SUNDAY AUGUST 17, 2025 16 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME XI, NO. 60 Goa's Biggest Media Brand with Highest Viewership which makes us >> SEE PG 2 LAW vs LAND: GOVT’S COMUNIDADE PLAY MAGAZINE MAGAZ Sterilise, dont displace: Goa joins debate on stray dog order Consent at 16, stronger protection against abuse Cocochin: Bringing Goan classics back to life Suit valuation amendment: A tilt against Goans? 09 11 IN SHORT >> Bonderam festival enthralls crowd OLD GOA: Divar island came to life as one celebration of the traditional Bonderam festival was celebrated on Saturday, with hundreds of people thronging Sao Mathias to witness the event. The floats continued to be the star attraction with the four wards from Sao Mathias presenting their floats.   >> See pg 5 3 Bihar natives held for online gambling PANAJI: Cyber Crime sleuths busted an illegal online cricket betting racket at Vasco, late Friday night and arrested three persons from Bihar. Acting on information, a joint team raided a residential colony at Vaddem-Vasco and caught the accused red-handed while they were carrying out online betting operations.  >> See pg 3 IMD issues orange alert for Goa PANAJI: The IMD has issued an orange alert for Goa on August 17 and 18, forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated locations. A yellow alert will remain in force from August 19 to 21. Come join us Contact: 9011043385 / 9850755549 / 9130004704 / 9689923150 Email: marketing@prudentmedia.in Tragedy hits BITS Pilani as student found dead  BODY FOUND IN HOSTEL ROOM  POLICE AWAIT AUTOPSY REPORT TO CONFIRM CAUSE OF DEATH THE GOAN I NETWORK VASCO Tragedy struck the BITS Pilani Goa campus once again after a 20-year-old third-year student of Economics and Computer Science from Lucknow was found dead in his hostel room on Saturday morning. This is the fourth death involving a student at the BITS Pilani Goa campus in about eight months. According to sources, the student, identified as Kushagra Jain, had recently returned to the campus on August 11, marking the start of his new academic year. His father, who was attempting to reach him over phone, grew concerned after repeated calls went unanswered. Worried, he contacted one of Jain’s friends on Student died in sleep: BITS Pilani VASCO: Expressing sadness over the loss of one of its students on Saturday, BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus stated that the student died in his sleep. “Kushagra Jain was found in an unresponsive state on his bed when his room was opened at around 11 am on Saturday. The medical team confirmed that he had passed away in his sleep,” said Arjun C Halarnkar, Chief Manager, Public Relations at BITS Goa campus in a statement. “Police were informed and have initiated procedures to ascertain the cause of death, and we are fully cooperating.” “The loss of a young life is an irreparable tragedy, and the entire campus community is deeply shocked and grieved. Our thoughts and prayers are with Kushagra’s family, his friends, and all members of our community who are affected by this sudden loss.” campus, who then informed the hostel warden about the matter. “The warden immediately opened the hostel room, only to find the student lying un- responsive. The Verna police were then alerted about the incident, and further investigation is presently underway,” a source revealed. Verna police confirmed that Blow to Oppn unity in Goa, Atishi rules out Cong pact MAXWELL MASTERCLASS SEALS SERIES FOR AUSTRALIA >>8 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 FOURTH DEATH IN 8 MONTHS DEC 2024: Om Priyan Singh, second-year student, died by suicide. MAR 2025: Atharv Desai, third-year student, ended his life. MAY 2025: Krishna Kasera found dead in hostel room AUG 2025: Kushagra Jain, 3rd-year student found dead in hostel room the case has been registered as an unnatural death, with the body sent for post-mortem to establish the exact cause of >Continued on P6 GPSC unveils big hiring drive in Education Dept  111 vacancies up for grabs  Konkani requirement clause may be relaxed THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI After a long lull, the Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) has advertised bulk posts inviting online applications for 111 vacancies of Assistant District Educational Inspectors/Teacher Grade-I under the Directorate of Education. But, while knowledge of Konkani is listed as essential and Marathi is desirable for filling posts within Goa, the GPSC has kept the option open to relax the Konkani clause if the candidate is not available.   “In case of non-availability of suitable candidates with the knowledge of Konkani, the GPSC may recommend a candidate if otherwise found fit and this requirement can be relaxed by the Government, on the rec- „„Option open to relax the rest fall under SC, Konkani clause kept ST, OBC and EWS open if candidate categories is not available GPSC’S „„Two posts „„Vacancies LESSON are reserved for cover 17 subcandidates with PLAN jects; last date for blindness or low submitting applicavision, three for tions set for August 29 those with locomotor disabilities and two for „„Of the 111 vacancies, 60 are unreserved, while ex-servicemen ommendation of the GPSC,” reads the advertisement. The vacancies cover 17 subjects, with the last date for submission set for August 29. The subject-wise posts include English (11), Hindi (8), Marathi (6), French (1), Konkani (6), History (7), Geography (7), Sociology (5), Psychology (5), Economics (9), Book Keep- PANAJI In a major setback for Opposition unity the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday firmly ruled out any alliance with the Congress in Goa, citing the history of defections of its MLAs to the BJP and it is not trustworthy as a senior alliance partner. AAP's former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Singh, who is in-charge of the party's affairs in Goa, said they are not part of the national INDIA alliance anymore and in Goa there was no question of any alliance with the Congress. Singh was speaking to the Prudent news channel on its "Head On" programme where she said: "Congress is the senior partner in the INDIA alliance. It is one party in the INDIA alliance which has presence all over the country. But it has never followed the 'dharma' of alliances in States of taking smaller parties along." She said soon after INDIA was formed, elections were AGENCIES CONG NOT TRUSTWORTHY: ATISHI People have lost faith in Congress „„In 2022, 11 Congress MLAs were elected and two AAP MLAs „„Three years later, Congress left with three MLAs and AAP still has its two MLAs „„Congress is not upright as a senior alliance partner „„Party is a senior partner in INDIA alliance but has never followed ‘dharma’ of alliances in other States held in MP where the Bundelkand region adjoins Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav had staked claim for some seats and Congress refused to even come to the discussion table.  "Later in the Haryana election too we had asked to contest 5 seats, four for AAP and one for Akhilesh Yadav's SP. They refused to let go of five of the 90 seats," Singh said questioning the 'Big Brother' role of the Congress in the INDIA Alliance. In Goa, Atishi cited the history of MLAs defecting to the BJP to claim that people have lost faith in the Congress. In the 2022, people of Goa had elected 11 MLAs of Congress and two MLAs of AAP. Three years later, Congress is left with three MLAs and AAP still has its two MLAs. "It's not that they don't desire our MLAs or that they have not got offers. But both our leaders have stayed steadfast and have been doing a great job representing their own constituencies and also raising issues of the people from across Goa," Atishi said. >Continued on P6 Planned US trade team’s trip to India cancelled HEIGHTS OF FAITH CITES HISTORY OF DEFECTIONS OF MLAs THE GOAN I NETWORK ing & Accountancy (5), Business Studies (4), Secretarial Practice (5), Physics (8), Chemistry (8), Biology (6) and Mathematics (10). Of the 111 vacancies, 60 are unreserved, while the rest fall under Scheduled Caste (2), Scheduled Tribe (14), Other Backward Classes (24) Govindas form a human pyramid to break the dahi handi as part of the Janmashtami celebrations at Miramar on Saturday. The festival, commemorating the birth of Lord Krishna, witnessed enthusiastic participation from revelers across the State.  Narayan Pissurlenkar NEW DELHI Amid a strain in economic ties because of the increased tariff, a planned visit by a US team to India for trade negotiations from August 25 to 29 has been cancelled and is likely to be rescheduled. The team was supposed to carry forward negotiations on the bilateral trade agreement between the countries, which is especially important now, given US President Donald Trump's announcement of 25% tariffs on Indian goods over Russian oil imports, in addition to a 25% levy he had imposed before. The negotiations would have been the sixth round of talks between US and India on the bilateral trade agreement and their timing was also crucial because they would have been held around August 27, when the additional 25% tariff is scheduled to take effect. They were also being held ahead of the fall, or September-October timeframe, that was being targeted for the finalisation of the agreement. Taxpayer bound to comply with NCERT blames Jinnah, Cong, Mountbatten for Partition summons from authorities: SC KEY POINTS FROM NCERT’S MODULE PTI PTI NEW DELHI Supreme Court has held that an assessee must comply with a summons and furnish a response to a show cause notice when it is issued by the central or the state tax authority. “Assessee” under the Income Tax Act refers to any individual or entity that holds legal liability of tax payment or any other financial commitments as specified by the Act. Thus, laying down guidelines to prevent duplication of adjudication by central and state GST authorities, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Where a summons or a show cause notice is issued to an assessee, the assessee is, in the first instance, is obliged to comply by appearing and furnishing the requisite response, as the case may be — Apex Court R Mahadevan said that mere issuance of a summons does not enable either the issuing authority or the recipient to ascertain that proceedings have been initiated. “Where a summons or a show cause notice is issued by either Central or State tax authority to an assessee, the assessee is obliged to comply by appearing and furnishing the requisite response, as the case may be. “Where an assessee becomes aware that the matter being inquired into or investigated is already the subject of an inquiry or investigation by another authority, the assessee shall forthwith inform, in writing, the authority that has initiated the subsequent inquiry or investigation,” the bench said. NEW DELHI special module released by the NCERT to mark “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day” has held Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Congress and then Viceroy Lord Mountbatten responsible for India's partition. The module has also noted that post-Partition, Kashmir emerged as a new problem, which had never existed in India before and created a challenge for the country's foreign policy. It has also flagged that some countries keep giving aid to Pakistan and exert pressure on India in the name of the Kashmir issue. A „„India’s Partition happened due to wrong ideas „„Muhammad Ali Jinnah „„Mountbatten proved to be said Hindus and Muslims guilty of a major blunder… belong to two different he preponed the date for the religious philosophies, transfer of power from June social customs, and 1948 to August 1947 literatures “India's Partition happened due to wrong ideas. The party of Indian Muslims, the Muslim League, held a conference in Lahore in 1940. Its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, said that Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philos- „„Demarcation of Partition boundaries was done hastily... Sir Cyril Radcliffe was given only five weeks „„In Punjab, even two days after 15 August, 1947, millions of people did not know whether they were in India or in Pakistan ophies, social customs, and literatures,” the module said. In a section titled “culprits of Partition”, the NCERT mod- ule said, “Ultimately, on August 15, 1947, India was divided. But this was not the doing of any one person. There were three elements responsible for the Partition of India: Jinnah, who demanded it; second, the Congress, which accepted it; and third, Mountbatten, who implemented it. But Mountbatten proved to be guilty of a major blunder.” “He preponed the date for the transfer of power from June 1948 to August 1947. He persuaded everyone to agree. Because of this, complete preparations could not be made. The demarcation of the Partition boundaries was also done hastily. For that, Sir Cyril Radcliffe was given only five weeks”, it said.