WEDNESDAY ALL GREEN CARD PETITIONS TO GET PROCESSED IN 6 MONTHS? 18 An advisory panel has voted to recommend the US president that all green card applications be processed in six months MAY, 2022 WILL PUSH FOR PROCESS STREAMLINING epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard The President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (PACAANHPI) has recommended that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) remove redundant steps, introduce automation wherever possible and improve its internal dashboards and reporting systems to speed up the process twitter.com/TheMornStandard MUNDKA BLAZE THREE OFFICIALS SUSPENDED Inquiry showed ‘laxity’ on parts of officials, building had no fire NOC PAGE 3 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00 PAGES 12  COULD BENEFIT THOUSANDS OF INDIANS Additionally, the panel will recommend that the National Visa Center, which schedules and conducts visa interviews, double its human resource capacity over the next three months. The proposals, if adopted, may benefit many Indians, some of whom have been waiting for decades to get green card Wholesale inflation at record high of 15% The Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi that is in the eye of a storm after its survey by a commission on Tuesday | PTI Protect Shivalinga but allow mosque entry: SC THE Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that the area where a ‘Shivalinga’ was indicated to have been found in the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi a day ago should be fully protected, but the rights of Muslims to enter and offer prayers must not be infringed. The court was hearing a petition challenging a Allahabad High Court order that had permitted the inspection and videography of the premises. “In order to obviate any dispute on the meaning and content of the order of the trial judge, the operation and ambit of the order dated 16 May 2022 shall stand restricted to the extent that the District Magistrate, Varanasi shall ensure that the area where the Shivalinga is stated to have been found, as indicated in the order, shall be duly protected. The above direction shall not in any manner restrain or impede the access of Muslims to the mosque or the use of the mosque for the purpose of performing namaz and religious observance,” a bench led by Justice D Y Chandrachud said in its interim order. Senior advocate Hufeza Ah- madi, appearing for the Anjuman Islamia Masjid Committee, sought a stay on the trial court’s proceedings in Varanasi. “The order (to seal the wuzu khana where the Shivalinga was said to have been found) was passed ex-parte without serving to us...What was the tearing hurry the way the premises was sealed?” he asked. However, the bench refused to issue a stay order. The court issued notices to the petitioners and the UP government and posted the matter for next hearing on May 19. In Varanasi, trial court judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar sacked his court-appointed advocate commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra for engaging a private cameraman for the Gyanvapi survey who went about leaking information to the media in flagrant violation of the confidentiality mandate. It was special advocate commissioner Vishal Singh who outed Mishra’s lensman R P Singh leaking the survey’s proceedings. Singh has now been tasked with submitting the survey report and granted two days to do so. Meanwhile, a couple of fresh petitions were filed seeking permission to perform puja of the ‘Shivalinga’. Petition seeks nod for Shivalinga puja A petition was filed in court of civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar y seeking permission for ‘pujaarchana’ of the ‘Shivling’ allegedly found in Gyanvapi premises. Another plea filed in the same court has asked for demolition of basements walls for collection of more evidence. SC questions plea for ‘intervention’ The SC questioned the locus of an office-bearer of a Hindu organisation who has moved a plea seeking to intervene and oppose the petition of the Gyanvapi mosque committee challenging the survey. “Who are you?” the bench asked. The lawyer appearing for Vishnu Gupta, president of Hindu Sena, said, “I am a devotee”. But, the SC in a civil lawsuit there was hardly any scope for such an intervention. 3.68% and power baskets, inflation stood at 38.66%, whereas in manufactured products it was 10.85% and oil seeds 16.10%. Also, oore inflation accelerated for the third consecutive month to 11.1 per cent from 10.9 per cent in March 2022. “We see June’s policy to be super-live, and the monetary Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths MAY 16 377 910 01 Amicus curiae advocate Gaurav Agrawal also supported the application for extension of deadline to demolish the towers. Agrawal said that the twin towers are in close proximity to the residential buildings and therefore extra caution needs to be maintained so that debris does not cause damage to them. Apr 2022 Oct 2021 Apr 2021 Oct 2019 Oct 2018 policy committee may frontload rates by another 25-50 basis points. FY23 could thus further see rates going up by 100-125 basis points, with the RBI now showing its intent to keep real rates above neutral,” said Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services. 