13112024-TTB-01.qxd 11/12/2024 11:26 PM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 314 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  HIMACHAL PRADESH TRUMP PICKS RUBIO AS SECY OF STATE, WALTZ SECURITY ADVISER WORLD /thetribunechd TOP COURT’S VERDICT ON BULLDOZER JUSTICE TODAY NATION AIR INDIA COMPLETES WON’T PERMIT ORAL MERGER WITH MENTIONING FOR URGENT VISTARA BUSINESS HEARINGS: CJI BACK PAGE wednesday | 13 november 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Canada temple cancels consular event over threat Ottawa: The Brampton Triveni temple in Canada has cancelled a consular event after the police warned it of an “extremely high and imminent threat level” of violent protests. The life certificate event, to be organised by the Consulate General of India, Toronto, was scheduled for November 17 on the temple premises. It was part of camps being held for issuing life certificates for pension purposes. The temple authorities urged the police to address the threats. — PTI Call drops: Centre mulls financial disincentives new delhi: The Ministry of Communication is working on mechanisms to deal with call drops. It is learnt that the ministry is monitoring the quality of service of telecom firms on a monthly basis now instead of quarterly. Sources said the government was working at ensuring that the latency parameters were strictly compliant with the international standards. Also on the table are financial disincentives for companies not following the laid down parameters. — TNS Jharkhand to seal CM’s fate today; More violence in Manipur, 2 found Priyanka set for Wayanad poll debut dead, six missing After Haryana, NDA eyes another win | INDIA hopes to retain eastern state Animesh Singh Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service ED conducts raids in J’khand over illegal migrants Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 12 Reputations will be at stake on Wednesday when 43 of Jharkhand’s 81 Assembly segments vote in the first phase, ahead of the final phase voting on November 20. This phase will span key constituencies across 15 districts of the eastern state and will decide the fate of 683 candidates. Apart from Jharkhand, Wednesday will witness byelections to the high-profile Wayanad Lok Sabha segment in Kerala (where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut) and 31 Assembly constituencies across 10 states —- seven in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two in MP and one each in , Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Two Sikkim seats have already been won uncontested by candidates of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM). Jharkhand Assembly elections are being most keenly 6.21%, retail inflation at 14-mth high in Oct Tribal women offer a traditional welcome to a security official as he leaves for poll duty in Ranchi. PTI PHASE-1 VOTING 683 KEY CONTESTANTS 43 15 candidates in fray of 81 Assem- districts during first phase bly seats to to be in Jharkhand go to polls covered watched as yet another poll cycle kicks in. The reason — sheer scale of stakes on the table. In phase one, Jharkhand’s political stalwarts will INDIA bloc: CM Hemant Soren (Barhait), CM’s wife Kalpana Soren (Gandey), Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Majhi (Ranchi), state Health Minister Banna Gupta (Jamshedpur West) NDA: Former Jharkhand CM Champai Soren (Saraikela), BJP state chief Babulal Marandi (Dhanwar), former CM Madhu Koda’s wife Geeta Koda (Jagannathpur) be in the fray. Among key contestants from the INDIA bloc are Chief Minister Hemant Soren (Barhait), Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana (Gandey), Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Majhi (Ranchi), AICC in charge for Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Ajoy Kumar (Jamshedpur East, New Delhi, November 12 On the eve of the first phase of polling for 43 Assembly seats in Jharkhand, the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted raids at 17 locations in the state and West Bengal. Agency sources said the raids were conducted in connection with its money laundering probe linked to the suspected illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals. The ED raids, which continued beyond 3 pm, resulted in the recovery of incriminating items, including fake Aadhaar cards, forged passports, illegal arms, immovable property documents, cash, jewellery, printing papers, printing machines and blank pro formas used for forging Aadhaar cards. INSIDE which the party has not won since 1985) and Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta continued on page 8 edit: jharkhand battle Gulmarg turns white The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) had called for a shutdown on Tuesday in all Kuki-Zo-dominated districts of Manipur as