mp records 23 tiger deaths in 2024 so far Madhya Pradesh has reported 23 tiger deaths in first six months of 2024. Of the 75 deaths reported from 12 States this year, 23 have been in Madhya Pradesh, National Tiger Conservation Authority data said. At least 10 of the 23 tiger deaths were reported in the State’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR). A probe into tiger deaths by a three-member panel found that at least 17 big cat deaths in BTR in the last three years were due to territorial fights tirupati l friday l july 12, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 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 No question of privatising VSP, asserts HDK E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Naidu committed to strengthen VSP Asserting that there is no question of privatising the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), Union Minister of Steel HD Kumaraswamy said he will prepare a note on how to revive RINL (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited) and discuss it with the Prime Minister. “There is a possibility of reviving the VSP and discussions will be held with the Prime Minister on how to proceed further,” he added. The Union Minister visited the VSP on Thursday and inspected various sections of the factory and production processes along with senior officials. He toured various places in the plant, including the coke oven department, blast furnace-3, steel melting shop-2, wire rod mill-2, etc. Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy at the Vizag Steel Plant on Thursday | EXPRESS Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asserted that he is committed to strengthening VSP. Without naming the YSRC, he said, “A political party is spreading canards that I have agreed to the privatisation of the steel plant. VSP is a symbol of self-respect of Telugu people. We have fought against VSP’s privatisation & also brought financial assistance from the Centre for its development He also reviewed the performance of RINL with the CMD, directors, chief vigilance officer, and senior officials. RINL Chairman and Managing Director Atul Bhatt explained the process and salient features of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to Kumaraswamy . Following the inspection, the Union Minister chaired a meeting with the Steel Executives est burdens from expansion and not because of the employees. A detailed report on re-merger of SAIL and RINL was also presented. Requesting for some time to address the issues, the Union Minister assured the SEA representatives that he would explore the possibilities of remerging RINL and SAIL.  P4 @ Visakhapatnam Continental conquests: Familiar Foes to the fore Spain stand between England and a first ever Euro title. On the other side of the Atlantic, Messi can win a third major international title in four years. A look... Spain vs England for European glory Spain have the chance to add a fourth European crown and will begin the final as favourites. They have sparkled in Germany but they will be wary of England who are now into a second consecutive final. They have found different ways to win as was the case against Netherlands on Wednesday England’s Harry Kane (up) celebrates with his teammate Ollie Watkins | AFP Association (SEA). SEA representatives discussed the proposed merger of SAIL (Steel Authority of India Limited ) and RINL, along with concerns about promotions, PRP (performance related pay), and wages. They informed Kumaraswamy that the losses incurred by the Steel Plant were due to the lack of iron ore and inter- Chance for Messi to make more history against Colombia After Lionel Messi unretired, he has led Argentina to major titles including the last World Cup in 2022. However, Colombia, who beat Uruguay in a typically feisty clash, have one of the longest unbeaten streaks in football, having now gone 28 matches without defeat Wednesday’s results England 2-1 Netherlands, Colombia 1-0 Uruguay Sunday’s finals: England vs Spain, Colombia vs Argentina Express read State govt transfers 19 IAS and 11 IPS officers Vijayawada: The government transferred 19 IAS and 11 IPS officers on Thursday.Senior IPS officer Harish Kumar Gupta was appointed as Director GeneralVigilance & Enforcement | P4 Glitch in UIDAI halts registrations Vijayawada: Registrations across the State came to a halt on Thursday due to a technical glitch that led to disruption of the Aadhaar (UIDAI) server based in New Delhi Farmers to revive protest ahead of Assembly polls Mahapanchayats to be held in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir. Mahapanchayats will be held in these states, with the upcoming Assembly sources said. elections in sight, farmers’ Senior SKM leader and presibody Samyukt Kisan Morcha dent of All India Kisan Federa(SKM) on Thursday announced tion Prem Singh Bhangu said its plan to resume protests over the protest is to pressure the its pending demands, including government to implement the a legal guarantee to MSP and agreement between the SKM loan waiver. and the Centre, signed on DeLeaders of the SKM, an um- cember 9, 2021. brella body of farm Apart from MSP, unions that led the the demands include Protest in 2020-21 protest, said withdrawal of all casfront of they will seek ap- Mann’s house es related to the farmpointments to meet ers’ agitation, disburOn August 17, the Prime Minister sal of compensation Narendra Modi and SKM’s Punjab unit for those who died will hold 3-hour Leader of Opposition during the protest, in the Lok Sabha Ra- protests in front of protection from crimthe residences of hul Gandhi to submit inal liability for stubCM Bhagwant their list of ble burning, etc. Mann and his demands. In the general body ministers on water meeting, the SamyThey will also meet all MPs of the Lok crisis, debt burden, ukt Kisan Morcha Sabha and Rajya Sab- opening the Indo- leaders congratulated ha to urge them to put Pak trade through farmers for “teaching pressure on the gov- road corridors, etc the BJP a lesson” in er nment to accept the Lok Sabha electheir demands. The appoint- tions, sources said. ments will be sought between The meeting discussed how July 16 and 18, they added. farmers in many states voted SKM leaders said the deci- against the BJP for its policies sion to revive protests was tak- a g a i n s t t h e i n t e r e s t o f en at the general body meeting farmers. held in Delhi on Wednesday, The saffron party has lost as adding that this time there is many as 38 seats in western UP , unlikely to be a march to Delhi. Punjab, Haryana, northern RaRather, the protests will be con- jasthan, and onion-growing centrated on the election-bound belt in Maharashtra, it was s t a t e s o f M a h a r a s h t r a , pointed out. J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y & H A RPR E E T B A J W A @ New Delhi / Chandigarh 94% of agri crops out of MSP net: SBI B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai WHILE the farmer unions are demanding legal backing for minimum support price (MSP), a new report by the research team of SBI says the MSP regime currently covers just 6 per cent of the agriculture basket, mostly food grains.  The government spent `3.4 lakh crore on MSP in financial year 2023 and if the government decides to procure all MSP crops, then it will leave a fiscal burden of a whopping `13.5 lakh crore, says Soumyakanti Ghosh, chief economic advisor, State Bank of India, in the report. The report says foodgrain output (a key MSP item) is only 17 per cent of overall output of the agri sector, while other key segments such as livestock, vegetables, and fruits, representing a combined 71 per cent of agricultural output, receive inadequate support. However, “the politics of MSP fails us to address the concerns of 71 per cent in a more holistic manner as even after best efforts, the government is able to procure 6 per cent of overall output as MSP”, Ghosh says in the report.