TIRUPATI � WEDNESDAY � JUNE 21, 2023 � `9.

00 � PAGES 12 � LATE CITY EDITION

RESCUERS RACE AGAINST TIME TO FIND

MISSING SUBMERSIBLE IN ATLANTIC
The carbon-fibre submersible was on a mission
to document the wreckage of the Titanic, the
iconic ocean liner that sank over a century ago
EXPLORER HARDING AMONG STRANDED
All communication was lost with the sub named Titan during a descent
Sunday to the Titanic. US and Canadian Coast Guards have deployed ships
and planes to find the missing sub, carrying British explorer Hamish Harding,
French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate Expeditions founder Stockton
Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman
3.8 km
SUB PUT TO SEA WITH 4 DAYS’ OXYGEN SUPPLY
■ OceanGate’s expeditions to the Titanic wreck site include archaeologists
and marine biologists. The company also brings people who pay to come
along, known as ‘mission specialists’. They take turns operating sonar
equipment and performing other tasks in the five-person submersible THE WRECKAGE OF THE TITANIC LIES AT A
■ The sub had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it put to sea on Sunday 6 am DEPTH OF 3,800 METRES (12,500 FEET)

CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI

All Margadarsi offices to face closure?

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad
ANDHRA Pradesh State Crime
Investigation Department’s Addi-
tional Director General of Police
N Sanjay has indicated that Mar-
gadarsi Chit Fund Private Limit-
ed (MCFPL), run by media baron
Ch Ramoji Rao in four States, will
be closed if it continues to func-
tion the way it is doing now.
“This company (MCFPL) has
admitted committing and contin-
uing violations. It has violated
every law. This company, which is
existing in four States, will be
completely closed,” Sanjay told
reporters on Tuesday after sub-
mitting a status re por t to
his counterpart in Telangana
with a request to initiate action.
According to sources, the of-
fices of the MCFPL may be closed
by September in Andhra Pradesh
and later in other States.
During a press conference, San-
jay alleged that Ramoji Rao
managed to evade the im-
plementation of the Chit
Funds Act, enacted by
the Central government
in 1982, using his influ-
ence for 26 years with the
then government in undi-
vided Andhra Pradesh to defer
the process of bringing in AP
Chit Funds Rules, 2008.
Equating the alleged financial
irregularities in the MCFPL to an
unreported child sexual abuse,
the AP CID chief said the manner
in which sexual predators entice
victims with chocolates, MCFPL
lured their subscribers to deposit
money even after maturity by of-
fering interest, although there is
no such provision.
Citing the provisions of
the Chit Funds Act, 1982,
Sanjay stated that any
company involved in
chits shouldn’t engage it-
self in other business
activities.
Rejecting the argument of rep-
resentatives of the MCFPL, San-
jay said that claiming to file re-
ports under the Companies Act is
foolish when they are doing chit
fund business. P5

PM: India deserves

bigger global role
Says India and the US share unprecedented trust
committed to protect its sovereign-
R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi
ty and dignity,” Modi said.
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Asked about India’s position on
Tuesday indicated India’s time has the Ukraine war, Modi said India
come on the global stage, as he em- wasn’t neutral but was on the side
barked on a state visit to the US, as- of peace. “Some people say that we
serting both sides share unprece- are neutral. But, we are not neutral.
SEA OF DEVOTEES dented trust and bilateral ties were We are on the side of peace.”
stronger than ever. The prime minister said Downpour brings respite from the blistering heat for citizens in Vijayawada on Tuesday I PRASANT MADUGULA
Lakhs of people participating in the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Puri, India, he said, de- he had spoken to both Rus-

Parts of AP likely to experience

Odisha on Tuesday, braving extreme heat. Over 300 people suffered heat stroke as serves a much higher, sia’s President Vladimir
well as injuries due to heat and humidity, and overcrowding | DEBADATTA MALLICK deeper and wider role Putin and Ukraine’s Presi-
globally, in a rare inter- dent Volodymyr Zelenskyy

heavy rains, thunderstorm today

view to a foreign media and supported “all genuine

Manipur HC admits plea organisation. “India de-

serves much higher,
deeper and wider profile
efforts to bring an end to
the conflict”.
In his departure state-

on ST status for Meiteis and a role. For thou-

sands of years, India
has been the land where
PM reaches
New York
ment, Modi hoped his US
visit on the invitation of
President Joe Biden would
All mandals
record temp
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Visakhapatnam
Meanwhile, the northern
coastal districts of the State ex-
people of all faiths and be an opportunity to enrich below 400 C perienced dry weather condi-
P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati beliefs have found the Prime Minister the depth and diversity of ARRIVAL of the monsoon tions with high humidity
freedom to coexist Narendra Modi India and the bilateral part- After a prolonged brought much-needed respite levels.
THE Manipur High Court has admitted a review petition seeking peacefully and prosper,” arrived in New York nership. “My discussions period of heatwaves, from the sweltering heat in var- As per the forecast by the In-
modification of its March 27 order that directed the state govern- Modi said in his inter- on the first leg of with President Biden and no mandal in the ious parts of the State as Goda- dia Meteorological Department
ment to consider inclusion of the Meitei community in the view to the Wall Street his state visit other senior US leaders will State recorded vari, Guntur, NTR, Bapatla, (Amravati), regions of north
Scheduled Tribes list. The court order triggered ethnic clashes Journal. during which he provide an opportunity to maximum Krishna, and Chittoor districts coastal Andhra Pradesh
between Meiteis and Kukis in the state. He reiterated the will lead the consolidate our bilateral co- temperatures above reported rainfall on Tuesday. (NCAP), Yanam, south coastal
A bench of Acting Chief Justice M V Muralidaran, who au- country’s stand on the International Day operation as well as in 40 degree Celsius on While Vijayawada experi- AP (SCAP), and Rayalaseema
thored the March 27 order, admitted the petition filed by the frayed relationship with of Yoga event at plurilateral forums such as Tuesday. The highest enced heavy rainfall, Tirupati can expect light to moderate
Meitei Tribes Union (MTU) and issued notices to the Centre and China, saying for nor- the UN today G20, Quad and IPEF.” maximum and Kakinada witnessed light rain and thundershowers at
the state government. In the March 27 order, the HC had directed mal bilateral ties, peace Nine years after Modi temperature of drizzles. Seethanagaram man- scattered locations on Wednes-
the state government to “consider the case of the petitioners for and tranquility are essential. first proposed at the United Nations 39.2 C was recorded
0
dal in East Godavari district day. Additionally, heavy rain-
inclusion of the Metei/Meitei community in the ST list, expedi- “We have a core belief in respect- General Assembly that the Interna- at Ulavapadu in received the highest rainfall of fall and thunderstorms are an-
tiously, preferably within a period four weeks from the date of ing sovereignty and territorial in- tional Yoga Day be observed as an Nellore district. 97.75 mm and Tallapudi man- ticipated in one or two places.
receipt of a copy of this order…”. tegrity, observing the rule of law annual event, he will for the first Guntur West and dal in the same district record- There is also a possibility of
The MTU sought modification of this part of the order as the and peaceful resolution of differ- time be at the UN Headquarters to Darsi in Prakasam ed 80 mm rains. Kondapi man- strong winds ranging from 30
state government is not authorised to grant ST status. ences and disputes. At the same l e a d t h e y o g a s e s s i o n o n district recorded dal in Prakasam district to 40 km per hour at one or two
The review petition will be heard again on July 5. time, India is fully prepared and Wednesday. 38.76 degree Celsius recorded 65.5 mm rainfall. locations. P5

EXPRESS READ
Nilekani donates
`315 crore to IIT-B
Bengaluru: Infosys co-founder
and chairman and founding
chairman of UIDAI Nandan
Nilekani has donated `315
crore to his alma mater
Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) Bombay. With this,
Nilekani has so far donated
`400 crore to the institute.
Nilekani and the IIT-B director
signed an MoU | P5
SC nod for central
forces in West Bengal
New Delhi: In a setback to the
TMC government in West
Bengal, the Supreme Court on
Tuesday dismissed its
petition along with that of
the State Election
Commission (SEC),
challenging the Calcutta High
Court’s June 15 order directing
deployment of central forces
for the July 8 panchayat polls

6 cops booked for sexual

assault on six TN tribals
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chittoor

SIX police personnel, including a sub-inspector of police,

in Chittoor district have been booked for allegedly wrong-
fully confining and sexually assaulting six tribal women
from Tamil Nadu.
According to the police, the women and four other peo-
ple, including two children aged five and seven, were
picked up for questioning in a theft case reported at Kal-
luru under Puthalapattu police station limits.
Between June 7 and 10, SI Hari Prasad, along with his
team, went to Tamil Nadu and detained 10 people belong-
ing to the Kuravan community at Puliyandapatti Junction
near Mathur in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu for
questioning.
After two of the tribals reportedly confessed to the
crime, police remanded them. They held the eight other
tribals in custody for almost five days, served notices on
them under CrPC Section 41A (Notice of appearance be-
fore police officer) and sent them home on June 17. P5

02
Youth ‘harassed’
by cops, jumps in
front of train, dies
Man alleged cops forced him to confess bike
theft case, however, Nandyal DSP denies
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kurnool
UNABLE to bear the alleged po-
lice harassment, a 22-year-old
youth killed himself by jump-
ing under a running train on
the outskirts of Nandyal town
on Monday. The deceased was
identified as Chinna Babu, a
resident of Totaline of Nandyal
town.
According to the reports
reaching here, Chinna Babu, a
resident of Nandyal town, took
a selfie video, in which he al-
leged that he was tortured by
Nandyal One Town police, in-
cluding sub-inspector, consta-
bles Naganna and Yesudas.
“The police have been forc-
ing me to confess a bike theft
case and took me into custody
on Sunday and trashed me
black and blue. Police asked me
to confess the case and visit the
station on Monday morning,
even though I did not commit
any theft. If I confess the crime,
it will affect my family reputa-
tion,” stated Chinna Babu in
his selfie video, before killing
himself.
As per the sources, he sent
Suicide helpline
OneLife: 78930 78930, Roshni,
Hyderabad-based NGO:
040-66202000
Disaster mgmt officials advise people to
avoid going outdoors during heavy rains
K M A D H U S U D H A K A R @ Kurnool
IN view of the occurrence of
lightning and thunderstorms
during the rainy season, the
Disaster Management officials
advised the people to avoid go-
ing outdoors and follow tips to
protect themselves as at least
ten people have lost their lives
every year across the Kurnool
district.
As many as five persons and
several livestock were killed
due to lightning strike at vari-
ous parts of the district in this
year. Cautioning the farmers
and farm workers, who work
in open and hilltop areas in
the Kharif season, the officials
advised them to take measures
during heavy rains.
Speaking with TNIE, dis-
trict project manager of disas-
ter management B Anupama
said that people can save them-
selves by following the insights
provided by the officials.
P E T E R V I DA L
21ST June : It’s a Cancerian sort of a day,
which means conservative and cautious.
People who live to take risks might be
going out on a limb and individuals who
prefer security may be trying to stand in
their way! Mind you, today’s dominant
planetary pattern is sociable and friendly,
so there’s plenty of pleasure to be had.
Solutions to Yesterday’s puzzle
TIRUPATI
the video clip to his phone con-
tacts and social media groups,
which went viral in a matter of
minutes. Railway police found
the youth’s body near the town
outskirts and informed the
same to the victim’s parents,
following which they referred
the case to civil police.
Meanwhile, speaking to
TNIE, Nandyal DSP D Ma-
heswara Reddy claimed that
the deceased youth was in an
alleged relationship with a
14-year-old girl and their par-
ents were against their rela-
tionship. Depressed over it,
Chinna Rao reportedly died by
suicide on Sunday, the DSP
added.
Maheswara Reddy also
claimed that the youth was in-
volved in a motorcycle theft
case for which the po-
lice inquired him
on Sunday. A de-
tailed inquiry
will be con-
ducted,
he said.
SIGNS OF LIGHTNING
Heavy winds and Thunder storms
dark cloud cover overhead or nearby
LOUD AND FREQUENT THUNDERS
Unplug
appliances and
other
electrical/
electronic
items
Turn off air
conditioners in
advance
Cut down dead
or rotting trees
and branches
around your
house/building
Stay away from
windows,
doors, porches
and porticos
ARIES
(Mar 21 - Apr. 20)
For someone
who is
supposed to
be so easily angered, you
are actually quite good-
humoured most of the
time, and with the Moon
now influencing a
sociable region of your
solar chart, you should
give the priority to
everything which is light,
optimistic and friendly.
SU DO KU EASY
TEST YOUR NUMBER
CRUNCHING SKILL WITH OUR
UNIQUE PUZZLE
� Fill in the grid with digits in such a manner
that every row, every column and every 3X3 box
accommodates the digits 1 to 9, without repeating any.
WEDNESDAY
DOs AND DON’Ts
Move towards a safe shelter like
strong building immediately.
If you are driving try to safely
exit the road and park away from
isolated trees and areas prone to
flash flooding
Enclosed metal vehicles like cars and buses with
windows rolled up are better shelter
If caught in the open
immediately squat
down, cover your ears
with your hands and put
your head between your
knees
Do not use corded
phones or mobiles
TAURUS
(Apr. 21 - May 21)
This is far
from a
straight
forward period for either
partnership or romantic
matters. However, if you
tackle your desires head
on, you’ll realise that it’s
all really very simple!
Mind you, tomorrow you
might come to a
completely different
conclusion.
21 06 2023
� �
A young astrologer seen waiting for customers on the streets of Tirupati on Tuesday I MADHAV K
YVU to conduct degree
exams from June 23
Kadapa: The Regular and Backlog
examinations for the 2nd,4th,5th
& 6th semesters under the degree
programme at Yogi Vemana
University (YVU) will be held from
June 23, said YVU examination
controller officer Prof N Eswar
Reddy. In a press statement,
Eswar Reddy said as many as
42,128 students from 81 colleges
will attend the examinations in 57
exam centres scheduled to be
held till July 20 in Kadapa district.
Eswar Reddy directed the
students to carry their original
hallticket along with ID cards
Stay away
from tractors,
farm
equipment,
motorbikes
and other
vehicles
Do not wash your
hands, take bath or
shower, wash dishes
and do laundry.
Do not lie on the
concrete floor or
lean against
concrete walls.
GEMINI CANCER
(May 22 - June 21) (June 22 - July 23)
One by one,
the planets
are
pressurising different That’s an absolute law.
areas of your chart, However, the personal
incurring new details may be bent,
responsibilities as they twisted or completely
do so. If you are about dropped. What is important
to be overwhelmed by is your long-term goal, not
fresh emotions, hang your short-term strategy.
on. New facts are on the And then there’s the simple
way which will radically matter of getting on with
alter your opinions. the people you depend on!
MR. FORTUNE TELLER
ACB officials arrest CI and middleman
for accepting bribe from lorry owner
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kadapa
THE sleuths of Anti Corrup-
tion Bureau (ACB) arrested a
middleman and Yerra-
guntla Inspector of Po-
lice M Manjunath Red-
dy for demanding bribe
from a lorry owner who
transports slab stone
powder.
The complainant identi-
fied as Garisa Gangadhar Red-
dy alleged that Yerranguntla
Inspector Manjunath Reddy de-
RESCUE BY RPF
Woman saved
from falling
under train
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Tirupati
QUICK response from three
RPF personnels saved a
woman passenger from get-
ting trapped in between a
moving train and platform
at Tirupati Railway Station
on Tuesday.
According to the reports
reaching here, Gokula Karu-
nanithi, a resident of Kattu-
kottai of Salem district, who
had to board a train bound
to Salem, boarded Kerala
Express (12625). After realis-
ing that she was on a wrong
train, she tried to jump off
the moving train. Noticing
this, three RPF constables
Lokanatham, KM Reddy and
M Sampoorna, who were
manning the platform, im-
mediately swung into action
and saved the woman.
LEO
(July 24 - Aug. 23)
You should never Life is looking
compromise over profoundly
matters of detail. unsettled, but
you may be encouraged
by secret hopes and
aspirations. Get these in
perspective and make
sure that, for your own
part, you act only with
the highest of motives. If
you take the right actions,
you’ll soon see that you
receive the best reactions.
Wednesday: 21/06/2023 Year: Sri Shobhakruth Aayanam: Uttarayanam
Rutuvu: Grishma Masam: Ashadam Paksham: Sukla Tithi: Tadiya 03.09 pm
Nakshatram: Pushyami 01.21+ Durmuhurtham: 11.52 am - 12.44 pm
Varjyam: 07.31 am - 09.18 am Rahukaalam: 12.00 pm - 01.30 pm
manded `3,000 per month and
`700 per each load of slab stone
powder transported through
his lorry to avert cases against
him. The complainant
paid `18,000 to Manju-
nath Reddy on June 10.
In this regard, Gan-
g a d h a r Re d dy a p -
proached ACB and com-
plained a g ainst the
tainted police officer on
toll-free number 14400.
The Kadapa ACB personnel
registered a case and laid a trap
15 companies to participate
in mega job mela on June 24
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Nellore
NEARLY 15 companies will
participate in Mega Job Mela
and provide job opportu-
nities to unemployed
youth on June 24 in At-
makur town, said At-
makur MLA Mekapati
Vikram Reddy.
Addressing the media
at his camp office in Nel-
lore city here on Monday, the
MLA said that the companies
will provide job opportunities
to nearly 1,300 unemployed
Dwaraka Tirumala priest dies in road mishap
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Rajamahendravaram
IN a tragic incident, Dwaraka
Tirumala temple priest was
killed in a road accident, while
his wife and brother received
serious injuries on a national
VIRGO LIBRA
(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23) (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23)
It’s a day for What life has
reckless gestures given you
and impulse recently may
buys. It’s up to you whether not have been exactly
you wish to enjoy this rather what you expected or
stormy ‘planetary weather’ hoped for, but that’s
to the full, or if you want to because you were being
dig your heels in and stick to unrealistic. If you wish,
what you know. And a word you may now go back
of warning - if you’re not to first principles and
careful you might spend a start again. That could
lot of time clearing up after actually be an exciting
other people! thing to do.
CROSS WORD
ACROSS
1 Look for a feature about
double-parking (6)
4 Appropriate small amounts (6)
9 The bare ingredients
of a simple brew (4,3)
10 Desert island where palms grow (5)
11 Memento from more
licentious times (5)
12 Notes that don’t agree (7)
13 Arousing one’s curiosity though
resenting it perhaps (11)
18 Postage irregularities bring
out the secret police (7)
20 What the best man
is expected to do? (5)
22 Dismantle a United Nations
oil installation? (5)
23 Exemplary piece of literary work (7)
24 Shut up (6)
25 Break into a politician’s address (6)
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS
Across: 1 Secured, 5 Fetch, 8 Expostulation,
9 Natal, 10 Locales, 11 Roller, 12 Brandy,
15 On earth, 17 Dwell, 19 Battle-scarred,
20 Sorts, 21 Set free.
ALMANAC TODAY MIN MAX Sunrise 05:45
250C 350C Sunset 18:41
Moonrise 08:14
FORECAST
WEATHER Rather cloudy Moonset 21:28
Sri Srinivasa Chaturveda
Havanam from June 29
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@Tirupati
all departments to work in co-
ordination to make the spir-
itual event a huge success.
TIRUMALA Tirupati Dev- The programme includes dis-
asthanams (TTD) Joint Exec- courses by vedic pundits on
utive Officer (JEO) the significance and
Sada Bhargavi in- origin of Vedas.
spected the Parade In all, 32 Rutwiks
Grounds in the dis- from Andhra
trict on Tuesday Similar programmes Pradesh and Telan-
were conducted in
evening and direct- gana will partici-
ed the officials con- the past in pate in the havan-
cer ned to make Visakhapatnam and am. She instructed
Kovvur and are now
elaborate arrange- officials concerned
being planned in
ments for the ensu- Tirupati for the first to create a divine
ing seven-day Sri time. In all, 32 and spiritual ambi-
Srinivasa Chaturve- Rutwiks from AP ence. SVBC will tel-
da Havanam sched- and Telangana will ecast the pro-
uled between June participate in the gramme on all seven
29 and July 5. havanam days for the benefit
Speaking on the Sada Bhargavi, TTD JEO of devotees across
occasion, she said the nation and
that similar pro- overseas.
grammes have been conduct- The VC of SV Vedic Univer-
ed in the past in Visakhapat- sity Acharya Rani Sadasiva-
nam and Kovvur and are now murty, SV Goshala director
being planned in Tirupati for Dr Harnath Reddy and others
the first time. The JEO urged were present.
CPI(M) takes out
rally, demands
govt to reduce
and caught red-handed the mid-
dleman Sk Jilani Basha while
power tariffs
taking `8,600 amount from the
complainant at his home on E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Nellore
Tuesday.
The police said Jilani Basha CPI(M) leaders in Nellore city
and Manjunath Reddy will be staged a demonstration in front
produced in front of the ACB of the Transco sub-station of-
special court magistrate. fice demanding the State gov-
On the occasion, AP DGP KV er nment to reduce the in-
Rajendranath Reddy appealed creased electricity charges.
to all the people to utilise the They took out a rally in the city
ACB’s 14400 toll-free services from Janardhan Reddy Colony
and report the cor rupt to Sub-station.
officers. Speaking to the media,
CPI(M) leader G Nageswara
Rao alleged that the State gov-
ernment has hiked the power
tariff eight times in the name
of changing the slabs, fixed
charges, additional deposits
and others. He explained that
people in the district have been
youth in the constituency. He facing severe troubles with un-
further directed the revenue of-
ficials to prepare a list of com-
official power cuts. He said that
a middle class family has been
plaints in their jurisdictions getting a minimum of `1,000
and chalk out a schedule electricity bill per month. Gov-
to resolve the issues as ernment has imposed addition-
soon as possible. al charges of `1 per unit for
He asked the officials commercial usage starting this
to create awareness on month, said the CPI(M) leader.
Jagananna Suraksha He also alleged that the cor-
programme, which is ruption in the government has
scheduled to begin from led to the burden on the elec-
June 23. The officials were also tricity consumers. The CPI(M)
instructed to identify lands for leader warned that they would
construction of bus stands at intensify the stir if the govern-
Sangam and AS Peta. ment fails to reduce the tariff.
highway falling under Dendu- wheeler and hit a buffalo car-
luru police station limits on cass that was shattered on the
Monday night. highway, killing the priest on
According to the Police, the the spot. The deceased’s broth-
priest Satuluri Srinivasachary- er Krishnamacharyulu, who
ulu (40) along with his wife was following the couple on an-
Sridevi, was travelling back to other motorcycle, also hit the
Dwaraka Tirumala on a two- carcass and fell on the road.
SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES
(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) (Nov. 23 - Dec. 22) (Dec. 23 - Jan. 20) (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) (Feb. 20 - Mar 20)
If you’re Partners’ A formidable You need Sometimes
confused, it problems array of permanence other people
might all be for shouldn’t planets is and security. insist that
the best. This is a moment bother you, for your own conspiring to alter the You may now be they are right. But you
of change, and the planets desires must be satisfied means by which you confronted with the need are clever enough to
are stirring up fresh first. Your hopes and earn your living and use to accept that, on a cosmic know that there is no
possibilities, creating feelings can be so intense, your resources. Look level, nothing can ever be such thing as absolute
additional choices. For so powerful, that nothing behind the scenes and secure for ever, but at least truth. It is therefore
your own good, you may else really matters. Cash you’ll see that there are a loved one will reassure vital that you resist
offer intense commitment questions could be solved also moves to rearrange you that everything is fine the temptation to
to others, showing that very soon, although there your profession, update for now! Perhaps, though, judge yourself or
you can be relied on - and really doesn’t seem to be your ambitions and it’s trust you need, rather others too strictly. Be a
deserve their trust. any final answer. change your friends. than reassurance. little more tolerant!
JUMBLE UNSCRAMBLE THESE JUMBLES, ONE LETTER TO
EACH SQUARE, TO FORM FOUR ORDINARY WORDS.
BY DAVID L. HOYT
DOWN AND JEFF KNUREK
1 A wild horse on land (6)
2 Each one left spells danger (5)
3 Object of writing (7)
5 Pictures of newly
minted coins (5)
6 A decoration so
often out of place (7)
7 Sort of Red Sea green (6)
8 A measure of
enlightenment (11)
14 A quack remedy
from which most run (7)
15 Show place (7)
16 Rodent that’s a bit of a drag
out in South America (6)
17 Gay Lib - the non-
conformist assembly (6)
19 Pole in wrong gear
shows annoyance (5)
21 Expert witticism (5)
Down: 1 Stern, 2 Capital letter, 3 Resolve,
4 Double, 5 Franc, 6 Trial and error,
Yesterday’s
7 Honesty, 11 Rhombus, 13 Redra�,
14 Thesis, 16 Roles, 18 Lodge.
 YOUTH A 22-year old youngster was killed in a road accident
at Pedagantyada in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. An
DIES oil tanker rammed into his bike near Gangavaram port
bridge. Police registered a case and are investigating