939 709 02 EXPRESS READ 4 wanted in 1993 Mumbai blasts held Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad has arrested four persons wanted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, officials said on Tuesday. Abu Bakar, Saiyad Qureshi, Mohammad Shoeb Qureshi alias Shoeb Bawa and Mohammad Yusuf Ismail alias Yusuf Bhatka, all residents of Mumbai, were on the run for 29 years, they said. The four were held from Sardarnagar area of Ahmedabad on May 12 following a tip-off, said Additional Director General of Police, ATS, Amit Vishwakarma. At present they have been booked for allegedly obtaining passports on the basis of forged documents for fleeing the country in 1993. P8 1 killed, 3 hurt in J&K grenade attack Srinagar: Hours after Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the security situation of Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi, militants on Tuesday attacked a newly opened wine shop with a grenade in Baramulla district, killing a staffer and injuring three others. A police officer said around 8.10 pm, two militants on a motorbike came to the wine shop. The pillion rider, wearing a burqa, walked up to the window, dropped a grenade inside and fled. Four employees of the shop sustained splinter injuries. They were rushed to hospital where one of them succumbed. Pilot grounded for runway overshoot New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended for one year the privileges and licences of the pilot and co-pilot of an Alliance Air flight that overshot the runway in Jabalpur last week. The flight was involved in the runway ‘excursion’ (inappropriate exit) on May 12. The DGCA’s probe revealed that the aircraft floated for a long period and touched down 900 meters after the aiming point. The pilot’s decision to continue in spite of long float resulted into long landing and subsequently runway excursion, which could have jeopardised the safety of the aircraft and the passengers. P R AT H M A S H A R M A @ New Delhi Extra caution advocated -1.57% Just a few days ago, retail inflation data registered an eightyear high at 7.79% in April. In a bid to tame inflation, the RBI this month raised the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4.4% and cash reserve ratio by 0.5%. Meanwhile, days after the Union commerce ministry banned wheat exports, on Tuesday it gave some relaxation to consignments registered with the customs on or before May 13. It also allowed a wheat consignment headed for Egypt, which was already under loading at the Kandla port. “The order served three main purposes: ensure India’s food security and check inflation, it helps other countries facing food deficit, and it maintains India’s reliability as a supplier. The order also aimed to provide a clear direction to the wheat market to prevent hoarding,” the Centre said in a statement. MAY 17 Aug 28 new deadline for Noida towers demolition THE Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for demolition of Supertech twin towers in Noida — Apex and Cayane in the Emerald Court — till August 28 after being informed that the two structures are stronger than expected and the exercise will require more time. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and P S Narasimha passed the order on an application filed by Interim Resolution Professional seeking an extension of time by three months. The next hearing is on July 29. The top court had earlier held the two towers as illegal and ordered the builder to demiolish them by May 22 and return the money to homebuyers. A status report submitted on behalf of NOIDA authority in compliance with an earlier order of the top court indicated that Edifice Engineering, the agency entrusted to demolish the towers, carried out a test blast and found the need to redesign the final building blast plan. The court was informed that the director of the Central Building Research Institute, too, had indicated that the demolition could be carried out by August 28. In view of the expert opinions, the SC acceded to the request for more time. Oct 2017 Apr 2017 Oct 2016 Oct 2015 Apr 2016 Apr 2015 Oct 2014 Oct 2013 Apr 2014 0.00% -1.9% -4.76% 1.31% 3.62% 0.87% -3.42% 3.24% Oct 2020 1.27% Apr 2018 3.72% 10.74% 5.54% 3.85% Apr 2019 6.70% 5.06% DELHI Advocate commissioner leading Gyanvapi survey sacked for ‘leak’ P R AT H M A S H A R M A A N D N A M I TA B A J PA I @ New Delhi/Lucknow MAKING SENSE OF WPI PEAK Y-O-Y (%) Apr 2013 INDIA’S wholesale price-based inflation jumped to an all-time high of 15.08% due to acrossthe-board rise in prices, including those of food and fuel. Continuous high