chennai l wednesday l june 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l 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 Remove caste names from all private, govt SC sets highest schools, Chandru panel recommends to TN bar on negligence T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai Justice K Chandru hands over the report to CM MK Stalin on Tuesday | Express REMOVAL of caste appellations from names of government and private schools and the enactment of a special legislation for social inclusion are among the key recommendations made by the one-man committee headed by retired judge K Chandru in his 610page report on how violence on the basis of caste and creed can be prevented among school and college students in the state. The panel was formed last August after a Class 9 boy and his sister, belonging to a Scheduled Caste community, were hacked by schoolmates belonging to an intermediate caste. Justice Chandru submitted his report to Chief Minister MK Stalin at the secretariat on Tuesday The government will . study the report and is likely to announce an action plan to implement the short-term recommendations soon. The report said caste appellations such as ‘Kallar’ Reclamation and ‘ di Dravidar’ Welfare A should be dropped from school names and they should be refer red to as gover nment schools. It said the state ’s policy decision to bring all types of government-run schools under the umbrella of the school education department should be implemented immediately . The panel recommended periodic transfer of high school and higher secondary school teachers and said the government should prescribe a code of conduct for teachers and staff of schools, colleges, and universities run by the state. “An expert body or an agency can be appointed to investigate allegations of saffronisation of education and activities that infiltrate educational institutions, hampering caste and communal harmony,” the report said. MORE on P4 ‘consult states’ Withhold new criminal laws: Stalin to Shah EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai CHIEF Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to withhold the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023 until the views of all state governments and other stakeholders have been considered. In a letter to the union minister, the CM strongly objected to the NDA government’s decision to enforce the new legislations from July 1 by repealing the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Stalin pointed out that the three new legislations are named in Sanskrit in clear violation of Article 348 of the Constitution of India. “It is mandatory that all Acts passed by the Parliament shall be in English,” he noted. Stalin also pointed out that since these three new legislations fall within List III — the concurrent list of the Constitution of India — extensive consultations ought to be held with the state governments. The states were not given adequate time to express their views and the new laws were passed by the Parliament without the participation of the opposition parties, he said. “In addition, there are some fundamental errors in these enactments. For instance, Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has two subsections for two distinct classes of murder that are having the same punishment. There are some more provisions in the BNSS and BNS which are ambiguous or self-contradictory,” Stalin pointed out. P7 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 en d r a C h o u b ey @ 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 India 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 several such 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 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) dad in ysrcp MP’s daughter runs over youth, let off on bail in NEET-UG exam Siddharth Prabhakar @ Chennai 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 daughter of a YSRCP MP from Andhra Pradesh was arrested by Chennai traffic police on Tuesday for allegedly running over a 22-year-old man in Besant Nagar on Monday afternoon. The man, who had gotten married just eight months ago, succumbed to his injuries later on Monday . The accused Beeda Madhuri (33), daughter of Rajya Sabha MP and former Kavali (Nellore) MLA Beeda Masthan Rao, surrendered before the Adyar traffic investigation wing on Tuesday morning and was let off on bail, a police official said. A case has been registered against her under Section 304(A), which is causing death by negligence. According to police, the victim S Sathish, a painter residing in Urur Kuppam, was lying on a pavement when the BMW driven by Madhuri, accompanied by a friend Priya, ran over him while reversing on Tiger Varadachari street. Police claimed Sathish was under the influence of alcohol at the time. He sustained severe injuries on his stomach, face and chest and succumbed to them at around 7 pm on Monday at the Royapettah Government Hospital. Angered at his death, around 50 residents from the area, including the friends and relatives of the deceased, protested outside the Shastri Nagar police station demanding action against the driver at around 11pm on Monday . P7 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 HU V E E DA 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,” express read Big shot Omni services to be hit in TN as 800 buses stopped King Kohli reclaims throne of India’s most valued celebrity brand Chennai: Omni bus services are likely to be hit as 800 omni and tourist buses registered in other states suspended operations on Tuesday after the transport commissionerate declined to extend the deadline to re-register the vehicles in TN | P4 Nine-month-old baby drowns in bucket in TN Erode: The nine-month-old baby of a UP couple allegedly drowned in a bucket while playing near Gobichettipalayam on Monday. The deceased was identified as B Rasi, daughter of Bheem and Reema | P6 U M A KA 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
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