HYDERABAD  WEDNESDAY  JUNE 19, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE 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HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Outdated ITIs upgraded to help youth: CM SC sets highest EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for an Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) at the Mallepally Industrial Training Institute (ITI) here. The Mallepally centre is one of the 65 ITIs that would be upgraded to ATCs. The government has already entered into a 10-year MoU with Tata Technologies to upgrade the 65 ITIs. While the total cost of upgradation is `2,324.21 crore, the state government’s share is `307.96 crore (13.26%) with Tata Technologies contributing the remaining amount. Addressing the gathering, the CM said the government’s 4 LAKH PEOPLE TO BE TRAINED IN NEXT 10 YEARS  Training to be provided to youth to meet the requirements of industry. For this, advanced equipment and tech will be installed in ATCs  Only 1.5 lakh people have been provided training in ITIs in last 10 years. Four lakh people will be trained in next 10 years in ATCs: govt Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy wears a VR headset at the Mallepally ITI centre in Hyderabad on Tuesday where he laid the foundation stone for an ATC  Tata Technologies has already employed 130 experts to impart training for youth in ATCs. It will also offer job opportunities to those trained in ATCs aim was to provide employment opportunities to youth. Revanth pointed out that outdated programmes introduced Final arrangements being made for emergency pumping of water from Sripada Yellampalli reservoir on the Godavari to Hyderabad 40–50 years ago were still being used in the institutes. “My strong belief is technical skills will provide more job op- portunities,” Revanth said and added that certificates alone would not increase living standards. “While I was constructing my house, many civil engineers came forward to work as site supervisors for `15,000 per month. But the skilled and experienced construction worker asked for `60,000. If you want to get better opportunities, you should have technical skills,” he added. The government will provide financial assistance to those trained at ATCs to establish their own businesses. The CM said girl students should also join ITIs to undergo skill development training. “I am holding the portfolio of employment generation. I will monitor closely and review the performance of ATCs every month,” he added. A family is out in the blazing sun with their heads covered in the national capital on Tuesday as temperatures were 6-8°C above normal | PARVEEN NEGI Emergency pumping from Boiling tap water, power Godavari to Hyd from today cuts add to Delhi’s misery S BACHAN JEET SINGH @ Hyderabad WITH water levels in the Sripada Yellampalli reservoir on the Godavari depleting, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) is all set to start pumping through emergency motors from Wednesday. Initially, seven out of 20 motors that have been installed at Yellampalli will begin functioning to draw 148 cusecs of water to the city as well as villages en route. The HMWSSB has been drawing water from Krishna (Akkampally) through 10 emergency pumping motors since last month. Similar pumping arrangements were made from Yellampalli in 2016 to draw water. In 2020, pumping arrangements could not be commissioned due to sudden flash floods as seven pumps got submerged in the reservoir. The HMWSSB officials said that as per Irrigation records, they are expecting inflows into the reservoir from June-end. The Water Board officials said that the water level in Yellampally reservoir is falling to minimum drawdown levels (MDDL) and emergency pumping arrangements have been QUENCHING CITY’S THIRST The HMWSSB is currently drawing 162 million gallons of water per day for different parts of Hyderabad 576 MGD Total water being drawn Krishna Singur and Manjira 275 MGD 109 MGD Godavari 162 MGD Himayatsagar 7.9 MGD Osmansagar: 21.4 MGD 246 MGD is being supplied to the core city of Hyderabad 237 MGD to peripheral areas of GHMC 62 MGD to ORR and 30.36 MGD for Rural Water Supply (Mission Bhagiratha) made. The available water is 4.24 tmcft as against the storage of 20.175 tmcft. As the water level is going to touch MDDL (138 metres), the HMWSSB is starting emergency pumping from June 19. A total of 20 pump motors have been fixed. Initially sev, en motors will start functioning — five will draw 20 cusecs each and two will draw 24 cusecs each. J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ 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-deprived women in the 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 India Meteorological Department (IMD) catagorises the conditions as warm night CHART TOPPERS EXPRESS READ Communal clashes back in TG after 10 yrs: Asad Hyderabad: Asking why communal incidents are taking place in Telangana after 10 years, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday stressed that the Congress govt should take stringent action against the accused in the recent Medak communal clash | P4 Arjun conquers another event, reaches new highs Hyderabad: Arjun Erigaisi, the 20-year-old chess prodigy from Warangal, won the Stepan Avagyan Memorial in Armenia with a round to spare. After this, live ratings of the World No. 4 rose to a careerhigh 2779.9 (till round eight) | P2 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 be, tween maximum and minimum in summer in the North is 10-15°C. But the current difference 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 . Then there is the problem of frequent power cuts and 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, who organised multiple protest at the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation. ON 17 JUNE, THE FOLLOWING 4 STATIONS REPORTED THEIR HIGHEST-EVER MINIMUM TEMPERATURES Alwar: 37°C (Highest since 1969) Lakhimpur Khiri: 33°C (since 1969) Shahjahanpur: 33°C (since 1977) Varanasi: 33.6°C (since 1969) POWER TRIP? Tweet trouble pushes SPDCL into a corner bar on negligence in NEET-UG exam EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad Asks NTA to take action if there is 0.001% chance of malpractice in holding the test S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N 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 THE TGSPDCL on Tuesday landed in hot water following a woman’s post on social media alleging that the Discom staff came to her residence and asked her to delete an earlier post on X about power cuts. “Power cut ayyindhi ani complaint chesthe intiki ochhi mari tweet delete chepisthunnaru pai nundi pressure undhi ani. What kind of government is this? [When I lodged a complaint about power cuts, the staff are coming to our residence and asking us to delete the tweet as they face pressure from higherups],” she posted on X. When it went viral, the woman restricted her posts. TGSPDCL chairman and managing director Musharraf Ali Faruqui denied the allegations. Speaking to TNIE, the CMD said there was no policy of asking customers to delete complaints on X. He said that the Discom did not give any instructions to the staff to ask people to do so. “We receive hundreds of tweets everyday. But we never ask the consumers to delete them. The staff seek the address of the consumer only to rectify the problems in power supply,” the CMD said. Responding to the woman’s tweet, BRS working president KT Rama Rao had posted on X: “Nincompoops who can’t solve basic issues are frightened when people start questioning them. Shame on the Energy Department and @tgspdcl for harassing citizens who have raised their voices demanding better services. Is this the “Change” that was promised.” Aspirant in trouble over fake papers The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday said that a NEET aspirant who had alleged 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 . RBI MULLS BETTER INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR GREEN DEPOSITS Patra said in his speech. RBI had issued the framework for green deposits in April 2023, with the broad objective of developing a green finance ecosystem. Under the framework, regulated entities can offer green deposits to customers and boost the sustainability agenda, address ‘greenwashing’ (false claims on sustainability), and help increase the flow of funds to green projects. Deposit insurance is mandatory for all the banks in India, including foreign banks operating in the country However, in. surance coverage is a sticky issue. The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, a subsidiary of the RBI, covers deposits only up to `5 lakh. It steps in, in the event of a bank collapse. 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,” 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 features 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 VIRAT KOHLI 2 RANVEER SINGH $120.7 $111.7 $101.1 MILLION MILLION MILLION SHAH RUKH KHAN AKSHAY KUMAR ALIA BHATT 3 4 5