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  TUESDAY  SEPTEMBER 03, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION 1st Nitesh wins maiden gold at Paralympics I still don’t feel it. Maybe when I go to the podium and the national anthem is played, it will sink in —Nitesh after match Nitesh Kumar wins gold at the Paralympics WHEN KARGIL SOLDIERS HELP NITESH PLAY F I R O Z M I R Z A @ Chennai O N that fateful Sunday in 2009, Vij e n d e r S i n g h ’s world came crashing down when he received a call from 108 (emergency number). His only son, Nitesh Kumar, had lost his left leg in a train accident in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. A junior commissioned officer with the Indian Navy, Vijender saw his son bedridden for the next six months and life lost meaning. Motivation came from unexpected quarters — amputee soldiers of the Kargil War — during a visit to the Artificial Limb Centre in Pune, where the soldiers were playing. “I kept him motivated during that period but the Kargil War amputee soldiers helped me out,” Vijender told this daily “Nitesh . saw them playing and he joined in after some time.” Nitesh was 15 then. Those six months left an indelible mark on Nitesh, who not only went on to clear the IIT entrance test and completed electrical engineering from IIT Mandi, Himachal Pradesh but also became a para-shuttler. On Monday, at the Paris Paralympics, Nitesh won gold in para-badminton. He defeated Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in a gripping men’s singles SL3 final. With the win, India retained the SL3 gold, which Pramod Bhagat had won three years ago when badminton made its Paralympic debut in Tokyo. It was also Nitesh’s first win over Bethell in the previous 10 attempts. “I still don’t feel it. Maybe when I go to the podium and the national anthem is played, it will sink in,” Nitesh said after the match which lasted an hour and 20 minutes, with the final scoreline reading 21-14, 1821, 23-21. The SL3 category is reserved for players with severe lower limb disabilities and the matches are played P11 on a half-width court. Central govt summons Netflix content head amid row over IC-814 web series | P7 Ahead of polls, Cabinet OKs 7 farm schemes Digital Agriculture Mission, Crop Science, Manmad-Indore rail line and new semiconductor plant get approval EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi AHEAD of the crucial Haryana and J&K elections, the Centre on Monday approved seven new schemes to improve farmers’ lives and increase their incomes with a total outlay of `14,235.30 crore. As for Maharashtra, which will go to polls in the next few months, the Union Cabinet approved a new Railway line between Mumbai’s Malad and Indore covering 309 km at a cost of `18,036 crore. The Centre also approved a proposal of Kaynes Semicon Pvt Ltd to set up a semiconductor unit in Sanand, Gujarat. The seven schemes for the farmers are Digital Agriculture Mission, Crop Science for KAYNES PLANT CAN CHURN OUT 63L CHIPS A DAY The semiconductor plant by Kaynes will come up in 46 acres in Sanand. It is a big plant and a large portion of the production will go for Kaynes Industries —Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister Food and Nutritional Security , Strengthening Agricultural Education, Management and Social Sciences, Sustainable livestock health and production, Sustainable development of Horticulture, Strengthening of Krishi Vigyan Kendra and Natural Resource Management. Briefing the media, Informa- EXPRESS READ CM says no plan to set up HC bench Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday stated in the Assembly that there is no justification for establishment of a bench of Orissa High Court in any part of the state as per a Supreme Court verdict. In December 2022, the Supreme Court had observed that the demand for a bench of the Orissa High Court had become obsolete with the passage of time and advancement in technology. It also noted that Odisha was not a large state requiring permanent bench | P3 Habitat rights accorded to Saora tribe Bhubaneswar: With Saora tribals of Gajapati district getting habitat rights over their ancestral lands, Odisha has become the only state in the country to provide such rights to the highest number of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs). Saoras have become the fifth tribal group in the state to get the rights that allow them to protect and preserve natural entities, sacred sites and places of religious and spiritual importance | P2 tion & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, the objective of the Digital Agriculture Mission is to create a digital database related to soil profile, digital crop estimation, and yield modelling. “It also facilitates crop loans with use of modern technologies like AI and big data and helps connect farmers with buyers and bring The Kaynes semiconductor plant with an investment of `3,307 crore can produce as many as 63 lakh chips per day. It is the fourth semiconductor plant in Gujarat. Its chips will cater to a wide variety of applications, including industrial, automotive, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, telecom and mobile phones, Vaishnaw said | P10 new knowledge on mobile phones.” The scheme on Crop Science for Food and Nutritional Security with a total outlay of , `3,979 crore, would prepare farmers for climate resilience and provide for food security by 2047. As for the railway line between Manmad and Indore, the project will require more than a crore human days and will be completed in the next eight years. It is expected to significantly enhance connectivity across key regions in Maharashtra and MP Vaishnaw said. , “Manmad-Indore rail line will currently be built as single track, but it is being designed in such a way that in future it would easily be converted into double line,” he said. “The project will generate 12 lakh employment. We are looking at connecting it to the hinterland in Maharashtra, MP and UP , .” RSS backs caste census, but with a rider S H YA M P V @ Palakkad IN a clear message to the BJP which is yet to declare its stance on the contentious caste census issue, the RSS said on Monday that it has no objection to collecting data on specific communities or castes to ensure effective delivery of social welfare schemes. However, the Sangh Parivar fountainhead added a rider: “Don’t use the census data as a political tool.” The RSS statement comes amid extensive campaigning by the opposition parties led by the Congress seeking a nationwide caste census. Addressing the media after Samanway Baithak, a three-day national coordination conclave, in Kerala’s Palakkad, RSS publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar said: “The RSS thinks that for all welfare activities, particularly those targeting such communities or castes which are lagging behind... if the government needs the numbers, it is a well-established practice. But it should be done only for the welfare of those communities and castes. It should not be used as a political tool for elections. So we put this forth with a line of caution for everyone.” As a Hindu society, caste and caste relations are sensitive issues in India, he said. “It is an important issue for our national unity and integrity The RSS and our affiliated . organisations have always kept the national interest first. So, the caste census should be dealt with very sensitively and not on the basis of elections or electoral practices and politics,” he added. Ambekar said the Sangh Parivar organisations have noticed a large number of religious conversions in Tamil Nadu by missionaries. “It’s very worrisome. We will conduct a ground study and formulate a strategy,” he added. The conclave condemned the rape and murder of a female doctor in a Kolkata hospital. It was necessary to revisit laws and penal actions to expedite swift justice for women who suffer atrocities, he said.