JAISWAL, GILL WRAP UP INDIA’S SERIES FUNDAY FICTION: WIN AGAINST FEAR LURKS ZIMBABWE WEIRD LAWS: FROM PEOPLE TO PUMPKINS 14 JULY 2024 www.thestatesman.com Twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd Facebook.com/thestatesman PAGE 15 PAGE 14 PAGE 12 India’s National Newspaper since 1818 PAGES 16 | `5.00 | LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Generally cloudy sky. Light rain/thundershower likely to occur. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely be around 31°C and 26°C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 97% TEMPERATURE Max: 32.4 °C (-0.4) SUN RISES 05:0 hrs MOON RISES 11:9 hrs INDIA bloc emerges on top in Assembly bypolls, wins 10 out of 13 seats; BJP bags two seats TMC sweeps bypolls, Didi credits the public On one side, there were agencies, on the other, the BJP, but people are resisting: CM NIKHIL VYAS NEW DELHI, 13 JULY Min.77% Min: 27.0°C (+0.1) SUN SETS 18:25 hrs MOON SETS 23:4 hrs Full Moon on 21 July THUMBNAILS Trinamul Congress candidate for the Maniktala assembly constituency Supti Pandey along with her daughter Shreya Pandey show the victory sign after winning the by-poll, in Kolkata on Saturday.  ANI Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee addresses the media after four party candidates won in by-elections, at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on Saturday.  SNS Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat sky-dives on the occasion of World Sky Diving Day, in Narnaul Haryana on Saturday. ANI Modi government invading privacy of political opponents, says KC Venugopal: Congress leader KC Venugopal on Saturday accused the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre of acting in a criminal and unconstitutional manner and invading privacy of the political opponents. In a post on X, Venugopal, who is the Congress General Secretary in-charge of Organisation said Apple has alerted him to “malicious spyware” detected in his phone, which he blamed the Modi government for. “Thank you PM Modi ji for sending your favourite malicious spyware on my phone also. Apple has been kind enough to intimate me about this special present of yours,” Mr Venugopal stated in a post on (Page 5) microblogging platform X. Pistol threat case: Pune police book probationary IAS officer’s parents AGENCIES STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 13 JULY ontinuing its winning streak after its success in the Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Trinamul Congress won all four Assembly seats ~ Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda and Maniktala ~ where by-elections were held earlier this week. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who returned to the city from Mumbai on Saturday, attributed the success in the bypolls to the people. “There were many conspiracies. On one side, there were agencies, and on C MLA of the same constituency, had left the saffron camp and contested Ranaghat LS seat on a Trinamul Congress ticket. But he was defeated by the BJP’s sitting MP Jagannath Sarkar in the LS polls. The Trinamul’s Krishna Kalyani defeated Manas Kumar Ghosh of BJP by more than 50,000 votes in Raiganj assembly seat in North Dinajpur. Mr Kalyani, the BJP MLA from the seat, joined Trinamul Congress and unsuccessfully contested the LS polls in Raiganj parliamentary seat. Trinamul Congress’s nominee Supti Pandey, widow of former minister Sadhan Pandey, defeated Kalyan Chaubey of the BJP by a margin of more than 60,000 votes in Maniktala in Kolkata. (Page 3) Manglaur in Uttarakhand; Jalandhar West in Punjab; Rupauli in Bihar; Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu; and Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh. The TMC made a clean sweep of all four Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, while the Congress won two out of three seats in Himachal Pradesh and both seats in Uttarakhand. The AAP’s Mohinder Bhagat won the Jalandhar West seat in Punjab while in Tamil Nadu, the DMK's Anniyur Siva won the Vikravandi assembly seat The BJP won a total of two seats, Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh and the Amarwara seat in Madhya Pradesh. Following the victory of Congress candidates in two out of three Assembly constituencies in the state, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said it was a victory of the people over money power. Congress candidate and Mr Sukhu's wife, Kamlesh Thakur, won from the Dehra constituency by defeating Hoshyar Singh of the BJP The Congress also . claimed the Nalagarh seat, while the BJP managed to secure a win in Hamirpur. Independent candidate Shankar Singh won the Rupauli seat in Bihar beating a JD(U) candidate. Row erupts over JK LG getting ‘8 cr new jobs report by RBI broke false narratives’ more administrative powers STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 JULY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI/JAMMU, 13 JULY MUMBAI, 13 JULY Pune police have registered a case against at least seven persons, including controversial probationary IAS officer Puja D. Khedkar's mother Manorama D. Khedkar, who had allegedly threatened a farmer with a pistol, officials said on Saturday. The complaint was lodged at Paud Police Station in Pune late on Friday by farmer, Pandharinath K. Pasalkar against Manorama Khedkar, her husband Dilip Khedkar, relative Ambadas Khedkar, two unidentified men and two women, said Paud Police Station IO S.S. Devkate. “The incident happened on 5 June last year at Dhavali village on the lands owned by Pasalkar when his caretaker Maruti Maragale and his family were abused, and threatened at gun-point by the Khedkars and others,” Mr Devkate told IANS. Earlier, Mr Pasalkar had claimed that despite repeated attempts, the police failed to take cognisance of the matter for a year, but it was only after a video of the incident went viral in the past couple of days that the Paud police registered the complaint, and initiated a probe. Simultaneously, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has served a notice to Manorama Khedkar asking her to remove certain illegal constructions within and outside her bungalow in the posh Baner Road in the city. In a related