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 FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Three acres ‘gifted’ to Karnataka CM’s wife under scanner JOHNSON T A BENGALURU, JULY 11 ASSET AFFIDAVITS filed by Karnataka Chief Minister M Siddaramaiah across the past threeassemblypollscontainseveral inconsistencies in submissionsregardingtheownershipof a3.16-acreparcelof “agricultural land”inMysorethatwas“gifted” to his wife 14 years ago, according to an analysis of official documents by The Indian Express. This land parcel, which was giftedtotheChief Minister’swife B M Parvati Siddaramaiah in 2010byherbrother,isalsoatthe centre of a political storm in the state with the BJP calling for protestsinMysore,thehomedistrict of Siddaramaiah, on July 12. The BJP and JD(S) have questioned the land’s subsequent transfer in 2021 to the state un- ‘SAFE HOUSES, URBAN DENS’ deracontroversial“50:50”alternate site scheme in exchange for 14 housing plots developed by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Siddaramaiah has dismissed the Opposition's allegations, pointing out that the land exchange took place when the BJP was in power, and that his Congress government has put the scheme on hold. He also said he was ready to return the plots in Mysore if compensation of Rs 62 crore at market rate was paid for his wife's land acquired by MUDA. The Indian Express, meanwhile, compared the affidavits filed by Siddaramaiah ahead of the Assembly polls in 2013, 2018 and 2023 with publicly available land records and found a mismatchwithregardtothe3.16-acre agriculture land under survey CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Citing ‘Naxalism in urban areas’, Maharashtra Govt tables Bill Jail term even if not a member of ‘unlawful organisation’ but 'aids' it ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, JULY 11 VIZHINJAM WELCOMES FIRST MOTHERSHIP The Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) in Thiruvananthapuram, India’s first deepwater trans-shipment port, received its first mothership, MV San Fernando, on Thursday. The 300-metre-long Marshall Islands-flagged ship berthed at VISL after arriving from Xiamen in China. PTI REPORT,PAGE9 UGC-NET row: JNU Budget focus likely on jobs, rural may go back to own economy and manufacturing entrance exam for PhD PM’S MEETING WITH ECONOMISTS 12/07/2024 92 120 148 78 In midnight visit, J&K cops detain HC Bar Association’s chairman BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, JULY 11 THE JAMMU and Kashmir police havedetainedthechairmanofthe J&K High Court Bar Association Nazir Ahmad Ronga following a midnight visit to his home in Srinagar,hissonsaidonThursday. The family claims they were informedinthemorningthatadvocate Ronga has been booked underthePublicSafetyAct(PSA). Ronga’s son Umair Ronga, also an advocate at the Srinagar High Court, first posted online, “My father, advocate N A Ronga, hasjustbeenarrestedinadeeply disturbing turn of events. At 1.10 am,acontingentof J&KPolicearrived at our home without any arrest warrant, merely stating, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY AANCHAL MAGAZINE VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA NEW DELHI, JULY 11 A RENEWED THRUST on jobs, alongside a concerted push to manufacturing and rural businesses, were the key issues flagged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with economists on Thursday. With less than a fortnight for the presentation of the Union Budget 2024-25 on July 23, the Prime Minister is learnt to have also touched upon the complexities of Centre-state relations, particularly with the Centre funding many programmes or schemes, and states not assum- NEW DELHI, JULY 11 PM Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at a meeting with economists in Delhi. ANI ing full accountability over implementingtheseontheground. The meeting was held in the NITI Aayog office with Finance After 3 shocks, 16.45 L jobs lost in informal sector over 7 years AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, JULY 11 THE NUMBER OF workers employed in the informal sector in 2022-23 has dropped by 16.45 lakh or about 1.5 per cent to 10.96 crore compared to 11.13 crore in 2015-16, according to the latest Annual Survey of Unincorporated Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2021-22 and 202223 released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The data available for the first time since 2015-16, provides an understanding of the impact of thethreemajorexogenousshocks viz.,demonetisationinNovember 2016, rollout of the Goods and Service Tax in July 2017, and the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, on the growth of unincorporated enterprises and the employment in these enterprises. The ASUSE for 2021-22 and 2022-23 also showed that the number of unincorporated enterprisesincreasedby16.56lakh CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UNINCORPORATED ENTERPRISES SURVEY 2022-23 Number of entities 2015-16 Number Number Number of workers of entities of workers Uttar Pradesh 89.94 lakh 1.57 crore 89.99 lakh 1.65 crore West Bengal 88.68 lakh 1.36 crore 78.31 lakh 1.05 crore Maharashtra 60.97 lakh 1.16 crore 47.79 lakh Tamil Nadu 42.29 lakh 0.85 crore 49.48 lakh 0.97 crore 0.91 crore Bihar 37.01 lakh 0.59 crore 34.46 lakh 0.53 crore All-India 6.50 crore 10.96 crore 6.34 crore 11.13 crore Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Principal Secretary P K Mishra also present. