KOZHIKODE l wednesday l june 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION U.S. delegation in India to meet Dalai Lama, discuss Tibet bill The delegation led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul reached Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamsala on Tuesday Biden to sign legislation soon: McCaul The delegation includes ex-US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congress members Mariannette Miller, Gregory Meeks, Nicole Malliotakis, Jim McGovern and Ami Bera. They will meet the Dalai Lama on Wednesday. McCaul said US President Joe Biden will sign the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act, also known as Resolve Tibet Act U.S. BILL China protests visit of u.s. Delegation ■ The bill seeks to push China to hold talks with Tibetan leaders, stalled since 2010, to secure a pact that will get Beijing to respect Tibetan people’s aspirations on their historical, cultural, religious and linguistic identity ■ Meanwhile, China protested the US delegation’s visit and urged Biden not to sign the Tibet bill, which it claimed will send wrong signals to the world Treats Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces as part of Tibet 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 CM PiNARAYI, govt draw flak at SC sets highest CPM state committee meeting bar on negligence high-intensity anti-incumbency sentiment against the state government swept across the In a rare development, Chief state triggering the LDF’s poll Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and debacle. his government came Sources said a few under sharp criticism leaders singled out the at the CPM state comchief minister’s style mittee meeting on Tuesof functioning for the day, as several leaders failure. In an apparent squarely blamed them reference to the confor the LDF’s humiliattroversial remarks by ing defeat in the recent LDF convener E P Lok Sabha polls. Jayarajan, they said Pinarayi Vijayan such slips of tongue Rejecting public utterances of some leadby some leaders too ers, those who spoke at the had contributed to the severe state committee meeting con- drubbing in the elections. vened to review the Lok Sabha Some of them felt that though election results asserted that a the second Pinarayi governent E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i ce @ T’Puram implemented a slew of welfare measures, the gover nment failed to ensure that their benefits actually reached the masses. The report presented by CPM state secretary M V Govindan observed that the Nava Kerala Sadas didn’t quite yield the desired results. It further noted that the delay in distributing welfare pensions contributed significantly to the LDF’s poor poll performance. Both the state government and the LDF failed to effectively communicate to the masses the fact that the welfare pensions were delayed due to the Union government’s ne- glect towards Kerala, the report pointed out. “Some leaders, especially those who spoke from northern districts, was highly critical of the state government. While Nava Kerala Sadas failed to yield desired results, a slew of allegations including those related to the death of Sidharthan and the Nava Kerala Sadas had negative impact. Similarly Muslim appeasement , by the party was highly visible throughout the campaign. Had the government taken some steps to address pension delay and shortage of supplies at Supplyco outlets, the scenario would have been different,” ● More on P4 said a source. 90-year-old killed in bomb blast in Kannur E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i ce @ Kannur An elderly man was killed in a blast when he unwittingly tried to open a steel bomb he found from his neighbour’s uninhabited plot at Eranholi in Thalassery on Tuesday . The deceased, Velayudhan K K, 90, had gone there to collect coconuts. Velayudhan suffered fatal injuries to his head and his hands were shattered in the impact of the blast, the police said. The house and the farmland where the blast occurred has been uninhabited for a long time. According to local residents, Velayudhan frequented the place to collect coconuts. The Thalassery police, who have launched an investigation, confirmed to TNIE that the blast was accidental. “The victim is an old man. The incident occurred when he went there to collect coconuts. The bomb squad conducted detailed examination at the site and no other bombs were found from there,” said a police officer with the Thalassery station. Senior police officials, including Kannur range DIG Thomson Jose IPS, visited the spot. The police said a special team will be formed to investigate the case. Velayudhan’s body will be released to relatives on Wednesday after completing the postmortem, they said. Kannur has had a long history of country bomb attacks and related mishaps. The bomb blast at Panur on April 5 which led to the death of a CPM worker had a major impact on the election results in the Vadakara LS constituency ● More on P5 . express read JD(S) in Kerala to form new party T’Puram: Eager to wriggle out of the tough situation it has found itself in after the party national leadership joined hands with the BJP, the Janata Dal (S) in Kerala has decided to form a new party. The party leadership meet held at the state committee office in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday decided to form a party sporting a new name, flag and symbol. P5 State’s first Vir Chakra awardee passes away T’Puram: Kerala’s first Vir Chakra