FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLI No. 191 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 18, 2024 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports Mandhana moves to top 3 in both ODI, T20I rankings P.16 fp Briefs Russia nuclear forces chief killed The head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces, Lt. General Igor Kirillov, was killed early Tuesday by an explosive device planted close to a residential apartment block in Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee said. Kirillov's assistant also died in the blast. WELLINGTON 7.3 quake hits Vanuatu A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Tuesday just off the coast of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean, the USGS said. The quake occurred at a depth of 57 kilometers and was centred 30 kilometers west of Port Vila, the largest city in the island nation. The jolt was followed by a magnitude 5.5 aftershock near the same location. GURUGRAM Fine slapped on Badshah Rapper Badshah was fined Rs 15,500 for driving in the wrong lane in Gurugram, violating traffic rules. Badshah's convoy, comprising three cars, was reportedly plying on the wrong side of the road, violating traffic norms. Badshah, who was driving Mahindra Thar to reach Punjabi singer Karan Aujla's concert on December 15, was fined by Gurugram Traffic Police. NEW DELHI ‘NTA will be restructured’ The NTA will not conduct any recruitment exams from 2025, instead focusing only on higher education entrance tests, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Tuesday. NEW DELHI Unemployment rate at 3.2%: FM Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the lower-than-expected GDP growth of 5.4 per cent in the second quarter was a "temporary blip". Sitharaman said the unemployment rate has come down from 6 per cent in 2017-18 to 3.2 per cent now. JAIPUR Army soldier dies in Raj An Indian Army soldier died during an artillery deployment training exercise at the Mahajan Field Firing Range (MFFR) in Rajasthan's Bikaner district, officials said on Tuesday. The incident took place on December 15 when 31-yearold gunner Chandra Prakash Patel was performing duties as a detachment commander during the training exercise. iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN MONEY PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK Before the implementation of ‘One Nation, One Election’, the election process should be transparent. I am of the clear opinion that the Election Commissioner should also be elected through the election Taiwanese laptop maker MSI begins India mfg with Chennai facility 1 n Uddhav Thackeray, NEW DELHI Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Once the proposal becomes fully functional in 2029-2030, or say at a later date, as it might take 5-10 years to have simultaneous polls, voters won't have to head to polling stations every year for one poll or another. This will also lead to economic growth as the GDP growth of the country will rise by 1.5 per cent from 7.23 per cent at present n Ram Nath Kovind, ex-Prez I thank PM Modi for taking this revolutionary decision. The continuous cycle of elections hampers the development of the country and public welfare projects, while also preventing governments from making long-term decisions n Shivraj Singh Chouhan NATION Election Bills introduced in Lok Sabha Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar The ‘One Nation, One Election’ Bill, which proposes to align the election cycles of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, was on Tuesday introduced in the Lok Sabha through a division of votes after a large number of Opposition members opposed it terming it “anti-federal” and one that went against the basic structure of the C o n s t it ution. The Bill, along with two other Bills, called the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill 2020, which seek to align the polls of the union territories of Jammu Kashmir, Puducherry and NCT of Delhi, was tabled in the House by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. The government claimed that the move would result in enhanced administrative efficiency, reduced electionrelated expenditures, and promote policy continuity. In the end, 269 members voted in favour of the introduction of this Constitution 129th Amendment Bill 2024 while 198 opposed it. 4Continued on | P6 T on Tuesday despite its having issued a whip seeking the presence of all lawmakers during the day. The BJP had issued a three-line whip to its Lok E-paper Cinema Sonakshi fires back strongly P.14 ‘LACKS 2/3rd MAJORITY’ The Congress on Tuesday claimed the bill on holding simultaneous polls was against federalism and "anti-constitutional", and said the voting at its introduction stage in Lok Sabha showed the BJP lacks the two-thirds majority required to pass a constitutional amendment. