Married since 1947
Left: Madam Kamalam, 90, and Mr Suppaiyah, 100,
celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary last Saturday.
Above: The couple in 1952.
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Report on page 5
SINGAPORE, WEEKEND OF FRIDAY,
JUNE 24, 2022
MCI (P) 034/10/2021
OUTRAGE OVER
‘BULLDOZER
JUSTICE’
PAGE 4
DON 3 MAY
FEATURE AMITABH
AND SHAH RUKH
PAGE 8
WORLD CHAMP
SPREADS LOVE
OF SNOOKER
PAGE 12
INDIA COULD
GET FIRST
TRIBAL
PRESIDENT
PAGE 3
Enrolment under new military
recruitment plan to start soon
Enrolment under India’s new armed
services recruitment plan will
commence this month, top defence
officials said on Sunday despite
protests against a scheme that will
drastically cut tenure and offer fewer
service benefits at the end of contract.
The Central government on June 14
set out a policy called Agnipath, or
“path of fire”, designed to attract more
people into the military on four-year
contracts to lower the average age of
India’s 1.38 million armed forces.
The scheme sparked violent protests
in northern and eastern parts of the
country, with thousands of young men
attacking trains and clashing with
officials, after which the government
tweaked some of the rules.
Flight lands safely after engine
catches fire
A New Delhi-bound flight carrying
185 passengers made an emergency
landing on Sunday in Patna, after its
left engine caught fire while mid-flight.
The passengers aboard the SpiceJet
flight were evacuated safely after the
pilot returned to Patna airport shortly
after take-off.
“The flight returned to Patna airport
after locals (on the ground) noticed a
fire on the left wing of the aircraft and
informed airport officials,” said district
magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh.
“All 185 passengers were safely
deboarded. Reason for the fire is a
technical glitch. The engineering team
is analysing.”
Three arrested over murder of
popular rapper
Police have arrested three men accused
of murdering hip-hop star Sidhu
Moose Wala, seizing a cache of
weapons, including a grenade launcher,
from the suspects.
Special Police Commissioner H.S.
Dhaliwal in Delhi on Monday said the
suspects were arrested in Gujarat over
the weekend.
Police recovered high-explosive
grenades, a grenade launcher, an
assault rifle, electric detonators and
pistols from them.
CBI books DHFL’s Wadhawans in
biggest loan fraud
In the biggest loan fraud case in India,
the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) arrested Kapil Wadhawan and
Dheeraj Wadhawan, former promoters
of Dewan Housing Finance
Corporation.
They are among 13 people accused
of defrauding a consortium of 17
banks of over Rs34,000 crore ($603
billion). Previously, the Nirav Modi-led
Punjab National Bank loan fraud
(Rs13,000 crore) and ABG Shipyard
loan fraud (Rs20,000 crore) were
considered India’s biggest.
The CBI is conducting searches at
11 locations across the country, at
premises associated with the accused.
20 Indian fishermen released from
Karachi jail
Pakistan in a goodwill gesture on
Sunday released 20 Indian fishermen
who had been held in a jail in Karachi
for the past five years.
They were arrested for allegedly
fishing illegally in the country’s waters.
The fishermen were taken from the
Malir district jail and handed over to
the Indian authorities at the Wagah
border.
Biocon senior executive among
five arrested in bribery case
The Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) on Tuesday arrested five persons,
including Biocon Biologics associate
vice-president L. Praveen Kumar.
This is in connection with the
bribery case in which S. Eswara Reddy,
the joint drug controller with the
Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation (CDSCO), was caught
accepting Rs400,000 on Monday.
The others arrested include Dinesh
Dua, director of Synergy Network
India; Guljit Sethi alias Guljit
Chaudhary, director of Bioinnovat
Research Services; and CDSCO
assistant drug inspector Animesh
Kumar.
Seven terrorists killed in three
encounters in Jammu and Kashmir
Seven terrorists were killed during
three separate encounters with the
security forces in Jammu and Kashmir
last Sunday, the police said.
