KANNUR l thursday l February 06, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza Strip, redevelop it: donald Trump gaza bet worth pursuing, says netanyahu Trump made these remarks on Tuesday during a joint press conference in the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Appalled U.S. allies, foes reject idea Trump said he envisions a redeveloped Gaza like “the Riviera of the Middle East.” “We’ll own it and dismantle all unexploded bombs ... level the site, create economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.” Netanyahu, when asked about the US taking over Gaza, said, “I think it’s something that could change history. it’s worth pursuing this avenue.” ■ ■ Egypt, Jordan and other American allies rejected Donald Trump’s idea of relocating more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza. Australia said it supports a two-state solution in the Middle East | P9 Democratic senator Chris Coons said, “This risks the world thinking we are an unreliable partner as our president makes insane proposals” 40 mins length of the presser where Trump got the gaza brainwave 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 largest Pollsters see BJP ‘Capital gain’ India is 2ndAltman AI market: its allies, 21-31 for AAP and 0-1 for the Congress. However, two surveys — Wee Preside and Mind Brink — predicted a sweeping victory for the AAP According to Wee Pre. side, AAP is expected to get 4652 seats, restricting BJP to 18-23 seats. The Mind Brink survey predicted 44-49 seats for AAP and 21-25 for the saffron party . If most of the pollsters get it right, it will be a body blow for the Congress — which was hoping to rise like a Phoenix — after the reverses in Haryana and Maharashtra. The gloves were off as the Congress and the AAP both IN, DIA bloc allies, unleashed an all out war against each other during the election campaign. However, most of the other constituents of the bloc, including the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) extended support to the AAP They also endorsed TMC . chief Mamata Banerjee for the leadership of the bloc. For the Congress party it is a battle for , survival in the Capital city it ruled for 15 years in a row. P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Holy dip Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Sangam during the Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj on Wednesday | PTI 18 non-Hindu TTD staff face stern action With the high-stakes assembly election in Delhi coming to a close on Wednesday, several pollsters predicted the return of the BJP to power after 27 years, with a clear majority. Exit poll predictions often go awry, but they get it right this time around, it will be a huge setback for the ruling AAP, which is seeking a third consecutive term in office. As for the voter turnout, it stood at 60.42% as of 11 pm, creeping towards the 2020 figure of 62.59%. Seven of 10 exit polls predicted anywhere 39-50 seats for the BJP and 20-25 for AAP. Seven pollsters predicted not more than three seats for the Congress, which is fighting for revival in Delhi. In the 70-member Delhi assembly, 36 is the majority mark. While People’s Pulse gave a sweeping 51-60 seats for t h e B J P - l e d N DA , Chanakya Strategies predicted 39-44 to it. The P-Marq exit poll predicted 39-49 seats for the BJP and People after casting votes during the Delhi assembly elections, at Jamia Nagar in Okhla, New Delhi, on Wednesday | PTI Exit poll predictions Source AAP BJP+ Cong Chanakya Strategies 25-28 Total seats 36 Halfway mark 2-3 DV Research 70 39-44 26-34 36-44 0-0 JVC 22-31 39-45 0-2 Matrize 32-37 35-40 0-1 Mind Brink 44-49 21-25 0-1 P-Marq 21-31 39-49 0-1 People’s Insight 25-29 40-44 0-2 Peoples Pulse 10-19 51-60 0-0 Poll Diary 18-25 42-50 0-2 WeePreside 46-52 18-23 0-1 Poll Of Polls 30 39 1 U n n i k r i s h n a n S @T’Puram Managing costs THE Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has barred 18 employees practising non-Hindu rituals from all religious programmes and functions of the temple body until further orders. The disciplinary action, sources said, is in line with TTD’s commitment to preserving the sanctity of its temples. “It has been proved that 18 TTD employees are practicing and participating in non-Hindu religious activities, though they have taken an oath that they will follow Hindu Dharma (religion) and traditions only,” said TTD executive officer J Syamala Rao in the memo. The 18 staff members include professors, lecturers and nurses,working in colleges, hospitals and hostels run by TTD. In November 2024, the TTD Board, headed by chairman B R Naidu, said it would write a letter to N Chandrababu Naidu-led NDA government for taking an appropriate decision on nonHindus working in Tirumala. It had recommended the transfer of non-Hindu employees to other government departments. State IT and HRD minister Nara Lokesh supported the action against the TTD employees and said, “We stand by it.” BJP state vice-president Vishnu Vardhan Reddy welcomed the decision, and said on X, “Thank you, Chairman @BollineniRNaidu Garu, for protecting TTD’s integrity and upholding Hindu values... truly appreciated.” Source of finance for treatment (in %) Household Borrowings Sale of Contributions from Other income physical asset friends & relatives sources Rural 82.5 10.7 0.3 5.3 1.1 Urban 77.1 16 0.6 4.9 1.5 Overall 80.1 13.1 0.4 5.1 1.3 in pvt A17,841.93 D21,128.38 A41,336.25 hospitals Cancer treatment cost in govt/public (avg per case) hospitals in charitable/trust/ NGO-run institutions Source: ‘Report on Household Social Consumption: Health’ express read CSR fund scam to surpass G1,000 cr Kochi/Kannur: The police team investigating the fake corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund scam has widened the net amid complaints that the victims did not receive two-wheelers at half the market price despite making payments. The police estimate the fraud by Anandhu Krishnan, 26, could surpass J1,000 crore | P5 The state, known for its strong health-seeking culture, is facing a paradox. Despite high public awareness and a proactive approach to health, soaring cancer treatment costs are deterring many from seeking early diagnosis and care. This is evident in the low turnout for cancer screenings: out of the 11 lakh people referred for screening since 2022, fewer than 2 lakh (16%) fol- First batch 19 women among 104 deportees from the US h a r p r e e t b a j w a @ Chandigarh Budget to have higher plan outlay T’Puram: The plan outlay in the state budget for 2025-26 is set to be 7 to 10% higher than the