THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 67 No. 232 | SATURDAY | JUNE 29, 2024 | 32 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only www.freepressjournal.in NATION Tamil Nadu govt adopts resolution calling for nationwide abolition of NEET EDITIONS: MUMBAI INDORE PUNE Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 BHOPAL With assembly elections likely to be held in October, the state budget for 2024-’25 presented on Friday was meant to please every voter demographic in the state. Maharashtra Finance Minister Ajit Pawar presented a budget with provisions for women, farmers, youth, students, and religious minorities. An annual outlay of Rs 46,000 crore to pay women a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 was one of the biggest announcements in the budget. For farmers, there was the promise of free electricity for agricultural pumps and subsidies were announced for milk producers. Poor households will get three free cylinders of cooking gas annually. Stipends for youths fp undergoing industrial training and reduction in penalty for short payments of stamp duty were other announcements. FUEL CHEAPER: For the urban middle-class, there is a pre-election sop in reduction in taxes on diesel and petrol. With this, petrol and diesel are expected to become cheaper by about 65 paise per litre and Rs 2.07 per litre, respectively. There were no major announcements in the health, education, and infrastructure sectors. Pawar’s budget has proposed Rs 6,12,293 crore in expenditure for 2024-’25. The proposed revenue receipts are Rs 4,99,463 crore and the revenue expenditure is Rs 5,19,514 crore. The revenue deficit is estimated at Rs 20,051 crore. DCM Ajit Pawar and Deepak Kesarkar arrive to present the budget at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. Pic: Salman Ansari 4Contd on | Nation NOTHING MAJOR FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION & INFRA Foreign Secy Deputy National Security Adviser Vikram Misri, a 1989 batch IFS officer, has been appointed as India's next foreign secretary. He is succeeding incumbent Vinay Kwatra who is likely to be appointed as India's ambassador to the US. The appointment is effective from July 15. Misri has served as private secretary to three PMs -- Inder Kumar Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. Rajasekhara S National women blind football team captain, 24-year-old Manasa AS, was among 13 people of an extended family who ■ Solar power pumps to benefit 8.50 lakh farmers. ■ `1,500 monthly sop for poor women aged 21-60. ■ 3 free LPG cylinders for poor women. Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar Rahul Gandhi: Gagged? The Lok Sabha witnessed stormy scenes and was adjourned for the day a little past noon on Friday as Speaker Om Birla refused to accede to adjournment and suspension motions moved by the Opposition to press for a discussion on irregularities and paper leak in the NEET and other competitive exams conducted by the National Testing Agency. As soon as the House assembled at 11 a.m., Leader of Naval officer arrested for human trafficking Ankit Salvi MUMBAI The Crime Intelligence Unit of the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested an officer of the Indian Navy for running a human trafficking racket, sending Indians to South Korea on tourist visas with forged documents. The CIU arrested Navy Lieutenant Commander Vipin Kumar Dogar, 28, from the Western Navy headquarters in Colaba, Mumbai. He worked in the Navy’s engineering department in Mumbai and is from Sonipat, Haryana. He studied mechanical engineering at INS Kerala and joined the Navy six years ago. One of his Sonipat friends discovered that there was an increased demand for travel to South Korea and accordingly, Dogar and he ventured into the business of tourism two years ago. According to sources, the group would locate people desperate to work overseas. North Indians became the target of this duo. There were five or six people working in a group, with one person responsible for finding candidates eager to go abroad while the other would create fake documents, such as bank statements, medical certificates and so on. died in a ghastly road accident on National Highway 4 near Haveri in North Karnataka. Manasa, who was visually challenged by birth, was also preparing for civil services. A Bachelor of Science grad- THIS TIME FOR INDIA Meenakshi Rao KENSINGTON OVAL, BARBADOS uate, she was visiting her parents when she was asked to join the pilgrimage in a tempo traveller. They were returning home after visiting temples in As the native ‘Bajan’ adage goes, this one won’t have a backdoor – the Big Final, two undefeated teams. One thirsting for a Cup for 17 years.The other in a forever kind of labour pain to somehow give birth to an era. One faultless, dogged, gritty, ambitious, clinical and top of the world. The other in a flurry over the moment, desperate for gain and fearful despite being fearsome. Indeed, there will be no second chances here for either of the leaders. When India meet South Africa at the Kensington Oval on Saturday, 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation offgrid Biden Should Withdraw From Race By invitation Sachin Kalbag Early on the morning of June 28, as I was preparing to drop my