The Evening Wrap: Rahul demands JPC to examine role of Modi, Shah in stock market crash

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 6 alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were “directly involved” in what he described as the “biggest stock market scam” in which retail investors lost ₹30 lakh crore, and demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into it. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, he also said stock markets rose after “fake” exit polls and then crashed the day Lok Sabha polls votes were counted on June 4. Retail investors lost ₹30 lakh crore and this is the “biggest stock market scam”, Gandhi said. “For first time we noted that during polls, Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman commented on the stock market,” he said. Why did the Prime inister and Home Minister give investment advice to people, Gandhi asked and alleged that BJP leaders had information that exit polls were wrong. “We want JPC probe into biggest stock market scam,” he said. When asked whether he was alleging the involvement of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, he said “People very high up in the BJP have carried out this scam and they had partners who had carried out these exit polls. We have some sense who these investors are. We think the Prime Minister and the Home Minister are involved. We will get a JPC done as Opposition numbers are high now. The impunity with which the Prime Minister was working has changed now.” The Congress leader said, “We have noted that for the first time that Prime Minister, Home Minister, Finance Minister commented on the stock markets.” He further said, “PM Modi spoke twice and Home Minister Amit Shah said people should buy stocks before June 4.” Gandhi reiterated that “On May 13, Union Home MInister Amit Shah asked the people to buy stock before June 4. “While the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on May 19, said that stock markets will break records and he repeated it on May 29. Then the media releases June 1 a fake exit polls.” “Why did the PM and HM give investment advice? Is it their job? Both the interviews were given to the channels controlled by Adani group that is under investigation for stock manipulation,” he said. “The PM said multiple times that the stock market is going to boom at a time when he had information about the results. This issue is beyond Adani. They may be involved but the issue is much beyond them.” Gandhi said “Intelligence agencies were giving BJP 200-220 seats and BJP’s internal survey gave them 220. If you look at the volume of trade on May 31, you can see unusual activity. Then the stock market crashes and ₹30 lakh crores are lost and 5 crore retail investors have lost.” Nitish’s JD(U) offers ‘unconditional support’ to BJP but wants Agnipath scheme to be reviewed JDU Senior Leader K.C. Tyagi on June 6 said that his party had offered unconditional support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA but wanted the shortcomings in the ‘Agnipath’ scheme to the discussed in detail. “A section of voters has been upset over the Agniveer scheme. Our party wants those shortcomings which have been questioned by the public to be discussed in detail and removed,” he said. The Agnipath Scheme in the Indian Armed Forces is a scheme where selected candidates will be enrolled as Agniveers for a four-year period. Based on organisational requirements and policies promulgated by the Armed Forces, Agniveers after completing their engagement period will be offered an opportunity to apply for enrolment in the permanent cadre. Of these up to 25% of Agniveers will be selected to be enrolled in the Armed Forces as a regular cadre. Meanwhile, JDU spokesperson K.C. Tyagi also spoke on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which has been one of the poll promises of the BJP. He signalled that the JDU is not against the UCC but it should be discussed with the stakeholders. “We are not against the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), but we reckon that it should be discussed with all the stakeholders including the states, Chief Ministers and political parties”, he said. The JDU leader also advocated for a caste census saying that PM Narendra Modi was not opposed to it. Tyagi stated, “A caste census is being demanded by all. Bihar has paved the way for it. Even the Prime Minister did not oppose the caste census, so we will pursue it.” K.C. Tyagi also spoke on special status for Bihar, which has been a demand of the party and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “There is no pre-condition. There is unconditional support. But Bihar should be given a special status. That is something which we have in our heart,” said K.C. Tyagi. As per the results announced by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday, the BJP won 240 seats and along with its allies, it stands at 293 seats. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU, having won 16 and 12 seats respectively in their respective states, have extended support to the NDA. The INDIA bloc has 234 MPs in the new parliament with the Congress having won 99 seats. Kangana Ranaut ‘slapped’ by woman CISF constable at Chandigarh airport Actor-turned politician Kangana Ranaut, who got elected as BJP’s Member of Parliament, on June 6, alleged that she was slapped by a lady security personnel of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Chandigarh Airport. The Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district (Mohali) police confirmed to The Hindu that an incident of confrontation between Ranaut and CISF personnel has occurred. The CISF has suspended the constable. A CISF official told The Hindu that they were in the process of filing an FIR against the constable. “An incident of confrontation