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor hit out at the government, saying voting at the introduction stage showed the BJP did not have the two-thirds majority required to pass a constitutional amendment. PM FOR JPC REVIEW: SHAH PM Narendra Modi favoured detailed discussion at every level on the 'one nation, one election' bill and wanted it to be referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday. BJP TO ISSUE NOTICES TO 20 ABSENTEE MPs he Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to send notices to 20 Lok Sabha MPs of the party to explain why they were not present in the House MUMBAI Edit Mandate barely meets deadline P.8 FIERY DEBATE | As many as 269 members voted in favour of the Bill and 198 against it; Oppn terms the move ‘dictatorial’ LEADERS SPEAK MOSCOW ESTD-1983 Sabha MPs to be present in the House as it intended to table and introduce the One Nation One Election Bill and two other related Bills. Congress’s Masood may lose MLA status Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Congress MLA Arif Masood may lose his Vidhan Sabha membership (MLA-ship) as High Court, principal bench of Jabalpur has admitted that documents submitted by BJP candidate Dhru Narain Singh with reference of bank loan of his arch rival Congress MLA Arif Masood are correct and verified by bank officials. HC finds documents of Cong MLA’s bank loan of `50L correct; Masood hid it in nomination declaration Secondly, the HC also admitted prima facie that Congress MLA Arif Masood had hidden the fact that he had taken a bank loan of Rs 50 lakh in his nomination paper during assembly elections. BJP candidate Dhruv Narain Singh has challenged the election of Congress MLA Arif Masood. The next hearing will be on January 3, 2025. 4Continued on | P6 ED on verge of busting dabba trade network Search Ops carried out at 12 locations in city MANISH UPADHYAY INDORE Enforcement Directorate (ED) is on the verge of busting a flourishing network of ‘dabba’ traders in the city. In the past two days, the ED sleuths have searched 12 locations in the city connected with ‘dabba’ traders. On Tuesday, ED officials searched a bungalow owned by one Tarun Srivastava in Singapore Township under Lasudia police station and found a country-made pistol,two magazines and 5 rounds of live cartridges kept in a cupboard. The search was made in the presence of Srivastava's 70-year-old mother as he was not present, having gone to Mumbai. ED officials prepared a report and handed it over to Lasudia police to register a case under Arms Act. Police registered a case against Srivastava for possessing illegal weapon. Sources said after a search operation against Piyush Chopra on December 12, the ED received several leads and it ADABBA TRADE It is an illegal and unregulated form of trading. In ‘dabba’ trading, traders make deals without actual trades. It’s a common practice in the Indian market where traders take a bet on the stock or commodity prices, players or game movements. If the price moves in the same direction, traders earn and lose money in case movement is in opposite direction. The ‘dabba’ traders have set up parallel illegal betting sites, apps, and trading bourses. cracked down on ‘dabba’ trading on Monday and the action continued on Tuesday also.  However, the epicentre of the ‘dabba’ traders’ network remains the bungalow of Congress leader Golu Agnihotri. Through ‘dabba’ trading the traders were involved in money laundering through hawala. 4Continued on | P6 4,928 CASES OF CHILD Parvati-Kalisindh-Chambal link project RAPE PENDING IN HC to make MP & Raj ‘Sujalam-Sufalam’: PM Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL As many as 4,928 child rape cases are pending in the high court, and there are 64 such cases in which the culprits murdered minor girls after violating them. The trial courts have awarded capital punished to 11 culprits. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav gave a written reply to a question raised by Congress legislator Bala Bachchan in the House on Tuesday. The number of accused in jail in connection with the pending cases is 2,650, and 2, 593 have been bailed. Bachchan also wanted to PTI / Online Report Culprits murdered 64 minor girls after raping them; and the district courts awarded death sentence to 11 know what the department had done to quickly work out the cases of rape and murder, and whether the Chief Minister issued any instructions for it. In reply to his questions, it was said that no action had been taken in this case, and CM also did not issue any instructions for it. PENDING CASES 3,013 in Jabalpur High Court 1,284 in Indore bench 631 in Gwalior bench JAIPUR Yadav extends gratitude to PM Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the Parvati-Kalisindh-Chambal Link Project will make both the states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan ‘Sujalam-Sufalam’. He was addressing the 'Ek Varsh-Parinaam Utkarsh' event to mark the completion of the Rajasthan government's one year in office. He also inaugurated or laid the foundation stones for 24 projects related to energy, road, railways and water worth over Rs 46,300 crore. The prime minister said the "I am happy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has scripted a new history today. An MoU has been signed for the three-river linking project of Parvati-KalisindhChambal (PKC) between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and the project has now been initiated. The project will provide drinking water as well as water for industries to eleven districts in Madhya Pradesh and several districts in Rajasthan," CM Mohan Yadav said. PM Narendra Modi with Union Minister of Jal Shakti C R Patil, Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma & MP CM Mohan Yadav during Ek Varsh-Parinaam Utkarsh event Parvati-Kalisindh-Chambal Link Project (Integrated PKCERCP) will provide irrigation as well as drinking water facility to 21 districts of Rajasthan and accelerate the development of both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. 