DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY root out corruption Over ₹ 32 lakh crore transferred directly to beneficiaries’ accounts through DBT Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat Means Guarantee to Scan for more information COUNCIL OF MINISTERS MEETS LAST TIME BEFORE ELECTION Confident of return, Govt readies 100-day action plan after polls PM Modi chairs day-long meeting, will tour five states over next three days HARIKISHAN SHARMA & LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh Under fire from TMC for ‘vulgar’ songs, BJP’s Asansol pick opts out SANTANU CHOWDHURY KOLKATA, MARCH 3 A DAY after the BJP announced his name as its candidate from Asansol for the Lok Sabha polls, Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh Sunday said he will not contest from the constituency in West Bengal. Although he did not give a reason, Singh's candidaturehaddrawncriticismfrom TMCleaders, whoclaimedsome of his songs had vulgar references to Bengali women. AstheBJPcameunderattack, Singh in a post on X said: “I expressmyheartfeltgratitudetothe top leadership of the Bharatiya JanataParty.Thepartytrustedme anddeclaredmeasthecandidate from Asansol, but due to some reason, I will not be able to contest the elections from Asansol.” There was no official word from the BJP on his decision, but sources said the backlash on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KOLKATA, NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 PM Narendra Modi addresses the meeting of the Council of Ministers in Delhi on Sunday. ANI toldtheofficerstocontinuetheir work on government projects and schemes and not treat the election period as a vacation when the political leadership will be busy with the electoral process. “Aap chhutti mat samajhiye, kaam par lag jaaiye (don’t think INDIA bloc leaders at the rally in Patna on Sunday. PTI preparation.Itinvolvedawholeof-governmentapproachinvolvingallministriesandwide-ranging consultations with state governments, academia, industry bodies, civil society, scientific organisations and mobilisation of youth for seeking their ideas, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in Kolkata on Sunday. PTI In a divided Bar, judge’s move raises questions on independence of judiciary APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 contest Presidential elections as theOppositioncandidateagainst Congress’s Zakir Hussain. Barely six weeks before his retirement, former SC judge Baharul Islam resigned in 1983 to contest the Lok Sabha ● elections from Barpeta, Assam, as a Congress candidate. E A SITTING judge of a Constitutional court resigning to join politics is not new. Former Chief Justice of India Koka Subba Rao in 1967 had resigned three months before his retirement to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MANOJ C G Lalu to Tejashwi, Rahul to Akhilesh: Opposition targets PM at Patna rally HAVING DECIDED to frame unemployment as one of its major talkingpointsagainsttheBJPgovernment during the Lok Sabha pollcampaign,theCongressisset tocomeupwithsome“outof the box” promises in its manifesto to ease joblessness and soften the blow of repeated exam paper leaks,hopingtheywouldstrikea chord with the youth. The Congress think tank is said to be looking at the muchpraisedapprenticeshipmodelof Germany and tailoring it for Indian conditions. The German dual education model(vocationaleducationand training system) allows smooth education-to-work transitions with young people getting onthe-jobtimeatacompanywhile studying at a vocational school. The model, Congress leaders believe,offerstheyouthanattractive way to enter the job market. The challenge is to tailor the model to suit Indian conditions theyarebuildingtheirpartycampaigns. Rahul spoke about the Congress’s opposition to the Agniveerscheme,the“love-hate” binary, and representation for marginalised communities. Tejashwi, whose 11-day statewideyatraculminatedinthe rallySunday,playeduphispartin the state’s scheme for 10 lakh jobs. His father Lalu, in signature style, launched barbs at Modi. “Ye Modi kya hai? Modi koi cheezhai?NarendraModiparivarvaadparboltahaiaurkitnenetaon PATNA, MARCH 3 PAGE 12 you are on holiday, get down to work)... When it comes back after the elections, the government will work with new vigour andzeal,“sourcesquotedhimas having said. Sources said, “The roadmap for Viksit Bharat is a result of morethantwoyearsof intensive IN AN UNPRECEDENTED move, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a sittingjudgeof theCalcuttaHigh Court, said Sunday that he will resign Tuesday as a judge and join politics. Thejudge,whoisduetoretire in August, has been at the centre ofcontroversyforhisfrequentremarks against some of his own colleagues,therulingTMCandits leader Abhishek Banerjee. “I will enter the field of politics. I am not telling you today which party I will start with. I wanttofirstfinishthelittlework that is still left in court. Tomorrow, I will wrap that up. I will verbally inform the Chief Justice. And the day-after morning, I will send my resignation to On Congress manifesto table: Germany-style apprenticeship, paper leak compensation SANTOSH SINGH CHAIRMAN, US-INDIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FORUM BJP, Cong say he is welcome; TMC calls him political party worker SWEETY MISHRA & APURVA VISHWANATH MEETING IN New Delhi for the last time before the announcement of the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, the Union Council of Ministers, confident that the ruling alliance would be voted to power for a third consecutive term, discussed Sunday a 100-day action plan to be implemented by the new government after the polls. The day-long meeting of the Union Council of Ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saw presentations by Secretaries on a vision documentforViksitBharat2047 andadetailedactionplanforthe next five years. In these presentations, the PrimeMinister’svisionforViksit Bharat was outlined, sources said, underlining that these included zero poverty, skill to every youth, and 100 per cent saturation of welfare schemes. Modi was quoted as having INDIA bloc leaders raise BJP’s ‘divisive politics’ and Nitish Kumar’s flip-flop ‘India will outgrow the rest of the world if it continues on the path of inclusion’ JOHN CHAMBERS Justice Gangopadhyay of Calcutta HC says quitting to join politics, slams TMC EXPLAINED Government of india `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 cbc 22201/13/0325/2324 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES THE INDIA bloc Sunday held its first joint rally since Nitish Kumar’s exit as top leaders, includingCongress’sRahulGandhi, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav and RJD’s Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, converged in the Bihar capital to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “divisive politics” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Alltheleaderstouchedonthe key talking points upon which CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Where clean air funds allotted to states went: Fountains, roads, desilting drains PAGE 1 ANCHOR ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND CITIES THAT GOT MOST FUNDS (in ` cr) Released between 2019-20 and February 2024 under NCAP/15th Finance Commission NEW DELHI, MARCH 3 City ■ Fundsutilised A FOOTBALL ground; fountains; roads; underground drains. Theseareamongtheitemslisted bystateswhenquestionedbythe National Green Tribunal (NGT) about how they utilised funds meant for tackling air pollution. These funds were allocated under the National Clean Air Programme(NCAP)andthe15th Finance Commission (FC) be- Lucknow* 238.74 Patna 194.26 Bhopal 178.40 Ghaziabad 114.71 Gwalior ■ Fundsreleased 385.83 298.6 183.85 136.25 102.64 (utilisationamountunavailable) Kota 64.57 101.25 Ludhiana 71.39 97.75 *Allotment amount till FY24. Utilisation amount till FY23 Source: Environment Ministry, reports submitted by states to NGT tween the financial years (FY) 2019-20 and 2023-2024. According to an Environment Ministry submission in the NGT last month, 19 cities flagged by the tribunal for their deterioratingairqualityreceived`1,644.40 crore in this period. But records show that a number of states underutilised the funds and some of them spent a notable chunk on projectswhoseconnectiontoairpollution may not seem readily apparent — a point brought up by the tribunal itself. The NGT, in November 2023, had flagged the deteriorating air CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata
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