tirupati l friday l july 11, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur EDITION all government offices to display ‘oil and sugar boards’ fssai, icmr roped in for model healthy meal The ministry has asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN), which have prepared these ‘sugar and oil boards’, to suggest a model healthy meal that can be served in canteens and eateries of public institutions, instead of the greasy, oily and sugary meals Under the initiative of the health ministry, these informative boards will list the amount of sugar and oil in food items and their health hazards limits daily sugar intake to 25 grams ■ ■ The boards recommend that people consume only 27-30 gm of fat every day and that their sugar intake should not exceed 25 gm per person per day for adults and 20 gm for children | P7 The fiat comes after CBSE directed all its schools to establish ‘sugar boards’ to educate students about perils of excessive sugar or oil 20% of adults in urban areas are overweight or obese as per NFHS-5 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 No stay on Bihar roll revision Indian negotiators SC asks ECI to consider Aadhaar, voter ID, ration card as acceptable documents for proof S U CHITRA K ALYA N MOHA N TY citizenship @ New Delhi Chandran KR, counsel for ‘Save Nimisha Priya Int’nl Action Council’ | PTI Urgent hearing to save Nimisha Priya on July 14 S U CHITRA K ALYAn MOHA N TY @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on July 14 a plea seeking immediate direction to the Centre to use diplomatic channels to save Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, 38, who is likely to be executed in Yemen on July 16 for murder charges. The petitioner, Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council (SNPIAC), moved the court seeking its immediate intervention. A bench of justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi listed the matter for hearing on July 14 after Subhash Chandran K R, counsel for SNPIAC, argued that diplomatic channels needed to be explored at the earliest. He submitted that the option Nimisha Priya of payment of blood money to the family of the deceased can be explored. The family of the deceased may pardon the Kerala nurse if blood money is paid, he submitted. The bench asked the counsel to serve a copy of the petition to the Attorney General and sought his assistance. Quoting media reports, Subhash said since Priya’s execution is scheduled for July 16, the Centre should immediately intervene to save her life. Priya, who hails from Palakkad in Kerala, was found guilty by a court in Yemen of murdering Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. express read Missing boy found dead, CM orders probe check ambit The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider Aadhaar card, voter ID card and ration card as acceptable documents in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in the state. Refusing to stay the voter list revision, a bench comprising justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagch called the SIR a “constitutional mandate” and permitted the ECI to continue the exercise. The court took on record the poll panel’s submission that the list of 11 documents it put out on June 24 to prove citizenship in Bihar was illustrative, nor exhaustive. “In our prima facie view, since the list is not exhaustive, it will be in the interest of justice if the ECI will also consider the Aadhaar card, Electoral “Isn’t it too late now for that?” asks Justice Dhulia on the timing of citizenship verification 1 Bench wonders whether the issue of citizenship falls within the Election Commission’s jurisdiction 2 ECI says Aadhaar is for identity verification, not citizenship proof. But citizenship check is govt’s job, says SC Photo Identity Card issued by the Election Commission and the ration card,” the bench said. This, the court said, was a suggestion, not a direction. “If you have good reason to discard Aadhaar, you do it, but give reasons,” it added. While asking the ECI to file its counter-affidavit by July 21, the court fixed the case for further hearing on July 28. The bench was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the SIR in Bihar. It observed that the petitions raised an im- 3 Poll panel argues it has role as the Representation of the People Act, 1950 mandates that one must be a citizen to vote portant question which goes to the root of the functioning of democracy — the right to vote. “We are of the prima facie opinion that three issues are involved in this case: (a) The very powers of the Election Commission to undertake the exercise; (b) The procedure and the manner in which the exercise is being undertaken, and (c) The timing, including the timings given for the preparation of draft electoral roll, asking objections and making the final electoral roll etc, which educational reforms Mega PTM 2.0 draws 2.3 cr participants at 61k schools E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Anantapur In a landmark initiative, the Andhra Pradesh government org anised Me g a Parent Teacher Meeting (PTM) 2.0 on Thursday, drawing over 2.3 crore participants across 61,000 schools in the State in a single day . Spearheaded by HRD Minister Nara Lokesh, the PTM united students, parents, teachers, school management committees, officials, donors, and alumni to bolster the State’s education system. Held on Guru Purnima, the