WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH, 2024 Bennu’s sample shows presence of glycine, the simplest amino acid, and a crucial ingredient of proteins, according to a report in Live Science epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard 700 MN NEW YORK CIVIL CASE PAGE 9 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS NEW DELHI J8.00 The sample also has other water-bearing minerals such as carbonates, sulphites, olivine and magnetite, leading to a tangible evidence that Bennu’s parent body witnessed multiple water-related episodes before fragments coalesced into the asteroid, the report says. Scientists also found a reservoir of magnesium phosphate, a rare find in astromaterials PAGES 12 SC gives govt 2 weeks to respond to petitions seeking stay on CAA rules Directs the Centre to file its reply by April 2; matter to come up before court again on April 9 S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Kejriwal knocks at HC door against ‘illegal’ summons S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi LEGAL activities involving the Delhi excise policy case intensified on Tuesday with CM Arvind Kejriwal moving Delhi High Court against the issuance of nine summonses by the Enforcement Directorate. Separately AAP’s Rajya , Sabha MP Sanjay Singh questioned in the Supreme Court on the way the ED arrested him, without issuing the summons. In another development, arrested BRS leader K Kavitha withdrew from the Supreme Court her plea against the ED summons last year in the same case. Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary told the top court that his client would like to withdraw the petition, keeping in view that she had already been arrested on March 15 and remanded in ED custody till March 23. Kejriwal’s plea in the HC is due for hearing on March 20 by a division bench. Kejriwal has skipped all the summonses, claiming they are illegal. “I have not committed any crime in the Delhi excise policy he maintained. ,” The ED has called Kejriwal as many as nine times, for questioning him in the liquor policy case, but the AAP leader has on YEARS AGO BENNU COULD HAVE BROKEN OFF FROM A LARGER ASTEROID WATER MINERALS FOUND IN THE SAMPLE TRUMP UNABLE TO POST $464MN BOND Former Prez faced a blow to his carefully cultivated image as a self-made tycoon SOURCE: NASA ASTEROID BENNU HAS BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE, SAY SCIENTISTS all occasions skipped them. The ED has alleged that Kejriwal failed to comply with the summonses issued to him. The agency has filed two criminal complaints against the CM alleging non-compliance of the summonses. On March 16, Kejriwal appeared before the ACMM court and was granted bail until April 1. In the SC, Sanjay Singh questioned the ED’s move to arrest him. “The ED had not issued any summons ag ainst me. They came to my house and arrested me,” senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Singh told the apex court. The Delhi HC had earlier denied him bail, after noting that prima facie, he seemed to be involved in offences, forcing him to knock the doors of the apex court for bail. Last year in September, Kavitha had moved Supreme Court against the ED summons. The court had said that it was examining whether the ED has the power to summon her. Her lawyer told the top court on Tuesday that his client would like to withdraw, keeping in view that she had already been arrested on March 15. “As a result, her writ has become infructuous,” he told the SC. THE Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stay the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules sought by a batch of petitioners, but directed the Centre to file its reply by April 2. “We are not expressing any prima facie view. We have to hear the petitioners, we have to hear the other side,” said the bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta initially sought four weeks time to reply and clarified that the law “does not take away citizenship of any person”. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Indian Union Muslim League, questioned the urgency to notify the rules four years after CAA was passed. The Act was passed in December 2021 but the rules giving effect to the law were notified only on March 11. “We are not expressing any prima facie view in the matter,” the bench said, while posted the matter to April 9. VOTING RIGHTS When senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for a Hindu immigrant from Balochistan, wondered how will anyone be affected or anyone’s rights be violated if his client is granted citizenship, senior advocate Indira Jaising said: “Because they will get the right to vote.” EXPRESS READ HC gives life term to former encounter cop The Bombay High Court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced former cop and