HUBBALLI  SATURDAY  JUNE 08, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION MAY HEAT WAVE WAS 1.5° CELSIUS WARMER THAN PREVIOUS EXTREMES Findings of a new rapid attribution study underscore that heat waves in India are reaching unbearable temperature thresholds HUMAN-DRIVEN CLIMATE CHANGE BLAMED URBANISATION MAKING HEAT WAVES WORSE Researchers at ClimaMeter said the intense heat wave India endured in May was a result of the naturally occurring El Nino phenomenon and the rapidly increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel burning. They called it “a largely unique event” that can be ascribed to human-driven climate change ■ ■ “Warming resulting from climate change has led to an increased frequency, intensity, and duration of heat-related events, including heat waves in most land regions,” the researchers noted They said rapid urbanisation as seen in India can enhance heat waves as concretes trap heat during the day and release them at night 56 DEATHS DUE TO HEAT REPORTED IN INDIA SINCE THE START OF MARCH 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 SWEARING-IN OF THE NEW COUNCIL OF MINISTERS TO BE HELD TOMORROW AT 7.15 PM Modi appointed PM-designate by President Murmu leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party, NDA leaders submitted their letters of support. PRESIDENT Droupadi Murmu The delegation included J P on Friday appointed Narendra Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Amit Modi prime minister-designate Shah, Ashwini Vaishnaw and C after the latter staked his claim N Manjunath (all BJP), TDP to lead the NDA government chief N Chandrababu Naidu, for the third consecutive time. JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar, Shiv The ceremony to administer Sena chief Eknath Shinde, the oath of office and secrecy to JD(S) leader H D Kumarashim and his ministerial col- wamy, LJP(Ram Vilas) leader leagues will begin at 7.15 pm on Chirag Paswan. Sunday at Rashtrapati The day began with Bhavan.After Modi met the NDA ParliamentaMurmu, she satisfied ry Party electing Modi herself about the NDA as its leader. Nitish was If we look at coalition commanding seen trying to touch numbers, then majority in the 18th Modi’s feet but the latthis is the Lok Sabha before issuter stopped him. strongest ing the appointment coalition In his address, Modi government in letter. The letter said spoke about the vital the history of the BJP was the single role of consensus in coalitions largest party and the running the governNDA the largest prement. Having a “bahuNarendra Modi, poll coalition. mat (majority)” is necPM-designate Emerging from Rashessary to form trapati Bhavan, Modi told the government but “sarvmat (conmedia, “As NDA partners have sensus or unanimity)” is much entrusted me with their leader- needed for running the counship once again, I will take oath try he said. , as the PM on June 9. NDA-III “I want to assure people of will put in even more efforts for the country that you have given developments of India and the us the good fortune to run the r e a l i s a t i o n o f p e o p l e ’ s government by handing us a aspirations.” majority, and it has then beEarlier in the day, an NDA come our responsibility that delegation called on Murmu. we continuously strive to enWhile the BJP handed her a let- sure unanimity in taking the ter on Modi’s election as the country forward,” Modi said. B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai RESOLUTE inflation policing despite stronger growth indicators persuaded the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank on Friday to stand pat on the rates front as well as the policy stance for the eighth time in a row. Ever since the February 2023 review, the Reserve Bank’s panel has left the repo rate — the benchmark rate below which a lender cannot extend loans and the rate at which banks borrow from the central bank — unchanged at 6.50%. The policy boosted both the equity and money markets with indices closing at record highs while the rupee gained 14 paise against the greenback. However, fearing delayed rates cut, the bond yield remained above 7% to close at 7.016%. RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi AS June 10 inches closer and preparations for the first BJP government’s swearing-in get intense in Odisha, action shifted to Delhi on Friday. Sources said a number of MLAs have been summoned to the national capital where the Central leadership is likely to take the call on the new leader of the BJP legislature party . Separate meetings of the MLAs and all the MPs of Odisha have reportedly been fixed Bhavani gets bail, can’t enter Hassan district EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru KEEPING in abeyance the nonbailable warrant (NBW) issued against Bhavani Revanna, mother of JDS leader Prajwal Revanna, in a kidnapping case, the High Court of Karnataka on Friday granted her interim anticipatory bail and directed her to appear before the SIT by 1 pm the same day . After the court issued the order around 11 a m , B h av a n i rushed to the SIT office around 12:40 pm with h e r a dvo c a t e Arun. To evade the media, she reportedly switched from her SUV to a hatchback, a few km from the SIT office. After four hours of questioning, she left the office around 5.10 pm. Earlier, the high court directed Bhavani not to enter KR Nagar taluk in Mysuru district and Hassan district. Justice Krishna S Dixit passed the order granting her interim anticipatory bail by imposing stringent conditions. CONTINUED ON: P5 