4Continued on | P6 Piplani: Man held for At the most befitting place: Army NOW, SPITTING, CUTTING TREES TO molesting 4-yr-old amid 1971 victory painting row Staff Reporter BHOPAL Piplani police on Tuesday arrested the accused who took a four-year-old girl to a deserted place after luring her of chocolate and then molested her. The girl was rescued by a woman who was returning from AIIMS and was suspicious when she saw the youth with the child at the lonely spot in Indrapuri area on Monday afternoon. In-charge Piplani police station TI Anurag Lal said an FIR has been registered against the accused identified as Arbaz aka Mattu of Kamla Nagar area and was being questioned further. Aged around 25, Arbaz was earlier arrested in connection with a theft and was recently out on bail, the TI added. As per reports, a woman who was returning from AIIMS even chased the culprit with the help of two auto drivers but he managed to dodge them. The woman took the child to Piplani police station and called her parents. 4Continued on | P6 ATTRACT PENALTY Online Report R esponding to the row over the removal of the iconic picture depicting Pakistan's surrender after the 1971 war, the Indian Army has said the painting has been installed at its "most befitting place" -- the Manekshaw Centre named after 1971 war hero and Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw. This installation was done on Monday on the occasion of Vijay Diwas, which marked 43 years of India's victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh. MP JAN VISHWAS VIDEYAK, 2024 Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL "On the occasion of #VijayDiwas, #GeneralUpendraDwivedi #COAS, along with the President #AWWA, Mrs Sunita Dwivedi, installed the iconic 1971 surrender painting to its most befitting place, The Manekshaw Centre. 4Continued on | P6 striking discovery 250-yr-old temple in UP Muslim locality Biswajeet Banerjee VARANASI In a striking discovery reminiscent of the unearthing of a Shiva temple in Sambhal, a 250-year-old Shiva temple has been found in the Muslim-majority Madanpura area of Varanasi. Ajay Sharma, state president of the Sanatan Rakshak Dal, learned about the SOCIAL MEDIA SPOTLIGHT ocked for the past decade and filled with soil, the temple came into the spotlight after a social media post drew attention to its existence. Members of the Hindu right-wing group Sanatan Rakshak Dal visited the site and demanded its reopening. L temple from a social media post reading: "Attention: A Shiva temple lies closed in the lanes of Kashi. This temple is near house number D-31 in Madan- pura." Upon visiting the spot, Sharma found the temple locked with soil accumulated inside. Local residents could not provide clear information about the temple's history or why it had been closed. The Sanatan Rakshak Dal has urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to intervene and facilitate the temple's reopening. The organization is also seeking clarification on who locked the temple and for what reasons. 4Continued on | P6 If any person spits at other places other than drain or any other arrangement made by Municipal Corporation for the purpose, then his offence will be punishable by a fine of Rs 250. Likewise, any person who damages property of the Municipal Corporation and defaces the property of other person, then he will be liable for penalty. These are some of the amendments sought under Madhya Pradesh Jan Vishwas Videyak, 2024 tabled by the state government in the assembly on Tuesday. The bill has sought amendment in sections of the Municipal Corporation, Madhya Pradesh Electricity Fee Act 2012, Madhya Pradesh Unorganised Workers Board Act 2003, Madhya Pradesh Municipality Rule Act 1956, Madhya Pradesh Municipal Act 1961, Madhya Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act 1976 and Madhya Pradesh Society Registration Act 1976 etc. FINE FOR TREE CUTTING... n first time offence for tree cutting, a fine will be up to Rs 1k and in the second offence, the fine will be Rs 2k. Under Madhya Pradesh Electricity Fine Act 2012, bill vouches for penalty of Rs 5k in place of word, then he will be fined which could be up to Rs 5k and will be punishable . I Under section 201 of Madhya Pradesh Nagar Nigam Adhiniyam 1956, the bill proposes penalty of up to Rs 500 on any such person who, without permission, constructs water outlets or goes for changes in it which goes till water outlet of the corporation, then he could be penalised up to Rs 500. 4Continued on | P6