FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. 14 No. 102 | BHOPAL | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 www.freepressjournal.in Sports Team India prepare for glory in UAE P.14 BLOW TO PUNJAB GOVT: Apex court upholds HC order NRI QUOTA IS FRAUD, SAYS SC PTI NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a high court order that quashed the Punjab government's decision to widen the ambit of 'NRI quota' in undergraduate medical admissions to include distant relatives, observing this quota expansion was a "complete fraud" which must be put to an end. "This is nothing but a money spinning machine," observed a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra while dismissing the state government's appeal against the verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. On September 10, the high court had set aside the AAPled government's August 20 notification that expanded the NRI seat category to include distant relatives of candidates "such as uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins" for admissions under the 15 per cent NRI quota to medical and dental courses in state government colleges. "We will dismiss all the petitions. This NRI business is nothing but a fraud. We will put an end to all this.... now the so called precedents must give way to primacy of law," the bench said. The top court said distant relatives of a 'mama, tai, taya,' who are settled abroad, will get admissions ahead of meritorious candidates and this cannot be allowed. "This is completely a fraud. fp Briefs AGARTALA 500 militants surrender Around 500 militants belonging to outlawed groups National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) on Tuesday laid down arms before Chief Minister Manik Saha. While welcoming the militants to the mainstream at a function in Jampuijala in Sepahijala district, the chief minister asserted that militancy is not the solution to any problem. OBSERVATIONS n Money spinning machine n HC verdict was ‘absolutely right’ n Meritorious students will suffer if quota is increased, this cannot be allowed And this is what we are doing with our education system!...We will affirm the high court judgement. We must stop this NRI quota business now. The judges know what they are dealing with. The high court has dealt with the case threadbare," the CJI said. "Let us put a lid on this...what is this ward? You just have to say that I am looking after X ... We cannot lend our authority to something which is blatantly illegal." Terming the high court verdict "absolutely right," the top court said, "Look at the deleterious consequences... the candidates who have three times higher marks will lose admission (in NEET-UG courses)." 4Continued on | P6 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE MONEY UJJAIN PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL ADG intelligence Jaideep Prasad was appointed as in- Sensex hits 85,000 level PTI MUMBAI Benchmark Sensex scaled the 85,000 level and Nifty breached the 26,000 mark for the first time before paring gains to close flat in a volatile session on Tuesday, dragged by losses in FMCG and select banking shares. The 30-share BSE benchmark declined by 14.57 points or 0.02 per cent to settle at 84,914.04, snapping its three-day record-breaking run. In the morning trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex scaled the 85,000 level, jumping 234.62 points. Cinema Savarkar goes to Oscars P.16 2,229 schools with less than 10 students in state Representative picture Rishita Tomar A total of 2,229 government schools across Madhya Pradesh have been operating with less than 10 students enrolled for several years. This issue affects all levels of government schools, including primary, middle, high, and higher secondary institutions. According to official data collected by the School Education Department through the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) for the 2023-2024 academic session, this is not limited to rural areas. Schools with fewer than 10 students can be found even in major cities of Our first priority is to identify such schools. Our current focus is on ensuring all students are enrolled, as no student should be left behind. Additionally, schools should remain accessible to all students within their reach Sanjay Goyal the state. Among the districts, Satna has the highest number of such schools, with 158 institutions having less than 10 students. Other districts with significant numbers include Raisen with 125 schools, Narsinghpur with 115, Seoni with 104, Rewa with 91, Vidisha with 86, Bhopal with 35, and Indore with 19 schools facing the same issue. On the other hand, a few districts have managed to keep this problem to a minimum. Niwari has only one school with fewer than 10 students, followed by Burhanpur with two, Khandwa with three, Tikamgarh with five, and Sheopur with six schools. 