SINGAPORE, WEEKEND OF FRIDAY,
JULY
21,
20
2
3
MCI (P)
07
9/10/
2022
RADIO COLLARS
MIGHT BE
KILLING CHEETAHS
PAGE 3
BARBIE ACTOR
RARING TO GET
INTO BOLLYWOOD
PAGE 8
DOMESTIC
HELPERS GET
FREE SARIS
PAGE 5
Illness forces Mrs Vasanthi Sutharsan (below) to close her Indian food business after 25 years
REPORT ON PAGE 7
End of an era
Mrs Vasanthi Sutharsan at her stall The Best Indian Food in Commonwealth Crescent.
PHOTO: KATHIKEYAN P
Page 2
July 21, 2023
tabla
!
INDIA
Opposition parties form ‘India’
alliance to challenge BJP
More than 20 opposition parties on
Tuesday formed an alliance called
“India” to challenge Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) in parliamentary
elections next year.
The alliance claimed BJP was
assaulting the character of the
republic and pledged to “safeguard
the idea of India as enshrined in the
Constitution”.
Mr Modi and BJP criticised the
alliance members as corrupt
opportunists who defamed India
globally and were now trying to save
their existence and families.
G-20’s ‘intense’ talks fail to break
deadlock over debt relief
Finance chiefs from an assembly of
the world’s biggest advanced and
emerging economies failed to reach a
consensus over a framework for
restructuring the debt of distressed
poorer nations.
Representatives of the Group of 20
nations had “very intense discussions
on global debt vulnerabilities” in
Gandhinagar, India, according to
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman.
She said at a press conference
wrapping up the negotiations on
Tuesday that the debt issue remains a
“priority” area for the G-20 this year,
with leaders scheduled to gather at a
September summit.
16 killed by suspected
electrocution in north Indian state
At least 16 people were killed and six
others injured in a case of suspected
electrocution in Uttarakhand on
Wednesday, government officials said.
The incident happened at a sewage
treatment plant in the Himalayan
state that was part of a flagship
programme by the Central
government to conserve the river
Ganga.
The deceased include a police
officer and three personnel from the
Home Guard, officials said, adding
that the latter were suspected to have
died as they attempted to rescue the
police officer.
A magisterial inquiry has been
launched into the incident.
Heavy rains may actually be
helping the Taj Mahal
Rising floodwaters from the Yamuna
river reached the compound walls of
the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, on July 18 following a
period of heavy rain.
The monument’s visitor viewing
area has been flooded and the white
marble exterior may suffer some
damage, but the high water level will
likely raise the moisture content of
the structure’s wooden foundation,
increasing its life span, said Mr Raj
Kumar Patel, superintendent
archaeologist for the Archaeological
Survey of India.
The Taj Mahal is supported in part by
a base of deodar wood, which
becomes stronger when it absorbs
water.
135 million people moved out of
poverty in five years
Nearly 135 million people moved out
of multidimensional poverty on the
yardstick of health, education and the
overall standard of living over the
past five years in India, according to a
report released on Monday by the
government think-tank NITI Aayog.
Improvements in nutrition, years of
schooling, sanitation and cooking fuel
played a significant role in bringing
down poverty across the country.
Government approval pending for
semiconductor plant in Gujarat
Vedanta is awaiting government
approval for incentives under a
modified semiconductor production
plan to begin construction of a plant
in Gujarat, for which it has tapped
technology and equity partners.
The metals-to-oil conglomerate has
engaged more than 100 global
suppliers and ancillary industries
which will form a key part of the
semiconductor and display ecosystem,
said Mr Akarsh Hebbar, global
managing director at Vedanta
Semiconductors and Display.
Vedanta group chairman Anil
Agarwal had said last week that the
company will enter the market for the
manufacturing of chips and displays
this year, days after its joint-venture
partner, Taiwan’s Foxconn, pulled out
of a US$19.5 billion ($26 billion)
chipmaking project.
Court says Google cannot remove
Disney app
A court on Tuesday said Google
cannot remove Disney’s streaming
service from its app store in India and
should receive a lower 4 per cent fee
for in-app purchases – a significant
challenge to its payments business
model.
Disney’s lawsuit is the latest and
most high-profile challenge to
Google’s policy of imposing a
“service fee” of 11-26 per cent on
in-app payments in India.
