kozhikode l saturday l july 06, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Ahead of Modi’s Russia trip, Army gets 35,000 ‘Kalashnikov’ rifles Indo-Russian Rifles Pvt Ltd has delivered the first batch of made-in-India Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifles to the Indian Army Amethi-based JV to make 6 lakh ak-203s Made in India with Russian technology IRRPL, located in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, is a joint venture of Indian defence PSUs with Concern Kalashnikov and Rosoboronexport of Russia. The first phase of the project has been completed with the production and transfer of 35,000 rifles to the Army, Rosoboronexport said. The JV plans to make over 6 lakh assault rifles for the Indian defence forces ■ “The Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifle is a version of the AK-200 rifle chambered for the 7.62x39mm cartridge used in the Indian Army. The weapon has the traditional advantages of Kalashnikov assault rifles: reliability and ease of maintenance,” Rosoboronexport said in a statement ■ AK-203s are manufactured in India in compliance with Russian technologies A1,26,887 cr Overall value of defence production in iNDIA in FY24, ACCORDING TO GOVT DATA 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 Keir Starmer is new British PM; eXPECTED TO KEEP UP GOOD TIES WITH iNDIA Labour ends conservative era in Britain y E S H I s E L I @ New Delhi AFTER sitting on the opposition benches for more than a decade, the Labour Party on Friday stormed to power in the UK, ending 14 years of Conservative rule. Labour leader Keir Starmer assumed charge as the 58th prime minister after his customary audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. “Our country has voted decisively for change, for national renewal and a return of politics for public service,” said Starmer in his inaugural address from a lectern outside 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British PM. Starmer, 61, noted that people have become disillusioned and cynical about politics and his priority is to restore their faith in government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Starmer adding that he looks forward to a constructive collaboration to strengthen India-UK relations. Modi also commented on outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak’s leadership: “Thank you Rishi Sunak for your admirable leadership of the UK, your active contribution to deepen the ties between India and the UK during your term in office.” Accepting defeat, Sunak said he respects the people’s mandate. “I have given this job my all. But you all have sent a clear message, and yours is the only judgement that matters. This is a difficult day, but I leave this job honoured to have been the Prime Minister of the best country in the world,’’ Sunak said in his resignation speech. The change of guard in London happens at a time when the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and UK is in the final stages. Starmer has often maintained that he wants good relations with the Modi-led government. The FTA also featured in the party’s poll manifesto which stated they were committed to pursuing a new strategic partnership with India. A backer of strong bilateral ties with India, Lammy had said last month that he would be visiting New Delhi within the first month of office if his party was voted to power. Kottayam man becomes first Keralite MP in UK Kottayam: Sojan Joseph, hailing from the tranquil village of Kaipuzha in Kottayam, has scripted history by becoming Britain’s first Malayaliorigin member of parliament. He rode the anti-incumbency wave against the Conservative party, which saw Labour return to power after a gap of 14 years. The 49-year-old won from Kent county’s Ashford. P2 Anil made BJP in-charge of Nagaland, Meghalaya E x pre s s N e w s Ser v i c e @ Kochi In recognition of the party’s exceptional performance in Kerala in the Lok Sabha election, the BJP leadership has accorded key national-level responsibilities to V Muraleedharan and Anil Antony, who put up a valiant fight in their constituencies, even as it reposed trust in Prakash Javadekar, retaining him as the Kerala prabhari. BJP president J P Nadda on Friday appointed Muraleedharan as the party’s joint coordinator for northeastern states and Anil Antony in-charge of Nagaland and Meghalaya. Puri MP Sambit Patra will be the coordinator for northeaster n states, and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi the co-in-charge for Kerala to assist Javadekar. The party announced in-charges and co-incharges for various states, including poll-bound Haryana and Jharkhand, and Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. BJP state president K Surendran welcomed the decision, saying the appointments will help the party post better results in future. “Javadekar ji’s experience has already helped us win the first Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. Smt Aparajita Sarangi ji is one of the key persons behind BJP’s massive victory in Odisha. Their support and expertise will be invaluable in achieving better results in the upcoming elections,” he posted on X. S u c hi t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Britain’s Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria wave to the crowds from the doorstep of 10 Downing Street in London on Friday | AP/PTI Look where it crossed 400 Total seats 650 28 BRITISH-INDIANS WIN iN ELECTION Majority mark 326 412 (+211) Labour Party 9 (-38) Scottish National 121 7 29 (+63) Sin Fein (+15) 71 Others Conservative Party On a day the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi continued to allege that compensation has not been paid to the next of kin of Agniveer Ajay Kumar who died in a landmine blast in J&K in January it emerged that , around 20 Agniveers lost their lives in less than a year of their induction. The first batch of Agniveers joined the Army in August 2023. Around 18 Agniveers who passed away are from the Army Most of them died in ac. tion or due to some ailment. The latest is of death by suicide in the Air Force, a first for an Agniveer in the IAF. Srikant Kumar Chaudhary, 22, allegedly died by suicide while on sentry duty at the Air Force Station in Agra late on Tuesday night. He hailed from UP’s Ballia district. A Board of Inquiry has been set up to probe his death. Incidentally, the first death of an Agniveer within the Army was also by suicide. It had stirred a controversy as a military funeral was not accorded to him since it’s the Army’s policy not to glorify deaths by suicide. After Rahul Gandhi alleged in the Lok Sabha that Agniveer Ajay Singh’s family wasn’t given compensation, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hit back, saying `1 crore compensation is paid to to families of Agniveers who die in the line of duty . Days before the Supreme Court begins its hearing on petitions seeking the scrapping of the NEET-UG on July 8, the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday filed separate affidavits opposing its cancellation, arguing it would be counterproductive and seriously jeopardise the efforts of lakhs of honest candidates who took the test. “Scrapping the exam in its entirety would seriously jeopardise lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper in 2024,” the affidavit filed by the Union Ministry of Education said. It said demands for cancellation and the retest based on surmises and conjectures must be rejected. LABOUR: Preet Kaur Gill, Kanishka Narayan, Navendu Mishra, Satvir Kaur Tan Dhesi, Seema Malhotra, Valerie Vaz, Lisa Nandy, Jas Athwal , Kanishka Narayan, Baggy Shanker, Harpreet Uppal, Warinder Juss, Gurinder Josan, Sonia Kumar, Sureena Brackenbridge, Kirith Entwistle, Jeevun Sandher, Sojan Joseph CONSERVATIVE: Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, Priti Patel, Claire Coutinho, Gagan Mohindra, Shivani Raja LIBERAL DEMOCRAT: Munira Wilson IND: Shockat A Patel, Iqbal Mohamed (-251) Over 20 Agniveers dead within a year of induction MAYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi Govt, NTA affidavits oppose demand to scrap NEET-UG NEET-PG on August 11 The NEET-PG 2024 will be held on August 11 in two shifts, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences announced. Scheduled to be held on June 23, it was put off a day before the exam For its part, the NTA, which conducted the exam, said the entire NEET-UG 2024 was carried out fairly and with due confidentiality without any illegal practices. It sought to rubbish the claim of mass malpractice during the exam, arguing it was “completely unfounded, misleading, and lacks any basis”. “It is submitted that the present case is not a case wherein the entire examination process conducted across 4750 centres in 571 cities (including 14 cities abroad) has Aroor-Thuravoor highway P R a m d a s @ Kochi As commuters struggle to reach their destinations on time due to traffic congestion caused by construction work on the elevated highway along the Aroor-Thuravoor stretch, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has accused the state authorities of failing to take effective measures to alleviate the problem. According to an NHAI report, obtained by TNIE, the agency has repeatedly informed and apprised the district collectors of Alappuzha and Ernakulam about the problems faced by road users and local residents due to heavy traffic on the stretch. However, no effective measures have been taken to divert heavy vehicles through a route approved by authorities, it said. The report said for the (Figures in brackets are increase/ decrease from 2019 election) E X P RESS READ Kerala to get one more weather radar system T’Puram: Kerala’s persistent demand for an additional weather radar has finally been met, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) allocating a new radar to the state in Kannur. Installation of the Rs 6-crore radar system is expected to be completed within two months. P5 construction of an elevated highway at Kazhakkoottam in Thiruvananthapuram, traffic was diverted through an alternative route near the project vicinity. The diversion was implemented with the support of the district administration, and the project was completed successfully without causing significant inconvenience to commuters. A similar arrangement was proposed for the AroorThuravoor stretch as well. However, the district administration did not strictly enforce the proposed traffic diversion, leading to issues in the area. The current crisis occurred because the temporary traffic diversion was implemented along the existing road, which could not handle the heavy traffic load, according to the report submitted in the Kerala High Court.  ● More on P4 Bridge collapse: 14 Bihar engineers suspended Patna: After 10 bridges collapsed in a span of two weeks in Bihar, the state government on Friday suspended 14 engineers. “It was found that engineers were negligent and monitoring was ineffective... that is the main reason behind the collapses,” said Chaitanya Prasad, additional chief secretary of Water Resources Dept Traffic snarl-up on the Aroor-Thuravoor stretch of NH 66 | File pic This kabaddi village ‘on a raid’ to become national hub For Kadirur residents, kabaddi is not just a sport but an emotion. The deep-rooted passion for the sport permeates the community, with many households in the panchayat boasting at least one kabaddi player. For them, kabaddi holds as much significance as cricket or football, if not more. Currently, this village in Kannur district has 13 state and national players. The panchayat’s goal is to become a national hub for kabaddi talent within a few years. To realise this dream, and to give further impetus to the spor t, the panchayat has launched a flagship project aimed at nurturing kabaddi talent. As part of the initiative, 70 students from Kadirur Government High School have been selected for specialised training, bringing the total number of trainees under the panchayat project to 140. To support the endeavour, the panchayat has made an annual estimate of `5 lakh to provide necessary facilities for the players. As an initial step, the panchayat has purchased synthetic mats spending `2.5 lakh. The panchayat hall has now transformed into a top class training camp. “A number of kabaddi clubs have existed in the panchayat for the past several decades. Kabaddi is the spirit of our people. Earlier, players used to practice on muddy grounds. When they compete in professional matches, it becomes very U.P. stampede NHAI blames district administrations for traffic chaos on stretch Kadirur charts course L a k s h m i At hir a @Kannur suffered systematic failure, as it has not been vitiated by all pervasive factors of unfair means or paper leak etc,” the agency said. It added that the alleged irregularities were confined to certain centres in two cities — Patna and Godhra. The NTA said other individual instances of the alleged use of unfair means are very few and do not have any co-relation with the malpractices referred to by the petitioners. In all, 63 cases of use of unfair means were reported, and a committee submitted its recommendations for action. The panel recommended withholding the results of 33 candidates, debarment of 22 up to three years and declaring the result of nine. Exam functionaries of NEET (UG) 2024 have also registered 13 FIRs in cases of unfair means at different exam centres, the NTA said. difficult for them to perform as those matches are held on synthetic mats. Players used to practice on rented mats, spending Rs 300 per day That’s why . the panchayat decided to buy Players practise on the new synthetic mat at the Kadirur panchayat auditorium the synthetic mat,” said panchayat president P P Sanil. Kunhali Vetummal, a local kabaddi club, is credited with leading Kadirur to kabaddi fame. Five members of the Kunhali Vetummal team were selected to the state team, which attracted more people to kabaddi. K K Arjun, Amarjith K K, Vaishak R Atul (district captain), and Sohin (junior Kerala team member) made it to the state team. Many women players too h av e e m e r g e d t h r o u g h the kabaddi training started under the leadership of the panchayat. Ashika Sugathan is a sub-junior national team ● More on P4 member. Rahul Gandhi consoles a woman, whose family member was a victim of the Hathras stampede, in a village | PTI Rahul blames it on lapse by administration N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday said there were administrative lapses that led to the recent Hathras stampede, which killed 121 people, but added that he did not want to make it a political issue. “There have been mistakes and those should be looked into. The most important thing is that the bereaved families from the poor and deprived sections of society must be given more and more compensation in this difficult hour,” he said. Rahul urged UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to arrange generous financial relief. “It will be insignificant if delayed and paid after six months, a year,” said Rahul, who visited Aligarh and Hathras to meet the injured getting treatment in hospitals. Both the UP and the Central governments have already announced ex-gratia of `2 lakh each to the next kin of the deceased and `50,000 to the injured. So, each family that lost its kin would get `4 lakh and the injured would get `1 lakh. Rahul, who met the relatives of the victims in a park, later said most of the injured had complaints about the administration. “The required police mobilisation to handle such a gathering was not there.” Most of the victims seems annoyed with the Bhole Baba, who held the congregation but fled after the stampede.