The Evening Wrap
19 June 2024

Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu.

Centre raises paddy MSP by ₹117 to ₹2,300 per quintal for 2024-25
The government on June 19 raised the minimum support price for paddy by 5.35% to ₹2,300 per quintal for the 2024-25 kharif marketing season.

The hike in paddy support price comes despite the government sitting on surplus rice stocks but it is significant ahead of elections in states like Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Delhi.

Announcing the MSP increase, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Cabinet has approved the minimum support prices for 14 kharif (summer) crops based on recommendations from the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

The MSP for ‘common’ grade paddy has been raised ₹117 to ₹2,300 per quintal, while for the ‘A’ grade variety it has been hiked to ₹2,320 per quintal for the upcoming kharif season, Vaishnaw said.

This is the first Cabinet decision taken in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term in office, the Minister said.

Vaishnaw said the government had a clear policy decision taken in the 2018 Union Budget that MSP should be at least 1.5 times the cost of production, and this principle was followed in the latest MSP hike. The cost was scientifically calculated by CACP, he added.

The Food Corporation of India currently holds a record stockpile of around 53.4 million tonnes of rice, which is four times the required buffer for July 1 and sufficient to meet demand under welfare schemes for one year without any fresh procurement.

Despite lower rainfall of about 20% across the country since the start of the monsoon season on June 1, weather conditions are now favourable for further advancement of the rains, according to the meteorological department.

At least 9 die in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi after consuming spurious liquor
At least nine persons including a woman died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor at Karunapuram in Kallakurichi district on June 19. While six of them died in Kallakurichi, three others succumbed in neighbouring Salem district. It is feared the toll could go up. Only last year, at least 22 persons had died in twin hooch tragedies in nearby Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin ordered the suspension of the Superintendent of Police Samay Singh Meena and transfer of Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath. Besides he ordered a CB-CID probe into the tragedy.

Over 66 others are undergoing treatment in hospitals. Of them, 17 have been referred to the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) in Puducherry, eight to Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital in Salem and four to Villupuram Medical College Hospital.

An official said preliminary investigations revealed that those admitted were affected due to methanol poisoning.

The deaths were reported from Karunapuram, within the limits of the Kallakurichi town police station. According to sources, the victims, mostly daily wage labourers and load men, had reportedly purchased the illicit liquor from a vendor in Karunapuram.

They had consumed it on June 18 and started experiencing symptoms, including loss of breath, blurred vision and giddiness and repeated bouts of diarrhoea. Three of the victims identified as R. Suresh, 40; M. Selvam and M. Arumugham died early on June 19 (Wednesday). Three other victims were identified as S. Vadivukarasi, C. Kandan and P. Jagadeesan. Three persons — identified as Narayanasamy, Ramu and Subramani — who were admitted to the hospital in Salem died. As the news spread, relatives in large numbers started to gather on the hospital premises in the evening.

A special team of doctors from Villupuram and Salem Government Medical Colleges are on the way, he added.

Initially, the district administration attempted to suppress information on the tragedy claiming it was not related to consumption of arrack. However, a visit to the spot confirmed that sale of spurious liquor was not new in the village.

Agathiyan, a resident of Karunapuram told The Hindu he had brought his father Sivakumar to the Kallakurichi medical college and hospital this morning after he was found lying motionless on the bed at their house.

However, the hospital staff failed to provide any timely treatment for over two hours, patients’ relatives claimed. “My father started complaining of blurred vision and nausea and I immediately took him to a private hospital. His blood sample was taken and the doctors confirmed it to be a case of methanol poisoning,” he said.

“My father came home drunk last night and complained of blurred vision, abdominal pain and vomiting this morning. When he was unable to bear the pain I admitted him in the hospital,” Sakthi, son of Murugan, another patient said. Huge crowds of anxious attendants and victims thronged the Emergency block as a huge flow of patients were brought in stretchers to the hospital.

Earlier, District Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath visited those admitted in the Kallakurichi Government Medical College and Hospital told reporters that Praveen, one of the victims who died, had been admitted to the medical college and hospital for stomach pain and was discharged just yesterday. Another victim died due to seizures, the Collector said, claiming that all the three deaths were not due to consumption of liquor and were not reported in the hospital.

The blood samples of all the patients admitted in the hospital have been taken and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Villupuram for detailed examination. A team of doctors is treating them and their condition is said to be stable.

In the wake of the deaths, the Tamil Nadu Government on June 19 transferred the District Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath and placed under suspension the Superintendent of Police Samay Singh Meena.

A press release from the State Government said M.S. Prasanth has been appointed as new district collector and Rajat Chaturvedi as the new SP.

