BHUBANESWAR l Saturday l august 13, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Salman Rushdie is tended to after he was attacked during a lecture on Friday at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York | AP Horror as Rushdie stabbed in the neck at New York talk show E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce Mumbai-born British author Salman Rushdie, whose writings had drawn death threats from Iran and was under heavy security cover, was on Friday stabbed in the neck by an assailant just before he was to speak at a talk show at a New York event. The assailant got on to the stage at the Chautauqua Institution’s event and punched or stabbed him 10-15 times as he was being introduced to the gathering, a witness said. Rushdie fell to the floor and was treated onstage before airlifting him to hospital. His condition was not known at the time of going to press. Rushdie’s interviewer, with whom he was to do the talk show, suffered some minor head injuries. The audience tackled the suspect after which he was taken into custody . “This guy ran on to platform and started pounding on Rush- die. At first you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten,” Rabbi Charles Savenor, who was in the audience, told AP. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds. A blood- ied Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs, possibly to send more blood to his chest. Rushdie’s fourth book, in 1988, The Satanic Verses, forced him into hiding for nine years after Iran’s Su- preme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa demanded his execution for the book’s blasphemous content. Iran offered a bounty of over $3 million to anyone who killed Rushdie. He emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed public appearances, while continuing to be outspoken about religious extremism. The author’s first brush with fame was when his 1981 novel Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize. But it was The Satanic Verses and the subsequent fatwa that made him really wellknown across the world. 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 Cabinet push for Millets Mission, cyclone resilient infra E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @Bhubaneswar In a bid to give a big push to the traditional foodgrains production like millets and ensure better income for farmers, particularly the tribals, the State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday approved a whopping`2,808.39 crore for six years from 2021-22 to 202627 for implementation of various programmes in the tribal areas. As 2023 has been declared as the ‘International Year of Millet’ and the Centre has given greater importance to it in 2022-23 budget, this move will go a long way in the promotion of the traditional crop in the State. T h e g o ve r n m e n t h a d launched the Odisha Millets Migrant gunned down in Valley; 2nd in eight days F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar Two contrasting bits of information came in from the Valley on Friday, one depressing and the other promising. While there was yet another targeted killing of a migrant labourer, news filtered in that Kashmir’s first-ever multiplex will open next month. At present, the Valley has no cinema halls. Back to the depressing news, militants shot dead a 19-year-old migrant labourer from Bihar in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, on Thursday night. Mohammad Amrez was gunned down from close range at Soadnara, a police officer said. He hailed from Bihar’s Madhepura. He received multiple bullet injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to injuries. This was the second targeted killing of migrant labourers in the Valley in the last eight days. Amrez and his two siblings, one of whom is Mohammad Hamid, were staying in a rented accommodation in Soadnara. “Around midnight, my younger brother woke me up saying there was firing and that Amrez was not there in the room. When we went outside, we saw him lying in a pool of blood,” Hamid said. As for the multiplex, its owner Vikas Dhar said it has 520 seats in all. Multiplex in Srinagar Kashmir’s first multiplex is coming up in Shivpora area of Srinagar. It will have three auditoriums. “In the first phase, we’ll have two auditoriums,” its owner Vikas Dhar said NATIONWIDE aug 11 aug 12 Fresh cases 16,299 16,561 Recoveries 19,431 18,053 Deaths 53 49 odisha Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Aug 11 Aug 12 530 862 1 583 844 1 Jab-o-meter Take your shot Aug 11 14,02,341 doses Aug 12 20,13,564 doses Total doses 2,07,68,05,074 Mission in 2017 to revive and promote millets in farms and on plates. In the first phase of implementation in 2017-18, the programme was operational in 30 blocks across seven districts. In the second and third phases, the programme has been expanded to 84 blocks in 15 districts. The government has targeted to expand the programme to 142 blocks in 19 districts from 2022-23 onwards. The Cabinet also approved the “Cyclone Resilient Saline Embankment Projects”, an important requirement in the coastal districts to sustain the impact of storms and tidal surges. According to the project proposal, the government has planned to raise and strengthen 36 saline embankments of 198.81 km length in the cyclone-prone Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Puri districts. These can sustain the impact of very severe cyclone with speed up to 250 km per hour and protect the adjacent landmass and habitation from floods, saline ingress and tidal surge. Panchayatiraj Minister Pradip Amat and Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra told mediapersons that the project will be implemented for three years from 2022-23 to 202425 with an outlay of `763.48 crore. Upon completion, about 21,690 hectare of agricultural land will be protected from flood and saline ingress and 