BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l june 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 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 China protests visit of u.s. Delegation 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 ■ 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 U.S. BILL 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 SC sets highest Balasore under curfew after bar on negligence communal flare-up, 35 held in NEET-UG exam Express News Service @ Balasore/Bhubaneswar BALASORE was placed under curfew till Wednesday evening after violence escalated in the district headquarters town following a clash between two communities over animal slaughter a day earlier. Business establishments as well as private and government-run institutions remained shut while entry points to Balasore town were sealed. Internet service was suspended to control the flareup and social media shut down. So far, at least 35 persons from both communities have been held in connection with the clashes. Seven FIRs have been registered. Balasore collector Ashish Thakare said although no fresh violence was reported after the prohibitory orders were imposed, the curfew was imposed in the municipality area as part of precautionary measures. It will remain in force for next 24 hours and further decision will be taken after examining the situation on Wednesday evening, he said. Chief Minister Mohan Cha- Asks NTA to take action if there is 0.001% chance of malpractice in holding the test S u ch i t r a K alya n M oha 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 they can ar- 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 gue 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 . Police personnel stand guard as Balasore town remains under curfew after a clash between two communities, on Tuesday | SHIBA PRASAD SAHU ran Majhi issued strict instructions to the district administration to control the situation. Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi and MLA Manas Dutta also appealed to people to maintain peace. Armed police force led by Balasore SP Sagarika Nath conducted flag marches in sensitive areas on Tuesday evening. Earlier on Monday, some people spotted blood-stained water in a drain which led to the face-off between the two communities resulting in road blockade. Eventually, it led into intense stone-pelting during which more than 10 persons were injured. Even police personnel suffered injuries while controlling the Biden eases visa rules for citizenship in election yEAr Half a million immigrants could get citizenship under the new plan | P9 RBI mulls better insurance coverage for green deposits Boiling tap water, power cuts add to Delhi’s misery B EN K O C H U V EE D A N @ Mumbai “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 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 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 Warm night con. 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 gover nor 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 challeng. es 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 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 Continued on P5 agenda. J i t e n d r a C ho u b e y @ New Delhi Chart toppers On 17 June, the following 4 stations reported their highest-ever minimum temperatures A family out in the blazing sun with their heads covered, in the Capital on Tuesday | Parveen Negi ditions are prevalant in isolated pockets of Rajasthan and Bihar. 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, 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) mob. Despite imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, the situation escalated in the night as a mob damaged vehicles and pelted stones at some houses and even damaged some religious structures. Severe stone pelting was reported in Golapokhari, Motiganj, Barabati, Cinema Chhak and other areas of the town. Additional chief secretary of Home department DK Singh prohibited the use of social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, X and any other through internet and other mediums for 48 hours up to 10 am on Thursday in Balasore municipality Continued on P5 area. 10-yr-old boy swept away in drain during rain, dies Express News Service @ Bhubaneswar In a tragic incident, a 10-yearold boy died after being swept away by the gushing waters in an open drain during heavy rains in the capital city on Tuesday . The incident occurred at Unit III area, when the boy, identified as Abubakar Saha, went near the drain to retrieve a balloon from the swelling storm water channel. While trying to lay his hands on the balloon, he slipped into the drain and was washed away . The locals immediately informed the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, who alerted the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire services personnel to launch a rescue operation. However, the boy was spotted and rescued by the local people near Oscar City locality under Laxmi Sagar, around 3 km from the mishap spot. The child was rushed to the Capital Hospital but he had succumbed by then. A case of unnatural death (UD) was registered at Kharvel Nagar police station. Police said the body of the deceased was handed over to the family after postmortem. The child’s father Jamati Saha works as a daily Grandmother of the child breaks down after getting the news of his death | DEBADATTA MALLICK Previous incidents July, 2022: 5-year-old boy died after falling into drain at Patitapaban Nagar Sept, 2021: 15-year-old boy swept away at Shatabdi Nagar July, 2019: 65-year-old woman drowns in open drain on Ekamra Villa road August, 2018: Man falls and drowns in open drain at Unit VI wager, they said. On learning about the incident, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed grief and extended condolences to the family of the child. He announced `4 lakh ex gratia to the next of the kin of the deceased from the State Disaster Respose Continued on P5 Fund.
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