03 TIRUPATI WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023

� � newindianexpress com

Seer accused of raping minor in captivity, held

The 15-year-old victim, who escaped from ashram, alleges she was tortured, chained and starved for many days

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE accused the seer of rape and situation, it found the inmates
@ Visakhapatnam case is under trial,” he said. were staying in a pathetic con-
People carrying P Roja on a makeshift stretcher in ASR district on Tuesday I EXPRESS The 15th ward corporator dition. The ashram inmates,
VISAKHAPATNAM police ar- Appari Srividya alleged that who hailed from Araku and

Pregnant tribal woman rested a seer for allegedly rap-

ing a 15-year-old girl in captiv-
ity at his ashram for the past
the charges against the seer
were true. “He used to harass
children sexually when I was
neighbouring Odisha, were al-
legedly engaged in odd jobs,
such as maintaining the cattle

en route to PHC dies

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Visakhapatnam
A 22-year-old pregnant woman
lost her life while being trans-
ported to a Primary Healthcare
Centre (PHC) on a makeshift
stretcher along the treacherous
forest path in the hilltop village
of Kumburla in Alluri Sitara-
ma Raju district on Tuesday.
Despite the valiant efforts of
the villagers and ASHA worker
Korra Shanti, Pangi Roja suc-
cumbed to delivery-related
complications before reaching
Davanur PHC.
With a population of 20,030,
as many as 45 families reside in
the remote hamlet.
In 2020-21, each family in the
village contributed `6 lakh to
lay a road covering eight kilo-
metres. However, heavy rains
caused severe damage to the
road, leaving the villagers with
no option, but to travel on foot.
Lack of basic facilities and
infrastructure in the isolated
hilltop village has led to recur-
ring instances of life-threaten-
ing emergencies.
Expressing anguish, Roja’s
husband Chanti said, “It is very
unfair that our Adivasi chil-
dren die on the forest path due
to lack of minimal facilities in
the village. There has been no
response from the government
despite repeated complaints.”
Demanding immediate ac-
tion, Chanti urged the district
administration to visit the vil-
lage and witness first-hand the
struggles faced by the tribal
population. He stressed the ur-
gent need for improved health-
care facilities and infrastruc-
ture to prevent further loss of
life in similar circumstances.
“Despite raising our con-
cerns repeatedly, we have re-
ceived no response,” rued Kor-
ra Rajababu, a resident.
two years, in the city on Mon- working as a teacher. A com- shed at the ashram. Radha
day. The accused identified as plaint was filed then. There said it was against the law to
Swami Poornananda has been were 100 children in the keep both boys and girls in the
booked under POCSO Act. ashram and most of them left same premises.
According to the police, the Swami Poornananda due to the harassment,” the Meanwhile, the AP Sadhu
minor girl, who had been liv- corporator said, adding that Parishad president Srinivas-
ing at the ashram run by the stern action should be taken ananda Saraswati alleged that
accused since 2016, in her com- Tirumala Express, where she seer had lodged a missing-per- against those who are indulg- the accused seer was falsely
plaint had alleged that she was met a woman and narrated her son complaint on June 15 at ing in sexual harassment. implicated in the rape case as
tied up with a chain and had to ordeal to her. The woman, with the MVP Colony Police Station part of a larger conspiracy.
spend many days without food. the help of the District Child to avoid suspicion. “The 12 in-
A living hell Speaking to reporters at the
The incident came to light af- Protection Officer (DCPO), mates, including nine boys Speaking to TNIE, Child Wel- ashram, he said that there
ter the minor girl managed to produced the girl in front of and three girls, have been fare Committee district chair- were attempts made earlier to
escape from the ashram earli- the Child Welfare Committee,” shifted to a boys’ home at Ar- person Radha said that when grab the ashram land and the
er this month. “After she left ACP Vivekananda said. ilova and girls’ home at China- the CWC team visited the ruling YSRC leaders threat-
the ashram, she boarded the Incidentally, the accused gadili. In 2012, another minor ashram to take stock of the ened the seer.
EXPRESS READ
Friend kills 46-year-old auto driver Couple held for bid to rape minor girl
Kurnool: A 46-year-old auto driver was killed by his Kurnool: Gonagandla police arrested a couple for
friend in a drunken brawl at Adoni town on Monday. attempting to rape a 13-year-old girl on Monday night.
The incident came to light on Tuesday after a video of The husband and wife were booked under the POCSO
the incident went viral on social media. The deceased, Act. According to the police, the accused were
identified as Shankar, and three of his friends were identified as Bade Saheb and Savitri, both residents
drinking at Yemmiganur Bypass Road when an of Ganjahalli village. The incident took place when
argument broke out, police said. During the heated Savitri accompanied the minor girl to the village
exchange, the accused attacked Shankar with a rod. outskirts for attending nature’s call on Monday night,
Police took arrested the accused and registered a case after which her husband attacked the girl

WORLD MUSIC DAY

64-yr-old preserves Telugu language through melodies of past

U S H A P E R I @ Visakhapatnam
AS artistes across the globe
come together to celebrate the
power of music and rejoice it on
the World Music Day, 64-year-old
Nukala Prabhakar along with
his fellow singers from diverse
backgrounds are on a mission to
promote and safeguard the pris-
tine essence of the Telugu lan-
guage through the timeless mel-
odies of the yesteryear via their
initiative, ‘Ghantasala Gaana
Nidhi’.
“The primary goal is to safe-
guard and uphold the unity and
essence of the language. When
the significance of a language is
compromised, the culture gets
jeopardised,” Prabhakar, a re-
tired BSNL officer, told TNIE.
Prabhakar, along with others,
organises musical concerts in
Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad
and live streams them on
YouTube through the Ghantasa-
la Gaana Nidhi. Recognising the
significance of safeguarding the
classics, Prabhakar took the ini-
tiative to digitise 2,500 songs by
Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao,
a veteran Indian singer and film
composer, back in 2006.
“Today, cassettes and CDs are
not widely used anymore. Even
though these songs may not be
popular now, a time will come
when they will be valued. That is
why I decided to digitise these
Nukala Prabhakar singing at a concert
held in Visakhapatnam I G SATYANARAYANA
songs 17 years ago. I did it out of
my love and respect for the lan-
guage,” he expressed with joy.
Moreover, Prabhakar and his
team have been consistently en-
couraging young children to par-
ticipate in their musical con-
certs, regardless of their singing
ability or pronunciation. He ex-
pressed that music has the re-
markable ability to alleviate ten-
sions. “Merely listening to music
brings immense mental peace,
and this experience is further
enhanced when one sings. Music
is one of the finest exercises for
maintaining healthy vocals and
lungs, but it also fosters a sense
of community, bringing people
together,” he stated.
Speaking about the impact of
technology, he remarked, “Live
streaming on YouTube enabled
us to carry on with our concerts
online during the pandemic. I
discovered the means to live
stream duet songs without lag
even when I was in one state of
the USA, and my singing partner
was in another.”
Reflecting on his time at a
glass factory in the USA, Prab-
hakar recounted, “During a
demonstration of glassware
preparation, we observed that
the instructions were given in
two languages -- English and
Chinese. While we could com-
prehend the English instruc-
tions, we could not understand
Chinese. While we should learn
to speak English, we should not
do so at the expense of compro-
mising our mother tongue.”

Regd. Office: PSEB Head Office, The Mall, Patiala - 147001.

Corporate Identity No. : U40109PB2010SGC033813, Website : www.pspcl.in
e-tendering portal : https://eproc.punjab.gov.in
Tender Enquiry No. 45/IPC/RTS/2023-24 Dated:19.06.2023
Superintending Engineer / IPC, PSPCL, Shed No. T-8, shakti Vihar, Patiala, invites
tender for site Survey, Design, Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning
including Warranty and 5 years of Comprehensive Operation and Maintenance of
seven number Photo Voltaic Solar Trees (fixed) at various office / residential areas
of PSPCL at Patiala having capacity of 4-5 kW (each) (approx.). For detailed
NIT & Tender specification, please refer to https://eproc.punjab.gov.in from 20.06.2023.
Note: Corrigendum and addendum, if any will be published online at
https://eproc.punjab.gov.in
487/C-373/23-6/20/2023
76155/12/1826/2023/25191

04 TIRUPATI
You are future of State: Jagan to top rankers
Highlights educational reforms; 22,710 students of govt schools & colleges get Jagananna Animutyalu Awards
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Vijayawada
CHIEF Minister YS Jagan Mo-
han Reddy on Tuesday present-
ed Jagananna Animutyalu -
State Brilliance Awards-2023 to
the SSC and Intermediate rank-
ers of government educational
institutions.
A total of 42 students, who
topped in SSC, and 26 students
who achieved group-wise ranks
in Intermediate, got Animuty-
alu Awards. About 20 students,
who excelled in higher educa-
tion in five categories, also re-
ceived Excellence Awards. In
all, 22,710 students were hon-
oured with Jagananna Animu-
tyalu Awards across the State.
Addressing the students and
their parents at the award pres-
entation ceremony, the Chief
Minister described the rankers
as bright minds and shining
stars, who are the future of
AP.
Profusely congratulating the
rankers, he said the govern-
ment had introduced educa-
tional reforms with an aim to
‘MCFPL invested `459 cr of subscribers’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@Vijayawada
THE Stamps and Registration
Department, which investigat-
ed the alleged irregularities in
Margadarsi chits, said orders
have been passed to wind up 23
chit groups of Margadarsi as
several lapses were observed.
The department, which is
the authority to regulate the
chit fund business, had earlier
conducted inspections in vari-
ous chit fund units of Marga-
darsi Chit Fund Private Limit-
ed (MCFPL). “Large scale
violations, financial mischief
and procedural irregularities
were noticed in the inspec-
tion,’’ the department said in a
statement on Tuesday.
Mentorship
programme
for women
launched
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Visakhapatnam
CII’s Indian Women Network
(IWN) Southern Region has
announced the launch of 4th
cohort of ‘EVEmpower’ -
leadership mentoring pro-
gramme - 2023-24.
This is a cross-company
programme aimed at sup-
porting women leaders in
their growth, by assigning
them mentors for a duration
of 6 to 7 months starting
August.
Over the past 2 years, this
initiative has been extremely
well received by CII and IWN
members, who have partici-
pated, and nominated men-
tors and mentees. It is a sym-
b i o t i c p ro c e s s fo r t h e
professional development of
both mentors
and mentees.
The men-
tor-mentees
from Tamil
Nadu, Kera-
la, Karnata-
ka, Telanga-
na, Andhra
Pradesh, and Puducherry
will participate in structured
monthly meetings of 60-90
minutes and work on the
goals that are important for
the mentees and agreed upon
as part of the mentoring
journey.
L a k s h m i M u k k av i l l i ,
chairwoman of IWN South-
ern Region, said many wom-
en professionals will benefit
from the process of mentor-
ing as they have just started
on this value addition to
them. “It is a crucial element
for professional success and
IWN is proud to be providing
the opportunity for women
professionals. They are ex-
pecting 300 mentor-mentees
in this year mentorship
learning programme,” she
said.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy presents Jagananna Animutyalu awards to
SSC and Intermediate rankers in Vijayawada on Tuesday I EXPRESS
make students global citizens
equipped with balanced and
matured thought, knowledge
o f e m e r g i n g a n d f u t u re
technologies.
“Our students should not be
the just followers of emerging
technologies, they should be-
come the technology leaders,’’
he said, adding that quality ed-
ucation is required to achieve
the goal. The day is not far off
when our students will rule
The department said in view
of the serious lapses, the ac-
counts of MCFPL were audited
by a qualified auditor and it
was found that an amount of
`459.98 crore was invested in
mutual funds, government se-
curities and equity instru-
ments, both quoted and
unquoted, including
subsidiaries and asso-
ciates. “The MCFPL
management has been
diverting the subscrib-
ers’ money for its person-
al gain and indulging in com-
mission of offences under
various provisions of law and
placing the hard earned mon-
ies of the gullible subscribers
under risk,’’ the department
said.
An airplane soars over high tension power cables in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday I G SATYANARAYANA
White paper on Srivani Trust sought
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Visakhapatnam
FORMER TDP minister
B a n d a r u S a t ya n a r aya n a
Murthy on Tuesday said wheth-
er there was any security for
the Srivani Trust of the Tiru-
mala Tirupati Devasthanams
(TTD).
Speaking to mediapersons
here, Bandaru said he was
ready to go to jail for the sake
Jagan known for destruction, uninterested people’s welfare, alleges Lokesh
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Vijayawada
TDP general secretary Nara
Lokesh alleged that Chief Min-
ister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy
was known for destruction as
he demolished several struc-
WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023
� �
and command the world, he
remarked.
Jagan said it is a matter of
pride for all that 24 girls figured
among the 42 SSC rankers and
22 among the 26 Intermediate
toppers. Emphasising that stu-
dents and parents should
change in tune with the fast
changing educational system
across the globe, Jagan called
upon them to aim at reaching
higher echelons.
The Stamps and Registration
Department said during the au-
dit conducted, certain grave ir-
regularities were found, in-
cl u d i n g n o n - p ay m e n t o f
subscription for the tickets
held by the foreman and for the
vacant tickets recorded in
the name of MCFPL,
huge difference in sub-
scription collected in
comparison to prize
money paid, which re-
sulted in delay in pay-
ment of prize monies and
utilisation of other groups’
subscription amounts and ac-
ceptance of deposits under the
guise of Receipts to cover the
obstacles due to short collec-
tion of subscriptions.
It was further observed that
FLYPAST
of his god if something was
done against the traditions. He
said the Srivani Trust was set
up in 2019 and introduced
`10,000 tickets. He questioned
why `10,000 and `500 tickets
were being given separately.
Bandaru said when he went
to Tirupati along with his fam-
ily, he had taken `30,000 tickets,
but he was not given any
receipt.
He said where was the neces-
tures constructed by former
Chief Minister N Chandrababu
Naidu.
Ramu, a vegetable vendor,
complained to Lokesh during
his Yuva Galam Padayatra that
YSRC activists damaged his
shop as he offered Harathi to
Cash awards for toppers
in SSC, Intermediate
The awards carry cash prizes of `1
lakh, `50,000, `15,000 and
`3,000 to first rankers in class 10
at the State, district, constituency
and school level respectively. The
second rankers will get `75,000,
`30,000, `10,000 and `2,000
respectively, while the third
rankers will be given `50,000,
`15,000, `5,000 and `1,000. For
top rankers in Intermediate, `1
lakh, `50,000 and `15,000 will
be given at the State, district and
constituency level respectively,
besides medals and certificates.
He also urged the students
who failed to get top ranks, not
to get disappointed, but aim to
achieve big in life.
“We have changed the face of
education in gover nment
schools with more facilities
through Nadu-Nedu, CBSE syl-
labus, English medium, bilin-
gual textbooks, tabs with Byju’s
content to class 8 students,
modern curriculum, subject
teacher-concept from class 3
MCFPL compromised the auc-
tion proceedings by allowing
defaulted subscribers to par-
ticipate in auction by violating
the terms and conditions of the
chit agreements entered be-
tween MCFPL and the sub-
scribers and resorted to collec-
tion of subscriptions without
conducting auction (other than
first instalment).
As MCFPL through its
branch managers was acting
prejudicial against the interest
of the subscribers, the Deputy
Registrars of Chits of districts
passed orders winding up of 23
chit groups of MCFPL,’’ the
statement said.
The chit groups are from var-
ious branches of MCFPL in the
State.
sity to start a separate account
for the Srivani Trust when
there is already an account for
the TTD. He said the details of
revenue of the Srivani Trust
were not included in the TTD
annual budget.
He demanded that the details
of number of tickets sold un-
der the Srivani Trust in the last
four years and the amount ac-
crued be made public by the
TTD.
the TDP general secretary.
While assuring to extend fi-
nancial aid to the vegetable
vendor, Lokesh accused the
YSRC government of destroy-
ing the State. Interacting with
villagers of Rapur in Venkata-
giri Assembly constituency
CALL FOR
CHANGE
and digital teaching from class
6,” he highlighted.
In order to prevent the poor
families from falling into a debt
trap because of the children’s
educational pursuits, the gov-
ernment has been implement-
ing Amma Vodi, Jagananna
Vidya Kanuka, Vasathi Deeve-
na and Videshi Vidya Deevena
and others and these schemes
have enhanced the self-confi-
dence of students and their
parents across the State, he
asserted.
“We need to do more in edu-
cation sector like changing the
examination system and intro-
ducing the IB syllabus at the
school level to ensure that our
students attain number one po-
sition in their respective fields
and become perfect global lead-
ers,” he explained.
Stressing that all students
should at least complete gradu-
ation, Jagan said the reforms
have reduced the dropout rate
and the government schools
have reached a stage wherein
corporate schools are trying to
compete with them.
Dastagiri
booked for
detaining boy
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kadapa
PULIVENDULA police on Mon-
day registered a case against
Shaik Dastagiri, approver in
the YS Vivekananda Reddy
murder case, on charges of il-
legal detention of a 16-year-old
boy in his house.
Based on a complaint lodged
by the victim’s mother, the po-
lice swung into action and freed
the boy from the detention. The
police shifted the boy to hospi-
tal for treatment as he was al-
legedly tortured in detention.
Dastagiri was summoned to the
police station for questioning.
While the boy was being shifted
to hospital, his kin staged a
demonstration in front of the
police vehicle demanding
justice.
Speaking to the media, Kul-
layamma, mother of the boy,
said their family has been re-
siding in Jayamma Colony. Her
husband Pedda Googuduvalli
borrowed `40,000 from Dasta-
giri six months ago and they
have been paying `4,000 as in-
terest every week. “We have
failed to pay the interest for the
past 10 days. Dastagiri has got
a promissory note written for
`1.10 lakh and forcibly taken
away my son Chinna Googudu-
valli (16). He has threatened us
not to disclose the incident to
anyone,” said Kullayamma. A
case was registered against
Dastagiri, said SI Sk Hussain.
TDP complains to Guv about YSRC
govt ‘failure’ to ensure law & order
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Vijayawada
A delegation of the TDP, led by
its State president K Atchan-
naidu, called on Governor S
Abdul Nazeer at the Raj Bha-
van on Tuesday. The TDP com-
plained to the Governor about
the deterioration of law and or-
der situation in the State, men-
tioning the recent incidents of
setting a 10 class student afire
and kidnap of the family mem-
bers of Visakhapatnam MP
and other incidents.
Speaking after the meeting
the Governor, Atchannaidu al-
leged that Chief Minister YS
Jagan Mohan Reddy lost the
right to continue in the post as
he miserably failed to ensure
proper maintenance of law and
during his padayatra, Lokesh
promised to bring down taxes
and power tariff soon after the
TDP returns to power, besides
supplying three free gas cylin-
ders to each family per annum.
When Dalits of the village met
Lokesh and wanted TDP sup-
Emphasising that students and parents should change
in tune with the fast changing educational system across
the world, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy called
upon them to aim at reaching higher echelons
Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan interacts with people in Kakinada I EXPRESS
Mudragada’s letter to
Pawan leads to slugfest
among JSP, TDP, YSRC
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE the TDP. Expressing doubts
@ Vijayawada that Mudragada worked for
the YSRC under the mask of
WHILE Jana Sena chief Pa- Kapu caste, TDP leader Bud-
wan Kalyan is touring Goda- dha Venkanna, in an open let-
vari districts as part of his ter, sought to know why the
Varahi Vijaya Yatra, a war of former
words erupted among Jana minister never questioned
Sena, TDP and YSRC leaders. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mo-
The day-long exchange of han Reddy though he did noth-
statements and counter state- ing for the benefit of the com-
ments among the Jana Sena, munity. He felt that Mudragada
TDP and YSRC leaders, gave was not questioning Jagan be-
an indication that the politics cause he colluded with the
in the State is Kapu-centric. Chief Minister. The other rea-
Kapu patriarch Mudragada son might be he was scared of
Padmanabham shot off an Jagan, the TDP leader ob-
open letter to Pawan Kalyan, served. “The response from
faulting the use of objection- the TDP in support of Pawan
able words against the politi- Kalyan has given an indica-
cal opponents of JSP chief tion that except an official an-
during his yatra. nouncement both
He also found fault Pawan’s yatra Telugu Desam and
with the JSP chief enters Jana Sena are all
for making allega- Konaseema set to walk togeth-
tions against Kaki- er in the ensuing
nada City MLA Jana Sena chief elections,” a politi-
Dwarampudi Pawan Kalyan’s cal analyst
Chandrasekhar Varahi Vijaya Yatra observed.
Reddy and his fam- entered Ambedkar Meanwhile, vet-
ily members. Konaseema district eran Kapu leader
While maintain- at Mummidivaram Chegondi Harira-
ing that he does not on Tuesday. The ma Jogaiah came
want to question Senior Citizens down heavily on
P aw a n K a l ya n , Association leaders Mudragada for
why the actor-poli- submitted a petition making remarks
tician did not par- to Pawan Kayan a g a i n s t P aw a n
ticipate in the agi- seeking redressal of Kalyan. He ob-
tation of Kapus for their grievances served that the in-
BC status, Mudra- tention of Mudra-
gada wondered how could the gada was to help YSRC. On the
Jana Sena chief call Kapus to other hand, several YSRC
play the ‘big brother’ role in leaders, including Ministers
politics. Recalling that he got Kottu Satyanarayana, Ambati
the support from Dwarampu- Rambabu, former minister K
di’s family in different forms Kanna Babu and MP Vanga
during his fight for the Kapu Geetha launched a broadside
cause earlier, Mudragada felt against Pawan Kalyan.
it was unfair on the part of Pa- They said after preaching
wan Kalyan to criticise the that he wants to see a caste-
family, which supported Kapu less society, Pawan Kalyan re-
cause. peatedly talks about caste
Though Pawan Kalyan and during his public meetings.
prominent leaders from Jana They alleged that though the
Sena did not respond to the previous TDP government,
letter, some of the JSP chief ’s which was supported by Jana
followers took potshots at Sena, harassed Mudragada
Mudragada on the social me- and Kapus by foisting false
dia. It is interesting that the cases, Pawan never responded
quick reaction countering to question the injustice met-
Mudragada’s letter came from ed out to the community.
order in the State. He also de- somewhere. Atchannaidu felt
manded that the Centre appoint that it was really shameful that
a special officer to maintain a 10th class student was set
law and order in the State effec- ablaze in Bapatla district,
tively. “The YSRC has taken which brought disrepute to the
Andhra Pradesh to number one State.
spot in ganja smuggling,” he Stating that Visakhapatnam
remarked. is one of the major cities in the
Mentioning that in the past country, he accused the ruling
30 days at least 15 atrocities YSRC leaders of turning it into
were reported in the State, he a den for robbers.
said at least one murder, one By simply misleading the
rape and one looting took place people in the name of develop-
ing Visakhapatnam as the ex-
ecutive capital, the YSRC lead-
ers had occupied lands worth
over `40,000 crore, Atchan-
By simply misleading the people naidu charged.
in the name of developing “The situation is that no one
Visakhapatnam as the executive is taking a serious view of this,
capital, YSRC leaders have occupied
though we have been raising
lands worth over `40,000 crore
this issue regularly,” the State
K Atchannaidu, State TDP president TDP president rued.
port for SC categorisation, he liquor shops once the TDP is
said his party is committed to back to power in the State. “Ja-
the welfare of the downtrodden gan is more interested in ‘J’
and social justice to all. Villag- brand than the welfare of peo-
ers of Siddavaram complained ple, he remarked.
to him about liquor shops in Lokesh crossed the 1,700 km
the vicinity of schools. Lokesh milestone of his padayatra at
promised to remove all such Dakkali
 ANNA BHAGYA In a bid to procure rice for free distribution under the Anna
Bhagya scheme, the Karnataka government is in talks with
SCHEME several rice-growing states. CM Siddaramaiah held talks
with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday

05 TIRUPATI WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023

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A million fights heat, overcrowding for Rath Yatra

DIANA SAHU/
Senthil Balaji to undergo
open-heart surgery today
R A J K U M A R M O H A N T Y @ Puri

BRAVING extreme heat and

humidity, over a million devo-
tees and visitors flocked to
Puri to take part in the Rath
Yatra of Lord Jagannath, Devi
Subhadra and Lord Balab-
hadra as they embarked on
their nine-day annual sojourn
t o G u n d i ch a t e m p l e o n
Tuesday.
The sweltering conditions,
however, impacted the conduct
of rituals, which were delayed
leading to only Taladhwaja
chariot of Lord Balabhadra
reaching Gundicha temple by
evening while Darpadalana of
Devi Subhadra and Nandigho-
sha of Lord Jagannath re-
mained stuck mid-way and
will be pulled to their destina-
tion on Wednesday.
As temperature soared over
35 degree Celsius and humid-
ity touched 79 per cent, the
conditions turned sordid for
the mammoth gathering. Hun-
dreds of devotees were severe-
ly affected by the heat and
were rushed to the hospitals.
Fortunately, no casualty was
reported till filing of this re-
port. According to unofficial
reports, the total footfall could
be in the range of 11 lakh to 12
lakh on the day.
As the devotees jostled with
each other to take the ropes in
their hands during the pulling
of the chariots, it became chal-
Co-founder of
Infosys donates
`315 crore to
IIT Bombay
U M A K A N N A N @ Bengaluru
INFOSYS co-founder and
chairman and founding chair-
man of UIDAI Nandan Nile-
kani has donated Rs 315 crore
to his alma mater—Indian In-
stitute of Technology (IIT)
Bombay. With this, Nilekani
has so far donated Rs 400 crore
to IIT Bombay.
A Memorandum of Under-
standing was formally signed
on Tuesday in Bengaluru by
Nilekani and Prof Subhasis
Chaudhuri, Director, IIT
Bombay.
The donation will be instru-
mental in fostering world-
class infrastructure, stimulat-
Lord Jagannath being brought outside Sri Mandir as devotees thronged to witness Rath Yatra in Odisha I DEBADATTA MALLICK
lenging for the security per-
sonnel and volunteers to con-
trol the crowd. About a dozen
sustained injuries during the
pulling of first chariot Talad-
hwaja of Lord Balabhadra
when rows of devotees hit a
motorcycle parked by the road-
side. Several were also injured
in commotion during pulling
of Nandighosha. Police denied
any stampede-like situation
and said CCTV footage of the
incident will be examined.
Row over custodial torture: Chittoor
police records statements of victims
Continued from page 1
On returning to Krishnagiri,
the women approached the
Joint Action Committee
Against Custodial Torture
(JAACT) and alleged that the
Chittoor police subjected them
to custodial torture and sexual
abuse.
Subsequently, the women
lodged a complaint against
Chittoor police with the
Krishnagiri district
administration.
Sexual misdemeanours of
BRS MLAs threaten to dent
The rituals for the Rath Yat-
ra were started on time early
in the morning. The pahandi
(ceremonial procession of the
deities to the chariots) began
at 9:15 am, 15 minutes before
schedule. Amidst the beating
of cymbals and gongs, the ec-
static devotees chanted ‘Jai Ja-
gannath’, ‘Hari Bola’ when the
deities wearing beautiful ‘ta-
hias’ (crowns) swayed all the
way to their respective chari-
ots. Puri Gajapati Maharaja
After Collector M Sarayu or-
dered an inquiry, the six vic-
tims were admitted to the
Krishnagiri Medical College
Hospital for examination and
treatment.
“An inquiry has been or-
dered into the allegations lev-
elled against the Puthalapattu
police. We have recorded the
statements of the victims and
the Chittoor Additional SP
(Admin) is conducting the in-
vestigation. Based on the out-
come of the probe, appropriate
Dibyasingha Deb arrived to
conduct the cherra pahanra
(ceremonial sweeping) atop
the chariots which was com-
pleted by 2:50 pm. Chief minis-
ter Naveen Patnaik walked
through the crowd to have the
darshan of Lord Jagannath on
Nandighosha. He touched the
chariot rope as per custom.
The chief minister witnessed
different rituals associated
with the Rath Yatra from the
VVIP enclosure.
action will be initiated against
the accused police officers,”
said Chittoor SP Y Rishanth
Reddy.
Chittoor II-Town police have
registered a case against the
six police personnel under IPC
Sections 343 (wrongful confine-
ment for three or more days),
324 (voluntarily causing hurt
by dangerous weapons) and
376 (2) read with Section 34, 3
(2) (va) of the Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribe (Preven-
tion of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
TN SHRC asks ED for report regarding Balaji’s arrest within 6 weeks
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
@ Chennai
MINISTER V Senthil Balaji
will undergo an open-heart sur-
gery at a private hospital in
Chennai on Wednesday morn-
ing, health minister Ma Subra-
manian told reporters on
Tuesday.
Balaji was hospitalised for
chest pain soon after the En-
forcement Directorate arrested
him last week in a cash-for-jobs
scam. Balaji has been diag-
nosed with “triple vessel dis-
ease” and advised Coronary
Artery Bypass Graft (CABG)
surgery at the ‘earliest’ by the
doctors at the Government
Multi Super Specialty Hospital
in Omandurar Estate. He was
later shifted to a private hospi-
tal after the Madras High Court
gave its nod.
On Tuesday, Subramanian
said his colleague was not
aware of the “critical blocks”
before they were diagnosed last
week by the government doc-
tors. “His family wanted a sec-
11-year-old boy running
away from dogs crushed
to death by tractor
Hanamkonda: An 11-year-old
student being chased by a pack of
stray dogs was run over by a
tractor Marripalligudem in
Kamalapur mandal in the district
on Tuesday. The boy, E Danush,
who was studying class VIth at
the Government High School in
the village, bought a biscuit
packet at a bakery and was
returning to the school after
taking part in the Education Day
rally organised as part of
celebrations of Telangana State
Formation when he was chased
by the dogs. Seeing the dogs, boy
started running towards his
school. The tractor hit the boy
ond opinion, so it was sought
from another private hospital
doctor. Medical experts from
ESI Hospital, referred by ED,
also endorsed the need for sur-
gery,” the health minister said.
“Now doctors (at Kauvery Hos-
pital) are ready for the sur-
gery,” he said.
Since Balaji was prescribed
His family wanted a second opinion,
so, it was sought from another
private hospital doctor. Medical
experts from ESI Hospital, referred by
ED, endorsed the need for surgery
Ma Subramanian, TN health minister
blood thinners, doctors had to
wait for five to six days to pre-
vent bleeding complications,
Subramanian said. When asked
about the ED’s claim that Sen-
thil Balaji feigned illness after
arrest, the minister said there
are over 25,000 government
doctors and lakhs of doctors in
ESIC hospitals in the country
‘Winding up orders for 23
chit groups will be issued’
Continued from page 1
He also observed that the firm
is utilising the provisions of
Chit Funds Act to confiscate
the properties pledged by cus-
tomers for claiming chit
amounts. Sanjay added that
winding up orders for 23 chit
groups with a capital of `604
crore will be issued in the next
one or two days.
Revealing findings of the in-
vestigation as they analysed
three years of data, the Addi-
tional DG rank IPS officer
asked: “How can they do thou-
sands of crores of business, if
they take only five per cent
and such a statement is like
doubting the honesty and medi-
cal expertise of these doctors.
The minister wondered what
ED would say after surgery and
whether someone would under-
go an open-heart surgery just
to escape from a case.
Meanwhile, the ED has told
the principal sessions court
that the agency could not carry
out custodial interrogation of
Balaji as doctors advised
against it. The court had grant-
ed eight days of judicial custo-
dy to Balaji from June 16 to
June 23. Incidentally, ED’s peti-
tion against shifting Balaji to
the private hospital is also
scheduled for a hearing on
Wednesday in the Supreme
Court.
In another development, the
Tamil Nadu State Human
Rights Commission (SHRC)
has called for a report from the
Joint Director of Enforcement
Directorate regarding the ar-
rest of Balaji within six weeks,
based on a complaint filed by
Balaji’s wife S Megala.
commission? Is it called a prof-
it? The investigation found that
there were unknown subscrib-
ers, unaccounted subscribers,
defaulted subscribers, and re-
moved subscribers who were
re-entered in the records. It is a
serious economic offence. We
are not under pressure from
the government.”
Accusing Margadarsi of us-
ing their newspaper to launch
a smear campaign against in-
vestigating officials, he sug-
gested that the company file a
complaint on white paper to his
higher authorities, if they have
anything against the
investigation.

party image ahead of polls

ing research in emerging
areas of engineering and tech-
nology, and nurturing a deep
tech startup ecosystem at IIT
Bombay, the institute said.
Nilekani joined IIT Bombay
in 1973 for a Bach-
elor’s degree
in electrical
engineering.
The donation
m a rk s t h e
golden jubilee
of Nilekani’s as-
sociation with the Institute. It
also stands as one of the larg-
est donations made by an
alumnus in India.
Nilekani said, “IIT Bombay
has been a cornerstone in my
life, shaping my formative
years and laying the founda-
tion for my journey. As I cele-
brate 50 years of my associa-
tion with this esteemed
Institution, I am grateful to
give forward and contribute to
its future.”
He served on the Board of
the IIT Bombay Heritage
Foundation from 1999 to 2009
and was on the Board of Gov-
ernors from 2005 to 2011. His
initial contribution of `85
crore over the years, was in-
strumental in constructing
new hostels, co-financing the
School of Information Tech-
nology, and establishing In-
dia’s first university incuba-
tor, the institute said.
E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad
THE BRS can ill-afford complaints of
sexual harassment of women by its
MLAs.
The latest in a string of such incidents
is that of a ruling party MLA from
GHMC area in a late-night call to a
woman corporator, spoke to her
suggestively.
The corporator who understood the
lewd intentions of the MLA, recorded
the call and has taken it to the notice of
the party leadership.
As the situation would become awk-
ward for the ruling party if the lurid
details got out, it has asked her not to
prefer a police complaint and promised
her stringent action would be taken
against the MLA.
His supporters also were unhap-
py over the way their leader was
behaving with the woman
corporator.
This is not the first time that
the BRS MLAs had faced com-
plaints of sexual harassment.
The present one comes close on
the heels of a similar charge against
Bellampalli MLA Chinnam Duragiah
by the director of Origin Dairy, Sejal
which created a sensation.
Seeking justice for the unethical and
immoral behaviour of the legislator,
the woman corporator lodged a strong
complaint with the National Commis-
Victim lodges plaint with
Nat’l panel for women
Seeking justice for the unethical and
immoral behaviour of the legislator,
the woman corporator lodged a
strong complaint with the National
Commission for Women. She even
had made suicide attempt in New
Delhi recently demanding action
against the MLA
sion for Women.She even had made sui-
cide attempt in New Delhi recently de-
manding action against the MLA.
In another case in the past, former
deputy chief minister and Station
Ghanpur MLA Dr T Rajaiah faced sex-
ual harassment allegations by a
woman sarpanch.
The issue became explosive,
causing embarrassment to the
party though the legislator de-
nied the charges.
The sarpanch once again reit-
erated that he had harassed her
sexually and that she would lodge a
complaint against him once again.
Prior to this incident, a minister
from North Telangana faced a similar
allegation. He was allegedly accused
of sexually harassing an anchor of a
programme held in his
constituency.

