kozhikode l tuesday l august 27, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Amid demand for statehood, Ladakh gets 5 new districts Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday announced the creation of five new districts in Ladakh, raising the total number to seven Move expected to improve governance Local organisations welcome decision The new districts are: Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang. At present, Ladakh has two districts—Leh and Kargil. Due to its size—it is the largest UT in terms of area—and difficult terrain, the UT faces administrative challenges. The move to have more districts could address this. Locals have welcomed the decision with the hope that it will improve governance ■ Congress’ Ladakh chief Nawang Rigzin Jora said: “Creating five more districts further strengthens our demand for statehood because the UT of Pondicherry with only four districts has a legislative assembly.” ■ Ladakh Buddhist Association president Chering Dorje Lakrook said: “This will benefit people in far-flung areas by getting all facilities at their doorstep.” 86,904 sq km total area of Ladakh, which has a population of 2.74 lakh (2011 census) 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 Rally to Secretariat illegal: Kolkata Police Swarm of people in RG Kar’s seminar hall seen in purported new vid S ula g na S en g up ta @ Kolkata A purported video showing several outsiders, including the police, private security guards, lawyer Shantanu Dey, forensic expert Debasish Shome and hospital staff, at the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College on August 9 — the day a trainee doctor’s body was found there — but not the victim’s family members, has emerged, raising serious questions over crowding the crime scene and tampering of evidence. Meanwhile, a ‘Nabanna (Secretariat) Abhijan’ rally planned , by students under the ‘Sangrami Mancha and Chhatra Samaj’, seeking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation, was illegal, the West Bengal police, adding that no permission was sought for holding such a protest on Tuesday and that there were inputs over possible unrest during the march. The 43-second video raised questions on who called the lawyer and why the hospital authorities failed to file a case of unnatural death. This newspaper could not independently verify the authenticity of the clip. The Kolkata Police, however, claimed that the seminar hall was cordoned off. “The seminar room measures 51’ X 32’. The place where the victim’s E X PRE S S REA D State seeks K2k-crore central aid for Wayanad T’Puram: The state government has sought a financial aid of I2,000 crore from the Union government for the Wayanad rehabilitation package under the Disaster Management Act. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who reached New Delhi on Monday, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday at 10.30am. The CM is expected to personally appeal to the PM for a favourable consideration of the state’s request. On his visit to the landslide-hit regions of Wayanad, Modi had announced that the Union government would give all support to the state for rehabilitation and relief work. P5 Junior doctors protest against the rape-murder of a trainee doctor, in Kolkata | PTI New Principal of RG Kar called to cbi office The CBI has named Sandip Ghosh, former principal, in the FIR in connection with its probe into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. On Monday, new principal Manas Kumar Bandhyopadhyay and new deputy superintendent Saptarshi Chakraborty were called by the CBI at their office in Salt Lake body was found inside the seminar room was cordoned off using curtains. There is no question of anyone entering that area. People, who can be seen gathering in the video, were all outside the cordoned off area,” said a senior officer. However, the state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, “The video shows that the crime scene had almost become a fair ground.” IN a bid to help smaller borrowers, especially those in rural areas, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to launch a Unified Lending Interface (ULI). The RBI is currently piloting an application for ‘frictionless credit’ and it will be launched nationwide soon; it will become the UPI on the credit side, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said. The new technology is aimed at reducing the time taken for appraisal, especially for smaller borrowers and those in rural areas, he added. “The Reserve Bank had last year started a tech platform for enabling frictionless credit. The central bank proposes to call it a Unified Lending Interface. The initiative is still in pilot stage and will be launched in due course,” Das said while delivering the keynote address at the Global Conference on Digital Public Infrastructure A N N A J O S E @Kochi The tsunami that hit the Malayalam film industry after the release of the Justice Hema Committee report continued to wreak havoc with more women coming out with allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against several big names in the field, including actor Jayasurya and filmmaker V K Prakash. On Monday actor-producer , Maniyanpilla Raju, actors Edavela Babu and Baburaj, and director Thulasidas also came under the cloud of