24022024-TTC-01.qxd 2/24/2024 US TARGETS RUSSIA WITH NEW SANCTIONS WORLD /thetribunechd 12:36 AM Page 1 13 PM TAKES SWIPE AT INDIA BLOC LEADERS BACK PAGE CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 54 | 26 PAGES | ~7.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 saturday | 24 february 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com 21 cops among several hurt in clash as Hisar farmers attempt march to border DSP, 3 women constables injured |Not invoking NSA: Haryana Police Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service Hisar, February 23 At least 21 police personnel, including a DSP an SHO , and three women constables, besides several farmers were injured in a violent clash between protesters and cops at Kheri Chopta in Narnaund subdivision of Hisar this afternoon. The farmers, who had been holding a “pucca morcha” at the site for the past one week, had planned a march to the Khanauri-Data Singh Wala border in Jind but the police arrived at the scene and detained some leaders, including Suresh Koth, Kuldeep Kharar and others. Sources said following the action, protesters started pelting police personnel with stones. The police resorted to firing of tear gas shells and Farmers clash with the police at Kheri Chopta in Hisar. ASHOK KUNDU PIL IN SC ALLEGES VIOLATION OF FARMERS’ RIGHTS Amid the ongoing farmers’ agitation, a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court alleging violation of the rights of the “peacefully protesting” farmers by the Centre and four states. 62-YEAR-OLD FARMER DIES AT KHANAURI BARRIER lathi-charge to disperse the protesters. Earlier, the farmers held a meeting at the site and decided to form a 110-member committee that would march to the Khanauri border to lend support to the protesting farmers at the border. As the committee members gathered near the stage of the venue, the police led by a DSP swooped down on the activists and detained some of them. The farmers protested the detention of activists, leading to the clash, said sources. Soon, the activists started throwing stones, prompting the police to retaliate. The violence continued for nearly two hours. Village residents said some tear gas shells fell in their houses. The injured protesters, however, chose not to get admitted to hospitals to avoid identification, the sources said. Farmer activists later held a meeting to chalk out a strategy in view of the violence. A police spokesperson at Hansi said 21 personnel suffered injuries in the incident, adding they would furnish details later. Hisar DC Uttam Singh and SP Hansi Maqsood continued on page 8 FIR first: Farmers reject ~1 cr relief, job for victim’s kin Aman Sood Tribune News Service Patiala, February 23 Hours after the Punjab Government announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job for a sister of young farmer Shubhkaran Singh, who died in alleged Haryana Police firing two days NEXT COURSE OF ACTION ON FEB 29: UNION LEADER ago, farmer unions spearheading the “Dilli Chalo” march, backed by the victim’s father, demanded that an FIR be first registered against the Haryana Police. However, in the evening, a woman, Veerpal Kaur, said she was the mother of the victim and had “no condition or objection” to the continued on page 8 AI tool’s reply on PM has Google in trouble Ajay Banerjee Govt to put it on notice over ‘rules violation’ Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 23 The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is set to issue a notice to Internet giant Google regarding “contentious and potentially unlawful” responses gener- ated by its artificial intelligence (AI) platform “Gemini”. A user on X posted screen shots on how Gemini generat- ed an “inappropriate response” when asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a screenshot shared on X, the user said Gemini, when asked if PM Modi was a “fascist”, responded by stating that he had been “accused of implementing policies some experts have characterised as fascist”. However, when asked a similar question continued on page 8 RBI asks NPCI to help Paytm continue ops New Delhi, February 23 The Reserve Bank of India today said that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been asked to explore the possibility of becoming a third party application provider for continued UPI operations of the Paytm app. SAYS CERTIFY 4-5 BANKS AS PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDER The NPCI may facilitate certification of four or five banks as the payment service provider that are capable of processing high volumes of UPI transactions, the RBI said. The request has been made by One97 Communication Ltd (OCL), which owns continued on page 8 IN BRIEF Byju’s shareholders vote to remove CEO NEW DELHI: Over 60% of Byju's shareholders on Friday voted for removal of founder CEO Byju Raveendran and his family over “mismanagement”, but the company termed the voting “invalid”. INSIDE Former LS Speaker Manohar Joshi dies MUMBAI: Former Lok Sabha Speaker and ex-Chief Minister of Maharashtra Manohar Joshi passed away at the age of 86 at a Mumbai hospital early on Friday morning. PTI Today’s issue is of 26 pages, including four-page additional pullout. c m y b Crop loan interest waiver, no new taxes: Khattar’s pollyearsops 2024-25 Geetanjali Gayatri & Vijay C Roy Sandeep Dikshit Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 23 The foreign office has acknowledged that “a few” Indians had signed up for support jobs with the Russian army and that matter had been taken up with the “relevant Russian authorities for their early discharge”. MEA TELLS INDIAN NATIONALS TO STAY AWAY FROM CONFLICT Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 23 With an eye on the Assembly polls slated later this year, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented a populist, ‘please-all’ Budget, levying no fresh taxes while offering a plethora of sops for every section of the society. Focussing on welfare schemes and rural development, the CM presented the Budget for financial year 202425 with an allocation of Rs 1,89,876.61 crore. This is an increase of 11.37% over revised estimates of Rs 1,70,490.84 crore (2023-24). This includes Russia asked to ‘discharge’Indians hired for combat Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. OUTLAY UP 11.37% Total outlay ~1.89L cr Revenue expenditure ~1.34L cr Capital expenditure ~55K cr REVENUE RECEIPTS Estimated Tax Non-tax ~1.16L cr ~84,551.10 cr ~9,243.46 cr Rs 1,34,456.36 crore as revenue expenditure and Rs 55,420.25 crore as capital expenditure — 70.81% and 29.19% of the total continued on page 8 “We urge all Indian nationals to exercise due caution and stay away from this conflict,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, who, however, made no mention of Ukraine. This may have been because the issue at hand was about 18 Indians who had been duped by travel agents into joining the Russian army. Jaiswal said he made the statement in response to media queries regarding “Indians caught in conflict in Russia”. “We are aware that a few Indian nationals have signed up for support jobs continued on page 8
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.
The Tribune, the largest selling daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the paper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term.
The English edition apart, the 133-year-old Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).