NEW DELHI 23 MARCH 2025 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Getting a Bad Night’s Sleep THE UGLY INDIAN TOURIST The Kabir Melodist A Spouses and Smugglers Walkabout MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar S Vaidhyasubramaniam Anu Aggarwal Representation to be submitted to PM on delimitation; State Assemblies to pass resolution Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy Though the number of seats in Punjab may go up, the state’s percentage of seats in LS may drop from 2.39% to 2.11%, if the total LS seats is increased to 850 Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann Karnataka, TN, and every progressive state in this room face a stark choice: submit to domination or rise in resistance. We have chosen resistance K’taka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar Delimitation based only on population will be unfair to the states that have worked hard to reduce their population growth rates in line with national priorities BJD president Naveen Patnaik States should insist that their current proportionate representation in the LS is maintained, regardless of whether the number of seats go up or not Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin (From right) Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy, Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, CM M K Stalin, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, and BRS chief K T Rama Rao, along with other JAC members in Chennai on Saturday | PTI K E Z H I L A R A S A N @ Chennai THE first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting on delimitation convened by DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday unanimously adopted a resolution demanding that the freeze on the parliamentary constituencies based on the 1971 Census population be extended by another 25 years as it was done in 2001. The meeting in which Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, his Telangana and Punjab counterparts, Revanth Reddy and Bhagwant Mann, Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, and around 20 other leaders of different parties from six states took part, also laid a road map for taking forward the fight legally and politically . The resolution pointed out that the 42nd, 84th, and 87th constitutional amendments, which delayed populationbased delimitation at various points in the past, were to protect/incentivise states that had implemented population control measures effectively . It said there is a need to extend the freeze by another 25 years since the goal of national population stabilisation has not been achieved yet. Saying that the states whose population share came down due to the population control SC team visits strife-torn regions of Manipur, asks locals to hold on to hope virtually inaugurated free legal services camps and medical A delegation of Supreme Court camps on the occasion. judges led by Justice B R Gavai The delegation also comvisited Manipur on Saturday prised Justices Vikram Nath, and expressed hope that peace M M Sundresh, K V Viswanathwill return to the state roiled by an and N Kotiswar Singh. Howethnic violence sooner rather ever, Justice Singh, who bethan later. longs to the Meitei community , “We know that all of you are chose not to visit the Kuki-magoing through a diffijority Churachandpur cult phase. But with district over an objecthe assistance of evetion raised by a lawryone — the executive, yers’ body there. the legislature and the We know that all Later, the judges of you are going judiciary — this phase paid a visit to relief will be over within a through a difficult camps in the Bishnuphase. But with short period,” Justice pur district of the ImGavai told a gathering the assistance of phal Valley and met everyone — the in Churachandpur. with those staying executive, the “It is our Constituthere. While talking to legislature and tion that has kept us the media, Justice the judiciary — united and strong. this phase will be Singh exuded confiHave faith in our Con- over within a short dence that their visit period stitution. The Constito the strife-torn state tution will ensure that would offer the resiJustice B R Gavai peace returns to Madents a ray of hope for nipur one day he said. ,” their future. Justice Gavai, who is the execu“We must look forward to a tive chairman of the National brighter future where we can Legal Services Authority, add- live together. It may take time, ed, “Our Constitution aims at but we must have that hope. We justice — social, economic and must all be positive,” he said. political. The Constitution Since May 2023, hundreds of aims for all citizens in the coun- people have been killed and try to have access to justice in a thousands rendered homeless speedy manner and at an af- in violence between the Meiteis fordable rate.” Justice Gavai and the Kuki-Zo groups. P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati Protest is only for ‘fair delimitation’: Stalin DMK raises emotional issues eyeing polls: FM Chennai: This protest is not against delimitation. I think everyone will agree that this protest is for ‘fair delimitation’, said Chief Minister M K Stalin. He also said a legal option could be explored and favoured setting up of an expert panel to draw up the political and legal action plan on the issue Chennai: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday charged the DMK with raising “emotional” issues like alleged Hindi imposition and delimitation as the Dravidian party has nothing to showcase as its achievements before the voters during the next year’s Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu programme should not be penalised, the resolution also urged the union government to enact necessary constitutional amendments for this purpose. The JAC expressed concern on the alleged lack of transparency and clarity in the impending delimitation exercise from the union government and the absence of consultation with various stakeholders. It appreciated CM Stalin for taking up this initiative to “safeguard the political and economic future of the performing states in India,” a release from the state government later said. “Any delimitation exercise carried out by the union government to improve the content and character of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all the states, state governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute to it,” the resolution said. It said a core committee consisting of MPs from the represented states will coordinate parliamentary strate gies to counter any attempts by the union government to undertake a delimitation exercise contrary to the principles articulated by the JAC. The committee will submit a joint representation to the PM during the ongoing parliamentary session. It was also decided that the parties taking part in the meeting would initiate efforts to bring appropriate resolutions in their respective Legislative Assemblies in this regard. Telangana CM Revanth Reddy proposed that the next meeting of the JAC be conducted in Hyderabad. CHIEF Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday constituted a three-member committee to probe into the allegations of illegal cash stash in the house of Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court. The panel comprises Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Justice Anu Sivaraman, judge