BELAGAVI SATURDAY APRIL 06, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 14 LATE CITY EDITION ISRAEL ADMITS ERRORS IN GAZA AID WORKER KILLINGS, SACKS 2 OFFICERS The Israeli army also reprimanded three other officers for their role in drone strikes that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission RARE CONFESSION AFTER INVESTIGATION NOT ENOUGH, SAYS WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN Israel’s rare confession came after a probe by a retired general found the officers violated army rules, which say targets must be visually identified as threats before they can be hit. The drone operators mistook a World Central Kitchen aid worker for a gunman and fired a missile to their vehicle. When people escaped and got into another car, it was hit by a second missile ■ The findings are likely to renew scepticism over IDF’s decision-making. “It’s a serious event we are responsible for; it shouldn’t have happened... We will make sure it won’t happen again,” said IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari ■ World Central Kitchen said IDF should do more. “Without systemic changes, there will be more military failures, more apologies & more grieving families” 220 HUMANITARIAN WORKERS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN THE GAZA CONFLICT, SAYS THE U.N. CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI CONG PROMISES 5-FOLD JUSTICE IN MANIFESTO Outreach to youth, farmers, women; promises right to apprenticeship P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi FROM promising a national caste census to providing legal guarantee to MSP and the right to apprenticeship, the Congress on Friday sought to tick all the important checkboxes in its manifesto released just weeks ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the manifesto will be remembered as a “document of justice” in the political history of the country. The manifesto stands on the five pillars of ‘Paanch Nyay’, which include justice for youth, farmers, women, workers and participation and representation in ‘decision making’ process in the country said Kharge. , As the Congress poll strategy in the recent assembly elections revolved around the plank of caste census and social justice, the party in its manifesto vowed to hold a nationwide census to identify and enumerate castes, sub-castes and their socio-economic condition, and amend the Constitution to raise the 50% ceiling on quota for SCs, STs and OBCs. Other promises include 10% Cafe blast: Cong, BJP spar as NIA grills saffron neta EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Shivamogga QUESTIONING of a BJP leader from Thirthahalli by NIA in connection with the Bengaluru cafe blast case on Friday led to a political slugfest between the Congress and BJP . While Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao suspected the role of the saffron party in the case, the BJP accused the Congress EXPRESS READ Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, releasing the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, in Delhi on Friday | PARVEEN NEGI quota in jobs and education for the Economically Weaker Section for all castes and communities and a law for quota in private educational institutions for the SCs, STs and OBCs. It will also set up a Diversity Commission that will measure, monitor and promote diversity in public and private employment and education. It said it would abolish application fees for government examinations and government posts. It will also enact a law after Rohith Vemula to address discrimination faced by students belonging to the marginalised communities. In tune with its promise on generating employment, the party said that it will enact the Right to Apprenticeship Act to provide a one-year apprenticeship with a private or a public sector company to every diploma holder or college graduate under the age of 25 with a stipend of `1lakh a year. It also promised to abolish the Agnipath programme and direct the armed forces to resume normal recruitment to achieve the full sanctioned strength. Other key promises include providing legal guarantee to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism for crops, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission. To help the rural poor, the party will increase the wage under MGNREGA to `400 per day . 13 rescued as fire breaks out at B’luru building Bengaluru: As many as 13 people were rescued after a major fire broke out at a commercial building at RT Nagar in Bengaluru on Friday afternoon. There was no injury or loss of life, police said. The fire broke out around 1.50 pm. Four fire tenders rushed to the spot and doused the fire by 4pm. Yadgir sees max temp of 44.10 C, B’luru 38.30 C Bengaluru: Parts of the state continued to be under an intense heat wave with Yadgir recording highest maximum temperature of 44.10 C on Friday, followed by Kalaburagi (42.80 C), Raichur (41.60C) and Bagalkote (41.10 C). The Kempegowda International Airport recorded 38.30 C on Friday. ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ case: FIR filed against assaulted shopkeeper E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru FIRE AND FURY Dense smoke after a fire broke out at a storage facility of Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Co Ltd in Raipur on Friday | PTI Shoma Sen gets bail in Bhima Koregaon case S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi IN a major relief to academicactivist Shoma Sen, arrested in June 2018 in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, the Supreme Court on Friday granted her bail by setting aside the January 2023 order of the Bombay High Court directing her to approach the special court for bail. Sen has been lodged at the Byculla Jail in Mumbai since her arrest in 2018. The National Investigation Agency, which is probing the case, did not oppose her bail plea. A bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih took cognizance of the delay in framing charges and the 66-year-old former Nagpur University professor’s medical conditions. The bench set several conditions for her bail including livesharing of her mobile GPS with the NIA’s investigating officer. Also, she cannot leave