BHUBANESWAR l sunday l july 28, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l JEYPORE EDITION code for communication lines in South China Sea Necessary: EAM Must be consistent with global law The external affairs minister was addressing in the 14th East Asia Summit in Laos’ capital Vientiane. The “Code of Conduct (in the South China Sea) should be substantive and effective, consistent with international law and should not prejudice legitimate rights and interest of nations not party to discussions,” he said. Chinese minister Wang Yi participated in the summit Jaishankar says sea lines of communication passing through South China Sea are critical for peace, stability in the Indo-Pacific Region call for de-escalation, restraint in Gaza ■ Jaishankar also called for de-escalation and restraint in war-torn Gaza. He also condemned attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, adding India is contributing to ensuring the safety and security of maritime shipping ■ On the Ukraine war, he reiterated the importance of dialogue and diplomacy, adding India stands ready to contribute to peace in any manner possible 19 years Since East Asia Summit was initiated 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 Speculation rife on Modi’s August visit to Ukraine Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi Speculation is rife on Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelling to Ukraine in August, a month after he visited Russia following the NDA’s third consecutive victory in the general elections. Though there is no official word from the government or the Ukrainian side in Delhi, it has not been denied either. An announcement could possibly be made closer to the day of Modi’s departure. This will be Modi’s first visit to Ukraine ever since Russia invaded the neighbour on February 24, 2022. Ukraine celebrates its national day on August 24, so Modi’s visit could be around that time. The prime minister is also likely to go to Poland after Kyiv. “When Modi visited Moscow earlier this month, he spoke about a peaceful resolution of the conflict and expressed his grief over the death of children (following reports of a hospital attack in Kyiv). He reportedly also shared with President Vladimir Putin on the likelihood of his visiting Ukraine subsequently,” according to a source. It is common knowledge that India and Russia share a strong historic bond and that the possible visit to Kyiv would have no impact on the bilateral ties with Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had expressed his dismay over the Modi’s warm hug with President Putin. “It’s a devastating blow to peace efforts,” Zelenskyy has said after Modi met Putin. India has always maintained that this is ‘no era for war’ and conflicts must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy Modi also told Pres. ident Putin that solutions to conflict could not be found on the battlefield. Majhi urges Didi to lift curbs on potato supply CM Mohan Majhi on Saturday requested his WB counterpart Mamata Banerjee to lift restrictions imposed on supply of the essential commodity to Odisha | P2 1 st w o m a n i n 2 0 y r s french promise for Manu Didi walks out of NITI meet; Modi calls for zero poverty Mamata claims she wasn’t allowed to complete her speech; govt rubbishes it M U K ESH RANJAN @ New Delhi The vision of Viksit Bharat can be realised through Viksit states. The aspiration of Viksit Bharat should reach the grassroot level i.e. to each district, block, and village Narendra Modi India shooter Manu Bhaker | AP W HEN the joy is back for an athlete, it’s not at all joyous for the opponents. Firing freely, soaking the pressure and not thinking about winning or losing has made an indelible mark on her psyche. Manu Bhaker, 22, had trying times before and after the Tokyo Olympics when she was till a teen. She had broken away from her childhood coach (in Japan, she was two points off qualifying for the final). She did not know where her career was heading and was seeking stability . “I told him (coach Jaspal Rana) that I will shoot TNIE @ olympics with you only and I don’t know if I would continue after 2024,” she had told this daily earlier. She had learnt her lessons from the last Olympics and reIndraneel Das alised that people forget Paris what medal you have won when you lose. On a wet Saturday at Chateauroux, the shooting venue some 250km away from Paris, Bhaker lifted the spirits of the Indian shooting team. She stood, in her own inimitable way with one hand in the pocket and one , holding the weapon in front. She started off slowly, but once she hit the target, it was the Bhaker show. The stats are staggering too. She finished third with a score of 580 behind Veronika Major (582) and Jin Ye Oh (582) but Manu shot the highest number of inner 10s with 27. Sunday could well be the day when India win their first (Final live from 3.30 PM) medal of the Games.  Attack by Pak special forces at LoC kills 1 jawan, injures four f aya z w a n i @ Srinagar A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan on 25th anniversary of Kargil War, Pakistan’s Border Action Team and militants attacked the Army’s forward post along the Line of Control (LoC) in Machil sector of J&K on Saturday. While the Army foiled the attack, a jawan was killed and four other soldiers, including a Captain, were injured in the gunfight. One Pakistani intruder was gunned down. Defence spokesman in Srinagar said the Pakistan special forces team took advantage of bad weather and poor visibility along the LoC in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Two or three armed men crossed the LoC and fired on the forward Army post from close proximity he said. , Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and chief ministers, including Mamata Banerjee, during a group photo on Saturday | PTI BAT strike A BAT team generally comprises Pakistani commandos and highly trained militants. Sources said two other BAT members fled to the other side of the LoC after the gunfight. The injured soldiers were taken to the Army’s base hospital at Badamibagh Cantonment in Srinagar for specialised treatment. The deceased jawan was identified as rifleman Mohit Rathour. He succumbed to his injuries in the Continued on P5 hospital.  Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) comprises commandos and highly trained militants. They infiltrated the LoC and threw a gernade in the Kamakari sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district. A gunfight followed, the Army said Naidu spoke for 20 mins. Assam, Arunachal, Chhattisgarh, and Goa CMs spoke for 15-20 mins. But as soon as I spoke for 5 mins, they kept hitting the bell Mamata Banerjee West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday created a flutter by claiming she was not allowed to complete her speech at the NITI Aayog governing council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an allegation that was emphatically denied by the government. Mamata also claimed that her microphone was turned off five minutes into her speech. But the Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking vertical rubbished it. “The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the PIB said. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, too, trashed the allegation and said every chief minister was “allotted their due time to speak”. B V R Subrahmanyam, the Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, informed that all Make policies to attract FDI, Modi urges states Modi urged all states to take advantage of technological and geopolitical changes to make India developed by 2047. He advised them to make policies conducive for attracting FDI. He also directed the NITI Aayog to prepare an investment-friendly charter CMs were allotted seven minutes to speak. They got their turn in alphabetic order. “Since Mamata was representing West Bengal, her turn would have come in the afternoon, but she made a request to speak before lunch and it was agreed.” Mamata was the only CM from an Opposition-ruled state to participate. Her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, who is part of the NDA at the Centre, also did not make it. In all, 10 CMs did not show up. Putting it in context, TMC sources said Mamata attended the meet despite attempts by the Opposition INDIA bloc to wean her away so as to send a , message that she would not be Majhi seeks Centre’s support for infra and semiconductor push B i j o y P r a d h a n @ Bhubaneswar “Support is therefore required for establishment of Chief Minister Mohan large-scale port-based indusCharan Majhi on Saturday trial zones in areas surrequested the Centre for rounding the existing ports support in attracting foreign of Dhamra and Gopalpur direct investment (FDI) and while further developing state-of-the-art technology g reenfield ports at Asfor design and manufactur- taranga, Palur, Bahuda, and ing of semiconductors. Subarnarekha,” he said. At his first gover ning Since Odisha is prone to council meeting of the Niti natural disasters, it needs Aayog in New Delhi, the financial assistance from chief minister asserted that the Centre for creation of Odisha has the potential to disaster resilient infrastrucbecome a semiconductor ture in power, telecom sechub. “Odisha has a tors and coastal sagrowing pool of talline embankments ented tech profeswhich will help the sionals, a thriving state in minimising startup ecosystem the adverse conseand an ambitious quences of cyclones semiconductor poliand floods, Majhi cy, making it an added. The next decade, ideal location for he said, is crucial becoming a semifor Odisha as the conductor hub,” he year 2036 marks said seeking the Odisha has a growing pool of completion of 100 Centre’s backing. talented tech years of its stateExpressing gratiprofessionals, a hood. “We have tude to Prime Minthriving startup started working on ister Narendra ecosystem and an a strategy to stimuModi for announcambitious late high growth to ing ‘Purvodaya’ semiconductor realise the dream scheme in the Unpolicy of Viksit Odisha by ion budget for 202425 to boost develop- Mohan Charan Majhi, 2036 leading evenChief Minister tually to Viksit ment in five eastern Bharat by 2047. states including Odisha, the chief minister With our geographical locaalso solicited dedicated tion resource base and debudget allocations and quick mographic composition, we clearances from the Centre envisage Odisha’s consistent for various infrastructure growth at a rate of 8 per cent to 10 per cent annually, movprojects. Stating that Viksit Odisha ing from a middle-ranking will be a key contributor to state to being one of the first Viksit Bharat, Majhi said wagons in the train of Inthe state can adopt the port- dia’s development,” he said. Majhi also sought the asled development model to leverage its long coastline to sistance of the Centre to become the gateway to East- move up the value chain ern and South Eastern Asia through production of speand a port of call for neigh- cial metals and alloys for aerospace and defence. bouring landlocked states. guided by Congress strategies. In his address, Modi emphasised the need to tackle poverty on an individual level rather than just at a programme level. “We must target zero poverty as a priority for a Viksit Bharat starting at the village level,” he said, adding it would have a transformational effect across the country . In her speech, Mamata said, “Many states have been deprived in the Budget, including my state, which has been deprived of MNREGA funds for the last three years.” She said the Centre cannot discriminate between states based on its political equation with the parties governing them. WITH THIS ISSUE BOLD MONK PLUS 12 PAGES express read G20 nations agree to make super-rich pay their taxes Rio De Janeiro : G20 nations have agreed to work together to make the super-rich pay their taxes, but stopped short of a more substantial deal, according to a declaration adopted on Friday after a meeting of finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro | P9 Heavy rain affects life, 373 houses damaged in Koraput Jeypore/Koraput: Continuous heavy rains across Koraput district have brought normal life to a grinding halt, with reports of damage to property pouring in from various parts of the region. In the last 12 days, a staggering 373 houses have been reported damaged | P4