tirupati l tuesday l april 23, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION spice-mix products sold in India under lens over cancer risk Food safety regulator starts taking samples after Hong Kong and Singapore flagged high ethylene oxide levels in spices-mix products from India ethylene oxide is a Group 1 carcinogen Four products under scrunity The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said it is taking samples of spices in powder form of all brands, including MDH and Everest—the two companies whose products are under scrutiny in Singapore and Hong Kong. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified ethylene oxide as a Group 1 carcinogen ■ ■ Singapore and Hong Kong specifically banned the sales of three pre-packaged spice-mix products of MDH—Madras Curry Powder, Curry Powder, Sambhar Masala—and Everest’s Fish Curry Masala Hong Kong food safety regulator warned that those violating the ban could face six months imprisonment and a fine of $50,000 `32,000 cr worth of spices exported by India In fiscal year 2022-23 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 Surat of things HC nixes 24,600 school teacher jobs in Bengal to come as BJP gets 1st LS seat S u l agna S eng u p ta @ Kolkata Party’s candidate Dalal elected unopposed D i l ip S ingh K shat riya @ Ahmedabad The BJP on Monday opened its 2024 Lok Sabha account from Surat by winning the constituency without any contest. In the process, Mukeshbhai Dalal became the first candidate of any party since 12 years in a general election to be elected unopposed. The last such instance was of Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav winning the Kannauj Lok Sabha bypoll in 2012 unopposed. Eight other candidates left in the Surat fray withdrew after Congress nominee Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination form was rejected by returning officer Sourabh Pardhi on Sunday . Kumbhani’s papers had purported inconsistencies in the signatures of his proposers. The papers of the Congress dummy candidate Suresh Padsala, too, were rejected on similar grounds. “As all eight candidates who had successfully filed their papers for the Surat Lok Sabha seat withdrew on Monday Dalal has been elected , unopposed,” said Pardhi. The Surat Congress, however, claimed that the entire exercise was premeditated. Surat Congress leader Pappan Togadia told this newspaper, “I alerted party leaders and the South Gujarat Congress incharge, Usha Naidu, about plot to reject Kumbhani’s papers. But my warnings went unheeded. I believe Kumbhani will Anaparthi seat Dissent within BJP State unit grows louder P H areesh @ Vijayawada There is growing dissidence within the State BJP unit after it was decided on Sunday that TDP rebel leader Nallamilli Ramakrishna Reddy would join the saffron party and contest the Anaparthi Assembly seat under the Rajamahendravam MP segment. Though the BJP does not have much significance in the constituency, Anaparthi seat was allocated to it by the TDP as part of the tripartite alliance. The party had even announced M Shiva Krishnam Raju as its candidate. However, former MLA Ramakrishna Reddy was aspiring to contest from there and raised a banner of revolt. Considering that it would be impossible to win the seat without the support of Ramakrishna Reddy and the same might impact the result of Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha seat, the saffron party negotiated with its alliance P4 partner. BJP’s Surat seat candidate Mukeshbhai Dalal after he was elected unopposed soon join the BJP .” While the last day for filing nomination papers was Friday , their scrutiny happened the following day. The withdrawal window for candidates closed at 3 pm on Monday . The drama began on Saturday with the BJP questioning the legitimacy of signatures on Kumbhani’s papers. Subsequent scrutiny revealed that three persons who proposed Kumbhani’s candidature, claimed their signatures were forged. For his part, Kumbhani alleged that his supporters had been abducted. Curiously, Kumbhani’s proposers are close relatives. All three vanished since the controversy broke. Amid a Congress scramble to legally challenge the rejection of his papers, Kumbhani left for Goa purportedly to avoid signing the papers. There is also speculation about his links with Patidar leaders Alpesh Kathiriya and Dharmik Malaviya, who quit the AAP last week and are said to be bound for the BJP . The Calcutta High Court on Monday cancelled all appointments of teachers and nont e a ch i n g s t a f f re c r u i t e d through the West Bengal School Service Commission’s (WBSSC) State Level Selection Test2016 (SLST-2016) after it found that bribes were paid to secure recruitments. The order will cancel more than 24,000 appointments. About 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the SLST-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts. A division bench of the court comprising justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar express read 86.69% clear SSC exam, girls shine