daughter at school, I received a WhatsApp call from an old friend in Washington, DC. “We are ****ed, Sachin, we are ****ed,” he screamed on the phone, and then, as dramatically, hung up the call. Hundreds of thousands of Americans said the exact same thing after watching the CNN-hosted first presidential debate between current White House resident Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump, both of ■ Petrol cheaper by 65 paise per litre and diesel by `2.07 per litre. ■ Free power for farm pumps of up to 7.5 horsepower capacity. NEW DELHI TRUMP SPEAK We're like a Third World nation, they think we're stupid. BIDEN TALK My son not a loser. You're the sucker. You're the loser. We had the safest border; now, it's the most dangerous place on earth. You had sex with a porn star while your wife was pregnant? You have the morals of an alley cat whom are pitted against each other for the second time this November. US presidential debates have always been acrimonious, but they were also always theatre. TV hosts asked both hard and soft questions, and candidates were forced to respond. Yesterday’s confrontation, on the other hand, not only lacked theatre, it was plain boring and had zero substance. It was embarrassing to even watch. On the one hand, there was Trump — his lies and prevarications are no longer a surprise — who had nothing to offer to the country’s political discourse apart from illogical and falsehoods-filled rants. His opponent, the 81-year-old Biden, amplified every fear that has been expressed about him during this campaign — he is old, incoherent, tired, and he has nothing new to offer to a country in dire need of overhaul across some of the most important issues affecting it. 4Contd on | Nation Emergency in sinking Delhi PLEASE-ALL BUDGET ■ On-the-job training, monthly stipends up to `10,000 for 10 lakh youths. Blind football captain among 13 dead BENGALURU Edit Maharashtra economy at crossroads ■ Every Dindi (comprising a ‘Palkhi’ and a group of Warkaris) will get `20,000. Speaker disallows discussion on irregularities in exams NEW DATES, FORMAT FOR UGC-NET Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Cinema Check out our verdict on films and OTT releases No consensus on NEET in LS Briefs The NTA has announced that the UGC NET will be conducted in a computerbased test mode this year, a shift from the earlier pen and paper format. The exam will be held between August 21 and September 4, 2024. The CSIR NET exam, on the other hand, is scheduled for July 25-27, 2024. Both these exams are crucial for candidates seeking lectureships and research fellowships in Indian universities and research institutions. E-paper Joe Biden stumbles in first presidential debate with Donald Trump PRE-POLL LOLLIES Kalpesh Mhamunkar KONKAN WORLD GEARING UP | Fuel sop for middle class, rest for farmers, women MUMBAI NASHIK Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded that the issue of NEET be discussed first. Gandhi demanded that “the issue be discussed calmly so that a common message goes out 4Contd on | Nation UP’s MLA Bedi Ram on the run Structural audit of all airports is ordered after roof mishap at T1 Biswajeet Banerjee LUCKNOW The alleged involvement of Suheldeo Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) MLA Bedi Ram in paper leak cases has deepened as the legislator, caught in a sting operation in Uttar Pradesh, has gone missing. For two days, there has been no information about his whereabouts, and his mobile phone is switched off. Even party leaders are unaware of his location. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath summoned SBSP chief OP Rajbhar, who is also the Panchayati Raj Minister, for a meeting. Following this Rajbhar traveled to Delhi on Friday morning. “The BJP high command has requested a report on the matter as the government has taken a strict stance on the paper leak issue,” a senior official said. 4Contd on | Nation FPJ News Service NEW DELHI The civil aviation ministry on Friday ordered a thorough inspection of the structural strength of all airports in the country. These inspections must be completed within the next 2-5 days and the reports are to be submitted to the ministry. Structural engineers from IIT Delhi have been also asked to immediately assess the mishap at the Delhi airport. A cab driver died and six people were injured after a portion of a canopy at Terminal-1 collapsed on cars in the pickup and drop area, amid heavy rain early on Friday, leading to suspension and cancellation of flights. Besides the canopy, the support beams also collapsed. The injured have been hospitalised. The mishap happened even as Delhi was inundated by heavy rain for the second consecutive day; it was one of the wettest spells and the city logged nearly 230 mm of rainfall between 8:30 am on Thursday and 8:30 am on Friday -the highest 24-hour rainfall in June since 1936. Visuals on X showed waterlogged roads, traffic snarls and submerged vehicles, including one at Minto Bridge. T1 only caters to IndiGo and SpiceJet domestic flights, more than 100 of which were cancelled. The opposition leaders lost no time in slamming PM Modi over the incident. Terminal 1, which was recently expanded to accommodate more passengers, was inaugurated by PM Modi in March. 4Contd on | Nation