THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 67 No. 236 | THURSDAY | JULY 4, 2024 | 27 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: MUMBAI INDORE PUNE Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 BHOPAL NASHIK KONKAN E-paper WORLD NATION Bridge collapse continues in Bihar: 4 in 24 hours; total 10 in 15 days Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Cinema ‘Para-athletes want your support, not your sympathy’ Rishi Sunak battles to the end as Labour’s Starmer eyes victory in UK polls Edit New Parliament session begins on a combative note AS DUST SETTLES | Baba claims he left ‘satsang’ before the stampede; sevadars pushed devotees when they surged to collect ‘charan dhool’ No Bhole Baba in initial FIR Biswajeet Banerjee HATHRAS fp Briefs Labour heading for win in UK Britain's Conservative Party has all but conceded election defeat to Keir Starmer's Labour Party, a day before polling stations even open. Opinion polls show the centre-left Labour Party is set for a big win in Thursday's vote that would end 14 years of Conservative government and hand Starmer the keys to 10 Downing Street. Asked about the projections, Rishi Sunak told ITV: "I'm fighting hard for every vote". Polling analysts see Labour winning 484 of the 650 seats in Parliament, far more than the 418 won by the party's former leader Tony Blair in his 1997 landslide victory, and the most in its history. The Conservatives are predicted to win just 64 seats, which would be the fewest since the party was founded in 1834. Other analyses have shown smaller margins of victory for Labour, but none have shown a different overall outcome. Contrary to top officials' claims on Tuesday that action would be taken against local preacher Narayan Sakar Hari, also known as Bhole Baba, the initial FIR in the Hathras stampede case does not name him. Even as the death toll went up to 121 with numerous devotees still hospitalised, for the first time since the incident, Bhole Baba issued a statement through his lawyer. The preacher, even as he expressed sorrow and grief over the tragedy, alleged that antisocial elements were responsible for causing the chaos. He also clarified that he had left the ‘satsang’ well before Benchmark BSE Sensex breached the historic 80,000 level intraday for the first time while Nifty raced more than 162 points to close at a fresh lifetime high on Wednesday following heavy buying in anking and FMCG shares amid firm global market trends. The BSE Sensex had breached the 78,000 level on June 25 and 79,000 for the first time on June 27. With that, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms hit a record high of Rs 445.43 lakh crore on Wednesday, driven by a sharp rally in equities. Amritpal gets oath parole Radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who was elected MP from Punjab's Khadoor Sahib seat after contesting the elections from a jail in Assam, has been granted parole for four days, beginning Friday, to take the oath of office. Singh, who is in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act, had written to the Punjab Government on June 11 and asked to be released temporarily so that he could be sworn in. The state government had sent an application to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and the parole decision was taken based on that. 4Contd on | Nation A human error or sabotage? FPJ News Service HATHRAS Self-styled godman Suraj Pal or ‘Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba’ is hardly a guru at peace. Given that he has a legal record far removed from his given or assumed names, his inner tur- moil is understandable. There are cases of allegations of sexual assault in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan that have dogged him for years now and this has made him a deeply suspicious person, who lives in constant fear of being attacked. Strangely ttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a judicial inquiry to find out whether the stampede was the fallout of a human error or an act of sabotage. Even as he made the announcement at a press conference, he couldn’t help taking a dig at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Without taking names, Yogi said everyone knew about the godman’s “political allies”. The statement came after Yadav’s pictures at an event hosted by Bhole Baba went viral. Yadav has blamed the Yogi government for the stampede, calling it the fallout of sheer negligence. U Police and people at the scene a day after the massive stampede that took place during a 'satsang' (religious congregation), in Sikandara Rao area in Hathras SDM WAS PRESENT AT THE VENUE An edgy Baba, hardly at peace with himself however, the faith of his followers remains unshaken. He lives in such fear that he has not set foot in his home in Etah for several years now. His state of constant dread reinforces his need for tight security and he reportedly has employed a bunch of com- mandos and women for this purpose. There is a dress code to define the various layers of security and an elaborate system of codes by which his protectors identify themselves. 4Contd on | Nation PTI NEW DELHI Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged on Wednesday that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had ‘lied’ in Parliament about the issue of compensation to the families of martyred Agniveers and demanded an apology. The Congress leader also shared on the microblogging site X a video, purportedly of the father of a deceased Agniveer who said that Rajnath Singh had claimed that Rs one crore compensation had been given to the next of kin of martyred Agniveers but his family had received no such relief. Modi says Manipur ‘Anmol Ratan’ at Queen’s Necklace violence on decline Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Sensex kisses 80,000 mark the stampede occurred. He has also conveyed his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and prayed for the swift recovery of the injured. The statement came even as a SDM-led preliminary probe stated that the stampede happened when devotees were pushed by the preacher’s security. The FIR, filed under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110, 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 223, and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offense, or giving false information to screen offender), Rahul stays on Agnipath, says Rajnath lied With the Congress accusing his government of pushing Manipur into a “civil war” due to its policies and politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday devoted a significant part of his address in Rajya Sabha to the state and claimed that “the state and Centre are trying their best to talk to everyone to restore peace”. Modi’s detailed reply in the Upper House came in the backdrop of a ferocious at- tack launched on him by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi who had in the context of the ethnic violence that erupted in the state in May 2023 said, “You have immersed Manipur into a civil war. Manipur has been burnt by you, your policies and your politics.” Gandhi had also charged that “for the prime minister, there is no state of Manipur …. You cannot get a reply (from the PM)”. The Queen’s Necklace aka Marine Drive will sport an extra sparkle on Thursday evening as Team India hits the road in an open-bus ‘victory parade.’ Captain Rohit Sharma’s men will land in Delhi early on Thursday, having left Barbados on Wednesday; their first port of call in New Delhi will be 7, Lok Kalyan Marg – the official residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at 11am. It was as if the elements wanted the men in blue to stay, just a little bit longer. Hurricane Beryl struck and 4Contd on | Nation Fight against corruption tops government agenda Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said people have given his government a mandate for stability and continuity and that it would stamp out corruption and act against the corrupt. He was delivering his address on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address amid protests by the Opposition which later walked out while he was still speaking. The House later adopted the Motion and it was adjourned sine die by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. Modi, who had similarly addressed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday afternoon, continued with his attacks on the Congress and other Opposition parties during his address. He said people have “rejected the politics of illusion in the Lok Sabha election and prioritised performance over propaganda”. The PM also took on the Congress and sounding an ominous warning said: 4Contd on | Nation Champai quits as Soren stakes claim as CM 4Contd on | Nation Oppn accuses Modi of 'lying’, stages walkout Dheeraj Kumar Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar RANCHI PM promises action on “war footing” to prevent paper leaks and punish the culprits Barbados airport had to shut operations. After their capital engagements are concluded, the team will fly to Mumbai to be part of a procession that will start at 5pm from Nariman Point and proceed to the iconic Wankhede Stadium along Marine Drive; thousands of fans are expected to line up on both sides, for a glimpse of the World Champions in the flesh. At Wankhede, the players will be honoured and receive their prize money of Rs 125 crore, BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla, told news agencies. NEW DELHI JMM leader Champai Soren has tendered his resignation as Jharkhand chief minister to the governor C P Radhakrishnan. In a a twin development, JMM executive president Hemant Soren has staked claim to form a new government. He is likely to be sworn in as chief minister on Thursday. Hemant Soren was released from jail on June 28 after nearly five months; the Jharkhand High Court granted him bail in a money laundering The Opposition has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of saying “wrong things” and “lying” as it first protested and then staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday while he was giving his address on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. As Modi, who had attacked the Congress, which he called a “parasite” on Tuesday, began speaking, the Opposition members started raising slogans against him and the BJPled NDA government. Leader 4Contd on | Nation of the Opposition Kharge wanted to say something but was not allowed to by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar. The Opposition members later staged a walkout. 4Contd on | Nation In his video message, Gandhi said that he had said in his speech in Parliament that the protection of truth is the basis of every religion.“In reply, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, before Lord Shiva’s photo, lied to the country, its Armed Forces and Agniveers, about compensation,” Gandhi said in the video. He then referred to the purported statement by the father of an Agniveer martyr, Ajay Singh. Ajay Singh’s father said that Rajnath Singh had declared that families of martyrs had been given Rs 1 crore compensation but no such assistance had been received by his family. 4Contd on | Nation Only `48 L paid, says family of slain Agniveer Online Report LUDHIANA The family of Agniveer Ajay Singh, who had met Rahul Gandhi, has voiced its disappointment at the compensation paid to them, media reports said. Talking to a mainline daily, Charanjit Singh, 58, the father of the deceased Agniveer and a daily wage earner, said his only son had died in the line of duty and they got only Rs 48 lakh from his unit. This is against Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s claim in the Lok Sabha that the family was paid Rs one crore. Hailing Gandhi’s stand on the issue, Charanjit Singh added that it was the Punjab government which had given them Rs 1 crore and promised to reserve a government job for a family member. He added his son was unmarried, had studied up to Class XII, and had a passion to serve in the Army. ARMY REBUTS: The Indian Army clarified on Wednesday night that Agniveer Ajay Kumar's family was paid Rs 98.39 lakh as compensation, thus reinforcing Defence Minister Rajnath’s claim. off-grid Has India managed to banish its poverty? By invitation Jayanta Roy Chowdhury A National Council of Applied Economic Research paper published this week claims India’s poverty has come down drastically to 8.5 per cent from 21.2 per cent calculated in 2011-12 and 29.5 estimated in 2014 by the Dr C Rangarajan committee. Earlier this year, NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam had also said the la- test consumer expenditure survey indicates that poverty has dipped to 5 per cent and people are better off both in rural and urban areas. Has India really managed to nearly banish poverty? If so, why does it need to spend such huge sums of money in subsidising food rations for the poor? Certainly, India’s GDP has grown substantially but much of that income growth has been for people in the top 10 per cent income bracket. The bottom 30 per cent has seen far slower in- come growth and has been hit by far worse inflationary pressures. The problem with these claims that poverty has been triumphed over, is that the calculations are not using any fixed poverty count yardstick; nor has it fixed what the poverty line is in 2024. It’s basing its calculations on other yardsticks and then referencing them with a poverty line drawn up two decades ago by the Tendulkar committee. The NCAER paper titled ‘Rethinking Social Safety Nets in a Changing Society,’ used data from the newly completed Wave 3 of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) as well as data from Waves 1 and 2 of the IHDS. However, the fact remains that the Household Con- sumption Expenditure Survey of 2022-23 shows that average monthly household expenditure (at 2011-12 prices) is about Rs 68.5 a day in rural ($0.8 at exchange rate of 83) and Rs 118.1($1.4) in urban areas. Earning less than a dollar can hardly be the benchmark for pushing an individual out of poverty, especially in a country where 67 % of the population depends on free rations for survival. 4Contd on | Nation Will Kamala Harris replace Joe Biden? FPJ News Service NEW YORK President Biden has told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week, reports New York Times. A recent CNN poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris has a better chance of winning the upcoming US presidential election in November than Biden. The president’s approval rating of 81 has dropped sharply following his poor debate performance in Atlanta 4Contd on | Nation