harassment allegations. Meanwhile, the Kochi city police registered a case against Ranjith after a Bengali actor filed a sexual harassment complaint against the filmmaker. Ranjith had resigned as the chairman of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy following the allegations. Rocking the film fraternity further, senior actor Geetha Vijayan, actor Minu Muneer and a junior artist went public on Monday to narrate the traumatic experiences they encountered from some of their male colleagues. Perhaps, the biggest name to figure in the allegations on the day was Jayasurya. Minu Muneer, who acted in a slew of Malayalam movies, alleged Jayasurya hugged and kissed her forcibly on the sets of the 2008-movie Dhe Ingottu Nokkiye. “Without my consent, he hugged me from behind and when I turned around, he kissed on my lips. I was frightened and ran away from there,” she said. In a Facebook post, Mini also accused actors Mukesh, Edavela Babu and Maniyanpilla Raju, and two technicians of physical and verbal abuse. “In 2013, I was subjected to physical and verbal abuse by these people while working on a project. I tried to continue working. However, when the abuse became u n b e a r abl e, I w a s forced to leave the Malayalam film industry and relocate to Chennai. I am now seeking justice and accountability for the trauma and suffering I endured. I request assistance in taking action against their heinous actions,” she wrote in the post. Putting V K Prakash in the dock, a young writer from Kochi has accused him of sexual misconduct. “I went to meet him to tell a story However, he . offered me a role in his film and asked me to enact a vulgar and intimate scene. I felt uncomfortable, and when I objected, he acted the scene himself and tried to touch my body,” she said, adding that she later left the place, reject● More on P4 ing the offer. Row over scope of probe Kochi: Though the government established an seven-member team to probe the allegations of sexual abuse in the film industry, there is no mention about the Hema Committee Report in the announcement. This has sparked criticism that the move is merely a face-saving exercise, with no genuine effort to address the serious issues mentioned in the report. P4 Maiden SIT meeting The sevenmember special investigation team will hold its maiden offline meeting on Tuesday to discuss the next course of action. P4 Lapses on the part of AMMA: Prithviraj E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @Kochi People facing sexual harassment allegations while holding positions in the Malayalam film industry should step down and face investigation, actor Prithviraj Sukumaran has said. Addressing a press conference in Kochi on Monday he said there were lapses on the , part of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) in dealing with sexual harassment complaints. Strong interventions are required from the part of the association, the actor said. “These allegations should be taken seriously There has to be a foolproof . investigation against those facing the charges. If found guilty strict action should , be taken against the accused. Also, if it’s proved that the allegations are made with ulterior motives, those who raised them should be punished,” Prithviraj said. On the Hema Committee report, the actor-producer said there is no reason for him to be shocked. “I’m among those who appeared before the committee to give a statement. I’m not shocked, rather I’m looking forward to know the steps taken by the authorities to implement the recommendations,” ● More on P4 Prithviraj said. BJP distances itself from Kangana gyan Maha embarrassment H arpree t B ajwa @ Chandigarh A day after versatile actor and newbie BJP Lok Sabha member Kangana Ranaut’s foot-inthe-mouth statement on the 2020 farmers agitation, the national party leadership disowned her statement, adding she is neither permitted nor authorised to comment on the party’s policy matters. Kangana had posted a clip of an interview in which she suggested that a “Bangladesh-like situation” could have erupted in India following the agitation against the three controversial farm laws, had the country’s leadership not been strong. She went on to allege that “bodies RBI plans new interface for small borrowers B en K ochuveedan @ Mumbai Kolkata Mayor and TMC minister Firhad Hakim, in his rebuttal said, “Some over-enthusiastic people may have gathered there. Later, police sealed the crime scene.” As for the proposed rally on Tuesday, ADG (Law & Order) Manoj Kumar Verma said, “Nabanna is a restricted area. So far no one has sought our permission to hold protest near Nabanna.” More allegations, new names rock Malayalam cinema and Emerging Technologies, a part of RBI@90 initiative, in Bengaluru Monday . He emphasised that the ‘new trinity’ of JAM-UPI-ULI will be a revolutionary step forward in India’s digital infrastructure journey . The ULI platform facilitates seamless and consent-based flow of digital information, including land records of various states, from multiple data service providers to lenders. This is expected to cut down the time taken for credit appraisal, especially for smaller a n d r u r a l borrowers. The RBI governor said the banking regulator is constantly working on devising new policies, systems and platforms to make financial sector