THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 67 No. 262 | Saturday, August 3, 2024 | 36 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Leader in E-paper circulation l www.freepressjournal.in NATION Kerala landslides terrible tragedy, needs urgent response, Cong will build 100 houses: Rahul fp Briefs NASA to ferry IAF’s Shukla EDITIONS: MUMBAI Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 INDORE PUNE A global stock sell-off deepened on Friday, following a sharp slowdown in US hiring; it added to the pressure on an equity market already reeling from a steep downturn in semiconductor shares. Stocks skidded on Wall Street, as investors were jolted by data showing that hiring slowed and unemployment rose in July. The S&P 500 fell 2.4 percent within the hour after the jobs report was released, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 3 percent. Yields on government bonds, which are sensitive to expectations for the economy, dropped sharply, and oil prices were lower too. Japan’s Topix index, which includes companies across the spectrum, fell 6.1 percent on Friday, extending losses from the previous day. It was the index’s worst twoday performance since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The Nikkei 225 index fell 5.8 percent on Friday. The sentiment worsened on Friday over concerns about the health of the economy and the tech industry in the United States. In line with the global selloff triggered by weak US macro data, the BSE, too, halted its five-day winning run and Sensex plunged 885 points. Banner falls on vehicles One person was injured and ten vehicles were crushed after a giant hoarding's banner (flex) collapsed in Kalyan on Friday morning. Local police rushed to the spot after some political parties staged a protest on the road. The injured person was identified as Ganesh Pujari, 52, a Security guard. The size of the banner was excessive and did not follow the standard operating procedures, it is charged. The incident occurred at Shahjananad Chowk, which is a busy route in the Kalyan area. – NK Gupta KONKAN E-paper Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Cinema Check out our verdict on film releases First ODI between India and Sri Lanka ends in tie in Colombo Edit Concerns over leaky Parliament COURT SKEPTICAL l About misuse of poll bonds, particularly the allegations of quid pro quo between donors and parties SC no to SIT probe Online Report Global sell-off on hiring data NASHIK GAMES NEW DELHI US space agency Nasa will fly India's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla as primary astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS). Another Indian Air Force official, Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, would be the backup mission pilot. They will be part of the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS. The training of both officers, also known as "Gaganyaatri", will begin in the first week of August. Shukla was born in Lucknow on October 10, 1985. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned on June 17, 2006 in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF). BHOPAL The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the demand for a probe into the sale and purchase of electoral bonds under the scheme struck down by a Constitution Bench in February this year. The 3-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud  dismissed  a batch of petitions that in particular sought a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the misuse of electoral bonds scheme, particularly the allegations of quid pro quo  between donors and political parties. "We decline to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution," the court ordered. The court at the outset noted that on the date of purchase of electoral bonds, there was a statutory enactment of the parliament permitting such pur- chase and donation of the same to the political parties. It then went on to observe that there were only assumptions at this stage that there had been quid pro quo behind donations to the political parties. "The petitions are founded on two assumptions that there BSF DG, dy shunted FPJ News Service NEW DELHI As part of the new security paradigm which the government is putting in place to check infiltration across the border, the home ministry has shunted the Border Security Force Director General Nitin Agrawal and his deputy Special DG (West) Y B Khurania to their respective state cadres with immediate effect. Agarwal has been repatriated two years before his tenure was to end. He is a 1989-batch Kerala cadre officer, while Khurania belongs to the 1990-batch of the Odisha cadre. Agrawal had taken charge as BSF chief in June last year. Khurania, as the special DG (West), was heading the formation along the Pakistan border. The orders issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet conveyed that they were being "prematurely" repatriated. Constant infiltration from the International Border is one of the factors behind the Shah faces privilege move on landslide Centre's move, sources told NDTV. There had been complaints against the BSF chief over critical matters, including alleged lack of coordination, the TV channel cited sources as saying. Of late, there had been a spike in infiltrations, particularly in the southern reaches of Pir Panjal, resulting in targeting of civilians and military personnel, including an attack on an Army camp in Rajouri last week. At least 22 people, including 11 security personnel, have been killed this year in such incidents in Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Udhampur, Kathua and Doda districts. 