Among the terrorists was Showkat
Ahmad Sheikh, who was earlier
arrested on terror charges. He was
killed during an encounter in the
Lolab area of Kupwara district.
Family asks student harassed by
jilted lover to quit school
A 19-year-old student, who was
believed to have been harassed by her
jilted lover, was “advised” by her
family to stop attending the renowned
Delhi University college she was
attending.
Her father said she was facing
mental trauma as the jilted lover was
continuously posting about her on
various social media sites.
The family claimed they filed a
complaint with the Delhi Police
Commissioner’s office, Delhi
Commission for Women and the
National Schedule Caste Commission,
but no action was taken.
Hijab row: Five students seek
transfer certificates from college
Five Muslim students from the
Hampanakatta University College in
Dakshina Kannada have asked for
transfer certificates from the college
administration after being denied
permission to wear the hijab to school.
Principal Anusuya Rai confirmed
that the five students applied for
transfer certificates to join other
colleges.
However, the college will issue the
certificates only after the students
make certain corrections to their
applications.
Kerala ex-teacher arrested again in
sexual assault case
Kerala Police last Sunday arrested K.V.
Sasikumar, a retired teacher and a
former Communist Party of India
(Marxist) councillor from Malappuram
district, on a new complaint of sexual
assault filed by a former student.
He had served a prison term for
three weeks and was out on bail when
he was picked up.
Sasikumar was a mathematics
teacher at the St Gemmas Girls’
Higher Secondary School in
Malappuram.
A number of former students filed
complaints of sexual assault against
him after he retired last year.
Ikea India to source more products
locally amid rising inflation
Ikea India plans to source more
products locally to combat rising
inflation, as the Swedish furniture
group looks to connect better with the
country’s burgeoning middle class, a
top executive said on Tuesday.
The company’s fourth Indian store,
its biggest, opened in Bengaluru on
Wednesday – four years after Ikea
entered the Indian market.
The store is spread over 460,000 sq
ft and has a wide selection of the
brand’s home products and
furnishings, including the popular Billy
bookcase and Fragrik mugs.
A group of men
performing a bike stunt
in preparation for the
annual Rath Yatra in
Ahmedabad.
After two years of the
Covid-19 pandemic, the
Gujarat city is gearing
up to stage the 145th
yatra of Lord Jagannath
on July 1 with full
fanfare.
The authorities expect
more than 500,000
people to take part in
the 18km procession
from the Lord Jagannath
temple near Jamalpur
Darwaza to Saraspur.
It will have several
chariots, elephants,
stuntmen, wrestlers and
disc jockeys performing
different acts.
The Rath Yatra has
been an annual feature
in Ahmedabad since
1878. It is a public
festival in the state.
P
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Revving up for Rath Yatra
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Editor-in-Chief
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Warren Fernandez
Editor
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V.K. Santosh Kumar
Channel Excellence Lead
Alicia Luke
Page2
June24,2022
tabla
!
INDIA
A female politician from a tribal com-
munity has been nominated as presi-
dential candidate by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP).
Ms Droupadi Murmu, 64, a veteran
politician who has held senior posts in
Odisha, is almost certain to be elected
as the BJP holds a majority in parlia-
ment and is likely to get the support of
other parties in state assemblies.
Lawmakers vote for India’s largely
ceremonial president.
The presidential poll will be held on
July 18 and the counting of votes will
take place on July 21.
Ms Murmu, who on Wednesday
was seen sweeping the floor of a Shiva
temple in Rairangpur in Odisha’s
Mayurbhanj district, was born in a
family of the Santhal tribe.
She started her career as a school
teacher and actively participated in
tribal rights issues.
She later joined mainstream politics
and served as a lawmaker and gover-
nor of Jharkhand.
Ms Murmu “devoted her life to
serving society and empowering the
poor, downtrodden as well as the
marginalised”, Mr Modi tweeted on
Tuesday, after her name was an-
nounced as a candidate.
“I am confident she will be a great
president of our nation.”
If elected, Ms Murmu will become
the first tribal president and the sec-
ond female president after Ms Pratibha
Patil (2007-2012).