PTM at the Zilla Parishad High School in Kothacheruvu, Puttaparthi, Sri Sathya Sai district, was attended by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who described schools as modern temples of knowledge, and urged collective responsibility to nurture them. The PTM, the second major initiative under the TDP-led NDA government, marked an unprecedented effort, with Lokesh noting, “Never before has a parent-teacher meeting lokesh removes naidu’s plate During the Mega PTM 2.0 at the ZP School in Kothacheruvu, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh joined students and parents for the mid-day meal. In a heartfelt gesture, Lokesh removed Naidu’s plate after the lunch. His action emphasised moral values that one should respect his parents and elders been conducted across the entire State in one day .” Now, the Mega PTM 2.0 with over 2.3 crore participants in a single day is set for an entry into Guinness World Records. Naidu, engaging directly with students, parents, and teachers, shared a personal anecdote about his wife Bhuvaneswari’s dedication to their son Lokesh’s education, ensuring his admission to prestigious institutions like Cambridge and Stanford. He praised Lokesh, now HRD Minister, for taking the responsibility of shaping the future of Andhra Pradesh’s students. Naidu emphasised his commitment to elevating government schools to compete with P4 private institutions.  Ongole: P Lakshith (3), who went missing from an Anganwadi centre in Lingojipalli of Cumbham mandal in Prakasam district, was found dead in an agricultural field on Thursday. Expressing grief, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed the Prakasam SP to conduct a thorough probe | P4 HC ruling on fee of engineering colleges Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has ruled that the fee fixed for engineering colleges in the State for the 2023-26 block period, as per GO 17 is provisional. It clarified that the fee is subject to the recommendations of the AP Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission HRD Minister Nara Lokesh removes the plate of his father Chandrababu Naidu after having lunch with students during the Mega Parent Teacher Meeting 2.0 at Kothacheruvu ZP High School in Sri Sathya Sai district on Thursday | Express are very short, considering the fact that the Bihar elections are due in November 2025 and notifications for this elections will come in advance weeks earlier,” the bench said. While questioning the ECI on the timing of the SIR, the court rejected the argument of the petitioners that the poll panel did not have any power to carry it out. When senior lawyer, Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI said Aadhaar wasn’t a proof of citizenship, the bench rebutted, saying the ECI had nothing to do with citizenship, as the matter is in the domain of the home ministry . The court asked the ECI why it started the SIR so close to the Bihar polls. There is nothing wrong with SIR but it should have been done months before the election, it said. Senior lawyer Gopal Sankarnarayanan, appearing for one of the petitioners, argued that the SIR drive was completely arbitrary and discriminatory . Khush Tech of south korea invited to ap IT Minister Lokesh met Eric Shin, CEO of Khush Tech, and extended an invitation to set up a manufacturing unit for D2M phones and tablets in AP | P4 to visit US again to resume trade talk DIPA K MO N DAL @ New Delhi With the Trump administration’s deadline for imposing higher import tariffs on its trading partners shifted to August 1, Indian trade negotiators are likely to visit the US again to iron out the differences and seal a deal, government sources said. India was expecting to sign an interim trade deal with the US ahead of the earlier deadline of July 9 but could not, due to differences over tariff rates on agriculture, dairy and automobiles. The government de, cided to send the trade negotiators again after the earlier team led by Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary, Department of Commerce, returned without a deal in hand. The dates for the team’s next US visit have not been finalised, but it could be sometime next week. According to sources, the Indian government is trying to negotiate a “complete deal” and it is not differentiating between an interim deal and the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement. “Whatever will be finished, we can package it as an interim deal and for the rest, talks will continue,” said an official. While US President Donald Trump has been claiming that a deal with India would be signed soon, finance ministry sources say talks so far have hit a deadlock. Officials say the Indian side has been guarding against any tariff reduction on agriculture and dairy products. Tariff on automobiles is also said to be one of the contentious issues. Initially India appeared to relent on agri, culture tariffs, but after pressure from the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the government seems to have hardened its stand. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam As the country awaits the next population census, originally due in 2021, the absence of updated data has become a hindrance for tribal development in Andhra Pradesh. “With newly formed districts such as Alluri Sitarama Raju and Parvathipuram Manyam housing a large tribal population, the delay in the census is making it increasingly difficult to plan and implement welfare schemes effectively,” opined Chetti Praveen Kumar from Agro-Economic Research Centre, Andhra University . According to the 2011 Census, Scheduled Tribes (STs) accounted for around 5.3% of the erstwhile united AP’s population. Since then, several administrative changes, including the bifurcation of the State, have altered demographic patterns, particularly in tribal-dominated areas. “The lack of updated census data means that local planning still relies on decade-old statistics, limiting the accuracy and reach of welfare programmes,” Praveen explained. The allocation of funds under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) is largely dependent on ST population. This strategy, guided by the proportion of STs in the population, determines financial planning for schemes related to education, healthcare, housing, and forest rights. “Without recent population figures, fund allocation is based on estimates, affecting the quality, and targeting of services on the ground,” he noted. Praveen stated that tribal communities in AP, including Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), rely on accurate population mapping for various entitlements. “In areas such as Visakhapatnam Agency, many hamlets still lack official recognition due to the absence of updated P4 habitation data.  Tech-help: Visually impaired fans go app & mobile at Lord’s Imagine an app cloning the whole stadium, compressing data of every corner, stairs, balconies and concourse for a visually impaired person to use and wander about more relaxingly All the information in the . palm of their hands (mobile phones to be precise) with a guiding voice in the ears. That’s how Lord’s has become more disabled-friendly when it introduced the visually-impaired apps this Summer. Now, the fans can not just listen to commentary but can feel and soak in the atmosphere of a game with more ease. At a time when even basic amenities for fans at stadiums across India seem to be a far cry , Lord’s, the Home of Cricket, in London has introduced this novel feature to make it more disable-friendly. The Marylebone Cricket Board (MCC), which runs the stadi- um, in collaboration with Waymap has installed a personal navigation system to help specially-abled fans to their seats and other amenities. The technology was tested ahead of the third Test between England and London last month and is now operational. The MCC also runs ball by ball commentary that allows fans to follow the game. “We hope that the introduction of Waymap at the home of cricket breaks down some of the barriers currently being faced by visually impaired fans,” Cel- root, nitish share honours on day 1 On a traditional, attritional day of red-ball cricket, India picked up timely wickets on a hot London day. England set the platform, thanks to a typically composed innings from Joe Root. Nitesh Reddy took 2 wkts | P11 ‘no deal is better than bad deal’ Sources close to the government say no deal is better than a bad deal. For the record, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India is in no hurry to seal a deal with the US unless it is mutually beneficial for both countries ‘rejecting deal won’t hurt India’ India may refuse to ink a trade deal and accept US reciprocal tariffs, said sources. “US is imposing higher tariffs on other countries too. So, our export competitiveness may not get impacted at all,” the sources reasoned Delayed census hit tribal welfare in AP: Expert more than history F i r o z M i r z a @ London Rajesh Agrawal, chief negotiator so Zuccollo, the chief executive of Waymap, told this daily “Our . partnership with Lord’s cricket ground is improving the matchday experience for all visitors and we’re extremely proud of the positive impact this has on accessibility for all within our first sporting venue.” He said the wayfinding app is a highlyaccurate personal navigation system which offers step-by-step audio and on-screen instructions. The company mapped the venue using Lidar technology . Sachin Tendulkar rings the bell before the third Test on Thursday | AFP The newly inaugurated capsule hotel at Vizag railway station | EXPRESS First-of-its-kind sleeping pods come up at Vizag railway station U s h a Pe r i @ Visakhapatnam In a first-of-its-kind initiative under the East Coast Railway (ECoR) Zone, Waltair Division has introduced a capsule hotel (sleeping pod) facility at Visakhapatnam railway station. The facility aims to offer affordable, convenient, and comfortable short-stay accommodation for passengers, particularly those visiting the city for medical, educational, tourism or work-related purposes. Developed under the non-fare revenue model, the capsule hotel project has been awarded to Sri Mahalakshmi Agency through an e-auction for a fiveyear period. The sleeping pod facility is located on the first floor of the station, near Gate No. 3 on Platform No. 1. The facility houses a total of 88 capsule beds, including 73 single and 15 double pods. A dedicated hall with 18 beds has been reserved exclusively for women, complete with separate bathrooms and a dressing room. The pods have been ergonomically designed to cater to solo travellers, families, and passengers in transit. Key amenities include free wi-fi for all guests, round-theclock hot water, a snacks bar within the facility a travel desk , for tourist guidance, locker facility and clean, spacious bath, P4 rooms.