BHUBANESWAR l thursday l june 13, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l JEYPORE EDITION State of the economy: factory output down, inflation eases Manufacturing slump blamed for IIP fall The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) slipped to a three-month low of 5% in April whereas retail inflation fell to 4.75% in May, shows govt data The fall in IIP was mainly on account of poor show by the manufacturing sector, whose growth decelerated to 3.9% in April compared to 5.5% a year ago. In contrast, mining and power segments performed well, according to official data released on Wednesday. Mining output growth accelerated to 6.7% in April while power generation increased by 10.2% Retail inflation pares to 4.75% in May ■ Retail inflation eased to a 12-month low of 4.75% in May, down from April’s figure of 4.83%, but higher than 4.31% recorded in May last year ■ Inflation in the food basket was 8.69% in May, down from 8.70% in April, according to National Statistical Office data. The government has tasked the Reserve Bank of India to ensure inflation remains at 4% 4.5% The reserve bank of India’s retail inflation projection for 2024-25 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 council of ministers Chief Minister Team Mohan takes charge of Odisha Chief Minister, Two Dy Cms and 13 ministers take oath in presence of PM Modi & ex-CM Naveen Patnaik First cabinet meet decides to open all 4 gates of srimandir from Today, finalises 100-day roadmap Mohan Charan Majhi Dy Chief Ministers Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo Pravati Parida PM Narendra Modi and Governor Raghubar Das pose with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Dy CMs KV Singh Deo, Pravati Parida and ministers after the oath taking ceremony in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday Ministers E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Suresh Pujari Rabi Narayan Naik Prithiviraj Harichandan Bibhuti Bhushan Jena Krushna Ch Patra Nityananda Gond Mukesh Mahaling Krushna Ch Mahapatra Ministers of State (Ind Charge) Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia Suryabanshi Suraj Gokulananda Mallik Pradeep Bal Samanta Sampad Ch Swain Odisha politics turned a new page on Wednesday with the BJP forming its first government under the leadership of senior tribal leader Mohan Charan Majhi after dislodging the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD which was in power for a record fiver successive terms. Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath of office to Majhi, a four-time MLA from Keonjhar, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seven Union ministers and nine chief ministers of BJP-ruled states. BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik was also in attendance. Majhi became the 16th chief minister of the state and third from the tribal community after Giridhar Gamang and Hemananda Biswal. Apart from Majhi, KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, who have been appointed as deputy chief ministers, were among the 15 ministers to take oath. “Governor of Odisha, Raghubar Das, appointed Deputy Chief Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State (Independent Charge) on the recommendation of the Chief Minister. Strength of the council of ministers is 16 including the Chief Minister, which is within 15 per cent of the strength of the Assembly as prescribed by the Sarkaria Commission,” said a INSIDE It’s a historic day in Odisha! BJP is forming its first-ever government in the state. Congratulations to Shri Mohan Charan Majhi on taking oath as CM and to Shri Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo as well as Smt Pravati Parida on taking oath as Deputy CMs. With the blessings of Mahaprabhu Jagannath, I am confident this team will usher in record development in Odisha Narendra Modi, Prime Minister My best wishes to the new Chief Minister of the state Mr. Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Ms. Pravati Parida and all the members of the Cabinet. Wishing everyone a successful tenure for the welfare of the people of Odisha Naveen Patnaik, former chief minister Raj Bhavan communique. Eight ministers have been given cabinet rank. Suresh Pujari from Brajrajnagar, Rabinarayan Nayak from Kuchinda, Nityanada Gond from Umerkote, Krushna Chandra Patra from Dhenkanal, Prithiviraj Harichandan from Chilika, Mukesh Mahaling from Loisinga, Bibhuti Bhusan Jena from Gopalpur and Krishna Chandra Mahapatra from Morada have got cabinet berths. The five ministers of state (independent charge) include Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia from Jashipur, Suryabanshi Suraj from Dhamnagar, Pradeep Bal Samanta from Sukinda, Gokulanada Mallik from Polsara and Sampad Chandra Swain from Paradip. While a delegation of top state BJP leaders had gone to Naveen Nivas, the residence of former Naveen’s grace, BJP courtesy mark oath taking ceremony chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on Tuesday to invite him to the swearing-in ceremony, CM-designate Majhi also called on Naveen on Wednesday and requested him to join the event. Naveen assured him he would attend the ceremony and he kept his word. After the ceremony , the prime minister exchanged pleasantries with Naveen on the dais and thanked him for attending the function. After taking oath, the new chief minister Majhi took to his X handle thanking Lord Jagannath and the people of the state for giving him the opportunity to serve them. “With the blessings of Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannath and under the guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a ‘Developed Odisha’ will be formed,” Continued on P5 he said. Majhi meets people, assures to resolve their problems soon P3 Srimandir’s gates to open today; MSP hike, Subhadra Yojana get cabinet approval E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar The first cabinet meeting of the BJP government chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday took four major decisions that include