tirupati l sunday l november 01, 2020 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l anantapur EDITION top u.s. firms bACK ACTION AGAINST TRUMP’S h-1b RULES Forty-six firms including Facebook and Google have filed an amicus brief backing a legal challenge to the new H-1B rules The bone of contention ‘new rules may stunt u.s. Recovery’ It comes days after US President Donald Trump’s administration proposed to scrap the computerised lottery system to grant H-1B work visas and replace it with a wage-level-based selection process. The US government said the new selection process will incentivise employers to offer higher wages or petition for positions requiring higher-skilled workers ■ ■ The amicus curie states the new process’ thrust on higher wages will make it harder for US firms to hire skilled foreign workers It may “stunt the US economy’s recovery from the pandemic, and lead to greater reliance by US firms on operations abroad,” the document, also signed by Twitter, Apple and Microsoft, warned 5.83 lakh People are currently working in the U.S. on H1-B visas, says the report CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Resolve impasse on revised cost of Polavaram: CM to PM Capping expenditure may result in incompletion of national project: Jagan E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada It’s showtime A worker sanitises Urvasi INOX in Vijayawada as the multiplex set to screen films from Sunday, strictly adhering to Covid-19 norms | Prasant Madugula Inter 2nd year classes from Nov 2, enough 1st year seats 32,400 seats are available in the new general colleges, there are 11,000 Announcing that classes for In- seats in the new vocational colleges. termediate second year only will Around 5.5 lakh students are exstart on November 2 and the classes pected to take admission in junior for first year students will begin on colleges this year. So the students November 16, Education Minister and parents need not to worry .” Audimulapu Suresh The Education Minsaid parents and stuister said that a total of 35% of inter dents need not worry 2,07,040 seats are availsyllabus cut on the availability of able in 647 aided colAfter condensing the first year seats though leges, 47,740 seats in 598 syllabus in view of the more than 400 junior vocational/social/tribcolleges in the State delay in commencement al welfare colleges and were not permitted to of academic year due to approximately 2,59,400 Covid-19, the State conduct classes this acseats in private unaidCouncil of Educational ademic year. ed colleges and 26,100 Research and Training Clarifying doubts reseats in unaided vocagarding admissions (SCERT) stated that 35 tional colleges. into first year Interme- per cent of the syllabus Board of Intermedihas been reduced for diate at a press conferate Education Commisstudents of first and ence here on Saturday, sioner V Ramakrishna second year he said, “As many as said 401 out of the total Intermediate for the 6,31,274 students have 2,844 colleges were not year 2020-21 passed the SSC exam. permitted to run InterWe have a total of mediate classes this 5,83,780 Intermediate seats available year as they do not have requisite in all streams in junior colleges in infrastructure. Some colleges are the State, including newly estab- functioning in commercial comlished institutions. As many as 107 plexes or ACC sheds. Some colleges new general category colleges and failed to furnish the requisite infor43 new vocational colleges have mation on the BIE website for getP5 been given formal approval. While ting permission.  E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada W I TH TH I S I SSUE The WiFi Fit List PLUS 12 PAGES e x pr e s s r e a d November 30 is new deadline for disposal of BPS applications Vijayawada: The Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department has once again extended the deadline for disposal of the Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) applications till November 30. On Saturday, MAUD Secretary J Syamala Rao issued an order (RT 487) extending the deadline for clearance of the pending BPS applications. The deadline for the BPS is extended for the third time by the MAUD. rules tweaked Multi-specialty hospital must before starting med college E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi The government on Saturday announced new regulations to start a medical college, making it mandatory to set up a fully functional 300bed multi-specialty hospital for at least two years at the time of application for establishing a new medical college. The norm is part of the “Minimum Requirements for Annual MBBS Admissions Regulations, 2020” notified by the newly-established National Medical Commission. The new norm replaces the “Minimum Standard Requirements for Medical Colleges, 1999,” passed by the Medical Council of India. The earlier regulations did not specify the period of functionality for hospitals