Vijayawada: Results for the SSC exams were released on Monday with 86.69% students clearing the test. As many as 6,16,615 regular candidates appeared for the exam and 534,574 passed. Girls outperformed boys once again as they recorded 89.17% pass rate, while 84.32% boys cleared the exam. Of the total 11,645 schools, 2,803 achieved a 100% pass rate | P3 EU eases Schengen visa norms for Indian visitors New Delhi: Indians will now be able to apply for multiple entry Schengen visa of up to five years. “Indian nationals can now be issued long-term, multi-entry Schengen visas valid for two years after having obtained and lawfully used two visas within the previous three years,” an EU readout said. “The two-year visa will normally be followed by a five-year visa,” it added | P7 TDP’s Guntur LS pick worth over `5,700 cr B andha v i A nnam @ Guntur TDP candidate for the Guntur Lok Sabha constituency Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar filed his nomination papers on Monday. With a net worth of over `5,700 crore, he is probably one of the richest politicians in the country . As per the affidavit filed with the Election Commission, his family’s assets stand at a whopping `5,705.47 crore, including moveable assets wor th `5598,64,80,786 and immovable assets worth `106,82,46,752. Of t h e t o t a l , a s s e t s wo r t h `94,89,13,692 are self-acquired and assets valued at `11,93,33,060 are inherited. An NRI, Pemmasani is making his electoral debut in the ensuing elections. A native of Burripalem village in Tenali mandal of Guntur district, his father was a TDP leader. Pemmasani’s net worth is `2388,54,69,410, while his wife Koneru Sriratna owns assets worth `2324,17,59,046. Their elder son Abhinav THE BIG NUMBERS `5705,47,27,538 Total assets Moveable assets Immoveable assets L5598,64,80,786 L106,82,46,752 Jewellery `2,40,61,250 Liabilities `1,038 crore FY 2022-23 income L605,57,48,599 in the US and L3,68,840 in India owns assets worth `496,27,61,094 and younger daughter Sahasra owns assets wor th `496, 47,37,988. The TDP candidate has moveable assets valued at `2316,54,45,165 and immovable assets worth `72,00,24,245. Sriratna owns moveable assets worth `2289,35,36,539 and immovable assets wor th `34,82,22,507. They also jewellery and precious stones worth , P6 `2,40,61,250. Rashidi directed the CBI to investigate and submit a report. The court had ordered a reevaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets of candidates from the 2016 recruitment exam after it received petitions alleging irregularity. The re-evaluation brought to light that many of those selected were recruited against blank OMR sheets. Those recruited in such a way must immediately surrender the salaries they have drawn to the jurisdictional magistrate, the cour t said in its order. The bench directed the WBSSC to initiate ‘Justice after years of struggle’ As the Calcutta High Court delivered its order cancelling appointments, hundreds of school job aspirants waiting outside the court premises rejoiced with many breaking into tears. “We had been waiting for this day. After years of struggle on the streets, justice has finally been delivered,” one of them said a fresh recruitment process. Reacting to the court order, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her government will challenge the ‘illegal’ verdict. “The court verdict cancelling all recruitments is illegal. We stand by those who lost their jobs. We will ensure you get justice, and challenge the order in a higher court,” she said. Training her guns on the BJP Mama, ta said: “It has turned the courts into their extended party offices. If the BJP files a PIL, prompt action is taken and people are sent to jail. No action is initiated when others file.” She went on to allege that people aligned with the BJP are given important positions. Former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay who joined the BJP recently said: “I have said in Gukesh youngest candidate to vie for the World crown Swaroop Swaminathan @ Chennai SOME of chess’ greatest names have called the coming age ‘the era of Indian chess’. The Polgars, Judit and Susan. Former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. Former Candidate winner, Boris Gelfand, and the only two-time winner of the World Cup, Levon Aronian... they have all heaped praise on the next generation of Indian kids. They were all proved right in the early hours of Monday as D Gukesh, all of 17, completed a logic-defying, history-being-rewritten three weeks in Toronto as he became the youngest ever winner of the Candidates tournament, an elite eight-player field that identifies the next challenger of the World Championships (Gukesh will face Ding Liren later in the year for a shot at immortality). The Chennai boy became only the second Indian after Anand to win the event. In the 14th and final round D Gukesh shows his Candidates trophy after emerging victorious at the event in Toronto on Sunday | Stev Bonhage/fide x inside the city’s Great Hall, Gukesh, sole leader by 