villupuram l thursday l october 17, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Diwali bonanza for Central govt staff/pensioners as DA/DR up 3% The government’s decision is with effect from July 1 this year and will benefit more than 1 crore employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali DA/DR now at 53% of basic pay/pension cABINET CLEARS HIGHER MSP FOR RABI CROPS Earlier, the Centre had hiked DA/DR by 4 percentage points to 50% from January 1 , 2024. With the latest hike, DA and DR are now 53% of the basic pay/pension of central government employees / pensioners. The DA hike is based on the 12-month average of All India Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said after the Cabinet meeting ■ ■ The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also cleared the price hikes for six rabi crops, with increases ranging from `130 to `300 per quintal for 2025-26 marketing season beginning April 2025 The Minimum Support Price for wheat has been increased by `150 to `2,425 per quintal, a move that comes ahead of key state elections | P7 `9,448 crore Estimated Financial implication of the da/DR hike on the Central government 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 India violated sovereignty of Canada: Trudeau 70% flood work completed in Chennai: CM E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai US, UK and other members of the Five Eyes group ask India to probe Canadian charges of suspects. The RCMP felt it had reached the threshold as it Canadian Prime Minister was soon turning to be a threat Justin Trudeau on Wednesday to public safety he added. , said there were clear indicaTrudeau said that when he tions that India had violated apprised Prime Minister NarenCanadian sovereignty alluding dra Modi in September 2023 (on , to the murder of Khalistani the sidelines of the G20 Summit radical Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Delhi) about the informain British Columbia last year. tion, he said that there CanadiHe was testifying before a ans who were involved in hate federal commission probing speeches and India would like into foreign interferthem arrested. “I told ence in the country. Modi that the people Trudeau named gangin Canada had freester Lawrence Bishdom of speech and we noi jailed in India, as would work with Inone of the conduits dia if it came to for criminal activiterrorism.’’ ties in Canada at the Earlier in the day, India asked alleged behest of the Canada’s allegations for proof Modi government. found resonance in Trudeau said Indi- Trudeau said they the Five Eyes intellian diplomats were engaged with the gence alliance it is collecting informa- Modi govt as they part of. The grouping tion of Canadians wanted to know if includes the UK, the who were opponents Indian agencies US, Australia and of or in disagreement were involved in New Zealand. “When with the Modi gov- harming Canadians it comes to the Canaernment. They passed as they needed to dian matter, we have the information to be accountable. made clear that the their gover nment, But India sought allegations are exw h i c h e m p l o y e d evidence, he said tremely serious and criminals like the they need to be taken Lawrence Bishnoi gang to seriously And we wanted to see . harm Canadians, he alleged. the government of India coopThe Royal Canada Mounted erate with Canada in its invesPolice (RCMP) wanted to dis- tigation,” State Department rupt this chain, which is why spokesman Matthew Miller they went public on Monday he told reporters. “Obviously they , , said. “We wanted to question have not,” he said. “They have the Indian diplomats but since chosen an alternate path.” they didn’t agree we asked As for Britain, its Foreign them to leave the country .’’ Commonwealth and DevelopTrudeau alleged that Indian ment Office said, “The Governdiplomats were involved in cov- ment of India’s cooperation ert, clandestine activities, and with Canada’s legal process is were withholding family visas the right next step.” Yes h i S e l i @ New Delhi Omar takes oath as Jammu & Kashmir cm F AYA Z WANI @ Srinagar NATIONAL Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday took over as the first elected Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory after Article 370 was read down. In a bid to maintain a balance between Kashmir and Jammu regions, Omar appointed giant killer Surinder Choudhary, who defeated J&K BJP president Ravindra Raina in Nowshera in the Jammu province, as the deputy CM. Omar also gave two ministerial berths to the region, while the other two ministers are from the Valley . However, NC’s pre-poll alliance partner Congress chose not to join the government claiming it has decided to sit out till statehood is restored. Sources said the Congress is miffed with the NC’s offer of one cabinet berth as the grand old party, which has six MLAs, has been eyeing two berths. Since J&K is a UT with 90-member Assembly there could be , nine ministers including the CM. However, Omar filled only six posts on Wednesday leaving three posts vacant. , Dr Ambedkar Nagar in Veppampatti, Pallikaranai, inundated with rainwater following the rainfall on Wednesday | ashwin prasath Depression shuns TN, pounds AP; RMC withdraws red alert E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai Though a red alert was issued for Chennai, Tiruvallur and other neighbouring districts on Wednesday, change in direction