FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLI No. 287 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 26, 2025 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports Iyer’s blazing 97 leads Punjab to thrilling victory over Gujarat P.14 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE MONEY ‘INDIA, US TO FOCUS ON REDUCING TARIFFS’ UJJAIN PRESS PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Vendetta, Not Justice P.6 Cinema Sonu wife Sonali meets with accident P.16 MP SCHOOLS’ ‘SALUT’ TO MULTILINGUALISM City’s anti-beggary 4th in Upper Primary, 6th in Secondary! Tina Khatri INDORE Madhya Pradesh ranks 4th in India for offering three languages at the Upper Primary stage and 6th at the Secondary stage, according to the Union Ministry of Education. The State/U.T. Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan Gujarat Karnataka Tamil Nadu Madhya Pradesh's Ranking Upper Primary - Ranking Secondary Ranking Schools Offering (Upper Schools Offering (Secondary) Three Languages Primary) Three Languages 31,780 36,765 36,333 31,319 29,204 25,209 1,756 state's focus on multilingual education, especially in rural areas, highlights its commit- 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 5th 7th 8th 7,907 16,453 10,739 8,491 6,851 8,785 1,059 6th 1st 2nd 3rd 5th 4th 9th ment to diverse learning. The report highlights the state’s focus on providing stu- dents with diverse language options, especially in rural areas. Upper Primary Stage (Primary): MP ranks 4th in India with 31,780 schools offering three languages at the Upper Primary stage. Notably, MP excels in rural education, with 22,024 rural schools offering three languages, ensuring that rural students have access to multilingual learning. In urban areas, MP has 9,756 schools offering three lan- Our Staff Reporter Madhya Pradesh High Court principal bench at Jabalpur on Tuesday put a stay on the declaration of the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) 2025 results. The commission has been directed not to release the preliminary examination results without the permission of the High Court. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain passed the order while hearing a petition of Bhopal resident Mamta Dehariya, who appeared for the MPPSC 2025 exam. The petitioner approached the court challenging certain provisions which she claimed prevented the reserved category candidates from competing in the unreserved (UR) category based on merit The petitioner challenged fp Briefs MUMBAI RBI cancels March 31 bank holiday The RBI has instructed all agency banks—those handling government transactions—to remain open for services on March 31, 2025 (Monday), despite it being a holiday in many states. Public sector banks (PSBs) and private banks were supposed to be closed on March 31 in almost all states except Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram for RamzanId (Id-Ul-Fitr). Today in IPL MATCH NO. 6 RR Vs KKR GUWAHATI; 7.30 PM (Detail on Sports Page) Constitutionality of law preventing reserved category candidates from selection in UR category on merit challenged the constitutionality of Rule 4(1)(a)(ii), Rule 4(2)(a)(ii), and Rule 4(3)(a)(ii) of the Madhya Pradesh State Service Recruitment Examination Rules 2015, along with the GAD circular dated November 7, 2000, and the MPPSC advertisement dated December 31, 2024. Overall the US tradeweighted average tariff has been about 2.2%, data from the World Trade Organization shows, compared with India's 12%. The United States has a trade deficit of $45.6 billion with India. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 Our Staff Reporter RSS’s auxiliary organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) has expressed its strong reservation against Madhya Pradesh Town and Country Planning (T&CP) Amendment Act passed by assembly on last day of budget session. It has decided to meet Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to tell him that act will leave farmers duped. BKS’s state president NEW DELHI “However, the farmer needs money instantly to purchase the land. He cannot wait, he has to start farming,” he said. He said that land development concept could be good for big cities like Indore, Gwalior but not for small towns or rural areas. There are many colonies in rural areas and even in big cities where there is no one to buy the houses. T&CP AMENDMENT ACT Kamal Singh ‘Anjana’ told Free Press that BKS will approach government to tell that farmers will get duped through the act. Stating that such act is not needed in present conditions, he said that farmers will lose their 50 % land and rest 50 % developed land will be returned to farmer which he can sell to get money. 4Continued on | P8 SC suo motu call on rape bid order Wife has hubby killed 14 days after marriage ONLINE REPORT LUCKNOW NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of a  controversial order passed by the Allahabad High Court, which stated that “grabbing breasts" and “breaking pyjama" strings did not constitute rape, but rather an attempt to rape. A Supreme Court bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih will hear the matter on Wednesday. The court has taken cognisance based on a letter sent by Senior Advocate Shobha Apex Court takes cognisance of Allahabad HC ruling that mere grabbing of breasts & breaking pyjama string won't constitute rape bid Biswajeet Banerjee Gupta, who is also a founder of NGO 'We the Women of India'. The judge, Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra, who gave the order, said after In a chilling repeat of the Meerut murder case, where Muskan and her lover Sahil plotted the brutal killing of her merchant navy husband, a newlywed woman in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district orchestrated her husband's murder with the help of her lover and hired killers. Just two weeks after her forced marriage, 22-year-old Pragati Yadav and her long-time lover Anurag Yadav executed their deadly plan. