BELAGAVI SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 14 LATE CITY EDITION SC BLASTS DELHI AIR QUALITY PANEL FOR FAILURE TO CURB POLLUTION The Supreme Court noted that the Commission for Air Quality Management has not taken steps to stop stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana NO PENAL ACTION, ORDERS REMAIN ON PAPER A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih observed that no punitive action has been taken against those who burn crop stubble. “There has been total non-compliance of the Act,” the bench said, expressing its dissatisfaction. “If there is no penal action, the prohibitive directions against farm fires will remain only on paper”, Justice Oka orally observed ■ 82 PANEL DIRECTED TO FILE COMPLIANCE REPORT ■ The panel must immediately ensure the equipment given by the Centre for avoiding stubble burning are actually used by farmers, the bench said “We are of the view that though the Commission has taken steps, it needs to be more active,” the bench said while directing the panel to file a better compliance report and posted the matter for October 3 NO. OF DIRECTIONS ISSUED BY THE PANEL, BUT NO ACTION TAKEN AGAINST VIOLATORS 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 Siddaramaiah named accused no. 1, his wife Parvathi A2, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy A3 Lokayukta police file FIR against CM in MUDA case E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Mysuru An FIR was registered against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the controversial Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land case here on Friday . The FIR, registered under Case Number 11/2024, has listed Siddaramaiah as the first accused (A1), his wife BN Parvathi as Accused 2 (A2), his relative Mallikarjuna Swamy as Accused 3 (A3) and an individual named Devaraju, involved in the land transaction, as Accused 4 (A4) and others as accused 5. The FIR was registered by the Mysuru Lokayukta police following two days of high drama as the initial delay in filing the FIR sparked outrage. The complainant, Snehamayi Krishna, had alleged negligence by the Lokayukta, saying it delayed filing the FIR despite the special court directing the anti-corruption agency to investigate the case and submit a report within three months. Krishna’s complaint had alleged irregularities in MUDA allotting alternative plots to Siddaramaiah’s wife after it acquired her land of over three acres at Kesare in Mysuru. The complaint had gone on to implicate the chief minister and his family members. Mallikarjuna Swamy is Parvathi’s brother, who had gifted the the three acres of land to her. According to the FIR, the Lokayukta police have booked cases under Sections 120 B, 166, 403, 406, 420, 426, 465, 468, 340 and 351 of IPC, Sections 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Sections 3, 53 and 54 of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 and Section 3 and 4 of the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act, 2011. He expressed determination to fight the case till justice is served. “In history this is the first time , such a case has been registered against a sitting CM. We won’t stop until the matter reaches its logical conclusion,” he said. Meanwhile, when asked whether the CM will be questioned or arrested following registration of the FIR, a Lokayukta higher official said it is too early to comment on this as the FIR has just been registered and the investigation is yet to start. “We have followed the court order and registered the FIR under the relevant Sections mentioned in the order. We have been given three months to investigate and submit a report. It is too early to comment,” the official said. Sharif plays K-card, claims India altering demography Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi CM Siddaramaiah attends a programme in Mysuru on Friday on the day the Lokayukta registered an FIR against him in the MUDA case | UDAYASHANKAR S CONG HAS TO MOVE ON, SAYS KHARGE AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge said in Bengaluru on Friday that Congress will have to move on irrespective of Siddaramaiah being the chief minister. But he went on to allege that BJP is targeting the CM with an intention to damage Congress. Defending the CM, Kharge said Siddaramaiah need not resign in the case as no charges have been proved against him as yet in the MUDA case | P4 ACTIVIST MOVES HC, SEEKS CBI PROBE Social worker Snehamayi Krishna, one of the complainants in the MUDA site allotment case against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others, approached the Karnataka High Court on Friday, seeking directives to transfer the case from the Lokayukta police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for “an independent, fair, transparent and impartial investigation”| P4 LOKAYUKTA POLICE QUESTION HDK Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Friday appeared before the Karnataka Lokayukta police in connection with a land denotification case. The state JDS president alleged that the case was foisted falsely against him when Siddaramaiah was the CM in 2015. Kumaraswamy contended that he has done no wrong when he was in power and he is not afraid of any investigation | P4 A day ahead of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s address at the UN General Assembly, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday raked up the Kashmir issue and sought to draw similarities between the situation in Kashmir and Palestine. India normally uses its right to reply to give it back to Pakistan, adding Kashmir is an inalienable part of India. “Like the people of Palestine, the people of J&K, too, struggled for a century for their freedom and right to self-determination,” said Sharif in his UNGA address. He accused India of reneging on its commitments to implement the U N S e cu r i t y THE Central government’s total debt at the end of June 2024 quarter has reached `176 lakh crore, up 25% from the previous year’s `141 lakh crore. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the debt rose 1.2%, much lower than 4.6% growth witnessed in the same period last year. As for the composition of the Centre’s total debt, external debt accounted for `9.78 lakh crore, up from `8.50 lakh crore in the same period last year. Of the `149 lakh crore internal loans, market loans (raised through government bonds) accounted for `104.5 lakh crore, `27 lakh was raised through securities against small savings, `10.5 lakh crore through T-bills, and `78,500 crore through gold bonds. It must be noted that the government has maintained the borrowing target in the cur- rent financial year at `14.1 lakh crore. The finance ministry on Thursday announced `6.61 lakh crore borrowing plan in the second half of the current financial year. Though the gover nment has maintained its FY25 borrowing target of `14.01 lakh crore, analysts expect the government to cut down on borrowing this financial year. According to Nomura, spending does not appear to have picked up after the initial boost. “It is possible that the GOI will underspend this year and therefore IGB issuance can be reduced,” it says. Gaura Sen Gupta, chief economist at IDFC First Bank, feels there is scope for the fiscal deficit to undershoot the FY25 target of 4.9%, as this is a truncated year (due to the general election). She says the Centre has refrained from reducing GSec supply due to additional demand from index inclusion. ON HIGH ALERT AFTER SECOND MPOX CASE The Kerala health department on Friday said that a 26-year-old man, who has just returned from abroad, has tested positive for Mpox. He has been admitted in a Kochi hospital The government pays 19% of its total revenue collection in paying interest towards outstanding debt. For FY25, it has budgeted for `11.6 lakh crore in interest payment. The Centre’s total debt at the end of June quarter is 54% of the country’s estimated GDP of `326 lakh crore in FY25. Last year (FY24), the Centre’s debt/ GDP ratio was at 57.5%. The Centre’s debt-to-GDP ratio has been falling since FY21, when it peaked at 62.75%. 10 cybercrooks wanted in 122 cases across India held EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru As many as 10 cyber fraudsters wanted in around 122 cases across India, were arrested by North CEN police. The accused had been cheating people through online task fraud or online job fraud. The kingpins are said to be operating from China. Of the 10 accused, three were arrested at Kempegowda International Airport through a Look Out Circular (LoC). The FLAVOURS OF K’TAKA Artistes take part in a procession to mark the World Tourism Day in Mysuru on Friday. Police bands, tongas and Dasara elephants enthralled the public with an eye-catching display | UDAYASHANKAR S EXPRESS READ 1st in India, Karnataka unveils draft GCC policy Jagan: AP govt trying to stop my Tirumala visit Arunachal Pradesh our territory, claims China BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Friday became the first state in the country to launch the draft Global Capability Centres policy. The draft policy includes several incentives, collaboration, R&D , talent development and a robust ecosystem for industries. The Karnataka government aims to add 500 more GCCs in the state by 2029 | P7 AMARAVATI: YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday accused the Andhra government of trying to prevent him from visiting the Srivari temple at Tirumala and said he has indefinitely postponed his planned trip. CM N Chandrababu Naidu responded that no one stopped the opposition leader from visiting the shrine | P7 NEW DELHI: A day after India named a peak after the 6th Dalai Lama, China has expressed its displeasure and stated that Arunachal is their territory. “The area of Zangnan is Chinese territory and it’s illegal, null and void for India to set up the so called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ in Chinese territory,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman. The Pakistani PM said while the escalation of Islamophobia is a troubling global development, its “most alarming manifestation of Islamophobia is the Hindu supremacist agenda in India.” On the ongoing Gaza war, Sharif said, “This is not just a conflict. This is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Palestine...we must act now and demand an immediate end to this bloodshed.” He said humanity was diminished when the endless suffering of Palestinians was ignored. Significantly, Turkiye President Recap Tayyip Erdogan did not mention Kashmir in his UNGA address this year, the first time he has skipped it