The Evening Wrap: Jharkhand UPA MLAs arrive in Chhattisgarh amid political crisis

The MLAs of the ruling UPA coalition in Jharkhand arrived in Raipur by a chartered flight to thwart the “BJP’s poaching attempt” amid the ongoing political crisis in their state. The flight, carrying about 40 MLAs, took off from the Ranchi airport shortly after 4.30 pm and arrived at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur, the capital of the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, around 5:30 pm. Two buses were arranged at the airport to take the MLAs to a resort in Nava Raipur, said a local Congress leader. The leader did not confirm the number of MLAs who reached Raipur but said Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was not accompanying them. Earlier, the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) MLAs flew off to Raipur in Chhattisgarh, apparently to keep their flock together. As many as 31 legislators were said to catch the charter flight to Raipur for their stay in a resort for next two days. Chief Minister Hemant Soren accompanied the MLAs to the Birsa Munda airport in Ranchi but once their flight took off, he returned to his official residence. Some Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLAs and ministers are also said to be put in Ranchi to tackle the impending political situation in the state. However, all four ministers from ally Congress party took the flight from Ranchi to Raipur. After seeing off the UPA MLAs at Ranchi airport, Soren told media persons that the “ruling coalition is totally prepared to respond to the conspirators in the state”. “Nothing untoward is going to happen but the ruling coalition is ready to face any situation. We’re preparing a strategy to tackle it and you’ve seen a glimpse of that very strategy today. In future too you’ll be seeing all this. When asked when he would go to join the MLAs, he said, “will see” and left the airport for his official residence. Earlier, it was said that as many as 39 UPA MLAs were taking the flight to Raipur but later, sources in the JMM said 31 legislators were in the chartered flight. Though no MLA or party leader could disclose where they were headed, reliable sources in the government told The Hindu over phone from Ranchi that they were heading for a resort, some 10-12 kms away from Raipur airport for two days. It is also said that security arrangement at the resort has already been strengthened in view of the arrival of the UPA MLAs from Jharkhand. The MLAs reached Birsa Munda airport after they assembled at CM Soren’s official residence in two luxury buses with registration number from West Bengal and quietly checked-in to catch the flight of a private airline parked on the tarmac. They did not speak to the media. On August 27, as many as 39 UPA MLAs had gone to a guest house in Khunti district, some 40 kms from the state capital, Ranchi. They remained there for four hours and had retuned to Ranchi in the evening. Since then, it was speculated that the MLAs would be shifted to some other states, apparently to avoid any poaching by the Opposition BJP in view of the impending volatile political situation of the state. The chief minister Hemant Soren faces disqualification as an MLA for allegedly violating electoral laws by extending a stone mining lease to himself while holding the Mines portfolio. The Opposition BJP had lodged a complaint with the Governor against Soren and the Governor had sought the opinion of the Election Commissioner of India on the issue. On August 25, the ECI reportedly had sent its opinion to the Governor in a sealed envelope. The BJP leaders triggered the row by saying that ECI has recommended “disqualification of Soren as member of the state assembly”. It was feared that Soren may have to step down as chief minister of the state. However, amid speculations over the fate of Soren –led UPA government, the Governor is yet to come out with any decision over the reported ECI notice. Meanwhile, in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, chief minister Hemant Soren has started exploring ways to keep his flock together by taking the UPA MLAs out from Ranchi. “Yes, there have been attempts to poach our legislators by BJP in different ways. So, we decided to keep them away from all such political noise and din”, said a senior state Congress leader. In-charge of the state Congress party Avinash Pandey too has been camping in the state for the last three days. In the 81-member Jharkhand state assembly, the Soren-led JMM has 30 MLAs and among its allies, the Congress has 18, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the Nationalist Congress Party have one each. Three Congress MLAs, however, were recently caught with huge amounts of cash in their vehicle in West Bengal and were sent to jail. One JMM MLA is not well and one JMM MLA Chamra Linda from Bishunpur constituency has gone incommunicado. The Opposition BJP ha 26 MLAs, and the support of two legislators of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), and two others. The magic figure to form the government in the state is 41. Supreme Court refuses permission for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations on Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru The Supreme Court of India ordered status quo as of today in the case concerning the use of Idgah Maidan at Bengaluru for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The court on August 30 orally observed that the land has not been used for any other purpose for the past 200 years. Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit constituted a three-judge bench in the Supreme Court to hear the plea by the Karnataka Waqf Board challenging the High Court’s order which allowed the use of Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The three-judge bench comprised Justices Indira Banerjee, Abhay S. Oka, and M.M. Sundresh. The order came after a two-judge bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia referred the issue to CJI citing a difference of opinion. “Heard the parties at some length. Neither the hearing could conclude nor any consensus could be reached between the bench. Let the matter be listed before the CJI,” the two-judge bench said. The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Karnataka Waqf Board challenging the order of the High Court. A division bench of the Karnataka High Court on August 26 had permitted the State Government to consider and pass appropriate orders on the applications received by the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru (Urban) seeking the use of Idgah Maidan at Chamarajpet. CBI found nothing in my bank locker, says Manish Sisodia The CBI found nothing during its search of his locker, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday. A four-member team of the CBI conducted the search at a Punjab National Bank branch in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, for nearly two hours. Sisodia and his wife were present at the time. The CBI was acting under pressure, Sisodia told reporters after the search was over. “I am happy that I got a clean chit from the CBI in searches today. They have found nothing (incriminating) from searches of my locker or residence,” Sisodia told reporters in Ghaziabad. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader is among the 15 people and entities named in an FIR registered by the agency in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi government’s Excise Policy 2021-22. “The CBI is welcome,” Sisodia had said in a tweet on Monday. “Tomorrow, the CBI is coming to check our bank locker. They did not find anything during a 14-hour-long raid at my residence on August 19. They won’t find anything in the locker too. The CBI is welcome. My family and I will extend full cooperation in the probe,” the Deputy Chief Minister said in his tweet in Hindi. On August 19, the federal probe agency had raided 31 locations, including Sisodia’s residence. Sisodia has been saying he has been made an accused in a false case to stop the march of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has apparently emerged as an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. During a special session of the Delhi Assembly on Friday, the AAP leader had claimed that the BJP-led Centre is acting like a serial killer to eliminate State Governments and described the CBI FIR against him as “fake” and based on “mere sources”. 64 Jammu and Kashmir Congress leaders quit party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad As many as 64 senior Congress leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, resigned from the party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad in Jammu on August 30, asserting that Azad’s vision will shape a new and bright future for Jammu and Kashmir. They submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Chand along with others, including former ministers Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, Gharu Ram and former MLA Balwan Singh, announced their resignations from the Congress, at a press conference. Azad, 73, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ended his five-decade association with the Congress on Friday, terming the party “comprehensively destroyed” and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for “demolishing” its entire consultative mechanism. “All of us had a very long association with the party spanning over decades and devoted all our energy and resources towards expanding the party in Jammu and Kashmir but unfortunately we found that the treatment meted out to us was humiliating,” Singh said, reading out from the joint resignation letter signed by 64 leaders and senior functionaries from across Jammu Province. The letter further said, “With our leader and mentor Ghulam Nabi Azad having resigned from the party on the issue listed by him in a letter to you [Sonia], we believe that we should also come out of Congress to make some worthwhile contribution in building a positive political society where people are heard and responded to.” Azad will soon launch a national-level party from Jammu and Kashmir. “We all support Azad and we will join him in his journey to lead J&K to a bright future,” they said in the resignation letter. Claiming that Jammu and Kashmir is facing an unprecedented crisis in the absence of an elected government, Singh said Azad’s decision to launch a national level party from Jammu will inspire hope and new determination