COIMBATORE l wednesday l august 21, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 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 R A J ESH K UMA R 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 SU D H I R SU R YAW ANSH I @ 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 ‘Life term for smuggling gold in aircraft panels’ Green Hydrogen project: CM to lay stone today Bharat Bandh against SC ruling today Chennai: Smugglers who conceal gold inside aircraft panels should be booked under Civil Aviation Act, under which they can get a maximum punishment of life term, as such actions affect flight safety, said DRI | P4 Chennai: CM MK Stalin will lay the foundation stone for state’s first Green Hydrogen project worth `36,238 crore in Thoothukudi on Wednesday. Foundation stones for another 27 projects will be laid by the CM on the day | 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 Pr a sa n ta M a z u m da r & J i t e n dr 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. 7 EB staff die in 20 days; questions arise on safety, manpower R K ir u b a k a r a n @ Coimbatore At least seven Tangedco workers, including four wireman, had died of electrocution while attending to power failure complaints in the last 20 days across the state, bringing into focus the risky conditions under which they work and poor safety standards and compliance. According to Tangedco staff union sources, victims Anand of Nilgiris, Aththiyappan of Kallakurichi, Selvaraj of Vazhapadi, and Samuthiram of Kadayanallu were wireman, while the other three —Dinesh and Naveen of Tiruppur district and Senthilkumar of Jayankondam — were gangmen. While officials said rules regarding the mandatory use of ‘safety app’ and uploading of photos showing usage of safety gear at work are honoured more in breach than in compliance, workers blame the manpower shortage for rising fatal and nonfatal accidents in the department. Wiremen and helpers play a vital role in fixing power failures, but a large number of their posts are vacant across TN. This makes the staff force gangmen who are not well-versed in technical work to take up fieldwork, and they are the ones who frequently become victims of accidents. P7 Scores of sanitary staff in poverty; promised pension a mirage N I R UPAMA V I S W ANATHAN @ Chennai Despite suffering in poverty and neglect, not even one temporary cleanliness worker among the lakhs in Tamil Nadu has got the monthly Old Age Pension (OAP) since the Tamil Nadu Cleanliness Workers Welfare Board was constituted in 2007. While officials said that they haven’t received any ap- plication for the `1,000 monthly pension sanctioned by the board, and blame it on poor awareness, activists fault the civic bodies for not educating workers on the welfare measure. According to senior officials of the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, under which the board falls, all temporary staff can receive the ` pension in addition to other state government entitlements as long as they do not draw benefits from any other labour d e p a r t m e n t we l f a re boards. Majority of applications received from such workers are for accident insurance under which the family members will receive `5 lakh in case of accident deaths and `1 to `5 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 S u 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. lakh in case they suffer disability of hands, legs or eyes, officials said. The lack of applications for pension, however, is in stark contrast to the number of sanitary workers who are in need of such post-retirement aid. The board itself has 74,000 registered temporary sanitary workers and none of them have applied for the pension. Continued on P7 Majority of applications received from workers are for accident insurance Dept Officials 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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