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Female Enrollment In STEM Courses Highest In World: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

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Female Enrollment In STEM Courses Highest In World: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also discussed plans for more medical colleges.

New Delhi:

Female enrollment in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses has reached 43 per cent, which is one of the world’s highest figures, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted while presenting the interim Budget 2024 on Thursday.

She said, “Female enrollment in higher education has gone up by twenty-eight per cent in ten years. In STEM courses, girls and women constitute forty-three per cent of enrollment – one of the highest in the world. All these measures reflect in the increasing participation of women in the workforce.”

Ms Sitharaman said the empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity, mentioning, “Thirty crore Mudra Yojana loans have been given to women entrepreneurs.”

The finance minister also discussed the government’s plans to establish more medical colleges by using existing hospital infrastructure, noting the ambition of many youths to become qualified doctors and serve the people through improved healthcare services.

“Our government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilising the existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. A committee for this purpose will be set up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations,” she said.

In her budget speech, Ms Sitharaman highlighted the accomplishments of the Skill India mission, which has trained 1.4 crore youths, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh youths, and established 3,000 new ITIs. She also mentioned the establishment of several educational institutions like 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS, and 390 universities.

Regarding financial support for entrepreneurial aspirations, the minister said, “PM Mudra Yojana has sanctioned 43 crore loans aggregating to Rs 22.5 lakh crore for entrepreneurial aspirations of our youth. Besides that, Fund of Funds, Start-Up India, and Start-Up Credit Guarantee schemes are assisting our youth. They are also becoming ‘rozgardata’.”

Hyderabad

Norway’s most powerful storm in over 30 years leaves a trail of destruction

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The storm, named Ingunn by Norwegian meteorologists, landed in central Norway on Wednesday afternoon before moving north on Thursday. The Meteorological Institute had issued a red warning, its highest alert, for the Arctic region.

Published Date – 1 February 2024, 05:10 PM


Norway’s most powerful storm in over 30 years leaves a trail of destruction

Boats are seen during heavy winds in the harbour of Bodo, Norway on February 1, 2024.

Copenhagen: Residents of central Norway awoke to scenes of havoc and homes without power on Thursday following the country’s most powerful storm in more than three decades.

Hurricane-force winds hit parts of the Scandinavian country, with gusts of up 180 kilometres per hour. Near Laerdal, a small, picturesque town northeast of Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city, a bus with 14 passengers was blown off a road, though no injuries were reported, police said.

Some areas were flooded, and airlines and ferry operators temporarily suspended service. There were scattered reports of closed schools, roads, tunnels and bridges both on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hurricane-strength gusts also were reported overnight in Sweden. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute issued a red warning for the western part of the Norrbottens district, which borders Norway.

The storm, named Ingunn by Norwegian meteorologists, landed in central Norway on Wednesday afternoon before moving north on Thursday. The Meteorological Institute had issued a red warning, its highest alert, for the Arctic region.

Several windows were blown out of a hotel in Bodoe, a large town in the Nordland district, police said. Downtown Bodoe was later sealed off because “there is a danger to life and health”, according to police.

Bjornar Gaasvik, a police spokesman in the Troendelag region, told Norwegian news agency NTB that the public safety agency received between 40 and 50 reports overnight from people affected by the storm and more were expected Thursday.

Sigmund Clementz of IF insurance told Norwegian newspaper VG that it was too early to estimate the cost of the storm damage.

The storm hit the same area as a 1992 New Year’s hurricane, one of the strongest storms in Norway’s history, the newspaper VG wrote.

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Hemant Soren Sent To Jail For A Day, Probe Agency Custody Decision Tomorrow

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Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (File).

New Delhi:

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren – arrested late Wednesday night by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges – has been sent to judicial custody for one day, with a definitive ruling on the central agency’s request for 10-day custody expected Friday afternoon. 

The Ranchi special court before which Mr Soren – whom the agency claims was directly involved in an alleged Rs 600 crore land scam – was presented this morning, delayed passing its final order because the Supreme Court has taken cognisance of a petition by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader.

Hours before he was produced in the special court, Mr Soren had moved the Supreme Court to challenge his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. In his petition, he said the agency had “abused its power and acted in a malafide manner to destabilise a democratically-elected state government”.

He also called his arrest “illegal and without jurisdiction”; Mr Soren has already filed one case against senior officers of the probe agency under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Act.

“The ED is brazenly acting under the (diktats) of the central government and hounding the petitioner to destabilise a democratically-elected government headed by the petitioner…” he complained.

A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea at 2 pm Friday.

