Chennai, July 30 (IANS) The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to make announcements in Tamil mandatory in all domestic flights operating to and from the airports in Tamil Nadu.

The court directive came following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a person, C.Kanagaraj, the World Tamil Research Trust President, who urged the court to make announcements in Tamil mandatory in all flights operating from the airports in the state.

Acting Chief Justice D. Krishnakumar and Justice K. Kumaresh Babu said that courts could not issue a positive direction as sought in the PIL.

The division bench said that the Central government could be directed only to consider a representation made by the litigant within a period of 12 weeks.

The first division bench issued such a direction and disposed of the PIL petition pending since 2021.

The petitioner had contended that announcements in Tamil were being made even in foreign countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

In the submission before the Madras High Court, he asked why should such announcements could not be made mandatory in all domestic flights operated to and from Tamil Nadu.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday took a ‘Parle-G’ jibe at the Central government, saying it has only learnt inflation and profit from the famous biscuit company.

“In the last 10 years, this government has learnt only two things from Parle-G — inflation and profit. Like the Parle-G biscuit packet, the DAP fertiliser bag has also been shortened. I request the government not to shorten it further,” Akhilesh Yadav said in the Lok Sabha while responding to the Budget speech of Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman.

He also taunted the government by saying when the farmers went to collect DAP fertiliser bags, the government told them that it cannot issue them without nano urea.

“What has nano urea given to the farmers? How has it benefited the farmers,” the Kannauj MP asked.

The Samajwadi Party chief also said that even after the NDA presenting its 11th Budget, the common people are not happy with the government.

“There is nothing for youth, villages, unemployed, and women in this Budget. Given the inflation, only the head of the family knows how he runs the household, educates the children, and provides medicines to elderly parents. Families know this struggle,” he said.

While the government keeps on providing figures for every sector, it never says where the country stood in the Hunger Index in the last 10 years, Akhilesh Yadav said.

“They also don’t talk about trade deficits. In the last 10 years, we have seen nothing concrete happening on the trade deficit front as well,” he said.

Akhilesh Yadav also claimed that the highest number of MPs come from Uttar Pradesh, yet the BJP government has not given any new projects to the state.

“They have given two new AIIMS to UP but are they providing the medical treatment in these two AIIMS? The land for both AIIMS Gorakhpur and AIIMS Raebareli was given by the Samajwadi Party. What has the BJP government done for the state in the last 10 years,” he asked.

He also said the BJP government says there will be employment generation because of privatisation but nothing has happened on this front either.

Stating that the Nodia Industrial Policy and the Electronic Policy were also formulated by the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav said, “What have you done? You can’t manufacture things in the air. You need land which was given by us. If you claim to make things in the air, I can only thank you,” the MP said.

On the Budget announcements made for Bihar, he said, “Giving package to Bihar is good. But they could have also spared funds for connecting the Purvanchal Expressway. If they could only connect 25 per cent of it, the BJP government could have claimed that they have joined it with Delhi,” he said.

He also claimed that in the last Budget, the government claimed that Rs 1 lakh crore will be spent for agriculture infrastructure but not a single ‘mandi’ has come up in Uttar Pradesh.

“What has the government given to the farmers in the Budget? Why didn’t the government give the legal MSP guarantee to the farmers? When will the government give MSP for horticulture crops?” he asked.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, July 30 (IANS) One of the Telangana MLAs on Tuesday returned to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), days after defecting to the ruling Congress.

Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, the MLA from Gadwal constituency who had defected to Congress on July 6, met BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao and expressed his desire to continue in the party.

The reason for his move was not immediately known.

The development came as some relief to BRS, which lost 10 MLAs to the ruling party since March.

On July 6, Krishna Mohan Reddy joined the ruling party in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.

Krishna Mohan represents the Gadwal constituency in CM Revanth Reddy’s home district Mahabubnagar.

The BRS also lost six MLCs and several senior leaders to Congress since losing power in December 2023.

BRS, which had bagged 39 seats in the 119-member Assembly. However, its tally came down to 28 with the defection of 10 MLAs and the defeat at the hands of Congress in the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly by-election.

The tally of Congress party had gone up to 72.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, July 30 (IANS) Biological E. Limited (BE), a Hyderabad-based vaccine and pharmaceutical company, on Tuesday announced that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted Pre-qualification (PQ) status to their Novel Oral Polio Vaccine type 2 (nOPV2).

nOPV2 is the 10th pre-qualified vaccine of BE. This next-generation live, attenuated oral vaccine significantly reduces the risk of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreaks and it is aimed at immunisation in countries that are affected by cVDPV2 outbreaks, the company said.

The persistent threat of cVDPV2 outbreaks can be tackled with the use of nOPV2 as the vaccine of choice. With its improved genetic stability, nOPV2 has a significantly decreased chance of seeding new outbreaks in low-immunity environments as against its predecessor, the Sabin poliovirus type 2 (mOPV2) vaccine, the BE said.

Extensive clinical trials have rigorously evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of nOPV2, leading to promising results published in The Lancet (2019-2024). Furthermore, the vaccine’s real-world deployment in outbreak regions has shown that it can significantly decrease the incidence of cVDPV2 outbreaks, safeguarding communities from the ravages of polio.

BE has become an important player in the production of the nOPV2 vaccine, having been selected for a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to assist in meeting the growing global demand.

In collaboration with PT BioFarma (PTB) in Indonesia, the first manufacturer of the nOPV2 vaccine to receive WHO Pre-Qualification in January 2024, BE has successfully received technology from PTB and qualified large-scale manufacturing facilities that produce more than 500 million doses of nOPV2 vaccine annually. BE has been approved by the Indian regulatory authorities to manufacture the vaccine for export purposes.

Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E. Limited, said that they are pleased to be a part of the global effort to eradicate polio. “Our collective quest to eradicate polio marks a significant milestone with the WHO pre-qualification of nOPV2. This vaccine has been specifically designed to address concerns about Vaccine-Associated Paralytic Polio (VAPP), which has occurred in approximately 2 to 4 cases per million births with the traditional OPV due to the vaccine virus reverting to a virulent form,” she said.

Expressing BE’s gratitude for the collaboration with PT BioFarma (PTB) and for the support of a grant from the Gates Foundation, she further said, “The significance of this milestone extends beyond scientific achievement; it represents a beacon of hope for millions of children and families around the globe. The achievement of administering over 1 billion doses of nOPV2 in outbreak regions is crucial to realising the dream of a polio-free world.’’

–IANS

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Chennai, July 30 (IANS) Chief Minister MK Stalin has deployed a team from Tamil Nadu to coordinate the rescue operations in Wayanad in Kerala where a landslide in the wee hours of Tuesday led to the loss of 84 lives, left scores hurt and many more trapped inside the debris.

The two IAS officers, KS Sameeran and Joe Vargheese will coordinate the relief and rescue team from Tamil Nadu.

A statement from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Office said that a relief team from the state comprising 20 firemen led by a Joint Director of the Fire and Rescue Department will reach Wayanad later in the day.

As many as 20 disaster and relief personnel led by a Superintendent of Police along with 10 doctors and nurses will also be part of the Tamil Nadu team deputed for Wayanad.

CM Stalin spoke to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and assured him of all support from Tamil Nadu.

The TN CM has already announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 crore to the Kerala government due to the tragedy.

–IANS

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