has come to our knowledge, however, the CISF at their level are probing the matter. We haven’t received a complaint. As soon as we receive a complaint, we will consider it on merit,” said a senior police officer. The attack on Ranaut comes days after she won the Lok Sabha elections from Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh. The Bollywood actor defeated her nearest Congress rival Vikramaditya Singh by over 74,000 votes, according to the Election Commission website. I was hit, abused by CISF constable, worried about terrorism in Punjab: Kangana Ranaut, after the incident in a video posted on “X” said “...the incident occurred at the Chandigarh airport during the security check. As I went through the security check, the lady CISF officer from adjacent cabin approached me and hit me and abused me. I asked her why did she do it, to which she replied that she supported the farmers’ protest. While I am safe, but my concern is that how shall we handle the growing terrorism in Punjab.” In a video statement titled “Shocking rise in terror and violence in Punjab” posted on X, she said she was safe and fine but was concerned about terrorism increasing in Punjab. NEET exam results: 67 students share top rank, demand re-exam Several aspirants of the medical entrance exam NEET have alleged inflation of marks which led to a record 67 candidates bagging the top rank, including six from the same exam centre. The National Testing Agency (NTA), however, denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres are some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks. The results announced by NTA on Wednesday evening saw 67 students sharing rank one, including six from same examination centre in Haryana. “After the NEET exam, now the NEET result is also in controversy. After the NEET results were declared, questions are being raised on six students from the same centre getting 720 out of 720 marks. Apart from this, many other irregularities related to the NEET exam have also come to light,” the Congress wrote on X. “First due to paper leak and now due to result error, the future of lakhs of youth of the country is getting ruined. It is clear that this government cannot get any paper done without leaking it. Sir claims to stop wars in foreign countries but he is unable to even stop paper leaks in the country,” the party added. Detailing the reason behind inflation of marks, the NTA said it received representations raising concerns about the loss of time during conduct of the examination. “Such cases and representations were considered by NTA and the normalisation formula, which has been devised and adopted by Supreme Court, vide its Judgment dated 13.06.2018, was implemented to address the loss of time faced by the candidates of NEET (UG) 2024. “The loss of examination time was ascertained and such candidates were compensated with grace marks. So, there marks can be 718 or 719 also,” it said in a statement. Asked about the allegations of unclear implementation of grace marks, a senior NTA official told PTI that the question paper was prepared using a new NCERT textbook. However, some students had old NCERT textbooks. “We received a representation on this issue as well due to which NTA had to assign five marks to all students who had marked one of the two options. Because of this reason, marks of a total of 44 students increased from 715 to 720, which resulted in an increased number of toppers,” the official said. After several court cases and representations raising concerns over loss of time during exam were received, a committee was formed to look into the matter, the official said, adding that the committee went through everything and the loss of time was ascertained. “Such candidates were compensated with grace marks. Therefore, the marks of students at some centres are high because it is likely they all benefitted from grace marks,” the official added. According to experts, the mark inflation in NEET UG 2024 result is expected to make securing a spot in medical school this year more difficult. Some aspiring students have turned to online platforms to demand the cancellation of the results and a re-examination. “Several students are raising some valid points. How come students with same sequence roll number scored the same marks. This is a serious issue. “We don’t want such doctors to serve our country. This must be investigated,” said Anubha Shrivastava, a lawyer and president of India Wide Parents Association. An aspirant took to X and said, “67 students scoring 720 out of 720 marks in the results released after the NEET exam paper leak raises suspicion. This is playing with the future of lakhs of candidates of the country, due to which there is anger among the students. The government should conduct a high-level investigation”. Another X user Nitish Rajput said NTA awarded grace marks according to the court order but the students argue this sudden decision is unjust as the agency has not mentioned any methodology to award these ‘grace marks’. “Calls for transparency in the process have only grown louder. The controversy for the NTA is brewing as lakhs of students demand re-examination citing lack of clarity in NTA’s explanations and have even pushed for the Supreme Court’s intervention. Grace marks given for lost exam time have raised concerns of fairness,” he added. The entrance exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities including 14 cities abroad. The NTA had on May 5 claimed that the distribution of wrong question papers at an exam centre in Rajasthan led to some candidates walking out with the papers. The agency had denied any leak of the question paper. A day later, the NTA had reiterated that the reports claiming question paper leak in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG are “completely baseless and without any ground”, and every question paper has been accounted for. Gandhi, Ambedkar, Shivaji statues shifted within Parliament premises, Congress slams move Statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji, among others, have been removed from their original place within the Parliament premises and shifted to a lawn near the old building as part of a landscaping exercise, a move that drew sharp criticism from the Congress on June 6. All the statues, including those of tribal leader Birsa Munda and Maharana Pratap, are now at the same place — the lawn between the old Parliament building and the Parliament library. Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X, “Statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar have just been removed from their places of prominence in front of the Parliament House. This is atrocious.” Attacking the BJP, Congress’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said when Maharashtra voters did not vote for BJP, the statues of Shivaji and Ambedkar were removed from their original place in Parliament. When they did not get clean sweep in Gujarat, they removed the statue of Mahatma Gandhi from its original place in Parliament, he said. “Just think, if they had been given 400 seats, would they have spared the Constitution?” Khera said in a post in Hindi on X. The Parliament premises will sport a new look when the 18th Lok Sabha convenes for its maiden session in June as work is underway to integrate the entire complex, comprising four different buildings. As part of the redevelopment of external areas, the statues of national icons, including those of Gandhi, Shivaji and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, were to be moved to a lawn near Gate No. 5 of the old Parliament building, which has been named as Samvidhan Sadan. This would pave the way for the creation of a vast lawn in front of the Gaja Dwar, which is used by the President and the Prime Minister to enter into the new Parliament building. The lawn can also be used for official ceremonies such as the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament, usually during the Budget Session. Delhi water crisis: Supreme Court orders Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs of water to quench Delhi’s thirst The Supreme Court on June 6 ordered the release of 137 cusecs of surplus water from upstream Himachal Pradesh through Hathnikund barrage in Haryana into Wazirabad barrage to quench Delhi’s drinking water crisis. A Vacation Bench of Justices P.K. Mishra and K.V. Viswanathan passed the order after perusing the minutes of a meeting held by the Upper Yamuna River Board with the States of Delhi, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh along with the Centre. The meeting held on June 5 saw the Board acknowledge the acute shortage of drinking water in the national capital in the middle of a heatwave across the northern States. Himachal said it could spare an additional supply of 137 cusecs to the capital. However, Haryana, through which the water has to pass to reach Delhi, raised objections. Haryana insisted in court that Himachal Pradesh did not have any water to spare for Delhi. The State said it too was going through a water crisis. “But Delhi is not asking you (Haryana) to give water… The water has to come from Himachal Pradesh and not Haryana,” Justice Mishra reacted. Justice Viswanathan said Haryana needed to only give the water the “right of passage”. Himachal Pradesh, represented by Additional Advocate General Vaibhav Shrivastava, said the State was “ready and willing” to help Delhi in its hour of dire need. Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for Delhi, said Haryana’s objection was nothing short of “cussedness and obstructionist”. He said the State was “playing politics”. Delhi needed the 136 cusecs of water to help it through the current month of crisis, no more. “This is a serious problem. You (Haryana) has to only give right today passage. Himachal is giving the water,” Justice Viswanathan told the Haryana counsel. The Bench ordered Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs of surplus water on June 7. The court directed that Haryana should be given prior intimation about the release of the water so that it could facilitate its flow into Delhi. It said the Upper Yamuna River Board and Haryana could measure the water released from Himachal Pradesh to see if the quantity was really 137 cusecs. The court made it clear that the Delhi government should ensure that there was no wastage of water through leaks or in other ways, whatsoever. In a previous hearing on June 3, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who had appeared for both the Centre and Haryana, had alleged that over 50% of the water reaching Delhi was diverted into the hands of the tanker mafia or “lost”. In Brief: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with two election commissioners on June 6 presented details of newly elected Lok Sabha members to President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The meeting is part of the process for the formation of the next or the 18th Lok Sabha. CEC Rajiv Kumar, accompanied by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, met the President at 4.30 pm, a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. “A copy of the notification issued by the Election Commission of India, in terms of Section 73 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, containing the names of the members elected to the House of the People following the General Elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, was submitted by them to the President,” it said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 06 June 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Rahul Gandhi demands JPC to examine role of PM Modi and Amit Shah in stock market crash Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 6 alleged that Prime Minister [Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were “directly involved”]( in what he described as the “biggest stock market scam” in which retail investors lost ₹30 lakh crore, and demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into it. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, he also said stock markets rose after “fake” exit polls and then crashed the day Lok Sabha polls votes were counted on June 4. Retail investors lost ₹30 lakh crore and this is the “biggest stock market scam”, Gandhi said. “For first time we noted that during polls, Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman commented on the stock market,” he said. Why did the Prime inister and Home Minister give investment advice to people, Gandhi asked and alleged that BJP leaders had information that exit polls were wrong. “We want JPC probe into biggest stock market scam,” he said. When asked whether he was alleging the involvement of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, he said “People very high up in the BJP have carried out this scam and they had partners who had carried out these exit polls. We have some sense who these investors are. We think the Prime Minister and the Home Minister are involved. We will get a JPC done as Opposition numbers are high now. The impunity with which the Prime Minister was working has changed now.” The Congress leader said, “We have noted that for the first time that Prime Minister, Home Minister, Finance Minister commented on the stock markets.” He further said, “PM Modi spoke twice and Home Minister Amit Shah said people should buy stocks before June 4.” Gandhi reiterated that “On May 13, Union Home MInister Amit Shah asked the people to buy stock before June 4. “While the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on May 19, said that stock markets will break records and he repeated it on May 29. Then the media releases June 1 a fake exit polls.” “Why did the PM and HM give investment advice? Is it their job? Both the interviews were given to the channels controlled by Adani group that is under investigation for stock manipulation,” he said. “The PM said multiple times that the stock market is going to boom at a time when he had information about the results. This issue is beyond Adani. They may be involved but the issue is much beyond them.” Gandhi said “Intelligence agencies were giving BJP 200-220 seats and BJP’s internal survey gave them 220. If you look at the volume of trade on May 31, you can see unusual activity. Then the stock market crashes and ₹30 lakh crores are lost and 5 crore retail investors have lost.” Nitish’s JD(U) offers ‘unconditional support’ to BJP but wants Agnipath scheme to be reviewed JDU Senior Leader K.C. Tyagi on June 6 said that his [party had offered unconditional support]( to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA but wanted the shortcomings in the ‘Agnipath’ scheme to the discussed in detail. “A section of voters has been upset over the Agniveer scheme. Our party wants those shortcomings which have been questioned by the public to be discussed in detail and removed,” he said. The Agnipath Scheme in the Indian Armed Forces is a scheme where selected candidates will be enrolled as Agniveers for a four-year period. Based on organisational requirements and policies promulgated by the Armed Forces, Agniveers after completing their engagement period will be offered an opportunity to apply for enrolment in the permanent cadre. Of these up to 25% of Agniveers will be selected to be enrolled in the Armed Forces as a regular cadre. Meanwhile, JDU spokesperson K.C. Tyagi also spoke on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which has been one of the poll promises of the BJP. He signalled that the JDU is not against the UCC but it should be discussed with the stakeholders. “We are not against the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), but we reckon that it should be discussed with all the stakeholders including the states, Chief Ministers and political parties”, he said. The JDU leader also advocated for a caste census saying that PM Narendra Modi was not opposed to it. Tyagi stated, “A caste census is being demanded by all. Bihar has paved the way for it. Even the Prime Minister did not oppose the caste census, so we will pursue it.” K.C. Tyagi also spoke on special status for Bihar, which has been a demand of the party and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “There is no pre-condition. There is unconditional support. But Bihar should be given a special status. That is something which we have in our heart,” said K.C. Tyagi. As per the results announced by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday, the BJP won 240 seats and along with its allies, it stands at 293 seats. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU, having won 16 and 12 seats respectively in their respective states, have extended support to the NDA. The INDIA bloc has 234 MPs in the new parliament with the Congress having won 99 seats. Kangana Ranaut ‘slapped’ by woman CISF constable at Chandigarh airport Actor-turned politician Kangana Ranaut, who got elected as BJP’s Member of Parliament, on June 6, [alleged that she was slapped by a lady security personnel]( of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Chandigarh Airport. The Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district (Mohali) police confirmed to The Hindu that an incident of confrontation between Ranaut and CISF personnel has occurred. The CISF has suspended the constable. A CISF official told The Hindu that they were in the process of filing an FIR against the constable. “An incident