awardee Lt Col (retd) N Chandrasekharan Nair, who won the prestigious medal for his outstanding service during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, passed away on Tuesday. He was 91. Lt Col Nair who was suffering from age-related ailments for the past few weeks, breathed his last at around 2 pm at his Kumarapuram residence. P2 A family out in the blazing sun with their heads covered, in the Capital on Tuesday | Parveen Negi Boiling tap water, power cuts add to Delhi’s misery J i t end r a C houbey @ New Delhi “We are more worried about the boiling tap water than the blistering heat,” says Sunita, 28, a migrant from Maharashtra, living in Delhi’s Sundar Nagari. “Our sleep-dep r iv e d w o m e n i n t h e neighbourhood wake up around 5 am to start household chores and bathe early so as to avoid the boiling tap water during daytime,” she adds. Heatwave conditions during both day and night have made life miserable for those who don’t have cooling equipment at home. Excess heat has also made street dogs more irritable, possibly doubling dog bite cases. Delhi’s maximum temperature on Monday was 6-8°C above normal and so was the minimum temperature — over 6°C above normal. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) catagorises the conditions as warm night when the departure of the minimum temperature is 4.5°C-6.4°C above normal. Severe warm nights are when the departure is over 6.4°C. Normally, the difference between maximum and minimum in summer in the North is 10-15°C. But the current dif ference is just around 6-8°C. “It shows the magnitude of the heatwave conditions,” said Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, IMD chief. Warm night to severe warm night conditions have been observed in parts of Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi and UP. Warm night conditions are prevalant in isolated pockets of Rajasthan and Bihar. Then there is the problem of frequent power cuts and Chart toppers On 17 June, the following 4 stations reported their highest-ever minimum temperatures water scarcity in Delhi-NCR colonies. “For a week in May , our transformer burst and deprived us of electricity. Now, regular water supply is a challenge,” said Mihir Chandra, a resident of a posh colony in Gurgaon, who organised multiple protest at the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation. “I found many similar protests in Noida, Ghaziabad, and other places. I am worried about our older people and children coping with the heat,” he added. Even ACs struggle to function in the heat. “My mechanic arranged a cooler to keep my AC functional,” said a senior doctor living in Delhi’s Vasant Vihar. He works at the Government Civil Hospital in Gurgaon. “Heat-related illness cases have gone up by 25% in all OPDs. Dog bite cases have also jumped in the past one month,” he said on the condition of anonymity . Alwar: 37°C (Highest since 1969) Lakhimpur Khiri: 33°C (since 1969) Shahjahanpur: 33°C (since 1977) Varanasi: 33.6°C (since 1969) RBI exploring insurance cover for green deposits: Dy guv in NEET-UG exam B E N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai WITH climate change emerging as an overarching risk to the global economy as well as financial systems, the Reserve Bank of India is exploring adequate insurance coverage for green deposits, deputy governor Michael Patra said. “We are exploring appropriate coverage for green deposits, climate-risk based differential premiums and ex-ante funding needs for climate sustainability,” Patra told the 79th executive committee meeting of the International Association of Deposit Insurers in Rome over the weekend. While Patra did not elaborate on RBI’s plans, the move is expected to bring more funds to environmentfriendly projects. Patra urged deposit insurers to brace for more complex challenges amidst the heightened uncertainty especially from the impact of climate change, which threatens to disrupt the global economy . “New challenges arising from climate changes will inevitably require effective coordination and information sharing between domestic insurers and other national safety net participants as well as with those in other jurisdictions,” Patra said. RBI had issued the framework for green deposits in April 2023, with the broad objective to develop a green finance ecosystem. Under the framework, regulated entities can offer green deposits to customers and boost the sustainability agenda, address ‘green-washing’ (false claims on sustainability), and help increase the flow of funds to green projects. Asks NTA to take action if there is 0.001% chance of malpractice in holding the test Such i t r a K a lyan Mohan t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday pressed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to proactively take remedial action if there was even 0.001% chance of negligence in conducting the NEET-UG examination. “As an agency, you must act fair. If there is a mistake, say yes, this is a mistake. If there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with... We need timely action from you,” a two-judge vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and S V N Bhatti said. Observing that students have to labour hard while preparing for these examinations, the court said the litigation pertaining to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) -2024 must not be treated as adversarial. “We all know the labour which the children undergo, especially in preparing for these exams,” the