FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLII No. 24 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | JULY 2, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports Tanvi Sharma: Teen Titan takes over world P.12 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE WORLD PM Paetongtarn suspended over a leaked phone call UJJAIN PRESS PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Poor face exit from ballot box P.6 Cinema Shefali was ahead of her time P.14 MODI BOOST: RS 99K CR TO CREATE 3.5 CR JOBS Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar Announced in the Union Budget 2024-25, the ELI Scheme will offer one month’s wage (up to `15,000) to first-time employees. Employers creating new jobs will receive incentives for up to two years. The government has earmarked `99,446 crore for the scheme, which targets creation of over 3.5 crore jobs in two years. NEW DELHI Before embarking on a fivenation, two-continent tour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet that approved a slew of major initiatives, including the Rs 1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme, the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme, and the National Sports Policy 2025. The total financial outlay of these initiatives exceeds Rs 2 lakh crore. Among the key decisions, the Cabinet approved the RDI Scheme with a corpus of Rs1 lakh crore to boost research, development, and innovation in strategic and sunrise sectors. Given the current geo- political climate, the RDI Scheme was deemed the most significant. It aims to provide long-term financing or refinancing with extended tenures at low or zero interest rates to the private sector, driving innova- tion and commercialisation of research. A Cabinet note outlined the scheme’s objectives: encouraging private sector investment in research and innovation tied to economic security and strategic needs; funding high-TRL (Technology Readiness Level) transformative projects; supporting acquisition of critical technologies; and establishing a “Deep-Tech Fund of Funds.” The scheme will be guided by the Governing Board of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), chaired by the Prime Minister, and will follow a two-tiered funding model. The Cabinet also approved the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme to foster employment generation, enhance UNANIMOUS CHOICE | A choice of CM and RSS, he is assuming office today Hemant Khandelwal BJP’s state president unopposed Our Staff Reporter HE CAME INTO POLITICS THROUGH BY-ELECTION IN 2007 BHOPAL Legislator from Betul Hemant Khandelwal will take over as the BJP’s state unit president. Khandelwal was unanimously elected to the post on Tuesday. Khandelwal filed his nominations in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jyotiraditya Scindia and the party’s present state unit president VD Sharma. State election in charge Dharmendra Pradhan is conducting the election process.  The nominations of Khandelwal were filed in separate sets.   As, other than Khandelwal, nobody filed nominations for the post, he was elected unopposed. fp Briefs HYDERABAD Pharma unit blast toll 45 The death toll in the Sigachi Industries chemical factory explosion in Pashamylaram, near Patancheru, rose to 45 by Tuesday evening, making it one of the worst industrial disasters in Telangana’s history. BENGALURU CAT blames RCB for stampede The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Tuesday observed that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru are "prima facie responsible" for the stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, which led to the death of 11 people. See Sports emant Khandelwal is the son of former MP Vijay Khandelwal. His political career began with the Lok Sabha by-election in 2007. After his father’s death, the BJP gave him a ticket for the by-election. He was elected MLA in 2013 and 2023. Khandelwal was BJP’s district unit president and treasurer. H CM Mohan Yadav submitting nomination of Hemant Khandelwal to union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is Returning officer in election, at BJP office on Tuesday. He will officially take over on Wednesday when the present president, VD Sharma, will get a farewell. Free Press wrote several times that Khandelwal would be the BJP’s state president.  Khandelwal has been the choice of Yadav and the RSS. The names of several tribal leaders and women were doing the rounds for the post. But the central leadership finally approved Khandelwal’s name. Aspiring for ministerial berth, but becomes party’s state head tment e possible appoin s. had reported on th FP d June 28 edition ant in its Feb 1 an of Hem ‘Not charity, immortality,’ MP to give guard of honour to organ donors Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The state government has decided to give a Guard of Honour to the mortal remains of organ or bodydonors, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced on Tuesday. The family of these donors will also be felicitated at the district programme on Republic Day or Independence Day. This decision will provide a fillip to the body or organ donation efforts, whichcan save several lives. Confirming the government's resolve, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav took to X (formerly Twitter), and said, “Giving the gift of life after death… is not just charity, it is immortality.” Dr Rakesh Bhargava, Secretary, Kiran Foundation, working in the body and organ donation domain, said that the government’s decision to felicitate organ or body donors will create a favourable atmosphere to encourage people to do the same.  Hemant Khandelwal was aspiring for a ministerial berth, and his name was also doing the rounds for his induction into the cabinet. He missed the opportunity because of the caste equation. But he is lucky to have been elected the party’s state president. Minister says to media she is being harassed One village in each assembly constituency to be selected to boost cow rearing Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL To make villages self-reliant, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved the Mukhyamantri Vrindavan Gram Yojana. Under the scheme, one village in every assembly constituency with a minimum population of 2000 people and at least 500 cows will be selected and developed. The scheme envisages cow rearing, environment and water conservation, solar energy, development of meadows and infrastructure etc. The main aim of the scheme is to promote cow rearing and dairy development and to strengthen a self-employmentbased economy. Facilities Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL An allegation of graft of Rs 1,000 crore against the minister of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Sampatiya Uikey, has snowballed into a serious issue. Uikey raised the matter in the cabinet on Tuesday, saying the inquiry ordered by the engineer-in-chief (E-in-C) of the Former legislator Kishor Samrite wrote to the Prime Minister against Sampatiya Uikey and two officers of PHED, BK Songariya and Manoj Bhaskar. The Prime Minister s Office sent the letter to the office of the Chief Secretary, which forwarded the letter to the PHED. The E-in-C of the PHED