DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BY UNNY Govt widens CDS selection pool: Retired, serving 3-star officers now also eligible Announcementimminent;Chiefswho retiredafterSept2021outof reckoning THE WORLD GUPTABROTHERS HELD IN DUBAIOVER FRAUD CASE PAGE 12 KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, JUNE 7 SIXMONTHSafterGeneralBipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, died in a helicopter crash, the government has amended service rules of the armed forces, makingall serving and recently retired three-star Fear reduces number of Pandit pilgrims for annual mela to a trickle officers—LtGeneral,AirMarshal and Vice Admiral — under the age of 62 eligible for the post of CDS, according to notifications Monday. The new rules mean that the recentlyretiredchiefsof services will not be considered. The amendments also indicate that an announcement on the new CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK E ● Can be tricky THE NEW rules widen the CDS appointment pool, making retired three-star officers eligible. But this can be tricky given that the chiefs, who are four-star officers, may have to report to a retired three-star officer if he is named CDS. JAMMU, JUNE 7 MIHIR VASAVDA Kashmiri Pandits leave for Kheer Bhawani mela from Jammu Tuesday. PTI official said. There was no yatra in 2020 and 2021 owing to the pandemic. On Tuesday, a day before Ashtami — considered the most auspicious day at the temple — only 400-500 pilgrims were CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FROM BJP TO CONG, ALL ROADS LEAD TO MOOSEWALA’S HOME HYDERABAD RAPE: SIXTH ACCUSED, A JUVENILE, NABBED PAGES 6, 7 ECONOMY WORLD BANK CUTS INDIA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO7.5% FOR FY23 PAGE 13 New Tour of Duty for recruitment likely today KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, JUNE 7 THE GOVERNMENT is all set to announce on Wednesday a key change in how soldiers will be recruited for the Armed Forces, The Indian Express has learnt. Under the new Tour of Duty sys- tem, likely to be named “Agnipath”, soldiers or “Agniveer” will be recruited for a period of four years at the end of which they will get over Rs 10 lakh tax-free and certificates or diplomas for their service. The move aims to recruit about 45,000-50,000 personnel CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 For MLAs of 3 states, SEXUAL OVERTONES: COMPLAINT RS polls walk in park, Coach threatened me, said he wants me as wife: Cyclist complains to SAI splash in resort pool MUMBAI, JUNE 7 ARUN SHARMA ONLY 250 pilgrims from Jammu Tuesday left for Central Kashmir’s Kheer Bhawani temple in a heavily-protected government convoy — a sharp drop in footfall that comes amid the targeted killings in the Valley. The annual mela at the revered temple, also known as the Ragnya Devi temple, is among the most significant religious programmes for the Kashmiri Pandit community. In 2019, around 2,500-3,000 pilgrims had left for the temple in Ganderbal district’s Tulmulla village from Jammu in government-arranged buses, a senior `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SERVICE RULES AMENDED, AGE CAPPED AT 62 E X P L A I NE D BUSINESS AS USUAL SINCE 1932 SAYING THAT she feared for her “life”, a top Indian cyclist has accused the chief national team coach, R K Sharma, of allegedly forcinghimself intoherroom,offeringa“post-trainingmassage”, “forcefully” trying to pull her towards him, and asking her to “sleep with him”, during a camp inSlovenialastmonth,according to her complaint emailed to the Sports Authority of India (SAI). The complaint states that Sharma allegedly told the cyclist that he “wants” her “to be his wife”. When she resisted, the complaint alleges, the coach threatened to destroy her career by “removing her from the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Astonishing’ result in drug trial: First time, cancer vanishes in every patient GINA KOLATA JUNE 7 IT WAS a small trial, just 18 rectal cancer patients, every one of whom took the same drug. But the results were astonishing. The cancer vanished in every single patient, undetectable by physical exam, endoscopy, PET scans or MRI scans. Dr Luis A Diaz Jr of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an author of a paper published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the results, which were spon- sored by the drug company GlaxoSmithKline, said he knew of no other study in which a treatment completely obliterated a cancer in every patient. “I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” Dr Diaz said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HAMZA KHAN, VARINDER BHATIA & MANOJ C G JAIPUR, CHANDIGARH, NEW DELHI, JUNE 7 A SPLASH in the pool, a game or two over snacks, an evening by the poolside — resort politics is in and no one’s complaining. Aheadof theJune10RajyaSabha elections, legislators of at least three states — Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra — are huddled in five-star hotels and resorts to ensure rival parties do not lure away their MLAs. AttheTajAravaliResort&Spa in Udaipur, Rajasthan Congress MLAs and those supporting them have been kept busy and entertained with birthday celebrations, magic and movie shows, antakshari sessions, and Rajasthan Congress MLAs at the resort in Udaipur. Express more, since June 2. Photographs and videos emerging from the resort show RajyaSabhacandidatesRandeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2