It was introduced after an antitrust
directive ruled against Google’s earlier
15-30 per cent fee and forced Google
to allow third-party payments.
Companies have argued that
Google’s new service fee system is
just a cloaked version of its earlier
system.
Tata to build new electric vehicle
battery plant in UK
Tata announced on Wednesday that it
has chosen to build an electric vehicle
battery plant in the United Kingdom.
Tata reportedly had been choosing
between a site in Somerset in
south-west England and one in Spain
to supply a new range of electric
Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.
Adani hits back at short seller’s
‘malicious’ allegations
Billionaire Gautam Adani extolled
growth prospects for India and his
business empire, slamming a
damaging short seller attack against
his embattled conglomerate earlier
this year.
In a speech to shareholders at the
annual general meeting of flagship
firm Adani Enterprises on Tuesday, he
hit back at Hindenburg Research’s
“malicious” allegations of corporate
fraud and stock manipulation, which
he labelled as “false narratives” that
“various vested interests tried to
exploit”.
The tycoon rattled off expansion
targets across his ports, energy and
infrastructure businesses and sent a
clear message to shareholders: ignore
the criticism.
Vistara prepares to merge staff into
Air India
Vistara and Air India will merge their
manpower as India’s industrial Tata
family combines the two carriers to
rebuild its aviation empire and take
on market leader IndiGo.
Vistara, now co-owned by Tata
Group and Singapore Airlines, will be
folded into Air India under a deal
announced in November, giving the
Tatas more heft to go up against
dominant budget carrier IndiGo.
Singapore Air will receive a 25.1 per
cent stake in the combined entity in
exchange for its interest in Vistara and
a US$250 million investment.
Delhi court grants interim bail to
wrestler Sushil Kumar
A Delhi court on Wednesday granted
one week’s interim bail on health
grounds to Olympian Sushil Kumar,
who has been accused of beating to
death former junior national wrestling
champion Sagar Dhankar.
Kumar’s interim bail application
cited a torn ligament and upcoming
surgery on July 26. He has been in
judicial custody since June 2, 2021.
The court also asked Kumar to
furnish a personal bond of Rs1 lakh
($1,612) with two sureties of equal
amount.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
Thursday called the alleged sexual
assault of women in Manipur
“shameful”, urging heads of state
governments to ensure the safety of
women.
Videos have surfaced on social
media purporting to show two women
paraded naked on a street in
violence-hit Manipur after what
townspeople said was a gang rape.
State police have made the first
arrest in the case, Manipur Chief
Minister Biren Singh tweeted, without
specifying how many people were
arrested.
“A thorough investigation is under
way and we will ensure strict action is
taken against all the perpetrators,
including considering the possibility of
capital punishment,” said Mr Singh.
Mr Modi said the incident had filled
his heart with grief and anger. “Any
civil society should be ashamed by it,”
he said ahead of a parliament session.
Modi calls alleged Manipur sexual assault ‘shameful’
PHOTO: EPA
An SPH Media Limited publication
Editor-in-Chief
(English/Malay/Tamil Media group)
Wong Wei Kong
Editor
Jawharilal Rajendran
Contributing Editor
V.K. Santosh Kumar
For editiorial matters,
write to us at
For advertising enquiries,
write to
Advertise with us by calling
9366
5277 (Maheswari) or
9863
3894 (Kalim)
For home delivery, call
6388-
3838
(Mon to Fri
9am to
6pm)
or e-mail
Catch us online at
Eight cheetahs have died at Madhya
Pradesh’s Kuno National Parkin in re-
cent months and some experts attribute
the deaths to sub-standard radio collars
the animals were made to wear.
Some of the deaths were caused by
unavoidable reasons, such as mating in-
juries or cardiac failure precipitated by
stress.
But several wildlife experts and vet-
erinary doctors have told BBC that the
last two deaths were caused by maggot
infestations following skin infections.
And one of the causes could be the ra-
dio collars that the animals wear for
their own protection.
Although the government denies the
charges as “speculation and hearsay
without scientific evidence”, NDTV re-
ported that it has accessed footage
showing forest officials examining the
radio collar and a maggot-infested
wound on the neck of Suraj, the cheetah
that died last week.
All the cheetahs in Kuno have an
African wildlife tracking radio collar
but the equipment does not have the
backing of experts.
