FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. XXXX NO. 255 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 21, 2024 | PAGES 16 THAROOR CONFERRED FRANCE'S HIGHEST CIVILIAN HONOUR NATION `3 - r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE EDIT RESOLVE FARMERS’ PROTEST PEACEFULLY WEATHER FP 31.40c. 16.40c Sunrise : 06.55 Sunset : 06.25 r RNI No. 38281/83 QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in ‘YASHASVI HASN’T LEARNED FROM YOU’ SPORTS School edu dept asks schools to have Bag Less Day once a week ‘No place for party hoppers’ OUR STAFF REPORTER / city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Seeing the upcoming education session 2024-25, school education department has asked all schools to strictly follow the "School Bag Policy 2020" formed by the Indian Government under National Education Policy The policy vouches . that schools shall fix one day as BagLess Day and on this particular day activities related to com, mercial work experience shall be conducted. In the order issued to principals of all High and Higher Secondary School, Directorate of Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 School bag limit 1.6 to 2.2 Kg 1.6 to 2.2 Kg 1.7 to 2.5 Kg 1.7 to 2.5 Kg 1.7 to 2.5 Kg 2.0 to 3.0 Kg 2.0 to 3.0 Kg 2.5 to 4.0 Kg 2.5 to 4.5 Kg 2.5 to 4.5 Kg Public Instruction, Commissioner Anubha Shrivastava instructed that schools, whether they are government, private or aided shall display the chart related to bag weight on the notice board. Home Work will not be given to students of class 2. Every week, home work of only two hours shall be given to the students of Class 3 to Class 5. The home work of only one hour per day shall be given to students from Class 6 to Class 8. Likewise, home work of two hours per day shall be given to students of class 9 till class 12. CONTD. ON P8 AAP CANDIDATE declared winner after SC intervenes NEWS BRIEF Nifty scales lifetime high MUMBAI: The Sensex spurted by 349 points while Nifty scaled a fresh lifetime high on the sixth straight day of gains on Tuesday, driven by buying in banking and select FMCG shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex reversed its early losses and closed higher by 349.24 points or 0.48 per cent at 73,057.40 in a volatile trade. As many as 18 Sensex shares closed in the green while 12 settled in the red. The broader Nifty of the NSE rose further by 74.70 points or 0.34 per cent to close at a new record level of 22,196.95. Sonia, Nadda elected to RS NEW DELHI: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party President J.P Nadda were . today elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha. While Gandhi was elected to the Upper House from Rajasthan, Nadda was elected from Gujarat. Anushka-Virat have a baby boy - Akaay MUMBAI Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli have revealed they welcomed their second child, a baby boy, on February 15. They've named him Akaay. The couple shared identical posts on social media that read: "With abundant happiness and hearts full of love, we are pleased to inform everyone that on 15th February, we welcomed our baby boy Akaay and Vamika's little brother into this world. We seek your blessings and good wishes in this beautiful time in our lives. We request you to kindly respect our privacy at this time. Love and gratitude, Virat and Anushka." The comments thread on Anushka's post exploded instantly with messages from friends. "How beautiful, congratulations," wrote Alia Bhatt. Ranveer Singh left hearts and evil eyes. Shweta Bachchan wrote, "Congratulations" as did Sonam Kapoor. "God bless," commented brideto-be Rakul Preet Singh. CHANDIGARH MAYORAL POLL: MAJOR VICTORY FOR INDIA BLOC Apex Court orders prosecution of returning officer NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar the mayor of Chandigarh after overturning the result of the controversial poll where the BJP nominee had emerged an unlikely winner, in an unprecedented intervention to set right a brazen attempt by the returning officer to rig the election. It ordered prosecution of returning officer Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for "serious misdemeanour" for making an allegedly KULDEEP KUMAR false statement before the court that he had invalidated eight ballots because they had been defaced. Exercising its plenary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice, the apex court said the result declared by the returning officer, a nominated councillor, was clearly contrary to law. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said in such a case, the top court was duty bound, particularly in the context of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution, to ensure that the process of electoral democracy is not allowed to be thwarted by subterfuge. The bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the court must step in where exceptional situations develop to ensure that the basic mandate of electoral democracy is preserved. "We accordingly order and direct that the result of the election as declared by the presiding officer (Masih) stands quashed and set aside. The petitioner (Kumar) is declared to be the validly elected can- Congress, SP set to part ways in UP BISWAJEET BANERJEE Lucknow Seat-sharing negotiations between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has almost collapsed, in a significant setback to the INDIA bloc ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The bone of contention is three seats of Amroha, Bijnore and Moradabad that Congress wants, with people familiar with the developments saying that the SP is reluctant to part with these constituencies. The inability of the two parties to come to an agreement over the allocation of seats is being viewed as a col- lapse of the alliance, though there has been no official confirmation about this. I have not received any communication from the Samajwadi Party, so I cannot comment on whether the alliance is terminated. The final call is to be taken by the high command, said Congress state president Ajai Rai. Earlier, the SP had proposed to allocate 17 seats to the Congress, after initially offering 11 seats. The SP had offered constituencies including Amethi, Rae Bareli, and Varanasi to the Congress, according to people familiar with the development. However, talks hit a snag after SP chief Akhilesh Ya- Fire again at Satpura Bhavan Employees union demands CBI probe OUR STAFF REPORTER City.bhopal@fpj.co.in After eight months, fire