chennai l friday l december 27, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION China to build world’s largest dam close to Indian border China on Thursday approved the construction of the world’s largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to its border with India $137 billion project at himalayan gorge Worry over china flooding northeast Costing $137 billion, it is set to be the world’s biggest infra project till date. The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh. Construction poses huge challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes regularly occur ■ ■ An official statement on Wednesday sought to allay concerns about earthquakes, saying “a solid foundation has been laid for the sciencebased, secure, and high-quality development” of the project There are worries in India, given the massive size of the dam, that China could weaponise it and flood areas in the northeast during war 300 bn kWh of power to be generated each year, enough for annual needs 30 cr houses 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 CWC plans campaign against attack on the Constitution Party pushback against barb on distorted map Express News Service @ Belagavi Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with Rahul Gandhi and others during the Congress Working Committee meeting to mark the 100th anniversary of its Belgaum session presided over by Mahatma Gandhi, in Belagavi, on Thursday | Nagaraja Gadekal Naushad Bijapur & Subhash C h a n d r a NS @ Belagavi The extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) at Belagavi on Thursday sealed its commitment to revamp the party organisation in the coming months and fight “antiConstitutional” sentiments taking sway across India. The CWC resolved to commit to protecting the Indian Constitution and the ideals of the Indian Independence Movement. Accordingly the CWC resolved , to launch the “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan Abhiyan”, beginning with a rally in Belagavi on Friday (December 27) and culminating in a rally at Mhow on January 26, 2025, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Constitution coming into force and the founding of our Republic. During this month, rallies and marches will be organised in every block, district, and state as well. The CWC met on Thursday Samvidhan Bachao Padayatra The Congress said it will launch a year-long public outreach from January 26, 2025 called the Samvidhan Bachao Rashtriya Padayatra in which all leaders will participate to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s historic taking over of the Presidency of Indian National Congress at its 39th Session in 1924. It expressed concerns over alleged state-sponsored increase in communal and ethnic hatred, particularly targeted against minority communities. Manipur, which has been on the boil since May 2023, continues to be met with indifference by the prime minister and his government, it said. Communal tension, it alleged, has deliberately been stoked in Sambhal and other places for the RSS-BJP’s nar- row political gain. The Places of Worship Act, 1991 to which the Congress is firmly committed in letter and spirit has also come under needless and reckless debate, the CWC opined. The CWC also condemned in the strongest terms, the manner in which peaceful protests by Congress were dealt with by the governments in BJP-ruled states like Assam and UP. A number of Congress workers lost their lives. This is totally unacceptable, and it only reflects the anti-democratic mindset of the BJP. The meeting demanded a socio-economic caste census be conducted at the earliest. The 50% ceiling on quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs must be increased so as to further enhance the benefits to these three disadvantaged groups. Reservations must be on the basis of social, economic, or educational backwardness determined through appropriate means, the CWC said. Congress leaders on Thursday downplayed the controversy over party posters with “distorted” India map put up here for the centenary celebrations of the 1924 Congress session and said BJP was needlessly spreading false information. Reacting to BJP’s allegations that some posters had the distorted map, Congress leader Priyank Kharge said they were put up by some private companies. Those posters have already been removed. BJP is making baseless allegations in this regard, he added. Reacting to BJP leader Amit Malviya’s social media post on the alleged distorted map, KPCC president D K Shivakumar said those posters have been removed. The party has taken measures to hold the event successfully and meaningfully . BJP and JDS stated that the map did not have the Gilgit region of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as well as the Aksai Chin region now under China, which are integral parts of Jammu and Kashmir. “Amit Malviya’s job is to spread fake news. Look at the cases filed against him in this state and across the country,” Priyank Kharge told a section of the media. “He (Amit Malviya) is the king of