Vol. 67 No. 45 | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 21, 2023 | 19 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper DIVYA DUTTA AS IFFI JURY THE FP BULLETIN I hope the best one wins this year EDIT MYANMAR CHALLENGE FOR NEW DELHI Spotted? State BJP chief’s poker face Where were your manners, world is asking us in Macau casino The much-touted avowal of ‘ tithi A Devo Bhava’ appeared to be furthest from the minds of the spectators  the at Narendra Modi stadium,  who were exercising their privilege of viewing the World Cup cricket final between India and Australia, on Sunday . The manner in which they conducted themselves has become a talking point in the international sports fraternity Clearly most onlookers at . , the stadium were striving to win the World Cup for the Most Abominable Audience. 100 BOATS ARE GUTTED: YOU TUBER PARTY? A BOAT CAPSIZES IN VAITARNA A t least two persons were missing after a tug boat carrying 20 workers capsized in the Vaitarna river in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Monday morning. Eighteen workers have been rescued, an official said. The incident took place at around 6 am when the workers were travelling in the tug boat of a company which is engaged in the construction of the JNPTVadodara Expressway, he said. A bridge is being constructed on the river as part of the project. While the boat was in the middle of the river, it capsized following which all the workers fell into the water body, the official said. The event was billed as a world-class one, yet the crowd was painfully partisan, displaying nary a shred of grace as befits a home crowd when a guest team is playing on their turf. It was entirely forgotten that the match was being held in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and in a stadium bearing his name. The gleeful yells and applause each time an Indian batsmen scored was in stark contrast to the drop-dead silence when the Australians did so. At the beginning of the match in a stadium packed to capacity the Hanu, man Chalisa was being recited, provok- ing comparisons to the India-Pakistan encounter in October, wherein chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, had rent the air. Unsurprisingly after this blatant dis, play no sooner was it evident that the , outcome was a fait accompli than the spectators began leaving in droves. By the time the prize-giving ceremony began, most of the crowd had already exited the stadium. Another major faux pas at the trophy presentation was that after handing over the trophy to the Australian captain Pat Cummins, PM Modi hastily left the dais along with the Australian guests, to greet the rest of the winning team. CONTD. ON NATION Hope flickers at the Nawaz wants 75% of end of the tunnel Singhania’s net worth FPJ NEWS DESK / UTTARKASHI FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI It was a breakthrough of sorts as rescuers succeeded in funnelling a six-inch-wide pipeline through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel. This will enable them to supply larger quantities of food like khichdi and not merely subsist on cashew nuts. Now, there is also a possibility of transmitting live visuals of the 41 workers trapped inside for eight days. National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) director Anshu Manish Khalkho called it the "first breakthrough" at the site. "The pipe has reached 53 metres to the other side of the rubble and the trapped workers can hear and experience us," he said. Drones and robots from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have also been brought to the site. However, rescue workers were yet to resume horizontal drilling through the debris after a boulder appeared to block the progress of the heavy-duty auger machine. Rescuers are also considering the option of drilling more than 80 metres vertically into the hill to reach the workers. A special road Nawaz Modi (53), the estranged wife of industrialist Gautam Singhania (58), is reported to have asked for a 75 % share of his net worth which is believed to be U.S. $ 1.4 billion. Nawaz did not take calls from the FPJ, but sources For the first time, the trapped workers will get a hot meal of Khichdi, which is being filled in cylindrical bottles close to her said she has asked 25% each for herself and the two daughters of the couple, Niharika and Nisa.    According to media reports, Gautam Singhania, who heads the Raymond Group, has favoured the setting up of a family trust and transferring the family's assets to it. The catch is that he S BALAKRISHNAN / MUMBAI wants to be the sole managing trustee, even though he may  not be averse to the settlement.  According to a media report  Singhani's  family members would be allowed to inherit the assets following his demise. CONTD. ON NATION Even as the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is frantically preparing for the upcoming elections, its president, Chandrashekar Bawankule, has stirred up a huge controversy with his recent visit to Macau, the gambling hub near Hong Kong, and in the process, caused a major embarrassment to his party .  Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut tweeted a photo of Bawankule at a plush casino at the uber-luxurious The Venetian  Macao hotel on X (formerly known as Twitter). Raut has further alleged that a whopping Rs 3.5cr had been blown away in gambling in one night. Bawankule also posted on X, confirming that he was indeed in Macau. However, he added that he had gone there with his family He said the . casino was a part of the hotel where he was staying. He said someone had taken his photo when he was sitting at a restaurant in the hotel after CONTD. ON NATION dinner.  NCP SYMBOL HEARING SHAMBOLIC Ajit group shows affidavits by dead, Zomato supplier, LIC agent, minor…Many of them say ‘We recognise Ajit Pawar as a leader’, but not one mentions as compared to whom?  —Abhishek Manu Singhvi, counsel for Sharad Pawar faction has been laid for movement of heavy drilling machinery used by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to get to the top of the hill. International tunnelling expert Arnold Dix has also reached the disaster site to review rescue efforts. He heads the Geneva-based International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association. The breakthrough came even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to take stock of the rescue operation. CONTD. ON NATION OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The counsel for the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Abhishek Manu Singhvi, has taken the lid off what he claims are fraudulent affidavits furnished by the Ajit Pawar faction to establish his proprietary rights to the party symbol. Briefing reporters on Monday, following another hearing before the Election Commission on the ownership of the party symbol, Singhvi said, “I argued be- fore the EC for almost an hourand-a-half today (Monday). We have given a very small sample of just under 9,000 affidavits, divided into 24 purple-coloured fraud categories. In my life, I have not seen such diverse frauds. A man is dead, his affidavit is given. A person is a Zomato supplier, his affidavit is given. There’s also the affidavit of an LIC agent. They have nothing to do with the NCP. A person who doesn’t even live in the district, his affidavit is given. Affidavits of minors are given. This is a complete, shameless fraud.” NO WORD AGAINST SHARAD PAWAR IN AFFIDAVITS: Singhvi further observed that none of the affidavits from the Ajit Pawar faction had any statements against Sharad Pawar. “The second aspect is that not one of the affidavits submitted by the opposite side says a word against Sharad Pawar. Many of them say ‘We recognise Ajit Pawar as a leader’, but not one mentions as compared to whom? Is it in comparison to Sharad Pawar? CONTD. ON NATION SAM ALTMAN IS TO HEAD AI SC poser on delay in two Ram Rahim gets another RESEARCH LAB AT MICROSOFT Sikh judges’ appointment long furlough TERROR CASE FOR THREAT A case has been registered against designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun for threatening people flying Air India as well as the airline with closure of operations from November 19, the NIA said on Monday. The case has been registered under the Indian Penal Code and the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). In video messages, released on November 4, Pannun had asked Sikhs to stop flying on Air India planes on and after November 19, citing a potential threat to their lives. Pannun, the selfproclaimed general counsel of the outlawed "unlawful association", Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), released the video messages on various social media platforms. Following this a high alert was issued and investigations were initiated by security forces in Canada, India and certain other countries. World Television Day ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ amnesia: R K MISRA / AHMEDABAD t least 100 fishing boats were gutted after a massive fire at a harbour in Vishakhapatnam late Sunday night. An Indian Navy vessel and multiple fire engines had to be deployed to bring the blaze under control. Each boat that was destroyed costs nearly Rs 15 lakh. The fire started on a fishing boat late at night which was cut off from its moorings and sent adrift to ensure the fire did not spread to other boats. But the winds and water flow brought it back to the jetty. Soon, the other boats were burning too. The police said that a liquor party was being hosted on one of the boats and there was a ruckus between two groups on the boat, which could have led to the fire, as alcohol spilled on the boat. According to sources who remained to be anonymous, said that the "boat" in which the party was hosted belonged to the YouTuber. NIFTY 50 COULD REACH 21800 PTS BY 2024-END: REPORT Goldman Sachs expects 15% growth in profits of corporates during the year AP / WASHINGTON Microsoft announced on Monday that it has hired Sam Altman, the former chief of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and another co-founder, after they unexpectedly left the company in a corporate shakeup that has shocked the artificial intelligence world. A few hours earlier, the board of directors of OpenAI, the high-flying artificial intel- ligence start-up, said in a note to employees that its former chief would not be returning to his job. Altman was rebuffed after he tried to reclaim his job as CEO. Microsoft, which has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI, learned of Altman’s exit one minute before it was announced.   a day of swift In developments, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said that Altman would be chief executive of a new research lab, “setting a new pace for innovation,” as against the OpenAI board’s desire for caution in developing A.I. technology Nadella noted  a post  . in to X, that Altman’s new group will operate as an independent entity within Microsoft. Nadella also left room for other unnamed colleagues who may join the two cofounders at Microsoft. CONTD. ON NATION What was Governor doing for 3 years? OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the delay on the part of Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi in granting assent to several Bills passed by the state Assembly and demanded as to why governors should wait for parties to move the top court with their grievances. Posing tough questions, a was a delay in the discharge bench headed by Chief Jus- of the constitutional functice D Y Chandrachud asked tions entrusted to the office of what the governor was doing the governors, the court also for three years, noting said it would deal that the Bills were with the question SC pending since whether a goverJanuary 2020. nor can sit over questions Observing the Bills withdelay