MANGALURU THURSDAY MAY 09, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 12 CITY EDITION NEW ICMR GUIDELINES AMID RISE IN DISEASES CAUSED BY UNHEALTHY DIET Eat a varied diet, cut salt and sugar intake, and stay physically active are among top guidelines to curb the rise of non-communicable diseases FILL YOUR PLATE WITH ITEMS FROM 8 FOOD GROUPS DIET RESPONSIBLE FOR RISING DISEASE BURDEN The Indian Council of Medical Research said people must source micro and macronutrients from a minimum of eight of the 10 food groups it listed. Vegetables, fruits, roots and tubers should form half of the plate. Cereals and nutri-cereals (millets) should make up most of the other half. Pulses, eggs and meat, milk, nuts and oil seeds can be included as per one’s dietary preferences ■ ■ As per the guidelines, one must eat 400 grams of vegetables, 100 grams of fruits and 250 grams of cereals and nutri-cereals daily The ICMR report said 56.4% of non-communicable disease burden in India is due to unhealthy eating habits, including consumption of highly-processed food items laden with sugar and salt 50% OF DAILY CEREAL INTAKE SHOULD COMPRISE WHOLE GRAINS 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 CREW STIR Modi pillories Congress, says people will not tolerate the insult on the basis of skin colour Pitroda quits party post after his foot-in-the-mouth racial analogy P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi RAHUL’S CLOSE AIDE CONGRESS loose cannon and chairman of the party’s overseas unit Sam Pitroda stepped down from the post on Wednesday hours after his racial comments in a podcast on how people in the country’s East look like the Chinese and those of the South look like Africans, drew national outrage. Announcing the resignation, C o n g re s s l e a d e r Ja i r a m Ramesh said, “Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress President has accepted his decision.” In an interview with a newspaper, Pitroda described India as a diverse country “We have . survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together, leaving aside a few fights here and there. We could hold a country together as diverse as India, where people on the East look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arab, people on the North look like White and maybe people on the South look like Africa,” he said. The Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks, calling it most unfortunate and unacceptable. “The analogies drawn by Sam Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India’s diversity are most unfortunate and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely Minor boy held for voyeurism in Mangaluru 3-yr deg courses back from this academic yr EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mangaluru A 17-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly placing a mobile phone in the women’s restroom of the Kasturba Medical College at Bavutagudda in the city on Tuesday . According to Mangaluru North police, the minor boy entered the college in the guise of a patient and allegedly placed the phone in the restroom. Deputy commissioner of police Sidharth Goyal said the matter came to light when some security personnel of the college found the phone ringing inside the restroom. “We are examining the CCTV footage of the college and investigating whether the boy has recorded any videos,” he added. The police have seized the phone and booked a case under Section 354C (voyeurism) of the IPC. The boy was arrested based on the CCTV footage and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board. Pitroda was an advisor to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and has been closely associated with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accompanying him during his foreign visits P U R A N C H O U D H A R Y @ Bengaluru THE state gover nment on Wednesday issued an order stating that it will reintroduce the three-year degree programmes from the academic year 20242025. This is in view of the government scrapping the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) introduced last year. Students will no longer have the option to opt for a fourth year in their degree courses. The State Education Policy (SEP) Commission has also recommended changes in the curriculum structure for three-year degree programmes and proposed three alternative ‘UG Curriculum Frameworks (CFW)’. In its interim report, a committee under for mer UGC chairman Sukhdev Thorat explained that the reason for the change in the structure and duration of degree courses is to give equal opportunity to students from different socio-economic backgrounds. “A four-year degree programme will potentially reduce access to undergraduate education for the poor, socially disad- dissociates itself from these analogies,” said Ramesh. With campaigning in full swing ahead of the fourth phase of polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s attack on the Congress citing Pitroda’s analogy and asserted that people will not tolerate the attempt to insult them on the basis of their skin colour. At an election rally in Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh, Modi