misinformation and fake news.” he said. Kohli shoulder bumps Konstas, ICC penalises G o m e s h S @ Melbourne What is India versus Australia match without a dash of controversy and pinch of heated exchanges. What makes this even more riveting are the two protagonists involved. One a teenager on debut and the other a veteran of 121 Tests and at 36, is almost double the former’s age. Sam Konstas and Virat Kohli. The two cricketing figures of contrasting fame clashed on the field. In short, there were two headlines on Day One here — Konstas’s fiery knock (60 off 65 balls) and his shoulder episode with Kohli after 10th over. Konstas was on fire, hitting the almost-invincible Jasprit Bum- rah, including a sux, in the most unconventional style in Tests, especially by an opener. The two were seen engageming in verbal altercation after Kohli seemed to have nudged the youngster on his shoulder while walking to the other end. Later, the match referee fined Kohli 20 per cent of match fee after hearing. “Kohli was found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct... which relates to ‘inappropriate physical contact with a Player...’,” the ICC stated. Though former players criticsed Kohli, Konstas later said, “I was just doing my gloves and I think he accidentally bumped me. I think that’s just cricket and can happen with tension. I think the emotions got to both of us.” P11 boy wonder Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awardee Anish Sarkar, a chess prodigy, at Bharat Mandapam, in New Delhi on Thursday. At 3, he is the youngest FIDE-ranked player in the world | PTI no compassion as 5K families await jobs in TN school dept N DHAMOTHARAN @ Coimbatore For the 5,500 families waiting for jobs on compassionate grounds in the Tamil Nadu school education department, the ordeal seems unending as the department has not appointed even one person under the category in the last eight years across the state. Family members of employees who die in harness are given job opportunities under compassionate grounds by the government, but no appointment order was issued to the family members of such school education department employees after July 11, 2016, shows an RTI reply received by TNIE. As per an order of the Supreme Court, government appointments on compassionate g rounds should be made within six months of the staffer’s death, but the department has failed to comply with this order, sources said. M Jayapratha (34) of Tiruvarur district, a degree-holder, told TNIE that her hus- band had worked as a record clerk at a government higher secondary school in Rajamadam, Thanjavur district. Less than two years after their marriage, on May 24, 2020, he passed away due to health issues and she had applied for a job with the school education department on compassionate grounds the same year. “I have been waiting for the appointment order for more than four years. Despite submitting multiple petitions to officials, MLAs and the CM’s cell, I’ve not got any call,” she said.  P5 Manmohan Singh, India’s PM from 2004 to 2014, passes away Express News Service @ New Delhi FORMER prime minister and renowned economist Dr Manmohan Singh passed away on Thursday night. He was 92. Singh was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi around 8 pm in a critical condition after “sudden loss of consciousness”. A hospital statement said he died due to age-related medical conditions. “Resuscitative measures were started immediately at home. He was brought to medical emergency at AIIMS Delhi at 8.06 pm. Despite all efforts, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 9.51 pm,” said the bulletin. He is survived by Manmohan Singh 26 Sept 1932 - 26 Dec 2024 wife Gurcharan Singh and three daughters. The government declared national mourning of seven days EC unveils ‘world’s largest datasets’ on LS, Assembly polls MU K ESH RAN J A n @ New Delhi tHE Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday released the world’s largest electoral dataset unveiling 42 statistical reports on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 14 reports each on four state assembly elections— Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Officials said these reports—98 in all —have been put out in the public domain for the sake of transparency as well as to promote research. According to the statistical datasets, as many as 64.64 crore voters exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year with women voters outnumbering men. The female voter turnout stood at 65.78% compared to 65.55% for male electors, data showed. Female contesting candidates were 800, as against 726 in 2019. The number of nominations filed stood at 12,459 in 2024, compared to 11,692 in 2019, as 8,360 candidates contested elections as against 8,054 in 2019. According to officials, such granular data is not shared by any of the election management bodies in democracies Women candidates Maharashtra had the highest number of women contesting candidates with 111 in the fray, followed by 80 in Uttar Pradesh and 77 in Tamil Nadu. Out