DHARMAPURI l thursday l may 09, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION new ICMR guidelines amid rise in diseases caused by unhealthy diet Eat a varied diet, cut salt and sugar intake, and stay physically active are among top guidelines to curb the rise of non-communicable diseases fill your plate with items from 8 food groups Diet responsible for rising disease burden The Indian Council of Medical Research said people must source micro and macronutrients from a minimum of eight of the 10 food groups it listed. Vegetables, fruits, roots and tubers should form half of the plate. Cereals and nutri-cereals (millets) should make up most of the other half. Pulses, eggs and meat, milk, nuts and oil seeds can be included as per one’s dietary preferences ■ ■ As per the guidelines, one must eat 400 grams of vegetables, 100 grams of fruits and 250 grams of cereals and nutri-cereals daily The ICMR report said 56.4% of non-communicable disease burden in India is due to unhealthy eating habits, including consumption of highly-processed food items laden with sugar and salt 50% of daily cereal intake should comprise whole grains 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 Modi pillories Congress, says people will not tolerate the insult on the basis of skin colour Pitroda quits party post after his foot-in-the-mouth racial analogy P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Congress loose cannon and chairman of the party’s overseas unit Sam Pitroda stepped down from the post on Wednesday hours after his racial comments in a podcast on how people in the country’s East look like the Chinese and those of the South look like Africans, drew national outrage. Announcing the resignation, C o n g re s s l e a d e r Ja i r a m Ramesh said, “Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress President has accepted his decision.” In an interview with a newspaper, Pitroda described India as a diverse country “We have . survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together, leaving aside a few fights here and `1k aid for govt school boys to start this year Express News Service @ Chennai Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena on Wednesday said the ‘Tamil Pudhalvan’ scheme will be implemented from this academic year beginning July . Male students of government schools will get `1,000 per month to pursue higher education under the scheme. Meena said this while inaugurating the ‘Kalloori Kanavu’ scheme under ‘Nan Mudhalvan’ programme at the Anna Centenary Library on Wednesday. Under the ‘Kalloori Kanavu’ scheme, career guidance programmes will be conducted across various districts till May 13 to help students make informed decis i o n s re g a rd i n g h i g h e r education courses. Last year, 30,000 more students joined higher education courses and the number may increase this year, the officer said. “While Tamil Nadu has the highest gross enrolment ratio, initiatives like ‘Kalloori Kanavu’ are essential to ensure that all students get access to higher education including polytechnic, engineering, law, arts and medicine. Students across the state will be informed about the various opportunities available to them through the scheme,” he said. He also added that teams consisting of education, revenue and local body officials have been formed in the districts to track down students who are not pursuing higher education. CONTINUED ON P5 Rahul’s close aide Pitroda was an advisor to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and has been closely associated with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accompanying him during his foreign visits there. We could hold a country together as diverse as India, where people on the East look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arab, people on the North look like White and maybe people on the South look like Africa,” he said. The Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks, calling it most unfortunate and unacceptable. “The analogies drawn by Sam Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India’s diversity are most unfortunate and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely dissociates itself from these analogies,” said Ramesh. With campaigning in full swing ahead of the fourth phase of polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s attack on the Congress citing Pitroda’s analogy and asserted that people will not tolerate the attempt to insult them on the basis of their skin colour. At an election rally in Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh, Modi asked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin if he would break the DMK’s alliance with its ally Congress over the insulting remarks by Pitroda. “A senior leader has exposed the divisive mindset of the Congress. The leader is close to the Gandhi family and is the mentor of the shehzada. His comments are shameful,” said Modi. He also linked the Congress’s opposition to Droupadi Murmu’s presidential bid to its mindset, which saw her as “African” because of her dark skin. In the past, too, Pitroda’s controversial comments had put Congress in tough situations. The party had squirmed after Pitroda endorsed the US model of inheritance tax law for India. Though the Congress dismissed it as his personal opinion, the issue became one of the main narratives for