HYDERABAD SUNDAY JUNE 23, 2024 `12.00 PAGES 24 LATE CITY EDITION PHOTO: SHEKHAR YADAV DELHI, DHAKA SIGN AGREEMENTS FOR MARITIME COOPERATION, RAILWAYS CONSERVATION OF TEESTA IN BANGLADESH “Fifty-four shared rivers connect India and Bangladesh. We have been cooperating on flood management, early warning, drinking water projects. We have decided to start negotiations at the technical level for the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after summit talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina | P7 Sheikh Hasina’s India visit saw her signing agreements in oceanography, health, medicine, disaster relief, digital, green partnership DHAKA’S ARMED FORCES TO BE MODERNISED ■ India’s push to help Bangladesh in Teesta comes as China has also shown interest in the project. Sheikh Hasina is going on a state visit to China soon ■ Both the nations agreed to strengthen cooperation in defence. India will help Bangladesh in the modernisation of its armed forces and increase engagement on counter terrorism, de-radicalisation, border management 10 times NARENDRA MODI AND SHEIKH HASINA HAVE MET SINCE 2019 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 Conciliatory tone at GST meet NTA head rolls; D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi IN her first GST Council meeting after assuming the role of finance minister in the new government, Nirmala Sitharaman was in a conciliatory mood as she reiterated that the Central gover nment does not intend to send GST notices to businesses left, right and centre. “I want to reassure assessees that our intent is to make the GST assessees’ life easier. We are working towards less and less compliances,” she said at the fag end of the press briefing called to announce the decisions made in the 53rd GST Council. To buttress her point, she underlined that the Central GST department has sent notices to only 1,14,939 assessees, or 1.96% of the total 58.63 lakh active assesses till 31 December 2023. Govt does not intend to send notices to businesses left, right and centre. I want to reassure assessees that our intent is to make the GST assessees’ life easier. We are working towards less and less compliances Nirmala Sitharaman, Union finance minister “Our intention is to make it easier and simpler, less cumbersome,” she added. The same conciliatory tone was reflected in the GST Council decisions as it decided in favour of taxpayers in many ongo- ing thorny issues, including introducing the sunset clause for anti-profiteering provisions, exemption of GST on corporate guarantees, and reducing the amount of pre-deposit for filing of appeals under GST. The Council also decided to exclude Extra Neutral Alcohol used for manufacture of alcoholic liquor for human consumption under the ambit of GST. Some of the decisions would directly impact the common man. The Council decided to exempt some services provided by the Railways, such as sale of platform tickets, facility of waiting rooms, cloak room services and battery-operated COMMON MAN TO BENEFIT The Council decided to exempt services provided by Railways such as platform tickets and waiting rooms. To help students living in hostels outside colleges, it decided to exempt certain accommodation services WITH THIS ISSUE What TG wanted from Centre at pre-Budget meeting J NEET & UNCLEAN PLUS 12 PAGES Police open fire in city to apprehend mobile thieves SW ET H AV I M A L A M @ Hyderabad POLICE fired in the air after four college students tried to steal a mobile phone from a cop in mufti near a bus stand at Mettuguda here in the early hours of Saturday . According to police, the incident took place on Saturday around 2.30 am and nobody was injured. The students, have surrendered and questioning is on, police added. “Decoy operations are underway and the gang was trying to snatch the phone from one of the cops who was made to stand near the bus stand,” a senior official revealed. “We were trying to lure snatchers by positioning our men to look like a meek common person at the bus stand,” he added. As soon as the gang tried snatching the mobile from the cop, the other members of the decoy team, who were standing at a distance, sprang into action. When the students tried to retaliate, the police fired a round in the air and ensured that they were apprehended. During the course of the investigation, police found that the four students do not have a history of criminal offence. However, they are used to smoking and travelling at odd hours in the night. “This time, they tried to snatch a mobile and we have registered a case against them,” police said. In recent times, a series of mobile snatching cases and murders have been reported. Hence, police have increased night patrolling teams. With a special focus on mobile snatching, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy had earlier noted that police are identifying hot spots in the city and increasing security in these areas. Allocate more funds for Musi riverfront development Cooperate by allocating funds to complete Regional Ring Road Allot more Navodaya schools to Telangana Return `495.21 cr in CSS funds sanctioned for Telangana that were mistakenly released to Andhra Pradesh in first year after state’s formation Cooperate with state govt over subsidies under PM Suryagarh Muft Bijili Yojana scheme Need special financial assistance to modernise ITIs Deputy CM’s wishlist at GST council Exempt GST on construction of government schools. This would enable states to allocate more resources to build additional schools, strengthening every citizen's fundamental right to education, Bhatti added Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) be totally exempted from GST purview. Dy CM said that inclusion of ENA under GST would reduce financial flexibility of states Bhatti supports