The Evening Wrap: FM announces panel to examine challenges of ‘fast population growth’

A high-powered committee will be constituted to consider the challenges arising from “fast population growth and demographic changes”, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Interim Budget speech on Thursday. She added that the committee would be mandated to make recommendations to comprehensively address these challenges in relation to the goal of Viksit Bharat, or a developed India. Her announcement comes against the backdrop of an indefinitely postponed Census, which means that there is little reliable data to back up her assertion of “fast” population growth in the country; the little data that exists suggests that the country’s fertility rate is, in fact, falling below replacement levels. Despite the absence of sound statistics, security concerns in border areas are also being highlighted on the basis of purported demographic changes. In response to a question from The Hindu on whether the committee announced by Sitharaman was aimed at population stabilisation and if it would be set in motion after the next Census, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth said: “India’s demographics are an opportunity as well as a challenge. The committee will look at those aspects and the final terms of reference will reflect the focus.” Though the details of the committee are still awaited, the Minister’s speech suggested there has been a “fast” population growth in the country, even though there is no accurate data reflecting such a trend. India has not had a Census since 2011. The latest Sample Registration System (SRS) report for the year 2020 said that the total fertility fate (TFR), or the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, has actually dropped to 2, from 2.1 in 2019. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 for 2019 to 2021, released in May 2022, stated that the TFR has further declined from 2.2 to 2 at the national level, in comparison to the last such survey held in 2015 and 2016. NFHS-5 said that there are only five outlier States which have a TFR above the replacement level of 2.1 — Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26), and Manipur (2.17). According to Sabu Mathew George, a girl child rights activist, the NFHS data does not give a complete picture as its sample size is too low and the survey is spread over many years. “SRS, which is released every year gives us a better statistical picture than NFHS. Notably, the SRS for the year 2020 was published in 2022. There has been no fresh publication since then. The NFHS-5 was conducted over a period of two years and the data cannot be said to be statistically sound,” Mr. George said. On September 20 last year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha that the Census and delimitation of parliamentary seats would only be conducted after the 2024 general election, but did not specify the year that the exercise would take place. The Census, that was to be conducted in two phases in 2020 and 2021, has been postponed indefinitely. The deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, and police stations in States has been extended nine times by the Registrar General of India (RGI) that conducts the Census. Another key report — ‘Vital Statistics of India Based On The Civil Registration System (CRS)’ — was last released for the year 2020. It has not been published for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. George has petitioned the Supreme Court for the timely publication of the report, as it is “essential for transparency and effective demographic research and interventions in socio-economic planning”. The petition is expected to be heard this month. The activist said that in 2011, the top court had directed all States to publish the data on their website up to the gram panchayat level. “In the case of sex-selective abortions, it was transparency and demographic research that revealed an alarming drop in sex ratios,” the petition said. At the annual Director General of Police (DGP) conference in 2021, police officers from Uttar Pradesh and Assam submitted a research paper flagging concerns about demographic changes in districts along the international border with Nepal and Bangladesh. The officers highlighted an increase in the number of mosques and seminaries, as well as a high decadal growth in population in these areas. The Assam police paper said that the decadal growth in population, between 2011 and 2021, within 10 km of the Bangladesh border stood at 31.45%, which is higher than the projected national and State averages of 12.5% and 13.54% respectively. In November 2021, the then-Border Security Force (BSF) director General Pankaj Kumar Singh had said that demographic changes in certain border districts of Assam and West Bengal could be one of the reasons for the Home Ministry notification issued a month earlier, enhancing the jurisdiction of the BSF upto 50 kilometres from the border. He had said that the 2011 Census reflected the demographic changes and the “demographic balance has changed in Bengal and Assam leading to revolt among the people… voting pattern has changed in the neighbouring border districts … the government thinking was that this notification can help in catching the infiltrators.” The Uttar Pradesh police paper said that out of 1,047 villages in the seven border districts of Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Balrampur, Bahraich, Shravasti, Pilibhit, and Khiri, 