NEW DELHI: As many as 20 candidates scored 100 percentile in the 2023 January session of JEE (Main) for admission to engineering courses, results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday night in a record five days. The 20 toppers include 14 from the general category, four from OBC and one each from Gen-EWS and SC category.
There are no women candidates in the top 20 from this session. The woman topper is Meesala Pranathi Sreeja with 99.99 NTA score. In JEE (Mains) 2022, there were 24 candidates, including two women, who scored 100 percentile. In the first session last year, there were 14 toppers with 100 percentile of which one was a female candidate.
While Md Sahil Akhtar is the PwD topper with 99.98 NTA score, SC topper is Deshank Pratap Singh with 100 NTA score and ST topper is Dheeravath Thanuj with a score 99.99 in the January session this year which concluded on February 1. The next session of JEE (Main) 2023 will be conducted in April.
Among the toppers this time, there are four candidates each from Telangana (Abhineet Majety, Bikkina Abhinav Chowdary, Guthikonda Abhiram and Vavilala Chidvilas Reddy) and Rajasthan (Apurva Samota, Dnyanesh Hemendra Shinde, Krish Gupta and Mayank Soni), followed by three from UP (Deshank Pratap Singh, Nipun Goel and Rishi Kalra), two from Gujarat (Kaushal Vijayvergiya and Suthar Harshul Sanjaybhai) and one each from Andhra Pradesh (Duggineni Venkata Yugesh), Chhattisgarh (Dhruv Sanjay Jain), Delhi (Amogh Jalan), Kerala (Ashik Stenny), Bihar (Gulshan Kumar), Tamil Nadu (NK Vishwaajith) and West Bengal (Soham Das).
An education ministry official said, “Post-pandemic, in order to bring back the academic calendar to its schedule, the ministry had announced the undergraduate entrance calendar for 2023 well in advance in December 2022 and towards the same effort, the results are also being announced in a record five days.”
NTA score is not the same as the percentage of marks obtained. The percentile or NTA scores are normalised across multisession papers and based on the relative performance of all those who appeared for the examination in one session. The final ranks of the candidates are released taking into consideration the best of the two NTA scores.
The examination was conducted in 13 languages — Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu — across 574 centres in 287 cities (including 17 cities outside India).
Four candidates took the test in Indian languages and scored over 99 NTA score, with the topper in this category being Pansuriya Kashyap Ashokbhai (Gujarati) who scored 99.96 percentile.
NTA has withheld scores of 50 candidates which are under scrutiny. The cases of these candidates are being placed before a committee separately. Their NTA scores will be declared once the committee finalises its report.
As first reported by TOI, the attendance was 95.8% for Paper 1 (BE / BTech), the highest recorded for the exam and for the first time, registration of women surpassed the 30% mark (Paper 1 and Paper 2 combined).

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed petitions challenging the President’s order appointing advocate L Victoria Gowri as a judge of the Madras HC on the recommendations of the SC Collegium.
Petitioners Anna Mathew, Sudha Ramalingam, D Nagasaila and R Vaigai, all advocates practising in the same HC, through senior advocates Raju Ramachandran and Anand Grover, had questioned Gowri’s past political affiliations and cited her five-year-old purported hate speeches against alleged forced conversions by Muslim clerics and Christian missionaries.
The SC said her past political affiliation was no disqualification as she fulfilled eligibility norms for judgeship in a constitutional court. “Political affiliation had never been a ground to bar a candidate’s appointment as a HC judge,” the SC said.

The petitioners had made late night requests for a late Tuesday night hearing on the issue, attempting to prevent Gowri from taking oath as a Judge at 10.35am on Wednesday. The CJI declined the request and constituted a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and BR Gavai, who would succeed CJI Chandrachud in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sundaresh, who was to sit with Justice Khanna, expressed reservations to the CJI on hearing the case, as he had been a consultee judge for appointment of advocate Gowri as a Judge.
Justices Khanna and Gavai began proceedings at 10.25am to fathom if the petitioners have raised some solid grounds requiring detailed examination and warranting issuance of a stay on Gowri’s oath-taking.
Ramachandran said there are implied eligibility conditions – like respecting right to equality and right to life – enshrined in Article 217 (which details appointment and conditions of the office of HC Judge), which Gowri did not fulfil and the January 17 decision of the Collegium, comprising the CJI and justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, was vitiated in the absence of consideration of the material cited by the petitioners.