Respite from heatwave: Heavy rains

likely to pound in 11 districts today
Continued from page 1
ACCORDING to the Andhra Pradesh
State Disaster Management Authority
(APSDMA), there is a likelihood of heavy
rains in certain areas and light showers
in other parts of the State for the next two
days under the influence of the south-
west monsoon. On Wednesday, heavy
rains are expected in Manyam, Anaka-
palle, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Eluru, Krish-
na, NTR, Guntur, Palnadu, Bapatla, Pra-
kasam, and Nellore districts.
Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati,
Chittoor, Annamayya, YSR, Ananta-
puram, Kurnool, and Nandyal districts
are likely to experience light to moderate
rains. After a prolonged period of heat-
waves, no mandal in the State recorded
maximum temperatures above 40 degree
Celsius on Tuesday. The highest maxi-
mum temperature of 39.2 degree Celsius
was recorded at Ulavapadu in Sri Potti
Sriramulu Nellore district. All the news. In just a click. �������������������
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06 TIRUPATI, WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023
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T
ime is running out for adminis-
trators of justice in the Ameri-
INDIAN EXPRESS IS NOT AN can system—almost all political
INDUSTRY. IT IS A MISSION.
appointees—to file charges
— Ramnath Goenka against presidential aspirant
Donald Trump for his various
acts of indiscretion, omission,
commission and purported criminality as
EMERGING DUOPOLY, a public servant and businessman. Hence
the sudden rash of charges—which have no
SKY-HIGH TICKET PRICES precedent in the United States of America’s
history—against its former president.
ADD TO FLYERS’ WOES
Trump has been indicted on 71 counts—37
in Miami on June 13, and 34 earlier in New
I
York. More may be in the offing in other
ndiGo Airlines created quite a flutter at the Paris Air Show cases elsewhere.
Because it is a convention and not a rule,
when it announced a record deal with Airbus Industries to
it is not very well known that by tradition,
purchase 500 single-aisle aircraft valued at $55 billion. IndiGo prosecutors in the US do not file charges
now has an order book of 1,330 aircraft, providing a pipeline against candidates running for national of-
of expansion till 2035. Currently the largest airline in the fice during the time frame of six months
country, IndiGo has set its eyes on an aggressive expansion before an election. It is to avoid the impres-
plan. There is a post-Covid burst of international and domestic sion of political persecution by the party
occupying the White House or subversion
travel, with first-time flyers driving growth. The opportunity
of the high standards of democratic values
is begging to be exploited: Just 5% of 1.4 billion Indians have which America boasts of.
ever taken a flight, and with a galloping growth in personal With political polarisation destroying
incomes, there is a huge shortage of aircraft to service these several hallowed American values in recent
burgeoning travel aspirations. years, many such conventions have been
Air India, recently acquired by the Tata Group, is on the given the go-by. During Trump’s four-year
same page with an order of 470 planes valued at $70 billion. presidency, there were attempts to subvert
the fair dispensation of justice and over-
While the quick expansion by Air India and Indigo has earned turn the centuries-old traditions of the US
welcome applause, the emerging duopoly is an increasing Department of Justice to suit the 45th US
source of concern for the consumer. Right through summer, president’s selfish interests and dubious
ticket prices have been skyrocketing. A couple of days ago, political ambitions.
former Union finance minister P Chidambaram angrily So, when President Joe Biden appointed
tweeted he had paid `63,000 for a one-way, Delhi-Chennai Merrick Garland as Attorney General, Gar-
land pledged on day one to free judicial in-
business class ticket. Earlier, passengers had complained
vestigations from political interference.
Delhi-Leh return fares had touched `52,000—about the same as Garland was a victim of Republican bias
a Delhi-Paris return fare. and sectarianism after President Barack
Part of the abnormally high air ticket prices can be explained Obama nominated him as a Supreme Court
by the grounding of GoAir planes. Though the airline had judge in 2016. Although no previous Su-
just 8% of the market share, it was dominant on many regional preme Court nominee in US history had
more judicial experience than Garland at
routes such as Srinagar, Leh and Pune. It is on these routes
the federal level, Republicans, who control-
that ticket prices are obscenely high. While heavy demand led the Senate then, flatly refused to hold
is part of the problem, one cannot rule out airlines cashing confirmation hearings for his appointment.
in on flyers’ woes. If anything, the situation is likely to His nomination expired when Trump suc-
worsen. There is little evidence of GoAir becoming airborne ceeded Obama, and a new US Congress was
soon—Ditto for Jet Air. SpiceJet offers little competition as it sworn in the following year.
limps, grappling with a severe cash crunch. Akasa Air is too Although investigations against Trump’s
alleged misdeeds as president and alleged
new and has yet to prove itself. This leaves just two players infringement of laws as a corporate honcho
calling the shots. began in Biden’s first year itself, Garland
Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has pleaded applied the brakes on them in the second
helplessness as aviation is a deregulated sector. Yet, without year. As a victim of Republican highhand-
reimposing regulation, urgent government intervention is nec- edness and committed to upholding the in-
essary. First, it must help floundering airlines to keep flying so dependence and integrity of investigating
agencies, Garland issued an important or-
there is healthy competition. Second, while it can’t regulate
der in May 2022. “Prosecutors may never
ticket prices, surely the monopolistic pricing we are currently
seeing can be stopped.
WARY OF CONGRESS, ADAM SMITH’S RELEVANCE
BRS GOES FOR FACELIFT FAR FROM FADING AWAY
T
here is a definitive churn in Telangana politics in the
T
aftermath of the Karnataka elections, with the ruling he occasion of the 300th birth an-
Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS)—trying to get its act together niversary of Adam Smith, con-
sidered the Father of Economics,
to clinch a historic third consecutive innings—calculating
puts one in a contemplative
the permutations and combinations of leaders in Assem- mood. As students and practi-
bly segments with a high degree of disenchantment with the tioners of the discipline, it is ap-
party. BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar propriate for us to recollect what
Rao is testing the waters by signalling that a good number of he wrote and its relevance or irrelevance in
incumbent legislators could be shown the door. He’s also understanding today’s world. One of the
going the extra mile to highlight his achievements to remind major ideas attributed to Smith—that the
market is the best way to organise econom-
the electorate of the change he has brought about in the state ic activity and the government should not
since 2014. interfere—is cliché. Yet, several scholars
But this is where the plot thickens. There is an element of have spoken out against this—a belief
ambiguity in KCR’s moves. He has been silent on the ongoing borne out of a misreading or partial read-
efforts to cobble up a viable opposition to the BJP at the national ing (or no reading at all) of Smith’s An In-
level. Earlier, if he sounded soft on the Manmohan Singh era quiry into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations. So, without belabouring
and the Congress, now he is training his guns on the grand old
this point, there are other aspects of Smith’s
party. He evidently is aware of the danger posed by a resurgent writings which may be recollected to under-
Congress in Telangana. Besides, quite a few leaders, disgruntled stand how they are relevant or irrelevant to
or doubtful of their prospects in the BRS, are believed to be us today and in the future.
sending feelers to the Congress, which has already given a clar- There is a certain timelessness to the
ion call to its prodigal sons to return home. The picture emerg- knowledge that Smith created, gleaned, se-
quenced and presented in his Wealth of Na-
ing months ahead of the Assembly polls is one of consolidation
tions. His discussions on the division of la-
of the Congress as the second pole after the BRS, giving food for bour, price mechanism and capital
thought to the other contender—BJP. accumulation form part of his explanation
In contrast to the BRS and Congress, the saffron party is of how markets function. Smith’s account
grappling with discontent within its camp. The party puts on a of how these lead to increased productivity
brave face, but it is obvious that all is not well. One needs to is still masterful, and this well-rounded ex-
look no further than its joining committee to understand what planation had never been provided by a sin-
gle scholar before. This explanation, one
is going wrong. When the Congress is gaining traction among realises, has always been true and will con-
BRS rebels, the saffron party’s joining committee, whose duty tinue to be true far into the future, because
it is to wean away leaders from other parties, is struggling as it relies on certain fundamental aspects of
everyone appears to be looking at Congress. The internal dissent human aspirations and ingenuity. His writ-
ings on the role of the government and how
has forced the party’s central leadership to field its big guns,
such as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, to set the it can best design taxes and plan public ex-
penditure continue to be relevant today.
house in order. It is ironic that the BJP now looks more like the
The same can probably not be said for the
Congress and vice-versa. If it can’t wrest the initiative at this sources of growth that a country has today.
juncture, it may be too late as polls near. The Industrial Revolution had just started
brewing around Smith’s time, but he had
not noticed it. He did not comment on the
Q U I C K TA K E possible effects of major technological ad-
vancements on growth and on human well-
GENUINE SPECIALISTS being. His gaze was fixed firmly on the past
he had studied and the present he was expe-
T
he Delhi Medical Council cautions that registered medical riencing. The major technological advances
that we are now seeing daily are having
practitioners must not display any degree or qualification some impact on production, economic
not recognised by the National Medical Commission. Doing transactions, and human well-being. We are
so is unethical and invites punishment, the council says. It is a unable to draw from Smith’s wisdom on
welcome action. Billboards near hospitals and clinics across the these issues because he did not anticipate
country claim doctors to be specialists or super specialists, and or contemplate anything more than an en-
it’s often difficult to distinguish between a specialist doctor, an hancement in productivity and expansion
of markets based on division of labour.
MBBS, and a quack. There are cases of fake ‘specialists’ dragged
Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments,
to court for wrong diagnoses and treatments. The Commission though much less spoken of among econo-
could look into issuing separate registration numbers for special mists, is nonetheless an important treatise
qualifications it recognises to prevent bogus claims. on how people distinguish between good
THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
Chairman of the Board: Manoj Kumar Sonthalia Editor: Santwana Bhattacharya
Resident Editor (Andhra Pradesh) T Kalyan Chakravarthy * Published by R K Jhunjhunwala on behalf of Express Publications (Madurai) Private Limited, at 4th Floor, No. V, MM Complex, Opp. More super Market, AIR Bypass Road, Tirupati - 517 502. and printed by him at Sakshi Press, Survey No.2/4, Kotha palem Village, Renigunta Mandal, Tirupati Revenue Division, Chittoor
District - 517 520 Tirupati: Vol. 09, No. 145. RNI Reg. No. APENG/2015/64463. Phone: 0877-2238202, Fax: 0877-2239005. *Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act. Copyright: Express Publications (Madurai) Private Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited.
The spectacle of the criminal trial of a former
president hangs over the next US presidential election
TRUMP CHASE IS A
MORAL DAMPENER
AS US POLLS LOOM
K P NAYAR
select the timing of public statements, in-
vestigative steps, criminal charges, or any
other action in any matter or case for the
purpose of affecting any election,” the or-
der said. “Partisan politics must play no
role in the decisions of federal investigators
or prosecutors regarding any investiga-
tions or criminal charges.”
Its result was that for six months until
the midterm Congressional elections were
held in November last year, all potential
criminal or civil legal actions against
Trump were effectively frozen. Now that
Trump is a presidential aspirant in 2024, the
Department of Justice has less than a year
to go after him. Hence the rush to indict him
in one case after another in quick succe-
sion. During the 2016 presidential election
season, the then Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation Director James Comey attempted to
N R BHANUMURTHY
Vice-Chancellor, Dr BR Ambedkar School
of Economics University, Bengaluru
and bad. The “impartial spectator” that he
perceived to be within each person guides,
he said, the actions of this person such that
she or he does not stray far from the norms
of propriety for the age. He visualised this
“inner man” through his capacity for sym-
pathy, and the ability to create institutions
that can protect humans from their own
selfishness and guide social good. This was
a very important observation.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Scholars and laypersons alike will
continue to read, interpret, learn,
reread, reinterpret and relearn
from him in each new age
Unlike the Wealth of Nations, the deeply
moral questions that this book was looking
to answer had several scholarly contribu-
tions before and after Smith’s time. None-
theless, his work stands out in its balanced
and rational treatment of this difficult sub-
ject. These same explanations continue to
hold equal strength today as they did over
two centuries ago, and one has reasons to
believe that they will continue to hold in the
future. We do, after all, feel pain when a dis-
aster, natural or otherwise, impacts the
lives of people we have never met and will
never meet. Not extremely often, but we do
mobilise ourselves in large groups to argue
for political justice for groups that we do not
belong to ourselves. These behaviours,
though not rational from the purely per-
sonal perspective, do make sense when
looked at through Smith’s explanation. It is
hard to argue that the fast pace of modern
life has dramatically changed this funda-
mental human sentiment. In fact, the abil-
The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeking new
landscapes, but in having new eyes
Strategic analyst
SOUMYADIP SINHA
reduce the six-month pre-poll window to 60
days. He publicly announced reopening
some investigations against Democratic
candidate Hillary Clinton shortly before
polling. By issuing his May 2022 order, Bi-
den’s Attorney General restored the six-
month time frame as a convention. It is still
not in any law.
When Trump was indicted in Miami on
June 13, only a few hundred people turned
up at the courthouse to show their support,
although he alleged that political persecu-
tion was behind the cases against him. In
the run-up to this second indictment,
Trump had hoped to mobilise at least 50,000
supporters from news stories his aides were
planting in the media. To compensate for
the small crowd, on the way home from
court, the indicted former president made
an impromptu stop at a Cuban restaurant,
SHEETAL BHARAT
Assistant professor, Dr BR
Ambedkar School of Economics
University, Bengaluru
ity to gain information in multidimension-
al detail from far corners of the globe has
only made it easier to feel sympathetic to-
wards those far away.
While on the moral question, one issue
that Smith does not seem to have directed
much attention to is that of gender and oth-
er forms of discrimination. The social con-
text that he was part of had well-defined
roles for different population groups, and
this was accepted. The questioning of these
age-old norms started just after Smith’s
time, around the 1790s, with the writings of
Wollstonecraft, Olympe de Gouges, Harriet
Taylor Mill and John Stuart Mill. Feminist
literature before this decade is much spars-
er. So the modern feminist movement is un-
able to draw from Smith’s writings. In fact,
a popular book that highlights feminist is-
sues is titled, Who cooked Adam Smith’s din-
ner? (Katrine Marçal), indicating that the
discipline of economics and its practition-
ers have been unable to satisfactorily ad-
dress gender discrimination.
Some other hardly-at-all-talked-about
works of Smith include essays on logic, as-
tronomy, history of the evolution of lan-
guage, jurisprudence and philosophy. If
Smith had written only the Wealth of Na-
tions, he would not have been any less wor-
shipped and studied than he is now. But the
mind that wrote this one book also wrote
several other equally masterful accounts of
widely different realms of human imagina-
tion and knowledge. The relevance of his
works has not diminished over time. Schol-
ars and laypersons alike will continue to
read, interpret, learn, reread, reinterpret
and relearn from him in each new age.
As J M Keynes, another economist who
brought fundamental changes in macroeco-
nomics, famously pointed out, “The ideas
of economists and political philosophers,
both when they are right and when they are
wrong, are more powerful than is common-
ly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by
little else. Practical men, who believe them-
selves to be quite exempt from any intellec-
tual influences, are usually the slaves of
some defunct economist.” Adam Smith was
certainly not wrong, and he will certainly
not be defunct any time soon.
(Views are personal)
Marcel
Proust
which is popular among anti-Communist
émigrés who fled the rule of the Castro
brothers. There he spoke the language that
such émigrés love to hear. He said about his
latest indictment: “If the Communists get
away with this, it won’t stop with me. They
will not hesitate to ramp up their persecu-
tion of Christians, pro-life activists, parents
attending school board meetings, and even
future Republican candidates. I am the only
one that can save this nation.” The speech
showed how far-removed Trump has be-
come from reality in his fantasy world. But
he is still the front-runner in his party for
the Republican presidential nomination
next year.
As formal, prosecutorial accusations
against the former president get progres-
sively more serious, Republican heavy-
weights are reluctant to come out totally in
his support. During the June 13 court ap-
pearance, Trump was indicted for unlawful
possession of national defence secrets, clas-
sified information about US nuclear capa-
bilities, and obstructing justice. He could go
to jail for 10 years if convicted.
Indian American Nikki Haley, who
Trump appointed as his Ambassador to the
United Nations in New York, has mooted a
compromise proposal for a presidential par-
don for Trump to stop the political bloodlet-
ting harming the nation. The proposal will
most certainly not find favour with Biden,
who has to issue any such pardon. For Ha-
ley, who is also seeking the Republican
White House candidacy next year, the pro-
posal is a face-saver from the wrath of the
party faithful, who think she is ungrateful
for everything Trump did for her as presi-
dent. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, sec-
ond after Trump in popularity as Republi-
can presidential hopeful, has carefully
skirted the pardon issue because he may be
the one to pardon Trump if he becomes
president. Instead, he promises to complete-
ly restructure the justice system if he wins
the White House.
In many US states, it is not necessary to
be registered in the electoral rolls as a Re-
publican voter to take part in the party pri-
maries, which choose candidates. During
last November’s midterm elections, many
Democrats used this loophole and voted in
the Grand Old Party’s primaries in support
of extremist candidates endorsed by
Trump. This had the effect of fence-sitting
voters and the undecided electing Demo-
crats, especially to the US Senate. The spec-
tacle of the criminal trial of a former presi-
dent could mean this could happen again,
to Biden’s advantage.
(kpnayar@gmail.com)
History war
This is with reference to Nehru Memorial
and the war of histories (June 20). “Deep in
its bones, the BJP believes there are three
colonial periods in India…” Whose construction
is this? Media? Poets? Academics? Those who
lack their homo sapien deep past? Locked in
the immediate present, the 21st century, homo
sapiens are in a hurry to generate suspicion
and otherness in their brief existence on this
planet. When will we face that maybe we were
born in Arabia, America or Antarctica?
Prof P J Cheriyan, email
Sengol’s significance
Apropos of Tryst with our civilisational
ideal and destiny (June 19). The writer has
rightly explained the inauguration of the new
Parliament, its classic design, installation of
the Sengol, etc. Most Indians were unaware of
the Sengol’s ancient significance. In fact, I had
to refer to a dictionary to find out what the
Sengol is. And I felt so proud about our history
and legacy after knowing this.
Manoj Kumar Sinha, Visakhapatnam
AI camera
It is heartening to note that the division bench
headed by the Kerala HC Chief Justice has
taken serious note of the AI camera scam and
ordered a stay on the payment towards the
installation. Most PILs filed earlier were either
dismissed or kept pending. Several such PILs
are still pending. Hope the new CJ will take
steps to address these PILs on a war footing.
M T Thomas, Peruva
Bus accident
With regards to the unfortunate bus accident
near Panruti, in addition to this stretch,
the Cuddalore-Pondy and Cuddalore-
Virudhachalam stretches are equally bad.
Buses virtually fly, using loud horns to blast
their way through traffic. This puts other road
users at risk. I wonder if speed governors are
fitted to exercise some control.
Dr Janardhan, Neyveli
Name change
The Centre changing the name of Nehru
Memorial Museum and Library demonstrates
its frantic attempt to delete the names of
revered freedom fighters and bring in the
names of those who were against India getting
freedom. But people remember facts as facts.
Such acts garner more hate towards rulers.
A G Rajmohan, Anantapur
Fake certificates
This is the regime of ‘fake certificates’
in Kerala’s higher education system. The
Kayamkulam MSM college case is the latest
only until the next one surfaces. The funny
and cruel side is that there are always
supporters for these frauds.
P R V Raja, email