since Article 370 was read down in 2019. The focus of his speech this year was the humanitarian situation in Gaza. KERALA Zelenskyy says some peace merchants have a Nobel dream Central govt’s total debt shoots up 25% to `176 lakh crore D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Council resolutions there. “India’s policy of brutal coercion and oppression in Kashmir has ensured that Burhan Wani’s legacy continues to inspire the struggle and sacrifices of millions of Kashmiris. Inspired by the legitimacy of their epic struggle, they remain defiant,’’ claimed Sharif. “In a classic settler-colonial project, India is seizing Kashmiri lands and properties and settling outsiders in J&K in their nefarious design to transform the Muslim majority into a minority he charged. ,” Sharif also alleged that India was expanding its military capabilities. He went on to accuse India of threatening to cross the Line of Control to seize Pakistan occupied Kashmir. accused were operating from an office space at Nelagadaranahalli in Peenya. A woman, after losing about Rs 25 lakh, filed a complaint with CEN police on July 3, 2024, which led to the arrests. CEN police recovered 72 mobile phones, 182 debit cards, 133 SIM cards of various telecom operators, 127 bank passbooks and Rs 1.74 lakh in cash, and also froze Rs 7.34 lakh in the accounts used by the accused to P7 cheat the victims. Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi AS efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict continue, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has remarked that some are attempting to broker peace with an eye on Nobel Prize and not real peace. A comprehensive peace formula is already in place but some countries are proposing alternative settlement plans aimed at pausing, not ending, the war; such a move will only give Russian president Vladimir Putin more room to continue the war and bring more damage to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said while addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday . “As a global initiative, the peace formula has already existed for the past two years. And maybe somebody wants a Nobel Prize for their political biography for frozen truce instead of real peace, but the only prizes Putin will give you in return are more suffering and disasters,’’ said Zelenskyy . While the Ukrainian leader did not name any country while making this remark, in his speech, he mentioned: “When the Chinese-Brazilian duo tries to grow into a choir of voices – with someone in Europe, with someone in Africa, saying something alternative to a full and just peace, the question arises – what is the true interest? Everyone must understand – you won’t boost your power at Ukraine’s expense.” The war between Russia and Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. Many world leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jingping, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have tried to impress upon Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict. India has always maintained that the best way to end the conflict is through dialogue and diplomacy . When some propose half-hearted plans, it not only ignores Ukrainians interest but also helps Putin Volodymyr Zelenskyy MEETS TRUMP Zelenskyy met Donald Trump on Friday in New York. ‘I think we have a common view that the war in Ukraine has to be stopped and Putin can’t win,’ Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin WILL END WAR: DON Trump said he will end the war if elected as US prez. “it’s a shame... This is a war that should have never happened... Too many people dead,” he said after meeting Zelenskyy UNTRAINED HANDS 30-yr-old suffers stroke after barber’s massage R I S H I TA K H A N N A @Bengaluru A routine visit to a local salon turned into a nightmare for a 30-year-old man when a ‘free head massage’ left him battling for his life. Ramkumar (name changed), a housekeeping worker, suffered a stroke after the barber, who was untrained, twisted his neck during a massage. What should have been a relaxing experience quickly went wrong as the sharp neck manipulation caused Ramkumar intense pain. He thought nothing of it and returned home, but within hours, he started losing his ability to speak and felt weakness on his left side. When the discomfort continued, Ramkumar rushed to a hospital where doctors confirmed that the forceful neck twisting caused a tear in his carotid artery, cutting off blood flow to his brain and trig- gering a stroke. Dr Sreekanta Swamy Senior , Consultant in Neurology at Aster RV Hospital, said Ramkumar suffered a dissectionrelated stroke which differs from a regular stroke. In this case, the wall of a blood vessel tore due to the neck manipulation, reducing blood flow and triggering the stroke. Ramkumar was administered anticoagulants or blood thinners to prevent further blockage and stop it from worsening. The patient then returned to his hometown in Ballari and took nearly two months to recover fully . The doctor warned that sudden and improper neck movements can have devastating consequences. In this case, the forceful twist caused a tear in the blood vessel wall, leading to clot formation and reduced blood flow to the brain, resultP7 ing in a stroke.
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