MADURAI l sunday l july 07, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l LATE CITY EDITION rEFORMIST MASOUD pEZESHKIAN WINS iRAN’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Pezeshkian scored over other hardline candidates by promising to reach out to the West, ease enforcement on headscarf law new leader comes with no experience will not have sway over foreign policy Pezeshkian secured 53.3% of the votes polled while his nearest hardline rival Saeed Jalili got 44.3%. Pezeshkian is a heart surgeon and a member of Parliament. He is considered inexperienced as he has never held any sensitive post before. After the victory, he tweeted, “The difficult path ahead will not be smooth except with your companionship, empathy, trust” ■ Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a Tehran-based analyst, told Al Jazeera he was not expecting strategic changes to Iran’s foreign policy, which is decided by the entire establishment, the supreme leader and the Parliament | P11 ■ PM Narendra Modi tweeted, “Looking forward to working closely with you to further strengthen our warm and long-standing bilateral relationship ... ” 30m voters the lowest turnout for the presidential polls historically 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 Starmer ready Cops probe ‘revenge’ in BSP prez murder for FTA that works for both e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai Modi speaks to his new British counterpart, invites him to make an early visit to India Y e s h i Sel i @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi decision time FM to present full yr budget on July 23 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the government’s first full year budget of Modi’s third term on July 23 in Lok Sabha. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted on Saturday that the budget session of House will be held between July 22 and August 12. Expectation about the budget are running high as President Droupadi Murmu in a joint address to Parliament said that it will be marked by many historic step, adding the budget will highlight major social and economic decisions. Only an interim budget was presented in February due to the Lok Sabha polls. The first session of Parliament after the formation of 18th Lok Sabha was stormy with the Opposition, armed with more numbers in the Lower House, clashed with the government over a range of issues including NEET-UG examination paper leak. NDA’s key ally Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu met Modi on Thursday and sought the Centre’s handholding to pull the state out of the financial black hole it was pushed into by the previous government. Other important ally Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also wants special status for his state. The finance minister has been taking inputs from industry leaders for the last few days for the budget. The buzz in political circles is that the budget may focus on the rural population. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Soft line on Kashmir On Kashmir, Starmer has said his party was committed to eliminating any extremist views that could strain UK-India relations. He also promised a stricter handling of anti-Hindu hate crimes in the UK. While visiting Swaminarayan Mandir in Kingsbury, he had said there was absolutely no place for Hinduphobia in Britain Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke with his new British counterpart Keir Starmer, invited him to visit India, and suggested the early conclusion of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that has been under negotiation for over two years. “Pleased to speak with Keir Starmer. Congratulated him on being elected as the PM of UK. We remain committed to deepening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and robust India-UK economic ties for progress and prosperity of our peoples and global good,” Modi said in a post on X. He also suggested that Starmer schedule an early visit to India. Downing Street said Starmer returned the compliment by congratulated Modi on his third consecutive term as PM. “Discussing the importance of the living bridge between the UK and India and the 2030 roadmap, the two leaders agreed that there was a wide range of areas across defence and security, critical and emerging technology and climate change for the two nations to deepen their cooperation,” the Downing Street spokesperson said. As for the FTA, Starmer said he stood ready to conclude a deal that “worked for both sides. The leaders hoped to meet at the earliest opportunity the spokesperson said. Both sides have ,” been working towards clinching the FTA since January 2022, when Boris Johnson was PM. “Appreciating the positive contributions of the Indian community in the social, economic and political development of the UK, the two sides agreed to continue to promote close people to people ties,” the Ministry of External Affairs said. The Labour’s manifesto