Long-Delayed census exercise to begin next month: report hubballi l thursday l august 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Representational Image The Centre may start the census exercise from September, Reuters reported quoting two government sources. The exercise will take about 18 months to be completed and the government is planning to release the data by March 2026, the report said. The last population census was conducted in 2011. The next one was supposed to be completed in 2021 but was delayed due to Covid-19. Sources told Reuters that the final approval from the Prime Minister’s Office is awaited 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 Goyal: Amazon hurting small biz in India D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi UNION Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday hit out at E-commerce giant Amazon for its predatory pricing practices that hurt Indian retailers. At an event, he said Amazon’s billion-dollar investment in India is no cause for celebration as it is only making good for the losses it made by indulging in predatory pricing. “They made a billion-dollar loss in their balance sheet... They have to fill in that loss,” he said. In FY23, Amazon Seller Services reported net losses of `4,854 crore, up from `3,649 crore a year ago. Amazon has pledged $15 billion additional investment in India by 2030, taking its total investments in the country to $26 billion. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made this announcement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit in 2023. Unimpressed by this, Goyal said the company paid thousands of crores to professionals. “I don’t know who these professionals are. I am a chartered accountant, and I have done law; I would love to know which chartered accountants, professionals, lawyers get `1,000 crore unless you are paying all the top lawyers to block them so that nobody can fight a case against you,” he said. Goyal was probably referring to claims made by the Confederation of All India Traders in 2021 that Amazon paid $1.2 billion (`8,456 crore) towards legal expenses during FY19 and FY20. However, Amazon had clarified that its total legal and professional expenses in FY20 stood at `1,967 crore. An Amazon spokesperson said the company has no comments on Goyal’s charges. e x p r e ss r e a d 17 dead as fire erupts in AP pharma unit Atchutapuram (AP): A fire accident at a pharma unit here on Wednesday left 17 dead and 33 injured, and the damage could have been worse but for the lunch break that saw few workers in the plant when the blaze erupted. P5 Ghosh no more head of National Medical College RG Kar gets CISF cover; govt tries damage control E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kolkata A day after the Supreme Court ordered CISF protection for the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata where a trainee doctor was recently raped and murdered, the paramilitary force with 150 personnel was deployed there, while protests against the horrific crime continued across the city on Wednesday . Stung by the Supreme Court questioning the haste with which RG Kar’s principal Sandip Ghosh was appointed as head of another institution, the West Bengal government on Wednesday cancelled it to limit damage. It had appointment him principal of the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital hours after he had put in his papers. The state government had appointed Dr Suhrita Pal as the new principal of RG Kar in place of Ghosh. But she was working from the Swasthya Bhavan, the health department’s headquarters, instead of coming to the college. Her appointment, too, was cancelled. Besides, RG Kar superintendent Bulbul Mukhopadhyay and the head of the department of the hospital’s chest medicine department, Arunava Dutta Choudhury were removed. , Senior CISF officer K Pratap Singh told reporters, “we have come here for some assignment. Let us finish our work, then senior officers will brief RG Kar’s new principal chucked out E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Koppal Doctors raise slogans during a protest rally over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Inset) CISF Inpector General Shikhar Sahai, left, after a meeting at RG Kar | PTI you. I am doing my job.” Nivedita Sarkar, a student of RG Kar, said, “If we feel safe after the CISF taking charge of the hospital security we would , request the Central government to retain it on the campus for a few months more.” The SC on Tuesday had pulled up the state government and questioned the Kolkata Police’s response when a rampaging mob vandalised the hospital early August 15. Earlier in the day junior doc, tors and medical students took B’desh journos hounded, Hindu teachers sacked Ye s h i Sel i @ N e w D el h i While the interim government in Bangladesh claims that the current situation there is close to normal, well places sources in the country said journalists considered close to the erstwhile Sheikh Hasina regime are being viewed as criminals and hounded out or and arrested. Hindu teachers, too, are losing their jobs. Sources also said students have set up vigilante groups and are sermonising citizens on how