FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLI No. 204 | INDORE | TUESDAY | DECEMBER 31, 2024 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE Sports Bhaker leads the way in Paris P.15 UJJAIN With the Delhi assembly elections due in just over a month’s time, former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal has announced a new scheme, under which Hindu and Sikh priests would be paid a ‘salary� of Rs 18,000 a month. Addressing a press conference on Monday, Kejriwal said the salaries would be paid under the ‘Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana’s and registration for the scheme would begin on Tuesday. He said he Sans ideology, AAP plays Hindu card fp Briefs By invitation would be launching the scheme from Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place. “I will visit the Hanuman Temple to start the registration for this scheme,” he said. 4Continued on | P6 Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Monday drew attention to Arvind Kejriwal’s comment, calling his successor Atishi as “a temporary-makeshift Chief Minister." In his letter to CM Atishi, LG Saxena has lamented that Kejriwal made the statement in public. He further said that by such words, he has insulted President of India who appointed her. Our Staff Reporter INDORE The Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) announced the results of the State Service Main Examination 2023 on Monday. A total of 800 candi- Jimmy Carter passes away FP News Service BENGALURU On Monday night, India took a significant step closer to joining an elite group of nations that have mastered the highly complex technology of inspace docking. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched its first Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, marking the nation’s ambitious attempt to become the Poor Little Rich Indian CMs MUMBAI In the latest Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, India's Chief Ministers show us just how extreme the wealth game can get. Andhra Pradesh's N. Chandrababu Naidu takes the crown as the richest, flaunting assets that exceed a jaw-dropping Rs 931 crore. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee is scraping by with a modest Rs 15 lakh (yes, you read that right—no extra zeroes). The average CM isn’t dates have been selected for 229 posts, with 659 passing in the main list and 141 in the provisional list. The selection exceeds the required number of candidates by over three times. Successful candidates will now proceed to the interview stage, though the exact dates are yet to be finalized. The commission has begun the interview process, and candidates must submit applications by January 20 without a late fee. 4Continued on | P6 fourth country to achieve this groundbreaking capability. The mission, which aims to develop the technology necessary to connect two spacecraft in orbit, was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. At approximately 10:00 PM IST, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C60) carrying two 220 kg satellites lifted off seamlessly, entering space on a precise trajectory. Within 15 minutes of the launch, both satellites were successfully placed into a 475 km circular orbit. The two satellites, referred to as the "chaser" and "target" spacecraft, were separated just moments apart—first at 15.1 minutes and then at 15.2 minutes. These spacecraft will now engage in a series of carefully coordinated maneuvers over the next few days, moving apart before ISRO attempts the historic docking. If successful, India will join the United States, Russia, and China in the exclusive group of nations capable of performing in-space docking, an essential technology for the future of space exploration. MUMBAI E-paper Edit As polls near, Delhi tussle intensifies P.8 Cinema Debutants of 2024 P.16 Sexual abuse case: Appeals court upholds $5 mn award against Trump PIL seeks to halt waste disposal in Pithampur AP NEW YORK A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury's finding in a civil case that Donald Trump sexually abused a columnist in an upscale department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a written opinion upholding the USD 5 million award that the Manhattan jury granted to E. Jean Carroll for defamation and sexual abuse. The longtime magazine columnist had testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack after they playfully entered the store's dressing room. Trump skipped the trial after repeatedly denying the attack ever happened. But he briefly testified at a followup trial earlier this year that resulted in an USD 83.3 million award. The second trial resulted from comments thenPresident Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first made the accusations publicly in a memoir. PTI UCC waste to be shifted on Dec 31 INDORE A PIL was filed in the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday seeking a stay on the impending disposal in Dhar of 337 metric tonnes of toxic waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory UCC WASTE DISPOSAL in Bhopal. In the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, highly toxic methyl isocyanate leaked from the factory, resulting in the deaths of 5,479 people, while more than five lakh others were affected. It is considered the world's worst industrial disaster. The PIL, filed by a group of doctors, claimed the disposal of toxic waste at a unit run by a private company in Pithampur in Dhar, some 30 kms from here, was detrimental to the environment and people. HUMILIATED India’s Shocking Defeat: A crushing blow to cricketing glory and global ambitions Ketan Narottam Tanna MUMBAI The Indian cricket team’s defeat to Australia in the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on December 30, 2024, was not just a loss—it was a humiliation, a stark reminder of the gulf between ambition and execution. The match wasn’t just about a mere statistical outcome but exposed deep-rooted issues that threaten to derail India’s cricketing ambitions on the global stage. Let’s start with the glaring issues on the field. India’s batting line-up, which boasts of some of the finest talents in world cricket, crumbled under pressure. Chasing 340 in the fourth innings on the final day, the Indian team was dismissed for a paltry 155 runs. The batting collapse was swift, brutal, and entirely avoidable. How is it that a team that includes top-tier batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Rishabh Pant could be reduced to rubble by an Australian bowling attack that, though formidable, was hardly at its peak? 4See sports | P14 Rohit’s Last Dance in Sydney? Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI As Team India was consigned to a 184-run humiliation by Australia in the crucial Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the embattled Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, in the words of Ricky Ponting, seemed to be subsisting on borrowed time. Sharma, 37, had returned to his favoured position as opener in the first innings but fell for just three, spooning a delivery from Pat Cummins to wide mid-on, continuing his lackluster form. With just 31 runs from five innings, averaging 6.20 in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit has endured a wretched run that shows no signs of abating. The jury is more or less out on his future in Test cricket. Perhaps Rohit himself sees the writing on the wall and is candid enough to admit that he needs to introspect about his performances. “Obviously, a few results haven’t gone our way. As a captain, yes, that is disappointing. Yes, as a batter as well, a lot of things I’m trying to do are not falling into place.” 4Continued on | P6 BHOPAL: The Union Carbide Corporation’s chemical waste is expected to be transported to Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) in Pithampur at midnight on December 31. According to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation department officials, UCC’s 337 MT waste will be transported by the end of the current year. The loading of the waste continued in the REEL containers It sought an urgent hearing on the matter. On December 3, the MP HC had pulled up the authorities for not taking steps to dispose of the waste despite repeated directions, including from the Supreme Court. 4Continued on | P6 'Fatwa' issued against New Year revelry IANS BAREILLY Ahead of the New Year, a controversial statement was made by Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, President of All India Muslim Jamaat. On Sunday, he spoke about a fatwa issued against participating in New Year's celebrations and offering greetings for the occasion. He advised Muslims not to engage in such activities and stated that those who do would be considered criminals according to Sharia law. He stressed that Muslims should refrain from participating in these practices. In a video message, he said: "Chashma Darul Ifta Bareilly Sharif has issued a fatwa regarding the celebration of the New Year. The fatwa states that celebrating the New Year as per the English calendar in January is inappropriate for Muslims. It also mentions that many Muslim boys and girls celebrate the New Year and exchange greetings, which is a religious ritual of Christians. Islam prohibits participating in or following the religious rituals of any other religion." India's defence exports crossed Rs 21K cr: Rajnath IN MAHAKAL’S DARBAR: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain on Monday FP News Service MHOW Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said India's defence exports have crossed a record Rs 21,000 crore from Rs 2,000 crore a decade ago. The Defence Minister accompanied by Chief of Army Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi, visited the training institutes of the Indian Army in Mhow on a two-day official visit. The visit included engagements at the Army War Col- lege (AWC), Infantry School, and the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE). Senior officers of the Indian Army were also present during the visit. On Monday,  Singh visited Army War College, where he was received by Lieutenant General HS Sahi, Commandant, Army War College. The Commandant briefed Singh about the role and significance of the institution in shaping future military leaders. 