Visuals from earlier in the day – from outside the Ranchi courtroom – showed a confident Mr Soren smiling and waving as he got out of a vehicle and was escorted inside surrounded by ED officials and security personnel.

The agency believes Hemant Soren was “directly involved with acquisition (and) possession of land” and also in the use of proceeds of the crime. Details of these illegally acquired properties were found on phones of other accused in the case, the agency is expected to tell the court in today’s hearing.

Meanwhile, Champai Soren, who is expected to replace Hemant Soren as the Chief Minister, will meet Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan at 5.30 pm. In a brief letter this morning, he said he had the support of a majority of lawmakers and the ability to “provide a stable government in the state”.

READ | “No Government In Jharkhand For 18 Hours”: Champai Soren’s SOS To Governor

He also red-flagged the lack of a functioning government and the “situation of confusion”, and said, “…the MLAs, and people of the state, expect you will take steps to form a popular government.”

Champai Soren, the Transport Minister, is seen as an acceptable alternative to Hemant Soren’s original plan – to make his wife, Kalpana Soren, the Chief Minister till he returns to power.

READ | How Champai Soren Emerged Consensus Candidate As Jharkhand Chief Minister

There was, however, opposition to that idea, with many in the party, including the Chief Minister’s extended family, who said Ms Soren – not a MLA – did not have the necessary experience.

Hemant Soren was arrested Wednesday night amid high drama all this week, starting with “the case of the missing Chief Minister” that played out from Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon.

READ | Before Hemant Soren’s Arrest, Drama Outside Raj Bhavan In Jharkhand

He had flown into Delhi Saturday night and was reportedly seen leaving his home in the city’s Shantiniketan area the following night – on foot and with a shawl around his head.

The Enforcement Directorate turned up at 7 am the following day to find the house empty and Mr Soren’s whereabouts unknown. The agency said it seized Rs 36 lakh in cash and a luxury SUV.

READ | Hemant Soren’s 1,300 km Car Journey As Probe Agency Watched Delhi Airport

Mr Soren remained “missing” till Tuesday, when he popped up in Ranchi to hold a meeting of his party’s lawmakers. Reports said he had taken a nearly 1,300 km road trip from Delhi.

After he emerged in Ranchi, he was questioned by the ED for over seven hours.

As the day wore on, it became clear Hemant Soren would be arrested and, in dramatic final moments, NDTV was told he refused to sign his arrest memo till he had resigned.

READ | Hemant Soren Refused To Sign Arrest Memo Until He Resigned: Sources

This, sources said, was to avoid the distinction of becoming the first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested. Giving in to his demand, the ED team took Mr Soren to Raj Bhavan to resign.

He was then taken to the agency’s office in the city and formally arrested.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

Hyderabad

Suryapet: Elderly person dies on spot in road accident

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The Chivvemla police filed a case and are making efforts to identify the vehicle.

Published Date – 1 February 2024, 04:40 PM


Suryapet: Elderly person dies on spot in road accident


Suryapet: An elderly person died on the spot in a hit and run incident at Akkaladevigudem in Chivvemla mandal in the district.

The victim, Palavarapu Someshwar Rao (70) from Suryapet town, was a retired Transco employee and was suffering from a psychological disorder. According to the police, Someshwar Rao had left his home on Wednesday evening and his body was found on the road at Akkaladevigudem on Thursday morning. It was suspected that an unidentified vehicle hit him and sped away.

The Chivvemla police filed a case and are making efforts to identify the vehicle.

Middle East

Israeli forces follow orders to occupy, burn Palestinian homes in Gaza

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Israeli forces have set fire to Palestinian homes in the Gaza strip, following direct orders from their commanders to “burn Gaza”, a move considered an apparent war crime in the South African-led genocide case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday reported that Israeli forces have occupied and then burned hundreds of Gaza homes and everything in them, on direct orders of their commanders, without the necessary legal permission to do so.

Some Israeli troops have posted videos on social media, which showed them taking part in acts of home burning, which they described as revenge for fellow soldiers’ deaths or the “October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.”

“Until last month, the army’s combat engineering corps mostly used mines and explosives, and in some cases heavy machinery such as D9 bulldozers, to demolish structures. Setting fire to homes belonging to noncombatant civilians, for the mere purpose of punishment, is forbidden under international law,” Haaretz wrote.

“Civilians and civilian infrastructure are not a target. They must be protected. Everywhere. At all times,” the United Nations account on X platform posted.

Wars have rules that must be respected by all sides.

Humanitarians must be able to safely deliver aid.

Civilians & civilian infrastructure are #NotATarget.

They must be protected.

Everywhere.

At all times.