07 TIRUPATI
Sengol – Obliterate history, deny after discovery
T
HE most effective way
to destroy people is to
deny and obliterate
their own under-
standing of their hi-
tory,” said George Or-
well. The latest Indian
example of how Orwell’s dic-
tum works is the obliteration
of the Sengol ceremony from
the history of India’s freedom
at midnight and the denial that
it ever happened, after the truth
that it did happen after all came
out. The 75-year-old history of
the Sengol was revealed four
years back spontaneously, acci-
dentally, and by no design. Who
revealed it? Tamil media. Sur-
prising? Read on.
Tamil media’s revelation
It does not need a seer to say
why the Tamil media got excit-
ed when it got the lead about
the Sengol history. The Sengol
was the Chola empire’s sacred
symbol for ‘Aram’ – the Tamil
equivalent for dharma. That
Chola’s Sengol symbolised In-
dia’s Independence was itself a
news of high value and a mat-
ter of pride for the Tamil audi-
ence. It was enough for the
Tamil media to probe deep into
the Sengol history.
Different Tamil magazines
reported from around 2019 that
Mountbatten asked Nehru
what was the Indian symbol-
ism for the transfer of power
from the British to India. Con-
fused, Nehru looked to Rajaji,
the elder statesman with tradi-
tional knowledge. Rajaji sug-
gested the Chola model of vest-
ing Sengol in the new ruler be
adopted for the August 14-15
midnight ceremony. With Ne-
hru okaying, Rajaji arranged
for the Tiruvavaduthurai Ad-
heenam to come over to Delhi
to perfor m the Sengol
ceremony.
Tamil magazines described
the transfer of power ceremony
graphically. They reported that
the Adheenam saint gave the
Ladakh team meets
MHA officials, raises
pitch for statehood
A M I T M U K H E R J E E @ New Delhi
A DELEGATION from Ladakh
has met a panel of the Ministry
of Home Affairs and presented
a four-point agenda ahead of
the High-Powered Committee
(HPC) meeting on the Union
Territory.
The six-member team that
met the home ministry panel
headed by Minister of State for
Home Affairs Nityanand Rai
presented an agenda that in-
cluded statehood, special status
for the Union Territory under
the Sixth Schedule of the Con-
stitution, separate Lok Sabha
seats for Leh and Kargil, and
job reservation for locals.
The meeting comes as a posi-
tive development for the region,
especially after the dialogues
between the representatives of
Ladakh and the Centre was
stalled almost 22 months back.
Monday’s meeting was the first
direct and official meeting of
the MHA with Ladakh leaders
after August 29, 2021.
According to sources, “The
delegation of Ladakh, however,
insisted on the inclusion of the
four-point agenda and an essen-
tial prerequisite for them to
participate in the meeting with
the HPC members.
The delegation from Ladakh
included two-time Lok Sabha
MP Thupstan Chhewang,
former ministers in erstwhile
state of Jammu and Kashmir
Chering Dorjay and Nawang
Rigzin Jora, former minister
Qamar Ali Akhoon, former
MLAs Haji Asgar Ali Karbal-
aie, and Sajjad Kargili.
Chhewang, Dorjay and Jora
represented Leh Apex Body
(LAB) and Akhoon, Karbalaie
and Kargili represented Kargil
DIALOGUE RESUMES AFTER 22 MONTHS
The meeting comes as a positive development for the
region, especially after the dialogues between the
representatives of Ladakh and the Centre was stalled
almost 22 months back. Monday’s meeting was the first direct
and official meeting of the Union home ministry with Ladakh
leaders after August 29, 2021.
WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023
� �
Sengol to Mountbatten, got it
back, gave Gangajal abhishek-
am to it, recited the Thevaram
verses invoking the blessings
of Lord Shiva for Independent
India’s rule to last forever and
vested the Sengol in Nehru’s
hands. Photos of Pundit Nehru
holding the Sengol with rever-
ence after receiving it from the
Adheenam were also published.
The magazines also traced and
found the Sengol physically in
Allahabad Museum. Tamil me-
dia reports were brought to the
Modi government’s notice by
Dr Padma Subrahmaniam, the
famous scholar and artiste.
If the Tamil media had not
dug out the Sengol history and
subsequently if those reports
had not been brought to the
government’s notice, its histo-
The reports that the ceremo-
ny was officially announced
and that the Sengol would be
taken in procession to
Constituent Assembly Hall
made it clear that its vesting
was part of the August 14-15
government protocol
ry would have been buried for-
ever. The Modi government on
a mission mode to trace and
discover the forgotten heroes
and pieces of history under its
Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav
project, began probing the Sen-
gol issue. It ended up unearth-
ing testimonies that proved the
Tamil media reports were be-
yond doubt.
Sengol – “Officially
announced”, “to be taken to
Constituent Assembly house”
The Sengol ceremony was no
secret or personal religious rit-
ual of Nehru. It was an official-
ly announced function that
made it to national news long
before the August 14-15 mid-
night. Here is a sample of the
media reports on the Sengol in
Democratic Alliance (KDA).
The Ladakh leaders informed
the panel about the threats to
the tribal culture and environ-
ment of the region if it was not
brought under the Sixth Sched-
ule, which provides for greater
administrative and political au-
tonomy to certain tribal areas.
The MHA had on January 3
set up a high-powered commit-
tee headed Rai, which also in-
cluded the former Ladakh lieu-
tenant governor RK Mathur,
Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering
Namgayal and many leaders
from Leh and Kargil.
But the LAB and KDA, in a
meeting on January 7, decided
to boycott the HPC on the
ground that neither their agen-
da nor the members recom-
mended by them were included
in it. Later, the LAB and KDA
sent the names they wanted to
include in the HPC to the Union
Home Ministry.
Both LAB and KDA had held
joint protests initially in Jam-
mu, followed by a demonstra-
tion at Jantar Mantar in New
Delhi, to pitch for their de-
mands. Last year, both Autono-
mous Hill Development Coun-
cils of Leh and Kargil had
passed separate resolutions
seeking Sixth Schedule-like sta-
tus to Ladakh.
TWEETS
OF THE
DAY
the second week of August 1947.
“In connection with Independ-
ence Day, Tiruvavaduthurai
Adheenam has arranged to per-
form special puja to Shiva and
to confer the lord’s blessings on
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The
puja prasadams and a Sceptre
made of gold will be presented
to Pandit Nehru at his resi-
dence in New Delhi at 11 p.m.
on August 14.” This was The
Hindu – three days ahead of the
ceremony [Aug 11, 1947].
A day before the ceremony
The Indian Express [Aug 13,
1947] reported that the Sceptre
ceremony was “officially an-
nounced” adding that the Ad-
heenam would present and Ne-
hru would accept. Saying that
Nehru had accepted to receive
the Sengol exactly at 11.5 [?]
pm, it reported that the Sengol
would be “taken to the Constit-
uent Assembly Hall in proces-
sion”. “The Sceptre ceremony
will be preceded by a proces-
sion from the South India
Boarding House, Connaught
Circus,” reported Hindustan
Times on the same date [13th].
The reports that the ceremo-
ny was “officially announced”,
and that the Sengol would be
taken in procession to Constit-
uent Assembly Hall — which
became Parliament later —
made it clear that the Sengol
vesting was part of the August
14-15 government protocol. Did
the Tamil Adheenam go in a
procession for the Sengol cere-
mony under government proto-
col to present a memento or as
a personal gift, as some intel-
lectuals are trying to morph
the Sengol? Now come to the
testimonies that the “intellec-
tuals” are sidestepping. Global-
ly reputed authors saw in the
Sengol ceremony an Indian civ-
ilisational expression.
Symbol of assumption of
power, say reputed authors
Time magazine [27.8.1947], D F
Karaka, the famous journalist
‘Ensure foundational literacy for all kids by 2033’
K A V I TA B A J E L I - D AT T @ Pune
THE G20 countries should com-
mit to ensuring Foundational
Literacy and Numeracy (FLN)
for all children entering Class 3
by 2033, renowned Indian-ori-
gin mathematician and Nation-
al Curriculum Framework
member Prof Manjul Bhar-
gava said on Monday.
FLN is the ability to read and
write simple text and perform
basic arithmetical operations.
During a session at the fourth
and final Education Working
Group meeting of the G20,
Bhargava laid stress on dedi-
cated financing, resources, leg-
islation and international com-
mitments to ensure that the
goal is achieved in 10 years.
Noting that several surveys
indicate “a severe learning cri-
sis concerning these most basic
skills, the mathematics profes-
sor at the Princeton University
said, “G20 countries should
commit to Foundational Liter-
acy and Numeracy for all chil-
dren entering Grade 3 by 2033.
I am hopeful that the member
countries can make this com-
G Kishan Reddy @kishanreddybjp
From launching Vande Bharat Express to revamping railway
stations, expanding rail lines & electrification of railways,
GoI has expended `30,062 cr for 1,645 km rail track length.
S GURUMURTHY
Editor, Thuglak, and commentator
on economic and political affairs
FIRST OF A TWO-PART SERIES
and editor of the Current maga-
zine, in his book Betrayal of In-
dia, Dominique Lapierre and
Larry Collins in their famous
book, Freedom at Midnight – all
described the Sengol ceremony
as symbolising the traditional
Indian way of a new ruler as-
suming power. “On the eve of
Independence, even the agnos-
tic Nehru fell into religious
spirit,” said the Time. Karaka
wrote, “The mood of New Delhi
had become almost
superstitious.”
“From Tanjore came Hindu
ascetics who thought that Ne-
hru as the first head of the In-
dian state ought, like the an-
cient Indian kings, to receive
the symbol of power and au-
thority,” wrote the Time. “It
was traditional in ancient In-
dia to derive power and author-
ity from the holy men. Pandit
Nehru yielded to all this reli-
gious ceremony because it was
said of the kings of India that
this was the traditional way of
assuming power,” wrote Kara-
ka. “As once Hindu holy men
had conferred upon ancient In-
dia’s kings their symbols of
power, so the sannyasin had
come to bestow their antique
emblems of authority on the
man about to assume the lead-
ership of a modern Indian na-
tion,” wrote Dominique Lapi-
erre and Larry Collins.
Time magazine said, on the
evening of August 14, the Ad-
heenam team went in a slow
procession in an ancient Ford
mitment during the upcoming
G20 education ministers’
meeting.”
“There needs to be a contin-
ued collaboration amongst the
member countries and the
world by sharing experiences,
best practices and lessons
learned to promote foundation-
al learning,” said the mathema-
tician, who was awarded the
Fields Medal in 2014.
When asked by this paper if
India will be able to achieve the
2033 target, Bhargava said, “I
think so. These last 3-4 years, I
have been very impressed with
Aaditya Thackeray @AUThackeray
Police is being used to detain Shiv Sena office bearers... only be-
cause the Mindhe leader of the Gaddar Gang fears that people will
have political protests against (Shinde’s) shameless treachery.
car to Nehru’s home; an escort
bore a large silver platter on
which there was peethambar-
am; they carried a golden spec-
tre wrapped in a peethambar-
am, opened and took the
spectre, spilled holy water on it,
and smeared Nehru’s forehead
with holy ash.
The Hindu priests, who ac-
cording to Karaka, arrived post
haste from Tanjore for the ritu-
al, chanted hymns and sprin-
kled holy water over them; the
Adheenam wrapped Nehru
with peethambaram and hand-
ed over the spectre to Nehru.
The Adheenam team and pras-
adams from Nataraja Temple
were flown by plane to Delhi.
Blind to these testimonies, the
“intellectuals” keep contend-
ing that the Sengol was just a
memento. No need to waste fur-
ther time on them.
Symbolised transfer of
power, say six independent
testimonies
“That Sengol symbolised the
transfer of power is a bogus
story spun by the BJP’s faking
factory” — repeatedly howled
Congress spokesman Jairam
Ramesh. He had no evidence
other than the claims of the in-
tellectuals who were them-
selves blind to facts. It became
like the proverbial blind lead-
ing the blind. Jairam said that
in the absence of any proof
that the Sengol was first pre-
sented to Mountbatten and tak-
en back and vested in Nehru
after rituals, the story that the
Sengol symbolised the transfer
of power was bogus. Over-
worked perhaps, he did not ful-
ly read the 35-page long govern-
ment docket on the August 14-15
Sengol ceremony nor look at
the government’s website on
Sengol.
The government had cited
five independent testimonies
which, while corroborating one
another, said explicitly that the
Sengol indeed “symbolised the
how India is totally committed.
The New Education Policy puts
FLN and Early Childhood Care
and Education (ECCE) at the
centre. The National Curricu-
lum Framework has come out
for early childhood care and
education. ECCE programmes
have actually started in all Ken-
driya Vidayalyas and spread to
all government schools. The
government’s commitment is
there. If they keep a sustained
effort for the next five or ten
years, it can happen.”
Bhargava said there is need
for a developmentally appropri-
Mallikarjun Kharge @kharge
As compared to 2014, the vacancies of civilian jobs
in the Central govt have doubled. Altogether, 30
lakh posts are vacant in government departments.
transfer of power”. One, the and the collector of Tanjore
Adheenams’ recorded institu- were also involved in organis-
tional memory; two, the institu- ing the ceremony. His was the
tional memory of the Vummidi sixth testimony.
Jewelers recorded on their web-
site; three, personal testimony
Obliterate, now deny
of the 96-year-old Vummidi How did the evidence of Sengol
Bangaru Chetty who made the ceremony which existed out-
Sengol; four, the Policy Report side was not found inside the
of 2021-22 Hindu Religious and government? The answer is ob-
Charitable Endowment Depart- vious. After adopting the Sen-
ment submitted to the Tamil gol as symbolic of the transfer
Nadu Assembly by the DMK of power, at some point, those
government that came to power in power must have felt that the
in May 2021; and five, the totally August 14-15 history would be
independent recollection of the an inconvenient truth, incon-
universally revered Kanchi sistent with the new idea of In-
Mahaswami decades before dia they began expounding post
in 1978. Independence. Result, all in-
All of them, including the house evidence of the Sengol
Tamil Nadu government’s re- ceremony history, including
port, independently testified the photos taken at that time –
that the Sengol was the symbol which the Adheenam must
have got only from the govern-
ment – was obliterated. The
Six independent Sengol itself was first turned
testimonies, including five into a “brass stick” and record-
provided by the government,
ed as a “memento” at the Ne-
while corroborating one hru Gallery in the Allahabad
another, said explicitly that Museum. Later, in the glass
the Sengol indeed “symbol- case in which the 5-ft long Sen-
ised the transfer of power” gol was exhibited, it was
marked as a “Walking Stick
presented to Pundit Nehru” —
of the transfer of power to completing its obliteration
which Mountbatten and Nehru from history. With tons of proof
were parties. All except the emerging and establishing the
Tamil Nadu government’s brief Sengol as the symbol of the
policy report corroborated the transfer of power in 1947, the
Tamil media description of the very ideological players who
details of the Sengol ceremony, must explain its records and
including Gangajal abhishek- history, are the ones now ask-
am to the Sengol and mentioned ing for proof of the Sengol cer-
Rajaji as the intermediator be- emony. Is this not, as Orwell
tween Nehru and the Adheen- would say, obliterating the Sen-
am. After Prime Minister gol history and the Sengol it-
Narendra Modi installed the self, to destroy the pre-Inde-
Sengol in Parliament on May pendence identity of India,
28, Masilamani (96 years), the deny it ever happened, and
secretary of the Adheenam even ask for evidence that it
who had arranged the Sengol had done away with?
vesting, and two of his succes- If the vesting of the Sengol in
sors, gave an interview to a 1947 symbolised the transfer of
news channel. He recollected power, what does its installa-
even the minutest details of the tion in Parliament 75 years sig-
chain of events associated with nify? Read tomorrow, Sengol:
the ceremony, including that Recalling the pre-March 24,
the then governor of Madras 1940 India
SCO dejected as India
to host virtual summit
Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi
MEMBERS of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation
summit would be held virtually
on July 4.
“India has been too con-
sumed by the G20 Presidency
(SCO) are unhappy over India’s and the events revolving
announcement to have the SCO around it, as a result of which
Summit in a virtual format. the events under the SCO chair-
“We have been looking for- manship have been lost. The
ward to our leaders meeting in only time SCO came into prom-
person until we heard that the inence briefly was during the
summit would now be virtual. SCO foreign ministers’ meet in
Since December 2022, we were Goa,” said an SCO member.
gearing up for the event and The SCO grouping is by no
stopped in our tracks when the means insignificant if one was
announcement to host the event to consider the geographic
virtually was made in May,” scope and population. “It is the
said the representative of an world’s largest regional organi-
SCO member country. sation in terms of area, cover-
India took chairmanship of ing approximately 60 per cent
the SCO from Uzbekistan after of the Eurasia and 40 per cent
the conclusion of the SCO Sum- of the world population, with a
mit in Samarkhand in Septem- combined GDP of 20 per cent of
ber 2022. After hosting nearly the global GDP. So, it is only
134 meetings in person, the natural for us to have expected
Ministry of External Affairs it to be more visible,” added an-
announced on May 30 that the other SCO member.
ate curriculum that is respon- other learning, knowledge and
sive and relevant to learners’ higher order skills that chil-
needs and interests at different dren and youth need to acquire
stages of their growth. through education. Literacy
He said the percentage of and numeracy help children to
children and adolescents not learn, experiment, reason, cre-
achieving minimum proficien- ate, be active and informed citi-
cy levels in mathemat- zens, and contribute
ics and reading as per socially, culturally and
the 2030 target of Sus- economically.
tainable Development “FLN skills are not
Goals (SDGs) is 14 per Once students fall only critical for all fu-
cent in developed coun- behind on ture learning but are
tries and up to 50 per foundational also strongly correlat-
skills, they tend to
cent in developing ed with greater quality
maintain flat
countries. learning curves for of life and well-being
“Once students fall years, perpetually of the individual, and
behind on foundation- unable to catch greater stability and
al skills, they tend to up. For many prosperity of the na-
maintain flat learning students, this has tion. FLN skills bolster
curves for years, per- become a major and enable progress
petually unable to reason for on all other sustaina-
dropping out
catch up. For many ble development
students, this has be- Manjul Bhargawa, g o a l s, ” B h a r g aw a
come a major reason Mathematician added.
for not attending According to
school or for dropping UNESCO, achieving
out altogether. Surveys show universal primary and second-
that we are in a severe learning ary education would help lift
crisis concerning these most more than 420 million people
basic skills,” he said. out of poverty, reducing the
“Foundational learning pro- number of poor in the world by
vides the building blocks for all more than half.