inflation — both retail and wholesale — would further put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hike interest rates in its June monetary policy . The WPI inflation has been in double digits perpetually for the last 13 months. Overall inflation in food articles was recorded at 8.35%. In the food basket, the highest inflation was observed in the items like vegetables, potato, fruits and wheat at 23.24%, 19.84%, 10.89% and 10.70%, respectively Crude pe. troleum and natural gas rose by 69.07% year-on-year, while petrol witnessed a surge in prices by 60.63%. In the fuel 15.08% 13.83% Apr 2020 M O N I K A YA D A V @ New Delhi A CBI official gestures to the media during a raid at former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s residence in Chennai on Tuesday | R SATISH BABU CASH-FOR-VISA: PREMISES OF PC, KARTI RAIDED EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi KEEPING up the pressure on senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram, the CBI on Tuesday conducted raids and searches at his son Karti’s residence and office premises across nine cities, in a fresh case relating to alleged acceptance of `50 lakh bribe for facilitating visas for Chinese employees working for a power project in Punjab. The raids were carried out at Chidambarams’ properties in Chennai, Mumbai, Koppal (Karnataka), Mansa (Punjab) and Jharsuguda (Odisha), CBI sources said, even as the agency was wary of disclosing the nature of documents it seized in the course of its operations. Chidambaram’s son Karti is alleged to have taken the bribe in 2011 for facilitating visas for about 300 the Chinese employees working at the Talwandi Sabo Power Project in Punjab. A supercritical 1,980 MW thermal power project, the Talwandi Sabo plant is located at Banawala in Punjab’s Mansa district. This is the second time Karti has come under the CBI’s scanner. He was previously probed in the AircelMaxis and the INX Media cases. Karti was arrested in 2018 in the INX Media case. This was followed a year later with the CBI arresting Chidambaram. According to the FIR, Karti accepted a gratification of `50 lakh for facilitating visas for the Chinese nationals. The money was allegedly sent to an account of one of Karti’s companies to “devise a back door way to defeat the home ministry ceiling on visa”. Karti got `50 lakh from Vedanta Group: ED SHOWER SHOWCASE While north India reels under heat wave, a commuter rides a bicycle during a drizzle in Kochi on Tuesday | PTI According to the FIR, Advantage Strategic Consulting, a company linked to Karti, got `50 lakh from the Vedanta Group to organise visas for 263 Chinese nationals in 2011, when P Chidambaram was Union home minister. The visas were meant to help expedite the delayed power project. Vedanta’s offer was made through a chartered accountant, S Bhakararaman. The ED’s case is based on, among other things, the emails it retrieved from Bhakararaman’s laptop. His residence and offices were also raided by the sleuths alongside Karti’s bungalow in Delhi’s Lodhi Estate. Bhagat Singh chapter not removed, K’taka says after AAP attack S H I L PA P @ Bengaluru AS a row erupted over alleged removal of a lesson on Shahid Bhagat Singh from a school textbook in Karnataka, the State Textbook Society on Tuesday clarified that they had not removed the chapter on the martyr from the revised Kannada first language textbook for Class 10. The state education department’s textbook revision com- mittee has, in fact, introduced additional infor mation on Bhagat Singh and Swami Vivekananda in the revised Kannada first language textbook for Class 10, besides including chapters on four other leaders which had been removed in 2014, the panel’s head Rohit Chakratheertha told this newspaper. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejrival earlier munted a sharp attack on the BJP government in Karnataka for the alleged removal of the chapter on Bhagat Singh. Terming it an insult to the sacrifice made by the revolutionary freedom fighter, he demanded a rollback of the decision. Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal tweeted that the country will not tolerate such insult of its martyrs, and asked the BJP why “its people” hated Bhagat Singh so much. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also slammed the BJP over the issue and said the saffron party’s hatred for Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh has come out in the open before everyone. Their reactions came a day after some organisations, including All-India Democratic Students Organisation and AllIndia Save Education Committee, claimed that the Karnataka government had omitted a lesson on Bhagat Singh and included a speech by RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. Chakratheertha, however, denied the “rumours”. Karnataka’s Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh had earlier defended the inclusion of a speech by Hedgewar in the textbook.