to set things right once and for all. “We are confident that J&K will be able to get statehood back after a gap of three years under the leadership of Azad. He is the sole and most powerful voice for statehood of J&K and early elections,” he said. Singh said Azad is a perennial hope for the people of J&K for bridging gaps between regions and communities. “We are sure that his [Azad’s] vision will help J&K and its depressed masses to come out of the dark shadows of pessimism and shape a new and bright future for J&K,” he said. Over a dozen prominent Congress leaders, including former ministers and legislators, besides hundreds of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members, municipal corporators and district and block level leaders have already left the Congress to join Azad over the past four days. Adani becomes world’s third-richest person; first for an Asian In yet another big milestone for Adani Group of Industries founder Gautam Adani, he has become the world’s third-richest person as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Elon Musk retained the top spot with his net-worth touching $251.4 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos ($153.4 Billion) and Adani at $137.4 billion. This is the first time an Asian person has broken into the top three as Adani overtook France’s Bernard Arnault. Adani added $60.9 billion to his fortune in 2022 alone, five times more than anyone else. He first overtook Mukesh Ambani as the richest Asian in February, and then surpassed Microsoft Corporation’s Bill Gates as the world’s fourth-richest person last month. Adani (60) has been expanding his coal-to-ports conglomerate to avenues like data centers, cement, media and alumina in the past few years, as per a Bloomberg report. The Adani group now owns India’s largest private-sector port and airport operator, city-gas distributor and coal miner. Moreover, Adani has pledged in November to invest $70 billion in green energy to become the world’s largest renewable-energy producer, the report said. The report also cited CreditSights as saying this month that the Adani Group’s growth has been predominantly funded with debt and his empire is “deeply over-leveraged.” “Some lawmakers and market watchers have also raised concerns over opaque shareholder structures and a lack of analyst coverage at Adani Group companies,” it said. Adani’s recent ascent to the top three is partly because of greater philanthropy among the top billionaires. Gates said in July that he was transferring $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while Warren Buffett has already donated more than $35 billion to charity. On his part, Adani too pledged in June to donate $7.7 billion for social causes to mark his 60th birthday. WHO director in Asia accused of racism, abuse put on leave The World Health Organisation’s top director in the Western Pacific, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, has been indefinitely removed from his post, according to internal correspondence obtained by The Associated Press. Dr. Kasai’s removal comes months after an AP investigation revealed that dozens of staffers accused him of racist, abusive and unethical behavior that undermined the U.N. agency’s efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic in Asia. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told staff in the Western Pacific in an email on Friday that Dr. Kasai was “on leave” without elaborating further. Tedros said Deputy Director-General, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, would be arriving Tuesday in Manila, WHO’s regional headquarters, to “ensure business continuity.” Two senior WHO officials who asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the press, said Dr. Kasai had been put on extended administrative leave after internal investigators substantiated some of the misconduct complaints. In a statement, WHO said it was unknown how long Dr. Kasai would be away. The U.N. health agency said the investigation into him was continuing and that it was believed to be the first time a regional director had been relieved of their duties. Dr. Kasai did not respond to requests for comment but previously denied he used racist language or acted unprofessionally. In January, the AP reported that more than 30 unidentified staffers sent a confidential complaint to senior WHO leadership and members of the organisation’s Executive Board, alleging that Dr. Kasai had created a “toxic atmosphere” in WHO’s offices across the Western Pacific. Documents and recordings showed Dr. Kasai made racist remarks to his staff and blamed the rise of COVID-19 in some Pacific countries on their “lack of capacity due to their inferior culture, race and socioeconomics level.” Several WHO staffers working under Dr. Kasai said he improperly shared sensitive coronavirus vaccine information to help Japan, his home country, score political points with its donations. Days after the AP report, WHO chief Mr. Tedros announced that an internal probe into Dr. Kasai had begun. Several months later, however, WHO staffers alleged that Dr. Kasai was manipulating the investigation. In a letter sent to the U.N. agency’s top governing body in April, the Executive Board, the staffers