an attempt to send a stern message to a section of the media, which still cherishes its independence. The Editors Guild, in a re- port published last week, had critiqued media coverage out of Manipur during the ethnic clashes. It had criticised onesided reporting by some media outlets, slammed the Internet ban as detrimental to press reporting and claimed there were indications that the state leadership had turned partisan during the conflict. Besides EGI president Seema Mustafa, those who were booked include three senior journalists -- Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor -- who visited the state between August 7 and 10 to study media reportage on the ethnic violence. The guild members were booked under various sections of the IPC, including 153A (promoting enmity between two communities), 200 (using false declaration as true), 298 (deliberate intent to wound religious feelings), and under provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Press Council Act. CONTD. ON NATION TAILPIECE One lakh kids in Green Card lurch SHANKAR RAJ / WASHINGTON T he Free Press Journal released the FPJ Mumbai Schools Survey 2023 results on Monday on the occasion of Teachers’ Day This is the second edi. tion of the city’s most honest, merit-based survey which saw participation from hundreds of schools across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. Banking on its success from last year, The FPJ again embarked on the journey to analyse Mumbai’s schools with the aim of helping parents make an informed choice and bettering the education fabric of the city The . survey brings to the fore the state of schools in the city , while also encouraging   stakeholders to improve   the same through data on category performances, presence of essential facilities, academic perspectives, and more.  bring more expertTo ise to the Schools Survey The , FPJ also constituted a panel of jury comprising of seven persons who are immensely knowledgeable and acclaimed in their respective fields. porary work visas for highly skilled workers. However, when the children attain the age of 21, they are no longer allowed to stay in the US under the H-4 visa category These children . are sometimes referred to as "documented dreamers.” A study by David J Bier, an immigration studies expert at the Cato Institute, said that by the time the Green Card applications get processed, as many as 1.34 lakh Indian children, who are under the H-4 visa, will have to leave the US. CONTD. ON NATION SPECIAL DISPATCH FROM PARIS Roshan Bourget A fter imposing a ban on ‘abayas’ --   full-length a outer garment worn by some Muslim women --on the grounds of protecting principles of secularism in French educational institutions, Gabriel Attal, France’s new Minister for Education would like to introduce uniforms in schools. As schools in the country reopened after the two- UNIFORMS BACK IN FRENCH SCHOOLS? month long summer holidays, the 34-year-old minister announced on Monday morning on RTL, a French radio station, that he would spell out the terms and conditions of testing the use of uniforms in school by this fall. “We are going to work on it with the elected officials and National Education staff. It is important that the teaching community as well as parents are open to this. Many French people are in favour of it while others are not,” reveals Attal. France totally did away with uniforms in public schools in 1968. They exist only in some private schools, military schools and a handful of professional schools. However, the seed of the debate about introducing them again in school was sown in 2003 when the then Education Minister, Xavier Darcos, voiced that “uniforms would reduce visible differences related to class and wealth.” CONTD. ON NATION