eye MCS/204/2020-22RNINO.MAHENG2002/21899 THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE From Seat to Stage MUMBAI,LATECITY JULY21,2024 How the equation between stars and fans has changed in the South 14+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT SC TO HEAR MATTER ON MONDAY City-wiseNEETresults show3.5%students gotover600outof720 21/07/2024 108 136 168 78 WRITES TO CONSULATE GENERAL IN MUMBAI In 109 centres, share of high scorers is 3 times over national avg; 60 in Sikar, Kota Trial slow and accused out on bail: Father of Dutch woman assaulted in Goa PAVNEET SINGH CHADHA RITIKA CHOPRA & HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, JULY 20 PANAJI, JULY 20 Security forces in Dhaka on Saturday, amid a curfew in response to protests against government job quotas. Reuters THE FAMILY of a 30-year-old Dutch woman, who was allegedly sexually assaulted and stabbed by an employee of a resort in Goa last year, has appealed to officials at the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Mumbai, requesting their intervention “to speed up the trial” and to enquire about the case withtheIndiangovernment,The Indian Express has learnt. Thewoman’sfatherwrotean email to Bart De Jong, the Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Mumbai, lamenting that the trial against theaccused,whoiscurrentlyout on bail, was “proceeding very slowly”. He said his daughter is still experiencing “day-by-day the effects of the assault” and “the fact that he (the accused) Delhi cautious as Dhaka in siege, over 100 killed in anti-reservation protests CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JULY 20 WITH MORE than 100 killed as protests against job quotas convulse Bangladesh and hold Dhaka in siege, New Delhi has been cautious not to comment onwhatitcallsan“internal”matter.Amidcurfewandaninternet shutdown imposed by the Sheikh Hasina government, the IndianmissioninBangladeshhas facilitated the return of 978 Indians — 778 through land borders and another 200-odd through flights, the Ministry of External Affairs said Saturday. The first batch of 245 Indians returnedFridaynightandthemission is in touch with more than 4,000Indianstudentsremaining. The protests in Bangladesh against the quota for freedom fighters’ families in government jobs has escalated over the last week, since Hasina’s statement onJuly14—“If thegrandchildren of the freedom fighters don't get quotabenefits,shouldthegrandchildrenof Razakarsgetthebenefit?” — sparked outrage among young protestors in the country. The bone of contention is the 30 per cent quota reserved for families of Bangladesh freedom fighters in the country’s governmentjobs.Protesterssay theseare CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SHOOT-AT-SIGHT ORDER, CURFEW PAGE 10 E E X P L A I NE D Around 1,000 Indians return, ruling Awami League blames Opp Politics of 1971 and ● job crisis USING 1971 to push the Opposition into a corner isn’t new in the winnertakes-all politics of the Awami League, that's been in power for the last 17 years. All eyes are now on the court in early August for an exit route for the government. Once in power, will scrap Faced pressure from Commissioner to Dharavi project tender clear hoarding, say two GRP officials awarded to Adani Realty, MOHAMED THAVER float fresh tender: Uddhav MUMBAI, JULY 20 MUMBAI HOARDING COLLAPSE CHARGESHEET TWO GOVERNMENT Railway Police(GRP)officials,includingits in-houselawofficer,havealleged thatthethenGRPCommissioner, Quaiser Khalid, put pressure on themtogiveafavourableopinion on the Ghatkopar hoarding, whichcollapsedonMay13killing 17 people. Thestatementsof thetwoofficials — ACP GRP Shahaji Nikam and law officer Hrushikesh Shirsat — form part of the 3,299page chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police. Nikam, who signed the approval for the hoarding, has alleged that Khalid said he should be transferred to the control The collapse on May 13 killed 17 people. File roomfor givinganadverseopinion. While signing the file, Nikam, in written remarks, indicatedthathewasdoingsoasper Khalid’s orders. The land on which the Ghatkopar petrol pump and the hoarding stood was given to the GRP — which reports tothe state government—forpolicewelfare by the state welfare and housing department. According to sources, since the land belonged to the state government, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) rules, which limit a hoarding to a maximum size of 40X40 feet, should have applied and the operator of the hoarding was liable to pay tax to the BMC. In his statement to the Crime Branch, GRP law officer Shirsat has said that when his legal opinionwassoughtinMay2021, he submitted an initial draft report stating that the BMC's permission would have to be taken to set up the hoarding. ButKhalidallegedlycitedthe opinions of a legal firm and a retired Judge, who said that as per CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Charges baseless: Shinde Sena leader VALLABH OZARKAR MUMBAI, JULY 20 FLAGGING SEVERAL flaws and irregularities, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the