tirupati l friday l october 04, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur EDITION Israel steps up air strikes on Beirut, says Hezbollah Intel HQ hit Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and other buildings linked to the group in Beirut, killing 15 fighters More lebanon residents told to evacuate Markets tank; no attack on iran today A source close to Hezbollah said one of the attacks hit an “evacuated” building housing the group’s media relations office. Earlier in the day, a rare Israeli attack on central Beirut hit a residential building, killing nine. In the south, the Israeli military asked residents in 20 areas to evacuate northward, signaling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week ■ ■ Suspense continued over Israeli response to the Iranian missiles attacks. US President Joe Biden said he is discussing with Israel about striking Iran’s oil facilities. “There is nothing going to happen today,” he added Amid the spiralling conflict in West Asia, domestic equity markets fell sharply. Sensex and Nifty tanked more than 2% each on Thursday 1,974 people killed in ISraeli attacks on Lebanon since last october 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 SC outlaws caste All set for Brahmotsavams from today discrimination in jails across India E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Tirumala Quashes jail manual rules of 10 states, says caste-based work allocation in prisons illegal read down discriminatory laws and file compliance reports before it. IN a landmark verdict, the SuThe verdict came on a plea preme Court on Thursday held filed by Sukanya Shantha, a nathat there should not be any tive of Kalyan in Maharashtra, caste discrimination in prisons alleging that prison manuals of across the country and all some states encourage castepresent provisions in jail man- based discrimination. ual perpetuating such discrimiThe order dealt with certain nation must go. The apex court discriminatory provisions of also registered a suo motu case jail manuals of 10 states—Uttar to monitor the issue. Pradesh, West Bengal, No caste A three-judge bench Madhya Pradesh, Anddetails to led by the Chief Justice hra Pradesh, Odisha, D Y Chandrachud di- be entered Kerala, Karnataka, Marected all states and The CJI-led bench harashtra, and HimachUnion territories to real Pradesh—and set also ordered vise their prison manuthem aside. the deletion of als to end caste-based The court held that caste details of allotment of work. assigning cleaning and prisoners from “Distribution of manu- prison registrars. sweeping tasks to inal work among prisonmates belonging to the “Caste column ers on the basis of their marginalised sections in convict or undertrial caste hierarchy is disand allowing the higher criminatory and un- registrars shall be castes to do cooking is a constitutional,” said deleted,” it said in clear violation of Artiits order the bench, also comcle 15(1). prising Justices J B “Such indirect uses Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. of phrases which target so It also ordered the Centre to called lower castes cannot be make necessary changes ac- used within our constitutional cording to the judgment to ad- framework. Prison manuals dress caste-based discrimina- are only reaffirming such distion in the Model Prison crimination,” the CJI said. Manual, 2016 and the Model Observing that right to live Prisons and Correctional Serv- with dignity extends even to ices Act, 2023. the incarcerated, the bench The apex court gave the Cen- said: “Criminal laws of the cotre and states three months to lonial era continue to impact amend their prison manuals to the postcolonial world.” S UCHITRA K ALYAN MOHANTY @ New Delhi Naidu likely to visit Delhi on Oct 7 for Central aid E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is likely to visit New Delhi on October 7. The two-day visit attains significance given it will be his first visit to the national capital after the Tirumala Laddu Prasadam adulteration controversy which hogged the national , headlines. During his visit, Naidu, a key partner in the NDA government, besides meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah may meet several Union Ministers.  According to sources, the top priority of the Chief Minister’s visit to Delhi is to get funding for the construction of the capital city Amaravati, besides laying emphasis on seeking Central support for several development schemes and other welfare initiatives. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has made elaborate arrangements for the multitude of devotees, who are expected to throng Tirumala for the nine-day annual Brahmotsavams from Friday. As a prelude to the commencement of the annual festival, the Ankurarpanam ritual was performed traditionally on Thursday night. Addressing mediapersons at Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala, TTD Executive Officer J Shyamala Rao, along with Additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdary, said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will present the Pattu Vastrams to the Lord on behalf of the State government on the first day of Brahmotsavams. The procession of Lord Senadhipathi Varu at Tirumala I Express “After getting Vedasirvachanam at Ranganayakula Mandapam, the Chief Minister will release the 2025 TTD calendars and diaries. Thereafter, he will take part in the Pedda Sesha Vahana Seva. On October 5, he will inaugurate @ New Delhi The Centre on Thursday strongly opposed the demand to criminalise marital rape, arguing in its affidavit in the Supreme Court that punitive measures are already in place to deal with it. “Parliament has provided different remedies, including criminal law provisions, to protect consent within marriage. Sections 354, 354A, 354B, 498A IPC, and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, ensure serious penal consequences for such violations,” the affidavit said. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is hearing a batch of pleas on the matter. In its affidavit, the Centre said that the issue is primarily “social rather than legal”. “Criminalizing marital rape would have significant implications for society. The jurisdiction to criminalize such acts (marital rape) does not lie with the Supreme Court but rather with the legislature,” the Centre said in its affidavit. It added that the present question is essentially a social issue on which Parliament has taken a position after weighing all shades of opinions. Parliament, it added, decided to retain Exception 2 to Section 375 of IPC in 2013 while amending the said section in 2013. Striking it down on the grounds of constitutional validity will have a far-reaching effect on the institution of marriage, it argued. “It may severely impact the conjugal relationship and may lead to serious disturbances in the institution of marriage. In the fast-growing and ever-changing social and family struc- CM sets target of 15% growth rate Vijayawada: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu set a target of 15 per cent growth rate for the State with new policies in every department to revive the State’s economy, which regressed during the past five years under the previous dispensation. The Chief Minister reviewed departmentwise growth rate and performance with officials on Thursday | P4 Tomato prices skyrocket to `90 per kg in State Tirupati: Tomato prices in the State are projected to exceed `100 per kg in retail markets, as wholesale price at Madanapalle, Asia’s largest tomato market, has climbed to `90. Anantapur’s wholesale market reported similar figures, with prices reaching `91 per kg on Wednesday. The rise can be attributed to the crop damage in neighbouring States | P3 Enact Act, set up board to protect Sanatana Dharma: Pawan D S u r e n d r a K u m a r @ Tirupati Jana Sena Party chief and Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan emphasised the need for the immediate enactment of an Act to protect Sanatana Dharma in the country, and the establishment of Sana- Internship scheme rolled out on pilot basis, 111 cos on board MONI K A YA D AV @ New Delhi THE government on Thursday launched the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme on a pilot basis. The scheme is open to those in the 21-24 years age group who meet specific educational and employment criteria. Existing reservation norms will apply Eligible candidates can apply . through the online portal www.pminternship. mca.gov.in. The portal will open on October 12 and 1,25,000 interns are expected to be enrolled in the top 500 companies this year. Sources said 111 firms are already on board for the programme and more are likely to join in. As of Thursday 1,077 offers have been made by three , companies—Mahindra & Mahindra, Max Life Insurance, and Alembic Pharma. The interns will be paid `4,500 per month via direct benefit transfer, while the companies will contribute `500 from their corporate social responsibility funds. There is also a one-time grant of `6,000, which takes the total annual payout to `66,000 per intern. The PM’s internship scheme is part of a broader initiative that aims to offer skill training to one crore youth over next five years, with a budget allocation of `2 lakh crore. Don’t criminalise marital rape as punitive measures are in place to deal with it: Govt S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y the newly constructed `13.45 crore modern temple kitchen behind the Panchajanyam Rest House,” he said. Elaborating on the arrangements for the annual festival, he said the TTD has cancelled all Arjita Sevas, Anga Pradak- shina and VIP break (except for protocol) darshan. On Garuda Seva day (October 8), even protocol darshan remains cancelled. “We have kept a buffer stock of seven lakh laddus to meet the pilgrim demand. The accommodation capacity in Tirumala, including rest houses and Pilgrim Amenities Complexes, is 45,000 pilgrims. As we are anticipating around 3.5 lakh pilgrims for Garuda Seva, we have made all arrangements to meet the pilgrim needs. The galleries along the Four Mada Streets have been spruced up to accommodate nearly two lakh pilgrims,” he explained. He said 3,000 round trips have been planned to transport three lakh pilgrims on the day of Garuda Seva in 400 plus RTC buses, and 2,000 round trips on other days. P4 express read ture, misuse of the amended provisions can also not be ruled out, as it would be difficult and challenging for a person to prove whether consent was there or not,” the Centre said. “In an institution of marriage, there exists a continuing expectation, by either of the spouse, to have reasonable sexual access from the other...these obligations, expectations and considerations, which are completely absent in the case of a stranger who seeks sexual congress, or even from any other intimate relationship, constitutes as a sufficient basis for the Legislature to distinguish qualitatively between an incident of non-consensual sex within the marital sphere and without it,” it said. While Justice Rajiv Shakdher was in favour of criminalising marital rape, Justice C Hari Shankar disagreed. ‘It can be misused’ “In the fastgrowing social and family structure, misuse of the amended provisions can also not be ruled out, as it would be difficult for a person to prove whether consent was there or not” Rational nexus The relationship of marriage creates an intelligible differentia, which has a rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved, the Union government claimed tana Dharma Protection Board, at both the national and State levels, which should receive annual funding for its effective functioning. Addressing ‘Varahi Sabha’ held at Balaji Colony in Tirupati on Thursday he highlighted , the key points of JSP’s ‘Varahi Declaration’. He explained that Sanatana Dharma is not solely concerned with the happiness of humans but seeks the wellbeing of all living beings. Pawan Kalyan asserted that secularism should be upheld in a manner that guarantees a uniform response to threats against any religion. The JSP chief proposed the concept of ‘Sanatana Dharma Certification’ to guarantee the purity of materials used in offerings to the deities and prasadam at temples, ensuring strict adherence to spiritual P4 standards.