303 villages had a Muslim population between 30% and 50%, while 116 villages had a Muslim population of more than 50%. Interim Budget 2024: Census, NPR unlikely in 2024 too as only ₹1,277 cr. allocated A meeting of the Union cabinet on December 24, 2019 had approved the proposal for conducting census of India 2021 at a cost of ₹8,754.23 crore and updating the National Population Register (NPR) at a cost of ₹3,941.35 crore. The house listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the NPR were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The census operation continues to be on hold and the government has not yet announced the new schedule. Officials said since general elections are due this year, the census is unlikely to be carried out in 2024. According to the interim budget, ₹1,277.80 crore has been allocated for census surveys and statistics (₹520.96 in 2023-24). The entire census and NPR exercise is likely to cost the government over ₹12,000 crore, officials said. This exercise, whenever it will happen, will be the first digital census giving citizens an opportunity to self-enumerate. The NPR has been made compulsory for citizens who want to exercise the right to fill the census form on their own rather than through government enumerators. For this, the census authority has designed a self-enumeration portal which is yet to be launched. During self-enumeration, Aadhaar or mobile number will be mandatorily collected. Govt to come out with White Paper on mismanagement of economy prior to 2014, says Sitharaman The Government will come out with a White Paper on the mismanagement of the economy prior to 2014 with an aim to draw lessons. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA came to power in May 2014 after a 10-year rule by Congress-led UPA at the Centre. “It is now appropriate to look at where we were till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years. The Government will lay a White Paper on table of the House,” she announced while presenting the interim Budget for the next financial year on February 1. She said in 2014 when the Modi Government assumed the reins, the responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous. The need of the hour, she said, was to give hope to the people, to attract investments, and to build support for the much-needed reforms. “The government did that successfully following our strong belief of ‘nation-first’,” Sitharaman said. She further said the crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development. Sitharaman began her nearly hour-long Budget speech emphasising that the Indian economy has witnessed profound positive transformation in the last ten years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism, she said. “With the blessings of the people, when our Government under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, the country was facing enormous challenges,” the Minister said. Sitharaman, who was presenting her sixth Budget, said that with ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as its ‘mantra’, the government overcame those challenges in right earnest. Structural reforms were undertaken, pro-people programmes were formulated and implemented promptly, and conditions were created for more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. “The economy got a new vigour. The fruits of development started reaching the people at scale. The country got a new sense of purpose and hope. Naturally, the people blessed the government with a bigger mandate (2019),” she added. With the ‘whole of nation’ approach of Sabka Prayas, Sitharaman said the country overcame the challenge of a once-in-a-century pandemic, took long strides towards Atmanirbhar Bharat, committed to Panch Pran, and laid solid foundations for the Amrit Kaal. JMM’s Champai Soren stakes claim to form government in Jharkhand; Hemant Soren sent to judicial custody till February 2 Amid a political crisis in Jharkhand, JMM legislative party leader Champai Soren on February 1 met Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan. He was accompanied by Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam, RJD MLA Satyanand Bhokta, CPI (ML) legislator Vinod Singh and lawmaker Pradeep Yadav. “We have staked the claim to form the Government. I urged the Governor to allow us to form the Government. The Governor said that soon he will inform us,” Soren said after meeting the Governor. However, the Governor has apparently refused to give any time to the JMM- led alliance to form the government. Champai Soren became the new leader of the JMM legislative party after Hemant Soren resigned as the State’s Chief Minister on Wednesday night. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Soren on Jan. 31 in a money-laundering case. The agency had questioned him for over seven hours during the day. Hemant Soren was taken to Hotwar central jail in Ranchi for a day after a PMLA Court reserved its order on ED’s remand request. The Court will pronounce its order on February 2 and Soren will be brought to the court from jail. The ED has claimed that a dozen land parcels in Ranchi, measuring about 8.5 acres in total, are in “illegal possession, occupation and use” of Soren and are proceeds of crime under the anti-money laundering law. The criminal case filed by the ED against the 48-year-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader emerges from a June 2023 ECIR following raids conducted against State government employee and Revenue