NATIONWIDE Oct 11 Oct 12 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Jab-o-meter Take your shot 18,132 21,563 193 14,313 26,579 181 October 11 59,62,469 doses October 12 46,23,892 doses Total doses: 96,38,92,045 odisha oct 11 oct 12 Fresh cases sambalpur l wednesday l October 13, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Retail inflation at a 5-month low, industrial output grows Retail inflation declined to 4.35% in September, mainly due to lower food prices, according to govt data released on Tuesday food prices moderate in september Industrial output expands in august The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation was at 5.3% in August 2021 and at 7.27% in September 2020. The inflation in food basket eased to 0.68% in September 2021, significantly down from 3.11% recorded in the preceding month. For the third consecutive month, CPI inflation stayed within the Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance band of 2-6% in September ■ The manufacturing sector, which constitutes 77.63% of the Index of Industrial Production, grew 9.7% in August, data showed ■ Mining output during August expanded by a robust 23.6% ■ Consumer durables manufacturing increased 8% in August 2021 against a decline of 10.2% in August 2020 | P10 448 529 Recoveries Deaths 469 06 546 06 11.5% The Growth in industrial production recorded in july 2021 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 Modi calls out selective fury, says it damages human rights M A N IS H A N A N D @ New Delhi Harms India’s image: PM “In incidents of similar nature, there are some who see violation of human rights in some case, while ignoring the others. Selective outrage is harmful to democracy. It also harms India’s image,” Modi remarked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at selective outrage by a section of the people, saying political opportunism causes maximum damage to human rights. While he did not identify the people who were “weighing violations of human rights on the scale of political gains and losses”, his remarks assumed significance in the backdrop of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. For, the BJP then launched a blistering attack on the Congress for overlooking atrocities against members of the scheduled castes in Rajasthan. Modi was speaking at the 28th foundation day ceremony of the National Human Rights Commission. “There’s another aspect linked to the issue of human rights that I wish to mention. In incidents of similar nature, there are some who see violation of human rights in some case, while ignoring others. Human rights suffer the most when the incidents are seen with political glasses. Such selective outrage is much harmful to democracy ,” the Prime Minister remarked. Hours later, the BJP held a presser to show video clippings of violence against members of the scheduled castes in Congress-ruled Rajasthan. Referring to Modi’s remarks earlier in the day, BJP national general secretary Dushyant Gautam said his (Modi) anguish is justified since victims of the Rajasthan violence want Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to show similar solidarity with them as he’s been doing in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri. “Since UP is heading for polls, Congress leaders are trooping into Lakhimpur Kheri while ignoring similar atrocities elsewhere,” he charged.The BJP broadside came a day after its top leadership brainstormed its strategy for UP. While the party had earlier hoped that Lakhimpur would be handled locally, the escalating political heat forced the top brass to lead the attack. Govt med colleges too catch faculty data fudge bug S u m i S u k an ya D u t ta @ New Delhi Alarmed at reports that government medical colleges have started data fudging to show higher faculty count, the Centre has asked all colleges to share details of vacancies in all departments immediately Till now, the malaise was . restricted to dodgy private medical colleges. In a letter issued to all government medical colleges in the country on Monday accessed by this newspaper, the Na, tional Medical Commission asked them for these details within 24 hours. There are about 275 government medical colleges in India at present. The letter said the Union government had taken a serious view of the matter, adding it could figure in a conference Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to have with state chief secretaries. The Commission said its Medi- Curbs off, domestic flights at full capacity from Oct 18 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi FROM October 18, domestic flights can operate without any capacity restriction, the Centre said on Tuesday Cur. rently, the domestic carriers can operate only up to 85% (of their pre-Covid services). “After review of the current status of Scheduled Domestic Operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel in terms of the purpose specified in the initial order dated May 21, 2020... it has been decided to restore the scheduled domestic air operations with effect from 18-102021 without any capacity restriction,” read the order issued by the civil aviation ministry . With the gradual decline in coronavirus cases, airports across the country are recording heavy rush. In a bizarre incident