FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. 13 NO. 97 | BHOPAL | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 20, 2023 | PAGES 14 - r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE EDIT A STEP TOWARDS GENDER EQUITY AT NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDING Congress MP Rahul Gandhi along with party MP KC Venugopal and other MPs move towards the new building of the Parliament during the Special Session, in New Delhi "For that work of ensuring rights of women and putting their power to use, and for many such nobel works, God has chosen me. Once again our government has taken a step in this direction. PRIME MINISTER MODI Actors Kangana Ranaut, Esha Gupta and Sapna Choudhary pose for group photos with parliamentarians during the special session of Parliament, on Tuesday. Actors attended the special session as women invitees during the introduction of the Womens Quota Bill. ATISHI SLAMS QUOTA BILL AS ELECTION-YEAR PLOY Delhi Minister Atishi criticised the Women's Reservation Bill introduced by the Centre and labeled it a ploy intended to deceive women. Atishi asserted that women would not benefit from reservation just before the 2024 elections. She said, "According to the Bill, once passed, a census will be conducted, followed by delimitation based on the census data, and then reservation will be granted based on the new delimitation." "The census alone takes a minimum of one year, and after that, the delimitation process begins. Even for small areas like the MCD, the EC took six months to complete delimitation. Delimitation for the entire country will take almost 1-2 years," she added. The reservation will come into effect after a delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, according to the bill. The government said women participate substantively in panchayats Women's quota Bill will have no impact on MP elections BJP WILL create atmosphere among women in its favour NITENDRA SHARMA BHOPAL News Brief HC reserves order on Naidu's petition AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on T uesday reserved its orders on TDP supremo and former CM Chandrababu Naidu's quash petition in Skill Development Corp scam in which he is currently in judicial custody.The court refused to pass interim orders after hearing the arguments from both sides throughout the day. Gowda grandson's poll disqualification stayed NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Karnataka High Court order which invalidated the Lok Sabha membership of JDS MP Prajwal Revanna. A threejudge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud stayed the Karnataka High Court order which declared the election of Revanna null and void. Decide age limit for social media use: HC BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka today observed that it would be suitable if an age limit was introduced for using social media akin to the legal age for drinking alcohol. There are speculations about the impact of Women's Reservation Bill on the ensuing assembly election in MP after it was up for discussion in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.According to political experts, the Women's Reservation Bill will hardly influence the assembly polls. Since the Bill requires constitutional amendments, more than 50% of state assemblies have to pass it. The Model Code of Conduct will be in place after 20 days from now, so it is not possible for the state to implement the Bill. It is clear the assembly election will be held without the Women's Reservation Bill. On the other hand, it is true that the BJP will try to take an advantage of introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha. The ruling party is focusing on women voters in the assembly election. The party has implemented Ladli behna Yojna, provided an LPG cylinder for Rs 450, encouraged self-help groups and raised the salary of Aganwadi workers to woo women voters.After putting up the Women's Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha, the BJP will spare no effort to make it a big issue in the election. The party will show that it is committed to promoting women's cause. CONTD. ON P6 Anantnag gunfight over; LeT Commander among 2 killed AGENCIES Srinagar Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Uzair Khan was among the two terrorists killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district that ended after seven days, Additional Director General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said on Tuesday. Four security personnel, including two army officers and a police officer, lost their lives in the gunfight, which Kumar said is over. "Till now, LeT commander Uzair Khan's body has been recovered. The dead body of another terrorist is visible, but it has not been possible to retrieve it yet," the ADGP told reporters in Anantnag. He said the gunfight, which began in the Gadole forest area of the south Kashmir district on Wednesday last week, is over, but the search operation will continue. "There is a huge area that remains to be searched. There can be a lot of unexploded shells which will be recovered and destroyed. We appeal to the people not to go to the area," he added. The ADGP said security forces had reports that two to three terrorists were there. "There is a possibility that the third dead body may be somewhere. It will be known after the search is complete," Kumar said. China ex-FM ousted over his affair in US BEIJING: China removed former Foreign Minister Qin Gang from the post after an investigation concluded he'd conducted an affair and fathered a child while serving as US ambassador, the Wall Street Journal reported. Top officials were told in August that a Communist Party inquiry into Qin uncovered "lifestyle issues," the newspaper reported Tuesday citing people , familiar with the situation that it didn't describe. That phrase usually means sexual misbehavior of some type in the parlance of Chinese officialdom. Two