tirupati l tuesday l september 10, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION U.S. announces partnership with India on semiconductors The US announced on Monday it is entering into a partnership with India’s Semiconductor Mission launched by the Centre in 2022 to grow and diversify global chip industry partnership under biden’s chips act 2022 The two countries will work together to boost the growth and diversification of the global semiconductor ecosystem amid increasing reliance on chips and concerns over the resilience of their supply chains. As a first step, a detailed assessment of India’s existing semiconductor ecosystem will be done that will form the basis for future joint initiatives, the US State Department said ■ ■ The partnership will come under the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund created through the CHIPS Act of 2022 — an initiative of President Joe Biden’s administration One of the aims of the CHIPS Act is to diversify the semiconductor supply chain to minimise the risk of large-scale disruptions $500 mn is how much the ITSI Fund provides the u.s. state department each year 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 Yeleru Canal breach floods Kakinada As many as eight mandals in Kakinada affected; State govt seeks Indian Army’s help to carry out relief operations One killed, three hurt in landlide at ASR village E x p r ess N e w s S e r vi c e @ Kakinada As many as eight mandals have been flooded, while 86 villages in 11 mandals of Kakinada district are under the threat of being inundated following the breaches to the Yeleru Canal. The State gover nment has sought assistance from the Indian Army to carry out rescue and relief operations in the affected regions. The breaches were identified at Rajupalem in Kirlampudi mandal and Gorrikandi village at Raparthy in Pithapuram mandal. Yeleru reservoir has been receiving copious inflows due to the torrential rains in the Agency Area of Alluri Sitarama Raju district. Over 45,755 cusecs of rainwater reached the reservoir and 21,775 cusecs of water was released. The State government sought the assistance of the Army in view of the rising water levels in the reservoirs. While the Thandava Reservoir is receiving inflows of 8,900 cusecs, it is releasing 8,766 cusecs of surplus water. Similarly, 1,000 cusecs of surplus water is being released from Pampa Reservoir. “In view of the unforeseen E x p r ess N e w s S e r vi c e @ Visakhapatnam / Vijayawada People were forced to wade through water following the breach to Yeleru Canal at Gorrikandi village in Pithapuram mandal of Kakinada district| express natural events, an urgent requisition has been activated for Kakinada, following excessive rainfall on September 8-9. The Yeleswaram Reservoir began to overflow, necessitating the opening of its gates. This has resulted in a breach of the Yeluru Canal near Rajupalem village, leading to significant flooding across eight administrative divisions (mandals),” the Army said in a statement. The Southern Command of the Indian Army received the request for Army columns to assist in evacuating residents stranded in their homes to safP4 er locations.  First Indian mpox case tests positive, govt issues advisory K avi ta B a j e l i - D at t @ Delhi The Centre on Monday wrote to all states and Union Territories (UTs) asking them to screen, test, and trace contacts of all suspected mpox patients. It comes as a man who travelled to India from a country experiencing mpox transmission tested positive for the virus, but not it’s the deadlier and fastspreading strain that has led to a surge in cases worldwide and prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency . The Union health secretary Apurva Chandra, in a letter to all the states and UTs, asked them to identify isolation units in hospitals for both suspected and confirmed cases. They must also review public health preparedness, particularly at the health facility level. He said sexual contact is the most commonly reported way of transmission of the virus, followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact. “Among cases where at least one symptom is reported, the most common symptom is rash, followed by fe- ver,” he wrote adding that most cases are young males with a median age of 34. The states and UTs must spread awareness among people about the disease and prevent any undue panic. Chandra said health units at points of entry (airports) have been instructed to strengthen health screening of incoming travellers. Regarding the confir med case, the Union health ministry said lab test has shown the presence of clade 2 strain of the mpox virus. “This case is isolated, similar to the earlier 30 cases reported in India from July 2022 onwards,” it said adding that the patient is isolated and is stable. “The good news is that the strain of concern, clade 1b, is yet to be detected in India. Clade 1b was the strain for which WHO declared a public health emergency That was because it . was relatively new, originating from a different part of Africa than clade 2, was spreading faster, and was more severe,” Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, former president of the Indian Medical Association, Cochin said. Prakasam barrage gate damage: 2 held Vijayawada: Police arrested two persons in connection with the alleged sabotage behind the damage to the gates of Prakasam Barrage on Monday. They were produced before the court and were remanded to 14-day custody. As per the preliminary reports, the arrested persons, Kukkalagadda Ushadri and Komati Rammohan are reportedly associates of YSRC MLC Talasila Raghuram Incessant rainfall disrupted normal life in the districts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh, particularly in Alluri Sitarama Raju district. Road connectivity to interior villages was hit as several bridges were washed away . Heavy landslides were reported in Chatrapalli village of Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Sunday night. One person died and three others were injured. Following the incident, villagers released a video urging authorities to intervene. Emphasising the lack of communication network, the villagers urged authorities to visit their village and initiate rescue operations. Confirming the incident, ASR District Collector AS Dinesh Kumar said the deceased has been identified as 20-yearA house was damaged in the landslide old Korra Kumari. An ex-graat Chatrapalli village in ASR district tia of `5 lakh has been announced for the bereaved family as per norms of the National Disaster Management Authority The injured individuals, Korra Pandanna (60), Korra . Sumitra (18), and Korra Subbarao (25), are under treatment at Saparla Primary Health Centre. Their health condition is reported to be stable. According to reports, ASR district received 81.53 mm of rainP4 fall in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 am on September 9.  