FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. 15 No. 59 | BHOPAL | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 13, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 www.freepressjournal.in Sports Gill the Gladiator, Dunkley the Dynamo P.12 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL MONEY Headline inflation hits 8-Year low at 1.55% in July UJJAIN PUNE INDORE NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit EC must prove neutrality P.6 Cinema ‘Society losing its soul’ P.14 Yadav goes to Sleeping for Delhi to meet 3-MEMBER PANEL TO 6yrs: SC asks PROBE JUSTICE VARMA Shah, cancels MP govt on 13% Cabinet meet posts on hold IMPEACHMENT PROCESS | LS Speaker initiates process, appoints Justice Kumar, Justice Srivastava & senior advocate Acharya 27% OBC QUOTA Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Daily hearing from Sept 23  Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the state government for keeping 13% of Other Backward Class (OBC) posts on hold. In a stern admonishment, the apex court asked if the state government has been “sleeping for the past six years”. The court was hearing two petitions, one of candidates selected through the MP Public Service Commission (MPPSC) who were not given appointments, and the other, a stay vacating petition. The 27% OBC reservation was introduced in 2019, but a High Court stay order led to a temporary formula (87:13) being used for recruitments, with 13% of the posts remaining on hold. The matter pertains to the Madhya Pradesh Public Service (Reservation for SC, ST, and OBC) Amendment Act, 2019, which raised the OBC reservation to 27%. However, this was challenged in the High Court, leading to a stay on its implementation in cer- fp Briefs NEW DELHI Farmers laud PM Modi Farmers from across the country lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his bold decision in trade agreements despite foreign pressure, expressing their gratitude towards him for his farmer-friendly historic decision. A large gathering of farmer organisation leaders and cultivators met Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here and hailed the Central government’s decisive action to protect farmers’ interests. tain sectors, causing significant hurdles in new recruitment processes. There will be daily hearing from September 23. During the hearing on Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General K.M. Natraj told the apex court that due to adjournment legality, it was not implemented; otherwise, the government is ready to implement 27% OBC reservation. They argued that the ongoing stay has resulted in a recruitment bottleneck.  Senior advocate Varun Thakur, who appeared on behalf of candidates who have not been appointed, said the apex court was pointing out how 13% posts had been lying vacant without resolution for the past six years.The next hearing is on September 23. CPI inflation plunges to 8-year low at 1.55% Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved an outlay of Rs 4,600 crores for the setting up of four semiconductor manufacturing units in Odisha, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The projects that have got the Cabinet nod are from SiCSem, Continental Device India Private Limited (CDIL), 3D Glass Solutions Inc., and Advanced System in Package (ASIP) Technologies. Together they are expected to generate employment for 2034 MAN HELD IN MHOW WITH FAKE NAVAL ID FP News Service Parl approves new I-T Bill MHOW 4Continued on | P8 ister Kiren Rijiju had then cleared the air on which House would take up the motion by by announcing following a Business Advisory Committee meeting of the Lok Sabha that, “We shouldn’t remain in any doubt, proceed- ings to remove Justice Yashwant Varma will begin in Lok Sabha.” He had added that all the parties would move unitedly on the issue. 4Continued on | P8 IANS Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI India’s inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased further to 1.55 per cent in July this year, compared to the same month of the previous year, as prices of food declined during the month. This is the lowest level of year-onyear retail inflation since June 2017, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Statistics on Tuesday. A mong the projects, the SiCSem and 3D Glass unit will be set up in Odisha; the CDIL will come up in Punjab and ASIP will be set up in Andhra Pradesh. skilled professionals. The Ministry of Electronics and IT said that these projects are part of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) that seeks to advance India’s footprints into the compound semiconductor and advanced packaging landscape. (See Business pg) The Centre on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that the tariffs imposed by the United States administration on India would impact over half its exports to the western country. In response to a question from Trinamool Congress MP Abishek Banerjee, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said “Reciprocal tariff at the rate of 25% has been imposed on With these four new projects, the total ISM projects approved thus far has gone up to 10 and these involve a cumulative investment of `1.60 L cr in six states Munir is Osama in a suit, says ex-Pentagon