of the depression led to a significant drop in rainfall in most places since Wednesday morning. Later in the day, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) withdrew the red alert issued to Chennai, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. The drop in rainfall was due to the depression drifting northwest instead of the pre- dicted west-northwest direction, according to a few weather bloggers. The change in the direction of the weather system resulted in north Tamil Nadu receiving sparse rainfall and south Andhra Pradesh being pounded by showers, they said. “But the possibility of very heavy rainfall for north Tamil Nadu cannot be ruled out until the depression makes the expected landfall early on Thursday,” independent weather blogger K Srikanth said. “Due to a shift of 50-75km in the depression’s path, the cloud Terrorism will not boost trade, EAM’s veiled dig at Pak Y E S HI S E LI @ New Delhi TAKING a jab at Pakistan’s policy of nurturing and exporting terror, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that three evils— terrorism, extremism, and separatism—are holding back regional cooperation initiatives. Speaking at the 23rd Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Islamabad, Jaishankar said these evils should be rooted out before any progress can be made on trade and people-to-people connect. “Our endeavours will progress only when our commitment to the SCO Charter remains firm… this means being firm and uncompromising in countering the ‘three evils’. If activities across borders are characterized by terrorism, extremism and separatism, they are hardly likely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in parallel,” he said in remarks seen as directed towards Pakistan. In a veiled dig at China, with which India has an ongoing border dispute, Jaishankar said trade and connectivity initiatives must recognise territorial integrity and sovereignty, and it is essential to have an “honest conversation” on lack of trust. “If trust is lacking or cooperation inadequate, if friendship has fallen short and good neighbourliness is missing somewhere, there are surely reasons to introspect and causes to address,” he said. Even though no official bilateral talks were scheduled with Pakistan, sources said Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar held informal talks on two occasions since Tuesday . colonial legacy Purged Blindfold off SC’s new Statue of Justice S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi A new Statue of Justice unveiled in the Supreme Court library for judges does not have the iconic blindfold and the sword. The new open-eyed statue instead holds a copy of the Constitution of India in the left hand. There, however, is no change in the scales of justice in her right hand. Commissioned by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, the idea behind removing the blindfold was to send a message that the law is not blind in the country. The blindfold in the colonial era statue signified equality before the law. And the sword had represented authority and the power to punish injustice. A source said Justice Chandrachud believes that India should move forward from the British legacy Accord. ing to the CJI, the law is never blind; it sees everyone equally . Quoting the CJI, the source said, “the statue should have the Constitution in one hand and not a sword, so that a message goes out to the country that she dispenses justice according to the Constitution.” While the sword is a symbol of violence, courts deliver justice according to constitutional laws, he reasoned. The Supreme Court complex already has a mural on the Lady of Justice in classical Indian attire with more or less the same theme. convergence shifted towards souther n Andhra Pradesh. The depression’s circulation is currently unstructured, with the lower levels over the sea and the upper levels over land, causing a westward tilt. This has led to interior regions like Rayalaseema receiving rainfall,” Srikanth said. Briefing reporters on Wednesday, S Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, RMC, Chennai, said that moderate rainfall is expected to continue across the state for the next three days. P5 Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday assured the residents of Chennai city and its suburban areas that a permanent solution to the long-standing issue of flooding during monsoon is in the works. Around 25%-30% of the work is yet to be done and would be completed soon, he said. “Flood prevention works carried out by the state government in Chennai have indeed helped manage heavy rains in the city We have . been taking precautionary steps to face the northeast monsoon. When the DMK government assumed office in 2021, a committee headed by retired IAS Officer V Thiruppugazh was appointed to recommend flood prevention measures for Chennai,” the CM said, while inspecting rain-hit locations in Pallikaranai and other areas. He further explained, “The government has been implementing the works (for flood prevention) step by step, since all of it cannot be completed in one go. Currently, about 25%30% work is left.” P5 exotic species haul by chennai customs Customs officials seized four Siamang Gibbon monkeys and 52 green iguanas from a Malaysian national who landed at Chennai airport from Kuala Lumpur on October 13 | P2
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.