with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda on Saturday over the selection of chief minister of the BJP government which will take oath on June 10 as announced by Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi. All the newly-elected MPs from the state had left for Delhi on Thursday for the meeting of the NDA members held at the Central Hall of the old Parliament on the day The BJP par. liamentary board was scheduled to meet in the evening Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das at a press meet in Mumbai | PTI The decision to hold the rates was not unanimous, as two of the six members on the panel — Dr Ashima Goyal and Prof Jayanth R Varma — voted for a rate cut by 25 basis points and change in the policy stance. Expecting the economy to fare better on the back of the unexpected jump in the growth numbers to 8.2% in the just concluded fiscal 2024, Reserve LS POLL OUTCOME Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays respects to the Constitution of India at the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting at Samvidhan Sadan in New Delhi on Friday | PTI Nitish suggests names of ministers Nitish Kumar and others NDA leaders went to BJP chief J P Nadda’s house to discuss the probable candidates for the Union cabinet. Nitish is learnt to have submitted the names of his three party MPs who could be inducted as Cabinet ministers and ministers of state from the JD(U) quota Odisha CM: Action shifts to Delhi B I J O Y P R A D H A N @ Bhubaneswar RBI keeps rates unchanged for eighth consecutive time after the PM designate Modi and leaders of NDA partners m e t P re s i d e n t D ro u p a d i Murmu. Apart from working out details of the council of ministers, sources said the BJP parliamentary board is likely to take a call on the new chief minister of Odisha. The BJP state unit chief Manmohan Samal and Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayana Mishra, both members of the BJP parliamentary board, are already in the national capital. Ballari MP-elect eyeing berth in Siddu cabinet? K I R A N B A L A N N A N A V A R @ Ballari BALLARI MP-elect E Tukaram is unlikely to resign as Sandur MLA and go to the Lok Sabha, according to sources. This move is in view of B Nagendra quitting the Siddaramaiah cabinet over the alleged misappropriation of funds in the Karnataka Mah a r s h i Va l m i k i S c h e d uled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd., the sources said. After Tukaram’s followers and supporters got an inkling of Nagendra’s resignation a few days ago, they held a meeting and batted for their leader’s induction into the cabinet, they said. In the just concluded LS polls, Tukaram trounced BJP’s B Sriramulu in Ballari by a huge margin. Tukaram is now hoping for a ministerial berth, representing Ballari district, in the cabinet. CONTINUED ON: P4 EXPRESS READ Bus ticket fare hike on cards in Karnataka Four Indian students drown in Russian river Five Naxalites killed in encounter in C’garh Bengaluru: As the price of diesel, spareparts and other components has risen as also the salaries of employees, the cost of RTC buses has shot up. Now, the RTCs are getting ready to increase the ticket fares. The Karnataka government is likely to accept a hike of 10-15%. Moscow: Four Indian medical students were drowned in a river near St Petersburg in Russia. The four students, two boys and two girls, were studying at Novgorod State University. Indian mission is making arrangements to send their bodies home. Narayanpur: Five Naxalites were killed and three jawans injured in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Friday. The gunfight took place in a forest near Gobel village in the Orchha area, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation. RAHUL PULLS UP MINS FOR CONG’S DISMAL SHOW D EVA RA J B H I R E H A L L I Rahul granted bail by special court in defamation case Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appeared before a court in Bengaluru on Friday in connection with the defamation case filed against him. The 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Court granted him bail | P4 a report on the election results. We will discuss with all our leaders and submit i t , ” S h iv a k u m a r t o l d reporters. He said Rahul expected 5-6 seats more for the party in the state. He along with Siddaramaiah will take part in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. After returning, they will prepare an action plan to resolve all issues within the party, he added. CONTINUED ON: P4 34 monkeys sedated, beaten to death in Chikkamagaluru 6 try to sell office spaces of top cops, held LAND LOOT EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE P RAV E E N KU M A R @ Chikkamagaluru IN a gruesome incident, 34 monkeys were sedated and beaten to death at Dyavana in NR Pura taluk on Friday . They were reportedly fed bananas laced with a sedative. People of Dyavana found the bodies of monkeys along the village main road. The bodies bore deep injury marks. Residents of Malnad have a history of hiring monkey catchers to protect their crops such as coffee and banana from the primates. However, local officials termed this incident a deliberate act of cruelty “It ap. pears to be the work of some @ Bengaluru miscreants. The reason for killing the monkeys is yet to be ascertained,” said officials who visited the spot. Wildlife activists and animal lovers condemned the killing of monkeys and demanded that stern action be taken against those responsible for it. NR Pura police have launched a hunt