08 TIRUPATI
In latest Centre-versus-states row, differences erupt over Bengal Foundation Day; in Punjab, AAP govt passes bills challenging Centre’s powers
Guv holds foundation day Assembly passes Bill to
despite Didi’s objections appoint top cop in Punjab
P R A N A B M O N DA L @ Kolkata
A fresh face-off between West
Bengal Raj Bhavan and the
state government erupted on
Tuesday as Gover nor C V
Ananda Bose, despite Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee’s
objections, organised the state’s
foundation day on Tuesday.
At the Pashimbanga Diwas
held at Raj Bhavan in presence
of BJP functionaries, Bose
mentioned about ‘zero toler-
ance’ for violence and empha-
sised on the rights of the com-
mon people to vote freely. “I am
dedicated to the well-being and
welfare of the people, Bengal
has immense potential and is
loaded with talents,” the gover-
nor said.
State ministers and leaders
of the ruling Trinamool Con-
gress skipped the event, the
Partition of Bengal curving out
East Pakistan, presently Bang-
ladesh, in 1947.
Expressing her ‘shock’ at
Bose’s ‘unilateral decision to
commemorate the state’s foun-
dation day, which she termed as
a tragic episode, Bengal chief
minister on Monday night
wrote to Bose stating that “
it was not founded (state’s
foundation day) on any particu-
lar day, least of all on any of
Six arrested
for torturing
youth in MP
E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Bhopal
ALL six accused, who allegedly
tortured a youth Vijay Ram-
chandani by putting a leash
around his neck, forcing him to
bark like a dog and pressuris-
ing him to change religion in
Bhopal’s Tila Jamalpura, have
been arrested.
The six arrested accused in-
clude two minors (all from a
particular minority communi-
ty), who have been booked un-
der IPC Sections as well as the
provisions of the MP Religious
Freedom Act.
The National Security Act
(NSA) has been invoked against
three accused (two of whom
are already accused in over 15
cases, including murder and
attempted murder) and illegal-
ly constructed portions of
the houses of three accused
have been demolished.
Meanwhile, BJP has
questioned Congress’s silence
in the matter.
“Senior Congress leaders
from Delhi to Bhopal to
Chaupal, why are they silent
over this inhuman incident.
Ex-CM Digvijaya Singh, who is
quick to tweet on incidents hap-
pening in Uttarakhand and
even abroad, had nothing to
tweet on this Bhopal incident.
Unity in adversity: Herd of bovines
saves a cow from marauding tiger
E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Bhopal
THE popular phrase, ‘United
we stand, divided we fall’ has
come true in the Bull Mother
Farm on the outskirts of Mad-
hya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal.
Not only did a herd of cows
succeed in saving a cow of their
group from falling prey to a ti-
ger, but the group of bovines
forced the big cat to finally re-
turn without hunting any cat-
tle from the herd.
The CCTV grab of the inci-
dent which happened on
June 18-19 intervening night,
has gone viral all over the so-
cial media.
The over-two-minute long
CCTV grabs show the tiger
stealthily entering the
far m situated on Bhopal’s
outskirts and attacking a cow
resting alone.
While the cow under attack
struggles to come out of the ti-
ger’s clutches, seeing the tiger
attack the cow, the other cows
of the herd return promptly
and not only close in on the ti-
ger, but also unitedly attack the
WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023
� �
20th of June.”
“Since independence, we
never rejoiced over or com-
memorated or celebrated and
any day as the Foundation Day
of West Bengal. Rather, we have
seen the Partition as a result of
the unleashing of communal
forces that could not be resisted
at that point of time,” Mamata
wrote in her letter to Bose.
The Partition involved up-
rooting of millions of people
across India-Bangladesh bor-
der and deaths and displace-
ment of innumerable families,
she mentioned in the letter.
Referring to her conversa-
tion over phone with Bose,
Mamata said in her two-page
letter, “Kindly refer to our dis-
cussions today when you had
admitted that the unilateral
and non-consultative decision
PM’s development work has Chouhan praises PM
touched every corner: Shah for handling Biparjoy
D I L I P S I N G H KS H AT R I YA
@ Ahmedabad
Union Home Minister Amit
Shah said on Tuesday that
Prime Minister Modi’s develop-
ment work has touched every
cor ner of the country. He
named a village near the China
border, saying that even today,
gas, light, and toilet amenities
have reached there.
The PM, he said, has taken
Indian culture and traditions
across the globe with Interna-
tional Yoga Day being an
example.
Shah was addressing a gath-
ering of CREDAI (Confedera-
tion of Real Estate Developers’
Associations of India) in
Ahmedabad.
“I visited India’s first village
Kibithu near the China border,
where there were artisan shops.
A woman in her 80s told the
people around her in her lan-
guage that if the Home Minis-
ter came to sip tea at her house,
the entire village would praise
her. I agreed and went to her.
When I thanked her for calling,
she re plied, ‘I called to
thank the PM.’”
“I am thanking you for en-
suring that the tea you drank
was prepared on a gas cylinder
given by PM Modi. Today, my
Cow injured, condition
critical’
The injured cow is under
treatment and its condition is
reportedly critical. The 76-acre
farm has as many as 50 CCTV
cameras. Interestingly, the
hillocks on the outskirts of
Bhopal, near the Kerwa and
Kaliyasot dams, have been
regularly reporting the movement
of tigers.
carnivore to drive it away.
As per informed sources, the
instance of a united herbivore
herd forcing a carnivore preda-
tor away is rare. The tiger then
waited on the prowl for about
three hours, but could not at-
tack again as the herd stood
guard around the injured cow.
The injured cow is under
treatment and its condition is
reportedly critical. The 76-acre
farm has as many as 50 CCTV
cameras.
Importantly, the hillocks on
the outskirts of Bhopal, near
the Kerwa and Kaliyasot dams,
have been regularly reporting
Nine people have been arrested for allegedly poisoning
orchard at Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district, in
to declare a particular day as
Bengal’s Foundation Dar was
not warranted. You were kind
enough to assure that you
would not proceed with the
programme.”
The event at Raj Bhavan was
followed by cultural presenta-
tions and a “peace run” by NCC
cadets in presence of the gover-
nor. The BJP leaders also took
out a procession on Red Road to
celebrate the event. The BJP
demanded June 20 to be de-
clared as state holiday.
“May I know why the BJP
leaders are so joyous about the
Bengal’s foundation day? They
did not utter a single word
about the day before. Will you
please why this attempt to ex-
tort the history has been initi-
ated?” tweeted TMC spokesper-
son Kunal Ghosh.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a function in Ahmedabad on Tuesday | PTI
residence has electricity and a
toilet, and I receive 5 kg of
grain every month, as well as
access to all health facilities
with a single card,” Shah quot-
ed the woman as saying.
Shah said PM Modi has
turned the practice of yoga into
a public movement that has
benefited many people.
“Modi has become the first
head of a country who will be
leading the Yoga Day celebra-
tions at the UN,” he said.
Explaining the Yoga benefits,
Shah said: “Through Yoga Day,
PM Modi has taken Indian cul-
ture and traditions to the entire
the movement of tigers. Tiger
movement has also been re-
ported in areas close to the
Mother Bull Farm since the
last two months.
Recently, a tiger had report-
edly intruded into the Farm
through an 8 ft high wall and
hunted a dog.
Following the recent develop-
ment, the local officials of the
forest department have sound-
ed an alert in the entire area,
cautioning the people in the
nearby areas not to venture out
alone, particularly during noc-
turnal hours.
Importantly, around ten days
back, tourists at the Bandhav-
g a r h N a t i o n a l P a rk i n
MP’s Umaria district, were
stunned to witness a dog, which
strayed into the Park, confront-
ing a tiger.
The video, shot by a student
Gaurangi Dubey, showed a ti-
ger chasing a dog in the nation-
al park. But moments later, the
dog was seen barking and
charging at the big cat and the
tiger appeared to retreat as the
dog continued to follow it.
KILLING MONKEYS
and killing monkeys that created havoc in a mango
Uttarakhand officials said on Tuesday.
H A R P R E E T BA J WA @ Chandigarh
THE Punjab assembly on Tues-
day passed the Punjab Police
Amendment Bill 2023, putting
in place a parallel mechanism
to bypass the Union Public
Service Commission proce-
dure, laid down by the Supreme
Court to appoint the Director
General of Police (DGP).
A seven-member committee
headed by a retired chief justice
or a retired judge from the Pun-
jab & Haryana High Court will
prepare a panel of three senior
officers from the pool of eligible
officers and send it to the state
government, which will select
one officer to be appointed as
the DGP. The tenure of the top
cop will be for three years.
The Bill says the government
wants to bring about an inde-
pendent mechanism for the se-
lection and appointment of per-
sons to the post of DGP. “It
should be free from political or
executive interference and is
also in consonance with the pe-
culiar policing requirements
of the state of Punjab.’’
As per the latest amendment
in the Act, a seven-member
committee will be for med
which will be headed by a re-
tired chief justice or a retired
judge from the Punjab and Har-
world. The Day is celebrated in
170 countries on June 21,” he
said.
“Our ancient research proved
that we will not need medicines
if we perfor m yo g a
regularly. Narendrabhai turned
this ancient knowledge into a
public movement and inspired
people to embrace this lifestyle.
This practice has changed
the lives of many people,”
he added.
Amit Shah also claimed that
in the last nine years, India has
made exceptional development
under Prime Minister Modi’s
leadership.
Gehlot slams NDRF, SDRF for delay in flood relief
R E J S H A S N A N I @ Jaipur
RAJASTHAN Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday
conducted aerial survey of
flood-affected areas in the state.
He reached Chauhtan
and Sanchore and assessed
the damage caused by cyclone
Biparjoy.
The CM highlighted the dam-
age caused to thousands of
kutcha houses across the af-
fected areas and announced
compensation. The aid will be
initiated once the aerial survey
is completed.
Expressing concern over the
rules of NDRF and SDRF, were
causing delays in providing
compensation, Gehlot also ad-
dressed a letter to the Central
government requesting chang-
es to ensure immediate com-
pensation for everyone. He as-
sured that compensation will
be provided according to the
rules once the survey is
completed.
In Sanchore, Gehlot conduct-
ed an aerial survey of the flood-
affected area, after which he
met the flood victims at the Dak
Bungalow and listened to their
problems. He also assured that
adequate compensation would
02
OF EXPRESS TRAIN
COACHES DERAILS IN WEST BENGAL
Resolution on rural fund
The Punjab assembly on Tuesday
passed a resolution against non-
release of Rural Development
Fund (RDF) of more than `3,600
crore by the Centre as CM
Bhagwant Mann warned if the
Union Government did not release
the fund within 10 days, the state
government would move the
Supreme Court on July 1.
yana HC. The panel will also
consist of chief secretary, a
UPSC nominee, a nominee of
the PPSC, secretary of home
department, a nominee of Min-
istry of Home Affairs and a re-
tired state police DGP.
The Supreme Court down a
procedure for such an appoint-
ment in its judgment in the
case of ‘Parkash Singh and oth-
ers vs Union of India.’
effectively, saving lives
R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi
MADHYA Pradesh Chief Min-
ister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
has equated Prime Minister
Modi with historical character
of Dhirodatta for reducing the
effects of cyclone Biparjoy to
almost zero. The cyclone-hit
Gujarat and Rajashthan and af-
fected other states in its wake.
Chouhan, who writes his
blog regularly, has written that
“the persons who work with
alertness, patience, prudence
and seriousness succeed in re-
ducing the magnitude of the
crisis to zero. Such characters
are established in history as
‘Dhirodatta heroes”.
Chouhan wrote that the PM
does not lose patience in any
disaster. “In 9 years of Modi’s
tenure, it has been proved time
and again that he does not lose
patience in any disaster when
it comes to saving the lives of
the countrymen and confronts
them with well-thought-out
strategies; be it cyclones, other
natural calamities or heavy
rains and floods, any threat to
the security and integrity of
the country or global pandemic
such as Covid-19.”
The CM of the BJP-ruled state
A flooded locality following heavy rains on the outskirts of Ajmer on Tuesday | PTI
be given to flood-affected peo-
ple. The Chief Minister also
mentioned that due to the
storm and floods, 25 teams of
SDRF and NDRF were deployed
and they have done an excellent
job in helping victims in the
flood-affected areas. No deaths
occurred during their rescue
operations. However, he ac-
knowledged that some deaths
occurred due to drowning after
the water filled up, so he ap-
pealed to the people to take pre-
cautions and stay away from
INDIA
Ahmedabad
Bhopal
Jaipur
Amritsar
Chennai
Kolkata
Srinagar
Chancellor of state univs
Punjab assembly today passed a
bill to replace the Governor with
the Chief Minister as chancellor of
all the state-run universities. A
row between the government and
the governor had erupted when
the latter stalled the selections
for the post of Vice-Chancellor of
Punjab Agricultural University,
Ludhiana,
An amendment was also
brought during the Amarinder
Singh-led Congress govern-
ment in which Section-6 of the
Punjab Police Act was amend-
ed. The state gover nment
moved the apex court to amend
its earlier judgment and allow
the state to appoint a DGP
through amended procedure,
but the court on January 16,
2019 dismissed the plea.
wrote that the PM has been able
to prevent the loss of life and
other damage effectively with
his action plan. “His guidance
and strategy proved effective in
dealing with the Biparjoy.
He alerted the governing and
administrative machinery
ahead of time. He himself took
high-level meetings with agen-
cies, Central ministries and
Gujarat government officials to
ensure that the residents of the
affected areas were transported
to safer places while the main-
tenance of essential services
such as electricity, water, health
was ensured”, the MP CM said
in his blog post.
About 58% of land in India is
prone to earthquakes of moder-
ate to very high intensity and
over 40 million hectares, which
accounts for 12% of the land
area, remain prone to floods.
waterlogged areas.
Situation grim in southwest
Rajasthan
The flood situation remains
grim in parts of southwest of
Rajasthan. Due to the Biparjoy
storm, significant rainfall was
recorded in several districts
over the past three days: 192.37
mm in Barmer, 419.10 mm in
Jalore, 464.66 mm in Sirohi,
318.70 mm in Pali, and 251.92
mm in Rajsamand.
On Tuesday, a red alert was
issued for Bundi and Sawai
Max Min Max Min
42 27 Mumbai 35 29
43 28 Panaji 32 28
41 30 Patna 41 27
40 23 Lucknow 42 27
39 30 Port Blair 34 28
36 26 Imphal 23 18
18 08 Chandigarh 42 23
DEHRADUN
DIARY
NARENDRA SETHI
Our correspondent in Uttarakhand
narendrasethi@
newindianexpress.com
BJP to win over 400
seats in 2024: Bhatt
Union Minister of State for Defence
Ajay Bhatt recently said, “In 2024,
BJP can win more than 400 seats.
The people of the country like PM
Modi. People know that if anyone
can develop the country, it is
Narendra Modi. Minister Bhatt was
speaking during an interaction
during an event held in the state
capital. He said that In 2019, no one
was sure that Modi would form the
government again. At that time,
people resorted to many tactics
against the BJP and that they ‘also
laid a political trap’ to surround
them, but the opposition had to face
defeat and we formed the
government,” he said.
CM Dhami launches
eBeat App of Police
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami
on Tuesday inaugurated the new
Sardar Patel Bhawan of the police
department and also launched the
police’s eBeat app. CM Dhami said
that the e-Beat app has been
prepared with the objective of online
solutions of various services related
to police and general public,
strengthening law and order and
making police working paperless.
Later on, presiding over the meeting,
Dhami said, “Steps will be taken
towards expansion of residential
areas and police offices. The housing
percentage of Uttarakhand Police is
18 %, which is comparatively low.”
Married woman allowed
to be with live-in partner
A division bench of Nainital High
Court comprising Justice Manoj
Kumar Tiwari and Justice Pankaj
Purohit on Monday allowed a
woman to lead her life on her own
free will, while hearing a habeas
corpus petition filed by a
Dehradun-based gym trainer in
connection with his missing wife.
Meanwhile, the gym trainer’s wife
appeared before the court and said
she has left behind her husband,
10-year-old son and six-year-old
daughter and is now living in
Faridabad with her live-in partner,
whom she met on internet. She told
the court that her husband
misbehaved with her, she no longer
wanted to live with him.
Madhopur districts. In a meet-
ing, officials stated that 17
teams of SDRF and 8 teams of
NDRF were actively involved in
rescue and relief operations in
the affected areas. Further, two
army units were deployed to
provide assistance.
Before the situation wors-
ened, 15,000 people from the af-
fected districts were relocated
to safer places.
So far, 1,595 people trapped in
water have been rescued and
their lives saved, with NDRF
rescuing 133 people, SDRF res-
cuing 123 people, and the army
rescuing 9 people. In Rajsa-
mand, a Rajasthan Police sol-
dier displayed bravery and
saved 2 people from strong
currents.
There has been heavy rain-
fall in Sirohi, with 14 inches of
rain in the last 24 hours. Addi-
tionally, water levels in 12 dams
have exceeded the storage lim-
it, and there has been no elec-
tricity for the past 4 days.
The Meteorological Depart-
ment has issued an alert re-
garding Biparjoy. A red alert
has been issued for Dholpur
district, where heavy rains are
expected, accompanied by
thunder and lightning.
 EIGHT
Beijing 39 22 TDS Los Angeles 26 15 LC
Colombo 29 26 LC Melbourne 12 4 HR
Dhaka 31 27 TDS Moscow 22 11 HR
GLOBAL Dubai 38 29 SNY New York 23 16 LC
WEATHER Houston 37 27 SNY Singapore 31 27 TDS
killed on Tuesday in fighting outside parliament in LR: Light Rain HR: Heavy Rain SW: Snow Istanbul 28 19 LC Toronto 22 17 LC
Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland TDS: Thundershower LC: Light Cloud SNY: Sunny London 26 14 LC Washington 25 15 LC

09 TIRUPATI WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023

� �

China inks $4.8-billion nuclear Hunter Biden reaches

power plant deal with Pakistan deal on income tax case
ISLAMABAD
CHINA on Tuesday inked an
agreement worth $4.8 billion
with Pakistan to set up a 1,200-
megawatt nuclear power plant
as a sign of increasing strate-
gic cooperation between the
two all-weather allies.
A crater is seen next to destroyed trucks after Russian shelling in Rozumivka, near PM Shehbaz Sharif wit-
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on Tuesday | AP nessed the signing of the deal
WASHINGTON
Talks on to give UAE control over Karachi port terminals
PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s son
Pakistan has constituted a negotiation committee to finalise a deal Hunter has reached a deal with
with the UAE for handing over its Karachi port terminals as it seeks to federal prosecutors on charges
raise an emergency fund. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday chaired he failed to pay federal income
the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Inter-Governmental tax and illegally possessed a
Commercial Transactions. The meeting decided to set up a committee weapon, as per a letter in US
to negotiate a commercial agreement between the Karachi Port Trust District Court in Delaware, and
(KPT) and the UAE government, The Express Tribune reported. will plead guilty.
Hunter will plead guilty to
ernment for delaying the key Sharif said Pakistan was the misdemeanour tax offenses
tence of up to 10 years in pris-
on, but the Justice Department
said Hunter had reached a pre-
trial agreement on that charge.
Also, he had failed to file his tax
returns on time on earnings of
more than $1.5 million for 2017
and 2018. In both years he owed
more than $100,000 in taxes on
those earnings. Each count
brings up to 12 months in pris-
on and a fine of up to $100,000

Russia hits Kyiv

under which Beijing would
build a 1,200-megawatt Chash-
ma-V nuclear plant at Chashma
in Mianwali, Punjab.
Sharif termed the agreement
power project. He said under a also engaged with the IMF to as part of the agreement made or double what he stood to gain
difficult economic situation, finalise the 9th Review. public on Tuesday. The agree- by breaking the law. The deal
Pakistan was getting an invest- Pakistan’s Chashma power ment will spare him prosecu- ends a long-running Justice De-
ment of $4.8 billion from China plants are considered a key in tion on a charge of illegally partment investigation into Bi-
in this project, which “sends the production of cheap nucle- possessing a firearm as a drug den’s second son, who has ac-

with exploding
signing as a token of increas-
ing economic cooperation be-
tween Pakistan and China and
vowed to complete the project
the message that Pakistan is a ar power. The installed capacity user if he adheres to conditions knowledged struggling with
place where Chinese compa- of the existing four power set by prosecutors. addiction.
nies and investors continue to plants is 1,330 megawatts, ac- The gun charge states that It also averts a trial that
show their trust and faith.” cording to the Pakistan Atomic Hunter possessed a handgun, a would have generated distract-

drones, missiles
without any delay.
“We will kick start it without
any further delay,” he said, as
he lambasted the previous gov-
Sharif said the Chinese com- Energy Commission. Colt Cobra 38 special, despite ing headlines for a White House
panies gave special concessions Two other nuclear power knowing he was a drug user for that has strenuously sought to
which would save billions of plants are also operational in 11 days in October 2018. The keep its distance from the Jus-
rupees in this project. Pakistan. PTI count carries a maximum sen- tice Department. Agencies

Ukraine rescue worker killed, eight injured by EXPRESS READ

Kremlin fire in Kherson, says interior minister
KYIV
UKRAINIAN air defences
downed 32 of 35 Shahed explod-
ing drones launched by Russia
early on Tuesday, most of them
in the Kyiv area, officials said.
Russian forces mostly target-
ed the region around the
Ukrainian capital in a night-
time drone attack lasting
around three hours, officials
said, but Ukrainian air defenc-
es in the area shot down about
two dozen of them.
The Shahed drones made it
all the way to Lviv because of
the inability of air defence as-
sets to cover such a broad area,
Ukrainian air force spokesman
Yuriy Ihnat said.
“There is a general lack of
air defence assets to cover a
country like Ukraine with a
dome like Israel has,” he said,
in a reference to Israel’s Iron
Dome aerial defence system.
In the Lviv region, the Rus-
sian strike hit a critical infra-
structure facility, starting a
fire, according to Lviv Gov.
Maksym Kozytskyi. Russia also
struck the southern Zapor-
izhzhia region of Ukraine with
ballistic missiles.
Also, Ukraine said on Tues-
day that one rescue worker was
killed and several others were
injured by Russian forces in the
souther n city of Kherson,
which was recently flooded af-
ter the breach of a major dam.
“One employee of the State
Emergency Service dead, an-
other eight were injured in
Kherson,” Ukrainian interior
minister Igor Klymenko said.
Klymenko said the team was
“conducting restoration work”
when Russian forces opened
fire on them.
Presidential aide Andriy Yer-
mak said seven state emergen-
cy workers were injured in the
shelling, six of which were in a
“serious condition.” Yermak
said the workers were “clear-
ing mud” in the area. Mean-
while, EU member states plan
to train as many as 30,000 mem-
bers of Ukraine’s armed forces
this year Kyiv said. Agencies
Two teenage girls killed over Finland swears in new Two Thai activists sue govt for Slovakia’s first female prez
honour in Pakistan right-wing government using Pegasus won’t seek 2nd term
Islamabad: Two teenage girls and a man Helsinki: Finland swore in a new coalition Bangkok: Two Thai activists filed a lawsuit Bratislava: Slovakia’s first female
were killed while a man’s nose and an ear government on Tuesday that is seen as the on Tuesday accusing the government of president said Tuesday she won’t seek
were cut off “in the name of honour” in most right-wing in the Nordic country’s using Pegasus to infiltrate their mobile reelection in next year’s presidential vote.
three separate incidents in Punjab province modern history. The 19-member Cabinet of during a period of political unrest three President Zuzana Caputov said the
of Pakistan, police said on Tuesday. PM Petteri Orpo, the leader of the years ago. Law reform advocate Yingcheep announcement was one of the toughest
Honour-killing incidents are rampant in conservative National Coalition Party, was Atchanont and human rights lawyer Arnon she has made. She said that after a serious
Pakistan. As per reports, over 1,000 approved by the Eduskunta legislature, Nampa accuse nine state agencies under assessment, she concluded that she
women are killed annually in the country after which President Sauli Niinisto PM Prayuth Chan-ocha of unlawfully wouldn’t have enough strength for
in the name of honour. appointed it. violating their privacy. another five-year term.
ASEAN to conduct drills
near South China Sea
JAKARTA
THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations
is moving ahead with plans for joint naval ex-
ercises in September, the first held by countries
in the bloc on their own.
The Indonesian military said on Tuesday
that ASEAN member countries held a plan-
ning conference for the joint exercises, to be
held September 18-25 near a disputed area of
the South China Sea, despite skepticism from
Cambodia. ASEAN members Cambodia and
Myanmar declined to take part in the planning
conference, as per Indonesia. AP

Vatican report seeks

‘radical inclusion’
�����������������������

of LGBTQ+ group
�������������������
����������������

ROME

AN unprecedented global canvassing of Catholics has

called for the church to take concrete steps to promote
women to decision-making roles, for a “radical inclu-
sion” of the LGBTQ+ community and for new account-
ability measures to check how bishops exercise
authority.
The Vatican on Tuesday released the synthesis of a
two-year consultation process, publishing a working
document that will form the basis of discussion for a big
meeting of bishops and laypeople in October.
The synod, as it is known, is a key priority of Pope
Log to www.newindianexpress.com
All the news. In just a click.

Francis, reflecting his vision of a church that is more

about the faithful rank-and-file than its priests.
Already Francis has made his mark on the synod, let-
ting lay people and in particular women have a vote
alongside bishops. That reform is a concrete step toward
what he calls “synodality,” a new way of being a church
that envisions more co-responsibility in the key mission
of spreading the Catholic faith.
The document highlights key concerns that emerged
during the consultation process, which began at the lo-
cal parish level and concluded with seven continent-
wide assemblies. It flagged in particular the devastating
impact that clergy sexual abuse crisis has had on the
faithful, costing the hierarchy its credibility and spark-
ing calls for structural changes to remove their near-
absolute power. AFP

Tate brothers charged

with human trafficking
BUCHAREST

ONLINE influencer Andrew Tate, his brother and two

women were indicted in Romania on human trafficking
and rape charges, prosecutors said on Tuesday, six
months after they were detained.
Police arrested Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan, 34,
and the two Romanian women late last year. Under pre-
ventive detention at first, they were placed under house
arrest at the end of March.
The anti-organised crime prosecution’s unit (DIICOT)
“ordered the indictment” of the four defendants for of-
fences including “setting up an organised criminal
group... trafficking in persons... rape,” they said. The
brothers deny all the accusations. If found guilty, they
would face years in prison. “While this news is undoubt-
edly predictable, we embrace the opportunity it presents
to demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their rep-
utation,” Tate’s media team said in a statement. AFP

