HYDERABAD  THURSDAY  OCTOBER 10, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 18  LATE CITY EDITION TRIO WIN NOBEL CHEMISTRY PRIZE FOR WORK ON PROTEIN STRUCTURE David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper were honoured for their work in predicting and even designing the structure of proteins DAVID BAKER JOHN JUMPER DEMIS HASSABIS BAKER AWARDED FOR DESIGNING NEW PROTEINS USING AI TO PREDICT PROTEIN STRUCTURE Baker designed a new protein in 2003 and his research group has since produced several new proteins, including those that can be used as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors. “David Baker has succeeded with the almost impossible feat of building entirely new kinds of proteins,” the Nobel Committee said in its statement | P11 ■ ■ Hassabis and Jumper created an artificial intelligence model that has been able to predict the complex structure of over 200 million proteins The shape of proteins is key as it determines their function. Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said the two solved a 50-year-old problem: predicting proteins’ complex structures 2020 WHEN HASSABIS AND JUMPER FIRST USED AI TO PREDICT PROTEIN STRUCTURE 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 Knives out for Congress from INDIA bloc allies after Haryana debacle Shiv Sena (UBT), AAP, TMC lead the attack, say grand old party’s arrogance led to defeat P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi 28 DECEMBER 1937 — 9 OCTOBER 2024 TATA, RATAN G U R B I R S I N G H @ Mumbai INDIA’s best known industrialist and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, 86, passed away at South Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital late on Wednesday night leaving a vacuum in the formidable $100 billion Tata Group. Confir ming persistent speculation that the ailing cor porate leader had breathed his last, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran announced: “It is with a profound sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr Ratan Naval Tata, a truly uncommon leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation.” Paying condolences to the industrialist, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X said: “He provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses.” As late as on Monday, when he was admitted to hospital, Ratan Tata took to X to scotch speculation about his ill health saying he was going in for a routine medical check-up. Ratan Tata started his career in the Tata Group in 1961 managing operations on the shop floor of Tata CONTINUED ON P12 Steel. Govt plans short session of Legislature for HYDRAA Bill I R E D D Y S R I N I V A S R E D D Y @ Hyderabad THE state government is likely to opt for a short — just one or two days — session of the Legislature and table a Bill based on the GHMC Amendment (Ordinance) 2024 giving more powers to HYDRAA, as well as the merger of 51 villages in municipalities within the ORR. According to sources, the Legislature session could be convened by October-end or in the first week of November. Over the past few months, HYDRAA has become the focus of political turmoil in the state, with the Opposition stringent in its criticism of the agency. Opposition parties accuse the state government of unleashing HYDRAA on the residences of lower-income people, while sparing high-profile properties, especially those owned by people connected to the Congress. Apart from HYDRAA, clearing of the riverbed to implement the Musi Riverfront Development Project has also drawn the Opposition’s ire. The coming session of the Legislature is likely to focus on the Musi project and efforts to safeguard Hyderabad’s lakes, particularly those within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) limits, to prevent flooding. THE Congress on Wednesday came under fire from its INDIA bloc allies who squarely blamed the grand old party for the poll debacle in Haryana, with several leaders accusing it of being ‘arrogant, overconfident and entitled’ and giving less space to its regional allies. Launching a scathing attack, the Shiv Sena (UBT) attributed the Congress’s poor show to the ‘overconfidence and arrogance’ of the party’s state leadership. In an editorial of Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana, it asked the Congress leadership to introspect and learn from its mistakes. The jibe comes at a time when Congress and the alliance partners are engaged in seatsharing talks ahead of the Maharashtra elections, scheduled for later this year. “The INDIA alliance could not win in Haryana because the Congress felt they would win Congress leaders Pawan Khera, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal and others after meeting the Election Commission of India | PARVEEN NEGI on their own and they did not need any other partner in power. If they had shared seats with the SP, AAP or other smaller parties, the results would have been different,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut. The Congress’ Haryana unit had unit refused to accommodate the AAP and the SP though , senior leader Rahul Gandhi was in favour of it. The party suffered another setback as its Uttar Pradesh ally Samajwadi Par ty on Wednesday released a list of six candidates for the upcoming Assembly bypolls. Sources said Congress leaders were upset about the SP’s unilateral move as it came in the middle of ongoing talks. Meanwhile, leaders of AAP and TMC were unsparing towards the Congress. AAP leaders also ruled out any truck with the Congress in Delhi assembly elections, scheduled for BRS plotting to topple govt: Revanth In BRS rule, DSC notification was issued only once in 2017 and recruitment was made in 2019. But my govt filled 11,062 posts within 66 days of the exams EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad ASSERTING that the people have given a mandate to the Congress in the Assembly elections, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday alleged that the BRS was plotting to topple his government. Predicting that the BRS would never return to power in the state, Revanth said: “People voted against the BRS in the Lok Sabha elections too, not giving it even a single seat. BRS leaders should understand what the people of Telangana are thinking about them.” Alleging that the BRS