wrote that Dr. Kasai had ordered senior managers to destroy any incriminating documents and instructed IT staff “to monitor emails of all the staff members.” Dr. Kasai is a Japanese doctor who began his career in his country’s public health system before moving to WHO, where he has worked for more than 15 years. The removal of a regional director at WHO, even temporarily, is “unprecedented,” according to Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights at Georgetown University. “There have been a lot of bad regional directors at WHO, but I’ve never heard of action like this,” Gostin said. Any withdrawal of support from Japan for Kasai could hasten his dismissal. A Japanese government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said they hoped WHO had conducted a fair investigation. Dr. Kasai’s removal stands in stark contrast to WHO’s past reluctance to discipline perpetrators of unethical and sometimes illegal behavior, including during the sex abuse uncovered during the Ebola outbreak in Congo from 2018-2020. More than 80 outbreak responders under WHO’s direction sexually abused vulnerable women. Senior WHO management was informed of multiple exploitation claims in 2019 but refused to act and even promoted one of the managers involved. No senior WHO staffers linked to the abuse have been fired. In Brief Nearly 60% of all fake money seized in the year 2021 were of ₹2,000 denomination, the Crime in India 2021 report compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows. Of the total ₹20.39 crore fake Indian currency notes seized in 2021, ₹12.18 crore was in the denomination of ₹2,000. The ₹2,000 and ₹500 new currency notes were introduced in 2016 after the old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes were scrapped by the government. The government had said that curbing of circulation of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) was one of the primary objectives of the 2016 demonetisation exercise. Post-2016, there has been an increase in seizure of fake money, NCRB data reveal. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 30 AUGUST 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Jharkhand UPA MLAs arrive in Chhattisgarh amid political crisis The [MLAs of the ruling UPA coalition in Jharkhand arrived in Raipur]( by a chartered flight to thwart the “BJP’s poaching attempt” amid the ongoing political crisis in their state. The flight, carrying about 40 MLAs, took off from the Ranchi airport shortly after 4.30 pm and arrived at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur, the capital of the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, around 5:30 pm. [Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren arrives at Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi to see the UPA MLAs off on August 30, 2022. ] Two buses were arranged at the airport to take the MLAs to a resort in Nava Raipur, said a local Congress leader. The leader did not confirm the number of MLAs who reached Raipur but said Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was not accompanying them. Earlier, the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) MLAs flew off to Raipur in Chhattisgarh, apparently to keep their flock together. As many as 31 legislators were said to catch the charter flight to Raipur for their stay in a resort for next two days. Chief Minister Hemant Soren accompanied the MLAs to the Birsa Munda airport in Ranchi but once their flight took off, he returned to his official residence. Some Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLAs and ministers are also said to be put in Ranchi to tackle the impending political situation in the state. However, all four ministers from ally Congress party took the flight from Ranchi to Raipur. After seeing off the UPA MLAs at Ranchi airport, Soren told media persons that the “ruling coalition is totally prepared to respond to the conspirators in the state”. “Nothing untoward is going to happen but the ruling coalition is ready to face any situation. We’re preparing a strategy to tackle it and you’ve seen a glimpse of that very strategy today. In future too you’ll be seeing all this. When asked when he would go to join the MLAs, he said, “will see” and left the airport for his official residence. Earlier, it was said that as many as 39 UPA MLAs were taking the flight to Raipur but later, sources in the JMM said 31 legislators were in the chartered flight. Though no MLA or party leader could disclose where they were headed, reliable sources in the government told The Hindu over phone from Ranchi that they were heading for a resort, some 10-12 kms away from Raipur airport for two days. It is also said that security arrangement at the resort has already been strengthened in view of the arrival of the UPA MLAs from Jharkhand. The MLAs reached Birsa Munda airport after they assembled at CM Soren’s official residence in two luxury buses with registration number from West Bengal and quietly checked-in to catch the flight of a private airline parked on the tarmac. They did not speak to the media. On August 27, as many as 39 UPA MLAs had gone to a guest house in Khunti district, some 40 kms from the state capital, Ranchi. They remained there for four hours