10 TIRUPATI
No new clause added in new rule: RBI
Clarifies after circular on compromise settlements with wilful defaulters attracts criticism
E N S E C O N O M I C B U R E A U @ Mumbai
THE Reserve Bank of India
(RBI), on Tuesday, clarified it
has not added any new clause
allowing banks to enter into
compromise settlement with
wilful defaulters and the provi-
sions for settlement with such
borrowers have been there for
over 15 years.
The clarification comes after
the circular on compromise set-
tlements with wilful defaulters
and technical write-offs attract-
ed criticism from stakeholders.
To bring more clarity on the is-
sue, the RBI released frequent-
ly asked questions (FAQs) on
the ‘Framework for Compro-
mise Settlements and Techni-
cal Write-offs’ circular, which
was released on June 8.
“The said provision enabling
banks to enter into compromise
settlement in respect of bor-
rowers categorised as fraud or
wilful defaulter is not a new
regulatory instruction and has
been the settled regulatory
stance for over 15 years.”
PM Modi US visit: Tariff
disputes, technology
ties high on agenda
M O N I K A YA D A V @ New Delhi
PRIME Minister Narendra
Modi in his three-day visit to
the US will discuss the key is-
sues being faced by India in
building upon strategic tech-
nology partnership with the
former, people in the know told
this newspaper.
“India may ask the US Presi-
dent Joe Biden to remove regu-
latory barriers and seek tax
incentives to expand the strate-
gic technology ties with the
US,” a government source told
TNIE. Both the countries had
launched an initiative on criti-
cal and emerging technology
(iCET), in January for coopera-
tion in areas such as artificial
intelligence, quantum comput-
ing, space exploration, semi-
c o n d u c t o r s, a n d d e f e n s e
technology.
“Also, the US has put sanc-
tions on Russia and Iran, so it
has become difficult for India
to trade with these countries.
The trade routes have also been
disturbed due to war in
Ukraine,” the source said. He
further added that India may
discuss a mechanism to trade
with both these countries. In
IIFL Securities
to move SAT
against order
of Sebi
E N S E C O N O M I C B U R E A U @ Mumbai
IIFL Securities is planning to
move to the Securities Appel-
late Tribunal (SAT) against the
order of the Securities and Ex-
change Board of India (Sebi)
that banned the broking house
from onboarding new clients
for two years.
The order doesn’t affect the
company’s existing business
with the clients, IIFL Securi-
ties, earlier known as India In-
foline said in a filing to stock
exchanges. “It may be noted
that the order does not affect
Company’s existing business
with the existing clients. The
company is in the process of
preferring an appeal against
the said order before Securities
Appellate Tribunal,” said the
company in a regulatory filing
to BSE.
The statement comes after
the capital markets regulator
SEBI on Monday barred IIFL
Securities from onboarding
new clients for two years for al-
leged mis-utilisation of client
funds. In its order, SEBI found
that IIFL has misused the funds
of its credit balance clients for
settlement of its proprietary
trades as well as the trades of
its debit balance clients from
April 2011 to June 2014, and the
said violations were again no-
ticed during March 2017 in-
spection for the period of FY
2015-16 and 2016-17.
WEDNESDAY
Clarifications on compromise settlement
Provision for
compromise
settlement
with wilful
defaulters not
new
New circular
does not dilute
the penal
measures for
wilful
defaulters
Compromise settlement has
been there for over
RBI had advised IBA vide let-
ter dated May 10, 2007 that,
“banks may enter into compro-
mise settlement with wilful de-
faulters/fraudulent borrowers
without prejudice to the crimi-
nal proceeding underway
against such borrowers,” said
RBI. Such cases of compromise
settlements should be vetted by
management committee/ Board
of banks, noted the FAQs. RBI
said the recent circular doesn’t
PM to gift Biden 7 carat
lab-grown diamond
If sources are to be believed,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
gift the US President a 7 carat
lab-grown diamond worth `30
lakh. India is looking for a
diamond market in the US after
the G7 countries expressed their
intent to restrict trade with Russia
in its rough diamonds and metals.
addition, certain chemicals
also can’t be exported to these
countries because of their
‘dual’ use (for making chemical
weapons). This will also be a
talking point with the US Presi-
dent, as per the source.
Meanwhile, PM Modi may put
forth the option of out-of-court
settlement of disputes at the
World Trade organization
(WTO) through voluntary with-
drawal of cases by both sides
before the US President. These
disputes involve high tariffs on
Indian steel, aluminium exports
etc. As per sources, discussions
may include India joining the
negotiations under Pillar I
(which is related to trade) of
Indo-Pacific Economic Frame-
work for Prosperity (IPEF).
NSE settles trading
glitch case with Sebi
NEW DELHI: Leading stock
exchange NSE and its arm NSE
Clearing Ltd (NCL) on Tuesday
settled the trading glitch case
with markets regulator Sebi
after paying a settlement
amount of over `72 crore
Individually, the NSE paid a
total of `49.77 crore and
NCL doled out `22.88 crore to
settle the case that occurred
in 2021, according to a
settlement order. PTI
KVB shifts focus to commercial
lending for boosting profitability
V A I T H E E S W A R A N B @ chennai
TAMIL NADU-based lender
Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has
shifted its focus on commercial
lending to traders and micro,
medium and small enterprises
to reduce risk and get better re-
turns, a senior executive of the
bank said.
Corporate lending portfolio
of the bank has gone down to
21% at present from 40% five
years back. Loans exceeding
`25 crore are categorised as
corporate loans and lending be-
low that as commercial loans.
“We have shifted our focus
from corporate to commercial
lending in last two years and
we are succeeding in that. Our
commercial portfolio is 32%-
33%. Reason is many MSMEs
and traders need credit and
21 06 2023
� �
Borrowers
classified
as fraud
barred
from
availing
finance
for
five
years
15 YEARS
dilute the penal measures appli-
cable to borrowers classified as
wilful defaulter or fraud. The
penal measures currently ap-
plicable to borrowers classified
as fraud or wilful defaulters re-
main unchanged and should
continue to be applicable in cas-
es where the banks enter into
compromise settlement with
such borrowers.
Such penal measures entail
that no additional facilities
Market unwilling to retreat,
rubs off valuation concerns
A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi
INDIAN equity markets are not
willing to retreat from record
high levels despite concerns re-
lated to its expensive valuation.
On Tuesday, the benchmarks
(Nifty and Sensex) recouped
early losses and managed to
end in green.
While the 30-share index
Sensex closed the Tuesday ses-
sion at 63,328, the broader Nif-
ty50 settled at 18,817. Currently,
Nifty is trading at a price-to-
earnings (PE) ratio of about 22.
This ratio was around 21 in
March but then rose on the
back of an ongoing rally.
“There is a stark contrast in
pricing among BRICS nations.
All except India are trading at
less than 10 as PE,” said Ab-
hishek Banerjee, Founder &
CEO, Lotusdew Wealth and In-
vestment Advisors.
Banerjee added that Indian
markets have always traded at
a premium to emerging/global
markets and reasons include a
suboptimal sovereign credit
rating of BBB- which is just
above junk status while India
has never defaulted on its debt.
“This is discounted by equity
investors which feeds into the
assumed risk-free rate used to
EXPRESS READ
Janakiraman appointed
RBI deputy governor
MUMBAI: The government on
Tuesday appointed State Bank
of India (SBI) managing director
Swaminathan Jankiraman as
Deputy Governor of the Reserve
Bank of India. The
Appointments Committee of
Cabinet (ACC) on Tuesday
approved his appointment. As
per an official notification, the
appointment is for a period of
three years from the date of
joining the position. ENS
we’re focusing on them,” B
Ramesh Babu, managing direc-
tor and chief executive of the
bank said. At a point of time
five years back, KVB used to fo-
cus on big ticket advances
about `50 crore and `300 crore,
but we realised it is better to
granualise the portfolio to get
better interest rate and ability
to withstand losses in cases of
Market
Watch
should be granted by any bank
or financial institution to bor-
rowers listed as wilful default-
ers and such companies (includ-
ing their entrepreneurs or
promoters) be debarred from in-
stitutional finance for floating
new ventures for a period of five
years from the date of removal
of their name from the list of
wilful defaulters, it noted.
Borrowers classified as fraud
are debarred from availing bank
finance for a period of five years
from the date of full payment of
the defrauded amount. Accord-
ing to the RBI, a compromise
settlement is not available to
borrowers as a matter of right,
rather it is a discretion to be ex-
ercised by the lenders based on
their commercial judgement.
A compromise settlement en-
tails a complete detachment of
the lender with the borrower.
Therefore, permitting lenders
to settle with the borrowers as
per their commercial judge-
ment would enhance recovery
prospects, said the
central bank.
MARKET WATCH
Nifty Tuesday
18,817
closing
Gain in 3
11%
months
NIFTY50 LONG-TERM
PRICE-TO-EARNINGS
(PE) RATIOS
NIFTY
21.9
CURRENT PE
NIFTY 1-YEAR
AVERAGE PE
21.1
NIFTY 2-YEAR
22.7
AVERAGE PE
NIFTY 5-YEAR
26.5
AVERAGE PE
discount future cash flows.
Also, India has largely been a
winner-takes-all market, mean-
ing a few dominant market
leaders assume market share,
hence PE ratio which works in
more competitive markets,
trades at a premium in India,”
said Banerjee.
Neeraj Chadawar, Head -
Quantitative Equity Research,
Axis Securities, said that the
Indian market will continue to
LifeCell to start
at-home sperm testing
CHENNAI: Chennai-based stem
cell banking company LifeCell
International to start sperm
testing for men and hormone
testing for women for fertility
treatment at home with test
kits. This would help people to
seek reproductive healthcare
and avoid stigma, company’s
MD Mayur Abhaya said. LifeCell
has generated `150 crore topline
in 2022-23 (FY23) and plans to
grow 33% in the 2023-24. ENS
default. However, he clarified
that KVB will lend to corporate
customers up to 150 crore and
more in partnership with other
banks based on the situation.
Currently, KVB’s retail agri-
culture and MSME loans consti-
tute 78% of the loan book. Over
77% of the bank’s deposits are
below `1 crore and its top 20 de-
positors form 5% of total depos-
its. Responding to a question
whether the bank can achieve
scale with granular portfolio
comparing to its peers, Ramesh
Babu said the banks have to
strike a balance and steady
growth is much better than
overnight growth in topline.
“Rate (of interest) for large
corporate loans is higher and we
can get better profits in `2 crore
advance and our retail advances
have grown 16% last year.”
418.45
MARKET
Sensex 62,792.88
114.65 Nifty 18,716.15
Tata-owned Air India seals $70 bn
deal for 470 Airbus, Boeing planes
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
@ New Delhi
TATA GROUP-owned Air India
on Tuesday signed purchase
agreements to acquire 470 air-
craft from Airbus and Boeing
in a deal valued at $70 billion
(based on list prices).
This fleet expansion pro-
gramme was first announced in
February and now signing took
place on the sidelines of ongoing
Paris Air Show.This announce-
ment by Air India comes a day
after rival airline IndiGo eclipsed
its mega deal by placing an order
of 500 planes with Airbus.
The deal value of IndiGo,
however, is pegged lower at $50
billion as its order consists of
only narrow-body planes. Air
India’s firm orders include 34
A350-1000, six A350-900, 20 Boe-
ing 787 Dreamliners and 10 Boe-
ing 777X widebody aircraft, as
well as 140 Airbus A320neo, 70
Airbus A321neo and 190 Boeing
737MAX narrowbody aircraft.
IndiGo’s firm is for 500 Airbus
trade at a higher premium to
emerging market peers on ac-
count of robust economic
growth, strong earnings out-
look, robust demand across the
sector, the banking sector is in
better shape and private Capex
cycle expectations.
“NIFTY is trading at 18.3x on
a 12M forward PE. Current val-
uations are below the 5-year av-
erage (18.8x), providing a good
entry point for long-term inves-
tors,” said Chadawar.
Axis Securities foresee NIF-
TY EPS (earning per share) to
post growth of 16% and 13% in
FY24 and FY25, respectively.
“After Q4FY23, we have seen a
marginal drop of 1% in our De-
cember’25 Nifty EPS expecta-
tions. Thus, we revise the base
case December’23 Nifty target
at 20,200 by valuing it at 20x on
Dec’24 earnings. In the bull
case, we value NIFTY at 22x,
translating into a Dec’23 target
of 22,200,” said Chadawar.
The Indian equity market
has seen a sharp rally in the
past three months wherein the
two benchmarks have gained
about 10% each. This rally is
supported by positive macr-
oeconomic numbers and strong
buying by foreign portfolio
investors.
Nasdaq-listed Cognizant
celebrates 25 years as
public company
U M A K A N N A N @ Bengaluru
IT has been 25 years since Cog-
nizant got listed on the Nasdaq,
and the company’s CEO S Ravi
Kumar along with his colleagues
will ring the opening bell at the
exchange on June 27.
In June 1998, the company,
which was founded in 1994,
made its IPO at $10.00 per share,
and as on Tuesday evening
(IST) the company’s share price
stood at $64.62.
In an internal mail to em-
ployees, Ravi Kumar said, “We
have stood the test of time by
continually pursuing a clear
purpose and staying relevant to
our clients and associates. This
is a tribute to our heritage of
client-centricity, teamwork, en-
trepreneurialism and bold
ambitions.”
From 1,600 employees and
with annual revenue of about
$59 million, the company has
now grown with over 3,50,000
employees, and it expects full
year 2023 revenue of about $20
billion. “The constants across
the quarter century are many.
Among them, our proven abil-
ity to build long-term, high-
quality partnerships with cli-
ents and deliver a range of
offerings at the intersection of
industry and technology that
are tailored to clients’ needs
and high expectations. Another
constant is our significant in-
GOLD
24 carat (10 gm) H60,600 H200
SILVER
Per kg H74,100
FOREX
Dollar 82.26
22 carat (10 gm) H55,550 H2 Per 10gm H741 Euro 88.80
newindianexpress com
craft later this year, with the
bulk of order to arrive from
mid-2025 onwards. Air India
has started taking delivery of
11 leased B777 and 25 A320 air-
craft to accelerate its fleet and
network expansion.
“We are proud that the effi-
ciencies, comfort and range ca-
pability offered by our latest
generation aircraft will contrib-
ute to the process, as Air India
A320 Family aircraft. reclaims its rightful position as
N Chandrasekaran, Chair-
man of Tata Sons and Air India,
said: “This landmark step posi-
a world-class premium carrier.
Airbus services package is a
perfect future-oriented choice
tions Air India for long-term that will form a core element of
growth and success that, we Air India’s transformation,”
have every hope, will come to- said Christian Scherer, chief
gether to represent the best of commercial officer and head of
modern aviation to the world.” international at Airbus. Stan
Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Deal, President and CEO of
Air India, said: “Our ambitious Boeing Commercial Airplanes,
fleet renewal and expansion said “Fuel-efficient mix of next-
programme will see Air India generation airplanes including
operate the most advanced and the 737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner
fuel-efficient aircraft across and 777X will sustainably pow-
our route network within five er Air India’s future fleet in the
years.“Airbus A350 will lead world’s fastest growing com-
the deliveries of the new air- mercial aviation market.”
A S I A N O M I C S
CHINA
HSBC SLASHES CHINA’S GDP GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.3%
Citing drag from the property sector, tempered business and household
confidence, HSBC on Tuesday cut down China’s economic growth forecast
for this year. The global bank now forecasts the country’s gross domestic
product (GDP) to grow at 5.3% in 2023, from 6.3% it had shown earlier.
Goldman Sachs has also cut down its forecast for the country’s GDP growth
as it believes the Asian country has limited options to boost stimulus. The
bank slashed its estimates GDP growth for the country this year to 5.4% from
6% previously. Brokerages including J.P. Morgan and BofA Global Research
had also lowered China’s growth outlook last week after the country’s May
industrial output and retail sales growth missed forecasts.
ASIA
SHARE MARKETS MOSTLY FALL
Asian markets were mostly down on Tuesday as some investors took a wait-
and-watch mood. Investors were also on cautious footing as the meeting
between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Secretary of State Antony Blinken
yielded no signs of progress from either side on Taiwan. Human rights, tech-
nology and other issues remained bone of contention. Japan’s benchmark
Nikkei 225 rose 0.55% to 33,388.91. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 1.54% to
19,607.08, while the Shanghai Composite edged down 0.47% to 3,240.36.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.86% to 7,357.80. South Korea’s Kospi lost
0.2% to 2,604.91. US markets were closed for the Juneteenth national holi-
day. Markets are also watching the direction of interest rate hikes. The Fed
warned it could raise rates as often as two more times this year.
PHILIPPINE
CENTRAL BANK LIKELY TO HOLD RATE
Analysts expect the Philippine central bank will hold interest rate at 6.25 for
rest of the year. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla
on Monday said inflation will fall below 4% before year-end is “a good reason
to pause.” BSP will hold its benchmark overnight borrowing rate at 6.25% at
its policy meeting on June 22, expects majority of the 24 economists polled by
Reuters June 13-19. BSP is now charting a distinct course after closely follow-
ing the US Federal Reserve in hiking interest rates in past quarters. The cen-
tral bank may not move in complete lock-step with the Fed if domestic infla-
tion warrants a different response, said BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila
Jr. last Thursday. The Fed kept interest rates unchanged at 5%-5.25% last
week. However, it signaled it may still increase by as much as half of a per-
centage point by end-2023.
Google looks to
assemble Pixel
smartphones
in India
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
@ New Delhi
US tech giant Google is looking
for suppliers in India to assem-
ble its Pixel smartphones.
As per the reports, Alphabet
Inc’s Google is in early talks
with companies including Lava
International and Dixon Tech-
nologies India as well as Fox-
conn Technology Group’s India
Unit Bharat FIH to manufac-
vestment in the skilling and de- ture its flagship device in India.
velopment of our associates Google is following Apple’s
and in our collective ability to footsteps that has diversified
innovate,” he said. its iPhone manufacturing from
Last month, the US-head- China to India. The company
quartered company announced has widened its supply base in
that it will lay off 1% or 3,500 India and tripled iPhone output
employees. The company said to over $7billion in the fiscal
it will expand its footprint in year through March 2023.
smaller cities in India in sup- The country has been pitch-
por t of its hybrid work ing for an alternative manufac-
strategy. turing hub, as more companies
The company’s net profit for are becoming wary of the risks
the first quarter in 2023 stood at of depending on China after its
$580 million, a 3% increase, harsh Covid lockdowns and
compared to $563 million in the trade war between Washington
same quarter last year. and Beijing. Pixel is the flagship
On Monday, the company an- device of Google. As per the
nounced that it has extended Counterpoint Research, Google
its relationship with Orkla, an built nearly 9 million Pixel
industrial investment compa- smartphones last year. The Lo-
ny. “Cognizant will modernize cal assembly could help Pixel
the delivery model which will sales as India is a key growth
gear Orkla IT toward a future market for Google’s services,
operating model that is essen- and if the effort is successful,
tial for the business transfor- Google could move production
mation of the companies under of other hardware such as speak-
the Orkla umbrella,” it said. ers to India, the report said.