stronger, nimble, customer-centric. Das also noted that UPI has the potential to evolve into a cheaper and quicker alternative to the available channels of cross-border remittances. were hanging and rapes were taking place” during the farmers’ protest and pointed fingers at a larger conspiracy at the behest of America and China behind the agitation. Sensing the damage it could cause to the party, its central leadership put out a rather harsh statement, saying: “On behalf of the party Ms Ranaut , is neither permitted nor authorised to comment on policy matters. The Bharatiya Janata Party has directed Kangana Ranaut to not make any statement of this kind in future.” The party apparently is worried over its possible fallout in the Haryana assembly elections slated for October 1, as farmers File photo of BJP MP Kangana Ranaut during the Parliament session | PTI and Jats are already unhappy with the BJP in the state, though the party is pulling out all the stops to woo them. This is not the first time Kangana made adverse remarks against the farmers’ protests. She dissed the agitation in the past as well, which provoked a CISF lady constable to slap her at the Chandigarh airport a few months ago. All India Kisan Sabha president Ashok Dhawale described Kangana’s remarks as highly condemnable. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who is a Lok Sabha member, lashed out at her, saying she is “mentally ill”. The Punjab unit of AAP described the BJP reprimanding Kangana as a strategic move ahead of the elections. Senior spokesperson Neel Garg said the BJP has historically rewarded loose cannons like Kangana and and Ajay Mishra Teni. as Modi-inaugurated Shivaji statue collapses Central govt report Gender pay gap among casual labourers high in Kerala M S V idyanandan @ T’Puram Kerala is one of the states with the highest gender pay gaps in the country when it comes to casual labourers. The male casual labourers, both in the rural and urban areas of the state, earn the highest daily wage in the country at `846 and `903, respectively But Ma. layali women are not as lucky as their male counterparts — they are ranked fifth for both rural and urban areas, according to the ‘Women and Men in India 2023’ report from the Union government. Women earn just half of what men earn — 50.47% in rural Kerala and 45.29% in urban areas. The state has the third highest gender pay gap in the country for rural and urban areas, showed the report. In rural Kerala, the average daily wage for casual labourers, other than public works, is `846 for men and `419 for women. The wages in urban areas Gender Pay Gap in Kerala (Difference between male and female wages in %) Category Rural Urban Casual labourers 50.47 45.29 Professionals 32.18 16.87 Technicians 33.02 19.44 Clerks 30.77 4.30 Service, sales workers 13.33 25.76 Skilled agri workers 42.35 53.09 Craft workers 58.76 55.67 Elementary occupations 53.33 51.14 are `903 and `494, respectively The national aver. age wages for men and women in rural areas are `416 and `287, and urban areas `515 and `333, respectively. The wage gap for the country in rural and urban areas is 31% and 35.34%, respectively . As per the report, Puduch- erry recorded the highest gender gap for rural areas in the country at 61.02%, followed by Tamil Nadu (51.33%). For urban areas, Lakshadweep came first with 49.69% followed by Gujarat at 46.12%. Women in Tripura earn the highest daily wage (`647) in rural areas and in urban areas, Delhi women top the list with `600. “Women are largely engaged in unskilled work which is a major reason for the income inequality,” said State Planning Board’s former member K N Harilal. “The huge gender wage gap is not good for Kerala, a progressive state in many ways. Casual labourer women are mostly engaged in unskilled work in construction and agriculture sectors. Skill difference may partly explain the wage gap. But the variation in wages for women and men doing the same work is discrimination and a serious issue,” he said. ● More on P4 Remnants of the Shivaji statue at Rajkot Fort. Inset: before the collapse S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai A giant statue of Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023 in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district, came crashing down on Monday. The 35-foot statue broke into several pieces around 1 pm at Rajkot Fort in Malvan, officials said. Following the incident, the opposition parties slammed the BJP-Shiv Sena-led state government, accusing it of using low-quality material for the statue. Taking potshots at PM Modi, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar said no work done under him is of good quality. “The BJP government and its leaders are high on publicity stunts and low on good quality delivery,” he said. NCP(SP) leader Jayant Patil said: “The Maharashtra government accepts commissions and gives contracts accordingly .” Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde blamed it on the gusty winds and vowed to rebuild the statue. “The wind was blowing at a speed of 45km per hour, which caused the statue to fall... It was designed and built by the Navy. We will rebuild it even stronger... Navy officials will also take part in the rebuilding,” he said.
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