tirupati l wednesday l august 21, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION CCI feels Disney-Reliance merger can harm competition: Report According to Reuters, CCI feels the merger of Reliance and Disney assets harms competition due to their power over cricket broadcast rights Merger to create media behemoth Cricket rights bone of contention The Competition Commission of India’s view is a setback to the two firms, whose proposed merged entity would have lucrative rights worth billions of dollars for the broadcast of cricket. Antitrust experts point out that the proposed merger will create India’s biggest entertainment player with a combined strength of 120 TV channels and two streaming services ■ “Cricket is the biggest pain point for CCI,” Reuters quoted a source as saying The CCI has given the two firms 30 days to explain their position. Reuters said CCI earlier sent Reliance and Disney around 100 questions on the merger ■ The firms reportedly said they are willing to sell fewer than 10 television channels to assuage concerns about market power and win early approval ■ $8.5 billion Estimated size of the merger deal between Reliance and Walt Disney 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 Lateral entry quota coming Proposed hiring nixed; PM wants to rework scheme to apply reservation for those posts too RA J ESH K U MAR THA K U R @ New Delhi Police personnel negotiating with protesters blocking railway tracks at Badlapur in Thane district on Tuesday | PTI Thane erupts over sex assault of minor girls in private school S U D HIR S U RYAWA N SHI @ Mumbai Massive protests broke out on Tuesday at Badlapur in Maharashtra’s Thane district over the alleged sexual assault of two girls, aged 4 and 6 years, at a private English medium school by the school sweeper. Hundreds of protesters blocked railway tracks at Badlapur station. With the protesters occupying tracks, 15 longdistance trains were diverted while local train services were suspended for about 10 hours. Police resorted to baton charge after the protesters refused to disperse and started pelting stones at policemen. Meanwhile, another group of protesters, many of them parents, vandalised the school building to express their anger and disgust over the assault. The protesters demanded harsh punishment for the accused, 23-year-old Akshay Shinde. The incidents took place on August 12 and 13 but the accused was arrested only on August 17. The parents of the girls were allegedly made to wait 11 hours at the police station before the FIR was filed. Police sources said the investigation revealed several lapses on the part of the school. There was no female attendant or cleaner for the girl toilet, a basic safety requirement. The accused was entrusted with cleaning the girl’s toilet, where the sexual assault took place. Police officials said most of the CCTV cameras installed at the school were not working. Kolkata hospital horror National task force to frame norms on safety of docs: SC Barely three days after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced 45 vacancies for lateral entry of officers into the bureaucracy the , Centre killed it, heeding to concerns from within the ruling NDA and without. The decision came ahead of assembly elections in J&K and Haryana amid the Opposition’s attack over the lack of quota for those positions. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and the Janatal Dal (United), both NDA allies, too, shared their concerns over the proposed recruitment. Quota is a political hot potato that parties can ignore only at their peril. “Since, these positions have been treated as specialized and designated as single-cadre posts, there has been no provision for reservation in these appointments,” Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh reasoned. However, express read 50-yr-old woman killed in wall collapse TDP, YSRC cadres clash in Tadipatri town Bharat Bandh against SC ruling today Kurnool: As rains continued to lash Kurnool district, a 50-yearold woman died in a wall collapse in Velugodu mandal. In another incident, 25 farm hands, stranded in the Handri River, near Gajjahalli were rescued | P3 Anantapur: Tension gripped Tadipatri as followers of TDP and YSRC clashed following the arrival of former MLA Kethireddy Peddareddy. Residence of a local leader was vandalised & vehicles were damaged | P4 New Delhi: Dalit organisations have called for a Bharat Bandh on Wednesday to protest the recent SC ruling allowing further sub-classification of SC/STs to ensure quota for more backward castes cancelled as requested by the requisitioning authority, says UPSC 2nd ARC okayed lateral entry In line with sixth pay panel report Introducing transparency Lateral entry was endorsed by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) constituted in 2005, Singh said The second ARC was chaired by Veerappa Moily. The recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission in 2013 were also in the same direction While most of the lateral entries before 2014 were ad-hoc, the NDA tried to make it institutionally driven, transparent, open, Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to explore the possibility of introducing quota in lateral entries as well, he indicated. Singh wrote to UPSC Chairperson Preeti Sudan following Modi’s directive to cancel the advertisement, so that marginalised communities get their P r a sa n ta M a z u m da r & J i t e nd r a C h o u b e y @ Guwahati/New Delhi Screengrab of the landslide at Dipudara in Gangtok district on Tuesday | Express A massive landslide struck Sikkim on Tuesday, damaging parts of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation’s 510-mw hydroelectric project on the Teesta river at Dipudara in Gangtok district. Gangtok collector Tushar Nikhare, who visited the site along with other officials, told this paper that the gas-insulated substations (GIS) building of the project was damaged. Food poisoning: Two pvt hostels shut in ASR dist U s h a P e r i @ Visakhapatnam Two private hostels in Alluri Sitarama Raju district — one in Chintapalli mandal and another in Kasipatnam of Anantgiri mandal — have been shut down by the district authorities on Tuesday. The action comes a day after three students died due to severe food poisoning at a hostel run by the Parisudhatma Agni Sthuthi Aradhana (PASA) Trust in Kailasa Patnam, Kotavuratla mandal, Anakapalle. Paderu ITDA project officer V Abishek stated that steps are being taken to verify whether private hostels