11 TIRUPATI
INDIA-PAKISTAN BIG TICKET OPENER
Hosts will be determined to keep up good run and maintain their FIFA ranking ahead of World Cup qualifiers
V I S H N U P R A S A D @ Bengaluru
IT’S a throwback to a different
era! The Blue Tigers enter the
tournament with a lot to play
for. The opener in Bengaluru on
Wednesday will see them take
on neighbours Pakistan, a fix-
ture that hasn’t happened in al-
most five years. After threaten-
ing to fade into irrelevance for
over the last decade, the SAFF
Championship finally feels sig-
nificant again.
There was a time when the
Championship was the most
keenly-awaited event on India’s
international football calendar.
Back then, the Asian Cup was a
bridge too far, international
friendlies were unheard of and
an entire World Cup qualifying
campaign consisted of two un-
winnable matches against a
much stronger opponent. Natu-
rally, the SAFF Championships
was where the likes of IM Vi-
jayan and Baichung Bhutia
worked their magic.
Things changed in the 2010s
when changes in global football
threatened to push the champi-
onships into irrelevance. With
the AFC changing the format of
World Cup and Asian Cup quali-
fiers, India were suddenly as-
sured a healthy number of com-
petitive games each cycle.
Qualification for the Asian Cup
became easier with the tourna-
ment’s expansion to 24 teams.
India outgrew one-time rivals
like Sri Lanka and Pakistan,
which made the tournament
rather predictable until the final
— you have to go back 20 years
to 2003 for a SAFF final that did
not feature India. Last year,
months after India clinched a
fourth title in six attempts, In-
Ashes: Deciding day
lives up to billing
A G E N C I E S @ Birmingham
ONCE the sun came out, the
final day of the Ashes lived up
to its billing with all the ten-
sion of a courtroom drama.
On 107/3 chasing 281, Austral-
ia decided that the best way to
win was to tap, prod and de-
fend their way towards the to-
tal. At the time of going to
press, the phlegmatic Usman
Khawaja had just been dis-
missed, a marathon 197-ball 65
coming to an end after playing
on a seemingly harmless Ben
Stokes delivery. Keeping Alex
Carey company was captain
Pat Cummins, with the visi-
tors needing 72 at the time of
going to press.
England’s Stuart Broad (R) celebrates a wicket on Tuesday | AP
4x400m teams to be finalised later as AFI chief slams 75-day Asiad deadline
I N D R A N E E L D A S @ Chennai
THE conditions were brutal with
temperatures hovering around
the 44* C, with humidity as high
as 70-80 per cent. It felt like 52* C
during the day and did sound
like mid-summer madness. Most
of the events were either sched-
uled in the morning or evening
when temperatures were tolera-
ble. Yet, it did not deter athletes
from all over the country reach-
ing Bhubaneswar to take a final
shot at Asian Games qualifica-
tion during the Inter-state senior
national athletics champion-
ships between June 15 and 19.
The entry for the Games closes
next month and the AFI has to
send the final list by then. “After
entry closes it will be extremely
difficult to change names,” Ath-
WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023
� �
The Blue Tigers recently got the better of Lebanon in Bhubaneswar to clinch Intercontinental Cup | EXPRESS
dia captain Sunil Chhetri went
on record saying the SAFF
Championships should now be
contested by India’s U23 team.
Indeed, this was something that
was attempted by former coach
Stephen Constantine in 2013,
when a largely U23 side lost to
Maldives in the final.
This time though, things are
different. India enter the four-
teenth edition of the tourna-
ment with a lot to play for. On
one hand, a much-tougher field,
with the likes of Lebanon and
Kuwait, will prove the Blue Ti-
gers, fresh off a morale-boost-
ing victory in the Interconti-
nental Cup in Bhubaneswar,
with more valuable playing-
time before the Asian Cup in
January. On the other, the draw
ceremony for the 2026 World
Cup qualifiers is set to happen
in July and India will need to be
at their best to prevent a dip in
The post-lunch session be-
gan with Scott Boland and
Khawaja keeping the hosts’
bowlers at bay. Just when it
seemed like England were get-
ting desperate for a wicket,
Stuart Broad provided the
breakthrough by removing
the nightwatchman.
Though Travis Head was
never in before being snaffled
by Joe Root, Cameron Green
and Khawaja, during their 49-
run stand (three boundaries),
epitomised their run-chase.
Their policy was simple. Take
the game deep and win the
game. With just over an hour’s
play remaining and three
wickets in hand, the match
was tantalisingly close.
letics Federation of India chief
Adille Sumariwalla told this dai-
ly. He is not happy that the entry
closes 75 days before the Games
in September-October. “To final-
ise the names 75 days in advance
is ridiculous,” he said. “Even in
Worlds and Olympics, it’s usually
15 days. The Olympic Council of
Asia should have thought about
this. The Games is for the ath-
letes and not the organisers. If
we hold another event in the next
few days, the results will differ.”
The AFI chief pointed out to
events where athletes have very
close victories. “Look at long
jump, javelin or 1500m women…
there is so much competition and
results might change,” he said.
Athletics is one sport in which
India has been dominating in
Asia. In 2018, athletics had 20
rankings. Before the Interconti-
nental Cup, India looked set to
take up their familiar place in
Pot 3, which would have left
them with two tough opponents
in the first group stage. How-
ever, victory over Lebanon in
the final catapulted India to
99th in the live FIFA rankings,
and to 18th in Asia. This means
that, as things stand, India are
now the final team in Pot 2 and
stand a good chance of getting
a much more navigable chal-
lenge in the group phases. All
they have to do is to maintain
their rankings superiority over
Lebanon till the end of the
tournament.
The SAFF Championships
though are a potential banana
peel with every team bar Leba-
non vastly inferior to India in
rankings. Even a draw will lead
to loss of ranking points which
will put India’s position under
Paris Olympics organisers in turmoil
A F P @ Paris
POLICE raided the headquar-
ters of the Paris 2024 Olympics
on Tuesday just over a year be-
fore the opening ceremony of
the quadrennial sporting show-
piece. Raids were carried out at
the headquarters of the com-
mittee, which is known as Cojo,
and at the offices of Solideo, the
body in charge of the Olympic
construction sites.
Battle of North in
Duleep opener
A G E N C I E S @ New Delhi
CENTRAL Zone will take on
East Zone while North Zone
will play North East Zone on
the opening day of Duleep Tro-
phy beginning in Bengaluru
from June 28.
The match between Central
Zone and East Zone will be
played at the Alur Cricket Sta-
dium, while the game between
North Zone and North East
Zone — the sixth and latest en-
trant in the domestic first-class
tournament — will take place
a t t h e M C h i n n a sw a m y
Stadium.
The two games will effective-
ly serve as quarterfinals. Last
season’s Duleep Trophy win-
ners West Zone and runners-up
South have been given direct
entry into the semifinals.
medals in all. The break-up was
sumptuous too – eight gold, nine
silver and three bronze. The med-
als this time might increase a tri-
fle. This augurs wells for sports
ministry and the Sports Author-
ity of India (the facilitator) too.
Apparently, during internal
meetings with officials and Indi-
an Olympic Association (IOA),
the projection is around 19 gold
and the best ever medal haul.
However, since it will be held
in China this time might be a lit-
tle difficult. “We will definitely
do better than last time but since
it’s being held in China, the chal-
lenges will me more than Jakar-
ta edition.”
The AFI is keeping a close
watch on the 400m women’s run-
ners as well. The quartet that
ran in 2018 — MR Poovamma,
Chirag-Satwik rise to
career-high World No 3
threat. Igor Stimac’s men will
have to be at their best.
A day before the opener
against Pakistan, the Croatian
coach dispelled any notion of
complacency. “This SAFF
Championship is going to be
very competitive. Our group is
special (Pakistan, Nepal and
Kuwait), and every game will
be different,” he said. “Let’s not
be misled by the great perform-
ance against Lebanon, as every
day is a new challenge. Keeping
consistency is very important
for us”
Due to only getting visas at
the last possible minute, Paki-
stan will virtually be travelling
from the airport to the Kanteer-
ava turf. However, Stimac dis-
pelled any notion of an easy
game. “Let’s not speak about
the rankings here. Pakistan
were better than Kenya (in their
0-1 loss) away from home. They
Prosecutors (PNF) confirmed
that they had authorised the
raids in connection to two sepa-
rate ongoing investigations.
A spokesman for prosecutors
said the probes concerned “il-
legal conflict of interest, mis-
use of public funds and favour-
itism”. The first investigation
was launched in 2017 involving
the anti-corruption and finan-
cial crime investigators con-
cerning a series of contracts
Raza rules as Zimbabwe
post win in WC qualifier
A F P @ Harare
SIKANDAR Raza delivered an
all-rounder’s masterclass to
help Zimbabwe to a convinc-
ing six-wicket win over the
Netherlands in their Cricket
World Cup Group A qualifier
on Tuesday. After first bag-
ging four Dutch wickets, Raza
then hit an entertaining un-
beaten 102 off just 54 balls —
the fastest ever hundred in
ODIs by a Zimbabwe player.
The Netherlands had posted
315 for six wickets thanks to 88
from Vikramjit Singh, 83 from
skipper Scott Edwards and 59
from Max O’Dowd.
Saqib Zulfiqar chipped in
with a run-a-ball 34 not out to
boost the total off their allot-
ATHLETICS
M Sreeshankar was one of the athletes
who did well in Bhubaneswar meet
Saritaben Gaikwad, Hima Das
and VK Vismaya — are no longer
in the scheme of things for dif-
ferent reasons. Hima, the 400m
silver medallist in 2018, has not
GROUPINGS
Group A: India, Kuwait,
Nepal, Pakistan
Group B: Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Lebanon, Maldives
8
With eight titles, India are
the most successful team in
the history of the tournament.
12 Twelve of the 13 SAFF
finals so far have
featured India.
2 Sunil Chhetri has top-
scored in the SAFF
Championship on two
occasions (2011 & 2021).
23
Maldives’ Ali Ashfaq is
the tournament’s
highest-ever scorer with 23
goals. Chhetri is next with 18.
195 Pakistan are the
lowest-ranked
team in the tournament with a
FIFA ranking of 195. After India
and Lebanon, Kuwait (143) is
the next-highest ranked team.
11 India are on an
impressive run of form,
having lost only once in their
last 11 games.
WEDNESDAY’S MATCHES
Kuwait vs Nepal
@ 3.30 PM; India vs
Pakistan @ 7:30 PM.
SEMIFINALS: JULY 1
FINAL: JULY 4
Live on FanCode
created better chances and were
more aggressive. Yes, they de-
fended deep, but they have six
to seven players who were de-
veloped abroad.”
signed off by “several powerful
decision makers linked to the
Games, notably the Cojo and
their predecessors GIP 2024
(the bidding committee),” said
the prosecutors. The second in-
vestigation was opened in 2022
and allocated to the BRDE, the
financial brigade of the Paris-
ian police.
They are looking into suspi-
cions of conflict of interest and
favouritism.
Sikandar Raza took four wickets
before smashing a ton on Tuesday | AP
ted 50 overs. Brief scores: Group A:
Netherlands 315/6 in 50 ovs (Vikramjit Singh
88, Scott Edwards 83; Sikandar Raza 4/55)
lost to Zimbabwe 319/4 in 40.5 ovs (Sikan-
dar Raza 102 n.o, Sean Williams 91, Craig Er-
vine 50). USA 207 in 49 ovs (Shayan Jahangir
100 n.o; Karan KC 4/33) lost to Nepal 211/4
in 43 ovs (Bhim Sharki 77 n.o).
been running 400m due to a back
injury. Poovamma failed a dope
test and has been banned while
Saritaben is not competing. Vis-
maya is out of form.
Four runners have attained
the AG qualification mark. An-
jali Devi is back with a 51.48s and
young Himanshi Malik too ran a
sub-52s. R Vithya Ramraj and
Aishwarya Mishra were the oth-
er two who managed to run be-
low the qualifying mark of 52.96.
The AFI is yet to decide on the
final combination. “It’s too early
for the final four combination
but we should be winning gold
again,” he said. Asked about An-
jali Devi, who is making a come-
back after three years, he said
she has been part of the national
camp. As far as the 400m men’s
goes, three runners have at-
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty achieved a career-best World
No 3. They beat Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia to win the
Indonesia Open. In men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth jumped to World No 19,
following Lakshya Sen closely on World No 18. HS Prannoy held on to his
ninth spot. In the women’s singles, PV Sindhu was placed at World No 12.
newindianexpress com
Wrestlers seek US
camp before trials
F I R O Z M I R Z A @ Chennai
STILL awaiting Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA) reply to their
request, the top wrestlers of the country including Bajrang Pu-
nia and Vinesh Phogat want to have a training camp in the USA
before competing at the Asian Games selection trials. A request
in this regard has been pending with the sports ministry.
Expressing their desire to qualify for the Asiad, these wres-
tlers, who have staged a historic protest against the Wrestling
Federation of India (WFI) and its sidelined chief Brij Bhushan
Sharan Singh, have requested the sports ministry to extend the
date of selection trials so that they can get time to prepare for it.
The ministry in turn requested Indian Olympic Association
(IOA) to seek time from the OCA. The IOA sends entries for the
Asian Games and the last date for sending the final list is July
15. The wrestlers, however, want at least a month to prepare and
want the trials to be held by August 10.
“Bajrang, his wife Sangeeta Phogat, Vinesh, Sakshi Malik and
her husband Satyawart Kadian have submitted the request to
the sports ministry. They want to train in Michigan, USA. They
have procured the letter of permission from the centre which
specifies expenditure per athlete,” sources in the know of things
told this daily. Usually, such requests go through the federation
but with the WFI defunct at the moment, it should have been
directed to the ministry by the ad-hoc committee, which has
been formed to manage the day-to-day affairs of the body. How-
ever, sources claimed that the wrestlers have sent the
request directly to the ministry.
“The ministry or the Sports Authority of In-
dia (SAI) could get in touch with the ad-hoc
committee when it decides on the request. So
far, the committee has not been taken into con-
fidence,” added sources.
Notably, Bajrang and Vinshes are in the core
group of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)
and their tour can be sanctioned by the ministry under the
scheme. The SAI can also allow their sparring partners, coaches
and physiotherapists to accompany them as has been the prac-
tice. Given the situation, Sangeeta can accompany Vinesh as a
sparring partner. But what criteria SAI follows for Sakshi and
Satyawart is not yet known.
It should be mentioned here the TOPS approved Bajrang and
Vinesh’s requests to train in Kyrgyzstan and Poland respectively
in March this year. However, the duo later declined to undertake
the exposure and training camp fetching the ire of the SAI.
“It all depends on OCA’s approval as if it accepts the IOA’s
request then the camp would be of use otherwise these wrestlers
have to appear in trials which can be held before July 15 if they
wish to compete in the Asiad,” said one of the sources.
Deadline extension looks difficult?
The request from the IOA is still pending with the OCA. Going
by the initial discussions, it is understood that the OCA might
find it difficult to get an extension from the organising commit-
tee. The deadline for sending final list of athletes is July 15 and
if sources are to be believed altering the deadline will be difficult
because more than one stakeholder is involved. Also it’s the mat-
ter of 45 countries and over 35 sports at the Asian Games. If it
will be changed for one it has to be changed for others is the
logic. Yet it is learnt the OCA is trying their best to give wrestlers
some relief. Full story: newindianexpress.com
EXPRESS READ
FC Goa bolster defence with signing of Jhingan
MARGAO: FC Goa can confirm that the Club has completed the
signing of one Indian football’s most well-known names and the
national team’s commander-in-chief in defence, Sandesh Jhingan.
The 29-year-old centre-back joins on a 3 year contract and will be
the third Indian international to join the FC Goa ranks this summer,
following the arrivals of Rowllin Borges and Udanta Singh.
Bopanna to spearhead India to open Asian CT
tennis team at Asiad campaign vs China
NEW DELHI: Rohan Bopanna CHENNAI: The Indian men’s
will lead India’s hopes in tennis hockey team will open its Asian
at the Asian Games. The men’s Champions Trophy campaign
team comprises Sumit Nagal, against China on day one of
Sasikumar Mukund, Davis the tournament, to be played
Cupper Ramkumar here from August 3 to 12. Hosts
Ramanathan, Yuki Bhambri India and China will face each
and Saketh Myneni besides the other in the last match of the
43-year-old Bopanna. The opening day of the tournament
women’s contingent will be led at the Mayor Radhakrishnan
by Ankita Raina. Hockey Stadium.
Mbappe penalty gives France win over Greece
PARIS: A Kylian Mbappe penalty gave France a 1-0 victory over
10-man Greece on Monday that maintained their perfect record in
qualifying for Euro 2024. The Paris Saint-Germain superstar, and
France captain, had his initial kick saved early in the second half but
was allowed a second attempt because of encroachment into the
area by a Greek defender. He made no mistake second time around.
tained the qualification mark — showed why she is touted as In-
Muhammed Anas (45.76s), Mu- dia’s future in sprint. She won
hammed Ajmal V (45.90s) and both 100m straight and her pet
Amoj Jacob (45.91s). It needs to 100m hurdles with another sub-
be seen who will be the other 13 sec with a timing of 12.92.
members in the 4x400m team. There are quite a few events
Out of the four — Dharun Ay- where more than two athletes
yasamy, Kunhu Mohammed, Ra- have qualified. “We will go by
jiv Arokia and Anas — that won our selection policy that’s on our
a silver in 2018, only Anas com- website,” Sumariwalla said. The
peted in Bhubaneswar. AFI will be sending two athletes
Seasoned athlete Tajinderpal where they think India have a
Singh Toor, who had to change chance of winning more than
his coach after Mohinder Singh one medal. Sumariwalla said
Dhillon shifted to Australia, this is heartening because earli-
threw a national record of er there used be one or two ath-
21.77m. M Sreeshankar, who is letes qualifying but this time
back from a training stint in the there are events in which more
US and Europe, cleared 8.41m than two have attained qualifica-
during the qualification along- tion standard. “It’s simple, the
side Jeswin Aldrin (8.42m). Up best will go,” he said. He said
and coming athlete, Jyothi Yar- there will be a fitness trials be-
raji, from Andhra Pradesh fore the Games.
 Tropical Storm Bret chugged toward the eastern Homeless people in California are already a vulnerable
Caribbean on Tuesday as the region prepared itself for an group, often struggling with poor health, trauma and
unusually early storm and the torrential rains that are deep poverty before they lose their housing, according to
forecast. a new study on adult homelessness.

12 TIRUPATI WEDNESDAY 21 06 2023

� � newindianexpress com

Synthetic human China imports of Russian oil highest since the war
embryo models
ENERGY nomic partner, with trade be- ing to levels not seen since Mos- Putin pledged to boost trade to Western punishments over
tween them reaching a record cow’s invasion of Ukraine. $200 billion in 2023 as they Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
BEIJING: Chinese imports of $190 billion last year. They also occur in the con- hailed their “no limits” Speaking about Russia’s econ-

spark concerns
Russian oil last month hit their
highest level since Moscow’s
February 2022 invasion of
Ukraine, customs data showed
on Tuesday, as Beijing offers an
economic lifeline to an increas-
Scientists have used stem cells to make ingly isolated Kremlin.
structures that resemble human embryos China is Russia’s largest eco-
In May, China imported 9.71
million tonnes of oil from Rus-
sia, Beijing said, more than
double the amount from Febru-
ary 2022. The figures reflect a
broader deepening of econom-
ic ties between the countries,
with overall trade in May soar-
text of China’s rebounding
economy, following the end of
strict zero-Covid measures late
last year that had bitten into
energy demand.
During a summit in March,
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and
Russian President Vladimir
partnership.
Russian energy deliveries to
China this year are set to grow
by 40%, Deputy Prime Minister
Alexander Novak said last
month.
Russia’s gas exports plum-
meted in 2022 after a flurry of
omy this month, Putin said the
second quarter of last year had
been “the most difficult” after
unprecedented sanctions.
As Europe looked for other
energy suppliers, Moscow
turned to alternative buyers in-
cluding China.

RESEARCH
PARIS: Scientists have used
stem cells to create structures
that resemble human embryos
in the lab, in a first that has
prompted calls for stricter reg-
ulation in the rapidly advanc-
ing field.
Several different labs around
the world have released pre-
print studies in the past seven
days describing their research,
which experts said should be
treated with caution as the re-
search has not yet been peer-
reviewed. The labs used differ-
ent techniques to encourage
human embryonic stem cells,
which can become any type of
cell, to self-assemble into a
structure that resembles an
embryo— without needing
sperm, an egg or fertilisation.
The aim is to give scien-
tists a model with which
to study human embry-
os in ways never before
possible because of
ethical concerns, in
the hopes of gaining
new insight into the
causes of birth defects, ge-
netic disorders, infertility and
other problems during
pregnancy.
The first announcement was
last Wednesday, when Magdale-
na Zernicka-Goetz of Cam-
bridge University and the Cali-
fornia Institute of Technology
described her team’s work at
the International Society for
Stem Cell Research’s annual
meeting in Boston.
On Thursday, the team of
Jacob Hanna at the Weizmann
Institute of Science in Israel
published a pre-print study de-
tailing their own work on stem
cell-based human embryo mod-
els. The Zernicka-Goetz team
then quickly published a pre-
print of their own, giving more
information. Other labs based
Regulations
Regulations for research in
this area differ between
countries but most apply to
embryos that have been
fertilised—a loophole the
new embryo-like models slip
through. Cambridge
University said it launched a
project to develop the first
governance framework for
stem cell-based human
embryo models in the UK.
in China and the US followed
suit, releasing pre-prints late
last week. Researchers have
pushed back against media re-
ports calling the clumps of
cells “synthetic embryos,” say-
ing that they are neither strict-
ly synthetic, having grown
from stem cells, nor
should they be consid-
ered embryos. Within a
few weeks of each oth-
er in August last year,
both the Zernicka-Goetz
and Hanna teams pub-
lished papers about their
work creating the first embryo-
like structures using stem cells
from mice.
Hanna rejected the idea that
either team was “first”, saying
they had achieved quite differ-
ent feats. He said his models
had a “placenta, a yolk sac, am-
niotic cavity” and other em-
bryo features that he said the
Zer nicka-Goetz structures
lacked. Both labs said they had
developed their embryo models
for 14 days, the legal limit for
growing human embryos in the
lab in many countries. After 14
days embryos start organising
cells to form organs including
the brain, a period called the
“black box” because little is
known about human embryos
beyond that point.
FACT OF THE MATTER
Istanbul’s new Population boost in
museum Germany
HISTORY REFUGEES
I stanbul’s museum of modern art
moved on Tuesday into a
futuristic building overlooking the
L arge numbers of refugees from
Ukraine fleeing Russia’s war
fuelled a 1.3% rise in Germany’s
Bosphorus Strait designed by the population last year, helping push
Italian-born architect of London’s up the number of inhabitants in
Shard skyscraper and the Pompidou EU’s most populous country to more
Centre in Paris. Established in 2004, than 84.4 million, official statistics
the Istanbul Modern in 2018 moved showed. Germany’s population
out of a rustic building. The city expanded by 1.12 million in 2022, the
then launched a regeneration Federal Statistical Office said. That
project that rebuilt a long stretch of compared with an increase of just
the European side of the Bosphorus 0.1%, or 82,000 people, the previous
shoreline. The museum’s three- year. All of Germany’s 16 states saw
storey steel building, featuring a their populations increase. At the
transparent ground floor end of 2022
Himalayan glaciers melting away
ENVIRONMENT
G laciers are melting at unprecedented rates across
the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges and
could lose up to 80% of their volume this century if
greenhouse gas emissions aren’t sharply reduced, ac-
cording to a report. The report from Kathmandu-based
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Devel-
opment warned that flash floods and avalanches would grow more likely in
coming years, and that the availability of fresh water would be affected for
nearly 2 billion people who live downstream of 12 rivers that originate in the
mountains. Various reports have found that the cryosphere—regions on
Earth covered by snow and ice — are among the worst affected by climate
change. Among the key findings from the report are that the Himalayan
glaciers disappeared 65% faster since 2010 than in the previous decade and
reducing snow cover due to global warming reducing water for people.

‘Investigate
what powers
ChatGPT’
TECH

LONDON: European Union con-

sumer protection groups urged
regulators on Tuesday to investi-
gate the type of artificial intelli-
gence underpinning systems like
ChatGPT, citing risks that leave
people vulnerable and the delay
before the bloc’s groundbreaking
AI regulations take effect.
In a coordinated ef fort,
13 watchdog groups wrote to their
national consumer, data protec-
tion, competition and product
safety authorities warning them
about a range of concerns around
generative artificial intelligence.
A transatlantic coalition of
consumer groups also wrote to US
President Joe Biden asking him to
take action to protect consumers
NO-FLY ZONE from possible harms caused by
generative Artificial
A common kingfisher sits with an insect on its beak on a warning sign reading “no flying of model aircraft” in Singapore | AFP Intelligence.

RAMPANT JOBLESSNESS

Recent grads in China confront a bleak job market

EMPLOYMENT
BEIJING: Rather than celebrating
finishing university, this summer
Chinese graduates shared photos
of themselves theatrically throw-
ing their degrees into bins, under-
scoring the bleak outlook as youth
unemployment sits at a record
high.
The jobless rate could rise even
further this summer, analysts
warned, providing another head-
ache for the government as it tries
to jumpstart the
country’s sluggish post-Covid
economy. With well-paid jobs few
and far between, young people
said they were opting to remain in
university, while others are scram-
bling for limited government jobs
as opportunities in the private
sector dry up. Sampson Li, who
graduated this month with a mas-
People attending a job fair in China’s
southwestern city of Chongqing | AFP
ter’s degree in software engineer-
ing, was looking for work but has
given up to apply for a doctorate
instead.
The 24-year-old said he passed
three rounds of interviews at a
major tech company in Shenzhen,
dubbed China’s Silicon Valley, be-
fore the employer said it had fro-
zen recruitments.
“Three other companies asked
me to take a lower pay than the
market rate,” he said. “I can’t sur-
vive with that salary in this city.”
Data released last Thursday by
the National Bureau of Statistics
showed May’s unemployment rate
for people aged 16-24 hit 20.8 per-
cent, an increase on the previous
record of 20.4% hit in April.
Larry Hu, Macquarie Group’s
chief China economist, warned
that the figure could increase fur-
ther in July when 11.6 million
more college graduates start look-
ing for work.
“Corporates are reluctant to
hire because of soft consumer de-
mand, while consumers are reluc-
tant to spend because of the weak
labour market,” he said. At a
State Council meeting in April,
Premier Li Qiang pledged to en-
sure stable employment opportu-
nities for young people. “We have
to take measures to stabilise the
scale of employment in manufac-
turing and foreign trade enter-
prises, optimise university cur-
riculums, and improve the quality
of vocational education and skills
training based on the market de-
mand,” Li said.
However, a hoped-for raft of
stimulus measures for the econo-
my, including help to boost the
jobs market, fell flat, as did an in-
terest rate cut Tuesday, which was
less than expected. One of the rea-
sons China’s once-freewheeling
private sector is seeing much
slower growth is because of a
sweeping government crackdown
on property companies, tech gi-
ants and private tutoring firms.