08082025-TT-01.qxd 8/7/2025 11:19 PM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 145 NO. 218 | 16 PAGES | ~6.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  HIMACHAL PRADESH ASIM MUNIR MAY VISIT US, SECOND TIME SINCE OP SINDOOR WORLD /thetribunechd AFTER BOOK BAN, COPS CONDUCT EXTENSIVE SEARCHES J&K GOLD JUMPS ~3,600, HITS ARMY TO HAVE SPECIALISED RECORD OF ~1,02,620 BRIGADES IN EASTERN PER 10 GM BUSINESS LADAKH, SIKKIM BACK PAGE friday | 8 august 2025 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Address rehab first: HC stays Punjab land pooling policy Won’t trade off farmer interests, ready to pay personal price: PM Makes stance clear as Trump’s 25% tariffs on India come into effect TrumpwarnsIndia Ujwal Jalali BRAZIL PREZ DIALS MODI, BOTH DECIDE TO UP TRADE Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 7 A day after US President Donald Trump doubled the tariffs on Indian imports to 50 per cent, PM Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government would never compromise on the interests of farmers, livestock rearers and fishermen, even if it meant bearing personal consequences. “I am fully aware I may have to pay a very heavy price personally, but I am prepared. For us, the interests of farmers are paramount,” the PM said at the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference here. The US wants tariffs on products such as corn, soybeans, apples, almonds and ethanol brought down as well as increased access for its dairy products. New Delhi is, however, resisting these demands as these will affect farmers. Trump on Wednesday announced additional 25 per cent tariffs — the earlier 25 per cent came into effect from August 7 — on Indian goods over Russian oil purchase, taking the total to 50 per cent. continued on page 10 edit: farmers first 2 CRPF jawans die, 16 hurt as vehicle skids off road in J-K JAMMU: Two CRPF personnel were killed and 16 injured when the vehicle they were travelling in skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge in the Basantgarh area of Udhampur district on Thursday morning. The incident occurred around 10.30 am near Kandva village when the CRPF personnel were returning from duty in Basantgarh. The vehicle veered off the road after the driver failed to negotiate a sharp curve. INSIDE PunjabMLAArora’s electionchallenged for‘hiding’expenses CHANDIGARH: Over a month after AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora emerged victorious in the Ludhiana (West) Assembly bypoll, a plea has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana HC for declaring his election void on the grounds of corrupt practices and concealment of expenses. Among other things, a voter has sought directions for declaring that Arora used “illegal means”, besides “corrupt practices” during the poll process. INSIDE Shots fired again at Kapil Sharma’s cafe in Canada TORONTO: In less than a month, Bollywood actorcomedian Kapil Sharma’s cafe in Surrey, British Columbia, was attacked for the second time on Thursday with shots being fired in the wee hours. According to residents, KAP’s Cafe was attacked around 4.30 am. While details from the police were awaited, no one was reportedly hurt in the incident. On social media, gangster Goldy Dhillon took responsibility for the attack. INSIDE Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday received a telephone call from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the two leaders agreed to enhance cooperation in trade, technology, energy, defence, agriculture, health and peopleto-people ties, the PMO said. The development comes a day after Donald Trump slapped additional tariff on Indian goods. << NSA Ajit Doval meets Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday. Prez Putin’s India visit timeline almost final as Doval meets top leadership Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 7 National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Thursday said dates for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India had “almost” been finalised for the annual India-Russia summit. Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to give a new direction to the relationship between the two nations. “We are very excited to learn about the visit of President Putin to India... Summit-level meetings have always been watershed points for the ties,” said Doval, who met President Putin and Russian security chief Sergei Shoigu in Moscow. Giving the Russian per- CASH AT JUDGE’S HOUSE spective, Shoigu said it was important for Moscow and New Delhi to determine the timing of new full-scale negotiations between President Putin and PM Modi. Russia and India are linked by “strong, time-tested ties of friendship,” Shoigu said, adding that for Moscow the “most important thing is to continued on page 10 ofmoresanctions Kuldeep Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 7 Hours after doubling tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, US President Donald Trump on Thursday warned of “lot more secondary sanctions” in the coming days over the purchase of Russian oil. Ministry of Commerce holds discussions with exporters over tariffs Trump’s additional 25 per cent tariffs will come into effect from August 27 while the previous 25 per cent (announced on July 31) were implemented from August 7. To cushion off the impact of the tariffs, the Ministry of Commerce held consultations with exporters from the textile and chemical sectors. Sources said the government was considering the options of market diversification and bringing schemes under the Export Promotion Mission to help exporters, particularly the textile industry, which continued on page 10 Gives state 4 weeks to resolve social impact concerns Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 7 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday stayed the Punjab land pooling policy after the state government refused to withdraw it. Following nearly two hours of arguments, a Bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Deepak Manchanda issued the stay and granted the Punjab Government four weeks to address concerns. The case will come up for further hearing on September 10. At the outset, the Bench raised concerns regarding the lack of provision for the rehabilitation of landless labourers and others dependent on the land for their livelihood. It also questioned the government’s decision not to conduct a mandatory social impact assessment before identifying land for acquisition. Appearing before the Bench, Advocate-General Maninderjit Singh Bedi and senior advocate Gurminder Singh argued that the policy was voluntary. They explained that land suitable for development projects 270 AIRLIFTED FROM DISASTER ZONE disguised laws; courts strike down such indirect overreach was identified and landowners were invited to participate through public notices. “Only after the landowners’ consent, the land is acquired in exchange for developed houses,” the Bench was told. Gurminder Singh added that the policy aimed at checking the growth of illegal colonies in Punjab, warning that without such measures, the state could turn into a “slum”. The state argued that the social impact assessment continued on page 10 Tribune News Service Also junks petition challenging his removal recommendation by CJI for his removal. Last month, notices for Justice Varma’s removal were submitted in both Houses of Parliament. Representing Justice Varma, senior counsel Kapil Sibal had argued that then CJI Khanna’s recommendation for removal proceedings would set a dangerous precedent. However, writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Datta said, “The CJI, as the leader of the judiciary, owes a duty to the people of the country to keep the justice delivery system pure, clean and unpolluted. It is unreasonable to even think that despite an incident of the present nature, the CJI would wait for Parliament to take action.” The SC also dismissed a petition filed by advocate Mathews J Nedumpara seeking the registration of an FIR against Justice Varma. However, the Bench left open the possibility for Justice Varma to pursue appropriate remedies in the future, if required. that what can’t be done directly, can’t be done indirectly ■ It stops lawmakers from bypassing constitutional limits through Aditi Tandon/ Ubeer Naqushbandi Satya Prakash New Delhi, August 7 In a setback to Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed his petition challenging an in-house inquiry report dated May 3, which indicted him for the recovery of unaccounted cash at his residence in Delhi during a fire incident on March 14. A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice AG Masih observed, “If indeed any fault were found in the (in-house) procedure and questions were to be raised, the petitioner (Justice Varma) ought not to have waited for completion of the fact-finding inquiry set in motion by the CJI. The conduct of the petitioner, therefore, does not inspire much confidence for us to entertain the writ petition.” The Bench, which had reserved its judgment on July 30, also rejected Justice Varma’s plea challenging the then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna’s May 8 recommendation to the President and the Prime Minister WHAT IS COLOURABLE LEGISLATION ■ The doctrine of colourable legislation is based on the principle EC asks for affidavit as Rahul says it’s colluding with BJP to rig elections Apex court dismisses Justice Varma’s appeal against in-house probe Tribune News Service Farmers attend a rally addressed by Jagjit Singh Dallewal against the Punjab land pooling policy at Jodhan in Ludhiana. MAHESH SHARMA ITBP personnel carry an elderly woman airlifted from disaster-hit Dharali to Matli, Uttarkashi. Nearly 270 persons have been evacuated using IAF helicopters. At least 50 civilians & nine Army men, including a JCO, are missing. A team of 69 NDRF rescuers, two cadaver dogs & veterinarians have joined rescue ops. REUTERS SC tells ED it can’t act like ‘crook’cites , mere 10% conviction in PMLAcases Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 7 Often in the news for its raids on alleged money launderers, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday faced some tough questions as the Supreme Court cautioned the probe agency that it “cannot act like a crook”, and that it has to work within the four corners of law. “We are also concerned about the ED’s image. If people are acquitted after five to six years of judicial custody, who will pay for this?” a threejudge Bench led by Justice Surya Kant said while hearing petitions seeking a review of its 2022 verdict that upheld the central agency’s wider powers of arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Bench, which also included Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Kotiswar Singh, flagged low conviction rates in money laundering cases probed by the ED. continued on page 10 New Delhi, August 7 In his sharpest attack ever on the Election Commission, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the poll body of colluding with the ruling BJP to steal elections and urged the judiciary to step in and save democracy. The EC asked him to make disclosures on oath and enable a probe. Citing an internal Congress probe into the EC’s electoral rolls of the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central parliamentary seat, Rahul claimed the presence of over one lakh fake voters as the factor that turned the results in favour of the saffron party in 2024. BJP’s PC Mohan had bagged this parliamentary seat. The Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition went on to broadly allege that this “model of vote theft can be replicated across India, which is why the EC is not granting the Congress request to share machinereadable electoral rolls which would make the investigation into poll rigging easy”. “This is a crime against the Constitution and the flag,” said Rahul while sharing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a press meet in New Delhi. MR BHUI details of a six-month Congress probe into the electoral rolls of Mahadevapura which, he said, revealed “duplicate voters, bulk single address voters, zero address voters and duplicate first-time electors”. The Congress MP claimed “bulletproof evidence of vote theft in Maharashtra and also Haryana where, he said, the Congress lost to the BJP by just eight seats and the vote gap between the parties was just 22,779 votes out of two crore voters in the state”. Terming the Congress investigation as 100 per cent “evidence of rigging”, Rahul urged the judiciary to get involved and said, “what we continued on page 10 Nominations begin for V-P poll; Modi, Nadda get powers to pick NDA face Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 7 The Centre on Thursday issued the notification for the election to the post of Vice-President, slated for September 9. This came as floor leaders of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) unanimously passed a resolution authorising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and BJP chief and Union Minister JP Nadda to choose the alliance candidate. The election has been necessitated by Jagdeep Dhankhar’s abrupt resignation from the post on July 21 citing health reasons, though indications have emerged of a fallout between him and the government. As per the notification, the nominations can be filed till August 21 and the scrutiny will take place on August 22. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is August 25. Members of both Houses, TILTED IN NDA’S FAVOUR HOUSE STRENGTH NDA LS RS TOTAL 542 239 781 293 129 422 MAGIC FIGURE 391 having a total strength of 788, are eligible to vote in the election, with the ruling NDA having a comfortable edge. The 543-member Lok Sab- ha has one vacant seat — Basirhat in West Bengal — while the 245-member Rajya Sabha has six — four in Jammu and Kashmir, and one c m y b each in Punjab and Jharkhand. The seat from Punjab was vacated after AAP leader Sanjeev Arora quit following his election to the Assembly in a bypoll in June. With an effective strength of 781 in both Houses, the winning candidate will require 391 votes, considering that all eligible voters exercise their franchise. The BJP-led NDA enjoys the support of 293 in the 542member Lok Sabha and 129 in the Rajya Sabha having an effective strength of 239. Assuming that the nominated members vote in support of the NDA nominee, the ruling alliance has the support of 422 members in both Houses. Article 66 (1) of the Constitution provides that the vicepresidential election shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot. In this system, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates. Dhankhar’s tenure was to end in August 2027. According to constitutional provisions, in case of a midterm poll, the incumbent gets a full five-year term. A person is also not eligible if he holds any office of profit under the Central or state governments or any subordinate local authority.