HYDERABAD FRIDAY JUNE 14, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 36 LATE CITY EDITION NATIONAL INTEREST: GERMANY PRIMED FOR BIG EURO KICK-OFF The three-time champions look to shake-off their listless recent tournament performances as the doors open for 2024 edition of Euros. A look FRANCE, PORTUGAL START AS FAVOURITES HOLDERS ITALY IN THE GROUP OF DEATH Thanks to their depth, France, 2018 World Cup champions and 2022 runners-up, begin as favourites. The side is stacked with world-class performers, including Kylian Mbappe. Portugal, which is having a Golden Generation of sorts, rivals France in terms of squad depth. Can Cristiano Ronaldo, fresh of an underwhelming season in Saudi, win a second Euro? ■ ■ After failing to advance to the last WC, Italy, the defending European champs, enjoyed a serene qualifying campaign. However, they find themselves in a challenging group with Spain, Albania and Croatia Other teams that have a chance include England, who can lay claim to having the best players of Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga 24 NUMBER OF TEAMS IN THE 2024 EVENT. THE FINAL IS SET FOR JULY 14 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 NEET grace marks axed, retest offered ED seeks details of Those who take the fresh exam on June 23 will lose their pre-compensatory score, govt tells the Supreme Court S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y NO CONCRETE EVIDENCE OF RIGGING: PRADHAN @ New Delhi THE Centre on Thursday cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 students who took the NEET-UG entrance exam for medical courses following a national uproar and gave them the option of taking a retest on June 23. Those who take the retest will lose their pre-grace marks; those who don’t will get to retain their score minus the compensatory marks. The decision came after a four-member panel examined the controversy and suggested remedial measures to allay the fears of the students, the government told the Supreme Court. The committee was of the view that the award of grace marks on grounds of loss of time while taking the test resulted in a skewed situation as it had to be limited to the questions that remained unattempted. “No concrete evidence of any kind of rigging, corruption or paper leak has been found so far in the NEET. The kind of politics being done on this issue is only an attempt to spread confusion and it affects the mental peace of the students,” Union education minister Drarmendra Pradhan said | P7 The National Testing Agency (NTA) had earlier granted compensatory marks to students in six centres who had complained of loss of time. It created a furore amid allegations of paper leaks and other malpractices in some places. A vacation bench comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta termed the NTA’s decision fairly reasona- ble and refused to stall the counselling for NEET-UG, scheduled to commence from July 6. They, however, said all the admissions will be subject to the outcome of the petitions that sought cancellation of the exam held on May 5 on the grounds of question paper leak and other malpractices. The bench also said it cannot expand the scope of the Centre’s decision to those students who had not approached the court yet. Advocate Kanu Agrawal, appearing for the Centre, said the retest results will be out on June 30, so those candidates too can appear for counselling. When the NEET-UG result was declared on June 4, as many as 67 students had a perfect score of 720. Thursday’s decision brought down that number to 61. The court ordered the NTA to file its reply by July 8 on the allegations of malpractices @ Hyderabad Students shout slogans against the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG entrance exam, in Kolkata on Thursday | PTI adopted by some students who took the NEET-UG exam. Around 24 lakh candidates took the exam. Its result was expected on June 14 but was announced on June 4. Telangana withdraws 25L Telugu textbooks mentioning KCR as CM E N S @ Bengaluru However, the decision to withdraw these books has snowballed into a political controversy with former education minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy finding fault with it. The School Education department is now in a dilemma on what to do with these withdrawn books in which the foreword mentions not only KCR and Sabitha, but also former education ministers K Srihari and G Jagadish Reddy . The officials who distributed the books on the first day of the EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad A day after they were distributed to lakhs of students across the state, the School Education department on Thursday withdrew over 25 lakh Telugu textbooks from Class I to SSC, as well as SSC workbooks, as the foreword mentions K Chandrasekhar Rao as the chief minister. reached out looking for the possible money laundering. However there is no confirmation if the case is already registered and the ED merely sought details. The probe agency sought details of all beneficiaries of the scheme district-wise viz. name of the person, address, contact numbers, bank account number, name of the bank/branch, etc. The ED also sought district-wise details of those from whom the sheep were purchased viz. name, contact number, address, bank account number, name of the bank/branch. The details of the bank accounts from which the disbursement of funds were made by TSS GDCFL to the district authorities and further to the bank accounts of beneficiaries were also sought by the ED. Complete details of the funds received from the beneficiaries as their contribution to the scheme, agencies that transported the sheep, details of vehicles used by the transport agencies, fodder procured and supplied, payments made for the procurement of fodder etc have to be submitted to the ED. The ED also asked the TSS GDCFL MD to submit copies of any internal report prepared in respect of alleged fraud committed, if any . reopening of the school on Wednesday took the textbooks , back from the students across the state while the undistributed textbooks were kept in safe custody . The district officials are now waiting for further instructions from the School Education commissioner. It remains to be seen whether the School Education department will print the textbooks afresh or just replace the page with the foreword with a new page. Not only the foreword of the Telugu textbooks from Classes 1 to 10, but also of Abhyasa Deepika (workbooks) of SSC mention KCR and Sabitha as the chief minister and education minister respectively The . officials also took these books back from the students. Realising the mistake on Thursday, the School Education department instructed all the District Educational Officers to withdraw all books that mention KCR as the chief minister, both distributed and undistributed. CONTINUED ON P4 Sangareddy: Medak BJP MP M Raghunandan Rao on Thursday said that BRS leaders will “definitely” face criminal charges for their corruption during their 10-year rule in the state. “The ED has already registered a case against KCR in sheep scam. Cases will be registered against T Harish Rao, KTR and former collector P Venkatram Reddy,” he said | P4 State Budget session likely in second week of July Hyderabad: The Budget session of the state Legislature is expected to start in the second week of July. As the state government presented a vote-on-account Budget in February this year, the full Budget will be presented in the Legislative Assembly in July, after the Centre presents its full Budget. The Budget exercise by the ministers along with their secretaries will start on June 18 | P4 PEMA KHANDU TAKES OATH AS ARUNACHAL CM Pema Khandu took oath as Arunachal Pradesh CM for the third time in a row. Amit Shah and Nadda were among BJP leaders who were present | P8 POSITIONS OF POWER 36 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) BJP state president G Kishan Reddy takes charge as Union Minister for Coal and Mines while his party general secretary Bandi Sanjay assumes office as as Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, in North Block, New Delhi on Thursday Doval gets 3 consecutive term as NSA rd R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi SPYMASTER Ajit Doval was reappointed National Security Advisor (NSA) for a third consecutive term and so was bureaucrat P K Mishra as the principal secretary to the prime minister with effect from June 10, the government said on Thursday . Their terms will be co-terminus with that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or until further orders, whichever is earlier, a government statement said. Both will continue to hold the rank of cabinet minister in the table of precedence. They accompany Modi whenever he goes abroad, like he did on Thursday for the Group of Seven summit in Italy The ap. THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) will investigate the alleged fraud in the implementation of sheep rearing developm e n t s ch e m e u n d e r t h e provisions of PMLA. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is already investigating the case and as per the preliminary estimates, approximately `700 crore was swindled in the name of sheep distribution when the BRS was in power in the state. The ED, in a letter to the managing director of TSS GDCFL, sought details of the beneficiaries of the scheme. “This Directorate is conducting investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 regarding alleged fraud in the implementation of Sheep Rearing Development Scheme (SRDC). It has come to the notice that M/s Telangana State Sheep and Goat Development Cooperative Federation Ltd. (TSS GDCFL), is the implementing agency of the SRDC scheme at the state level. In view of the same, it is requested to furnish the following details/documents in respect of implementation of SRDC from the start of the scheme till date,” the ED letter said. A senior police official said that the ED has every right to seek information and the state government officials are bound to provide it. The officer said that the ED sought information related to the sheep scam case since money laundering is suspected. Any illegal exchange of money in the alleged scam falls under PMLA Act and in this case, money acquired from brokers was illegal. Hence, the ED EXPRESS READ WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE ED CASE ON KCR, KTR ALSO ON LIST: RAGHU EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Non-bailable arrest warrant out against BSY A POCSO trial court in Bengaluru on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against for mer Kar nataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa. Judge N M Ramesh passed the order after hearing an application filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing a POCSO case registered against the veteran BJP leader. In its plea, the CID stated that Yediyurappa, 81, did not appear before it despite summons. Police booked Ye d i y u r a p p a under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and Section 354A of the IPC based on a complaint filed on March 14 by the mother of a 17-year-old girl that he sexually assaulted the girl on February 2 at his residence. The complainant, 54, was a cancer patient and she died last month. Yediyurappa has denied the charge and filed a plea in the Karnataka High Court seeking the quashing of the case against him. He has also sought anticipatory bail. The HC is likely to take up both petitions on Friday . sheep scheme, may probe under PMLA Ajit Doval (left) and P K Mishra pointments indicate the PM’s trust in these top officers. After retirement as Intelligence Bureau director in 2005, Doval founded the Vivekananda International Foundation, a public policy thinktank. He worked with the IB for more than 33 years in different roles and in areas like the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. Modi picked him as the coun- try’s fifth NSA in 2014. During his first tenure, Doval is believed to have played a pivotal role in the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir after the Uri terror attack. As for Mishra, he served as additional principal secretary in the PMO in Modi’s first term as prime minister. In September 2019, he was elevated as principal secretary to the prime minister. Mishra is a 1972 batch retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre. Besides, two other appointments of former IAS officers of Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh cadres — Amit Khare and Tarun Kapoor — were made as advisors in the Prime Minister’s Office for two years. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Govt to set up 150 ‘Mahila Shakti’ canteens M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY @ Hyderabad THE state government has decided to establish at least 150 “Mahila Shakti” canteens across Telangana and hand over the responsibility of managing the eateries to women’s organisations. Acting on the directions of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy Chief Secretary Santhi Ku, mari on Thursday chaired a review meeting at the Secretariat on “Mahila Shakti - Canteen Services”. During the meeting, Santhi Kumari directed the Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Commissioner to prepare a detailed action plan on THE RECIPE Representational image The canteens will be set up at govt offices, collectorates, tourist spots, temples etc Rural women’s groups will be asked to manage these canteens Members of these women’s groups will be trained in managing the canteens the functioning and management of canteens and the space required to establish them. Stating that the chief minister intends to strengthen women’s organisations in the state, the chief secretary said that the canteens will be set up in all government offices, district collectorates, tourist spots, various temples, bus stands and industrial areas with the assistance of various women’s organisations. “ study has been done on sucA cessful performance of canteens running in Tamil Nadu and “Didi Ki Rasoi” in West Bengal. The target is setting up at least 150 canteens in the next two years. The management of these canteens will be handed over to the rural women’s groups. Also special training on how to manage the canteens will be imparted to these groups,” the chief secretary said. Principal Revenue Secretary Naveen Mittal, Panchayat Raj commissioner Anita Ramachandran, Health commissioner RV Karnan, Endowment commissioner Hanumantha Rao, Tourism director Nikhila, Tourism Cor poration MD Ramesh Naidu and others were present.
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