tadepalligudem 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 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 illegal construction NEET & Unclean PLUS 12 PAGES Civic body demolishes YSRC party office building E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Pradeep Singh Kharola made new NTA director general RA J E S H K U M AR T H A K UR @ New Delhi Beleaguered National Testing Agency (NTA) chief Subodh Kumar Singh was on Saturday sacked, days after Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan called out the agency for systemic failure in conducting major competitive exams like NEETUG 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 measure”. The Ministry of Health said it has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of the NEET-PG entrance examination conducted by NTA for medical students. “It has accordingly been decided, 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. Congress activists protest over the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG results, in Kolkata on Saturday | PTI The Mangalagiri Tadepalli M u n i c i p a l C o r p o r at i o n (MTMC) officials demolished the under construction YSRC party office building at Sitanagaram in Tadepalli mandal of Guntur district in the early hours of Saturday stating , t h at i t w a s a n i l l e g a l construction. YSRC leaders denounced the demolition of the building and described it as a ‘destructive’ vendetta of the TDP-led NDA government against the party Condemn. ing the demolition of his party office, YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that the demolition was carried out disregarding the High Court orders. He decried the erosion of law and justice in the State, and interpreted the demolition as a signal of the TDPled NDA government’s aggressive stance for the next five years. Jagan vowed to fight for justice on behalf of the people, and appealed to democrats nationwide to condemn Naidu’s actions. For mer YSRC minister Ambati Rambabu also ques- 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. major reshuffle of IAS Officers in ap The State government on Saturday effected another major rejig of bureaucrats. The Collectors of several districts, who were transferred, were not given posting, and directed to report to the GAD 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. 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 International Mother Port and the Port region. He also sought another `5,000 crore for financ- Demand to upgrade rail infrastructure TN’s FM said the state faced step-motherly 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 ing certain other infrastructure 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 large-scale 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. AP seeks `15k cr grant for Amaravati and more Central aid for Polavaram E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The demolished under construction YSRC office building at Sitanagaram in Tadepalli mandal of Guntur district on Saturday | Prasant Madugula Naidu took vendetta politics to next level: Jagan “Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took vendetta politics to the next level. Like a dictator, he got the YSRCP’s central office building demolished with excavators and bulldozers, which was almost complete,” said YSRC president and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, in a post on social media platform X tioned Naidu’s priorities on X, contrasting the party office building demolition with the unimplemented NDA poll promises like ‘Super 6’. However, the AP Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) clarified that the YSRC party office was being built on the land owned by the irrigation department. The previous government leased the land, which was a boat yard and water body, to the YSRC at a low price for its P4 office building. Express read Ayyanna new Assembly Speaker Vijayawada: TDP senior leader Ch Ayyanna Patrudu was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 16th AP Legislative Assembly. Pro-tem Speaker Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary announced the unanimous election of Ayyanna as the Speaker on Saturday as no others filed nomination for post Get more funds: Naidu to TDP MPs Vijayawada: Chairing the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDPP) meeting at the party headquarters on Saturday, TDP supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu urged the MPs to strive to get more infrastructure projects and the maximum amount of funds for development of the State | P4 A request for a grant of `15,000 crore for the construction and development of Amaravati as the sole capital city of Andhra Pradesh, and more allocation for expeditious completion of Polavaram Irrigation Project, were the major proposals submitted by State Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav in the pre-budget meeting chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Saturday . During the meeting, Keshav said on behalf of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, he was making five major requests, which are Central government support for the State in the form of States’ Economic Development Assistance, given the precarious situation of Andhra Pradesh post bifurcation, and the legacy of dead liabilities they received from the previous government. “Our government, which secured an unprecedented people’s mandate with more than 57% vote share, will focus on progressive capital expendi- More projects & liberal funding among wish list Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav said they also sought Central aid for the construction of Ramayapatnam Port, Integrated Steel Plant in Kadapa, Crude Oil Refinery and Petroleum Corridor, operation of new railway zone, agriculture university and liberal funding for the ongoing projects ture and infrastructure, and I request comprehensive support from the Centre,” he said. Mentioning that Andhra Pradesh was bereft of the capital even a decade after the State bifurcation, Keshav said their government is focusing on construction and development of Amaravati as the sole capital city of the State, and sought `15,000 crore as a grant in the Union Budget for 2024-25 for office buildings and other key infrastructure. Asserting that once the national project Polavaram is completed, Andhra Pradesh will be self-sufficient in irrigation, drinking water supply and power generation, the Finance Minister sought liberal allocations in the Union Budget for the project. The Finance Minister also sought industrial incentives and Central aid for industrial development as a robust industrial sector is essential for job creation and higher GSDP . He specifically drew the attention of the Union Finance Minister towards development of industrial parks across the State, besides two nodes in the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and one node in the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. Central assistance for the development of a mega textile park, an integrated aqua park and a green energy corridor was also P4 sought. Sporting life 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 In d r a nee 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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