DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Government of india Prosperity of farmers Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat CBC 22201/13/0205/2324 1 lakh 25 thousand PM Kisan Samriddhi Kendras developed as one stop shop; Farmers are getting modern facilities and information close to home DAY AFTER CONSECRATION, RAM TEMPLE OPENS TO PUBLIC 84 112 137 76 Army deploys more troops, strengthens surveillance in Rajouri-Poonch Security forces patrol an area in Poonch. File AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, JANUARY 23 THE ARMY has significantly ramped up its troop strength in the Rajouri-Poonch sector and heightened surveillance of the area in the wake of multiple attacks on its personnel in the last three years, officials told The Indian Express. The latest measures — after threemajorattacksonIndiansecurity forces in the region last year — stall the earlier plan to reduce the strength of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) battalions from six to four companies. RR is the counter-terrorism force deployed in J&K. According to sources, over three brigades of additional troops are being inducted in the sector from various reserve and strike corps formations. A brigade comprises approximately 3,500 personnel. The additional deployment CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD Five lakh visitors and counting: On Day 1, rush for ‘first darshan’ CM takes stock; system being put in place to have a holding area for crowd, says DGP AYODHYA, JANUARY 23 A crowd at the main gateway leading to the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday. Vishal Srivastav also at the temple and could be seen trying to ensure a smooth flow of pilgrims. At 4.40 pm, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached the temple town. He first did an aerial survey of the crowd from a helicopter and then reached the temple to take stock. “Exercise restraint and cooperate, Ram Lalla will give darshan to everyone,” the CM said MUMBAI, JANUARY 23 “DO YOU go to a doctor or a ‘tantrik’ if any family member is bittenbyadog/monkey?”—This is one of the questions that form the 38-page long questionnaire prepared by the Maharashtra State Backward Commission for the Maratha reservation survey, which commenced on Tuesday and which the state government hopestocompletewithinaweek. Government school teachers who have been roped in to completethesurveyhavecomplained that the process of completing the 40-page survey is time consuming and raised doubts on whether an effective enumeration of the 154 questions can be done within the timeframe laid down by the state government. The questionnaire includes five modules with 154 questions ranging from basic family information with income and other detailstosocio-culturalinforma- THE CITY TRAINRUNSOVER3 RAILWAYSTAFFERS FIXINGTRACKS; PROBEORDERED PAGE3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 tion and health related behaviours of individuals. The mandatory survey began acrossMaharashtraonTuesdayto determine the eligibility of the Maratha community as a backwardclass.Thesurveycoversthe Maratha community and the open category and will be completed by January 31. More than 1.25lakhenumerators,including superintendents and officials, have been appointed to conduct the survey. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rahul, others booked over scuffle after police stop yatra in Assam SUKRITA BARUAH ISRAEL SEES DAILY LOSSES IN GAZA; U.S., U.K. BOMB HOUTHIS AGAIN PAGE 14 in an appeal to pilgrims. He also called senior police and administrative officers and held a review of crowd management efforts on the premises. The administration, on the instructions of the CM, will increase barricading, officials said. Later, Director General of Police Vijay Kumar said, “A system is being put in place to have GUWAHATI, JANUARY 23 AN FIR was registered against RahulGandhiandotherCongress leadersonTuesdayafterascuffle brokeoutbetweenpeopletaking partintheBharatJodoNyayYatra andAssamPolicewhentheyatra tried to enter Guwahati city. Several people were injured, including Congress’s Assam chief Bhupen Borah. “With reference to wanton acts of violence, provocation, Rahul Gandhi in Guwahati on Tuesday. PTI damage to public property and assaultonpolicepersonneltoday byCongressmembers,anFIRhas been registered against Rahul Gandhi,KCVenugopal,Kanhaiya Kumar and other individuals,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa SarmasaidinapostonX.TheFIR was filed under several IPC sections, including those dealing withcriminalconspiracy,unlawful assembly, and rioting. Sarma had earlier said that he instructed police to register a case against Rahul Gandhi for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 9 chemo rounds and 5 yrs later, boy fights back cancer, meets his hero — Salman PAGE 1 ANCHOR RUPSA CHAKRABORTY MUMBAI, JANUARY 23 ASHElayinbedatMumbai’sTata Memorial Centre in 2018, weak afteraroundof chemotherapyto treatatumourthathadrendered himvisuallyimpaired,Jaganbeer, 4, refused to believe that actor Salman Khan was sitting next to him,onhishospitalbed.Untilhe ran his little fingers first over the actor's chiselled face and then, Khan's bracelet. Jaganbeer, 9, with Salman Khan at the actor’s bungalow in Bandra, Mumbai, in December last year. Tata Hospital During their 30-minute meeting, Salman made Jaganbeerapromise:theywould meet again if he fought cancer like a champion. Five years later, both Salman and Jaganbeer kept their word. Inaheartwarmingreunionat the actor’s Bandra house in Decemberlastyear,Jaganbeer,9, laid his eyes on Salman for the first time after he was declared cancer-free following nine rounds of chemotherapy and four of radiation. His mother Sukhbir Kaur, 42, said Jaganbeer was a little over three years old when he lost his CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Behind the move SANTOSH SINGH & VIKAS PATHAK PATNA, NEW DELHI, JAN 23 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Maratha quota: Teachers told to complete 40-page survey in a week PALLAVI SMART Bharat Ratna for ex-Bihar CM, ‘Jan Nayak’ Karpoori Thakur SOCIALIST ICON and Bihar’s former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur has been awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced Tuesday. The BJP-led Centre’s decision to confer the country’s highest civilianhonouronThakurcomes at a time when Bihar is MAULSHREE SETH AYODHYAWOKE upon Tuesday morning to a sea of people at the gates of the Ram temple, with queues beginning to form as earlyas3am.Thelargerthananticipated crowd prompted the administration to hold urgent meetings and the Chief Minister to personally pay a visit. By evening, around 5 lakh peoplehadpaidobeisancetothe Ram idol, a day after the consecration ceremony. Around 8,000 security personnel have been deployed to manage the rush. On Day 1, PrincipalSecretary(Home)Sanjay PrasadandDirectorGeneral(Law andOrder)PrashantKumarwere BJP BID TO BLUNT JD(U)-RJD SOCIAL JUSTICE PITCH Karpoori Thakur. Archive OUR GOVT WALKED ON HIS PATH BY NARENDRA MODI PAGE 8 BY EVOKING former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur just months before the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has sought to counter the Opposition's caste census pitch, and made a direct appeal to the non-Yadav OBC politics that Nitish Kumar has come to represent. Two days after communal clash, 15 shops demolished in Mumbai suburb ZEESHAN SHAIKH, VIJAY KUMAR YADAV & SIVA GANESH MUMBAI, JANUARY 23 TWODAYSafteraclashbrokeout between members of two communities in Mira Bhayander, a city in Maharashtra’s Thane district, the Mira Bhayander MunicipalCorporationusedbulldozers Tuesday afternoon to de- After the demolitions at Mira Road in Thane district on Tuesday. Sankhadeep Banerjee molishabout15structuresinthe Muslim-dominated Haidary Chowk area in Mira Road. Thepolicepickedup15more persons Tuesday, in addition to 13 who were held the previous day. Of these 13, nine were arrested; four were minors. On Sunday night, a group passing by in vehicles with saffron flags and chanting “Jai Shri Ram”,wasstoppedbysomelocal CONTINUED ON PAGE 2