Stalin deputed Highways Minister E.V. Velu and Health Minister Ma. Subramanain to Kallakurichi to make necessary arrangements for treatment of 26 persons who had consumed spurious liquor. The police arrested Govindaraj alias Kannukutty who sold the liquor and a forensic analysis confirmed the presence of methanol in the liquor, an official release said. About 200 litres of the brew was seized from him.

The government said all the victims were from Karunapuram Colony in Kallakurichi taluk and they had consumed spurious liquor sold in sachets. They complained of stomach ache, irritation in the eyes and vomiting and were admitted in Kallakurichi Government Medical College Hospital.

The government has sent a four-member medical team to Kallakurichi to treat the victims and 18 persons have been sent to Jipmer in Puducherry. Doctors from Salem and Tiruvannamalai have rushed to Kallakurichi and 12 ambulances have been kept ready.

The State government also suspended DSP Tamilselvan in-charge-of prohibition and Manoj, DSP, Tirukovilur and other officers.

Stalin announced the transfer of investigation into the illicit liquor deaths in Kallakurichi to the Crime Branch-CID.

The CM also announced the suspension of Prohibition Enforcement Wing DSP, Kallakurichi and Tirukovilur PEW Inspectors kavitha and Pandiselvi, Tirukovilur SI Barathy, Inspector Anand, Sub-Inspector Vishwachandran, Writer Baskaran and SSI Manoj

According to a press release, the victims are suspected to have consumed illicit arrack sold in sachets. They succumbed in the medical college and hospital

All required medicines have been sent from Villupuram, Salem and Tiruvannamalai medical college and hospitals to Kallakurichi.

U.S. lawmakers meet Dalai Lama in Dharamsala despite China’s warnings
A group of U.S. lawmakers who met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in India on June 19 said they would not allow China to influence the choice of his successor, comments expected to anger Beijing which calls him a separatist.

They also signalled that Washington would pressure Beijing to hold talks with Tibetan leaders, stalled since 2010, to resolve the Tibet issue with a Bill President Joe Biden is expected to sign soon.

The bipartisan group of seven, led by Michael McCaul, a Republican representative from Texas, who also chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, met the Nobel peace laureate at his monastery in the northern town of Dharamsala. “It is still my hope that one day the Dalai Lama and his people will return to Tibet in peace,” McCaul told a public reception after the meeting.

Beijing has even attempted to insert itself into choosing the successor of the Dalai Lama, he said, but added, “We will not let that happen.”

The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet. Having suffered from health problems for years, the 88-year-old is set to fly to the United States this week for medical treatment.

The question of his successor has been a contentious and widely-debated issue. Beijing has said the tradition must continue and its officially atheist Communist leaders have the right to approve the successor, as a legacy inherited from China’s emperors.

Tibetan tradition holds that the Dalai Lama is reincarnated after his death, and the current leader has said his successor may be found in India. The dispute indicates the power and influence attaching to the role and the tussle between Beijing and its rivals to control it, analysts say.

The U.S. group, which includes Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, arrived on Tuesday to a warm reception from school children, Buddhist monks and nuns.

Pelosi said that approval by Congress for the legislation, titled the ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act’, or the Resolve Tibet Act, sends a message to China that Washington is clear in its thinking on the issue of Tibet.

“This Bill says to the Chinese government: things have changed now, get ready for that,” Pelosi said to cheers from hundreds of Tibetans at Wednesday’s event.

Beijing, which calls the Dalai Lama a dangerous “splittist” or separatist, said it was seriously concerned about the visit of the lawmakers to Dharamsala and the Bill.

It urged the lawmakers not to make contact with what it calls the “Dalai clique” and Biden not to sign the Bill.

Chinese officials chafe at any interactions of the Dalai Lama with officials of other countries, though he has met U.S. officials, including presidents, on previous U.S. visits. Biden, however, has not met the Dalai Lama since taking office in 2021 and it is not clear if the Tibetan leader will have any engagements during this month’s visit.

Delhi water crisis: Atishi writes to PM Modi, says she will go on an indefinite fast from June 21 if situation not resolved
Delhi Water Minister Atishi on June 19 said that she has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the water crisis in New Delhi and threatened to go on an indefinite strike from June 21 if the issue is not resolved within a couple of days.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Atishi said Delhi is grappling with a water crisis since Haryana is not releasing the capital’s share of water. “Yesterday, Haryana released 513 MGD of water to Delhi as against 613 MGD. One MGD of water is for 28,500 people. This means that water was not released for over 28 lakh people,” she added.

The Minister said people are not only battling heatwave conditions but also water shortage. “I have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the water crisis requesting him to resolve the issue. If the crisis is not solved within two days, I will go on an indefinite strike from June 21,” she said.

Atishi said they have written multiple letters to the Haryana government to resolve the issue.

