HYDERABAD l sunday l may 18, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l LATE CITY EDITION CBSE asks schools to set up ‘sugar boards’ to check intake The CBSE has directed affiliated schools to establish “sugar boards” to monitor and reduce sugar intake of children, according to officials move follows rise in type 2 diabetes in kids sugary snacks, processed foods culprits The move follows a significant increase in Type 2 diabetes among kids, a condition once primarily seen in adults, over the past decade. Several studies indicate that sugar constitutes 13 per cent of daily calorie intake for children aged four to 10 years, and 15 per cent for those aged 11 to 18 years, substantially exceeding the recommended limit of 5 per cent ■ “The proliferation of sugary snacks, beverages, and processed foods, often readily available in school environments, contributes significantly to this excessive intake,” CBSE said in a circular ■ The direction was issued after a nudge by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to ensure kids are safe from diabetes 13% of daily calorie intake among children comes from sugar CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Tharoor on govt’s global outreach team, Cong sore Wasn’t recommended by party; govt names 7 heads of delegations Will not be found wanting: Cong MP P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE Sultan of Subversion PLUS 12 PAGES The rift between the Congress leadership and Shashi Tharoor deepened on Saturday after the Centre picked him to lead one of the seven multi-party delegations for its diplomatic outreach against Pakistan’s crossborder terror despite the party not recommending his name. Apart from Tharoor, BJP MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda, JD(U)’s Sanjay Jha, DMK’s Kanimozhi, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule, and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde will head the other delegations. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the party had submitted four names for the mission and was surprised to see ‘a different name’, Shashi Tharoor, in the official list. The party had suggested the names of Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring for the delegations. Significantly, the party distanced itself from Tharoor’s comments endorsing the Modi government’s handling of the India-Pak conflict and US President Trump’s intervention in announcing the ceasefire. “I am honoured by the invitation to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals, to present our nation’s point of view on recent events... When national interest is involved, and my services are required, I will not be found wanting. Jai Hind!” Tharoor said “We were asked for names. We expected that the names we had given would be included. But when we saw the press release of PIB, we were surprised. I cannot say what will happen now. Asking four names, giving four names, and announcing another name is dishonest on t h e g ove r n m e n t ’s p a r t , ” Ramesh told the media. “The government cannot include names of MPs in delegations without consulting the party he said. ,” This paper reported on Saturday that the PMO had prepared the list of names and conveyed them to the respective political parties. When asked about Tharoor’s inclusion as a representative of the Congress in the list, Ramesh said that ‘there is a difference between being in the Congress and being of the Congress’. “In a democratic system, when individual MPs are sent as part of an official delegation, MPs must seek the concurrence of the party. If the government wants to send him as part of a delegation, the MP should be asking the party, he said. “The ball is in the government’s court now,” he added. Accusing the government of being ‘dishonest’ in its approach, the leader asserted that the party would not change the four proposed names for the delegation. Ramesh added that Rahul Gandhi has written to Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju on this. ‘Nobel’ gesture Economist Abhijit Banerjee joins upcoming Telangana Rising Board E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee will join the soonto-be-announced Telangana Rising Vision board as adviser. The board will also have as members renowned economists, policy experts and others offering suggestions and advice that would help the government project Telangana as a state to watch out for. Sources confirmed that four to five eminent personalities have already agreed to join the board, which the government is expected to formally announce soon. On Saturday, Prof Banerjee met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and discussed several innovative ideas in urban development, economic growth, augmenting public revenues, fiscal discipline, large-scale skilling and