Maharashtra without the special court’s permission. The case relates to alle ged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. The event reportedly triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city’s outskirts. According to police, the conclave was backed by Maoists. THE recent case pertaining to the attack on a young shopkeeper for reportedly playing ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ in Halasurugate police limits has taken a new turn with the police registering an FIR against him. Mah Jabeen, 55, mother of Suleman, an accused in the case, filed a police complaint on March 18 against G Mukesh, the shopkeeper. The police, who filed a non-cognizable report, approached the jurisdictional court. The FIR was registered against Mukesh on March 27 based on the court’s direction. In her complaint, Jabeen alleged that Mukesh assaulted her son and his friends when they questioned him for playing loud music during prayers in a nearby mosque. Halasurugate police said Mukesh is yet to be summoned for an inquiry Suleman, Shanavaz, Ro. hith, Danish, Taruna and other accused were released on bail a few days ago, a police officer said. A case of causing hurt (IPC 323), intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (IPC 504) and criminal intimidation (IPC 506) has been registered against Mukesh. Mukesh, 26, a resident of Cubbonpet, filed a complaint on March 17 after he was reportedly assaulted by the accused for playing ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ at his ‘Krishna Telecom’ shop in Siddannagalli. The accused reportedly objected to the playing of ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ by Mukesh during ‘Azan’. An argument broke out and the accused allegedly dragged Mukesh out of his shop and assaulted him. Based on Mukesh’s complaint, the police arrested the accused. Several BJP leaders, including Shobha Karandlaje, staged a protest at NT Pet a day after Mukesh was reportedly assaulted. Relief for 16 lakh UP students as SC stays order scrapping madarsa education Act S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Allahabad High Court’s March 22 verdict declaring the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, unconstitutional and violative of secularism and fundamental rights. Critiquing the HC’s verdict, a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud pointed out that the former’s finding on the establishment of a ma- darsa board prima facie breaching the principles of secularism may not be correct. It said it would examine the pleas in July second week. The order brought a major relief for as many as 16 lakh students studying across around 16,000 madrarsas in Uttar Pradesh. The bench passed the order after hearing a batch of appeals against the HC order. “The object and purpose of madarsa board is regulatory in nature and Allahabad High Court is not prima facie correct that establishment of board will breach secularism. It (High Court judgment) conflates madarsa education with the regulatory powers entrusted with the board. The judgment shall remain stayed,” the top court said in its order. The HC had last month held the 2004 law unconstitutional as it violated secularism. The court went on to direct the government to accommodate all madarsa students in the formal education system. of spreading fake news. The NIA reportedly questioned BJP Yuva Morcha leader Sai Prasad in Thirthahalli. It is said that one of the accused had purchased a used phone from Prasad’s shop. In a press release, the NIA clarified that as part of its investigation, it has been summoning and examining the friends and acquaintances of the accused in the case. As the news of NIA question- ing the BJP worker spread, Gundu Rao posted on X: “What will the saffron party leaders of the state say now as they had earlier spoken as if our government was responsible for the blast? Doesn’t it mean that the BJP was involved in the Rameshwaram cafe blast as the BJP leader has been taken into custody by the NIA? Do you need any more proof than this that the saffron terrorism that the BJP is running in the state in the name of protecting religion is creating serious problems? What does the BJP which , is imposing RSS ideologies on the country say to this?” , He also sought answers from the state BJP leaders “who have blamed the Congress over the Rameshwaram bomb blast case without considering the issue of national security must P5 now give an answer.” Rates on hold, RBI waits for inflation ‘elephant’ to vanish B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday chose not to surprise or disappoint markets as it left the key policy rates unchanged at 6.5% for the seventh time on the trot. RBI’s monetary policy committee led by governor Shaktikanta Das cited inflationary pressure from high food prices but sounded confident of keeping retail inflation at 4.5% in FY25. The no-surprises monetary policy had a soothing effect on the rupee, which has been under strain for some time, and also on the equities market. The rupee rallied 9 paise to close at 83.30 against the dollar, while the stock markets closed flat after a choppy ride with the benchmark Sensex managing to close in the green with 20.6 points gains at 74,248 and the broader Nifty ending the session flat at 22,513 on Friday . The central bank also maintained the ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance, saying growth numbers have been robust and the priority is to anchor inflation to the target. “When CPI peaked at 7.8% in April 2022, the elephant in the room was inflation. The elephant has now gone out for a walk and appears to be returning to the forest. We’d like the elephant to return to the forest and remain there,” Das said. RBI expects the growth momentum to continue in FY25 with GDP growth projected at 7%. Das said the second advance estimates placed real GDP growth at 7.6% for FY24, the third straight year of 7% plus growth. He says the momentum will sustain as the latest purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing touched a 16-year high of 59.1 in March and services PMI hit a 13-year-high at over 60, suggesting healthy growth.
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