NAGAPATTINAM l tuesday l april 23, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION spice-mix products sold in India under lens over cancer risk Food safety regulator starts taking samples after Hong Kong and Singapore flagged high ethylene oxide levels in spices-mix products from India ethylene oxide is a Group 1 carcinogen Four products under scrunity The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said it is taking samples of spices in powder form of all brands, including MDH and Everest—the two companies whose products are under scrutiny in Singapore and Hong Kong. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified ethylene oxide as a Group 1 carcinogen | P10 ■ ■ Singapore and Hong Kong specifically banned the sales of three pre-packaged spice-mix products of MDH—Madras Curry Powder, Curry Powder, Sambhar Masala—and Everest’s Fish Curry Masala Hong Kong food safety regulator warned that those violating the ban could face six months imprisonment and a fine of $50,000 `32,000 cr worth of spices exported by India In fiscal year 2022-23 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 Surat of things HC nixes 24,600 school teacher jobs in Bengal to come as BJP gets 1st LS seat S u l a g n a S e n g u p ta @ Kolkata Party’s candidate Dalal elected unopposed D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad The BJP on Monday opened its 2024 Lok Sabha account from Surat by winning the constituency without any contest. In the process, Mukeshbhai Dalal became the first candidate of any party since 12 years in a general election to be elected unopposed. The last such instance was of Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav winning the Kannauj Lok Sabha bypoll in 2012 unopposed. Eight other candidates left in the Surat fray withdrew after Congress nominee Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination form was rejected by returning officer Sourabh Pardhi on Sunday . Kumbhani’s papers had purported inconsistencies in the signatures of his proposers. The papers of the Congress dummy candidate Suresh Padsala, too, were rejected on similar grounds. “As all eight candidates who had successfully filed their papers for the Surat Lok Sabha seat withdrew on Monday Dalal has been elected , unopposed,” said Pardhi. The Surat Congress, however, claimed that the entire exercise was premeditated. Surat Congress leader Pappan Togadia told this newspaper, “I alerted party leaders and the South Gujarat Congress incharge, Usha Naidu, about plot to reject Kumbhani’s papers. But my warnings went unheeded. I believe Kumbhani will poll day murder TN cops book 3 for social media post; BJP chief may face action E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Cuddalore The Srimushnam police in Cuddalore district on Monday filed a case against three individuals, including a person identified as Sinha who operates a twitter handle in support of right-wing ideologies, for falsely sharing posts on WhatsApp and ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) about the murder of a woman in Tamil Nadu on the polling day on Friday The accused had . shared a report that said Gomathi (46) was murdered by members belonging to a political party for soliciting support for BJP near Chidambaram. Sources also said the police are also considering taking action against state BJP president K Annamalai for allegedly sharing the post online. A statement issued by Cuddalore district superintendent of police’s office on Sunday had said the murder was because of a longstanding enmity between two groups and there was no political motive to it. According to Srimushnam police sources, Gomathi’s husband K Jayakumar and his brother K Jaishankar (50) had a running feud with their relatives K Kalaimani (35) and J Ravi (45). Continued on p5 BJP’s Surat seat candidate Mukeshbhai Dalal after he was elected unopposed soon join the BJP .” While the last day for filing nomination papers was Friday , their scrutiny happened the following day. The withdrawal window for candidates closed at 3 pm on Monday . The drama began on Saturday with the BJP questioning the legitimacy of signatures on Kumbhani’s papers. Subsequent scrutiny revealed that three persons who proposed Kumbhani’s candidature, claimed their signatures were forged. For his part, Kumbhani alleged that his supporters had been abducted. Curiously, Kumbhani’s proposers are close relatives. All three vanished since the controversy broke. Amid a Congress scramble to legally challenge the rejection of his papers, Kumbhani left for Goa purportedly to avoid signing the papers. There is also speculation about his links with Patidar leaders Alpesh Kathiriya and Dharmik Malaviya, who quit the AAP last week and are said to be bound for the BJP . The Calcutta High Court on Monday cancelled all appointments of teachers and nont e a ch i n g s t a f f re c r u i t e d through the West Bengal School Service Commission’s (WBSSC) State Level Selection Test2016 (SLST-2016) after it found that bribes were paid to secure recruitments. The order will cancel more than 24,000 appointments. About 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the SLST-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts. A division bench of the court comprising justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Heatwave conditions continue to prevail over north interior districts of Tamil Nadu where the mercury went up several degrees above normal on Monday. Dharmapuri recorded its