Vol. 68 No. 148 | WO R L D T H E AT R E DAY Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 29 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Leader in E-paper circulation l www.freepressjournal.in ● EDITIONS: ● MUMBAI ● INDORE ● PUNE ● BHOPAL ● NASHIK ● KONKAN ● E-paper ● Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (July to December 2024) GAMES NATION CBI raids Bhupesh Baghel's houses in Chhattisgarh; won’t bow down, says Congress Cinema World Theatre Day: Will it survive OTT? Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer continues to evolve his game, says Williamson Edit There’s a fine line between collaboration and collusion RELIGIOUS SAFETY | UP CM vows to restore every temple in Sambhal, asserting that over 54 pilgrimage sites have been identified ‘Muslims safe if Hindus are’ FPJ News Service MUMBAI Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asserted that religious safety in the state is interconnected, claiming that Muslims are safe only if Hindus are safe. In an interview with ANI, he stated that since the BJP came to power in 2017, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed no communal riots. "If Hindus are safe, then Muslims are also safe. Before 2017, riots in UP meant both Hindu and Muslim shops and homes were burning. But after 2017, the riots stopped." Expanding on his views, Adityanath said, "A Muslim family is the safest among 100 Hindu families. They can freely practice their religion. But can 50 Hindus feel safe among 100 Briefs PM in Nagpur on March 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on March 30, his first visit since 2014. Coinciding with Gudi Padva, he will lay the foundation stone for a 250bed extension at Madhav Netralaya Eye Institute, backed by the RSS. Instant PF withdrawals The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will enable instant PF withdrawals via UPI and ATMs by mid-2025. Employees can withdraw up to ₹1 lakh instantly, eliminating delays caused by claim approvals. The upgrade, backed by the Labour Ministry and NPCI, will also allow real-time balance checks and fund transfers. UPI outage across India India’s digital payment infrastructure suffered a major outage on Wednesday, with UPI transactions failing nationwide. Platforms like Google Pay, Paytm, and banking apps faced disruptions, leaving millions stranded. Complaints on Downdetector spiked around 7 PM, affecting fund transfers and merchant payments. Whatever it is, we will find it. We will show the world. Those whom God has given eyes, let them see. What happened in Sambhal? Sambhal is the truth – Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Muslim families? No. Look at Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan—history has shown us what happens." On ongoing religious site disputes, Adityanath called Hindu religious sites India's heritage. Regarding the Samb- Second summons for Kunal Kamra Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis announced the government will not impose a proposed 6% tax on EVs priced above ₹30 lakh. Initially introduced in the 2025-26 budget by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, the tax was deemed counterproductive. Responding to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab in the legislative council, Fadnavis said the move would discourage EV adoption. Maharashtra is positioning itself as India’s EV hub, adding 2,500 electric buses and expanding charging infrastructure. A sudden power outage hit parts of South Mumbai on Wednesday evening due to a technical fault in a transformer. The disruption, starting at 4:08 PM, lasted 21 minutes before restoration at 4:29 PM. An official cited a feeder tripping at Nariman Point Receiving Substation as the cause. Online report MUMBAI ance. On the Mathura mosque dispute, he said, "We are abiding by the court's decision; otherwise, who knows what could have happened by now?" Defending his administration's bulldozer policy against alleged illegal structures, Adityanath justified the crackdown. "Those who take the law into their own hands will face consequences within the legal framework. If someone comes at us with violence, should we just stand there? No, we will respond accordingly." Referring to the Ghazi Salar Masood fair, once held in Sambhal and Bahraich, he declared that there is no place for "attackers" in New India. Opp protests muzzling of Rahul Gandhi RBI in call for synergy against terror financing and money laundering 4Contd on | Nation Poonam Apraj Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar He refused to apologize, stating that he stands by his statements. "I am not afraid of this mob," Kamra wrote. He clarified that the comedy venue is merely a stage and not responsible for his jokes. Kamra defended his right to satirize political leaders, asserting that mocking politicians and the system is not illegal. Kamra did not show up. His lawyer contacted the police, requesting seven more days for his appearance, citing his inability to be present. The police denied the request on Wednesday and issued a second summons, demanding Kamra to appear promptly for questioning. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Speaker Om Birla of making remarks about him in the House but not allowing him to respond. Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Gandhi said, "The Speaker made an unprovoked remark about me, then adjourned the House without letting me speak. He just left." Gandhi asserted that, as per convention, the Leader of the Opposition is granted time to speak, yet he was repeatedly denied the opportunity. "Whenever I stand up, I am stopped. I wanted to speak on the (Maha) Kumbh Mela and unemployment, but I wasn’t allowed," he said. Following the incident, around 70 Congress MPs, including Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, Chief Whip Manickam Tagore, and General Secretary 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation 4See also | Nation Trump accuses Russia of dragging feet on Ukraine deal FPJ News Service U.S. President Donald Trump told the right-wing cable channel Newsmax on Tuesday that while he believes Russia “wants to see an end” to the war in Ukraine, Moscow may be deliberately delaying a peace agreement. "I don't know. I mean, I'll let you know at a certain point. But I think Russia wants to see an end to it, but they could be dragging their feet," Trump told Newsmax host Greg Kelly during an interview from the White House’s Roosevelt Room. Drawing from his business experience, Trump compared Russia’s approach to contract negotiations. “I've done it over the years, you know. I don’t want to sign a contract—I want to stay in the game, but maybe I don’t want to do it quite yet… I'm not sure.” Trump also acknowledged that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants the war to end. However, he reiterated earlier claims that Ukraine was not “ready” for peace, a stance Kyiv has consistently rejected. 4Contd on | Nation Expressing his resolve to make Mumbai free from illegal hoardings and banners, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde indicated that the elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will be held in October this year. Speaking with Navshakti, the Dy CM, who heads the Urban Development Department, said the road concretisation work in Mumbai will be completed within a year and offer ease of travel to motorists. When asked about the civic elections in Maharashtra, and alignment with the BJP, Shinde said, “We will contest the elections with the BJP wherever possible after assessing the local situation.” When asked if the Maha- civil society, and others—to effectively counter these threats. Strong public-private partnerships, RBI Governor said, form the bedrock for safeguarding the integrity of the financial system. He further emphasized that “through our collaborative efforts, we can safeguard the trust that underpins the global financial framework. “While we all continue to make our financial systems safe and secure against money laundering and terror financing, we as policymakers need to be mindful that our Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday said threats from money laundering and terror financing to the national and global financial systems are continuously evolving and becoming more sophisticated primarily due to technological advancements.  Malhotra called for close cooperation among various stakeholders—government agencies, financial entities in the public and private sectors, 4Contd on | Nation The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused an urgent mentioning of a plea seeking a direction to Delhi Police to lodge an FIR over the alleged discovery of semi-burnt stash of cash from the official residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma. A bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna was urged by lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara that the plea be listed for urgent hearing before a bench as it pertained to larger public interest. The CJI, who has stopped the practice of oral mentioning of cases for urgent listing, said that the plea would come up. MUMBAI The Khar Police have rejected Kunal Kamra's plea seeking seven days’ time to appear for questioning. Instead, the police have issued a second summons on Wednesday instructing him to appear for interrogation. According to police sources, if Kamra fails to comply with the second summons, a third summons will be issued. Should he continue to evade questioning, the police may approach the court to seek a warrant against him. On Monday, a team from Khar Police visited Kamra’s residence and handed over a copy of the summons to his parents.The police had directed him to appear before the investigating officer on Tuesday at 11 AM. Since Kamra is not now in Maharashtra, the summons was also sent to him via WhatsApp. Reacting to the development, Kamra took to Instagram, condemning the vandalism at the Habitat Club, where his show was disrupted. NEW DELHI Palazhi Ashok Kumar NEW DELHI DELHI TERMS USCIRF REPORT ‘MOTIVATED’ PTI NEW DELHI India is a ‘state actor’ India has lashed out at a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and said its "persistent" attempts to cast aspersions on the country's vibrant multicultural society reflect a "deliberate" agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom. On Wednesday New Delhi described the report as "biased and politically motivated" and said the efforts to "undermine" India's standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed, adding the USCIRF should be designated as an "entity of concern". In its 2025 annual report, the USCIRF alleged that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise. The USCIRF is an indepen- U.S. intelligence report has identified India and China as “state actors” directly and indirectly enabling transnational drug networks. The 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, marks the first time India has been equated with China in supplying precursor chemicals for illicit drug manufacturing. The report claims that state actors, including India, provide precursors and A dent, bipartisan US federal government agency. It makes policy recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State, and Congress and tracks the implementation of these recommendations. It recommended to the US government to impose "targeted sanctions equipment to drug traffickers, exacerbating global security risks. The categorization of India as a “state actor” suggests potential government complicity—deliberate or inadvertent—raising diplomatic concerns. The release follows Tulsi Gabbard’s India visit. The report has identified China as the primary source country for illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill pressing equipment, with India following as a secondary source. on individuals and entities, such as Vikash Yadav and RAW, for their culpability in severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States". 