opening of all the four gates of the Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri from June 13 (Thursday) to facilitate free flow of devotees into the shrine for seamless darshan of the Trinity . Briefing mediapersons about the decisions, the Chief Minister said the first meeting of the council of ministers followed by the cabinet discussed about the promises made to the people in the election manifesto and set an action plan for the first 100 days. The first decision of the cabinet, he said, was to open the four doors of the 12th century shrine on Thursday after Mangal Alati, the first ritual of the temple, in the presence of all the ministers. “Devotees were facing hardship as three gates were closed for a long time. This was creating a divide between the devotees and the God. Opening of the four gates will ensure smooth flow of devotees The Agriculture department has been asked to prepare guidelines and an elaborate action plan for a progressive agriculture policy within the next 100 days Mohan Charan Majhi, Chief Minister into the temple,” the CM said. Currently, only the eastern gate or Simhadwar is open for entry of the devotees. Post Covid pandemic, restrictions were imposed. This was a major poll plank of the BJP in the just-concluded elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and JP Nadda had all promised to open all the four gates and take immediate measures for reinventorisation of valuables stored in Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of the Continued on P5 temple. Close to 50 Indians dead Naidu logs in as Andhra CM in Kuwait building blaze in a star-studded ceremony S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi Video grab of smoke billowing after a fire broke out in a building in Mangaf, Kuwait on Wednesday | PTI Indians admitted in multiple hospitals reported stable Over 30 Indians have been admitted at the Al-Adan hospital, six others at Farwaniya Hospital, 11 in Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital and six in Jahra Hospital. They are said to be stable. “Another 6 are expected to be shifted to Jahra hospital today from the Mangaf site,” the Indian mission wrote on X. The Emir of Kuwait assured full probe and accountablity Close to 50 Indian are feared dead in a massive fire that broke out around dawn in Kuwait in a building housing nearly 200 foreign workers. Most of the victims were asleep and died due to suffocation, sources said. The fire started in a kitchen of a six-storey building in the Mangaf area, south of Kuwait City, which is densely populated with migrant labourers. Most of the deceased were Indian nationals from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere. Their ages ranged between 20 and 50 years, Major General Eid Al-Owaihan, head of the interior ministry’s General Department of Criminal Evidence, was quoted as saying by Arab Times. “We received a report of a fire at 6 am,” he added. Given the scale of the tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent the new Minister of State for External Affairs, K V Singh, to Kuwait to oversee assistance to all the affected people. “Minister Singh will also oversee the repatriation of mortal remains of those who have passed away in this tragic incident,” according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Besides, Modi announces ex-gratia relief of `2 lakh to the families of deceased Indian nationals from Prime Minister Relief Fund. The Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Department, too, opened two helplines. For calls within India: +91 1800 309 3793 and for calls from foreign countries: +91 80 6900 9900, +91 80 6900 9901. India’s Ambassador to Kuwait, Adarsh Sawaika, has been visiting those injured in various hospitals and extending all possible assistance. The embassy also set up a helpline. “In connection with the tragic fire accident involving Indian workers today, the Embassy has put in place an emergency helpline number: +96565505246. All concerned are requested to connect over this helpline for updates,” the Indian Embassy in Kuwait said in a post on X. Indians constitute 21% of Kuwait’s population and 30% of its workforce. Interior minister Sheikh Fahd AlYousef said the building’s owner had been detained, adding any properties violating safety regulations would be closed immediately “We will work to . address the issue of labour overcrowding and neglect,” he said. Telugu Desam Party boss N Chandrababu Naidu was on Wednesday sworn-in as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth time in his four-decade-long political career in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, J P Nadda, and Bandi Sanjay besides a host of other NDA leaders. It was a star-studded event attended by film stars Rajinikanth and Chiranjeevi. Governor S Abdul Nazeer administered the oath of office and secrecy to Naidu and his 24 Cabinet colleagues, including Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, at a grand event held in Kesarapalli on the outskirts of Vijayawada. Besides 21 TDP MLAs, one BJP and three JSP legislators have been inducted into the new ministry . Interestingly even before the , portfolios were announced, Amit Shah and Pawan Kalyan’s brother Chiranjeevi took to X PM Narendra Modi embraces Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu (right) during the oath-taking ceremony in Vijayawada on Wednesday | Prasant Madugula Our government is committed to upholding the rights of the marginalised Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh CM and congratulated the JSP chief for being appointed as the deputy chief minister. Throughout the event, the camaraderie between Modi, Naidu, and Pawan was on full display, sending clear signals that the NDA partners stand united. PM Modi hugged Naidu soon after the latter took oath as Andhra chief minister. Flanked by Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan on either side, Modi greeted the crowd. Later, Modi also posed for photos with Naidu’s family members.
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