highest temperature in the past eight years on Monday but Erode topped the chart , with a sizzling 43 de g ree Celsius. The regional meteorological centre (RMC) in Chennai has issued a temperature warning till April 26. “Due to high temperatures and humid conditions, hot and uncomfortable weather is likely at isolated pockets over Tamil Nadu during the next five days,” said P Senthamarai Kannam from RMC. The all-time record for Dharmapuri was 42.2 degree Celsius recorded on April 25, 2016. The second highest of 41.2 degree Celsius was recorded on ‘Justice after years of struggle’ As the Calcutta High Court delivered its order cancelling appointments, hundreds of school job aspirants waiting outside the court premises rejoiced with many breaking into tears. “We had been waiting for this day. After years of struggle on the streets, justice has finally been delivered,” one of them said a fresh recruitment process. Reacting to the court order, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her government will challenge the ‘illegal’ verdict. “The court verdict cancelling all recruitments is illegal. We stand by those who lost their jobs. We will ensure you get justice, and challenge the order in a higher court,” she said. Training her guns on the BJP Mama, ta said: “It has turned the courts into their extended party offices. If the BJP files a PIL, prompt action is taken and people are sent to jail. No action is initiated when others file.” She went on to allege that people aligned with the BJP are given important positions. Former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay who joined the BJP recently said: “I have said in ‘Projections based on data entered in app led to variation’ Mullaiperiyar: TN rejects Survey of India report New Delhi: Tamil Nadu on Monday opposed in the Supreme Court the finding of Survey of India which said Kerala has not encroached upon land covered under the Periyar Lake Lease Agreement of October 1886 while executing a parking project near Mullaiperiyar dam. The SC gave Kerala four weeks to file reply and asked the two states to finalise the issues that need to be adjudicated | P5 EU eases Schengen visa norms for Indian visitors New Delhi: Indians will now be able to apply for multiple entry Schengen visa of up to five years. “Indian nationals can now be issued long-term, multi-entry Schengen visas valid for two years after having obtained and lawfully used two visas within the previous three years,” an EU readout said. “The two-year visa will normally be followed by a five-year visa,” it added | P7 Monday Mercury has breached . 40 degrees in 12 districts, including Erode, Dharmapuri, Tirupattur, Tiruchy Tiruthani, Vellore, Karur, Madurai, Namakkal, Salem, and Coimbatore. The met office said maximum temperature is likely to be 2-3 degrees above normal at a few places over interior Tamil Nadu for the next five days. The temperature will be 39-41 degrees over the plains of the north interior districts and 3438 degrees over rest of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal area. Humidity is likely to be about 30%-50% in the afternoon hours and 40%-75% during the rest of the day over the plains of interior districts; and 50% to 85% over the coastal areas during the next five days. Weather blogger K Srikanth said the hot and humid conditions are likely to prevail for the next two weeks. People crowding near a public well for water at the tribal hamlet of Vathalamalai in Dharmapuri district on Monday | Express my verdict earlier that the Mamata government is corrupt. I thank the Calcutta High Court bench for giving such an order. Now a can of worms will be opened.” In 2014, the WBSSC announced that a state-level selection test would be used to recruit teachers to state-run schools. The recruitment process started in 2016 and soon several petitions were filed in the Calcutta High Court with petitioners claiming many candidates who received lower grades were placed higher on the merit list. There were allegations that those who did not make it to the merit list received appointment letters. CEO on voting express read Dharmapuri dist records its hottest day in 8 years, dog days to continue across TN EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai Rashidi directed the CBI to investigate and submit a report. The court had ordered a reevaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets of candidates from the 2016 recruitment exam after it received petitions alleging irregularity. The re-evaluation brought to light that many of those selected were recruited against blank OMR sheets. Those recruited in such a way must immediately surrender the salaries they have drawn to the jurisdictional magistrate, the cour t said in its order. The bench directed the WBSSC to initiate EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai D Gukesh shows his Candidates trophy after emerging victorious at the event in Toronto on Sunday | Stev Bonhage/fide x Gukesh youngest candidate to vie for the World crown Swaroop Swaminathan @ Chennai SOME of chess’ greatest names have called the coming age ‘the era of Indian chess’. The Polgars, Judit and Susan. Former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. Former Candidate winner, Boris Gelfand, and the only two-time winner of the World Cup, Levon Aronian... they have all heaped praise on the next generation of Indian kids. They were all proved right in the early hours of Monday as D Gukesh, all of 17, completed a