development, in the state-level probe, it has emerged that Puja Khedkar had secured her visual impairment (2018) and mental illness (2020) certificates from the Ahmednagar Civil Hospital, and later a combined certificate was issued in 2021 for her UPSC exams, said the District Health Officer Dr. Sanjay Ghogare. (More on Page 5) the other, the BJP The peo. ple have thwarted everything. All the credit goes to the common people,” Miss Banerjee told mediapersons at NSCB airport. She added: “Our social responsibility has increased. We need to stand by the people even more." Miss Banerjee announced that the victory in the Lok Sabha and in the four Assembly byelections would be dedicated to the party’s martyrs on 21 July. Miss Banerjee, commenting on the bypoll results in the other states, added: “I have heard that the BJP has been defeated across India. An anti-BJP trend is visible throughout the country." Of the four seats, the Maniktala seat had been won by the TMC in the 2021 Assembly elections, while the other three had gone to the BJP. However, the MLAs of these three constituencies later switched over to the TMC. In Bagda in North 24Parganas, Trinamul Congress candidate Madhuparna Thakur, daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur, defeated the BJP’s Binoy Kumar Biswas by a margin of 33,500 votes. In Ranaghat Dakshmin in Nadia district, Trinamul-nominated Mukutmani Adhikari won against the BJP’s Manoj Biswas by a margin of around 40,000 votes. Mr Adhikari, former BJP In the first key face-off between the INDIA alliance and NDA after the Lok Sabha polls, the Opposition parties on Saturday won 10 out of the 13 seats in the Assembly bypolls which were held across seven states earlier this week. The Trinamul Congress, Congress, AAP and DMK which are the constituents of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level dominated in the Assembly bypolls by collectively winning 10 seats while the BJP bagged two seats. An Independent won the remaining seat in Bihar’s Rupauli. The counting of votes for the 13 legislative assembly seats spread across seven states was held on Saturday. Bypolls were held in 13 Assembly constituencies across seven states on 10 July in the first electoral contest since the Lok Sabha polls. The bypolls were held in West Bengal (4 seats), Himachal Pradesh (3 seats), Uttarakhand (2 seats), Madhya Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Punjab (1 seat each). The Assembly constituencies included Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala in West Bengal; Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Badrinath and The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended the rules of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 enhancing the administrative powers of the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory. The move, coming ahead of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, has triggered a controversy with opposition parties in the erstwhile state accusing the BJPled central government of disempowering Kashmiris by making the elected chief minister a “rubber stamp”. According to the amendments, almost all key proposals would now go to the Lieutenant Governor through the Chief Secretary. Friday’s amendment of According to the amendments, almost all key proposals would now go to the Lieutenant Governor through the Chief Secretary. the rules of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, grants increased authority to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir regarding the transfer, posting, and appointment of all key all-India service officers such as IAS and IPS, police personnel, law and order issues, and the appointment of judicial officers. After the Home Ministry amended the rules, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that this move of the central gov- ernment is going to make the new Chief Minister “powerless” and this also indicates that elections would be held soon in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Abdullah wrote on the microblogging site X; “Another indicator that elections are around the corner in J&K. This is why a firm commitment laying out the timeline for restoration of full, undiluted statehood for J&K is a prerequisite for these elections. The people of J&K deserve better than powerless, rubber stamp CM who will have to beg the LG to get his/her peon appointed”. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter and her media advisor Iltija Mufti also took to X saying that statehood to J&K is out of the question and the elected government will be reduced to a municipality. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said despite challenges like Covid-19, jobs were created in record numbers in the country in the past four years or so, and the RBI report on creation of eight crore jobs in the last three to four years has shut the voice of people spreading false narratives on job creation. Speaking after launching development projects worth nearly Rs 30,000 crore in Mumbai, he said the people spreading false narratives on jobs are “enemies of investment, infrastructure development, and progress of the country, and their plans are to betray the youth and to oppose creation of jobs.” These people are now exposed, he said and people have rejected their lies. The Prime Minister said when bridges, railway tracks, roads Prime Minister Narendra Modi being felicitated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and state DY CMs Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis during the launch and foundation-stone laying of various projects in Mumbai on Saturday. ANI or coaches are built, people do get jobs. As the pace of infrastructure development projects increases, creation of jobs is getting faster, he said. In the next some years, with fresh investment, these opportunities will multiply, Mr Modi said. He said the development model of the NDA is to give priority to the disadvantaged, the people who have been at the last place in society for decades. The Prime Minister said that after taking over for its third term, his government took decisions on construction of pucca houses for the poor and farmer-friendly issues. So far, four crore