in granting that the issue out sending was whether them either assent to Bills or not there back to the Assembly or to the President. The top court made the observations as it deferred the hearing on the Tamil Nadu government's plea alleging delay by Governor Ravi. The court, while adjourning the hearing, took note of the fact that the TN Assembly has readopted 10 Bills returned by the governor. CONTD. ON NATION OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Centre's "pick and choose approach" while taking note of the delay in clearing the names of two Sikh lawyers for appointment as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. "Two of the candidates not cleared are both Sikhs. Why should this arise? Don't let past issues link up with present pending ones," Bar and Bench quoted the bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia as saying. The Supreme Court said such an approach disturbed the seniority among those recommended for judgeships and it "did not send a good signal". During the hearing, Justice Kaul said, "Six transfers are pending -- one each from Allahabad and Delhi and four from Gujarat. What signal do you send when, out of the transfers recommended, four judges from Gujarat are not QUESTION LINGERS… RAJESH MOUDGIL CHANDIGARH transferred at all?" he said. The Bench was referring to the Centre's failure to clear the names of advocates  Harmeet Singh Grewal  and  Deepinder Singh Nalwa  appointment for as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. They were recommended for appointment by the Collegium on October 17 along with three other lawyers. However, the Centre on November 2  notified the appointment of only three lawyers out of a list of five. The AG in response said there was some delay due to elections and progress has been made in respect of the reiterated names. CONTD. ON NATION TAILPIECE Rafales in a scramble but UFO slinks away PEDESTRIANS CAN’T FPJ NEWS SERVICE / NEW DELHI An Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) provoked the Indian Air Force to sequentially scramble not one but two top of the line Rafale jets on Sunday to Imphal's Bir Tikendrajit International Airport. As reported in this paper on Sunday an UFO was spotted over , the airport around two pm. Two aircraft were coming in to land, and two more were waiting for clearance to taxi. The first to see the UFO was, according to reports, the pilot of a private aircraft that was waiting to take off. Then the Central Industrial Security Force personnel saw it as well. At that The controversial head of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, a double-rape and murder convict, has been granted a three-week furlough after his temporary release was approved by the Rohtak's Sunaria jail, according to a senior Haryana official here. For the record, the Dera head is currently serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples and a lifer in a case of murder of a journalist. Besides, he is also facing other criminal cases, including castration of his disciples and cases of sacrilege registered in Punjab. According to information, the Dera head who is likely to come out of the jail on Tuesday would be staying at his , Barwana Ashram in district Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh during his 21-day furlough. CONTD. ON NATION time the object was directly over the Air Traffic Control Tower. The CISF alerted the tower. Presumably by that time the private aircraft's pilot must have also sought clarification from the tower. It was, according to NDTV a , “white object” and it floated over the terminal building and began moving “southwards” and remained stationary there “for some time”. Then it began moving westwards. According to a statement issued much later by the Airport Director "The UFO was visible with bare eyes moving westwards of the airfield till 4 pm." The Air Traffic Control tower promptly made moves to close the airspace, directing incoming flights to Guwahati and ordering three aircraft waiting for clearance to take off to hold on the tarmac. They sat there for the next three hours as the Air Force scrambled a Rafale jet. Rafale jets are stationed the Hashimara Air base in West Bengal on a ready-toscramble mode. The airbase is 790 km from Imphal. The Rafale, even at full clip, would have taken about half an hour to get to Imphal. The Eastern Command, in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter), said, "IAF activated its Air Defence response mechanism based on visual inputs from Imphal airport. “ CONTD. ON NATION LOITER ON HIGHWAY OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea for safety and protection of pedestrians, asserting that people are not supposed to roam on the highways. A bench of Justices SAnjay Kishan Kaul and Sydhanshu Dhulia was hearing a petition challenging an order passed by the Gujarat High Court on a plea raising issues pertaining to the safety and protection of pedes- trians on highways. Dismissing the plea, the high court had said no positive directions can be given as the reliefs claimed in the petition would be a matter of policy decisions. It had said for the grievances raised in the plea, it was open for the petitioners to approach the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The counsel for the petitioners said the issue raised in the plea pertained to the safety and protection of pedestrians on highways. “How do pedestrians come on a highway?” the bench asked, adding that there has to be discipline. Referring to statistics, the counsel said there has been a huge increase in the number of road accidents involving pedestrians in the country . The bench said such incidents would occur if pedestrians are found present where they are not supposed to be. “The concept of highways is that it is supposed to be segregated. People are not supposed to be roaming around on highways. That discipline is required,” it observed. CONTD. ON NATION