tender awarded to Adani Realty for the Dharavi redevelopment project will be scrapped once their government comes to power and it will then float a fresh tender with revised terms and conditions, and concessions. He also demanded that the contractshouldbescrappedand a fresh tender floated by the present government. Speaking at a press conferenceat hisMatoshreeresidence, Thackeraysaidtheresidentsand businessesinDharavishouldnot be displaced and asserted that those living there must receive 500 sq ft houses within the locality. “We will scrap the Dharavi slum redevelopment project contract after coming to power and float a fresh tender with revised terms and conditions. The government should give an CONTINUEDONPAGE2 From the city of diamonds in Gujarat, two table tennis players set sights on Paris Olympics gold PAGE 1 ANCHOR ANIL DIAS SURAT, JULY 20 NOTHINGABOUTSurat screams sport. Around the railway station, one can overhear people talking about bulls and bears, minutes before stock markets open. As one drives further into the city, past the textile mills and the bazaarsfullof sparklingdiamond shops,twoyoungmeninthiscity of dhandho (business) and diamondshavebeenobsessingover gold. And they will get their first shotatitlaterthismonthinParis. Surat, a city with practically zero Olympic sports history and negligible infrastructure, will now boast of two Olympian table tennis players — Harmeet Desai, 31, and Manav Thakkar, 24. Harmeet will compete in the singleseventandwillalsobepart the team event at the competition with Manav. Though both are from Surat, their road to Paris couldn’t have been more different. WhenHarmeettookuptable Harmeet Desai (left) and Manav Thakkar. Anil Dias tennisattheageof six,Suratdidn’t have any sporting clubs and the only TT table was at St Xavier’s School, near his house. Luckily for him, his father Rajul loved the game, which he had played at the university level. Harmeet was introduced to TT by his father. “There was a British club where I grew up. When it was closing down, my father managed to get one TT tablefrom there.That’showIfell in lovewiththesport.Harmeet’s love for TT has come from me,” Rajul says. Harmeet’s story begins at his old family home, a massive three-storey bluebungalow that is now a primary school run by his mother Archana. It also doubles up as a TT academy run by his older brother Hraday. Harmeet was around six when one of Rajul’s friends wanted to give away a TT table. Rajul, then a partner in a stockbroking firm, thought it was an opportunitytoreignitehispassion for the sport. Since space wasn’t an issue at his house, he assembledthetableonthegroundfloor, opposite a 12-foot waterfall. Harmeet’s love affair with the game blossomed in this very CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 COMPLYING WITH THE Supreme Court’s directions, the National Testing Agency (NTA) Saturday released individual scoresof roughly23.5lakhcandidates who appeared for the NEET-UG2024examination.The exams ran into a controversy afterreportsof questionpaperleak. Of the total candidates, a little over 81,000 candidates (or 3.49 per cent) scored 600 and aboveoutof 720marksintheexamination this year. In 2023, there were 29,351 such candidates (1.43 per cent of total), and in 2022, there were 21,164 can- didates (1.19 per cent of total). Ascoreof morethan600was good enough to land a seat in a government medical college in 2023. According to the city-wise and centre-wiseresults released by NTA as ordered by the SupremeCourt,over100centres of the total 4,750 where the entrancetestwasheldthisyearhad more than three times the share of high-scoring candidates (scoresexceeding600outof 720 marks) than the national average, shows NTA data. More than half of these 109 examination centres are located inSikar(44)andKota(16),which are coaching hubs in Rajasthan. Of the 44 test centres in Sikar CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Poor scrutiny of invigilators, unsafe internet link: Panel flags gaps in exams MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, JULY 20 OUTSOURCING EXAMS to private labs which don’t use “safe” internet connections,useof personal hotspots to download question papers, no proper scrutiny of invigilators, some exam centres located in secludedareas—thesearesomeof the concerns raised by a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BEHIND PSMC-TATA VENTURE Chip dreams: As Taipei takes a short step forward, Delhi assures a smooth long road ANIL SASI TAIPEI, NEW DELHI, JULY 20 THAT TAIWAN and India ought to be strategic partners, especially in chip fabrication, is a steady refrain in Taipei City and New Delhi. Taiwan is an undisputed world leader and India is keen to make late inroads in this domain. On the ground, however, the partnership faces challenges even as there’s a shared sense of strategic alignment. Despiteastrongnudgebyformer President Tsai Ing-wen to Taiwan’s chip fabrication giants to consider investing in India, there’s only one company that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2