had said: “We will seek a new strategic partnership with India, including an FTA, as well as deepening cooperation in areas like security education, tech, nology and climate change.” New British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said he wants to ‘finish the job’ on the FTA and plans to visit India within the first month of being elected. Mortal remains of K Armstrong leaving RGGGH late on Saturday | P jawahar mayawati to visit chennai today buddhist who helped construct viharas Chennai: BSP supremo Mayawati, in a post on ‘X’, said she will be visiting Chennai on Sunday. “Considering the gravity of the incident, I will be going to Chennai to pay my tributes to Mr Armstrong and meet his grieving family. I appeal all to maintain peace and order,” she said | P4 Chennai: Armstrong was a practising Buddhist who helped construct many Viharas in the recent past. Though he was an accused in at least seven cases, he had been acquitted in all of them at the time of his death, which was confirmed by the Greater Chennai police | P4 Ruling out politics or caste as the reason for the murder of Tamil Nadu BSP president K Armstrong, Greater Chennai Police commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore on Saturday said there was also no intelligence input regarding any threat to his life. Rathore said police are probing the murder as a retaliatory killing, but declined to divulge further details, citing ongoing investigation. He said the chance of the murder being a political killing was “very less”, though they are investigating the rivalries Armstrong had in his political career. Meanwhile, BSP cadres continued to stage protests and road roko outside the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) where his body has been kept since Friday, demanding a CBI probe into the murder and permission to bury his body on the Main accused gives up, Baba expresses grief over stampede N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow While Devprakash Madhukar, the main accused of Hathras stampede, surrendered to the Delhi Police late on Friday night and was taken into custody by the UP Police, the self-styled godman Bhole Baba alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias Suraj Pal, expressed grief over the tragedy at an event at his Satsang Sabha in Hathras. Four days after the stampede, the preacher on Saturday told a news agency he hoped strict action would be taken against the culprits. Speaking from his Main- puri Ashram, Bhole Baba the mukhya sevadar of Bhole urged the bereaved families Baba, is the only accused to have faith in the judiciary named in the FIR. Hathras SP . “I am deeply saddened. May Nipun Agarwal said MadhuG o d g ive u s t h e kar was arrest from strength to bear this Delhi and brought to pain. Please keep faith Hathras to be presentin the government ed in court. and the administraIn a recorded mestion. I have faith that sage, Madhukar’s anyone who created lawyer A P Singh said the chaos would not that his client had be spared,” he said. surrendered in Delhi, Devprakash An FIR was lodged Madhukar where he was under in the matter on July treatment. “Today we , 2 under various sections of have made Madhukar, who the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. has been called the main orHowever, Bhole Baba was not ganiser in the FIR in the named in the FIR. Hathras case, to surrender afDev Prakash Madhukar, ter calling the police.” Use of chemical to clean oil: Notice issued to KFC E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Thoothukudi Building collapse A six-storey building collapsed in Surat on Saturday afternoon, killing one person and leaving 3-4 persons trapped under the rubble. A woman was rescued. Search and rescue operation are on in the building which was constructed in 2016-17 | PTI Following the seizure of magnesium silicate-synthetic (MSS) from a KFC outlet on Thursday, the Thoothukudi unit of the Food Safety and Standards of Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued summons on Saturday to the restaurant chain’s Indian headquarters in Mumbai. As per the summons to the KFC licensee of the Thoothukudi outlet, KFC material godown in Tiruppur, and the nominee of KFC headquarters in Mumbai, they have been asked to appear before the FSSAI’s designated officer on July 8. A Delhi-based manufacturer of MSS and a packing unit in Telangana have also been summoned for an inquiry on July 15. Meanwhile, the American restaurant chain, in a statement, said, “KFC India is committed to follow the best practices and international standards. High-quality oil and chicken is sourced from reputed suppliers, and all applicable safety and quality standards laid down by the FSSAI and other authorities are stringently followed. The use of Magnesium Silicate as a clarifying agent is approved as per FSSAI, and KFC chicken is completely safe for consumption after cooking.” P7 1 2 - m o n t h d ata Trains in Chennai