19072024-TTB-01.qxd 7/18/2024 11:46 PM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 199 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  HARYANA TRUMP MATE VANCE VOWS TO FIGHT FOR ‘FORGOTTEN’ WORKERS WORLD /thetribunechd VITAL TO LEARN FROM WAR: CDS CHAUHAN AT KARGIL EVENT J&K BUDGET: STARTUPS SEEK EASY ACCESS TO FUNDS BUSINESS JAN AUSHADHI KENDRA INAUGURATED IN MAURITIUS BACK PAGE friday | 19 july 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com SC: Give details of centre-wise NEET-UG result by tomorrow Tells NTA to mask candidates’ identity | Next hearing scheduled for July 22 Satya Prakash DOUBTS CENTRE’S CLAIM ON PAPER LEAK Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 18 The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to declare city and centre-wise result of NEET-UG 2024 after masking the identity of candidates by Saturday noon. “We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students in the NEET-UG 2024 without disclosing their identity. The result should be declared city and centre-wise by 12 noon on July 20 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” a Bench, led by CJI DY Chandrachud, said. The order came after senior counsel Narender Hooda submitted on behalf of petitioners that in the absence of detailed result, the petitioners were handicapped in pointing out discrepancies in the exam and that publishing the entire result on the NTA website would bring about transparency regarding centre-wise marks obtained by the candidates. The Bench, which also included Justice continued on page 9 Indian found dead off Oman coast NEW DELHI: An Indian national, part of the crew on board capsized oil tanker MV Prestige Falcon, has been found dead while six others are still missing at sea off the coast of Oman. A search is on to locate the missing men — four Indians and two Sri Lankans. Navy warship INS Teg had rescued nine mariners on Wednesday. BACK PAGE AdvisoryforIndian citizens in B’desh NEW DELHI: India on Thursday advised its students and other citizens in Bangladesh to avoid travel and minimise their movement after ongoing protests demanding reforms in the quota system in government jobs turned violent and left at least six persons dead across the country. There are nearly 7,000 Indians in Bangladesh. BACK PAGE AAP to contest all 90 Haryana seats NEW DELHI: AAP on Thursday said it would contest all 90 Assembly seats in Haryana, where people want “badlav” (change) and are looking at it with great hope. The party said it would announce party national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s guarantees on July 20. The Haryana Assembly elections are due later this year. INSIDE ED raids Haryana Cong MLA’s place ROHTAK: The ED on Thursday searched the premises of Congress’ four-time MLA Rao Daan Singh, a close aide of former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at his farmhouse located on the Kanina Road and residential premises, including his brother’s house, at Shankar Colony in Mahendragarh city. INSIDE ■ SC raises doubt over Centre’s Students on the SC premises during the NEET paper leak hearing. PTI claim that paper leak happened only 45 minutes before exam at certain centres ■ Says the argument that paper was leaked, solved & given to students to memorise in 45 minutes was too far-fetched ■ Petitioners say detailed result must to show transparency ■ Solicitor General’s plea to mask name of centres was rejected CBI nabs 4 AIIMS-Patna students Aksheev Thakur Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 18 The CBI has arrested four medical students of AIIMSPatna, who are alleged to be part of a "solver module" working in collusion with a key accused held two days ago, in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case. Three of them — Chandan Singh, Rahul Anand and Kumar Sanu — are MBBS third year students and one — Karan Jain — second year Suspected to have solved leaked NEET-UG paper student. All of them belong to Bihar. Sources told The Tribune that they might be involved in solving the leaked question paper. All of them were later sent to CBI custody for four days. Dr Gopal Krushna Pal, Executive Director & CEO, AIIMS-Patna, said, “The CBI on Wednesday sent the names and photographs of these students and told us to seal their hostel rooms. We are cooperating with the agency. The students were initially picked up for questioning. We don’t know about their involvement in the matter or whether they are guilty or not. Their mobiles and other electronic devices have been confiscated.” The move comes two days after the CBI arrested Pankaj Kumar, alias Aditya, a 2017batch civil engineer from the continued on page 9 A rescue operation underway after coaches of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed in Gonda on Thursday. ANI Chd-Dibrugarh train derails, 3 dead Over 30 hurt; mishap