4Continued on | P6 offgrid Tailpiece FP News Service 4Continued on | P6 SpaDeX: Indian rendezvous in space WASHINGTON Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president and the third American head to make a trip to India, during which a village in Haryana was named Carterpuri in his honour, has died peacefully at his home in Plains, Georgia. Carter, who died Sunday at 100, was the longest-lived president in US history. "Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian," President Joe Biden said in a statement. A rvind Kejriwal is one politician who neither carries any ideological baggage, nor does he have has any pretensions about having such an incli- nation either. AAP was a counter-revolution. It was a revolt against the status quo, and votes for AAP were nothing but a wholesale rejection of established parties. Voters were fed up with the age-old establishment and wanted to teach them a lesson. Therefore, they chose AAP. State Service Mains 2023 results out NEW DELHI LG takes on Kejriwal Ashutosh NASHIK Bull run in gold will continue in 2025 KEJRIWAL TAKES ‘BHAKTI MARG’ Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar BHOPAL MONEY AS DELHI ELECTIONS NEAR | AAP promises Rs 18K salary for Hindu and Sikh priests, nothing for imams who the BJP says have not been paid salaries for 17 months NEW DELHI PUNE exactly struggling, either, with a net worth of Rs 52.59 crore. To put things in perspective, India’s per capita net national income for 2023-2024 is Rs 1,85,854. But a Chief Minister? They’re pocketing Rs 13,64,310—roughly 7.3 times the national average. Seems like they’ve mastered the art of self-income, huh? Collectively, the 31 Chief Ministers hold assets worth Rs 1,630 crore. Right behind Naidu in the wealth race is Arunachal Pradesh's Pema Khandu, with assets surpassing Rs 332 crore. 4Continued on | P6 Carter and Morarji Desai tango on eggshells V Sudarshan MUMBAI A week before Jimmy Carter's inauguration in January 1977, Indira Gandhi had ended the Emergency and scheduled elections for March 1977. In February, Indian President Fakrudin Ali Ahmed died, and Jimmy Carter, in a gesture of symbolism of considerable warmth, designated his mother, “Miss Lillian” who had served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer near Bombay during the late sixties, to represent the United States at the funeral. After the elections, which saw the defeat of Mrs Gandhi, the veteran Janata Party leader Morarji Desai, 81, virtually moved from jail to being the Prime Minister. The peanut farmer from Georgia and the austere Gujarati, both owed their elections to major political trauma -- Carter to Watergate, and Desai to Emergency. According to Dennis Kux, the author of a seminal work on Indo-US relations (19411991), Estranged Democracies, both men shared a “genuine concern on the principles of human rights democracy, disarmament.” The US repealed a law that required it to vote against all World Bank loans to India following the 1974 Pokhran nuclear test. Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brezeinski, placed India in a higher strategic position than the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. It classified India as a “regional influential”, along with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil and Venezuela. Morarji named Atal Behari Vajpayee as his foreign minister. Carter named a former Princeton University President Robert Goheen, who had been born in India of missionary parents, and who retained strong links with India, as ambassador. Before he left for Delhi Carter instructed Goheen to tell Morarji Desai: “If India would restrain from developing nuclear weapons and agree to discuss non proliferation, he would clear the pending Tarapur shipment.” When Goheen conveyed this to the Indian Prime Minister he promised Goheen, “I will never develop a nuclear bomb, and yes, we will engage in discussions.” Consequently, Kux records, on June 28, the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission, under pressure from the Carter administration, “approved the longpending export license for nine tonnes of enriched uranium fuel. Carter initiated a friendly and extended correspondence with Morarji Desai. When Deputy Secre- tary of State Warren Christopher visited, he did not couple it with the usual stopover in Islamabad, and told the press in New Delhi that US looked to “India as the leader in South Asia.” As Carter visited India, the third visit by a serving American President to India, on New Year’s Day, 1978, he kept Pakistan out of his itinerary as well. The visit proved disastrous because of the unresolved Tarapur issue. Kux writes: “An open microphone caught some private remarks between Carter and Vance, revealing the two sides remained far apart on the nuclear issue. “