Indian Forest Service officer R. Sree-
nivasa Murthy, who led the operation to
revive the tiger population at the Panna
National Park, said: “It can cause infec-
tion. We had faced such a situation in
Panna but we had 24/7 monitoring.
“If it is a synthetic collar,it should be
replaced immediately. If it is a polymer,
it would be soft initially but will become
hard when polymerised over time. If it is
made of leather, it absorbs water and its
elasticity increases, so the animal does
not suffer from it.”
Mr Alok Kumar,former chief conser-
vator of forests in Madhya Pradesh, told
BBC that the deaths of the big cats could
be due to many reasons but radio col-
lars, although key to their survival,
could be a factor.
“These collars carry chips that send
information about the wearer through
satellites and are necessary to monitor
the movement of the animal for their sa-
fety and protection,” he said, adding
that he “has seen infections caused by
collars even in tigers”.
Veteran conservationist Yadvendra-
dev Jhala told BBC that the wounds
may be caused by the animal scratching
the area around the collar because of
humidity. “This is the first monsoon for
the cheetahs, which came from the arid
jungles of Africa and are still trying to
acclimatise to the Indian monsoon,” he
said.
The cheetahs have a very heavy un-
der-fur which absorbs a lot of moisture
in very damp weather, making the neck
area tender and itchy.
According to a source, after Suraj’s
death, another cheetah (Pawan) was
tranquillised and its radio collar was re-
moved on Monday, potentially saving
its life. Flies had already laid eggs in the
wound on its neck.
The government though has trans-
ferred Principal Chief Conservator of
Forest (Wildlife) JS Chauhan, while the
collars still remain.
The transfer came after the death of
two male South African cheetahs over
four days in Kuno National Park last
week, which took the death count to
eight since March, including three cubs
born in the park.
In September last year,India brought
20 adult cheetahs from Namibia and
South Africa to reintroduce the animal
in the Indian habitat.
Denying any lapses behind the
deaths, the Central government said:
“There is no lapse behind any of the
cheetah deaths. Even in the case of the
deaths of the three cheetah cubs, global
wildlife literature clearly mentions 90
per cent infant mortality among chee-
tahs.”
Indo-Asian News Service
Radio collars might be killing cheetahs
Maggot-infested wound on body of dead cheetah Suraj.
INDIA
tabla
!
July 21, 2023
Page 3
Rescue workers in Maharashtra battled
difficult terrain and bad weather on
Thursday as they searched for survivors
of a landslide that killed at least 10 peo-
ple in a mountain village after incessant
rain soaked the slopes, officials said.
A wave of extreme heat, wildfires,
torrential
rain
and
flooding
has
wreaked havoc around the world in re-
cent days, raising new fears about the
pace of climate change.
The land gave way in the middle of
the night in the remote hamlet of Irshal-
wadi, about 60km from Mumbai.
“Ten bodies have been recovered
and more than 80 people rescued, but it
was estimated that at least 225 people
lived in the hamlet,” the state’s Deputy
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told
the state assembly.
Initial reports said about 100 people
were feared trapped under the debris
and rescue workers were struggling in
heavy rain and fog to find survivors
nearly 12 hours after the disaster,a Reu-
ters witness and media reported.
“The debris at some of the places is
almost 9m deep,” Mr SB Singh, an offi-
cial with the National Disaster Re-
sponse Force, told the Indian Express
newspaper.
“It is difficult to bring in heavy ma-
chinery to this place.It is a 2.8km trek to
reach the spot and we have to remove
the debris manually, which is likely to
take a lot of time.”
Some pockets of the district, dotted
with old forts and laced with trekking
trails, received as much as 400mm rain
in the last 24 hours, according to the
weather department.
More rain is expected over the wee-
kend, a weather department official
said, and a red alert had been issued for
the coast of Maharashtra and Gujarat to
the north, which has also been battered
by rain this week.
The rain has closed schools, flooded
roads and disrupted transport in both
Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Flash floods, landslides and acci-
dents caused by heavy rain have killed
more than 100 people in India since the
onset of the monsoon in June, mostly in
the north which has seen 41 per cent
more rain than normal, according to the
India Meteorological Department.
Reuters
10 dead, many trapped, in
Maharashtra landslide
Damaged houses at the site of the landslide
at Irshalwadi village.
PHOTO: AFP