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 IIT-I study ‘Air pollution poses health risks in MP’ Our Staff Reporter INDORE Air pollution in the state is rising at an alarming rate, posing a serious health hazard, a study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Indore has revealed. As per the study, PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5) level increased by 140 percent and the number of days with PM 2.5 exceeding 40 μg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre) jumped by 230 per cent from 1980-1990 to 2010-2020. The study by Prof Manish Kumar Goyal  and his team WOMEN MORE VULNERABLE DUE TO INDOOR POLLUTION The study also examined the impact of air pollution on public health, particularly on women, who are more vulnerable due to indoor pollution from cooking fumes etc. It found that cases of respiratory infections and tuberculosis ranged from 40,000-60,000 in men and 35,00055,000 in women. Neurological disorders affected 2,000-3,000 men and 1,800-2,800 women, while chronic respiratory diseases impacted 20,000-30,000 men and 18,000-28,000 women. Cardiovascular diseases affected 40,000-50,000 men and 35,000-45,000 women. from the civil engineering department in IIT Indore,  highlighted that Madhya Pradesh had lower PM 2.5 concentration compared to Delhi/NCR and JUDGE-CASH ROW SC's in-house committee begins probe New Delhi Agencies It’s against farmers, says BKS; will meet CM BHOPAL 4Continued on | P8 PTI iffs ranging from 5% to 30%. The sources were not identified. In this category of goods, India is ready to "substantially" lower tariffs or even scrap some entirely, on imported goods worth more than $23 billion from the United States, one source said. Uttar Pradesh, but still faced serious pollution concerns. The state’s annual PM 2.5 levels range between 40-45 μg/m³, lower than Delhi/NCR (65-70 μg/m³) and U.P. (60-65 μg/m³). However, on maximum pollution concentration, PM 2.5 levels in Madhya Pradesh rise to 200-250 μg/m³. Heavily polluted areas in Madhya Pradesh have PM 2.5 levels of 60-70 μg/m³, whereas Delhi/NCR and UP exceed 100 μg/m³. The number of days exceeding the safe limit of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (40 μg/m³) is also lower in Madhya Pradesh (70-80 days per year) than in Delhi/NCR and U.P. 4Continued on | P8 Manish Upadhyay INDORE Three members of the Supreme Court-appointed in-house committee on Tuesday commenced its inquiry into the alleged cash discovery row involving Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, sources said. They said the three members -- Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka - reached Justice Varma's official residence at 30, Tughlak Crescent here. The judges were inside the official residence of Justice Varma for around 30-35 minutes and apparently inspected the site, sources said. on half of its US imports India is open to cutting tariffs on more than half of US imports worth $23 billion in the first phase of a trade deal the two nations are negotiating, Reuters reports quoting government sources. The cuts, the biggest in years, is aimed at fending off reciprocal tariffs that are set to take effect on April 2. The news agency quoted an internal analysis which said New Delhi estimated reciprocal tariffs would hit 87% of its total exports to the United States worth $66 billion. The sources told Reuters that under the deal, India is open to reducing tariffs on 55% of U.S. goods it imports that are now subject to tar- drive to be showcased in nat’l conference After becoming a role model for not only India but the world in cleanliness, now Indore is making waves with its anti-beggary campaign. It was a proud moment for the city on Tuesday, when the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment invited the state government for a presentation on making Indore a ‘beggar-free city’. The success story of the drive will be presented in the ‘Chintan Shivir’ (national level conference) of the department of social justice to be held in Dehradun on April 7 and 8. A top level official of the district administration informed Free Press that an official of the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment had sent a letter to Sonali Ponkshe, principal secretary, Government of MP, in this regard  on Tuesday. He informed Sonali that the department of social justice was organising a ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Dehradun on April 7 and 8 to deliberate on various issues concerning the states, particularly focusing on the implementation of schemes, Acts and policies. This forum would also provide an excellent opportunity for states to showcase their achievements and best practices in the social welfare domain. READY FOR APRIL 2 | To fend off reciprocal tariffs HC stays MPPSC prelims 2025 results India ready to cut tariffs BHOPAL guages, but it lags behind states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in this regard. Secondary Stage: MP holds the 6th position in the Secondary stage, with 7,907 schools offering three languages. The state faces tough competition from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, which have more schools offering three languages at the Secondary level. FIR against alm givers On the initiative of collector Asheesh Singh, an anti-beggary drive was launched in the city about five months ago, criminalizing begging as well as giving alms to beggars. Spots like areas outside religious places, prominent squares etc were identified, where usually beggars are found. The beggars were first persuaded to give up begging. Then they were caught and sent to a shelter home in Seva Dham, Ujjain. On the other hand, people were asked not to give alms to any beggar. Even FIRs were lodged against as many as eight people who were found giving alms to beggars. 4Continued on | P8