DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JULY 8, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Temporary house in Germany, special horse feed: How Olympic cell paved road to Paris MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, JULY 7 MUMBAI HIT & RUN Shinde Sena leader held as his BMW kills woman; son at wheel, say cops `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 IN LESS than three weeks, when India’s athletes touch down in Paris for the Olympic Games, they will be travelling from different corners of the world — Japan to Germany, US to Turkey. For the Indian sports ecosystem, these journeys may well be thesignoffonthreeyearsofpreparations for the mega world event — on a scale never seen before, documentsaccessedbyTheIndian ExpressundertheRTIActshow. They range from living quartersinGermanyforabadminton entourage to special feed for horses in the equestrian event, according to the minutes of meetings held almost every YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW COUNTING MEDALS Medal projections by 5 key sports federations for the Paris Olympics Boxing 3 Badminton 2-3 Athletics 2 Archery 1 Weightlifting 1 E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION Thursday afternoon over the past three years by India's Mission Olympic Cell (MOC). Consider this: ■ A team of 12 specialists helping badminton ace P V Sindhu in her quest for a third Olympic medal at a boot camp intheGermanindustrialtownof Saarbrucken. ■ A table of the same make thatwillbeusedatthe Olympics imported from China for table tennis star Manika Batra to get usedtoitspace,spinandbounce. Source: Mission Olympic Cell. Assessments of other major sports like hockey, wrestling and shooting were not provided. P V Sindhu with the members of her entourage in Germany’s Saarbrucken town. Instagram ■SpecialhorsefeedforequestrianprospectAnushAgarwalla’s darkchestnutgelding,alongwith equipmentincludingsaddlepads, boots and blankets. ■ iPad and high-speed cameras for weightlifter Mirabai Chanu. TheMOCincludesformerathletes, Indian and foreign coaches, high-performance directors and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ISSUED BY CONTROLLER GENERAL OF PATENTS Express The BMW car at a Mumbai police station on Sunday. VIJAY KUMAR YADAV MUMBAI, JULY 7 A WOMAN was killed when a speeding BMW car owned by a ShindeSenaleaderrammedinto atwo-wheeleronwhichshewas travellinganddraggedheronthe bonnetfornearlytwokilometres before flinging her on the road, in Mumbai on Sunday morning, police said. The victim has been identifiedasKaveriNakhwa(45),aresident of Worli Koliwada, who was heading back with her husband, Pradeep Nakhwa (50), to sell fish bought from Crawford market. Pradeep Nakhwa was injured in the incident. The vehicle is owned by Rajesh Shah,a ShivSena(Eknath Shinde) leader from Palghar district. His son, Mihir, 24, was driving the vehicle, while their driver, Rajrishi Bidawat, was with him, police said. A case of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD FRANCE EXIT POLLS: SHOCK WIN FOR LEFT, FAR RIGHT FALLS TO 3RD, HUNG HOUSE ISRAELI STRIKE KILLS 16 AT CENTRAL GAZA SCHOOL PAGE 10 Commerce scraps 259 show cause notices to patent officers: ‘Not in line with procedure’ ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, JULY 7 THEMINISTRYof Commerceand Industry has withdrawn 259 showcausenoticesissuedbythe officeof theControllerGeneralof Patents,DesignsandTrademarks (CGPDTM)topatentofficers,saying the notices were “not in line of established procedure”. On January 3 this year, the All India Patent Officers’ Welfare Association had approached the ministry against the “unlawful show cause notices”. It sent another representation on April 1, saying the notices amounted to interference in the discharge of their statutory duties, intimidation and harassment by the CGPDTM. While the ministry “expresseddispleasureanddirected the CGPDTM not to initiate proposal for transfer of Group A officers until further orders”, it did not take any decision on the show cause notices. The Association then approached the Central AdministrativeTribunal(CAT).On May 27, the CAT principal bench askedtheministrytoconsiderthe Association's complaint alleging “illegitimate show cause notices and intimidation of officers”. Inanofficememorandumissued on June 26, the ministry withdrew the show cause notices.Sayingthatithadexamined the notices, it said it was of the opinion that they were not in “line of established procedure”. “Therefore, it has been decided by the competent authority to withdraw the 259 show cause noticesissuedbytheofficeof the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks to the 259 officials,” it said. The officials had contended thatsuchnotices,issuedwithout the authority of law, had made it CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, JULY 7 OFTHE`125croreannouncedby the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the T20 World Cup-winningteam,`5croreeach will go to the 15 players, includingthreewhodidn’tgettoplaya game, and head coach Rahul Dravid;`2.5croreeachtotherest of thecorecoachinggroup—bat- tingcoachVikramRathour,fielding coach T Dilip, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey; and `1 crore each to the five members of the senior selection committee, including chairman Ajit Agarkar, The Indian Express has learnt. The rest of the backroom staff will also be rewarded. The three physiotherapists, three throwdown specialists, two masseurs andthestrengthandconditioning CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GUNFIGHTS IN KULGAM Day after J&K encounters, toll up: 2 soldiers and 6 militants Big milestone, indicates flow of human intelligence, says DGP BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, JULY 7 WHILE TWO soldiers, including a Para commando, were confirmed killed in separate encounters which broke out in Chinigam and Modergam villages, both in Kulgam district of South Kashmir, on Saturday evening, the militant toll rose to six on Sunday. The soldiers who were killed have been identified as Para commando Pradeep Nain, 27, fromJinddistrictof Haryana,and Prabhakar Janjal, 26, from Akola