Department Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad at various locations in the State. The agency, as per official records, recovered 11 trunks holding voluminous property documents from Prasad’s premises along with 17 original registers. Prasad was a custodian of many original registers of land records and their ownership details of the State, the ED claimed. It alleged that Prasad was “involved in the corrupt practices which included falsification of original records and had been a party with several other persons in their activities linked to the acquisition of landed properties in a fraudulent manner”. The ED shared this information with the Jharkhand government which registered a police FIR against Prasad at the Sadar police station in Ranchi on June 1, 2023. The central agency took cognisance of this FIR to file its ECIR on June 26, 2023. Prasad, the ED claimed, was “actively involved in hatching conspiracies with other persons to acquire and conceal various properties in an illegal manner including the properties which are illegally acquired and possessed by Shri Hemant Soren.” These details were also recovered from the mobile phone of Prasad, it said. According to official documents, Soren was arrested by the ED at 10 pm on Wednesday from the Governor House. During his personal search, the former CM “refused to remove” a religious locket and ring he was wearing. The agency, explaining the grounds of arrest, said it recorded statements of several persons under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and this exercise “established” that 12 landed properties, situated next to each other, and measuring 8.5 acres in total, were under “illegal acquisition, possession and use of Soren and this has been kept concealed by him (Soren)”. It said a survey was conducted on these land plots that “established that the land is in illegal possession, occupation and use of Soren.” Soren, on his part, contended that the said land fell under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and it “cannot be transferred” and the special regulation officer in Ranchi had restored the possession of the land back to its original owner on January 29. He also asserted that documents recovered from someone’s phone cannot be taken as “gospel truth” to implicate and arrest him. Meanwhile, after Soren on February 1 urged the Supreme Court to hear his plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chief Justice Chandrachud agreed to consider listing the case before an appropriate Bench on February 2. Supreme Court asks Gyanvapi mosque panel to approach Allahabad High Court against order to allow puja The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Gyanvapi mosque committee to approach the Allahabad High Court against a Varanasi district court’s order that a Hindu priest can perform prayers before idols in a cellar of the mosque. Lawyers representing the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee moved the Supreme Court registrar seeking an urgent hearing. The registrar conveyed to them that Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had asked them to approach the High Court. In their application, advocates Nizam Pasha and Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi submitted that under the garb of the order, the local administration, in “hot haste”, has deployed a massive police force on the site and is in the process of cutting the grills located at the southern side of the mosque. “There is no reason for the administration to undertake this task in hot haste in the dead of the night as the order passed by the Trial Court had already given them one week to make the necessary arrangements. The obvious reason for such unseemly haste is that the administration in collusion with the plaintiffs is trying to foreclose any attempt by the Mosque Managing Committee to avail of their remedies against the said order by presenting them with a fait accompli,” their letter said. In a significant development in the legal battle over the mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the district court on Wednesday ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in a cellar of the Gyanvapi Masjid. The prayers will be conducted — apparently at regular intervals — by a “pujari” nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust and the petitioner who claims his grandfather offered puja at the cellar up to December 1993. The court has directed the local administration to make arrangements within seven days for prayers in the cellar. The order by judge A.K. Vishvesha came a day after an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the mosque complex was made public. The ASI survey, ordered by the same court, in connection with a related case, suggested that the mosque was constructed during Aurangzeb’s rule over the remains of a Hindu temple. In an earlier order on January 17, the Varanasi court had directed that the district magistrate should take charge of the cellar. But it had not then given any directions on the right to offer prayers there. In brief The ED has conducted searches at the premises of leading cement manufacturing and supplying firm, India Cements, in Chennai. The searches were carried out on Wednesday, January 31, and Thursday, February 1. Sources in the ED said the searches were held to find out if there were any irregularities by the company under provisions of The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 01 February 2024 [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]( Nirmala