leaders were creating obstacles to every work being done by the government, Revanth said: “KCR (former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) should come to Assembly and speak or give suggestions, instead of opposing every decision of the gover nment from outside.” The chief minister was addressing 11,062 teachers at the LB Stadium in Hyderabad who were handed over appointment letters following their selection through DSC-2024. Revanth described KCR as a “demon” who neglected recruitment of teachers in the last 10 years. “During the BRS rule, DSC notification was issued only once in 2017 and recruitment was made in 2019. But my government filled 11,062 teachers posts within 66 days of conducting the examination,” he said, pointing out that 21,000 teachers received promotions and about 34,000 others were transferred in a transparent manner. INSIDE A Revanth Reddy, chief minister Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy waves to teachers recruited through DSC-2024, in Hyderabad on Wednesday | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN He also accused the previous regime of failing to fill vacancies in the government sector but rehabilitating BRS leaders. “In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, people defeated Vinod Kumar in Karimnagar and Kalvakuntla Kavitha in Nizamabad. But within six months of their defeat, Vinod Kumar was appointed the Telangana State Planning Board vice-chairman and Kavitha was elected MLC. When people rejected them in the election, KCR rehabilitated them by giving them coveted posts but forgot to give jobs to the teeming millions,” the chief minister CONTINUED ON P7 charged. More jobs only after SC categorisation I P7 DUE PROCEDURE Drama over Atishi’s ‘eviction’ from official house A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi THE never-ending political tussle between Delhi’s AAP government and the Lieutenant Governor has a new flashpoint: the Delhi chief minister’s official residence. Delhi Chief Minister Atishi’s office on Wednesday alleged that her official residence at 6, Flagstaff Road was forcibly vacated by Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V K Saxena on orders from the BJP . “For the first time in the history of the country, the Chief Minister’s residence was vacated. On the instructions of the BJP, L-G forcibly removed CM Atishi’s belongings from the CM residence. LG is preparing to allot the CM A man carrying goods on a cart leaves the residence of Delhi CM | PTI residence to a big BJP leader. The BJP which has been out of power , in Delhi for 27 years, is now trying to occupy the CM residence,” the Chief Minister’s Office alleged in the statement. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “Despite official correspondence, the CM residence had not been allotted to Atishi, who is the rightful allottee as CM of Delhi. Although a temporary office was set up at the residence and meetings were held, the staff was later evacuated, and it was declared that the office would not operate from there.” Sources at the Lieutenant Governor’s office, however, said the owner of the chief minister’s resi- dence is the Public Works Department, which takes possession of the residence after it is vacated, makes inventory of goods kept there, and then, allots it to the next chief minister. “This house has not been allotted to CM Atishi yet and her allotted residence is still 17 AB Mathura Road. CM Atishi herself kept her belongings in that house without allotment and then removed it herself. This bungalow will be allotted to the CM immediately after duly preparing the inventory the ,” sources said. The BJP claimed that the bungalow was not handed over to the Public Works Department and its keys were still with Kejriwal. early next year. Taking potshots at Congress, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha penned a poem on X: “If you had cared about my wishes, it would have been a different matter, If you had taken care of our desires, it would have been a different evening. Today he too must be regretting leaving me, If we had walked together it would have been something else.” Several Opposition leaders including Congress’ Jammu and Kashmir ally Omar Abdullah, the Left parties, and Bihar ally RJD targeted the Congress and asked it to introspect and change its strategies. “Congress will have to go deep into it and find the reasons for its defeat,” Abdullah said. TMC MP Saket Gokhale said the attitude of not accommodating regional parties even in places where they felt they were winning, led to the shocking electoral setback. TM Krishna’s MS misogyny S Gurumurthy calls out the conferring of the ‘Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award’ on TM Krishna despite the latter’s misogynistic tirade against MS, who Nehru said was the Queen of Music PAGE: 9 RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.5% for 10th time in a row B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai THE Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%, for the 10th time in a row, but changed its stance to ‘neutral’ that may lead to a cut in the forthcoming policies. According to analysts, the change in stance is the first step towards a rate cut and signals the beginning of the easing cycle as early as December. However, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, who completes his five-year term in December, refused to accept the policy stance change is a pivot. “The prevailing and expected inflationgrowth balance has created conditions for a shift in the monetary policy stance as there is greater confidence on last mile of disinflation,” he said. The banking Shaktikanta Das regulator also retained the retail inflation projection at 4.5% for 2024-25, with Das stressing the central bank will have to closely monitor the price situation and keep the ‘inflation horse’ under tight leash lest it may bolt again. RBI maintained status quo despite the US Federal Reserve lowering the benchmark rates by 50 basis points last month. The central banks of some developed nations have also reduced their interest rates. This was the first meeting after the RBI’s monetary policy committee was reconstituted last month. The three newly appointed external members are Ram Singh, Saugata Bhattacharya and Nagesh Kumar.