a mark of protest against the encounter. In a statement, the ITLF said the Kuki-Zo community should reconsider labelling the CRPF as a “neutral” central force. Issuing a directive of noncooperation with the CRPF , another tribal association Kuki Students’ Organisation (KSO) said, “No personnel from the paramilitary force shall be allowed to leave their camp... until the CRPF publicly acknowledges and apologises for its ‘barbaric’ actions in Jiribam.” “This will be considered as part of the continued on page 8 Tribune News Service THE RATE Rural areas Urban areas 6.68% 5.62% MAINLY DRIVEN BY VEGETABLE PRICES The increase was driven by the prices of food products, particularly vegetables rising above 42 per cent on a year-on-year basis. After the season’s first snowfall, tourists throng the Kongdoori area of Gulmarg in Baramulla district of J&K on Tuesday. PTI above 42 per cent on a year-onyear basis. While the components of the core saw some uptick, the current inflation trajectory is guided by the food inflation,” said Sujan Hajra, continued on page 8 Agency to probe BPL beneficiary spike: Hry Chandigarh, November 12 Haryana will get the income “self-declaration” data of the below poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries verified from an independent agency, asserted Minister of State for Food, Civil Supplies Rajesh Nagar today. The Aadhaar-enabled data of the department showed that a “comparatively prosperous” Haryana had added nearly 75 lakh BPL beneficiaries between December 2022 and November 2024. “I will talk to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on the issue and we will certainly find a way out of this imbroglio,” Nagar told The Tribune in an interview. The situation in Jiribam, where the administration had clamped an indefinite curfew on Monday soon after the militants’ attack on a CRPF camp, remained tense with the police patrolling vulnerable points. Ajay Banerjee Week on, smog blocks out sun in region Mohit Khanna Tribune News Service Tribune News Service JIRIBAM DISTRICT TENSE Regime’s first appointment in India Tribune News Service Pradeep Sharma CRPF not neutral, claim tribal bodies Taliban depute acting counsellor in Mumbai Vijay C Roy Chandigarh, November 12 Driven by a sharp increase in prices of food products, particularly the vegetables, India’s retail inflation touched a 14month high in October. The inflation based on the consumer price index increased to 6.21 per cent in October, up from 5.49 per cent in September, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Tuesday. In August 2023, the retail inflation had risen to 6.83 per cent. The data also showed higher inflation in rural areas at 6.68 per cent as compared to 5.62 per cent in urban regions. “The inflation was significantly higher than our estimates in October. The increase was driven by the prices of food products, particularly the vegetables rising New Delhi, November 12 The bodies of two elderly men were found in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Tuesday, a day after 10 militants were killed in a gunfight with the CRPF . Three women and three children were still missing after violence erupted in Jiribam on Monday, said the police. The bodies of two elderly men — Laishram Balen and Maibam Kesho — were found in the debris in the Jakuradhor Karong area, where militants had set fire to some shops on Monday. In another development, prominent tribal bodies on Tuesday gave a call for “noncooperation” with the CRPF . They claimed that those killed in the Monday’s encounter were not militants but Hmar village volunteers. Meanwhile, the situation in Jiribam, where the administration had imposed an indefinite curfew on Monday soon after the militants’ attack on a CRPF camp, remained calm but tense with the police patrolling vulnerable points. As a public welfare measure, the Citizen Resource Information Department (CRID) had started accepting “self-declaration” from BPL beneficiaries without any independent verification for BJP government’s Parivar Pehchan Patra project in July 2024, he asserted. The minister expressed surprise at the surge in enrolment under the category. While the number of beneficiaries was pegged at 1.24 crore in 2022, the number jumped to over 1.98 crore in 2024 — putting nearly 70 per cent of state’s 2.8 crore population under the BPL category. Crediting BJP’s hat-trick the continued on page 8 edit: inflated bpl data? Patiala, November 12 The smog formed largely due to paddy stubble burning is not letting solar radiation reach the earth’s surface, so much so that sunlight hours over the past week have come down to zero. Weather department DHANKHAR CANCELS PAU VISIT DUE TO HAZE Vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar’s visit to the PAU and Sat Paul Mittal School in Ludhiana was cancelled due to