FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 14 No. 136 | BHOPAL | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2024 | Pages 18 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports Bhajji questions Rohit’s future with MI ahead of IPL 2025 auction iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL UJJAIN MONEY PRESS PUNE INDORE NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Race to the White House gets tighter P.12 Piyush Goyal’s chat with German vice chancellor in metro on China goes viral Cinema Being daringly different P.15 HOW MANY ARE WE: Govt plans next LS polls with new seats Briefs BHOPAL Govt holiday on Friday State government has declared public holiday on Govardhan Pooja festival falling on Friday. This holiday has been declared under section 25 of Negotiable Instrument Act 1881. Interestingly government also declared holiday on Bhai Dhoj which is on Sunday. CHANDIGARH I92 farmers booked The police have registered cases against 192 farmers in Haryana for burning crop residue, an official said on Monday. The police have also issued 334 challans and imposed fines of Rs 8.45 lakh on farmers. In addition, 418 red entries were made in farmers' field records. A government spokesperson said the government has categorised villages into red, yellow, and green zones based on the incidents of paddy stubble burning in the previous year. NEW DELHI Court defers Rashid’s bail A Delhi court has adjourned the bail order of jailed Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid, noting his case could go to a special court meant to try lawmakers now that he was an MP. Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh, who had reserved the bail order in an alleged terror funding case. KANNUR ADM death: BJP, Cong hold protests BJP workers on Monday staged a protest in this district, demanding the arrest of CPI(M) leader P P Divya, accused of abetting the suicide of former Kannur Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu. The BJP workers squatted on the road and raised slogans against the police and Divya, who is yet to make a public appearance after the alleged suicide of the ADM. Later in the day, Congress workers took out a march to the Commissioner's officer to protest against the alleged failure to nab Divya days after the officer's death. DIGITAL ARREST: Well educated & rich are targets Census in 2025, followed by delimitation, women’s bill Agencies Congress seeks all-party meet NEW DELHI The government is set to conduct the much-delayed Census next year, and to complete the process by 2026, with suggestions being taken on whether caste enumeration would be part of the exercise, as per sources. Following the completion of the Census, the government will go ahead with delimitation, for redrafting of constituencies. Sources said the rolling out of women’s reservation will follow. Both these exercises are linked to the Census. In 2002, the then NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had delayed delimitation by 25 years via the 84th Amendment, saying this would be carried out only after “the relevant figures for the first Census taken after the year 2026 have been published”. This meant delimitation to be Representative pic fp ESTD-1983 carried out after the 2031 Census. However, as per sources, the government now plans to begin the delimitation process by 2027 and finish it within a year, so that the next Lok Sabha elections (in 2029) can be done post-delimitation and after the implementation of women’s reservation Bill. Recently, the tenure of Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan as Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India was extended beyond this December till August 2026. Although there is demand by various quarters that caste enumeration be included in the Census – by the Congress and allies, as well as some ruling NDA allies such as JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party and Apna Dal – the government has not been able to finalise a formula for it, sources said. The BJP’s ideological parent RSS has also backed the idea of caste census, saying that getting the right count is a well-established practice. However, a source said that Modi, Sanchez launch Tata-Airbus factory It will make India's first privately built military aircraft PTI VADODARA Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez on Monday inaugurated the Tata Aircraft Complex in Vadodara, India's first private facility to build military planes, where C295 aircraft will be produced. Noting that the partnership between India and Spain is finding a new direction, Modi said the project would not only strengthen the relations between the two nations but also give momentum to the PM Modi with the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sanchez during the inauguration of the TATA Aircraft Complex for manufacturing of C295 aircraft mission of 'Make in India, Make for the World'. Modi conveyed his best wishes to the team of Airbus and Tata, and also paid tributes to late Ratan Tata. The Airbus C295 is a medium tactical transport aircraft that was designed and initially manufactured by the No market tax for street vendors till Gyaras Our Staff Reporter Spanish aerospace company CASA, which is now a part of the European multinational Airbus Defence and Space division. The C295 can also be used for medical evacuations, disaster response, and maritime patrol duties. 