visakhapatnam l tuesday l november 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Competition Commission slaps `213 crore penalty on Meta Action over 2021 whatsapp privacy update The penalty is over Meta-owned WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update on a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ basis. The commission said the update forces users to comply, undermining their autonomy, and constitutes an abuse of Meta’s dominant position. The CCI said it constituted “an imposition of unfair condition” under the Competition Act, 2002 The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday imposed `213.14 crore penalty on the company for abusing its dominant position Asks meta to bar whatsapp data sharing ■ ■ The regulator asked the US social media giant to bar WhatsApp from sharing data it collected with other Meta companies The CCI said sharing of user data collected on WhatsApp with other Meta companies for purposes other than for providing WhatsApp services shall not be made a condition for users to access in India Sec 4(2) Of Competition Act, 2002 breached by the 2021 privacy policy update 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 Protester killed; more troops sent to Manipur Helpless local BJP office bearers resign; Shah holds 2nd review meet M U K E SH RA N J A N a n d P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ New Delhi/ Guwahati Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in Manipur with senior officials, his second in as many days. One person was killed and another injured in alleged police firing during mob violence in Jiribam town on Sunday night even as several local office bearers of the ruling BJP submitted their resignations expressing deep concern over the prevailing “unwelcome/ helpless situation”. A mob had gone on the rampage in Jiribam and attacked the offices of the BJP and the Congress, prompting the police to allegedly open fire. The state government has ordered a probe. Given the volatile situation, the Union home ministry decided to send 50 more companies of the Central Armed Police Forces to the trouble-torn state. This is over and above 20 companies sent last week. At the meeting, Shah directed the CAPFs and the state police to intensify their operations to quickly restore normalcy. In Imphal, Chief Express read KGBV principal cuts hair of girls as punishment Visakhapatnam: A shocking incident has emerged at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) in GM Kothuru of G Madugula mandal in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, where the principal allegedly cut the hair of several girl students as punishment for arriving late to school. The incident occurred on November 15 and came to light on Monday | P3 APCID registers case against Posani Vijayawada: APCID on Monday registered a case against actor and YSRC leader Posani Krishna Murali based on a complaint lodged by one Vamsi Krishna against him. The complainant alleged that Posani spread false information about Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at a press conference held in September | P4 Ram Charan visits Pedda Dargah Kadapa: Film actor Ram Charan visited the historic Ameen Peer Dargah (Pedda Dargah) in Kadapa on Monday and took part in the Urs celebrations. At the dargah, Charan participated in Urs rituals, and was honoured by the authorities. “It is a privilege to be part of this sacred celebration. I promised AR Rahman I’d visit, and I’m fulfilling it today,” he said | P3 Minister Govindas Konthoujam’s residence, that was set on fire in Bishnupur | PTI There is no question of withdrawing support. The govt is doing its best but unfortunately, it could not save lives. We appeal to people to exercise restraint — BJP ally Naga People’s Front minister Awangbou Newmai Minister N Biren Singh chaired a meeting with the NDA legislators. Twenty-three MLAs — 14 from BJP, five from its ally Naga People’s Front, three from National People’s Party (NPP) and an Independent — besides the lone Rajya Sabha member attended the meet. The NDA has a strength of 46 in the 60-member House. The NPP served notices to its three MLAs who attended the meet despite the party’s withdrawal of support to the government. The meetings came in the wake of arson attacks and vandalism by mobs targeting the houses and the properties of over a dozen legislators, including ministers. Leishangthem Susindro, a minister, has built a bunker at his house, which was targeted by a mob. The government extended the ban on internet and mobile data services in seven affected districts, and ordered the closure of all educational institutes in Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur districts. Influential Meitei organisation, ‘Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity’, locked the GST Bhavan and election department office on Monday . Interest rates stressful, cut them, FM urges banks E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ Mumbai Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the current cost of borrowing is very stressful and asked banks to cut the interest rates to make borrowing more affordable. “What is important is that when you look at our growth requirements, and you have so many different voices coming out and saying the cost of borrowing is really very stressful, and a time when we want industries to ramp up and move (to) building capacities, interest rates will have to be far more affordable,” Sitharaman said at a SBI event here. Her remarks come amid the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision not to lower the interest rates since February 2023. The rates were left unchanged for the tenth time in the October policy. Retail inflation, too, remains above the tolerance level. With the retail inflation rising to a 14-month high of 6.21% in October, analysts are expecting the central bank to keep the rates unchanged in the next policy review in December as well. However, the finance minister’s nudge came amid concerns about a possible slowdown in economic growth. Falling demand from urban consumers is one of the prime worries. Govt scraps 2-child policy for local polls AP assembly passes seven key bills s v i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who in recent times underlined the need for increasing population, has came up with bills removing the restrictions on those having more than two children to contest the local body elections. The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday passed the bills to amend the AP Panchayat Raj and AP Municipal Acts. As per the amendments, individuals irrespective of the number of children they have, can contest the local body elections hereafter. In fact, it was the Naidu government, which amended the Panchayat Raj and Municipal Administration Department Acts in 1994 to control the population by incorporating the Apart from the bills to amend the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, the AP Municipalities Act, 1965, and the Municipal Corporation Act, 1955, the AP Legislative Assembly passed five other bills on Monday ‘Two children norm’ to disqualify individuals with more than two children from contesting the local body elections. Now, Naidu is of