COIMBATORE l tuesday l june 25, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE city EDITION Atishi’s fast enters day four, doctors say her health failing The Delhi water minister is on indefinite fast protesting the decline in water supply to Delhi from the neighbouring BJP-ruled Haryana Weight, blood pressure decreasing rapidly Delhi cabinet ministers write to Modi Atishi’s weight and blood pressure are decreasing rapidly, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said in a statement. “Doctors have described the speed at which her blood sugar level, blood pressure and weight have decreased as dangerous,” the party said. Atishi, however, has refused to be admitted to a hospital, saying she will continue with her fast until Haryana releases water ■ ■ Delhi cabinet ministers on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to resolve the water crisis on priority Delhi’s water requirement is 1,005 million gallons per day (MGD). About 613 MGD comes from Haryana. The ministers, in their letter, said there has been a 100 MGD drop in water coming from Haryana 2.2 kg drop in Atishi’s weight in four days, claims aam aadmi party 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 Assembly will pass resolution seeking nat’l caste census: CM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai Videograb of Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking his oath as a member of the House during the first day of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, in Delhi on Monday | PTI Drama, fireworks on Day I PM, 279 others sworn in as members of 18th Lok Sabha; Modi, Kharge spar on Emergency P r e e t h a Na i r @ New Delhi The opening day of the special session of the 18th Lok Sabha witnessed dramatic scenes on Monday as opposition leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, waved copies of the Constitution when Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked up to take his oath as a member of the House. Apart from Modi, several Cabinet ministers, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, celebrities like Kangana Ranaut and 16 from NDA ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) took their oaths. While 280 members were sworn in on Monday, the rest, including Rahul, will be take their oath on Tuesday . The country’s linguistic diversity was on display as MPs took their oaths in languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Dogri, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati and Odia, apart from English. In his pre-session remarks, Modi took a swipe at the Congress over the Emergency call, ing it a black spot on democracy when the Constitution was discarded. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was equally pungent in his response, accusing Modi of imposing an undeclared Emergency in the country in the last 10 years. The session began on a com- bative note with the boycott by three Opposition MPs from a panel to assist pro-tem speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab. The Opposition was up in arms against the government for ignoring eight-term Lok Sabha member Kodikunnil Suresh for that post. President Droupadi Murmu had appointed a panel comprising K Suresh, TMC’s Sudip Bandopadhyay and DMK’s T R Baalu along with two other BJP MPs to assist Mahtab. However, the three Opposition MPs refused to be a part of the panel on Monday morning. Most of the Congress MPs held a copy of the Constitution while taking their oath. Rahul sat along with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Ayodhya MP Awadhesh Prasad in the front row on the Opposition side. The BJP poked the Congress with party chief J P Nadda writing to Kharge, questioning the “stoic silence” of his party on the recent hooch tragedy in Tamil Nadu. The coming days of the session are likely to see a belligerent Opposition taking on the NDA government on several issues, including the NEET-NET exam paper leak row, three criminal laws, Manipur violence and the recent train accident. Oppn against Birla, NDA call on Speaker today R A J ESH K UM A R TH A K UR @ New Delhi THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is expected to announce its candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post on Tuesday hours before the nom, ination of candidates for the key post starts. According to highly placed sources, the NDA suggested the name of Om Birla, who was the Speaker in the previous Lok Sabha, as a consensus candidate for the Speaker’s position but did not get support from the Opposition parties. Sources said Birla being the first choice is in line with the Narendra Modi-led government’s theme of continuity in its third term. While there is no official word yet from the NDA side on the consensus bid, BJP sources said three more names are being considered. “If everything goes as per plan and the Opposition doesn’t oppose the continuation of Om Birla, the possibility of Birla’s continuation is high. In case of disagreement, the BJP’s East Champaran (Bihar) MP Radha Mohan Singh or the MP from Pali constituency (Rajasthan) P P Chaudhary might be announced as the NDA’s candidate for LS Speaker,” said a senior