the BJP as it accused the grand old , party of eyeing every citizen’s assets as part of its “redistribution of wealth’’ policy . Showers Temper Heat in TN, Rain likely till may 11 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai After an intense spell of heatwave, the maximum temperature in many parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, has dropped below normal. The regional meteorological centre (RMC) in Chennai on Wednesday said heavy rainfall in interior districts and hilly areas of Nilgiris and Coimbatore will continue till May 11. The rainfall activity is the result of a cyclonic circulation over Tamil Nadu. Thunderstor m, lightning and gusty winds with speed reaching 30-40 kmph are like- Sudden showers gave Madurai respite from heat on Wednesday| K K Sundar ly over Tamil Nadu, the meteorological office said. Except Karur, Erode, Madurai and a few other places, the temperature has dropped significantly due to the rainfall activity Karur recorded . the highest temperature of 41.2 degree Celsius, which was 4.9°C above normal. But Dhar mapuri, which was inching closer to 43°C till last week, recorded 35°C, which was 1.5°C below normal. Chennai’s Meenambakkam weather station, which was breaching the 40-degree mark consistently, has clocked a below-normal temperature of 37.1°C. P Senthamarai Kannan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, RMC, said maximum temperature may fall by up to 2°C over the next five days over TN, Puducherry and Karaikal region. P5 Top 10 districts fall in water table Apr-23 5.78 6.15 6.15 4.15 5.39 5.62 2.99 5.17 3.64 6.08 District Apr-24(Change) Dharmapuri Namakkal Perambalur Tirupattur Tiruchy Salem Krishnagiri Vellore Sivagangai Tiruppur 8.98 (3.2) 9.34 (3.19) 9.19 (3.04) 7.1 (2.95) 7.91 (2.52) 7.83 (2.21) 4.63 (1.64) 6.79 (1.62) 5.2 (1.56) 7.63 (1.55) Depth in metres from ground level Groundwater level dips in 26 districts, west TN worst hit S GURUVANMIKANATHAN @ Chennai The groundwater levels in 26 districts of Tamil Nadu have witnessed a significant drop compared to April last year, exacerbating the water shortage across the state. Eleven districts, however, have seen a slight improvement in the water table. According to the Water Resources Department’s (WRD) groundwater data for the month of April accessed by TNIE, some of the western districts have witnessed the steepest decline in water level. For instance, the average depth at which groundwater is available in Dharmapuri plummeted from 5.78 metres last April to 8.98 metres this year. Similarly in Namakkal, the level dropped from 6.15 metres to 9.34 metres. Salem, Krishnagiri and Tiruppur are some of the other western districts that saw a significant drop. Coimbatore was among the worst hit, with water level dropping from 9.4 metres to 10.85 metres compared to last year. On an average, Chennai region has witnessed a 0.5 metre dip in groundwater level. Other districts that saw significant decline include Pera m b a l u r, T i r u c hy, a n d Tirupattur (see table). In contrast, groundwater level has gone up in the southern districts of Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, and Virudhunagar due to the heavy rain during northeast monsoon which led to flooding in many areas in these districts. K Balasubramani, general secretary Tamil Nadu , Vivasayigal Munnetra Kazhagam, expressed concern over the poor efforts by the state in promoting rainwater harvesting. “The impact of dwindling water level is acutely felt by farmers particularly in the western regions where groundnut, coconut and other cash crops are traditionally grown,” he said. P5 It is essential to improve awareness about rainwater harvesting among farmers and general public to replenish groundwater. Most of the existing rain harvesting tanks in Tamil Nadu are in disuse — KV Elankeeran, president, Federation of Cauvery Delta Farmers Association Crew stir 90 AI Express flights cancelled, flyers stranded at airports AISHWARYA PRABHAKARAN @ Kochi Thousands of passengers were left stranded at airports across the country on Wednesday after Tata Group-run Air India Express cancelled over 90 flights after 300 senior crew members went on mass sick leave to protest the new employment terms at the airline. The flight disruption is likely to continue for a few days as the protesting employees are firm that their grievances be heard and demands met. Air India Express is the lowcost subsidiary of Air India and operates budget services mostly to the Gulf countries. K K Vijaykumar of Air India Express Employees’ Union said discontent had been brewing among the cabin crew after the Tata Group took over the airline in January 2022. “The new management reduced the contract period of several cabin crew from five years to one year and reduced salaries by 25-30%,” he said. Reports said the strike caught the airline management unawares as the senior crew members called in sick and switched off their mobiles, leaving the airline no option but to cancel flights. There was chaos in many airports in Kerala besides Delhi and Bengaluru as passengers came to know of cancellations only after they reached the boarding gates. Amrutha, who was to travel from Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat on Tuesday night, said she had to fight with the airline officials for many hours for a rescheduled ticket. “I