chennai l friday l december 27, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 38 l late 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 | P11 ■ ■ 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 architect of India of our times I hope history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media Manmohan Singh on January 3, 2014 at the fag end of his tenure as PM India wide awake “India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We shall overcome,” Manmohan Singh said in his maiden speech in Parliament on July 24, 1991 santwana bhattacharya Editor E conomical with his words, but gentle in his phrasing, the conversations he struck up were with the times. And he persuaded the times to change. That was Dr Manmohan Singh, the self-effacing savant who rose to perform two big roles for an India in transition — that of prime minister and finance minister. In both roles, he is likely to win a contest with history for having been the most clean of spirit and genuinely courteous, the most P  asses away at 92 following age related medical issues. Declared dead at 9.51 pm s  even-day national mourning expected to be observed l  ast rites will be conducted with full state honours knowledgeable and, arguably, the most transformational. Perhaps only India’s first prime minister could run him close. If Jawaharlal Nehru was the founder-statesman of independent India, the guardian spirit of our formative decades, it was Manmohan who fathered the India we see around us today Its architect, its engineer, . its reticent philosopher. When another gnomic prime minister, Narasimha Rao, picked a safari suit-clad former Reserve Bank of India governor as his second choice finance minister in 1991, it was in a country not yet out of a long famine of new ideas and fresh energy also one wracked , by a decade of militancy, riots and assassinations. Everyone associates Manmohan Singh’s FM years for the way he clanged open the shutters of the Indian economy the , wholesale shift to the so-called Washington Consensus. That became grist for interminable debates — eliciting hurrahs, protectionist fears from local industry and trenchant socialist critique all at once. It didn’t register much in that moment how the unleashing of India’s free market “animal spirits”, to use one of his favourite phrases, helped sublimate animal spirits of the other kind. New cities came up, new landscapes of desire, malls, television channels, affordable flights, mint-fresh IT industries, the telecom boom, the Internet, global cuisine on the local thali — in fact, everything we now know India to be experientially. We perhaps didn’t then realise how much all of that healed us from other traumas of the past. That silent therapeutic effect scaled up to another level during Manmohan’s decade-long incumbency at 7 Race Course Road. Instant historians often saw only the ‘notional losses’, while the long-range lens captures some of India’s best growth years, qualitatively deepened with humane reform. But that was not all. Did India really have a prime minister from a minority community for a whole decade — and nobody didn’t even much notice? Yes, till just the other day . That’s the kind of conversation Manmohan Singh had with history the future and the , present, in his quiet monotone. That will not die away . P9 He will always be remembered for his service to the nation, his unblemished political life and his utmost humility He led India with immense wisdom and integrity. His humility and understanding of economics inspired the nation Droupadi Murmu, President 26 Sep 1932 - 26 Dec 2024 We interacted regularly when he was PM and I was the CM of Gujarat... His wisdom and humility were always visible Narendra Modi, prime minister Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Anna univ rape: FIR with girl’s CWC flags attacks on Constitution name leaked, NCW wants probe Party pushback E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ 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 aiadmk cadre attempt protest, annamalai to go barefoot Condemning the rape, AIADMK cadre attempted 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 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 Melbourne test 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 competent 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. P7 W ITH THIS ISSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 38 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) Kohli shoulder bumps Konstas, will win over 200 seats in ICC penalises assembly polls: CM 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 Bumrah, including a sux, in the most unc o nve n - tional 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.” P13 Speaking at 100th birthday celebration of CPI leader R Nallakannu, Chief Minister Stalin said the ‘permanent DMK bloc’ will clinch a resounding win | P4 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 Independence Movement. It also planned to launch the “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan Abhiyan”, beginning with a rally in Belagavi on Friday and culminating in a rally at Mhow on January 26, 2025. However, in view of former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s death, Friday’s programme was cancelled. KPCC president D K Shivakumar held an emergency press meet, and said a meeting would be held at 10.30 am in Belgavi on Friday to mourn Singh’s demise. 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 Earlier in the day, it was decided to hold rallies and marches in every block, district, and state as well. 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. 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 been stoked in Sambhal and other places for the RSS-BJP’s political gain. The Places of Worship Act 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 the manner in which peaceful protests by Congress were dealt with by the governments in BJP-ruled states. A number of Congress workers lost their lives, which it said is unacceptable. The meeting demanded a socio-economic caste census be conducted at the earliest. The 50% ceiling on quota for SC, ST, and OBC must be increased to enhance the benefits to these 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,” said Priyank Kharge. app in pilot stage Callers can soon track 108 ambulances, send location to drivers 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. P7