BJP, RSS believe that women should stay at home and cook: Rahul S u l a g na S en g u p ta @ New Delhi IN his first trip to the US after assuming the role of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the BJP and the RSS on Monday calling them downright patriarchal. Interacting with students at the University of Texas, the Congress leader said: “The BJP and RSS believe that women should be restricted to a particular role… that they should stay at home, cook food, and not talk too much. But we (Congress) believe that women should be allowed to aspire to whatever they want to do.” He also observed that the RSS believes India is one idea, while the Congress considers it a multiplicity of ideas. Rahul Gandhi’s three-day visit comes ahead of the US presidential elections in November. Addressing the Indian diaspora in Dallas, he claimed that the ‘fear of BJP’ disappeared immediately after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results came out. “Within minutes of the election result, nobody was scared of the BJP and the Prime Minister of India. These are huge achievements, not of Rahul Gandhi or Congress, but of the people of India who realised we are not going to accept an attack on the Constitution,” he said. He added that everyone, regardless of caste, language, or religion, should have the freedom to express themselves. “This is the fight and this fight was crystallised during the elections when millions of Indians realised that the prime minister was attacking the Constitution,” he said. New GoM on life insurance premium GST M O N I K A YA D A V @ New Delhi AMID calls for a reduction in the tax rate on health and life insurance premiums, the GST Council meeting on Monday decided to form a Group of Ministers (GoM) to deliberate on the issue. The GoM will submit its report next month and the Council will take a call on this in its upcoming meet in November. Monday’s GST Council meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, took several key decisions. The Council also recommended the formation of a separate GoM to study the future of compensa- Nirmala Sitharaman at the GST Council meeting in Delhi on Monday | ANI tion cess. By January 2026, the Centre is expected to clear back-to-back loan payments to states related to GST compensation, with total cess collections projected to reach `8.66 lakh crore and an estimated surplus of `40,000 crore after repayments, the FM said. The Council also exempted supply of research and development services by a government entity university college , , or other institutions notified under Section 35 of the IT Act. It may be recalled that IIT Delhi had got a show cause notice from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence over `120 crore. “GST exemption on public & private research grants to higher education institutions is a major boost that shall not only increase research outcome but also achieve global tax parity,” said S Vaidhyasubramaniam of SASTRA University . MAJOR DECISIONS GoM to look into GST on life insurance and health insurance GST on cancer drugs cut from 12% to 5% GST on helicopter services on seatshare basis cut to 5% from 18% No decision on plan to levy 18% on transactions below `2,000 5 pm today deadline for WB docs to resume work S u c h i t r a K a lyan M o h an t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday gave the protesting junior doctors in West Bengal 24 hours to join work, failing which they will not get any judicial protection. “Protest cannot be at the cost of duty,” a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud observed. It directed them to get back to work by 5 pm on Tuesday and assured that there will be no adverse action if they resume duty . The junior doctors have been on protest since August 9, demanding justice for the rapemurder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The direction came after West Bengal’s counsel said 23 people have died in the state due to the mass abstention of resident doctors. The court noted that funds have been sanctioned by the state government for setting up additional CCTV cameras and for the safety of doctors. It also directed the state government to coordinate with the CISF — tasked with providing security at RG Kar — for giving them suitable accommodation and providing security gadgets to Protesting junior doctors of RG Kar watch live proceedings of the Supreme Court hearing on the rape-murder of a trainee doctor, in Kolkata | PTI its personnel. But the junior doctors in West Bengal said they will continue their ceasework since they do not feel secure enough in their places of work. The court also expressed serious concern over the absence of a challan, a key document for postmortem of the victim and sought a report from the West Bengal gover nment. “Where is the challan of the body when it was handed over for postmortem?” it asked. After examining the CBI’s status report on the probe, the bench said, it is pursuing a few leads. “There was at least 14 hours delay in registration of the FIR on the rape-murder incident by the Kolkata Police,” the bench said and asked the CBI to file its next status report by September 16.