for starting new medical colleges. As per the new norms, the beds required in various departments of the teaching hospital have also been rationalised to align with the annual student intake, teaching time to be spent in clinical specialties and the minimum clinical material required for undergraduate medical training. The new rules are applicable to all proposed medical colleges and to the established medical colleges proposing to increase their annual MBBS intake from the academic year 2021-22. During the transitory period, the already existing medical colleges will be governed by the relevant regulations prior to the current notification. “The new standards have been defined keeping the functional requirements of the institution,” the union health ministry said. P7 Diamonds are forever He embodied the suave superspy Bond ever. The actor’s robust physique landed him Legendary actor, Sir Sean Connery, the role of a battered prizefighter in the known widely for playing James Bond, 1956 BBC production, Requiem for a has died at the age of 90, after a prolonged Heavyweight. battle with illness. His first film to get a theatrical release The actor’s tryst with playing Bond was No Road Back, a 1956 crime movie. began with Dr. No (1962), when he A noteworthy performance in the Sean was 32, and lasted for as many as 1961 TV movie, Anna Karenina, Connery seven Bond films. brought him the attention needed Legend has it that Bond author to win a newspaper poll, in which 1930-2020 Ian Fleming, who was initially readers were asked to suggest the sceptical of Connery playing the ideal actor to play James Bond. part, was so impressed by the Scottish After an interview with producers actor’s portrayal that he gave the Bond Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, Concharacter Scottish ancestry in his later nery reportedly landed the role without books. even a screen test. A poll by a British weekly magazine this It was a controversial choice at the time, year, on the occasion of Connery’s 90th but one that subsequent international P5 birthday declared him as the best James fame has corroborated.  , E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the Union Finance Ministry’s decision to cap the expenditure of Polavaram Irrigation Project (PIP) was not only ‘a total negation’ of the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (APRA) 2014, but also unrea l i s t i c, wh i ch m ay re s u l t i n incompletion of the project. He also pointed out that restricting the funding was also not in accordance with the national project guidelines, and sought the Prime Minister’s ‘personal intervention’ to prevail upon the Finance Ministry to approve the project’s revised cost estimates (RCE) of `55,656.87 crore at the 2017-18 price level (PL). Jagan is likely to meet Modi soon to apprise him of the developments pertaining to the Polavaram project. In his letter dated October 28, the Chief Minister apprised the Prime Minister of the ‘latest happenings’ related to the RCE. Referring to the Finance Ministry’s letter to the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) dated October 12, in which it sanctioned the release of cost reimbursement subject to the condition that the RCE at the 2013-14 PL, that too after removing the water supply component, is accepted, the Chief Minister said, “This tantamounts to accepting unrealistic cost to complete a national project declared under the APRA as per which the Government of India shall bear the entire project cost... At this juncture, any unrealistic cost estimates would result in the project remaining incomplete.” He stated that the cost of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (LARR) itself was `28,191.03 crore out of the total outlay of `47,725.74 crore as per the RCE approved by the Revised Cost Committee (RCC) at the 201718 PL. “Therefore, by capping the expenditure for the entire PIP at `20,398.61 crore at the 2013-14 PL for irrigation component only is totally unrealistic and not in accordance with the earlier commitments of the Union government and the guidelines for national projects, and also in violation of the APRA, enacted by Parliament. When the land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement cost for rehabilitating the project displaced families itself is `28,191 crore, how is it possible to complete the entire project with `20,398.61 crore?” he P4 asked.  Jagan to meet Modi on Polavaram soon Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar said CM Jagan Mohan Reddy will shortly meet PM Modi to discuss the issue of revised cost estimates of Polavaram, which has become a bone of contention between the State and Centre. ‘Delay resulted in cost escalation of PIP’ Jagan pointed out that the price escalation of PIP was a resultant of time overrun, change in design and enhancement of the compensation as per the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.