bench said, adding, “Imagine a person who has played fraud on the system becomes a doctor, he is more deleterious to the society .” The bench was hearing two petitions against awarding grace marks given to students in the examination held on May 5 besides other malpractices. It sought a detailed response from the NTA and the Centre and told the petitioners Aspirant in trouble over fake papers The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday said that a NEET aspirant who had alleged in that the NTA failed to declare her result and that her OMR answersheet was found torn had submitted forged documents. The court allowed the NTA to take legal action in the matter they can argue their case on July 8, the next date of hearing. There have also been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar, which led to protests in several cities and petitions in various courts. Advocate Kanu Agrawal, appearing for the Union, said “let no opinion be formed till we file a counter.” Agarwal added that the NTA’s recent decision to revoke the grace marks to 1,563 students indicated it was responsive to the concerns of candidates. That decision was taken after an expert committee found flaws in the modus of awarding grace marks. The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. Around 24 lakh candidates took the exam on May 5 in 4,750 centres across the country . Radhakrishnan signs off with key order ‘decolonising’ SC settlements members on this count. “Now, the residents can select progressive names that connect with the local culture. As there are disputes over naming colonies after individuals we have issued directions to avoid such names,” he added. The order, which is in line with the Left government’s policy said terming the places as , ‘colony’, ‘sanketham’, and ‘ooru’ brought disrespect, and hence, alternative terms such as ‘nagar’, ‘unnathi’, and ‘prakrithi’ should be used. The order further said names that evoke regional interests can also be used. Radhakrishnan, who had represented Chelakkara constituency in the assembly, has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Alathur. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i ce @T’Puram True to his reputation, K Radhakrishnan, billed as the most efficient and amiable minister in the second Pinarayi government, stepped down from the cabinet on Tuesday in unique style, signing a landmark order abolishing the use of the term ‘colonies’ to describe places inhabited by members of the scheduled castes. Radhakrishnan, the lone CPM candidate to have won the Lok Sabha election, resigned from the cabinet as well as the state assembly as required. “The term ‘colony’ is a symbol of subjugation and slavery . We have to erase the tag from the lives of the marginalised sections. Several rounds of dis- The term ‘colony’ is a symbol of subjugation and slavery. We have to erase the tag from the lives of the marginalised sections K Radhakrishnan cussions were held on the issue and we have finally decided to abolish the usage,” the minister, who held SC/ST welfare and devaswom portfolios, said. There have been demands from the scheduled caste community Big shot King Kohli reclaims throne of India’s most valued celebrity brand U M A K A N N A N @ Bengaluru With a brand value of $227.9 million in 2023, cricketer Virat Kohli surpassed Bollywood star Ranveer Singh to claim the No 1 spot as India’s most valued celebrity He was No 2 with $176.9 . million in 2022. That’s a cool 30% jump in one year. In 2017, with a brand value of $144 million, the star cricketer had sur passed Bollywood heart-throb Shah Rukh Khan for the first time and stood No 1 that year. Since then, Kohli’s brand value soared 58% to touch the latest figure. The brand value of actor Ranveer Singh shot up 383% in the past seven years. He was at No 5 with $42 million in 2017. In 2023, his brand value stood at $203.1 million. According to Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2023, released by global consulting firm Kroll, the overall brand value of the top 25 celebrities in 2023 is estimated at $1.9 billion, an increase of 15.5% from the previous year. Aviral Jain, MD, Valuation Advisory Services, Kroll, told this paper: “2023 marked King Kohli reclaiming the throne of being the most valued celebrity brand in India backed by his stellar and record breaking onfield performances throughout the year. He marshals a vast army of 375 million social media followers and his brand repertoire has doubled in the last five years.” Actors Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Alia Bhatt are at No 3, 4 and 5 with a brand value of $120.7 million, $111.7 million and $101.1 million, respectively . The report says the cumula- tive number of product brand endorsements by the top 20 celebrities increased to 484 in 2023, a jump of 14.2% from 424 product brands in 2022. The list also featured Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. Apart from investing in startups, these celebs have launched their own brands. They are dabbling in new areas like the food business, with ventures like Kohli-led One8 Commune’s multi-city premium restaurants, and Genelia D’Souza and Riteish Deshmukh’s Imagine Meats India. Most valued celebs (Source: Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2023) $227.9 million $203.1 million 1 2 Virat Kohli Ranveer Singh $120.7 $111.7 $101.1 million million million Shah Rukh Khan Akshay Kumar Alia Bhatt 3 4 5
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