sambalpur l sunday l june 23, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Photo: Shekhar Yadav Delhi, Dhaka sign agreements for maritime cooperation, railways Sheikh Hasina’s India visit saw her signing agreements in oceanography, health, medicine, disaster relief, digital, green partnership Conservation of Teesta in Bangladesh Dhaka’s armed forces to be modernised “Fifty-four shared rivers connect India and Bangladesh. We have been cooperating on flood management, early warning, drinking water projects. We have decided to start negotiations at the technical level for the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after summit talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina | P7 ■ India’s push to help Bangladesh in Teesta comes as China has also shown interest in the project. Sheikh Hasina is going on a state visit to China soon ■ Both the nations agreed to strengthen cooperation in defence. India will help Bangladesh in the modernisation of its armed forces and increase engagement on counter terrorism, de-radicalisation, border management 10 times Narendra Modi and Sheikh hasina have met since 2019 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 Conciliatory tone at GST meet Govt does not intend to send notices to businesses left, right and centre, says Sitharaman D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE NEET & Unclean PLUS 12 PAGES Deficit rain in 22 districts as monsoon acts truant in state E x p ress Ne w s S er v i c e @ Bhubaneswar As the monsoon progress remains sluggish after its arrival, Odisha has recorded 39 per cent deficit rainfall in the last 22 days. The state received 83.6 mm rainfall between June 1 and 22. At least 22 districts received deficit rain during the period. Of them, five districts recorded large deficiency in rainfall. In Puri, the deficiency was 71 pc (below normal), 68 pc in Mayurbhanj, 63 pc in Balasore while Balangir and Keonjhar recorded 61 pc and 60 pc deficit. Khurda district received 56 pc below normal rainfall between June 1 and 22. Only eight districts including Cuttack logged normal rainfall so far this month. The monsoon rains are important for the agriculture sector and the seasonal outlook projects that Odisha may receive below normal rainfall this season. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), however, said the deficit may reduce as conditions are favourable for further advancement of south-west monsoon into some more parts of Odisha during the next three to four days. Director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Manorama Mohanty pointed out that all districts in the state had recorded deficit rains but eight districts are under the normal category now as they witnessed showers recently. Rainfall activity is likely to increase from Tuesday onwards, she said. Within four days, the monsoon is expected to progress further and cover the entire state. Weather experts said a cyclonic circulation may form next week and enhance the rainfall activity over Odisha. Usually, the rain-bearing weather system covers the entire state between June 20 and 22 and the state normally receives 209.3 mm rains this month. In her first GST Council meeting after assuming the role of finance minister in the new government, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in a conciliatory mood as she reiterated that the Central government does not intend to send GST notices to businesses left, right and centre. “I want to reassure assessees that our intent is to make the GST assessees’ life easier. We are working towards less and less compliances,” she said at the fag end of the press briefing called to announce the decisions made in the 53rd GST Council. To buttress her point, she underlined that the Central GST department has sent notices to only 1,14,939 assessees, or 1.96% of the total 58.63 lakh active assesses till 31 December 2023. “Our intention is to make it Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chairs the GST Council meet on Saturday | PTI easier and simpler, less cumbersome,” she added. The same conciliatory tone was reflected in the GST Council decisions as it decided in favour of taxpayers in many ongoing thorny issues, including introducing the sunset clause for anti-profiteering provisions, exemption of GST on corporate guarantees, and reducing the amount of pre-deposit for filing of appeals under GST. The Council also decided to exclude Extra Neutral Alcohol used for manufacture of alcoholic liquor for human consumption under the ambit of GST. Some of the decisions would directly impact the common States raise issue of borrowing limit in pre-budget meeting d i pa k m o n d a l @ New Delhi Opposition-ruled states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala have again raised the issue of borrowing limits imposed by the Centre depriving them of necessary funds leading to liquidity crunch. In a pre-budget consultation with the Centre here, Kerala finance minister K