Sitharaman announces panel to examine challenges of ‘fast population growth’ to development [A high-powered committee will be constituted to consider the challenges arising from “fast population growth and demographic changes”, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Interim Budget speech]( on Thursday. She added that the committee would be mandated to make recommendations to comprehensively address these challenges in relation to the goal of Viksit Bharat, or a developed India. Her announcement comes against the backdrop of an indefinitely postponed Census, which means that there is little reliable data to back up her assertion of “fast” population growth in the country; the little data that exists suggests that the country’s fertility rate is, in fact, falling below replacement levels. Despite the absence of sound statistics, security concerns in border areas are also being highlighted on the basis of purported demographic changes. In response to a question from The Hindu on whether the committee announced by Sitharaman was aimed at population stabilisation and if it would be set in motion after the next Census, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth said: “India’s demographics are an opportunity as well as a challenge. The committee will look at those aspects and the final terms of reference will reflect the focus.” Though the details of the committee are still awaited, the Minister’s speech suggested there has been a “fast” population growth in the country, even though there is no accurate data reflecting such a trend. India has not had a Census since 2011. The latest Sample Registration System (SRS) report for the year 2020 said that the total fertility fate (TFR), or the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, has actually dropped to 2, from 2.1 in 2019. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 for 2019 to 2021, released in May 2022, stated that the TFR has further declined from 2.2 to 2 at the national level, in comparison to the last such survey held in 2015 and 2016. NFHS-5 said that there are only five outlier States which have a TFR above the replacement level of 2.1 — Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26), and Manipur (2.17). According to Sabu Mathew George, a girl child rights activist, the NFHS data does not give a complete picture as its sample size is too low and the survey is spread over many years. “SRS, which is released every year gives us a better statistical picture than NFHS. Notably, the SRS for the year 2020 was published in 2022. There has been no fresh publication since then. The NFHS-5 was conducted over a period of two years and the data cannot be said to be statistically sound,” Mr. George said. On September 20 last year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha that the Census and delimitation of parliamentary seats would only be conducted after the 2024 general election, but did not specify the year that the exercise would take place. The Census, that was to be conducted in two phases in 2020 and 2021, has been postponed indefinitely. The deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, and police stations in States has been extended nine times by the Registrar General of India (RGI) that conducts the Census. Another key report — ‘Vital Statistics of India Based On The Civil Registration System (CRS)’ — was last released for the year 2020. It has not been published for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. George has petitioned the Supreme Court for the timely publication of the report, as it is “essential for transparency and effective demographic research and interventions in socio-economic planning”. The petition is expected to be heard this month. The activist said that in 2011, the top court had directed all States to publish the data on their website up to the gram panchayat level. “In the case of sex-selective abortions, it was transparency and demographic research that revealed an alarming drop in sex ratios,” the petition said. At the annual Director General of Police (DGP) conference in 2021, police officers from Uttar Pradesh and Assam submitted a research paper flagging concerns about demographic changes in districts along the international border with Nepal and Bangladesh. The officers highlighted an increase in the number of mosques and seminaries, as well as a high decadal growth in population in these areas. The Assam police paper said that the decadal growth in population, between 2011 and 2021, within 10 km of the Bangladesh border stood at 31.45%, which is higher than the projected national and State averages of 12.5% and 13.54% respectively. In November 2021, the then-Border Security Force (BSF) director General Pankaj Kumar Singh had said that demographic changes in certain border districts of Assam and West Bengal could be one of the reasons for the Home Ministry notification issued a month earlier, enhancing the jurisdiction of the BSF upto 50 kilometres from the border. He had said that the 2011 Census reflected the demographic changes and the “demographic balance has changed in Bengal and Assam leading to revolt among the people… voting pattern has changed in the neighbouring border districts … the government thinking was that this notification can help in catching the infiltrators.” The Uttar Pradesh police paper said that out of 1,047 villages in the seven border districts of Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Balrampur, Bahraich, Shravasti, Pilibhit, and Khiri, 303 villages had a Muslim population between 30% and 50%, while 116 villages had a Muslim population of more than 50%. Interim Budget 2024: Census, NPR unlikely in 2024 too as only ₹1,277 cr. allocated [A meeting of the Union cabinet on December 24, 2019 had approved the proposal for conducting census of India 2021 at a cost of ₹8,754.23 crore and updating the National Population Register (NPR) at a cost of ₹3,941.35 crore.]