4Contd on | nation STUNTS LAND YOUTUBER IN RPF NET Our Bureau Kamal Mishra NEW DELHI MUMBAI A privilege move was initiated on Friday against Union Home Minister Amit Shah by the Congress over his claim that early warnings were given to the Kerala government ahead of landslides in Wayanad. Shah had also claimed that the Kerala government did not act on the warnings, a claim refuted by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh in the privilege notice. "It is clear that the Union Home Minister misled the Rajya Sabha by his emphatic statements on early warnings issued by the Union government which have proven to be false. It is well established that misleading the House by a Minister or a Member constitutes a breach of privilege and contempt of the House," the privilege notice reads. During an address in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, July 31, the Home Minister had claimed that an  early warning about landslides was given to the Kerala government on July 23. "I want to clarify that on July 23, the Centre gave an early warn- The Railway Protection Force has apprehended a YouTuber for endangering public safety by criminally tampering with railway tracks for publicity.  The accused, Gulzar Sheikh, had uploaded over 250 videos on his YouTube channel and had over two lakh subscribers. His on-camera activities posed a significant risk to both Railways safety and operations. Sheikh reportedly placed various objects, including a bicycle, ballast, petromax lantern, interlocking bricks, soap, and even a chicken with its leg taped to the tracks before the arrival of the LucknowPrayagraj Vande Bharat train. Accompanied by a friend who recorded the act, Sheikh’s video, which showed the train passing over the soap but not the other items, went viral.   Viral videos on social media had shown a person placing objects on tracks, prompting an investigation. GAG ORDER IS WITHDRAWN In a strange move, the Kerala Government issued a gag order which restrained the scientific community from speaking on the causes of the landslide in Wayanad. The gag order was withdrawn with the same alacrity. It is understood it faced a backlash from the scientific community and the public. ing to the Kerala government, seven days before the incident, and then on July 24 and 25, we had warned them again. On July 26, a warning was given that there was a chance of heavy rainfall of more than 20 cm, and there were chances of landslides," he had said. 4Contd on | nation was a quid pro quo in cases where there was award of contract or change in policy and that certain officials of investigative agency were involved and thereby probe by normal process of law will not be fair or independent. We have highlighted underlying premise of submissions to indicate that these are assumptions at the present stage and would require court to enter into roving inquiry into purchase of electoral bonds, donations made to political parties and arrangements made in nature of quid pro quo." 4Contd on | nation KAMALA KA HAMLA FPJ Desk WASHINGTON Vice President Kamala Harris has won enough delegates to secure the D e m o c rat i c Party’s nomination for the presidential race. With that, she is set to become the first Black woman and person of South Asian heritage to earn the top spot. Harris’s nomination would become official after the party’s highly unusual, virtual roll call vote ends on Monday. Harris, 59, would face Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump, 78, in the general elections scheduled to be held on November 5. Trump purposefully created a distraction recently his interview at the National Association of Black Journalists, when he questioned Vice President Harris’s racial identity.  Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her father, Donald Jasper Harris, is Jamaican; both immigrated to the US. Sen in semis FPJ News Service India stun Aussies, win after 52 years PTI PARIS PARIS Lakshya Sen – a 22-year-old lad from Almora - has scripted a historic first in Indian badminton. He is the first Indian male shuttler to advance to the semifinals with a thrilling threegame win over Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen at the Paris Games. He is now just one win away from a medal. Sen, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, will face the winner of the match between 2021 World Champion Loh kean Yew of Singapore and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the last four. Skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace as the India men's hockey team registered a famous 3-2 win over Tokyo Games silver medallist and nemesis Australia in its final Pool B match here on Friday. Already assured of a quarterfinal berth before Friday's encounter, the Indians played valiantly and dominated the proceedings for major part of the match to stun the Kookaburras, against whom they last won in Olympics in the 1972 Munich edition. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation One more draft notification on Western Ghats: Kite-flying? FPJ News Service NEW DELHI Clearly shocked at the scale of the Wayanad tragedy, the Centre has issued a draft notification to declare around 57,000 sq km of Western Ghats as an ‘ecologically-sensitive area’. The area includes 13 villages in Wayanad and around 10,000 sq km in the state of Kerala. The other states to be impacted by the order would be Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Gujarat. Incidentally, this is the fifth draft notification of its kind; the last draft was issued in July 2022 and a committee was also constituted to finalise the notification in consultation with the state governments. Ssuggestions and objections have been invited from citizens New Delhi has, for the fifth time in over a decade, issued a draft notification notifying Western Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Area. Nothing came out of previous ones within 60 days, following which the final notification will be published. In effect, the notification has earmarked 36% of Western ‘Charcha’ over Rahul waiting for ED with ‘chai & biscuits' Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Several members of Parliament on Friday commented on the probability of another raid by the Enforcement Directorate on Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he expressed his apprehension over a tweet that he may be raided as the top central leadership probably did not like his “Chakravyuh” speech in the House earlier this week. On Friday, Gandhi tweeted, “Apparently, 2 in 1 didn’t like my Chakravyuh speech. ED ‘insiders’ tell me a raid is being planned. I am waiting with open arms...Chai and biscuits on me.” Rahul had during his address on the Budget on Monday stated that India was trapped in a “chakravyuh” (a military formation referred to in the Mahabharata) as symbolised by the lotus of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He had charged that Centre’s tenacious hold drew strength from the concentration of financial power in the hands of two major corporate houses and agencies such as the CBI, ED and I-T serving as handmaidens of the “political executive”. 4Contd on | nation offgrid Plea challenges Ladki Bahin, Ladka Bhau Yojanas Urvi Mahajani MUMBAI A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court, challenging the state government’s ‘Mukhya Mantri Ladki Bahin Yojana (Chief Minister’s Beloved Sister Scheme)’, a cash benefit scheme for women in Maharashtra. The plea, filed by a Navi Mumbai-based chartered accountant, Naveed Abdul Saeed Mulla, challenged the scheme which promises a transfer of Rs 1,500 per month to all women between 21-60 years of age, who are married, widowed, divorced, abandoned, or without support. It also seeks the quashing of the July 9 Government Resolution (GR) on the ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Karya Such kind of cash benefit schemes are synonymous with bribery or gift to voters of certain class to vote in favour of a certain candidate Prashikshan Yojana’, an internship scheme for unemployed youth in Maharashtra. “An additional burden is put on direct and indirect taxpayers/exchequers as the taxes are collected for infra- structure development not for irrational cash schemes,” the plea contends. It highlights that the scheme is against the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and amounts to ‘corrupt practice’. “Such kind of cash benefit schemes are synonymous with bribery or gift to voters of certain class to vote in favour of a certain candidate on behalf of parties in the present coalition government contesting the upcoming state assembly elections,” it claimed. It contends that the decision was taken after the present government secured only 18 out of 48 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.  “Therefore, the question here is the timing for introducing and implementation of the impugned schemes with only the objective and eyeing fruitful benefits in the upcoming assembly polls that are due in the month of September-October 2024,” the plea added. 4Contd on | nation Ghats as eco-sensitive, which will result in a host of restrictions on commercial activity. 4Contd on | nation Tailpiece Khedkar is untraceable T he mobile phone of Puja Khedkar, who is under a cloud after the controversy over her disability and OBC claims, is switched off and she is not traceable for the last couple of weeks. While some believe she is avoiding the media after the UPSC initiated action against her, others subscribe to the view that she fled to Dubai to evade arrest after her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by a Delhi court on Thursday. Meanwhile, India Today has reported that Department of Personnel and Training is set to scrutinise the disability certificates of six other civil servants, including probationers and serving officials. The medical certificates of these six civil servants were flagged on social media. Furthermore, a Pune court on Friday granted bail to Manorama Khedkar, Puja’s mother, in a criminal intimidation case connected to a land dispute. Pune rural Police had launched a search for Manorama and her husband Dilip Khedkar after a video surfaced showing her allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute.