chennai l saturday l july 2, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION Ban on Single-use plastic items comes into effect The nationwide ban kicked in on July 1. Single-use plastic means items that are used only once before they are thrown away Plastic cutlery items proscribed Violators face up to 5-year jail term The banned plastic products include cutlery items such as plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, trays, straws etc. The other products that come under the ban are earbuds, balloon sticks, cigarette packs, sweet boxes, candy and ice cream sticks, invitation cards, polystyrene used for decoration, and PVC banners measuring under 100 microns ■ ■ The Union environment ministry has asked states to close down units that produce, distribute, stock and sell such items People found flouting the ban can be fined under the Environment Protection Act 1986, which permits jail of up to five years, or a penalty of up to `1 lakh, or both 2.4 lakh tonnes Volume of single-use plastic items generated in India in a year currently 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 Singapore firm plans `25,600-cr chip park in TN E x pr e ss N e ws S e r v i c e @ Chennai Windfall tax Export levy up on transport fuel to increase domestic supply R a k e s h K u m a r @ New Delhi IN a bid to tax the windfall gains by domestic refiners who import cheap crude oil from Russia and export the refined product at much higher prices, the Centre on Friday imposed special additional excise duty on export of petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) with effect from July 1. The cess for petrol and ATF is `6 per litre, while it is `13 for diesel. In addition, a cess of `23,250 per tonne has been imp o s e d o n c r u d e p ro d u c e d domestically . “Domestic crude producers sell crude to domestic refineries at international parity prices. As a result, the domestic crude producers are making windfall gains,” a finance ministry release said explaining the rationale behind the move. However, there will be no cess for import of crude, the ministry clarified. “Further, small producers, whose annual production of crude in the preceding financial year is less than 2 million barrels will be exempt from this cess,” it said, adding that the new cess will have no adverse impact on domestic fuel prices. The decision will directly impact domestic refiners Jio-BP, Nayara Energy and ONGC which, in turn, could tighten their global oil product supplies. Analysts believe the move to make export of fuel expensive is to ensure sufficient availability of petroleum products for domestic consumption but it may not achieve the desired result. “With product prices expected to remain elevated in the international market, we believe unless domestic retail prices are revised upwards, there still exists substantial incentive for the private players to export a larger share of their product, albeit at reduced margins,” Crisil said. Jab-o-meter June 30 14,81,583 doses Take July 1 8,07,052 doses your shot Total: 1,97,83,76,337 NATIONWIDE June 30 July 1 tamil nadu June 30 July 1 Fresh cases 18,819 17,070 Fresh cases 2,069 2,385 Recoveries 13,827 14,413 Recoveries 1,008 1,321 Deaths 39 23 Deaths 0 0 IGSS venture, a Singapore-based firm, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance and Export Promotion Bureau on Friday to set up the State’s first semiconductor park at an investment of `25,600 crore over the next five years. The project is expected to create 25,000 jobs. The company signed the deal with the designated nodal agency for facilitating single-window approvals for industries in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin. Meanwhile, Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu said an investors’ meet will be held in Chennai on July 4. While the location for setting up the high-tech electronics park is yet to be finalised, it is expected to be spread over 300 acres when it’s fully completed. The Semiconductor High-Tech Park (HTP) consists of several units such as semiconductor circuit designers, material suppliers, equipment suppliers, and Out- ` 94,975 Cr worth MoUs signed last year with 132 companies to generate 2.26 lakh jobs: Thangam Thennarasu SC tears into BJP’s Nupur for her hate speech & fallout Raps TV channel for holding the controversial debate, accuses it of promoting an agenda One of the fallouts was the butchering of a tailor in Udaipur, The Supreme Court on Friday the bench said. lit into suspended BJP spokes“She actually has a loose person Nupur Sharma, saying tongue and has made all kinds of her “loose tongue” had “set the irresponsible statements on TV entire country on fire”, alluding and set the entire country on fire. to the riots that followed her hate Yet, she claims to be a lawyer of speech against Islam 10 years standing. She during a TV debate. should have immediateWhile refusing to enly apologised for her tertain Sharma’s plea comments to the whole for clubbing of FIRs country,” the bench against her, the court alsaid. Senior advocate lowed her to withdraw Maninder Singh, apthe plea. pearing for Shar ma, The court observed said she had apologised Nupur Sharma that her remark was for her remarks. made either for cheap On this, the bench Political said, “Her apology came publicity political agen, clout da or some nefarious actoo late and that too contivities. It was hearing “When an FIR is ditionally saying if reliher petition for clubbing gious sentiments are registered and and transfer of all FIRs hurt and so on.” you are not registered against her The court said her pearrested, this in various states follow- shows your clout. tition smacks of arroing her offensive reg ance and that she She thinks she mark, to Delhi. thinks that the magishas back up “These remarks are trate of the country is power and very disturbing and too small for her. “If you makes smack of arrogance. are a spokesperson of a irresponsible What is her business to statements,” the party, it is not a licence make such remarks? to say things like this,” bench said These remarks have led the judges said, adding, to unfortunate incidents in the “If there was a misuse of the decountry These people are not re- bate, the first thing she should . ligious. They do not have respect have done was to file an FIR for other religions. These re- against the anchor.” marks were made for cheap pubCriticising the TV channel, it licity or for political agenda or said, “What is the business of the some other nefarious activities,” TV channel to discuss the matter said a vacation bench of justices which is sub-judice, except to Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala. promote an agenda?” E x pr e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @New Delhi root hunt sourcing and Testing Semi-Conductors (OSATS) etc, and will employ 25,000 people through ecosystem partners, said an official press