official ANI A former Pentagon analyst, Michael Rubin, has delivered a scathing assessment of Pakistan's recent nuclear rhetoric, describing the country as behaving like "a rogue state" following threatening comments made by its army chief on American soil. The controversy centres on remarks attributed to Pakistan's army chief General Asim Munir, who allegedly threatened that if Pakistan "goes down, it would Chief minister Mohan Yadav calls on Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday This is the second meeting between them in 12 days Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL NEW DELHI WASHINGTON A 33-year-old man pretending to be a naval lieutenant was caught in Mhow on Tuesday afternoon and handed over to the police. Acting on a tip-off from Army intelligence officials, the Military Police detained the man, identified as Arpit Trivedi, in the Mhow Cantonment area. When they searched him, they found a fake naval identity card. Trivedi, who lives in Rani Bagh Colony on Khandwa Road in Indore, was then taken to Mhow police station. Station in-charge Rahul Sharma said that Trivedi has been booked under Section 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with cheating by personation, and will be produced in court on Wednesday. In June this year, four people, including one posing as an Indian Air Force Wing Commander, were arrested in Secunderabad for using fake IDs to enter the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering and filming sensitive areas. In February, police in Kolkata arrested a man who pretended to be a senior army officer. FLASHBACK... Earlier, the Centre had on July 25 announced that the impeachment motion against Justice Varma, in whose official residence a huge pile of burnt notes was recovered following a fire call in March this year, would be initiated in the Lok Sabha. More than half of export to US to be affected by Trump tariffs: MoS Finance Cabinet clears 4 semiconductor projects worth `4,600 cr in 3 states NEW DELHI The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday returned the modified Income Tax Bill, along with the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to the Lok Sabha as part of the parliamentary procedure. "The largely dense and complex structure of the Income Tax Act, 1961, resulted in various interpretations, and several avoidable disputes kept mounting, not so much because of the rate, but because of the language. We were subjected to too many litigations. The density and complexity of the Act, along with the verbose way it was written over the decades, with different styles dominating, made the Act very, very tedious for anyone to use," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday announced the formation of a three-member committee comprising two judges and a senior advocate to probe the charges against Allahabad High Court Judge Yashwant Varma in a cash recovery case. Birla announced in the Lok Sabha that the Committee has been constituted under the Judges’ Inquiry Act, 1968 and would consist of Justice Arvind Kumar of the Supreme Court, Justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava, Chief Jus- tice of the Madras High Court, and Senior Advocate at the Karnataka High Court B.V. Acharya. He said further action in the matter would be deferred till the committee would submit its report. The Opposition had also initiated a separate move in the Rajya Sabha by submitting a notice of impeachment with 65 signatures on July 21 to then Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar, an announcement on which was made by him in the House. Parliamentary Affairs Min- take half the world down" with it. The comments were reportedly made during a meeting in Tampa, Florida, with US military officials. Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and Middle East analyst, told ANI that Pakistan's behaviour was "completely unacceptable" and compared the army chief's rhetoric to statements previously made by ISIS and Osama bin Laden. 4Continued on | P8 US, China extend trade truce for 90 days resident Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world's two biggest economies. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that "all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same." Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce. P certain goods exported from India to the USA starting from August 7, 2025” and “It is estimated that around 55% of total value of India’s PM Modi, Fiji prez to visit Gwalior on Aug 25 merchandise exports to the US is subjected to this reciprocal tariff.” 4Continued on | P8 PTI FP News Service Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gwalior on 25 August, coinciding with the arrival of Fiji’s President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere. Both leaders are expected to spend about two hours in the city, with a possible visit to the Gwalior Fort and Tansen’s Tomb. Strategic and trade discussions between India and Fiji are likely during the visit Fiji, where 37% of the population is of Indian origin, shares cultural ties with India and plays a key role in the Indo-Pacific strategy. Cooperation in agriculture, IT, healthcare, renewable energy, and tourism is on the agenda. After Gwalior, PM Modi will head to Dhar to lay the foundation stone of the country’s first PM Mitra Park. 4Continued on | P8 SIR APPEARS TO BE TRUST DEFICIT ISSUE, SAYS SC NEW DELHI GWALIOR Chief Minister Mohan Yadav went to Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, cancelling the proposed cabinet and Simhastha meetings. It was Yadav’s second meeting with Shah in just 12 days. Earlier, Yadav met Shah on July 31. In the past two weeks, Yadav went to Delhi thrice. The ministers were informed about the cancellation of the meetings at 11pm on Monday. Yadav’s meeting with Shah is considered important in the administrative circles. According to sources in the BJP, Yadav held talks with Shah over political and administrative issues. A decision on the extension of Chief Secretary Anurag Jain is considered important in the state. Sources further said both the leaders held talks over political issues, too. As discussions over political appointments are underway in the state, the meeting between Yadav and Shah is seen through this perspective. About their meeting, it was said Yadav had informed the Union Home Minister about the implementation of the new criminal law and the innovative measures taken in the cooperative sector. Opposition MPs protest with ‘124-yr-old Minta Devi’ shirts The Supreme Court on Tuesday called the Bihar special intensive revision (SIR) row "largely a trust deficit issue" as the Election Commission of India (ECI) claimed roughly 6.5 crore people of the total 7.9 crore voting population didn't have to file any documents for them or their parents featured in the 2003 electoral roll. The top court is hearing a batch of pleas against the Election Commission electoral roll revision exercise in Bihar. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi during the hearing remarked it "largely appears to be a case of trust deficit, nothing else". he Opposition protest in Parliament took a new form on Tuesday as several MPs wore T-shirts with the name of 124-year-old ‘first-time voter’ Minta Devi and her image printed on the front and the words “124 not out” written at the back to claim how votes were being made through the exercise. The Congress leaders present during the Opposition protest at the Parliament complex before the start of the day’s proceedings in the two Houses alleged that Minta Devi’s date of birth in the electoral rolls was shown to be 15/7/1900 and her residence was listed in Daraundha, Bihar. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 T ‘Aadhaar not conclusive proof of citizenship’ he Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is correct in asserting that an Aadhaar card does not constitute conclusive proof of citizenship. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi further stated that the inclusion or exclusion of citizens and non-citizens from the electoral rolls lies within the mandate of the poll body. The observations were made by the Justice Kant-led Bench while hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Special Intensive Revisions (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. T offgrid Chinese scientists deploy robotic antelope in Tibet C hinese researchers have used a robotic dog in disguise to take a closer look at the life of the rare Tibetan antelope, Xinhua has reported. The machine undertook a successful trial run in late July in the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve, located at an altitude of more than 4,600 meters in China’s Tibet, the agency said. The newcomer – which was designed to resemble the skeletal structure of the Tibetan antelope and was covered with artificial fur based on samples taken from the animals – was quickly accepted into the herd. The robot was only able to film the antelope grazing during the three-day experiment, although scientists hope it will eventually capture more dramatic footage, including of animals giving birth. "The ultimate goal is to ensure the safe migration of Tibetan antelopes, with minimal human interference,” Lian Xinming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, told Xinhua. The decision to use the machine was made because Tibetan antelope are hard to study due to living in cold and oxygen-poor conditions where humans cannot remain for long. The animals are also very sensitive, with a close encounter with people carrying the risk of stress and even miscarriage in pregnant females. At the same time, they serve as one of the important ecological indicators in the QinghaiTibet Plateau, the scientists explained. According to the report, the researchers got the idea of creating a robotic Tibetan antelope after watching a group of robots performing a dance at the televised Spring The producers of the quadruped bot used in the experiment said that their hardware is especially “designed to perform in hazard- ous, complex environments, including extremely harsh terrains.” The machine covered around 2km across arduous terrain during the trial, overcoming various obstacles, Xinhua said. Tibetan antelope were an endangered species as they had been hunted by poachers for their extremely soft, light, and warm underfur. However, conservation efforts by the Chinese authorities have seen their number grow from some 70,000 in the 1990s to nearly 300,000, according to government data.