asked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin if he would break the DMK’s alliance with its ally Congress vantaged groups such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, women and those from rural areas,” according to the commission. It termed the previous system “a major departure from the past and the major occupies less credit allotment to discipline core when compared to the three major systems. Thus, the preference for the three major systems.” Lack of physical infrastructure and non-availability of facilities and faculty have also been mentioned as the reasons for the unwillingness of the colleges to start the four-year UG programme. The changes will apply to all public universities and affiliated colleges. P5 SSLC RESULTS TODAY The Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) will declare the SSLC examination results on Thursday at 10.30 am. In all, 8.9 lakh students appeared for the exam held between March 25 and April 6. The students can check their results on karresults. nic.in or kseab.karnataka.gov.in. over the insulting remarks by Pitroda. “A senior leader has exposed the divisive mindset of the Congress. The leader is close to the Gandhi family and is the mentor of the shehzada. His comments are shameful,” said Modi. He also linked the Congress’s opposition to Droupadi Murmu’s presidential bid to its mindset, which saw her as “African” because of her dark skin. In the past, too, Pitroda’s controversial comments had put Congress in tough situations. The party had squirmed after Pitroda endorsed the US model of inheritance tax law for India. Though the Congress dismissed it as his personal opinion, the issue became one of the main narratives for the BJP as it accused the grand old , party of eyeing every citizen’s assets as part of its “redistribution of wealth’’ policy . X POST COPS SUMMON NADDA, MALVIYA, BYV BJP leaders get notices to appear before the investigating officer within seven days, over a post allegedly showing Congress preferring Muslims in reservation | P4 90 AI Express flights cancelled, flyers stranded at airports AISHWARYA PRABHAKARAN @ Kochi BATTLE FOR HINDI HEARTLAND Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (left) addresses a public meeting in Ghatampur town of Kanpur; and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at a roadshow in Rae Bareli on Wednesday | PTI No relief, Revanna sent to B’luru central prison EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru HOLENARASIPUR JDS MLA HD Revanna has been remanded in judicial custody till May 14 in connection with a kidnapping case registered against him by KR Nagar police in Mysuru district. The 66-year-old MLA was sent to Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in the city on Wednesday evening. His UTP (undertrial prisoner) No. is 4567 and he has been put in a quarantine cell. Revanna’s bail petition before the Special Court for Elected Representatives has been posted for hearing on Thursday . A large number of people gathered on the court premises to see the MLA. While stepping out of the court hall, Revan- na is said to have wept. He was shifted from the court around 4 pm under tight security . Five inspectors, some junior officers and police personnel attached to the Electronics City Subdivision were deployed on the prison premises. Entry to the prison premises was restricted and even journalists were not allowed. A court official accompanied the police team to hand over the documents of the MLA’s judicial custody to the officer incharge of the prison. SIT officers produced Revanna before the 17th ACMM court on Wednesday after his custody ended. Judge Ravindrakumar B Kattimani remanded the MLA in judicial custody for seven days. Senior lawyer CV Nagesh represented the MLA. CONTINUED ON: P4 AstraZeneca withdraws Covid jab KAVITA BAJELI-DATTI @ New Delhi Days after admitting that its Covishield vaccine can cause blood clots in rare cases, British pharma giant AstraZeneca on Wednesday said it is withdrawing the jab globally citing a fall in demand. “As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This surplus has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied,” AstraZeneca said in a statement. AstraZeneca partnered with Oxford University to develop AZD1222 vaccine, which was sold as Covishield in India and Vaxzevria in Europe. A spokesperson for the Punebased Serum Institute, which made the Covishield vaccine, said with India achieving high vaccination rates, coupled with the emergence of new mutant variant strains, the demand for previous vaccines diminished significantly “Consequently we . , have stopped the manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield,” the official said. K Srinath Reddy, honorary distinguished professor at the Public Health Foundation of India, said Covid vaccines have to be judged by their ability to stimulate a protective response against the form of the virus that is currently circulating to prevent serious disease. “The original AstraZeneca vaccine no longer meets those criteria,” he told this newspaper. AstraZeneca is fighting a class-action suit in the UK over claims that its vaccine caused the deaths of