June rainfall 20% below average as monsoon stalls: IMD
India has received 20% less rainfall since the start of the monsoon period on June 1, with the rain-bearing system making no significant progress between June 12 and 18, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

However, conditions are now favourable for further advancement of the monsoon into parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, coastal Andhra Pradesh, northwest Bay of Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand over the next three to four days, the weather department said.

India received 64.5 mm of rainfall between June 1 and 18 which is 20% less than the long period average (LPA) of 80.6 mm, it said.

Since June 1, northwest India has recorded 10.2 mm of rainfall (70% less than normal), central India 50.5 mm (31% less than normal), the south peninsula 106.6 mm (16% more than normal), and east and northeast India 146.7 mm (15% less than normal).

The southwest monsoon advanced into parts of the Nicobar Islands on May 19. It subsequently covered most parts of the south and some parts of the central Bay of Bengal by May 26 along with Cyclone Remal. It simultaneously reached Kerala and the northeastern states on May 30, two and six days earlier than normal, respectively.

By June 12, it had gradually covered the entire states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana; most parts of southern Maharashtra and some parts of southern Chhattisgarh and southern Odisha; and most parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and all northeastern states.

“Thereafter, the monsoon has not progressed, and its northern limit on June 18 passes through Navsari, Jalgaon, Amravati, Chandrapur, Bijapur, Sukma, Malkangiri, and Vizianagaram,” the IMD said.

The IMD reported that 11 meteorological sub-divisions in the country have received normal to large excess rainfall between June 1 and 18 while 25 have experienced deficient to large deficient rainfall.

The forecast suggests that the average rainfall over the country in June is most likely to be below normal (less than 92% of the LPA). Normal to above-normal rainfall is expected in most areas of the southern peninsula and some parts of northeast India, while below-normal rainfall is anticipated in many areas of northwest and adjoining central India, as well as some parts of northeast India.

The IMD said in a May-end presser that the country could see above-normal rainfall in the four-month monsoon season (June to September) with cumulative rainfall estimated at 106% of the LPA of 87 cm.

Below-normal monsoon rainfall is expected in northeast India, normal in the northwest and above-normal in central and south peninsular regions of the country.

India’s core monsoon zone covering most of the rain-fed agriculture areas in the country is predicted to receive above-normal rainfall this season, the Met office said.

NEET aspirant submitted forged documents, NTA free to take legal action: HC on student who alleged OMR was torn
The Allahabad High Court on June 18 said that a NEET aspirant who had alleged in her petition that the NTA failed to declare her result and that her OMR answer sheet was found torn had submitted forged documents and the NTA can take legal action in the matter.

This came after the National Testing Agency, on the direction of the high court’s Lucknow Bench, produced before it the original OMR answer sheet of the student which was found to be intact.

The student, Ayushi Patel, in her petition, claimed that NTA sent her a communication saying her result would not be declared as her OMR sheet was found torn. She had also posted a video on social media repeating the allegations that caused a stir amid the ongoing row over claims of irregularities in the conduct of the undergraduate medical entrance exam NEET.

The petitioner had demanded that her OMR sheet be evaluated manually. She had also called for an inquiry against NTA and demanded that the counselling for admission be stopped.

A Vacation Bench of Justice Rajesh Singh had on June 12 asked the NTA to produce the original records of the student. In compliance with the order, NTA’s Deputy Director Sandeep Sharma presented the original documents of the student along with an affidavit.

After seeing the documents, the court found that the student had filed the petition on the basis of forged documents. The court termed it regrettable and said that the NTA is free to take legal action in the matter.

At the same time, the advocate of the petitioner requested permission to withdraw the petition, which the court accepted. The NTA told the court that the decision to take legal action against the petitioner student had already been taken by the NTA.

The court said that the petitioner has submitted forged documents, and in such a situation this court cannot stop NTA from taking legal action against the student.

Reacting to Patel’s video, which was shared by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi among others, the NTA had on June 12 said her paper is still intact and it’s a case of forgery on the part of the candidate whose actual score is lower than claimed.

“No torn OMR answer sheet was sent from any official NTA email, and the actual OMR is available and not torn. Moreover, all results are available online,” said an official.

The NTA had countered the claims of incorrect result on social media stating, “Regarding the viral video featuring Ms XXX, claiming discrepancies in NEET (UG) 2024 scoring and receiving of torn OMR answer sheet, NTA clarifies that no torn answer sheet was sent via an official NTA ID. OMR answer sheet is intact and scores are accurate as per official records…”

In brief
A Delhi court on June 19 extended till July 3 the judicial custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam. Special Judge Niyay Bindu extended the custody of Kejriwal after he was produced before the court through video conference on expiry of his judicial custody granted earlier. During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Kejriwal opposed the ED’s application seeking an extension of his judicial custody, saying there were no grounds justifying extension of his custody.

Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.