smog. His plane could not land at the Halwara airport and was later diverted towards Amritsar for re-fuelling. It later headed towards Indore where the Vice-President was to attend some events. experts said a day after Diwali on November 1, 9.2 hours of sunshine were recorded, which plunged to nil from November 6 to 12. The experts said the “grey sky” phenomenon was mainly caused by farm fires, especially during evening hours, though the bursting of firecrackers on Diwali and “still wind” could be the other contributing factors. “The high humidity levels and low wind speed don’t let the smoke emitted by straw continued on page 8 New Delhi, November 12 The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has appointed an India-based Afghan national, Ikramuddin Kamil, as its new acting counsellor in Mumbai. It is the regime’s first appointment in India. There is no official word from New Delhi on the development. Sources, however, said, “A young Afghan student, who the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is familiar with, has agreed to function as a diplomat in the Afghan consulate.” On his affiliation or his status, the sources said, “For us, he is an Afghan national working for Afghans in India.” India does not officially recognise the Taliban regime that took over following the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021. Commenting on the issue of recognition, the sources said, “There is a set process for recognition of any government and India will continue to work with the international community on the issue.” Kamil has studied in India Ikramuddin Kamil ALREADY BASED IN INDIA The Taliban regime has appointed India-based Afghan national, Ikramuddin Kamil, as its new acting counsellor in Mumbai. Kamil has studied in India for seven years while completing his doctorate from South Asian University on a scholarship from the MEA. for seven years while completing his doctorate from South Asian University on a scholarship from the MEA. Over the past three years, diplomats manning the Afghan embassy and consulates in India have sought refuge or asylum in different western countries and have left India. The development comes just a week after an Indian delegation led by JP Singh, a senior Indian continued on page 8 Experts flag climate concerns as PM, top leaders skip COP29 Aksheev Thakur Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 12 The top leaders of major global polluters India and China, along with those from prominent economies such as the US, European Union, France, Japan, Israel and Brazil, will skip the ongoing session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) climate summit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Environ- ment Minister Bhupender Yadav had attended the COP28 in Dubai last year, the Indian delegation this time will be led by Minister of State Kirti Vardhan Singh. He will address the COP29 on November 18 and 19. The PM had earlier attended the COP21 in Paris and the COP26 in Glasgow. Officials who are part of the delegation said the past COP events had been used by India for key bilateral meetings, but the absence of India to be represented by MoS Kirti Vardhan major leaders at COP29, being held from November 11 to 22, would not have required the PM’s presence. Environment Minister Yadav’s non-availability for the conference is being attributed to his being the BJP in charge for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly elections. c m y b “Prime Minister Modi had met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the margins of the COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021. In Paris, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other major global leaders were present. In Dubai last year, PM Modi had met Brazilian and Israeli Presidents,” an official said. The “World Leaders Climate Action Summit” at the UN Climate Conference is a forum for the heads of states and governments to air their perspective on climate action and articulate national policies on dealing with the crisis, the official said. Nivedita Bansal, who is part of the 2024 cohort of the “Women Climate Collective”, claimed that world leaders skipping the COP29 “sent a worrying message to the participating countries and undermined the importance of the negotiations”. “It creates a perception that the negotiations are optional. This can impact the partici- pation of countries in future COPs and derail the progress on climate action. However, this may create a unique opportunity for the parties present to take the lead in creating meaningful climate outcomes globally. The absence of important players in world politics can give least developed countries and BRICS nations more visibility and power in leveraging negotiations towards favouring the needs of the continued on page 8