Indian opposition parties said they
would back Mr Yashwant Sinha, a
former BJP federal finance minister
before he turned rebel, as their candi-
date for the presidential election.
The BJP’s move to name Ms
Murmu as its presidential candidate
comes ahead of assembly elections in
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan
and Chhattisgarh.
The four states have 128 seats
reserved for Scheduled Tribes, of
which the BJP had won just 35 seats in
the last assembly elections.
With Ms Murmu as its presidential
candidate, the party can hope to
strengthen its appeal among tribal
voters. In addition, the party is now
sure of getting support from the ruling
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha.
The state’s Chief Minister and BJD
leader Navin Patnaik has welcomed
Ms Murmu’s candidature.
Ms Murmu’s candidature will also
put Jharkhand Chief Minister and
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)
leader Hemant Soren in a fix.
Mr Soren’s party is known for its
tribal politics and it would be difficult
for him to oppose a tribal woman,
especially one who has been the
governor of his state.
Ms Murmu on Tuesday said she was
optimistic about getting the support of
all the MLAs and MPs from Odisha
cutting across party lines.
She added that she was both sur-
prised and delighted on learning on
television that she had been nomi-
nated for the top job.
“As a tribal woman from remote
Mayurbhanj district, I had not thought
about becoming the candidate for the
top post,” she said at her Rairangpur
residence.
Asked whether she could get the
support of the BJD, which holds over
2.8 per cent of votes in the electoral
college, Ms Murmu said: “I am opti-
mistic about support from all members
of the Odisha Legislative Assembly
and MPs.
“I am daughter of the soil. I have
the rights to request all members to
support me as an Odia.”
The Indian Constitution provides a
largely ceremonial role for the presi-
dent, with the prime minister and his
cabinet holding executive powers.
But the president has a key role
during political crises, such as when a
general election is inconclusive, by
deciding which party is in the best
position to form a federal government.
Reuters
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) govern-
ment in Maharashtra, led by Chief
Minster Uddhav Thackeray, appeared
to be on the brink of collapse on
Thursday as the number of Shiv Sena
rebels, led by party leader Eknath
Shinde, continued to swell.
Sena chief Thackeray left the chief
minister’s official residence along with
his wife Rashmi and their sons Aaditya
and Tejasand on Wednesday.
They moved into their family home,
shortly after Mr Thackeray made an
emotional speech in which he said he
was willing to resign if his party
legislators and ranks told him to his
face that they did not want him to
continue.
In the address, which was more an
appeal to his partymen after Mr
Shinde moved from Surat to Guwahati
with his flock of 34 Sena legislators
(MLAs), Mr Thackeray said: “If my
own people are saying they do not
want me, then shouldn’t they have
come before me to say it instead of
going to Surat and speaking there?
“They should have come here and
say: ‘Uddhavji, you are useless… we
don’t want you.’ I would have resigned
from the post of CM even if only one
MLA had said this to me.
“I have no greed. I am not going to
stick to the chair.”
In the assembly of 288, which is
currently at 287 owing to the death of
Sena MLA Ramesh Latke last month,
the MVA needs at least 144 legislators
to survive.
Before the revolt, its strength in the
house was 152 – Sena 55, Nationalist
Congress Party 53, Congress 44.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
has 106 MLAs, while others account
for the remaining 29.
More Sena MLAs were expected to
join Shinde by Thursday.
The BJP is expected to stake a
claim to form the government under
its leader Devendra Fadnavis with the
Sena rebels’ backing.
Indo-Asian News Service
“If my own people are
saying they do not
want me, then shouldn’t
they have come before
me to say it instead of
going to Surat and
speaking there?”
– Chief Minster Uddhav Thackeray
Thackeray loses clout
“I am optimistic
about support
from all
members of
the Odisha
Legislative
Assembly and
MPs. I am
daughter of the
soil. I have the
rights to request
all members to
support me as
an Odia.”
– Ms Droupadi Murmu
India might get first tribal president
INDIA
tabla
!
June 24, 2022
Page 3
