Kannur l thursday l may 09, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l 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 on ‘sick leave’ Modi pillories Congress, says people will not tolerate the insult on the basis of skin colour AI Express cancels over 90 flights, leaves passengers stranded Pitroda quits party post after his foot-in-the-mouth racial analogy P r ee t ha 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 . 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 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 it- self 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 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 a rally in Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh, Modi asked TN Chief Minister M K Stalin if he would break DMK’s alliance with its ally Congress over the insulting remarks by Pitroda. “A senior leader has exposed the divisive mindset of 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 Congress’ opposition to Droupadi Murmu’s presidential bid to its mindset, which saw her as “African” because of her dark skin. Filmmaker with multi-layered craft, futuristic vision and dazzling frames A pa r na N a i r @T’Puram Timeliness is determined by the position of an object on a timeline that stretches to infinity both ways of the point marked ‘zero’. As he prepared Yoddha in the early 90s, Sangeeth Sivan seems to have stationed himself well in the future, on the right of the timeline, and looked towards the present that zero represents! How else can a film speaking of personal relations prove to be a cult movie, its characters still part of casual family talk and its dialogues parroted by even the born-digitals? To Urvashi, who played a noted part in the 1992 hit, Yoddha encapsulates the entirety of the talent of Sangeeth Sivan. The eldest of the Sivan siblings, whose directorial and screenwriting ventures in Ma- layalam and Hindi placed him as a filmmaker with a multilayered, futuristic vision, passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday . “Check the frames of his movies, even the rural shots bear rich photographic treatment. The technical side received a lot of impetus in a Sivan movie, probably reflecting his experience in documentary and ad filmmaking as well as the legacy of his father whose grooming turned all three of his sons into talents Indian cinema could be proud of,” says Urvashi. ● More on P4 99.69% pass in SSLC examination this year Of 4,26,892 students who appeared for the examination this year, 4,25,565 became eligible for higher studies. 2,474 schools recorded 100% success rate, a drop of 107 compared to the previous year. 71,831 achieved A+ in all subjects this year Among the revenue districts, Kottayam had the highest success rate of 99.92% and Thiruvananthapuram had the lowest pass percentage of 99.08. P5 A i s h w a r ya P r a b haka r an @ Kochi Uncertainty over the flight schedules of Air India Express is likely to continue as its senior cabin crew members are set to press on with their protest against the management alleging “pay cuts, mismanagement and disrespect”. The impasse led to cancellation of over 90 flights across the country on Wednesday after over 300 senior cabin crew availed ‘sick leave’ from Tuesday night. The cancellation of services resulted in hundreds of passengers being stranded at airports across the country . According to union leaders, the protest is likely to continue till the management agrees to discuss the matter with the cabin crew. “Until Wednesday evening, there has been no approach from the management end to discuss the matter. Therefore, the cabin crew of the Air India Express will continue the protest. More flights are likely to be can- @ Pathanamthitta The head of the Believers Eastern Church, Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan (formerly K P Yohannan), who was on Tuesday hit by a car during his morning walk in Dallas, United States, has passed away. He suffered sudden cardiac arrest, a church spokesperson said. T he 74-year-old prelate was under intensive care at a hospital in the Texan city following the accident. “Beloved Archbishops, Bishops, Fathers and all the Faithful. With profound grief and sorrow, we would like inform that His Holiness Athanasius Yohan I, our honourable Metropolitan reposed in the Lord this evening, the 8th of May 2024. He passed away due to sudden cardiac arrest in a hospital in Dallas, Texas where he had been receiving treatment since his accident. Further details will be announced soon by the Holy Synod. May his memory be eter nal!, “ the Church said in its official Facebook page on Wednesday Church spokes. person Fr Sijo Pandapallil also sought prayers “from all in the difficult phase of the church”. ● More on P5 IUML state president Panakkad Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal has said the party will decide as to who should be the office-bearers of the party . Speaking to reporters in Kozhikode on Wednesday, Thangal said the party has a state council and executive committee to decide on such matters. He was responding to a question on Samastha leader Umar Faizy Mukkam’s demand that IUML state general secretary P M A Salam should be removed from the post. Thangal said Samastha had not raised such a demand and will never ask such things. Faizy had said that Salam insulted Samastha and its leaders on sev- T’Puram: In April, nearly 1,000 persons sought medical assistance at hospitals across the state due to heat-related health issues, including sunstroke and rashes. The DHS reported 850 such cases till April 25, the day before Kerala was designated a heatwave-affected region. The patients predominantly hailed from Palakkad, the district that for a long time topped the temperature list. P5 Nityanand Rai eyes hat-trick at Ujiarpur 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 antiincumbency 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 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 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. 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 NDA. Yadavs and Kushawahas are strong enough to swing results in this constituency . Nityanand Rai (BJP) vs Alok Kumar Mehta (RJD) in Ujiarpur, Bihar Illustration: Mandar Pardikar 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. Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments—Patepur (reserved) of Vaishali district, Ujiarpur, Sarairanjan, Morwa, Mohiuddin Nagar and Bibhutipur of Samastipur celled in the coming days if the matter is not resolved,” said K K Vijaykumar, Air India Express Employees’ Union (BMS). Cancellation of services resulted in stranded passengers protesting at airports, especially those travelling to the Gulf region for work-related purposes. They also complained about the late disclosure of flight cancellations. Indicating disruptions in the coming days, the AI-Express spokesperson said: “We request guests booked to fly with us to check if their flight is affected by the disruption before heading to ● More on P4 the airport.” Kerala witnessing a surge in heat-related illnesses eral occasions. In an interaction with TNIE for its ‘Express Dialogues’ series, Salam had said IUML independently organised the public meeting against the LDF government’s decision to leave Waqf Board appointments to the Kerala State Public Services Commission, without the help of the Samastha. Salam’s remark that no one knows as to who the present state president of the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF) also drew criticism. It was construed as an insult to Panakkad Syed Hameed Ali Shihab Thangal, who heads the SKSSF. Some of the Samastha leaders had approached Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal against Salam at that time itself, but Thangal ● More on P3 was not ready to act. Express News Service @ Kozhikode Protest likely to continue till management agrees to discuss the matter with the cabin crew 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 Punebased Serum Institute, which made Covishield vaccine, said with India achieving high vaccination rates in 2021 and 2022, coupled with the emergence of new mutant variant strains, the demand for previous vaccines diminished significantly “Con. sequently since December 2021, , we have stopped manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield,” official said. EXPRESS READ Believers Church head IUML state chief: No need Athanasius Yohan no more for outside intervention e x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Over 300 senior cabin crew members went on ‘sick leave’, protesting alleged pay cuts and mismanagement AstraZeneca withdraws Covid vaccine K’taka govt rules out CBI probe into sexual abuse case against Prajwal Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Wednesday ruled out a CBI probe into the sexual abuse case against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, who is the NDA candidate from Hassan. This was after JD(S) second-in-command H D Kumaraswamy mounted an attack on the government expressing doubts over the manner in which the investigation was carried out.
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