of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, there were 152 seats where there were no women candidates across the world. A senior ECI official said these statistical reports would be a ‘treasure trove’ for academicians, researchers, and election watchers worldwide for in-depth analysis and policy insights. He said the ECI’s move to proactively share the massive dataset would silence critics alleging non-disclosure of electoral data by the national election watchdog. The official added: “This exhaustive data set empowers stakeholders to slice and dice data for a granular level analysis with comparison from data sets of previous elections already available on ECI website. These reports will facilitate time-series analysis to track long-term outlook and shifts in electoral and political landscape.” will2026 assembly polls, says cm win over 200 seats in Speaking at the 100th birthday celebration of CPI leader R Nallakannu in Chennai, Chief Minister M K Stalin said the ‘permanent DMK bloc’ will clinch a resounding win | P4 and cancelled all programmes scheduled Friday . Singh, who was finance minister under the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, was the architect and the brainchild of economic reforms in 1991 that pulled India from the brink of bankruptcy and ushered in an era of economic liberalisation. T he refor ms changed the course of India’s economic trajectory . Singh served as PM from 2004 to 2014 and was credited for shaping the nation’s growth path. He retired from the Rajya Sabha in April after a 33-yearlong stint. In his final speech in Parliament, he had strongly criticised demonetisation, describing it as “organised loot and legalised plunder.” New app to help 108 ambulance service reach patients quicker S i n d u j a J a n E @ Chennai To reduce the response time of the 108 ambulance service, EMRI Green Health Services, GVK Enterprise — service operator for the state health department — is currently testing a pilot application which would allow users to track the movement of 108 ambulances in real time. Once an ambulance is assigned to a caller, the latter will receive an SMS containing the phone number of the ambulance driver, a live tracking link and other details. According to official sources, the live tracking feature will also inform the caller of the ambulance’s Expected Time of Arrival (ETA). On the other hand, the driver can also track the exact location of the caller and reach them, without the caller having to provide details such as district and taluk. EMRI Green Health Services along with the health department has been testing the application across the state for over a month now, officials said. Speaking to TNIE, M Selvakumar, state head of operations, EMRI Green Health Services said, “We have been testing it for over a month now, and the response has been good. The application will soon be launched officially.” “The main aim of the application is to reduce the response time even further. The driver can now track the exact location of the caller and reach them without any hassle. The caller can also share their location,” he added. P5 Anna univ rape: FIR with girl’s details leaked Express News Service @ Chennai Amid outrage over the sexual assault of the student on Anna University campus and protests by students and opposition parties, in a shocking lapse on Thursday the FIR , filed on Tuesday by the Kotturpuram All Women Police Station (AWPS) in the case landed in public domain. The FIR had graphic details about the ordeal suffered by the student and her name, address and phone number, sources said. While the AIADMK and BJP hit the streets on Thursday and , the saffron party alleged that the accused was a DMK officeb e a r e r, L aw M i n i s t e r S Regupathi rejected the allegations as untrue. The accused, Gnanasekaran (37), a local biryani vendor, was booked under sections 63, 64 and 75 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Though it’s unclear if the FIR was downloaded from the Tamil Nadu police’s Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) portal, a message on the police website later on Thursday said the FIR was blocked by a compe- aiadmk cadre attempt protest, annamalai to go barefoot Condemning the rape, AIADMK cadre led by ex-minister D Jayakumar tried to hold protest in front of Anna University but were detained. Meanwhile, BJP leader Annamalai said he would flog himself six times on Friday and walk barefoot until the DMK regime is dislodged | P4 tent authority . Speaking to reporters on Thursday evening, Greater Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun said a possible software glitch may have allowed the FIR to be downloaded. A separate FIR has been registered to probe the leak, he added. Meanwhile, chairperson of National Commission of Women (NCW) Vijaya Rahatkar wrote to Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal stating that the leak of the FIR was a violation under Section 72 of the BNS, 2023, and guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the Nipun Saxena vs Union of India case.  P5