release. IGSS has proposed to set up a semiconductor fab under ‘Project Suria’ and applied the “scheme for setting up of semiconductor fabs in India” under India Semiconductor Mission. Speaking to reporters, Minister Thangam Thennarasu said in the last one year, the State government has signed MoUs to the tune of `94,975 crore with 132 companies to generate 2.26 lakh jobs. “As many as 78 MoUs are express read centurion Rishabh Pant scored his fifth Test century off just 89 balls to rescue India on Day 1 of the fifth Test against England at Edgbaston on Friday | AP | P13 HC stays appointment of temporary teachers Chennai: Following a petition filed by TET Passed Candidates Welfare Association, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday stayed an order issued by the TN government that permitted Chief Educational Officers to appoint 13,331 Bachelor of Teaching (BT) assistants, and secondary grade and postgraduate teachers on a temporary basis | P4 EPS to SC: OPS has lost trust of AIADMK cadre Chennai: AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami has claimed before the Supreme Court that “he has emerged as the most popular leader of the party after an overwhelming majority of the party has comprehended the confidence in his leadership while O Panneerselvam has lost the trust of the members.” | P4 Manipur toll touches 20, 43 people still missing Imphal: Rescue teams on Friday recovered 12 more bodies from the debris at a railway construction site in Manipur’s Noney district, which was hit by a massive landslide, pushing the death toll in the tragedy to 20, officials said. Of the deceased, 10 are from the Territorial Army. Forty-three people were still missing following the mudslide, officials said | P10 Lost in a 17-year-old riot, First Tamil Bible, stolen seeking to trace family in 2005, traced to London S a h aya N o v i n s t o n L o b o @ Chennai AFTER working in Sharjah for two years, Hashim T E (23) is back home on leave. His ‘mother’ Razia wants him to build a house and get married. But Hashim is in no mood to settle down. Before going back to the Gulf, he is plotting another journey – to find his biological mother and sisters. Razia is not his real mother. When she found him on November 1, 2005, Hashim was a sixyear-old Hindi-speaking boy. He had got down from a private bus at Ambalathara near Kanhangad in Kasaragod. He was holding a note in Malayalam, which read: “He is an orphan. Please take him to the orphanage.” There was an orphanage near the bus stop. However, Hashim got down in front of Razia’s eldest son Shajeer Palat, who was 14 years old then. A 300-year-old first printed Tamil Bible, suspected to have been stolen by a group of foreigners from the Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur in 2005, has been traced to a museum in London. The State Idol Wing has now initiated steps to bring back the holy book. The antiquarian Bible was printed by the first Protestant missionary to India, Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, between 1715 and 1718, after he set up a printing press in the present Thanjavur district. The Bible was gifted to Tulaji Rajah Serfoji, the then ruler of the Thanjavur Bhonsle dynasty . On October 10, 2005, the deputy administrator of the Serfoji Palace in Thanjavur filed a complaint with the Thanjavur West Hashim when he was 6 years (L) and now It was raining heavily and Shajeer brought him home. Hashim spoke only Hindi, a language nobody in the family understood. The next day, they took him to the nearest police station but the officers there suggested that they keep the boy . Hashim can’t place his native place. All he remembers is someone put him on a train on a day when there was a riot in his village. His mother’s name is Marjeena and sisters are Hameeda and Huda. His father had expired when he was a small kid. Now, I-T lens on Pawar’s election affidavits E x pr e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Mumbai 300-year-old G e o rg e P o i k ay i l @ Kasaragod actively being pursued and are under different stages of approval. About 25 are in the planning stage and land acquisition is under process for 29 companies,” the minister said. Thennarasu said the State has become a destination for high-tech companies in the field of IT and ITES services, research and development support services, artificial intelligence and several others. He said the government was in talks with 38 firms to bring investments in newly-emerging industries such as semiconductors, lithium-ion, solar photovoltaics and green hydrogen. P4 Police over the theft of the Bible. However, the police registered only a CSR and closed the case. Years later, on October 17, 2017, E Rajendran, the office-bearer of the library lodged a complaint with the Idol Wing CID. A case was registered under section 380 of the IPC and a probe was initiated. Continued on: P5 Days after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed in Maharashtra, the man who was instrumental in keeping it afloat, NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar, got what he called was a love letter from a Central enforcement agency . The income tax department, he said, had issued him a notice in connection with his 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections affidavits. “I am surprised that Central agencies are sifting through old records and sending notices now. It shows how these agencies are working overtime to target political opponents. They want to suppress dissent. The same strategy was used against Shiv Sena MLAs, forcing them to revolt against their leadership,” Pawar alleged. He sarcastically said before the BJP came to power at the Centre, no one knew about the ED (Enforcement Directorate). “Now, ED has become a family name,” Pawar said. It was the ED that got two NCP MLAs Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh arrested earlier on money laundering charges. Meanwhile, Sanjay Raut, a Thackeray faction leader, was questioned by the ED on Friday for over 10 hours in another money laundering case. Curiously, Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar hasn’t commented yet on the fall of the Uddhav-led Aghadi government, in which he was deputy chief minister. Ajit is down with Covid but he attended the Aghadi’s last cabinet meeting virtually . More curiously, Dhananjay Munde, a close aide of Ajit, met the sulking new Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday, setting off speculation. P9 Aarey row back New Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is already stepping on his predecessor Uddhav’s toes as he reversed the govt’s position on the controversial Metro car shed project in Mumbai. Shinde directed the advocate general to inform the court that the Metro car shed will be built at Aarey Colony as planned in 2019 by the then BJP govt led by Fadnavis
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