2,92,500 people in 136 villages in the four districts will be benefitted. Continued on P5 Key decisions `2,808 cr for Odisha Millet Mission Cyclone Resilient Saline Embankment Projects at `763 cr Policy for long-term ore linkage amended Drinking water projects for three districts Creation of 198 posts in ORS cadre `326.79 cr expenditure to extend i3MS scheme till 2027 LAC situation could turn dangerous, says Jaishankar B a l a C h a u h a n @ Bengaluru The India-China relationship is very “tense” and the situation could turn “dangerous” because of the border stand-off, Minister for External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar said in a media interaction here on Friday . While fielding questions, he said the relationship between India and China cannot be normal under the present circumstances. “Despite 16 rounds of commander-level talks between us on the Chinese disengagement along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh, the issue remains unresolved. The Indian Army has been holding its ground for the past two winters, which shows our resolve on standing our ground. We have made some substantial progress in terms of the troops pulling back from places, where they were very close. There are still some places, where they have not,” he said. Regarding security concerns over the Chinese missile and satellite tracking ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ docking at the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka, Jaishankar said, “security concerns are the sover- Challenges of war On the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, he said it has led to an energy and food crisis. “We need to work around them and overcome challenges.” eign right of every country. We will make the best judgement in own interest.” On Afghanistan, Jaishankar said India has historically maintained ties with the people there. “We have sent back Indian diplomats to our embassy in Afghanistan to carry forward our humanitarian measures. During their food crisis, we supplied them 40,000 tonnes of wheat. It was difficult because it was routed through Pakistan. We supplied Afghanistan with medical supplies and Covid vaccines. The Chabahar Port remains relevant. We will use it as a route for our supplies to Central Asia and Afghanistan,” he added. Retail inflation falls below 7% for 1st time in 3 months E x p r e ss Ne ws Se r v i ce @ New Delhi IN a relief to the common man as well as policy makers, retail inflation seems to have begun moderating as the headline inflation rate measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to 6.71% in July from 7.01% in June. This is for the first time since April that retail inflation has fallen below the 7% level. The lower inflation in July was largely driven by easing of food and beverage prices, and miscellaneous items. While housing, pan, tobacco and intoxicant prices showed moderate growth, clothing and fuel prices continue to expand sharply year-on-year. On a month-on-month basis, however, vegetable prices fell marginally as the food and beverages index remained flat, also benefiting from corrections in prices of edible oils, and meat and fish. The drop in inflation in July was on expected lines as fears of global recession and fresh geopolitical uncertainties led to correction in global commodity prices, easing the domestic inflation pressure. However, analysts and economists warn against letting the guards down on inflation. “CPI headline inflation for July has moderated in line with our expectations led largely by food inflation, while the core inflation remains el- evated and sticky The coming . few readings are expected to be a tad above 7% with inflation likely to hover above RBIs upper threshold limit of 6% until January 2023,” said Upasana Bhardwaj, chief economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its August monetary policy statement retained its inflation projection for 2022-23 Industrial production down, but remains in double digits 19.6% May June 12.3% Strong sectors Manufacturing 12.5% Power Mining 16.4% 7.5% at 6.7%. RBI is mindful of the fact that spillovers from geopolitical shocks are imparting considerable uncertainty to the inflation trajectory. The central bank also said that it is watchful of the shortfall in paddy sowing. However, analysts believe there would be no pause in rate hike. Aditi Nayar, chief economist of ICRA, expects another rate hike of 10-35 bps in the September 2022 policy meeting. GOING THROUGH THE ROOF In just one month, tur dal price shot up by `5-22 while urad dal prices soared by as much as `10-44 Alarm as tur, urad dal prices shoot up E x p r e ss Ne ws Se r v i ce ALARMED by the soaring prices of tur (split pigeon peas) and urad dal (black gram) across the country, the Centre on Friday urged states to take steps to ensure there is no hoarding. In Karnataka, the price of tur dal has shot up by a whopping `15-20/kg over the past month. The retail price has now touched `150-170 kg for the packed variant, which attracts 5% GST, and `135-145 for the loose variant. Urad dal price has also reached a high of `160 a kg. In neighbouring Kerala, the price of tur dal jumped 20% from `100/kg in July to `120/kg in August. Urad dal prices saw a bigger increase of 44%, from `94/kg in July to `135/kg now. Odisha and Gujarat also reported a 20% increase in the prices of the two commodities. Tamil Nadu witnessed tur dal prices going up from around `100 in July to `115 now. In Telangana, the prices of tur and urad dal went up by `10-12 and `20, respectively . In Bhopal, the tur dal prices shot up from `7896/kg last month to `100-118 now. Jharkhand saw an uptick of `15 in tur dal price and a `5 increase in urad dal price. In Mumbai, tur price rose from `90 to `110. West Bengal and and Assam reported an increase of `10 for tur dal prices. In Uttarakhand, tur dal price rose by `8.