THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l tuesday l JUNE 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION The future of audio and video phone call is possibly here Nokia billed the immersive audio, video call as the biggest leap in live voice calling since the introduction of monophonic telephony Pekka Lundmark As though you are near the caller Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark made the first call using the new 3GPP Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS) codec that allows users to hear sound spatially in real time. Imagine getting a call from a relative abroad, and being able to hear everything in their environment as if you are near them. A smartphone and a 5G network were all it took to make the call ■ 3D audio Massively improved listening experience ■ “It takes you to the caller’s environment creating a spatial and massively improved listening experience for voice and video calls,” Lundmark said During his call with Stefan Lindström, Finland’s ambassador of digitalisation, Lundmark showed the distinctive acoustic dimensions that can be experienced with the new IVAS technology, Nokia said Uses multichannel microphones to capture sound from all directions 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 HDK to handle steel and heavy industries; Chirag food processing; Rammohan civil aviation Top ministers retain 2.0 charges, Shivraj gets agri, Vaishnaw I&B Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs the first meeting of his new Cabinet, attended by the newly inducted ministers, at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi on Monday | PTI RAJE S H K U M AR T HA K UR @ New Delhi There were no surprises in the portfolios allocated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to his 72-member ministry as all key charges continued to be with his colleagues from the outgoing cabinet. As this newspaper said on Sunday , it indicated continuity while being alive to the needs of coalition dynamics. Heavyweights like Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar retained their portfolios of defence, home, road transport and highways, finance and external affairs respectively This newspaper had . earlier reported that the BJP was unlikely to part with any of its core ministries — home, defence, finance, external affairs, railways, IT and law — to D u ties assi g n ed Suresh Gopi Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Tourism George Kurian Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying the NDA allies. Former chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar got the important ministries of agriculture and housing and urban affairs, respectively Their experience . in governance is expected help them deal with the crucial portfolios. Khattar also has the charge of power. GSI intervenes, terms demolition of Varkala Cliff portion ‘shocking’ S h a i n u M o h a n @ T’Puram The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has stepped in to save the Varkala Cliff — a recognised geo-heritage site and national geological monument — which is facing massive destruction and erosion. GSI authorities have come GSI officials inspect the site on Varkala out strongly against the disCliff on Monday where demolition trict administration demolishwork is progressing | B P Deepu ing a portion of the cliff near the Bali Mandapam at Papanasam Beach. According to officials, the demolition work was undertaken without consulting the central agency . On Friday a huge portion of , the cliff near the Bali MandaA grab of the TNIE report that appeared on June 9, 2024 pam was demolished following a directive from the district TNIE that the Varkala Cliff is a collector to mitigate landslide geo-heritage site which will be hazard at the site by removing recognised by Unesco as a geotrees and portion of the cliff. park in future. The collector invoked sections “In a recent meeting con26, 30 and 34 of the Disaster vened by the tourism departManagement Act, 2005, to dement, we had suggested severmolish the portions. The work al remedial measures for the continued on Monday as well, protection of the reportedly causing cliff. The meeting significant damage press was attended by to the stability of impact various agencies the already eroding and experts. But cliff. On Monday, a team from the the demolition of the cliff was GSI visited the site. The GSI inshocking. It was done without tervention came following reany consultation with us. As ports by TNIE, and public outfar as we are concerned, the cry, on the destruction of the cliff is a prestigious site with cliff near the Bali Mandapam. immense geological and geoGSI Deputy Director General morphological relevance,” ● More on P4 (Kerala Unit) V Ambili told said Ambili. Ashwini Vaishnaw, who is credited with the rollout of the Vande Bharat trains and many other mega projects, retained railways, electronics and information technology The impor. tant portfolio of information and broadcasting got added to his bouquet on Monday . Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal retained their education and commerce and industry ministries respectively while Hardeep Singh Puri continues to be the petroleum and natural gas minister. J P Nadda returned to the health ministry he held before he became BJP president. Thanking Modi for letting him retain his portfolios, Shah said the home ministry will continue to accelerate and strengthen security initiatives and introduce new approaches to realise the PM’s vision of a secure Bharat. Also, the ministry of cooperation will remain committed to empowering farmers and villages, he said. As for the allies, former Bihar chief minister and HAM founder Jitan Ram Manjhi got the ministry of micro, small and mediums enter prise (MSME). JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy got heavy industries and steel, and JD(U)’s Lalan Singh panchayati raj, fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. TDP’s K Rammohan Naidu has be given civil aviation. LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan was allocated food processing. RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary has been allocated the skill development and entrepreneurship ministry while Shiv Sena leader Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao will handle the Ayush ministry . Know your ministers CABINET MINISTERS Rajnath Singh: Defence Amit Shah: Home; Cooperation Nitin Gadkari: Road Transport and Highways J P Nadda: Health; Chemicals and Fertilizers Shivraj Singh Chouhan: Agriculture; Rural Devel. Nirmala Sitharaman: Finance; Corporate Affairs S Jaishankar: External Affairs M anohar Lal Khattar: Housing and Urban Affairs; Power H D Kumaraswamy: Heavy Industries; Steel Piyush Goyal: Commerce and Industry Dharmendra Pradhan: Education Jitan Ram Manjhi: Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Lalan Singh: Panchayati Raj; Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying S arbananda Sonowal: Ports; Shipping and Waterways D r Virendra Kumar: Social Justice and Empowerment Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu: Civil Aviation P ralhad Joshi: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; New and Renewable Energy Jual Oram: Tribal Affairs Giriraj Singh: Textiles Ashwini Vaishnaw: Railways; I&B; Electronics and Information Technology Jyotiraditya Scindia: Communications; Development of Northeast B hupender Yadav: Environment, Forest and Climate Change G ajendra Singh Shekhawat: Culture; Tourism Annpurna Devi: Women and Child Development K iren Rijiju: Parliamentary Affairs; Minority Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri: Petroleum and Natural Gas M ansukh Mandaviya: Labour and Employment; Youth Affairs and Sports G Kishan Reddy: Coal, Mines Chirag Paswan: Food Processing C R Patil: Jal Shakti MINISTERS OF STATE INDEPENDENT CHARGE Rao Inderjit Singh: Statistics and Programme Implementation; Planning; Culture MoS Jitendra Singh: Science and Technology; Earth Sciences; MoS in PMO; MoS in Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; MoS in the Dept of Atomic Energy; MoS in Dept of Space Arjun Ram Meghwal: Law and Justice, MoS in Parliamentary Affairs Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao: Ayush; MoS in Health and Family Welfare Jayant Chaudhary: Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; MoS in Education Now, Sena says it’s not happy with MoS post S U D HIR S URYAWAN S HI @ Mumbai A day after the Ajit Pawar-led NCP rejected a Minister of State (MoS) position in the Narendra Modi cabinet saying it wants a Cabinet post, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena said it was not happy with the MoS berth given to it. Prataprao Jadhav is the sole representative of Shindeled Sena in the new government. He has been allocated the AYUSH ministry as MoS with independent charge and also health & family welfare as MoS. Expressing disappointment over the issue, Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne said his party is one of the oldest allies of the BJP and deserves a cabinet minister. “In this election, the strike ratio of Shiv Sena was higher than that of the We will face BJP in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena conassembly tested 15 seats and won 7, while the BJP elections in the contested 28 seats but won only 9. Our next three performance is better,” said Barne. months... Sena “Injustice has been done to the Shiv should get fair Sena. Even smaller allies have got Cabitreatment net ministers, but we have been given Shrirang Barne only MoS,” he added. He pointed out that Chirag Paswan was made a Cabinet minister though his party won only five seats. Similarly the , JD(S) with just two Lok Sabha MPs got a Cabinet post, Barne contended. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde held a meeting of Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs on Monday to discuss the party’s strategy and plan of action going forward. The meeting was held at Varsha Bungalow, the CM’s official residence. ‘Stickler to coalition dharma’, CPM gifts Rajya sabha seat to KC(M) E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram Taking a cue from the Lok Sabha election results in the state, the CPM appeared to take a more considerate line towards its allies by dropping its claim to a Rajya Sabha seat. Key LDF constituents, CPI and KC(M), have now been handed the two RS seats the front can win. Party supremo Jose K Mani is KC(M)’s candidate and state assistant secretary P P Suneer is CPI’s nominee. The LDF meeting in the state capital on Monday also decided to keep the second RS seat falling vacant, on rotation basis. The CPM masterstroke came as both CPI and P P Suneer Jose K Mani KC(M) stood firm on their demand for the seat. The party secretariat had on Friday decided to abandon its claim in case it was needed to main- tain unity in the LDF. The secretariat again met on Monday morning and took the final decision. Of the three seats falling vacant on July 1, the LDF can win two. Since one member each from CPM, CPI and KC(M) are completing their tenure, all the three parties can make a claim. The CPM leadership felt that KC(M) should not be alienated, as the party plays a key role in central Kerala. Meanwhile, there are indi- IUML names Haris Beeran RS candidate T’Puram: IUML state president Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal has announced Supreme Court lawyer V K Haris Beeran as the party’s Rajya Sabha candidate. The decision was made at the IUML leadership meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. P4 cations that the CPM central leadership was keen on nominating one of its national leaders if the party kept one RS seat. The state leadership took a call on seat division after considering this possibility too. The CPM chose not to claim the RS seat, despite the fact that the party doesn’t have enough members in the Upper House to remain as a single bloc. Later talking to the media, LDF convenor E P Jayarajan said the CPM decided not to claim the seat in order to take the coalition forward. Interests of all front constituents will be protected, and the decision is not the result of the setback in the LS election, he ● More on P4 said. EXPRESS READ Sharif greets Modi in first exchange after polls New Delhi: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday congratulated Narendra Modi in the first communication between the estranged neighbours after the latter took oath as India’s Prime Minister for a recordequalling third term. P8 Follow Unified Mass or face ouster, priests told Kochi: The Syro-Malabar Church on Monday issued an ultimatum to the dissenting priests of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese ordering them to celebrate Mass facing the altar during Eucharist prayer from July 1 or face expulsion from the Catholic Church, in a move aimed at ending the deadlock over the issue. P2 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Increased drug & alcohol use drying up ‘young’ blood supply P o o j a N a i r @ Kozhikode Manoj Panicker, a native of Kottayam district who is currently based in the United States, recently returned to his hometown to assist his ailing father in his medical treatment. A critical surgery necessitated blood donations. Despite Manoj’s efforts in locating 10 potential donors, the hospital’s blood bank deemed only two of them fit for transfusion. Authorities indicated that the oth- er donors were rejected due to detection of excessive drug and alcohol levels, which rendered their blood unsuitable for donation. The global health community relies heavily on voluntary, unpaid donors to ensure safe and adequate blood supply. These donors, who often view themselves as healthy and free from disease, donate with the altruistic intention of aiding those in need. However, the increasing use of drugs and high alcohol consumption among young adults is jeopardising the viability of their donations. And the issue is creating significant challenges for hospitals and blood banks. “Voluntary blood donors are crucial to the blood supply ch a i n , ” s t r e s s e s A Radhakrishnan, coordinator of the Blood Donors’ Forum, Kozhikode. “Unlike paid donors, voluntary donors are typically seen as more reliable because they have no incentive to conceal risky behaviour that might disqualify their blood,” he noted. “ T h e Wo rl d Health Organization (WHO) advocates for 100% voluntary unpaid , blood donations to ensure the highest standards of safety But . very recently we have been no, ticing hospital authorities increasingly declining the blood being handed over to them citing multiple reasons, including issues found in testing,” Radhakrishnan said. “We are now forced to conduct awareness classes regarding ill-effects of drug and alcohol consumption, before conducting sessions on the importance of blood dona● More on P4 tion,” he said.
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