N Balgopalan requested that a special package of at least `24,000 crore be announced in the Union budget 2024-25 to tide over the current liquidity stress the state is facing due to borrowing limits imposed by the Centre. Tamil Nadu finance minister Thangam Thenarasu pointed out that because of the Centre’s diktat the state lost `8,500 crore of borrowing space over the last four years. Demand to upgrade rail infrastructure TN’s FM said the state faced stepmotherly treatment from the Centre on railway projects. Similar concerns were raised by the Kerala FM. He said that there is an urgent need to upgrade the railway infrastructure and introduce a high-speed railway corridor In the meeting, most state finance ministers stressed the need for more funds for improvement of infrastructure in their respective states. Kerala’s finance minister highlighted the urgent need for a special capital investment of `5,000 crore for the state for fulfilling its part in the development of the Vizhinjam Interna- tional Mother Port and the Port region. He also sought another `5,000 crore for financing certain other infrastr ucture projects such as the ‘Tunnel Road link between Calicut and Wayanad’. Odisha deputy chief minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo sought dedicated budget allocations and resources for largescale infrastructure projects, such as industrial parks and corridors, electricity grids and railway infrastructure. Chhattisgarh finance minister O P Choudhary urged financial assistance for development of the state capital region — Nava Raipur — as an industrial hub. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the media that on the issue of devolution of taxes, most finance ministers agreed to raise the issue at the finance commission. Bathing ritual The Holy Trinity seated on the Snana Bedi on the occasion of Snana Purnima in Puri, on Saturday | Ranjan Ganguly man. The Council decided to exempt some services provided by the Railways, such as sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms/waiting rooms, cloak room services and battery-operated car services. To benefit students living in hostel accommodations outside the premises of educational institutes, the Council decided to exempt accommodation services from GST where the monthly rent per person is up to `20,000. Such benefits would be available subject to the condition that the accommodation is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. To deal with fake invoicing, the Council decided to roll out nationwide Aadhaar-based authentication of registered taxpayers in a phased manner. It also decided to implement a uniform rate of 12% on all milk cans. 55 dead in Kallakurichi hooch tragedy Four days after the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy in which 55 people had died so far and more than 150 people are still hospitalised | P5 Odisha seeks funds for Subhadra Yojana; AIIMS at Sambalpur he m a n t r o ut @ Bhubaneswar Major demands With the ‘double-engine’ government taking helm of Odisha, the new BJP government on Saturday presented a long list of demands before the Centre. Attending the pre-budget meeting and GST council meeting chaired by Union Finance minister Niramala Sitharaman at New Delhi, deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo has put forth the demand for a second AIIMS in the state at Sambalpur along with higher allocations for several sectors. The deputy CM has also sought partial funding from the Centre for implementation of Subhadra scheme, a major promise of the party during the just concluded elections. “The state government is in the process of rolling out Subhadra Yojana, under which every woman will receive a voucher of `50,000 to be encashed over a period of two years. This is an innovative initiative aimed at empowering women and enhancing entrepreneurship among women,” he said. On establishment of AIIMS at Sambalpur, Singh Deo said AIIMS-Bhubaneswar is catering to the healthcare needs of coastal Odisha and neighbouring states and a second AIIMS is needed to cater to western part of Odisha in view of the patient load in the medical colleges and hospitals there. Partial funding for Subhadra scheme Second AIIMS at Sambalpur Expeditious completion of NHs 5 lakh houses under PMAY Special schemes for western and southern Odisha Inclusion of Odisha under RDSS Stating that a Viksit Odisha is going to play a crucial role of the growth engine in line with the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, he urged the Finance Minister that some issues specific to the economy and finances of Odisha be addressed through appropriate measures in the ensuing Union Budget, 2024-25. The state government has demanded provisioning of special schemes in the Union budget to promote industries in tribal and rural areas of western and southern Odisha besides dedicated funding for infrastructure development and skill training infrastructure in these regions. Apart from