dharmapuri l thursday l july 25, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 18 killed as plane crashes during takeoff in kathmandu Bombardier jet was bound for pokhara The Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft owned by Saurya Airlines was bound for Pokhara for a scheduled maintenance when it crashed around 11.00 am. There were 19 people on board the ill-fated aircraft. At least 17 of them were employees of the airline, with the other two being the wife and son of one of the employees who were on board, reports said | p7 A small aircraft crashed during takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport on Wednesday morning. All on board except a pilot were killed ■ 914 captain survives, in critical condition ■ Captain Manish Shakya is the sole survivor. He is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kathmandu and is said to be critical The Nepal government constituted a five-member expert panel to look into the probable causes of the crash. The airport said the plane veered off to its right and crashed on the east side of the runway people have died in air crashes in Nepal since 1955 as per country’s aviation body 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 Govt weighing options to AU reveals 211 profs ‘filled’ 2.5K college positions open the Chinese FDI tap B I N I TA J A I S W A L @ Chennai Curbs imposed at the height of Ladakh clash in 2020 may be eased D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi two days after the Economic Survey made a strong pitch for Chinese participation in India’s manufacturing growth, top sources on Wednesday told this paper that the government is considering easing restrictions on investments from China. The government’s move to soften its anti-China stance comes amid strong calls from industry, especially manufacturers, to ease the visa curbs on Chinese technicians. A highly placed government source confirmed that discussions are on for reviewing restrictions on investment and imports from China, adding that no final call has been taken in this regard. India issued Press Note 3 restricting investments from China amid border tension in Galwan river valley in Ladakh in 2020. The government also restricted visas to Chinese nationals arriving in India and levied high duties on many Chinese imports. The government source mentioned above said industry has been raising the issue of their inability to procure equipment Chinese incentive Chinese technicians are in high demand in 14 sectors where production-linked incentive schemes are applicable. These sectors, which include solar, drones, and cell battery, face huge talent shortage Skill shortage Most high-tech manufacturing units in India use Chinese-made machinery but don’t have skilled technicians. Industry believes visa relaxations could help as well as Chinese technicians due to these restrictions. “For the past 3-4 years, we have been trying to build our own capacity But feedback from industry . suggests that large projects, especially high-tech projects, are facing challenges in completion due to these restrictions.” After considering the industry demand, the government is now weighing options for easing investment rules for some companies, said the source. The softening of the stand on China was evident in the Economic Survey report released on Monday. “To boost Indian manufacturing and plug India into the global supply chain, it is inevitable that India plugs itself into China’s supply chain. Whether we do so by relying solely on imports or partially through Chinese investments is a choice that India has to make,” the report said, hinting that the anti-China policy has been detrimental to the manufacturing sector. Officials said the government has eased the visa rules for Chinese technicians already working in firms availing the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, and is working to streamline the visa process for Chinese workers for non-PLI companies too. In FY24, China became India’s top trading partner with $118 billion in total trade. K’giri to get `2,000-cr battery recycler plant; 1,000 new jobs likely c s h i v ak u ma r @ Chennai Aerial view of the two-lane L&T bypass road in Coimbatore | Express State govt may take over Kovai bypass from L&T to widen it a r a v ind r a j @ Coimbatore The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has begun talks with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to take over the 28km-long Neelambur bypass road in Coimbatore five years before the existing maintenance contract comes to an end. Tamil Nadu government’s National Highways wing hopes to take over it and start the widening project as soon as the NHAI concludes the talks by paying the private company compensation. The narrow, two-lane stretch of the Salem-Kochi highway has recorded one of the highest number of road accidents in the state, with 120 people perishing in various accidents on the stretch in 2023. A senior official of the National Highways wing of the state highways department told TNIE that discussions with L&T include the possible termination of the agreement so the state government can take over the road. “The government will pay an amount to the company to facilitate the takeover before the agreed period. The figure is yet to be decided. We have prepared a detailed project report for constructing a four-lane road with two service lanes on the available land, at a cost of `500 crore,” the official said. Speaking to TNIE, Coimbatore collector Kranthi Kumar Pati said, “Officials of L&T and NHAI are holding talks regarding handing over the road.” P5 The Greater Noida-based LOHUM, one of the largest producers of sustainable energy transition and battery raw materials through recycling, repurposing, and low carbon refining, will be investing more than `2,000 crore to build the country’s largest battery recycler plant at the future mobility park at Shoolagiri in Krishnagiri district. The plant is expected to generate at least 1,000 jobs when it becomes fully functional. Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of Investopia Global in Chennai on Wednesday LOHUM’s , head of Corporate Development Sachin Maheshwari said the facility will be set up on 65 acres of land and the investment will be made over a period of six years. “We are looking at a capacity of 20 gigawatt hour of cathode active materials (CAMs) production which is used for cell manufacturing for being used in batteries,” he said. “We are now setting up the plant and the factory will be set up in the next 18 months. The company plans to supply locally but exports cannot be ruled out,” he said. Sachin said the recycler will not only cater to used batteries but also to electrical and rare earth magnets. “We want to play a role in sustainable use of critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and platinum, among others,” he said. “Recycling and reuse is our first goal and we want our operation to be net-zero in energy usage. We want to scale up our research on rare earth metals,” said Sachin. P5 6 yrs Facility will be set up on 65 acres and the investment will be made over 6-year period Recycling and reuse is our first goal and we want our operation to be net-zero in energy usage. We want to scale up our research on rare earth metals Sachin Maheshwari, LOHUM A day after anti-graft NGO Arappor Iyakkam alleged that over 353 individuals have been simultaneously employed as full-time faculty by multiple private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu, Anna University has released its own findings revealing that as many as 211 faculty members have been filling in for 2,500 positions in multiple colleges during the current academic year. To ensure a fair probe into the matter and punish all those involved, Anna University, which is the affiliating university for engineering colleges in the state, will soon form a highlevel probe committee. Officials from AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) and the state higher education department will be members of the committee, sources said. Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy too, has sought a detailed , report from the university on the scam. R Velraj, vice-chancellor of Anna University, said, “Our team has found the names of 211 persons working as full time faculty members in 3 to 30 engineering colleges, filling in for a vacancy of 2,500 faculty members. On an average, one MHA poser Haryana wants award for cops who stopped farm protest Ha r p r e e t b a j w a @ Chandigarh SP’s Akhilesh Yadav greets Sonia Gandia during an Opposition protest alleging discrimination in the Budget | PTI Oppn says most states got a raw deal, walks out of RS Ra j e s h K u ma r T h ak u r don’t get isolated, stalin warns modi A day after the General Budget was presented, members of Opposition INDIA bloc, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, on Wednesday staged a brief walkout from the Rajya Sabha over the alleged neglect of most states except Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, in fund allocations. Leader of Opposition Kharge criticised Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for ignoring many states in the Budget, adding it was kursi bachao (save the chair) document. His remarks drew a sharp rebuttal from Sitharaman, who said never in the past had the names of all states been taken in the Budget, not even during the UPA rule. For example, Maharashtra was not named, but that did not prevent the Union Cabinet from approving the `76,000-crore Vadhavan port project in Dahanu in the state last month, she retorted. “This is a deliberate at- Chennai: A day after criticising the centre for ignoring TN in the Union Budget, CM Stalin wrote to the PM on Wednesday, saying, “Please run the government impartially. I am duty bound to advise you that you will get isolated if you run the government on the basis of your political whims & fancies” | P4 @ New Delhi tempt of the Opposition, led by the Congress, to give an impression to people that ‘oh, nothing has been given to our states, it has only been given to two states’,” she said. It led to a brief Opposition walkout after which they returned to the House. In the second half of the session, Opposition members continued to describe the Budget as anti-federal and anti-poor, with some demanding a white paper on the production-linked incentive scheme. Speaking on the Budget, former finance minister P Chidambaram cautioned the Can accused seek removal of verdict after acquittal? @ New Delhi CAN an accused, after being acquitted in a criminal case, seek removal of the judgment revealing his identity from the public domain under the right to be forgotten? The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine this knotty issue in detail and settle the law. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud was hearing an appeal by Bengaluru-based legal website Indian Kanoon against a Madras High Court order asking it take to down a judgment that re- vealed the identity of a person who was acquitted in a rape and cheating case. Indian Kanoon’s counsel told the court that the law on the issue appears to be unclear because the high courts of Gujarat and Kerala have earlier ruled that there was no right to be forgotten in such cases. “There is a genuine question of law emerging from contradictory judgements from different high courts,” said lawyer Abiha Zaidi, appearing for the website. The bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, observed that courts sometimes order redaction of names in sensitive cases but pulling down the entire judgment would be far-fetched. The bench said such a precedent would lead to a situation where the litigants in commercial disputes may say that the judgements be removed as they may reveal financial information about the litigating parties. In its plea, the legal website said the Madras HC order “adversely impacts the government against taking inflation lightly saying every , family is hit hard by price rise. He also wondered if the proposed employment-linked incentive (ELI) has been mooted as the existing PLI scheme failed to generate employment. TMC member Jawhar Sircar alleged that the Budget had ignored West Bengal. “I have not seen such a lacklustre Budget,” he charged. Responding to the TMC allegation, Sitharaman said Bengal hasn’t implemented several schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last 10 years for the state. A rather surprising proposal of the Haryana government to decorate six police officers with the President’s Medal for Gallantry for stopping protesting Punjab farmers at the Shambhu and Khanauri interstate borders in February this year has raised eyebrows. This has prompted the Union home ministry to seek clarification from the state. Haryana government said in its recommendation on July 2 that the six officers displayed ‘exceptional bravery’ in stopping the farmers who were marching to the national capital in February. Of the six, three are Indian Police Service officers and the others from the Haryana Police Service. The Union home ministry on July 8 wrote two letters to the Haryana government seeking “firing details of all recommendees’’ for the award. This has put the state government in a tough spot ahead of the Assembly elections as it has maintained that there was no firing by the police to stop farmers. The home ministry also observed that personnel of the Rapid Action Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, the IndoTibetan Border Police and Sashastra Seema Bal were also deployed, but were not recommended for the award. “A ‘no’ has been mentioned in the question of joint operation,” the home ministry wrote. Sources said the state government is yet to prepare its response to the Centre’s query . Objecting to the recommendations, Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider them. express read Right to be forgotten S u c h i t r a K alyan M o h an t y person was found working in 10 colleges at the same time. We have also found a case where one faculty member is shown in records of 32 colleges.” Of the 52,500 faculty members registered with the 433 af- filiated engineering colleges, duplication was found in 2,500 cases, Velraj said. According to Arappor Iyakkam, there were 353 duplicate faculty entries in 2023-24. The university’s findings, however, said that there were only 184 faculty members involved. “As per our findings, last year, 184 were involved in the duplication. Since the number of seats has increased by 22,000, the number of duplicate teachers too may have gone up,” an official said. Notably the univer, sity started using candidates’ dates of birth to identify duplicates only after the NGO raised the allegation. P5 freedom of speech and expression of the petitioner and the public at large, guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution as well as the petitioner’s freedom of trade, occupation and profession.” There are no specific clauses in Indian laws to define the ‘right to be forgotten’. In August 2017, a nine-judge bench headed by then CJI J S Khehar had declared the right to privacy a fundamental right under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution, adding that it would include the right to be forgotten and the right to be left alone. Jawan, terrorist killed in Kashmir encounter HC asks CM to visit tribal hamlet for ‘reality check’ Srinagar: A soldier and a terrorist were killed in an encounter in J&K’s Kupwara district, officials said on Wednesday. It happened as a joint team of the Army and the police were conducting a search after reports of terrorist presence | P8 Chennai: Emphasising the need for providing basic amenities and alternative employment to tribals living in Kalvarayan Hills spread across Kallakurichi and Salem, the Madras High Court on Wednesday ‘requested’ Chief Minister Stalin to visit the hills for a reality check on the plight of the people | P2 FTA insecy meets prime minister spotlight As U.K. foreign David Lammy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. “Our Free Trade Agreement negotiations is the floor, not the ceiling of our ambitions ,” Lammy said | P7
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