proposal to waive penalty levied on taxpayers for wilful non-compliance, subject to conditions. This aims to provide relief to taxpayers who have been penalised due to lack of awareness Early submission of report by Rate Rationalisation Committee Grant nat’l status to PRLIS in Budget: Bhatti to Sitharaman EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad DEPUTY Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Saturday urged the Centre to grant national project status to the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) in the upcoming Budget. Telangana has achieved progress in many fields and is a valuable partner to the national economy, but is facing problems that require immediate solutions, he pointed out at the pre-Budget meeting of the Central government chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at Bharat Mandap in New Delhi. Reduction in funds released under Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and the current Finance Commission principle on devolution of central taxes are creating problems, the deputy CM added. Funds for CSS should be released to states in proportion to their population without bias, he urged and Dy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during pre-Budget meeting in New Delhi on Saturday pointed out, “Out of the total `4,60,000 crore released under CSS in 2023–24, Telangana got only `6,577 crore, i.e. 1.4% or less than its share of the population.” The deputy CM said that in the first year of formation of the state, CSS grants of `495.21 crore sanctioned for Telangana were mistakenly released to Andhra by the Union government and urged this amount to be returned. CONTINUED ON P4 Acc to Section 94(2) of AP Redistricting Act, 2014, `450 cr is to be given to TG for 10 yrs. But `2,250 cr has not been given. The Centre should release it & extend grant for 5 more yrs Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, deputy CM car services. To benefit students living in hostels outside the premises of educational institutes, the Council decided to exempt accommodation services from GST where the monthly rent per person is up to `20,000. Such benefits would be available subject to the condition that the accommodation is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. To deal with fake invoicing, the Council decided to roll out nationwide Aadhaar-based authentication of registered taxpayers in a phased manner. It also decided to implement a uniform rate of 12% on all milk cans (of steel, iron and aluminium) irrespective of their use. The GST rate on carton, boxes and cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paper-board has been reduced from 18% to 12%. States raise issue of borrowing limit imposed by Centre D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi OPPOSITION-ruled states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Saturday raised the issue of borrowing limits imposed by the Centre depriving them of necessary funds leading to liquidity crunch. In a pre-budget consultation with the Centre here, Kerala finance minister K N Balgopalan requested that a special package of at least `24,000 crore be announced in the Union budget 2024-25 to tide over the current liquidity stress the state is facing due to borrowing limits imposed by the Centre. Tamil Nadu finance minister Thangam Thenarasu pointed out that because of the Centre’s diktat the state lost `8,500 crore of borrowing space over the last four years. In the meeting, most state finance ministers stressed the need for more funds for improvement of infrastructure in their respective states. Kerala’s finance minister highlighted the urgent need for a special capital investment of `5,000 crore for the state for fulfilling its part in the development of the Vizhinjam International Mother Port and the Port region. He sought another `5,000 crore for financing certain other infrastructure projects such as the ‘Tunnel Road link between Calicut and Wayanad’. Odisha deputy chief minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo sought dedicated budget allocations and resources for large-scale infrastructure projects, such as industrial parks and corridors, electricity grids and railway infrastructure. Chhattisgarh finance minister O P Choudhary demanded financial assistance for the development of the state capital region — Nava Raipur — as an industrial hub. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the media that on the issue of devolution of taxes, most finance ministers agreed to raise the issue at the finance commission. DEMAND TO UPGRADE RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE TN’s FM said the state faced step-motherly treatment from the Centre on railway projects. Similar concerns were raised by his Kerala counterpart. He said there is an urgent need to upgrade the railway infrastructure and introduce a high-speed railway corridor NEET-PG on hold CBI probe ordered into NEET-UG paper leak; ex-ISRO chief heads panel to clean up NTA RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR & KETAN NAROTTAM TANNA @ New Delhi WITH its credibility at stake amid continuing protests over irregularities in holding the NEET-UG, the government on Saturday took a flurry of decisions, sacking the head of the National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducted the exam, forming a panel to reform the NTA, ordering a CBI probe into the NEET-UG mess and putting the NEET-PG on hold. The NEETPG was scheduled to be conducted on Sunday . In a late night announcement, the Ministry of Education said it has decided to assign the probe into the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG held on May 5 to the CBI. Ever since the NEET-UG results were announced on June 4, there were charges of malpractices, including cheating and impersonation