THURSDAY 30 JANUARY 2025 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00| LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘COVERT ATTEMPT TO HELP MILITANTS REGROUP IN NORTH-EAST’ STRATEGIC TIES P6 SENSEX 76,532.96p631.55 WEATHER SMOG/ MIST LIKELY IN THE NIGHT. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 26 AND 08 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 100 % TEMPERATURE Min. 41 % Max: 25.5 °C (+3.4) SUN RISES 07:10 hrs MOON RISES 08:28 hrs Min: .06.4 °C (-2.0) SUN SETS 17:59 hrs MOON SETS 18:55 hrs THUMBNAILS President Droupadi Murmu is received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on her arrival to witness the Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Wednesday. n UNI PAN now to be used by information utilities to verify usersÊ identity: PAN (Permanent Account Number) has now been included on par with other officially valid documents for use by information utilities to verify the identity of users. Amended guidelines issued by the IBBI require the information utility to obtain a sub-authentication user agency licence from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for demographic authentication of users during the registration process. (P10) NIFTY P4 23,163.10p205.85 ` vs $ 86.56 GOLD 83,330.00 P12 SILVER 1,04,000 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 77.19q0.30 ‘Domicile-based reservation for PG medical admissions unconstitutional’ Early morning surge on Akhara Marg leads to tragedy; 60 injured STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE MAHAKUMBH NAGAR, 29 JANUARY A t least 30 people, mostly women, died and around 60 people were injured after a "stampede-like" situation broke out at the Sangam on Wednesday amid the ongoing Mahakumbh as a large number of pilgrims turned up for a holy bath on Mauni Amavasya. The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday amid a sea of pilgrims converging at the Sangam and all other ghats created along a 12km long stretch of river bank for the Mahakumbh. The Triveni Sangam ~ confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati ~ is considered the holiest by Hindus, with a belief that taking a dip in it during Mahakumbh and particularly on auspicious days like Mauni Amavasya washes away people's sins and provides them 'moksha' or salvation. The 'Amrit snan' of the 13 akharas, after being deferred, was completed STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 29 JANUARY late today amid tight security measures. Deputy Inspector General of Police Vaibhav Krishna told reporters here that 30 pilgrims succumbed to their injuries. He said 25 deceased have been identified. Among them 4 were from Karnataka and one each from Gujarat and Assam. He said 36 people are still admitted in the hospital. The Uttar Pradesh government has announced a helpline toll-free number, 1920, for tracing missing persons. The DIG said that today no VIP protocol was entertained and this norm will continue during the next NIKHIL VYAS NEW DELHI, 29 JANUARY Amrit Snan during Basant Panchami on 3 February. “Situation is normal now and the Amrit Snan has also been completed,” he added. The DIG said pilgrims broke the barricades on the Akhara Marg which led to the stampede. The barricades had been placed in the mela and akhara areas for lane management but they gave way under the pressure of the jostling throng, he said. As the barricades broke, people fell on those sitting and waiting for taking the holy dip during the 'brahm muhurt' (early “Don't the children, families and relatives of the people of Haryana live in Delhi? Can the people of Haryana mix poison in the water of their own children?” Mr Modi questioned. Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday levelled serious allegations against the BJP, saying that the BJP-ruled Haryana government has "poisoned" the Yamuna water supplied to Delhi so that "people die" and the blame falls on the AAP. Coming down heavily on the AAP chief for his "poisonous water" remarks, Mr Modi said: "Everyone living in Delhi drinks this water sent from Haryana, the Prime Minister also drinks it for the last 11 years, all the Justices and all the other respectable people also drink it." Intensifying his attack on the AAP, the Prime Minister said: “In ‘AAP-Da’ walon ki lutiya Yamuna ji mein hi doobegi. (Their (AAP) boat will sink in Yamuna only) ." Calling the charges an insult to the nation, Mr Modi said: "AAP-da people are saying that people of Haryana mix poison in the water of Delhi. This is an insult not just to Haryana but to Indians, an insult to our values, an insult to our character. This is a country where offering water is considered a religion. But these (AAP) people, fearing electoral defeat, are resorting to such baseless allegations." The Prime Minister said: "This time, Delhi will teach a lesson to those spreading such lies. Their (AAP) boat will sink in Yamuna only." Exuding confidence for the BJP's victory in Delhi Assembly polls, Mr Modi said on 5 February, the AAP will go and the BJP will come. ISRO hits century: 100th launch takes flight with NVS-02 satellite STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 29 JANUARY In a historic feat, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday announced its 100th launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The GSLV-F15 launcher with the NVS-02 satellite lifted off from the spaceport’s second launch pad at 6.23 a.m. “The first launch of 2025 has been successfully accomplished. The