kochi l saturday l june 29, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Deeply biased: India slams U.S. report on religious freedom External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the report cherry-picked incidents to push a preconceived narrative against India Driven by votebank considerations: MEA ‘Questions integrity of judicial verdicts’ “As in the past, the report is deeply biased, lacks an understanding of India’s social fabric and is visibly driven by votebank considerations and a prescriptive outlook,” Jaiswal said. “We therefore reject it. The exercise itself is a mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective usage of facts, reliance on biased sources and a one-sided projection of issues,” he added ■ While releasing the report in Washington on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had flagged a ‘concerning increase’ in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, and demolition of homes and places of worship in India ■ The MEA spokesperson said the US State Department’s annual report appears to challenge the integrity of certain judgments by Indian courts 253 Churches were burned down in Manipur in 2023, says the U.S. report 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 Zero-profit sale: Cancer drugs to get cheaper at Karunya pharmacies E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @T’Puram In a major relief to patients, the state government has decided to sell expensive cancer drugs through Karunya community pharmacy without taking any profit. As many as 800 types of medicines, including drugs used after organ transplant surgeries, will be made available through ‘zero-profit’ sale at Karunya outlets, said Health Minister Veena George. The decision would further reduce the cost of medicines supplied through Karunya pharmacy, which takes up to 12% profit in general. “The availability of cheaper medicines will help patients reduce treatment cost. The government is making a decisive intervention in the cancer drug market in the state,” said Veena. The health minister said the project will start on July 15 at the main Karunya outlets in each district centre. These outlets will have separate profit-free counters and separate staff to manage the project. Currently, 74 Karunya pharmacies are selling 7,000 types of medicines of various companies at a discounted price. The Kerala Medical Services Corporation (KMSCL), which procures medicines and supplies it through Karunya outlets, is charting out plans to implement the price cut. “At present, we provide medicines at discounts ranging from 38%to 93%. The profit percentage has come down from 12% to 8% under this government,” said an officer. ● More on P4 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Record rain in 88 yrs grounds Delhi J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi After record heat, it poured like there was no tomorrow on the first day of monsoon in the national capital, drenching Delhi with the highest one-day rainfall in 88 years. It rained cats and dogs from about 4 am to 8.30 am and left major parts of Delhi and the adjoining national capital region flooded. Water entered homes, submerging vehicles and leading to massive traffic snarls that took hours to detangle. Thousands of commuters found themselves stranded. The Safdarjung Automatic Weather Station recorded a whopping 228.1 mm rainfall in 24 hours, the second highest since 1936 when the precipitation was 235 mm. The total rainfall recorded in June so far is 234.5 mm as against the normal of 74.1 mm. Friday’s downpour was more than one-third of the total normal monsoon rainfall from June to September at Safdarjung, which is around 640 mm. “Following a hot weather streak, the region got 148.5 mm, almost the double of June’s normal rain, in just 3 hours, and nearly the entire August rain in about 6 hours!” said Akshay Deoras, UK-based scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Department of Meteorology, Uni- Opposition stalls Parliament to make NEET point Repeated disruptions force both Houses to be adjourned without conducting business People wade through a waterlogged road near Sarai Kale Khan in New Delhi on Friday | PTI PREETHA NAIR & RA J ESH K U MAR THAK U R @ New Delhi Highest daily rainfall at Safdarjung observatory BOTH Houses of Parliament witnessed dramatic scenes and multiple adjournments on Friday with Opposition parties led by the Congress pressing for a debate on alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam. In the Lok Sabha, Opposition members sought suspension of all other matters to discuss the NEET fiasco but Speaker Om Birla ruled that a discussion on the President’s address be taken first. In the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded a ‘respectful’ discussion on the NEET issue to show solidarity with the students. “We wanted to give a joint message to the students of India, on behalf of the Opposition and government, that we consider this an important issue. So, we thought that to respect students we will have a discussion on NEET today a dedicated discussion,” he said. , The Opposition benches erupted in uproar when Rahul Gandhi claimed his microphone was switched off. In response, Birla said he had no control over microphones. “The discussion should be on the President’s address. Other matters will not be recorded,” the Speaker said. Noisy scenes unfolded in the Rajya Sabha as well. At one point, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge too entered the Well of the House to join the protest. This triggered a sharp comment from Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, who said it is for the first time that a person occupying the post has engaged in such a conduct. In the Upper House, the disruptions were marked by intense sloganeering, leading to the suspension of proceedings three times. The third adjournment came after DMK member Tiruchi Siva informed the House that Congress member Phulo Devi Netam had fainted. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the Congress for disrupting parliamentary proceedings. Rank Rainfall (In MM) Date 1 235.5 24.06.1936 2 228.1 28.06.2024 3 191.6 30.06.1981 4 139.7 24.06.1933 Monthly average rainfall for Safdarjung (JunE-SEPT) IN MM June 74.1 July 209.7 August 233.1 September 123.4 versity of Reading. Explaining how global warming-induced climate change causes heavy downpours in a short span, he said, “The soil becomes dry and hard following a streak of hot weather. If rain falls in large amounts in a short span, the soil can repel water, increasing the risk of a flash flood.” Parked vehicles damaged following the collapse of a canopy at Terminal 1 of the Delhi airport amid heavy rain | PTI 1 killed in canopy collapse at airport New Delhi: One cabbie died while six others sustained injuries after a portion of the canopy at the Delhi Airport’s Terminal-1 collapsed amid heavy rain on Friday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI-A) Usha Rangnani said the shed outside Terminal 1 of the domestic airport, from Departure Gate 1 to Gate 2, collapsed around 5am with its beams crashing on cabs. The deceased is Ramesh Kumar,45. Iron beams from the roof crashed on his parked cab with him inside. “Around four vehicles were damaged. All the six injured are stable,” Rangnani said. t20 WC Final formidable India up against resolute South Africa in title clash Rohit Sharma and his team, who have been unbeaten, will be looking to end their lengthy ICC trophy drought at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday | P11 Karuvannur ED attaches CPM office land, bank accounts Express News Service @Kochi The CPM has landed in more trouble in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank money laundering case, with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday temporarily attaching the party’s Porathissery office land and eight bank accounts in Thrissur district. ED had named CPM as a key accused in the case after a probe revealed that money involved in the scam was diverted to party bank accounts. The total value of attached properties is `29 crore. “The properties include CPM Porathissery party office’s 5-cent land registered in the name of district secretary M M Varghese,” said a source. The registered value of the land is around `10 lakh. “This apart, the national agency has attached around `60 lakh spread across eight bank accounts. These include five bank accounts of the CPM in the Karuvannur S e r v i c e C o o p e r at ive Bank, and two fixed deposit accounts of the CPM Thrissur district committee and a savings account of the party Irinjalakuda area committee in three other banks, the source ● More on P4 said. CBI makes 2 more arrests CBI on Friday arrested the principal and vice principal of Oasis School in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh in NEET-UG paper leak case. Officials said 5 more from the district are being questioned Joint CSIRUGC-NET from July 25 to 27 Joint CSIRUGC-NET exam, which was scheduled for June 25-27 but was postponed, will be held from July 25 to 27, while the UGC NET June 2024 cycle will be held from August 21 to September 4, the NTA said
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