rly division flunk punctuality test, passengers hit hard Planned infrastructure upgradation works carried out in addition to the mandatory maintenance work had caused a rise in punctuality issues Southern Railway spokesperson Falling standards of on-time arrival of trains in Chennai division (in %) June july april Mail/Express trains 2023 89.2 84.98 87.7 84.2 2022 91.62 85.29 weekly bi-weekly and tri-week, , ly trains. The punctuality of mail/express trains dropped to 79.58% in July 2023 compared to 92.67% in July 2022. Punctuality reduced to 86.3% in April 2023 compared to 96.06% in April 2022. The punctuality indicates the percentage of trains that reached the stations on time. Similarly, in case of passenger trains, the punctuality was 88.49% in August 2023 while it was 96.15% in August 2022. Responding to the information, a Souther n Railway spokesperson said the cause- 96.06 86.3 Why are long-distance trains running late in Chennai? The punctuality of express and passenger trains operated by the Chennai division of the Southern Railways has dropped substantially in 2023-24, compared to the previous year, shows official data. The punctuality of mail and express trains dropped in 11 of 12 months from April 2023 to March 2024 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The punctuality of passenger trains witnessed a reduction in all 12 months. Chennai division operates around 300 mail and express trains and 170 passenger trains every day apart from other spe, cial trains. Majority of these trains originate/terminate at Dr MGR Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore, which together account for around 60 pairs of daily trains and many other 92.67 79.58 @ Chennai 95.06 83 S i ddh a r t h P r a bh a k a r august December February Passenger trains wise analysis of punctuality cases in Chennai division for fiscal years 2023 and 2024 showed that the planned upgradation works in infrastructure, including tracks and signal equipment, had caused a rise in punctuality issues. These works were carried out in addition to the mandatory scheduled maintenance work for assuring safety in train running, he added. “Similar infrastructure upgradation and scheduled maintenance work in adjacent railways and divisions caused reception of trains already running late at interface point stations such as Jolarpettai, Gudur, Renigunta, and Katpadi. This was also a cause for the increase in punctuality loss in the division,” the official said.  Continued on p7 BSP party office premises. Greater Chennai Corporation sources also confirmed that a request has been received from Armstrong’s family for permitting to bury his mortal remains in the party office, but a final decision can only be taken by the state government. Earlier in the day, addressing reporters at his office in Vepery , the commissioner said since Armstrong was the state president of a national party, the intelligence section kept a watch on him but there was no information about any threat to him. “Armstrong was no longer a history-sheeter and had been acquitted in all the seven cases pending against him,” he said. The Chennai police on Friday arrested eight suspects four hours after the murder. They were identified as Ponnai Balu (39), S Thirumalai (45), K Manivannan (25), K Thiruvenkadam (33), D Ramu (38), J Santhosh (22), G Arul (33), and D Selvaraj (48).  P4 NEET-UG counselling by third week, says ministry E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi July 6 was a contentious date in all NEET-UG case hearings before vacation benches because that was when the National Testing Agency had told the Supreme Court it intended to start counselling for admission to medical courses across the country . The court had rejected all petitions demanding a stay on counselling till the case on the alleged malpractices in NEETUG is disposed of. Even requests for a two-day stay till July 8, when a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud will begin hearing a batch of petitions demanding scrapping of the exam, were turned down. July 6 came and went but the counselling didn’t start. Turns out that its schedule hasn’t even been notified yet by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). The counselling schedule for NEET-UG and PG is announced by MCC, under the Directorate General of Health Services, after the completion of the exam process and the finalisation of the seat matrix by the National Medical Commission (NMC). In 2021, 2022 and 2023, the counselling for UG seats commenced on 19/1/2022, 11/10/2022 and 20/7/2023 respectively, the ministry said in a statement. For this year, NMC communicated its schedule for finalisation of the seat matrix for UG and PG seats in the last week of June, indicating it will finalise the UG seat matrix by the third week of July and PG seat matrix by mid-August. The MCC will accordingly notify the counselling schedule. WITH THIS ISSUE Small is the New Big PLUS 12 PAGES