BJP source. The name of Andhra BJP chief Daggubati Purandeswari is also doing the rounds. Chaudhary is a senior lawyer also and chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Jan Vishwas Bill 2022. He had earlier served as MoS in the Ministry of Law and Justice in 2019 and MoS in the Ministry of Electronics and IT in 2017. He was also honoured with the Sansad Ratna award twice in 2015 and 2016. Both Choudhary and Singh are experienced in Parliamentary affairs and enjoy rapport with the Opposition parties. Purandeswari is the sisterin-law of TDP chief and Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. The Lok Sabha Speaker’s election will take place on June 26. TN to declare heat waves as state-specific disaster soon T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai HC’s stay on kejri’s bail unusual, says SC The Delhi High Court’s decision to grant interim stay on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail, while reserving its verdict, is unusual, says the Supreme Court. The high court will give its verdict on Enforcement Directorate’s plea against the bail today Revenue Minister KKSSR Ramachandran on Monday announced that heat wave would be declared as a statespecific disaster soon to enable the state government to take preventive steps for the condition as per the rules of the State Disaster Response Fund and offer relief assistance to those who g et affected. Replying to the discussion on demands for grants for the revenue department, the minister said due to climate change, Tamil Nadu faced extreme heat and heat waves in April and during the first two Why is it needed Declaring heat wave as statespecific disaster would help the government allocate special funds to health department to treat these conditions and pay relief to the affected people weeks of May The state has . taken steps to help the people in coping with the heat condition by establishing water kiosks and creating separate units in government hospitals to treat people affected by heat waves. Official sources said a notification for declaring heat waves as a disaster will be issued soon as per the guide- lines of the Government of India. Only when heat waves are declared as a state-specific disaster, the Tamil Nadu government can provide relief assistance to those affected by them. During summer, funds can also be allocated to the health department from the SDRF for providing ORS at hospitals and setting up water pandals. P7 Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday announced that a resolution would be passed in the current Assembly session urging the Union Government to conduct a nationwide caste census along with the (pending) decennial census. The CM said this when PMK floor leader GK Mani raised the issue of 10.5% reservation for the Vanniyar community. Pointing out that the caste census conducted by Bihar government was struck down by court, the CM said PMK, an ally of the ruling NDA at the centre, could make the BJP conduct nationwide caste census by exerting pressure on it. He also urged the PMK to support the state’s resolution. ‘PMK must make BJP hold nationwide census’ “NDA-ally PMK could make the BJP hold a nationwide caste census by exerting pressure on it,” the CM said. Law Minister S Regupathy pointed out that the 10.5% quota for Vanniyars was struck down by courts as it was brought in by the AIADMK regime without the backing of proper data, study Law Minister S Regupathy and Transport Minister SS Sivasankar, too, responded to the PMK leader. When Mani sought more time, Speaker Appavu said the CM and ministers had already given sufficient explanation and if Mani wanted to elaborate, he could do it when the demands for g rants for the backward classes department are taken up for discussion. Mani later staged a walkout. During the discussion, when Mani said the TN government should conduct a caste census to ensure the quota for Vanniyars, S Regupathy said since the 10.5% reservation was given in haste by the AIADMK regime without getting proper data on socio-economic, employment and educational status of the community, it was struck down by the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court. Continued on p7 price surge Centre imposes stockholding limits on wheat J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi NSUI activists stage a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Monday | Shekhar Yadav Police hint at security lapse in NEET paper delivery in Jharkhand Express News service @ New Delhi /Patna/Ranchi even as the CBI took over five new cases of alleged malpractices in NEET-UG in Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan, Bihar police on Monday said the question paper could have been leaked during its transportation in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh. According to a senior official with Bihar police’s economic offfences wing, the question paper could have been leaked either during its transportation from the courier company to the main branch of the State Bank of India or from the bank to Hazaribagh’s Oasis School, where the test was held on May 5. The question papers were stored in the SBI locker. Meanwhile, the