current fiscal as the government has decided not to compromise on developmental projects despite financial stress, say sources. The aggregate plan outlay for 2024-25 is J38,886.91 crore. Of this, the state plan outlay is J21,838 crore | P4 Kerala govt staff work fewer hours a week than most counterparts: Study Amid debates over the 70-hour workweek propounded by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and 90-hour workweek proposed by L&T CEO S N Subrahmanyan, a study by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has found that government and local self-government employees in Kerala’s urban areas work 6 hours a day, or 36 h o u r s p e r we e k , o n a n average. They rank 34 in terms of work time in the list that features employees from urban areas of all 28 states and eight union territories in India. Employees in Daman and Diu topped the chart with the most working hours -- an average of 8 hours and 48 minutes per day -- in the urban category while , Dadra and Nagar Haveli stood first in the rural category with an average work time of 9 hours and 49 minutes a day . @ New Delhi TWO years after dismissing India’s AI potential as ‘hopeless’, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Wednesday acknowledged that India has grown to become the second biggest market for his firm’s flagship product, the ChatGPT, after the US. Altman, while discussing India’s progress in AI alongside Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at an event in Delhi, said Open AI has tripled its users in India in the past year. Praising India’s rapid optimisation of the new technology, he said: “The innovation that’s happening, what people are building [in India], it’s really incredible. We’re excited to do much, much more here, and I think it’s (the Indian AI program) a great plan.” During his first visit to India in June 2023, Altman had termed the country’s ability to develop a foundational model similar to ChatGPT “totally hopeless”, suggesting that India would be better off without FinMin asks staff not to use ai apps The finance ministry has directed its officers not to use AI tools/ apps such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek in office devices or computers, saying they pose confidentiality risks to data and documents trying to create its own model. He later claimed his words were taken out of context. Altman says training AI models is still expensive but it is becoming increasingly feasible, so India can take the lead in AI development. His shift in tone comes in the wake of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek creating a foundational model at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI’s offerings. The rise of DeepSeek has put pressure on OpenAI and other Western firms to lower prices to remain competitive. Costly cancer care deterrent to early detection E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Tirumala M S V i d ya n a n d a n @T’Puram E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e The government and LSG employees in urban areas of other southern states reported more working time than in Kerala, with Telangana leading with 8 hours and 14 minutes. This was followed by Tamil Nadu (7 hours and 27 minutes), Andhra Pradesh (7 hours and 17 minutes) and Karnataka (7 hours and 7 minutes). The national average in this category was 7 hours and 4 minutes. The working paper ‘Time Spent on Employment-Related Activities in India: A Note’ was prepared by EAC-PM member Dr Shamika Ravi in the backdrop of some corporate leaders’ call for increasing working hours. The report’s findings were based on ‘Time Use Survey Data (2019) conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’. Government staff in rural Kerala, who work for an average of 5 hours and 59 minutes per day were ranked 20th in , the country The national average was . ● More on P4 6 hours and 5 minutes. Rural Kerala comparison Govt staff in rural Kerala worked more than their counterparts in Karnataka (5 hours and 48 minutes), Goa (5 hours and 37 minutes), Andhra Pradesh (5 hours and 3 minutes) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (4 hours and 49 minutes) A US air force aircraft carrying 104 Indian immigrants from different states landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump dispensation as part of his crackdown against illegal immigration in that country . Of the deportees, 33 each are from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh, sources said. The deportees include 19 women and 13 minors. The US action comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington. The C-17 Globemaster landed at the Amritsar airport at 1.55 pm, where a posse of police personnel were deployed, flanked by some anxious relatives of those who were sent back. All deportees were questioned inside the airport by government agencies, including officials from Ministry of External Affairs and Home Affairs. Arrangements were being made to send all deportees to their homes following background checks, an official said. Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal, who met some deportees at the airport, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene on behalf of Indians facing deportation in the US. Jaspal Singh from Hardorawal in Gurdaspur reached home late in the evening and told local television channels that he had paid `30 lakh to an agent to reach the US through the ‘donkey route’. 36 Hours govt staff in urban Kerala work per week on an average The C-17 Globemaster at Amritsar | PTI lowed through. The Aardram Arogyam campaign survey attributed the low turnout to factors such as fear, ignorance, and financial worries about cancer. A recent report by the Economic and Statistics Department shows nearly 20% of patients across all conditions resort to borrowing money or selling property to fund their treatment. Also, more people in urban areas borrow and sell physical assets to meet treat- ment expenses than those in rural areas. The report, titled ‘Report on Household Social Consumption: Health’ is based on the 75th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) Socio-Economic Survey from July 2017 to June 2018. It says for cancer patients, the financial burden is heavier with average treatment costs in government hospitals being `18,000, the highest expense for any treatment, and `41,000 in private hospitals.  ● More on P4 Financial toxicity is associated with any chronic disease where the out-ofpocket expenditure is over 60%. It is higher in cancer due to expensive treatment Jeemon Panniyammakal, addl prof, SCTIMST