again broke out at the fourth floor in Satpura Bhavan, which is one of three administrative buildings of state government, on Tuesday afternoon. Fire fighters were pressed into service to douse the fire. It took half an hour to douse the fire. Fire fighters were pressed from police fire brigade and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC). According to firefighters, it was a deserted portion of Satpura Bhavan where goods damaged during the previous fire were dumped. Labourers were deployed to clean the waste where the fire broke out. Previously, a massive fire broke out at Satpura Bhawan in Bhopal on June 15, 2023 and it was brought under control after over 13 hours of firefighting. CONTD. ON P8 dav withdrew the offer, reportedly because of dissatisfaction with the ongoing negotiations. There is speculation within the SP that the Congress may be inclined towards forming an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party, fuelling suspicion about the Congress seeking grounds to sever ties with the SP. Some within the Samajwadi Party view this as a favourable outcome. The Congress, they argue, is unreliable and demanding beyond its capacity, said a senior SP leader, adding that the Congress is seeking more than it could deliver . CONTD. ON P8 Maratha Quota Bill passed MUMBAI: The Maharashtra legislature on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill providing 10 per cent reservation for the Marathas in education and government jobs under a separate category, but the fasting activist Manoj Jarange appeared firm on his demand for quota for the community under the OBC head. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill, 2024, in the Assembly during the one-day special session of the legislature called to resolve the months-long deadlock on the Maratha quota issue, which received a fresh attention after Jarange launched his first indefinite fast in August last year. Musk’s brain chip turns brainy chip Thought control over mouse click IANS / NEW DELHI Elon Musk has said that the first human implanted with a brain chip from his brain-computer interface company Neuralink seems to have fully recovered and is able to control a computer mouse using thoughts. “Progress is good, and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with neural effects that we are aware of. The patient is able to move a mouse around the screen by just thinking,” Musk said in a Spaces event on X. The tech billionaire also mentioned that Neuralink is now attempting to get as many mouse button clicks as possible from the patient. Following approval for human trial recruitment in September last year, the company successfully implanted a chip into its first human patient last month. Musk said that the company’s first product, called Telepathy, would bring control of a phone or computer just by thinking. In November last year, the brain-computer interface company raised an additional $43 million in venture capital, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). CONTD. ON P8 DEMOCRACY SAVED OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Those who did not believe in Congress ideology they can walk out of the party , for such people there is no place in the party said AICC , general secretary Jitendra Singh to media persons, here at PCC on Tuesday . The Congress leader is in Bhopal to hold the meeting with the party workers regarding the Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Singh further added that son of former chief minister Kamal Nath, Nakul Nath will going to contest The Congress on Tuesday hailed the SC decision and said it has saved emocracy from the fangs of an "autocratic BJP" that resorted to dirty election manipulation. Paralysed woman burnt alive, son hospitalised "Thank you SC for saving democracy in these difficult times," Kejriwal said in a post on X. In a tragic incident, a grocery store owner's wife, who was paralysed, was burnt alive while her son had to be hospitalised after he inhaled smoke while trying to save his mother from a fire that broke out in their house in the Pardeshipura area on Tuesday morning. There was only one exit door in the house and so the son could not take out his mother. THANK YOU SC: AK didate for election as mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation," the bench ruled. The top court said in each of the eight ballot papers, which were invalidated by Masih, the votes were duly cast in favour of Kumar. CONTD. ON P8 MIST CLEARED ... 'SIR' Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to start from Mar 2 OUR STAFF REPORTER city.indore@fpj.co.in DETAIL ON PAGE 3 Lok Sabha election from Chhindwara constituency once again, at present he is representing the parliamentary constituency . He further added that the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Yatra will going to entre in the state on March 2nd and it will remain four days in the state till 6th and after it will entre in Rajasthan. State Congress president Jitu Patwari said that Rahul Gandhi Meeting held to discuss Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Yatra, in which ex-CMs Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, MLA Dinesh Gurjar, ex-LoP Dr Govind Singh, MP-Vivek Tankha joined it virtually. Digvijaya Singh expressed his feeling when he saw Nath in the meeting by stating 'Sir your presence have cleared all mist, which were prevailing for past two three days in the state'. Nath asked to appoint Yatra in-charge for every kilometer. will going to take blessings of Lord Mahakal in Ujjain during his Yatra in the state. CONTD. ON P8 DELHI CHALO STAND-OFF DEEPENS RAJESH MOUDGIL / Chandigarh Tension gripped Haryana borders as swarms of protesting farmers from Punjab readied to head to Delhi on Wednesday to press for their demands including MSP for their crops and loan waivers, even as their number swelled. Several farmers came in modified tractors and other heavy earth-moving machines such as Poclain machines and JCBs to the Shambhu barrier to remove barricade put up by Haryana police. Many farmers could also be seen readying their make-shift body armour so as to ward off rubber bullets. The Haryana police, for their part, also increased security measures and had installed ``sound canon to stop and disperse the protesting farmers. It may be recalled that the sound cannon or Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) is a specialised loudspeaker that produces highly shrill sounds to disperse the crowds. CONTD. ON P8