district in Maharashtra. “From the confirmation of bodies, we have reports that six terrorists have been killed,” Director General of Police (DGP) PRESIDENT AT PURI RATH YATRA President Droupadi Murmu and Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi at the Rath Yatra in Puri on Sunday. A devotee died of suffocation while pulling a chariot at the yatra. ANI REPORT,PAGE7 How T20 prize will be split: `5 cr each for players, Dravid; selectors, staff to get share DEVENDRA PANDEY Soliders pay homage on Sunday to Pradeep Nain and Prabhakar Janjal who died in the Kulgam encounters. PTI CHANDIGARH, JULY 7 `5 cr each: Team of 15 and head coach Rahul Dravid `2.5 cr each for coaches: Vikram Rathour (batting), T Dilip (fielding), Paras Mhambrey (bowling) ‘Caste census must happen... This time, Opposition said the same thing that Kanshi Ram used to say 40 years ago’ `2 cr each: 3 physios, 3 throwdown specialists, 2 masseurs, 1 strength and conditioning coach `1 cr each: 5 selectors, 4 reserve players CHANDRASHEKHAR AZAD PRESIDENT, AZAD SAMAJ PARTY (KANSHI RAM) Video analyst, logistics manager, BCCI staff members at WC will also receive share of prize money PAGE 13 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Were expecting him home for child’s birth, say kin of dead soldier EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE `125 CRORE: WHO WILL GET WHAT R R Swain told reporters. “This is a big milestone, a substantial progress.These successeshave a lotof meaninginthesecurityenvironment”. “This is an indication that the security architecture and involvement of people is leading totheflowof humanintelligence andthisfight(againstterror)will be taken to its logical conclusion,” he said. On Saturday, a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and paramilitary forces hadcordonedoff Modergamvillage following intelligence inputsonthepresenceof militants in the area. As the team zeroed in on them, the militants hiding thereopenedindiscriminatefire, promptingtheforcestoretaliate, PRADEEP NAIN, 27, was supposed to go back home for the birth of his first child. On Saturday, the Para commando from Haryana’s Jind district was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district. His pregnant wife Manisha was admitted to a hospital on Sunday, her condition deteriorating after receiving the news, family members said. Pradeep’s body was expected to reach the village on Monday morning. Hailing from Jind’s Jajanwal Para commando Pradeep Nain was 27 village, Pradeep joined the Army in 2015 and was inducted in the Jatregiment.Hesubsequentlybecame a Para commando. Balwan Singh, Pradeep’s father, recalled how his son made multiple attempts to get into the Army. “He tried twice earlier but couldnotmakeit.Hedidnotgive upandeventuallygotselectedin CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Central Asia, Vietnam new buzzing destinations on Indian tourist map 61,385 1,80,467 36,214 46,701 21,793 ■ SecondhalfofFY23 ■ SecondhalfofFY24 ■ Increaseinfootfall 86,666 Azerbaijan Georgia Uzbekistan Vietnam Kazakhstan 751.5% 195.1% 114.3% 108.2% 69.5% Source: DGCA E E X P L A I NE D International passenger traffic data for scheduled direct flights 12,554 SOCIAL MEDIA platforms like Instagram and YouTube are brimming with posts from Indians travelling to Silk Road countries such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia,andSoutheastAsia’slatest tourism hotspot, Vietnam. Before the pandemic, these destinations largely attracted more discerning travellers from INDIANS HEAD TO NEW DESTINATIONS 4,254 NEW DELHI, JULY 7 Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The jump was around 115 per cent in the case of Uzbekistan, 108 per cent for Vietnam, and 70 per cent for Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, India’s total outboundpassengertrafficoninternational flights in H2 of FY24 grew 16.5 per cent y-o-y, the DGCA data shows. In the case of countries in CentralAsiaandtheCaucasus,all of which were part of the erstwhile Soviet Union, the jump in traffic came on a low base and was largely due to the introductionof directflightsfromIndiaby the country’s largest airline 28,039 SUKALP SHARMA India. But now, with a combination of enhanced direct flight connectivity, swift and hasslefree visa regimes, and relatively more affordable prices than the conventional touristy destinations, these countries are drawing price-sensitive Indian travellers in droves. Considerthis:Passengertraffic on direct flights from India to Azerbaijan in October-March (H2) 2023-24 (FY24) jumped by a whopping 750 per cent yearon-year (y-o-y), while for Georgia, it shot up by nearly 200 per cent, as per The Indian Express’sanalysisof international air traffic data released by the 3,293 PAGE 1 ANCHOR ● Price point BESIDES SIMPLE visa rules and easy connectivity, these countries have an added allure: they cost nearly as much or only moderately higher than a holiday at a popular domestic destination. And Indian airlines are taking notice of the demand, increasing routes as well as frequency. IndiGo in 2023. The airline felt that these markets were underserved and alsosaw an opportunitytostimulatedemandfurther. Before IndiGo’s flights to Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia, most of these markets were served from India by their respective statecarriers,essentiallymaking them monopoly routes. The other option was to travel via a hub airport in a third country. While that would have served existing demand, it was unlikely to have significantly stimulated demand and grown the market. There is no publicly available official data on the number of travellers from India who flew to overseas destinationsviaathirdcountry.Allthese countries have a sizable number of Indian students, mainly those pursuing medicine. This provides a base demand, which is now being augmented by rapidly growing leisure travel. IndiGo’s entry, industry watchers say, has brought in competition on these routes, madefarescompetitive,andprovided more options to passengers, which, along with other factors, have led to demand creation. IndiGo’s announcement last month that it will run daily CONTINUED ON PAGE 2