24.8 cr people moved out of poverty in 9 yrs: NITI As many as 24.82 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty in nine years till 2022-23, with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh registering the largest decline, Niti Aayog said in a report on Monday. According to the report, multidimensional poverty in India declined from 29.17% in 201314 to 11.28% in 2022-23, showing a reduction of 17.89 percentage points, with about 24.82 crore moving out of the bracket | P8 mangaluru l TUESday l january 16, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 Passenger punches pilot inside aircraft Unprecedented fog in five years leads to frayed tempers; flyer handed over to CISF A s h i s h S r i v a s ta v a @ New Delhi Miffed after being made to wait over 10 hours before the take-off, a passenger onboard an IndiGo flight punched the pilot while he was making an announcement about the delay due to foggy conditions. A video of the assault went viral. The incident took place on the IndiGo 6E-2175 flight bound from Delhi to Goa on Sunday It . was delayed by over 10 hours due to foggy weather. According to officials, the flight was scheduled to depart from Delhi Airport at 7.40 am but eventually left at 6 pm. The assault took place at around 1 pm. The passenger, identified as Sahil Kataria, was de-boarded after the incident and handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). The purported viral video showed Kataria, dressed in a yellow jacket, getting up from his seat, rushing up the aisle to where co-pilot Anup Kumar was making the announcement and punching him, to the shock of the crew and other passengers. “Chalana hai to chala, nahin to khol de,” he was heard shouting after the assault. In the short clip, other crew members could be seen shouting at the passenger after he hit the pilot. Kataria could also be heard saying that the passen- DGCA rules to tackle delays A r s h a d K h a n @ New Delhi A passenger hits an IndiGo pilot when he was making an announcement about the delay in take-off at Delhi airport | PTI gers had been sitting in the plane for long and that they should be allowed to deboard if the flight was not taking off. In another video clip, the passenger was seen being taken out of the aircraft by security personnel even as he apologised for his conduct. Meanwhile, the pilot has filed a complaint against him at the IGI police station. A case under Sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 290 (punishment for creating public nuisance) of the IPC and Section 22 of the Aircraft Rules has been registered against the passenger. However, since the sections registered against Kataria were bailable, he was released on bail. With flights facing long delays amid adverse weather condition in Delhi, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday issued guidelines, asking the airlines to publish accurate real-time information on their flights and inform passengers through SMS/WhatsApp and email. The DGCA guidelines came hours after Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stepped in to ease the situation. He also requested the passengers to be patient during adverse weather conditions. Scindia asked the Delhi Airport to expedite the operationalization of the CAT III-enabled 4th runway . Meanwhile, Delhi International Airport (DIAL) CEO Videh Jaipuriar said the visibility was reduced to such an extent that the CAT-IIIB norms turned ineffective on Sunday, resulting in delays. “For four hours on Sunday morning we had zero visibility . So, whatever facility you have, in this kind of natural phenomenon, you cannot handle flight movement because nobody would take chances on safety,” Jaipuriar told this newspaper. He also attributed the delays to a shortage of CAT-IIIB-compliant pilots who are trained to fly in low visibility . EAM in Iran, Chabahar port back on talk table Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahain on Monday and discussed a framework for India’s involvement with the strategically vital Chabahar port and the NorthSouth connectivity project. In a joint presser, Jaishankar expressed concern over the threats to maritime security in the region. Abdollahain, also reaffirmed that it was important to provide security in international waterways. “There has been recently a perceptible increase in threats to the safety of maritime commercial traffic in this important part of the Indian Ocean. We have seen some attacks in the vicinity of India. This is a matter of great concern to the international com- munity It also has a direct bear. ing on India’s energy and economic interests. This situation is not to the benefit of any party and this must be clearly recognised,’’ said Jaishankar. Jaishankar also called on Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and conveyed PM Modi’s greetings. “Our bilateral discussion focused on the long-term framework for India’s involvement Maya to go it alone, but open to post-poll pact 404 runs Prakar beats Yuvi record Karnataka batsman Prakar Chaturvedi creates history by smashing the earlier record of Yuvaraj Singh by scoring an unbeaten 404 runs in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Cricket tournament finals | P11 Na m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow BSP chief Mayawati said on Monday that her party would go it alone in Lok Sabha polls. Acknowledging that she has received an invite for the Ram temple consecration on January 22, she said she was yet to decide on her participation. In a statement issued on her 68th birthday, the BSP chief said with people’s support, especially backward communities, Dalits, tribals, Muslims and other religious minorities, she had formed a majority government in UP in 2007. “So, we have decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls alone. We will maintain equidistance between those who are casteist and those who believe in communalism. We will work with all our might to help the BSP get a good result in the elections,” said the former UP CM. She blamed EVM “cheating” for the party’s poor results in past few elections. P8 State budget in February, says Siddu E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Hubballi In view of the possibility of the code of conduct for Lok Sabha elections coming into force early this March, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Monday that the state budget will be presented in February . The announcement at Haveri assumes significance as the government has started holding budget consultations with departments and groups. He said the government has started transferring Rs 2,000 per hectare as interim drought relief to the bank accounts of farmers. Once the state gets aid from the union government, compensation will be given to the affected farmers as per NDRF norms, he added. with Chabahar port and the INSTC (Inter national NorthSouth Transport Corridor, a 7,200-km long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight involving India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe),” said Jaishankar in a post on X after meeting the Iranian counterpart. The two sides reviewed all aspects of the bilateral engagement comprehensively he said. , Mys sculptor’s Ram Lalla is the chosen one E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Mysuru Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Monday announced that the Ram Lalla idol sculpted by Mysurubased sculptor Arun Yogiraj has been selected for installation at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. The trust had shortlisted three idols for installation in Ayodhya. A week ago, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Yogiraj’s family members confirmed about the selection. However, the trust clarified that it had only shortlisted three idols and had not finalised Yogiraj’s work. Finally the trust announced , its decision on the day of Sankranti, putting to rest all speculations over the selection of Ram Lalla. A team led by Yogiraj carved the idol using Krishna shila.