last week, many flyers reportedly missed their flights due to long lines of passengers at the Mumbai airport. On October 9, Indian carriers operated 2,340 domestic flights, which is nearly 71% of their total pre-Covid capacity . Airlines witnessed around 61,100 departures in September compared to 39,628 in the same month of 2020. The number of departures in the month went higher by 6% as Covid-19 infections witnessed a decrease. Private airlines IndiGo and Vistara welcomed the Central government’s decision. Taking serious view The letter said the Union government had taken a serious view of the matter, adding it could figure in a conference Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have with chief secretaries cal Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) observed that faculty positions in many departments of government medical colleges have stayed vacant for several years. “The colleges and the institutions for undergraduate, postgraduate and broad and super-speciality courses without proper eligibility qualifications of the teachers,” said the letter signed by MARB member G Suryanarayana Raju. Teachers in some government medical colleges this newspaper spoke to conceded that to tide over faculty shortage, many of them have been calling teachers from other institutions on short deputation. “Faculty shortage was a major problem during regulatory inspections. Though inspections are happening only during seat enhancement, government medical colleges are struggling to show the required number of teachers and are forced to call them on deputation though they are bound to other institutions,” said a senior faculty attached with a medical college in Himachal Pradesh. Another faculty member in UP said the practice was rampant in the state as well. “It is also because many doctors do not want to teach in rural and tribal areas. Besides, a proposal to get private practitioners to teach in medical colleges as guest faculties has not picked up too well,” he pointed out. bharat biotech Covaxin safe for 2-plus age group, says expert panel S u m i S u k an ya D u t ta @ New Delhi bharat Biotech’s Covaxin can be administrated on adolescents and children as young as two years, an expert panel of India’s apex drug regulator has recommended. The final approval by the Drug Controller General of India is expected soon, sources said. All data related to the clinical trials in the 2-17 years age group has been submitted to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and the subject expert committee, Bharat Biotech said in a statement on Tuesday . “This represents one of the first approvals worldwide for Covid-19 vaccines for the 2-18 age group,” said the company . “We now await further regulatory approvals from the CDSCO prior to product launch and market availability of Covaxin for Children. Raches Ella, clinic lead of Covid vaccines at the company said in a tweet that Covaxin has been , “reported to be safe and immunogenic” in a paediatric cohort and “the approval in children will help expedite the reopening of schools”. Once the final approval by the Drug Controller General of India comes, Covaxin would be the second vaccine after Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV D to be permitted for under 18 population group in India. Cadila’s three-dose vaccine has got emergency use authorisation for use in those above 12 years. For children, the vaccines will be supplied in pre-filled syringes instead of vials, said an official. 3 Maoists gunned down in Malkangiri E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar THREE suspected rebels members, including two women cadres, of the banned CPI (Maoist) were gunned down in an exchange of fire with the security forces at Tulsi forest in Malkangiri on Tuesday . Basing on intel inputs, a joint team of Special Operation Group (SOG) of Odisha Police and Malkangiri District Voluntary Force (DVF) had launched an operation in the Tulsi forest area, located close to OdishaChhattisgarh border. When the Maoists opened fire, the security forces had to retaliate, sources said. Bodies of three Maoists who succumbed to bullet injuries on the spot have been recovered, DGP Abhay said. Security forces have seized two firear ms - an INSAS and a self-loading rifle - from the encounter site. The identity of the slain Maoists was being ascertained. Exchange of fire was underway till the last reports came in and more casualties from the Maoists side are expected. Superintendent of Police Prahalad Sahai Meena said, the operation team is yet to return from the site and details Bodies of three Maoists have been recovered. An INSAS and a selfloading rifle have been seized from the encounter site. The identity of the Maoists is being ascertained Abhay, DGP will be known only after its arrival in Malkangiri. District police has kept a tight vigil over movement of the Maoists in Tulsi Parbat area bordering Chhattisgarh for quite sometime as rebels attempt to enter Malkangiri from Chhattisgarh through the hilly region. Earlier this year, a Maoist was gunned down in an exchange of fire with the security forces at Madakapadar panchayat in the district on January 31. Reports suggest that at least 16 Maoists were killed in gunfire with the security forces in Malkangiri in 2020.