satellite has been placed into the intended orbit,” newly-appointed ISRO chairman V Narayanan said. The GSLV-F15 is the 17th flight of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and the 11th flight with Indigenous Cryo stage. It is the 8th operational flight of GSLV with an indigenous Cryogenic stage. The NVS-02 satellite was designed, developed and integrated at the U R Satellite Centre (URSC) with the support of other satellite-based work centres. The first launch, on 10 August 1979, was the exper- P7 30 pilgrims lose lives in Mahakumbh stampede ‘AAP-Da's’ boat will sink in Yamuna in Assembly polls: PM targets Kejriwal Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal over his charge that the BJP-led Haryana government had ‘poisoned’ the Yamuna’s water, saying the ‘AAPda’ is in panic fearing a humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections in Delhi. “In their political interest, 'AAP-da' people have committed another grave sin and this sin can never be forgiven. A former Chief Minister of Delhi has made disgusting allegations against the people of Haryana. ‘AAP-da’ people are in panic due to fear of defeat. Is Haryana different from Delhi?” he said without directly naming Kejriwal while addressing a public meeting in Kartar Nagar here. VARUN CHAKRAVARTHY RISES TO FIFTH IN T20I BOWLER RANKINGS ‘SLOWDOWN STRUCTURAL, NOT CYCLICAL’ imental flight of Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3 E10) carrying the Rohini Technology Payload, which was only partially successful, according to the space agency. Union Minister Jitendra Singh congratulated ISRO for achieving the milestone of the 100th launch. “It’s a privilege to be associated with the Department of Space at the historic moment of this record feat. Team ISRO once again made India proud. The launch of GSLV-F15/NVS-02 Mission is not simply another landmark milestone but this launch, being the 100th one, marks a quantum leap in India’s Space journey,” he said. The minister also underlined the rapid rise of private sector participation in space. “In 2021, we had barely a single-digit number of space startups. Today, we are nearing 300, many of which are worldclass enterprises and entrepreneurial success stories. India is positioning itself as a frontline player in the global private space sector,” he noted. He also highlighted India’s growing dominance in commercial space launches. “Today, 90 per cent of foreign satellite launches are being carried out through ISRO, reflecting the global confidence in our capabilities,” he said. The reforms initiated in the past decade, including the unlocking of the space sector for private players, have led to greater innovation, investment, and international collaborations. Mr Narayanan expressed gratitude and said that the 100th launch is a significant milestone of India’s space programme. “I am extremely happy to announce from the spaceport of ISRO that the first launch of this year has been successfully accomplished. The GSLV-F15 vehicle launch vehicle precisely injecting the navigation satellite NVS02 into orbit. This mission is the 100th launch from our launch pads which is a significant milestone for India. morning time considered auspicious to perform certain activities), he said. Today, over 5.7 crore devotees had a dip in the Sangam till 6 p.m. President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other political leaders condoled the loss of lives in the incident. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a judicial probe into the incident. He also pledged Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia to the families of each of the deceased. In the last Mahakumbh in 2013, over 36 pilgrims had died in a stampede at the Prayagraj Railway station on Mauni Amavasya. The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that domicile-based reservations in postgraduate medical courses are impermissible, and declared them unconstitutional for being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, guaranteeing equality before law. While holding that providing for domicile residence-based reservations in admission in PG medical courses within the state quota is constitutionally impermissible, a three-judge bench said that the state quota seats are to be filled up on the basis of merit in the NEET exam. The court, however, clarified that the judgment will only affect future admissions and will not affect the domicile reservation that has already been granted to the students. (See Page 5) SC seeks data on FIRs registered under 2019 law on triple talaq PARMOD KUMAR NEW DELHI, 29 JANUARY The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Central government to state on affidavit the total number of FIRs registered and charge sheets filed across the country under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, that criminalises divorcing a wife by a Muslim husband by pronouncing ‘talaq’ three times in one go and provides for a jail term up to three years for such a husband. At the outset of the hearing ofabatchofpetitionschallenging the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, Chief ` Justice Sanjiv Khanna, heading the bench also comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar, asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta if he can apprise the court about the total number of FIRs registered in the country under the law andcasespendingbeforecourts. Mr Mehta said he will provide the details to the court. (Details on Page 5)