a month after Kanchanjunga Express accident Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 18 Three persons, including a passenger from Chandigarh, were killed and over 30 injured when the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed on Thursday afternoon between Motiganj and Jhilahi railway stations in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh. Railway officials said the loco pilot heard an explosion shortly before the derailment. The footage of a passenger’s interview recorded by a news agency and posted by the Indian Railways on its WhatsApp group for mediapersons showed the passenger talking about a mild explosion he heard before his coach shook violently. UP Relief Commissioner GS Naveen Kumar confirmed the three casualties. The deceased have been identified as Rahul (36), a resident of Sector 26 in Chandigarh, and Saroj Kumar Singh (31) of Araria in Bihar. The third body is yet to be identified. Four persons were seri- ously injured. Three of them are being treated at the Gonda District Hospital and one in Lucknow. The railways has announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next of the kin of the dead, Rs 2.5 lakh for the grievously injured and Rs 50,000 for minor injuries. Besides the customary probe by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, another high-level inquiry has been ordered by the railways. There is, however, no clarity as yet on the individual or the team that will carry out the parallel probe. The train had 24 coaches, of which eight, including some air-conditioned cars, went off-track. Visuals showed more than one coach flipped over and lying adjacent to the tracks. Following the accident, six trains were cancelled and 22 diverted. Coming a month after the Kanchanjunga Express accident, the latest mishap attracted sharp remarks from opposition leaders directed at continued on page 9 ‘Anti-Muslim’: Oppn slams UP’s order CCS discusses J&K situation on displaying names of eatery owners amid spate in terror attacks Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 18 An order by the Muzaffarnagar district police in Uttar Pradesh asking eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of owners to avoid any “confusion” has been criticised by opposition parties as “communally motivated and directed against Muslim traders”. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera called the order “state-sponsored bigotry”. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi compared it with apartheid and “Judenboykott”, the boycott of Jewish businesses in Hitler’s Germany. “Preparations of Sawan month have started in the district. About 240 km of Kanwar Yatra route falls in the district. All the eateries, including hotels, dhabas and carts, on the route have been asked to display the names of their proprietors or those working on these shops,” Muzaffarna- Kanwariyas, devotees of Lord Shiva, undertake a yatra. REUTERS FILE gar police chief Abhishek Singh had said on Monday. The motive, the police officer claimed, was to ensure there should be no confusion among kanwariyas and no law and order situation arose. “All are following this voluntarily,” he said. The order followed a statement issued by Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) secretary general Bajrang Bagra on July 9 claiming that Muslims were selling puja items at various Hindu pilgrimage sites by “concealing their identity”. The VHP had urged all state governments to take effective steps to prevent Muslims from running such shops “so that the faith of Hindus was not hurt”. In a post on X, Khera said, “Not just political parties, all right-thinking people and the media must rise against this state-sponsored bigotry. We cannot allow the Bharatiya Janata Party to push the country back into dark ages.” Owaisi, in a post in Hindi, said, “As per the Uttar Pradesh Police order, now every food shop or cart owner will have to put his name on the board so that no Kanwariya buys anything from a Muslim shop by mistake. This was called apartheid in South Africa and in Hitler’s Germany, it was called ‘Judenboycott’.” In Lucknow, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the Muzaffarnagar police’s order asking eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names was a “social crime” and asked the courts to take suo motu cognisance of the matter. “And what if the name of the owner is Guddu, Munna, Chhotu or Fatte? What can you find out from these names?” Akhilesh wrote on X. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale filed a case with the NHRC against the Muzaffarnagar police for issuing the order. “I have filed a case with NHRC against the Muzaffarnagar continued on page 9 Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 18 Amid a spate of terrorist attacks in Jammu region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security and took stock of the ground situation in the UT. The CCS meeting came as two soldiers were injured in an encounter with terrorists in Jaddan Bata village of Jammu’s Doda. The security situation would determine the preparedness for elections in Jammu and Kashmir as the Supreme Court in December last year had directed the Election Commission to conduct polls in J&K by September 30. The spate of violence in J&K could potentially delay poll timelines, it is learnt. The latest encounter in Doda happened when terrorists attacked a temporary security camp set up in a government school in the area as part of the Over three generations, leopard count drops 25% Aksheev Thakur Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 18 The population of Indian leopard may have declined by nearly one-fourth over the past three generations owing to fragmentation of forest areas and illegal poaching, says an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). “The decline (by 24.5%) is suspected from range loss and inferred based on actual or potential levels of exploitation. Nevertheless, the data on population size and trend of the Indian leopard population across its whole range is still poor. Poaching for wildlife trade is 4 POACHED PER WEEK OVER PAST 10 YEARS ■ Four leopards poached every week over the past 10 years as part of illegal wildlife trade, says an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ■ Steady drop in wild prey such as dogs and pigs in forest areas is impacting leopard numbers, indicating its population may decline further in the coming years ■ India is home to 13,874 leopards; Forest Ministry’s recent report pointed to a drop in their numbers from 1,253 in 2018 to 1,109 in 2022 in Shivaliks and Gangetic Plains still a threat to the Indian leopard. For instance, it is estimated that four leopards per week have been poached as part of illegal wildlife trade over the previous 10 years,” it says. Further, a steady decrease in wild prey such as dogs, pigs, etc. in the forest areas is nega- tively impacting leopard numbers, indicating its population may decline further. The IUCN also flags conflicts of leopards in human habitats. There are increasing instances of leopards straying into residential areas in search of food. “There are increasing instances of leopard straying into human habitats. The reason is the availability of prey such as wild dogs, pigs…. Leopards come to the city to feed on dogs. So it is natural when the forest cover is lost, they will stray into human habitats and therefore there will be increasing c m y b instances of man-animal conflict. There have been cases when leopards are killed by people and the postmortem has revealed they were hungry,” says BK Singh, a former IFS officer. A Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change report earlier this year pointed to a worrying 3.4 per cent per annum decline in its numbers — from 1,253 in 2018 to 1,109 in 2022 — in Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains. India currently has 13,874 leopards, say officials in the ministry. The Indian leopard is also found in Nepal and parts of Bhutan. Globally, too, their population is on continued on page 9 2 soldiers injured in fresh Doda gunfight Security men during an encounter with terrorists in Doda district. PTI INFILTRATION BID FOILED, 2 TERRORISTS KILLED The Army on Thursday foiled an infiltration bid at the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara and killed two militants. This was the second infiltration bid in Kupwara sector in less than a week. On Sunday, three militants were killed after an infiltration bid was foiled at the LoC in Keran sector. INSIDE search operations launched by the Army after the killing of four of its personnel, including a Captain, by militants in the Desa forest area. The CCS was attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman continued on page 9 US cop fired over ‘limited value’ jibe at Indian’s death New York/Seattle, July 18 A US police officer, whose insensitive comments and laughter following the horrific death of a 23-year-old Indian student had caused outrage, has been fired from the Seattle police department. Jaahnavi Kandula was struck by a speeding police vehicle driven by Seattle police officer Kevin Dave as she was crossing a street on January 23 last year. Dave was driving at more than 119 kmph on the way to report for a drug overdose call. Kandula was flung 100 ft away when she was struck by the speeding police patrol vehicle. Daniel Auderer Jaahnavi Kandula In bodycam footage released by the Seattle police department, officer Daniel Auderer was heard laughing after the deadly crash and had remarked: “Uh, I think she went up on the hood, hit the windshield, and then when he hit the brakes, flew off the car…But she is dead.” continued on page 9