The bench said, “There is a difference between eligibility and suitability. The eligibility criteria is fulfilled by the candidate. As of suitability, that is an area the Supreme Court cannot go into and should not go into as it is subjective. If the SC goes into suitability criteria on the judicial side, it will make the judge selection system unworkable.”
When Ramachandran said Gowri’s statements indicated a mindset that is not in sync with the ideals of the Constitution and that her oath to bear true allegiance to the Constitution would be a paper oath, the bench said: “The Collegium has a robust system of inquiring about the suitability of a person for appointment as a HC Judge. It makes discrete inquiries and takes the opinion of SC judges, who have worked in that HCs and know the ability and suitability. You cannot argue that the consultee judges did not know about her background and that the Collegium did not consider all these aspects cited now.”
Justice Gavai said many persons, with past political affiliations, have been appointed as judges to the HCs and SC. “I have been a judge for the last 20 years and I have a political background (his father RS Gavai, the founder of Republican Party and a reputed politician, who, after three decades of active political life, became Governors of Bihar, Sikkim and Kerala),” he said.
“There were several, including Krishna Iyer, KS Hegde, Aftab Alam, FI Rebello, Rama Jois and Rajendra Sachar, who were politically affiliated. So, political affiliation had never been a ground to bar a candidate’s appointment as a Judge of the high courts,” Justice Gavai said.
Finding that political affiliation argument is not cutting any ice, Ramachandran tried to focus on her alleged hate speech. But the bench cut his arguments short by saying, “Do you think the Collegium was unaware of these facts? If we start a new jurisdiction by examining suitability, then it would open a Pandora’s box. You are stretching it too far. It is impossible to assume that the Collegium did not know about the petitioners’ assertions, facts and background of the candidate.”
“We cannot direct the Collegium to reconsider suitability. She has been appointed as an additional judge. The Collegium will assess her suitability when she is due for confirmation as a permanent judge. We have a robust evaluation system in the Collegium and let us not interfere in that,” the bench said.
Bar Council of India chairman Manan K Mishra told the court that the allegations of misconduct against Gowri is far-fetched as on inquiry it has been found that not a single complaint against her is pending either with the BCI or the state bar council. The SC, while rejecting the petitions, said a detailed order would be passed soon.

NEW DELHI: Mumbai airport was not “hijacked” by the Modi government from the GVK Group to be handed over to Gautam Adani. GVK vice-chairman G V Sanjay Reddy has refuted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation made in Parliament on Tuesday that his conglomerate was forced to hand over the airport to the Adani Group in July 2021.
“There was absolutely no pressure from the Adani group or anyone else to sell Mumbai airport.… maybe a year before that (sale), we were looking at fundraising because in our airport holding company we had raised debt nearly 10 years ago, when we acquired Bengaluru airport and that debt was becoming due. So we were talking to investors and we had tied up with three investors… But (the transaction) was not happening,” Reddy told on Tuesday.

“So around the same time Gautam (Adani) bhai approached me and he said he has a lot of interest in Mumbai airport and whether we are willing to do a transaction with him at the same terms and conditions – the only difference being that he said he will ensure he will conclude the entire transaction in one month, which was very important for us,” Reddy told NDTV, denying any pressure from CBI or ED.

MUMBAI: A day after his letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge saying it was impossible to work with MPCC president Nana Patole came to light, Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat quit as Congress legislature party leader.
The now full-blown crisis in the Maharashtra Congress is the result of Thorat and Patole falling out over the election to the Nashik division graduates constituency. Thorat’s nephew Satyajeet Tambe was denied nomination for the seat by Congress. Satyajeet contested as an Independent and won.
Thorat confirmed to TOI on Tuesday that he had quit as CLP leader, while Patole said he was not aware of Thorat’s resignation. Former CM Ashok Chavan described the decision as “most unfortunate,” and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said BJP’s doors were always open for the veteran Congress leader. “Senior Congress leaders spoke to me. I am firm on my decision,” Thorat said.
A Congress leader said the rift in the party has come to the fore at a time Rahul Gandhi has just concluded his Bharat Jodo Yatra. “Rahul will have to first build his own party and then think about Bharat Jodo,” he said.
After his victory in the MLC polls on February 2, Satyajeet Tambe had launched a frontal attack against Patole, saying that the MPCC president had deliberately given him the wrong AB nomination forms. He alleged instead of documents for the Nashik division graduates constituency, he was given forms for Nagpur and Aurangabad division teachers’ constituencies on the last day of filing nominations.
When the blunder was brought to the notice of Patole, Tambe was given the form, but his father, former MLC Sudhir Tambe’s name was mentioned as candidate. After Satyajeet filed nomination papers as an Independent, Patole suspended the father-son duo for anti-party activities. Thorat has been upset over the way the MPCC, and Patole in particular, handled the situation. “There was lack of honesty, and all attempts were made to target and humiliate me,” Thorat said in his letter.
In his strongly-worded letter, Thorat blamed the MPCC president for the fiasco. “Patole has a lot of anger against me, and huge confusion and misunderstanding was created for settling political scores,” Thorat said. Though the letter came to light this week, it turns out Thorat had sent it last week after the election results.
Patole said, “I have not seen the letter; I don’t think he will quit. We will discuss the situation arising out of issues raised by Thorat in the coming party meeting. For a long time, Thorat has not been in touch, maybe owing to his ill health.”
Chavan told TOI, “Thorat should not have taken the extreme step. It appears to be a storm in a tea-cup. I am sure Congress will come out of the current crisis.”