0.5 points, drew against Hikaru Nakamura after 71 moves. Nakamura, one of the preCandidates favourites, needed a win to stay in contention. With white, he gave it his all but never got change on a day when Gukesh stayed rock solid till the very end. While that draw put Gukesh on the brink of victory, there was another match going on on the table next to theirs. It featured Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, two players who had been joint second coming into the final round. Both players needed a win while hoping the Indian didn’t win. They got the first wish but the win just wouldn’t come for either of them. Both of them kept at it gamely and agreed to draw after a marathon 109 moves and six hours of match play . It feels remarkable that if it wasn’t for an elite-level tour nament arranged in short notice, Gukesh wouldn’t have qualified. The Tamil Nadu government played a helping hand in bringing the event to Chennai. This Candidates title completes a remarkable turnaround for the GM D Gukesh. From August, he had been on a downward spiral. Post a loss to Carlsen at the World Cup, he had felt out of it. “I wasn’t in a good mental space,” he had said. Now, he must be in the good mental More P13 space. my verdict earlier that the Mamata government is corrupt. I thank the Calcutta High Court bench for giving such an order. Now a can of worms will be opened.” In 2014, the WBSSC announced that a state-level selection test would be used to recruit teachers to state-run schools. The recruitment process started in 2016 and soon several petitions were filed in the Calcutta High Court with petitioners claiming many candidates who received lower grades were placed higher on the merit list. There were allegations that those who did not make it to the merit list received appointment letters. Jagan and his family are worth L757.65 crore Net worth of CM Jagan & his family is a whopping `757.65 crore. As per the affidavit filed with the Election Commission on Monday, the value of his assets is 48.4% more than what they were five years ago - `510.68 crore. Here’s a breakdown Total assets 2019: `510.68 crore Growth 48.4% Moveable & offshore assets 2024: `757.65 crore Immoveable assets L650,66,76,710 L106,98,27,071 Income in FY2022-23 Gold & diamond jewellery L73.68 crore L14,20,05,360 Overall liabilities L35 crore 26 Cases pending against Jagan Kharge prestige at stake in son-in-law’s fight RAMAKRISHNA BADSESHI @ Kalaburagi CONGRESS chief Mallikarjun Kharge is not contesting from the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency but he is putting all his might to win this SC-reserved seat, which he lost in the 2019 general elections. That shocking defeat dented his image as Solillada Saradara (one who has not tasted defeat). And to reclaim his reputation, Kharge has fielded his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani in Gulbara. For the octogenarian, Kalaburagi (formerly Gulbarga) is his karma bhumi, which elected him 10 times to the Assembly and twice to the Lok Sabha. Doddamani is also Kharge’s brother-in-law as he is the younger brother of Radhabai Kharge. In line with the popular saying in Hindi Sari duniya ek taraf, joru ka bhai ek taraf (The whole world is on side, wife’s brother on the other side), Kharge has already addressed public gatherings twice in Kalaburagi in the past month, and is visiting again on April 24. The veteran leader gets daily updates from Doddamani, while his son Priyank Kharge and s t r o n g f o l l owe r Dr Sharanaprakash Patil are sweating it out in the scorching summer heat to ensure victory . The Congress has systematically planned Doddamani’s election campaign. While the party has claimed credit for implementing the five guarantees and amending Article 371-J for Kalyana Karnataka Region, Priyank and Sharanaprakash have been meeting caste groups and working classes separately . Also, people are sympathetic towards Doddamani because of his soft manners and he is using the strategies that Kharge used to win Assembly and Parliament elections. But the BJP is equally determined to retain the Gulbarga seat and has fielded the sitting MP Umesh Jadhav, who defeated Kharge in 2019. It was from K a l abu r a g i t h at Prime Minister Narendra Modi Illustration: Mandar Pardikar launched the saffron party’s election campaign in Karnataka on March 16, the day the Election Commission of India announced the Lok Sabha poll schedule for the country . However, Jadhav has to square off anti-incumbency. Sensing the mood against him for not being able to bring projects to Kalaburagi, PM Modi launched a mega textile park in the district last year and two direct trains between Bengaluru and Kalaburagi recently During his tour of . villages, Jadhav is seeking votes for his work as well as for Modi’s achievements. Of the eight assembly constituencies in the Gulbarga LS constituency , six are represented by Congress MLAs. The remaining two are shared between the BJP and the JD(S).
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