— via @UNOCHA pic.twitter.com/zerJ31NC7D


— United Nations (@UN) January 31, 2024

Previous UN reports have indicated that Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have displaced more than 90% of the territory’s population and destroyed or damaged over 60% of the infrastructure there.

In the occupied West Bank, the same case is happening, where settlers regularly attack Palestinian people and property and burn their houses. For decades, Israel’s policy of destroying the homes of relatives of Palestinian resistance fighters has been condemned as illegal collective punishment.

Meanwhile, international human rights groups have documented Israeli troops conducting systematic looting of Palestinians’ homes across Gaza, stealing their property, vandalizing Palestinian businesses and even burning humanitarian aid supplies, including food.

Several Israeli officials, including the deputy speaker of the Knesset, Nissim Vaturi, who is a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, have called for the destruction, burning, and even nuclear annihilation of Gaza, advocating the policy to “Burn Gaza now.”

Some of their statements have been used as evidence in the South African-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague as deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are forbidden under international humanitarian law.

The ICJ last week called on Israel to prevent genocidal acts in its ongoing war in Gaza but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. It also ordered the regime to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches the population in Gaza.

India

At 56 minutes, Sitharaman’s shortest budget speech ever

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At 56 minutes, it was Sitharaman’s shortest budget speech. She also holds the distinction of delivering the longest budget speech at two hours and forty minutes in 2020.

Updated On – 1 February 2024, 04:32 PM


At 56 minutes, Sitharaman’s shortest budget speech ever

Photo: ANI

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday presented her sixth consecutive budget with a speech lasting 56 minutes, her shortest-ever.

Sitharaman, who holds the distinction of delivering the longest budget speech at 2.40 hours in 2020, was cheered at regular intervals by the treasury benches — her remarks on the presentation of the full budget by “our government” in July receiving the loudest applause.

Opposition members listened to Sitharaman’s budget speech with rapt attention, barring some voices of disapproval to the minister’s reference to her government returning to power after the Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier, BJP members raised slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai, Jai Shri Ram, Jai Siya Ram as Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered the Lok Sabha chamber and took his seat a few minutes before 11 am.

At 56 minutes, it was Sitharaman’s shortest budget speech. She also holds the distinction of delivering the longest budget speech at two hours and forty minutes in 2020.

In 2019, as India’s first full-time woman finance minister, Sitharaman’s budget speech had lasted for two hours and 17 minutes. In 2021, her speech lasted for one hour and 50 minutes, followed by 92 minutes in 2022 and 87 minutes in 2023.

Sitharaman’s budget speech found no mention of Tamil poets and thinkers unlike previous occasions, but she referred to Prime Minister Modi at least eight times and quoted from his speeches.

The public galleries saw thin attendance with a few Rajya Sabha members occupying seats in Gallery 2, while relatives of Finance Minister Sitharaman – Krishnamurthy Lakshminarayan and Vidya Lakshminarayan – and her daughter Vangmayi Parakala were seated in the first row of Gallery 3.

Sitharaman, who was dressed in a turquoise-coloured embroidered Kantha silk saree, Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Karad, and top officers from the Finance Ministry called on President Droupadi Murmu before presenting the Budget.

The President gave Sitharaman a spoonful of curd and sugar and extended her best wishes for the presentation of the Union Budget. In her budget speech, Sitharaman coined new expansion of FDI – First, Develop India and for GDP – Governance, Development and Performance.

“Besides delivering on high growth in terms of Gross Domestic Product, the government is equally focused on a more comprehensive ‘GDP’, i.e., ‘Governance, Development and Performance’,” Sitharaman said.

In 2019, Finance Minister Sitharaman did away with the traditional Budget briefcase and instead went for a ‘bahi-khata’ with the national emblem to carry the speech and other documents on a tablet computer, a tradition she stuck to on Thursday.

JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan ‘Lalan’ Singh, whose party re-joined the NDA last week, was seen applauding the budget speech on regular occasions.

The prime minister walked up to Sitharaman at the conclusion of her speech and congratulated her for the presentation of the interim budget. Several ministers were also seen congratulating Sitharaman after her speech.

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Over 250 tribal habitations remain isolated in Asifabad

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The tribals have now pinned their hopes on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s tour to Adilabad district on Friday and are expecting him to make announcements and ensure implementation of the same to improve their lives.

Updated On – 1 February 2024, 04:47 PM


Over 250 tribal habitations remain isolated in Asifabad

A tribal family commute by a bullock cart from remote Dharegaon village in Kaghaznagar to their destination. Photo: Santosh Padala

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Tribals have been struggling to reap the fruits of developmental programmes even 75 years post Independence in the country.