CBI on Monday took over five new cases that were being investigated by police in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bihar. On Sunday it regis, tered its own FIR in connection with the alleged irregularities in the exam. In a separate development, the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra police arrested a Revert to old system, Mamata tells Modi West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee urged PM Narendra Modi to consider abolishing NEET, the national-level medical entrance exam introduced in 2013, and reverting to the system of states conducting the exam Zilla Parishad school teacher from Latur and registered a case against four persons for running a racket to help NEET students willing to pay money to crack the exam. Officials said the CBI has reregistered one case each from Gujarat and Bihar and three cases from Rajasthan as its own FIR, while it is also likely to take up the case from Latur. After taking over these new cases, the CBI is now probing six cases pertaining to alleged irregularities in NEET-UG, the officials said. Barring the case from Bihar, the other four appear to be isolated incidents of impersonation and cheating by local officials, and candidates, officials added. The Centre on Monday imposed a stock limit on wheat to reduce hoarding of the grain and stablise its prices. The stock limit will apply to all wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers and processors in all states and Union Territories until March 31, 2025. The stock limit for traders or wholesalers is 3,000 metric tonnes (MT). For retailers, it is 10 MT for each of the outlets while for big chain retailers, it is 10 MT at each of their outlets and 3,000 MT at all their depots. For millers and processors, the stock limit is 70% of the monthly installed capacity multiplied by the remaining months of FY 2024-25. “The government is open to all options if the stock limit would not cool down the price such as by reducing import duty and would soon think to dump wheat in the open market through open market sales scheme,” said Sanjeev Chopra, secretary Department of Food , and Public Distribution in the consumer affairs ministry . The minimum support price of wheat is `2,275, but the grain’s price in the open market is hovering around `2,500. Chopra dispelled worries about supplies. The stock limit comes amid claims of bumper production of the grain in the current Rabi Marketing Season. “I want to dispel the shortage of wheat in the country ... we want prices of wheat to be stable,” Chopra said. He added that the decision was taken to prevent market speculations and hoarding of the grain. free helmets, Awareness rallies TNIE drives home road safety message with ‘Ride Safe’ campaign across India Express News Service @ Chennai Acting CJ Justice R Mahadevan and Justice P T Asha hand over free helmets to motorists on Madras High Court campus. (R) Highways Minister EV Velu flags off a bike rally held as part of ‘Ride Safe India’ campaign in Chennai on Monday | Martin Louis/ P Jawahar The pan-India ‘Ride Safe India’ campaign, launched by The New Indian Express in collaboration with Hero MotoCorp, reached Chennai on Monday with bike rallies and distribution of free helmets at vantage points across the city . The campaign aims to address the increasing number of bike accidents and deaths caused mostly because of head injuries due to lack of helmet use. The Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan flagged off a rally on the Madras High Court campus in the presence of Jus- tice P T Asha and members of the Bar. The judges also distributed helmets to members of the Advocates Clerks’ Association. The Acting Chief Justice Mahadevan was appreciative of the campaign which would go a long way in saving lives. He suggested that this campaign should be made even more extensive in future to encompass a large section of the population. Speaking at the event, Justice Asha urged the participants of the rally and the public at large to wear helmets. “I see many of them placing the helmets on their petrol tanks and wearing them only when they see police officers. People should remember they have a family behind them and ensure that they wear helmets for their own safety she said. ,” Lakshmi Menon, CEO of TNIE, said the participation of the two judges despite their busy schedule gives the campaign a fillip and the much-needed impetus in creating awareness among the general public. Earlier in the day, Minister for State Highways EV Velu flagged off the rally at the High- ways Research Station. He also distributed helmets to the highway staff. The event saw the presence of Pradeep Yadav, Additional Chief Secretary of Highways, along with other senior officials. The ‘Ride Safe India’ campaign aims at educating motorists on the importance of helmets in saving lives and reducing severe injuries during road accidents. The initiative is also intended to encourage the regular use of helmets as a standard practice. As part of the three-day campaign, more than 300 helmets were distributed on Monday to people from various walks of life.
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