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday held that forced virginity test on persons in police or judicial custody is unconstitutional stating that srangely, though the word “virginity” may not have a definite scientific and medical definition, it has become a mark of purity of a woman.
“It is declared that the virginity test conducted on a female detainee, accused under investigation, or in custody, whether judicial or police, is unconstitutional and in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution which includes right to dignity,” said the single bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma stating that there “cannot be two sets of views regarding the test of virginity being in violation of fundamental right” of a victim of sexual assault and a woman under investigation.
According to the petition filed by Sister Sephy in 2009, she was forcefully subjected to undergo virginity test by the CBI in November 2008 against her consent. “The intrusive testing procedure does not have a medical standing. Despite being inaccurate and there being definite studies that in some women hymen may not tear during vaginal intercourse, while in others they may tear even without vaginal sexual intercourse due to sports and other activities and some women may not even have one, such test has been conducted,” the bench observed.
The court further stated that it is not impressed with the argument of the law enforcement agency that the virginity test was necessary to uphold the laws since this argument itself flouts basic principles that a person’s dignity even in custody has to be upheld.
The court also noted that it can also be observed and reiterated that there is no procedure, under any law for the time being, which provides for “virginity test” of a female accused.

NEW DELHI: Stressing that interests of the poor have been at the heart of policy-making of his government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked BJP MPs to reach out to people in their respective constituencies and explain to them about features of the Union Budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.
At the first BJP parliamentary party meeting after the presentation of the budget, the PM said the budget proposals touched upon all strata of the society and the MPs should undertake the task of explaining to the people, particularly the poor and middle class, relevant aspects of the Budget. Modi recalled his electoral experiences as the chief minister of Gujarat to say that when work is recognised by people, there is nothing like anti-incumbency, sources said.
Modi said no one is calling it a “chunavi Budget” (Budget influenced by polls) even though it was the last full-fledged one before the next Lok Sabha polls. Overall development and interests of every section of society have driven its proposals, he said.
Even those who have been ideologically opposed to BJP have welcomed the budget, Union minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters quoting Modi’s speech.
“It is a huge responsibility on behalf of the MPs to talk about the budget to their constituency and tell people what is in the budget for them and how this budget comes at a time when the world is going through a major economic crisis,” Modi said. “Though BJP has been able to get majority in 2014 and 2019 and public at large is happy with the efforts of the party, there is no scope for any complacency and one must keep ear to the ground,” he told the MPs.
The PM also asked the lawmakers, especially those from cities, to organise sports meets, noting that there is a view that the youths in urban areas are not much involved in sports.
Foreign guests visiting India for various G20 meetings have appreciated the way the country has organised them, he added.
Citing his own example of the days when he was Gujarat chief minister, Modi is also learnt to have said that he had insisted then also that the elected representatives should be in regular and direct contact with the common people irrespective of the incumbency or anti-incumbency factor. “There might not be disappointment among general public if the elected representatives are spending time with the people and taking care of their interests. MPs and other representatives must spend time with the common people,” the PM said.
He also referred to India sending relief and rescue teams to earthquake-hit Turkiye, saying that he had seen the devastation in Gujarat and it was the call of the humanity to help the country which has suffered such devastation.

NEW DELHI: The cooperative sector in India has seen 20 new initiatives in the past 20 months since the formation of the ministry of cooperation in July, 2021.
Enlisting the central government’s initiatives, home and cooperation minister Amit Shah in his written response to Parliament questions on Tuesday said they would “strengthen India’s cooperative architecture, syncing it with the country’s economic and social needs”.
The initiatives include setting up new multi-state cooperatives societies (MSCS) for key farm-related operations; computerisation of primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) with an outlay of Rs 2,516 crore; expanding the ambit of the PACS for carrying out as many as 25 services or non-farm business activities such as water distribution and petrol/LPG/Green energy distribution; setting up a national cooperative database; creating a national cooperative policy; and taking taxation relief measures to help the sector.
Currently, there are about 8.5 lakh cooperatives in the country with around 29 crore members, mostly from rural India. As far as new multi-state cooperative societies are concerned, the country has seen the setting up of 92 of them in the past three years with 68 of them being created in 2022 alone. Nearly one-third (30) of the total was formed in Maharashtra, followed by 19 in Uttar Pradesh and 10 in Kerala.
Responding to a question on formation of specific policy for promotion of cooperation, Shah informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry has taken up the formulation of a New National Cooperation Policy to help in realising the vision of ‘sahakar se samriddhi’ (prosperity through cooperation), promoting the cooperative based economic development model, strengthening the cooperative movement in the country and deepening its reach up to the grassroots.
He said a national-level committee, chaired by Suresh Prabhu (former Union minister) and consisting of experts of the cooperative sector, representatives from national/state/district/primary level cooperative societies, has been working since September last year to formulate the draft of the new policy based on suggestions and feedback from various stakeholders.
Lowering tax rate for new cooperatives, as announced in the Union Budget 2023-24; reduction in surcharge on cooperative societies and allowing cooperatives to register as ‘buyer’ on GeM portal for national public procurement are some of the other initiatives in the list of 20.