had a medical emergency, but the airline was ready to give ticket only after a week,” she said. An Air India Express spokesperson said the airline is trying to resolve the issue soon. AstraZeneca withdraws Covid jab Kavita Bajeli-Datti @ New Delhi Battle for Hindi heartland Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (left) addresses a public meeting in Ghatampur town of Kanpur; and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at a road show in Rae Bareli on Wednesday | PTI Days after admitting that its Covishield vaccine can cause blood clots in rare cases, British pharma giant AstraZeneca on Wednesday said it is withdrawing the jab globally citing a fall in demand. “As multiple, variant Covid19 vaccines have since been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This surplus has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied,” AstraZeneca said in a statement. AstraZeneca partnered with Oxford University to develop AZD1222 vaccine, which was sold as Covishield in India and Vaxzevria in Europe. A spokesperson for the Punebased Serum Institute, which made the Covishield vaccine, said with India achieving high vaccination rates in 2021 and 2022, coupled with the emergence of new mutant variant strains, the demand for previous vaccines diminished significantly “Consequently since . , December 2021, we have stopped the manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield,” the official said. K Srinath Reddy, honorary distinguished professor at the Public Health Foundation of India, said Covid vaccines have to be judged by their ability to stimulate a protective response against the form of the virus that is currently circulating to prevent serious disease. “The original AstraZeneca vaccine no longer meets those criteria,” he told this newspaper. AstraZeneca is fighting a class-action suit in the UK over claims that its vaccine caused the deaths of several people. The company said the decision to withdraw the jab was purely commercial and denied any link to the lawsuit. Nityanand Rai eyes hat-trick, hopes Ujiarpur voters would caste away anti-incumbency RA M A S HA N K AR @ Patna Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai could not have asked for more when his senior colleague Union Home Minister Amit Shah called him his jigri (favourite) and promised to make him a bada aadmi (big man) after the Lok Sabha polls. Shah’s remarks came at an election rally in Bihar’s Ujiarpur, from where Rai is trying to hit a hat-trick. Shah’s words carry weight, but Rai also needs to surmount anti-incumbency and get the caste equation right. His main opponent is ex-state minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Alok Kumar Mehta, who is seeking to avenge his 2014 defeat at the hands of Rai. The fight between Rai and Mehta is keenly watched for their contrasting electoral strategies. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is largely focusing on national issues, the RJD is raising unresolved local problems to dent the prospects of the NDA candidate. Rai hopes Shah’s blessings and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image can help him, but Mehta is relentlessly raking up two major issues on the ground—unemployment and inflation in essential goods— asking voters not to give the BJP candidate a third term. Unemployment has an immediate resonance with voters. “There is no industry in Samastipur district, which falls in the Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency. As a result, people have to migrate to other places in search of livelihood,” rued Abhimanyu Kumar Singh, a resident of Mohiuddin Nagar. Girindra Mohan Mishra, a resident of Bibhutipur, said: “Ujiarpur has no major industry Many jute and sugar mills . were closed years ago. Migra- Nityanand Rai (BJP) vs Alok Kumar Mehta (RJD) in Ujiarpur, Bihar Illustration: Mandar Pardikar tion of youth in search of job is another problem.” Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments—Patepur (reserved) of Vaishali district, Ujiarpur, Sarairanjan, Morwa, Mohiuddin Nagar and Bibhutipur of Samastipur district. The voting will take place on three factors — caste, local issues, and Modi’s guarantee. But caste remains the swing factor in this north Bihar constituency, which has supported NDA candidates since its creation in 2008 after delimitation. “Voters will vote for development, but caste factor can’t be ruled out,” said Rajan Kumar, a resident of Bibhutipur. Pappu Tiwari of Vidyapatinagar said: “People mainly vote on the basis of caste, followed by local issues. People of Samastipur and Ujiarpur have been demanding a railway over bridge, roads, and other basic facilities for years but neither the state government nor Cen- tre addressed these issues.” Rai, a Yadav by caste, won in 2014 and 2019. In 2019, Rai defeated Rashtriya Lok Samta Party chief Upendra Kushwaha, who was then part of the grand alliance. He is now with the NDA. Yadavs and Kushawahas are strong enough to swing results in this constituency . As for RJD, it claims Yadavs, Kushwahas, Muslims, Mallahs, OBCs and EBCs, besides those from the upper castes are solidly behind Mehta. But the emergence of a strong third candidate, RJD rebel Amresh Rai who is contesting as an Independent, may turn out to be the X factor in this election.
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