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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR  SUNDAY  JULY 07, 2024  `12.00  PAGES 36  LATE CITY EDITION STARMER READY FOR FTA THAT WORKS FOR BOTH Modi speaks to his British counterpart, invites him to India Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi WITH THIS ISSUE SMALL IS THE NEW BIG UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Soft line on Kashmir PLUS 12 PAGES THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS READERS A Happy Rath Yatra THIS EDITION INCLUDES 4+4 PAGES RATH YATRA SUPPLEMENT 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 antiHindu 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 edu, cation, technology 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. Newly elected President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, waves to crowd after his win. He has promised to reach out to the West | P12 Justice Rath panel meets, decision on opening Ratna Bhandar on July 9 B I J O Y P R A D H A N @ Bhubaneswar THE high level committee reconstituted under the chairmanship of retired Orissa High Court Justice Biswanath Rath to supervise the inventorisation of valuables including jewellery stored in the Ratna Bhandar by the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee will take a final decision on the opening of the treasury on July 9. Talking to mediapersons after the first meeting of the committee held in the temple conference hall at Puri, Justice Rath said standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be prepared in consultation with all stakeholders for opening of Ratna Bhandar. The SOPs will be approved by the state government. EXPRESS READ Puri set for a grand, magnificent Rath Yatra Puri: The stage is set for Rath Yatra in the town on Sunday. This year, rituals like Netra Utsav, Nabajouban darshan and Rath Yatra will be conducted simultaneously. As per the temple almanac, the stipulated 15-day Anasar period of the deities was reduced to 13 | P4 Decision time: FM to present full year budget on July 23 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 | P7 “The SOPs will recommend the procedure for opening of Ratna Bhandar and follow-up measures for reinventorisation of the valuables, repair of the inner chamber of the Bhandar, safe upkeep of the jewellery during the repair works and related issues to the state government for consideration and necessary action,” Justice Rath said. Going by the reports of the previous committee headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) placed before the new panel, duplicate keys of the Ratna Bhandar are available with the district treasury . “We are told that the duplicate keys are in the district treasury The chief . administrator of SJTA will produce the keys in the next meeting,” he said. “The reports suggest that the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar has not been opened for several decades. It was further reported that attempts were made to open the lock but in vain. If the lock did not open by the duplicate keys then, there is no option but to break it,” he CONTINUED ON P7 added. NEET-UG counselling by 3rd week E X P R E S S N E W S S E 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 NEET-UG 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 Counsel- ling 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.