and had retuned to Ranchi in the evening. Since then, it was speculated that the MLAs would be shifted to some other states, apparently to avoid any poaching by the Opposition BJP in view of the impending volatile political situation of the state. The chief minister Hemant Soren faces disqualification as an MLA for allegedly violating electoral laws by extending a stone mining lease to himself while holding the Mines portfolio. The Opposition BJP had lodged a complaint with the Governor against Soren and the Governor had sought the opinion of the Election Commissioner of India on the issue. On August 25, the ECI reportedly had sent its opinion to the Governor in a sealed envelope. The BJP leaders triggered the row by saying that ECI has recommended “disqualification of Soren as member of the state assembly”. It was feared that Soren may have to step down as chief minister of the state. However, amid speculations over the fate of Soren –led UPA government, the Governor is yet to come out with any decision over the reported ECI notice. Meanwhile, in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, chief minister Hemant Soren has started exploring ways to keep his flock together by taking the UPA MLAs out from Ranchi. “Yes, there have been attempts to poach our legislators by BJP in different ways. So, we decided to keep them away from all such political noise and din”, said a senior state Congress leader. In-charge of the state Congress party Avinash Pandey too has been camping in the state for the last three days. In the 81-member Jharkhand state assembly, the Soren-led JMM has 30 MLAs and among its allies, the Congress has 18, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the Nationalist Congress Party have one each. Three Congress MLAs, however, were recently caught with huge amounts of cash in their vehicle in West Bengal and were sent to jail. One JMM MLA is not well and one JMM MLA Chamra Linda from Bishunpur constituency has gone incommunicado. The Opposition BJP ha 26 MLAs, and the support of two legislators of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), and two others. The magic figure to form the government in the state is 41. Supreme Court refuses permission for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations on Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru The [Supreme Court of India ordered status quo]( as of today in the case concerning the use of Idgah Maidan at Bengaluru for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The court on August 30 orally observed that the land has not been used for any other purpose for the past 200 years. [Rapid Action Force personnel stand guard at the Idgah Maidan in Bnegaluru’s Chamrajpet area on August 30, 2022. ] Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit constituted a three-judge bench in the Supreme Court to hear the plea by the Karnataka Waqf Board challenging the High Court’s order which allowed the use of Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The three-judge bench comprised Justices Indira Banerjee, Abhay S. Oka, and M.M. Sundresh. The order came after a two-judge bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia referred the issue to CJI citing a difference of opinion. “Heard the parties at some length. Neither the hearing could conclude nor any consensus could be reached between the bench. Let the matter be listed before the CJI,” the two-judge bench said. The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Karnataka Waqf Board challenging the order of the High Court. A division bench of the Karnataka High Court on August 26 had permitted the State Government to consider and pass appropriate orders on the applications received by the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru (Urban) seeking the use of Idgah Maidan at Chamarajpet. CBI found nothing in my bank locker, says Manish Sisodia The [CBI found nothing during its search of his locker]( Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday. A four-member team of the CBI conducted the search at a Punjab National Bank branch in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, for nearly two hours. Sisodia and his wife were present at the time. The CBI was acting under pressure, Sisodia told reporters after the search was over. “I am happy that I got a clean chit from the CBI in searches today. They have found nothing (incriminating) from searches of my locker or residence,” Sisodia told reporters in Ghaziabad. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader is among the 15 people and entities named in an FIR registered by the agency in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi government’s Excise Policy 2021-22. “The CBI is welcome,” Sisodia had said in a tweet on Monday. “Tomorrow, the CBI is coming to check our bank locker. They did not find anything during a 14-hour-long raid at my residence on August 19. They won’t find anything in the locker too. The CBI is welcome. My family and I will extend full cooperation in the probe,” the Deputy Chief Minister said in his tweet in Hindi. On August 19, the federal probe agency had raided 31 locations, including Sisodia’s residence. Sisodia has been saying he has been made an accused in a false case to stop the march of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has apparently emerged as an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. During a special session of the Delhi Assembly on Friday, the AAP leader had claimed that the BJP-led Centre is acting like a serial killer to eliminate State Governments and described the CBI FIR against him as “fake” and based on “mere sources”. 