Sailor missing after fire aboard Navy vessel One sailor was missing after a fire erupted onboard INS Brahmaputra, which was undergoing refit at Mumbai’s Naval Dockyard, on Sunday night Though the fire was brought under control by Monday morning by the ship’s crew with the help of fire fighters from the dockyard, the ship later started listing to one side. villupuram l tuesday l july 23, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l 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 Sparks fly over NEET-UG in the Lok Sabha P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Facing heat from the Opposition on the opening day of the Budget session in the Lok Sabha over the NEET-UG row, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan rebutted all charges on Monday saying his , government is not hiding anything, adding there is no evidence of paper leak in the last seven years. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi led the offensive, alleging many are convinced that the Indian exam system is a fraud. “The education minister has blamed everybody except himself... The issue is that there are millions of students in this country who are extremely concerned about what is going on and who are convinced that the Indian exam system is a fraud,” Rahul charged. Countering the argument, Pradhan said “only one case” of malpractice has come to light in Bihar and the CBI is investigating it. “Out of 4,700 centres, due to proactive approach of Bihar Police, only in one place in Patna and surrounding points, there is an incident of anomaly CBI is . getting into the details. We are hiding nothing. Everything is on record,” he said. While Rahul demanded a one-day discussion on the issue, the minister said, “I am here at the mercy of my leader, the prime minister. Whenever question of accountability comes, my government is answerable to that.” Long road to Viksit Bharat: Eco Survey Pre-Budget document contradicts government’s anti-China stance; seeks to shift the responsibility of job creation to the private sector D I PA K M ON D AL @ New Delhi INDIA’s march towards Viksit Bharat in 2047 may not be a walk in the park amid rising global uncertainties, climate change risks, and the ‘huge pall of uncertainty’ cast by artificial intelligence (AI). Premised on this reality check, the Economic Survey 2023-24, tabled by Finance Minister Nir mala Sitharaman in Parliament on Monday, presents a mixed picture of hope and high water. Though the Survey asserts that India’s economy is on a “strong wicket and stable footing, demonstrating resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges”, it outlines in great length the challenges ahead. In this context, the report pegs GDP growth rate at a conservative 6.5-7% for FY25, lower than the estimates of many domestic and international agencies. “It is not that we are not optimistic about growth, we are just making aware of the challenges it faces going forward,” said Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran. He outlined three major challenges facing India’s growth – geopolitical tension and growing inward looking economic policies in the developed world; climate change and global To boost manufacturing and plug India into the global supply chain, it is inevitable that India plugs itself into China’s supply chain Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran warming; and, the AI casting a huge pall of uncertainty on workers across all skill levels. Overcoming these challenges will need a ‘grand alliance’ of Union, state governments, and the private sector, says the Survey. The three stakeholders should work in tandem for generating productive employment by reducing the skill gap, boosting the MSME sector by easing compliance burden, de-cluttering financing bottlenecks, and managing the China conundrum, it adds. Raising concerns about inequality and the poor health of the young population, the Survey ticked off the private sector for encouraging sedentary habits among employees. With the external sector remaining uncertain, the Survey says the domestic sector should do the heavy lifting. Notably, the Survey seeks to shift the responsibility of job creation to the private sector. “Employment generation is the real bottom line for the private sector,” says the CEA, under whose supervision the Economic Survey report was drafted. It also says that private sector investment has not been commensurate with the benefits it received from the corporate tax rates in 2019. Cautioning that the deployment of AI could have deleterious impact on jobs, the Survey says deploying capital- and energy-intensive AI is probably the last thing a lower-middleincome economy needs. In a clear departure from the general anti-China stance of the government, the Survey bats for more Chinese investment to boost domestic manufacturing, adding that India must ‘plug itself ’ into China’s supply chain. “Whether we do so by relying solely on imports or partially through Chinese investments is a choice that India has to make,” it says, hinting that the anti-China policy has not been helping India. P10 Kanwar yatra SC stays order to eateries to show owner’s details S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday issued an interim stay on directives issued by the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names, addresses and mobile numbers of their owners. “Food sellers may be required to display the kind of food they are serving. But, they must not be forced to display the name/identity of the owners and also the employees,” a two-judge bench comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti said. It was hearing pleas filed by the Association For Protection of Civil Rights, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and Prof Apoorvanand, challenging the state governments’ orders. During the hearing, Justice Bhatti said he used to frequent a vegetarian restaurant in Kerala run by a Muslim. “Without disclosing the name of the city, there is a vegetarian hotel run by a Hindu. There is another vegetarian hotel run by a Muslim,” Justice Bhatti said. “I was going to the hotel run by a Muslim for vegetarian food. When it comes to food standards and safety he , was displaying everything,” he said. The bench issued notices to all three states and asked them to file their responses in time for the next hearing slated for July 26. Welcoming the order, the Congress said it hopes Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make BJP CMs aware of their raj dharma. Bus corpns oppose TN’s minibus plan e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai The state government’s proposal to extend minibus services to more areas across the state seems to be facing headwinds as the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) and six other corporations of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), along with the employees’ federation of transport corporations, have opposed the plan at the public hearing conducted in Chennai on Monday by the Home (Transport) department. The department issued a draft notification last month for a New Comprehensive Mini Bus Scheme 2024 to extend bus connectivity to more places across the state, including Chennai, Coimbatore, and other urban areas. Under the scheme, operators will be permitted to run buses up to a distance of 25km, with 17km on un-served routes and up to 8km on routes served by government or private buses. Currently, the maximum distance allowed for a minibus is 20km, with 4km allowed on served routes.
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