KALABURAGI  FRIDAY  DECEMBER 27, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY 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 ‘Distorted’ map: Cong downplays BJP allegations 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 & S U B H A S H C H A N D R A N S @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 t a k i n g sw ay a c r o s s t h e country . 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 26th, 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 organized in every block, district, and state as well. 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 The CWC met on Thursday 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. CWC expressed concerns over alleged state-sponsored increase in communal and ethnic hatred, particularly targeted against minority communities. Manipur, which has been burning since May 2023, continues to be met with indifference by the Prime Minister and his Government. The Prime Minister has not visited this troubled state ever since violence erupted in May 2023. Communal ten- sion has deliberately been stoked in Sambhal and other places for the RSS-BJP’s narrow political gain. The Places of Worship Act, 1991 to which the Indian National 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 antidemocratic mindset of the BJP . The meeting demanded a socioeconomic caste census be conducted at the earliest. The 50% ceiling on reservations for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and OBCs must be increased so as to further enhance the benefits accrued to these three traditionally disadvantaged groups of our society P4 . 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, he added. Reacting to BJP leader Amit Malviya’s social media post on the alleged distorted map, KPCC chief DK Shivakumar said those posters have been removed. The party has taken measures to hold the event successfully and meaningfully . BJP and JDS reportedly stated that the map did not have the Gilgit region of PoK and Aksai Chin now under China, which are integral parts of J&K. “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. If you look at his timeline, you will come to know (spreading fake news). Why are you giving so much importance to him? What truth has he spoken?” Priyank said. P4 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- EXPRESS READ Contractor ends life, accuses min’s follower Bidar: A contractor ended his life in Bhalki taluk here on Tuesday, accusing nine people, including former Kalaburagi corporator Raju Kapanoor, said to be a supporter of Minister Priyank Kharge, of being responsible for his death. P4 Mangaluru beaches to open at night soon Mangaluru: The Dakshina Kannada district administration will keep beaches open at night. Panambur Beach will be the first to remain open at night, followed by Thannirbhavi Blue Flag Beach and Thannirbhavi Beach. P5 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 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 M U K E S H R A N 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.” KAZAKH PLANEDOWN JET? CRASH RUSSIA ACCIDENTLY SHOT WONDER KID 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 Aviation experts say passenger jet may have been accidentally shot by Russian air defence as it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported 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.” Hike in milk price likely after Sankranthi fest EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru KARNATAKA Milk Federation (KMF) chairman Bheema Naik said on Thursday that milk price is likely to go up after the S a n k r a n t h i f e s t iva l i n January . He told reporters here that unions recently placed a proposal before the federation seeking a revision in milk prices. They sought a hike of Rs 5 per litre. Discussions have been held in this regard. However, a decision on the proposal will be taken only after a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said. During a recent meeting at Magadi, dairy farmers submitted a petition to the chief minister seeking a hike of Rs 5 per litre of milk. The MILK milk price was last increased on Au g u s t 1 , 2023, by Rs 3. It was then increased from Rs 39 to Rs 42 a litre. “The hike of Rs 2 per packet cannot be called an increase because the quantity of milk in the packet was increased by 50ml in June 2024,” KMF officials said. They said when Siddaramaiah launched Nandini idli-dosa batter on December 25, the KMF members briefed him about the demands of dairy farmers and milk unions. Federation managing director Shivaswamy said that nothing has been finalised yet. A decision on increasing milk price will be taken after holding a meeting with the chief minister. The meeting will be held after the Sankranthi festival. 2004 CATASTROPHE TSUNAMI SEVERELY EXPOSED WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY B A L A C H A U H A N @ Bengaluru IT has been 20 years since the deadly tsunami struck, killing around 230,000 people across more than a dozen countries and causing unprecedented damage in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand. Dr K Sekar and Dr C Jayakumar, experts in psychiatric social work (PSW), National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), who, along with other mental health experts from NIMHANS, were at ground zero, narrated the impact of the deadly earthquake under the Indian Ocean on women and their mental health. “Majority of victims (of the tsunami) were women. Most of them did not know how to swim. There was death, devastation, loss and raw emotions of people. They were angry with kadal (ocean), which they had looked upon historically as god till that fateful mor ning of December 26, 2004. In Cuddalore, there was a belief that tsunami was the wrath unleashed by the sea goddess after some menstru- ating women touched the sea,” said Dr Sekar. The tsunami exposed and tested the vulnerability of women like never before. “While many widowers got remarried, widow remarriage was not an easy option in many of the affected Majority of victims (of the tsunami) were women. Most of them did not know how to swim. There was death, devastation, loss and raw emotions of people Dr K Sekar, expert, psychiatric social work places except for some of those, who were childless and were given huge compensation by the government. This was in Nagapattinam,” he said. “In some places in Kerala, women, who lost their children, were branded inauspicious by their families. After the first tide receded, it left behind a lot of fish on the seafloor. Ignorant of what lay ahead for them, these women with their children went to pick up the fish and lost their little ones when the tide returned,” Sekar said. CONTINUED ON: P5 Women mourn their lost relatives in Tamil Nadu on Thursday | ANTONY FERNANDO