to conduct themselves. Shakil Ahmed, former editor of a private channel, and his wife (also a journalist) Farzana Rupa, were arrested at Dhaka airport along with their daughter on Wednesday They were trying to . go to France. As for Hindu teachers, nearly 70 of them have allegedly been forced to resign, according to a source. These include Geetanjali Barua, principal of Azimpur Government Girls School and College in Dhaka. Students tied her to a tree with a rope. The army had to rescue her. Similarly Sonali Rani Das was forced , to resign. She was an assistant professor of Holy Red Crescent Nursing College. “In a real sense, normalcy hasn’t re- Geetanjali Barua, principal of a college in Dhaka, tied to a tree | Special Arrangement turned. There is tension although people are slowly returning to their earlier routine,’’ Prof Nazmul Ahsan Kallilmullah, a political commentator, told this newspaper. Student vigilante groups are are pulling up smokers and asking them to abstain, with a warning. They are also telling businessmen not to take more than 5 taka as profit on their sale, which is in sync with the radical Islam. “There are many names circulating for replacing Sheikh Hasina as president of her Awami League. Elections will not be announced for a long time and there are talks of even banning the Awami League,’’ source said. B’luru to host Enigma’s first 26-yr-old man concert in India on Oct 5 rapes 65-yr-old woman at hosp E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru Enigma, the iconic new-age and world-beat musical project, known for its blend of Gregorian chants and atmospheric sounds, will make its live debut in India on October 5. The live concert will be held at Jayamahal Palace Grounds in Bengaluru. Chintan Chinappa, co-founder of The Indian Artists Collective (TIAC), said that the event will feature the original voices of Enigma — Andru Donalds, Angel X, and Fox Lima — accompanied by a symphony orchestra along with a live ensemble of musicians and dancers. “This will be the first time Enigma performing live in India, offering fans a rare opportunity to experience the unique soundscapes that have captivated audiences worldwide since the band’s founding in E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kolar the 1980s,” Chinappa said. According to him, the project had achieved iconic status without ever embarking on a live tour. The concert is being organised by TIAC and tickets are available on Zomato. HDK will be arrested in mining case if needed: CM Police arrested a 26-year-old man for allegedly raping a 65-year-old woman on the government hospital premises in Chinthamani near here early Wednesday . According to police, the woman went to the hospital on Tuesday evening for some ailment. After getting treatment, she could not return to her house at Chikka Muni Mangala in Chinthamani taluk as there were no buses at night. Meanwhile, it started raining and with no place to go, she slept in the vehicle parking area of the hospital. Around 1:30 am, the accused, identified as Arif of Halli Naar in Chinthamani, came to the hospital with some minor injuries. While returning home, he noticed the woman sleeping in the parking area where he allegedly raped her, the police said. out a march to Swasthya Bhavan asking why the government failed to take any step against Ghosh despite serious alle gations of cor ruption against him. Opposition parties too hit the streets. The Congress held a march to Lalbazzar, the police headquarters, seeking to know why the personnel in khaki tried to pass off the murder as suicide and seeking speedy justice for the victim. Some Congress leaders were arrested and later released. In a retaliatory mood, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday sent a strong message to Opposition parties stating that JDS leader and Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy will be arrested, if necessary, in the alleged illegal mining lease case. Siddaramaiah was reacting to Kumaraswamy’s statement that the CM is thinking of getting him arrested in the case. This statement of Kumaraswamy clearly indicates that he is now scared of getting arrested, the CM said. The CM, however, said that time hasn’t come for Kumaraswamy’s arrest. Siddaramaiah said, “The governor is delaying sanction to prosecute Kumaraswamy whereas he granted per, mission to prosecute me in haste. Isn’t this discrimination?” The CM said Kumaraswamy should be worrying now that the governor might give permission to prosecute him. Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy addresses a press conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday | Shashidhar Byrappa Though the Lokayukta SIT submitted a report against Kumaraswamy and sought permission for his prosecution, the governor did not initiate any action. The SIT has sought the governor’s permission again to prosecute Kumaraswamy he added. , Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s statement that he will release documents related to the MUDA sites’ scam, Siddaramaiah said he has no information about it and added that Kumaraswamy is known for his “hit-and-run” MORE REPORTS: P4 tactics.
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