DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BY UNNY Delimitation panel releases final order: Jammu gets 43 seats and Kashmir 47 Each of the five LS constituencies will comprise 18 Assembly seats GOVT & POLITICS ANISHA DUTTA, BASHAARAT MASOOD & ARUN SHARMA NEW DELHI, SRINAGAR, JAMMU, MAY 5 UKRAINE: MODI AND MACRON DISCUSS EACH OTHER’S STAND PAGE 5 `6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 7 ADDITIONAL SEATS: JAMMU GETS 6, KASHMIR 1 FINALISING ITS order for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Delimitation Commission Thursday recommended seven additional constituencies — six for Jammu and one for Kashmir — taking the total number of seats in the UT to The delimitation panel in Srinagar on Thursday. ANI 90 from 83 earlier. This will increasethenumberof seatsinthe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D BUSINESS AS USUAL SINCE 1932 Next step: Assembly ● polls WITH THE final order now notified, all eyes will be on the EC and the Union government regarding the timing of Assembly elections. Though mainstream parties in the Valley have criticised the report, it is likely that this will make space for political engagement in the UT. EXPLAINED,PAGE10 Disempowers, biased: J&K parties oppose panel order NAVEED IQBAL & ARUN SHARMA SRINAGAR, JAMMU, MAY 5 OPPOSINGTHEfinaldelimitation order on Thursday, both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and People’s Conference called it an attempt to “disempower” the people of Kashmir, while the Congress said it was “biased and motivated”. The National Conference (NC) said it was “studying the implications” of the order. “We outrightly reject it,” said PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. She said the Delimitation Commissionhad“overlookedthebasisof populationandactedaspertheir wish...Wedon’ttrustit.Itsrecommendations are a link to abrogation of Article 370 — how to disempower people of J&K.” "The PDP, from Day 1, has maintained that the DelimitationCommission,eventhough CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHO: 47.4 lakh India Covid deaths, nearly 10 times official count ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, MAY 5 COVID COULD have killed as manyas47.4lakhpeopleinIndia in 2020 and 2021, either directly duetoinfectionorthroughitsindirect impact, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday. The figure, disputed by India, is nearlytentimesthecountry’sofficialCoviddeathtollof 4.81lakh at the end of 2021. In its report on excess deaths due to Covid, WHO said that an estimated 1.5 crore people are likely to have succumbed to the direct or indirect impact of the disease globally during the first two years of the pandemic — instead of the 54 lakh that have beenrecordedofficiallybycoun- EXCESS MORTALITY In 5 most populous countries, per 100,000 population Country China India USA Indonesia Pakistan 2020-21 -2 171 140 187 52 Excess mortality is difference between total deaths & deaths expected in absence of Covid. Source: WHO tries separately. For India, the WHO said about 8.3 lakh deaths are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In Hyderabad, man hacked to death Sedition: SC explores larger bench, Over 90% deaths went by wife kin over interfaith wedding AG for norms against law misuse unreported? Why WHO data raises questions CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A video grab of Ashrin trying to stop her brother Mubin Syed who attacked her husband Nagaraju and is now absconding Lynching of 2 tribals in MP: Families of 6 held say accused linked to Bajrang Dal ANAND MOHAN J SEONI (MP), MAY 5 AT LEAST six of the 13 persons arrested for the death of two tribal men, who were assaulted on Tuesday over allegations of Teen athletics star sparks buzz with top biomechanics numbers Priya Mohan beat Dutee Chand four days ago ANDREW AMSAN NEW DELHI, MAY 5 PRIYA MOHAN HAD a go at singing,dancing,playingthekeyboard,evenpainting.“Itriedthem all out because my parents wanted me to, but my first and only love has been athletics,” she says. Today, the 19-year-old is the centre of a rising buzz in Indian athletics. Not just because she beat India's fastest runner Dutee Chandfourdaysago.Sheisbeing hailed as a potential world-class athlete, with incredible musclelevers,bybiomechanicsexperts. “At our centre, we have tested more than 2000 elite athletes, but her readings are way better than any athlete who has walked in here,” says Anthony Chacko, director of the Karnataka state-run Centre for Sports Science (CSS). “Her torque (strength and force generated by the legs and muscles around the thoracic spine) is about 480 Newton metres while most elite athletes we tested were in the 280 Nm CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni, are members of the Bajrang Dal — and had allegedly participated in previous “raids against cattle smugglers”, their family members told The Indian Express. The families of some of the six others arrested claimed they were cajoled into joining the raid, which led to the deaths, by people they met at a local wedding. Another accused is a tribal youth whose family does “not know much” about the case. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WORLD ISRAEL TIGHTENS GRIP IN WEST BANK WITH PLANNED CURBS PAGE 11 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHILE there is little doubt that India’s official Covid-19 death toll is an undercount, as is the case with probably most other countries, the “excessmortality” figures released by the World Health Organisation Thursday raise several questions. The WHO’s estimate of 47.4 lakh Covid-related deaths in India in 2020 and 2021 flies in the face of overall death data, historicaltrendsindeathreporting, and Covid death CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GOVT’S DEATH DATA ■ Estimated ■ Registered ■ Registrationincrease overpreviousyear REGISTRATION(%) 84.60 92.00 2018 2019 99.90 81,15,882 PUNE, MAY 5 81,20,268 HEARINGPETITIONSchallenging the constitutional validity of Indian Penal Code Section 124A dealing with sedition, the SupremeCourtdecidedThursday tofirst examineif itshouldbereferredtoalargerbenchinlightof its1962judgmentupholdingthe provisionafterreadingitdown.It will hear detailed arguments on May 10 on whether the matter should be referred. Contendingthattherulingby a five-judge Constitution bench in Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar was a “very well balanced AMITABH SINHA 83,01,769 A HINDU-MUSLIM couple was attacked at a busy crossing in Hyderabad Wednesday night, allegedly by the woman’s relatives, who hacked her husband to death. Police have arrested two of the woman’s relatives while her brother and another relative, who allegedly carried out the attack, are absconding. B Nagaraju, 25, and his wife Ashrin Sultana, 23, were on a motorcycle when around 8.45 pm, they were waylaid near Mandal Revenue Office at NEW DELHI, MAY 5 your lordships have seen what has been happening in this country. Yesterday, somebody wasdetainedunderthisparticular section because they wanted the Hanuman Chalisa recited. They have been released on bail. These are the instances which your lordships will have to considerandlaydownguidelinesfor thefutureinapplyingandimplementingSection124Aof IPC,”he told the bench of Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli. He said “guidelines are the single most important thing where your lordships will say what is permissible, what will 76,41,076 HYDERABAD, MAY 5 judgment” and need not be referredtoalargerbench,Attorney General K K Venugopal said Section 124A should be retained andonlyguidelinesbelaiddown to prevent its misuse. Venugopal is assisting the court in the matter in his capacityasAttorneyGeneralwhilethe Centralgovernmentisbeingrepresented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Venugopal referred to the recent row over Hanuman Chalisa in Maharashtra wherein independent MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana have been booked for sedition. “Misusehastobecontrolled...by laying down guidelines,because 69,50,607 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G 82,12,576 SREENIVAS JANYALA 2020 4,86,828 6,90,469 4,74,806 Source: PIB