pucca houses have been built in the country and in the next few years, three crore more poor families will get pucca houses. Lakhs of these houses will be built in Maharashtra for the poor and Dalits, he said. “We are trying to meet the housing needs of the poor and middle classes in urban areas also,” he said. He said Rehri-footpath vendors will also get justice through Swanidhi yojana. So far, 90 lakh loans have been sanctioned for them, including 13 lakh loans in Maharashtra, with 1.50 lakh people getting the loans in Mumbai. A study has shown the Swanidhi has increased income of the beneficiaries by Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 every year. These are repaying their loans on time also, he said. The Prime Minister said he was happy to launch the Rs 30,000 crore projects as these will improve connectivity around Mumbai by rail and road schemes. The projects include a scheme to improve skill development of the state’s youth. 33 Indian labourers freed from ‘slavery’ in Italy Oli claims Nepal PM’s post AGENCIES ROME/NEW DELHI, 13 JULY Italian police said on Saturday they had freed 33 Indian farm labourers from slavelike working conditions in the northern Verona province and seized almost half a million euros ($545,300) from their two alleged abusers, also from India. The alleged abusers, also from India, brought fellow nationals to Italy on seasonal work permits, asking them to pay 17,000 euros each and promising them a better future, Reuters news agency quoted police as saying. The migrants were given farm jobs, working seven days a week and 10-12 hours a day for just 4 euros per hour, which was docked from them until they settled all their debts, police said, describing the migrants' treatment as “slavery”. Some were asked to continue working for free to pay The alleged abusers, also from India, brought fellow nationals to Italy on seasonal work permits, asking them to pay 17,000 euros each and promising them a better future, Reutersnews agency quoted police as saying. The migrants were given farm jobs, working seven days a week and 10-12 hours a day for just 4 euros per hour, which was docked from them until they settled all their debts. Labour exploitation came under the spotlight in Italy following an accident in June in which an Indian fruit picker died after his arm was severed by machinery. an additional 13,000 euros for a permanent work permit "which, in reality, would have never been given to them," the police statement said. The police added that the alleged abusers have been charged with crimes connected to slavery and labour exploitation, while the victims will be offered protection, work opportunities and legal residency papers. Labour exploitation came under the spotlight in Italy following an accident in June in which an Indian fruit picker died after his arm was severed by machinery. Like other European nations, Italy has growing labour shortages often filled via immigration, particularly in lower paid jobs, and has a migrant work visa system that has faced cases of fraud. In the June incident, Satnam Singh, a labourer working illegally on a melon farm in Italy’s Latina, had his arm severed in an accident involving heavy farm machinery. According to the Flai CGIL trade union, instead of receiving help from the employer, "Singh was dumped like a bag of rubbish near his home” without any medical assistance, leading to his death. Singh, from Moga in Punjab, was airlifted to Rome after he was found, but died two days later. His employer was later arrested even as the incident sent shockwaves through the country and its leaders. Thousands of Indians are said to be working illegally on farms in Italy, especially in the Pontine Marshes area. Singh's death highlighted the brutal exploitation of undocumented migrants in Italy. According to Ministry of External Affairs data in May 2024, there are over 2 lakh overseas Indians in Italy. The number of documented Indians in Italy is highest in continental Europe just after Germany. Following the Satnam Singh incident, the Indian government had raised the issue of the exploitation and ill-treatment of Indian workers in Italy with the Italian authorities. after Dahal loses trust vote THE KATHMANDU POST/ANN KATHMANDU, 13 JULY CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has staked his claim to the post of new prime minister after President Ramchandra Paudel invited a member of the House of Representatives who is able to command a majority with the support of two or more parties to do so. Following the failure of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the outgoing prime minister, to secure a majority in Friday’s floor test, the President invited political parties to form a new government under Article 76 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal on Friday evening. UML chief Oli presented the signatures of 165 lawmakers on Friday night, shortly after the President issued the invitation giving parties until 5 p.m. on Sunday. Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba have jointly signed an application asking the President to appoint Oli as the new prime minister citing his majority support in the House of Representatives. Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Oli and a few other leaders had visited the President’s Office to present their letter. During the conversation with Deuba and Oli, the President said he would appoint Oli the new prime minister as soon as the deadline expires and agreed to administer oath of office and secrecy immediately after 5:00 pm, Sunday. To stake a claim to form a new government, a minimum of 138 signatures is required in the 275-seat House of Representatives. Until a new government is installed, the President has asked the outgoing prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, to serve as caretaker. Prime Minister Dahal lost his position on Friday, over 18 months after his appointment. Dahal could not secure the 138 votes required to endorse the trust motion as only 63 lawmakers voted in his favour. A total of 194 lawmakers voted against him, while one member voted to stay neutral. A total of 258 lawmakers were present in Friday’s meeting of the lower House.