4Contd on | Nation offgrid Colouring it a gorgeous positive: “I dig black” Shankar Raj THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Power outage hits SoBo Prakash Sawant & Abhay Joshi hal controversy, he said: "Whatever it is, we will find it. We will show the world. Those whom God has given eyes, let them see. What happened in Sambhal? Sambhal is the truth." Yogi Adityanath vowed to restore every temple in Sambhal, asserting that over 54 pilgrimage sites have already been identified, with efforts underway to locate the rest. He emphasized that key sites of Sanatan Hindu Dharma are integral to India’s heritage. Addressing the issue of mosques built on the ruins of Hindu temples, he remarked, "Islam says that worship places constructed after destroying Hindu temples are not accepted by God. Then why were they built?" He reiterated that significant Sanatan Dharma sites represent India's inherit- MUMBAI MUMBAI No high-end EV tax Shinde sees BMC elections in October Plea on FIR on Justice Varma cash case listed “Black is beautiful. Black is gorgeousness. That I dig black.” This was how Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan said in an open letter Wednesday when she had to face discrimination due to her skin colour and gender. In a Facebook post, she recalled a remark comparing her tenure as chief secretary to that of her predecessor and husband, V Venu, stating: “Heard an interesting comment yesterday on my stewardship as chief secretary – that it is as black as my husband’s was white.” She boldly chose to call out the comment, highlighting the underlying prejudice: “It was about being labelled black (with that quiet subtext of being a woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of.” Her long post also touched upon the deep-seated bias against darker skin tones and shared a childhood anecdote — how, as a four-year-old, she once asked her mother to give birth to her again so she could be fair-skinned. “I have lived for over 50 years buried under that narrative of not Sarada Muraleedharan and her husband Venu being a colour that was good enough. And buying into that narrative. Of not seeing beauty or value in black. Of being fascinated by fair skin. And fair minds, and all that was fair and good and wholesome. And of feeling that I was a lesser person for not being that - which had to be compensated somehow,” she said in her FB post. She praised her children for helping her unlearn those biases, as they took pride in their skin tone and saw beauty where she once saw none. “Why did I want to call this particular one out? I was hurt, yes. But then these last seven months have been a relentless parade of comparisons with my predecessor, and I have become quite inured. “But why should black be vilified? Black is the all-pervasive truth of the universe. Black is that which can absorb anything, the most powerful pulse of energy known to humankind.” Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan responded declaring, “Salute, dear Sarada Muraleedharan. Every word you have written is hearttouching. It deserves to be discussed. I had a mother whose skin colour was black.” rashtra Navnirman Sena would be part of the alliance, he said he couldn't comment on that at the present moment. When asked about the terrible condition of the roads in Mumbai, Shinde said the administration of the BMC has been told to ensure quality work. The barricades put up for the work have to be reduced to minimise the hardships motorists are facing. “I have told the officials not to compromise on the quality of the road work”, the Dy CM assured. 4Contd on | Nation measures are not over-zealous and do not stifle legitimate activities and investments. Multiple laws and rules, each with their own level of granularity cast a high level of burden of compliance on the regulated financial service providers,” he added. “We need to have laws and regulations which, with surgical precision, target only the illegitimate and illicit, rather than use them as blunt tools which unintentionally hurt even the honest,” he added. 4Contd on | Nation SC slams order of Allahabad HC Online Report NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Allahabad High Court’s controversial ruling that grabbing the breasts of a girl, breaking the string of her pyjama, and attempting to drag her beneath a culvert did not constitute an attempt to rape. The High Court had instead categorised the crime as 'aggravated sexual assault' under the POCSO Act, which carries a lesser punishment, reported Live Law. A Supreme Court bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and A.G. Masih, taking suo motu cognisance of the case following widespread public outrage, expressed its strong disagreement with the High Court’s stance. The bench called the order “shocking” and criticised its observations as displaying “total insensitivity The Bench, called the order “shocking,” criticised its observations as displaying “total insensitivity” and an inhuman approach.” The judgment, delivered after four months of deliberation, suggested a conscious decision by the High Court. However, the Supreme Court noted that the ruling was legally flawed and lacked sensitivity, prompting it to stay the observations. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared before the Court, denouncing the High Court’s judgment. 4Contd on | Nation