in the exam, which is the single-window entry point for medical course in the country . When a couple of days ago, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan called out the NTA for systemic failure, it was clear that its chief Subodh Kumar Singh was on the chopping block. Singh was replaced by former home secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, a retired IAS officer of the 1985 batch. Kharola was considered Congress activists protest over the alleged irregularities in NEET results, in Kolkata | PTI as a tough task master during his tenure in service. The Appointment Committee of Cabinet, while approving Kharola’s appointment as the new NTA head, placed Singh in waiting for posting in the department of personnel, public grievance and pension till further orders. Parallelly, the Union Health Ministry decided to postpone the NEET-PG as a “precautionary measure”. The Ministry of Health said it has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of the NEET-PG entrance examination conducted by NTA for medical students. The day began with Centre announcing the setting up of a high-level panel of seven experts, led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan, to review the NTA’s performance and suggest course corrections. Its terms of reference are: reforming the exam process, improving data security protocols, and enhancing the structure and P9 functioning of the NTA. 1,000-acre health tourism hub at Shamshabad on anvil: CM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday revealed that the government is planning to set up a health tourism hub in Telangana. Speaking at the 24th foundation day celebrations of Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital & Research Institute here, the chief minister said, “By acquiring 500–1,000 acres of land near Shamshabad, we will set up a medical tourism hub. We will invite top healthcare firms to establish their hospitals.” The hub will aim to provide treatment to most diseases, the CM said and noted many people from the Middle East are already coming to India for medical care. The government is contemplating a green channel from the airport to the planned hub, he added. Revanth praised TDP founder NT Rama Rao and Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for contributing to the establishment of the Basavatarakam cancer hospital. He added that the state govern- Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy speaks at the foundation day celebrations of Basavatarakam cancer hospital in Hyderabad on Saturday ment will allocate land in the planned hub to Basavatarakam to expand its services. He said that after the hospital management brought issues related to permissions to his notice, the Cabinet immediately resolved them. He hoped that the Telugu states would become role models for the world in development and welfare. “After Naidu took charge as CM of Andhra, I have received a chance to compete with him in administration and take the state forward. Earlier, if I worked for 12 hours per day, that was enough. But now as he works for 18 hours, Telangana ministers and officials should also do the same.” SPORTING LIFE Finding neverland: Sports help refugees build bridges, integrate into society somah Ali Zada, during an interaction with this newspaper THIRTY-SIX athletes with as highlighted the beauty of sport many tales training in 12 disci- and its role in helping athletes plines, hosted by 15 countries integrate into society. Her representing more than 120 words were at times John million displaced people Lennonesque: ‘there is no across the world. All country or religion Sunday too...’ unified through sport. The International Ol“I am so lucky to be Special y m p i c C o m m i t t e e ’s chef the mission of a (IOC) Refugee Olympic team that’s from different Team is not just a team, it’s cultures, speaks different an amalgamation of myriad languages,” she said. “I sufemotions, stories of resilience fered a lot of discrimination and hope. because of my nation and of The sentiments echoed by my ethnicity We are from dif... the team’s chef de mission, Ma- ferent countries. The Olympic I N D R A N E E L D A S @ Chennai Games is the moment they will realise their dream.” Masomah, who was forced to flee Afghanistan for pursuing her passion, cycling, because of the Taliban government’s hostilities towards women playing sport, said the only thing that kept each of them sane while waiting for endless paper- work was sport. “When we arrive in a new country, we have to wait for paperwork and it’s a long process. During this period, we cannot do anything. We cannot learn the language. We don’t have access to education so we wait. Sport is the only possi- bility that helps refugees to just pass the time and wait. Most refugees in this period try to play a sport, also to remain h e a l t h y, m e n t a l l y a n d physically .” Masomah felt despite athletes not representing a country, refugees have the right to compete at the Olympic Games. “They have a lot of talent. They I suffered a lot of discrimination because of my nation and of my ethnicity... We are from different countries. The Olympic Games is the moment they will realise their dream - Masomah Ali Zada just need a chance. I know that it’s really difficult to be a refugee, but still, we have to keep going. We have a right to live and dream and thanks to the Olympic team that allows refugees to be part of international competition like Olympics.” She said how despite getting teased and stoned while cycling in Afghanistan and even while in France as a refugee she continued to dream. Finally in To, kyo Olympics she realised it when she represented the refugee team. Living a dream amidst the spirit of inclusion and inspiration.
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