ordered an inquiry into the complaint, which raised a storm department tarnished her image. She demanded Chief Minister Mohan Yadav act against the E-in-C and the complainant Kishore Samrite. The ministers backed Uikey, saying ordering an inquiry into a baseless complaint was not the right thing to do. The ministers wanted to know whether an officer had the right to order an inquiry against a minister. According to sources, the state government may issue a show-cause notice to E-in-C Sanjay Andhwan seeking an explanation from him. 4Continued on | P8 2 students killed as speeding car overturns LONG DRIVE TURNS DEADLY INDORE Two engineering students were killed and three of their friends injured after a car crashed and overturned near Ralamandal under the Tejaji Nagar police station limits in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. Dhruv & Dheeraj The accident happened when they went out for a drive on the bypass road and the speeding car lost control and flipped over. The impact was so severe that the roof of the car was completely destroyed, leaving all five occupants seriously injured. Passersby informed the police, who rushed the victims to the hospital, where the duo succumbed to injuries during treatment. The deceased were identified as Dheeraj Patidar, 20, and Dhruv Patidar, 19, both from Mandleshwar, Khargone. 4Continued on | P8 offgrid RailOne app to address passenger needs at one place Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launched on Tuesday the RailOne mobile application, which can help passengers get easy access to multiple services such as ticket booking, train and PNR enquiry, journey plan- Cabinet okays Mukhyamantri Vrindavan Gram Yojana Samrite’s letter raises storm Our Staff Reporter PTI 4Continued on | P8 Uikey raises allegations of graft against her in cabinet Three injured NEW DELHI employability, and provide social security— particularly in the manufacturing sector. Announced in the Union Budget 2024-25, the ELI Scheme will offer one month’s wage (up to Rs 15,000) to first-time employees. Employers creating new jobs will receive incentives for up to two years. The government has earmarked Rs 99,446 crore for the scheme, which targets creation of over 3.5 crore jobs in two years. ning, rail help services and meal booking. Vaishnaw inaugurated the app, available on both Android Play Store and iOS App Store platforms, at the 40th Foundation Day celebrations of the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). "RailOne App is a one- stop solution for all passenger needs. Through this app, passengers get easy access to the following services: Ticketing -- reserved, unreserved, platform tickets; train and PNR enquiry; journey planning; rail help services; meal booking in train," a press note from the Railway Ministry said. "Additionally, facilities for enquiry related to freight are also available," it said. Highlighting the basic objective of the app, the ministry said that it will provide a better experience to the users, realised through a simple and clear user interface. 4Continued on | P8 Bhopal to have National Defence University The state cabinet gave in principle consent for establishment of a National Defence University in Gandhi Nagar. For this purpose, Rs 1.5 crore per year will be provided for three years. For the permanent premises of the National Defence University, 10 acres of land from the premises of the Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV) will be transferred. Till the building of the varsity is constructed, the available building of the RGPV will be provided for the functioning of the university. MESS FOR BC STUDENTS The cabinet also gave in principle approval to start a mess in departmental hostels of the backward class welfare department. There are 108 hostels of the department in the state with 9050 inmates. A fund of Rs 31 crore has been sanctioned for the purpose. under six categories will be provided through the scheme. Reconstruction of bridges The cabinet gave in principle approval to sanction Rs 4,572 crore for reconstruction of 1766 bridges from 2025-26 till 2029-30 under reconstruction of damaged bridges schemes. The damaged bridges will be reconstructed and will be connected with all season roads. FSL POSTS APPROVED The cabinet approved 1266 posts, including 202 scientist officers, for Madhya Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratories. NEET-UG re-exam for Indore, Ujjain students put on hold until July 10 Our staff reporter INDORE A division bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court at Indore on Tuesday put a temporary stay on the re-examination order for NEET-UG candidates from Indore and Ujjain, citing the need for further deliberation. The next hearing is scheduled for July 10, during which 32 additional petitions—filed after June 3—will also be reviewed. The matter stems from widespread power outages during the NEET-UG exam held on May 4 across several centres in Indore and Ujjain. More than a hundred students, who filed petitions before June 3, claimed the outages disrupted their ability to take the exam fairly. On Monday, the court had ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to hold a reexam for these students. However, the NTA challenged the decision, calling it "impractical." 4Continued on | P8 INDIA-US TRADE AGREEMENT Watch this space, says EAM as talks enter last stretch Vidhi Santosh Mehta MUMBAI “Watch this space,” said External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. “It’s not done till it’s done.” In an interview with Newsweek during a fireside chat on India’s evolving foreign policy and global stature, Dr Jaishankar characterised that India and the United States are currently engaged in “very intricate” trade negotiations offering insights into the depth and complexity of the ongoing trade dialogue between the two nations. “We are in the middle, hopefully, more than the middle of a very intricate trade negotiation,” he said. “My hope would Trump-Musk feud reignites Agencies WASHINGTON be that we bring it to a successful conclusion. I cannot guarantee it because there’s another party to that discussion. But no question, we do think today that trade, you know, there will have to be give and take.” The comments came a week before the July 9 deadline set by Trump for imposing the tariffs. The minister emphasised the realistic challenges of aligning expectations on both sides. “Just like the U.S. or people in the U.S. may have views about India, people in India have views about the U.S. too. And we’ll have to find a kind of meeting ground there. I believe it’s possible.” Tech billionaire Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump reignited their public feud over the Big Beautiful Bill, with Trump threatening to cut federal subsidies to Musk’s companies. In response, Musk hit back on social media and floated the idea of launching a new political party. Trump launched a sharp attack on Tesla CEO Elon Musk, claiming that Musk's businesses would collapse without government support. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Musk would "probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa" if subsidies were removed. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8