A considerable portion of habitations, mostly of ethnic tribes, are still deprived of road connectivity, owing to insufficient allocation of funds and delay in according approval to the facility by the Forest department.

The district accounts for 335 Gram Panchayats comprising over 1,050 habitations. Of them, 280 habitations in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district do not have road facilities. In particular, 126 habitations are facing a severe challenge, according to officials of the Panchayat Raj and Roads & Building departments.

Tribals from scores of habitations in Kerameri, Wankidi, Jainoor, Sirpur (U), Lingapur, Thiryani, Penchikalpet, Bejjur and Chinthalamanepalli mandals continue to be isolated during the monsoon. The dwellers of these interior settlements, located in dense forests and hilly areas, are left with no option but to repose faith in god while shifting their family members to hospital in nearby mandal centres and towns during medical emergencies.

Officials of Panchayat Raj and Roads & Building department said proposals for laying roads to these tribal areas were pending for quite a long time. “Proposals were submitted estimating the cost to be Rs.500 crore. However, funds were not sanctioned to at least 10 percent of the roads mentioned in the proposals so far,” an official said.

Meanwhile, inordinate delay in giving nod to the proposed road facilities by the Forest department is compounding woes of the tribals. Scores of proposals are still pending with the department, it is learned. Elected representatives say they are fed up by the hurdles created by bureaucrats.

The tribals have now pinned their hopes on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s tour to Adilabad district on Friday and are expecting him to make announcements and ensure implementation of the same to improve their lives.

Middle East

UN: Israeli war renders Gaza ‘uninhabitable;’ restoration will take ‘decades’

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The United Nations says the ongoing Israeli war has left the Gaza Strip “uninhabitable” and that the destruction in the Palestinian territory will take tens of billions of dollars and “decades” to reverse.

In a report published on Wednesday, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) assessed the social and economic deterioration in besieged Gaza since the genocidal Israeli aggression began nearly four months ago.

The report said that the war has displaced 85 percent of Gaza’s population, halted economic activities and further worsened poverty and unemployment in one of the world’s most densely populated areas.

As of December 2023, it added, unemployment had surged to 79.3 percent while 37,379 buildings – equivalent to 18 percent of Gaza’s total structures – had been damaged or destroyed by the Israeli onslaught.

“The Gaza Strip, half of whose population are children, is now rendered almost uninhabitable, with people lacking adequate sources of income and access to water, sanitation, health or education,” it said.

“UNCTAD’s assessment underscores that restoring pre-conflict socioeconomic conditions in Gaza will take decades and requires substantial foreign aid.”

The report also found that Gaza’s gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 24 percent after the Israeli assault and that it would take “until 2092 just to restore the GDP levels of 2022.”

It further noted that Gaza’s dire economic situation originates from well beyond the current war.

“Gaza’s economic constraints, rooted in 56 years of occupation and a 17-year blockade, necessitate a thorough understanding and realistic strategies to unlock its growth potential through measures that include restoring the Gaza International Airport…, building a seaport and enabling the Palestinian government to develop the natural gas fields discovered in the 1990s in the Mediterranean Sea,” it said.

Meanwhile, UNCTAD economist Rami Alazzeh, who co-authored the report, said new data indicates that 50 percent of the Gaza structures are damaged or destroyed.

“The longer these (military) operations in Gaza go on… the more severe the impact will be,” Alazzeh warned. “Gaza currently is uninhabitable.”

Israel waged its brutal war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 26,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 65,949 others.

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Sri Lanka To Host ICC Annual General Meeting In July

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Sri Lanka Cricket was suspended last year for government interference in its functioning.© AFP




With their suspension lifted, Sri Lanka will host the Annual General Meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in July, the country’s sports minister Harin Fernando said on Thursday. Sri Lanka Cricket was suspended for government interference in its functioning. It cost the island nation an opportunity to host the Under-19 World Cup which is currently underway in South Africa.

“Sri Lanka gets to host the ICC AGM from July 19-22 in Colombo. This will be a great boost for Sri Lanka with regards to cricket and tourism,” Fernando, who is also the minister of tourism, said in a statement.

SLC was suspended in November for not meeting its ICC Member obligations, specifically, failing to independently manage its affairs and prevent government interference in the regulation and administration of cricket in Sri Lanka.

Roshan Ranasinghe, the predecessor of Fernando, appointed an interim committee, alleging corruption in SLC. The committee was headed by the former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

The ICC declared that Ranasinghe’s action to appoint an interim committee was a serious breach of its governance rules.

However, the suspension was lifted on Sunday after Fernando, in December, annulled the gazette issued by Ranasinghe.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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