the firm opinion that population management is going to be an asset for the country in the years to come, and is advocating the same on different platforms. Accordingly, the State government tabled the bills to amend the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, the Aurobindo looted money in name of 108 service: Min E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav said Aurobindo, which maintained the 108 ambulances, committed looting in the name of service. Replying to the issue raised by TDP senior MLAs Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar during a discussion in the AP Legislative Assembly on Monday the Health Minister said the , government is yet to pay `800 crore to Aurobindo, and will take a decision on payment of dues after conducting an inquiry into the allegations against it. Accusing Aurobindo, which floated Aurobindo Emergency Medical Services (AEMS), of looting public money without extending the services in collusion with the previous YSRC regime, Somireddy demanded that the government take stringent action against the management. The Aurobindo management belongs to the family of the son-in-law of YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy Though it required to pro. vide emergency medical services to 34 lakh people in the golden hour, Aurobindo extended aid to 17.8 lakh people only as per the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The 108 vehicles were also illequipped. The management exaggerated the number (720 odd) of ambulances by operating fewer vehicles (430), and collected money the TDP MLAs alleged. , Satya Kumar said the government has so far paid `600 to AEMS. “The AEMS looting is nothing but a daylight robbery he said. ,” HC dismisses quash petition of RGV E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday dismissed the quash petition filed by film director Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) seeking interim relief pertaining to a case filed against him at Maddipadu police station for making abusive posts on social media. Hearing the petition, Justice Bop- pana Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Chakravarthi said the High Court cannot give orders similar to the grant of bail in a quash petition. Based on a complaint lodged by TDP mandal secretary Muthanapalli Ramalingaiah that movie posters of RGV’s film ‘Vyuham’ depicted Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh poorly Maddipadu po, lice registered a case against him, and he was asked to appear before the investigation officer on November 19. Varma who filed a quash petition in the High Court, sought interim directions to exempt him from appearing before police. The court directed Varma to cooperate with the investigation. It only happens in India No custodian for locked room in Nirman Bhawan Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi The custody of a nondescript locked room No 4 on the ground floor in ‘A’ wing of Nirman Bhawan has become a mystery of sorts as no one seems to know which ministry or department it has been allotted it. Nirman Bhawan houses offices of a couple of ministries and departments, including the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and its affiliated divisions such as the Central Public Work Department (CPWD), Land and Department Office and the ministry of tribal affairs. However, no ministry or department operating from the complex has come forward to claim its custody despite sending multiple reminders. In a fresh circular recently, the CPWD stated that it would break open the lock under supervision by the panel as no office had responded. Following the notices, only the Directorate of Estates, under the MoHUA, sent its response. “It is still known which department holds the possession of the room in question. November 25 is fixed to open the room,” said an official. Monday date set for breaking open the Lock “All ministries or departments located in Nirmal Bhawan premises are hereby informed that lock of the Room No 4, GF, A Wing will be broken on November 25 at 11 am,” the latest circular said As part of the Special Campaign 4.0 launched by Department of Administrative Refor ms Public Grievances for institutionalising cleanliness and minimising pendency in government offices, the ministries and departments were earlier requested to claim custodianship by November 8. The room’s lock will be broken next Monday at 11 am in the presence of a panel constituted to oversee it. “Further, this room will be taken into this directorate’s (CPWD) custody,” read the latest circular. Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1965, and the Municipal Corporation Act, 1955 to relax the two children norm. While reviewing the population policy three decades after implementation of the two children norm, the government found that as per the National Family Health Survey, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined from 3.7 children in 199292 to 2.1 in 2019-21 in rural areas, and from 2.6 in 2001 to 1.5 in urban areas. “As the declining fertility rates, population stabilisation and changing socio-economic conditions proved to be outdated and counterproductive, the government felt that repealing sections intended to control the population, will promote inclusive governance, reflect contemporary social values and align with global best practices and demographic trends,” the bills read. Considering the decline of TFR, the government came up with the bills to amend the AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, the AP Municipalities Act, 1965 and the Municipal Corporation Act, 1955. Hence, individuals with more than two children will be eligible hereafter to contest the local body elections. TTD decides to surrender non-Hindu staff to govt E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirumala The newly constituted Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board, which met for the first time at Annamayya Bhavan here on Monday took several key , decisions, including surrender o f n o n - H i n d u e m p l oye e s working in Tirumala to the State government, cancellation of lease of land given to Visakha Sarada Peetham, and provision of Darshan to local people on first Tuesday of every month. Disclosing the details of the meeting to mediapersons, TTD Trust Board Chair man BR Naidu said the board took a decision to hold consultations with the employees of other religions working with the TTD. They will be given the option of taking voluntary retirement or joining any other government department, the TTD Chairman said. Asser ting that Visakha Sarada Peetham, which took land on lease from the TTD, committed several violations, he said the land lease will be cancelled and the building constructed on the land will be demolished. Sarada Peetham chief Swamy Swaroopanandendra Saraswati was considered the spiritual guru of former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy . The board also discussed at length on reducing the waiting time for Sarva Darshan. After observing that it is taking up to 30 hours for having Sarva Darshan in some days, the board decided to make use of Artificial Intelligence and hire an expert consultancy to reduce it to not more than two P4 hours.