controversial encounter specialist, Pradeep Sharma, to life imprisonment, and upheld the conviction of 13 others in the 2006 fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta, an alleged close aide of gangster Chhota Rajan. Sharma was convicted on all charges, including criminal conspiracy, murder, kidnapping. Delhi identified as the capital city with poorest air quality 118.9 PM2.5 AIR POLLUTION LEADS TO ASTHMA, CANCER, STROKE, LUNG DISEASES, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND DIABETES (MICRONS) BIHAR’S BEGUSARAI EMERGED AS THE WORLD’S MOST POLLUTED METROPOLITAN AREA 96% INDIANS INHALE PM 2.5 LEVELS MORE THAN SEVEN TIMES THE WHO LIMIT Air pollution is responsible for an estimated seven million premature deaths worldwide every year DELHI THE MOST POLLUTED CAPITAL CITY 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 In 2022 India’s ranking eighth (53.3) 66% ONE Indian cities have greater than 35 microns in air in every nine death worldwide is due to air pollution THIRD WORST AIR QUALITY 1. Bangladesh (79.9 microns) 2. Pakistan (73.7) 3. India (54.4) The UN weather agency is sounding a ‘red alert’ about global warming There is ‘high probability’ that 2024 will be another record-hot year, according to report Agencies 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 Tuesday directed Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved managing director Acharya Balkrishna to appear before it during the next hearing as the company failed to file its reply to an earlier notice on violating an undertaking on misleading advertisements and hauling it up for contempt of court. Senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Patanjali and Ramdev, strongly objected to the observations and remarks by the bench. “How does Ramdev come into the picture in the case,” he asked. Rohatgi claimed that the violation of the law (by the contemnors) was not contempt of court and what was being relied on in open court has to be recorded in the order. But the two-judge bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah passed the order for personal appearance of Ramdev and Balkrishna in the next hearing, which could most likely be in April first week. “Having gone through the adverts issued by respondent 5 (Patanjali Ayurved) in the teeth of the undertaking given to this court on November 21, 2023 and on noticing that the said adverts reflect an endorsement thereof by Acharya Ramdev, it is deemed appropriate to issue notice to show cause as to why contempt of court proceedings be not initiated against him,” the order said. Anil Vij dropped, 8 MLAs inducted in Saini cabinet expansion in Haryana Paras exits NDA, but BJP draws Sita Soren, ex-US envoy Sandhu H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh R A M A S H A N K A R A N D M U K E S H R A N J A N @ Patna/Jharkhand A day after announcing its seat-sharing formula for Bihar, the NDA lost an ally though it had already accommodated the rival faction. There were rumblings within the JD(U) as well as its general secretary put in his papers. Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras on Tuesday resigned from the Union ministry as the rival LJP led by Chirag Paswan was given five seats in the NDA, including the prestigious Hajipur, for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Bihar. Paras accused the BJP of doing injustice to his LJP faction by excluding it from the seat-sharing deal. Tej Pratap Yadav, elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, offered to accommodate Paras in the opposition alliance. “We will be the first to welcome him Pashupati Kumar Paras (Paras),” he said. Paras though was cautious. “We will seek the opinion of party workers before taking the call on a new pre-poll alliance,” he said. As for the JD(U), national general secretary Mohammad Ali Asaraf Fatmi resigned from all posts of the party He . is likely to join the RJD on Wednesday and could be fielded as candidate either from Madhabani or Darbhanga. In Jharkhand, Shibu Soren’s daughSita Soren ter-in-law Sita Soren resigned from the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and joined the BJP Sita represents Jama in the state assembly . . She alleged the at the JMM was isolating her and hatching a conspiracy against her family members. Sita is the widow of Durga Soren, the eldest son of Shibu Soren. The BJP’s acquisitions continued with former Indian ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, joining the party amid buzz on fielding him in the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar in Punjab. P7 tioners, said the government should not grant any citizenship under the rules while the matter is pending before SC. Sibal concurred, saying that under international law, “once citizenship is granted, you cannot take it