job creation. While discussing largescale jobs creation, Prof Banerjee spoke of the need to create unique short-term courses in traditional skills with modern design and appeal, marketing, use of social media technology to help tradi- Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy discusses the way forward for Telangana with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, in Hyderabad on Saturday 1 cr ID cards for women The state government will provide identity cards, with health and financial details incorporated, for one crore women with a unique number and QR code | P4 tional artisans turn into modern entrepreneurs. He also suggested to the chief minister to include crafts, arts and creativity as a significant part of the Future City . During the discussions, Prof Banerjee expressed great appreciation for the chief minister for the recruit- ment of transgender persons into police and municipal departments, envisioning the Hyderabad core urban area within the ORR as a pureservices zone, and the creation of skills and sports universities. Revanth, while outlining the global vision of Hyderabad for centuries and the global reach of products made in the region, spoke of the need to create global awareness. He also elaborated on the various empowerment programmes for women SelfHelp Groups, youth and farmers. India turns the Guj minister’s son held for `71-cr scam screws on imports from Bangladesh D i l i p S i n g h k s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad d i pa k m o nd a l @ New Delhi IN what seems like another ‘retaliatory’ move, the Indian government has imposed restrictions on imports of certain goods from its eastern neighbour Bangladesh. In a directive issued on Saturday by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the import of all kinds of readymade gar ments from Bangladesh through land ports has been prohibited. These goods will only be allowed to be imported through the seaports of Nhava Sheva and Kolkata. A wider range of goods— including fruit and fruit-flavoured carbonated drinks, processed food items, cotton and cotton yarn waste, plastic and PVC finished goods (excluding essential industrial inputs such as pigments, dyes, plasticisers, and granules), and wooden furniture — will face more stringent port restrictions. These items will not be allowed entry through northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. The restriction also extends to Changrabandha and Fulbari in West Bengal. However, the DGFT clarified that these restrictions do not apply to essential imports such as fish, L P G, e d i bl e o i l , a n d crushed stone. The DGFT notification clarified that these port restrictions would not be applicable to Bangladeshi goods transiting through India but destined for Nepal and Bhutan. Though the government has not disclosed the reasons for the move, it is likely that it came in the wake of Bangladesh restricting land imports of cotton yarn from India to protect local industries from cheaper imports. India’s total annual trade with Bangladesh is around $13 billion. A `71-crore scam under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been unearthed in Gujarat, implicating the family of state panchayat and agriculture minister Bachu Khabad. His elder son, Balwant Khabad, has been arrested, while his younger son, Kiran Khabad, is under scrutiny . The scam surfaced after B M Patel, director of DRDA, were involved in the flagged irregularities in fraud. project execution in Between 2021 and 2025, Devgadh Baria and villages like Kuva, RedDhanpur taluks. The hana, and Simamoi were scam involved fake infalsely marked as benefifrastructure projects, ciaries of completed with funds meant for Gujarat minister MGNREGA projects. On tribal employment si- Bachu Khabad the ground, there was phoned off to agencies little to no work—only linked to the minister’s sons forged completion reports and a through fabricated invoices. An trail of diverted payments. audit revealed that Raj ConA SIT has been formed. The struction and Raj Traders, run minister did not respond to by Balwant and Kiran Khabad, questions from this newspaper. Calf care An elephant calf, distressed by its mother’s worsening health leans over her to offer protective cover, preventing forest officials from offering treatment to the mammoth at the foothills of Maruthamalai in Coimbatore on Saturday | s senbagapandiyan 20 Maoists fleeing Karregutta arrested E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mulugu Mulugu police with the arrested Maoists and the arms seized Eight Maoists give up arms in Mulugu Mulugu: Eight members of the banned CPI (Maoist) surrendered before Mulugu SP P Shabarish on Saturday. The surrender took place under a joint initiative by Mulugu police and CRPF 39 Battalion titled Porukanna Oorru