NEW DELHI 01 DECEMBER 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in A DOOM WITH A VIEW PLUS: 12 PAGES The Artificial Way to Work Happiness MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES Pushpesh Pant S Vaidhyasubramaniam Ravi Shankar Preeti Shenoy Inside Mindscapes that Define Us Uncomplicated and Compelling DineshSingh Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Namrata Joshi Shimmering on the Silk Route Pandering to the Royal Flush Diving into the Murky World of Scandals SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS The Movement of Moods NEW MAHARASHTRA GOVT WILL TAKE OATH ON DEC 5 Ceremony at Azad Maidan PM will participate in the mega event BJP legislative party meet on Dec 2 or 3 to elect its new leader S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai DEVIS ALL Devi awardees (from left) co-founder of Vimor, Pavithra Muddaya; Prof and Dean, National Centre for Biological Science, Dr Vatsala Thirumalai; classical dancer Nirupama Rajendra; activist Alina Alam; Olympian Anju Bobby George; Nihmans Director Dr Pratima Murthy; Founding Director of Science Gallery Jahnavi Phalkey; Founder and Managing Trustee of Neev School Kavitha Gupta Sabharwal; restaurateur Sonali Sattar; author Samhita Anri; and Founder and Managing Trustee of Sanket Trust Arundhati Nag with TNIE CEO Lakshmi Menon (4th from L), TNIE chairman Manoj Kumar Sonthalia (7th from L), former Infosys CEO S D Shibulal (8th from L), TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla (9th from L), TNIE Editor Santwana Bhattacharya (8th from R) and Director of Events Xpress Neha Sonthalia Periwal (6th from R), in Bengaluru on Saturday | VINOD KUMAR.T | MORE REPORTS ON P4 AAP MLA held in extortion case, links with gangster Nandu S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi THE Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has arrested AAP legislator Naresh Balyan in connection with a year-old extortion case and alleged ties to gangster Kapil Sangwan, also known as Nandu. The arrest follows surfacing of a purported audio clip of an alleged conversation between Balyan and the gangster, who is currently operating from abroad. According to police, Balyan was initially detained, but later arrested for failing to cooperate during questioning. The Crime Branch is expected to present him before a court on Sunday to seek his custodial remand. The controversy erupted after the BJP released the audio clip in which Balyan could be allegedly heard instructing Nandu to threaten and extort money from a city builder. The audio clip has triggered political sparring, with BJP accusing AAP of harbouring individuals with criminal cases. Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva launched a scathing attack on the ruling party citing , the recent conviction of AAP MLA Naresh Yadav in a 2016 case of Quran desecration. “Arvind Kejriwal’s party shelters individuals who insult religious sentiments and are connected to heinous crimes,” said Sachdeva. The AAP however, dismissed , the arrest as politically motivated, with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh calling the audio clip “fabricated” and accused the BJP of resorting to desperate measures. “The BJP has yet again mocked the justice system with fake claims,” Singh said, reiterating that the courts had already stayed the dissemination of the audio clip. AAP, BJP in war of words over water attack on Kejriwal A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi A bus marshal on Saturday attempted to attack former CM Arvind Kejriwal with water during a rally in Malviya Nagar, sending security agencies into a tizzy. The incident occurred around 5.50 pm when Kejriwal was shaking hands with his party workers. Visuals of the attack show security personnel and Kejriwal’s supporters catching hold of the man, Ashok Jha, and thrashing him. “One person, Ashok Jha, attempted to throw water on Arvind Kejriwal, but he was immediately caught by the police. The said attempt was foiled and the person was detained,” a statement from the police read. The police said that the rally was organised without permission. Soon after the incident, the AAP and the BJP got engaged wordy duel with the ruling party accusing the opposition of planning the attack to discourage Kejriwal from speaking on “deteriorating” law & order situation in the capital. Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the attacker is directly connected with the BJP. CM Atishi shared an image of a membership certificate of the BJP on X where a person, namesake of the accused, has been shown as the m e m b e r. T h e C M claimed the same person attacked Kejriwal. The BJP condemned the incident, but accused Kejriwal of orchestrating it. “Our president Virendra Sachdeva had already said that Arvind Kejriwal, now desperate, would orchestrate another old-new spectacle, much like the past slap incident. Today that suspicion , has been proven true,” a statement from the party read. DAYS after the Mahayuti alliance retained power in Maharashtra, the first clarity on the new government came in the form of the date and venue of the swearing in ceremony. Apart from the NCP’s participation in the government, all else was hazy . Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the oath taking ceremony will be held at Azad Maidan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, December 5, at 5 pm. While he was silent on the identity of next chief minister, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis continued to be the front runner for the post. NCP head Ajit Pawar is likely to take his oath as well as deputy chief minister but there was no clarity about caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Senior BJP leader Raosaheb Danave said in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis is synonymous with the party’s leadership, just as Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar are leaders of the Shiv Sena and the NCP respec, tively However, the final call on . the chief minister’s name would be taken by the party national leadership. “We will wait and watch,” he added. Sources said a meeting of the BJP legislative party would be held on December 2 or 3 to choose its leader, who would go on to be the new CM. Earlier in the day Union min, ister of state for civil aviation Muralidhar Mohal’s name was in circulation as a dark horse in the race of CM. He represents Pune in the Lok Sabha, is a Maratha, and is close to the top leadership of the BJP. The speculation was he could helm the government while Fadnavis may be elevated as BJP’s national president. But Mohal quickly tamped down the speculation saying he is not at all in the CM race. (From left) Devendra Fadnavis, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar Poll body to hear Cong team’s Maha ‘muddle’ allegations on Tuesday M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi A day after the Congress submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI) charging that the Maharashtra assembly election process was suspect, the poll body on Saturday invited a delegation of the party for a meeting next Tuesday at 5 pm to discuss its concerns. However, in its pushback, the ECI reiterated that polling through the electronic voting machines was completely transparent, adding candidates and their agents of all parties were involved at every stage of the process. The panel said it will review all legitimate concerns and provide a written response after hearing the party’s delegation at the December 3 meet. Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, too, wrote to the ECI seeking to know how voter turnout increased by 7.83% after the official polling time had ended. His allegations pertained to “arbitrary deletion of voters and subsequent addition of over 10,000 voters in each Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi AMID mounting tensions between India and Bangladesh following continuing atrocities against the minorities there, some educational institutions in Bangladesh painted the Indian Tricolour on the floor and urged students to walk over them, sources said. The emblem of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) was also desecrated. “A few educational institutions in Bangladesh saw the desecration of the Indian Tricolour — which was painted on the floor and students were urged to walk over them,” Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah told this newspaper. The offending institutions included the Bogura Poly Technique Institute, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technolo- gy, Dhaka University (Ganit Bhavan) and Noakhali Science and Technology University . Meanwhile, two more members of ISKCON, Adinath Prabhu and Ranganath Das, were arrested as they were carrying food for the jailed Chinmoy Das, the Kundaldham Monastery said. There was no word from the local police, though. Also, the bank accounts of 17 members of ISKCON were frozen in Bangladesh, including that of Chinmoy Das. The family of lawyer Saiful Islam Alif, who was murdered near the court premises in Chittagong city amid protests over the denial of bail to Chinmoy Das, has filed a police complaint naming 31 individuals and 10-15 unidentified others. Those identified in the complaint are allegedly followers of Chinmoy Das. Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said India needs to address his country’s longstanding concerns to improve bilateral ties. He, however, remained optimistic about establishing a good relationship while accepting the reality in the context of the post-August 5 situation. Rajnath to get final integrated theatre command file soon FINAL recommendations to reorganise the country’s war structure and the armed forces into integrated theatre commands (ITC) will reach Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s desk after Navy Day, which falls on on December 4. All three service chiefs and the Chief of Defence Staff will meet after Navy Day to give the final go-ahead to the ITC proposal, a source said. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi A 26-year-old man fell to his death while trying to run away from police custody in West Delhi’s Mayapuri, officials said on Saturday. He has been identified as Anshuman Taneja. He was brought to the police station for questioning in connection with attacking his parents and uncle with a knife at their house, they said. The incident occurred on November 26, when the police were called to the scene of the attack. “The victims reported that their son, Anshuman Taneja, attacked them with knives. They were admitted to the hospital and Anshuman was taken to the police station for questioning,” said an officer. The officer said while in custody Anshuman attempt, ed to flee by pushing officials and trying to jump over a wall. During the escape attempt, he fell and sustained a head injury He was rushed . to LNJP Hospital where he died on November 28. Two more ISKCON members arrested in B’desh DECISION AFTER NAVY DAY M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi constituency from the final voter lists” and the inexplicable increase in voting percentage between 5 pm and the final figures at 11.30 pm on polling day . Rebutting the allegation on addition and deletion of voters in Maharashtra, the ECI said “electoral rolls are always prepared and finalized with close involvement of all political parties”. The panel, however, said it would get the issues raised by the Congress examined. As for questions swirling around the voter turnout data, the ECI asserted that there is no discrepancy, as the data is available with all candidates polling station-wise and is verifiable. “The gap in 5 PM polling data and final voter turnout is due to procedural priorities, as presiding officers perform multiple statutory duties near the close of the poll before updating voter turnout data,” the letter read. The Congress had alleged that the integrity of the entire electoral process had been severely compromised by the Election Commission. 26-yr-old dies trying to flee police custody It will subsequently be forwarded to the Cabinet Committee on Security, the apex decision making body on national security . The proposal has 198 initiatives to achieve restructuring, which will be a long-drawn process as a lot of changes on the ground will have to be initiated, the source added. The defence of the country will be looked after by three ITC with the concept of ‘One Border One Force’. The warfighting structure of is being reorganised into theatre commands so as to have assets of all three forces under one commander, who will be responsible for all operations under his theatre. The Maritime Theatre Command, based out of Karwar in Karnataka, would be entrusted with coastal and maritime op- erations. The Western Integrated Theatre Command will be responsible for defence and security bordering Pakistan. The Northern Integrated Theatre Command will have the entire northern border with China under its area of responsibility with headquarters in Lucknow. Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi at an event said that the army’s vision for 2047 is to “transform into a modern, agile, adaptive, technology ena- bled and self-reliant future ready force, capable to deter and win wars in a multi-doman operational environment, across the full spectrum of operations to protect our national interests in synergy with the other stakeholders.” As per the General Upendra Dwivedi, the new structure will “separate force generation and force application as unique to our conditions, our short term threats and long ter m challenges”. Gusty winds in Chennai before the cyclone made landfall on Saturday | P RAVIKUMAR Heavy rain in TN coast as cyclone makes landfall EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai CYCLONIC stor m ‘Fengal’ made landfall between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram close to Puducherry on Saturday night, bringing very heavy rain to districts along the north Tamil Nadu coast, including Chennai. Chennai received over 18cm of rainfall in 24 hours from Friday evening to 5.30 pm on Saturday . The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said spiral bands associated with the cyclone had touched land at 6.30 pm and would cross the coast over the next 3-4 hours, with a wind speed of 70-80 kmph gusting up to 90 kmph. The storm was continuously monitored by the doppler weather radar at Chennai. S Balachandran, director, RMC, told reporters that it was a very dynamic cyclonic storm constantly changing speed. “As per the latest ocean satellite data, the landfall process might take several hours for the eye of the storm to completely move inland.” Officials said all the important lake catchment areas in and around Chennai received good rains boosting the level of water in reservoirs. The rains were not threatening as they occurred in intermittent spells. The rainfall ranged from 10 cm to 13 cm in most of the weather stations. In Chennai, the highest rainfall of 13.2 cm was recorded by the automatic weather station at Jaya Engineering College, followed by Meenambakkam with 11.4 cm. P4