allocation of funds for 5 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in 2024-25, Singh Deo called for expeditious completion of the 348-km coastal highway project under Bharatmala Pariyojana, the 111-km Odisha Capital Region Ring Road (CRRR) and other NH Continued on P5 projects. NTA head rolls; NEET-PG on hold R A J E S H K U MA R T H AK U R @ New Delhi Beleaguered National Testing Agency (NTA) chief Subodh Kumar Singh was on Saturday sacked, days after Union education minister Dhar mendra Pradhan called out the agency for systemic failure in conducting major competitive exams like NEET-UG and UGC-NET, affecting 35 lakh students. Singh was replaced by former home secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, a retired IAS officer of the 1985 batch. Kharola was considered as a tough task master during his tenure in service. The Appointment Committee of Cabinet, while approving Kharola’s appointment as the new NTA director general, placed Singh in waiting for posting in the department of personnel, public grievance and pension till further orders. Parallelly, the Union Health Ministry decided to postpone the NEET-PG entrance examination, scheduled to be held on Sunday, as a “precautionary 7-member panel to clean up nta To address the NTA mess, the Ministry of Education on Saturday announced the constitution of a high-level committee of seven experts, led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to review its performance and suggest course corrections | P7 measure”. The Ministry of Health said it has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of the NEETPG entrance examination conducted by NTA for medical students. “It has accordingly been de- Congress activists protest over the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG results, in Kolkata on Saturday | PTI cided, as a precautionary measure to postpone the NEET-PG entrance examination, scheduled to be held tomorrow — 23rd June, 2024,” a statement issued by the ministry said. To clean up the mess, sources in the government said concerned departments, including intelligence agencies, have been directed to trace the origin of question paper leaks immediately . “If the culprits are not identified, the government will not hesitate to order a CBI probe into the racket,” a source said. S p o rt i n g l i f e Finding neverland: Sports help refugees build bridges, integrate into society somah Ali Zada, during an interaction with this newspaper THIRTY-SIX athletes with as highlighted the beauty of sport many tales training in 12 disci- and its role in helping athletes plines, hosted by 15 countries integrate into society. Her representing more than 120 words were at times John million displaced people Lennonesque: ‘there is no across the world. All country or religion Sunday too...’ unified through sport. The International Ol“I am so lucky to be Special y m p i c C o m m i t t e e ’s chef the mission of a (IOC) Refugee Olympic team that’s from different Team is not just a team, it’s cultures, speaks different an amalgamation of myriad languages,” she said. “I sufemotions, stories of resilience fered a lot of discrimination and hope. because of my nation and of The sentiments echoed by my ethnicity We are from dif... the team’s chef de mission, Ma- ferent countries. The Olympic I n d r a n ee l d a s @ Chennai Games is the moment they will realise their dream.” Masomah, who was forced to flee Afghanistan for pursuing her passion, cycling, because of the Taliban government’s hostilities towards women playing sport, said the only thing that kept each of them sane while waiting for endless paper- work was sport. “When we arrive in a new country, we have to wait for paperwork and it’s a long process. During this period, we cannot do anything. We cannot learn the language. We don’t have access to education so we wait. Sport is the only possi- bility that helps refugees to just pass the time and wait. Most refugees in this period try to play a sport, also to remain h e a l t h y, m e n t a l l y a n d physically .” Masomah felt despite athletes not representing a country, refugees have the right to compete at the Olympic Games. “They have a lot of talent. They I suffered a lot of discrimination because of my nation and of my ethnicity... We are from different countries. The Olympic Games is the moment they will realise their dream - Masomah Ali Zada just need a chance. I know that it’s really difficult to be a refugee, but still, we have to keep going. We have a right to live and dream and thanks to the Olympic team that allows refugees to be part of international competition like Olympics.” She said how despite getting teased and stoned while cycling in Afghanistan and even while in France as a refugee she continued to dream. Finally in To, kyo Olympics she realised it when she represented the refugee team. Living a dream amidst the spirit of inclusion and inspiration.
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