of the Karnataka High Court. The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma, as per a Supreme Court release. The CJI went ahead and constituted the committee after receiving a report from Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, in the matter. The Supreme Court had on Friday said that on receiving the cash recovery information, Justice Upadhyaya initiated an in-house enquiry procedure into the allegations. As per reports, a huge pile of cash was spotted by fire and rescue personnel called to douse a blaze at the judge’s house on March 14. The judge was not at his residence then. The Supreme Court Collegium is also considering an “independent proposal” to transfer Justice Varma to his his parent High Court in Allahabad. As per case law, no first information report can be registered against a sitting judge unless the CJI is consulted. If the CJI is satisfied that the allegations against the individual are credible, he/she has to advise the President to allow the police to register an FIR. N I T I N R A W AT @ New Delhi FROM providing AC helmets to arranging 60,000 ORS sachets for its personnel out to man the busy intersections, the Delhi Traffic Police says it is ready for the summer. For the first time, AC helmets, which can bring down the temperature by 10-15oC will be used by traffic cops in the city , Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic Headquarters) Satyavir Katara said during an interaction with The Morning Standard on Saturday . The traffic cops are taking extra care to fight the health In a first in city 1 2,000 AC helmets which can bring down temp by 10-15°C 2 60,000 ORS for personnel manning busy intersections 3 Regular health check-ups challenges faced by the personnel during the peak summer months so that there is no compromise on efficiency, Shashank Jaiswal, DCP (Traffic Headquarters), said. “We give our personnel mask in the winter and organise the health checkups. And to fight the scorching summer, the de- The CBI has filed a closure report in the alleged suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, officials said on Saturday. The CBI has submitted its findings before a special court in Mumbai, which will now decide whether to accept the report or order further probe. The US said that it was terminating the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, giving them weeks to leave the country. | P9 partment is planning to acquire 2,000 AC helmets to ensure that all personnel working in the field are well-equipped to cope with the heat,” Katara said. Jaiswal shed lights on the efforts to strengthen traffic enforcement. “There are around 207 red-light violation detection cameras across 44 junctions. A total of 125 over-speed violation detection cameras are operational at 66 junctions,” he said. Katara added that the traffic cops have been issuing around 20,000 notices per day The chal. lans are issued by cops on-site, while notices are generated online though cameras. S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai Andhra adopts revised NCERT syllabus: Naidu STARS LIGHT UP KNIGHT SKY Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli perform a gig during the Opening Ceremony of the IPL in Kolkata on Saturday. Chasing 175, RCB won the first match beating Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets | AP SENSITISATION Mind your language on elephants, media urged IN their race for sensational news to grab viewed eyeballs, certain media organisations tend to go overboard, using inappropriate adjectives for human-animal conflicts. Take elephants. Some media persons in the Hindi heartland dramatise reportage on their conflict with humans by describing the gentle giants as aatanki (terrorist), utpaati (oppressor), hatyaara (murderer), US DECIDES TO REVOKE LEGAL STATUS FOR 500,000 Rioters could face bulldozer action: Fadnavis CBI files closure report in Rajput death case E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur IMMIGRANTS In traffic overhaul, AC helmets to keep cops cool in summer EXPRESS READ The N Chandrababu Naidu-led Andhra Pradesh government has undertaken significant reforms in school education by adopting the NCERT syllabus and textbooks, aligning them with the goals of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. | P4 Finding Cosmos in Chaos CJI forms 3-member panel to probe charges against Delhi HC judge @ New Delhi Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS ALLEGED DIRTY MONEY S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y Centre planning delimitation without consultation as it is driven by “narrow political interests” and not by Constitutional principles or democratic imperatives ‘IT FEELS SURREAL AND I’M IN SHOCK’ A Departed Decade’s Delise Debashis Chatterjee K M Chandrasekhar Shankkar Aiyar Nanditha Krishna JAC meet proposes 25-year freeze on LS seats, legal & political fight We won’t accept populationbased delimitation as states like UP, Rajasthan, Bihar, and MP will then dominate rest of the country. We cannot accept it any cost Finding Gulzar in Five Verses hinsak (violent), pagal (mad), bigdail (spoilt), gussail (irascible) and ziddi (stubborn). It disturbed the Chhattisgarh Fo re s t D e p a r t m e n t enough to issue an advisory expressing their dismay over the frequent use of such inappropriate words. Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Prem Kumar said such metaphors strike fear among the people and create a negative percep- tion about the pachyderms. Chhattisgarh is the first state to voice concerns about the use of such negative language for elephants in news reports about animals wreaking havoc on agricultural fields and rampaging through areas populated by humans. The forest department’s plea for toning down the rhetoric against elephants comes at a time when concerns about human-animal conflict remain high. “Elephants hold great significance in India. They are an integral part of our culture, religious beliefs and traditions. Therefore, a conflict between us and elephants must not be presented as a confrontation,” the officer said, stressing the need to promote coexistence. Elephants are described as a “keystone species” and “ecosystem engineers”, thanks to the key role they play in maintaining the ecological balance in forests. MAHARASHTRA Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday warned of bulldozer action against the Nagpur rioters if they fail to pay the damages incurred during the recent communal riots. It flew in the face of a Supreme Court ruling in November last year that demolishing properties solely because occupants are accused or convicted of crimes, without due process, is unconstitutional. Fadnavis, after taking stock of the situation, said that his government would recover the cost of damages to properties during the clashes from the rioters. “If the rioters fail to pay up, bulldozer action will be initiated. We would seize their properties and sell them to recover the damage,” he said, and added that the compensation for the riot victims would be distributed soon. The CM held a meeting with senior officers at the police commissioner’s office and reviewed the police response to the riots. He said that no one would be spared for attacking the police. “My government will not rest until those responsible for attacking the police are found and dealt with sternly,” he said.