vijayawada l thursday l may 19, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION U.S., global banks unveil plan to tackle food crisis Antony Blinken Billions of dollars to be spent on helping farmers, boosting fertiliser supply and developing land for food production World bank to contribute $30 billion Blinken chairs meet on food security The US Treasury Department said several global development banks will work together to address the food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The World Bank announced it will contribute $30 billion for projects to address food crisis. The Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank, among others, will also chip in ■ ■ A two-day Global Food Security Call to Action meeting of foreign ministers from 30 countries, chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began past midnight on Wednesday, in New York Russia and Ukraine produce a third of the world’s wheat, and the disruption of supply due to the war has led to prices soaring 193 million people experienced acute food insecurity worldwide in 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 ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Rajiv assassination case SC orders release of Perarivalan review of the court, said the judges rejecting the Centre’s argument. “Let me breathe; I’m free after The Centre had argued that 31 years,” said A G Perarivalan, in some cases President and a life convict in the former not the Governor is the compePrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi t e n t a u t h o r i t y t o g r a n t assassination case, after the Su- pardon. preme Court on Wednesday orChief Minister M K Stalin dered his release by invoking hailed the verdict as a victory its extraordinary powfor State rights and er under Article 142 of federalism. “The verthe Constitution. dict has established A bench of Justices that Governors cannot L Nageswara Rao, B R Tamils all over the interfere in political world gave me Gavai, and A S Bopanand policy decisions na, who held that the love and affection of State governments. and treated me advice of State CabiIt is important to note net is binding on Gov- like their own son. that the judges have I need to pay my ernor in exercise of said that when Govergratitude to a lot powers under Article of people and wish nor becomes inactive, 161 of the Constitucourt will intervene,” to do that in tion, said the Goverthe chief minister told person nor’s referral to the reporters at the AG Perarivalan President of the recsecretariat. ommendation of the Speaking to reportTamil Nadu Cabinet (to grant ers, Perarivalan credited his pardon to all seven convicts in mother, 74-year-old Arputhamthe case) two-and-a-half years mal, for her sacrifices and nonafter it was made doesn’t have stop efforts that eventually led constitutional backing. to his release. “She has faced Non-exercise of power under insults, she was ignored, and Article 161 or inexplicable de- she suffered agony Despite all . lay in exercise of such power, that she was persistent and which is not attributable to the fought for me without a break prisoner, is subject to judicial for 30 long years,” he said.  P5 E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ Chennai/New Delhi DCI probes re-appointment of ‘dismissed’ official E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam The alleged violations in the appointment of a top official at the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) have come to the fore after a complaint was lodged with the chairman of the Corporation, K Rama Mohana Rao. The complainant has reportedly informed Rao, who is also the chief of Visakhapatnam Port Trust, that a person allegedly dismissed from the Corporation earlier was reappointed in violation of DCI norms. A vigilance enquiry is on and, prima facie, it has been established that the appointment was made in violation of the rules. Ind VS SA Vizag to host T20 match on June 14 The third match of a fivematch T20 series to be played at the Dr YSR ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium will be the first international one after a gap of 29 months in the city. Tickets for the upcoming match would be made available online two weeks ahead of the game | P4 Speaking to TNIE, Rao said he received the complaint which stated that the MD of DCI did not disclose the fact that he was dismissed from service in 2000. “We wanted to ascertain whether the complaint was tion was also rejected at the time. The vigilance officials are conducting an enquiry into whether the information was disclosed during his reappointment. “It is learnt that some of the certificates submitted by him DCI norms violated, initial investigation reveals A dismissed person cannot be reappointed in the same organisation. However, the complainant said this norm was not followed in this case. Prima facie evidence has been established and the vigilance department, after completing its enquiry, will submit its report real or fake and accordingly, we ordered a vigilance inquiry he added. ,’’ The top official was earlier dismissed from service when he was a junior officer after he had gone on leave without prior intimation. His review peti- during the appointment are also under the scrutiny of the vigilance department. Several skeletons will stumble out of the cupboard during the probe,” officials remarked. They also pointed out that any appointment, and more so for the appointment of a key official, should have been done after a thorough scrutiny of the candidate’s credentials. Vigilance officials have visited the DCI office and seized certain documents as a part of the inquiry . To support his candidature, the top official­ who is under — the scanner—had allegedly disclosed that he had served as an advisor at a phar ma company . The vigilance officials are also probing whether any other officials or employees are involved in this case. The DCI chairman noted that as per the Corporation registry dismissal orders were , issued against the official and the same were acknowlP5 edged too.  EAC-PM moots urban job guarantee plan E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi With income inequality in the country becoming starker, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EACPM) on Wednesday proposed implementing an urban employment guarantee scheme on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The panel raised concerns over growing inequality as captured in The State of Inequality in India Report released by it. The report said the labour force participation rate in the country was 51.5 per cent in 2019-20, which was better than the 49 per cent in 2017-18. However, the participation rate of those educated till higher secondary over three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20 was significantly low at 40-43 per cent. The clamour for an urban jobs scheme has been growing louder in recent times with increasing income inequality and job losses. Experts said an urbanfocused employment guarantee scheme will go a long way in supporting conP8 sumption.  e x p r e ss r e a d State govt lifts power curbs for industries Vijayawada: Following an improvement in the power supply situation in the State, the government has lifted curbs imposed on all categories of consumers. This will now allow industries to operate round-the-clock. The restriction & control measures have been lifted with effect from May 16, APERC said | P4 Senior IPS officer’s suspension revoked Vijayawada: The government on Wednesday issued an order revoking the suspension of senior IPS officer and former Intelligence chief AB Venkateswara Rao following the Supreme Court order. The 1989-batch IPS officer was directed to report to the General Administration Department for posting | P4