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PUNE IAS ROW Cops say challans of Rs 27k against car Khedkar was using, Centre forms panel EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PUNE, JULY 11 THE PUNE City Traffic Police on Thursday issued a notice to IAS probationer Dr Pooja Khedkar forunauthoriseduseof abeacon and Maharashtra government signonaprivatelyownedluxury car which she was found to be using. Police said the Audi car, which is registered in the name of a private engineering company, has 21 unpaid challans withtotalcompoundingcharges of Rs 27,000. Meanwhile, the Centre on Thursday formed a one-memberpaneltolookintothecontroversy involving the conduct of probationary IAS officer Pooja Khedkar.Anadditionalsecretary with the department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) will inquire into the matter. Khedkarwastransferredfrom PunetoWashimearlierthisweek following complaints about her CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Trafficked with postpartum psychosis, Bangla woman now a support worker PAGE 1 ANCHOR SAGAR RAJPUT MUMBAI, JULY 11 IN DECEMBER 2022, a Government Railway Police (GRP) team found a young woman in a long-distance train at Borivali. Bedraggled and undernourished, the woman wore an oversized green kurti and bore signs of a mental illness. The woman, a Bangladeshi national, had allegedly been illegally trafficked into India three years earlier. The 22-year-old now wants to put her past behind and return home to her five-year-old daughter. Express The team contacted Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation, a centre for the mentally-ill destitute in Karjat near Mumbai, which diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis — a rare but severe mental condition that affects new mothers. Today,the22-year-oldhasalmostrecovered.Nowworkingas a support worker at the Karjat rehabilitation centre, she wants toputherpastbehindandreturn home to her five-year-old daughter. “I miss my daughter very much and want to go back to her soon. I promise to never leave her again,” she told The Indian Express. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JAWAHARLALNEHRUUniversity (JNU) has started discussions on going back to the old system of conducting its own entrance examination for PhD admissions. This move comes in the wake of the recent cancellation of the University Grants CommissionNational Eligibility Test (UGCNET) a day after it was held, followingquestionsoveritsintegrity. Confirming this, JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree D Pandit said:“Wehavebeguntheprocess and are taking the opinion of all stakeholders.” The UGC-NET is a crucial examination for entrylevel teaching jobs and PhD admissions in universities. Sources told The Indian Express that Pandit initiated the move on July 3 and it may take up to eight weeks to reach a decision. A source said: “JNU is not abandoning UGC-NET. Rather, it CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 STATING THAT the “menace of Naxalism”is“increasinginurban areas... through Naxal frontal organisations”, the Maharashtra government on Thursday tabled the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024, which proposesjailtermevenif apersonis “not... a member of an unlawful organisation”, but “contributes/ receives/solicitsanycontribution oraid”or“harbours”itsmember, as well as for those who “promote or assist in promoting a meeting” of such groups. TheBillgrantsthestatetheauthority to declare an organisation as “unlawful” — a decision which can be reviewed by an advisory board set up by the state government. Citing “safe houses and urban dens of the Maoist network” inMaharashtra,itsayssuchgroups seek to “propagate their ideology ofarmedrebellionagainsttheconstitutionalmandate”. The Bill defines an “unlawful activity”asonewhichconstitutes a danger or menace to public order, peace and tranquility; interferes with maintenance of public order, “administration of law oritsestablishedinstitutionsand personnel”; designed to show The key provisions 3-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 3 lakh fine for member of an ‘unlawful organisation’. 2-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 2 lakh fine even if not a member, but “contributes/ receives/ solicits any contribution or aid” or “harbours” a member. 3-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 3 lakh fine if a person “manages/ assists in management” such an organisation or “promotes/ assists in promoting” its meeting or any member. 7-YEAR JAIL TERM, Rs 5 lakh fine if a person commits/ abets/ attempts/ plans to commit “any unlawful activity” of such an organisation. criminal force to any public servant;indulginginorpropagating acts of violence, vandalism, use offirearms,explosivesordisruptingcommunicationsbyrail,road, air or water; “encouraging or preachingdisobediencetoestablished law and its institutions”; CONTINUED ON PAGE 2