NEW DELHI: India is now all set to kick off the upgrade of the critical Nyoma advance landing ground (ALG) in eastern Ladakh to ensure it can also handle fighter operations, in the backdrop of China having consolidated all its air bases and military positions during the continuing 33-month military confrontation along the frontier.
The Rs 230 crore upgrade work at Nyoma ALG, which includes extending and strengthening the existing airstrip into a 2.7-km ‘rigid pavement’ runway for all kinds of fixed-wing aircraft for “defensive as well as offensive operations”, will begin in May-June, top defence officers told TOI on Tuesday.
With the Nyoma ALG located at an altitude of over 13,400-feet, and less than 50-km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, it will take “three working seasons” by the Border Roads Organisation to complete the entire upgrade project that also includes dispersal areas, hangars and other allied infrastructure in the forbidding terrain. “So, everything should be ready by mid-2025,” an official said.

Nyoma is already “a major staging area” for the IAF and Army, bridging the crucial gap between Leh airfield around 190-km away and the LAC. It has been extensively used for forward deployment of troops and heavy weapon systems like tanks since the multiple Chinese incursions into eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020.
Heavy-lift Chinook, medium-lift Mi-17 V5 and Apache attack helicopters as well as C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ aircraft, which can land at makeshift airstrips, regularly operate from the Nyoma ALG. The Army, too, has been practicing airdrops of paratroopers in the high-altitude region.

“But there has been a long-felt operational need to make Nyoma capable of handling fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs and Rafales for both defensive and offensive options,” another officer said. “Operations from Leh and Thoise airfields sometimes get disrupted due to bad weather. The weather in Nyoma is much better throughout the year,” he said.
The IAF also has ALGs at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) and Fukche in eastern Ladakh. The one at DBO, in particular, overlooks the strategic Karakoram Pass and is just a few km from the LAC and the China-occupied Aksai Chin region beyond. “But DBO is at an even higher altitude of 16,600-feet than Nyoma. There is also little scope to extend the runway at Fukche,” he said.
There has been a major spike in Chinese air activity all along the 3,488-km long LAC stretching from eastern Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh in recent months, with the IAF even scrambling fighters in a precautionary air defence response.
China has upgraded all its major air-bases facing India like Hotan, Kashgar, Gargunsa, Shigatse and Lhasa-Gonggar with extended runways, hardened shelters and fuel storage facilities for additional fighters, bombers, drones and reconnaissance aircraft over the last two years, as earlier reported by TOI.

BIJNOR: It’s been over half a century that silver weighing 73kg worth about Rs 51 lakh at current prices and gifted to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been lying within the vaults of the Bijnor treasury in UP. All efforts by the local authorities to empty it have proved futile so far, a senior administration official told TOI on Tuesday.
Sharing details of the incident at that time, district treasury officer, Suraj Kumar, said: “In 1972, the then PM Indira Gandhi had come to visit the under-construction Kalagarh Dam, which is currently located on the UP-Uttarakhand border. When she reached the place, local residents had weighed her in silver, and several other articles made of the precious metal were presented to her. She did not take it along with her and asked the then district magistrate to take care of it.”
“Ever since, it has been lying in the treasury and there is no clear direction what to do with it,” Kumar said.
In 2002, the district administration had written to the Reserve Bank of India to claim it but the central bank refused to take possession terming it “private property”. A museum, too, turned down the offer on similar grounds.
District authorities pointed out that in case the Gandhi family claims them, the valuables can be handed over to them after following all due procedures. A local official added, “The heavy box kept in a vault is checked regularly during the annual inspection but has never been opened as it is sealed. If things kept here are claimed by their owners, they can be handed over to them.”
Dharamveer Singh, 70, a veteran Congressman who had witnessed the event, recalled, “I have vivid memories of that event when a huge weighing balance was arranged and Indiraji stood on one end while silver bricks were placed on the other. She weighed 64kg but ecstatic locals wouldn’t stop at that and continued to present her other silver items as well.”
Kalagarh Dam is an embankment dam built on the Ramganga river. It is located at the periphery of Jim Corbett National Park along the UP-Uttarakhand border. Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd manages this dam. Construction work of the dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1974.