Minna—Mana Ooruke Tirigi Randi. The SP credited the programme, which informs underground Maoists about state government’s rehabilitation efforts, for the surrender. Blast from the past Police from Venkatapuram, Kannaigudem and Wazeedu police stations have arrested 20 members of the banned CPI (Maoist) group — reportedly fleeing the Karregutta forest area — and recovered a sizeable cache of arms and ammunition from them. Briefing newsmen, Mulugu Superintendent of Police Dr P Shabarish recalled that Maoists had planted IEDs in the Karregutta forest area, which lies under the jurisdict i o n o f Ve n k a t a p u r a m , Wazeedu and Peruru police sta- tions in Mulugu district, and Elimidi and Usur police stations in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh. A statement issued by the group on April 8, 2025, reportedly warned Adivasis and others not to enter the area. He disclosed that three 5.56 mm INSAS rifles, four 7.62 mm SLR rifles, one .303 rifle, four 8 mm rifles, 16 cartridges for 12-bore weapons, two live grenades, 17 magazines and 180 live rounds, along with `58,155 in cash, four walkietalkies with antennas, six radios, nine rechargeable batteries, six pen drives, six memory cards, eight card readers, two kit bags, party literature and other items were seized from the Maoists. According to the SP those ar, rested include one Division Committee Member (DVC), five Area Committee Members (ACMs), and 14 party members. The DVC was identified as Kattam Bheem, a resident of Eladamdagoo village in Sukma district, Chhattisgarh. The ACMs were identified as Kunjam Lakka, Marigala Sumathi alias Seetha, Hemala Sukki, Madakam Mase, and Kattam Joga, all reportedly from Chhattisgarh. The remaining 14 were also said to be from Chhattisgarh. continued on P4 kohli tribute 220 mn-yr-old fossils found in TG give Men in Whites dwarf Red and Gold at Chinnaswamy fresh insights into dinosaur evolution G o m e s h S @ Bengaluru S i dd h a r d h a G at t i m i @ Hyderabad Fossils found near Annaram village in the Pranahita-Godavari Valley have led to the identification of a new dinosaur species, Maleriraptor kuttyi. The bipedal predator lived over 200 million years ago during the Norian stage of the Late Triassic period. Originally excavated in the 1980s, the remains were analysed and recently described in the journal Royal Society Open Science. The study places Maleriraptor kuttyi within the early dinosaur group Herrerasauria, but outside the South American subgroup Herrerasauridae. It is the first confirmed evidence of a herrerasaurian dinosaur from Gondwana, which included presentday India. It expands the known range of this group beyond South America. All previously confirmed species were fo u n d i n A r g e n t i n a a n d Brazil. The fossil is catalogued as ISIR 282. Notable features include a vertically oriented pubis and a distinct pelvic structure. Unlike other herrerasaurians, it lacks the broad “pubic boot”, suggesting a separate evolutionary path. The species name honours the late Indian palaeontologist TS Kutty, who discovered the fossil. The genus name, Maleriraptor, refers to the Upper Maleri Formation, where it was found, and the Latin word for “thief ”, indicating its carnivorous nature.  Continued on P4 IT had been brewing since Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Tests last Monday. What started as a social media campaign on Tuesday hours af, ter Kohli’s social media post, became a reality on Saturday as thousands of fans came dressed wearing Kohli’s replica Test jersey . “Virat,” the back of the white jersey read “18”. There were some pockets with a lot of Red and Gold, something very common at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. But a lot of the ticketholders had turned a Red wall into a lot of White as they paid tribute to the man who has called this ground home for more than two months every year since 2008. In many ways, Saturday was significant even before Kohli’s sudden announcement. For starters, it marked the resumption of the Indian Premier League after an eight-day break following the escalation of hostilities between India and Pakistan. For the fans, however, it was about giving their cricketing hero a fitting on-field tribute. It did not matter that this wasn’t even an international game. Kohli, as many fans outside the stadium put it, was, is and will be an emotion to them. Photo: Vinod kumar T They wanted to give a fitting salute to their beloved star. Some fans, when they realised they would not be getting the tickets, decided to shell out money from their own pockets to print white replica jerseys in the name of Kohli and sell them outside the ground. Talamika, an IT professional, said: “We wanted to give a tribute to Kohli. We couldn’t get tickets that is why we are selling the jerseys.”