64 Jammu and Kashmir Congress leaders quit party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad As many as [64 senior Congress leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, resigned from the party]( in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad in Jammu on August 30, asserting that Azad’s vision will shape a new and bright future for Jammu and Kashmir. They submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Chand along with others, including former ministers Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, Gharu Ram and former MLA Balwan Singh, announced their resignations from the Congress, at a press conference. Azad, 73, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ended his five-decade association with the Congress on Friday, terming the party “comprehensively destroyed” and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for “demolishing” its entire consultative mechanism. “All of us had a very long association with the party spanning over decades and devoted all our energy and resources towards expanding the party in Jammu and Kashmir but unfortunately we found that the treatment meted out to us was humiliating,” Singh said, reading out from the joint resignation letter signed by 64 leaders and senior functionaries from across Jammu Province. The letter further said, “With our leader and mentor Ghulam Nabi Azad having resigned from the party on the issue listed by him in a letter to you [Sonia], we believe that we should also come out of Congress to make some worthwhile contribution in building a positive political society where people are heard and responded to.” Azad will soon launch a national-level party from Jammu and Kashmir. “We all support Azad and we will join him in his journey to lead J&K to a bright future,” they said in the resignation letter. Claiming that Jammu and Kashmir is facing an unprecedented crisis in the absence of an elected government, Singh said Azad’s decision to launch a national level party from Jammu will inspire hope and new determination to set things right once and for all. “We are confident that J&K will be able to get statehood back after a gap of three years under the leadership of Azad. He is the sole and most powerful voice for statehood of J&K and early elections,” he said. Singh said Azad is a perennial hope for the people of J&K for bridging gaps between regions and communities. “We are sure that his [Azad’s] vision will help J&K and its depressed masses to come out of the dark shadows of pessimism and shape a new and bright future for J&K,” he said. Over a dozen prominent Congress leaders, including former ministers and legislators, besides hundreds of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members, municipal corporators and district and block level leaders have already left the Congress to join Azad over the past four days. Adani becomes world’s third-richest person; first for an Asian In yet another big milestone for Adani Group of Industries founder [Gautam Adani, he has become the world’s third-richest person]( as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Elon Musk retained the top spot with his net-worth touching $251.4 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos ($153.4 Billion) and Adani at $137.4 billion. This is the first time an Asian person has broken into the top three as Adani overtook France’s Bernard Arnault. Adani added $60.9 billion to his fortune in 2022 alone, five times more than anyone else. He first overtook Mukesh Ambani as the richest Asian in February, and then surpassed Microsoft Corporation’s Bill Gates as the world’s fourth-richest person last month. Adani (60) has been expanding his coal-to-ports conglomerate to avenues like data centers, cement, media and alumina in the past few years, as per a Bloomberg report. The Adani group now owns India’s largest private-sector port and airport operator, city-gas distributor and coal miner. Moreover, Adani has pledged in November to invest $70 billion in green energy to become the world’s largest renewable-energy producer, the report said. The report also cited CreditSights as saying this month that the Adani Group’s growth has been predominantly funded with debt and his empire is “deeply over-leveraged.” “Some lawmakers and market watchers have also raised concerns over opaque shareholder structures and a lack of analyst coverage at Adani Group companies,” it said. Adani’s recent ascent to the top three is partly because of greater philanthropy among the top billionaires. Gates said in July that he was transferring $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while Warren Buffett has already donated more than $35 billion to charity. On his part, Adani too pledged in June to donate $7.7 billion for social causes to mark his 60th birthday. WHO director in Asia accused of racism, abuse put on leave The [World Health Organisation’s top director in the Western Pacific, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, has been indefinitely removed from his post]( according to internal correspondence obtained by The Associated Press. Dr. Kasai’s removal comes months after an AP investigation revealed that dozens of staffers accused him of racist, abusive and unethical behavior that undermined the U.N. agency’s efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic in Asia. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told staff in the Western Pacific in an email on Friday that Dr. Kasai was “on leave” without elaborating further. Tedros said Deputy Director-General, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, would be arriving Tuesday in Manila, WHO’s regional headquarters, to “ensure business continuity.” Two senior WHO officials who asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the press, said Dr. Kasai had been put on extended administrative leave after internal investigators substantiated some of the misconduct complaints. In a statement, WHO said it was unknown how long Dr. Kasai would be away. The U.N. health agency said the investigation into him was continuing and that it was believed to be the first time a regional director had been relieved of their duties. Dr. Kasai did not respond to requests for comment but previously denied he used racist language or acted unprofessionally. In January, the AP reported that more than 30 unidentified staffers sent a confidential complaint to senior WHO leadership and members of the organisation’s Executive Board, alleging that Dr. Kasai had created a “toxic atmosphere” in WHO’s offices across the Western Pacific. Documents and recordings showed Dr. Kasai made racist remarks to his staff and blamed the rise of COVID-19 in some Pacific countries on their “lack of capacity due to their inferior culture, race and socioeconomics level.” Several WHO staffers working under Dr. Kasai said he improperly shared sensitive coronavirus vaccine information to help Japan, his home country, score political points with its donations. Days after the AP report, WHO chief Mr. Tedros announced that an internal probe into Dr. Kasai had begun. Several months later, however, WHO staffers alleged that Dr. Kasai was manipulating the investigation. In a letter sent to the U.N. agency’s top governing body in April, the Executive Board, the staffers wrote that Dr. Kasai had ordered senior managers to destroy any incriminating documents and instructed IT staff “to monitor emails of all the staff members.” Dr. Kasai is a Japanese doctor who began his career in his country’s public health system before moving to WHO, where he has worked for more than 15 years. The removal of a regional director at WHO, even temporarily, is “unprecedented,” according to Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights at Georgetown University. “There have been a lot of bad regional directors at WHO, but I’ve never heard of action like this,” Gostin said. Any withdrawal of support from Japan for Kasai could hasten his dismissal. A Japanese government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said they hoped WHO had conducted a fair investigation. Dr. Kasai’s removal stands in stark contrast to WHO’s past reluctance to discipline perpetrators of unethical and sometimes illegal behavior, including during the sex abuse uncovered during the Ebola outbreak in Congo from 2018-2020. More than 80 outbreak responders under WHO’s direction sexually abused vulnerable women. Senior WHO management was informed of multiple exploitation claims in 2019 but refused to act and even promoted one of the managers involved. No senior WHO staffers linked to the abuse have been fired. In Brief Nearly [60% of all fake money seized in the year 2021 were of ₹2,000 denomination]( the Crime in India 2021 report compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows. Of the total ₹20.39 crore fake Indian currency notes seized in 2021, ₹12.18 crore was in the denomination of ₹2,000. The ₹2,000 and ₹500 new currency notes were introduced in 2016 after the old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes were scrapped by the government. The government had said that curbing of circulation of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) was one of the primary objectives of the 2016 demonetisation exercise. Post-2016, there has been an increase in seizure of fake money, NCRB data reveal. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow Today’s Top Picks [[The U.S. Fed’s long shadow on central banks around the world] The U.S. Fed’s long shadow on central banks around the world]( [[Data | About 50% ‘offences against state’ cases took over a year for police to file charge sheet: NCRB 2021] Data | About 50% ‘offences against state’ cases took over a year for police to file charge sheet: NCRB 2021]( [[Watch | This Ganesh Chaturthi, travellers flock to Chennai’s ‘Visa Ganesha’ temple] Watch | This Ganesh Chaturthi, travellers flock to Chennai’s ‘Visa Ganesha’ temple]( [[Watch | Pakistan suffers worst flooding in decades] Watch | Pakistan suffers worst flooding in decades]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](