of confrontation has come to our knowledge, however, the CISF at their level are probing the matter. We haven’t received a complaint. As soon as we receive a complaint, we will consider it on merit,” said a senior police officer. The attack on Ranaut comes days after she won the Lok Sabha elections from Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh. The Bollywood actor defeated her nearest Congress rival Vikramaditya Singh by over 74,000 votes, according to the Election Commission website. I was hit, abused by CISF constable, worried about terrorism in Punjab: Kangana Ranaut, after the incident in a video posted on “X” said “...the incident occurred at the Chandigarh airport during the security check. As I went through the security check, the lady CISF officer from adjacent cabin approached me and hit me and abused me. I asked her why did she do it, to which she replied that she supported the farmers’ protest. While I am safe, but my concern is that how shall we handle the growing terrorism in Punjab.” In a video statement titled “Shocking rise in terror and violence in Punjab” posted on X, she said she was safe and fine but was concerned about terrorism increasing in Punjab. NEET exam results: 67 students share top rank, demand re-exam Several aspirants of the medical entrance exam NEET have [alleged inflation of marks]( which led to a record 67 candidates bagging the top rank, including six from the same exam centre. The National Testing Agency (NTA), however, denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres are some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks. The results announced by NTA on Wednesday evening saw 67 students sharing rank one, including six from same examination centre in Haryana. “After the NEET exam, now the NEET result is also in controversy. After the NEET results were declared, questions are being raised on six students from the same centre getting 720 out of 720 marks. Apart from this, many other irregularities related to the NEET exam have also come to light,” the Congress wrote on X. “First due to paper leak and now due to result error, the future of lakhs of youth of the country is getting ruined. It is clear that this government cannot get any paper done without leaking it. Sir claims to stop wars in foreign countries but he is unable to even stop paper leaks in the country,” the party added. Detailing the reason behind inflation of marks, the NTA said it received representations raising concerns about the loss of time during conduct of the examination. “Such cases and representations were considered by NTA and the normalisation formula, which has been devised and adopted by Supreme Court, vide its Judgment dated 13.06.2018, was implemented to address the loss of time faced by the candidates of NEET (UG) 2024. “The loss of examination time was ascertained and such candidates were compensated with grace marks. So, there marks can be 718 or 719 also,” it said in a statement. Asked about the allegations of unclear implementation of grace marks, a senior NTA official told PTI that the question paper was prepared using a new NCERT textbook. However, some students had old NCERT textbooks. “We received a representation on this issue as well due to which NTA had to assign five marks to all students who had marked one of the two options. Because of this reason, marks of a total of 44 students increased from 715 to 720, which resulted in an increased number of toppers,” the official said. After several court cases and representations raising concerns over loss of time during exam were received, a committee was formed to look into the matter, the official said, adding that the committee went through everything and the loss of time was ascertained. “Such candidates were compensated with grace marks. Therefore, the marks of students at some centres are high because it is likely they all benefitted from grace marks,” the official added. According to experts, the mark inflation in NEET UG 2024 result is expected to make securing a spot in medical school this year more difficult. Some aspiring students have turned to online platforms to demand the cancellation of the results and a re-examination. “Several students are raising some valid points. How come students with same sequence roll number scored the same marks. This is a serious issue. “We don’t want such doctors to serve our country. This must be investigated,” said Anubha Shrivastava, a lawyer and president of India Wide Parents Association. An aspirant took to X and said, “67 students scoring 720 out of 720 marks in the results released after the NEET exam paper leak raises suspicion. This is playing with the future of lakhs of candidates of the country, due to which there is anger among the students. The government should conduct a high-level investigation”. Another X user Nitish Rajput said NTA awarded grace marks according to the court order but the students argue this sudden decision is unjust as the agency has not mentioned any methodology to award these ‘grace marks’. “Calls for transparency in the process have only grown louder. The controversy for the NTA is brewing as lakhs of students demand re-examination citing lack of clarity in NTA’s explanations and have even pushed for the Supreme Court’s intervention. Grace marks given for lost exam time have raised concerns of fairness,” he added. The entrance exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities including 14 cities abroad. The NTA had on May 5 claimed that the distribution of wrong question papers at an exam centre in Rajasthan led to some candidates walking out with the papers. The agency had denied any leak of the question paper. A day later, the NTA had reiterated that the reports claiming question paper leak in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG are “completely baseless and without any ground”, and every question paper has been accounted for. Gandhi, Ambedkar, Shivaji statues shifted within Parliament premises, Congress slams move Statues of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji, among others, have been [removed from their original place within the Parliament premises]( and shifted to a lawn near the old building as part of a landscaping exercise, a move that drew sharp criticism from the Congress on June 6. All the statues, including those of tribal leader Birsa Munda and Maharana Pratap, are now at the same place — the lawn between the old Parliament building and the Parliament library. Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X, “Statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar have just been removed from their places of prominence in front of the Parliament House. This is atrocious.” Attacking the BJP, Congress’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said when Maharashtra voters did not vote for BJP, the statues of Shivaji and Ambedkar were removed from their original place in Parliament. When they did not get clean sweep in Gujarat, they removed the statue of Mahatma Gandhi from its original place in Parliament, he said. “Just think, if they had been given 400 seats, would they have spared the Constitution?” Khera said in a post in Hindi on X. The Parliament premises will sport a new look when the 18th Lok Sabha convenes for its maiden session in June as work is underway to integrate the entire complex, comprising four different buildings. As part of the redevelopment of external areas, the statues of national icons, including those of Gandhi, Shivaji and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, were to be moved to a lawn near Gate No. 5 of the old Parliament building, which has been named as Samvidhan Sadan. This would pave the way for the creation of a vast lawn in front of the Gaja Dwar, which is used by the President and the Prime Minister to enter into the new Parliament building. The lawn can also be used for official ceremonies such as the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament, usually during the Budget Session. Delhi water crisis: Supreme Court orders Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs of water to quench Delhi’s thirst The [Supreme Court on June 6 ordered the release of 137 cusecs of surplus water]( from upstream Himachal Pradesh through Hathnikund barrage in Haryana into Wazirabad barrage to quench Delhi’s drinking water crisis. A Vacation Bench of Justices P.K. Mishra and K.V. Viswanathan passed the order after perusing the minutes of a meeting held by the Upper Yamuna River Board with the States of Delhi, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh along with the Centre. The meeting held on June 5 saw the Board acknowledge the acute shortage of drinking water in the national capital in the middle of a heatwave across the northern States. Himachal said it could spare an additional supply of 137 cusecs to the capital. However, Haryana, through which the water has to pass to reach Delhi, raised objections. Haryana insisted in court that Himachal Pradesh did not have any water to spare for Delhi. The State said it too was going through a water crisis. “But Delhi is not asking you (Haryana) to give water… The water has to come from Himachal Pradesh and not Haryana,” Justice Mishra reacted. Justice Viswanathan said Haryana needed to only give the water the “right of passage”. Himachal Pradesh, represented by Additional Advocate General Vaibhav Shrivastava, said the State was “ready and willing” to help Delhi in its hour of dire need. Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for Delhi, said Haryana’s objection was nothing short of “cussedness and obstructionist”. He said the State was “playing politics”. Delhi needed the 136 cusecs of water to help it through the current month of crisis, no more. “This is a serious problem. You (Haryana) has to only give right today passage. Himachal is giving the water,” Justice Viswanathan told the Haryana counsel. The Bench ordered Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs of surplus water on June 7. The court directed that Haryana should be given prior intimation about the release of the water so that it could facilitate its flow into Delhi. It said the Upper Yamuna River Board and Haryana could measure the water released from Himachal Pradesh to see if the quantity was really 137 cusecs. The court made it clear that the Delhi government should ensure that there was no wastage of water through leaks or in other ways, whatsoever. In a previous hearing on June 3, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who had appeared for both the Centre and Haryana, had alleged that over 50% of the water reaching Delhi was diverted into the hands of the tanker mafia or “lost”. In Brief: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with two election commissioners on June 6 [presented details of newly elected Lok Sabha members]( to President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The meeting is part of the process for the formation of the next or the 18th Lok Sabha. CEC Rajiv Kumar, accompanied by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, met the President at 4.30 pm, a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. “A copy of the notification issued by the Election Commission of India, in terms of Section 73 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, containing the names of the members elected to the House of the People following the General Elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, was submitted by them to the President,” it said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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