logic-defying, history-being-rewritten three weeks in Toronto as he became the youngest ever winner of the Candidates tournament, an elite eight-player field that identifies the next challenger of the World Championships (Gukesh will face Ding Liren later in the year for a shot at immortality). The Chennai boy became only the second Indian after Anand to win the event. In the 14th and final round inside the city’s Great Hall, Gukesh, sole leader by 0.5 points, drew against Hikaru Nakamura after 71 moves. Nakamura, one of the preCandidates favourites, needed a win to stay in contention. With white, he gave it his all but never got change on a day when Gukesh stayed rock solid till the very end. While that draw put Gukesh on the brink of victory, there was another match going on on the table next to theirs. It featured Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, two players who had been joint second coming into the final round. Both players needed a win while hoping the Indian didn’t win. They got the first wish but the win just wouldn’t come for either of them. Both of them kept at it gamely and agreed to draw after a marathon 109 moves and six hours of match play . It feels remarkable that if it wasn’t for an elite-level tour nament arranged in short notice, Gukesh wouldn’t have qualified. The Tamil Nadu government played a helping hand in bringing the event to Chennai. This Candidates title completes a remarkable turnaround for the GM D Gukesh. From August, he had been on a downward spiral. Post a loss to Carlsen at the World Cup, he had felt out of it. “I wasn’t in a good mental space,” he had said. Now, he must be in the good mental space. More P11 Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Monday clarified that the periodic provisional turnout figures that were provided by his office on polling day was based on projections from figures entered in a mobile application by Presiding Officers (POs) in polling stations across the state. Sahoo offered these clarifications after wide variations between provisional polling figures and final figures led to a lot of confusion on Friday . In an interaction with reporters on Monday he stressed , that the entry of data in this mobile app was not a statutory or mandatory task for the POs. Many were not updating the data on the app since they were held up with other activities at the polling stations, he said. The provisional figures provided through the day by his office were therefore based on projections from those polling stations that were feeding data into the app, he said. He contrasted this with the statutory task of POs filling form 17A (register of votes) and form 17C (account of votes recorded), which form the basis for authentic figures. He said the final figures will be provided by Returning Officers to political parties in all seats. P5 Kharge prestige at stake in son-in-law’s fight RAMAKRISHNA BADSESHI @ Kalaburagi CONGRESS chief Mallikarjun Kharge is not contesting from the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency but he is putting all his might to win this SC-reserved seat, which he lost in the 2019 general elections. That shocking defeat dented his image as Solillada Saradara (one who has not tasted defeat). And to reclaim his reputation, Kharge has fielded his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani in Gulbara. For the octogenarian, Kalaburagi (formerly Gulbarga) is his karma bhumi, which elected him 10 times to the Assembly and twice to the Lok Sabha. Doddamani is also Kharge’s brother-in-law as he is the younger brother of Radhabai Kharge. In line with the popular saying in Hindi Sari duniya ek taraf, joru ka bhai ek taraf (The whole world is on side, wife’s brother on the other side), Kharge has already addressed public gatherings twice in Kalaburagi in the past month, and is visiting again on April 24. The veteran leader gets daily updates from Doddamani, while his son Priyank Kharge and s t r o n g f o l l owe r Dr Sharanaprakash Patil are sweating it out in the scorching summer heat to ensure victory . The Congress has systematically planned Doddamani’s election campaign. While the party has claimed credit for implementing the five guarantees and amending Article 371-J for Kalyana Karnataka Region, Priyank and Sharanaprakash have been meeting caste groups and working classes separately . Also, people are sympathetic towards Doddamani because of his soft manners and he is using the strategies that Kharge used to win Assembly and Parliament elections. But the BJP is equally determined to retain the Gulbarga seat and has fielded the sitting MP Umesh Jadhav, who defeated Kharge in 2019. It was from K a l abu r a g i t h at Prime Minister Narendra Modi Illustration: Mandar Pardikar launched the saffron party’s election campaign in Karnataka on March 16, the day the Election Commission of India announced the Lok Sabha poll schedule for the country . However, Jadhav has to square off anti-incumbency. Sensing the mood against him for not being able to bring projects to Kalaburagi, PM Modi launched a mega textile park in the district last year and two direct trains between Bengaluru and Kalaburagi recently During his tour of . villages, Jadhav is seeking votes for his work as well as for Modi’s achievements. Of the eight assembly constituencies in the Gulbarga LS constituency , six are represented by Congress MLAs. The remaining two are shared between the BJP and the JD(S).
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