back”. Advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, said Muslims left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be prejudiced. Mehta strongly objected to this, saying: “An effort was made earlier outside this court to mislead people that they will be ousted. The NRC is not an issue before this court.” GASPING FOR BREATH Lokpal orders CBI probe against Mahua Moitra New Delhi: The Lokpal on Tuesday asked the CBI to investigate the cash-for-query allegations against TMC leader Mahua Moitra and submit its findings within six months. After careful evaluation of material on record, the allegations against Moitra are extremely serious in nature and a deeper probe is required, the Lokpal’s order said | P7 During the hearing, the petitioners sought a stay on the grant of citizenship under CAA to persons belonging minority communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. The petitioners say CAA discriminates against Muslims and violates Article 14 of the Constitution. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, also appearing for the peti- Ramdev in SC crosshairs as bench orders his presence FOCUS SOUTH PM Narendra Modi waves at supporters as he arrives for a public meeting ahead of Lok Sabha elections, in Salem, Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday | PTI HARYANA’S new Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday inducted eight BJP MLAs into his council of ministers, seven of them new faces, in first expansion a week after he took charge replacing Manohar Lal Khattar. Senior BJP leader and former home minister Anil Vij did not find a place in the Saini cabinet, though his name was said to have figured in the initial list of ministers. Saini and five ministers took oath last week. Haryana can have a maximum of 14 ministers, including the CM. The strength of the Assembly is 90. BJP MLA from Hisar Kamal Gupta was the first to be administered oath as a cabinet minister. He took oath in Sanskrit. He was a minister in the Khattar cabinet. Badkhal MLA Seema Trikha, Panipat Rural MLA Mahipal Dhanda, Ambala City MLA Aseem Goel, Nangal Chaudhary MLA Abhe Singh Yadav, Thanesar MLA Subhash Sudha, Bawani Khera MLA Bishamber Singh Balmiki, and Sohna MLA Sanjay Singh were sworn in ministers of state (in- dependent charge). Khattar, when asked about Vij, whose name figured for the post of a deputy CM, said, “Vij is our senior colleague. He sometimes gets upset easily but , he becomes normal later.” After the cabinet expansion, Saini praised the previous Khattar-led government. The ministers’ list does not include any of the six Independent MLAs who offered support to the government during the Assembly floor test. The Saini government has also tried to do a caste and region-wise balancing act. The legislators of two constituencies neighbouring Vij’s seat — Aseem Goel (Ambala City) and Subhash Sudha (Thanesar) — have been made ministers. NEW VERTICAL Zomato launches exclusive fleet to tap the pure veg market EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai ONLINE food delivery company Zomato on Tuesday announced the launch of a vegetarian-only delivery service to cater to those who prefer ordering from pure-veg restaurants. The new feature will see a phased rollout across the country in the next few weeks. The ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ will have green coloured delivery boxes. Zomato’s CEO Deepinder Goyal cited feedback from vegetarian customers as the reason for the launch of the new service. He said the new vertical is for customers who follow a 100% vegetarian diet and that the firm will not discriminate anybody on the basis of the delivery person’s dietary choices. The pure veg vertical will handle orders from restaurants that serve only pure vegetarian food and will exclude those that serve nonveg food items as well. In a series of posts on micro- blogging platform X, Goyal said the dedicated fleet will serve orders from these pure vegetarian restaurants. “This means that even a veg meal served by a non-veg restaurant will never go inside the g reen delivery box meant for our Pure Veg Fleet,” he explained. Goyal said: “India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedback we’ve gotten from them is that they are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled. To solve their dietary preferences, we are launching a Pure Veg Mode along with a Pure Veg Fleet on Zomato, for customers who have a 100% vegetarian dietary preference.” Goyal said the pure veg business doesn’t serve or alienate any religious or political preference. He added the firm plans to add more specialised fleets in the future. “For example, there’s a special cake delivery fleet coming up,” he said. Zomato’s pure-veg fleet will deliver food in green boxes | ZOMATO
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.