of the people said the affair led to the birth of a child in the US. The probe, with Qin's assistance, is now focusing on whether or not the affair compromised national security . CONTD. ON P6 SIMI activists on hunger strike demanding more facilities OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Four members of banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) are sitting on hunger strike in Bhopal Central Jail to press for their demands, said the jail administration on Tuesday . There are 28 SIMI activists imprisoned in Bhopal Jail and the jail administration said that they did not follow the rules and regulations of the jail. Even at the time of National Anthem, they never stand in respect. The activists are demanding mass Namaz though at present there is no restriction on offering Namaz but restriction on mass Namaz. They also wanted the 'round cap', in place of 'jail uniform cap'. They are demanding to let them meet other members in the jail and wanted that they should not be checked every day. And during the checking, the investigators should not touch their books. They also demand separate newspapers and magazine to read and other facilities. The jail administration has informed them that they should follow instructions given in the jail manual and they should not violate them. According to jail FPJ: www.freepressjournal.in for 24x7 updates APNA HAI, SAYS SONIA AGENCIES New Delhi The women's reservation bill has proposed that the reservation would continue for a period of 15 years and there will be quota for SC and STs within the reserved seats for women. The legislation however is unlikely to be implemented in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, sources said. It will be rolled out only after the delimitation process is over, most probably in 2029, they added. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, was introduced in Lok Sabha in the supplementary list of business. authorities, the four activists are on hunger strike since September 14 and they only take Dal-soup not the full meal. The jail doctor is monitoring their health regularly. These activists are mounting pressure on the jail administration to give relaxation in their movement. These people are kept in the high security section of the jail known as 'Anda (egg) Cell'. QUALITY AT VALUE 22.60c. 22.00c Sunrise : 06.14 Sunset : 06.27 CHASING THE SUN Pg-14 UNLIKELY to be implemented in '24 LS elections PM Modi addresses the Parliamentarians at the Central Hall of the old Parliament building ahead of the Parliament Special Session, in New Delhi on Tuesday. r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 NEW BILL PROPOSES WOMEN'S RESERVATION FOR 15 YEARS RUCKUS IN RS OVER KHARGE’S REMARKS Pg-7 AT OLD PARLIAMENT BUILDING `3 WEATHER FP and at municipal bodies, but their representation in State Assemblies, Parliament is still limited. Women bring different perspectives and enrich quality of legislative debates and decision-making, it added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first speech in the new parliament Congress' parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi said the women's reservation bill 'is ours', amid speculation that the bill may be tabled in Parliament.The Congress on Monday said it welcomed the reported move as the party has been raising the demand for long. Asked about the bill, Mrs Gandhi said, "It is ours, apna hai." Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "We welcome the reported decision of the Cabinet and await the details of the Bill." "This could have very well been discussed in the allparty meeting before the Special Session, and consensus could have been built instead of operating under a veil of secrecy," he said. Congress leader P Chidambaram said if the govt introduces the bill on Tuesday, it will be a "victory for the Congress and its allies. building said that there had been several efforts to introduce women's reservation bill in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies since 1996. In 1998 and 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had brought the bill, but his dream could not be fulfilled. CONTD. ON P6 AMID ROW OVER SIKH ACTIVIST’S MURDER India asks Canada diplomat to leave within five days NEW DELHI: Amid escalating tensions between India and Canada over the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, India on Tuesday expelled a senior Canadian diplomat an action similar to what Canada did on Monday. The country had expelled an Indian diplomat amid the country's probe into India's "possible link" to the murder of the pro-Khalistan leader. Amid allegations and counter allegations levelled by Canada and India, the latter Tuesday expelled a senior Canadian diplomat. In a statement, Ministry of External Affairs said that the concerned diplomat has been asked to leave India within the next five days. "The decision reflects Government of India's growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal Trade talks to continue: UK Britain will continue trade talks with India despite allegations from Ottawa that the Indian government was involved in the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said on Tuesday. matters and their involvement in anti India activities," the statement read. Canadian High Commissioner to India Cameron MacKay reached the headquarters of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) at South Block, New Delhi. Earlier in the day, India rejected as "absurd and motivated" an accusation by Canada that it was involved in the killing of proKhalistan leader Nijjar. "Allegations of Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated. CONTD. ON P6 US concerned The US was deeply concerned about the allegations of PM Justin Trudeau", NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in an emailed statement."It is critical that Canada's investigation proceed and the perpetrators be brought to justice," Watson said.