4Continued on | P8 MP Pappu Yadav claims threat call from Bishnoi gang PTI PATNA decision covers small traders selling their produce from footpaths in temporary manner and also the poor people coming from rural areas to cities to sell their indigenious products including toys, mud products, decorative items etc. He directed officials to provide uninterrupted power so that people do not face any difficulty in enjoying the festival of lights. there was no clarity on how to go about it. 4Continued on | P8 ED raids former MUDA commissioners IANS BENGALURU The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam conducted raids at the residences of former MUDA commissioners D.B. Natesh and G.T. Dinesh Kumar on Monday, sources said. A team of five ED officials conducted search at the residence of Natesh located at the 10th Cross of Malleshwaram locality in Bengaluru. Natesh was present at the house during the raids. The sleuths also raided the Deepika Royal apartment of Dinesh Kumar in Banaswadi locality of Bengaluru. Sources said that Dinesh Kumar had gone for morning walk when his flat was raided. Sources informed that Dinesh Kumar did not return to his residence and his mobile phone was switched off. The ED officers tried to contact him and waited for him to turn on his cell phone. 4Continued on | P8 BHOPAL In view of Diwali festival, State government decided on Monday to exempt the street vendors selling their indigenous products and other decorative items on footpaths from the market tax and “Tah Bazari” Tax. This decision will be effective from Tuesday till November 11 (Dev Utani Gyaras) Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that the said decision has been taken to help the vendors generate more income. All the departments responsible for making special arrangements in urban and rural areas, have been directed to exempt small traders from these two taxes. The Congress on Monday sought an all-party meeting to get clarity on whether the next census would include a detailed enumeration of all castes and whether the census will be used for determining the strength of each state in the Lok Sabha. Congress general secretary incharge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "But there is still absolutely no clarity on two crucial issues. Will this new Census include a detailed enumeration of ALL castes in the country, in addition to that of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes that has been done in every Census since 1951? Bihar MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav has shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking enhanced security in view of a "threatening call from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang". The Purnea MP shared with the media his two-page letter to Shah, copies of which have been marked to the chief minister of Bihar and other top officials in the state. The letter, dated October 21, was made public on Monday when a section of the media also played an audio clip of the call from a purported aide of Bishnoi "made from a Dubai number". 4Continued on | P8 CM announces 4% DA hike for govt staff Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced dearness allowance – pending for a few days – as Diwali gift for the state employees. The government gave 4% hike in DA. After the announcement, the DA of the government staff has gone up from 46% to 50%. The employees will get the hiked DA from January this year. The ten months’ arrear will be added to their next month’s salary. Along with Diwali, there is the foundation day of the state, Yadav said. So, he greeted people for Diwali and for the state’s foundation day. The payment of DA will put a burden of Rs 1,450 crore on the state coffers. The Central Government is giving 53% of DA to its employees. After the announcement of 4% hike in DA, the state employees are getting just 3% of less DA than their Central Government counterparts. Many employees unions have welcomed the announcement made by the CM. Rajesh Thakur BHOPAL The sting of ‘Digital Arrest’ is targeted to the well educated and those who have a good bank balance. Around 35 cases of ‘digital arrest’ have been reported in the state so far and people have lost their life’s earnings to these fraudsters, said officials here on Monday. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alerted people about ‘digital arrest’, pointing out that no such thing exists. ADG (Cyber) Yogesh Deshmukh said, “It's a cybercrime, and such cases have been on the rise for the past year and a half. Fraudsters posing as law enforcement officials of various agencies, including the state police (particularly crime branch), CBI, ED, Income Tax, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and even the Supreme Court, put victims under immense mental stress, accusing them of knowingly or unknowingly indulging in a major crime, like human trafficking, narcotics smuggling/trafficking or money laundering. Often these fraudster say that their close relative is under arrest for the above-mentioned crimes. The cyber crime branch had issued the advisory regarding the fake digital arrest. THE CASES........ l Last week, in state financial capital Indore, a scientist from the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT-Indore) lost his entire savings of Rs 71.33 lakh - set aside for his daughter’s marriage) after he and his wife were placed under ‘digital arrest’ in his house for six long days with small breaks in between. l Earlier in Gwalior, a government retired woman teacher was ‘arrested’ and the fraudesters had looted Rs 51 lakh. l One more woman was cheated of Rs 38 lakh and one advocate also fell victim to these scamsters. Indore Police’s crime branch additional SP (ASP-Crime) Rajesh Dandotiya said that the crime branch has made major progress in such cases. “Out of the 31 cases reported to us since February 2024, a total sum of Rs 3 crore has been swindled after digital arrests. Of them, over Rs 70 lakh has been recovered by timely freezing the master accounts and their subsequent layers in which the victims were coaxed to deposit their money. 4Continued on | P8 jagmag diwali Busy market in Bhopal the night before Dhan Teras 3 terrorists involved in attempted ambush killed IANS SRINAGAR Three terrorists involved in an attempted ambush on an Army vehicle in Jammu and Kashmir's Akhnoor area on Monday have been killed, official sources said here. "All the three terrorists involved in the attempted ambush of an Army vehicle in the Battal area of Akhnoor in Jammu district have been killed. Bodies of the slain terrorists are being recovered and their exact identity will be known after the bodies are recovered," the sources said. After the Army and security forces engaged terrorists in a sustained gunfight in the area, the firing had stopped for nearly an hour after which the sources said three terrorists had been killed. Earlier in the day, terrorists tried to ambush an Army vehicle in the Akhnoor area after which the encounter started there. "The ambush attempt by the terrorists failed after which a cordon operation was started in the area. Firing exchanges have now started between the terrorists and the security forces. All exit points of the terrorists have been sealed. Reinforcements have been rushed to the area," officials said earlier. Following orders from their handlers across the border, terrorists have increased their activities in the union territory following the peaceful, people-participative Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Last Thursday, terrorists attacked an Army vehicle in the Botapathri area of Gulmarg killing two soldiers and two civilian porters. 4Continued on | P8 offgrid Indian scientists discover new planet five times larger than Earth R This distant planet orbits its Sun-like host star, TOI-6651, in a close, 5.06-day cycle, meaning its "year" lasts only a fraction of an Earth month Representative pic esearchers from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in India have announced a remarkable discovery in the field of exoplanet science. Using the advanced PARAS-2 spectrograph, scientists have identified TOI-6651b, a dense, Saturn-sized exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star. The Neptunian desert is a mysterious area where few planets of this mass exist, so this discovery offers a rare opportunity to investigate why such planets are usually absent there. This is the fourth exoplanet discovery by PRL scientists, showcasing India’s growing contributions to global space exploration. TOI-6651b is a unique exo- planet, weighing around 60 times the mass of Earth and having a radius approximately five times larger than Earth’s. Located at the edge of what astronomers call the “Neptunian desert” — a region where planets of this size are seldom found — the discovery of TOI-6651b sheds new light on planetary formation and evolution. This distant planet orbits its Sun-like host star, TOI6651, in a close, 5.06-day cycle, meaning its "year" lasts only a fraction of an Earth month. Its orbit is slightly oval in shape, or eccentric, further distinguishing it from typical gas giants like Saturn in our solar system. The star, TOI-6651, is a Gtype sub-giant that’s slightly larger and hotter than our Sun, with a surface temperature of about 5940 K. A key breakthrough in the PRL team’s study is the composition of TOI6651b. The planet’s high density indicates that about 87% of its mass consists of rocky and iron-rich materials, with the remaining mass forming a lighter envelope of hydrogen and helium. 4Continued on | P8