TUESDAY THE FUTURE OF AUDIO AND VIDEO PHONE CALL IS POSSIBLY HERE 11 Nokia billed the immersive audio, video call as the biggest leap in live voice calling since the introduction of monophonic telephony JUNE, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard EMMANUEL MACRON DISSOLVES HOUSE, CALLS SNAP POLLS The move came after the French Prez’s party was defeated by the far-right in European polls on Sunday. The polls will take place in 2 rounds — June 30 and July 7 PAGE 9 Pekka Lundmark A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS NEW DELHI J8.00 HDK to handle steel and heavy industries; Chirag food processing; Rammohan civil aviation Top ministers retain 2.0 charges, Shivraj gets agri, Vaishnaw I&B Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs the first meeting of his new Cabinet, attended by the newly-inducted ministers, at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi on Monday | PTI RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi THERE were no surprises in the portfolios allocated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to his 72-member ministry as all key charges continued to be with his colleagues from the outgoing cabinet. As this newspaper said on Sunday , it indicated continuity while being alive to the needs of coalition dynamics. Heavyweights like Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar retained their portfolios of defence, home, road transport and highways, finance and external affairs respectively This newspaper had . earlier reported that the BJP was unlikely to part with any of its core ministries — home, defence, finance, external af- SAFEGUARDING BORDER TOP PRIORITY: RAJNATH “Safeguarding India’s border will remain our topmost priority and we shall continue protecting India’s integrity & sovereignty,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said adding efforts will continue to take defence manufacturing and exports to greater heights fairs, railways, IT and law — to the NDA allies. Former chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar got the important ministries of agriculture and housing and urban affairs, respectively Their experience . in governance is expected help them deal with the crucial portfolios. Khattar also has the charge of power. Ashwini Vaishnaw, who is credited with rollout of the Vande Bharat trains and many other mega railway projects, retained railways, electronics and information technology. The important portfolio of in- Nawaz Sharif greets Modi in 1st exchange after polls Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi FORMER Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday congratulated Narendra Modi in the first communication between the estranged neighbours after the latter took oath as India’s Prime Minister for a recordequalling third term. “My warm felicitations to Modi Ji on assuming office for the third time. Your party’s success in recent elections reflects the confidence of the people in your leadership. Let us replace hate with hope and seize the opportunity to shape the destiny of the two billion people of South Asia,” Sharif wrote on X. Responding to Sharif ’s message, Modi reiterated that India has always stood for peace. “Appreciate your message, Nawaz Sharif. The people of India have always stood for peace, security and progressive ideas. Advancing the well- being and security of our people shall always remain our priority Modi said. ,” Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also extended his wishes to Modi. “Felicitations to @narendramodi on taking oath as the Prime Minister of India,” Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X. Pakistan downgraded ties with India after the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. However, of late, the Pakistani leadership has shown some indications that it is ready to explore better ties with India. Recently , Nawaz Sharif blamed Pakistan for violating the Lahore Peace Agreement signed with India. “On May 28th, 1998, Pakistan carried out five nuclear tests. After that Vajpayee Saheb came here and made an agreement with us. But we violated that agreement. It was our fault,” Nawaz had said. MYSTERY ANIMAL DURING SWEARING-IN EVENT IS A HOUSE CAT A mysterious animal resembling a leopard was seen on a video of BJP MP Durga Das Uikey’s oath-taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday. It went viral and led to speculation. Delhi Police say it’s a common house cat | P7 formation and broadcasting got added to his bouquet. Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal retained their education and commerce and industry ministries respectively while Hardeep Singh Puri continues to be the petroleum and natural gas minister. J P Nadda has returned to the health ministry he held before he became BJP president. Kiren Rijiju has been moved from earth sciences to parliamentary affairs, while Arjun Ram Meghwal will continue as law minister and Sarbananda Sonowal has retained the shipping portfolio. Bhupender Ya- EXPRESS READ Attack on Manipur CM’s security convoy Suspected militants ambushed the advance security convoy of Manipur CM N Biren Singh in Kangpokpi district on Monday morning, leaving one personnel injured. The convoy was on its way to violence-hit Jiribam district when it came under attack along a stretch of NH-53. Multiple gunshots were fired at the vehicles of the security forces, who retaliated, a police officer said. P8 Instagram disallowed, mother of 2 ends life A woman—mother of two children —allegedly killed herself in Noida on Monday after her husband asked her not to use Instagram, cops said. “On Monday, the woman had an argument with her husband over using Instagram. Then the woman committed suicide by hanging herself from a fan in a room of the house,” police said. The couple had been married for nine years. dav, too, retained the environment ministry. Annapurna Devi is the new women and child development minister. As for the allies, former Bihar chief minister and HAM founder Jitan Ram Manjhi got the ministry of micro, small and mediums enter prise (MSME). JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy got heavy industries and steel, and JD(U)’s Lalan Singh panchayati raj, fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. TDP’s K Rammohan Naidu has be given civil aviation. LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan was allocated food processing. RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary has been allocated the skill development and entrepreneurship ministry while Shiv Sena leader Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao will handle the Ayush ministry P7 & 8 . 3D AUDIO PAGES 12 USES MULTICHANNEL MICROPHONES TO CAPTURE SOUND FROM ALL DIRECTIONS KNOW YOUR MINISTERS CABINET MINISTERS Rajnath Singh: Defence Amit Shah: Home; Cooperation Nitin Gadkari: Road Transport and Highways J P Nadda: Health; Chemicals and Fertilizers Shivraj Singh Chouhan: Agriculture; Rural Devel. Nirmala Sitharaman: Finance; Corporate Affairs S Jaishankar: External Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar: Housing and Urban Affairs; Power H D Kumaraswamy: Heavy Industries; Steel Piyush Goyal: Commerce and Industry Dharmendra Pradhan: Education Jitan Ram Manjhi: Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Lalan Singh: Panchayati Raj; Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Sarbananda Sonowal: Ports; Shipping and Waterways Dr Virendra Kumar: Social Justice and Empowerment Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu: Civil Aviation Pralhad Joshi: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; New and Renewable Energy Jual Oram: Tribal Affairs Giriraj Singh: Textiles Ashwini Vaishnaw: Railways; I&B; Electronics and Information Technology Jyotiraditya Scindia: Communications; development of Northeast Bhupender Yadav: Environment, Forest and Climate Change Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Culture; Tourism Annpurna Devi: Women and Child Development Kiren Rijiju: Parliamentary Affairs; Minority Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri: Petroleum and Natural Gas Mansukh Mandaviya: Labour and Employment; Youth Affairs and Sports G Kishan Reddy: Coal, Mines Chirag Paswan: Food Processing C R Patil: Jal Shakti MINISTERS OF STATE INDEPENDENT CHARGE Rao Inderjit Singh: Statistics and Programme Implementation; Planning; Culture MoS Jitendra Singh: Science and Technology; Earth Sciences; MoS in PMO; MoS in Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; MoS in the Dept of Atomic Energy; MoS on Dept of Space Arjun Ram Meghwal: Law and Justice, MoS in Parliamentary Affairs Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao: Ayush; MoS in Health and Family Welfare Jayant Chaudhary: Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; MoS in Education Now, Sena says it’s not happy with MoS post S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai A day after the Ajit Pawar-led NCP rejected a Minister of State (MoS) position in the Narendra Modi cabinet saying it wants a Cabinet post, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena said it was not happy with the MoS berth given to it. Prataprao Jadhav is the sole representative of Shindeled Sena in the new government. He has been allocated the AYUSH ministry as MoS with independent charge and health & family welfare as MoS. Expressing disappointment over the issue, Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne said his party is one of the oldest allies of the BJP and deserves a cabinet minister. “In this election, the strike ratio of Shiv Sena was higher than that of the We will face BJP in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena conassembly tested 15 seats and won 7, while the BJP elections in the contested 28 seats but won only 9. Our next three performance is better,” said Barne. months... Sena “Injustice has been done to the Shiv should get fair Sena. Even smaller allies have got Cabitreatment net ministers, but we have been given Shrirang Barne only MoS,” he added. He pointed out that Chirag Paswan was made a Cabinet minister though his party won only five seats. Similarly the , JD(S) with just two Lok Sabha MPs got a Cabinet post, Barne contended. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde held a meeting of Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs on Monday to discuss the party’s strategy and plan of action going forward. The meeting was held at Varsha Bungalow, the CM’s official residence. Heatwave likely to return, IMD issues alert J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi AN expected last spell of heatwave of this summer is about to make a comeback in northwest and east India this week. The heatwave will peak between June 12 and 15 and can last up to June 20, the IMD has cautioned. It has issued a red alert to all age groups to take precautions against heat-related illnesses and heat stroke. Scientists say sluggish monsoon advancement towards central and north India is major reason behind the heatwave’s return. According to IMD scientists, most stations in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UP and east Rajasthan will experience maximum temperatures in the range of 44-48°C and up to 45°C in Punjab, Chandigarh, Bihar and Jharkhand. The IMD predicts heat wave conditions in some pockets of Jammu division, Punjab, Har- 44.8°C 44.6°C 44.7°C 44.1°C 45.3°C 44.2°C 44.8°C 45.2°C 44.7°C Rohtak Ridge (Delhi) Ayanagar (Delhi) Palam Varanasi Aligarh Sultanpur Sidhi Daltonganj RAIN STILL AWAY, BRACE FOR MORE HEAT IN 10 DAYS, TEMPS TO HOVER 44-48°C. LAST SPELL OF HEATWAVE RETURNING SLOW MONSOON MAJOR REASON FOR HEATWAVE MAX TEMPS (> 44°C) RECORDED ON JUNE 10 yana Chandig arh-Delhi, Jharkhand, Odisha in the next five days. Himachal and Madhya Pradesh will experience severe heatwaves during June 12-14; Uttarakhand (June 11-14), and Rajasthan (June 12-13). Warm nights may prevail over isolated pockets of east MP . On June 9, the IMD observed temperatures above normal by 2-4°C in different pockets of the northwest and eastern regions. It has observed heatwaves in severe conditions prevailed in some pockets of Bihar, gangetic West Bengal and east UP and Jharkhand. A sluggish southwest monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of north Arabian Sea and Maharashtra. The condition is said to be favourable for its further advancement in the next two days. A cyclonic circulation lies over northeast Assam and its neighbourhood and a trough extending from northwest Bihar to Nagaland. It will cause moderate rain accompanied by a thunderstorm, lightning & gusty winds in the region. Also, a western disturbance and another cyclonic circulation lies over northwest UP that may bring downpour accompanied by a thunderstorm & lightning over Uttarakhand and Rajasthan with strong surface winds. ‘Don’t take us for granted’: SC poser to city govt on water woes S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi “DON’T take us for granted”, the Supreme Court said on Monday, castigating the Delhi government for not rectifying defects in its plea seeking a direction to Haryana to release the surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to the national capital. Due to the defect in the petition, affidavits are not being accepted in the registry, a vaca- t i o n b e n c h o f Ju s t i c e s Prashant Kumar Mishra and Prasanna B Varale stated. “Why have you not cured the defect? We will even dismiss the petition, however important your (Delhi government) case may be. Even on the last date of hearing also, this was pointed out, and you have not removed the defect so far. Don’t take the court proceedings for granted,” the bench warned. The Delhi gover n- ment has moved the top court seeking direction to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for additional water. “We also want to read the file first. There was so much reporting in the media, and if we did not read the files, then the media reports can impress us and that is not a good thing. List it the day after tomorrow so all the reports etc. are on record,” the court said and fixed the case for further hearing on June 12. On Thursday, the court directed the Himachal Pradesh gover nment to release 137 Told to call emergency meeting on June 1 On June 1, the Supreme Court had asked the Upper Yamuna River Board to call an emergency meet of all concerned stakeholder states to resolve the water crisis faced by the residents of Delhi, amid a sweltering heatwave leading to water shortage in the city. cusecs of surplus water to the national capital on Friday and Haryana to facilitate its flow, after noting that the acute shortage of drinking water has become an “existential problem” in Delhi. “There should be no politics over water,” a two-judge vacation bench of Justices P K Mishra and K V Viswanathan noted, adding that the Himachal government is willing to release 137 cusecs of surplus water available with it for Delhi.
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