in the Agency’s jurisdiction are properly registered. “We have formed a committee with officials from the Education Department and ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) to inspect unauthorised hostels,” he explained. On Tuesday Abishek visited King George , Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam, where several affected children from PASA Trust hostel are undergoing treatment. “Seven of the sick children are being treated in three private hospitals. As many as 20 students are at Narsipatnam Area Hospital, 38 in KGH, and eight are at Paderu General HosP4 pital,” he revealed. WB & ADB officials discuss capital plans with Naidu Express News Service @ Vijayawada A delegation of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) called on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the State Secretariat on Tuesday They held discus. sions on the proposed development works to be carried out in Amaravati and on lending financial assistance for the same. According to sources, representatives of the World Bank and ADB will tour the capital city of Amaravati till August 27. The visit by the World Bank officials gains significance as it comes after the Centre had announced `15,000 crore financial support in the Union Budget for the development of Amaravati. As part of their visit to Amaravati, the World Bank team will assess prospects of the capital city after it was developed as per the master plan, study other aspects and thereafter decide on the quantum of financial support it can lend to the State, sources said. In a post on X, the Chief Minister said, “Met with represent- rightful representation in government services. Hours later, the advert was withdrawn. “This aspect (no quota for single-cadre posts) needs to be reviewed and reformed in the context of the Hon’ble Prime minister’s focus on ensuring social justice,” Singh said. Sikkim landslide hits Teesta project Su c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Describing the ongoing protests against the horrific rape and murder for a trainee doctor at a government hospital in Kolkata, as a moment of national catharsis, the Supreme Court on Tuesday constituted a 10-member National Task Force headed by surgeon-major R P Sarin to formulate guidelines for ensuring the safety security and facilities to doctors and health, care staff in hospitals across India. A three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud termed the incident “horrific and horrendous”, adding it indicated a systemic failure of the state machinery . The court hauled up the Kolkata police and the state government for its inaction in the case and allowing a mob to vandalise the RG Kar Medical College and HosChief Justice of India pital, where the victim was murdered. D Y Chandrachud The CJI questioned Bengal’s counsel CBI probe’s Kapil Sibal as to how RG Kar’s Sandip status report Ghosh was appointed to head of another college hours after he stepped down as The court directed principal; why Ghosh initially tried to the CBI to file its pass the death off as suicide; why the probe status report by August 22, when it registration of FIR was delayed; what was the police doing when the hospital would take up the was invaded by a mob; and why did the matter further. The police fail to secure the crime scene? task force has been While urging the agitating health care asked to submit its interim report within practitioners to return to work, the court warned the Bengal government not take three weeks punitive action against them. “Let the power of the state not be unleashed on them at all. Please deal with them with sensitivity This is a moment for national ca. tharsis,” the court said. The task force was asked to prepare an action plan on preventing violence, including gender-based violence against medical professionals; and an enforceable national protocol for dignified and safe working conditions for interns, residents, senior residents, doctors, nurses and all medical professionals. Expressing anguish, the CJI said, “What is equality under the Constitution if women cannot be safe in their workplace.” nixes advert on filling 45 posts Sources said comments of all stakeholders would be taken into account by the government to find out whether or not reservation can be applied to lateral entry recruitment. Dilating on the matter, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, said, “UPSC adopted a very transparent method for lateral entry Now we have de. cided to apply the principle of reservation in that too. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has always shown his commitment towards social justice,” he said. “We gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission which was earlier an ordinary body Be it NEET, Sainik Vidya. laya or Navodaya Vidyalaya, we have implemented the principle of reservation everywhere,” Vaishnaw added. However, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said it was due to the campaign by Rahul Gandhi and the INDIA bloc that the government was forced to a step back on the matter. atives from @WorldBank and @ADB_HQ today to discuss our vision and plans for Amaravati. I have invited both banks to partner with us in this endeavour to create a futuristic capital city for Andhra Pradesh.” Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Ponguru Narayana, officials from the Finance and Municipal Departments also took part in the meeting. I have invited both banks to partner with us to create a futuristic capital city Naidu, Chief Minister Last year’s glacial lake outburst flood had damaged the power station and it was under construction. NHPC said the Teesta basin region has been witnessing landslides during the ongoing monsoon season. “Today’s incident also occurred due to subsidence/landslide over Tail Race Tunnel outlet structure and behind GIS building. This has affected TRT gate hoist structure and part of the GIS building,” it said. According to experts, manmade activities triggered the landslip. “The area received deficient rainfall in the past two weeks,” said G N Raha, scientist, Met Centre Gangtok. “There was no vegetation over the slid hills; also, the hills slope is above 45° 0inclined, which shows soil erosion due to manmade activities from both sides i.e. above the hills, residential buildings causing pressure over fragile phyllite stone and from downward NHPC’s construction,” said professor Manasi Debnath from Nagaland University .
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