THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l wednesday l august 21, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION CCI feels Disney-Reliance merger can harm competition: Report According to Reuters, CCI feels the merger of Reliance and Disney assets harms competition due to their power over cricket broadcast rights Merger to create media behemoth Cricket rights bone of contention The Competition Commission of India’s view is a setback to the two firms, whose proposed merged entity would have lucrative rights worth billions of dollars for the broadcast of cricket. Antitrust experts point out that the proposed merger will create India’s biggest entertainment player with a combined strength of 120 TV channels and two streaming services ■ “Cricket is the biggest pain point for CCI,” Reuters quoted a source as saying The CCI has given the two firms 30 days to explain their position. Reuters said CCI earlier sent Reliance and Disney around 100 questions on the merger ■ The firms reportedly said they are willing to sell fewer than 10 television channels to assuage concerns about market power and win early approval ■ $8.5 billion Estimated size of the merger deal between Reliance and Walt Disney 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 Govt faces flak for inaction on Hema report; CM clarifies E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram Ganesh under fire A day after the Hema Committee findings, revealing sexual harassment and the presence of casting couch in the Malayalam film industry, were released, the Left government on Tuesday found itself under pressure for sitting on the report, which contained allegations of criminal offence, for nearly five years. Both the Opposition UDF as well as the BJP targeted Cultural Affair s Minister Saji Cherian for his alleged inaction on the report. On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan urged the government to register a case based on the revelations, while state Congress president K Sudhakaran accused the LDF regime of sheltering perpetrators of criminal offences. A host of senior Congress leaders, including MP Shashi Tharoor and K Muraleedharan, too, questioned the government for sitting on the report for such a long time. Senior BJP leader V Muraleedharan demanded that Cherian step down. However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan defended A section of people in the film industry alleged that actor and Minister K B Ganesh Kumar was part of the “allmale power group”, which, as per the report, controlled the industry. Director Vinayan and actor Shammi Thilakan pointed fingers at Ganesh as one of those who banned actors. While Governor Arif Mohammed Khan urged the government to look into the matter, Ganesh rejected the charges. his government, saying some of the panel’s recommendations had already been implemented. He also said contents of the report were not divulged on specific request of the panel. On the Opposition’s charges of not registering cases against those responsible, Pinarayi said stringent action will be taken if any woman who gave a statement before the committee, comes forward with a complaint. ● More on P4 Take opportunity to correct systemic issues in Malayalam filmdom | P6 Sonia Thilakan takes aim at ‘leading actor’ E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @Kochi Sonia Thilakan, daughter of late actor Thilakan, lashed out at Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) for targeting her father after he exposed the issues in the industry . She also recalled how, after Thilakan’s death, a leading actor invited her to his room on the pretext of apologising to her for the illtreatment meted out to her father. “My father was expelled from AMMA in 2010 for exposing industry’s issues, something highlighted in the report. He openly spoke of the dominance of some actors and called them a mafia. The report reveals the same. He was, however, targeted and expelled,” she said on Tuesday ● More on P4 . Lateral entry quota coming Proposed hiring nixed; PM wants to rework scheme to apply reservation for those posts too RA J E SH KUMAR T HAKUR @ New Delhi Barely three days after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced 45 vacancies for lateral entry of officers into the bureaucracy the , Centre killed it, heeding to concerns from within the ruling NDA and without. The decision came ahead of assembly elections in J&K and Haryana amid the Opposition’s attack over the lack of quota for those positions. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and the Janatal Dal (United), both NDA allies, too, shared their concerns over the proposed recruitment. Quota is a political hot potato that parties can ignore only at their peril. “Since, these positions have been treated as specialized and designated as single-cadre posts, there has been no provision for reservation in these appointments,” Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh reasoned. However, nixes advert on filling 45 posts cancelled as requested by the requisitioning authority, says UPSC 2nd ARC okayed lateral entry In line with sixth pay panel report Introducing transparency Lateral entry was endorsed by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) constituted in 2005, Singh said The second ARC was chaired by Veerappa Moily. The recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission in 2013 were also in the same direction While most of the lateral entries before 2014 were ad-hoc, the NDA tried to make it institutionally driven, transparent, open, Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to explore the possibility of introducing quota in lateral entries as well, he indicated. Singh wrote to UPSC Chairperson Preeti Sudan following Modi’s directive to cancel the advertisement, so that marginalised communities get their Sikkim landslide hits Teesta project P r a sa nta M a z u m da r & J i ten d r a C h o u b e y @ Guwahati/New Delhi A massive landslide struck Sikkim on Tuesday, damaging parts of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation’s 510-mw hydroelectric project on the Teesta river at Dipudara in Gangtok district. Gangtok collector Tushar Nikhare, who visited the site along with other officials, told this paper that the gas-insulated substations (GIS) building of the project was damaged. Last year’s glacial lake outburst flood had damaged the power station and it was under construction. NHPC said the Teesta basin region has been witnessing landslides during the ongoing monsoon season. “Today’s incident also occurred due to subsidence/landslide over Tail