( The house listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the NPR were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The census operation continues to be on hold and the government has not yet announced the new schedule. Officials said since general elections are due this year, the census is unlikely to be carried out in 2024. According to the interim budget, ₹1,277.80 crore has been allocated for census surveys and statistics (₹520.96 in 2023-24). The entire census and NPR exercise is likely to cost the government over ₹12,000 crore, officials said. This exercise, whenever it will happen, will be the first digital census giving citizens an opportunity to self-enumerate. The NPR has been made compulsory for citizens who want to exercise the right to fill the census form on their own rather than through government enumerators. For this, the census authority has designed a self-enumeration portal which is yet to be launched. During self-enumeration, Aadhaar or mobile number will be mandatorily collected. Govt to come out with White Paper on mismanagement of economy prior to 2014, says Sitharaman [The Government will come out with a White Paper on the mismanagement of the economy prior to 2014 with an aim to draw lessons](. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA came to power in May 2014 after a 10-year rule by Congress-led UPA at the Centre. “It is now appropriate to look at where we were till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years. The Government will lay a White Paper on table of the House,” she announced while presenting the interim Budget for the next financial year on February 1. She said in 2014 when the Modi Government assumed the reins, the responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous. The need of the hour, she said, was to give hope to the people, to attract investments, and to build support for the much-needed reforms. “The government did that successfully following our strong belief of ‘nation-first’,” Sitharaman said. She further said the crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development. Sitharaman began her nearly hour-long Budget speech emphasising that the Indian economy has witnessed profound positive transformation in the last ten years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism, she said. “With the blessings of the people, when our Government under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, the country was facing enormous challenges,” the Minister said. Sitharaman, who was presenting her sixth Budget, said that with ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as its ‘mantra’, the government overcame those challenges in right earnest. Structural reforms were undertaken, pro-people programmes were formulated and implemented promptly, and conditions were created for more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. “The economy got a new vigour. The fruits of development started reaching the people at scale. The country got a new sense of purpose and hope. Naturally, the people blessed the government with a bigger mandate (2019),” she added. With the ‘whole of nation’ approach of Sabka Prayas, Sitharaman said the country overcame the challenge of a once-in-a-century pandemic, took long strides towards Atmanirbhar Bharat, committed to Panch Pran, and laid solid foundations for the Amrit Kaal. JMM’s Champai Soren stakes claim to form government in Jharkhand; Hemant Soren sent to judicial custody till February 2 [Amid a political crisis in Jharkhand, JMM legislative party leader Champai Soren on February 1 met Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan](. He was accompanied by Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam, RJD MLA Satyanand Bhokta, CPI (ML) legislator Vinod Singh and lawmaker Pradeep Yadav. “We have staked the claim to form the Government. I urged the Governor to allow us to form the Government. The Governor said that soon he will inform us,” Soren said after meeting the Governor. However, the Governor has apparently refused to give any time to the JMM- led alliance to form the government. Champai Soren became the new leader of the JMM legislative party after Hemant Soren resigned as the State’s Chief Minister on Wednesday night. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Soren on Jan. 31 in a money-laundering case. The agency had questioned him for over seven hours during the day. Hemant Soren was taken to Hotwar central jail in Ranchi for a day after a PMLA Court reserved its order on ED’s remand request. The Court will pronounce its order on February 2 and Soren will be brought to the court from jail. The ED has claimed that a dozen land parcels in Ranchi, measuring about 8.5 acres in total, are in “illegal possession, occupation and use” of Soren and are proceeds of crime under the anti-money laundering law. The criminal case filed by the ED against the 48-year-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader emerges from a June 2023 ECIR following raids conducted against State government employee and Revenue Department Sub-Inspector Bhanu Pratap Prasad at various locations in the State. The agency, as per official records, recovered 11 trunks holding voluminous property documents from Prasad’s premises along with 17 original registers. Prasad was a custodian of many original registers of land records and their ownership details of the State, the ED claimed. It alleged that Prasad was “involved in the corrupt practices which included falsification of original records and had been a party with several other persons in their activities linked to the acquisition of landed properties in a fraudulent manner”. The ED shared this information with the Jharkhand government which registered a police FIR against Prasad at the Sadar police station in Ranchi on June 1, 2023. The central agency took cognisance of this FIR to file its ECIR on June 26, 2023. Prasad, the ED claimed, was “actively involved in hatching conspiracies with other persons to acquire and conceal various properties in an illegal manner including the properties which are illegally acquired and possessed by Shri Hemant Soren.” These details were also recovered from the mobile phone of Prasad, it said. According to official documents, Soren was arrested by the ED at 10 pm on Wednesday from the Governor House. During his personal search, the former CM “refused to remove” a religious locket and ring he was wearing. The agency, explaining the grounds of arrest, said it recorded statements of several persons under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and this exercise “established” that 12 landed properties, situated next to each other, and measuring 8.5 acres in total, were under “illegal acquisition, possession and use of Soren and this has been kept concealed by him (Soren)”. It said a survey was conducted on these land plots that “established that the land is in illegal possession, occupation and use of Soren.” Soren, on his part, contended that the said land fell under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and it “cannot be transferred” and the special regulation officer in Ranchi had restored the possession of the land back to its original owner on January 29. He also asserted that documents recovered from someone’s phone cannot be taken as “gospel truth” to implicate and arrest him. Meanwhile, after Soren on February 1 urged the Supreme Court to hear his plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chief Justice Chandrachud agreed to consider listing the case before an appropriate Bench on February 2. Supreme Court asks Gyanvapi mosque panel to approach Allahabad High Court against order to allow puja The [Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Gyanvapi mosque committee to approach the Allahabad High Court]( against a Varanasi district court’s order that a Hindu priest can perform prayers before idols in a cellar of the mosque. Lawyers representing the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee moved the Supreme Court registrar seeking an urgent hearing. The registrar conveyed to them that Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had asked them to approach the High Court. In their application, advocates Nizam Pasha and Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi submitted that under the garb of the order, the local administration, in “hot haste”, has deployed a massive police force on the site and is in the process of cutting the grills located at the southern side of the mosque. “There is no reason for the administration to undertake this task in hot haste in the dead of the night as the order passed by the Trial Court had already given them one week to make the necessary arrangements. The obvious reason for such unseemly haste is that the administration in collusion with the plaintiffs is trying to foreclose any attempt by the Mosque Managing Committee to avail of their remedies against the said order by presenting them with a fait accompli,” their letter said. In a significant development in the legal battle over the mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the district court on Wednesday ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in a cellar of the Gyanvapi Masjid. The prayers will be conducted — apparently at regular intervals — by a “pujari” nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust and the petitioner who claims his grandfather offered puja at the cellar up to December 1993. The court has directed the local administration to make arrangements within seven days for prayers in the cellar. The order by judge A.K. Vishvesha came a day after an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the mosque complex was made public. The ASI survey, ordered by the same court, in connection with a related case, suggested that the mosque was constructed during Aurangzeb’s rule over the remains of a Hindu temple. In an earlier order on January 17, the Varanasi court had directed that the district magistrate should take charge of the cellar. But it had not then given any directions on the right to offer prayers there. In brief [The ED has conducted searches at the premises of leading cement manufacturing and supplying firm, India Cements, in Chennai](. The searches were carried out on Wednesday, January 31, and Thursday, February 1. Sources in the ED said the searches were held to find out if there were any irregularities by the company under provisions of The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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