several people. The company said the decision to withdraw the jab was purely commercial and denied any link to the lawsuit. THOUSANDS of passengers were left stranded at airports across the country on Wednesday after Tata Group-run Air India Express cancelled over 90 flights after 300 senior crew members went on mass sick leave to protest the new employment terms at the airline. The flight disruption is likely to continue for a few days as the protesting employees are firm that their grievances be heard and demands met. Air India Express is the lowcost subsidiary of Air India and operates budget services mostly to the Gulf countries. K K Vijaykumar of Air India Express Employees’ Union said discontent had been brewing among the cabin crew after the Tata Group took over the airline in January 2022. “The new management reduced the contract period of several cabin crew from five years to one year and reduced salaries by 25-30%,” he said. Reports said the strike caught the airline management unawares as the senior crew members called in sick and switched off their mobiles, leaving the airline no option but to cancel flights. There was chaos in many airports in Kerala besides Delhi and Bengaluru as passengers came to know of cancellations only after they reached the boarding gates. Amrutha, who was to travel from Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat on Tuesday night, said she had to fight with the airline officials for many hours for a rescheduled ticket. An Air India Express spokesperson said the airline is trying to resolve the issue soon. EXPRESS READ SC to pass order on Kejri bail tomorrow New Delhi: The Supreme Court will deliver its order on granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam on Friday. Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday said this while hearing a different case. Nityanand Rai eyes hat-trick, hopes Ujiarpur voters would caste away anti-incumbency R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai could not have asked for more when his senior colleague Union Home Minister Amit Shah called him his jigri (favourite) and promised to make him a bada aadmi (big man) after the Lok Sabha polls. Shah’s remarks came at an election rally in Bihar’s Ujiarpur, from where Rai is trying to hit a hat-trick. Shah’s words carry weight, but Rai also needs to surmount anti-incumbency and get the caste equation right. His main opponent is ex-state minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Alok Kumar Mehta, who is seeking to avenge his 2014 defeat at the hands of Rai. The fight between Rai and Mehta is keenly watched for their contrasting electoral strategies. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is largely focusing on national issues, the RJD is raising unresolved local problems to dent the prospects of the NDA candidate. Rai hopes Shah’s blessings and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image can help him, but Mehta is relentlessly raking up two major issues on the ground—unemployment and inflation in essential goods— asking voters not to give the BJP candidate a third term. Unemployment has an immediate resonance with voters. “There is no industry in Samastipur district, which falls in the Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency. As a result, people have to migrate to other places in search of livelihood,” rued Abhimanyu Kumar Singh, a resident of Mohiuddin Nagar. Girindra Mohan Mishra, a resident of Bibhutipur, said: “Ujiarpur has no major industry Many jute and sugar mills . were closed years ago. Migra- Nityanand Rai (BJP) vs Alok Kumar Mehta (RJD) in Ujiarpur, Bihar ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR tion of youth in search of job is another problem.” Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments—Patepur (reserved) of Vaishali district, Ujiarpur, Sarairanjan, Morwa, Mohiuddin Nagar and Bibhutipur of Samastipur district. The voting will take place on three factors — caste, local issues, and Modi’s guarantee. But caste remains the swing factor in this north Bihar constituency, which has supported NDA candidates since its creation in 2008 after delimitation. “Voters will vote for development, but caste factor can’t be ruled out,” said Rajan Kumar, a resident of Bibhutipur. Pappu Tiwari of Vidyapatinagar said: “People mainly vote on the basis of caste, followed by local issues. People of Samastipur and Ujiarpur have been demanding a railway over bridge, roads, and other basic facilities for years but neither the state government nor Cen- tre addressed these issues.” Rai, a Yadav by caste, won in 2014 and 2019. In 2019, Rai defeated Rashtriya Lok Samta Party chief Upendra Kushwaha, who was then part of the grand alliance. He is now with the NDA. Yadavs and Kushawahas are strong enough to swing results in this constituency . As for RJD, it claims Yadavs, Kushwahas, Muslims, Mallahs, OBCs and EBCs, besides those from the upper castes are solidly behind Mehta. But the emergence of a strong third candidate, RJD rebel Amresh Rai who is contesting as an Independent, may turn out to be the X factor in this election.
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