4Continued on | P6 NEW DELHI An Agra court has sentenced an accused arrested for kidnapping a child to life imprisonment. It has been a week since the sentence was delivered by Additional District Judge Neeraj Kumar Bakshi. However, it has been 17 years Secretary, School Education Department EXPERTSPEAK Educational Advisor, BN Trishal, told Free Press that the shrinking number of students in these schools raises serious concerns about the future of education. A key factor behind this decline is the lack of accountability on the part of the government. Schools with fewer than 10 enrolled students should now be closed, and those students should be transferred to other schools. “The funds currently spent on maintaining such schools could be better utilized for the overall improvement and development of the students”, added Trishal. Outlay of `159 cr for Setback for Sidda new MLA Rest House as HC rejects plea Our Staff Reporter Soybean policy BHOPAL Cabinet okayed the Soybean Procurement Policy. The soybean will be procured at the minimum support price (fixed by centre) of Rs 4,892 per quintal. The price of soybean in open market is Rs 4200 or little above it. The purchasing of soybean will be done through MP State Cooperative Marketing Federation. As many as 1400 procurement centers will be set up. Centre has permitted to procure 13.68 lakh MT soybean, and will be purchased from registered farmers under central government’s Price Support Scheme. Cabinet, on Tuesday, decided to construct new MLA Rest House at the cost of Rs 159.13 crore. In the first phase, 102 3 BHK flats of 2615 square feet each will be constructed in place of Family Block 1 and Shopping Centre of old MLA Rest House. They will be constructed in five blocks. Flats will be constructed in phased manner for all 230 MLAs. This is going to provide a huge relief to MLAs as large number of people come to meet them and it becomes difficult to adjust them in tiny rooms of MLA Rest House constructed in 1958. OVER 900 CR TO CLEAN KSHIPRA To ensure cleanliness in Kshipra river of Ujjain, Cabinet provided revised administrative approval of Rs 919.94 crore to “Kanh Diversion Close Duct Project”. Notably, the previous cost of the project was Rs 598.66 crores. Under the project, it was proposed that polluted water of Kanh river, through the medium of underground close duct of 16.70 km, should be released into Kshipra river near Kaliadeh. Even an agreement (costing Rs 479.89 crores) was made with a firm in this regard and the work has to be completed by September 2027. To prevent the polluted water from mixing into Kshipra river, alignment of close duct was changed and this increased the entire cost. The Kanh river water will now be released into Gambir river. AMENDMENT IN BILL Cabinet approved amendment in bill related to Assembly Speaker, Deputy Speaker (Salary and Allowance) Amendment Act. This bill will be tabled in next Assembly Session. Notably, Speaker, Leader of Opposition had announced in previous assembly session that they themselves will pay their Income Tax. charge director general Lokayukta. The state government issued transfer orders of 15 IPS officers, here on Tuesday. ADG Lokayukta Yogesh Choudhary was appointed as ADG (provisioning) at PHQ. DCP Bhopal zone-2, Shraddha Tiwari was shifted to office of commissioner of police. DCP Bhopal Sanjay Kumar Agarwal was appointed new DCP of zone-2. ASP Jabalpur Sonakshi Saxena was appointed as DCP Bhopal, ASP Shiyaz K M was appointed as commandant Hawk force Balaghat. ACP Habibganj Mayur Khandelwal was appointed as DCP Bhopal. SDOP Berasiya Anand Kaladagi was appointed as ASP Jabalpur. 4Continued on | P6 Nine-year-old girl brutally raped in Morena, accused arrested Victim in ICU Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Morena police have arrested a 28-year old man for sexually assaulting a minor girl, said police on Tuesday. The nine-year-old girl has been admitted to ICU at district hospital Morena. The incident took place under Nagra police station on Monday, when the girl had gone to graze goats, said police officials. The accused caught hold of the girl on finding her alone and brutally raped her. When the girl did not return home later in the evening, her family members went looking for her. They found her in a pool of blood. The girl was rushed to the government hospital in Porsa, from where she was referred to the district hospital, police said. She is currently undergoing treatment in the ICU, the police added. The incident was reported to police at around 6 pm on Monday, following which a case was registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, police said. Following the FIR, police constituted five teams and arrested the accused at 5 am on Tuesday, the police said. against Guv order PTI BENGALURU In a setback to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed his petition challenging Governor's approval for investigation against him in a site allotment case. The Chief Minister had challenged the approval given by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for an investigation against him in the alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in a prime locality. After completing the hearings on the petition in six sittings from August 19, the single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna on September 12 reserved its verdict. It had also extended its August Economy to grow at 7.1% in FY25: Moody’s Agencies MUMBAI 19 interim order directing the special court for people's representatives that was slated to hear complaints against him in the case, to defer its proceedings till the disposal of the petition. "The facts narrated in the petition would undoubtedly require investigation, in the teeth of the fact that the beneficiary of all these acts is not anybody outside but the family of the petitioner. 4Continued on | P6 Ravi Kumar Garg, was shot for trying to intervene during the kidnapping. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of � 55 lakh for Garg's release. He was recovered from Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, by the police after 26 days. Following the incident, police arrested eight people - Guddan Kachhi, Rajesh Sharma, Rajkumar, Fateh Singh alias Chhiga, Amar Singh, Balveer, Ramprakash, and Bheem alias Bhikhari. They were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined � 1 lakh each. However, four other accused in the case were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. 4Continued on | P6 FP News Service WASHINGTON In a significant statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday said he believes the war with Russia is "closer to an end" than many believe. "I think that we are closer to peace than we think. We are closer to the end of the war," he said in an interview on ‘Good Morning America.’ Zelensky, who is in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly this week, promised to present what he calls his “Victory Plan” to President Joe Biden as well as other key American political leaders. "The plan of victory is strengthening Ukraine. That's why we're asking our friends, our allies, to strengthen us. It's very important”, he said. Significantly, Zelensky’s statement on peace came soon after he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York Monday. Sources said Modi presented the viewpoint of India, especially after he had earlier called on Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and that of the recently-concluded Quad Summit. A joint statement issued following Modi's visit to Ukraine on Aug 23 had said: "The Indian side reiterated its principled position and focus on peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy, as a part of which, India has attended the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, in June 2024. The Ukrainian side welcomed such participation by India and highlighted the importance of high-level Indian participation in the next Peace Summit." Paralympic medallists to get ` 1cr, govt jobs Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The Indian economy is projected to grow faster at 7.1 per cent this fiscal (FY25), Moody’s Analytics said on Tuesday, as the country continues to remain resilient amid global uncertainties. In its new Asia Pacific outlook, the global credit ratings kept the country’s growth forecast unchanged at 6.5 per cent for 2025 while projecting faster growth of 6.6 per cent in 2026. Moody’s Analytics projected better inflation outcomes, as it reduced India’s inflation forecast to 4.7 per cent from the 5 per cent predicted earlier. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has announced that medalists from the Paris Paralympics will be awarded Rs 1 crore and government jobs for their achievements. The announcement was made on Tuesday during a felicitation programme held at the BJP office in honor of the Paris Paralympics participants. Speaking at the event, CM Yadav emphasized the state’s commitment to supporting athletes, drawing a parallel to Vivek Sagar, who received Rs 1 crore and a government job for his achievements. Yadav assured the same level of sup- port for the Paralympic medalists, encouraging them to continue excelling in their respective sports and to bring further glory to both the state and the nation. State BJP President VD Sharma was also present at the ceremony, alongside the athletes and their families. 4Continued on | P6 Inspired by tortoise & Taj Mahal, IIT-I develops two revolutionary geogrids Our Staff Reporter INDORE Boy nails abductors after 17 yrs as lawyer since the child was kidnapped from outside his home in Kheragarh, Agra. In these 17 years, Harsh Garg has changed from a seven-year-old boy to a 24year-old lawyer, as he successfully presented his case in court, and ended up prosecuting his kidnappers. Garg was kidnapped on February 10, 2007. His father, Zelenskyy believes war will end soon BHOPAL offgrid Agencies E-paper Edit Better, encounter the truth P.8 GST officers detect 10,700 bogus firms, over `10K cr evasion DG (intel) Prasad is in-charge DG Lokayukta 15 IPS officers transferred MUMBAI In what is considered as a major breakthrough in the field of sustainable civil engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore researchers have developed two new geogrids that could help to construct pavements on soft soils. “These two innovations drew inspiration from nature, particularly from the Indian star tortoise and the architecture of the Taj Mahal,” said Dr Baadiga Ramu, who spearheaded the research team comprising BS Praveen (doctoral scholar) and P Sai Meg- hana (UG scholar) from the Department of Civil Engineering and Prof Umashankar Balunaini from IIT Hyderabad. Geogrids are becoming crucial in sustainable engineering due to their ability to reinforce soils and reduce the environmental impact of construction. By improving the durability and efficiency of roads, embankments, landslides, and other structures, geogrids help reduce the need for thick layers of aggregate or soil, making projects more resource efficient. Their role in load distribution minimizes localized failures, reduces pavement deformation, and enhances longterm stability, contributing significantly to reducing the carbon footprint of construction by lowering material use and energy consumption. IIT Indore director Prof Suhas Joshi said, “India, with its extensive road network, faces significant challenges in managing massive volumes of crushed stone aggregates required for such infrastructure. 4Continued on | P6