Race Tunnel outlet structure and behind GIS building. This has affected TRT gate hoist structure and part of the GIS building,” it said. According to experts, manmade activities triggered the #VisitWayanad Police personnel negotiating with protesters blocking railway tracks at Badlapur in Thane district on Tuesday | PTI Thane erupts over sexual assault of minor girls Mumbai: Massive protests broke out on Tuesday at Badlapur in Maharashtra’s Thane district over the alleged sexual assault of two girls, aged 4 and 6 years, at a private English medium school by the school sweeper. Hundreds of protesters blocked railway tracks at Badlapur station. With the protesters occupying tracks, 15 long-distance trains were diverted while local train services were suspended for about 10 hours. P8 ‘Nat’l task force to frame norms on docs’ safety’ appointed the head of another college hours after he stepped down as principal; why Ghosh Describing the ongoing pro- initially tried to pass the death tests against the horrific rape off as suicide; why the regisand murder of a trainee doctor tration of FIR was delayed; at a government hospital in what was the police doing Kolkata as a moment when the hospital of national catharsis, was invaded by a the Supreme Court on mob; and why did the Tuesday constituted a police fail to secure 10-member National the crime scene? Task Force headed by While urging the surgeon-major R P Saagitating health care Chief Justice of India r i n t o f o r m u l a t e D Y Chandrachud practitioners to reguidelines for ensurtur n to work, the ing the safety security CBI probe’s , court war ned the and facilities to doc- status report Bengal government tors and healthcare not to take punitive staf f in hospitals The court directed action against them. the CBI to file its across India. “Let the power of A t h r e e - j u d g e probe status report the state not be unby August 22, when bench led by Chief leashed on them at Justice of India D Y it would take up the all. Please deal with Chandrachud termed matter further. The them with sensitivity . the incident “horrific task force has been This is a moment for and hor rendous”, asked to submit its national catharsis,” adding it indicated a interim report the court said. systemic failure of within three weeks The task force was the state machinery . asked to prepare an The court hauled up the action plan on preventing vioKolkata police and the state lence, including gender-based government for its inaction in violence against medical prothe case and allowing a mob to fessionals; and an enforceable vandalise the RG Kar Medical national protocol for dignified College and Hospital, where and safe working conditions the victim was murdered. for inter ns, residents, The CJI questioned Bengal’s senior residents, doctors, nurscounsel Kapil Sibal as to how e s a n d a l l m e d i c a l RG Kar’s Sandip Ghosh was professionals. S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a nt y @ New Delhi rightful representation in government services. Hours later, the advert was withdrawn. “This aspect (no quota for single-cadre posts) needs to be reviewed and reformed in the context of the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s focus on ensuring social justice,” Singh said. Sources said comments of all stakeholders would be taken into account by the government to find out whether or not reservation can be applied to lateral entry recruitment. Dilating on the matter, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, said, “UPSC adopted a very transparent method for lateral entry Now we have de. cided to apply the principle of reservation in that too. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has always shown his commitment towards social justice,” he said. “We gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission which was earlier an ordinary body Be it NEET, Sainik Vidya. laya or Navodaya Vidyalaya, we have implemented the principle of reservation everywhere,” Vaishnaw added. However, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said it was due to the campaign by Rahul Gandhi and the INDIA bloc that the government was forced to take a step back on the matter. Social media push to revive tourism in disaster-hit dist E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kalpetta Residents, traders and tourism stakeholders in Wayanad have joined forces on social media to revive the district’s tourism sector that took a massive hit following the devastating landslides on July 30. Posts and reels tagged #VisitWayanad are doing the rounds online, in a bid to attract tourists. Almost everyone who depends on tourism suffered after all the centres under the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) in Wayanad were closed following the calamity. There was mass cancellation of bookings in resorts and homestays during the Independence Day-August 15 holiday. Most resorts now have zero bookings for August. This has hit autorickshaw-taxi drivers, tourist guides, small traders, shopkeepers and hotel operators hard. Though spots such as Pookode lake, Karlad lake, S u l t a n B at h e r y Tow n Square, Wayanad Heritage Museum at Ambalavayal, Pazhassi Raja Landscape Museum in Pulpally, Karapuzha dam and Banasura dam are open now, the footfall is less. “Tourism in Wayanad will endure only if tourist centres under the DTPC as well as the forest department are opened. We demand the intervention of the disaster management authority to reopen at least those tourist places that are safe soon,” said Suresh P, a homestay owner in Padinjarathara. In February, all eco-tourism centres under the forest department in Wayanad were closed due to recurring wildlife attacks. “At the time, our only relief was the fact that tourism centres under DTPC were open. However, with the onset of monsoon, functioning of all tourism centres came to a standstill,” said Mohanan Pallikkal, an autorickshaw driver in Sultan Bathery P5 . 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express landslip. “The area received deficient rainfall in the past two weeks,” said G N Raha, scientist, Met Centre Gangtok. “There was no vegetation over the slid hills; also, the hills slope is above 45° inclined, which shows soil erosion due to manmade activities from both sides i.e. above the hills, residential buildings causing pressure over fragile phyllite stone and from downward NHPC’s construction,” said professor Manasi Debnath of Nagaland University . Screengrab of the landslide at Dipudara in Gangtok district on Tuesday | Express
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