for the miscreants. SIX people, who tried to sell the office premises of the Central Range Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Bengaluru Rural Superintendent on Millers Road in the city by reportedly creating fake documents, have been arrested by High Grounds police. The five-acre plot is now worth more than Rs 200 crore. The name of the building where the police department’s offices are housed is ‘Om Mahal’. The arrested have been identified as MD Haneef of Vidyaranyapura, Rajashekar of Vijaynagar, Mohammad Na- deem of Ramasandra Main Road in Ullal, Mohan Shetty of Sanjayna g ar and Zaheer Ahmed. The incident happened on Monday between 1 pm and 1.30 pm. The accused allegedly trespassed into the plot and began clicking pictures and making videos. Wireless inspector Santhosh Gowda, who is also the estate officer, observed their suspicious movements and questioned them. The accused warned the inspector that the owner of the plot gave them the General Power of Attorney (GPA) a few days ago and they have the right to sell it. The inspector, after bringing LAND FOR JOBS CBI files final chargesheet against Lalu and 77 others M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi @ Bengaluru SENIOR Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday expressed dissatisfaction over the party’s “dismal” performance in the LS elections in Karnataka and sought a report from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and DCM DK Shivakumar, according to sources. Action against the ministers, who failed in ensuring the victory of the party candidates, is likely soon. Rahul also expressed his discontent over a dozen ministers’ failure to ensure good leads for the party candidates in their respective assembly constituencies, the sources said. Rahul interacted with the newly-elected party MPs and defeated candidates at the KPCC office. Later, he met the ministers and took those, who failed in ensuring the victory of the party candidates, to task. A report on the party’s defeat in Chitradurga, Kolar, Tumakuru and Bagalkot constituencies because of internal bickering was with Rahul. AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala had acted upon it, according to a source. “Rahul discussed this with all ministers. The high command has sought Bank governor Shaktikanta Das revised upwards the central bank’s growth forecast by 20 basis points to 7.2% for the current fiscal. In the past two reviews, the GDP projection was maintained at 7%. Underlining the MPC’s resolve to fight inflation, which it fears may spike from the third quarter partly due to the low base effect and partly due to the still adamant food prices, the panel also decided to maintain the policy stance of withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation progressively aligns to the target, while supporting growth. On the rationale for raising the growth numbers, Das said high frequency indicators of domestic activity are showing resilience in FY25. And the Southwest monsoon is expected to be above normal. the matter to his higher-ups, filed a complaint with High Grounds police. It is said that the plot belonged to the royal family of Nepal. However, the ownership details are not clear. The police department’s offices have been functioning from the plot since 1962. “There is confusion over the ownership of the property It is . said that the premises belonged to a Nepali King. There have been several correspondences by the state government to register the property so that it can be developed,” Mallikarjun Baladandi, Bengaluru Rural SP, told The New Indian Express. THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed its conclusive chargesheet in the alleged land-for-jobs scam involving Lalu Prasad Yadav. The third and final chargesheet submitted by the probe agency before a special court in Delhi names 78 accused, including Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tej Pratap Yadav and daughter Hema Yadav. It covers all railway zones where the recruitment was made allegedly in return for land taken by members of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family a CBI of, ficial said. “During the investigation, it has been found that the accused in conspiracy with the Railways officials and engaged persons as ‘substitutes’ in lieu of land either in their name or in the name of their close relatives. This land was acquired at p r i c e s l owe r than the prevailing circle rate and much lower than the market rate,” a senior CBI official said. The official added that no public notice or advertisement was issued for these appointments, yet candidates from Patna were employed in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur. The CBI found Lalu Prasad, in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy along with officers of Railways, his family members and others, engaged candidates as Group D substitutes in 11 zones of Indian Railways in complete violation of the extant guidelines, the CBI spokesperson said. Meanwhile, the central agency informed the court that prosecution sanction from competent authority was still awaited. The court cannot take cognizance of the case without such sanction. Officials said the court will take cognisance and hear the matter on July 6. Earlier, on May 29, the court had directed the CBI to file its conclusive chargesheet at the earliest and expressed displeasure over the delay . Besides Lalu and family, 29 Railways officials, 37 candidates and six other private persons have been named in the chargesheet, they said.